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Chica & Jo, Tackling life one project at a time!
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We are family-oriented, fun-loving women who enjoy life to the fullest. Part of what allows us to do that is our creative minds and our clever solutions to everyday problems. Some of these solutions are quick and easy and help us save time. Sometimes they
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Chica and I are taking some time off from our craft rooms to spend the rest of the year with our families, when we aren’t covered in glue or glitter. We want to thank you for making 2009 a great year for us with all of your encouragement and ...
New Year’s resolution cube
Christmas is just a few days away, but soon after that, we’ll be faced with a brand new year as well. I can hardly believe it’s going to be 2010 already! For many people, New Year’s Day comes along with a set of resolutions that m...
Cupcake Collars for New Year’s Eve
Now that we are almost all ready to celebrate Christmas, we wanted to think a little bit ahead about our New Year’s celebrations. To celebrate the New Year, we are offering some new Cupcake Collar designs! I went ahead and made some trial cup...
Reindeer cork ornaments
As Jo mentioned on our Facebook page (what, you’re not following us yet?), we recently hosted a craft table at a Christmas-themed community event for kids. We came up with a really fun craft project, using old corks as a base to make a reindee...
Craftside’s upcycled wrapping paper
We just came across something really cool! Check out this wrapping paper from Craftside, which was created with the environment in mind. While the front of the paper has a cool, retro design, the back includes colorful images and text from their c...
Triple chocolate candy cane cookies
Is your Christmas baking done yet? Mine’s not, but my mother and I are getting together this week to finish it up. I have baked one batch of cookies so far, using a recipe I developed last year, and they are my favorites. Here, let me tempt ...
Personalize gifts with photo tags
I’ve been doing a lot of wrapping of Christmas gifts over the last week or so, and I still have plenty to do. As I go, I’ve been using a couple of my favorite wrapping tips that I’ve shared with you before (color-coded giftwrap and...
Giveaway – Cupcake kit with Cupcake Collars
First, let me congratulate Amanda, who won our most recent giveaway and will be receiving a Xyron 900 9-Inch Creative Station! She will be able to create so many wonderful projects with this, and we hope to hear all about them. Now I’d like to...
Feature Friday – Giant craft stick snowflakes
So many Christmas crafts, so little time! I have been inspired a lot this season by the blogs in my reader. So much, I have started making a list of things I want to do for next Christmas. High on this list are the giant craft stick snowflakes ...
Santa’s velvet drawstring pouch
Remember earlier this year when Jo and I made 50 little denim bags for a local event? I promised you then that I’d give you a tutorial on them around Christmas time, and here it is! Our first bags were made of denim and cotton, but for these, ...
Felt snowman wall hanging
When Chica made her pumpkin with changeable faces for Halloween, I was inspired to do something similar for Christmas. I decided to make a felt wall hanging that was a snowman, with pieces you could change to make different kinds of snow people. ...
Play Santa with Naughty and Nice tickets
Anybody who knows anything about Santa Claus knows that he’s got an eye on us all these days. As any small child will tell you, Santa knows who is being naughty and who is being nice. But if the people in your life need a little reminding (or...
Chocolate-filled cookie cutters
I love easy and delicious gifts at the holidays. I always try to find a new one that I can give to neighbors and to the hosts of parties I attend. This year, I decided on chocolate-filled cookie cutters. These are crazy easy to make and are tw...
Christmas postcards from recycled gift boxes
Everybody is trying to pinch pennies where they can these days, and many are cutting back by choosing not to send out Christmas cards. Cards can get expensive by the time you buy them and pay for postage, so it’s an easy thing to eliminate to ...
Marshmallow snowman treats
Do you remember my chocolate covered marshmallow treats? Little Jo and her friends love them so much I decided to try and come up with a version to serve at our Christmas party next week. I found some red and white crazy straws and went from ther...
Penguin invite for New Year’s Eve
Some friends of my family are throwing a New Year’s Eve party this year, and asked me for help with an invitation. Even though the party isn’t formal, I instantly thought of a penguin, dressed to the nines for the big event. Then I real...
Gingerbread house cookie invitations
Little Jo loves to have parties just as much as I do. Each year, I let her have a very small Christmas party for a couple of her closest friends. At this time of year, that’s all I can handle when it comes to kid parties! This year, we dec...
Happy Birthday Jo!
Guess what! It’s Jo’s birthday! Everybody please join me in wishing Jo the happiest of days. Happy Birthday, Jo! May your day be filled with decadent ice cream, fun surprises, hot bubble baths and fuzzy socks, and most of all…...
Cookie Swap party invitation
One of my favorite parts about the Christmas season is all the yummy homemade cookies and candies that seem to be everywhere you look. While baking is great fun, an easy way to get a wide assortment of cookies without having to bake numerous recipes...
Giveaway – Xyron 900 Creative Station
First, let me congratulate Edwina, who won our most recent giveaway and will be receiving a copy of the amazing and inspirational book, Good Mail Day: A Primer for Making Eye-Popping Postal Art. We’re sure you will love flipping through the pa...
Christmas Advent calendar clothespin wreath
We hope you had a great Thanksgiving! Now that we are munching on the leftovers from our family meals, we are starting to think more about Christmas. I told you last week that I finally finished my Advent calendar house! Today, we would like to...
Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Jo and I are really looking forward to spending the day with our families and filling our tummies with lots of wonderful food. As we truly give thanks for all the blessings in our lives, we hope you are also enjoying y...
Cupcake Collars for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa
We couldn’t let the winter holidays come and go without celebrating them with a special batch of our famous Cupcake Collars. And not only do we have new designs, we have a brand new home for them! I’m so excited to announce the launch of...
Recipe for Sloppy Sweet Potato Pie
I’ll be serving my family a brand new dish at Thanksgiving dinner in a few days, and I’m so excited. Sweet potatoes (a.k.a. yams) topped with marshmallows is a pretty classic dish, and certainly a standby with my family, so it’s go...
Black Friday deals all week on Amazon
Hey, readers! I am an avid Black Friday and all-around bargain shopper so I didn’t want to not let you guys know about Amazon’s week of Black Friday shopping that starts on Monday. They are going to have deals all week long that will ...
Feature Friday – Printable holiday checklist
I’ll be hosting Thanksgiving for my extended family this year, so I’ve got a lot of planning to do. And then there’s Christmas shopping that I haven’t even started yet, and all sorts of things I need to do during December. U...
Santa’s mailbox
I can always tell when Christmas is approaching at my house. No, not because of a Christmas tree or stockings or eggnog or other normal signs of the season. It’s because of glitter! When I find that everything I seem to own is covered in gli...
Make a carved apple turkey for Thanksgiving
Jo didn’t believe me when I told her I could make a turkey out of an apple, but she was pleasantly surprised with the results. With a little bit of clever and simple fruit carving, you can, too! The art of fruit carving is centuries old, and ...
“Good Mail Day” interview and giveaway!
Usually, when I go to my mailbox I am greeted by 15 pieces of mail asking me to apply for a credit card, 8 bills and anywhere from 1 to 38 catalogs depending on the time of the year. I could go days without getting my mail and be perfectly happy in...
Make a bread cornucopia for Thanksgiving
The cornucopia (or “horn o’ plenty”) is one of the most iconic images that comes to mind for Thanksgiving (second only to the turkey, I think). It is a symbol of abundance and food, which makes it perfect for a gut-stuffing holiday...
