Easy Holiday Ornament and Gifts

Hi All!  Practical Scrapper Laura here today!  I absolutely
love holiday crafting.....don't you?  One of the things that
I'm a fan of is taking simple items, and creating gifts or home
decor.  This ornament is super simple, but would make a great
gift, package decoration, or pretty addition to any tree:

To think it started out with grabbing a dollar store type ornament and
a few random embellishments from my stash:
  

I added an American Crafts rhinestone brad to the Tim Holtz
metal charm, and then wrapped it with a small bit of tulle:

I punched circle from BoBunny paper, and inked around the edges
with Black Soot Distress Ink, then I glued the circle to the snowflake,
and the deer to the paper using Glossy Accents:

In this pic above you can also see how I strung the tulle thru the
crystal bead charm, and also used it to attach the "25" to the
ornament as well.  Here is another view of the attached pieces:

The finishing touch at the top was a pretty bow, with some tinsel
twine, and an American Crafts sparkly button.

Don't be afraid to pull out some miscellaneous items from your
stash and just create....you never know what you'll come up with!

Happy holiday crafting.....and thanks for stoppin' by!

Sparkly Joy Altered Letters

Good morning, Scrappin' Friends! I'm Wendy Coffman from Stamping Rules, and I'm here to share this glittery holiday display today. I got these cool paper mache letters which I painted with layers of grey and silver acylic paint. The front of the letters I coated with lots of silver glitter, just some standard chunky kid glitter. Then I got to work with the Mod Podge, pasting on hexagons I cut with my Cricut machine. After all the hexagons were attached and trimmed around the letters I did a final coat of Mod Podge and coated the letters with a clear chunky plastic glitter. 

Here you can see the final coating of what I always call kid glitter because it's uber chunky. It adds a lot of sparkle but still let's your paper shine through! I topped off each letter with a snowflake embellishment I built out of glitter paper cricut cuts and some rhinestone brads that I've been hoarding for just this kind of special project. I finished off my bling with a sparkle flourish for each letter. I adhered the flourishes with lots of Liquid Glass, which dried clear so it didn't interfere with the sparkle of the letters. For the parts of the flourish that were not actually attached to the letters I just flipped the whole thing over and coated the sticky part of the flourish with more Liquid Glass so it wouldn't attract hair or dust. I can't wait to add these letters to my holiday mantel!

If you'd like to see more pics of this project, and links to my craft sources, please visit me over at Stamping Rules. Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Canvas

Hi everyone!  It's Practical Scrapper Leslii Wagner here today to share a Christmas wall hanging I recently made to use as a decoration in my own home.

I had seen a sign on Pinterest that I loved using words to form a Christmas Tree and wanted to do this same sign, but with my own touches.

I started with a 12x12 canvas and then Mod Podged a 12x12 paper directly on to the canvas.  I tend to use Mod Podge quite often when making altered projects and I continue to get good results.

My next step was to cut out the words. I chose a red glitter paper and  I used my Cricut Expression and Type Candy Font cartridge.  With the Cricut set to 1 3/4", I cut the words using all capital letters.  The words then had to be placed on the canvas.  Unfortunately, due to the back of the glitter paper having such a smooth, non-absorbant back side, I couldn't use Mod Podge.  I chose to turn the letters into stickers instead using my Zyron sticker maker.  I found the center of my canvas, started with the word Christmas, and then worked my way up from there.

I wanted to do something a little special for the star so I cut another star 1/4" larger in a light gold glitter paper and then layered the red star on top.  I used the same gold paper to make a border.  I then finished my canvas by randomly adding green gems to the "tree".

I hope I am helping to get you into the Christmas spirit!

Practical Scrapper Leslii

Last Minute Gift Idea!

 Practical Scrapper Krissy Clark McKee here today, and I want to talk to you about Christmas gifts.  Specifically, I want to talk to you about that moment when your stomach sinks almost every year because you realize you forgot to get your favorite Aunt Betty (our Cousin Jim or Sorority Sister Susie) a gift.  And you know what that means - it means a two hour trip to the mall, and that's just to find a parking spot!  Well, I discovered this solution last Christmas, and I loved it so much, I am bringing it back this year. 

 

What is it?  Well, it's a cd case - really, that's it.  But if you just happen to have blank cds on hand (and we always do), it makes a wonderfully personal yet inexpensive homemade gift that your family and friends are sure to "ooh and ahh" over.  You can share favorite recipes, send a year's worth of family photos, or send along your favorite holiday songs to brighten someone's day.  And the best part is - you get to stay home in your pajama pants AND play with your craft supplies at the same time!  As an added bonus, cd cases are small and easy to mail.

This is how I made my gift cd case.  First, I cut my papers to the size of the front of the cd cover and simply glued them to the top of the case.  I did not glue them inside the cover because 1) I like to have a second piece of paper inside and 2) if the paper is on top of the case, it allows you the freedom to have more three dimensional covers, such as with this 3-D Christmas Tree, which is really a Silhouette cutting file designed by Lori Whitlock.  Lori makes excellant cutting files, and her website includes links to her YouTube tutorials (including one for this tree ornament), which are easy to understand and follow along.

I "decorated" my Christmas tree with baker's twine, a small tag, a jingle bell, and a star at the top.  I also used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out a large snowflake for the background, which I lightly covered with silver Stickles to give it a little sparkle.

Next, I covered the inside of my CD case.  Once again, I cut my paper to the size of the inside of the case.  I added a little glue to the back so it wouldn't come loose.  I kept it simple and included a small tag holder and tag that contains a handwritten note.  Alternate ideas include adding a play list, a table of contents, a photo, anything you want as long as it is relatively flat. 

And that's it - mission accomplished AND you managed to avoid the Christmas-traffic craziness!

**Designer projects are not always linked in our posts, but you can always find their blogs in our sidebar or in the staff tab**

December Daily 2012 - Are You Ready?

Hi there! Practical Scrapper Alison here. I hope you are enjoying your Thanksgiving Long Weekend. We've already celebrated our Thanksgiving (I'm Canadian so we celebrate in October) and turned our attention to Christmas! In that vein, today I'd like to show you my foundation pages for this years December Daily album.What is a December Daily, you ask? It is a project started by Memory Keeping Guru Ali Edwards designed to help you record the daily goings on during the Holiday Season. You can check out her blog for more information here and see what she's prepared to use this year here.

2012 is my 3rd year embarking on this journey with her (and thousands of like minded memory keepers out there!) I'd love for you to check out my previous albums. You can find 2010 here and 2011 here. Both of these albums use digital templates that I purchased from Ali Edwards and this year she is offering them again but I have decided to try my hand at making my own. I've downloaded a trial version of Photoshop Elements with the assurance from Greg that I can have the full blown version whenever I want (it was actually a birthday present that I haven't cashed in yet!) We'll see how it goes. I may break down and buy hers in the end!!

So, what have I got ready for 2012? I'm sure you're all dying to see some pictures, right?
Well, here you go ...

This is what I have so far. In previous years I have had every single page ready to go - all I needed to do was add pictures, journalling and some embellishment. This year I want to leave room for a bit more creative freedom so my pages are pretty unfinished (as you will see). I'm also hooked on the Art Journal look so a lot of my pages will be more art journal and less traditional scrapbook page.

This is a close up of my cover page embellishments. I am using mostly Echo Park papers from various Christmas lines (some have been in my stash for a while so it's time to use them up!) The frame was one I found in the clearance bin at Michael's several months ago. It was originally turquoise but a couple coats of some white craft paint and some brown ink distressing and voila! 

While digging through my stash trying to figure out what to use for the cover (by the way, the cover I went with was the same as last years - Teresa Collins Christmas mini album kit cover) I found these pieces of raw chipboard. They were almost the perfect size to fit into the Teresa Collins covers! They are also what prompted the art journal idea as they lend themselves nicely to being covered with all sorts of things!

These are the art journal-esque pages that I have started so far. Some are messier than others and to be honest I'm not sure where this is going to end up but the journey should be fun! Some of the back sides are covered in patterned paper, some are covered in more paint and some are still raw ... I'm leaving myself lots of room for play this year.

Here's a close up of some of the texture I've got going. 

As for my numbers, here is what I've done. Pretty simple. I felt that the pages themselves were going to be quite busy so the numbers needed to be bold enough to stand out but simple enough to let the artwork take centre stage. As you can see I have not attached them to any of my pages. I am determined to assemble as I go this year!

A close up so you can see how I popped up each star to give dimension.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this look into what I will be working on this December. I'd love to see your December Dailies if you are working on one this year. Please leave a link in the comments or come over to my blog and leave your link there. 

**Designer projects are not always linked in our posts, but you can always find their blogs in our sidebar or in the staff tab**

Getting Creative with Christmas Trees

Cathy is here today to share some cute little paper Christmas trees that are fast and easy to create!  They cute, whimsical little trees that kind of remind me of the trees you might find in Whoville.

 The first tree is made from Spellbinders Scalloped Circle Dies and The Girl's Paperie Tinsel and Twig line.  I loved the line so much that I wanted to make something special with the last bits that I had left.

 I used about 45 circles in all to create the tree, 9 pieces of each size.  After you have the circles cut, crumple them up.  Arrange your circles in the color order you would like, (double sided paper works best) and then starting with the largest circles, poke a hole in the middle and layer onto a BBQ Skewer.  I then hot glued the skewer into a vintage thread spool.  Topped it with a two snowflake chipboards from the Tinsel and Twig line.  After I had it all assembled, I sprayed it with spray adhesive and added glitter and micro beads. 

 This little tree is my favorite.  It is made from Echo Park's Season's Greetings line and Tim Holtz Rosette Dies.  I cut 3 rosettes of each size, assembled them, Tim Holtz Rosette Die Tutorial, and then stacked them onto another vintage spool.  They are glued with Ranger's Glossy Accents.  Inserted a pin topped with a rusty star, a cute little flag from Echo Park and a little bit of twine.

 Here's another Spellbinder Scallop Circle Tree made with vintage sheet music.  If you choose to use sheet music you will need approximately 80 circles.  I have also made this tree with old sewing patterns, since they are so thin, it takes close to 120 circles to make a tree. 

Cathy's Blog

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December 18th--Snowman Shaker Card

Hello Fellow Crafters!
Christa here and today, I want to share with you a quick video tutorial on making this really cute shaker Snowman card.

I hope you enjoy it!



I hope the holidays find you happy, healthy and CREATIVE!

ChristaPin It **Designer projects are not always linked in our posts, but you can always find their blogs in our sidebar or in the staff tab**

Altered Charger Plate

Do you need a quick, last minute project?  Are you as short on time as me? I direct a children's Christmas musical and that has eaten away at a lot of my crafty time!  I needed a quick gift that still had that "wow" factor.  Sometimes I am just amazed with what you can do with papercrafting supplies and other items you have on hand.  I had purchased a couple of charger plates to have on hand and decided to decorate one of those and make it into a cute winter decoration.  I went with a red plate and used silver letters from Momenta and snowflake stickers also from Momenta.  I measured carefully to make sure my letters were straight and even (quite a task on a circle!) and after placing those on added the snowflakes and gems randomly throughout.  To get started I followed the triangle rule of design and did my big snowflakes in a couple triangles first, then from there it was completely random.  

-Christine

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December 10th-- Snowman Soup

Hi Everyone, Practical Scrapper Kerri here, to bring you another great gift idea for our Christmas feature.  Today I'd like to share with you all my altered to go insulated coffee cups.  I found these to go cups at my local Joann's in their bargain bins for $2.50 each ( and I used my coupon to over the holiday to get another 20% off ).  These cups I made for my kids' teachers to go with the other little gift I made for them. 

These were super easy to make!  When I got the cups they had another piece of paper in them.  I traced them on my favorite paper (Crate Paper -Snow Day Collection) and embellished with the matching chipboard, cardstock cut outs, and cardstock borders.

Here's a look at just one of the cups up close. Next, I filled each cup with a package of hot chocolate mix, a bag of mini marshmallows, and added a Wilton peppermint swirl candy cane which you can see down below.

Finally, I made my little "snowman soup" tag.  Now, there are a couple of different poems out there for "snowman soup", but I picked the one I liked best and printed it out. Here's an up close picture of the tag which reads:

Was told you've been real good this year

Always glad to hear it!

With freezing weather drawing near,

You'll need to warm the spirit!

So here's a little Snowman Soup

complete with stirring stick.

Add hot water, sip it slow,

It's sure to do the trick!

Again, these are super quick and easy gifts that are great for teachers, secret Santa exchanges, friends, or just anyone that you want warm their spirit this holiday season.  Thanks for stopping in and don't forget, only 14 more shopping days left, and we have 10 more days of ideas for you!

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