Last Minute Christmas Gifts

On December 6th, two other demos and I will be hosting a "Last Minute Christmas Gifts" class. It will be in a Open House/Super Saturday format where you can pick which projects you would like to make and how many you would like to make. Below are the projects which will be available that day and the prices. If you would like to come, please RSVP to me by Monday, December 1st via email to stampinelisabeth at gmail dot com.

All Occasions Plate: $12 without easel; $18 with.
Holidays include Valentine's Day, Easter, July 4th, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas
Created by Cindy Petersen

Glass Block and card: $12
Created by Elisabeth Bellville

Card Pail (includes rubons): $25
5 cards which are blank, and the rubons allow you to choose the sentiment. All you have to do is rub! Very easy!
Created by Sheila van Uitert

Merry Banner: $8
Created by Sheila van Utiert

2009 Calendar:$10
Created by Cindy Petersen

Candy Tin: $6 without candy $8 with
Created by Elisabeth Bellville

Tea light Centerpiece: $15
Created by Elisabeth Bellville

I can't imagine anyone NOT loving gifts like these! And you can receive the added bragging power of saying you HAND MADE it for them! Who can beat that?

You gotta love the web!

While taking a break from work I did my usual perusing of the favorite blogs. One blog leads to another and viola! I come across a cooking blog (a beautiful blog at that with pictures that make me want to eat my computer screen) that is created by a girl I went to High School with! I haven't seen or talked to her in over 10 years. It's a wonderful blog and you should check it out. Here's the link.

I love the internet! Even with all it's possibilities to harm, it connects us with people we haven't talked to in years, gives us information to help improve and beautify our lives and is all around awesome.

It looks like Ben will be leaving next Monday, November 17th. We'll see though since they keep pushing it back. Until then, I'm trying to spend as much time with him as possible. When he's gone I'll be filling my time with cooking and creating and reading and will have lots to share! Take care!

Grandpa's Funeral

My dear Grandfather passed away on Friday, October 24th, after a painful battle with Alzheimer's.

My grandfather was a true family man- always putting the needs of his family first- and it was wonderful to see so many of our family members putting him first and attending his funeral. I was able to see cousins and other relatives that I haven't seen in nearly 10 years.

The funeral services were lovely and my Aunt April, cousin Lisa and I sang a musical medley of "On My Honor" and "I Am a Child of God" (arranged by my lovely cousin, Katie Keil). I lost my composure during the opening hymn and thought I was a goner when singing the musical number. However, we all held together well. Grandpa must have been helping us.

Grandpa Davis served in the Air Force and was a BYU football season ticket holder for over 40 years. At his internment there were military rites and the pall bearers wore BYU baseball caps in honor of "papa." Here are some of the pictures (which I took with my dad's camera since I was a dummy and forgot to bring mine):

The sign on the street let us know where to go

My youngest cousin, Paden, putting on his baseball cap

Taking the coffin out of the hearse

The trumpeteer (?) who played taps.

Laying

boutonnieres on the coffin

My father and his mother

The grandsons (minus Tyler Keil who is serving an LDS mission in Georgia)

Expressing how I feel in writing is somewhat difficult for me. I hope that even though my wording is simple that doesn't take away from how much my grandfather meant to me and how much I will miss him.

Second time is a CHARM!

If you remember the flower card from this post, you'll also remember that I nearly despised the card. Not because of the flower itself but because I couldn't create a card to beautifully house the flower. Last night was the breakthrough. I had to make a card for a co-workers birthday and I really wanted to use that flower technique.

If you know me well, you know that it is as rare as a blue moon for me to really like one of my own cards. I truly love this card (it was hard to give it away) and that is also a breakthrough. Two breakthroughs in one night!

Here's the card:


Have a great Wednesday!

A post before a break.....

Ben is going to the Arctic Circle (NOT the restaurant) for up to 6 weeks. He leaves on November 3rd and might come back as late as December 15th. More than likely he'll be home earlier- thank goodness- but it could take the full time.

That doesn't give us much time together before he leaves so I'm going to take advantage of it. While he's gone, however, I'll be busy cooking, reading and crafting.

I think in a previous post I told you that I get together once a month with two of my good friends, Casey and Kym to make crafts. Casey usually lets me know what she wants to make and I put together something for them. This month, Casey wanted to make and explosion box, a sour cream container and a card. Here are some pictures of them:

This is the outside, with the lid on (the lid is the patterned paper):

When you pull the lid off, the box falls open, or "explodes". On the various layers you can put pictures of your family and/or friends or it can be used for journaling.


And, just for fun, here's a picture of the box and lid side-by-side.

The card Casey wanted to make has a paper bow. I originally found the idea on Jenn D.'s blog. I had to go by memory what she did and after looking at her original I'm a bit humbled by my own creation. However, it taught Casey the method to folding the paper bow so that she can create her Christmas cards.


And here's the sour cream container. Simple and cute. Not fancy at all. There are caramel apple hershey's kisses inside though!

Stamp Camp rejects....

Okay, so they're not really "rejects" but instead are not the best options for the Stamp Camp I will be co-hosting on November 1st (as well as November 8th). There are four of us who will be demonstrating 6 projects so it only makes sense that only 1 or 2 of my projects will be made. NONE of these are the 2 that will be made during stamp camp. You want to be pleasantly surprised, right?

This first one is a box made out of chipboard coasters. It could easily hold treats or be a desk organizer for your pens, pencils, etc.



This next one is made out of half of a file folder. I think it would be a really sweet little present for someone you love. You can write some of your favorite Christmas memories on the little tags, maybe even attach a picture like my friend Casey did, and then send it to that person.



I made a bunch of these, with different decorations, as my 3-d swap for convention. I was playing around with a Christmas version of it and this is the first try. Not my favorite, but it is a start.

Save the worst for last, right? Anyway, this is my least favorite- but only because I rushed the decoration of it. The idea is super cute. It's simply a clear envelope folded in half and then attached to some cardstock. I've filled it with candy and used a velcro dot to keep it closed.


Wait until you see the CHOSEN stamp camp projects! Let me know if you want to come. It will be on November 1st at the SLCC campus.

Flickr Mosiac

All over the blogsphere people are posting their own flickr mosiac. It's pretty simple to do actually. Wanna play?: Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr's search. Using only the images that appear on the first page, choose your favorite and copy and paste each of the URL’s into the Mosaic Maker (4 columns, 3 rows)... Enjoy!

1. What is your first name? (Elisabeth)

2. What is your favorite food? (Chinese Food)

3. What high school did you attend? (Governor John R. Rogers- Puyallup)

4. What is your favorite color? (red)

5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Robert Downey, Jr.)

6. Favorite drink? (milk)

7. Dream vacation? (London, England)

8. Favorite dessert? (brownies)

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (Teacher)

10. What do you love most in life? (family and friends)

11. One word to describe you? (stubborn)

12. Your nickname? (pumpkin)

Pictures used:
1. Queen Elisabeth, 2. Helen's Gourmet Chinese Food, 3. Puyallup Fair Swings, 4. `paint the town red., 5. Robert Downey Jr。, 6. Pouring fresh cold milk, 7. England v. Portugal 7/1/06, 8. Chocolate Brownies 40/365, 9. Still Life For Teacher, 10. FRIENDS HOME FAMILY, 11. Stubborn, 12. the pumpkin patch by pinhole

Sister's Crafts

For my birthday my step-mother and sister bought me this pan from Williams Sonoma (you can find the link to their website here):
Super cute, huh? And it's supposed to make a cake that looks like this:

Again, super cute. Anyway, during priesthood session my sister and I got together to make this cake and also a craft. Before we started, however, we started to talk about jeans and how Old Navy was having a sale. We decided we would take a "quick" trip to Old Navy and check it out. That "quick" trip turned in to an hour and a half. We had a fun time talking and although neither of us bought jeans, I did find a sweater I really like.

When we got back to my apartment we had to hurry and get the cake in the oven. Luckily, when they gave me the pans they also gave me the ingredients to make a pumpkin chocolate chip cake with cream cheese frosting. All the ingredients were measured out for me. All I had to do was put them in my kitchen aid and pour the batter in the pan.

The recipe asks that you cook the cake for 35-40 minutes. It assumed your using a 9x13 cake pan and not a deep pumpkin shaped pan. My cake needed to cook an hour before it was done. By that time the husbands were hungry and tired. Angie and I let the cake cool for about 10 minutes and then decided to put it together. This was not the best idea. The bottom part of the pumpkin started to give below the weight of the top part. Once we put the frosting on top it looked like a big gooey mess. It tasted delicious though! Here's a picture:

Doesn't really look like a pumpkin, does it? That's okay. I'll be making it again. And maybe next time I'll just bake the cake without the frosting because the cake itself was delicious, moist and rich. The frosting made it a little too rich for my tastes. Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup solid pack canned pumpkin
3/4 cup milk
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Garnish:
2 tbsp mini semi-sweet chocolate morsels
2 tbsp finely chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar and butter; beat until creamy. Beat in eggs and pumpkin. Gradually beat in flour mixture alternately with milk. Stir in mini chocolate chips. Pour into greased and floured 9x13 baking pan. Bake ad 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack. :)

While baking, combine cream cheese, b utter and vanilla extract, beating until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar; beat well. Frost cake. Sprinkle with garnish.



Now, while the cake was baking we made some treat jars. The jars were purchased at Target for about $8 and the vinyl was purchased at The Quilted Bear for about $3. Pretty cute, huh? Oh, and we definitely gobbled the cake until we couldn't wobble anymore!

We were going to make another craft too but we ran out of time. All in all it was a very fun time and a great family tradition!

30th Celebration, Part 1.

Friday, September 26th was my 30th Birthday. I wasn't looking forward to it until a few days before. My husband did a lot to make the day wonderful and he even made the celebration last until Saturday (which will be part 2).

Friday morning I woke up to a path of rose petals from our bedroom down the hall to the kitchen. Our apartment is nice enough but I am looking forward to buying a house when our lease is up. Anyway, here's a picture of the path....

.....to the kitchen where he had left a few of my presents. Last winter my favorite pair of boots were ruined so he bought me some cute new ones as well as some delcious chocolates.

Along with the presents, Ben left this note:

While at work, Ben had my favorite flower - gerbera daisies - sent to me. Aren't they lovely?

I left work a little early and so did Ben. When he walked through the door he was holding these:

More flowers! He thought that I would leave the work flowers at work and wanted me to have some at home as well. However, I couldn't leave my beautiful flowers at work where I wouldn't be enjoying them for two whole days. I brought them home.

We then went out to dinner and then on to my sister Angie's house for cake. It wouldn't be a complete birthday without spending some time with my precious niece, Abby.

Here's Abby grabbing her feet and doing the splits. Isn't she adorable?

The cupcake cake created by Angie.

I was more interested in watching Abby watch the cake than blowing out my candles. Go figure.

I love this picture. It totally looks as though she's holding the camera herself and taking a sassy picture for her facebook profile! I really hope she doesn't grow up that fast though.

Yes, I'm a mean aunt who tempts her infant niece with chocolate and icing.

But she's happy when she eats her healthy cereal!

Still hungry. Stocking feet don't taste that good but it sure is nice to be flexible!

Noses taste better than feet! Especially Mom's nose!

More flowers! These are from my Aunt Cathy.

All the flowers together. Such a happy kitchen table!

All in all it was a very happy birthday. Saturday was also a celebratory day and I'll be posting pictures from that later.