Happy New Year!!!

So this is the last Saturday in 2011! To ring in the New Year, I started making three calendars yet haven’t been able to finish ONE on time… A new calendar would have been the perfect thing to start the New Year with - hope to have them finished by Monday! Attached are some photos of the one I have completed the most. I hope they can give you some creative inspiration!

I’d also like to share this quote I read the other day…

If it didn’t Bring you Joy

Just Leave it Behind.

Let’s Ring in the New Year

 With Good Things in Mind.

Let Every Bad Memory Go

That Brought Heartache and Pain.

And Let’s Turn a New Leaf

With the Smell of New Rain.

Let’s Forget Past Mistakes

Making Amends for This Year.

Sending You These Greetings

To Bring you Hope and Cheer

Happy New Year!

~ Sharka

No TV = Things Done!

I had the Christmas baking itch for a few weeks and hadn’t made anything until... our cable went down, all but one channel was out of commission!! No TV – what was I going to do?!

Cable ended up being off for a week. I was actually happy because along with the baking itch resolved, we also put up the tree, put some of the decorations around the house in place, Christmas cards made and sent, and all my little Christmas packages for friends completed.

I ended up baking four batches of Toffee Shortbread cookies and two batches of Gingerbread ‘Crackle’ cookies. After the cookies were baked I still thought some of the gifts were missing something… hmmm?  Kathryn solved that problem… after watching one of her videos, I decided to add some gift wrapped chocolate bars into the mix - wrapped in patterned paper and embellished with a large snowman!

If you still have a to-do list for Christmas, my recommendation at this point is to put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done! ~ Sharka

DIY TP Wreath

I was totally inspired when I saw Emily's Christmas Wreath made from…. recycled toilet paper rolls!

Yes, you read that right - a Christmas Wreath made from toilet paper rolls! I thought this must be simple and would be the perfect wreath for my door at the studio, so I began collecting all our rolls…Yippee!

 

You will Need:

• recycled toilet paper and/or paper towel rolls…lots of them!
•  hot glue gun
• red craft/acrylic paint
• sparkle craft varnish (FolkArt) or Glimmer Mist
• wire coat hanger
• embellishments for flower centres

The How To:

• You will need 1.5 toilet paper rolls for each flower. My wreath has a total of 9 flowers, so 11 rolls were good.
• With red acrylic paint, paint all the rolls. I gave my tp rolls 2 coats of paint (allowed the red paint to be solid/opaque). After the paint is dry, brush on some sparkle varnish to give them a ‘sparkle’.
• When the tp rolls are completely dry, flatten them and cut into 3/8” rings. You want the rings to be the same depth, so do take the extra time to measure!
• Glue 7 rings together to form a flower. Repeat until you have the number of flowers you want for your wreath.
• Assemble flowers in a wreath shape and glue together… hot glue gun is great - fast, easy and holds!
• Made the wire coat hanger into a circle to the fit the wreath. Attach with hot glue to back of the wreath. The wire gives the wreath some strength while hanging. Without the wire my wreath was changing shape and became a droopy oval.
• Embellish and voila, you’re done!

For embellishing I used stuff that I had for awhile in my Christmas supplies – glittered acrylic snowflakes and Sandylion poinsettia stickers. My other idea was to make paper rosettes for the centres. You can use buttons, ribbon, gems, you name it! 

 

 Here's to creating great things with friends and family this holiday season! ~ Sharka