A rant about blog candy

Ok so I just started blogging in September and since have three times been the so called "winner" of blog candy from three different blogs. I say so called as I have never actually received the items I supposedly won. I am starting to wonder if the jokes on me. Is blog candy not  real? Perhaps it's virtual. I also imagine there must be a margin of error in it, especially those blogs that have hundreds of followers and must get a lot of email. But not three times in a row from three different people. Regardless I find it extremely disappointing. Especially since I am not out there looking at blogs or commenting on peoples work just to get something for free. It's nice that they offer but really I am looking for inspiration and if I like your work I'll follow you and leave a comment whether you're offering something up to win or not.  But to announce that someone won something cool and get them excited and then never actually send anything is mean in my book. Does it mean I'll stop playing along? No probably not, I am sure that there are some honest people out there and on the off chance that I do actually receive something down the line, what does it hurt? In the meantime though I just had to get this off my chest.:(

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My scrap booking goals for 2011 are to complete one layout per week. Totally doable right?

I made several of these hot chocolate pockets to give as gifts.

A few more Christmas pins

A few more shrink art Christmas pins to give as gifts.

Merry Christmas! Last of the Homemade Gifts

These are inserts for stainless steel mugs I purchased at WalMart photo department. I cut the characters with Create A Critter and used scraps I had on hand. They are gifts for my boys who like to take hot chocolate or tea in the car.

CD folder

So my sister asked me for copies of some of my kids music for her daughter. Little does she know I burned my entire kids songs playlist of over 400 songs. Of course I couldn't just giver her some CD's. I made this little folder with 8 CD pockets inside. I got to use my new Build A Bear stamp set that I just got with my demo kit for signing on with Stampin Up! The paper is Stampin Up! except for the white folder. That was created with some extra thick Bazzil card stock I had. You may notice a little smudge of black ink on the bears foot and an edge of the circle. As I was tying the finishing ribbon on the folder I set it down on a dirty distressing sponge. I wasn't starting over so I stamped the entire folder with red distress ink to try and cover it.

Snowman Soup packet take one

So I really have wanted to try my hand at one of these snowman soup gift bags. Here is my first try. I need to tweak the dimensions a little bit. I wanted to avoid using the Cricut to cut the circle in the middle but with a punch I can't get that far down the paper. It just needs to be a little bigger so it doesn't bulge quite so much. I'll work on it. All the ones I have seen looked so neat and clean too. My cocoa mixed in with the marshmallows quite a bit and made them look dirty. Oh well. Don't know how to avoid that. This is what I'll be working on tomorrow.

For my dog niece

Yes I have a sister who has a dog for a child. We all know someone like that are have been that person at some point in our lives. Since she buys gifts for all our children and get nuttin' from us I made this for her dog Miko.

Her dog is a Husky so I tried to use the colors to match. I had the dog papers and paw print ribbon on hand. I cut the dog at 4" and I use the border feature on Paper Pups (came on my Gypsy) and cut a border that was 11.5 inches long. Since it doesn't allow you to use the shadow feature in combination with borders I cut another border slightly larger and edited out the yum part with my Gypsy. Of course it is filled with Milkbones. Hope she likes it (my sister and the dog:)

Teacher Gifts

My teacher gifts are finished. I added a Bath and Body Works lotion and antibacterial gel to each can and they are ready to go.

Shrink Plastic Pins

Here is a sampling of some of the pins I made using shrink plastic and clip art from Darcie Heater. They are super simple to  make. You just print the images on shrink plastic, cut them out and bake in the oven (just like when you were a kid!). Then I embellished them with wire and rhinestones and glued pins on the backs. That's it! I love the way they came out. I think these would be great little home made gifts. I am taking these up to sell at Paper Crafters Unlimited or maybe just trade for some more shrink plastic hehe.

Crafting with the kids

Aren't these Santa's adorable. My three year olds' made them! I cute the hat at 6" with the Simply Charmed cartridge. Then I handed over the glue sticks and cotton balls and let them have at it. I punched out the cheeks and nose from some red and pink scraps with some circle punches and gave the kids some googly eyes (which they love). The finished products are hanging proudly in my kitchen.

Snowman Tees

Here are the shirts I made for my boys. I used the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge to cut these snowmen from vinyl. I adhered the vinyl to the shirts and painted with fabric paint. I am not thrilled with the way they came out. On one I tried to use a foam paint brush to  apply the paint but you can see the brush strokes. It didn't cover well. On the other I applied it with the tip of the bottle but it came out very thick and uneven and took forever to dry. Maybe it would work better with fabric paint that isn't dimensional.

Birthday Card

I made this card for my husbands birthday last Friday. I used the cute little terrier on Create a Critter and some ancient Creative Memories scrap paper I had. I think the ribbon is also old old old from Stampin Up! I love to use old scraps I have in my stash to make cards. The greeting is from a Stampin Up! set I have and I punched it with my scallop oval from Stampin Up! I embellished the hat (that was cut from Simply Charmed) with Stickles and I gave the dog a wet nose with Crystal Effects. I have some more fun projects to post soon. I am working on some T-Shirts for my boys that are almost done and some shrink plastic jewelry that I need to work on tonight. I want to have several pieces completed to put in my Mom's scrapbook store Paper Crafters Unlimited when I go up to visit on Friday.

Blog candy

Look at this beautiful Christmas embellishment lot. Sassy Scrapper is giving it away. Can you believe it is stuff she doesn't use. I'd love to have it.

Cards for Donation to Childrens Hospital

Chris Wooten of the Turned Gypsy Blog is collecting cards to donate to a childrens hospital. I sent her two dozen! If you have cards of any type to brighten a childs day please send them to her.

Santa Card

I got my free sample of Action Wobbles just before Thanksgiving and have had this card in mind ever since. I just love the way the Santa shakes when he laughs his big Hohoho! I used the Christmas solutions cartridge for Santa and Plantin Schoolbook for the Hohoho. I used my Gypsy to weld the letters all together. The paper and ribbon is from last year's Stampin Up stash.