Christmas Tree dedicated to Friendship and Good Moments!

Hola...

Those who have enjoyed some wine with me... know we've been collecting corks for a while. And what do we do with them? Well, we usually write the names of the people who drank of that bottle, date, place, info about the wine... and more... anything that the cork can handle.

We have lots and lots of corks... and we continue doing it because sometimes we just grab any of them and read and remember those moments with our loved ones, friends and wine lovers... it's so cool...

So this year I decided to decorate my Christmas tree as a tribute to those moments. Because moments with wine include conversations, laugh, love, memories of specific situations... people... friendship...

My Xmas tree this year talks. Each one of its ornaments represent a moment in time, a link with somebody, just LIFE itself.

So, first I used these eye screws for each of the 200 corks I decided to use (it's not even a 20% of the corks we have, believe me!!!).

Once they had the screws, we put little ribbon bows... My mom helped me with this... :) Simple, but can take some time you know... and it's just a way to get seated and talk while doing something with her... hehehehe...

At first I wanted to hang the corks just by themselves but realized they were not noticed in the tree, so I took advantage of all the scrap paper I have saved for future use and punched scalloped circles of all patterned papers available around...

This would be like different colorful backgrounds for each of the corks.

I combined with some grapes we have at our wine room... "my husband let me use them just for this... actually his idea!).

But then, what would I place on top of the tree? A big cork? Why not?

My husband said he had the perfect shape to cover and simulate a giant cork: his Chocolate NesQuick can!!!

Covered with this cork craft sheet you can buy in any craft store.

Inked one of the ends to simulate the side in contact with wine from the bottle.

And... used a real cork screw spiral combined with a towel paper cardboard cylinder covered with black cardstock to simulate a handle...

What do you think? I think it really creates the illusion. Proportionally is probably not correct, but you can identify what it is... don't you think?

So, this year's Xmas tree is to the friendship, and the great moments wine has promoted over the years... Your name might be in my tree...

Cheers! And Merry Christmas!

Chateau St. Jean... and Irish cheese!

Hello everybody... How's December going?

Today I wanted to share a bit more from my visit to California a couple of months ago. One of the wineries I visited was the Chateau St. Jean in Sonoma.

It was founded in 1973 and is recognized as leader in "Vineyard Designated" wines in the region.

The place is spectacular!

Lots of beautiful gardens and terraces are all around.

They have samples of several kinds of grapes for you to compare.

Anywhere around is a nice spot to enjoy a glass of wine, or simply admire nature. They even have picnic area.

The chateau was built in 1920 as a Summer home for the Goff family. It's being kept as original and it is essential part of the enchantment of this place.

In Summer 2000 the new visitors center and gardens were opened to public. Thank God, because it's beautiful... and I had the opportunity to be there... and of course tasted wine....

We brought some bottles home. A variety of different grapes, actually. Recently we enjoyed two of them...

A 2008 Pinot Noir with the expected fruitiness of this grape, but kind of unexpected strength for me... It was really easy to drink and enjoy by itself, but I could possibly drank it also with fish or even a simple meat without too much spices or seasonings...

Then we opened a Merlot... exquisite! So fruity and delicious. You could tell it's a merlot because of its expected characteristics, but again, surprisingly versatile to drink by itself or with dinner.

By the way, we matched these wines with some smoked salmon, multigrain crackers and an irish cheese...

And I want to stop and talk about this cheese. I just love it! It's called Dubliner and we bought it at Costco. It's an Irish cheese.

It's a sweet mature cheese (to be called mature it's because it has been aged more than a year). I first discovered this cheese at a neighbor's gathering and I loved it.

And I must say I've had it with eggs at breakfast, with sandwiches, by itself, with crackers, and of course with wine... and the cheese is great anyways.

With wine, it's a cheese that kind of absorbs the attributes of the wine and you can savor or taste the wine through the cheese... Try a little piece of this cheese and when in mouth, drink wine and mix all together while tasting it... mmmmmm... you'll love it.

I read the cheese is manufactured by Carbery and it is named after the city of Dublin. It combines mature cheddar, Swiss cheese and Parmesan. The recipe was developed by a John Lucey. So... Cheers John Lucey! I love your cheese!

If you have read all this and you felt interested, thank you for reading... and thanks for your comments.. If you try any wine from Chateau St. Jean or try this cheese in the future, please let me know about your experience.

More information about the winery here: Chateau St. Jean.

And thanks again.. Have a wonderful day!

More of the Disco Party!

Hey there!

As promised, let me share the other Disco Party invitation I made for my niece's Sweet 16. As I mentioned in my previous post, there were two kind of invitations... and this one was made for the younger guests...

So... I took a 9"x9" black cardstock as base.

Then I scored it at 3" and 6", turn paper to either side once and scored at 2 15/16", 3", 6 3/16" and 6 1/4".

I cut the corners out. I used scissors because I tend to have more precision on where to finish the cut with this tool... If you tend to dominate more the paper trimmer, you can do, just making sure you don't cut anything more than required, since those corners will be later the outer edges of the card and if you cut a little more, it will be noticed.

The top and bottom flap will be the ones with double score because they will cover the sides. I used the smallest side as the bottom. I marked down the middle of the bottom flap and added a brad I will use later as the closing.... you'll see.

With the cardstock open, I attached 2 3/4" squares of the party colors, and the information in the center.

On the outer side, I glued the message as I wanted it to be displayed... you'll see.

This is how the finished card looks and how the guests received it:

When first flap is open up, you read... "My Sweet"...

The second flap down reads "Disco"...

Open to the left for "Party"...

And when opened completely you'll see the invitation message...

Different colors combined in different ways to make them unique...

I loved this idea, since is a very fun card/invitation, very unique, cool and handy (just 3")...

Did you like it too? Let me know with your comment. Thanks.

(cardstock: Reflections, Bazzill; brads: Fun Expressions; Cricut Cartridges: Opposites Attract, Plantin Schoolbook; others: circle punch, Scotch glue, printer, paper trimmer, scissors...)

My Sweet Disco Party Invitation!

Yes... it's a Disco Party! Today a party will be held to celebrate my niece's 16th. birthday... and it is a Disco Fever event! hahahahaha...

I made the invitations... She wanted something handmade and to reflect the colorful lights and disco dancing floor characteristics...

So, first of all... I cut, and cut, and cut....

I used "Graphically Speaking" Cricut cartridge to use the word "sweet"... and I cut, and cut and cut...

I cut the words "Party" and "my" using "Opposites Attract" cricut cartridge.

And I cut, and cut, and cut...

I stamped this doll from TAC stamps and I cut, and cut, and cut...

I also printed mirror balls in white cardstock, and circle punched with my Making Memories punch...

Glittered them with Sugar Coating (from Doodlebug Designs)... and set apart...

Other letters and words were cut with "Plantin Schoolbook" cricut cartridge... and cut, and cut, and cut.... and set apart...

This practically took me months... since you know I work full time somewhere else... and scrapbooking is a hobby, so I dedicated some time whenever I could... in the morning, at night, weekends... etc....

Then for the dancing floor, I had this idea that was then developed according to my niece's requests... From several alternatives we ended up with one that included pieces of different colors for the floor...

The thing is... I don't have any systems to cut svgs... so if this was an idea that I literally made drawing, then I would need to cut piece by piece... :)

I love paper piecing projects... but we are talking about cutting with scissors until your hands bleed.... (jus kidding!)...

I scanned the drawing and added numbers to identify the pieces and their positions... I printed in all the colors and cut all pieces one by one. Then using a black cardstock base with the shape I assembled them with different colors according to the effect I wanted to create...

I made 55 of these beauties... :O...

Each one of them is different since the combination of positions of the colors will be distributed to use all materials... Unique pieces! I love it!

Once the floors were set (this took me most of the time)... then I printed the message to be positioned in the back of the invitation.

The idea was to combine different colors of the message, with the different colors of base for the front of the invitation... so again, each invitation is unique... and carefully hand made.

Mission accomplished... It was such a relieve when I finished all the invitations on time to be distributed to the guests...

So today is the day and I will be partying...

But this wasn't all.... My niece wanted a different invitation for her pals... Hmmm... a cooler one... Yeah! I made another one inspired on a promotional event invitation I'd seen locally... So next time I'll show you that one... For now... let's continue dancing and celebrating life...

:)