Yesterday I held my first annual Customer Appreciation Day – and I think everyone enjoyed the pampering and projects.

First the food…..

Larry helped me with the food. Here he is putting one of  the appetizers together. He’s a sweetheart – what can I say.

He was on call for the weekend so he couldn’t join us, but I made a few extra so he could enjoy the goodies too! LOL

We played games, stamped, laughed, and enjoyed the time together! Here is a photo of my snack table all set up and ready.

These strawberry brownie kabobs were a big hit (with my daughter Kaitlin)

And here are the Cheesy Artichokes Crostinis….

They seemed to be a hit – so here is the recipe in case you’d like to make some for your own New Years Eve party.

CHEESY ARTICHOKE CROSTINI

1 pkg. (3 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1 tsp. spicy brown mustard

1/8 tsp. pepper

¼ c. red bell pepper, chopped fine

¼ c. Cheddar cheese, shredded

1 T. onion, chopped finely

1 jar (6 oz.) marinated artichoke hearts, drained, chopped

1 can (8 oz.) Crescent Recipe Creations® seamless dough sheet

2 T. unseasoned dry bread crumbs

2 tsp. olive oil

16 ripe olive slices

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix cream cheese, mustard and pepper. Stir in bell pepper, cheese, onion and artichokes until well blended.

Remove dough from can. Do Not unroll. Using a serrated knife, cut dough into 16 slices. Place slices cut side down on cookie sheet; flatten slightly. Use thumb to make slight indention in center of each slice. Place 1 heaping teaspoon of mixture into indention of each dough slice.

In a small bowl, mix bread crumbs and olive oil. Sprinkle over filling; top with olive slice.

Bake for 11 – 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

And of course the Crab & Cream Cheese Snacks – I’m going to have to make these again for my family this week. All of these goodies were so easy to make!

Now the projects….

I love how the way my All is Calm wreath turned out. I wanted a winter themed wreath to use through the end of January so I used the snowflakes from the Snowflake Card Thinlit Die (135855) and Silver Glimmer Paper (135314) for the decorations in the center of my rosettes .

How’d I do it? Well I’ve used the gorgeous All is Calm Designer Series Paper (135823) and the Designer Rosette Bigz XL Die (125594) to create the 6″, 4″, and 2″, rosettes that make up this wreath. The die makes this quick and easy and the new Fast Fuse adhesive (129026) is great for putting them together.

And for the center, my thank you – I’ve used the Letterpress Winter stamp set (135143) that is part of the Year End Clearance going on right now. Stamped in Pear Pizzazz, Soft Sky and Lost Lagoon to coordinate with the wreath.

Everyone received this cute little goodie for attending – after all who can’t use a little chocolate, right?

I really love the Project Life Holiday Cheer stamp set (135188). I originally purchased this for my memory keeping, but it is such a great size that I find I’m using it a ton in my stamping projects! The set it great for all kinds of projects!!

And since I’ve mentioned project life I wanted to share this fun and quick baby gift I made recently.

Yes, it’s a project life album for baby’s first year.  (We’ve got several family and friends who have welcomed bundles of joy into their lives the past week!).  I’ve used the Little Moments Project Life Card Collection (135299) and created pages for the first year.  I’ve also filled it with some photos to start off the new parents off on the right foot – All they have to do is slip in the photos and jot down their memories! Sooooo easy!!!

And for the new mom – I’ve made this great little Clear Mount Case (119105) that includes some Project Life Grid Cards (136528) and Journaling Pen (135304), along with some post it notes. When she is on the go, she can document those memories as she snaps photos on her phone.

Then all she has to do is  just slide them right into the book when she is ready – Quick and Easy! I’ve used the Project Life Remember This stamp set (135786) to decorate it and hidden some of the great little sayings under the cards.

If you’ve got photos in boxes or on your phone that you’d like to organize why not contact me and I can show you how – Get together with family and friends and you can host a party, earn free merchandise and have fun together! And Hostesses will receive one of these special cases! Contact me today to choose a date that works for you.

Well this post is rather long – so I’ll save the rest of our projects for tomorrow. Stop back by then to see what we stamped during the Customer Appreciation Day.

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