January Tag Along!

New Year's Resolution Solutions in place, I have many personal goals for myself this year. My first is to have a postage-free year. Having discovered the "buttons" on my favorite crafters side bars, what a perfectly perfect way to share creativity and what a wonderful way to host my Tag Alongs. I had in mind that I would like to create a tag for myself reflecting each month of the year. I hope you will be inspired to either copy my tag or create one in your own style.

Because my New Year desk theme is PINK I chose light pink and off-white papers. My tag measures 6" X 3". I used my trusty round clock to cut a curve at the top of the tag. Because the pink didn't at all go with the clock colors, I cut a long curve allowing the clock image to stand out. Glue pieces together as well as a co-ordinating paper for the back to give sturdiness. I pinked the bottom edge, punched a hole at the top for my jump ring.

Make two copies of this wonderful vintage New Year's card. Cut one around the clock face, the second around bells. Position and glue full image on tag, use Pop Dots to place bells on top of whole image. Gold glitter the bells and clock edge.

Copy and cut out New Year's baby. (Did you note the cute baby containers on my craft desk - perfect for January!)

Position baby as though he is walking into the New Year. Glitter gold his bell, a pom pom cut in half and hot glued is all he needs. Make sure your glitter is dry before moving on to next step (or glitter at end of project - LOL! makes sense now!)

Rosettes and fringe. I used pink crepe paper, but you could also use pink paper. Accordion fold 12" for the large rosette, pink one edge. Glue one long side, circle around other long side until they meet. Position pleats to appeal, press center with finger to keep in place. Hot glue in place on back where you have created pressed center. Repeat behind bell 6" strip, pinking at about 1/2", position, hot glue in place. Flat accordion piece about 10", line of hot glue on back, position.

I love to decorate the back of my tags for a finished look. You can cover the center of rosettes with more vintage images, words, jewels, anything at all. I covered my fringe with my blog name.

There you have it! Supplies on hand, easy steps, cuteness for the New Year.

I hope you will be inspired To TAG ALONG with me. Please be sure and leave a comment if you create a tag inspired by mine or one of your own. I will be sure to visit! Happy New Year, Elizabeth

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Don't you love a shiny New Year? For me I think about all of the hours that are mine to fill. I'm a jam-packer. I can't wait for a day to begin and have a hard time bringing it to a close.


My little white desk is ready for new projects to fill it's spaces. My first new paper of the year, Mind's Eye, "Be Loved". One look at my favorite vintage green shade translated into "Take me home!"


Joyce's (Scrap for Joy) Creative Breathing banner gift sets the theme for my desk. PINK! Please notice the gift of another heart by Claudia of The Teeny Tiny Cabin. Her creative work is like her life. Layers rich in meaning, images brought to mind of the place she calls home. I love visiting! Notice the new little carousel? A visual record of my craft desk through all it's months of creativity. How fun is that!



Even in a work space as small as mine, it's fun to give the eye new creative spots to rest. My Full of Bliss inspired Gnome Dome rests on a thrift store plate. Cheerful colors that are me!


It's fun to be on the look out for tiny tuck ins for these cubbies. I love my litte wandering fella and his wolf. The childrens' tin tea cup is Ohio Art


Baskets and Jars! That's my preferred organizational method. I love being able to see all of the flower colors through the glass. I feel like "Go Fish" every time I open it's lid
.

Have I introduced you to my, excuse me Mr. Kitty's chair? This cuteness seldom sees the light of day covered as it always is by a sheet.


One of the very first thing I made was this lamp shade copied from the beautiful Ikea lamps over Jenny B.'s work desk. Notice the little chef tassel I made from a salt shaker. NOTICE my beautiful Friendship Heart Garland. I will never have another "meltdown" in my blog life because of these hearts!


Yes it is a shiny New Year, and I can't wait for the inspiration that can always be found here in this most creative community!

Creative Breathing 2010, Elizabeth

How TSG Got Her Name

A young girl, a young man, hoped for glances caught unawares. Prolonged excuses to linger. A chance thunderstorm, a gazebo for two. Lightness of heart taking flight in motion. Twirling, swirling, girl in love.

As a girl I fell in love with the idea of a special boy for me at the very moment the strains of "I am sixteen going on seventeen..." began in the "Sound of Music". I don't think young love first spoken has ever been portrayed more beautifully. Countless times my own daughter would watch this movie with me, her attentiveness revealing a young girl's heart.

Prom just around the corner, self-confidence not to be found. Dress after dress just not right. A last chance store, a bridal store, more of the same. Mature silhouettes waiting for a girl who has yet to bloom. One dress not the same, not in style at all. One dress waiting for just the right girl.

Alcoves of mirrors with round pedestals at each. A shy turn, a slight swirl, a smile. Shoes kicked aside, head held high, graceful neck extending to her fingertips, she began to twirl. She began to dance. She began to leap from pedestal to pedestal as onlookers gathered. Her movements synchronized to the music in my head, "I am sixteen going on seventeen..." a final flourish, applause and cheers throughout the store. It was the most magical moment I have ever seen. A girl blossoming before my eyes.

Each Christmas when I unwrap this beautiful snow globe with it's romantic alpine figures, I am reminded of The Sound of Music and my Twirly Swirly Girl.

Rudolph, I Love You!

Oh Ladies, The best morning ever! Snow, snow, snow! I love snow, and I finally can say my Christmas is white! Can you see my great big smile? It is for a morning of the best ever stories of husbands just like mine! I thought I was alone in my Christmas morning, present opening, false glee club. Perfectly perfect morning! Thank you all so very much!


I am still giggling at the thought of the myriad of stories I could tell about my funny, sweet husband; but I will close by redeeming his character with this wonderful photo of Gene Autry the composer of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer". Close friends with President Ronald Regan, he always insisted that the AF-1 crew stay at his hotel in Palm Springs, CA. A dream come true for a boy of the 1950's whose hard working, honest character was shaped by the cowboys on television. Heroes do stand tall in my life as well!

Vintage Bonanza!

Oh my goodness. I nearly swooned to find two vintage boxes of Christmas cards, each filled with wonderful selections.
Here is the AQUA SET:







Here is the RED SET









These are inexpensive Dime Store cards with very simple printing. They are about four inches each.They are such fun to hold in the hand and admire.

I also found this box of what I call "Fancy Cards". The printing is beautifully vibrant.

Here is just a sneak peak of four of the eighteen!


I owe my love of vintage images to Diane of Saturday Finds. It was love at first Posy. No one combines these fabulous images as sweetly as does she. I think this is the most favorite one I have of all. Visiting her blog is a very happy experience for me!

Such a long post, but I hope you will be inspired as I am by the simple pleasures of the holiday season depicted on these cards.

May All Your Dreams Come True!

His Gift to Us

My morning begins early with last cookies to bake. I can see cardinals outside my kitchen window bright against russet leaves still left on our oak. Without turning around I am comforted by sounds of a space shared. Opening and closings, glass and metal rustlings, the sound of water, the smell of coffee. A dance of partners who no longer count their steps.

A pass, a turn, waiting for what I know will come. Timeless moments where age slips away. Loves embrace held until the heart is full. Words of commitment renewed for the New Year spoken as though for the first time.

My morning continues, the sweet smell of vanilla warming the air. Quiet in my thoughts, a smile touching my lips. Love once known is always remembered even if it's physical presence has left the room.




Christmas can be such a sad time when loved ones are no longer with us. As my husband and I get older, I can't bare to think of spaces not filled by two. Is it any wonder that Christ should come to us at the beginning of a New Year with his promise of everlasting love. We can always feel it as we go about the patterns of our day and are comforted to know that we will be reunited again with loved ones gone from our space.

Definition for Baking - "Excuse to Use Cute Dishes"

Crafting put aside, just time enough to bake for the holidays. By this point I am in full holiday frenzy which if interpreted by my TSG and husband means - don't go anywhere near Mom - she's OUT OF CONTROL. I'm sorry, but it takes me a few moments to slip into Martha mode and remember how to make cookies I only make once a year!
I love this moment of the holidays so very much because I LOVE my cookie plate collection and the stories behind the cookies I make. I use my mother's Honeymoon Days Ecko Cookie Press to make my Spritz cookies. Bridge parties meant cheese straws and little cookies shaped like the symbols on the bridge cards. I make little Scottie dogs and Christmas trees.
I have the very best decorating tip that you will just love. If you microwave your tube icing about 3-5 seconds, it will harden like Royal Icing but taste oh so delicious! As your icing becomes difficult to squeeze, microwave again.
The very best decorating tip I learned from Martha is "Uniformity". I always watched Martha's old show and can recall her saying that having your cookies look all the same gives them the WOW factor. She's right! My cookies did not look like this before Martha!
TSG loves to give cookies at the holidays. We are always on the lookout for new and cute ways to deliver the "goods." Flight attendant Dad will bring home catering containers that he thinks we might like. How cute are these green containers and their green ribbons!!! We filled eight of these with different cookies.
I have collected Christmas plates for as long as I can remember. For me who is not a Keeper of Things, this is really quite a miracle; but I have a special place to keep them, and this makes me happy. I just melted at the rich image on this Santa plate and the deep red border.
Do you save your favorite Christmas cards from year to year? I think these little children carolers are extolling their love for chocolate. Maybe in years to come a paper crafter will think our cards are "vintagy"!
What name do you give your little white sugar covered cookies? Mine are called Russian Tea Cakes because the recipe was given to my mother during our holidays in Turkey by a Russian Prima ballerina who came to our apartment for English lessons. Exquisitely elegant, a little girl's dream come true.
An invitation to attend, she gave me the slippers she wore during her performance in Swan Lake. A magical moment to remember a lifetime.
What cookie do you leave for Santa? I leave my White Velvet Cutouts. Do you recognize the reindeer as the one on the penny rug? I just love this cute little cookie cutter.
I am most excited to share my Gingerbread Men recipe with you. They are not like any you have ever not liked before! Even those who say they hate gingerbread are converted by these. They make me smile and laugh to recall how they made their way into my Box of Keepers. Military wives, husbands far away, holiday baking together. I was so surprised by the Commissary sized ingredients my friend pulled from her cupboards. A gallon of vanilla? Fifty pounds of flour? A quart of molasses? I couldn't stop laughing!

Gingerbread Men
Cream: 1c shortening, 1c sugar, 1 egg
Add: 1c lt molasses, 2T vinegar
Add: 4 1/2c flour, 1 1/2t baking soda, 1/2t salt, 2 1/2t ginger, 1t cinnamon
Divide: dough in half, wrap in saran, chill 1hr.
Roll: 1/8" thick on WELL floured surface, flour rolling pin, flour cutter, flour whenever there is stickiness!
Cut: shapes
Bake: 375: 8 minutes ONLY! Cool
Decorate: Betty Crocker White Icing and tip microwave 3-5 sec. (even new variety works), currants, (small raisins) red hots.

My cookies are all made now and ready to deliver. My reindeer cookie is waiting for the man in red. My stockings are hung, my presents are wrapped. What a wonderful holiday season it has been this year!