The Elf on the Shelf - Round Two

Well a few weeks have passed and our little elf Holly has been super busy around our house.  Day 10 dawned with her fishing on my husband's bureau.

There were candy wrappers everywhere on Day 11 as she munched away on chocolate from inside my daughter's stocking.

A bit of acrobatics and some shiny lights were what we woke up to on Day 12.

Yum, my daughter really enjoyed the s'more that Holly left for her on Day 13.  I am sure that her teacher really appreciated the resulting early morning sugar rush.

The powder room looked very festive on Day 14.  There were holiday wishes all over the mirror.

All the excitement of the previous days left Holly worn out on Day 15.  She spent the day snuggled up with a teddy bear in a doll bed.

A day of rest, meant more antics on Day 16.  Snow angels on the kitchen counter!

Holly spent Day 17 climbing a Lego rock wall.

Day 18 started with Holly resting comfortably among the Christmas trees.

A rousing game of Guess Who? with one of my daughter's stuffed animals was the highlight of Day 19.

Holly is not afraid of heights, because Day 20 found that she had replaced the angel on the top of the children's tree.

A failed attempt to parachute tandem left Holly hanging from the curtain rod on Day 21.

Day 22 was full of craftiness.  Holly stamped a Christmas greeting to my daughter.

After untangling herself from craft supplies, Holly was ready for a little exercise.  Day 23 was spent in a snowball battle with one of the local snowmen.

Which brings us to this morning. Holly is apparently a little bit unclear on exactly how Twitter works.  Ok, so maybe she isn't the only one!  Today we found her in a bird cage tweeting to our family.

I hope that you and are family are having a wonderful holiday season, full of lots of fun family adventures.  Thanks for stopping by and visiting our house today!

The Elf on the Shelf

For years, the Elf on the Shelf has stayed clear of our house.  On the day after Thanksgiving, we were so excited to find her sitting on the living room bookshelf.  Each morning my youngest daughter wakes up extra early to search for Holly the Elf.  So far she has been getting into mischief all over the house.

Day 2 ... We found her enjoying a bubble bath in the powder room.

Day 3 ... The day of relaxation must have really tuckered Holly out, because she spent the day sleeping in the family room.  She did manage to open the set of playing cards that my daughter handcrafted for her from duct tape prior to hitting the sack though! 

Day 4 ... After a bit of searching we found her enjoying some juice in the kitty print chair.  My daughter was a little surprised to find Holly in her favorite chair!

Day 5 ... I guess she was missing the cold of the North Pole because she put on a pair of ear muffs and scarf and spent the day hanging out in the refrigerator enjoying chocolate syrup.  We were pretty happy that she chose the syrup over the wine.  That could have been ugly!

Day 6 ... Was spent reading a good book.  Ironically, the book was titled Holly and Hal Moose.  I guess she thought it was about her.

Day 7 ... Holly got tricky.  It took us a while to find her hiding among the poinsettias.

Day 8 ... What better way for an elf to spend a day than enjoying a spot of tea!

Day 9 ... Turns out Holly made a visit to Barbie World in our basement and found herself a cool ride.  She is a bit of a daredevil!

More to come!  I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season!  And thanks for stopping in the Green House on the Hill.

Winner of Better Digital Photos

The winner of the Creating Keepsakes special issue Better Digital Photos is ...

skeeterorSeptember 4, 2012 6:00 PM

This looks like a great issue! Would love to win it! Thanks to you and CK for giving us this opportunity! ~Bev~

Please email me at patty (dot) cieri (at) gmail (dot) com with your name and mailing address by Friday, 9/14/12, so I can get the issue in the mail to you!  Thank you to all who left me comments!  And thank you to Creating Keepsakes for allowing me to give away this great issue.

Giveaway - Better Digital Photos!

Today I am taking part in a blog hop in honor of the new publication from Creating Keepsakes, Better Digital Photos. I just received my copy the other day and am so excited to give the techniques a try.

Each of the blogs along the hop will be giving a copy of this special issue away, so please make sure you visit them all. If you don't want to wait, you can purchase a paper copy here. Or a digital copy here!  Creating Keepsakes has a sneak peek available too.

Joey Manwarren	http://everydayimagination.blogspot.com/
Laina Lamb	http://www.lifeonthelamb.blogspot.com/
Adele Beck	http://dleebug.wordpress.com/
Erika Hayes	http://www.thinkingthroughdesign.typepad.com
Jana Morton	http://janamorton.blogspot.com/
Mou Saha	http://collagecollagecollage.blogspot.com/
Gretchen McElveen	http://www.gretchenmac.blogspot.com
Iris Uy	http://www.irisbabaouy.typepad.com/
Ashley Harris (The Scrap Review)	http://www.thescrapreview.com
Lain Ehmann	http://www.layoutaday.com
Susan Mintmire	http://www.designteamcalls.com
Ashley Horton	http://ashleyspaperdoll.blogspot.com/
Stacy Cohen	http://stacycohen.blogspot.com/
Autumn Baldwin	http://itsalwaysautumn.com

To enter to win a copy, please leave a comment on this post.  I will randomly select a winner on Monday, September 10th. Thanks for visiting!

Upcoming Class at Club CK

For those of you who are fans of the super talented Kim Watson, mark your calendar for Saturday, August 11th at 1pm EDT (11am MDT, 12 noon CDT). Kim is offering another FREE class at Club CK.  You can find the details here. If you aren't a member of Club CK, it is easy and free to join, just click here to get started. 

And the Winner of Mixed Media Scrapbooking is....

The winner is ...

charli  who posted on July 17, 2012 at 8:46 PM

 

Please email me at patty (dot) cieri (at) gmail (dot) com with your name and mailing address by Friday, 7/27/12, so I can get the issue in the mail to you!  Thank you to all who left me comments!  I truly appreciated each and every one of them!

Creating Keepsakes Blog Hop, A Giveaway and A New Layout

Creating Keepsakes is releasing a new special issue, Mixed Media Scrapbooking and we are celebrating with a blog hop.  Each of the stops along the way will give you a chance to win a copy of this issue.  Click here for a sneak peek inside the issue.  I have had the honor of an advanced copy which I have been pouring over for the past few weeks.  I love to try new techniques, so the subject of this issue is right up my alley.  It inspired me to finally break open the jar of Liquitex Flexible Modeling Paste that I bought a few months ago with the intention of making something.

I started with a 12x12 sheet of heavy cardstock.  Using removable tape, I taped the 12x12 Harlequin stencil from Crafters Warehouse to the cardstock.  Then I used a palette knife, to spread the paste over the template onto the cardstock.  I let the cardstock dry overnight.  Since the paste dries white, I decided to add a bit of color with water soluble crayons (mine were made by Caran D'Ache).  I crayoned color onto each diamond.  Then I used a damp paintbrush to blend the crayon, giving it the look of watercolor.  The final product became the base for this layout.

Here is a close of the background paper that I created using the paste.

  
And now for a little fun!  The good folks at Creating Keepsakes are allowing me to give away a copy of this issue.  If you love playing with new techniques or are just looking for some fun ways to spice up your pages, you will love this issue. 

For a chance to win a copy of Mixed Media Scrapbooking, leave a comment on this post.  I will randomly select a winner on Friday evening, July 20th, and announce the winner in a new blog post.  The winner will have 1 week to claim the issue.  If you can't wait, you can buy a copy here.

Now, please visit the other talented scrappers on our blog hop for inspiration and more chances to win a copy of Mixed Media Scrapbooking. 

Erika Hayes

Summer Fullerton 

Stacy Cohen

Mou Saha

Laina Lamb

Joey Manwarren

Ashley Horton

Iris Uy

Paper Crafters Corner

Maggie Holmes 

The Scrap Review 

Piradee Talvanna

Adele Beck 

Kim Watson

Kim Jackson 

 

Thanks for stopping by the Green House on the Hill and enjoy the blog hop!

And the Winner is....

Sorry for the delay in picking a winner.  My Friday didn't work out as planned! 

So without further adieu, the winner is

     Patricia  June 15, 2012 11:45 AM

     Great invitation! Thanks for the chance!

Please email me at patty (dot) cieri (at) gmail (dot) com with your name and mailing address by Wednesday, 6/20/12, so I can get the issue in the mail to you!  Thank you to all who left me comments!

Sweet Sixteen Party Invitation and a Blog Hop/Giveaway

I have probably said this before, but I love coming up with fun party decorations.  I love it more than the party itself.  For me, it all starts with the invitation.  The invitation sets the color scheme and the theme of the party.  Then I like to carry it forward with tablescapes, banners and pretty much anything else that I can come up with.

My oldest daughter recently turned 16, of course we had to celebrate!  Isabella loves the color purple so we started with a very pretty paper line by K&Company, Botanicals.  Since it was a Sweet Sixteen party, we went with a candy theme.  Here is our version of a lollypop invitation.

On the back of the invitation, we included the itinerary for the party.

 

And now for a giveaway.  The folks at Creating Keepsakes Magazine are allowing me to give away a copy of their latest issue.  

If you would like to win a copy, please leave me a comment on this post.  On Friday evening (June 15th), I will randomly select a winner from the comments.  For additional chances to win a copy of the magazine and to get more inspiration, please visit the other ladies on the blog hop.

Laina Lamb

Susan Mintmire (Paper Crafters Corner)

Kim Watson 

If you don't want to wait, you can buy a copy of the issues here.  You can get a sneak peek inside of the issue here.

Homemade Washi Tape

Welcome into the Green House on the Hill.  Tonight I decided to play around with homemade Washi tape.  I have seen a few tutorials, but I wanted to try it for myself.  I read somewhere that you can use Scor tape to make Washi tape.  I couldn't find it locally.  Instead I found "this to that" made by American Crafts at my local AC Moore store.  The tutorials I have seen used plain white tissue paper.  I didn't have any of this handy either, but I did have an old sewing pattern.  The basic supplies are shown below.

Basic supplies:

• This to That tape by American Crafts
• An Ink Pad (I used my favorite ... VersaFine Onyx Black by Tsukineko)
• A Stamp (a background stamp or border stamp works well ... the stamp I used came from Glitz Design's "laced with grace" set of clear stamps)
• Tissue Paper (I used sewing pattern tissue from an old pattern)

I found a section of the sewing pattern that was blank. If you are familiar with sewing patterns, there are generally large areas that don't have print on them. I put a piece of scrap paper under the tissue, because I found that the ink bleeds through the tissue. I stamped my image on the tissue and allowed the ink to dry.

Then I carefully placed a length of the tape on the back side of the stamped image.  The tape I used had a paper backing on one side which I left in place. (I think it would be pretty much impossible to use if you didn't!)

The final step was to carefully cut the tissue paper around the tape, leaving a strip of homemade washi tape. 

After it is cut out the tape looks like this...

Of course I had to use the tape, so I made a quick card.  The tape is layered behind the bird!

I hope you enjoyed your visit to the Green House on the Hill.  Stop back soon!

Using Tags

Welcome into the Green House on the Hill.  I am back to scrapbooking today.  The layout that I would like to share with you today started with a tag.  A few weeks ago, the super talented Kim Watson held a class at Club CK.  This is what I made...

This weekend, I decided to use one on a layout.  And here is the result!  A very quick layout about my two older girls' relationship.

The patterned paper is from Hambly, the fabric tape from Studio Calico and the super cute brad came from Crate Paper.  The doily I found at Target one year when they were clearancing Valentine's Day stuff.  Most everything else is K & Company. 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Yummy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Today we are baking in the Green House on the Hill.  I had a hankering for oatmeal cookies the other day, so I set out on a quest to find a really yummy recipe.  I pulled out 5 or 10 cookbooks from my collection and scoured them for a bit.  I thought that Martha Stewart would have the perfect answer, but sadly her recipe results in a lacey cookie.  While that might look pretty, it just wasn't the direction I was headed in.  I was looking for a nice meaty cookie.  Something that I could sink my teeth into.  So I perused the Food TV site.  Surely Paula Deen must have a really great cookie, right?  But again, disappointment.  Finally, I headed to my favorite source of recipe info, allrecipes.com.  I love this site because you can see real photos of food (not the one's the food stylists would like to make me believe that I can create).  On top of that, there are always a ton of reviews with suggestions on how to modify or improve the recipe.  I read through a few and I settled on Clementine's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I've linked you back to the original source of the recipe, Ghiradelli's Chocolate Company.  Here is my version.

I used Old Fashioned Oats, as opposed to the quick cook variety, although I think either would be fine.  Unsalted butter is generally all I keep on hand, so that is what I used.  I happened to have a bag of Ghiradelli Semi Sweet Chocolate chips, so they went into the mix too.  The batter was a bit drier then most cookie batters, but perhaps that was due to the 3 choices of light brown sugar that I had on hand; rock hard, sort of hard and just a bit dry.  I used the least hard of the three, but I did pick up a bag of nice, fresh light brown sugar from the grocery store on my next visit. 

Now for the really important part .... the reviews from the family.  They all gave them a resounding 5 thumbs up (no they don't each have 5 thumbs, instead all five of us gave them one thumb up).

So dig out that mixer and get baking!  Thanks for stopping into the Green House on the Hill today.

And the Simple Scrapbooks Winner Is...

And the winner of the copy of Simple Scrapbooks is ....

Miss Summerson Apr 24, 2012 09:09 AM

Who said...
"I love the embellishments you used on your page! Thanks for the chance to win."

Please email me at patty dot cieri at gmail dot com with your name and mailing address so I can get the special issue to you!  Thank you to all who visited me this week!

Inspired by Simple Scrapbooks, a Giveaway and a Blog Hop

Welcome into the Green House on the Hill.  Wow there is alot going on here again this week.  Another fun blog hop and another fun giveaway!  But first, today I am taking my inspiration from the latest special issue from Creating Keepsakes titled Simple Scrapbooks.  I created this layout using just some basic supplies and a few extras.  With a few pieces of double sided patterned paper, stickers, twine, circle punches, some washi tape, an ink pad and a scoring board, I created this fun layout of my youngest daughter opening her birthday gifts.

I used the Martha Stewart scoring board to create the flowers from scraps of the patterned paper that I used as the base for the layout.

And now for a little fun, the wonderful folks at Creating Keepsakes are giving me the opportunity to give away a copy of Simple Scrapbooks.

You can purchase a copy of Simple Scrapbooks here.  Click here to see some of the online extras associated with this issue!  To see a sneak peek inside the issue click below. 

And now for the giveaway!  If you would like the chance to win this issue, please leave a comment on this post.  I will randomly pick a winner from all the comments received by Friday evening (4/27/2012).  If you would like additional chances to win this issue please visit the blogs of the very talented ladies lists below.  They are each giving away a copy too!  Heck, you should visit them anyway ... since they always have super fun stuff to share!

    Mou Saha

    Autumn Baldwin

    Susan Mintmire (Paper Crafters Corner)

Thanks for stopping by the Green House on the Hill!

And the Winner Is.....

The winner of a copy of the May/June issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine is ...... EMILY H! Congratulations! Please email me at patty dot cieri at gmail dot com with your name and mailing address. We will get the copy of the magazine in the mail to you!

And a big thank you to the folks at Creating Keepsakes Magazine for allowing me to give away a copy of this very fun issue.

Blog Hop, My Take on P365 and a Giveaway

There is a lot going on here today.  First I would like to share an ongoing project.  Back in 2009, I eagerly joined the Project 365 bandwagon.  For those who aren't familiar with the project, the idea is to take a picture every day, documenting the stuff that makes up our everyday life.  While I am happy that I completed the project, I learned from the process that trying to find something different to take a picture of each day is stressful for me!  By the end of the year I had lost the joy of taking photos.

My desire to still document our year in a quick manner, coupled with the fact that I have collected several very cute calendar kits over the past few years (that I had the best intentions of giving as gifts) gave me an idea.  I decide to turn the calendars into annual albums. 

I started with a calendar kit that I purchased.  Basic Grey, My Minds Eye and Recollections are a few of the companies that make these kits.  The one pictured below I found at Michaels. 

The kit that I used for 2010 was made by My Minds Eye.  When I bought it, there were a few pieces missing and one of the pages was misprinted, so I had tossed it aside.  Eventually, I will add a sturdier chipboard page in front of the page below, but for now this is what the cover looks like.  

And here is what the month of April looked like back in 2010!

Some months are busier than others, so when that happens, I just add another page inbetween.  I was able to punch the holes using my Bind-it-All (with a little practice to get everything lined up properly).

This is what it looks liked opened all the way.

And then the backside of the page, of course.

I hope I have inspired you to find a way that works for you when documenting your daily life.  And maybe even to find a new use for an old product.
And now onto the Blog Hop and Giveaway ... each stop along the way is giving you the chance to win a copy of the May/June issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine.  So the more blogs you visit, the more chances you will have to win a copy.  I have had my copy for about a week.  It is full of lots of scrapbooking inspiration.  Click here to view the online content.  There are some free downloadable journaling spots that I know I will be using on a project in the near future.

Before you go, please leave a comment on this post for a chance to win a copy of the May/June issue.  I will randomly select a winner on Friday, April 20th in the evening.

Please visit these super talented ladies' blogs for 3 more chances to win and tons of inspiration!

Mou Saha

Autumn Baldwin

Susan Mintmire (Paper Crafters Corner)

Or you can buy a copy here right now!