This Was A "Must" For Me

When I got an recent Archiver's email I went a little "ga-ga" over this little snowman. I could not wait to try to make him. It reminded me of technique I did as a child and used an old Reader's Digest and folded the pages to create an accordion type Christmas Tree, Snowman, or Santa head. This is a little different because this is "rosettes" that are stacked to form the shape and then other parts that are formed, quilled, or punched for accents.

I did take mine a step farther and added a "music button" to mine that plays "Frosty The Snowman." (Something I happened to have on-hand.)

This was not hard to make, it only took cardstock, patience, and time to complete.

Here is my finished snowman:










Archiver's had a pattern for a pumpkin, Christmas Tree, and Snowman. All of them using the same technique to make.... all of them simple.... and all of them a great decoration or gift.

I can not re-post the pattern because it is not mine to give BUT I will link you to the Archiver's site. Click Here for the Link!

And you are ready to go! I had all of the supplies on hand but if you don't there is an Archiver's near you or use the Archiver's Annex to purchase what you need.

I will give you a hint..... it is much easier to score entire sheets of cardstock first and then cut them into strips and then accordion fold them. Either way you do it you will get the same results BUT it saved me time.

Happy Scrappin' ! ! !

Brenda

Monogramed Gifts For Co-Workers

I love personalized gifts. There are different kinds of personalized gifts as well. The ones that are personalized to a specific person, such as, a note pad for a secretary or office employee who is always taking notes. My feeling is why not take it a step farther and monogram it for a very special person.

That is what I did with today's gift. I used a Jr. Legal Pad for this project.

These are the easiest things to make and can be customized for any sized tablet. Simply measure the pad, add 1/8 inch to the top, bottom and one side. Then measure the width of the "binding" and add the first measurement to that so that the "folder" goes around the tablet. You can add a contrasting color to the binder and add a pocket to the inside for things like a business card or receipt and add your favorite monogram to the front and you have an easy gift done in less than a half hour.





I don't want to leave anyone out so I do a head count of how many I need for a particular department, make the "folders" ahead of time and then the people I know I monogram their. The people that I do not know I try to find out their initials but if I can not get that then I do a generic embellishment. The important thing is that people know you recognize them and not one be overlooked.

Easy gifts to make ahead.

Happy Scrappin' ! ! !

Brenda

Called For Duty

If you call a phone call from a friend to ask for something special for a special occasion a "call for duty," then I have been called.

Friends were planning a shower and they wanted things a little more elegant that throwing a printed sign in front of the pitchers of drinks. I don't blamed them. The little special touches make the difference between an okay shower and a memorable shower.

This was such a simple concept. Tags to hang from the pitchers of tea to let guests know if it the container had sugar or no sugar. I got basic information like the size of the container and colors for the shower and went to work.

I got out my scrap papers/cardstocks, my Cricut, George & Basic Shapes, Savory, and Lacy Labels Cartridges and made these little medallion type tags.d\

This is one side of the labels:



This is the reverse side of the above labels:



Just remember to take a few extra minutes and a little extra thought for those special touches.

Happy Scrappin' ! ! !

Brenda

A Funny, Special Christmas Gift

This one goes out to my God-Children, Karley and Sean. Their mom, one of my dearest friends loves getting hand-made cards. She always tells me that she looks forward to the hand-made things I send her and the children. With that in mind I am always looking for a special card or gift to make them. This year was no different.

Another friend of mine, Glenda, had this coffee filter book and I looked at it and fell in love with this little book. It was so special with all of its pockets and hiding places. A book made out of coffee filters? Yes, but when I heard coffee filters I thought of the ones that my coffee machine took with the rippled edges, and these were the cone type which made so much more sense to me. Evidently these books have been around for while and were all the rage at Stampin' Up parties and camps. Since I don't stamp very often I was out of the loop on this one.

Glenda and I planned a scrapping date so that we could each make one of these odd little books. At the time I did not know what I would do with the book. I honestly didn't even know how I would embellish my pages since I do know have very many stamps. I didn't even know the theme that I wanted to do because let's face it the possibilities with a mini photo album like this are endless!

Glenda and I got together and had an afternoon of chatting and scrapping. I pulled out Christmas papers, coordinating colored cardstock, dies, ribbons, eyelets and other miscellaneous supplies. And together we figured out what we needed to do to make this nifty little scrapbook. She made one of her own but used stamps that she had brought with her. It was not until after she left that afternoon it hit me that this would be a perfect "hide & seek" gift for my God-Children. I never know what to get them and money is always the universal gift but I get tired of just handing them money. I continued working on the project for the next couple of afternoons.

I wrote a little poem for them, instructing them before they ever open the box that they had to get mom to take a list of pictures as they go, and that they must take turns looking for the next hidden bil or gift cardl. The poem ends with a verse about each having the same amount and that the pictures should be cropped or shrank and placed in the places on the pages and then given to their mom as their gift to her.

Anyway... enough babbling about the story of where the book is going. Below you find the pictures of the book.

This is the front of the book, and then a picture of the tag that is nestled in the pocket that was formed by the coffee filter:





Then you have pages 1 & 2, and then a picture of the tag (that is also a pocket) hidden in the coffee filter :





Pages 3 & 4, along with the items that are hidden there. (The present on the page is only glue on the two sides and bottom so that something can be slid in the gift):





Pages 5 & 6, and with this side pocket is a tag. Even though I tried to stay with the black, red, white that is in the 3 printed cardstocks that I used, I also wanted to use the traditional Christmas green for accents. I ended up using a little brown, silver, and gold which I had not planned on but like all the same.





Pages 7 & 8. In addition to the coffee filter pockets there are two more pockets with removable tags. The top of the stocking is open and has a Christmas light tucked in it and the square on the right houses the Gingerbread man. When I took the pictures of the book I did not notice that I missed putting a ribbon on the light bulb tag. That has since been corrected:









And finally the back of the book:



This was a lot of work but worth every minute that I spent doing it after I had a focus of where it was going to go and be used for.

I think this will be fun for my God-Children to thumb through and explore and find the hidden money and gift cards and if they follow the enclosed directions their mom will also have a keepsake of the Christmas Gift as well.

I hope all of you are able to find some inspiration in this project.

Happy Scrappin' ! ! !

Brenda

A Little Something For My Holiday Decorating

This time I am making something for me.... perhaps not so much for me but for my Christmas tree! I stumbled across a couple of pictures of old crafts and decorating made new by not only a scrapbooking company but also a crafting diva.

As a child I would make paper chains of brightly colored papers and because I had made them my mom would allow me to put them on the tree. A little old fashioned type of decoration that had been around since my own mom was a little girl. Now with new Martha Stewart scrapbooking/craft punches you can relive those childhood moments and make some elegant paper chains for the tree, mantal, or for around a door or staircase.

Here is the picture of the ones I have started:



These are so easy to make. I took a 12 x 12 sheet of paper and cut it in half. So that it is 12 x 6. I started punching the strips with the punch along the 6" side of the 12 x 6 sheet. I just had to line up the previous cut to make a continuous design. It was that easy. I ended up with a 6" strip that I formed into a ring and added more rings from there.

This lace paper chains will be used on my tree, added to garlands that go up the banister of my staircase and the garland around my front door.

Then comes the tree topper for the season. Once again the crafting diva, Martha Steward comes to the rescue with a new template to make these spirals, that when 6 are combined a beautiful star is the end result.

Here is a picture of my finished star:



I used the 6 inch template, but I will tell you, I made these as a child and you can still download the instructions on-line if you do not want to spend the $12.99 on the template. (I used a 40% off coupon at Michael's to purchase mine.)

Sometimes a touch of old-fashioned is an elegant touch. I hope that you make at least one hand-made item for holiday decorating.

Happy Scrappin' ! ! !

Brenda

For The "Grinch's" In Your Life

With Christmas comes my warped sense of humor. There are generally those who do not like Christmas and try to put a damper on the holiday season. To them I refer to the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. What a great holiday tradition that movie has become.

I think the Grinch has been incorporated into many people's holiday traditions. I know here at my house it has.

Once again while surfing Pinterest for some new ideas I found this little craft. I found 2 different version of it, one using green M&Ms and the other using Spearmint Tic Tacs. I set out to do the Tic Tac version of it.

Nothing can ever be easy, and so with that said perhaps my journey to make these will help you do it with more ease.

I could not find the Spearmint Tic Tacs. Come to find out they do not make that flavor any longer. So to find another flavor in the correct color of green turned out to be my biggest challenge. Low and behold I found "Green Apple" Tic Tacs that were the same color as the Grinch. Perfect!

I then downloaded the "cut" file for folder.... it did not fit. It was fabricated for the smaller package of Tic Tacs - also no longer produced. So out came the Cricut Design Studio, George Cartridge, and scrap paper. It only took two tries to get the design the right size and everything welded. I was able to get six of these folders out of a 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock.

I then had to re-size the front of it. For that I used my computer and Print Shop. One sheet of white cardstock will make 12 of the fronts for the folders.

Score the folders, add a thin holiday colored ribbon, put a little green ink around the white front for the folder, glue into place, insert the tic tacs and tie a bow and these are set to go.





These are going to be a holiday hit... great for me to give clients and a few "Grinch's" along the way.

Happy Scrappin' ! ! !

Brenda

Little Christmas Gifts

Between now and Christmas I will be posting more of the "little" gifts that I have made.

Today's "little" gifts are for co-workers. These are Hershey Nuggets that I used 2 or 3 different double-sided holiday scrapbooking papers to cover the original gold wrappers. Using the same paper/cardstock I fabricated a tray for the candies to nest in and put them in a Wilton Pretzel Bag. I then made a "topper" for the bag and used a die cut with Stickles for a final touch.

This idea is not my own, I found it on Pinterest.





These are inexpensive little gifts and allow me to let co-workers know that I thought of them during the Christmas season.

Happy Scrappin' ! ! !

Brenda

Christmas Is In The Air - Really ? - It Is That Time Of Year !

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. It is the beginning of November already, in fact, the first week of November is gone already. The children (grown and still at home) have handed me their Christmas lists. All the while, I am still in Spring mode.

I do not know where the time goes. School is almost done, work is all consuming, and family still comes first, which also means that my crafting and scrapbooking has become a thought of "when I have time." That I assure almost never happens these days.

I promised myself recently that I am going to take at least 2 or 3 hours each week to do some form of crafting. It keeps me sane, which also explains my recent meltdown about papers being turned in, deadlines being met, oversleeping, and work being all consuming and the balancing act with family and the needs of my household.

Recently I took 2 weeks off from everything, I got back to my craft table. I loved it. My list of handmade Christmas gifts is a mile long and I only have a few short weeks to get them all done. Some of my list is for co-workers, family, my favorite clients, friends, and church buddies.

Today I am sharing something that I made for four of my co-workers. I found this idea on Pinterest and knew I had to at least try it. It was not without its' trials. I learned as I went.

So here are the pictures:





These are holiday drink coasters. They are made from 4x4 white ceramic tiles, holiday snack napkins, Modge Podge, Clear drying Polyurethane spray, E-6000 glue, and thin cork.

They sounded simple enough to make until you start laying those napkins on the first layer of Modge Podge and I got wrinkles and air bubbles in the napkin. I finally realized that they have to be "rolled" onto the layer of Modge Podge and came to the conclusion that the wrinkles gave them character. I also discovered that it is best to let the first layer of Modge Podge and napkin to dry completely before putting the layer of Modge Podge over the napkin. This step prevents the napkin from tearing. Then my second realization while making these was that you should not use an acrylic sealer, because when you stack them the cork that you have glued to the bottom will stick to the top of the next. That was a mess! So I salvaged what I could and used a real polyurethane sealer on them. I managed to salvage about half of my original coasters.

This is a craft that can be made for any holiday and after you get into the rhythm of making them and a little trial and error make a lovely "folk art" type gift.

It isn't to late to start and complete a project like this for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Happy Scrappin' ! ! !

Brenda