Over the Kitchen Counter: Angie's Place for Cooking and Crafts

Blog Candy from Happily Ever After!

I was very excited to find out I'd won the blog candy from Carissa over at Happily Ever After Paper Crafter.  Carissa is a super-woman: she is a mom, wife, design team member for Pumpkin Spice AND she works outside the home!  I don't know how she finds the time to create such beautiful projects - cards, mini albums, 3-D projects, etc.!

I won a pad of jillibean soup holiday paper and some striped baker's twine.  I love both and am sure I can use them in  some cute cards and projects.  Even though the paper is Christmas themed there are a couple designs (flowers, stars) that will work for any time of the year.  Thanks, Carissa, for the great giveaway and all your creative inspiration!  Check out the Happily Ever After Paper Crafter blog if you'd like to get some paper craft ideas for your next project!

Valentine's Day Goody Bags

Here are the Valentine-themed goody bags I gave to my scrapbooking ladies.  This year I filled the bags with LOVE-ly treats and embellishments with a sweetheart theme, including a caramel-filled heart chocolate and chocolate-covered pretzels (something I consider almost a perfect food!).  I also covered a Hershey's nugget with an Avery label stamped with Sweet Baby...(just add a comma after 'sweet' and it makes sense!) using the It's a Wrap stamp set.  I also popped in a With Love vellum embellishment (from Creative Memories) matching the theme, and a roll of pink paper ribbon in each!

For the topper, I used heart border punched card stock (and put the punched-out hearts in the bag as confetti) and added an embossed initial layered on circles and a scallop.  I used 2 kinds of ribbon to make a bow which I attached with a glue dot.  I think they turned out really cute and perfectly suited  for my much-loved workshop friends!

Snap Cases & Thread Organization

My friend gave me one of those plastic, stacking snap cases and now I'm obsessed with them!  She picked it up at Michael's and I've also found them at the container/organizer store.  I think I have about 4 or 5 of them so far, in varying sizes.  They are perfect for scrapbooking supplies (like hard-to-store paper ribbons and embellishments) and I love them for my sewing supplies!

I've got them organized based on the items they hold: one for all the feet and accessories for each sewing machine; one for fabric cutting items (scissors, rotary cutter, extra blades); one for quilt marking tools (Hera, markers, pencils, chalks); one for threads and bobbins; one for measuring tools; one for needles & pins, etc.  I love how they have several sections with different depths.  Thanks for the gift and idea, Kathleen!

Another great idea, which I got from a quilt magazine, is to store spools of used thread with their matching filled bobbins in tiny zippered plastic bags.  I picked up the bags at the dollar store and you get about 25 of them!  They are perfect (and cheap!) for keeping my thread organized - so simple!

Finally, I seem to have gathered quite a lot of new thread spools and organizing them can be a challenge as they multiply!  I started with some small Gutermann cases but quickly outgrew them (plus I am using larger spools now).  So then I moved to the plastic drawer system and it's ok for now (I'll probably outgrow that too!).  I like keeping the thread covered up so it doesn't get dusty but want to be able to see what I have at a glance.  I've organized the drawers based on type of thread and love being able to choose from all the great colours!  I stack the other containers on top to save counter space!

 

It's a Wrap Thanks So Much Nuggets

Here's my first little treat bag of wrapped Nuggets!  I used Poppy Parade ink to stamp 'thanks so much' from the It's a Wrap Occasions stamp set onto Avery mailing labels.  They fit perfectly around the Hershey's Nuggets and it is so easy and fun to customize the chocolate's wrappers for any occasion.

I added the candy to a small cello bag and cinched it closed with some linen thread.  I added the scalloped tag (from the Touch of Kindness stamp set) as a topper.  I love this concept...but just need to work on centering the stamped image a bit!

Sew Easy Kit

Let's just say Santa got a little help picking out this amazing Sew Easy Stitch Piercer Bundle.  It made my eyes light up when I saw it - I loved the fact that everything was included.  The Sew Easy tool comes with a straight-stitch attachment and free needle to store in the compartment at the end of the handle.  But the set gives you 4 more sewing heads (zig-zag, burst, scallop, and hem), 4 packages of floss, the piercing mat, AND the carrying case!  You'd think I'd just be happy using my old sewing machine to add stitching to cards but I can never resist a 'kit' and this just seems like a handy, low-tech way to add a bit of embroidery to a card.  I can't wait to try it out!

 

Here's a great video showing how I can organize my carrying case!

Stampin' Up Order

I placed one more order before Christmas for some Stampin' Up product.  The main reason I did, other than getting in on the clearance rack deals, was when I was picking up holiday baking supplies and treats at the bulk store, I noticed that they had Hershey's Nuggets in stock.  Nuggets have been really hard for me to find here in my small Canadian town and since they are often used as treats in Stampin' Up projects, I scooped up a whole bag of them!

I remembered seeing Angie at Chic 'n Scratch using mailing labels to cover the pieces of chocolate with a stamped greeting.  Although Hershey's requested demonstrators to stop using sticky labels and use card stock instead, I am not a demonstrator and therefore love the idea of using a quick and easy label to customize the Nuggets!

I bought the It's a Wrap Occasions clear-mount stamp set for just this reason.  They fit perfectly on Avery 5160 mailing labels (which I picked up at Staples) and the labels in turn, fit perfectly around the Nugget.  Since I also needed a block to fit this size stamp, I took the opportunity to finally get my first Stampin' Up clear block!  I got the 'H' block and it really is lovely!  It is so nicely made and comfortable to use.  I love it!  I'll try to slowly add a few more as I place orders this year.

Since I was ordering, I took advantage of the clearance rack and picked up a paper pack, simply sent kit, and the long, narrow cello bags (which fit pencils or small candies, like Skittles) to have in my stash.  Of course I added in an extra pack of Dimensionals and small cello bags, two things I use the most!

I can't wait to make some little favours with the Hershey's Nuggets - they really are a yummy chunk of chocolate and it's so easy to personalize them for any occasion (birthday, school, shower, get well, baby, wedding, thanks) with my new stamp set and a strip of labels!

Simon Says Stamp

I was doing really well with my 'ease off on the on-line shopping' pledge to myself before Christmas but then made the mistake of visiting Kristina at kwernerdesign and seeing the adorable card she made with the Tilda stamp.  I also drooled over her SMASH book post and really had to control myself.

I ended up visiting Simon Says Stamp and ordering 2 Tilda stamps and the Date Smash Stamp - even though I really wanted the SMASH book and all the accessories as well!  I love the way Kristina used her book for ideas and designing but I had to really force myself to realize I would never actually use the book to its fullest.  It's a great idea though and in a different life, where I only had myself to worry about, I would devour this book and all the embellishments.  I couldn't resist the Date Smash stamp though and knew it would be cute for cards and scrapbooking, as well as for notes to my kids and hubby.

I couldn't not buy the cute Tilda stamps because I love the idea of colouring her in.  I like the winter one because she is pointing and, like Kristina shows, you could have any greeting or message on a tag beyond her pointing hand.

I bought the Kitchen Tilda because I thought she would be so cute on a tag I could include when I give away my baked goods.  Obviously she'd be sweet on a card as well and the kitchen/baking theme works well for me!

This was the first time I ordered from Simon Says Stamp and I was really impressed with their selection of products and also that shipping to Canada was ONLY $5!  That is amazing!  The order came right away and the wonderful team even sent a Christmas card photo and a free stamp set!  How nice is that these days?  I will definitely order from them again in the future!

Now that the holidays are winding down (the kids will be back to school next week), I'm hoping to get into the craft room and get working.  There are a lot of new things to play with and it will take me a while to get through them all! 

Christmas Table Place Cards

This year's Christmas table place cards are small cello bags filled with Christmas Smarties (like M&ms candies).  I needed to make a lot of them and didn't have much time to do it so I kept things really simple.  I stamped the message using the Sweet Season stamp set from Stampin' Up and Riding Hood Red ink on white card stock.  I then punched it out with the Decorative Label punch.  To make the matching Riding Hood Red mat, I just punched another Decorative Label and then cut it in half, removing the points.  I layered the two and used it to cover the staple holding down the topper base.  The snowflake was punched using the Creative Memories Pocket Punch and silver paper.  I'll write the names on small tags punched using the Jewelry Tag punch and adhere them on an angle under the snowflake.  Cute, festive, and tasty!

Practical Gift

Proof that you can make anything look cute with the right presentation: I wrapped up this Scotch Brite pad for my daughter's friend as a little joke-gift that is actually quite practical!

When the kids made mac 'n cheese they had a difficult time getting the baked-on stuff off their glass baking dish and I knew the non-scratch pad would do the trick.  I presented it in a small cello bag with a card stock topper and added the greeting - hopefully making them smile!

I always keep a fresh box of Scotch Brite scrubbies in my kitchen drawer.  They work like a charm and never scratch.  When the one at the sink gets ratty I just toss it out and get a new one!

Maple Shortbread Gift Bag

I shared these Crisp Maple Shortbread cookies with you on Thursday and today I'm showing how I shared them with the recipients!

I very carefully added the cookies to a large cello bag (the shortbreads are so tender they break very easily!) and then added a white card stock topper.  I knew my Hero Arts maple leaf stamp and Twinkling H2O paints would be perfect to decorate the packaging, very similar to the card I made here.

After I added the leafy, shimmery panel, I tied some linen thread around and added the popped-up greeting (stamped with the For You stamp from the Vintage Labels set - SU), punched and layered with circles of card stock.  Such a pretty gift bag and perfectly themed for the cookies.