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:

BONUS Birthday

Hey guys, I thought I would give you a special treat, it is Christmas time after all. My family is blessed to have at least 4 birthdays that fall in December. One of which is my beautiful aunt Marilyn, whose birthday is TODAY!!

In my opinion, it is always harder for a December birthday because everyone's mind is already on Christmas. Not only do you have the difficult task of figuring out what to get them for their birthday within just few short days/weeks you have to come up with something completely different to get them for Christmas, it can be a total headache. Not to mention if you're the one who's birthday actually resides in December, you receive a lot of Christmassy birthday gifts. 

So how did I battle this winter time dilemma, why by pretending it was spring/summer of course. Now some of you are probably wondering what is wrong with me, but hear me out. My aunt hates winter. She hates the cold weather, the over crowded stores oh and did I mention the cold weather. Every year she can't wait for winter to go away and for spring to appear. The sights, the smells and the warmer weather. So why not try to bring a little of her favorite season into her least favorite season for her birthday. 

And what is more spring/summertime than flowers? 

Happy Birthday Aunt Marilyn! 

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.