Christmas projects - Done At Last!!!

Well, I have finally finished all my Christmas craft projects and cleaned up my scraproom and shoved all the Christmas stuff into the cabinet...I didn't even want to look at it anymore!!!  LOL 

I decorated this box for my sons daycare workers and filled it with cookies that my sister baked.  I really loved how this box turned out, and I had a difficult time giving it away!  The color scheme suits me perfectly!!!  The boxes I use can be found at Walmart in their Christmas aisles.  I use the white boxes that have several in a package.  I stocked up last year during the after Christmas sale!

I made all of the flowers myself.  I lined the back of the box top with snowflake ornaments (found at Walmart), cut in half.  This large flower on the right is a twist off of Natasha's Curly Flower.  I put glitz stickles on the petals.  Love the little birdy...I used those birds a lot in my craft projects this year!!

More flowers I made.  The one in the upper left corner is a new one I just made and I love how it turned out.  I made a tutorial on it, that I'll be sharing later on.  The white stuff under the ribbon is that loose fake snow that I applied hot glue to the box then pressed it on top.  Yep...I got burned...but that is just the joys of playing with hot glue!!

These flowers I had used previously on a layout that I actually tore up (gasp!!!) .  I added some stickles to them and thought they were the perfect corner adornment for my box!  I applied a bunch of snow-tex all over the top of the box and the decorations...really am loving that stuff...and it adds that perfect winter touch!!

I made this box to put a gift card in, sure beats a card!  LOL  I made the flowers myself.  The largest one is Natasha's curly flower with a twist (link above).  I cut this box down to about half the size of the original so it wouldn't be too big for the gift card.  I also left the bottom white because I found out when I put paper on the last one, I had a hard time getting the lid on.  The box above, the lid fitted all the way to the bottom of the box, so the fitting wasn't an issue.  Live and learn...or create and learn...I guess!!  Again...I added snow-tex to the edges and some of the decorations.

On the white star/snowflake border around the bottom, I embossed it with white glitter to add the sparkly snow effect.  The middle flower in front of the large flower is mostly like Lisa Gregory's Retro Camelot Flower.   

I made 3 tags this year for my own gifts.  The background of this one is the technique Tim showed us on day 12 of his 12 tags of Christmas.  I didn't have any tissue wrap like his, but found that the tissue paper you buy at the store works just as well.  I embossed my Christmas tree and added white liquid applique for the snow and some stickles for lights.  The snowman is covered in fake snow technique by Cindy Rescorl, except I used picket fence distress crackle paint. 

This one is pretty simple...and my daughter thinks its plain, but I think my mom will love it!  I embossed the snowflakes on the background.  The bird is a digital stamp that I cut out and pieced together.  I made the rose myself and covered in stickles (momma likes bling!) .

This one is my favorite this year.  I inked the background with 2 blue distress inks.  Then the snow scene on the bottom is picket fence distress stain.  I embossed the trees, inked the tops and added some white liquid applique.  The trunks of the trees have the sakura glaze on them.  I then embossed the snowflake swirl.  Stamped the Peace sentiment.  I embossed the same snowflake swirl on the dear in silver, then inked him with walnut stain distress ink.

Well...that's all I did this year...but I am worn out!  But...I'm done!  YAY me!!!!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!!  May you be blessed and joyful!!!

Stephanie

Christmas Cards & Snowman Hats

I've finished my snowman hats and have 2 more to share with you.  I changed these a bit by making the "candles" colored.  All the flowers I made myself.  The other items were purchased at Walmart, Hobby Lobby, and wherever else I found them.  The "snow" is snow-tex from Hobby Lobby...love that stuff!!

Inside the "hat", I put home baked cookies...ordered from my very talented sister!! 

I also want to publicly thank my dad for cutting the boards!!! 

I only made 2 Christmas cards this year...time just flies away from me during this time of the year.  So, my bosses get one and my mailman gets the other! 

I made the flowers myself.  The "Believe" globe is a sticker.  I also made the bling myself.

Nothing too difficult this year.  I still have one more tag to make and one more box and I am done!!!  YAY!!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Stephanie

Snowman Hat gifts & Enchanting Layout

I wanted to share some Christmas gifts I've been working on with you.  The recipients better like them, because in the process of making them, I have ruined a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt...and MY CAR!!!  Yes, my car.  When I walked outside this morning, I realized I had speckled my car with white paint!!!  I need to start putting certain clothes aside as "scrapping clothes" so I will quit ruining things...as for the car...well I'm not going to have a "scrapping car" LOL....so reminder to myself...don't splatter paint in front of the car!!!

I bought a snowman hat at a craft fair because I loved the idea.  I changed a couple of things with the hats so as to not be like the original.  I put my coffee cans right side up, so I could fill them with cookies or potpourri or a cocoa mix gift...lots of ideas!! 

For the candle, I used a toilet paper roll, cut it and made it smaller to hold the electric tealight.  I needed something that the tealight could come out of, so you could turn it on & off or change the battery.  I painted it white, then sprinkled gold glitter over it.  I made the wax drippings with hot glue.  I used snow tex from Hobby Lobby for the drops of snow.  The 2 poinsettias I made and you can find the tutorial here.   All the other goodies I used to decorate I have found at Walmart, Menards, and Hobby Lobby.

Just a closer shot of the embellies.

This is the hat that painted my car!  LOL  I splattered the above can in my scraproom and realized that wasn't very smart...oh not....much smarter to take it outside and splatter my car!  I made the poinsettia and rose myself.  I love the little birdie I added to this one. 

Close up of the embellies.

I made this layout a couple of weeks ago and am just now getting it to posted.  I special thank you to my friend Alissa for her help on this...I texted her a pic and asked what was wrong.  She gave me some suggestions, and the layout ended up with a total make-over.

This is my daughter Shelby at the beach, a pic I had taken in the fall of 2010.  The flourish on the pic I added in Adobe photoshop elements before printing it out.

I made the flowers myself using the Spellbinders rose creation die.  I sprayed them with both blue and heirloon gold perfect pearls mist.  The little leaf stick pins were part of a birthday gift I got from my wonderful friends in JAFF Jr. at Scrapbook.com.  I made the bling myself.

The corner piece and butterflies are rub-ons.  The writing & leaf spray is a stamp that I embossed with distress black soot embossing powder.

The butterflies (I think) were from Lisa Gregory at What a Beautiful Mess.  She is always so generous with the stuff she makes.  I printed them out on photo paper, fussy cut them, then added some clear stickles.  Shape the wings a little bit then attach.

Added some stitching and ribbons.  The title is also a rub-on.  I believe all the rub-ons came from a package by Cherry Art. 

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look!!!

Stephanie

Poinsettia Tutorial

Supplies:

Flower: Paper Shapers 3" & 2" daisy punches, glue, clear or red stickles, cranberry color wash (or some other dark red mist or ink), scissors, embossing mat (mouse pad), stylus, paintbrushes - one really fine for detail, white mini pearls, snow-tex or liquid applique, red cardstock.

Leaves: Sizzix holly & berries die, forest moss distress ink & blending tool, green cardstock.




1. Punch 2 - 3" and 1 - 2" daisy shapes.  Using scissors, start at the point of each petal & cut a curved piece out.  After cutting all of them, I flip one of the 3" over, so the petals are going the opposite way.








2. Using the fine paintbrush & the cranberry color wash or other dark red liquid/ink, draw veins down the center of each petal.  You can also use a dark red fine-tipped marker or even a black marker if you have no reds.

3.  Shape each petal by bringing up the sides a bit (just put your finger in the center of the petal and bend the sides of the petal around it).  Pinch the tip together and bend slightly to the side.

Better view of the shaped petals.

4.  Layer and glue.  The large 3" that you flipped over, put in the middle so the petals are going the opposite way.

5.  Put some red or clear stickles on each petal.  I liked the red better.  In order not to over due the stickles though, I put a small dot  on each petal, then spread it around with a paint brush for just a light coating of stickles.

6.  Using clear glue, add your small pearls to the center of the flower.

After stickling, you may need to reshape your petals a little by pinching the tips of the petals and bending.

7.  Add your snow-tex or liquid applique to the tips and/or sides of the petals.  I used liquid applique on this one.

If using liquid applique, be sure and let it dry before heating it to make it puff.

Tip: wait until the stickles (or ink on the leaves) is dry before adding the snow-tex/liquid applique...otherwise, the color bleeds through and you no longer have white "snow". 


Leaves
1. Using the sizzix die, cut out 3 leaves. 
2.  Emboss a line down the center with veins. 
3.  Flip them over, then ink lightly with forest moss distress ink to make the veins pop out.
4.  Bend and shape your leaves slightly.
5.  Glue onto the back of your poinsettia.
*You can also add some snow-tex or liquid applique to the leaves, but be sure and wait until the ink dries or the snow will turn yellow....and no one wants yellow snow on their leaves :)

Finished flowers with white pearls in the center and red stickles on the petals.  These are my favorite.

Side view of poinsettia. 

These were the first ones I made.  As you can probably see, I didn't wait for the stickles/ink to dry, so my snow isn't very pretty.  I also colored my pearls butterscotch with alcohol ink and used clear stickles on the petals.

I prefer the flowers with the red stickles and white pearls myself. 





Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you enjoy making these!!!

Stephanie

Tags & a Gift Box - thank goodness Christmas has me creating again!!!

I am pretty excited right now.  Usually, I'm a bah-humbug around the Christmas season...all the get-togethers and commercialization of the holidays totally bum me out!  But...this year...Christmas has me crafting again...and for that...I'm pretty excited!! 

I've made some tags and a gift box that I wanted to share.  I apologize for the blurry pics on the tags...that's what I get for trying to take them in a hurry...and it is too late to re-take them, since they are already packaged for a gift.

For the background, I inked with Fired Brick distress ink, then sprayed with Forever Red perfect pearls mist.  I then embossed with the Sizzix - Tim Holtz - Texture Fades - Alterations Collection - Embossing Folders - Snow Flurries and Snowman.  In the embossed snowflakes, I put ice stickles. 

I made the snowman from the Sizzix - Tim Holtz - Texture Fades - Alterations Collection - Embossing Folders - Snow Flurries and Snowman, just cut him out of the paper.  I colored his arms, hat, and nose, then put crackle accents on him.  I tied some ribbon around his neck.  Added the "wish" stickers to the bottom of him.

I stickled the swirls that are behind him also and added some snowflake stickers.  The ribbon at the bottom I got from JoAnn's, just scrunched it up and glued with hot glue.

I love snowmen...so this tag is a favorite of mine.  The background is inked with stormy sky and sprayed with perfect pearls forever blue mist.  The snowflake was a cut off of a Deja Views C-Thru 12 X 12 lace cut paper with glitter.  I embossed with white glitter embossing powder several times.  On the bottom, I used snow-tex that I purchased from Hobby Lobby.  The "snowmen melt your heart", snowman, and shovel are all stickers. 

The background was inked with pine needles distress ink and sprayed with forever green perfect pearls.  I embossed the trees with Sizzix - Tim Holtz- Texture Fades - Alterations Collection - Embossing Folders - Branch Tree and Tall Pines.  Added white liquid applique to parts of the trees and heated when dry to puff it up.  Stamped the snowflakes and embossed them.  Added a stamped sentiment and some decorations on the bottom.  The bird is a stamp that I cut out and applied with pop dots.



On this one, the background was inked with Fired brick distress ink and sprayed with Forever red perfect pearls mist.  Added snow-tex to the bottom of the tag.  The nativity scene is an image from Thomas Kinkade that I printed out and adhered.  I cut the star on my silhouette, then used ice stickles on it.  Put the flower together with some home-made glittered vines.  The "Christmas Miracle" is a clear sticker.

Front View

I absolutely love how this gift box turned out.  I absolutely dreaded going into my craft room and working on it, because I just wasn't feeling the muse...but once I started, it took about an hour to complete and I love it.  I made the flower myself using Natasha's Curly Flower Tutorial.  This was my first time making this flower and I love how it turned out.  This would make a perfect bow for a present.  I put some paper underneath it folded up to give it some height on my box.

I covered the box with paper.  I love these boxes.  They are at Walmart in the Christmas section, and it's only $3 for a set of 5.  There are all kinds of shapes and sizes to choose from too.  Around the top of the box I put some snow-tex mostly to cover up the seam in the paper.

Left Side

I took some white ribbon, heated it up to get it to shape and shrink a bit, then hot glued it to the back of the box.  Took some red beads and draped them around the box.  Added the red, white, and green glittered sprigs and decorations that I have purchased from Walmart and Hobby Lobby. 

I've got a red bird glued next to the flower.  The green flower in the back is my own delicate rose flower, that I just realized I didn't have a tutorial on, so I will get one made. 

I glued a wooden Christmas tree on one side of the box, and a plastic candy piece on the other.  Added some white feathers to fill up the empty spaces.  

Right Side

Top View

Front View (again)

Thanks to all of you for checking out my blog and my creations!  Now, I'm going to fight blogger to put up a poinsettia flower tutorial! 

I hope you all have a wonderful day and Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!!!

Stephanie

My Memories Software winner announced

As promised (but almost forgotten) the winner of the contest for the My Memories Software Suite is comment #5, which is Whitney, who wrote: "This looks GREAT!!! Cute title, and yet so true! I love all the kits how do I choose?? I think the "It happened this year" kit is my favorite."

Congrats Whitney!!  Send me an email to claim your software!!

Thanks for playing,
Stephanie

Commenting

FYI:

I've been having problems commenting on other's blogs.  Finally, I got tired of it because I see some really great posts that I would love to comment on, but always get this error saying I don't have permission. 

I went to Blogger's help area and saw that there is a problem with commenting on posts when the comment section is embedded underneath the post.  For some reason though, if you have a pop-up comment form, there is no problem.

I'm asking everyone that sees this, to please change their comment options to the pop-up comment style, so that we can post comments.  I know I cannot possibly be the only one with this problem!!

My 1st Digi Layout & a contest for FREE My Memories Digital Software

I am pretty excited about the opportunity I have been given to try out the My Memories software and host a give-away for one blessed person to win their very own My Memories digital scrapbooking software.

After downloading the software, the first thing I did was check out their store for what I could get to go with it.  Oh my gosh, there are some very talented people creating some really awesome kits!!  I was excited to go through the free section and get so many goodies, and it was so hard to be selective when it came time to choose the ones I wanted to purchase.  My next step is to check out all the tutorials to learn how to digi scrap a lot better, but I just couldn't wait to try my first layout!

This is my daughter, Shelby and her boyfriend.  They make such a cute couple!  I know I have a lot to learn with shadows and layering, but for my first attempt, I think I did an OK job.  All of the stuff used on this layout was from the free section of the My Memories site! 

Now, for the give-away.  One person will be randomly selected to win a free copy of the My Memories Digital Scrapbook Suite.  To enter the drawing, just go to their site and find your favorite digital paper pack, then comment on my blog telling me which one you have chosen.  I will end this contest one week from today, and on Tuesday, November 15, I will announce the winner.

This digital scrapbooking software is so easy to use and navigate!  I strongly recommend it, especially if you are like me and have never digi scrapped before!!

Thanks for playing!

Stephanie

Master Chef & Birthday card

Well...hooray!  I'm finally back!  I've made a pretty simple layout for my first one in 6 months...I wanted to start out simple as I eased my way back into the scrapbooking world!  I've missed it...but I've definitely learned some lessons in the last few months.

This is my son, Elias playing with his kitchen set.  I cut the title and shapes on my silhouette and colored them with Roseart brand colored pencils.  I need to invest in better pencils...those just aren't very good.  This page took me about an hour...which is a record for me I think.  I used the Martha Stewart zig zag punch on the striped paper.  I forgot all about distressing and inking until I was finished...lol!  Oh well...it will all come back to me in time.

I made this card for my niece's birthday.  I am really happy with it...its different than most I've ever done...pretty simple in my eyes...but I really liked it.  I colored the image with the Roseart colored pencils.  The image came from http://sliekje.blogspot.com/.  She has lots of great hand-drawn images and they are FREEEEEEE!!!!  I like free!  LOL

Well...easy and simple for my re-entrance, but I really enjoyed doing them!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!!

Stephanie

U R CUTE layout

This is a layout I actually made back in the beginning of February for several challenges at scrapbook.com.  Some things happened in my life that totally zapped my scrapbooking desire, and I'm just now getting back into the mood to scrap again...back to my creative world!  It sure does feel good, and I'm excited to begin again. 

The paper is Basic Grey Bittersweet collection.  I used Martha Stewart Doily Lace border punch on the black background, then painted some streaks on with Tim Holtz white paint dauber.  I cute the hearts with my silhouette, then inked them and drew stitches on them.  The flowers I made myself using the same paper as the layout.  The hearts and title stickers are also from the Bittersweet collection.  The bling I made myself.  Not sure where the butterfly sticker came home. 

The picture is my daughter, Shelby, back when she was only a couple of years old.  She was such a beautiful girl...still is actually!

 Thanks so much for taking a look...and for bearing with me as I took a break from the scrapbooking world!  I haven't forgotten the promised tutorial on the mini rose, so look for that soon!

Stephanie

Bling

I have another order for bling, poor girl has waited over a month.  The order isn't complete yet, but she wanted soft pearl yellow, light tan, and burgundy....hmmmmmm....now what exactly is she looking for?  So, I'm posting the colors I've got to let her decide so I can hopefully finish her order before another month goes by.

Burgundy

Cranberry

Shiny Country Red

Pearl Champagne

Yellow Pearl

Thanks for looking,
Stephanie