Baby It's Cold Outside

Now I know our cold can't compare to the bone chilling cold of the snow and wind chill that much of the rest of the country feels, but it's still cold here due to the fog that comes and moves in like that Mucinex commercial.  It permeates everything!  Even our newspaper is soaked in the morning from what Worker Bee and I call "fog drip."

So, even though we don't get snow, I thought it would be fun to make a little banner to decorate our kitchen nook.  I do a little "cold" decorating for the month of January before the red and pink of Valentine's Day.  I'll show you more of my "brrrr" decor on another post.  I'm hoping for a little sunshine soon....

First, get out your beloved Cricut....

I used two cartridges - Mini Monograms and Doodletype.  (Did I mention that ebay is a fantastic place to buy Cricut cartridges?  I bought three cartridges for about what one costs in a retail store!)

After I cut out the letters I applied glue to them and then...

glitterfied them.

Love the glitter trays I bought at Michaels from the MS line.  Here they are all ready to assemble...

I used some silver tinsel glitter I bought for like $0.25 at Joann's last Christmas to string them on.

Can you see how foggy and gray it is outside?  That's how it's been for days!  I miss you sun!

At least it's warm and cozy inside and there's always a latte waiting to be made...

I'm linking up for the first time at Cottage Instincts for Make It Monday! So if you're coming by from that sweet blog- WELCOME!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!  Love to see you!

A Few Little Crafts for Christmas

I find blogging to be so inspirational.  I've gotten so many ideas from all the wonderful blogs out there and I wanted to share a couple little things I made this year as gifts.

First, I always make something for ALL the staff at my school - from teachers to cafeteria workers to nurses to psychologists to -  I could go on and on with all the people who help make a school run.  I've made everything from coffee mixes to chocolate spoons to mini bundt cakes to what I made this year.  You might have seen it earlier this month.

I gave clothespins decorated with Christmas paper.  When you work around paper you can always use another little doodad to keep them together.  I cut out a little scalloped circle with the glorious Cricut and wrote a quick message to all.

Now I have to apologize for the quality of the pictures here.  I forgot to give them their proper close-up before wrapping them to give to my friends the Singing Nun and the More Creative Friend.

You need a little history for these....

The More Creative Friend used to always make candied orange peel for our Christmas Bake-a-thons.  For many years she always brought the orange peel almost done and she'd finish it up with us.  It was always so delicious and then we'd dip it in chocolate and it would be more delicious.  To honor this tradition of getting together for 20 years I painted this frame red, then rubbed a candle on it in a few spots and then painted white over the top.  Then the white paint rubbed off for that distressed look.  I couldn't leave well enough alone so I had to glitter the frame too.  I typed up the recipe for the orange peel in a pretty font and then put it on a piece of scrapbook paper and ...voila....a personalized little gift for the More Creative Friend.

Don't worry the Singing Nun got one too, only her recipe was for Rice Krispie Treats which she has a tradition of making.  Again, sorry the quality of the picture isn't better but I hope you can get the idea.

Simple ideas and fun to make!

Thank you so much for stopping by for a little visit.  Hope to see you again soon!

You Can't Catch Me - I've Got the Gingerbread Man!

Didn't you always want to be the one who caught the gingerbread man?  I never could understand when I was a child how a glorified cookie could outsmart all those people.  I always thought that must not be a very bright town.

Well, now I've caught a lot of gingerbread men...

I must be pretty smart!

(I just received this platter today via ebay.)

This sweet little gingerbread house was a gift from a friend of mine that teaches second grade at our school.  Every year she has her students make these gingerbread houses.  I don't know how she does it.  They always look so great and they are such a treasure for the families in her class.  I kept begging for one and she and her daughter decorated this one for me when Baby Bee was born.

And this is one of the projects I worked on this weekend.  It's a blank sign from Dollar Tree that I painted red and then I mod podged some MS scrapbook paper to.  Then I cut out the cricut letters and glittered them.  I actually used that new MS tinsel glitter for this.  It was a little different to work with, but since I don't really know what I'm doing, it turned out good enough!

What are some special things you collect for the holidays?  I'd love to know.  I hope you can share.

Thanks for stopping by!  Next time we can have a warm spicy gingerbread latte!

There's Been Some Crafty Buzzin' Goin' on at the Cottage

We've been buzzy and busy working in the craft studio.

It all started on Saturday morning when the Advent Angel left Baby Bee with an unfinished frame for us to craft together.

Which led to this...

And since we had the paints out...

We started this project...

And they turned out like this...

The frame turned out like this...

And I ended up creating this little pretty...

I took a glass ornament I picked up at Dollar Tree and then painted a papier maché box with some craft paint.  I cut out the shapes and letters from scrapbook paper with my cricut.  Then I used some mod podge and some glitter to put it all together.  I used hot glue to stick the ornament on top of the box and I had a little tinsel I wrapped around the bottom of the base to hide the hot glue.

Well?  What do you think?

I've been so inspired by what I've seen out in blogland I had to give it a try.

I have a few other projects I'll share, but the light is fading and they're not quite ready for pictures.

Thank you for stopping by!

I'd love to hear what you think.

Buzz...Buzz...Buzz....Buzzzzzzzzz!

Oh Sweet Bee Cottage will be buzzin' this next week!

I have just finished parent teacher conferences, almost every test is graded and in the gradebook, lessons are planned, and charts and Promethean lessons are done!

Do I sound giddy?  I should sound giddy, because I am!

My school district is on Thanksgiving vacation!

(seriously trying not to gloat right now)

So, what's the buzz here at the cottage?

Glad you asked!

I found a source of Cricut cartridges to play with over the holiday week.....

I'm really excited to play with this one.

Maybe I'll make some banners or some stenciling or some....my mind is racing!

I'm probably being totally unrealistic with what I can actually accomplish, but isn't half the fun the dreaming?

Can you guess why I want to use this one???

In other news, I will have a guest blogger on Sunday.  

She's eight years old and already has her own design opinions.

Can you guess who it will be?

 Be sure to come back and see what my guest blogger has in store for you.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Your visit is always a treat I look forward to.  

Your comments are treasured too.

P.S.  How do you like the new look?  
I loved the old one, but this looks more like me.

If loving my Cricut is wrong, I don't want to be right!

Saturday was my brother's birthday.  I'm afraid I wasn't very creative with his gift.  I got him a gift card to Starbucks - I know - not very original - and they were out of their pretty little envelopes, so as I drove home I got to thinking about how I could wrap it creatively.  (Plus I forgot to get a birthday card too.)

So this was my idea....

First, whip out the trusty Cricut machine.

Next, roughly measure the size of the gift card. I decided to make the design 5 inches.

Choose some woodsy, masculine scrapbook paper.

(MS has some really nice heavy duty paper for just such a job.)

Cut out two of the hang tags with that extraordinary paper cutting machine.

Glue them together along the bottom and edges,
leaving an opening at the top for the gift card to slide into.
(sorry, didn't take pictures of this part either)

Type up an appropriate message to cut out and attach to the front of the card.  You may use fancy scissors, or my new favorite, the rolling cutter wheel with decorative edge from MS.

After card is inside and message is attached,

loop a coordinating ribbon through the holes and you are done!

What do you think?  Can you just imagine this with some Christmas papers?

I know with my older nieces and nephews I always buy them a gift card for Christmas,

 so I think I'll make some more!

And, no, Cricut has not paid me for this unsolicited endorsement of the dream machine.

Thanks for stopping by! Your visit is always a delight!

What have you made with your Cricut?  I'd love to know!

Oh and I'm done with report cards!  Hurrah!

Where do you find your inspiration?

I miss all my old magazines - Country Home, Cottage Living, Hallmark, and my favorite, Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion.  They were wonderful sources of inspiration.  I am just grateful that I still have Country Living and Romantic Homes.  I also enjoy Martha's Living and Better Homes and Gardens, but they don't inspire me like my old loves.

So where can I go for inspiration now?  Why to my favorite blogs of course.  This is a little something inspired by  Cherry's Jubilee.

Which led to this.....

And then this.....

A little of that....

 Some of this...

Which culminated in this....

the birthday gifts for the More Creative Friend and the Singing Nun.  In addition to the bake-a-thon, we also celebrate our late summer and early fall birthdays.  The girls each got a Wicked banner (they adore the musical and they keep promising to take me - HINT! HINT!), a framed 31 (for October 31, also inspired by a lovely blog that I can't remember the name of), and an apothecary jar filled with creepies and crawlies.  I hope they enjoy them as much as I had fun making them.  The cottage was really buzzin' that day!

Oh yes! And special thanks to my Cricut machine!  I couldn't have done it without you!

Thanks again for stopping by!  Hope to see you soon!