Scrabble Frame

Hi everyone,

I've been eyeing scrabble tile projects lately.  Yesterday I created this little Scrabble frame.  Very simple and cute.  It looks lop-sided, but it's not.

Try it.  It's super easy.

A Wonderful Thanksgiving Table & A Challenge

Hi everyone,

We had a wonderful evening last night.  I have three siblings and we all get together with my husband's family.  My eldest sister doesn't normally come since she lives in Tennessee and we are in Miami, but we do all have a wonderful time together.

We had a total of 26 last night.  I wanted each family to have something nice to take home with them, so I created these beautiful cylinder candle holders.  Each family had their surname etched into the glass.  I think they turned out gorgeous and my table looked beautiful!

UPDATED: I'm going to enter this into Die Cutting Diva's Challenge #92 - Thanksgiving.

I found these great MINI lights at Walmart that are battery operated.  Perfect for the centerpieces.

Pinecones had been spraypainted gold

I love how these turned out.  So pretty.  I used Plantin Schoolbook for the font and My Creative Time XL Label Die and
Piles of Smiles for the napkin rings.

These cookies were tied by ribbon to the kids' utensils.  The pumpkin is made of three oval punches.  The leaf if My Creative Time from the Piles of Smiles

My original thought was to put a banner on each plant..but I made them a little big, so I just laid it on the table.  It's only around 16" long.  Letters were cut at 1.75"  I used Planting and the banner layers are from Birthday Bash.

Happy Thanksgiving

Good morning, crafty friends.

I won't have a crafty project until later when I post pictures of all of the goodies I made for Thanksgiving.  (I want my guests to be surprised).  But, I did want to take a moment, in case anyone out there stops for a visit, to say Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

This is my favorite time of year.  My father was the chef for the day each year and we grew up to the smell of turkey roasting in the oven and to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on TV.  Those memories are priceless to me.  So today, I'm watching the parade and remembering my dad very fondly.  I miss him, but am so THANKFUL that he was such a wonderful example for my sisters and brother and I.

Enjoy your family today!!!  Be blessed!!!

Rev. Emiliano Gonzalez, Sr.
5/5/1936-9/3/2010

Thanksgiving Treat bags

Hi friends,

I cannot believe we are only three days away from Thanksgiving Day!  It's such a wonderful holiday!!!

I have been making some great crafts for the dinner setting, but I can't share until afterwards.  I'd like for it to be a surprise.  I will show you, though, the treat bags that I'm using for the kids.  They will also serve as placecards for them.  I purchased some leaf-shaped cookies at Walmart and was able to get six treat bags.  Perfect!  I used the SU Top Note and folded it in half.  Nothing fancy.  I used MCT Piles of Smiles for the sentiment and added their name with a gold pen.  I used Chocolate Chip ink by SU.

The pumpkin was something I had planned on using for the grown ups, but I went another route.  I didn't want to waste them, so I used them for the kids instead.  I wish I would have used cardstock instead of paper...and that the middle section was popped up, but I think they're cute regardless.  The leaf is also MCT Piles of Smiles. I LOVE that set.  I hope you like.

Christmas Banners for Special Needs Kids Blog Hop

Welcome to Day 3 of the Christmas Banners for Special Needs Kids blog hop!

  "In the eyes of children, we find the joy of Christmas. In their hearts, we find its meaning."

You should have arrived here from Nancie. If you just stumbled across my blog and would like to hop from the beginning, please go to CARDMONKEY and hop along.

As joyous as Christmas is for most families, for some, their holidays are filled with worry, medical treatments and tests, and pain -- for their child must be hospitalized or she or he needs long-term care rather than being home with their families. 

For these kids, Santa doesn't slip down a chimney but rather, often comes in the guise of community volunteers who help make the season bright.  This is the second Christmas season that our own band of dedicated and loving papercrafters have come together to make Holiday banners for children who are too sick to be home for the holidays. 

This year, we had so many generous crafters that our Hop is over three full days. We have also partnered with another great cause and recipient of our banners!  By teaming up with Madison Womack's I FEEL THE LOVE PROJECT, the banners our crafters have handmade will be going to the hospitalized children at Children's Hospital Central California! 

My banner was made using Birthday Bash and some beautiful Spiced Plum Recollections designer paper. I wanted to use a Santa "Believe" theme, since our household is getting close to the end of that innocent era. I will ALWAYS believe. I added some stickers from JoAnns to embellish a little more. I also used Liquid Applique on the Santa hats to make them dimensional. I had never used that product before...it's pretty cool!

**GIVEAWAYS**

Cardmonkey has an AMAZING gift basket for one lucky winner. Please be sure to head over to her blog CARDMONKEY to see how you can win.

Since we have more than 50 banner makers over the course of this weekend, she will be picking 5 blogs at random, and then one random comment from that Blog site, for that commenter to win one of five great prizes, which are:

1. Susan Bermudez, Independent Consultant for Creative Memories, donating a $20 gift certificate for Creative Memories products from her catalog (http://www.mycmsite.com/sites/susanbermudez/).
2. Scrappin' Madge: $25 Gift Certificate to The Scrappin Lounge Shoppe (http://madgesscrappinlounge.storenvy.com/)
3. Fresh Brewed Designs: Two prizes - One prize is a rubber stamp, Item #497 "Cutie Pie Ice Skating" (http://www.freshbreweddesigns.com/item_497/Cutie-Pie-Ice-Skating.htm), and the other is a $15 Digital Stamp gift card.
4. The Paper Temptress (www.papertemptress.com) - Owner Patricia Dunbar will donate a $25 Gift Certificate to her online store, the Paper Temptress.
5. The Pinque Peacock (www.pinquepeacock.com) - Owners Jessica Shelton will donate a gift certificate to her NEW store (products are being added daily -- watch as she grows!)
6. In addition, Close to My Heart Independent Consultant Lucy Kelleher will award a $20 gift certificate to a randomly-selected hopper who visits her blog (http://love2createitall.com) and/or Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/LucyK.CTMH) and posts a comment about the banner blog hop!

P.S. -- Be sure to check out as many blogs as you can, as several will be providing their own blog candy with their own requirements. 

Today's blog hop order is:

1. Ellen ~ CardMonkey - http://cardmonkeyspaperjungle.com/
2. Marianne - http://paperorfabric.blogspot.com/
3. Beckie ~ http://justbcreativecrazy.blogspot.com/
4. Tami - http://tamboscreations.blogspot.com/
5. Heather D. - http://joemamainks.blogspot.com/
6. Jearise - http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com/
7. Susan B - http://susanascorner.blogspot.com/
8. Jamie M. http://craftygirl21.blogspot.com/
9. Linda Simpson - http://lindasimpsoncraftypieceofheaven.blogspot.com/
10. Theresa ~ www.thescrapbookingqueen.com_
11. Vicky - http://www.luvmygypsy.blogspot.com/
12. Debbie T-  http://debbiescrafttime.blogspot.co.uk/
13. Pam Funk - http://dreamersklub.blogspot.com/
14. Shelly - http://kccroppers.blogspot.com/
15. Alina - http://neverstopscrapping.blogspot.com/
16. Lisa L. - http://lisascreativeniche.blogspot.com/
17. Nancie - http://alittlepieceofmebynancie.blogspot.com/
18. Dorcas - http://craftycardangel.com/ <------YOU ARE HERE
19. Debbie _http://craftydeb-ddscrafts.blogspot.com/ <--------hop on to Debbie next
20. Rexann - http://ibecircled.blogspot.com

Thank you again for visiting us here for a beautiful and worthwhile endeavor.  God bless all the little children wherever they spend their holidays!!

Candle Box

Hi friends,

This is yet another little creation for the "tea" basket for Bryan's classroom.  I found these votive candle holders at the dollar store and was looking for a cute way to package them.  I took Pine colored PTI paper and made a box.  The designer paper is Recollections from the Sugar Plum paper pack which I got on sale at Michael's for 40% off.

I used PaperTrey ink stamp set and Pure Poppy paper and ink for the sentiment.  The cream paper is the rustic cream from PTI also.  The little stocking is from the dollar bins at Michael's.  I've had them for a couple of years and always forget about using them.  I used my only Nestabilities dies for the frame.  I like how this turned out.

I used a big glue dot to hold the cups to each other and another one underneath to stick them to the cardstock so that they would be nice and snug.

Classroom Christmas Projects

Hi Friends!

I've been super busy doing some great things, but I can't share.  I don't want the family to see them before Thanksgiving.

I'm bringing you a little project I did for my son's classroom "tea" basket.  The apple cider box that I made last week was cute, but the teacher decided to use a Christmas theme instead, so I had to come up with another plan on short notice.  I took the apple ciders and put them in cello bags and created a cute tag for each of them.  In hindsight, I probably could have made a topper , but I didn't think about it.  Hmmm.  Well...they look cute regardless.  I used Papertrey Ink stamps  and poppy ink on one and Gumball Green from Stampin Up on the other.   The die is from My Creative Time (XL Label Die).

Thanksgiving Napkin Rings

Hi friends,

I was looking for neat napkin rings for Thanksgiving and got a great idea from Miss Emma at My Creative Time.  I love her products and have a lot of them.  The sentiment is from Piles of Smiles and so are the die cuts.  I like how they turned out.

I came up with these: