Month: December 2012
Gingerbread Houses
Credits: Nice List by Jady Day Studio & Bella Gypsy Fonts: DJB Jolly Holly, DJB Jolly Holly Bold & DJB I Don’t Like Pink by Darcy Baldwin Scraplift of My Sunshine
Winter's Back
This year, winter is practicing hard. I’m not sure whether quite successfully, because even though this was the third time snowing this December, it’s just never really a lot, and doesn’t stick around for long, but we can’t blame winter for not trying. Really. So, after it started snowing again yesterday afternoon (note the timing: it always happens when I have to be at work), I decided to go out early this morning to get a couple of snapshots before all the students decent on it yet once more. And in the end, I actually liked what I saw!
Freebie Friday: A Cozy Christmas, Part 1
It’s Friday again, and today that’s an especially exciting occasion, because I’m starting to share my first ever Christmas kit with you “A Cozy Christmas.” It comes with a huge assortment of papers and embellies, and what’s best about it: It’s all free for you. All you have to do is come back over the next couple of weeks to collect the different parts, and then you’ll be able to scrap your most recent Christmas memories. Today, you’ll be able to snatch the alpha, and next week you’ll get the first part of the papers. I’d also like to remind you that the download links for most of my former freebie templates have been reactivated again, so if you’re still missing a couple, you should be able to download them now. Finally, when you download any of the products by Misty Hilltops Designs, proper accreditation when using these products on your layouts and designs is required. Please do not directly share any MHT Designs products with anyone. If you wish to have others enjoy these …
An Advent Calendar From the Past
Who of us doesn’t like the Christmas memories from their childhood? I for one can get pretty nostalgic this time of year. And my mom giving me one of those typical advent calendars we used to have as children this year doesn’t help it a bit. Where I come from, these advent calendars are really common. Any supermarket will sell them. They come with 24 doors – one to open every day during the Christmas season, and behind each door you’ll find a small piece of chocolate shaped according to a little picture. And then, when you finally get to door #24, it’s twice the size as all the others, and of course, the chocolate piece is twice as big (a special treat for Christmas Eve)! All the children in our family used to get their own advent calendar every year – usually with different pictures on them. And for me it was always special fun searching for the right door. So, I never looked at my advent calendar too long to avoid memorizing the …
Hybrid Hub: Christmas Cards, Part 4
Only a few more days till Christmas, which means it’s really time to wrap up all the preparations. Probably, at this point it’s too late to send out Christmas cards, but since we’re still in the middle of the season, I’m still going to show you a couple more of the Christmas cards I made this year … Peaceful Holidays Supplies used: Christmas Countdown by Traci Reed & Meghan Mullens, card stock, ribbon Christmas Season Supplies used: Winter Wonderland by Zoe Pearn, card stock, ribbon Merry Christmas Supplies used: Christmas Countdown by Kristin Cronin-Barrow & Zoe Pearn
Special Treat: Dominosteine
All0w me to tell you about a special treat: Dominosteine. Yes, literally translated that means domino rocks – or more simply: what you may know as dominoes. But I assure you, they neither taste nor feel anything like a rock or one of those game chips. Really. Where I come from, it’s a very common Christmas treat, but where I live now they have come to be a little treat from heaven. And now, let me tell you why. You see, they are cube of chocolate covered pastry. And if you haven’t figured it out yet, let me assure you: me and chocolate are very best friends! Anyhow, you take a bite of this little rock, and you realize it’s actually soft and juicy. And when you take a look, you’ll find that inside this little rock there are three layers: one of soft gingerbread, one of marzipan, and a thin layer of jelly. The perfect combination for a yummy Christmas treat on a cold winter’s day. Off to enjoy some more Dominosteine.
Behind the Scenes: Creating a Frosted Look
Christmas time is winter time. At least where I’m from. And who of us doesn’t dream of a white Christmas? As many of us are moving into the cold season, we also get to scrap more of those chilly, frosty memories. So, I think it’s the perfect time to talk a little bit about how to add a little bit of frosting to our pages. If you’ve seen some of my December Daily pages this year, you may have noticed that some of them come with a nice frosted feel to them. And if you’ve wondered how to create this effect, I can tell you: it’s super simple. Take a look at one of my early DD pages: If you take a closer look, you’ll notice that around the edges some of my papers seem to be frosted. You can easily add your own frost layer by playing just a little with your style settings. (This technique can be applied to papers, elements, as well as text.) Here’s how it works … Choose the paper or …
Secrets from the Advent Calendar
You may remember my advent calendar, which I filled with lots of goodies that I brought from Germany with me for this specific purpose. (And I assure you, Germany has some good chocolate stuff out there. Maybe not as good as the famed Swiss chocolate, granted, but good, still!) Anyhow, today, I thought I’d allow you a peak into what I found in my advent calendar today: A bar of yoghurt chocolate A square of the small-sized Ritter chocolate A caramel chocolate candy And a ball of chocolate with a creamy milk filling Now, I don’t know about you, but that’s a piece of paradise right here for me …
On Greeting Cards and Such
Remember the other day when I told you the story of mailing Christmas cards, and how I ended up having a whole new set of cards I got from the clerk lady? Well, a new thought just occurred to me: What if the sole reason I got these New Year’s cards was because the lady wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be using cards with ribbons anymore? Well, even though that thought just crossed my mind, I’d like to think the best of people. I’ll rather continue to tell myself it was the goodness and kindness of the clerk lady that blessed me with a new set of greeting cards, and not her desire to avoid trouble next time I show up to send greetings. And in case you haven’t gotten any season’s greetings from me this year – here we go: Merry Christmas, and a happy new year!