Ho-ho-wholy Cow...Two cards!

Well it's the most I've made in as short a period of time for as long as I can remember, LOL! Two cards in two days, whew! We've kicked off the Belles 'n Whistles Christmas release with an awesome Blog Hop...wanted to share with you two of the new Elisabeth Bell stamps here--the very cute Rockin' Around and The Christmas Tree! Belle and here teddy are whisked away to fun times when upon their trusty steed! I tried to make him a little Pinto! =)

Copics, Primas, Ice Stickles and Basic Grey DP...that's about it for this one! ;D

For the Belles 'n Whistles Blog Hop, the project I created was a holiday desk-top scene. I chose to use the very sweet stamp Belle Sitting with Teddy. She's a wonderfully versatile little Belle! Here, I decided to have her sitting in front of the Christmas tree, waiting for Santa! Either she's waiting for him or she's looking at the tree, wondering why I didn't do more decorating on it for her, LOL! Okay--no, she's waiting for Santa. And we're getting an outsider's view of her and her favorite teddy through her decorated Christmas window! The tiny part of the tree you see is actually "The Christmas Tree". And once again, the wonderful Elisabeth Bell has designed some other real lovelies to go along with The Christmas Tree--you can see them all in the store!

The wall of the house (DP) is from the Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses paper pad, the window frame and portion of a front door was stamped using an Alota Rubber Stamp called Screen Door. The window is a piece of acetate, the curtain--a portion of a paper napkin. The half-wreath on the door and the lighted bough above the window are Canadian pine stems from the local craft store. And the lights are battery-operated minis which I've carefully made to look as though they are part of the bough.

And yes! Belle's lights actually do light! (She was surprised to see this herself, even on the balls of her tree, LOL!)

A side view...

The only thing missing is a holiday greeting...I haven't yet decided whether to add that now or wait and turn this into a little count-down-to-Christmas calendar, with some calendar numbers in the upper corner.

Now I also baked cookies for the hop, so I'll share the recipe with you here as well....the cookies Belle decided she wanted to leave for Santa are called Chocolate Krinkles. We baked a bunch up, just to be sure they were delicious enough....they were! So we'll be sure to bake another batch on Christmas Eve again since we've eaten all of these, LOL!

Chocolate Krinkles
2-3/4 C all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
2-3/4 tsp baking powder
1-1/8 C shortening or butter
2-3/4 C sugar
1 C Cocoa powder
6 eggs
1 Tb pure vanilla extract
1 C powdered sugar

Sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside. In another bowl, cream together shortening, sugar and cocoa. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with each addition. Add vanilla and beat until well blended. Gradually add flour mix and mix until combined. Chill dough at least 2 hours in the refridgerator. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop dough by tablespoons into the powdered sugar and roll to coat well. Bake on greased cookie sheets for 10-12 minutes. Let stand on cookies sheet for a minute before loosening them to cool on wire racks.

Yields about 4 dozen.

Other outstandingly wonderful Christmas creations can be found on the Belles 'n Whistles DT blogs here...

1 - Rosette
2 - Lynda
3 - Kathrin
4- Jacque
5 - Iris
6 - Anki
7 - Jodi
8 - Lilian

Christmas is coming....time to start Rockin'!

Summer =)