Countdown til Christmas

Okay, here's one more of the Christmas crafts that we are working on - Countdown til Christmas Tree.   Below you will find more detailed photos of each area of the tree as well as the supplies used.

Countdown Tree ~ Star

Every tree needs a star and this tree is no exception.  The wooden star from KaiserCraft was painted with gold craft paint and truly shines at the top.

Countdown Tree ~ Numbers 

This tree has wooden tabs that you turn each day to countdown the days until Christmas. With the number combination you can begin counting with 32 days to go.

Countdown Tree ~ Tree Skirt

~ Supplies Used ~

Wooden Countdown Tree & Number Tabs - KaiserCraft

Red and Green Patterned Paper - Single sheets from Michael's

Wooden Star - KaiserCraft

Red Ribbon - Martha Stewart Crafts

Green Ric Rac - Martha Stewart Crafts

Red & Green Glitter Dots - Recollections

Red Glitter Letters - Making Memories

"Evergreen" acrylic craft paint - Michael's

"Christmas Red" acrylic craft paint - Michael's

"Gold" acrylic craft paint - Michael's

Adhesives - Xyron, Tombow & GlueDots

"Opposites Attract" - Cricut cartridge

Christmas Tree Mini Album

With only a few days until Thanksgiving, I realized that I have limited time to create all of the Christmas crafts that I have on the schedule this year.  The girls and I really enjoyed making handcrafted gifts last year and decided to do it again this year.  So the supplies have been purchased (well, most of them anyway... there always seems to be something that I forget - like green craft paint) and we have started a few of the crafts.  I wanted to share one of the crafts that we made with you... Our Christmas Tree Mini Album...  It is one of my favorites to make.  The wooden base that you start with gives you such a wonderful blank canvas that your imagination and creativity are really your only limitations.  I have a total of four of these albums to make and want each one to be different - still Christmas themed, but different colors, patterns, etc.  This mini album is Mistletoe.  As always there is a list of supplies used at the bottom of this entry, in case you would like to create one for yourself.

Mistletoe ~ Front

Mistletoe ~ Pages 2 & 3

Detailed View of Page 3

Mistletoe ~ Pages 4 & 5

Detailed View of Page 4

Mistletoe ~ Pages 6 & 7

Detailed View of Page 7

The back of the album is simply covered in the same black and white polka dot paper.  In the past I have put areas for photos and other things on the back but the wear and tear on them because of their location prompted me to exclude anything from the back of these albums.

~ Supplies Used ~

Wooden Christmas Tree Journal - KaiserCraft

"Mistletoe" Papers - Making Memories

Red Glitter Lettering - Making Memories

"Mistletoe" Embellishments - Making Memories

Clear Square Sparkles - Close to My Heart

Wooden Sleigh (pg 4) - KaiserCraft

Ribbons - Michael's

"Christmas Red" Crafter's Acrylic Paint - Michael's

"Gold" Stickles - Online Vendor

"Cranberry" inkpad - Close to My Heart

"New England Ivy" inkpad - Close to My Heart

Adhesives - Xyron, Tombow & GlueDots

First Year Cover Page

This is the cover page for an album that I created for a family friend. The photo has a strange shimmer to it, but I think it is just the result of taking a photo of a photo. This page was inspired by a sketch from Creative Scrappers. A great blog that I go to for inspiration when my muse is otherwise engaged. :)

The title was created using "Lots of Dots" lettering. I chose three colors from the color palette (Moonstruck, Topiary and Goldrush). Using a sponge dauber, I added the colors to the appropriate letters and the dots resist the color thus giving the letters a custom made dotted appearance. I love these letters and plan to use them in future pages and crafts.

The paper flower on this page is a punched circle flower.  Using a 1 1/4" circle punch, I punched 7 circles from a double-sided pattern paper.  Then I folded 6 of the circles into thirds, overlapping the edges.  The next step was to center and adhere the points of the 6 folded circles on the remaining circle.  I added one of the Splendor Designer Brads to finish the flower.

Supplies Used:

All supplies used are from Close to My Heart.

"Splendor" Paper Packet

"Splendor" My Stickease

"Splendor" Designer Brads

Topiary Embroidery Floss

"Lots of Dots" Alphabet

1 1/4" Circle Punch

Moonstruck Ink Pad

Topiary Ink Pad

Goldrush Ink Pad

Almost there...

Our renovations are almost complete and I am starting to put together my new craft room.  I have so much more space than I did in our old house, but my new space is also different space.  So that has meant a lot of sorting and reorganizing to get everything into useable spaces.  While it is tedious, the positive thing is that I have realized how much stuff I have.  Before it was tucked away in so many little spaces that I didn't realize what I had.  I don't think that I will need to buy any paper any time soon... Although, I saw some new designs at the craft store earlier this week and was SO tempted to buy... but I was good and left the store with only what I went in to buy - more paper storage! LOL!!!  I hope to get finished with my craft room soon and get started creating again!  Also, summer is almost over which means that the kiddos will be back in school which will give me more time to dedicate to some great crafts.

Valentine Card

This is the Valentine card that we made for the girls to take to their friends at school. They liked that the cards were handcrafted and still got to have candy inside. According to my daughters, their friends loved them.

~ Front ~

~ Inside ~

~ With Candy ~

Products Used:
Kraft Paper Cards & Envelopes - Recollections
Hollyhock Textured Cardstock - CTMH
White Daisy Cardstock - CTMH
"Love U" - Lyrical Letters Cricut Cartridge
White Daisy Grosgrain Ribbon - CTMH
Heart Corner Punch - EK Success
"Happy Valentine's Day" stamp - CTMH
M&Ms attached with Tombow Adhesive

Feeling Buggy

I really enjoyed making the "Love" wine charms. But those were gifts so I decided to make some for myself. At the store I found some really cute bug charms... I know bugs don't sound so cute... but I will let them speak for themselves...

~ Bug Charms ~

~Dragonfly ~

~ Ladybug ~

~ Bee ~

~ Owl ~

~ Frog ~

~ Snail ~

Products Used:
Silver Charm Rings - Elite Better Beads
4mm crystallized beads - Jolee's
Colors Used: Lt Purple, Red, Yellow, Amber, Green/Yellow, Lt Blue/Aqua, Crystal
Spacer Beads - Elite Better Beads
Bug Charms - Jolee's

"Love" Wine Glass Charms

~ Red ~

~Pink ~

~ Green ~

Products Used:
Silver Charm Rings - Elite Better Beads
4mm crystallized beads - Jolee's
Colors Used: Red, Purple, Pink, Lt Purple, Lt Blue, Green, Crystal
Spacer Beads - Elite Better Beads
Heart Charms - Jewelry Essentials

Under the Tree Album

~ Cover ~

~ Pages 2-3 ~

~Pages 4-5 ~

~Pages 6-7 ~

~ Back Cover ~

~ Another view of cover ~

~ Detail View ~
Products Used:
Christmas Tree Album - KaiserCraft
"Eskimo Kisses" paper - Basic Grey
"Eskimo Kisses" embroidered brads - Basic Grey
Rub-ons - Basic Grey
Crystal Sparkles - CTMH
Ribbon - CTMH

Love is in the Air

We replaced our turkeys with handcrafted snowmen, but unfortunately I didn't get a picture of our cute "Frosty" men. Now after enduring almost two weeks of cold, frosty air in Florida, we have made something that will give everyone that warm, fuzzy feeling... Crayon Hearts! My daughters helped me create this adorable wax paper hearts. We added some glittered words to the top of the windows as well as some glittered hearts so now our breakfast nook is ready for the holiday of love!

Items needed:
Crayons (we used pinks and purples)
Wax paper
Handheld pencil sharpener
Iron
Kraft paper
Ribbon/Thread of your choice (we used white ricrac ribbon)

Begin with a 12-by-16-inch sheet of waxed paper. Fold it in half along its length; unfold. Deposit wax-crayon shavings (made with a handheld pencil sharpener) evenly but not thickly across one half of the paper. Fold the clean half of the paper over the shavings. Crimp the three open edges with a 1/2-inch fold to hold the shavings. Protect your ironing surface with kraft paper. Place the waxed paper on the kraft paper, and cover it with another sheet of kraft paper. Iron lightly on medium heat, checking after every few passes. Stop when all the shavings have melted; let cool. Next, trace and cut out hearts of various sizes. String each heart with a ribbon or thread of your choice for hanging.

"Believe" Book

Products Used:
"Believe" My Word Book - BoBunny
"Christmas" Paper - American Crafts
Embellishments - BoBunny
Rub-Ons - Not sure
Ribbons - American Crafts, Making Memories and CTMH
"Magnolia White" acrylic paint - Ceramcoat