Little Red Wagon #217

Merry Christmas!  It is Wednesday and that means that even though it is Christmas Day, it is time for a new challenge at Little Red Wagon.  Rosanne has issued the challenge this week and she wants to see anything Christmas!  

I decided to create a decorated jar that would hold some dog biscuits that I made for our son's puppy, Sadie.  I found this really amazing jar that is about a 2 litre size and happened to have a red lid!

I used a 4 x 6 Merry Christmas card from Echo Park's 'Tis the Season line and backed it with a bit of red cardstock.  Then I added a paper snowflake and red button.

A pretty bit of ribbon on the lid made a nice finishing touch!

The dog biscuits were easy to make and are made with ingredients that most of us already have in our cupboard.  If you have a special dog that you would like to make them for, here is the recipe.

Homemade Dog Biscuits

Ingredients
1-1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup Old Fashioned oats
1/2 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup milk
2 Tablespoons applesauce

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Place the dough onto a piece of wax paper and then cover with another sheet on top. Roll the dough out so that it is about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Remove the top layer of wax paper and use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes. Use a spatula to help remove your shapes to a cookie sheet for baking. Continue reforming and rolling the dough until it is all used. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool.

I am sure that you have created some awesome Christmas projects this year, so if you would like to link them up at Little Red Wagon we would love to see what you made!

Have the best Christmas ever and a New Year filled with many good things.

Little Red Wagon #216

Regan has issued a really fun challenge at Little Red Wagon this week!  She wants to see a Christmas card in non-traditional colors, i.e., no red or green.

I decided to work with this sweet little image from Whimsie Doodles called Hiding Elfie.  She is holding a special gift behind her back and waiting to see if you have been naughty or nice before she gives it to you!

I did some paper piecing and coloring with my Copic markers in shades of taupe and teal.  It was hard to stay away from red and green for this one, but I did it!

I also added some glitter to her hat, stockings and shoes and I used a snowflake border punch along the edge of the card.

Now we want to see what you can create in non-traditional colors for Christmas!  Just link up your project at Little Red Wagon.  See you there :)

Inspiration Elevator December 2013

Welcome to our December Inspiration Elevator challenge. Each month our group is challenged to take our scrapbooking to the next level, to stretch our creative process and to grow as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work and grow. Be sure to check out our Inspiration Elevator Blog to see all of our previous challenges.

We are thrilled to welcome guest artist Christy Riopel to Inspiration Elevator this month. You may recognize her work as she is a regular contributor/writer for Canadian Scrapbooker magazine.

December's challenge for us and for you comes from the uber prolific Laurel Seabrook. Here's the challenge she posed: 

"My challenge for December. I love Christmas, everything about it. Decorating my house, making gifts, baking - I love it all. My challenge to you is what is Christmas to you? What is one thing that evokes special memories and truly brings out the Christmas spirit for you. It could be a decoration, photo, song, recipe. Perhaps it is a tradition that you did as a child and now your children do. Maybe it is in the 'special' dinnerware that comes out only at Christmas. Scrap it and tell us all about it. Now for those who don't celebrate Christmas, let's hear about a tradition that makes your celebration special."

There are so many different traditions that are a part of Christmas for me - baking cookies, our special hand-made Christmas stockings, our nativity set, special recipes used for Christmas dinner, going to Mass on Christmas Eve.  But one of my favourite traditions is giving our two sons a nutcracker each Christmas!  We love bringing them out each year and setting them up as part of our decorations.  The nutcracker brigade stands tall and proud and they add such a festive feel to our home!  I snapped a photo of them recently and this was the focus of my layout.

I worked with a Jillibean Soup circle placemat for my background.  It started as a 12 x 12 sheet of circles that I cut down to resemble a tree shape.

I then used Bazzill Basics Countdown to Christmas papers to fill in the circles! I love the punch of black that is in this line of papers and the prints are just gorgeous!  I hand-cut some of the stars from the paper to use as embellishments on my page.

A few sequins were added for some holiday sparkle and I did some stitching with my sewing machine.

A Heidi Swapp epoxy sticker was used for my title and I kept the journaling simple.

This was a great challenge and helped me to appreciate some of the things that makes Christmas special in our home.  Thanks Laurel!

Would you like to see what the rest of our designers, and our guest designer, created with this challenge? Of course you would, so here are the links to each one's blog:

Laurel Seabrook
Jodi Wilton
Michelle Hernandez
Ann Jobes
Laura Whitaker
Lisa Moen 
Christa Uttley
Cathy Harper
 Lisa Spiegel
Joanne Burton

Guest designer:  Christy Riopel

I hope you feel inspired to play along with our challenge this month, and when you do, please share it using the linky tool on our Inspiration Elevator Blog and/or our Inspiration Elevator Facebook page. We would love to see what you make!

Little Red Wagon #215

Welcome to another fun challenge at Little Red Wagon.  This week Tammy wants to see a birthday card!  (Note:  It wasn't until after I made this card and posted it that I realized it was supposed to be a Holiday-Birthday card.  Oops!  It is a plain, old birthday card - so hopefully Tammy will be OK with that!)

I saw an idea similar to this on Pinterest and I thought I would give it a try.  

I used a small envelope that I have been hoarding for a while!  It is small and polka dotted and Kraft and just way too adorable and it was really hard to use it because now I don't have it to look forward to using anymore!  {{sigh}}

Anyway... a simple sentiment, a few punched hearts and some sweet ribbon and there is my birthday card!

I know it is hard to think of birthdays with Christmas all around us, but why not give it a try!  Besides, it was Tammy's birthday yesterday, so this is a great excuse to wish her a belated happy birthday!

You can see what the other Girlfriends created by visiting Little Red Wagon and then link up your own project.  We would love to see what you create :)

Songs of Christmas Blog Hop

Welcome to the Songs of Christmas Blog Hop with Two Scrapbook Friends!

The Blog Hop began at Two Scrapbook Friends and you should have arrived here from Shelby's blog.  Wasn't her layout amazing?

Our Blog Hop is all about the Songs of Christmas and the inspiration for my project comes from the song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!

We recently looked after our son's dog, Sadie, and while she was over I did a little Christmas photo shoot with her.  I bought her a new Christmas collar and some antlers and she was very cooperative while I took the photos.  I couldn't wait to put the pictures on a layout and entitle it 'Sadie the Reindog'!

Isn't she a sweetie!  She is an Airedale terrier and still a puppy - a very large puppy, I might add! lol

I used paper and stickers from the Bazzill Nordic Pines paper line!  This paper is to die for - gorgeous, rich red combined with Kraft and black! {sigh}  The black snowflake paper is from Simple Stories and worked beautifully with the Nordic Pines papers.  It made the perfect background for my layout.

I also used some Jillibean Corrugated Alphas for my title along with Alpha Stickers from Echo Park.  Paper snowflakes from Bazzill Basics were added to compliment the background paper and gave a nice balance to my page.

I hope my layout inspires you to try doing a Christmas layout with this beautiful paper line!  In fact, it is not even a Christmas line!  It is a Winter line that I thought worked really well with my photos.  You might also try combining a coloured photo with a black and white one.  It adds lots of interest to your design.

Now remember, in order to be entered to win the special prize all you have to do is hop from Blog to Blog and leave a comment on each as you go.  Then simply check back at the Two Scrapbook Friends blog on December 10th to see if you are the lucky winner!

Here are the featured blogs in our Blog Hop:

Shelby

Joanne (you are here!)

Tracy

Jayne

Darcy

Jodi

Amanda

Christa

Audrey

Janice

Ann

Carolyn

The next blog you should visit is Tracy's!  I am sure she will have something fabulous to show you!  Have fun hopping!

Little Red Wagon #214

Happy December!  It's Wednesday and we have a new challenge at Little Red Wagon!

Jan wants to see Santa Claus on our project this week!  That's right, the jolly old elf himself gets the stage :)

I decided to make the main focus of my card a trio of jolly Santas that were punched out of pattern paper.  Ho Ho Ho!

I paired them up with red plaid paper and a Kraft background.  Then I added a bit of twine and a button and there you have it!

Now you can hop on over to Little Red Wagon to see what the other Girlfriends on the Design Team created and to join in the fun.

Mark Your Calendars!

With the Christmas season starting, the Designers and friends at Two Scrapbook Friends will be participating in a Songs of Christmas Blog Hop starting this Friday, December 6th, at 11:00am!

Be inspired by twelve amazing Christmas projects that are based on some of your favourite Christmas Carols. If you hop from blog to blog, leaving a comment on each, you will qualify to be in a draw for a special prize from Two Scrapbook Friends!

The Hop will remain open from December 6th to December 9th at 11:59 pm (EST). You can join in at any time. The winner will be announced on December 10th on the Two Scrapbook Friends' Blog.

Watch their blog on Friday, December 6th, so you will know where to begin!  See you then :)