NEW YEAR'S EVE CRAFT ALONG GOES VIRTUAL!

Greetings friends!

I wanted to give you a few days to test the chat function so you can all be a bit familiar with the way it will work New Year's Eve. Please sign in and say hello, and let me know if you're planning to be here, even for a while. (I know there will only be a few night owls who are up all night, but that's okay!) 

See you at 7 New Years Eve, Cowgirls!

7 DAYS: 7 FUN PROJECTS! DAY 4

WOW! It didn't take some of you very long to respond to my "project plea!" Today we have a FABulous AltAred Art project by the U.S. winner of the Craft Stash, Angeleeenee. Those of you who do much of your scrapbooking and/or altAred art on the computer (or those of you who are bloggers, emailers, etc) realize how much time you can spend sitting at a desk staring at that little corner of your world. Well nothing is LESS inspirational than a bare, (in angeleenee's words ,) "Cheap, particle board desk." And so...one day, on a whim, she began cutting out and laying down images...and then mod podging them to her desk! Look at the beautiful transformation!

There is nothing so motivating than being faced day by day with a storage debacle...Ang's bathroom (like so many) is (again in her words) "Too small to change your mind in" and lacks storage space. So in another moment of inspiration, she cut the ends out of several large coffee cans, stacked and glued them together, and then covered them with a beautiful, french blue wallpaper and stenciled the word "Toilette" on the side. Voila! Storage problem solved...in Angeleenee's words: "Holds two rolls nicely and looks pretty too!!! LOVE THAT!!!!" By all means DO spend some time over the holidays looking at the places in your home where you spend the most time. Where could you make some "AltArations" and create niches of inspiration? In one of my first blog posts, I showed you my craft room...in an encore performance, here are a couple of photos...most of the art you see on the walls was taken from a fave book of mine, "Bird, Feather, Egg". The illustrations are gorgeous and I love having my "creative area" surrounded by birds, nests, etc. It's a fun way to bring the outdoors IN.

And then pictures of family, friends, and inspirational folks (some of YOUR pictures will end up on my walls...no doubt!) fill up the rest of the space. I used inexpensive, colorful frames (where I used them at all) or made frames from material or other found objects.

The walls may be too "busy" for the tastes of some, but I create better and function better if I am IMMERSED in inspiration...therefore, there is only a LITTLE empty wallspace left! (and my goal is to fill it as soon as possible...much to my husband's chagrin!)

And there you have it: two more quick and easy "projects" you can do a little at a time, and at your leisure (I'm sure you, like I am wondering, "Leisure? What's THAT??!?!?!")

And for those of you who have read THIS far (thanks for your diligence!) here is a BONUS quick and easy Christmas recipe (from Kraft) for you and the kids to do together:

Prep Time:
15 min

15 min

Makes:
10 servings, 1/2 cup each

1 qt. (4 cups) cold milk

2 pkg. (4-serving size each) JELL-O Chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling

20 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, crushed, divided

10 paper or plastic cups (6 to 7 oz.)

2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

Assorted decorating gels

POUR milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes or until well blended. Let stand 5 minutes. Gently stir in 1 cup of the crushed cookies.

SPOON remaining crushed cookies into bottoms of paper cups, adding about 2 tsp. crumbs to each cup; cover with pudding mixture.

DROP spoonfuls of the whipped topping onto desserts to resemble snowmen. Decorate with gels for the "eyes," "noses" and "scarves." Refrigerate until ready to serve. Store leftover desserts in refrigerator.

More tomorrow! Happy creating!

7 DAYS: 7 FUN PROJECTS!

Greetings, dear readers! It ocurred to me (much to my horror and thrill) that there are only 7 (count them) SEVEN days til Christmas Eve!

WOW! WHOA! And HOW did this happen?

SOoooooooo, as if you don't have enough to do already, and since 7 is my favorite/lucky number, I am going to make 7 quick and simple projects for you to steal and use this Christmas. Some are original, some are not...but ALL are a) quick b)easy c)relatively inexpensive. Sound good? Let's begin!

I have been having an absolute relentless craving for peppermint mocha...ANYTHING! And so, assuming there may be more of you out there (and you KNOW who you are!) Here is a quick and simple gift idea for kids, a hostess, or yourself on cold, wintery days!

"SNOWMAN SOUP"
I pkg instant cocoa mix 15-25 miniature marshmallows 3 hershey's kisses
candy cane Put all ingredients into a ziploc sandwich bag. Make the following tag:

"I was told you've been real good this year
Always glad to hear it
With freezing weather drawing near
You'll need to warm the spirit
So here's a little snowman soup
Complete with stirring stick
Add hot water, sip it slow,
It's sure to do the trick!"

For an inexpensive gift for a whole family, add mugs, a basket, and festive wrappings!

And finally, lest at this late hour you are not "feeling it" yet...another blast from the past! Aren't the costumes AMAZING?!?! AND LOOK at those waistlines! MORE soon (can you STAND it?) And oh, for those of you who (like me) cannot get enough of the mad merriment, check out one of my fave blogs from scrapbooker, artist, extraordinnaire, Ngaire Bartlam: Blog Me Baby!