Hilary Kanwischer

Holiday Bears, Holiday Wrap & Tree Toppers...

Three more sweet little Christmas cards just added to my Etsy site.  These are all made with the same papers and embellishments, (notice how I'm into "collections" now??), and I hope you enjoy them.  I used papers from Cosmo Cricket, embellishments and diecuts from Melissa Frances, felt ribbon from Martha Stewart, my favorite rusty bells, some machine stitching and a whole lotta love!!  :)  

 

 

I hope you all have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving and thankyou so very much for stopping by today.  :)

 

Winter trio...

I truly adore this patterned paper from Melissa Frances, and it's always been one of my favorites.  It's the kind of pattern that I don't think will ever truly go out of style.  I decided to make a small collection of cards to put onto my brand-new Etsy website, and here is my page right here.  I'm proud of myself for actually starting one, I've been just a buyer for several years.  Hope this doesn't become yet a new addiction for me, but we'll see.  These three cards use all of the same embellishments and papers, and their all adhered to cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and I topped them all off with tiny "working" rusty bells, (my favorite embellishment for the holidays).  You'll notice in the weeks to come, I use them on anything and everything.  Hope you all enjoy!

thanks so much for checking in, and these cards will be available tonight on my site.  :)

Gingerbread men...

Well...my whole home smells like gingerbread!  I've got a batch in the oven as I'm typing just waiting to come out.  These are no ordinary gingerbread cookies though...these are ornaments, as my husband almost found out the wrong way the other night, when he said they looked so good he couldn't wait to try one.  I had to intervene, I was feeling "nice" that night.  :)  Anyway, can anything say Christmas like gingerbread??  I love these little guys and the ones I just made will last for years and years, and I like to place them in a little bowl as I have below and keep them on my hutch for all to see.  And here they are...

here's what they look like in progress and below that, I'll post the recipe so you can make your own..

Aren't they sweet???  Here's how to make them...

1/2 C. sugar

3T shortening

1t baking soda

1t ground cloves

1t ground ginger

1t ground cinnamon

3 1/2 C. flour

3/4 C. water

whole peppercorns

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Mix shortening and 1/2 cup sugar together in a large bowl.  Add baking soda, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, flour, and 3/4 cup of water.  When mixed completely, refriderate for 4-6 hours. 

Roll gingerbread out to 1/4 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface.  Cut out gingerbread with a cookie cutter and place on a lined cookie sheet, decorate with whole peppercorns and bake for 20 min.  At the end of 20 minutes, turn oven off, leaving the cookies inside for 1 hour to continue the drying process.  After 1 hour remove from the oven and place on a baking rack and allow to sit untouched for 1-3 days, or until completely dry and hard.  When cookies are dry, spray or brush on clear varnish allowing to dry between coats.  Apply about 2 coats.  Store cookies in an air-tight container between seasons and they will last forever. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed my little gingerbread men.  :)

 
  

Thankful...

I'm ready for Thanksgiving...almost.  It'll be here before we know it, that smell from the turkey cooking in the oven, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and the sounds of your home bursting at the seams from family and friends, I can hardly wait.  This year I am celebrating Thanksgiving at my home and it's been a tradition to do just that every year.  We have the quintessential "family" day, I cook the turkey, my mom makes the stuffing, I make the Sunday crunch cookies, my sister makes the bread and so on.  Turkey at noon, football with everyone in the backyard, naps and a late night turkey sandwich, can it get any better than that?  Michele from Purple Onion Designs, asked me to be a part of her special Holiday Design Team and how could I say no?  I love Purple Onion stamps and have been using them since way back when, when Self-Addressed was the number 1 kit club and for good reason...they ROCK!!  Well, when she so graciously sent me some of her newest Thanksgiving stamps, I knew just what to make with them.  We're going neutral this year, so I basically just used kraft and white cardstock to make my designs, everything from an invitation, to the placecards to a little gift box that will look so pretty on white plates to display a little gift of gratitude all sitting on our white table, complete with white pumpkins.  :)  Enjoy!  And be sure to check the Purple Onion blog for more amazing designs from all the other girls on the team...there's a ton of inspiration there, you won't want to miss..just click here. 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you all continue to have a very blessed November!  :)

You're under arrest....

I should be under arrest after abandoning my blog for a record breaking 3 weeks, but once again...I seemed to have been just too busy to update it.  It seems like I either "have" time, or have NO time, and this has just been one of the very hectic November's.  Hey!!!  Anyone go outside and breathe in that wonderful, chilly Fall weather??  I did, I did!  That's right, we finally got another cold front that came in last night, (that's 2 for the season so far, but whose counting?).. and I'm sooooo loving it!  Anyway, back to blogging what I came to blog about....only the cutest little Sheriff in town that is.  Connor dressed up like a S.W.A.T team member for Halloween this year, then arrested Roxy on the spot for....oh who knows, I'm sure she was guilty of something.  :)  So I'm sorry for posting these rather late, but am just glad to be able to finally get to it.   I edited these ultra cool photos using some sweet little grunge actions found at Pink Ink Studios.  Enjoy!

In a couple days, I hope to have a few projects uploaded that I've been working on for Thanksgiving.  Their already finished just waiting on the "okay"... :)  Have a wonderful day everyone and thanks for checking in.  :)