MAY YOUR CHRISTMAS BE BRIGHT! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

We went on our annual Adventure and Christmas Tree hunt in Silver Falls, Oregon, 2013.

Here is a pictorial of our trip to the tree farm, picking out our trees with our friends and our canine God Child, Sophie.  The progression is from farm to home, decorations put on, and furry feline family members trying to get as close as possible!

 Hope you all enjoy Peace, Love and Joy this Holiday Season.  May 2014 be filled with new and wonderful beginnings!

Blessings All!

Marilyn

www.marilyngossett.com

SNOWMEN and CHRISTMAS TREES

 'Tis the Season!  Here is a DIY Jolly Snowman Vignette that can stay up through January!  Would you like the instructions?  Check out the December Blog Post on the Smoothfoam Blog at http://www.smoothfoam.com/blog/frosty-friends-winter-decor/ .  You will find the instructions there along with some other fun projects by professional designers in the craft industry.

The Starburst Snowflake Wall decor that is pictured behind the snowmen is posted here on an earlier blog.  If you scroll down you will find it in the November posts.  There are instructions there.

 Scroll down for some more photos......

Our weather has a lot of us thinking about snowmen!  Here in Oregon we have been having record setting low temperatures!  The sun has been coming out during the day, but the thermometer has been staying at about 20 degrees and lower.  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!  We got our Christmas trees yesterday.  I will post a picture at the end of this blog post.  Hope you are enjoying the season!  I am trying to find the little blessings each day and celebrate them all!

I will post pictures once I get the trees decorated!

Cheers!

Marilyn

Designer Challenge featuring the The Robin's Nest and Smoothfoam

"May Your Holidays Be Bright" home decor

Tis the Season!  It is almost time to get out the decorations and start the countdown to Christmas!

I am a big believer in enjoying every day and celebrating each one as a gift!  I am starting to feel the anticipation of family and friends spending time together, delicious meals and treats, and beautiful lights and decorations all over the house!  Part of my enjoyment comes from making decorations for the house and for gifts.

The Robin's Nest sent me some lovely cuts of Christmas cardstock and a package of their colorful flat beads for this Designer Challenge.  The beads are perfect for embellishing many things from the ornaments we create, to home decor, or paper crafting. The decorative piece I created can be hung on a wall or set on an easel.  I prefer the easel, somewhere that the light can shine on the glitter.  It lights up!

Supplies you will need:

The Robin's Nest:  two 5-3/4" squares of winter cardstock; assortment of colored beads
Smoothfoamtm:  One 12" square scrapbooking mount board
Glitter cardstock:  one 12" sheet silver (Cut two 6" squares)
Red cardstock:  one 12" sheet (for cutting letters)
Die-cut machine  *optional
Die-cut cartridge with alphabet *optional
Snow Tex, craft stick
Adhesives:  (I recommend 3 in 1 glue and a Dimensional medium for adhering beads)
paper cutter

Instructions:

1.  Apply Snow Tex to the Smoothfoam wall mount using the craft stick.  Spread it as thin as possible,
     allow to dry.

2.  Cut out the letters with the die-cut machine.  The larger letters are 2-1/2" high.  The smallest are 1" high.
     (Another option is to purchase die-cut letters)

3.  Glue the beads to the winter scene on the cardstock as shown in the photo given; allow to dry.

4. Adhere the embellished cardstock squares to the right side of each silver cardstock square.

5.  Arrange all of the elements on the wall mount as shown in the photo given and adhere to secure.

*Oops!  Almost forgot to show you some frame options!  I used a wooden frame with a 12" square indent.  Perfect fit for the Smoothfoam scrapbook mount.  I painted the frame and added 1" letters that I cut.  Purchasing letters are good too!  A second option is to paint your frame and leave it plain!  Take a peek!

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Bonus Project

I also created a mini journal with some of the other pretty Christmas papers from the Robin's Nest.  The pages are little pockets and I punched a couple of holes on each page for the binder rings.  The little pockets are for mementos, messages, gift cards, etc.  You can use pretty die-cuts, photos, dimensional punches (such as the mini envelopes), and beads from the Robin's Nest!  I applied minimal embellishment to this mini journal....I am sure you will have lots of your own ideas!  

If you have any questions please message me.  Thank you for stopping by!  

Wishing you lots of inspiration and a blessed Holiday season!

Happy Crafting!

Live Life with a Flourish,

Marilyn

http://www.marilyngossett.com/

                         http://chatteringrobins.blogspot.com/2013/11/ornament-blog-hop.html

The above link will take you to the main page!  Click on each thumbnail to view the other Designer Blogs!

Here is a perfect Thank-You gift for the Holidays!

I posted this last December, but thought it was worth a re-cycle!

Happy November!

Every year I like to have home-made gifts to give out to friends for the Holidays.  This recipe for Stove-Top Potpourri is always a favorite and so easy to put together.  Packaging is up to you; I have used cello bags with pretty ribbons, decorated paper mache' boxes and kraft bags.  I like to put the cloves and cinnamon sticks in separate tiny plastic bags so they can be measured out without getting all over everything else.  Hope you enjoy making some!  I include the recipe with the gift, and thus the picture with the recipe on it that is shown here.  Yes, those lemons and spices went into someone's gift bag. You can change the recipe up a little depending on what you have on hand.  This recipe gives us most of the options; a lemon works nicely along with the orange!

Ingredients

• 2 cinnamon sticks or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon whole cloves or 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 orange peel, quartered (fresh cranberries are also great to add as well)
• 1 whole nutmeg or 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 cups water

Directions

1. Place water into a small saucepan. Add cinnamon sticks, cloves, vanilla bean, nutmeg and orange peels. Turn heat to medium until water starts to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer as long as desired. Check water level every 1/2 hour that you have simmering. Water needs to be added as needed. Do not let water evaporate. Use potpourri for 2 days (adding additional water as necessary) then discard and make a new batch.

Makes 2 cups potpourri

This is a perfect Thank-You gift for a hostess!   The little snowman is perfect for hiding away some mulling spices or chocolates!  I cut the box on my Cricut machine and punched out circles for the head and hat.  Easy and cute!

 So, let the Holidays begin!  Click on the blue DCC button to check out great thank-you gifts from more designers.

Happy Holiday Crafting!

Live Life with a Flourish,

Marilyn

Designer Challenge featuring STICKY STICKStm

SNOW BURST WALL DECOR

Supplies you will need:

Sticky Stickstm: 16

Smoothfoamtm:  one 6" wide x 1" thick disk

Cardstock, three 12" x 12" sheets (I used papers from the "Frosted" collection by Close To My Heart); two 12" x 12" cream colored plain (for the snowflakes)

Inkpad, blue;  sponge

Mica Snow glitter

Paper cutter, scissors, die-cut machine (Cricut)

Artiste Cricut cartridge by Close To My Heart (For snowflakes and rosettes)

Decoupage medium or tacky glue, brush sponge

water bucket, paper towels, paper plate

Paper Rosettes:  Die-cut  and assemble one 5-1/2", eight 2-1/2"

Snowflakes:  Die-cut  fourteen 1-3/4", seven 2-1/2", one 4"

Sticky Sticks are fun and easy to craft with.  What is unique about these jumbo craft sticks, you ask?

The adhesive patch on the flat end of the stick is a strong bond that is permanent.  In other words, you cannot remove paper from it without it tearing and it will hold heavier items than most adhesives.  For this Snow burst design, the adhesive will adhere each stick to the front (right side) of the foam disk.

Below is a close-up of the adhesive strip.  Before using, you peel away the release paper that is still in place here.

Trim the rounded end of each stick into a rounded point.

Cut 3/4" strips of paper.  Trim to fit the front and back of each stick.  Leave the adhesive  area open.  Adhere with decoupage medium or tacky glue.

Repeat the above step with the remaining Sticky Sticks.

Trace around the foam disk onto the wrong side of the cardstock.  Cut one out for the front and the back.  Adhere.

Cut and adhere  1" x 12" strips of cardstock around the sides to finish.  Trim excess.

 Shade edges of disk and sticks using the wedge sponge and inkpad.

Space the sticks evenly around the disk. I recommend marking your spaces. Remove the release paper from each stick and adhere to the front of the disk.  Make sure you are happy with the placement before you make it permanent!  The accordion fold rosette will cover up the ends of the sticks on the front of the snow burst.

Did you make a mistake?  Don't panic!  Just lift the stick as carefully as possible and repair the adhesion 

with a little tacky glue if needed.

Now you are ready to embellish!  Cut out the snowflakes and rosettes using the die-cut machine.  Assemble the rosettes.  Once you get the embellishments placed and glued, apply glue to the snowflakes and apply the glitter.  Allow to dry. Adhere the snowflakes to the project as shown in photos given.

I think I got an optical illusion with the photo below!  Interesting, huh?

If you would like to locate a retailer or find out where to purchase Sticky Sticks; visit the website @ www.stickysticks.com

Feel free to message me if you have any questions!  I hope you are having an awesome Fall and are savoring every minute of the season!  Click on the blue "Designer Craft Connection" button at the top of the page to hop through some more Sticky Sticks creations by CHA Designers!  Enjoy!

Live Life with a Flourish,

Marilyn

Sticky Sticks, Glue and a Scarecrow too!

Fall has arrived!  Here in the Pacific Northwest it arrived  in the form of the Pineapple Express.  Lots and lots of rain and warmer temperatures!  Today was finally a typical Fall day with a chill in the air and sunshine.  I think we are all ready for a change....but not Christmas quite yet!  We still have Halloween and Thanksgiving coming up and I want to enjoy it all!

I have had the pleasure of playing with a product called Sticky Stickstm.  They are jumbo craft sticks with a strong adhesive bond on one end.  I love the simplicity of these sticks and aim to maximize the main features they offer.

A little scarecrow can grace the home decor throughout October and November.  I created this cute little guy with just a few supplies.  The following supplies are what you will need:

Sticky Stickstm
Cardstock papers in Fall colors (I used Close To My heart "Sarita" papers)
Scraps of cardstock for facial features, black, brown, orange
2" Smoothfoamtm ball
Scrap of natural burlap (or muslin fabric)
Jute twine
Straw hat, 4"
Typing paper and pencil
Scissors
 Lowmelt glue gun and sticks, tacky glue
*optional: brown inkpad and sponge to shade edges

Refer to the photo given below and adhere the sides of the sticks together to secure.

Remove the release paper on the adhesive, position the arms and legs over the back of the "torso" portion and adhere. Make sure you are ready to do this step before you remove the release paper  because it is a very strong adhesive. (The release paper is still attached in the photo below.)

For your pattern: Lay the sticks on the typing paper and trace around the body, arms and legs. Trace around your pattern onto the cardstock for the shirt, pants, etc. Cut these out for the front and the back of the scarecrow.  Adhere.

For the head:  Smooth the burlap fabric over the Smoothfoam ball.  

Tie around the base of the ball to secure.  Trim excess.

Spread out the "neck" portion of the burlap and adhere the head to the top of the body.  The glue gun works best for this step.  The photo below shows a "back" view of the scarecrow.

Cut out little triangles for the eyes and nose.  Wrap jute twine around the wrists, ankles and waist and tie to secure.

He needs a little straw hat to keep his head warm.  You might look around at the craft store and find a style you like better.  I have made one from felt fabric if I can't find one at the store.  Just a circle of felt, needle and thread!

Here is a closer view of his face.  It doesn't have to be real exact.  After all, he is supposed to be a little bit scary, right??

I hope the pictures help!  If you would like to share photos of your own project, I would love to see!  I have a Fan page on Facebook.  Marilyn Gossett Designs aka Top of Mind Designs.  Feel free to share!

If you would like to craft with Sticky Sticks, they can be found at most local retailers or visit www.stickysticks.com.  They are a new product and lots of fun for kids and adults alike!

Happy Crafting

&

Happy Fall!

Live Life with a Flourish!

Marilyn