Christmas Ornament Exchange!

After receiving an invitation to a Christmas ornament exchange party, the hunt was on!  I had to find an ornament that would be easy and cute, so where did I go to search??  You got it!  Pinterest, where else?!  I knew I wanted to do some type of snowman and there were lots of ideas. I finally decided to give the sock snowman a try.  I bought some infant crew socks, stuffed them with cotton balls, used hot glue here and there and this is what I came up with.  I'm thinking about making a couple for myself!

Deco Mesh Wreath

In October, I was in Kentucky and saw Deco Mesh Wreaths.  What, you've never heard of them?  Well, I hadn't either, but from what I understand they are huge in the southern states.  I didn't buy one because I thought I could make one.  When I got home, I was so happy to find out that one of the local colleges was going to be having a class on making these wreaths! Me, my daughter-in-law, her mom and a couple of other ladies all signed up for the class.  This is one of the wreaths I made.

I love these wreaths!  It looks so much better if you could actually see it.  For some reason, it just doesn't photograph as well as it looks 'in person.'

Christmas Chargers

Love these chargers!  I bought the Santa and Snowman files from Kim Bright (google her for awesome .svg files) and after carefully weeding the vinyl, attached each to a charger along with snowflakes...instant cuteness!  Is cuteness a even a word??

Happy Thanksgiving

If you've never been to SVGcuts.com, you need to stop right now and go look!  They have tons of .svg files for every occasion and more!!  They give away free files weekly, and just tell me, who can't afford free??  They also have files that you can purchase for a VERY reasonable price.  That's where this little turkey and Indian files came from. I made about ten of the turkeys and I filled them with candy and plan on handing them out to nieces, nephews and friends. What little boy or girl wouldn't love to receive these cute little turkeys?

I used a file from SVGcuts.com to cut out the bag and then attached the cute little boy and girl to the front.  Once you start making these, it's hard to stop!

Fall Tissue Boxes

Everyone needs a tissue every now and then.  Why not cover those plain boxes with a cute cover.  The inspiration for these boxes was found on splitcoaststampers.com.  They have so many cute ideas.  Check them out!

Give Thanks

Fall is my favorite season!  I love the changing colors of the trees and the cooler temperatures.  I also love to do paper and vinyl crafts for this time of year.  This bottle was pretty easy to do.  Well, that is, after my husband cut the hole in the back of the bottle and inserted the colored lights.  I just used my handy dandy Cricut to cut out the leaves and wording with vinyl.

Surprise 30th Birthday!

Here's a picture of the 'Sucker Bouquet' I put together for my son who just turned 30!  (How can that be when I'm only 35??  LOL)  He was totally surprised when he walked in and everyone yelled, "SURPRISE!" Love when a plan comes together so well.

Happy 30th, Zach!

Superstar!

This sign is for a wonderful little girl who will be celebrating her fourth birthday in a few weeks.  She loves to sing and her aunt always tells her she's a superstar and wanted a sign that said just that!  

 Happy Birthday, Teagan!

Happy 1st Birthday, Isla!

A little over a year ago, I posted pictures of a baby shower that I was lucky enough to help create centerpieces for and a few other items.  Well, now that little bundle of joy is turning one this weekend and she's having an Elmo party!  Take a look at some of the decorations we made for her.


This is one of the taller centerpieces.  This is a tin bucket that the mom found at Hobby Lobby and I used the Elmo's Party and the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridges to cut out each shape and attached them to the bamboo skewers.  We also added the Elmo face to the bucket.

This is another tall bucket that we added the Elmo face to, but this bucket holds the M&Ms in the cello tubes.  I attached the scalloped Elmo and curly ribbon to each tube.  What kid doesn't love Elmo and M&Ms???

These little buckets were also purchased at Hobby Lobby and I used the same cartridges to cut out six different 5" Elmos and smaller flowers.

There are five of these Elmo Food Tents that the mom is going to use to label her food items.  Cute idea!

Everyone will know they're in the right place when they are greeted with this door banner.

I bought a new paper carrier at JoAnn's a while back and it was very plain.  I used some leftover vinyl I had and created this using my Sure-Cuts-A-Lot software.  I like the way it turned out!

This carrier really comes in handy 

for crops or just storage at home.

The Hunger Games

Have you heard of that little movie called, "The Hunger Games?"  Silly questions, right?  My daughter-in-law is a HUGE fan of the books and saw the movie over the weekend. 

She wanted a shirt to wear to the movie, so a friend of mine converted the Mockingjay symbol into an .svg file for us.  I used my SCAL software and my Cricut to cut out the template with contact paper (you can also use vinyl) and applied it to the t-shirt.  My daughter-in-law and son then used a foam brush to dab the gold paint on and then added a coat of glitter paint as well.

"May the odds be ever in your favor."  Effie Trinket

Gift Card Holder

My Pink Stamper is having her annual 12 Days of Christmas, and each day there is a new project video.  One of the ladies on her design team had a video showing how to make gift card holders and this is one I had to try.  I don't think I'll ever give a gift card in those plain white envelopes ever again!

I used the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge to cut out the tag, and then used my handy dandy ATG gun to tape the gift card onto the tag and it just slides inside the card.

This is something I think I'll make 
several of to keep on hand!

All Night Crop!

Three friends came over last night and we had so much fun scrappin' till four this morning!  Yes, I said four this morning!  We started at around six last night and this is just some of the projects we completed.  

These are svg files from SVGcuts.com.  Let me show you the inside of one of the the Christmas trees.

After you remove the top portion of the tree it 'explodes' with several panels.  There is a template that comes with this file to let you cut out your favorite photos and insert them in the panels as well.  We decided to just use decorative papers for each of the panels and love the way it turned out.  Now, you see that very center part with the cute little snowman on top?

Well, it opens up and you can use that to hold candy in and give this as a gift, maybe to even a favorite teacher!

Christmas 'Candles'

These are home made candles Mark made to line our sidewalk and they turned out great!  For this project he used PVC pipe and then wrapped each one with red electrician tape and ran the electrical wiring through the pipe.  For the tops, we used Marzetti salad dressing jars and I etched snowflakes on each one.  After a little cutting and reattaching the wiring, he was done!  I love our outdoor candles!

Let the Christmas Season begin!

Christmas Goodie Bags

This is a simple goodie bag that is quick to put together and the kids love it when it's given to them by Santa.

Christmas Gift Card Holders

I made another 'visit' to SVGcuts.com and found these great gift card holders and a star ornament, so I had to get busy and make them all!

As you can see, the tree opens up and you just slip your gift card inside.  I know who's getting this one for Christmas!

I used my Cuttlebug and embossed snowflakes on the cream colored portion of the tree and added some sparkly Stickles.  Gotta have a little bling!

The next one I made was the 'book'.  The inside of the book slides out and is larger than the tree, so you could actually use it if you have a small gift, or use to to give cookies and candy.  I think I'm going to take a pop dot and stick it to the back of a gift card and just place in inside the book.  I also think I'm going to add another piece of Christmas paper on the inside of this book.  Not really liking the glaring white.

Last, is the star ornament.  This ornament is perfect for using up scraps of leftover paper.  I went through my stash and found everything I needed.  I can see several of these hanging on my tree this year.

Santa's Treats

I've been busy making treats for Santa to take with him when he starts making his visits.  Each cello tube is filled with two packages of Sixlets and then topped with layered Christmas paper.  I then attached a snowman to each topper along with a little curly ribbon.

Here is a close up of one of the tubes.  You can fill these with lots of different candies such as Tootsie Rolls, Smarties, Jolly Rangers...well, you get the idea. Just change the topper for whatever holiday you're celebrating.  

Okay, I know I went straight from Halloween to Christmas.  I'll try to get something together for Thanksgiving real soon.  

Christmas Tissue Box Covers

I'm hooked on making these tissue box covers!  I think I'll leave one here in my craft room and take the other to work...or, I could give one as a gift.  Hmmm,, maybe I'll just 'have' to make another one!

To see a great video and a written tutorial on how to make these tissue box covers, go to:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/tissueboxcover.

Snowman Ornament

I was lucky to be invited back to a Christmas ornament party today.  I had never heard of this kind of party until last year when my DIL invited me to go with her to her aunt's, and it was a great time!  Each guest is asked to bring six handmade Christmas ornaments and they are all hung on the tree.  Everyone was given a bag with a number on it, and that is the order you go in to select an ornament from the tree.  It's a great way to get a different selection of ornaments!  Halfway through, the hostess changed the order of selections.  We went in alphabetical order by first name and the next time, we went by the last name.  

This snowman is one of the ornaments I made for the party.  I used the snowman from the Sure-Cuts-A-Lot program and cut out one snowman on chipboard and two on white cardstock, remembering to flip one of the snowmen for the backside of the chipboard.  (Yes, I decorated both sides).  I ran each piece of the white cardstock through my Cuttlebug using the Snowflakes folder.  I know it's hard to see the embossing.  I didn't have my camera with me so this was taken with my phone.  How did we ever get along without smartphones?  I added some twine to the buttons and attached them with glue dots. Poor little guy looks 'cold' without a scraf...what was I thinking! This ornament was also voted the cutest and I won a new tote!  

Fall Charger

The split regal font on this charger is from Denise Hill's Paper Pastime Blog.  She is wonderfully talented in making and sharing her files, and most of them are free.  This particular set of the full alphabet was only $5.00!  You cannot get a better deal than that!  I just sent a picture to the owner of this charger and she loves it!  Can't wait to get it to her.

Happy Fall!