Amazon recycled packages for Valentines

Happy tuesday!

Do you have a bunch of these Amazon envelopes laying around?

Don't throw them away!

I love to use what I have and upcycle things, and here is a fun and easy way to recycle these packages.

Start by peeling all of the labels and stickers off of the envelopes,

as well as using adhesive to glue down any areas that might be ripped.

Don't worry to much about perfection on these envelopes as you are going to

be painting over everything. 

Next fold over your package to create an envelope, once folded over

using a ruler find the center of the paper and mark it and continue

with a pencil to draw a line for you to cut to make your fold

over envelope top.

Grab yourself some paint, I used an off white color, a paint/sponge brush and

a paper plate to put the paint on.  

Using a paint brush or sponge brush start to paint over the entire

envelope.  I only did one coat making sure to cover the black areas well. 

Just one coat will give the envelope this distress look.

Once you paint them set them aside and begin to prepare

the vintage images your going to use. 

I just goggled vintage images and chose the ones below,

you can choose and print any you images you like from your home printer. 

I found these two cute images and am using some retired stampin up scissors that have decorative edges, cut them and layer them on top of colored cardstock. 

Now it's time to glue down the images, but first choose

your ribbon and wrap around the envelope to the front so you can tie it in a bow.

Adhere the top portion of the ribbon to the opening of the envelope, then

adding the vintage image by gluing it down with either a hot glue gun

or glue.  I prefer the hot glue as I know it will hold well. 

Tie your bows and embellish your envelope with anything else

you might like to add.  You can see in the one below I have added a

wax seal I made, and some dried flowers.  All hot glued down. 

I can't decide which one I like better, the vintage ones or the more

modern boho one.

This one I added some chunky sugar glitter to the heart to add some

dimension to it.  They are so cute!  and to think they are made from recycled

Amazon packages.   Give these a try! 

Delivering Cheer

Bringing back and oldie but a goodie,

Love this reitred stamp set called 

"Delivering Cheer" 

I needed a few birthday cards for this month,

I love the colors from this designer's series paper.

So colorful and fun.

Love how the mushroom fit perfectly in the stamped dress.

Do you have this stamp set?

Happy New Year!! 2026

Happy New Year's!  Here's to 2026!

Here's a few things I did to decorate for New Year's.

Sadly this year, we didn't go out, along with many I was 

nursing the flu that has been going around.       

"May your New Year sparkle and shine"

My table for dinner.....

Something I love to do for the holidays is set my tv to holiday

screensaver.  Have you tried this?

It's quite easy,  just go to youtube on your tv and use the voice

speaker and ask for "new year screensaver", you can

do this for any holiday.  This one I picked is set for 6 hour

running. Some are less.....It's so fun and festive!

Give it a try! 

And....... Happy 2026!!!!

Watercolor in Bloom paper pumpkin

This month's stampin up paper pumpkin

Watercolor in Bloom.... 

Nice colors for the dull of winter! 

Three beautiful different designs come with this month's kit. 

Family Traditions

The girls are home with their spouses, it's time to initiate them into

our family baking traditions!

It's so fun to pour into the next generation all the traditions of food and fun for the 

holidays.

The boys were troopers jumping right into making our annual haul of cookies and treats.

Our background is a mixture of italian (husband) and scandinavian (me)

so we started off the christmas spritz cookies made as a butter cookie

that is made with design that you use a cookie gun to create.

Matt proved to be the best spritz cookie maker!

All smiles, maybe due to the heavy eating of cookie and treats! 

We moved onto our third generation fudge making,

there's always a fight for who get to lick the spoons and bowl.

Does anyone else use "fluff" in their fudge?

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

Merry Christmas!

Seattle Christmas Market

Well this was magical!

Are you local and looking for something festive to do?

Head to Seattle to the Seattle center for the Christmas Market.

And calories don't count at Christmas right?

They had the most delish  "naughty" or "nice" drink,

can you guess which one I chose?

The whole Seattle center was glistening in lights....

All the vendor booths had incredible wares and decorated so authentically. 

The food?  it was the bomb!

This was a most delicious baked potato....

There's a wishing forest you walked through and could write on a snowflake 

your wish for the Christmas season. 

There are so many spots with photo ops, this was the 

holiday christmas tunnel.

It was a magical night!