Christmas Gifts/Minibook/Gifts in a Jar/Snowflakes

Somehow, not only for Christmas
But all the long year through,
The joy that you give to others
Is the joy that comes back to you.
And the more you spend in blessing
The poor and lonely and sad,
The more of your heart's possessing
Returns to you Glad...-John Greenleaf Whittier

These are a few more gifts I have been finishing up this week. My girls made the beaded snowflakes using a wire form by "The Beadsmith". It made the project more fun not having to come up with your own form. I would think Michaels or ACMoore would carry these.




The minibook is filled with fun "Friend and Girl" quotes for my friend and neighbor.


These wonderful "Gifts in a Jar" are only 3 of the several I am making. The bowl made up 6 jars of a 9 bean soup recipe. I put all the spices in a small sealed bag and is included in the jar. I put several recipes together with the help of "Taste of Home" Digest. I would include a link but blogger has thrown me into confusion with a new design being put in place (I assume that is what is going on). I'm not sure how to use my blogger anymore. That will have to wait until next year after the holidays.


I'm going to try to link up to the parties that are on my sidebar so check out eveyone's last minute gift giving ideas Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Blog Hop

The following 3 projects are for the Creative Scrapbook Diva Christmas Bloghop. 12 days filled with projects to help gift giving, cards and decor.

My pillowboxes inspiration came from Michelle's day 6 challenge. She has certainly made for than I have but I am going a bit crazy with all the combinations of paper and embellishments for these little cuties.

I run the box through my bigkick while still flat for the embossing.

Luisa's day 4 challenge is a banner using her cricut her snowflakes and letters.

I used chipboard letters over sheet music flowers I made from my dad's collection.

My last post has a more detailed banner I made last week with an extra layer of lace flowers and each letter has a beaded ribbon. This one is more simple but I think I may tie some small bells or wreaths in between each letter. These banners would be great for spring/Easter as well as Christmas!

The glass glitter edges the ovals and covers the letters and center star.

For Sandy's day 3 of the bloghop, I helped my 4th grader finish the little book. This will be for her classmates to sign for the teacher. We included a very nice Christmas quote inside the front cover.

This will make a great keepsake ornament. Thanks for the idea Sandy!

I have been having fun with my "sparkles" snowflakes (same star and snowflake as the pillowboxes) from Quickutz (used with the bigkick).

This mini book I made quite a long time ago but I planned the ribbon a bit better. If the ribbon is glued between the cover and the inside paper, it can be placed anywhere for tying or hanging. The pearls were added last on this book for hanging in a craft room.

My pillowboxes are linked to This Party

Handmade Gift/Banner & Tea Cup Tues.

For my banner, I used glass glitter, handmade lace flowers from strips of lace and my fathers vintage sheet music copied onto cardstock.

To see a tutorial on how to make this banner see, Terri at Artful Affirmations. She has the most beautiful homemade ornaments and teacups!! See Terri for Teacup Tuesday links.

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmastime. ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

I am also linked to this Tea Time Tues.

Family Quote

"FAMILY" Collage

"The memories of these fabrics are woven into our hearts."

I finally finished this little collage which holds some wonderful memories!! It holds ribbon, tulle and the flower from my 38yr old flower girl dress that I wore when I was...very little, I can't give a way my age :)

It also has some sprigs of pearls from my wedding hair piece and vintage lace (across the bottom) from hubby's grandmother.

The backing is decorative paper sewn on stiff fabric . I hope the knob it is hanging above doesn't keep you from seeing it well. You can click on it to see it larger. The dresser it adorns is a 1930's which was hubby's grandparents wedding gift.

It took me forever to finish this and make my final decisions...it sat for months at a time but I love the depth it represents.

This project is linked to This Party.

You HAVE to check out Angela's site, http://wwwcreativecreationsbyangela.blogspot.com/

She is so excited to start monthly challenges and she is going to start up a new website store.

She will be selling her hand made JEWELRY, CARDS, and Altered Art ( Picture frames, bedroom letters, decorative art, etc... ) She is hoping to have my site up within the next month or sooner!

Very fun!! She also is giving away goodies to 3 of her followers as a bonus!! Thanks Angela!!

Paper Flowers/Gift Package Ribbon

Paper Flowers and Ribbon

I am always trying to find gift ideas that are truly functional and helpful in making gift giving fun. Last year I made cloth re-usable bags and tags. This year I love the look of homemade flowers. So I decided to attach them to 3ft of ribbon for wrapping gifts.

Some have a knot from the ribbon for the middle of the flower, others have small faux flowers and brads.

And of course what makes them complete is a charming way to store them..in my recycled jar with my homemade decorated top!

Look at the amazing goodies my friend and Scrapbook Diva, Luisa sent to me.

She is a Close To My Heart consultant and your" go to gal" for these great stamps... ect. I won these awesome goodies through the monster card challenge with her and Creative Scrapbooking Divas. Thank you sooo much Luisa, I have been wanting a wonderful bird stamp and this collection is absolutely beautiful!!

Lastly, Karen Ladd was the winner of my October challenges with the CSDivas. Congrats Karen!

"Change It Up" Paper Challenge

I can't stop with the lay-outs now that I have started. The second of my two October "Change it up Paper Challenges" is explained in the last post. Please check out the technique by scrolling down to the last post. Here I used the same "watercolor look" technique to create the other half of the winter day full lay-out. This time I used blue snowflakes. The green in the vellum ribbon will make the bit of green in the first page show up better.

I'm so excited to see 10 comments between the two challenges. This should be fun seeing all the results. I'll keep you posted and let you know who wins the prize!!

Check out my challenge posts at Creative Scrapbook Divas to get in on the fun and I would love it if you left me a comment on these posts here as well so I know who is checking out the techniques :)

Creative Scrapbook Diva Challenge/Altering Cardstock

For the second of my two October "Change it up Paper Challenges", I used stamping and distress inks.

Inspired by a Tim Holtz technique and scrapbook page.

1. For this design, I used the 3 colors on one stamp. Once the stamp is covered with ink, mist the stamp directly with 3-4 sprays of water.

2. Press the stamp directly on paper and lift quickly. Repeat the stamping 2-3 more times spraying the stamp with water again if necessary. Each time you press the stamp the image will be lighter in color, faded.

3. Immediately dry the wet images with a heat tool. This dries the puddles of dye and water creating a watercolor look. I also like the look if the water get blown around a bit in the drying process.

4. Wipe off the stamp with a towel and repeat steps 1-3, several times creating your design over the entire sheet of paper for a background page.

For me, the paper still needed to be muddied up. Additional steps for this lay-out include:

1. Tear strips of dry paper you created above.

2. Using a cloth, lightly rub the same colors of ink over the designs.

3. Use the mister to spray the whole strip, your table will get wet and there may be some dripping of dye.

4. Use the heat tool to set your new watercolor look.

5.Ink the edges of the paper.

-The tag, which will be tucked down under the paper, strip was made with alcohol inks on a ribbed paper I had in my stash of "found" supplies.

-I added metal brads, ect and chains to match the chains on the tires.

This post and the last post are for my October challenges through the Creative Scrapbook Diva website. I am providing a RAK, random act of kindness gift, for the challenges. Link up through the site for either of these challenges you may win the items below.

To stay with the theme of the challenges, I included a way to add dimension to paper with the "paper effects". In the future, I may have challenges with clay and other ways to get texture within lay-outs and projects. One package of clay is translucent as it can be used for photo transfers. And the trim is just for FUN!



Luisa's explosion card challenge with the Creative Scrapbooking Diva's was really fun to do with the kids. But I had to make one too!!!!! See her CSD link for full instructions.

The message inside reads:

When witches go riding and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers,

"tis near Halloween."

The purple ones were my 7 & 9 yr old kids take on the challenge.

Creative Scrapbook Diva Challenge/Altering Cardstock

Hello everyone, I'm so happy that the Creative Scrapbook Divas decided to stay up and running. I truly enjoy checking out everyone's unique creativity and personal blogs for inspiration.

As the October guest for the month, the challenge I chose includes ways to alter cardstock for your projects.

For the first example, I used a Heidi Swapp mask. The masks are flexible and a bit sticky on one side. Using glitter spray or ink, color all around the mask then gently lift the mask. In it's place you will have the white background still showing.

Below is my final project. I chose to blend some inks over the shape vs leaving it white and decorated with rub-ons, 3d flowers ect. Tim Holtz has a great video on other ways to use masks.

Don't forget you can make your own glimmer mist. One way is to use perfect pearls and a bit of water in a mini mister. Tim uses re-inkers to the mix on This Project using this exact mask.

My second example of how to alter cardstock is using metallic cardstock and alcohol inks.

Alcohol inks can be used on a variety of surfaces that pigment and dye inks won't stick to. So it's really fun to experiment on metals, brads, glass, plastics, glossy paper and transparencies.

Below I took black metallic glittered cardstock and used cranberry alcohol ink to change the color for this pillowbox.

This tag background is glossy (shiny) paper altered with the alcohol inks, blending tool and Adirondack alochol blending solution.

This is the same technique used on a transparency. The layer is pulled to the side. See the full project Here.

For the challenge, choose a way to completely change the look of your cardstock, glossy cardstock or transparency for any project or scrapbook page. If using glossy paper or transparency is new to you, now is a great time to dive in!! Have fun and I can't wait to see the projects you come up with.

There will be a RAK at the end of October after a drawing of all the participants.

Click on the Blinkie to to go the Scrapbook Divas and link your project with Mr. Linky!!!! Hey, I made a rhyme!!