YIKES!!!

So I was playing around on my blog yesterday...accidentally lost the template I had... Went to Template Mama to get it back and it's GONE. So... what do you think of the new blog?? It's a little bit too pink and purply for my taste, but it's cute...right? This, my blogger friends, is a prime example of why you should back up your blog BEFORE you even "play around." Not sure why I feel the need to tell you this, except for that I'm frustrated with myself and thought you should know that there IS a reason for yet ANOTHER blog design change. Yes, I admit that I love changing my blog a lot...but not this often! :)

Well, anyway, Merry Christmas Eve Eve to all!
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What?!? A Non-Christmas Card?!?

Hard to believe, I know! Here is a card I did for the Sketchy Thursday Second Chance Challenge. I finally had a chance to break out my {Ippity} stamps (whoo-hoo! I ordered mine from Martha. I'm not sure if she has any left in stock, but check her out.) I really love this card. It was hard getting back into the non-Christmas card groove!

Supplies Used: Life's Little Moments (Ippity), Craft Fair pp (American Crafts), ribbon (American Crafts), rhinestones (Basic Grey), Scalloped Rectangle Nestabilities

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Pretzels, Pretzels, and Pretzels, OH MY!

Every year at Christmas, I make treat bags for everybody at our church. Last year I made Oreo balls, buckeyes, and cheesecake brownies. This year, I was on a tighter budget and the idea of being in the kitchen that long wasn't appealing to me. So, after a lot of debating about what I was going to do, I found these adorable Christmas shaped pretzels and decided to dip them in chocolate. Easy, right? Ha. Well, ok, yes they were easy. But time-consuming for sure. I also didn't realize dipping your own pretzels was all the rage this year, until I received gift after gift of dipped pretzel sticks. So look at me, I'm TRENDY! Haha. Well in case you are thinking of doing this, let me give you some advice:

~If your husband wants to help, let him. He will get in the way. But it's probably worth it in the end.
~There are a LOT more pretzels in those bulk containers then one first thinks.~White chocolate chips are a lot harder to use then chocolate. The white chocolate are prettier, but the chocolate hides more mistakes
~When your husband tells you that you need more chocolate and you assure him you have enough...you better have enough! I tried a 5 loaves/2 fish miracle...It didn't work. I heard about it.
~Expect that not everybody is going to appreciate your hard work. So eat a few pretzels yourself and enjoy it!

Not counting pretzels we ate or that broke, we made a total of 510! We made 85 gift bags (which included 4 chocolate pretzels, 2 white chocolate pretzels, 4 plain pretzels, and a handful of M&M's). And we also made 10 gift bags with just plain pretzels and M&M's in case any crazies that don't like pretzels in chocolate were in attendance on Sunday.

Thanks for listening to my rambling on about my project! It took me (with help from my husband!) about 6 hours to dip all the pretzels! Oh and be sure to use a fork!

The tags are from Cute and Curly (SU!) cut out with the coordinating punch and So Many Scallops (SU!) also punched with the coordinating punch.
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The Last of 'Em!

Here's the last of my Christmas cards. I hope all my blog readers (and blog happen-uponers too!) have a VERY merry Christmas. My favorite Christmas set this year was Christmas Blessings by Taylored Expressions because it said exactly what I wanted it to... remember what Christmas is all about!

Supplies Used: Christmas Blessings (Taylored Expressions), Gina K Kraft CS, Top Note die, Regular and Scalloped Rectangle Nestabilities, Rhinestones, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder, American Crafts ribbon

Supplies Used: Holiday Spirit (SU), Christmas Blessings (TE), Mistletoe PP (Making Memories), Apron Lace Border Punch (Fiskars), Gina K kraft CS, American Crafts ribbon

Let me leave you with this -- you HAVE to go to this site. It is so funny. My friend (and paper crafter extraordinaire!) Krista showed it to me and I have been addicted ever since!

http://www.sundog.net/carolofthechins/flash/card.swf

Merry Christmas!
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Christmas Quilt

I loved how this card turned out. I used the Nestabilitie Labels 4 die and on the bottom layer I used the quilted technique. It's very cute in real life! There is also stitching on the bottom layer, that is kind of difficult to see in the picture.

Supplies Used: Christmas Blessings (Taylored Expressions), Labels 4, Mistletoe PP (Making Memories), Winter Wonderland PP (LAD), Rhinestones (Kaisercraft)

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Christmas Quickies!

Okay, I have some quick Christmas cards to share with you. Rather then bore you with post after post of cards, I decided to put all the images here. I didn't use sketches or anything for these (amazing!). I just sat myself down and said "Katy, you're going to make Christmas cards. No playing on the computer!" So here you go, my Christmas quickies!

Supplies Used: Christmas Blessings (Taylored Expressions), Christmas Verses (Our Daily Bread Designs), Jesus Is the Reason (Unity Stamp Co), friendship, love, miracles (Unity Stamp Co.), Holiday Spirit (Stampin' Up!), Mistletoe (Making Memories), ribbon (American Crafts), flowers (Heidi Grace), rhinestones (Kaisercrafts), Apron Lace Border Punch (Fiskars), Swiss Dots (Cuttlebug), Top Note Die (Stampin Up!), Labels 2 (Nestabilites)...and maybe some other stuff that I missed :)

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Christmas Candles

I made some more candles for a few Christmas presents this year. These are just so cute and easy to make (although I made votive candles this time and had a hard time not burning my fingers!) I used the Vintage Borders set from Gina K. Designs, Christmas Verses from Our Daily Bread Designs, and Christmas Blessings from Taylored Expressions. 3 of my favorite Christmas sets this year!

I didn't want to make boxes for the candles, and I remembered that I had some bags left from the old Unity Stamps packaging. How cute are these??

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Liar, Liar!

Remember that I said you would get a short break from Christmas cards. Well, I lied. But not on purpose. I never did get those birthday cards done (thank goodness for a stash, right!). But I did get 2 more cards done for some challenges. The first one is the Etsy-Inspired challenge. I'm really bad at remembering to do this one, but every once in awhile, I'm on the ball! I was inspired by this piece here in the Barefoot Weaver store.
Supplies Used: Tiny Trinity (Unity), Christmas Blessings (TE), Winter Wonderland PP (LAD), Vintage Christmas Flowersoft, Kaisercraft Rhinestones, Threading Water Border Punch (Fiskars)

And this card is for the Card Patterns sketch. I'm not sure that I got it posted on time. I had it done last week and just now had a chance to post it.
Supplies Used: Christmas Verses (ODBD), Kraft CS (Gina K), Mistletoe PP (Making Memores), Threading Water Border Punch (Fiskars), American Crafts ribbon

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