Holiday Festivities!

Merry Christmas, friends! This week has started off pretty good... the kids are out of school, all the stationery and holiday card orders have been placed, signed, sealed and delivered! I always try to keep the week before Christmas for myself. I love to bake and fix delicious cookie boxes for friends, neighbors and family. I try to stop and enjoy the week before Christmas with my kiddos, try to absorb their excitement and anticipation!

Last week, we had Mac's Christmas program at school. He got to play the bongo during one of the songs and he was so into it! He sang his little heart out!

Anna also had her Angel Program at school. She got to sign a solo part and she was very proud! She looked like an absolute angel, despite the fact that she had a stomach virus. It lasted a long 6 days!

I'll be back with our holiday card for 2011! Enjoy the night!

Home for the Holidays

It's unusual that I post twice in one day, but Anna is home sick with strep throat. So, in between loads of laundry, making chicken noodle soup and fetching juice, popsicles and Motrin, I have been paper crafting! Yay! I even go a couple layouts done (which I will post tomorrow).

Here is a card I did for the Jingle Belles this week: Their prompt was "home for the holidays." I used the 2010 October Afternoon holiday paper and sticker and just so happen to have this scalloped velvet ribbon leftover from one of my Studio Calico kits- it matches perfectly! The text paper is Jenni Bowlin- sitting on my desk from a layout I did earlier today. :)

I played along with Card Patterns this week too. This is their sketch:

So, a good sketch, and darn good holiday prompt, and voile! A fun holiday card is born.

Enjoy your evening!

Warm Wishes!

This week, the Jingle Belles have their challenge up and it's a prompt: "Baby It's Cold Outside!" A good time to use felt, snowflakes, mittens and scarves, and anything else that might cozy up a holiday card! It has been snowing here and the temperature is dropping... a perfect time to make some mittens!

This is probably my favorite holiday card I have ever made. I love the stitching and the woolly mittens, the bright snowflake paper (by Crape Paper) and the perfect sentiment (by Papertrey Ink). A close up of those finely crafted mittens:

Now, this is definitely not a card I would mass produce. While I enjoyed making it, it was a bit time consuming. Thanks, Jingle Belles, for the nudge to create a fun card with felt- which I LOVE!

Holiday Hoot!

I have a bloggy friend who suggested I make a Christmas owl. I said, "Brilliant!" and then got to work and this is what I came up with...Isn't he adorable? How cute would this be on a green long sleeve t-shirt? This Holiday Hoot owl will be available in my Etsy shop soon!
The holidays are quickly approaching... are you ready?

Tissue Paper + Chipboard

Greetings! I thought I would share with you how to cover chipboard with tissue paper. I have made several mini albums covered in tissue paper. It's easy, cheap and has a really interesting look. And, if you are like me, you always have tissue paper, especially crumpled, wrinkled, tissue paper!

I wanted to make an album to put all of my years past Christmas cards in. It's fun to look back and see how the kids have changed. So, here's how ya' do it:

Choose a chipboard album. This can be any size or you can use shapes. Then, choose your tissue paper. Mine was leftover from a gift I had received for Christmas (notice the wrinkles?).
Then, crumple your tissue into a ball to wrinkle and crease it even more. Grab a glue stick- I love the Pioneer brand embellishment glue stick, but and will do.Then, cover your chipboard with the glue stick entirely, making sure to get the edges really well.Open up your tissue and lay it on top of your chipboard with the glue on it. Smooth it out with your hand. It will be wrinkly, and that is what it's supposed to look like. After the glue has dried (about 20 minutes or less) trim the edges to remove the excess tissue paper. Then, take a piece of fine sandpaper or a file and smooth the edges. The page will look "shabby chic" and have the look of handmade paper. After your chipboard is covered, you can decorate it to your liking. I just added my holiday photo card and a date and I was done!

Here is the cover of the album and some of the inside pages:
I mixed up my pages to make it fun! Some are covered in red tissue and some are covered with the Mistletoe line from Making Memories.

Enjoy! Winter weather is the perfect time for crafting at home!

Think... Winter Holiday!

This is a card that I am submitting to Caardvarks. They are having a challenge to submit any holiday or winter themed cards. This is also a card I made that I plan to offer for sale at my biggest holiday show in November, and maybe in my Etsy shop as well. There is a lot to look at in this card...

Supplies:
Black Patent CS for the base
Black and red flocked polka dot paper (Doodlebug Design)
Green flocked paper (Chatter Box)
White mulberry paper
Vellum
Black sparkle polka dot paper (Making Memories)
Blue swiss dot (Bo Bunny)
Silver glitter paper
Stripes and other polka dot paper from my stash
Felt reindeer ribbon (cut) (May Arts)
Felt, ribbon, tulle, Stickles, buttons, thread, glitter, snowflake punch, and rhinestones


I am thinking... if you didn't want to actually send this card to someone during the holidays (you would have to be SUPER special), you could put it in a frame and sit it in an easel for a unique holiday decoration. The card is 5.5x7.5 inches.

If you are interested in this decoration for your home, let me know!