Black Friday Crop

Hi all you crafty people!

Today I'm going to tell you about my 

Black Friday Crop.

Every year on Black Friday I hold a crop at

My Happy Place Scrapbooking and Crafting.

This is my favorite crop of the year,

I come up with all the ideas and

do all the planning and prep and run the crop.

I so enjoy doing this.

These are what we call our 'Specialty Crops'

First of all, I came up with the idea of making 

Rice Krispie Treats shaped like turkey legs, since

it's the day after Thanksgiving.  I don't want to serve

Thanksgiving type food, but wanted to give a nod to 

the holiday we had just celebrated.

These are what they looked like, once they 

were shaped.

I decided that they need to be "browned up" so I 

brushed on some melted milk chocolate.

Each leg was put into a little bag.

 I ended up having enough for

my family dinner, so they all got them too.

They were quite tasty, if I must say so myself.

A "turkey leg" went into each "goodie box" at the crop.

I picked up these cute boxes when I was visiting my friend in 

Toledo.  I filled them with some goodies, ribbon/trim,

a ticket for a free drink, wooden cut outs, cherry cordial kisses and

and eye glasses cleaner.  The eye glasses cleaner is great for

taking fingerprints off pictures, especially glossy prints.

Every year I come up with a game to play,

in the past we have played, Let's Make a Deal,

Wheel of  Crafts (Fortune), Price is Right to name a few

This year, we played

"Crafty Jeopardy."
We had 3 rounds and a Final Jeopardy.

I had categories like
Yummy Yum having to do with holiday foods,

How It's Done - all about techniques
Bling It Up - about embellishments

Not Just Fun and Games - about holiday traditions

What We Do - crafts other than paper crafts

We simply went from crafter to crafter and they

picked a category and dollar amount,

if they got the answer correct they got money.

If not they didn't lose anything.

I used the money I made for MHP a few years ago,

this money has served us well many times.

In the end, the two that had the most money won the

prizes of the day.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the prizes.

Can you believe a scrapbooker who forgets to take pictures?!?!

For dinner I simply set the table with large 

fall themed plates and napkins, which made dinner

a little more homey and personal.

I served:

Ham

Gourmet Mashed Potatoes
Carrots
Scalloped Pineapple

and 

Parmesan Au Gratin Asparagus

for dinner we had

cheesecake.

Everyone seemed to enjoy their dinner

and I enjoyed planning and executing the crop.

As they say;

a good time was had by all!

Thanks for stopping in today,

I hope you'll come again soon.

Until then, Happy Crafting!

One more Card Drive post

Hello friends!

Today I'm posting the last of my Christmas cards

for the Caring Hearts Card Drive.

These are the last of the cards I made,

I ended up with a total of 111 cards to be sent out.

I got together the cards from my friends at
My Happy Place and mailed them all out together.

Between all of us, we sent in over 230 cards for the

card drive.

I'm so thrilled that my friends joined in the fun of

bringing smiles to the faces of those in 

care facilities.

Thanks to:
Danielle, Emma, Judy and Lorraine

for helping out with cards.

Can't wait till my packages come and I can deliver to some 

local homes.

Thanks for stopping in today,

I hope you're having a wonderful day

and getting something made that will 

give someone a smile.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to leave a 

Happy Thanksgiving!

for y'all.
I hope you have a lot to be

thankful for.

I know I do.  

There are so many wonderful

people and things in my life.
I have talents that I enjoy

and friends and family that

I love and make me smile.

Here's a blast from the past.

This is a card I made for 

Thanksgiving 2010

I'm also thankful for all my blog friends

who follow my posts.

Even though I don't get a lot of comments,

I know you are there and I 

appreciate you and am so thankful that

you come by to check things out on 

Kristie Kreates.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Card Drive #6

I'm almost done with my cards for the 

Caring Hearts Card Drive.

Of course, by the time this is posted, all the cards

will have been sent and they will be getting organized

to be sent out to those who deliver them.

I'm lucky enough to be one of those people.

Last year I delivered to 4 different homes in my area,

I'm hoping to be able to deliver to 6 this year.

As you can see, I've made most of these in the same design.

Cards don't have to be complicated or take a lot of time to

bring a smile to someone and be appreciated.

The insides have a verse and will be signed by me

and I hope this will give someone a happy 

holiday feeling.

Thanks for checking in to see what I've been creating.

I hope you'll come again soon.

Until then,

make someone smile!

Thanksgiving 4

Happy Fall Y'all!

Fall isn't my favorite season, but I do love 

Thanksgiving! Today I have the last of my 

Thanksgiving cards to show you.

I used Pumpkin Vine Stamp from QKR Stampede

sold through Stamp On It.

Colored with Fantasia Colored Pencils 

The background panel is cork paper from a 

pad a friend gave me.

This image is 

Tree Losing Leaves from Eureka Stamps.

Colored with colored pencils.

This background panel is from a burlap pad,

I have in my stash.

I used the Harvest Basket stamp from 

Eureka Stamps sold though 

Stamp On It, stamped it onto white card stock

and colored it with colored pencils.

The sentiment is
Give thanks, from Biblical Impressions.

This last card was made using 

Lady Throwing Leaves 

Also from Eureka Stamps.

Colored with colored pencils.

Thanks for stopping in today.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my 

Thanksgiving card series and will come 

back again soon.

Until then, I hope you have a wonderful

Thanksgiving!

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Thanksgiving 3

Hello blog friends.

Are you almost ready for Thanksgiving?

At least my cards are, but I'm not sure about everything else.
Today I have post #3 in my Thanksgiving card series.

This cute guy is 

Scarecrow and Sunflowers from

Eureka Stamps, sold though Stamp On It.

I stamped this image with 

Color Box Fluid Chalk Ink

and colored it with my 

Fantasia Colored pencils

This image is Large Cornucopia from Biblical Impressions

sold through Stamp On It

Stamped with Fluid Chalk Ink and colored with

colored pencils.

Inside this card I used
Leaf Stamp from QKR Stampede,

sold through Stamp On It.  I used the rubber stamp, but

apparently they only sell digital of this now.
I did second generations stamping of these leaves.

I inked up the stamp, stamped onto scrap paper

then stamped onto the card. This gives a much more

subtle impression.

For this card I used

Cornstalk and Pumpkins

from Eureka Stamps,

sold through Stamp On It.

I colored the image with 

Fantasia Colored Pencils

and the sky and ground with 

Distress inks and Ink Blending Tools

The Happy Thanksgiving is a sticker that I 

found in my stash.

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Cards for Card Drive 5

Hi!

Here are a few more Christmas cards that I made for the

Caring Hearts Card Drive.

These 2 were both stamped with VersaMark ink

and embossed with silver embossing powder.

The card on the right was done on black card stock,

the one on the left was done on white card stock that

I used Distress Inks to color.

I like the one with the Distress Inks better,

I think it's a little more natural looking with the

different shades and colors I used, rather than 

a totally black sky. I also liked that the bottom of the

scene looks like snow.

For this card, I has some scraps of paper

that had the trees on it, I fussy cut them and 

adhered them in different layers to give dimensions

to the card.

Thanks for coming to check in and see what I've been up to.

Come again soon, you never know what you'll find on 

Kristie Kreates.

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Thanksgiving 1

Thanksgiving will be here soon, so I got busy and 

made some Thanksgiving cards to send out.

Here are the first 2 that I'm going to show you.

For both of them I used 

Large Skeleton Leaf from Biblical Impressions,

sold through Stamp On It

I stamped them with 

Color Box Fluid Chalk Ink

and used Distress Inks and a ink blending tool

to color them.

The "Happy Thanksgiving"

is a stamp I borrowed from a friend.

I left the inside blank to write a personal note

to those I send them to.

So glad you stopped by today.

I hope you're having a wonderful day.

What are you thankful for?

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Fall Garden

I can't believe I never posted about our garden this summer!

I just went to write up a post about the fall garden and found

that I never posted about the beginning of our garden.

I guess I posted about it on facebook and never did it here.

So here it is and when you get to the end of the post you'll 

see why I was posting about the garden in the fall.

The garden in the front of our house has been awful for 

quite some time and we finally decided that something

needed to be done with it.

Last summer Dave, shaped the garden, but we never got 

anything more done with it.

this year we were determined to get it finished.

He worked hard on breaking up the soil.

We went to the nursery and got some plants and he 

put them in.

And he did a great job!

Right behind him it looks like there is a little bush

or tree there.  What is actually in the picture are some 

branches that had been cut off a tree. 

I had put them there just to get an idea of what it would

look like with another plant there.

We weren't sure what to put there, 

then Dave came up with an idea.

Our daughter had moved from her apartment and

was getting rid of this bookshelf.  I decided that I wanted

to give it a make over of some kind and we had it stored in

the garage.  Dave thought it might be great for that spot in the

front garden.  So that's what we did.

We had some pieces of hand painted china that were

our Aunt Bea's and that's where we started, then I added a planter

that had been my Mom's, we went to Saver's and picked up a few

other pieces, including a clock that was so ugly that it 

was cute and we had to have it.

I took all the pieces and my hot glue gun and went to 

work.  I glued everything down to the shelves.

Then I staked it into the ground and we had a cute

addition to our garden.

Something a little different and fun.

I think it looks great.

Unfortunately the plants in the planter didn't do well,

so I took them out and put in some silk flowers,

they did much better.

We added this little watering can,

and this bunny that was Mom's.

Here are some of the carpet roses, they 

grew beautifully and as of this writing there were

still flowers on the bushes.

The hydrangeas were beautiful too.

Not the kind we are used to, but pretty none the less.

As it got later in the season, they changed color

to pink and then an even darker pink.

The portulaca grew beautifully and had 

gorgeous bright colored flowers.

I wish I had a picture when they were at their

peek, the plants were loaded with flowers of 

almost neon color.

Now it is fall and the border of portulaca are

done and it was time to do some fall decorating.

I took everything off the shelves, it was a little worse

for wear, but still sturdy.

The glue wasn't hard to get off at all, I'm sure, due

to the hot and cool weather, but everything was in 

good shape to keep for the spring or summer.

I had picked some things up in thrift stores and craft stores,

so I got to work arranging and gluing again.

Now we are set for the fall.  

I'm not sure if we'll keep the shelf out for the winter, 

or put it away in the garage until spring.

We do get some pretty awful weather in the

front of our house, so it might be best to take it in.

Thanks for stopping by today.

I hope you'll come again soon and see

what's happening on 

Kristie Kreates.

Birthdays

Hello!

I hope you are having a good day.

Today I'm showing you a few birthday cards that I made.

These 2 were made with one of my favorite stamps.

I used 3101AA POPPIES from Stacy Stamps.

Stamped them onto white card stock with 

Onyx Black Versa Fine Ink and colored them

with my Fantasia Colored Pencils.

The sentiment is 

(43844) Happy Birthday Unmounted Stamp

from Biblical Impressions, sold through

Stamp On It

This is a Stampendous stamp, but I can't find

anywhere to link it.

I stamped it onto white card stock with 

Color Box Fluid Chalk Ink

 and colored it with my 

colored pencils.

I hope the people I send them to

enjoy them as much as I enjoyed 

making them.

Thanks for stopping by today,

Come again soon,

until then

create something beautiful!

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Cards for Card Drive 4

Hello everyone

Here are a few more of the cards I created for the 

Caring Hearts Card Drive.

You can see that I made a few with this beautiful paper

that I had in my stash.

Sometimes simple is just perfect.

My favorite saying is

"There are no mistakes in crafting,

only opportunities to be more creative"

and that's what I did with this card.

When I was scoring the card base, I 

accidentally scored in the wrong place, so I 

took that opportunity to make it a tri-fold card.

The area that says "Merry Christmas" is a flap that 

folds down.

When you open it, the inside is stamped

with a little scene and greeting.

The flap at the bottom leaves plenty of room to 

sign my name.

See, just got more creative and used the accident

to make something a little different.

So glad you came by today,

I hope you'll take time to be more creative

next time you have a little accident when you are crafting.

See you again soon,

until then,

Happy Stamping!

Thanksgiving 2

Hi friends!

This is the second post of the Thanksgiving cards

I made.

I used a leaf stamp from QKR Stampede sold through

Stamp On It.  Apparently they don't sell this in unmounted

red rubber any longer, but they do have it in digital.

I stamped it onto white card stock and colored it with 

Distress Inks with an ink blending tool

then fussy cut them.
I stamped the Happy Thanksgiving and used a die to

cut it, and adhered it with foam tape to the front of the card.

For this card I used the same stamps and 

stamped the leaf at different angles around the card.

I then colored them with my Fantasia Colored Pencils.

Thanks for stopping in today,

what are you planning for Thanksgiving?

I'll be having family over and cooking

a turkey.

Hope to see you again soon.

Until them,

Happy Stamping.

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.