Year Round Cheer December Blog Hop

Welcome to the December Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  This month the featured stamp of the month is S1212 Year Round Cheer, a set of 12 adorable monthly holiday stamps!  Below are the images in this stamp set that is available only thru December 31st.

If you have come here from Helen Onulak's blog you are on the right path! You can find a list of all the participants (in case you get lost) here: http://bowlofstamps.blogspot.com/p/sotm-blog-hop-list.html  This month we have over 60 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this set. The hop is simple to follow - just click on the link provided in the post to move to the next blog!

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My item is a 5" x 5" card made with the Pear and Partridge Workshop on the Go (WOTG) Papers.  The stamp for December makes a perfect Christmas card.  I also am featuring this week's Mojo Monday because I thought it was a great sketch to feature these adorable stamps!  Below is my card:

This is the Mojo Monday sketch:

The photo below shows a closer look at the dimensional items of it:

 And, this photo gives a closer look at details (I this this stamp set was just made for the Bitty Sparkles!

Papers:  Partridge and Pear WOTG, including Cranberry, New England Ivy and Colonial White Cardstocks.
Stamps:  S1212 Year Round Cheer
Ink:   Cranberry, New England Ivy pigment pads, Black Exclusive Inks
Embellishments:  Z1263 Bitty Sparkles, Wire Christmas Ribbon (maybe from Walmart)
Other:  Z821 Clear Embossing Powder

Time to hop on over to Kami Welter's Blog to see her beautiful eye candy! Be sure to visit all the Consultants' Blogs to get some great crafting and other fun ideas! Remember, the SOTM is only available thru December 31st! Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set for $5!

Happy hopping!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Many of you thought that the first Thanksgiving in the U.S. Territories was celebrated by the Pilgrims in 1612.  Actually the first Thanksgiving in the U.S. Territories was was celebrated by Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles (founder of the city of St. Agustine, La Florida), in 1565, with a group of soldiers, colonists, Native Americans, and priests.  On September 8, official Thanksgiving was given.  A mass was celebrated and a feast followed.  This day can be considered as the first official Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. territory, says Dr. Michael Ganan, University of Florida.

After the Mass, offered as an act of thanksgiving by don Pedro Menendez de Aviles, what was eaten at the feast that followed, in what can be considered the first such celebration in U.S. territory?

Dr. Marian Horvat (“The Oldest City and the First Thanksgiving”) tells us that the feast was shared by the Spaniards and the Timucuan Indians who brought edibles such as venison, corn, beans, squash, oysters, clams, fruit, and, of course, plenty of turkeys.

Quail, hare, rabbit, chicken were probably also supplied by teh Timucuan Indians, who most certainly brought tortillas, frijoles corn, squash and legumes as well as fruits.

The Spaniards contributed cocido, a stew made with pork, garbanzo beans, chickpeas, and onions, along with biscuits, olive oil and red wine.  Surely, salted pork and cheese spread was also present.  Let us remember that Spaniards introduced into the newly discovered territories horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and chickens.  Condiments were also brought over such as olive oil, cinnamon, parsley, corriander, oregano and black pepper, and also nuts and grains such as almonds, rice, wheat and barley. 

A mixture of European and American ingredients, the best of both worlds coincided on US soil at the first Thanksgiving dinner on September 8, 1565.  It wasn't until the year 1621 when the Pilgrims celebrated what became the traditional date of the first Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.  In all things give thanks to Him!

Christmas Workshop 2012

Last week was my annual Christmas Workshop.  Everyone got to make 2 each of 6 cards, 2 each of 2 tags and a gift card holder.  First is a picture of everything:

Here is a photo of the just the Pear & Partridge artwork.

Now for the individual pieces (some of the Avonlea pieces were posted previously so I haven't added them to this post.  So, here is the Avonlea card I haven't posted before.  This is the Glory to God Stamp Set.

Now for the Pear & Partridge pieces.  This first card is courtesy of fellow consultant Kandi Gallegos-Garcia.  It was such a beautiful card she created, I had to copy it for my ladies!  This is the Merry & Bright Stamp Set.

The next card was inspired by Freshly Made Sketch #58 and Allisa Chilton.  Allisa is such an inspiration!

And finally the last was also inspired by Allisa Chilton.  I just love the burlap!  It gives cards a down-homey feel!

Next is the gift card holder!  I cut it at 4.75" and it seems to fit gift cards perfectly.  I still need to do something on the inside still....

Inside of Gift Card:

Finally we have tags from the October Stamp of the Month - Very Merry Christmas (love that set!):

And another made with the October Stamp of the Month - Very Merry Christmas:

I hope all you have had a chance to get a jump on your Christmas creations and if not, I hope you are getting a jump on ideas!  Merry hugs!

Avonlea Christmas Cards

My first card was a inspired by Heather Stewart from a gorgeous set of cards she did for Christmas with the Avonlea papers.  I just love the teal of Avonlea paired with the Smokey Plum color.  This is a standard size card of the 3 wisemen:

Papers: Avonlea WOTG papers; Avonlea White, Avonlea Teal cardstocks 
Stamps: D1483 Glory to God
Ink: Pigment White Daisy, True Teal (retired) Exclusive Inks 
Embellishments: Pearl Opaques

The next card is made with the October Stamp of the Month.  I am SO loving that set!!  There will be more posts with that Christmas Stamp set.  I also love the look of creating your own pearlized paper with Create-a-Shade by creating a mist using alcohol and sprayed onto the cardstock.  This is the project that I did for the Heart to Heart Christmas Challenge.  This will be my first H2H Challenge (such a creative group)!

Papers: Avonlea WOTG papers; White Daisy, Smokey Plum, Avonlea Teal cardstocks Stamps: S1210 Very Merry Christmas 
Ink: Smokey Plus, True Teal (retired) Exclusive Inks 
Embellishments: z1263 Bitty Sparkles
Other:  Create-a-Shade (mist of alcohol & Create-a-Shade) sprayed on White Daisy CS; Sizzix SU Embossing Folder
 
These are two of the workshop cards we made this past weekend.  I'll have more to post this week.   "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....  "

Honor Our Veterans!

Today I give honor to all the men and women who fought for FREEDOM for this great country of ours! 

From the depths of my heart I thank you for your great sacrifices.  God bless you all.  May He keep you safe and for those who are not with their family this day, may he deliver you safely back to their arms!