I hate to admit it but sometimes the best gift to give really is a gift card and this easy to sew holder will help you make a more personal delivery! -Erin




Supplies

• 2 pieces of felt cut at 3” x 4 1/2” (envelope)
• 1 one inch square of contrasting felt cut with pinking shears (stamp)
• quilting foot
• matching and contrasting threads
• scissors
• sewing machine

Directions
On one piece of felt use the quilting foot, and a contrasting thread, to write out your name in the top left portion of the envelope and your gift receiver’s name in the middle.

Switch back to your normal presser foot.  Pin your stamp down in the top right portion of your envelope and make a few passes with a wave stitch to create the effect of postal marks.


Line the two pieces of felt together and sew along three sides leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
Slide in a gift card to their favorite store and give!

Christmas List Ornaments

Last month during the height of the No Ugly Ornament Series I shared these awesome Christmas List ornaments over on the Graphic Fairy’s Craft site. They’re super easy and you can personalize them however you’d like. I think they’d make pretty special gift tags, what do you think?

Last Wednesday I participated in a Google+ #HolidayHangout with Cyn from Creative Cynchronicity. Click HERE to watch! During it I shared a super cute Book Spine Bookmark gift or table favor idea. I made it by combining a couple of ideas I’d seen via the web, this one and another I’ll mention later on.

I’m really in love with these bookmarks! They make perfect table favors, decorations, or gifts. Wouldn’t you want one of these decorating your Christmas present?




Supplies:

• Old books
• Scissors and/or X-Acto knife
• felt
• Fabric Fusion
• Optional: string for tassel (I do not include instructions for making tassels)
• fake pine garland
• ribbons
• glitter pipe cleaners
• candy canes

Instructions
(For starters, you could just watch the video I link to above. In addition to this craft Cyn shares a number of really great projects even some for the kids!)

Start by cutting the spine out of your old books…just the ones that were headed for the recycle bin.


Trim a piece of felt the same size as the book spine.


Glue the felt and spine together using Fabric Fusion and let dry.


Next you’ll add the candy cane and trimmings! For those instructions be sure to head over to SMC by Design and she’ll give you the 411. Once everything is all together you end up with a favor even the most sour of adults would love to get!



Sharing: Skip to my Lou Mad in Crafts Homestories A to Z The Shabby Creek Cottage Momnivore’s Dilemma  Stuff and Nonsense  The Romantic Home 504 Main   Tatertots & jello   Be different Act Normal   Serenity Now

How many people do you know own a DSLR camera? Now how many of those same people are admittedly only using it on its Auto settings? Maybe even you? It’s okay, there’s no shame in it! For most of us novice photographers these little machines can be quite confusing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read all about ISO and aperture only to forget it all when it came time to take the picture.

That’s why I’m so excited to be able to share this awesome gift idea with you today! It’s Kristen Duke’s Say NO to Auto e-book.

What makes this book any different than the ones you’ve already got sitting on a shelf?

Well for starters it’s only $10 and scaled at a size of 4x6, making it easy to print and stash into a camera bag so you can take Duke’s tips with you wherever you go! (Or stuff into the stocking of your favorite wannabe photographer!)

Secondly Duke gets right to the point, lining out the three basic steps you need to understand once you make that jump from auto to manual. Did I lose you at aperture? No worries, she’s also got a handy glossary, ISO reference page and plenty of examples such as this one.

Duke also has a hard copy available for purchase (see below) made of thick cardstock and spiral bound for $20 and if you’re feeling ambitious you can also pick up her second book Get Focused for $12 e-book and $22 hard copy. To purchase CLICK HERE .

I received a free copy of Say NO to Auto for review but the opinions expressed are my own.

A couple of weeks ago I received two bottles of Torani Syrup to review and experiment with in my holiday recipes. I couldn’t have picked two better flavors, Salted Caramel and Peppermint! I completely admit that this was the first time I’d ever used Torani in my home. I had no idea I could find them in Wal-Mart, Walgreens, etc. When I initially added the Salted Caramel to my coffee I went a little overboard and had to dump it.  Since then I’ve perfected my morning cup (2 Tbsp syrup, splash of half&half, coffee) and I’ve created these two recipes. 

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Salted Caramel Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter flavored shortening
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup Torani Salted Caramel Syrup
• Milk as needed to reach desired consistency

Mix shortening with half of the powdered sugar until combined. Add syrup and rest of powdered sugar and beat until smooth.  Add milk if necessary to reach your desired consistency. Spread onto cake ( I used spice cake) and enjoy!

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Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• White Cake Mix
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup of Torani Peppermint Syrup
• 4 Peppermint canes crushed
• 1 cup of white chocolate chips (optional – these cookies are pretty sweet you might want to omit these)

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Blend together first four ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chips and half the crushed peppermint canes. Drop by the spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with remaining crushed candy canes. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet promptly to avoid the crushed candies from sticking to your pan. Cool on rack before serving.

*Note: Personally I hate having sticky crushed peppermint candies on the tops of the cookies, if you feel the same way, you can always mix all of it into the batter.

If you like these recipes, take a moment and visit the Torani site for other recipe ideas and heck, just to peruse the many flavors they offer, you might be surprised at just how many and how off the wall some of them are! ( Bacon flavored syrup?)

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This was a sponsored post. I was provided with two free bottles of Torani syrup for review through the SheSpeaks review program. That said, the opinions expressed are my own and I was not compensated in any other way.

About Torani:  Since 1925, 3rd generation family-owned Torani has been crafting great tasting flavored syrups that coffeehouses use to make their flavored drinks taste so delicious. With over 120 flavors in Regular and Sugar Free varieties, Torani flavored syrups are perfect for flavored lattes, mochas, coffees, cocoas, Italian sodas, teas, lemonades, cocktails and smoothies. Coffeehouse professionals choose Torani flavors because they are expertly crafted and made with the highest quality ingredients, like natural flavors and pure cane sugar. The Sugar Free flavors have no calories and are sweetened with Splenda. Now, Torani flavored syrups are widely available at retail so you can easily create authentic coffeehouse quality drinks at home.

Here is the second ornament I shared during Monday’s Google+ #HolidayHangout!

What do you guys think about this style of tutorials?

I think I like how clean it looks but I miss my musings intermingled in the actual instructions.

This past Monday I took part in my first Google+ Hangout on Air with Cyn from Creative Cynchronicity. We shared 3 quick and easy ornaments and this Scrappy Star was one of them! (Warning this post is photo heavy!) Watch the hangout via Youtube to find out how to turn this ornament into a garland as well! 

It’s Craft Lightning – Holiday Edition!   

• 2 plain white paper plates (a smaller size works best, in my opinion)
• Red markers
• Plastic wrap
• Glue

  Whether swirls or squares, make an outline on the back of both plates.     Color in your design.     Line up your pattern and glue the two plates together.     Lay out a piece of plastic wrap.     Wrap up your mint and twist the ends.     Add a little bit of hot glue to hold everything in place.     Use to decorate your garlands, wreaths, or Christmas tree!