Visions of Sugarplums Day 1

Welcome back to another year of Visions of Sugarplums hosted by the ever fabulous Lori Hairston from Chouxchoux Paper Art.  We have a fabulous line up of talented people, spectacular sponsors, challenges, giveaways and a heaping helping of inspiration, so let's get started!

Here's the deal...I don't have a nativity scene for Christmas so I thought to myself, "Self...let's make one" And so I did.  For Day 1 I am showcasing Mr. and Mrs. Gingerbread and swaddled in a blanket is their new bouncing baby.  

They began as a dream and Kraft cardstock and a sheet ripped from the pages of a dictionary

Then they were given two sparkly diamond eyes covered in black copics.  A dressing of vintage red ric rac, black brads for buttons, a dashing bowtie and a heart filled with love.

And here is his ever lovely and faithful bride, Mrs. Gingerbread who was pretty much compiled the same way; except for that stunning row of lace to "pertify" her up.  

And here they are again...

Stay tuned for Day 2 of Visions of Sugarplums as I'll unveil more of my nativity set.

I'll announce the winner of my gift card prize on Friday the 11th. 

Just comment to win..

Good luck to you!

NOW FOR THE LINKS, CHALLENGE and PRIZES!!

You'll be eligible to win the prizes by commenting on all the following blogs.  

Each comment left is an entry earned.

Links:

                        Lisa Minckler (you are here)

Mitra Pratt

Tracey Kelly

Maria Patrick

Char Cundy

Regina Easter

Karon Hughes

Silje Aunan

Debbie Fisher

Cherry Nelson

Jeanne Jachna

Lori Hairston

Challenge:

Link your projects up here!

ChouxChoux Paper Art is hosting a Christmas/Winter challenge!

  The challenge will end December 20th.  The randomly selected winner will receive a $25.00 gift certificate to Lawn Fawn.

Projects and Cards are accepted that follow the theme.

Sponsors:

An incredibly sincere THANK YOU to the fabulous sponsors who are so generous! 

ChouxChoux Paper Art -  Mega Giveaway of Christmas Crafting Goodies 

Lawn Fawn - $25.00 Gift Certificate

The Funkie Junkie Boutique - $25.00 Gift Certificate

The Cutting Cafe - 3 Sets of Choice to a Winner

Moonlighting & Co. -  1 Set of Choice to Three Winners

PPinky Dolls - 1 Digital Stamp Image of Choice

Baers Design Studio - 1 Set of Choice to Three Winners

CanvasPop -  one 16x20 canvas of your favorite photo

Canvas Pop has another great giveaway going on right now 

 Enter by December 11th.

Enter the WIN YOUR CHRISTMAS giveaway HERE.

I loved having you visit!

Big hugs and Happy Hopping,

Lisa x

12 Tags of Christmas #9 and #10

I have never in my evers seen a peppermint mocha latte drinking snowman star and that's a shame because he's ADORABLE!  I'm not tooting my horn on how precious this guy turned out, because I have Linda to thank for the guidance and inspiration from her tag.

Here's her Tag 9 from The Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas 2015 and what doesn't scream out to you on this baby?  I mean, there's garland and a beverage and merriment sentiments and snowflakes and a beverage and jingle bells and a beverage and WOW, seriously wonderful.  So...I tried to utilize as many of those things as I possibly could between the snowman star and his little bag.

Also, as you know, this challenge continues to be sponsored by Linda's store The Funkie Junkie Boutique and boy howdy, does she have some incredible wonderful items that are just flying off the shelves. Hit the link above and check it out for yourself if you've never been there before. Plus, she has THE BEST prices!

Here's my tag 10 and of course my inspiration from Linda's tag 10.

I just dove right into every aspect on her tag. I loved the wintry pines, the frothy white texture, the aged gold and printed word.  Each of these elements I tried to reproduce on my snowman and bag.

There's still 2 more tags in the 12 Tags of Christmas Challenge and still time to play along!

Thank you so much for your visit and I hope you found some inspiration here.

Biggest of hugs and Happy Crafting,

Lisa xx

Christmas Treat Cups @ The Cutting Cafe...

Like cards, love treats?  Want to know how to combine the two together?  

Hop on over to The Cutting Cafe for these Christmas Treat Cup Cards that feature all your festive favorites.

Set includes six different styles of Christmas fun and all of them contain treat cups that you make yourself!  I opted for a fluffy white pom pom belly instead of candy this time. I love the 'puffy' feeling it gives the snowman.

 PLUS, the set COMES WITH a box!

Regina has even designed a box that you can send them to the recipient in and they're adorable too!

 Here they are together.

The directions and video are so easy to follow and you just use your own decorating imagination.

 All DT projects are posted at The Cutting Cafe Blog on the 7th and 21st of each month. We'd love for you to visit and be sure to leave a comment for Regina. She selects one lucky person to receive 3 FREE files of their choice!

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Lisa xx

Also, COMING SOON!

December 6th - 8th, so mark your calendars!

With Gratitude From The Cutting Cafe...

Even through every hard time we've ever had, we still have so many reasons to find ourselves blessed.  I believe it's the hardships that make us treasure the happiness we find in our hearts. Especially at this time of year when we celebrate with our family and friends at Thanksgiving.  

So for this post at The Cutting Cafe, we're celebrating With Gratitude.

This printable stamp set comes with over 75 images and what you can do with them is so incredibly diverse.  Let me show you how I made this little mason jar candle holder for our Thanksgiving table.

Here's a clear mason jar that I applied crackled patina to after I'd mod podged the blessed sentiment on. The jiffy pot came from the lawn and garden center on clearance in a package of a bajillion and the battery operated candle came in a set of two from The Dollar Store. The little crocheted doilies were given to me by my Grandma's friend, Arlone, oh...and some raffia because that's just pretty with crackle.

*EDITED*

I've since removed the plastic looking candle, covered it in a layer of Mod Podge, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and then resealed with Mod Podge again. You can see this on the very first picture I've added.

I slipped the doily and the jiffy pot into the mouth of the jar then added a torn off piece of Styrofoam for height.   A handful of brown mossy stuff, also from The Dollar Store and viola, the candle sit's snug in there perfectly.

The raffia bow tied for a ribbon and the metal stars were made from metal tape and inked with Adirondack inks myself.

I have other designs I'm going to make too with the remaining sentiments that will complete the table centerpiece perfectly.  Nice and rustic and with gratitude, just like I like. it. 

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Lisa xx

All DT projects are posted at The Cutting Cafe Blog on the 7th and 21st of each month. We'd love for you to visit and be sure to leave a comment for Regina. She selects one lucky person to receive 3 FREE files of their choice!

Challenges I would like to enter this into are:

Frilly and Funkie -  An Altered State

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - #18 Texture

Knitting, Squatting, Sprinting and Staging Through the Snow....

I was so bad! I admitted that in my last post that I had abandoned my blog for way too long and knitting was the reason.  Here's what I've been doing lately.  Thank you SO much Grandma for teaching me how to knit.  I love yarn! 

Also, on a personal note, this is my last week of Boot Camp. I signed up for a 10 week course that starts at 4:30 in the morning for an hour and it's been insane!  But I can proudly say that I no longer hate squats. I used to, they made everything hurt and tried to kill me, but now I really enjoy them and I'm so glad I did it.  Another 2015 resolution almost completed before the new year rolls around! 

However, in my absence of blogging, I also slacked in a fabulous challenge that I love to take part in every year and I left off on tag 3 of The 12 Tags of Christmas hosted by Linda and Sponsored by her store, The Funkie Junkie Boutique!!  Now she's on tag 8...oops!

So, guess what I've been doing for the last 2 days?  

Sprinting to catch up so, let's begin....

Tag 4

I literally love Linda's tags so I try to recreate most of her elements and personalize each little snowman star.  I've used her background design on this sweater vest and the holly tree and pinecone he's sporting for festivity.  

Tag 5

This guy is probably my favorite so far. I never dreamed I'd be making miniature skates (sized down to insane small on my Cameo and cut out from paper, colored, glued parts together, punched tiny holes and laced)  and that was a HOOT!  Linda's tag struck me as having a frozen pond feel and so I went with the colors, the line trees and well, skates...

Tag 6

Gorgeous tag and WOW, the possibilities, but I couldn't shake food. I loved the bell embellishment and it really looked like a decorated gingerbread cookie.  So, I went with that, the tree, and corrugated cardstock.

Tag 7

I loved the printed background but I am a sucker for song sheet, so I substituted my base with that. Linda's display of various colored snowflakes is striking and I wanted to duplicate that snowy feel. I loved the silver and blues together.

Tag 8

I'm finally caught up!!! WOO HOO

OH MY WORD...how fun is this whimsical tag of hers?  Where to begin with the tags on a tag, the trees, the swirls, the colors the stripes...it's so fabulous and captivating. I had to create a little snowman star holding a banner and Christmas signs.  The colors and patterns were great fun to work with too.

And that's that!

I am now caught up and already can't wait for the Tag 9 reveal next Monday sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

One last thing.

My mom and I finally opened our antique booth together at Once Upon a Find.

 It's been a long time coming and I'm so excited!!  We spent Saturday staging for the upcoming Holiday Open House weekend.

Well, that's been life lately.  A little crazy, but a lot of fun and I enjoyed sharing it with you.

I loved your visit and I thank you so much for your time spent here listening to me ramble.

Biggest of hugs to you and Happy Whatever you enjoy doing...

Lisa xx 

I miss my babies....

Helloooooooo! 

I'm so happy you stopped by my blog. Please excuse the cobwebs.  It's residual Halloween decorations and real ones. My grandmother taught me to crochet many years back and this last visit she taught me knitting and I haven't been able to focus on anything else.  I promise to visit and catch up next week.  In the meantime, here's my latest offering for The Cutting Cafe.

My baby girl will be 18 very soon and even though she's still a sweetheart who hugs me all the time and lets me kiss her in public and loves to cuddle and watch Netflix with me, she's not a little kid anymore and that's sad...

(Many apologies to my Mom for growing up too!)  

I decided to make her a girly card using this fabulous Candle Shaped Card, Assorted Banners, Birthday Number Candles, and 5 Petal Layered Flower Set.

Here's a fun little insert. 

Notice the 'due' date is highlighted.  That's what the doctor predicted and the 'date out' is when she was born.  

And that's that!

Again, please excuse my absence of late. I can't wait to come visit you all. Until then,

knit 1, purl 2......

Everything and more and even some VERY NEW ACRYLIC STAMPS coming soon to 

The Cutting Cafe. 

All DT projects are posted at The Cutting Cafe Blog on the 7th and 21st of each month. We'd love for you to visit and be sure to leave a comment for Regina. She selects one lucky person to receive 3 FREE files of their choice!

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Lisa xx