I am holding my annual Hostess Club Soup Supper Thursday evening.  It has become a tradition for us.  It is nothing fancy, but we do have fun eating and stamping.  Since I always like to give the members a little something, I whipped up these Lip Balm Holders as a “thank-you” for putting up with me all year.  When I picked up the lip balms at Convention, I never realized that there would be matching Festival of Prints paper in the Holiday Catalog.  I love that little pad of paper! I still need to finish decorating them, but I wanted to take a picture of the matching papers and lip balms first. 

I hope the ladies love them, as well as the soups:  homemade taco and homemade vegetable!

The Puppinator
 
Well, Lexi Scrooge hit the stack of Christmas cards that were waiting on the table to be signed and addressed.  Remember this card which won the Pearl Challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown?  It was one of my favorites.

Here it is after Lexi the Puppinator destroyed it: 

Or how about this one, another Top Honor winner at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown?

Obviously Lexi thought I went a little overboard with the bow, and decided to modify it herself. 

There are several more cards from previous posts with various toothmarks and torn corners.  Don’t let this face of sweetness fool you!

She grew into Lexi the Puppinator!  Just look at that face of pure evil!

Here she is trying to force a sleeping Brody into playing with her by shoving a plastic bottle in his face:

And here she is daring her “sister”, the sweet, sweet Muffy, to leave the crate!  But in the end, I had to rescue Lexi.  It seems that The Puppinator hasn’t learned how to jump down from heights.

Hopefully Lexi will be on her best behavior from now until Christmas if she expects Santa Paws to leave anything in her stocking!  And hopefully I will have time to re-make the damaged cards.  As always, if you ever have any questions about the projects I create, I am only an email away!  Until next time…

I have no card to share today, because I spent time making candy.  My mother was an excellent cook, baker and candy maker.  Although I inherited all of her recipes, I did not inherit her cooking genes.  So I never tackled her divine divinity or fabulous fudge.  But I do make this easy-peasy peanut butter confection.  Her original recipe was written on a scrap of paper, like so many of them, and was nameless.  We just call it “Momma’s Candy”.

It is one of Brady’s favorites.  Although my parents passed many years before he was born, I try to share things about them so that he gets a sense of who they were.  One day, when he inherits the old wooden box filled with hand-written scraps, I know he will appreciate the woman behind them and the sacrifices she made living on the farm.  Her birthday is in a few days.  She would have been 95 this year.  This recipe is one of her “modern” ones from the late ’70’s.  I hope you give it a try!

Momma’s Candy

1 Package Almond Bark
2 Cups of Super Chunky Peanut Butter
2 Cups of Dry Roasted Peanuts
2 Cups of Miniature Marshmallows
2 Cups of Rice Krispies

Melt the Almond Bark according to package directions. (I use the microwave).  When melted, mix in the Peanut Butter.  Then add the dry ingredients, and thoroughly coat.  Drop by spoonfuls (I use a tablespoon) onto cookie sheets. (I cover mine with wax paper to make clean-up easier.)  Chill in the refrigerator.  (I set mine out on the back porch to set.)  This makes a large batch of candy, and is easy-peasy! I ended up with 72 pieces, not counting the ones I tested for quality control.

I documented today’s candy making spree so Brady will have the pictures to guide him when he makes this some day.  I simply dropped them into the My Digital Studio Christmas Jingle template.  After the Christmas rush, I will work on documenting more of his favorite simple recipes.  Later I will compile them into a recipe book for him.

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  And if you would like to see why some people on my Christmas card list will be receiving non-holiday cards from my stash, stay tuned this week.  Three guesses as to what happened to the stack of Christmas cards which I left on the table.  Oh by the way, would anyone be interested in a 7-month-old Boxer puppy?  Until next time…  

What happens when you have new items from the Spring Catalog that you are just itching to play with, yet you still need to make Christmas cards?  Why you just combine the two! I used the new Honeycomb Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, added Christmas Designer Paper hexagons, and topped it off with a wintery greeting.  The result? A holiday card with a decidedly country look which I hope you will like!

The Stampin’ Schach Design Tips:  Easy Holiday Card
This finished card measures 5-1/2″ wide by 4-1/4″ long.

• Hexagons! Snippets of patterns from the Be of Good Cheer Designer Series Paper collection and a pattern from the Bandstand Simply Scrappin’ Kit were zipped through the Big Shot with the Honeycomb Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. Hexagons were then snipped out using the embossing lines as a guide.  How easy is that to get hexagons that are a perfect fit into the Naturals Ivory honeycomb cells!  

• Pearls for Pizzazz! Notice how the Warm Winter Wishes sentiment from Winter Memories was stamped into a partial honeycomb cell? This gives the sentiment a clever twist.  Of course, I had to add a few Basic Pearls!

Muffy’s Puppy

Once again, Muffy the Boxer went through her “special” time, which results in her annual false pregnancy.  Some of you may remember that last year she gave birth to a latex football. 

Muffy with last year’s “puppy”.

Well this year she gave birth to a latex fish.  This is the same fish that starred with Muffy in her famous The Howling video.  Poor sweetie!  Muffy is such a good momma.  Her baby is kept clean and warm, and she makes sure it is in a position to nurse.  I took the following pictures right after she had her “baby“.

Muffy cleaning her newborn baby.

A worried Muffy protects her baby.

Exhausted,  Muffy finally rests, her “baby” nestled safely between her front legs.

I hope you enjoyed another peek at the new HoneycombTextured Impressions Embossing Folder.  I can already tell that it is going to make my Spring Catalog “Top Ten List”.  And I hope you also enjoyed the peek at Muffy’s new baby.  Hopefully we can get her body back into show shape before her next show in January.  As always, I appreciate your comments, and I do read each and every one.  Until next time…

Stamp Set:  Winter Memories; Ink:  Cherry Cobbler; Designer Series Paper:  Be of Good Cheer, Bandstand Simply Scrappin’ Kit; Card Stock:  Naturals Ivory, Cherry Cobbler; Tools:  Big Shot, Honeycomb Textured Impressions Embossing Folder; Glitz and Glam:  Basic Pearls