Coffee Loving Papercrafters

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, but today, I’m talking about Christmas Eve.  I’m sure most of us have a fond Christmas Eve memory or tradition, right?  Today, I’m sharing a couple fond memories, inspired by this card that features Echo Park Paper and stamps.  As usual, I’ve also got some Coffee Buzz news, talking about a simple hack that will change the way you drink your coffee!

I adore this collection from Echo Park Paper, “A Perfect Christmas” and have made several cards recently using these lovely papers.  While browsing some of the ephemera from this collection, I came across this framed sentiment which quotes a line from the infamous poem, “Twas The Night Before Christmas”.  As children, the entire family made the trek every year to our Grandparents house.  Two traditions that I fondly remembered were gathering around one of the adults who would regale us with the story of sugar plums and eight tiny reindeer.  Of course we were all fidgety, waiting on the story to end because when it did, we were all allowed to open one present, just one, on Christmas Eve.  The adults would all be sipping on Egg Nog, coffee or spiced cider as the wrapping paper flew, laughing at all the merriment.

We still carry on that tradition with my own parents and my son.  It’s always a special time, with all the cousins, and lots of food and laughter.  I make sure to get the coffee brewing too!

For my card details, I sanded the edges of the framed quote and popped it up on foam squares.  I also paper pieced a pair of coffee cups from the EPP stamp set, “But First Coffee“, masking the cups to do a little gray shading with my Tombow dual brush marker.  I’ve seen a lot of cute sweater cozies for coffee cups so I made faux buttons for my paper pieced cozy, by using my hole punch and Nuvo Morning Dew Crystal Drops for shine.  The ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon and adhesives are by Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L.

You’ll find links to all the products I used on my personal blog post at Waving My Wand.

Photo Credit: DIMA SOBKO/SHUTTERSTOCK

In researching today’s Coffee Buzz news, I came across a Reader’s Digest article that piqued my interest.  There’s one simple ingredient that you can add to your coffee that can transform it from harsh and acerbic to smooth and creamy.  That ingredient?  Salt.  Just a pinch.  In fact, Cooking Light magazine recommends pouring about 1/8 teaspoon of salt into the ground coffee beans before you place them in your coffee maker.  For a single cup though, try adding just a pinch and taste how the salt will neutralize or cancel out the bitterness.  I can’t wait to give this a try!  You can read the full article, here.

Thanks for popping in today.  Stop by my blog for the product links for today’s project.  Have a great Monday!