Blog Hop Winners

Wow, I can hardly believe this is my last post of the year.  I find myself looking back at one of the most amazing years of my life.  At times I feel like I must be dreaming because this has been such a wonderful year.  We put our house on the market to sell at the end of March.  By the middle of April it had sold.  Then everything became a whirlwind.  I do remember clearly the call we received on May 16th from my son saying that our ninth grandchild, a boy, had come into the world.  Then it became a time of house inspections, appraisals and packing.  On July 7th we left the home where we raised our five children to begin our grand adventure.  We have been living in our RV and traveling since then.  I can honestly say we've never been happier.  Neither hubby or I miss having a house and we're having the time of our lives and truly enjoying our retirement.  I hope and pray that we will remain healthy so we can continue this fantastic journey for as long as possible.  We are so very grateful and blessed to be able to do this.

I will finish the year off with a bit of business.  I have the winner of this week's Cutting Cafe Blog Hop to announce---drumroll please.

The winner of the Peppermint Candy Treat Box Cutting File and Template is:

#24 Isabelle said...

What a lovely gift for some lucky person! I just discovered "The Cutting Cafe" last night and realize I have some catching up to do! Such a cute idea!

Isabelle, if you will email me at thomasjeri55at yahoo dot com I will see that you get this file so you can start creating with it.

I also have a winner of the blog hop at Cardz TV stamps last week.  The winner of the dry erase board is:

#11 Annette said...

I really love this little message board. I didn't know that a tile could be used...thank you for the idea. Smiles to you,

Annette if you will email me at thomasjeri55 at yahoo dot com with your address I will get the dry erase board mailed off to you.

I want to thank each and every one of my followers for all the sweet and wonderful comments you leave me.  They mean so much and I love reading them all. 

I wish you all a safe, healthy and blessed

2012. Happy New Year.

The Cutting Cafe Peppermint Candy Treat Boxes and Blog Hop

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday.  Mine was different for several reasons.  We weren't with family, we're in Florida's sunshine and warmth and there were no presents this year.  Hubby and I decided not to buy presents for each other this year.  There was really nothing we needed and with the limited space in the RV we decided to forego the gifts this year.  We usually go out and buy what we need when we want it.  Besides, it would have been impossible to find a hiding place for the presents.  LOL  It didn't seem quite like Christmas with warmth and sunshine.  We're used to cold and snow in Michigan.  But, we had a fun day.  We spent it with our campground family having a potluck supper.  I made these little treat boxes to give to all our friends.  Everyone thought they were fantastic.

I used The Cutting Cafe Peppermint Candy Treat Box Cutting File and Template for my treat containers.  I used my Cricut to cut the SVG file which includes the box and top pieces.  The sentiment is included with the set and after printing it I punched it out and placed it on the front of the container.  It wouldn't be one of my creations without adding some faux stitching and doodling with a white gel pen. 

Now for some fun, The Cafe is hopping this week.  Each designer has used one of their favorite files to make a fabulous creation to inspire you.  Each designer is giving away a Cutting Cafe file.  You must leave a comment on each designer's blog to be eligible to win.  Here's the link to the Cafe Blog where you can find the list of participating designers.  I will be giving out the Peppermint Candy Treat Box.  This box can be used at any time of the year, not just for Christmas.  So make sure you leave me a comment and I thank you for them.  I love reading each and every one.  Have fun!

Twelve Days of Christmas #12

Can you even believe that it is Christmas Eve?  I sure can't.  December just flew right by.  For my final project I have some little treat bags I made for my cake pops.  My first ever cake pops.  I was quite proud of myself for whipping up a batch here in my small camper.  We don't have a lot of counter space or a very large refrigerator so it was quite challenging.  I made these little treats up for our friends here at the campground.  I hope they enjoy them.  My bag topper was made with red cardstock cut at 4.25x4.25" with a scrap matted on top.  My Santa was cut at 2" from the Doodlcharms cartridge and my sentiment in from Cardz TV Stamps Home for Christmas stamp set.

I wish you all a very blessed Christmas.  I hope you are able to spend your day with loved ones.  I'd also like to ask you to take a moment to offer a prayer for all our service men and woman who are sacrificing their holidays with their loved ones to protect our nation and our freedoms.  Happy Holidays!!!

Twelve Days of Christmas #11

This is one of my favorite gifts to give to friends.  On a recent trip to Target I was fortunate to find the coveted clear pails and knew that I'd make up some Snowman Soup.  This is probably a better gift if you're in a cold and snowy climate instead of Florida, like me.  Oddly enough, we have had a couple cool days since our arrival and my thoughts turned to a nice cup of hot cocoa.  Even though we're experiencing record high temps here right now, I know it's bound to get cool at some point, so my friends will be prepared.  Inside this pail is a package of Ghiradelli hot cocoa that I picked up at the actual Ghiradelli store at Downtown Disney a couple weeks ago.  I also added a packet of mini marshmallows and a peppermint stick for stirring.  My cute little poem is a Cutting Cafe file called Fun With Frosty.  You can find it here

Here is what it looks like from the top of the can.  Lots of ribbon and a sparkling snowflake.

I hope to see you tomorrow for my last day of projects leading up to Christmas.  I can't believe it's just a couple more days until Christmas.  I'm sure you all feel the same.  I hope your shopping is done, your gifts are wrapped, and your stockings are hung. 

Twelve Days of Christmas #10

I had several problems getting this post up today, but welcome to Day #10 of my Twelve Days Celebration.  We are having computer internet connectivity problems and they're driving me crazy.  We can't keep a connection for more than a few seconds at a time.  Then I must apologize for the terrble pictures.  It has been really cloudy here.  Today I just have three giftcards to show you.  I made the base of the giftcards using The Cutting Cafe Gift Card Holder Template and Cutting File.  This set comes with two styles, one with a straight edge and the other with a scalloped edge.  I used the scalloped edge for my cards.  I used scraps of printed papers for the tops of the cards then made die cut images to decorate the front of each card.  I used the Winter Frolic cartridge for the snowman, Doodlecharms for the Santa and the Winter Frolic for the Penguin.

Qucik and easy but a nice way to present the gift card.  Quite frankly, I don't think the grandkids care about the presentation as much as how much the gift card is for.  LOL  I know this is a quick post but I'm tyring to get it done before I loose my connection again.  I cut the cards on my Cricut so it made the cards quick to assemble.
Thanks for stopping by.  Only two more days of projects for inspiration for you.  I hope you can use some of my ideas.

Twelve Days of Christmas #9

I have another home decor project to show you today.  I found this soap/lotion dispenser at my LSS.  The top portion unscrews so you can add inserts.  I made this one up with a winter decor in mind.  My cute little polar bear came from a piece of Creative Imaginations paper.  I cut a piece of red polka dot paper to fit the inside circumference of the bottle then just added the cute polar bear on top of it.  I tied a piece of red gingham ribbon around the neck of the bottle and added a punched tag from The Cutting Cafe and placed it on a scalloped circle and tied it to the ribbon with red and white twine.  Another quick and easy home decor project.  I think I'll make an insert for spring, summer and fall and give it as a set to a friend for Christmas.  It would also make a great gift for a teacher filled with antibacterial hand cleaner and inserts for each month of the school year.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll come by tomorrow to see some gift card holders I made for my grandkids.

The Cutting Cafe Rain Rain Go Away

It's time for a new highlighted set over at The Cutting Cafe.  This week Regina asked the team to use her Rain Rain Go Away set.  Now I know it's winter, but depending on where you live in the country you might be experiencing rain.  For those of you in the colder climates, cheer up.  Spring is on it's way...eventually.  I also used The Cutting Cafe Cloud Shaped Card cutting file/ template for this card.  I started with the card base cut from white cardstock then topped it with a grey cardstock top piece.  I used the set's SVG file to cut these on my Cricut.  Next I printed my cute duck and umbrella on scraps of printed paper so I could paper piece.  I love paper piecing.  I think it's a way to make your cuts look a little special and individualized.  I fussy cut all the pieces and assembled the duck and the umbrella.  I finished the front of the card with the weather sentiment and some doodling with a white gel pen and a black marker. 

For the inside of the card I made up the sentiment and printed it with my computer.  I'm happy to say that for the first time in our lives we are away from the cold, snowy, harsh winter of Michigan.  We'll be in Florida until April and we're very excited about it.  There is a slight chance (only 20%) that it may rain here on Christmas.  No, I won't miss a white Christmas.  I'll be getting up in the morning and dressing in my shorts and enjoying every moment.  I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Miss Regina for letting me stay on for a second term at The Cutting Cafe and to welcome all the new and returning designers to the team.  Regina is such a special lady and I'm blessed to call her friend!  You can find the team announcement here.  It's an awesome and talented team to work with.  Thanks for stopping by and come by to visit anytime.