Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop - Take 3

Alright, this is my last post for the Coffee Lover's Blog Hop because I need to head off to bed. This old lady has stopped her coffee intake long, long ago and the caffeine high of my afternoon has taken a leave of absence (until tomorrow morning, that is). 

When the hop started up, I purchased a Starbucks via Christmas blend, to see if it would inspire a project. By the way, Amy, with all the Starbucks advertisements and gift card purchases I've seen along the way... they really ought to be a sponsor! Your hops must make a HUGE impact on their sales. hehe. 

Anyways, the coffee sat balefully looking at me on my crafting station, and because the number of entries is teetering on the edge of 300 (292!), I decided to put that coffee to use.

So I made a punny tag. Puns and I go waaaay back. I love me a good ol' distressed, tattered, burlap-filled design, but if a stamp set is clever, I'll probably break down and have to buy it.

Fiskars "Latte Love" (now retired from what I was told in a comment from one of the original Fiskateers - how cool) is steeped (pun intended) with puns and it was one of those spur-of-the-moment purchases. I'm glad Amy's having this hop because it gave me an excuse to revisit it!

I embossed a sentiment and used Perfect Medium to stamp some snowflakes. Then I painted over it with Perfect Red Perfect Pearls. I added some Vintage Photo Distress ink to the edges, some deep green designer paper, and a bit of burlap twine and

Voila!

I now have the perfect gift to give to my coffee-loving Secret Santa at work. Wahoo!

I do have blog candy for the hoppers who leave a comment. Details are in my last post. Make sure to leave your email so I can easily contact you.

And there are a TON of Sponsors for the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. There's still time to whip up a project and help to reach 300 entries!

17Turtles	Veronica Zalis	Chris Franco
Add a Little Dazzle	Butterfly Reflections Ink	Color Cast Designs
Create a Smile	Hero Arts	Kraftin' Kimmie
Kreative Kymona	Latina Crafter	Neat & Tangled
Newton's Nook	Pickled Potpourri Designs	Poppystamps
Reverse Confetti	Stamp Academy	Stamp Simply Ribbon Store
STAMPlorations	SugarPea Designs	Sweet 'n Sassy
The Alley Way Stamps	Two Paper Divas	Verve Stamps
Whole Wild World	Your Next Stamp	Paper Smooches

17 Turtles:  $15 Store Gift Card

A Muse Studio/Chris Franco:  Cup of Good Cheer stamp set

Add a Little Dazzle:  $25 Store Gift Card

Butterfly Reflections Ink:  Prima Coffee Break

Color Cast Designs:  Coffee Lovers kit

Create a Smile:  Monster Party stamp set

Hero Arts:  A Little & Today's Special stamps/Cup 'O Joe Shadow ink

Kraftin' Kimmie:  $25 Store Gift Card

Kreative Kymona:  Fancy Mug Giveaway

Latina Crafter:  Cafe Wood Veneers + $25 Store Gift Card

Neat & Tangled:  Warm Wishes stamp set

Newton's Nook:  $15 Store Gift Card

Paper Smooches:  $25  Store Gift Card

Pickled Potpourri:  $7 Store Gift Card

Poppystamps:  Tea Cup Stack Die

Reverse Confetti:  $15 Store Gift Card

Stamp Academy:  2 classes

Stampin' Up/Veronica Zalis:  $20 Store Gift Card

STAMPlorations:  $10 Store Gift Card

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store:  Coffee Cup Prize Pack

SugarPea Designs:  $20 Store Gift Card

Sweet 'n Sassy:  Pick Me Up Clear stamp & die set

The Alley Way Stamps:  Tea Par-tea stamp set

Two Paper Divas:  Your Warm My Heart stamp set

Your Next Stamp:  $20

Verve Stamps:  $25

Whole Wild World:  Coffee before Talkee mug

●●Sponsorship prizes are eligible via random draw from linked hop participants only●●

Sugar High!

It seems like ages since I've stretched my stamping muscles in the craft room! Due to traveling last week, there was no crafty goodness going on. This weekend I didn't get to step foot into my inky palace either because I was having an EPIC cookie bake!

This was the finished result... Most of those cookie piles are stacked three or four cookies high! As a side note, don't expect to see any more pictures of me on my blog for a few months.... I may gain twenty pounds in the next month and will need time to burn it off. 

This was about 1/3 of the ingredients we used, and this was a list of the types we made.

 

Of course we had to have some wine with our cookies. ;) 

So what's a girl to do with all these cookies? Give them to her neighbors so they can look at you like you're trying to poison them, of course! Haha. The first year I moved to North Dakota I was pretty lonely so I decided to have a cookie bake to make friends. Since I didn't have friends, that didn't turn out so well because everybody flaked on me and I was left with a whole heap of cookies that I dutifully delivered door-to-door with a smile. People looked at me funny. I think my neighbors are now beginning to catch on that I am determined to be their cheerful, friendly next door girl, gosh darnit! 

I went to the local thrift store and found some fancy old-fashioned tins. Then I wanted to make a bunch of tags to further fancify my cookie giving experience. (And you were just beginning to think this post had nothing to do with crafting...) 

I started by making a tag and using a brand new Tim Holtz stencil I've been dying to play with. I also got a jar of Wendy Vecchi's embossing paste and I spread that through the stencil to create dimension.

Next, I glittered the ever-loving gee willikers out of that paste and dried it with my heat gun to create even more dimension!

I added another tag in green and embossed a sentiment. 

Then I added a silver charm. I love this thing and I'm sad I only have one because it came from a garage sale! I've been hoarding it like a mad woman, but if there's any time to give, I guess it's at Christmas right? Even though it only cost me a quarter, I am going to regret giving it away. Haha!

Look at the dimension on that embossing paste!

If this doesn't solidify my neighborhood friendship, I don't know what will!

I'd like to support the following challenges (and thank them for giving me ideas!):

Just Us Girls Challenge - Sparkle

Merry Monday Challenge - Gold, silver, white, and one other color

Chocolate, Coffee and Cards - Use a Charm

Craft Hoarders Anonymous - Celebrate the Season

I will leave you with one last laugh. 

I made my boyfriend take a silly picture of all the caramels we unwrapped. We had to triple the recipe for two kinds of cookies that called for caramels: Caramel-stuffed gingersnaps and Turtle delights. On the third package, I challenged him to an unwrapping contest. He kicked my butt and was gloating so I said, "Honey, who's the real winner here? You unwrapped all my caramels!" 

Thanks for stopping by! Follow my blog and leave me a comment and I'll be sure to return the favor!