Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas All!

Today is my final day of the Countdown to Christmas Tag gift I made for Jack - Check this gift out.

Today I am planning to make Jack a fabulously YUMMY Christmas Breakfast with all the trimmings. I know this is one breakfast that we both enjoy eating and the rest of the day will be spent hanging out - recovering and watching LOTS of football. GO PACK GO!

 I have to say that this Countdown to Christmas Calendar was a super duper gift for my Jack - He waited each morning to reveal that days gift - and loved every single one of his gift.

I'm planning to repeat this gift next year - and hopefully I won't wait till the last minute to begin putting this together ....... Like I did this year.

Thanks for letting me share Jack's Countdown to Christmas Gift with you - I'll be back tomorrow to share a couple more Christmas cards that I receive from some very special friends - Hope you can come back and join me for that share.  Merry Christmas Friends and ......... Keep Living Your Dream!

Day 24 and my Christmas Mailbox Gift

It's Christmas Eve and that means we are nearing the end of my Countdown to Christmas for Jack. 

Today's gift is an entire day of watching College Football with not even one single interruption.  ENJOY this gift made especially for you Jack!

My post today is a special delivery that I made early this morning to several of my favorite SaddleBrooke neighbors and friends.  I created these super fun "Hot Cocoa for Two" pouches and hung them on my neighbors and friends mailboxes as an early Christmas gift for each of them.

The pouches are filled with Hot Cocoa ...... a layer of Chocolate Chips ...... and topped with a final layer of marshmallows.  All my friends need to do is open their pouch up and divide the ingredients into two mugs ..... add some hot water and POW ...... instant Hot Cocoa for two. 

This scallop circle layer was created to cover the Watson advertisement which was printed on the side of each of the bags.  I simply stamped the mug image onto Whisper White cardstock ...... I then added several layers of chocolate colored cardstock to create a scalloped image and then added that scallop circle layer to the side of my bag.

I printed out the instructions onto some Close to Cocoa card stock and then with the help of my trusty Big Shot ....... I was able to die cut out my labels in this fun Nestability label shape. 

All I then needed to do was pop the scallop label directly on to the bag with the help of some Stampin' UP! dimensionals.

And here's my treat bags waiting to have their pretty red bow and tag attached to the top of the bag.

It took only a few ingredients to create these fun treat bags ........ 

The bags were filled with one cup of hot cocoa mix ..... a half cup chocolate chip pieces ..... and a half cup of marshmellows.  That's all the ingredients it took to pull these treat bags together!

And here are all twenty treats lined up waiting for delivery! 

I just love how this project came together ...... and it reminded me of days gone by.  I had actually made this project about seven years ago for my co-workers at the hospital that I worked for back in Wisconsin.  The treats were a HUGE HIT back then ...... and I'm sure that my SaddleBrooke friends will be smiling today when they head out to their mailboxes and see this fun little Christmas gift that I made for them.  Merry Christmas Friends!

I'm off to enjoy a FULL DAY of PLAY in my studio.  I have completed all my Christmas projects and I have met all my Christmas deadlines ......... so for the next 24 hours ....... I plan to RELAX and PLAY! 

Hope you have a FABULOUS Christmas Eve and I'll be back tomorrow to share a special Christmas Post with you ....... hope you can come back and join me for that. 

KEEP LIVING YOUR DREAM!

Day 23 and Gifts from Sandy and Jan

It's Day 23 of my Countdown to Christmas Tag gift to Jack .... and today I have an invitation to take Jack over to the Mesquite Valley Growers Nursery. 

Your probably thinking it's the middle of Winter and who is going to be heading off to a nursery at this time of year. We live in Arizona and EVERY MONTH is basically a good month to go to a nursey in our state.  ENJOY JACK and just tell me when you want to leave and I'll have the car warmed up and ready to GO!

First up for my share today is an AMAZING creation that my friend Sandy made for me (and for all my Club Gals).  It's an fun 3-D christmas tree package that hold kisses or nuggets on the inside.

Sandy has embossed all four sides and also added on two of the sides a fun colorful santa image which is popped up with dimensionals.

As you can see from this view - the tree stands on a base - and the opening to the tree is located at that spot.  Sandy has added chocolate to the inside of my tree ..... OH WHAT A FRIEND!

This project will SERIOUSLY find it's way to my upper cabinet ...... along with the OTHER projects that Sandy has made for me!  MANY THANKS Sandy for thinking of me during this busy holiday season (I know you are babysitting your grandkids and staying busy with the holiday - I'm not even sure how you managed to get six of these project done ...... BUT ..... I thank you for making this fabulous gift for me!).

And next up is a SUPER FAST and SUPER CUTE little gift that my BFF made for me (and my Club Gals last Saturday).  She took a Mary Englebright (I know I'm spelling that wrong......) nail file and tucked it into one of the Stampin' UP! cello bags ...... so far so good!

What she did next was add this SUPER AWESOME and SUPER PLAYFUL bag topper to the top of her project.  It seriously made me SMILE and I immediately thought ..... "How am I going to copy this ..... and for what holiday will I give it out for"....and yes......my wheels were turning fast enough that I figured out how to copy this for next year!

LOVE how this project turned out - such a simple little gift - but it packs a serious punch ..... because - who seriously can't use a nail file - and one as pretty and cute as this one is without a doubt one that every busy women wants tucked inside her purse.  (THANK GOODNESS my daughter isn't close enough to take this away from me - because if she saw it ...... She would be wanting it)

Many thanks for joining me today.  I'm connecting with my good buddy Opal today!  This is the four Friday of the month and my Crafternooners group gets together today.  Even though Jan and Berta are gone ..... Opal and I decided to meet today - which will FORCE us to take a much needed break during this busy holiday season.  Should be FUN TIMES with Opal today!

Tomorrow, I will be sharing my Christmas gift that I made  my SaddleBrooke friends and neighbors.  I'll be out BRIGHT AND EARLY Saturday morning making my mailbox delivery to all of them - can't wait to share that gift with you.  Hope you can come back and join me for that share!

Keep Living Your Dream!

Day 22 and Grandkids School Treats

Today is Day 22 of my Countdown to Christmas gift to Jack .... and today I have one of Jack's and my favorite things to do in the morning ....... I will be taking Jack down to Beyond Bread for an Espresso, Sourdough Roll with Brie Cheese Breakfast.  SERIOUSLY his favorite breakfast made for champions!

As MANY of you know ....... I have seven school age grandkids that I make holiday treats for.  I started this when my oldest grandson was in preschool and he is now in middle school .... and LONG LIVE the tradition.  All is fair in love and grandchildren ..... and my oldest grandson is now joined by six other grandkids that I just can't disappoint not making treats for.  SO.....while the kids are still interested in me doing these treats for their classmates ..... I will continue making holiday treats and driving myself half crazy doing it (OH BUT WHAT A WAY TO GO!).  That means I make a minimum of 175 treats at each holiday for the kids and typically I try to make a different treat for each of the grandkids.  Let me share what I made four of my seven grandkids for their Christmas Treats. 

First up is my oldest grandson Jared's treats.  Jared is in Middle School and he is SO OKAY with me only making the treats for his teachers.  I typically make something BIG for him (as I only have to make 9 treats for him).  These are snowman covered full sized Hershey bars.

They are complete with a white cardstock wrapped body (Kerry offered this print out a couple years ago and I still have the template) ..... and I made a red stocking cap out of felt along with a black scarf from felt.  SUPER FAST and SUPER CUTE!

Next up is Steven's classmates treats.  This project came from my friend Kris - who showed me how to take a $1.00 red glove and cut off the finger tips and fold that piece up and fix it over a hersey nugget to create the snowmans hat.

By adding a pom pom to the top of the cap and wrapping the hersey nugget with a white mailing label - all I need to do was add in a face for my snowman and BAM ..... I called this one done!  The pink snowman is for my grandson to give to his teacher (which he is in LOVE LOVE LOVE with).

I made these cello bag candy gifts for my grandson Bodie in California.  I put candy treats in a Stampin' UP! cello bag and added a scallop topper and this project was together in NO TIME!

 I stamped a Santa image and punched out a couple different cirlces and added those to a scallop circle and adhered those pieces to the top of the cello bag.  TOTAL WOW FACTOR which took me VERY LITTLE TIME to create.

And last is my youngest grandson from California Zev.  His school does not allow for food treats to be brought into the classroom......so.....this requires me to head down to the dollar store and pick up something like pencils or notepads to create gifts for him to share with his fellow classmates. 

I picked up some Christmas/Holiday pencils and put each into a cello bag and created a bag topper for each of the pencils - making for a fun little treat for Zev to share with his fellow classmates.

I got SERIOUSLY LUCKY with my three granddaughters ....... each of them requested I make my Magically Reindeer Food treats for their classmates.  This was simply adding oatmeal and red sprinkles to a small bag and adding a bag topper that has a "Magical Reindeer Food Poem" attached to it.  The kids sprinkle the reindeer food on their front lawns Christmas Eve night and the red sprinkles help Santa and the reindeer find the kids home on Christmas Eve night.  I'm not sure why I didn't take a picture of all 77 of those ..... HOLY BUCKETS ...... at one point I was up to my eyeballs in MAGICALLY REINDEER FOOD.

I'll be back tomorrow to share a couple Christmas gifts I received from some of my club gals - hope you can come back and join me for that share.  Keep Living Your Dream!

Day 21 and CJToo Post

Today's tag for Jack's Countdown to Christmas reveals a full day of relaxing and reading for my BIG GUY.  Know he's going to enjoy a full day of reading and relaxing (i.e. means NAPPING) with no explaining why his eyes are closed as he is sitting upright in his rocker recliner. 

ENJOY YOUR DAY BIG GUY!

Now for today's share ...... As a design team member for CraftJunkieToo, we were asked by our fearless leader Tracy to share a last minute Christmas Gift Idea that was something simple, easy and fun to put together ..... Here is what I created .......

 I made this amazing picture frame hanger for my studio door!

 I started out with three small square picture frames from the dollar store ......

I sanded down the frames and then painted them with white acrylic paint ...... 

I added some sparky (PINK) DSP to the center of each of the frames ....... 

I then pulled out my Cricut and spelled out J O Y ......

 I used the Mickey Font Cartridge to cut out each of my letters ........

 And cut each letter out at 2-3/4" in Melon Mambo .......

 And selected the blackout feature for the background of each letter.

LOVE how this project turned out .......

And SERIOUSLY - It all came together in a SNAP!

Thanks for joining me today!

I'll be back tomorrow to share some more Christmas cards with you

 Hope you can come back and join me for that share.

Keep Living Your Dream!

Day 20 and SW Stampers Gift from ME!

Happy Tuesday My Blogger Friends and we are counting down Day 20 of Jack's Countdown to Christmas Calendar.  Today I have a tag that Jack will seriously appreciate - It's Movie Night at the Fisher/Labadie Household.

Jack LOVES to watch movies in the PM so this one is right up his alley.  He can pick the movie and I will supply the blankie!

For today's share - I want to spotlight the exchange gift that I made for my SW Stampin' UP! demonstrators Christmas Party.  I made this adorable gift card box that I learned from my fellow SU demonstrator Di Gibbs.

This box has a magnetic closure under the large button and then that flap fold up and the side closure opens to expose a pocket on each side of the inside of the box (which holds the envelopes and the cards).

The pocket on the left hand side is where I tucked the envelopes and the right pocket holds the four matching cards.

And I coordinated the cards with the DSP I used to decorate the box. 

Here are the four cards that I made to coordinate with this box. 

The right hand pocket is larger than the left hand pocket to accommadate the thickness of the cards.  The left hand pocket only needs to hold the four envelopes - so that pocket was made just a tad thinner than the right hand pocket.

Matching DSP was added to the front of each of the inside pockets ...... Making the inside Oh So Pretty!

Here's a look at the inside of the box as it is completely closed up........

And one final look at this charming little card box.  Many THANKS to Di Gibbs for offering this amazing class to me - This project turned out SO NICE!

Tomorrow will be a CraftJunkieToo Design Team Project share day.  We were asked by our fearless leader Tracy to provide our blog viewers with a Christmas gift that is simple, easy and fun to put together as a last minute Christmas gift giving idea.  I am so excited to share what I created with you - Hope you can join me for that share.

Keep Living Your Dream!