Bundle of Large Tags

Hey guys. Today is the last post of 2017 and what a wild ride this year has been!

I mentioned in Tuesday's blog that I had made quite a few Christmas gift tags this year so I wanted to share the rest of them with you today. I have quite a few of them so I hope you like them.

I forgot to mention in Tuesday's post but each tag is backed with a piece of coordinating, solid colored cardstock (because the markers I used for coloring bled through to the back of the tag) and stamped with 'To' and 'From'. Also, a big plus is that I was able to use up a couple of spools of bakers twine that I have had in my stash for quite a while, though you probably wouldn't be able to tell if you looked at all that I have left.

Final question guys- What are you doing for New Years?

-I will most likely do the same thing that I did last year, which is to stay home and watch a movie and then watch the ball drop somewhere on TV. Nothing too exciting here I'm afraid. Hopefully, you all have better plans than I do. 

Bundle of Small Tags

Good morning my friends, I hope that you had a very Merry Christmas. I had a pretty low key Christmas this year since both my mom and I have been sick and we have not had much time to buy gifts and decorate the tree. We ultimately decided to postpone Christmas until we are feeling better and then we can do something extra special.

Early on in the month I made quite a few gift tags so that I could use them on my gifts that I was giving this month. I made quite a few so I am going to split them up and show you some today and the rest on Friday.

For today I am going to start off small, with the smaller sized tags. I used a lot of different stamps and inks, and I hand colored quite a few of them. Some I even jazzed up with a little bit of glitter.

Let me know which tag is your favorite of this set.

What is your best holiday memory?

-When I was young I used to love when Santa (aka my parents) would do a treasure hunt on Christmas morning. Often times it was done because the present was to big to wrap, but to me it was an added adventure. I would unwrap one of my gifts and all the box would contain was a piece of paper with either directions or a riddle that lead to another place in the house. There I would find another note and then another until finally waiting at the end (usually in the basement) would be an awesome present. Like the year that I got the McDonald's drive up window or the year I got the Fisher-Price Car to drive around in. It is funny, but now that I am older, the hunt is what I remember more than the gifts waiting at the end.  

Hot Cocoa Mugs

I saw a tutorial for these cute mugs made of cardstock on Pinterest and YouTube and thought that it would be a fun craft idea to make for my family this year for Christmas. For the past several years we have decided not to exchange gifts because of the overall expense and our growing family (there are 10 children under the age of 6.) Instead we do activities together, like building a gingerbread house and decorating Christmas cookies and voting on who had the best ones. I always seem to loose, even though I have a document (aka a DEGREE in baking) that state that I know what I'm doing. LOL.

Sometimes though, it is fun to bring a little something that none of them expected. Since these fun mugs didn't cost me much to make, they fit the bill perfectly.

My plan WAS to fill each mug with either a packet of hot chocolate or a K-Cup of coffee and some various candies. But, unfortunately I was sick with a fever last weekend when my family got together for Christmas and I was unable to attend.

Does your family have any Christmas traditions?

-When I was a kid we would always open our presents at home Christmas morning but then we would have to hurry up and pack everything into the car to head off to my grandparent's houses. Back then it used to make me upset because I would get all these cool toys but I couldn't play with them until we got back, which was sometimes several days later. Now, looking back, I miss those days. Now a days Christmas morning is still the same, unwrapping presents with my mom and dad. But, usually by the afternoon we are going stir-crazy so we head out and go see a movie at the theater with my aunt and sometimes with my cousin, his wife and kids. I am sure that there are more traditions but I can't think of them right now. My head is still foggy from being sick with the flu.

Homemade Bows

Today's project came about both out of a necessity and as a way to use up some of my GIANT stash of Christmas cardstock.

I hate to buy store bought bows for packages because I hate having to try and figure out a way to store them without crushing them. The solution? Make my own and I can control the amount that I have on hand. Plus, adding the homemade touch to the top of a gift makes it that much more special.

This project only uses some cardstock and hot glue so they are easy and fast to assemble and the best part is that you can make them to match any wrapping paper! My kind of project!

Today's question is a bit silly but: 

When it comes to opening Christmas presents, do you have a system of choosing what to open first? 

-I definiltely do! I always open the gift bags first, because I always think that they will be the boring stuff like clothes and underwear. Then I open any wrapped gift box from the smallest to the largest so that I can hopefully save the best and biggest for last. It has only backfired a few times when the largest box ended up being a new coat. Talk about a disappointment!

Pop-Up Gift Card Holders

There are only 13 more days until Christmas, have you finished your shopping? I haven't even started yet! I am having a really hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year and decided what and who to by for. #procrastination #itgetshardereveryyear  (trying my hand at hashtags, what do you think?)

Each year it seems like the number of people that I simply buy a gift card for increases so I thought that making some gift card holders that you can just slip the card into would be great.
I really like that from the outside you can't tell much about this little package, but once you remove the belly band the gift card stands up and presents itself to the recipient. I placed one of my business cards into the slot so that you could see how the gift card fits in.

I am definitely going to be making more of these in different themes (i.e. birthday, anniversary, thank you, etc) so that I always have some on hand when an occasion calls for a gift card.

Do you prefer your Christmas decor and colors to be traditional (red and green) or more whimsical (blues and pinks)?

- I definitely like traditional Christmas colors the most. I have made a few things for the holidays in the past that have been more on the whimsical side but I always flock to and return to the traditional red and green of Christmas. 

Loopy Tree

♫Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree how would you like a new loopy brother♫

Good morning guys and happy Friday. As you can probably tell from the title and my little song, today's project is a little table top Christmas tree made from styrofoam and cardstock. I started by cutting a bunch of cardstock scraps into strips and hot gluing the two ends together to form a loop. Here is what they looked like at the beginning:

After I made a huge pile of loops (more than enough for at least two trees), I began hot gluing them around a styrofoam cone that I got at the Dollar Tree. I started gluing from the bottom and with each new row I changed the color of the cardstock loop and over-lapped them slightly with the row below. To finish off the tree I decided to add a loopy bow by adhering the loops in a stacked pattern until I got the desired look. I added the tree onto a glass candlestick holder that I also bought at Dollar Tree.

Today's question: What is your favorite and/or least favorite Christmas Carol?

- My favorite Carol is probably 'Mary Did You Know'

- My least favorite is definitely 'Carol of the Bells'

Santa's Belt Card

20 Days until Christmas

I decided to only make one Christmas card this season because I still have A LOT of leftovers from last year, because I forgot to send them out to ANYONE. Does anyone else suffer from this? I have plenty of cards at my disposal to send for a multitude of occasions but I only seem to remember that AFTER the occasion or holiday has PAST. Oh well, one day I will get it right and I will surprise everyone with a card that is on time.

I have seen a ton of Santa's belt themed projects all around this season so, I figured that it was only fitting that I try my hand at making the jolly fat man into a card. I think it turned out really cute and it would be relatively easy to replicate. The only thing that I might change is the belt buckle. I am not a big fan of the gold mirror-like cardstock that I used because it shows EVERY fingerprint, smudge or slight imperfection, no matter how careful you are (maybe it is just me being messy LOL)!

Today's Christmas question: What is your favorite and/or least favorite Christmas movies?

-My favorite is probably the remake of Miracle on 34th Street that came out in 1994.  It is a must watch each Christmas for me and it always leaves me smiling and feeling like the magic of the season has finally sparked inside of me. 

-My least favorite is probably the favorite for some of you and that is Elf. I have seen it twice and both times it was like nails on a chalkboard to me. I am not a Will Farrell fan anyway so watching it is like torture to me. 

Paper Tree Ornaments

The countdown is on and it is T minus 24 days until CHRISTMAS!! Are you feeling the Christmas spirit yet? No? Me neither. So I have a question for you. When does YOUR Christmas season begin? I have told my family for many years now, that I absolutely refuse to admit that Christmas has begun until December first, because otherwise I get overloaded. Now, I love Christmas movies, music, food, etc. But, having a steady dose of it for 3 solid months gets a bit much. Around here most stores start putting up their Christmas displays around Halloween if not earlier and at about that same time there are several TV channels (Hallmark I'm looking at you) that become completely oversaturated with non-stop Christmas movies. By limiting myself to only one month to celebrate, I tend to 'schedule' out what is most important for me to do that season and it helps me to appreciate each Christmasy thing that I do do, if that makes sense.

Now that my mini rant is done, let's talk Christmas crafts. I decided that I would make a couple of new ornaments for my tree this year. I haven't made any for several years now and I would like to be able to put something new up ever couple of years.

The first ornament that I want to share is a snowflake ball. I bought a small styrofoam circle and then punched out several snowflakes (you could use a flower punch as well for a little bit different look that I might have to try later). Then I used straight pins to adhere the center of the snowflake to the styrofoam. To cover the head of the straight pins I added a bright red, sticky-backed pearl to the center of each snowflake.

It was difficult to get a good picture of the ornament because shadows kept getting in the way (and I am to lazy to put my tree up right now in order to get a good hanging photo) but I hope that you can get an idea of how they look. Also, in hindsight, I should have used a dab of hot glue or some other strong glue to adhere the pearls because they are now popping off of the snowflakes. You live and you learn.

The other ornament that I made came straight from the Youtube channel Maymay made it. She did a tutorial on the beautiful angels and I just HAD to make a couple. I love them!! I also love that you can get completely different looks, depending on what punches you use for your angels wings and the bottom of her dress. 

(By the way, the second photo is actually the BACK of the ornament.)

I decided this year to end each post with a Christmas themed question, so for today its going to be:

What is your favorite Christmas Ornament that you own and why is it your favorite?

- Mine is actually a cupcake ornament that I made a few years back for several members of my family as well as myself and my mom. If you are interested I could probably be persuaded to show it to you. 

6 x 6 Challenge- Day 2

So the countdown begins, there are now officially only 12 days left until Christmas and I have not bought a single gift. For someone else I mean, I have bought pleanty for myself. Why is it that when you walk into the store around Christmas time to buy the "perfect gift" for someone you suddenly experience a gigantic brain fart and can't think of a single thing that the person would like. But, you suddenly remember about 20 things that you want that you forgot to put on your Christmas list. The only solution, simply buy it yourself. So after several hours of shopping at a store with the intent of getting all of your Christmas shopping done you suddenly realize the only person receiving gifts from you is… yourself. Am I the only one this happens to? 

Well before I have a massive panic attack about my lack of gifts for other people let's get on with the card. You'll be happy to know that I stuck quite close to the sketch this week (pats myself on the back for a job well done) and it only took me 2 hours of which most of it was drying time. 

Here is the sketch (once again from operation write home, if you go to their website you can download a PDF of all 300 sketches): 

And the finished cards:

This weeks card went a lot faster than last weeks because I gave myself permission to relax. As I stated above the longest part of this card was actually drying time. I used a stamp from a Hampton Arts Christmas stamp set, for the snow globe and colored it in using my Bic Mark-it markers. For the snow I used the clear Wink of Stella glitter marker. I coated the whole "dome" with glossy accents to give it a glass like look. It turned out much better than I anticipated. 

6 x 6 Challenge- Day 1

So, anyone who knows me knows that I am completely OBSESSED with YouTube! When I'm not crafting or spending time with family I can usually be found browsing YouTube for new videos on crafting, food or other miscellaneous nonsense.

Which brings me to my post for today, I am starting a new series. This idea is not my own and you guessed it I found it on YouTube. I recently came across a woman who has made it her mission to use every piece of a 6 x 6 paper pad before she can move on to a new one. I fell in love with this idea, not only will it help me to make a lot of cards but I would also deplete my stash of 6 x 6 paper (let's face it, I have a paper hoarding problem). 

She simply sits down with one 6 x 6 paper pad and a stack of card sketches she found online, sets the camera to record and begins. So, after watching several of her 6 x 6 paper pad videos, I naturally though how hard can it be. 

I picked a paper pad (Gingerbread by CraftSmith) spent 2 hours searching the Internet for the "perfect" sketch and then I finally set to work. 4 hours later the result...looks nothing like the sketch but I'm still really happy with it and in the end I think that is what truly matters. 

Here is the sketch I attempted to use: 

And now for the actual results:

Christmas Village

So it is officially December 1, this means the start of the Christmas holiday. Most people tend to believe that the true start of the holiday season is 6pm on Thanksgiving day (when the Black Friday sales start) but not me, I absolutely refuse to acknowledge the Christmas season until it is officially December 1. Any earlier than that and I'm about to rip my hair out by the 15th and I'm a COMPLETE Scrooge. By remaining in denial until the first it means that I don't actually think about Christmas until around midway through the month and by that point I'm scrambling like a mad woman to get everything done within a week. But, this year I decided to break from tradition and begin Christmas early... Well actually I was doing some cleaning in my craft room and came across a paper pad that I bought at the end of last Christmas season (when everything is marked down like 80% off). 

The paper pad was the DCWV Project Stack Chrismas Village (shown below) and I was excited to start assembling. 

So, I sat down with my scissor, hot glue gun and a mountain of glue stick and began assembling. The paper pad made 16 buildings as well as some chipboard trees and reindeer, it actually took me about 4 days to complete. 

First, I have to apologize for the blurriness of the photos, I decided to lay out my village an a table we have at the base of the stairs and it doesn't receive much light. Second, I am completely in love with the way it turned out. I bought some fake 'snow' (a piece of felt covered in glitter) that I laid down first and the I placed each building on top of a battery powered tea light. It is truly magical when all lit up. 

Letter to Santa

It's here! The final day of Christmas in July. I'm sad but at the same time I am so glad to finally be able to embrace SUMMER. Enough of the fake cold weather and listening to Christmas music to get me in the mood to craft. So without further ado, let's dive into this layout.

As a kid I believed in Santa! It was a big reason why the season was alway so joyous and magical. One of my fondest memories of Christmas is the year that I swore I saw Rudolph flying through the sky pulling Santa's sleigh, and I couldn't wait to tell everyone I knew. Now as an adult a lot of the mystery and magic of Christmas has faded away and I realize what I saw that night was probably an airplane, but every time I think about it a large smile still appears on my face and I still get the feeling of wonder and happiness. When I sit down each year to make a wish list of what I want for Christmas I remember back to those days when making a list for Santa took an entire month with new things getting added every day. I wish that I had kept all of those letters to Santa that I wrote a child so that I could look back on them today. That was my inspiration for this layout. 

I was going through some of my Christmas themed paper when I came across this beautiful sheet of cardstock from DCWV stack and it spoke to me. Although the layout is simplistic I think it says a lot. I added a spot for a 4 x 6 photo since that is what scrapbooking is all about, showing off your photos. But, I think the true star of the page is the Santa envelope in the top right corner. It is a great place to tuck a letter to Santa so that it can be kept next to the picture forever. I left a space above the photo mat for journaling so that none of the important details would be forgotten.

The 'Joy' of Dies

For the final Christmas in July card I decided to keep it simple once again and use a die that I recently got at Tuesday Morning.

The die that I used is Holiday Greetings by Spellbinders. It's one solid die that cuts a 4 x 5.25 inch panel that fits perfectly on to an A2 size card. I decided to keep it incredibly simple and just use the die on a piece of white cardstock and then glue the die cut piece onto a colored picece of cardstock (the same size) before adding the entire panel to a 4.25 x 5.5 inch card base. 

I hope that you have all enjoyed my Christmas in July series and I will see you on Thursday with the final layout of the 'not quite' Christmas season.

Trip to Santa's

When I think back on Christmas as a child, the one thing that stands out the most is probably my parents taking me every year to Bass Pro to sit on Santa's lap. It was perfect for me because I got to tell a jolly fat man in a red suit everything I wanted for Christmas and then leave with a sugary sweet candy cane that made a mess all over the car. My parents loved it because it made for a great photo. Now as I've gotten older and the presents and candy canes seem less important the photos from back then have become a treasured keepsake.

For today's layout I decided to go with something pretty, simple and classic that would make the photo the star of the show. I saw a similar layout on Pinterest I knew I just had to make it. I decided to make two different styles of this layout depending on whether the photo was taken portrait or landscape. I also made it a double photo mat so that either a 4 x 6 or a 5 x 7 photo would fit.