Santa's Magic Key

This is my version of Santa's Magic Key. 

 I wish I had this key when my girls were little.

Santa's Magic Key

 

This key is very special, you see.

It won’t work for you and me…

Hang it just outside your door.

Go to bed and worry no more…

Close your eyes and close them tight.

‘Cause Santa Clause is coming tonight!

I apologize the pictures are not the best.  I took them from my phone.

"Friends like you are a mint!"

I first made these cute mints last year after I found something similar somewhere on the web (I wish I new where, so I could give credit) and made them my own. I sold out at both crafts last year as well as at the craft bazaar this October.

For the next craft fair, I have made 50 sets of the Elf, Santa suit, snowflake and Snowman.  15 sets of the basketballs and 19 sets of the soccer balls.  I will also
be making about 10-15 sets of the baby.  I used to call it Baby Jesus, but customers started referring to  it as an angel or just "baby".  I think the the baby would be cute for a baby shower. 

I prefer to use Pearson's mint patties vs York because Pearson's wrappers are round. York has changed packaging to squares.  I also prefer the taste of Pearson's.  York are a bit too peperminty for me.

Supplies used:  Fiskars 1 1/2 inch circle punch; flower pot paper punch, Stampin' Up! 2 step bird punch; gold glitter glue, Zots, Xyron sticker maker, plastic snowflakes I found at Walmart (72 for $0.97), Fiskars "deckle" scissors, stamp pads, orange marker, paper and clear and rubber stamps.

Snowman hat: A flower pot paper punch for the snowman's hat.  I had to trim the top and the bottom for the correct size.  Funny thing... I used the flower pot paper punch at a local scrapbook store, but it broke apart after the 5th punch, so I made 108 with a broken punch.  But hey, better than hand cutting rectangles and squares to glue together as I did for the first 50 sets!

Elf hat:  A 1 inch strip of green paper cut into 1.25 inch long triangles.  I punched branches from the 2 step bird punch from red paper.  I cut each leaf from the branch, gluing to the back of the hat for the "feather".

Santa suit: Strips of white paper cut with Fiskars deckle scissors.  The belt was made from black strips of paper with gold glitter glue for buckle.  A trick to make the buckle is not to make a square but to make 2 vertical gold lines (like an 11) then connecting with 2 horizontal lines (=).  I found if I could not make a clean square, it always had a "string" of glue diagonally across the square.  I made my belts at night, before bed so there was plenty of time for drying before placing on Santa suit.

If you would like step by step instructions or pictures, please post a comments and I will take pictures of the process to post.

Womans Survival Kit

I spent today making Women's Survival Kits that I will be selling at the next craft bazaar and maybe online at Etsy.  I made a prototype a couple of weeks ago and took to work to show the gals. I made it with a scored piece of cardstock with ribbons.   It was "okay".   I was asked to make a kit for one of the gals at work to giver to her sister.  I used an envelope sealed, then cut at the end, like at Splitcoast last week or so.  This too was "okay".

 
Today I made 30 kits. I really like what I made today.  I switched to using some small bags I bought a year or so for my nieces wedding, but didn't use.  My husband was happy I was using supplies I aleardy had.

Supplies used: 
Party Bag; ribbon, stamps, ink,card stock, printer (for poem), adhesive, hole punch, bling and most importantly M&M's.

These are the small bags I used. They are 3 1/2 wide and 6 3/4 tall.  



Stamp both sides of the bag.  After printing the poem, use a corner rounder on all corners. 


I sponged it the poem, because the white bag and poem paper 
are 2 different colors.  I used pink in this picture.

To apply poem to the bag, apply adhesive completely around the paper to ensure it will stay on the bag.



Aligned the poem with the natural fold at the bottom of the bag.

Fold the top of the bag, then punch holes for the ribbon.

Place M&M' in bag.

Pull the ribbon through one hole out the other to the bottom of the bag.  Cut.  This should be enough ribbon to tie nice bow.





 

2011 Craft fair # 1

Here are a few pictures of the craft fair from last weekend. I will be at another on November 12th in Shelton. I think I will have 2 tables so the display is not so busy looking. What do you think?

I will post a few close ups and explain how I made the item later this week.

Back to crafting again!

Well it took me some time to start doing crafts again after moving.  I'm pretty sure I have found almost everything.

Last weekend I had a table at a craft fair.  I did pretty good.  I sold 81 items, 10 that were cards.  I made $114 about $95 profit.  Not bad since I decided to enroll in the craft fair less than 4 weeks before and had nothing made except some Holiday cards.

I made decorated mint patties (snowman head, snowflake, elf and Santa's belly) sold in a package of 4 with a ribbon tied at the top.  Also, baby in a manger, two sets of soccer balls and another of basketballs.   I sold out!!  Amazing.

I also made Hershey snowmen with fleece hats and scarves.  REALLY cute.  I sold out very fast.  I sold them for $2.00 each.  The vendors around me told me I should charge more, but I think the price is why they sold so well.  I still made about $1.15 a bar.

Then there was the decorated Starbucks jars filled with candy (sold 2), coaster calendars (sold 2) and post it holders (sold 1), nugget boxes (sold 0, this was odd as it was the #2 best seller last year) and Ghiridelli Chocolate boxes( sold 2). 

I was asked to participate in 2 more craft fairsm which was very validating.  I will post pictures this weekend.

I also re-listed about 8 items on etsy (InkedGreetings.etsy.com) and sold a card less than 12 hours later.
It is great to be back. 

Moving

We are moving from a small apartment to a 3 story townhouse with twice the space.

Yeah!  It has been a long time coming!

So...this means no crafting until April.  I do not know HOW I am going to do this.  I can't even sneak, because I packed my craft room up this weekend.

I will be back in April.  I am sure I will have my craft room unpacked first!

I post pictures of my NEW Craft room.  I am very excited ... my new room is very large, has a huge window that overlooks the valley and the Olympic Mountain Range.  I will be able to look out and have lots and lots of inspiration for stamping.

I thank all who have stopped by my little blog. Please spend some time looking around. 

Work Valentines

I made valentines for my co-workers.  This is not the exact idea in had in my head, but I think they turned out pretty good.  Especially since I finished the last 4 at 1:20 am.  I placed a Ghiridelli Chocolate Square inside.

The ink, stamps and butterfly punch are all from Stampin Up. 

If you would like to know which sets, please let me know.

 

Cute work stories.

I thought I would add a work story today. Since I spent most of today, think of being creative but not actually getting off the couch.

I work in medical office - a pain clinic. We give patients spinal injections to help relieve their pain.

Working with this type of patient population can be very rough as many of the days are filled with angry patients.  Their pain level is so high, they can't help but lash out. Often what they say does not make sense because of the pain, the frustration of nothing tried, has relieved the pain or even the medications the patient is taking. 

Here are some of the cute things patients have said:


~ A patient listed she was allergic to bee stings. Her reaction was redness and swelling at the sting site. Hello! EVERYONE has redness and swelling where they got stung by a bee.


~ Another patient called yelling into the phone, demanding he wanted to have his neck extracted. Thankfully he laughed when the scheduler explained to him he really did not his neck extracted, because this would be REMOVING his neck! What he really wanted was an epidural which is an injection of steroid into his neck, to relieve his pain.


~Yesterday I had an elderly women explain to me that while she was SLEEPING she was THINKING. That was very cute, but scary, because I knew what she meant!  She also told me she did not want to have the injection because she was afraid if she stopped her aspirin, she would have an MRI - a radiology test. Scarier yet, I knew what she meant -a TIA, which is a stroke.  And no, I did NOT correct her.

~I also had a patient yesterday when asked what her pain level was between 0-10?
Her answer...December.  Yep!  That is a number between 0 and 10!

It can also be very rewarding when a patient who has a hard time walking across the waiting room after a car accident who can now return to work or play with their children/grandchildren. 

Frog Prince

Well I have not been making cards the last week or so, but I spent tonight making this card for Stamping 411's Saturday Sketch Challenge 188.  I purchased this stamp a few weeks ago.  I saw it one night and thought I saved the website to go back and purchase it, but I couldn't find the site.  But Philippa from Splitcoast Stampers was wonderful and found it for me. 

I colored with a combination of Copics and SU pens.  I am new to Copics, but boy do I love them!!  I only own three plus a blender pen.  I do believe I will placing Copics on my wish lists for Valentines Day, Mothers Day and my birthday, etc.

 I really like the way their faces turned out.

Valentine Cards!

Here are some Valentine cards I made over the weekend.



Front


 

Inside

 

Front



Inside

Front


 

inside

 

Front- heart is punched out showing white heart from inside



White heart is covered with crystal Effects- pops through heart opening on front.



Front.  Blank inside.



Supplies:

Stampology~ Girl Borders set
Fiskars ~ Woodgrain embossing plate
Cuddle Bug~ Square embossing folder
Paper ~ The Paper Company

Stampin' Up! ~

• I {heart} hearts clear stamps
• Heart-To- Heart Punch
• A light heart stamp set (retired)
• I {love} love Jumbo wheel
•  Real Red Classic Ink

I also posted these on Esty. 

 

Some of the cards I have made. Let me know what you think.

Brayered Cards

Yesterday was a half day at work.  I was able to come home and get creative.  I decided to make my favorite type of card - A Brayered Card.

I decided to make a beach card.  I tried to take pictures along the way.  I made a total of three cards- to see them look at the last set of pictures.

Supplies: 

~White glossy paper     ~Sticky note     ~Stamps     ~Brayer     ~Sponges

~Several blue inks         ~Versamark     ~Scrap paper     ~White gel  pen
~Yellow or orange ink    ~Heat Gun       ~Fantastix "pen"

• Put scrap paper down to cover workspace.
• Stamp image on sticky note, positioning so that part of the "sticky" is still on the back side of the paper.  Or use a 2 way glue, letting become tacky. 
• Cut the image out just inside the outer edge.  This will help prevent a white outline around the stamped image after brayering.
• Stamp image on white glossy paper using Versamark ink.

It's Clean!

I spent today cleaning my craft room.  I can't believe it!  Not only is there a floor, there is a cart with my Big Kick and supplies, there is a work table, well actually 2-one I work at and the other holds my Fiskars paper cutter, Martha Stewart paper scorer, pre-cut cards and my paper scraps holder.

I can even get to my bookshelf with my inks, paper and embellishments.  AND I can get to my stamps, that are under the table in the green, brown and red drawers. 

I found my Stampin' Up new demonstrator supplies too!

It is amazing what you can find when you clean up.  My mother would be so proud!

If you scroll down you will see the "before" pictures on a previous post.

Big Kick cart. 

The second shelf holds all my Sizzix & Spellbinders dies, Fiskars, Stampin' Up and Cuddlebug embossing plates and folders.  The bottom shelf is currently holding my Christmas crafting supplies.

My work table.

The table is from Ikea - $20.  I have placed an Ikea bookshelf door - $15 on top of the table.  It is easy to clean, won't stain and has a "frame" so my supplies do not roll off. On the right end of the table I have 2 hooks, one holds my small Fiskars paper trimmer and the second holds a little hanging bin made for doornobs.  I use it for my garbage.  I also have a desktop pen carasel that holds glues, pens, adhesive remover, scissors, etc.

The bookshelf is from Ikea $89 - As Is Area, one shelf was pealing, cannot even notice.

Top is a box of adhesives and baskets for craft fairs.  1st shelf my labeler and boxes with "shakers" in them.  2nd shelf  boxes of envelopes.  3rd shelf completed cards and misc. embellishements.  6 drawers from Ikea - Clearance $5 each - these hold my ink pads and most used punches. 

Next shelf holds most of my papers, these need to be straightened up still. 



The bottom shelf has more paper, a new MS punch set and misc. items that wont fit anywhere else. 

These last two pictures are of the second table.  It holds my Martha Stewart Scorer & Fiskars cutter.  There is a box lid that holds scrap paper to place on the table under my projects.  The open box has pre-cut cards, layed flat.  The tall clear bins, I got from work, these are designed to hold sugars, creamers and tea packets.  It now holds scrap colored cardstock.  On top of the refrigerator is a container of ribbon.  Under the tanle in the colored drawers are my stamps. The brown boxes are my Stampin' Up Demo supplies.

Baking with new oven.

Well I have pretty much been down for 2 days with a migraine.  I am attempting to make a cake for my fathers birthday.  I say attempting because I have a new oven.  The old oven did not heat correctly so the cake would bake, well very oddly each time. I made a practice cake on Sunday, which came out great except that it would NOT come out of the pan.  The cake  pan is from Wilton.  It is a round two tiered cake baked so that when put together, there can be filling inside in the shape of a heart. 

Here are picture from the Wilton website.

His cake will be triple fudge chocolate with cream cheese filling and I think chocolate frosting.   I think my husband hopes the cake will come out more than me.  He bought it for me a year or two ago and I have yet to have a perfect one because of our oven.  I do have faith tonight though.

I am going to try and make another card tonight as long as my migraine stays "down".  I have had them for about 20 years, so I have learned to function when they are not severe. 

I have also posted pictures of the "before" picture of my craft room.  It is pretty scary looking to me.   My goal is to have it organized by Sunday night.