Tag, I'm It. . . Again!

I was tagged twice! by Elaine and Stacey.......so this is what I'm supposed to do:

Share 7 facts about myself on my blog, some random, some weird. THEN tag 7 people at the end of my post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs and let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So-here goes:

7 - I like to exercise but I hate to sweat.
6 - I am a quilting dropout. I tried and would love to do it, but my patience level is not high enough for the hobby. That is how I became a paper crafter.
5 - My favorite stores when I was a kid were stationary stores. I used to spend my money on stationary, markers pens and such. . . not much has changed!
4 - My favorite foods are Potatoes and Ice-Cream and yes, I like them together. I especially love french fry's with Milk-Shakes. My favorite flavor is Vanilla; so many possibilites.
3 - If I had unlimited resources I would adopt 10 more children. I would also pay almost any amount of money for the privilege of giving birth to another child.
2 - I frequently wish I didn't have to sleep, just so I would have time to do more.
1 - I moarn the fact that kids today don't have an innocent childhood and that nothing is as good as it used to be. (Some may find that a bit negative, but if you think about it, its pretty true.)

I'm tagging these friends because I'd like to know MORE about them!

Tamara
Tara
Atalie
Lisa
Kari
Tori
Deb

Happiness. . .

is a project once envisioned, realized:





Mini folio scrapbook/card. Approximately 3.5" X 5.5".

Isn't it cute?

CTMH: Garden Green, Olive, New England Ivy, Pansy Purple CS and INK
CTMH: Happiness Is and Serendipity
Ribbon: Diane Ribbons

Tagged: The Middle Name Game

So, Stacey has tagged me with the middle name game. Here's the skinny:

These are the rules:
You must post the rules before you give your answers.
You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name. Each fact must begin with that letter. If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name.
After you've been tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and answers. At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and need to read your blog for details.

So,

My middle name: LEE

L: Lived through an
E: Earthquake in Utah when I was 5
E: Eating is one of my favorite past-times!

I tag:

Jenn
Lois
Kari

On the 11th Day Of Christmas

Neatly Wrapped Christmas Carmels:


Obviously not as much paper craft as kitchen craft, but I did stamp the tags and use ribbon! LOL! Not the project I had planned for today, but I forgot a design team assignment that was due (gulp) yesterday! As a result my stamping time today was used for that project which I will post AFTER CHRISTMAS as it involves a lot of pink and hearts. . . yup, Valentine's Day!

I promised my Carmel Recipe and here it is. I think I made 20 pounds this year! No joke! I made 2 pans a day for 7 days and I have 5 pieces left. I'm going to have to make another pan for my family or they may never wrap carmels again!

Soft Carmels:

1 C Butter
1 C White Sugar
1 C Brown Sugar
1 C Karo Syrup
1 C Sweetened Condensed Milk
Vanilla
Nuts (optional)

Put all ingredients in HEAVY sauce pan and stir over medium low heat for DAYS! Just kidding. . . It takes about 20 minutes per pan. DO NOT DOUBLE. Once your mixture is boiling and bubbly and smelling really, really good, you put in your candy thermometer. Cook to 238' for soft carmels, 240' for chewy carmels and 242-245 if you prefer carmels you can suck on for days. Add vanilla and stir like crazy while you pour in a butter flavor crisco greased glass pan of either 8X8 or 9X13 size. If you are adding nuts do it with the vanilla. Allow to cool at room temperature for a while. You may then refrigerate or put outside in the snow if you are lucky enough to have snow. At room temperature cut and wrap in waxed paper.

So here's a few more pictures of the carmels we'll be dolling out tomorrow! Betting you wished you lived closer!!!

On the 2nd Day of Christmas

Tootsie Roll Wreaths (and ornaments too!)

For this fun and child friendly project you need:



Tootsie Roll Minis, Curling Ribbon (you can also use real ribbon, but it takes a lot!), a Macro me' ring in any size, a small gift tag and that's it!



So:
1. cut curling ribbon in 6" strips, tie the ends of tootsie roll wrappers to the wreath, curl the ends, add a loop for hanging and small gift tag and that's it!

I made a teeny tiny one for an ornament. My girls both made a 6" wreath for their primary teachers. . . When the receiver unwraps the tootsie rolls they can leave the wrappers and still have a wreath!

On the 1st Day of Christmas

Sour Cream Container Gift Ornaments! - So easy your kids can make them, so cute, you'll want to make many! Named for the silly little sour cream containers you get out with a baked potato, they don't hold sour cream at all!


You will need the items pictured below plus treats to go inside! The paper crimper is helpful in sealing the ornament, but is optional:


Trim your paper to any rectangle. I used a 4" X 5" rectangle in the example.

Place your adhesive in the approximate pattern shown on the back side of your patterned or stamped paper:



Peel off the backing for the adhesive on your left and bottom sections, leaving the top right adhesive strip in place. Roll the tube like a toilet paper roll adhering just the left side as shown:



Fill with goodies of your choice. My favorite are Holiday Mint M&M's!:


Next peel the remaining adhesive backing and seal to the opposite edge as the bottom seal:


Crimp Edges and punch your hole:


Add your decorated tag and ribbon, and voila:




These pictured are simple and complete in less than 5 minutes a piece. You can make these as fancy as you wish. Stamp your own paper, add trims and finishes! You can emboss and fancy them up or keep the simple with B&T as I've shown here! My daughter and I made about 30 of them last year and gave them as gift tags on presents and to her primary class. They're always fun and always a hit! Have fun and be sure to link back the ornaments you create!

Swapping for Happy Holidays

I don't do many swaps, but my unit was in need for someone to do the "I" or they were going to have to cancel the swap. I was under the impression we were doing Merry CHRISTMAS so I was a little disappointed when I opened the finished project to discover Happy Holidays instead. I really like the idea and how it turned out, don't you?






My tree is not yet finished and for the most part decorated by my kids (and undecorated by my cats), but it's not looking too bad!

The Swap (should you choose to re-create) goes like this:

1. Pick a theme (such as Merry Christmas or Happy Halloween or Thank You or even Happy Birthday!) Have an equal number of participants to make each tag. We used a front and back tag along with a Happy on the 1st tag and each letter of HOLIDAY so in this example we had 10 Participants. If you were doing Happy Birthday I would spell out each letter and do a spacer in between. This would take 16 participants.

2. Decide a size range for each "tag." We used 2 1/2 - 3" X 3 1.2 - 4" for the base with no limit on what can stick UP from the tag, but you can't have things stick out the sides.

3. Decide on a color theme or paper pack so that the overall concept stays uniform (or you could get wild and just see what you get back!) We used the Everlasting Paper Pack or the Color Combo represented in that pack.

4. For a successful swap be sure and plan out the details such as when the project is due, how much postage is needed to return the swap and any other factors that are important to you. We included that there had to be something stamped and some sort of embellishment on each piece.

Once I received the pieces back I strung them together by making a large loop of ribbon, tying each end into a hanging loop and taping the top ribbon to the top of the tag back and the bottom loop to the bottom of the tag back. I used the hanging end loops to hang it on the tree. I suppose you could also stitch each tag together. You could pre-determine that each tag needs to have eyelets as 1" and 3.5" on each side and tie them together with ribbon. Your limit is your imagination! If you recreate this, please post back or email me so I can see!

Bits and Pieces

Tagged by my breast cancer surviving friend Jana, I'm posting this in her honor! Have you had your mammogram this year?
Here are some more tidbits about me! None are quite as interesting as hers because I'm not wearing a terrific wig and I've never been to Hawaii!

2 Names I go by:
1. Mom
2. MOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY!!!

2 Things I am wearing right now:
1. Bob Mackie Perfume (my all time fave!)
2. Comfy Old Navy Just Bottoms (also some of my faves!)

2 of my favorite things to do:
1. Scrapbook
2. Paper Craft (duh!)

2 things I want very badly at this moment:
1. A day or two OFF
2. A day with no kids fighting!

2 of my favorite pets ever:
1. My 16 year old cat Booger who disappeared a couple of weeks ago
2. My black lab growing up, Eboneezer Smoke the 4th who only had 3 legs after our mean old neighbor shot him!

2 people I'm tagging (come on girls, you can do it!):
1. Jen at Just4FunCrafts
2. Lois at Gingerbreadaholic

2 things I did last night:
1. Played Uno with my kids (Both Wyatt and Walker won!)
2. Ate a Root Beer float and Popcorn

2 things I've eaten today:
1. A Chic-Fil-A Sandwich
2. 3 Hershey Nuggets

2 People I last talked to:
1. Tamara Wyatt
2. Sharilyn's Mom

2 Things I plan on doing tomorrow:
1. Leaving on a week long camping trip
2. Having a Smore hot from a camp fire

2 Longest Car Rides:
1. From Idaho to Arizona (when I came for Spring break in 1989 and many times since then)
2. A trip we took as kids when my dad thought it would be cool for us to ride in the back of the pick-up on a mattress. . . we went to Crater Lake (and froze to death) and somewhere in AZ and about died of heat stroke!)

2 Favorite Holidays
1. Christmas
2. Easter

2 Favorite Vacations
1. Exchange Student in Germany when 15
2. Canada Vacation with my hubby in 2001 (album on my blog!)

2 Dream Vacations
1. I'd love to go first class to somewhere tropical and exotic
2. I'd love to go on a really great cruise (just not to Mexico)
(I would also love to spend about 2 weeks in Disney World, but I'd have to go first class there too!)

2 Favorite Beverages
1. I love Diet Coke
2. I love Vanilla Coke Zero

a, B, c, d . . . B is for Baby Card!

Tiny Feet is one of the few baby stamp sets I own! I actually sold it and re-bought it because I missed it. . . this card was fast and easy, but I like the end result.