the creative closet by cindy lawrence

Garden From the Heart

Hello Stampers!

The samples I have to share with you today bring me both joy and sadness.  The joy comes simply in the fact that I am just thrilled with how they turned out!  The sadness comes from the fact that I designed them for a Stampin' Up Artisan Award article that came out in December's Stampin' Success Magazine, and they were omitted from the magazine.  Actually..."I" was omitted.  You see, SU decided to leave me out of the article because they assumed that I had officially resigned from the company.  I find that fascinating on so many levels...seems it would be simple to find out the truth of the matter...maybe by picking up the phone and CALLING ME.  I would have been so grateful for the teensiest heads-up that this might happen.  I was sooo looking forward to seeing the article in print...such a disappointment.

The good news is that I LOVE this project, and I had enough foresight to snap a few pictures before I sent the package off.

I am not going to give you a full supply list for this; but you can find everything through SU...except for maybe the chocolate. ;)

Here's a separate shot of the treat box:

and a close-up of the card...

The temps here in NH continue to plummet into oblivion...hitting single digits by Friday.  Have I mentioned that I really do NOT like to be cold?!  You know what I do like, though???  I like the fact that my Ben will be home from college for six weeks beginning on Saturday!  I can NOT WAIT to see him again!!!  It's been almost four months since we've seen him...waaaay too long!  It will be a joyful reunion for sure. :)

Hope your day is positive and productive!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hugs~

Cindy

The Flower Fest Continues...

Hello Stampers~

Here I am with more calendar pages to share with you.  I have to say that it's been a real pleasure to be working with these gorgeous flowers when the temps here in New Hampshire have been so frigid!

Today I have May, June, & July to show you.  I had intended to share August with you as well; but I didn't quite get it finished on time.  I'm going to take a little break from the calendar pages for the next couple of days.  I have some other projects I want to share with you.  I'll share the rest of the calendar with you on Saturday.  That should give me time to get it finished.

Okay, here's May:

May's flower is the iris.  We have lots of irises on our property, several shades of pretty purples and some lovely pure white ones as well.  I chose amethyst as my main color, and added some touches of lilac to the petals.

On to June:

This page is going to be a favorite of my mom's, I just know it.  It is so her!  I pulled out my pink crocheted ribbon for this one, and colored the flowers using pink pirouette and regal rose. 

Before I go on to July, I wanted to note that the first six months of pages are all soft and easy on the eyes; but the last six months all pop with richer shades that match the flower varieties represented.

Here's July:

July's flower is the tiger lily.  These flowers are such a stunning display of God's creativity, aren't they?!  I used Tangerine Tango & Pumpkin Pie on my flowers, and dyed the satin ribbon and pearls to match.

That's all from me today, folks!  Hope you have a very blessed day today. :)

Hugs~
Cindy

Flowers, flowers, and more flowers!

Hello Stampers!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  Mine was glorious...relaxing and productive all at the same time. :)    I am still plugging away on the calendar for my mom.  Actually, I decided to make two of them; so it's taking me a bit longer.

Since it's such a time-consuming project, I thought I'd share a few pages at a time with you over the course of this week.  I hope you won't find that too boring!

You've already seen January (see Saturday's post).  So, I'll start with February:

February's flower is the primrose.  I chose Baja Breeze and Rich Razzleberry as my main color palette for this page.  The designer paper is from Basic Grey's Euphoria pack.  My image was stamped in black Staz-On ink and watercolored with re-inkers on European Watercolor Paper.

Marching on:

March's flower is the pansy.  I'm not so sure that pink pansies exist in nature; but I am lovin' it on paper.  My paper is Certainly Celery & the flower image is done in pink pirouette and regal rose.  The designer paper is from Basic Grey's Porcelain pack.  I do so love a soft pink and green color palette...yumm! 

Now, on to April:

April's flower is the daffodil.  I decided to go with a white center for my flowers and shades of So Saffron and More Mustard for the outer petals.  I think daffodils are one of the happiest flowers...so sunshiny and cheerful! :)

Okay, that's all I'm going to show you today.  Tomorrow I'll have four more months to share.  I do want to tell you that while I did have many of the ribbon and pearl colors on hand, whenever I didn't have a color I simply dyed it with a Copic marker.  Marvelous invention, aren't they?! 

Finally, you should know that nearly all of the supplies I used for my pages can be purchased from Flourishes.  The gorgeous images are from their brand-new Year of Flowers stamp set series, and the calendar pages are downloadable from Flourishes as well!  Hop on over there and check 'em out!

Here's a peek at the first set in the series, which covers January through April.  Gorgeous, isn't it?!!!

Have a FABULOUS Monday, friends!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hugs~
Cindy

A Special Gift

Happy weekend, friends!

I have been working on a special calendar for my mom whenever I could squeeze out a moment this week.  I have parts of all 12 pages finished; but this is the only month I have completely finished.  I will share the rest of the calendar with you once it's completely finished.

Mom loves pearls and lace and all things Victorian!  So my calendar will be in keeping with that theme without being too fru fru. ;)

I had the perfect stamps to use for my calendar!  Flourishes just released their Year of Flowers series of three stamp sets.  These are the sets I've been showcasing all week long.  Today I am finally sharing the calendar with you.  It's a gorgeous template, and you can manipulate it to fit the style/size of calendar you wish to make.  You can get the calendar download for just $2 OR even better....FREE with the purchase of all three stamp sets in the series.

Here's the recipe for my calendar page:

Stamps:  A Year of Flowers Set 1

Papers:  Classic White, European Watercolor, Pale Plum Textured, Memory Box Dewfrost Designer Paper

Inks:  Inkjet Printer Ink, Staz-on Black, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Orchid Opulence, Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Creamy Caramel, Soft Sky

Accessories:  Labels Four Nestabilities, White Crocheted Lace, Satin Ribbon (PTI), Narrow White Silk Ribbon, White Pearls (colored with V15 Copic marker), Sponge Dauber, Dimensionals, Water Brush, Flourishes 2010 Calendar Download

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!

Stay warm!  It's freeeeezing here in NH!

Hugs~
Cindy

Merry Fish-mas!

Hello Stampers~

Happy weekend to you!  Today I have to work until 2pm; but tonight Abbi & I are going to see the Nutcracker Ballet.  We are both sooo excited! :)

Today's sample is something fun from Our Craft Lounge.  I have a gazillion items for future "projects" in my stash, and this photo snow globe was one of them.  Doesn't it fit just perfectly with the fishy theme?!

I used the Sea-sons Greetings set to create my under-water scene, and colored it all in with Copic markers.  The satin ribbon and cut-out starfish at the bottom complete the look.

Here’s the recipe:

Stamps: Sea-sons Greetings

Papers: Pure Luxury White (GKD)

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers

Accessories: Photo Snow Globe, Satin Ribbon (PTI)

If you'd like to check out a bunch of other fun samples from Our Craft Lounge, hop on over to The Lounge!

Before I go, I thought I'd share the ornament wreath I made for my mom & dad, with the help of my sweet son, Nick:

I just love the color combo on this one, and the jingle bells add so much!  Nick & I were pleased as punch with how this turned out. :)  Now to find a box that it will fit in!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Hugs~
Cindy

Sea-sons Greetings, Friends!

Hello Stampers~

How cute is this turtle image?!  He's from the Sea-sons Greetings set from Our Craft Lounge.  He is having a blissful moment enjoying his candy canes. :)

I have to say that I have some of the most gorgeous designer paper these days!  I could just eat it all up...except that then I wouldn't have any...  I get most of my papers from Eclectic Paperie.  They have an incredible selection, including full packs and single sheets in yummy, yummy patterns and colors from oodles of different companies.  It's seriously fabulous stuff...seriously.

Here's the recipe for my card:

Stamps:  Sea-sons Greetings

Papers:  Kraft (Prism), Vanilla (SU), Watercolor, Polar Express Glitter Designer Papers (Imaginesce)

Inks:  Memento Rich Cocoa, Kiwi Kiss, Wild Wasabi, Riding Hood Red, Bashful Blue

Accessories:  Ninji Waterbrush, Red Glitter Dots, Striped Twill (SU), Labels Nestabilities, Dimensionals

I am at almost 50 Christmas cards made so far this year...yahoo!  I need to get a few more done; but these daily blog posts sure do help my cause. ;)

Before I go, I want to share another little project my daughter and I made:

Have you seen these???  It's an advent calendar made from a mini-muffin tin!  Remember the ornament wreath I shared with you the other day?  Well, that same amazing friend shared this idea with me.  Thanks, Kirsten! :)

I would have shown you a little sooner, so you had time to make one of your own before Dec 1st; but I had to wait until my tin arrived.  You see, I looked everywhere locally for a tin without ridges around the cups, and that had a hole punched in it at the end.  When I couldn't find what I wanted I turned to Amazon and found what I thought was the perfect tin.  What they SENT me, however, was entirely different than what was pictured.  Soooo...my tin has the ridges and we had to punch our own holes (thank God for my Crop-a-dile!). 

I used 24 different designer papers from my giNORmous EP stash, and attached them to 2"x2" magnet squares made from left-over business card magnets.  Then I punched out circles and used my Cricut to make the days of the month.  After I punched my holes, I added some gorgeous ginham ribbon from Flourishes to the top, and filled the cups with many different kinds of candy for the kiddos.  We were also going to tuck in a Bible verse a day...but we just didn't get there.  It's a great thought, though! :)

The tin is totally usable afterwards too, since nothing is actually "attached" to it.  Check out Kirsten's blog to see what she did with hers...sweet and clever that girl is!

Hope you all have a wonderful, wonderful day today!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs~
Cindy

Easy Peasy Christmas Wreath

Hello Stampers~

It feels like forever since I've posted anything!  I hope you all had a very blessed Thanksgiving and long weekend.  Ours was absolutely perfect!  Oh, and let me tell you, that pumpkin pie from Paula Deen that I posted about last week, was CRAZY good...definitely a keeper recipe!  They were all delicious; but that one knocked my socks off.

Today I have a fun project to share with you.  It's a Christmas wreath made from a wire coat hanger, shatter-proof ornaments, ribbon and hot glue.  My friend Kirsten shared the idea with me, and made a gorgeous one of her own.  The original idea came from HERE. 

Abbi & I made ours together, and decided that we are going to shop for some more ornaments and make another one for grandma & grandpa.  We used about 70ish ornaments in our wreath, which we found at our local dollar store.  Now, word to the wise, when the instructions say to hot glue the toppers on to the ornaments, they aren't kidding.  This is a step you simply cannot skip.  The other thing to note, is that your wire hanger should be as thin as possible.  Ours was a pretty heavy-duty one; so we gave daddy the job of re-twisting the top at the end.

All in all, it was a fun project to do together, and it looks just beautiful hanging on the front door. :)

Our project for this evening is an advent calendar made from a mini muffin tin.  I will share photos of that this week as well. 

Have a fantastic day, friends!

Thanks so much for visiting with me today!

Hugs~
Cindy 

Fun With Tags!

Hello Stampers~

Last night I had the privilege of spending some quality stamping time with some of my favorite girlfriends.  We decided to do a little holiday tag shoebox swap...fun and productive!

Today I thought I'd share the gorgeous tags that each of the girls made.  I won't be providing recipes or instructions in this post; but if there's something you really want to know, feel free to e-mail me and ask. :)

Here they are in no particular order:

It's hard to tell in the photo; but this one has a cello bag full of candies in the middle:

I just realized I didn't get a picture of Meg's second ornament tag.  It was a beautiful red ornament with gold embossed poinsettias all over...just gorgeous!

Wasn't that fun?!  I hope I've given you some inspiration to create some of your own one-of-a-kind holiday tags!

Have a terrific Tuesday, my friends!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs~
Cindy

A Spot of Christmas Tea

Happy Friday, stampers!

It's release day at Flourishes, which means you can finally get your hot little hands on the awesome stamp sets we've been sneak peeking all week long! :)

Today, I have a tea tin made with a sweet new set called Christmas Tea.  Aren't those stacked teacups just darling?!  I colored them in with Copic markers.  Did you see all of Flourishes new Copic collections???  They have sooo many delicious & perfectly coordinated color combos for you to choose from!  You can check them out HERE!

Here's the recipe for my tea tin:

Stamps:  Christmas Tea

Papers:  Classic White, Baja Breeze, Dewfrost Designer Paper from Memory Box

Inks:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Baja Breeze, Soft Sky, Antique Linen Distress Ink (Tim Holtz), Copic Markers

Accessories:  tea tin, Red Satin Ribbon, Long Rectangle Nestabilities, Scalloped Border Punch (EK Success), Ribbon Tag Trio 2 Nestabilities, Ivory String, Sponge Dauber, Paper Flower, 1" & 3/4" Circle Punches, Gold & Red Rhinestones, Dimensionals

Swing by the rest of the design team blogs to see their gorgeous creations:

• Christine Okken
• Julie Koerber
  
• Latisha Yoast
• Laura Fredrickson
• Leslie Miller
• Stacy Morgan
• Flourishes Newsletter

Speaking of the release, you'll want to join us TONIGHT for our POWER HOUR RELEASE PARTY! It's a super duper fun time full of games, goodies, and prizes up for grabs!  We'll host it in the Flourishes Forum over on Splitcoast HERE from 9 to 10 PM Central Standard Time. As the party wraps, all of our sets that we peek this week will be put in store for your shopping pleasure!

Have a fantastic Friday, friends!  My dear hubby is traveling home from Haiti today, and we are all just soooo excited to see him again!  He'll be here between midnight and 1am tomorrow...and you can bet your BOOTAY that I'll be waiting up for him! :)

Thanks for visiting with me today!

Hugs~
Cindy

Mega Recipe Blog Hop!

Hello Stampers~

Today is day two of the Creative Cuts & More Mega Recipe Blog Hop, and I'm excited to be a part of it!  There are 24 designers who will be showcasing wonderful pages and yummy Holiday Treat recipes using the Apron Holiday Treats Recipe Kit.

As part of the celebration, CC&M will be having a great sale. For the next six days, they are offering 20% off anything in the entire store!  But act quickly, it is only for six days – this sale will end on Nov 14^th.  Make sure you enter the code recipebloghop2009 during checkout.

As a continuing part of the celebration, CC&M will be giving away one FREE kit to one lucky winner!  All you need to do is leave a comment on each blog in the hop, and return to www.diecutdiva.com.  Here's the twist... rather than leaving a comment on Diecut Diva, you will need to share a recipe to have a chance at winning the kit.  Want a second chance to win?  Share the recipe on your blog and link it back to Diecut Diva!  I can't wait to see all of the yummy recipes! :)

Now, on to my project...

The photo above shows the front cover of my Apron Holiday Recipe Album.  I used my computer to print "Favorite Holiday Recipes" in bright red ink.  Aren't the embellishments on this fun?!  All of them come in the kit...and many, many more!  The green "brads" in the corner are actually cardstock circles punched with a 1/4" circle punch and covered in crystal lacquer.  I love the sparkly designer paper in this kit...so festive!

Here's a page from my album:

The recipe actually fits right down inside the pocket.  I made the "popcorn" in the bowl with a circle punch and a bit of pale yellow ink for a buttery effect.  

Here's what one of the pages look when it's all tucked in nice and neat. :)

I could have certainly added more embellishments to the pages...and believe me, I wanted to; BUT I never could have finished an entire album in one evening if I had gone any more embellishment crazy.  I was so excited to get this whole project finished so quickly.  The kit really makes it easy!

I gussied up a gingerbread die-cut with some white gel pen, tiny rhinestones, and a wee green satin bow.  Isn't he a cutie-patootie?

Now... I thought I'd share a few of my favorite holiday treat recipes with you:

I have been making these yummy mini muffins for years, and they are always a big hit...and just look at how easy they are to make!

This next recipe is one that a friend shared with me a few years ago, and it is now a holiday staple in our house...so delish!

Finally, you can't have Christmas without ginger snaps, now, can you?!  This recipe has been passed down for many generations, and I must say these are hands-down the BEST ginger snaps you'll ever make...true cookie perfection! 

I hope you've enjoyed my contribution to the hop!  After viewing all of the yummy recipes being shared today, I think we're ALL going to be hungry! 

If you didn't start at the beginning of the hop, you'll definitely want to do so! 

Here's a list of all participating blogs in order.  Happy hopping! :)

Die Cut Diva
Pam Smerker                        
Nathalia Castellon          
Dawn Lusk                          
Stephany Zerbe                 
Jennifer Hansen               
Lisa Somerville                    
Lila Holgate                          
Kazan Clark                          
Rachel Hope Baird              
Ellen Sosnoski                
Cecilia Stricklin
Cambria Turnbow                                 
Angie Pearl
Laura Davis                          
Noelle Reese                        
Holly Brown                           
Rachel Sztonyk                     
Deb Felts                              
Jen Johnson                         
Amber Hillman                      
Carla Mayfield                      
Cindy Lawrence                   
Chris Dickinson                    
Die Cut Diva                          

Have a wonderful day, my friends!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hugs~
Cindy