Christmas Cookies 2009

I bought my supplies way in advance. I mixed the dough and chilled it overnight. Then I finally rolled out the dough and cut out my cookies with the help of my youngest son Ryan. I was surprised that he still wanted to help me bake cookies at 14 but I got lucky and he did! He was more interested in the rolling, cutting and baking. My favorite part is the icing and decorating so by the time that the cookies were cool and ready to decorate he was off doing something else. Oh well, I still had fun.

Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat- Classes

I took three classes at the retreat. The first one was an "Altered Canvas" taught by Jan Thomason. This class was really fun and Jan gave us each a goodie bag full of loot! I'm intimidated by canvas and paint so this class was good for me. We collaged images and objects onto the canvas along with paint. I want to try some more of these soon.

The second class "Crepe Paper Spun Hearts" was taught by Ann-Denise Anderson and she really went all out! The room was decorated like a party with gorgeous favors by each each place setting along with some supplies for the class. She brought along many different colors of gathered crepe paper wound onto long cardboard tubes which added even more festiveness to the room. You just can't be around that much crepe paper and not be happy! So that was the day that I got interested in crepe paper. And then I took another class from Ann-Denise in McKinney and made a beautiful crepe paper doll. I have been having so much fun working with crepe paper ever since!

The third class was called "Altered Compacts" taught by Charlotte Garret-Tucker. She showed us how to take vintage rouge and powder compacts and turn them into mini works of art using scrap jewelry pieces and images. I really enjoyed myself and worked so slowly that I was not finished by the end of the class, since there were so many tiny pieces of scrap jewelry that I couldn't decide which to use! Finally I settled on a "religious" theme and started gluing things on but I spend way to much time just enjoying looking through the jewelry! Once I got home I started looking on e-bay for old compacts and I bought a few so that I can do more of these.

Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat- Swaps

In June, I went to one of the most fabulous events EVER. The Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat! The reason this was so super fun for me is that before the retreat I didn't really have the opportunity to spend time with other artists or crafters. So to be around so many other women who love what I love was just wonderful. I met so many fun people!

I was in three classes and also 3 swaps. There was an ATC swap (which I've never made before), a charm swap (that one was right up my alley) and an ephemera swap. We were told that "presentation is everything" so I made sure to spend lots of time planning out the packaging for each swap.

The bags with guns (I burned a little hole into each one with an incense stick) held my ATC's. The brown paper envelopes held my ephemera and the bags with the little chenille cowgirls held my charms.

Soldered Charms

I have missed my soldering. I haven't been doing too much of it lately and now I'm ready to do some new pieces. Here is a picture of some that I made quite a while ago.

Witch Fariy Jars

I tried making some fairy jars last summer and they turned out really cute so I thought I would try some Witch Fairy Jars! I started with spanish moss glued into the bottom of the jar, topped with some green moss. Next I printed out some adorable images on photo quality paper (it's about as thick as card stock). Next I arranged the images into a little spooky fairy land and glued them in along with some glitter. I cut scrapbook circles to cover the circular part of the jar lid insert and then glued ric-rack on the outside of the lid. I purchased my adorable images from http://www.majikdesigns.etsy.com/ and http://www.lisasalteredart.etsy.com/

Craft Fair

For about 10 years I sold candles. I had not done a craft fair since I was selling candles. So I decided to try it this year and do something I had never done before. ALL HALLOWEEN. Everything that I made was Halloween themed. I spend weeks getting ready for the show listening to "The nightmare before Christmas" while I glued and painted. I had a lot of fun, it was a two day craft fair at a local High School. I met some really nice artists, which was no suprise since I always do when I go to those types of things. I really enjoyed talking to them.

Glass Halloween Charms

I made these glass charms last year like the week of Halloween so I never sold any of them and I just saved them until this year. I got glass squares and rectangles from http://www.wholesalersusainc.com/ and used Diamond Glaze to adhere Halloween images to one side. Then on the back of the image I cut another square out of scrapbook paper and glued it on so the back would look pretty. Then I coated it again with Diamond Glaze and let it dry. Next I attached a sterling silver plated bail with E-6000. It was alot easier than soldering! I still love to solder but these were easy and fast and they really do look cute.

Chenille Halloween People

I absolutely love chenille stems. There is something irresistible about them to me. Especially the bumpy ones. I love to make vintage style ornaments out of them. I love Halloween and all of those spooky old Halloween images! My mother used to get out this big cardboard happy jack-o-lantern man for our front door every year. This year I made some chenille stem ornaments with vintage style faces, inspired by that pumpkin man.

Cupcakes in a jar

I have been fantasizing about starting a blog for quite a while now but wasn't quite sure how to do it and today I took the plunge! I'm so excited! My daughter will be so proud of me.



Ok, the first thing that I want to feature are the cupcakes in a jar that I made for my son's birthday. There are plenty of websites you can go to and get more information on cupcakes in a jar. You can either bake them in the jars or in cupcake pans (spray with pam and then add the batter) and then after they are baked, put them into the jars before you add the frosting. I made mine in the cupcake pans then gently nudged them out of the pans and put them into the jars. Then I took a ziplock bag and filled it with frosting (the storebought kind). Next, I cut a small bit off of one of the corners of the bag, zipped it shut and squeezed the frosting onto the top of each cupcake. Some will go down the sides also but that makes it look even better. I also addded sprinkles as I was putting the frosting on so that you could see it through the glass instead of waiting till the end to put them just on top but either way would be fine.



Then I cut circles of pretty scrapbook paper, using the middle circle part of the lid as a template and then glued the paper to the circle, added the ring and put the lid onto the jar. I also put ribbon and a party blower (got them at Walmart for really cheap) on top of each lid.



I made small jars (4 oz. jars) which just held one cupcake perfectly for all of the "guests" and a larger wide mouthed jar (12 oz) for "the birthday boy". I sliced several cupcakes in thirds and arranged the pieces along with frosting and sprinkles until the jar was full. His jar got a special bow. I sent these to my son at school and he really was thrilled. I think all of the kids really liked them.