Introducing: Cammie

Hey there, friends!  Well, Christmas is officially over and now we're left with wonderful memories, good food in the fridge, mountains of wrapping paper, and new toys to play with.  I hope your holiday was as special as ours was.  One of the highlights of the day for me was spending some real quality time with my family in the afternoon/evening.  Another, although I know it's not about the gifts, was this new addition to our family.   Meet my Silhouette Cameo.  I call her Cammie.

Hey, people name their cars, I can name my much-coveted cutting machine, right?  She's more than a machine, she's a crafting accomplice, no?  Just so you feel like you didn't miss anything, why don't you come on in and watch me open her...

Yup.  Just as you suspected, I'm a big dork.  I was super-excited {as the flapping arms would indicate} because although it was the one big thing I really wanted, my husband and mom had done a stellar job of implying that it wasn't going to happen.  Sneaky-sneaks.

I was a good girl and played nicely with my family while they were here and didn't rush anyone out the door, but once the family had left and LC was in bed, it was time for Cammie and I to get acquainted!  I ran downstairs to grab the adhesive vinyl I'd bought from Pick Your Plum months ago in the hopes of having the means to cut it and searched everywhere for anything I could slap vinyl on.  Here's what I came up with.

Materials:
- adhesive vinyl
- clear plastic ornament
- Silhouette Cameo!!!!!

First, I put the vinyl on my cutting mat and loaded the machine.  Well, actually, first I read the instruction manual a billion times and installed the software.  But then I loaded the machine.

Isn't she pretty?  {Sigh of contentment.}

Then, I chose one of the designs in my library that came with the software, a snowflake, for a test run.  I sent it to the machine and it went to work. {Notice the tins there...homemade toffee and peanut butter balls...one needs energy to be creative, right?}.

And out came a snowflake!  Lookie!  I know it's hard to see, but it's there in all its machine cut glory.

I quickly stuck it on my ornament, and voilá!  Hubby, who wasn't even really sure exactly what a Silhouette was, let alone all of its endless creative possibilities, was duly impressed.  It was at that moment that I fell in love with Cammie.

*Side note: Sorry for the less than awesome photos...I was more interested in playing with my new toy than in getting craftgawker-quality pics, for once.  You understand, don't you?*

I went to the online store and quickly spent all but 40 cents of the $10 gift card that came as part of the package, buying sayings, fonts, and flowers.  Then, I went into the studio, typed up "one artsy mama" and started cutting it, along with the flowers I'd chosen.  I grabbed another plastic ornament {I have a million of them in my stash} and went to town.  And there you have it...the first ever One Artsy Mama personalized ornament.  Ahhhhhhh!

How fun is that?!  And it's so ridiculously easy.  Well, except for when I loaded the machine wrong and it cut in the wrong place, and well...we won't talk about that.  Lookie!

I didn't need any more ornaments and hubby wouldn't let me start vinyling everything in our house like I wanted to, so I had to settle for just this one last project before bedtime...Mackenzie from Cheerios and Lattes suggested making a control panel cover for Cammie!  It's one of the preloaded designs in the library; you just cut it out of scrapbook paper and ta da!  Isn't she stylish?  I think pink is definitely her color...just do me a favor and reassure her it doesn't make her look fat, ok?

Well, that's just a little tiny preview of what my girl Cammie can do!  I really REALLY wanted to head out to the store today to get all kinds of random things to stick vinyl on, but, well...this is happening.

And so I'm pouting.  And looking around the house for something I can prettify...hmmmm....what about the glass doors of the china cabinet?  Or maybe the wall?  Um, gotta run!

Hugs and Glitter,

Merry Christmas!

Today is a special day, friends, and from the bottom of my heart I want to wish you a

very Merry Christmas

from our family to yours.

 

Whether you have a white Christmas or not {we do!},

 

I hope your day is filled with JOY

 

with LOVE

 

and with BLESSINGS

as you celebrate the birth of our Savior.

 

"But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

  ^'Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.'” - Luke 2:10-14

 

Hugs and Glitter,

 

 

 

 

Totally Irresistable English Toffee

Calling all Toffee Lovers!  And chocolate lovers!  And candy lovers! 
Boy, oh boy, do I have a real treat for you today!  This recipe is going to make your taste buds do cartwheels and your hips say, "oh, nooooo!"

A few disclaimers first, in the spirit of full disclosure...

#1: I got this recipe from a friend of ours at church who had made this tasty treat for us to enjoy while making our advent boxes.  She actually has a blog of her own where she posts some of her most favorite recipes, which you can see here.



#2: You know I'm not much of a chef, so it may not surprise you that I was not the maker of the toffee you see in the following photos...my wonderful mama was.  Those are her hands you'll see doing all the hard work.  My contributions consisted of photographing, occasionally holding the candy thermometer, and quality testing the end result.

Whew, I feel better now.  On to the recipe!

English Toffee
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 pkg milk chocolate chips

STEP 1: Mix together sugar, butter, and water in saucepan.

STEP 2: Stir constantly until temperature reaches 300 degrees Farenheit.
I took these photos to show the process...at first it just looks like melted butter.  Then it starts to bubble.  Once the boiling starts, it takes about 4-5 minutes to reach 300 on the candy thermometer.  As it heats up, it will thicken and begin changing color to become more brown.  {Funny side note - when Pinwheel first told my mom how to make it, Mom mistakenly thought she said it took 45 minutes instead of four TO five...lol.  She was pleasantly surprised not to have to actually stir that long!}

STEP 3: Spread mixture about 1/4 inch thick onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Make sure you work quickly and do it on a heat resistant surface.

STEP 4: Allow toffee to cool for 3-4 minutes, then sprinkle with chocolate chips.

STEP 5: As chips melt, spread them out evenly.

STEP 6: Refrigerate for about an hour.  This is how it will look when it's ready.
At this point, my dad walked by and asked me why in the world I was taking a picture of that.  I told him it was for the blog, to which he replied, "so people can say, oh, what a nice cow patty?" 

STEP 6: Break into bite size pieces.
This is a great job for little helpers who can't be involved in the actual making of the candy since everything gets so hot!

STEP 7: EAT!  And eat and eat and eat and eat some more!

Thanks to Pinwheel for the delicious recipe, to my mom for being wonderful and making it, and to Little Crafter for breaking it up so nicely.  And to dad too, who let me come over and photograph these "cow patties" for you.

What's your favorite holiday treat?

Hugs, Glitter, and Holiday Cheer!

Christmas Handprint Plaque

Hey friends, I have a really special treat for you today!  You've heard me mention one of my best friends, Erin, about a million times...well, she's here today to share one of her own projects with you and in her own words too, which makes it super-awesome because she's absolutely hilarious.  I know you're going to love her...and this project too!  Here she is...

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Hello to all those in “One Artsy Mama” land! My name is Erin, and you may know me from such craft projects as the “Joy Votives”, “Shamrock Bags”, and most recently, our famous “Star Bowls”. I not only have the privilege of calling Amy one of my bestest buds and fellow crafters, but I am also a mother to two precious “Irish Twin” boys, ages 2 ½ and 1 ½!

The wonderful Amy has allowed me a chance to share one of the Christmas projects I’ve been working on this holiday season. In order to begin, we need to go back in time a bit, to about October. Amy blogged about the loss of my amazing mother, and needless to say it’s been a rough couple of months. During the week that Mom passed, my mother-in-law flew out from Texas, and stayed at our house. As I dealt with family matters, my mother-in-law took over my house (in a good way!). She and my husband made sure my boys were kept alive and well, that everyone was fed, and my house had never looked cleaner. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, when dear MIL posted a link to Santa-shaped salt dough ornaments, with a child’s hand print as the body with the caption “I might like these with the boys' prints!”. I “pretended” not to notice. Ha. Little did she know.

The project came together in my head, and I did a few sketches then headed out on a solo run to Michaels. I’m pretty sure at this point, Amy and I had this conversation:  {Amy says - um, yes, we definitely did.  You were doing this while I was running errands and pouting that you didn't invite me.  See how she is?}



 My Michaels trip was successful, and I came home with some new craft supplies (and apparently Toy Story Christmas wrapping paper. Darn you, Michaels.) Here was the haul:

(In other news, I’m sorry for crappy Iphone Pictures. I didn’t feel like stopping to take a lot of pictures because I was uber excited.)

 So, what you need for the Christmas Handprint Plaque:

-Mod Podge (both regular and fabric)

-Felt (I did brown, red, and sparkle red. I only used the brown and sparkle)
-Letter Stencil (optional)
-Wooden Plaque (or any flat surface)
-Spray Paint (I did blue, to cover the plaque)
-Pom Poms
-Tiny Jingle Bells
-Various Paint (I had white, flesh tone, brown, and black)
-Snow-Tex
-Picture Hanging Kit (Optional)
-Various Paint Brushes
-White Card Stock

First step was spray painting the wooden plaque, giving it plenty of time to dry. I did several coats (as I kept finding pet hair, and had to redo another layer. Sheesh.)

 Next up was the scariest part. Handprints. Ok. I have two little boy toddlers, one of which is a CONSTANT mover, the other (the eldest) who’s funny about things on his hands. I had no idea how this was going to go, as I have never been successful with handprinting them before. My husband was on standby with paper towels and extra card stock paper, and a clear path to the bathroom sink. First up, the youngest. He was to have “reindeer hands” so I took a sponge paint brush, and painted his little hand brown. I was shocked as he held still long enough for me to paint him, and then place his hand on the cardstock. Seriously, this was too good to be true! He allowed me to do about 7 prints, giving me plenty to choose from! My eldest was up next, and I placed the paint on his hand (white on the fingers, flesh tone on the palm for Santa) and held my breath. He LOVED it! Success! I got about 8 good prints from him and I only needed one! The prints were done and needed to dry. I have 4 animals and two toddlers. Finding safe drying places is tricky.

After the prints dried, it was time to decorate them. For Santa, I used the sparkly red felt for his hat (and fabric mod podge on the back to glue it down), and cut white pom poms in half for his hat border. An added jingle bell completed his look! Ho, ho, ho! The reindeers got decked out in sparkly red felt and jingle bells, brown felted antlers, and of course Rudolf got a red pom pom nose! All facial features were painted on.

 The next day, the plaque was dry, and so I pulled out the Snow-Tex to add a snowy landscape. I’ve never worked with the stuff before, but I fell in love with it. Seriously. Love at first brush stroke.

Once you do your first layer of Snow-Tex, you can put more on to add bigger snow peaks.

Next up, was stenciling letters on the plaque. I began with practicing on a piece of cardstock, so I knew where it would go, how big it should be, letter spacing, etc. I HATE stenciling. There, I said it. I feel better.

See, I don’t mind the stenciling when it’s on a piece of paper, but knowing that I might have to stencil on the actual project? I always mess it up. Always. So I usually use the stencil as a guide and free hand it.

Not too bad. I also added Sno-Tex on the top of the letters because I’m obsessed because it looked really cute.

Once everything was dry, it was time to add Santa and his reindeer. I mod podged the back of the handprints, stuck on the prints, then mod podged over them. I also ended up hot gluing the reindeer feet and Santa’s beard down on the snowy peaks, to keep them flat. I added a border of snow-tex around the whole thing, as well as a few snowflakes.

The following day, I added a picture hanger on the back, in case Nonie wanted to hang it up, as well as a quick inscription with dates, names, and ages.

And that’s it! I loooove how it turned out, and my mother-in-law has no idea that it’s coming. It’s the perfect memento to pull out Christmas after Christmas, and it was very inexpensive to make!

A huge “Thank you” to Amy for allowing me to hijack her blog for the day! I wish a lot of you knew Amy in real life, because you have no idea how amazing she is. She has a beautiful, generous spirit and her warmth and laughter is a blessing in my life. I love you One Artsy Mama!

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Sniffle...*little tear*
Oh, ahem, thanks so much, Erin, for sharing your project with us today!  Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did!  Now I feel a sudden need to go buy some Snow-Tex, how about you?  Well, have a fabulous day, friends!  And I love you right back, Erin!  

Hugs and glitter,

Handmade Holidays at a Glance

 

Well, friends, I hope you've thoroughly enjoyed this year's Handmade Holidays {on the cheap} series!  Here's a quick recap of the ideas just in case you missed some!  Clicking on each title will take you to the post with a full tutorial.

 

 

HANDMADE GIFT IDEAS

 

Stenciled Mugs

 

Personalized Photo Frames

DeDe's Reindeer Dust

Blythe's Photo Coasters

 

Kadie's Fleece Blankets

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HOLIDAY HOME DECOR

DIY Stenciled Tableware

Advent Wreath

 

Sheet Music Star Bowl

 

JOY Canvas

 

Erin's JOY Votives

 

Leslie's Christmas Card Banner

 

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HANDMADE ORNAMENTS

Felt Owls

 

Felt Monograms

 

Trees for Kids {Great first sewing project}

 

Stenciled Glass Ornaments

 

Bottlecap Snowman Ornaments

 

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TASTY TREATS

 

Sugared Mocha Cookies

 

Thanks for reading along throughout the series and giving me your great feedback!  And thanks to my series contributors: Kadie, Blythe, DeDe, Erin, and Little Crafter!  Which project is your favorite?  What's your best Handmade Holidays tip?

 

Love and glitter,