End rolls are what print shops call the left over paper from a newspaper or flyer print run. Most print shops are happy to give them to you for free! There are so many things you can do with the paper and it's a wonderful way to recycle. I like to use them for making my own wrapping paper, not only are the weight and width just right but they take paint and ink perfectly. Here are a few examples of what I am doing for my Christmas wrapping paper: (I found that working on your kitchen table is the best - plus you are right by the sink)

This first one is done with a Heidi Swapp snowflake mask and some Maya Mist. I did both red and a little green mist on this one. Just lay the mask down and spray away!

I used a doily on this one, I thought that the center of the doily would be the perfect spot for a big ribbon bow! Just use your doily like a mask.

Here are the finished presents:

I am always the last to start on my Holiday cards - it never fails!  While I love handmade cards, I stink at making them LOL!  I typically like to give out cards with gifts for a little personal touch.  Here are two that I have made so far:

They are both very simple and easy to make!  I simply cut out shapes from the patterned papers and used them to embellish the cards.  A little bit of bling and viola!  I loved these Making Memories and October Afternoon papers - so gorgeous!  

(Supplies Used:  Making Memories Patterned Paper, October Afternoon Patterned Paper, Basic Grey Patterned Paper, Bazzill Cardstock, Making Memories Glitter Alphabet Stickers, Studio Calico Nadyia Alphabet Stamps, Paper Valiese Decorative Pins, Studio Calico Rip Strip, Gems, Scotch Photo Stickers, Xyron Create A Sticker Adhesive)

I thought I would post a quick and easy way to incorporate some holiday cheer into your projects this season. :) I love making tags, they are a fun way to add an embellishment to mini books, layouts or home decor. I will be using these in my December Daily mini album this month. I used some of my favorite stamps, inks and colors to create these tags. Who says that Christmas colors have to be green and red!! :)

This is what my tags look like at the second step (the first was to add a little spray paint). I added the damask image once to the first stamp on the right and just stamped until I didn't have anymore ink, I love the progression of the faint image.

Once I did that I just layered, layered and layered. It is quick and easy and if you make a "mistake" just layer another accent on top of it! :)

Have fun!

Products used:

Adhesives: Kokuyo,Therm O Web; Chipboard:American Crafts; Ink:Rangers,StazOn;Overlay: Hambly Studios Paint:Krylon;Rubon: Maya Road;Stamps:Fontwerks,Heidi Swapp, Sassafras,Studio Calico Mis:Office Supply Tags, Ric Rac, Staples

You know...all those Christmas cards that you get from friends and family.
What do you do with them??
I cannot bear to throw them away!
For the past few years I have created a layout with pockets to hold all of cards I get that year.
I like having them all in one place and I love being able to keep them in my scrapbooks.

Here is the layout I have created for this year's cards:

This is such an easy project to create!

I started with a 12x12 piece of chipboard as the base of the layout so that it will have some weight to it.
(I am hoping for LOTS of cards this year!)
I cut a piece of patterned paper down to ~4.5 inches and then adhered it to the top of the chipboard.

Then I cut a different piece of patterned paper down to ~4.5 inches and adhered it just below the previous piece of patterned paper.
**Now with this piece I created a pocket for cards so I put adhesive along the sides and bottom but not across the top so that I could slide cards in there**
Then I embellished the top of the pocket with a strip of ribbon.

To create the bottom pocket, I cut another piece of patterned paper down to ~4 inches and adhered it along the bottom of the layout.
**Again I only put adhesive along the sides and bottom and not across the top**
I embellished the top of this pocket with some fun fringe.

So now my layout has 2 pockets for me to put cards in!
The last thing I did was to add a label and the year. 
And here is the completed layout before I added cards:

Supplies: Patterned paper (Scenic Route), Brads (KI Memories), Alphabet stickers (Making Memories), Label sticker (Jenni Bowlin), Red ribbon (Doodlebug), Misc (white fringe)
All supplies (except brads & label sticker) are part of December Scripts kit.

I hope you are having a great holiday season!
gretchen

I thought it would be fun to share our Christmas card and the process I use when making a large number of cards. I like to use the "Henry Ford" method when I have a lot of the same cards to get done. I get all the pieces for the card done and ready, (as pictured below)then simply put them together in an assembly line order. This was the order that I made them in: adhere the card sentiment, all the photos, then the strip of patterned paper, pierce the hole for the brad and then attach the brad. You would be surprised how quickly they go together when you are not constantly switching between glue, punch, piercer and brads.

And here is the finished card:

The idea for the photo came from an advertisement in a magazine that my Mother-in-law found and when I saw it I thought the hands looked like a tree, which made me think it would make a great Christmas photo - just needed to add a star at the top! If you are wondering how we got the shot here is the original photo.

We sat on the stairs starting with Daddy and going down to the youngest - Zach who had his hands straight up in the air. After some trial and error we discovered that the hands were falling right in front of Nate's head so we actually draped a black sweater over him (poor kid, the things his Momma makes him do for a photo LOL). To get the final result all I had to do was some cropping, a little bit of black fill in photoshop, change it to black and white and that was it. Have a great week! Christine

Supplies: Paper, K&Co. Border Punch, Martha Stewart. Other, star brad.

I had so much fun playing with the foam ornaments that I decided to do the same thing with a couple of foam cones that I had.  I had previous plans for button trees but thought this would be pretty cool too!  I made two different ones - one with buttons and one just using cut out shapes, sequins and gems as embellishments:

These only took about 45 minutes to make - it's really easy!  You simply punch a circle from the patterned paper and attach using stick pins.  Then you can add buttons with more stick pins, or, add gems and cut out paper shapes!  I had so much fun creating these! 

I am seriously getting a kick out of creating Holiday projects!  If you have any to share, please link me up in the comments section, I'd love to see them!!

(Supplies:  Basic Grey Patterned Paper, Scribble Scrabble Patterned Paper, Martha Stewart Punch, Buttons, Foam Cones, Therm O Web Glue Dot Adhesive, Sequins, Gems, Stick Pins)