Games Night 1-1-11

Wish you could smell this! It just says "holiday" to me... I packaged up a few batches and gave them to my neighbors last week.

I can't wait to have all my kids together. It's the first time since last New Year's Eve that all four of them will be here with us. Somehow I thought it would be easier to gather everyone when they were older but now they have jobs, classes, and trips of their own.

For the past eight years on New Year's weekend, we hold a big gathering out in the barn called Games Night. Friends and family travel from miles around to make sure they don't miss one. A potluck dinner starts the night off usually consisting hearty fare and yummy desserts. Then the games begin. The crowd forms into eight teams and settles down to play Spoons, Pictionary, Taboo and one other (we throw a new one in to keep them on their toes). It's pretty cold oout (typo that looks like I am trying to be Canadian!) there because the barn is 100 years old and not insulated. But for the past few years my husband has rented a huge industrial heater. This year he called a little late and the one we got last time had been reserved by the University of Maryland for a football game (is this thing heating the stadium?) so we had to get the next size up! I will post a pic of this. I am hoping there will be room to fit the people! We play four rounds of games and at the end, the winning team is awarded prizes.

The really fun thing about Games Night is the mixture of people that attend. We invite people we know from all areas of our life- neighbors, people from church, work, Rotary, book club, military, choir, the kid's friends, etc. and somehow at the end of the night, everyone feels like they know each other. We are so blessed with great kids, family and friends. Wishing a healthy and happy New Year to all of you. Thanks for stopping by!

Noodle Contest!

Remember I told you a couple of weeks ago about getting the yummy bag of free food from the soon-to-open Noodles & Company? Well, I was contacted by the Noodles social media person, and she came up with a challenge for all of you, my crafty friends! OK- who out there has some cute noodle crafts?  This can include projects made by you or anyone in your family. I do have some but that bin has not yet been unearthed. Here is a quick gift card holder I made from a tag with some fun pasta I picked up at World Bazaar (I think).

I embossed the top part of the tag with Tim Holtz's Snow Flurries Textured Fade, scored about 1 1/2" from the bottom and folded the bottom up. I stapled the sides and tied a bow at the top. I sprayed the snowflake pasta NOODLE piece with Glimmer Mist and spray adhesive then added glitter. And that's it! Looks so rich but really quick. I love those kinds of projects, especially at this time of year.

One of you can receive a $10 gift card for your local Noodles & Company restaurant! Post a pic on Facebook or your blog of your favorite ornaments/holiday crafts made with noodles, then comment here with your link. I'll let you know Thursday night who won!

Triple Play Blog Hop- Week 7: Treat Toppers

Welcome to our last round of the Triple Play Blog Hop! At this time I personally want to thank all of you, designers and readers, for hopping along with us on our 7 week journey. It has been totally amazing to see the beautiful and creative projects that everyone shared and I hope they have inspired you to try out some of the techniques and ideas presented for inspiration!

And on to the project for this week- the ScoreBoard Treat Toppers die. The holidays is a great time to use these toppers to wrap half a dozen cookies for yet another cookie exchange, for jewelry and small gift presentations, handmade crafts or candy and other baked goods... you see where I am going here- lots of possibilities. The die is loaded with pieces that all work together so it's a great value that you will use over and over again. Although this die is designed to work with matboard, you can easily run through paper as well and just fold in half! This is a great way to use up your paper scraps and make adorable packaging.

I used Stephanie Barnard's stamps on this project and loved how they fit so perfectly on the different pieces. It was as though they were made for this die! Thanks Stephanie- I know you planned it that way! And I don't know about you, but I love to color. The stamps lent themselves to some fun coloring with Copic markers and these I owe to Colleen Schaan, the Copic Queen, and another one of our blog hoppers!

You will need:
Big Shot die cutting machine
Treat Toppers ScoreBoard die by Eileen Hull
Little Sizzles matboard pack 6" x 13"
Notebook Pocket ScoreBoard die by Eileen Hull
House ScoreBoard Pro die by Eileen Hull
Holly4Christmas set #14- Stamps of Life by Stephanie Barnard
Memento stamp pad- black
Copic Markers- assorted reds, greens and grays
silver marker
silver stamp pad
paper
coordinating glitter paper
silver glitter
glue pen
Tiny Attacher

Instructions for Toppers:

1. Cut Treat Topper die from cream matboard piece with Big Shot. 
2. Stamp messages on scored pieces of the die with black Memento ink.
3. Color images with Copic markers shading as you go to give depth to the text or design.
4. Add embellishments, such as bells and ribbons to complete design.
5. Package gift items in clear cellophane bags.
6. Staple or tape bags together.
7. Add toppers by taping, tying with ribbons or stapling sides together.

HINT: Tim Holtz's Tiny Attacher works great for stapling layers together.

For gift card holder:

1. Cut red matboard piece 9" x 4". Score at 4" on red side. Fold up.
2. Cut a piece of coordinating paper the same size and adhere it to the white side of the matboard.
3. Cut a pocket from paper to hold gift card and adhere to inside of folder. 
4. Cut/punch various embellishment dies to coordinate. (I used MS snowflakes, bird, EK Success tree, 2 circles for snowman, and Plaid white HD paint for snow along with some stickles to add sparkle)
5. Cut front bumpout section for the House die and use as front porch and door. Add strips cut from glitter paper for roof and add faux snow.
6. Add bells on jump ring tied to ribbon on top of roof.

For bag of spices:

1. Stamp topper and color in with Copics.
2. Use double sided tape to adhere front and back of topper to cellophane bag.
3. Thread ribbon through slits and tie on corner.
4. Cover oval die cut with paper.
5. Layer smaller scalloped oval piece on top and label contents. Ink edges.
6. Adhere to outside of bag.

For bag of bells:

1. Stamp topper and color with Copics.
2. Run double sided tape on front and back inside of topper.
3. Cut about 10 inches of ribbon and lay on fold inside.
4. Center and press toppers closed into place on top of bag.
5. Tie ribbon in middle and hang from tree!

But wait, there's MORE... I have saved the best news for last! Karen, Brenda and I have so much fun on this hop, we have decided to keep it going by launching our own Triple Play blog! Here you will find new projects, guest bloggers, tips and techniques for using our dies along with some great videos, color hints and some sneak peeks here and there of upcoming releases!  Keep the inspiration going- stop by and leave us a comment or two and check back frequently for new posts. We are also on Facebook- please "like" us and let us know what you thought of the hop. :-) We would love to see any pics of projects you have created using our products so send them on in or post them on our FB page.

Thanks so much, my friends. It has been a blast. Warm wishes for a wonderful holiday season to all of you!

Triple Play Bog Hop- Week 6: Album Ornament

Thanks for hopping by today! Today's featured die is the Mini Album by Brenda Pinnick. We received a fun bag full of die cut pieces to work with. I used mine to trace the shapes and transfer to double sided cardstock. But I have beautiful teal felt shapes for another project. And this die is added to my wish list! You could use this classic shape for many different projects. To get in the Christmas spirit, I decided to make a 3D ornament from this die cut. I will add more pics later...

After cutting all of the pieces by hand I can honestly tell you that die cut machines and dies are worth every cent spent on them!

You will need:
Big Shot die cut machine
Mini Album die by Brenda Pinnick
Textured Impressions folder- Damask
3 pieces of coordinating paper- I used some yummy ones from My Mind's Eye and October Afternoon
glitter
glue
silver twisted wire
16 gauge aqua wire
double sided tape

Instructions:

1. Die cut 2 solid and 2 patterned pieces from the largest die. 
2. Cut 2 solid, and 2 each of three other patterned pieces for a total of eight.
3. Score or fold down the middle of each shape. NOTE: pieces are not exactly symetrical.
4. Run all solid paper pieces through Big Shot using the Damask Textured Impressions folder. 
5. Alternating colors and patterns, fold all papers on the diagonal and score for a crisp fold. 
6. Add a small line of double sided tape to the back fold of each card and butt up against each other in a circle, pushing the centers together. You could also glue the spine together.
7. Run a line of glue around the outside of the solid paper pieces and sprinkle with silver glitter.
8. For hanger, bend a piece of silver wire about 18 inches and twine it around the large gauge wire to add color and depth. Twist into a spiral shape at the top and bottom. Bend piece into hanger shape.
9. Run another piece of silver wire through the holes at top of card. Knot and curl ends of wire.
10. Hang on your tree!
11. I can see I need to print photos- wouldn't they be adorable set in the fold of the die? A photo each year of the child's school picture could be glued into the center of each small album piece.

What would you do with this die?

For more ideas, hop along to the next designer on the list by clicking on the Triple Play icon either forward or back. To return to Sizzix, click on the middle button.

Thanks so much for joining us today. Hope to see you next week for the last installment of the hop. We'll be working with the Treat Topper die by yours truly :-)

I love Noodles & Company!

So last night when my husband got home from work, I asked the usual, "What would you like for dinner?" (note- this does not mean he will GET it, my asking is merely an acknowledgement that at some point there will BE dinner). My favorite nights are when he says (as he did last night) "China King". I have been doing some serious cleaning out/rearranging of my studio for the past few days,so was quite happy to get out of here for a nice meal. So we set off for China King....

As we pulled in to the parking lot we noticed that there was a new Noodles and Company. It's a chain but not sure if it's just in the local area or what. You can probably imagine the menu selection- every ethnic noodle you can think of. So we decided to go there instead. We walked in and noticed that everyone in the place had the same thing on. No one was sitting down eating either. I asked the nearest black shirted employee if we could have dinner there and she said no, that they weren't open officially till next Thursday but if we were interested she would be happy to give us a nice hot bag of food! Apparently it was a carry-out training session so they had a supply of food and no one to eat it. We happily took the food and thanked them. As we were leaving, they came running out with dessert! Rice Krispy treats and 2 giant cookies. What a fun thing! We sat out in the car and ate this tasty meal of tomato soup (you have to try this!) and Thai chicken and noodles.

Wouldn't it be nice if more people did stuff like this? Speaking of giving stuff away, St@rlight is the winner of the Texture Boutique machine donated by Sizzix for commenting on the last blog hop. Congrats- please email me with your mailing addy- EileenHull@aol.com.

Triple Play Blog Hop: Week 5- Gift Card Holder

Hello my friends! Thanks for stopping by for another installment of our Sizzix blog hop. Today, the featured die is the Gift Card Holder w/Phrase, For You 3-D (Pop-Up) by the amazing Karen Burniston. I can see so many possibilities for this die and it went together really quickly after I watched Karen's video tutorial. 

I decided to start my Christmas crafting early (for me) and make a fun gift for my granddaughter Trinity. She is four and loves books. Rudolph was one of my favorite holiday stories- in fact, I am sure we had a version of this Golden Book because I remember these illustrations! It's a classic. When she comes at Christmas, I plan to read it with her and have one of the kids film us so she remembers the visit. It kills me that they live so far away and I don't see her nearly as much as I would like.



You may be wondering what all this has to do with the gift card holder... Well, when you open the book, there's a pop-up gift card attached to the cover!

You will need:

Pop Up die Gift Card Holder #656740 
Big Shot die cut machine
Styled Labels die by Tim Holtz
3 coordinating papers- eskimo kisses by BasicGrey
strong double sided adhesive
glue
crystal glitter
craft knife
lace and embellishments
thin magnets (2)
brown flocking- Doodlebug

Instructions for book cover:

1. Paint white glue over the brown areas of Rudolph's body. Sprinkle on brown flocking. Let dry.
2. Add red Stickles to Rudolph's nose. I did two coats so his nose really glowed :-)
3. Add other embellishments if desired.

Instructions for card:

1. Measure the inside cover of the book. Cut a piece of paper to size and adhere paper to book cover.
2. Cut a another piece of cardstock at least the size of an A-2 card. This one juuuust fits inside the book- it's a tight squeeze allowing for the pop-up action but it works!
3. The card opens backwards from a regular card so make sure to factor that in as you work.
4. Die cut gift card pieces and assemble as shown in instructions. I decided to add my own twist and cut out Trinity's name. It's not really a pop-up but is probably the closest I will ever get to one :-) Added glue to the frame around the edge and Trinity's name and then covered them with crystal glitter for a little sparkle. 
5. Glue a magnet to the top of the book and one to the back cover of the card so it stays closed when book is opened. Cover magnets with design elements.
6. When you have the card positioned as you like, adhere in place with strong adhesive. 
7. Die cut Styled Labels from white paper and stamp/write message. Adhere to lower section of the book cover.
8. Embellish the front of the card as desired.

I tried to keep the layers to a minimum because I was concerned that it would bulge.

In case this is your first time hopping with us, here's how it works. Wherever you see the Triple Play logo, click on "hop ahead" or "hop back" to bring you to the next designers' blog where there will be another cool project waiting. At any point if you want to return to the Sizzix blog you can hit the center "Sizzix" button or just click on the logo. So easy and so fun! There are more than 50 fabulous designers participating so make sure to see them all. Talk about inspiration...wow. See you next week with Brenda Pinnick's mini album die.