Thursday, December 10, 2009

Christmas cards and gifts, fa la la la la

I've spent this week making Christmas cards with rubber stamps and colored pencils - oh, and glitter, ultrafine type.  Must not forget the bling.  I fear I and my carpet will forever be sporting bits of Cystalescent Glitter, ultrafine, in blue - which is truly the loveliest shade I have ever seen - but it is on my pajamas, my rug, in my hair, on my hands.  You know.  You have worked with glitter. Anyway, inbetween coloring in the images, and cursing under my breath when the point of a Prismacolor pencil snaps off in the sharpener (there is a technique to sharpening a Prismacolor pencil, believe it or not!), I have been reading e-mails on the card and scrapping groups, and following links, of course.  I just saw one that floored me, and I had to share.  It's for Hot Chocolate on a Stick!  Have you ever heard of anything so wonderful?  It seems a little labor intensive, but I am sure the result makes it worthwhile, as does how long it will last in a plastic bag - but do not get water in the chocolate.  I know that from watching the Food Network.  It will make it seize and nothing can fix it.  Anyway, here is the link.  Yum, sit back and enjoy,  and then make some for Christmas presents!  (You can send me some too)!Hot chocolate on a stick   Enjoy!

Oh, the technique for sharpening Prismacolor pencils - regular and watercolor.  If possible, get a sharpener for sharpening eye liner, at the makeup counter.  Hold it so that the opening is towards the ceiling, yes, towards the ceiling, not sideways or horizontal.  Hold the pencil between thumb and index finger and twirl in the opening.  Being vertical will alleviate the pressure on the pencil point, thus keeping it from breaking.  I needed this advice because in less than one week, one pencil is half its original size, from the point continually breaking each time I tried to sharpen it.  ADDENDUM:  Prismacolor actually makes their own sharpener.  It's $6.00 but it really works, without breaking off the points.  I got mine at A.C. Moore but I believe Dick Blick also carries it.

On the House Mouse group, there are two Christmas exchanges going on - one is a One on One, in which you get the name of a person for whom you make a card and in the second, you send cards to the two person whose names appear under yours on the exchange list.  I got one card yesterday and another today, but the camera batteries died before I could take a photo of the one received today.  Here is the one from yesterday - the photos does not do it justice at all.  It had to take the maker many, many hours and it is truly fabulous.   Clicking on the photos will show you larger views.  I will post the other photos once I get new batteries for the digital camera.


2 comments:

Karen said...

Love your card Nancy!! : )

Pattyskypants said...

Super card! And THANK YOU for the tips on prismacolor sharpening. After forty years, I finally discovered that tilting the sharpener up and at an angle worked for me.