Please Meet Listener

Please meet Listener, a special elf created by my mum for my daughter as a Christmas present.


She's a one-of-a-kind, hand-painted doll constructed from cotton, satin, and fibers.



She's a bit homely, as she's part woodland troll on her father's side and part elf and autumn fairy on her mum's, but she's a good friend.


Her job is to listen to Shannon's stories, while Shannon writes them down in this journal...


which has its very own pouch.


Listener has beautiful freehand-embroidered and hand-painted wings, but I am quite sure that she'll never fly away.

All the Trimmings

I'm hosting the challenge this week on the Crafty Secrets forum over at Splitcoast Stampers. The theme is "All the Trimmings," and I'm challenging everyone to use ribbon, rick-rack, scallops (the paper kind), pompoms, even jingle bells, etc. on their projects. Here is the sample card I made:


This card is for a elderly lady from our church. Her birthday is Christmas Eve, and she's laid up at home with a fractured disk in her back, so we're throwing her a card shower. I hope it brings a smile to her face.

Details:
Stamps - Crafty Secrets - Snowbunnies (snowflakes)
Main Image - Crafty Secrets - Christmas Images & Journal Notes
Cardstock - Bazzill
Patterned Paper - DCWV - Crafty Stack
Ink - Stampin' Up! - River Rock
Accessories - glitter glue - Stickles; mica flakes - Martha Stewart; snap - Making Memories; rick-rack - The Little Pink Studio; tag - Anna Griffin

For the past week, my daughter and I have been whipping up little crafty gifts for her teachers and Brownie leaders. Here are a couple of the things we've made:


Lip balm holders
Details:

Stamps - Crafty Secrets - Snowbunnies
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Soot Black
Cardstock - Papertrey Ink
Patterned Paper - K&Company - Recycled
Markers - Copic Sketch




A wool felt star ornament
Details:

Free pattern from Allsorts
Wool felt from The Silver Penny
DMC floss
Gingham ribbon - Offray
Vintage button

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas - with all the trimmings!

Christmas Crafting

This weekend has been a flurry of Christmas crafting at the Talbert house. Here is just a sampling of the creations that were made:


This year's Talbert family Christmas card.




A mother-daughter project - Shannon's secret Santa stocking for her Brownie Troop Christmas party. We made the stocking out of felt. I punched holes around the edges, and Shannon "stitched" it with ribbon. The little card is a lip balm holder.



The official Talbert family Christmas cookie: Date Balls! YUM!

Here's the recipe:
1 - 8 oz package chopped dates
1 - stick of butter
1 - cup of sugar
1 - beaten egg
3 - cups of Rice Krispies
shredded coconut

In a heavy-bottom saucepan, melt together the first four ingredients. (To prevent the egg from scrambling, I temper the egg with a little of the warm mixture before adding it to the rest.) Stirring constantly to prevent scorching, cook for approximately 6 minutes until syrupy. Remove from heat, and pour mixture over Rice Krispies in a large bowl and mix until cereal is well coated. While still warm, roll mixture into balls and then in coconut. We butter our hands to help keep them from getting sticky. CAUTION: the mixture can retain a lot of heat, so please be careful when handling (and sampling!) it.

I have more to share with you, but I think I'm going to get the kids ready for bed and head for the couch to read a bit. It's been a busy weekend, and it's bound to be a busy week as well.

Hugs,
Marcy

Out of Finals and Into the Fire

Rich is finally (Get it? Finally?) done with finals for this semester. He says that PhD stands for "Pile it Higher and Deeper" - no kidding! What a rough past couple of weeks! I think I should get an honorary degree just for being married to a PhD candidate!

So now we're out of finals and into the fire, or should I say whirlwind, of Christmas activities. There are concerts (Rich plays drums with an orchestral and choral group), Christmas programs (school, church, acrobats), Christmas parties (school, church, Brownies, friends). Sometimes it's hard to remember to relax and breathe, to remember the birth and sacrifice of our Savior, and not get tripped up in the trappings of the season.



That's when I like to stare at the lights and think about the Light of the World.

Praying that you'll have time for some reflection during this busy, blessed season.

Love to you all!

A Merry Christmas Fairy

Lori Lynn, over on the Crafty Secrets member forum, challenged us to create a project using our favorite CS products. I used two of my favorite stamps, the fairy and mushroom, from Crafty Secrets' Fairyland set. I've dressed up this sweet fairy for St. Patrick's Day and for autumn and thought I'd get her ready for Christmas too!

Details:
Stamps - Crafty Secrets - Fairyland; Anna Griffin - sentiment
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Vintage Photo
Patterned Paper - Basic Grey & Provocraft
Cardstock - Neenah Paper
Accessories - die cut - Sizzix; markers - Copic Sketch; gold leaf pen - Krylon; gold embossing powder; glitter glue - Stickles; clear glitter pen - Atyou Spica; half pearls