Christmas Neighbor Gift Ideas and We R Memory Keepers

What a super exciting day when a box of goodies arrived on my doorstep from We R Memory Keepers!  They sent me a generous assortment of papers, chipboard, die cuts and even stamps from their lovely Christmas collection, "Yuletide."  I put together 3 different neighbor gift ideas to share - a recovered cd case (to gift favorite Christmas tunes), a simple tea or hot chocolate holder, and a sweet paper stocking for a few little goodies.

Clear CD cases are easy to find.  You can create a fun mix of holiday tunes (follow all copyright laws, please!) or share photos on a cd as your gift.  To decorate my cd case, I used a variety of papers from the 6x6 paper pad and a layered on a few of the coordinating die cut elements.  My deer is cut with my Cricut (Theresa Collins Demcember 25th cartridge).  I also added one of the chipboard sentiments to the outside of each case.

For my second gift idea, I filled small 3x5 baggies with loose tea and cut a strip of We R paper to 3 1/4 x12 inches and folded it over/around the bag.  I secured it all together using one of the fabric covered coordinating brads (these are really lovely!) and some decorative red/white twine.  I also hung a die cut that could double as a gift tag.  These would be easy to make several of and have on hand for "unexpected" guests and friends, or to give as favors at your holiday party.

For my final project, I cut a stocking pattern with my Cricut (Teresa Collins December 25th cartridge) and coordinating patterns from the Yuletide collection.  I cut two stockings, flipping one image, and then sewed up the sides using my sewing machine.  I added some trims and a stamp or two (CUTE gingerbread stamp from We R!) before filling it with a few sweet treats.  These could be made any size (mine are only about 6-7 inches long) depending on what kinds of treats you want to fill them with.  I think they would also be cute at any holiday table setting - maybe an adorable utensil holder for each place.

Thanks again to We R Memory Keepers for inviting me to be a guest designer and sending me such a generous assortment of products from your Yuletide collection!  And thanks to all of you for visiting me here on my humble little blog.  I hope you've been inspired.

Blessings,

Karen

Stashing Through the Snow...Ornament and Card

 

My niece loves mustaches and I had the joy of drawing her name for our family Christmas gift exchange.  I've been seeing these fun ornament ideas on Pinterest, so I knew I wanted to make her a cute mustache one.  It was super easy!  I started with a plain white porcelain ball (on sale, no less!).  I penciled out my mustache and then went over it with a black sharpie.  I added the phrase "stashing through the snow".  I messed up the first time and used a q-tip dipped in alcohol to wipe it off and start over again.  I also stuck it in my oven for about 20 minutes or so at 350 to make it more permanent.  As an afterthought (and after it was out of the oven and cooled), I added some fine glitter to the bottom of the mustache. 

I made a quick card with the same theme.  I cut the mustache (Cricut - Billionaire) and added a few sticker embellishments from Echo Park, a brad from Teresa Collins, and a twine ribbon.  And that

was it.  I hope your Christmas is merry and lots of fun!

Merry Christmas Banner

New this week at Scrapdoodles is the new Christmas line from October Afternoon, "Make It Merry."  Oh My Goodness, go check it out!  This line is so fun and adorable.  It's full of vintage card images and patterns.  I love the music sheet and was inspired to make this simple and sweet banner with the song sheet as the base. 

I added die cut letters from more of the patterned papers and layered on the coordinating elements like the ticket stubs and sweet vintage images.  The "Miscellany" pack also includes buttons and ribbon.  I added some old red doilies to the top, some red and white twine, fringe, and glitter from my own stash.  The elements are easy and fun to mix and match and layer.  Here's a few close-ups.

Some of the elements will be perfect to include as journaling spots or extra pages in my December Daily.  I prepped a few to see how they would work out (and they are just too fun to play with I didn't want to put them away yet :))  I'm sure I'll be pulling from these pieces throughout the month.

Lastly, I pulled several elements together to make this super sweet layout of a photo of my younger sister and me in 1978.  I would hardly call us vintage, but these fun papers really compliment the black and white (okay a teeny bit old) photo.  I love it! 

Hope you've been inspired!  Happy Crafting - Karen

Cute Turkeys to Pin or Clip

 Pinterest is so much fun!  I love to browse and get ideas for new projects, don't you?  I saw several versions of these ribbon turkeys.  I saw them as hair bows, pins to wear, and even on onesies and t-shirts.  I decided to dig into my felt and ribbon stash and create my own version.  I made one for my daughter's hair and two for her preschool teachers to wear on their aprons.  They turned out so cute!  I hand cut each body from felt - 2 per turkey.  The ribbons are cut to about 2.5 inches.  I laid the folded ribbons and lightly tacked them with glue to one body and covered up all the ends with the second (front) body.  I stitched all around the felt body to secure everything in place.  My turkeys have a felt nose and googly eyes.  Then I added either a clip or a pin to the back.  For the teachers, I pinned the turkey onto a thank you notecard made with scrapbook papers (love these papers from Authentique!).  Cute, quick, and easy! 

Happy Turkey Day, Everyone!

New Cricut Class Online - Christmas Village

I'm so excited to be teaching a Cricut class at My Creative Classroom.  Just in time for holiday decorating and gift-giving, I will be teaching Cricut: Christmas Village.  The class is open for registration and the first lesson will be revealed on Friday, November 2nd.  I'd love for you to join me!  AND...

How would you like a free class? Once a year the MCC Faculty come together for a very special class which is our way of saying thank-you for your continued support. Register for any class starting in November and you will automatically be enrolled in "It's Ornamental" at no additional charge. "It's Ornamental", a class taught by ten MCC instructors, begins November 29th and is full of creative and inspiring holiday ornament ideas. Each of the classes that begin in November will also accept enrollments until at least November 30th.

In this course, we’ll take an in depth look at Cricut’s Christmas Village Seasonal Cartridge and create a variety of projects for all crafting levels.This cartridge contains 50 silhouette-style images with simple and old-fashioned appeal.Many of the images are intended to create 3-D projects, but a lack of included instructions has stumped many Cricut crafters.Has this cartridge been sitting in your stash for awhile because you just don’t know what to do with it?If you’ve been feeling the same way, go get that cartridge out of the cupboard, and come on into this classroom, because we are about to create some awesome projects!

Join me for this 4-week class and we’ll clear up any confusion about this cartridge and create several unique projects including a Christmas countdown village display with treat boxes (yes, this cart can do that!), a framed nativity project, cards, a layout, and more seasonal and alternative project ideas.I’ll offer assembly, longevity, and storage tips so that your creations last more than one season.
I hope you'll join me and register for this idea-rich class to jumpstart your holiday preparations.  Registration is open now and class begins on Friday, November 2nd.  See you in the classroom!

Halloween Treats With Cricut

I was excited to be able to get the new Create a Critter 2 cartridge - I love these little critters all decked out for the holidays!  They are the perfect not-so-scary treat toppers for our Halloween dress up party at preschool.  I added a bit of glitter glue here and there to dress them up a bit.

I also picked up these cute notebooks at the Target dollar spot and topped them with more Critters.  The title phrases are also on this cartridge - can't wait to use them in our scrapbook pages!

Here is a shot of my worktable (before the cellophane wrapping on the notebooks).  Also shown are two cards I made with Teresa Collins' new Christmas cartridge.  I recieved both in the mail the same day and just couldn't wait to start working with them.  I have to say it's been awhile since I've been so excited for new Cricut carts :) and it felt great!  I can't wait to have some time to make the Christmas critters for another set of treat bags - they are so cute, too!

Happy Halloween, everyone!  Stay safe and get crafting!

Halloween Layout and Tags

It's that fun time of the month when I get to highlight some wonderful products available at Scrapdoodles in Fredericksburg.  I love going into this store!  Super friendly ladies and tons of scrapbook paper :0  Makes me happy. 
This trip, I focused on their Halloween selection - so much to choose from.  I was inspired by the orange/blue color combo and vintage feel of October Afternoon's "Witch Hazel" line.  (You can check out the whole line HERE)  It made me want to dig up some old childhood photos.  Luckily, I knew just where to look and put together this layout.  Can you see my mom making a goofy face in the door window? He he - Fun times.  For this layout, I broke up the heavy patterns by just using blocks or strips on top of a more neutral cardstock background.  I tore some of the paper edges, distressed others, and inked around the background sheet.  I also used Washi Tape from a My Mind's Eye collection and a few stickers off my Authentique Halloween collection.  I cut the title with my Cricut (Happy Hauntings).

This line isn't just for your "vintage" photos, though.  I thought the blue would be a great complement to these pics of our daughter as Cinderella from last year.  With some creative placement of my photos, I was able to highlight the black paper titles, instead of creating a new one.  Trying to keep a softer touch, I created these Washi Tape flowers (My Mind's Eye tape and enamel dots, and stickers).  I used about an 8 inch piece of tape and gathered it around the middle.  I placed an enamel dot in each center.  I did add an extra glue dot or two to get them to lay right on my page.
Here are a few tags I created with some of the scraps.  I thought they would be fun to place on a card or use to embellish treat bags this Halloween.  Tags are also a fun way to experiment with new products or techniques.  I used my Washi tape to alter some of the strong paper patterns - the moon and the chevron backgrounds on the first and last tags below, for example.  It was a fun way to get more out of the papers and highlight some of the cute images and patterns.

October Afternoon recently hosted a "Witch Hazel" blog hop on their blogs, if you need more inspiration!

Shoe-La-La

We had a fun morning reading the children's book, Shoe-la-la, by Karen Beaumont.  This is the second time that Hannah has borrowed this book from the library.  Her favorite line is "Sparkly diamonds, pretty pearls, Ritzy, glitzy Glamour Girls!"  It's a cute story of 4 little girls trying on a gazillion pairs of shoes at the "Shoe-la-la" shoe store in search of the perfect pair.  Alas, they go home with nothing but tired feet, only to discover the joy of creating their own unique pair of shoes!  So, what did we do after reading the book (a gazillion times)?  We decorated shoes, of course.  I used the Forever Young cartridge to cut a few large pairs of shoes out of cardstock and Hannah helped me gather the decorating supplies.  As you can see, we used lots of glue, glitter, sparkly bits and pieces, buttons, flowers, feathers, and more.  I did help some, but Hannah was the main artist.  A fun morning crafting with my girl.

 Artist at work.

 Love the glitter glue smiley faces!

Look at those gorgeous shoes!

We Do ART Layout

This is a fun layout I made with the DCWV All Dolled Up Stack.  It's a cute stack with lots of vibrant colors and fun punch-out girls to dress and play with.  I used some of the patterned paper included in the stack and cut out elements from the punch-out pages to use as embellishments on my page.  I think these are a great compliment to a fun afternoon my girl and I had last summer painting, getting messy, and "doing" art.

Winner!

Just came from random.org to generate the winning comment....

and it is...

The #4 commenter,  Libby U. said: 

Happiness = free time + my family + lots of giggles (I love schedule-free days:) And I need some inspiration for all the paper in my basement!

Congratulations, Libby!  I will contact you with additional information so you can get enrolled in Faith Inspired Projects!  and hopefully find that inspiration you're looking for ;)

Thanks to each of you for commenting.  Class begins on Friday, so if you didn't win (I wish everyone could!) you can still enroll and enjoy the course.  Just click HERE and you will be taken to the registration page at My Creative Classroom.  Blessings and hope to "see" you in the classroom!

Halloween Wreath and Layout

Just got back with wonderful goodies from Scrapdoodles!  They have an awesome selection of fall and Halloween papers and embellishments right up towards the front of the store and, if you're anything like me, you will be standing there a long time trying to decide what to go home with.  :)  Oh this paper addiction!

Anyways, I knew I wanted to create a rolled paper wreath ever since I saw this video tutorial from Graphic 45, and thought a fall or Halloween theme would be great.  With that project in mind, I chose (finally) some double sided papers from We R Memory Keepers' "Black Widow" line.  You can see the whole line here, and of course at Scrapdoodles.  I picked out the "Happy Halloween" embellishment for the middle of the wreath (I added some more paper ovals to give it more "weight") and when I saw the metal charms, I knew I HAD to use them somehow, too.  I added an eyelet to the ends of some of the paper cones for strength and hung the charms with some Tim Holtz jump rings I had in my stash.  Generally, I followed the tutorial from Graphic 45 with just a few changes.  Instead of a chipboard backing, I used a scrap piece of foam board,

since I had that on hand.  I also used a bit of foam board in the middle behind my center ovals and embellishment.  In the tutorial, the paper cones are attached with staples.  I had some difficulty with that, so I ended up using hot glue more than the staples.  I love how this wreath turned out.  An added bonus is how the little charms jingle on the door - love it!

Of course I can't let a Design Team week go by without a layout.  For this week's layout, I chose a few papers from Echo Park's Halloween line, "Chillingsworth Manor."  You can see the whole line here.   Lots of cute and spooky details in this collection!  I took home a sheet with spiders and polka dots and knew I had some cute photos of Hannah with spider cookies that I could use.  My layout includes a combination of lines - Echo Park, some of my leftover scraps from the We R Memory Keepers collections, and some sticker elements from Authentique's Halloween line, "Enchanted."   Man - there is a lot of good stuff out there for all your Halloween, pumpkin, and spider photos and projects!

For this layout, I punched several circles and simply straight stitched them right to the page in a line.  It's a great way to add lots of pattern and texture to your layout.  My title was cut with Echo Park papers.  I used my Cricut and the "Happy Hauntings" cartridge along with some sticker elements from Authentique.  I also used another sticker element (the spider and the fly quote) off to the side and added some Black Diamond Stickles to the two spiders.  At the last minute I added a thin black cardstock frame with distressed inside edge.

I had a few scraps left, so I cut some 3/4 inch by 5 inch strips to make this little paper pumpkin.  I just used brads to hold the strips together and then fanned them out and shaped them into a pumpkin.  With a few more paper scraps and a leaf punch, I added the stem, vines, and leaf.  I could see several of these decorating a table this fall. 

So, while the picking is good, visit Scrapdoodles and pick up some fall/Halloween collection papers.  I hope you have an easier time deciding than I did ;)

New Online Class and Free Seat Giveaway to "Faith Inspired Projects"

Combining things I love makes me extra, extremely, super happy.  Like a day with my husband AND my daughter, having ALL my sisters together, photos AND paper scraps, and my creativity AND my faith.  I have been very happily putting together all sorts of creative projects for my next class at My Creative Classroom. 
It's called "Faith-Inspired Projects" and you, my friends, could win a free seat!  Now that's a happy combination!

The projects presented in this class are designed to build, document, display, and help you practice your faith and most cherished beliefs and values.  Each week, for four weeks, you'll get a minimum of 2 project tutorials (in both full color pdf form and narrated presentation) to inspire your creativity and your faith.  All of the class materials can be viewed from the comforts of your own home, in your pj's, if you want! You can interact with fellow students and me, your instructor, through the classroom forums and student gallery, or simply download the tutorials and reference the ideas for later when you have time.   

Won't you join me?  The class is just $25 for all four weeks.  You can register right now and view more details online at My Creative Classroom HERE. 

OR leave a comment at the end of this post telling me what your favorite, happiness-producing combination is and have a chance to win a free seat in this class.

While you're here, become a follower - more followers makes me happy and might make me post more craftiness ;)

Leave your comment by the end Tuesday, September 25th, at midnight.  A winner will be chosen randomly and will be announced on Wednesday, September 26th.  You'll be all set to begin class on Friday, September 28th!

Apple Teacher Pin and Post It Note Gifts

My girl has started school.  Granted, it's only 3 year old preschool and it's only 2 mornings a week, but it is a big deal - for both of us.  Day one was great - no tears for either of us and while she was at school with her teachers, I was able to help out a friend.  And that felt good, too.

I wanted to get some great first day photos, but wasn't sure we would have enough time on the actual first day, so we did a little dress-rehearsal photo shoot the day prior and with a little help from photoshop, I was able to post this photo as soon as we got home from the big day.

I also realized that her starting school has opened up a whole new excuse, ahem, reason, for crafting.  Of course I'm talking about teacher gifts!  I had to create a whole new board on Pinterest to organize all the great ideas out there.  That's where I first saw cute ways to give a simple stack of post-it notes.  I made mine by covering plain cardboard with scrapbook paper and clipping a stack of post-it notes to it with a paper-covered binder clip.  So easy!  I also wanted to make something with an apple, so I went to my Cricut machine, found this cute apple on "Create A Critter" and cut it from felt.  The felt is self-adhesive and I sandwiched a pin between the two layers so Hannah's teachers have a cute felt apple pin to wear.  If anyone wants more specifics, let me know and I will try to create a quick tutorial.  Yay for school and more crafty reasons to make special handmade cute things!  Teehee!

Princess Room Decor and Gifts

Who doesn't love a little princess?  I sure do!  I especially love my little princess, but there is something so completely adorable about little girls playing dress-up and putting on pretend jewels and a sparkly crown.  They truly are transformed into little princesses.  We (my girl and I) were recently invited to a "pink" birthday party, so I enlisted my little princess's help to create a pretty little pink something for the birthday girl's room.  We took 3 8x10 flat canvases and my girl helped me paint them very pink with a few swishes of purple.  Using my Cricut (all cuts from the Princess Party cartridge) I cut out a crown, a wand, and Princess letters to decorate the canvases.  I added some sparkly elements, pearls, feathers, and jewels to the die cuts and attached them to the canvases with foam tape.  I sprayed a light coating of Mod Podge sealer over everything (covered the feathers, though).  Lastly, I added some ribbon loops for hanging.  I hope the Birthday girl likes it!

I also made the Birthday girl a little dvd crayon case.  I love to reuse items and this gift is a great little birthday or Christmas gift.  These awesome little gifts will be part of my new Cricut: Creative Gift Ideas online Class at My Creative Classroom.  If you want to join me and two other teachers for this jam-packed class, go ahead and register HERE.   

Harvest Lane Mini and Layout

Lucky Me! Simple Stories is quickly becoming one of my favorite paper companies.  I first discovered them in the Scrapdoodles yard sale (thank you mystery person who discarded that yummy paper for next to nothing!).  Then, when I went into Scrapdoodles to pick up some goodies for Design Team, I was told to look at the new fall line, Harvest Lane, from Simple Stories.  Hot diggity dog!  I LOVE these rich colors, distressed feel, and how easy it is to put together layouts and projects with this coordinating line. My mini came together in no time as did this simple layout.  On this layout, the only non-Simple Stories elements are my photos, a metal bracket and brads (Stampin'Up) and some white thread.  It's fun to layer the coordinating elements.  I really love the little words and images on the sticker sheet and added some dimension to my cluster by backing a few pieces with foam tape.

This line is full of small and large elements that are perfect for layering, which inspired my layered mini album.  I designed it with pages that flip open to reveal more photos and more of the paper's sweet elements.  I love the little bingo cards!

Open once,

Open twice,

and flip open again!

Want to see that again?

Open once,

Open twice,

And flip open again!

I may just have to go back to Scrapdoodles and pick up more of this line...and maybe check out their Christmas line, too!