Candy Cane Christmas

I know, I know you're expecting Day 1 of Basically Christmas Cards and I promise they are coming, but I'm just so excited about how this is turning out! I'm in charge of our ward Christmas party for about 250 people and this is essentially the color theme and part of the display. (such fun because I got to pick!) This is in particular for the dessert table. Isn't it cute? The tin is from the $1 Spot at Target. I used rub-ons and loads of miscellaneous ribbon, straight pins, tacky glue, starlight red & white mints, spray adhesive and some "snow!"

Bet you want to lick your monitor!

Just 5 Things

This is my 2nd post for today, so if you want to see the other, please scroll down. :)

For a long time I've been concerned about what posterity might know of me if I didn't leave anything behind for them. I love to scrapbook, but scrapbook pages can often be superficial in natural. By this I mean that we don't often tell about our real self -- our true thoughts and feelings. They usually cover life events of our children and families and I know that the pictures I haven't scrapped by far out weigh the ones I have. I know I also tend to scrapbook the joyous times in life of which there are many, but life isn't always joyous. Sometimes life is painful and hard. What have I learned? What do I wish I'd done? For this though I felt photographs were secondary. I wanted to show a picture of myself from the inside out. Where is my heart? What do I value? What hurts? To this end I began working on a list for myself titled Just 5Things. There are 50 topics on my list. This is some of them;

5 people important to me
5 friends I have known
5 things I would do if I had no limitations
5 things I live for
5 things I don't want to forget
5 things I don't want to live without
5 pieces of advice I wish I could have given myself at 18
5 things I'm passionate about
5 things I wish I could change
5 things I do every day
5 challenges that have changed me
5 things I wish I didn't care about
5 days I'll never forget
5 things I spend too much time on
5 reasons I cry
5 things that might surprise you

The list goes on and on. Like I said, I've worked on this list since last March. I also teach a Pictures In Art Class and this is what my list has become:









There are 6 dividers (shown on my class blog) and the 2nd class will be the pages. The class has been instructed to choose 10 things and I've provided worksheets with questions so that they can journal their true thoughts and feelings. This is to be about them. Even if they choose to tell about 5 people they love, it must be what this has done for them, not just a tribute to the someone else. We will be making scrapbook pages (5X7) for the main 5 things x 5 items (which I've instructed them on how to choose) and then the last divider will hold 5 pages bullet style of the remaining 5 things x 5 items. They have photo instructions to help illustrate the first 5 things. My hope is that the class (me included) will continue to complete the list of 50 things and stuff our boxes so that once we are no longer here to tell our stories our posterity will know us. They won't just have our memories, but our thoughts and feelings in a way I know without this I would never explore. I've told them that I hope they won't even share the boxes with their families now. I think it will be of much more value as a treasure later.

Here's my question for you. What 5 things would you want your posterity to know about you and how are you going to tell them?

Autumn Pumpkins

I love fall. Even living in Arizona where fall mostly consists of 100' days, fall means that it is cooling down, nights will soon be cool enough to open the windows,the holidays are approaching and that warm PJ's, peppermint tea and way too many goodies are on their way! I made these several years ago, but after seeing one published in Paper Trends (never thought of submitting mine) I thought you might enjoy seeing them too. I used a foam pumpkin, paper from CTMH with a few stamped images, some inked edges and ribbon and buttons for embellishing.

CaRDs BoX and a little bit more!

So here it is. The Card Box I designed for my 1st class of the 2008-2009 class year. I believe that all 8 of the class members lucky enough to buy a seat were happy with their results. You may want to look quick because I do have a publication call and as soon as I mail it I have to pull it from any online art gallery so look quick!






So here it is. The Card Box I designed for my 1st class of the 2008-2009 class year. I believe that all 8 of the class members lucky enough to buy a seat were happy with their results. You may want to look quick because I do have a publication call and as soon as I mail it I have to pull it from any online art gallery so look quick!

Ingredients:

CTMH - Boom-di-Ada Papers and Cardstock, Chipboard Letters, Ric Rac,Buttons & Ink in Hollyhock, Barn Red, Sunkiss Yellow, Garden Green, Olive,Hollyhock, and Autumn Terracotta
CTMH Stamps - Be True, Cottage Floral, Spot On Background, and Say it in Style
Diane Ribbon - green silk
Joanne Crafts - Steamer Trunk 11 1/4" X 8 X 6 1/4" deep
Krylon Spray Paint - Cottage White

Basic Instructions: Paint Steamer Trunk to coat all surfaces; especially metal embellishments. Once dry, sand metal parts Cut paper to fit. Using good adhesive cover trunk. To make the corners I used an embossing stylus and then cut away the corners. (Much easier than creating a template!) Decorate as desired!

On the 10th Day of Christmas

Joy Wall Hanging




So I'm cheating. I made this last year, but I found it on my computer and I'm taking the easy way out. With all the tutorials I've posted on covering coasters and chipboard you should get the idea! I used embossing on the JOY and inked the edges with gold metalic paint. The circles are tied together with ribbon. I made MANY last year and gave them all away! I didn't even keep one for myself!

On The 7th Day of Christmas

Wall Hanging Card Holder/Future Scrapbook Page to Hold Whatever Christmas Thingy!



Okay, so I really should have official titles for this stuff, but as I was creating, I really did think that I can use it for a scrapbook page and put my favorite Christmas pictures and maybe the kids' letters to Santa. . . or maybe all of the cute little wallet and family photos that I receive in my Christmas cards this year. Either way it was fun to make and would be a great gift too!

I didn't do an official tutorial for this project, but I'm happy to answer any questions if you have any after you look at it! It essentially has 3 pockets and a ribbon tie so it can be hung up for display. Ideal to stick Christmas Cards in as they stuff your mailbox!



As a side note, I realize that I actually skipped a day in my 12 days, but I promise I won't short you on the projects nor will you be disappointed with the little goodies I still have coming your way. This will be done before Santa arrives at your house with his reindeer pulled sleigh! So if you're still looking for last minute gifts you can make (or keep) stay tuned!

On the 6th Day Of Christmas

Coaster and Chipboard Christmas Wreath


This is one of the FIRST projects I wanted to do when I decided to do this 12 Days of Christmas Gifts and Goodies. So it's only day 6 and it's finally real! I'm really happy with how this turned out and hope you enjoy it too!

Okay, so this is what you need (my photo of this stinks, so you just get this list!)

1. Coasters (from Just4FunCrafts) Click here This is one of the Design Teams I'm on, and Jen rocks, so give her some love! (I used 3.5 and 4" sizes)
2. Coordinating Paper Pack. I used Blitzen from Basic Grey
3. Rub-Ons and Embellishments, mine are from Just4FunCrafts.
4. Adhesive - I used Scotch Quick Dry Tacky from J4F
5. Chipboard Circles in varying sizes. Both of mine are from CTMH Basic Shapes which you can get on my site here
6. Scissors, Ruler, Paper Trimmer, Sanding Block and Optional Ink for the edges

1st decide on the size of wreath you want. Mine is 16" high. Draw a circle template on a scratch pad for your guide. I used a large platter for mine.



2nd Like on the jiffy pop tutorial you will want to cut squares of paper to cover the circles. Trim off the excess and sand the rough edges. Ink the edges if desired. A 4" circle coaster needs a 4" square of paper.


3rd Starting with your largest circles, lie them on your circle drawing and adhere your second largest circles to them, continue layering until you reach the top. Embellish as desired. For added stability I cut scrap chipboard and glued rectangles to attach the largest circles together with a bridge!

On the 4th Day of Christmas

Jiffy Pop Door Hanger/Mock Ornament Gift Thingy


Okay, so I don't have an official title. It is a thingy and it is made with Jiffy Pop, so can I leave it at that? A few years back I hunted high and low for these to make for Halloween gifts. They cost me like $2.25 each! I found these at the $1 Spot at Target the same day I found the baby socks (from my snow babies.) Anyway, I knew they would make adorable "mock" ornaments for Christmas gifts! I suppose you could hang it on your tree given its sturdy enough! So here's the 411 as my 10 year old would say!

1. You need this:



2. You must lift the rim and remove the ring.

3. Make a circle to cover and fit in the popcorn. I leave the original packaging intact so that one could actually use the popcorn. You could use the label as your template if you prefer to skip this step, but unless your receiver is at least 35 years old, they probably don't even know what Jiffy Pop is, let alone how to use it! LOL!!!


4. Cover the circle with adornments of your choice, adhere to your circle template. I keep them rectangular for simplicity. Turn it over and trim to fit your circle template.



5. Finish with your final embelishments and there you have it!



I hope you've enjoyed today's tutorial. If you are enjoying my 12 Days of Christmas, can you post a comment or two? Just like to know if I'm making you happy!

First Design Team Assignment

I don't think I ever mentioned that I was asked to be on a Design Team. Being invited was quite a surprise, but I'm looking forward to the monthly challenges! This month's challenge was due today (Black Friday) and of course I didn't get it done until the very last minute! The challenge was to make a gift using my assigned product line (CTMH) dimensionally. So, here it is! I bought the frames at Wal-Mart last year after Kari made some cute little Christmas plaques with them. So, here it is! Merry Christmas!

Our Other Favorite Set of Twins,

Sydney and Claire, turned 3 today! We had a blast at Mickey Mouse themed Bounce U party. This is part of what we gave them for their special day.


I matched the night light to fabric matching the decor in their bedroom!

J is for JUMBO Clothes-pin

Just in case you thought I forgot about my ABC's of posting, here is a J to keep us moving!

I made this Jumbo Clothes-pin Photo Holder quite sometime ago. My friends Jen and Lois came over for our almost monthly creative session at my house (only because I have kids-- enough said!). Jen taught us how to make the flowers and yes they are completely made with paper, ink, some floral wire and tape, and ribbon! The paper clips are readily available at many scrapbook or hobby type stores, but I got mine here. I painted it white, covered with some BT and a neat rub-on from HS, highlighted it with some ink and added my paper bouquet! Cute, huh? I posted it before and the gals over at Pennywise Arts wanted me to do a tutorial. . . Of course I told them I didn't create these cute little roses, but that I would "teach" the class. . .I think its still available on their yahoo site, if you are so interested. . . Maybe Jen will post here photo tutorial here, I tried to find it, but failed! Here's the ones Lois and Jen created too!

Let There Be Light!

And there was. . . a night light in my DD Jessica's room! She is pretty good about sleeping in her room, but a lot of mornings I find her light on, so I know she gets up after I go to bed to turn it back on! This is my solution! A night light, altered with pretty paper, flowers, buttons and rickrack! Now, I hope this tiny light will be her comfort and not the big one in the middle of her ceiling!