It's Candy Cane Season!

It took a long time for peppermint to grow on me. My Memaw and Papaw kept a dish of starlight mints on their coffee table during Christmas. My sister and I would see it and think, CANDY! After it melted a few minutes in our mouths, we would spit it out like it was on fire. Too spicy! It's a childhood term. I get the biggest kick out of kids and their simple observations of the world. Peppermint, spearmint, peppers, cinnamon, etc. goes in the category of "spicy". My son, Jake, actually liked peppermint when he was little. He would crunch on a mini candy cane, eyes watering, swallow and then huff in your face and ask how his breath smelled! I would always say, "WOW, it smells just like Christmas!"

These were my favorite peppermint sticks.



My Grandma Judy would have these in a Santa mug on the living room table for the grand kids. I would dip them in my hot cocoa. They were crumbly and easy to chew. I feel sure that's why I had so many cavities! I bet there is a picture of us somewhere pretending like we are smoking cigars...

What kid can resist these? I remember tearing open the ends and taking a lick of each to find out what flavor they were.



In honor of "candy, candy canes, candy corn and syrup"...my first Christmas card of the season!

[caption id="attachment_12242" align="aligncenter" width="3456"] JFF Rubber Stamps Candy Canes, Stamptangle Christmas Trees images and The Best Things in Life sentiment stamp. Club Scrap® card stock.[/caption]

I didn't stop there! I found a cute wreath on Pinterest using real candy canes.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/292171094560488607/

Of course I had to make one out of paper!



I stamped the candy canes image numerous times, colored with Spectrum Noir alcohol ink markers and trimmed with detail scissors. To create the heart shapes, I did some mirror image stamping on a piece of smooth rubber and pressed the paper evenly over the top. It worked like a charm!



I glued the tips of the candy canes together and dipped each heart in melted UTEE using my poor neglected Melting Pot. It gave the pieces a glassy hard candy look, but dang that process is messy! I stamped the large stamptangle star with some gold glitter embossing powder, heat set and trimmed with detail scissors and hot glued all the pieces together. Now, I need to get motivated to decorate for Christmas!



There's a new monthly challenge at Just For Fun Rubber Stamps and the theme is ANY HOLIDAY!



Stamp a card, tag, ATC, mixed media project, etc. celebrating your favorite holiday for a chance to shop at jffstamps.com.  You don't have to use a JFF stamp, but if you DO you will receive a 2nd entry into the drawing doubling your chance to win!

Make something festive and link up! I'll look for you in our gallery!



CHALLENGES ENTERED:

Pile it On Challenge #137 ~Non Traditional Christmas Colors

Hiding in My Craft Room #329 Christmas Colors

Scrap and Craft Inspiration #10 Anything Christmas

Club Scrap 12-2017 Card Sketch Challenge