December Daily Mini Album by Jo Piccirilli

Hey everyone!  Well Christmas time is well and truly upon us.  Didn't that sneak up on me!  We were set a little challenge this month on the DT to come up with something along the lines of December Daily.  For those that aren't sure what this is, it is like a journal that you record all the things you do in the lead up to Christmas.  Here is my take on it.

I have made like a file folder to put my pics on of what my little family gets up to in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  I used a heap of Couture goodies in this album.  On the front is the Irish Dreams Doily Die from the Fantasia Collection.  I have also used the Rudolph die and some glitter paper for a bit of sparkle.  The flourish is Moments in Time again using some glitter paper.  The "Merry Christmas" is just one of many pieces that an be cut from the paper pad.

I have used the 12 x 12 Vintage Christmas paper pad to cover my folder.  This has heaps of pieces that can be fussy cut and used as embellishments. Her is a look at the inside.

 

 

In the top corner I have used the Mistletoe die and added a few red gemstones to the centre for a bit of extra interest.  The two corner pieces are were cut again from glitter paper using the Clements die.

 

I have embossed some pearlised red cardstock with the Moonlit Berries embossing folder and created a pocket for some tags.



 

In the paper pad there is a sheet of paper with these Christmas sentiments on.  Perfect for to make simple and quick Christmas cards using my rectangle and scallop rectangle nesting dies.  Again I added the  holly at the bottom.  Once you have given your cards away you could then use this pocket for the Christmas cards you receive!



This next part of the album has lots of space for photos and journaling

I used another of the sheets in the paper pad that was like a Christmas countdown and cut them out as embellishments.

 

 

This last page opens up to give a little more room for more photos.  Again I have used the Moonlit Berries embossing folder and at the bottom is the Santa's Sleigh die.

 



 

 



 

Thanks for stopping by and letting me share.  Hope I have inspired you to have a go at your own December Daily.

 

Until next time

 

Couture Creations Products Used

12 x 12 Paper Pad Vintage Christmas CO723551
Moonlit Berries Wrapped In Joy Collection CO723596
Irish Dreams Doily Die Fantasia Collection CO723224
Rudolph Magical Christmas Collection CO723560
Santa's Sleigh Magical Christmas Collection CO723561
Moments in Time Die CO723434
Clements Die Sophia Collection CO723500
Mistletoe Magical Christmas Collection CO723563
Rectangle Nesting Dies CO723046
Scallop Rectangle Nesting Dies CO723047
Oval Nesting Dies CO723044
Scallop Oval Nesting Dies CO723045
Double sided 6mm tape
Gemstones



Christmas Tree Ornament by Dana Tatar

Hi Couture Creations fans! Dana here today sharing a Christmas ornament that I created with pieces of embossed chipboard. This project started out as a mini album kit. Instead of using the triangular tree portions as pages, I glued them all together to create a fun and colorful ornament for the tree!

I embossed each section of the tree with the Wild Holly Embossing Folder. I painted the front and back of each piece with a light coat of gesso and then a colorful Gelato. I highlighted the embossing with Silver Inka-Gold. I dipped the edges of each colorful tree segment in white acrylic paint for a frosty feel. Once the paint was dry, I glued the sections together to form the tree. No Christmas tree is complete without bling, so I embellished the tree with Moonlight Self-Adhesive Pearls and Silver Glitzin' Glamour Glitter Glue.

I created a photo frame for the back of the ornament with the Scalloped Oval and Oval Nesting Dies.

I finished embellishing the back of the ornament with a stamped sentiment and Moonlight Self-Adhesive Pearls.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Couture Creations Supplies:
CO723593 Wrapped In Joy Collection - Wild Holly Embossing Folder
CO723045 Scalloped Oval Nesting Dies
CO723044 Oval Nesting Dies
CO721998 Moonlight Self-Adhesive Pearls
CO721970 Silver Glitzin' Glamour Glitter Glue

Scalloped Paper Christmas Tree by Kerrie Gurney

Hi it's Kerrie,  with Christmas fast approaching I am in full decorating mode. I just love creating special little décor items for our home and also to give to friends.

I made lots of these paper trees last year and this year a friend asked me to create one for her so I thought I would add a twist to my plain trees by using Couture Creations Scallop Square Nesting Dies to give this tree a cute edge.

 

 

this tree is super easy to create,

 

 

 

Die cut 12 of each of the 5 smaller sizes of the Scallop Square nesting dies from old book paper. I die cut 6 sheets at a time, the paper is thin enough to cut through 6 sheets at a time. 

cut a piece of cardboard slightly smaller than the largest die cut square and glue one sheet of die cut book paper, this will be the base of the tree

 

you will need a skewer and a peat pot or some type of pot for your base, push the cardboard base onto the skewer and then hot glue the base to the pot

 

now starting with the biggest size start layering on the book paper squares

when layering them leave a gap and alternate to give the tree character

 

finish off by adding a poinsettia as a tree topper, die cut 2 small petals and on large and hold together with a small brad

 

smoosh a bit of red Glitzin' Glamour Glitter Glue to the petals and pinch them to add life to the poinsettia

 

 

 

Embellish the base of the pot with some book paper and a poinsettia

 

 

TIP : you could add Crystal Glitzin' Glamour Glitter Glue to the edge of each layer to add some sparkle, or spray the whole tree with adhesive spray and sprinkle with glitter.

 

 

Couture Creations Products Used

CO723043 Scallop Square nesting Dies

CO723562 Magical Christmas Eve Decorative Die

CO721979 Red Glitzin' Glamour Glitter Glue

 

Happy Christmas Creating

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gilded Joy Christmas Card by Cathi O'Neill

Cathi here with another gilded quick and simple card using a product that I have only recently discovered, but that can make your cards look rich and luxurious: Gilding Flakes! These multi colored flakes of gilding metals give an amazing sheen to anything they are used on. You can use glue and stamps to make stamped images colored in the metals or you can do what I did and use an adhesive sheet to make an entire metallic background.

Here I am holding onto a 5" x 5" square adhesive sheet, piling the gorgeous gilding flakes onto the surface. 

Use your fingers to smooth in the flakes onto the entire sheet and then you can use a stamp scrubber foam to get rid of any excess and buff it to a gorgeous sheen.

Next I took the gorgeous Wrapped In Joy: Poinsettia Lullaby embossing folder and embossed the gorgeous pattern into my gilding flake sheet.

I added a simple sentiment using the center die from the Fleur-de-Frame Nesting Die. I used the die as a stencil as well and inked through it with Walnut Ink Distress Stain and my Sponge Dauber.

I've added some subtle gesso highlights to help the embossed patterns stand out, stamped a sentiment on my label added a golden bow.

Another quick and simple card with an amazing luxurious look!!

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that you will share any work you do with these gorgeous dies and folders on our Facebook page!!

Couture Creations products used:

CO723592 Wrapped In Joy: Poinsettia Lullaby

CO723050 Nesting Dies: Fleur-de-Frame

CO723061 - Sponge Daubers

Miracle by Patti Hamil

Today I wanted to share a layout of our Granddaughter right after she was born! She is almost five months old now, time is passing too fast! I wanted a soft look so I kept the colors neutral with pink and a little bit of green.

Here are some close-ups of the details. I used the Poetry folder from the Elegance collection on a soft pink cardstock and then inked over it with white. It just suits the sweet photo!

I made the blooms from the Daisy Nesting Die! I used some chalk ink, Glitzin Glamour and Pearls!!!

Start by snipping into every second petal as shown below:

 Trim each side of the double petals to look like the one below, ink across each section and in the center.

Add a pearl and Glitzin Glamour around it to finish off the bloom! 

Couture Creations products used:

Nesting Dies, Scallop Ovals CO723045

Sophia Intricutz Dies, Bossa CO723501

Nesting Dies, Daisy CO723217

Elegance Collection, Poetry folder CO723285

Glitzin Glamour Crystalina CO721971

Pearl Accents, Cafe Cream  CO721999

 

 

 

 

 

Football Sunday Food!! Bacon Cheddar Burger Balls!

I was wondering this morning what I could eat that would be low carb, that my family would like and that would be easy to munch on while I watched football since there were three really good games on the schedule!

My facebook page had a post from djfoodie for Burger Balls! I just happened to have all the ingredients. Here's the picture that caught my eye on facebook...

Photo Credit: djfoodie

Don't those look yummy? Don't let the simplicity fool you, these are labor intensive. They aren't hard to make, just time consuming and there are a lot of steps, but they are good! You can find the recipe right HERE.

I followed it exactly this time, didn't made any changes. I think next time I would like to try them with pepper jack cheese and not bake them for as long as I did. They seemed a little dry. Oh..and I used ground beef, but I think I would prefer ground turkey. I love ground turkey!

Here are the meatballs ready to be seared in the pan. But before you get to this part you have to dice onion and garlic and caramelize it in a pan with oil. Then mix the meat, one egg and the carmelized onion/garlic and make the meatballs. 

You have to flatten the ball and then put a little bacon bits and a cube of cheese and then gently roll the ball back up.

Then you sear them in a pan and it should be an oven proof pan, but I didn't have one so I just put them on a baking sheet all together. 

Here they are, all seared and ready to go in the oven. You can see there are three with toothpicks in them...those are special for my mom as she won't eat any onion. Just searing them they start oozing cheese if you didn't form them correctly, which obviously I didn't!

I baked mine at 450 for 10 minutes, I should only have done the 5 to 7 minutes suggested as I thought mine were a little overdone. Here they are straight out of the oven, you can see they oozed quite a bit more cheese. You have to really seal them well. 

Here they are, ready to "come and get'em!"

I made a quick cole slaw using an angel hair cabbage slaw I found recently at WinCo. I like it because it's a lot easier to chew and it's pretty! 

As you can see, even though a lot of cheese came out during the process there was still plenty inside...yum! Low Carb and delicious!

So the Chargers won...Yay! And my Cowboys won...Yay! Yay!  Now I'm watching the Broncos and the Patriots and it looks like it's going to be an easy win for the Broncos, but we shall see.

How was your Football Sunday? Any great snacks you had while watching?