I love adding sparkle to homemade holiday decor. This is a fun little wreath to add some holiday cheer to the second level of my home. I made the wreath from cardboard that came in a shipment of scrapbook goodies. You can use an old box, or any material that is sturdy. I used my Creative Memories circle cutter to make a circle. I picked up some tinsel from Target (a good time to get those holiday decorations on sale). I cut a length of the tinsel to wrap around the circle that I thought would be enough and stapled the end piece to the back once I had covered the frame. Then I looked through my stash on hand and added some fun sparkle elements and embellishments. The final step is to add a piece of ribbon to hang and volia! :) This is a good way to use supplies on hand and to recycle!  Have a wonderful and blessed holiday!

Products Use: Adhesive (Scrapbook Adhesives Square Pop Dots);Gems (Heidi Swapp); Letters (K & Company);Pattern Paper (Hambly, Paper-Source and Sassafrass Lass) Misc:Angel Punch (Michael's);Fabric Flowers,and Tinsel (Target)

I love the Christmas season for many reasons.
One thing in particular that I enjoy is having the chance to think, evaluate my life, and reflect.
I know this can go on during the rest of the year but it seems like Christmas always brings that out in me.
And of course I have to scrapbook about it!

Here is the layout I created for 2008.
It is not necessarily Christmas-y but it does document my thoughts & feelings!

(Supplies: All supplies from August Jenni Bowlin kit.
Patterned paper, Bingo card, cardstock stickers: Jenni Bowlin Studios; Glittler alpha stickers: Making Memories; Pearls: Kaiser Craft)

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season!

Merry Christmas!
gretchen

I can't believe there are only 9 days left until Christmas! If you're like me, you're still running around and trying to get things ready. I'm still making Christmas cards. This one uses one of my favorite supplies - vintage sheet music. I can usually find it in the local thrift shop. I love looking at the words in the songs to see how I can incorporate them into my projects. When I found the music for Silent Night, I KNEW I had to use it on a Christmas card.

 

I created the card and decided to cut the words from the music and use them as my sentiment.

 

I layered half of a chipboard snowflake, and a part of an embellishment to make the bird's wing. Then I added a star jewel to the top of it.

 

 

And here is the finished product:

 

Check garage sales or used book stores for sheet music. There are lots of scrapbook papers that have music printed on them as well. To make them look vintage, add some brown ink to the edges.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! ~Anabelle

(Supplies: Patterned Paper-K and Company, My Mind's Eye, Sheet Music, Die Cuts- K and Company, My Mind's Eye, Glitter- Ranger, Jewels- Darice, Chipboard-K and Co.)

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.

For this last example -which is my favorite, you get to dust off those foam stamps hiding in the back of your scrap stash. I used red paint and stamped the word JOY on my paper leaving room where the ribbon would go. I think this is what I am going to do for all my presents, I adore type in any form and I think it would be so cool to look under the tree and see all the presents with big red words on them! JOY, HOPE, MERRY CHRISTMAS, even TO: and FROM: would look cute!

Here are the finished presents:

A few other things you could use on the paper are just regular stamps, 7gypsies self inking stamps would be cute repeated over and over. Cut out paper snowflakes and use them as masks. Make homemade potato stamps with the kids and have them help stamp the paper. Painting your child's hands and having them stamp their hand print would make great wrapping paper for Grandparents. So many possibilities! Have a great week! Christine

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

How are your decorations for the holidays coming along?  We've managed to get the tree up and some lights outside.  Still have a lot of things to get hung and placed before company comes in the next couple of weeks.  As far as the tree goes, my kids have hung, rehung and rearranged every ornament on the tree that they can get to and some that I thought they couldn't! 

What special ornaments do you have that your kids (or even you) love - something that they've made, something they've been given, something they've chosen special?  Consider creating a layout highlighting one of those special ornaments!

We have one special ornament that all our kids love - it sings Jingle Bells and has a little sled with riders that makes its way around the ornament.  This layout features our daughter holding that ornament...

Layout Credits:  Lisa Whitney Holiday Spirit paper, ribbons; Believe alphas; Beautiful Mess journaling blocks; Jenna Desai Festive Ornaments (the-lilypad);  Nancy Comelab UFC frame; Jackie Eckles Paint Dribbles (littledreamerdesigns); Font - FB Biege

Ah, the age old question. How to get the scrapbooker into the scrapbook?
How to make the one who captures the memories part of the memories?

For the next couple of weeks, I will be creating an All About Me album.
And I would like to invite you along for the journey. It will have some elements
of the holidays since we are in the midst of the hustle and bustle…but it will
focus on us. Yep, we will be the focus of an entire album. While this idea is
certainly not a new one, it may be an unexplored area for some of us. I have
definitely not ventured deep enough into this idea.

For my first entry, I decided to document a tradition I participate in each year
at work. My workplace makes retired residents and family names available for
“adoption.” You choose a name and grant their holiday wish.



I chose a woman named Helen. She wished for a large-faced watch.
I enjoyed my time searching for the perfect timepiece. I actually purchased 2 for her!

I hope you can carve out some time during this busy season to pay tribute to
you - the one who dedicates a lot of love and creativity to your scrapbooks.

If you are wondering how to begin, start by documenting your feelings at this time
of year, your feelings about shopping for gifts, writing up holiday cards, or donating
time to your community. Start with how you are feeling at this moment.

Next week I will share some more pages and additional prompts and ideas. Hope this is
the beginning of a wonderful holiday season for you!

~Kim

"Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you
never want to lose."
-Kevin Arnold

(Digital Supplies: Stitches by LindaGB(tree trunk) and Susan Batdorf, Patterned Paper by
Gina Cabrera, Kraft Paper unknown, other elements created in Photoshop.)