Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

I made this holiday pin out of a match box. I love making things with small boxes. The small china doll fit perfectly inside.

I added Sculpey around her legs in the shape of a full skirt and baked it for 15 min. and then wrapped mini garland around her.

I lined the inside of the matchbox with some red paper and then glued glitter around the outside. I added other embellishments: gold bow filigree, twine bow, black striped border and pearl drop.  I think I might have to make more things out of small boxes.

And lastly, pictured below is my Christmas cards for this year. I only made a few of them this year, as I got a late start and ran out of time to make more.

Thanks to Catherine Moore for designing the beautiful stamp from her Paris Flea collection.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Artful Box Girl

This morning I decided to make this girl made from a small box.

I used random pieces of scrap paper that was sitting on my desk and glued the box to an old tag.

 The face is taken from an old doll making book.

I found like 50 of these mini boxes at East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse about 2 years ago and today I finally made something from one of them.

It would make a great way to wrap something very small like a charm or ring in one of these boxes. I can't wait to make more...or it could be an activity to make at our next family gathering. :-)

Happy Christmas Eve!

I Won Best In Show - Annual Cookie Contest

Our office has an annual cookie contest during the holidays and this year I won best in show! I made these cookies, I called: "Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice".

I adapted the recipe from a cookie I found on-line called: Laura Bush's Texas Governor's Mansion Cowboy Cookies. Although, I don't personally like coconut or cranberries, I do love these cookies.

 Mix the dry ingredients.

 Chop the dried cranberries into small bits.

Mix the dry ingredients with the butter, sugar mixture.

Flatten the dough slightly before putting them in the oven, if you like to have cookies on the thinner side.

Important tip is to let your cookies cool on the baking sheet before removing them to cooling rack. Enjoy, I hope you try them!

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 T baking powder
1 T baking soda
1 T cinnamon
1 t salt
1 1/2 cups butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups brown Sugar
3 eggs
1 T vanilla
3 Cups chocolate chips
3 Cups old-fashion oatmeal
1 Cup sweetened coconut flakes
1 Cup chopped dried cranberries
2 Cups chopped pecans

Preheat over to 350 F

In a large bowl, whisk together: flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt. Set aside.

In a stand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugars and beat for another 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time. Add vanilla.

Stir in flour mixture, blending just until combined. Add chocolate chips, oats, coconut, cranberries and pecans.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the dough onto parchment lined baking sheet. Bake 12-14 minutes.

They make great little gifts to give to your family and friends.

Handmade Envelopes for Sale

If you've been following me lately, you know I've been into making colorful background paper. I've turned the paper into envelopes/pockets - great for holding coupons, receipts or gift cards.

I made a few extra envelopes to sell, if you're interested - $8 each.

Three of them have sold already, it's kinda hard to tell, but they say "Sold" over the image (in the second row).

They're approximately 7" x 4". They have various patterns inside, but you can tell from the cover if you look close at the border edge. Just message me if you would like to buy one and let me know the row and column of the one you want. 

Thanks!

My Artful Envelopes

I've been having fun playing with paint and creating background papers. I decided to turn some of them into envelopes/pouches.

They're approximately 6" x 4", each one unique and hand painted. Below is a picture of the back side.

Next are a few pictures of the one I made for my sister, Diana as part of her bday gift.

I put an elastic closure around them

They have a shallow pocket for coupons or maybe receipts. 

I think these could make great little stocking stuffers or a cute pouch to tuck in a gift card.

I'm in the process of making more. If you're interested in purchasing one, I'm thinking of selling them for $8 each + shipping (sorry, paper dolls not included). Message me if you'd like to buy one and I can keep you posted once I have them done.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Thanksgiving! 

Roben-Marie Class & Ashley Goldberg Dolls

I just completed a wonderful new on-line class from Roben-Marie Smith called Paper to Painting Workshop.

 Lots of layers of paper, paints, pens, tissue, etc.

I ended up taking one piece of background paper and turned them into notepads. I added copies of my dolls and some white labels, I made from Powerpoint.

I made a bunch of color copies, cut them up, stacked them together and added a book compound adhesive to one side so you can easily pull off one sheet at a time. I think these will make cute packing labels.

Thanks Roben-Marie for a really fun class!

My other favorite artist is Ashley Goldberg, I've bought many of her stamps. She recently created a line of dolls for Land of Nod and I just had to get a couple. Meet Charlotte and Lydia...

I just love their outfits and accessories, but I had to change it up slightly by adding some pink cheeks, red lips and a little white dot in the eyes.

Have a great week!

New Neck-ware Bling

Sometimes a little bling with jeans is the perfect accessory for a little uptown chic. This weekend I made four rhinestone necklaces for something fun to wear.

I used a two part epoxy clay to hold the chain to the center piece, It works great, much better than E6000 and so easy too. 

Might be cute to layer with other jewelry pieces too.

Thanks to my sister, Diana, for giving me the inspiration necklace.

Have a great week everyone!

Painting Workshop

This weekend I taught a painting/notebook workshop at my house with some of my sisters and dear friends. We played with lots of yummy colors and got them all over our hands!

Below are lots of pictures from our workshop...

My sister Maryl

My friends Laura & Nily

My sisters Diana & Pat

My sister Diana, Pat and friend Valerie

My friend Lois, sister Maryl and friend Andra

My friend Lois

My friend Valerie and me

My sister Maryl & Andra

My sisters Diana, Pat and friend Valerie 

Some of our finished notebooks

Group shot

Valerie & me

I had a great time playing with paint with everyone! Thank you all for your kind, yummy and creative gifts, you're all so thoughtful! It was a lovely day spending time with each of you! xo...Connie

More Painting & Making Notebooks

I've been having so much fun playing with paint and making color background papers. This time I used the Target brand paints, they have such great colors.

I reused some of my previously painted Paige dolls and put them on my new backgrounds for new cards

I came up with the 7 new card designs..

As you might noticed, each of these new cards uses a small piece of an old chalkboard calendar boarder under the girls.

I also added my signature scribble flower on each card.

I almost love my under cover paper, that I use to protect my table as much as the actual background paper. It could make great wrapping paper, don't you think?

Then, I decided to try making notebooks with my card designs. I experimented with a bunch of different styles and sizes.

Mini notepads with glued adhesive on one side. 

Sewn & stapled pocket notebooks

Wire bound notebooks

Plastic and disc bound notebooks

I think my favorites are the mini glued adhesive pads, great size for carrying in your purse for small notes. These are about 2" x 3" and really quick to make. I got so ambitious making notebooks that I invested in a stack cutter.

This baby can supposedly cut 400 sheets of paper like butter. I've only tried cutting a stack of like 30 pages and it works great. More notebooks to come. :-)

I'm teaching this Saturday and hope to show them how I make some of these notebooks, among some of my other painting tips.

Hope you had a great weekend!