Cozy Living

Hope...

Yes, I do have hope...for a beautiful Christmas present from my dear hubby. These three lovely ladies are on their way to my house to make my Christmas morning a bit merrier, and to cheer up a space in my home (either my office or my future "library nook"...haven't decided yet.) But this is a Christmas present, so as I write the check I'm repeating, "Don't tell yourself. Don't tell yourself." Perhaps that will be enough to make it a surprise for me on Christmas morning. (What can I say, we're the comfortable old couple who shopped for our engagement rings together and who still purchase our own presents for ourselves, if we do presents at all. Aren't we romantic?)

If you love these little girls as much as I do, please pop on over to Kirsten's lovely blog, Tollipop, which I've mentioned before is one of my favorites. Dabbling in writing a bit myself, I do so love to be captured by words, and Kirsten's writing grabs onto me with every post. So I send you her direction today, and as your reward, she's doing a giveaway where you can win prints of these lovely girls, inspired by a favorite book of hers, 100 Dresses. Each girl has a unique story to tell, all of which you'll find on her blog. Please do mention that I sent you, and perhaps I can win a few extra prints of my own! The more girls on my wall, the merrier, right?

(I'm simply taken with this girl, who reminds me of my months living in Krakow, Poland. I can just picture her, a ragamuffin in the streets of Eastern Europe a long time ago.)

Enjoy Kirsten's blog and her giveaway!

On the First Day of (handmade) Christmas, My True Love Gave to Me...

[I've found myself looking for more tangible ways to express my love to my family and friends, especially for this Christmas season.  I am determined right now to begin fashioning what I'm calling my Handmade Christmas.  My goal is to make all of my gifts this year.  If you'll follow along with me, I might share an idea or two that you hadn't thought of, and I look forward to some comments with wonderful handmade Christmas present ideas from you, too.  Hopefully we'll all be ready to celebrate together when we have a cozy little stash of homemade gifts waiting under our trees for our loved ones in December.]

On the first day of handmade Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree!  But as there's a shortage of partridges around here (as well as pear trees), I'll settle for a stamped bird on a handmade Christmas card.  Since I started stamping three years ago I haven't bought a store bought card for anything.  I love creating the design, choosing the colors, and even making and remaking the card until it looks just right.  For Christmas, I try to keep my ideas very basic, because I just don't want to spend hours and hours stamping cards for my whole Christmas list.  Here are some of my ideas for this year, created for my yearly Christmas Card Stamping Class, so that there will be plenty of ideas for everyone.

...the traditional red and green above, and the more elegant cream and gold with organdy ribbon below.

Red and aqua, inspired by Selena & Sara's swap.  That butterfly card is one of my favorite recent creations.

more red and green, with a bit of a vintage olive twist, and another favorite color combo, red white and black, below.

I love navy and light blue and white, too.  The middle card was my card two years ago, and is still one of my simple favorites.

Here's the card I would love to do for this year, along with the simplified version that I will most likely end up with.  That's okay, often simpler is better, in card-making and in life.

All of the stamps and paper shown were purchased from Stampin' Up! (email me if you need a source) and most can be done by even the newest stamper.  Most designs are mine, but several are from my wonderful stamping club...thank you Bridget, Marni, Rebecca, Tandra, Alora, Jeanne, Gigi, Cindy & Tina for your inspiration and your beautiful designs! If you've never stamped, your necessities to purchase are: extra smooth (but not glossy) white or cream cardstock for stamping on, a paper trimmer, a few inkpads and coordinating cardstock colors, and a few image stamps and a few sentiment (word) stamps.  I also like to add ribbon and rhinestones to lots of my designs.  I generally start with the main image I want to use and a color scheme, and start experimenting until I like what I have.  If you have any questions about specific cards, send me an email @ cozyliving@cox.net and I'll help you as much as I can.  

I so enjoy making my own cards, especially for Christmas.  Come back for the second day of (handmade) Christmas soon...

We have a winner!

Let me just say that I was thrilled and quite overwhelmed with all of you who stopped your busy lives to wish me a happy birthday and to take a peek around my blog.  I started this blog as a new and different outlet for my creativity, and as a way to encourage myself and inspire others to spend more time each day focusing on a more wholesome lifestyle. I'm finally spending time sewing for our family, reading for pleasure, cooking more healthfully, and generally being more mindful of my focus and my attitude as I go about my day.  So thank you to everyone who stops by to read now and then, because your comments and friendship make my day.  I hope those of you who've just found me will come by again, and I'm looking forward to visiting your blogs to get to know you all in the coming weeks. One of my favorite things about this online community is discovering new women all over the country who inspire me to live a better and more full life. Thank you!

Without further ado, the winner of the picnic table cover/tablecloth/picnic blanket is lucky #4, Susan Cahill!  Congratulations Susan!  Please click on the About link to send me an email with your mailing information and I'll send that out to you.  And you'll be happy to know that yes, the ties will work to carry the blanket all rolled up over your shoulder to your next picnic or camping trip!  I love this thing so much that I just might have to make some for my shop. 

This giveaway was such fun for me, I'll have to come up with something new to give away soon.  Just in time for Christmas gifts, perhaps?  (Yes, I do my Christmas shopping early. Very early.)  Hmmm...maybe a little series with Christmas gift and card ideas is in order around here soon?  I'll leave you with a favorite Christmas card creation that just might be my card this year...

Stamping Stuff

I haven't mentioned it often here, but I used to be quite the prolific card stamper.  I love deliberating about the color combinations, fiddling around with the layouts, and most of all, I love having handmade cards to send to people when they need it.  The things you can stamp are so much more beautiful, and of course, meaningful, than something you can buy in the store.  And it doesn't hurt that if I stamp enough, it ends up being much less expensive than a store. Can't beat that.  As I've been on a bit of a sewing binge lately, I haven't stamped much, but I do have an order of beautiful new stamps being delivered in the next week, and I can't wait to get my hands onto paper crafting again soon!

My favorite stamp lately is from Stampin' Up! and is a single stamp called Riot of Petals. At $18, it was very pricey, but I have used it so much that I know I've definitely gotten my money's worth. Sometimes I spend a bunch of little bits of cash on things I don't ever use, and really, this big bit of cash was better spent, don't you think?

I thought I'd share a few favorite cards with this stamp to get you in the mood for the return of paper crafting!

And one last card making idea (non stamping related)... for my grandmother's 95th (yes, 95!) birthday, I had Jake draw a picture and I scanned it and printed it to put on some cards with a few little embellishments for her to send to her friends when she writes little notes.  Tyler scribbled away on sheet after sheet, which I cut up and did the same thing with, and she just loved her present.  Here's what I mean, if that's not very clear.  It's a great inexpensive but meaningful present for grandparents. Enjoy!

The Value of a Sketch Pad

I shared this before briefly here, but thought it was worth a post of its own. I am always so thrilled to discover a parenting idea that is particularly brilliant, and as it happens to me so seldom, I'm sharing one such amazing discovery here: sketch pads.

I know, I know, you've all discovered the joy, the eyebrows furrowed in concentration, and most importantly, the long minutes of quiet a sketch pad can bring. I may be a little behind here, but in case I'm not, let me tell you this: bring a sketch pad on trips with you. Any trip. In an airplane, to the nature preserve, on long car drives, or as we did, to the zoo. We have an adorable tote with the cutest cowboy fabric (here's the same tote...different fabric) that holds the sketch pad and a set of crayons. And here the boys are:

The last time we went to the San Diego Zoo (one of the most amazing zoos in the world!), the boys lasted less than three hours there. I was so disappointed. So this time, as Jake has been really into drawing, we brought the sketch pads and they wanted to stop and draw every animal we saw. Our first model was this beautiful leopard who did us the favor of sitting regally by the front of the cage, so Jake could capture him with his crayons.

There's something so gratifying about watching children be so amazed by something and then transfer their ideas to paper. I simply swam in their joy as they sketched. And now we have a huge pile of animal drawings, all with immensely creative names like "Leppy the Leopard" and "Pandy the Panda." But best of all, we all saw the zoo with new eyes. Together.

Homemade Card Fun

Okay, so if you've never tried making your own stationery before, you really should give it a chance. Look at this gorgeous card, which for a set of 6 would cost $15 in a store, but you can stamp for yourself and it's affordable, homemade, and just as beautiful as any store-bought card!

I love these below that are just stamped in brown on ivory cardstock, then lightly watercolored to give them a little bit of extra life. I gave a set of these to my cousin (who loves fancy stationery!) for Christmas and she loved them. A little effort at home can save you money, and you've made it yourself.

I'm teaching a class next Sunday from 2:00-5:00 to make these cards (14 cards and envelopes for $20) so if you're local and interested, drop me a comment before Thursday evening and I'll give you all the details. We'll be making the two above, along with the two below. (We'll make 4 each of the turquoise flower and the brown botanical looking cards, which you can add sentiments to if you want, and we'll make three each of the ones below. You can change the sentiment on the "With Sympathy" card so it can say "Thank You.") I know it's nice to have beautiful handmade cards on hand when an occasion sneaks up on you!

don't we all know someone who would love the style of this card?

And who doesn't need a spare kid's birthday card for that nephew or grandchild or child's friend's party?

I encourage you to give handmade stationery a chance. It's so neat to make something from scratch at home, whether it's a recipe, a sweater, or even a card like these. I hope you'll do it and share your pictures with me!