Christmas Projects

Pinterest is this collaboration lover's DREAM! Thousands of projects that I can steal mimic!

First up in December, I made these fun donuts for Ryan's class for snack one day (I'm trying not to be THAT mom.):

My kids ornaments for this year are not from pinterest, but copied from some decorations I saw at my SIL's house last year:

This family ornament was from pinterest. Made out of sculpy, the lights are our pinky prints:

Card inspired by pinterest. I don't make my own Christmas cards, but I do make a few (10 or so) that I can use for gifts and thank you notes (as a teacher, it's good to have these on hand!):

I got a lot of these projects done when we went to visit my mom in NC the week before Christmas. It was a great setting t get them done! This was from pinterest. My friend Gretchen (who is great at sewig and embroidery) made one first (using fusible web and sewing the ribbon down) and was sweet enough to give me her ribbon to use. I was lazy and bought some fabric glue instead, but I'm pretty pleased wiht how it turned out!

Even cuter on my little model:

Finally, a little present for my in-laws. I finally found something to do with all the wine corks I've been saving!

Frames

I made these frames for a few of my girlfriends for Christmas this year. I modge-podged paper from their schools onto an inexpensive wooden frame from Michael's. then painted around the edges and on the back.

My MIL's Creation

My mother in law gave me this at Thanksgiving and I thought it was very creative! I didn't think I was going to use it, because I already have a way I display my Christmas cards that I like, but it turned out to be good for the non-photo cards I received.

It is made out of a sewing hoop with clothespins adhered with hot glue. They're in sets of three with two pointing outward and one pointing inward and spce between each set.

Magnetic Photo Displays

When Scott and I went out in Charlotte back in May I found this great magnetic photo display and thought, 'I can make that!' I bought this one so I'd have a model, and proceeded to make 4 that I will be giving away for Christmas this year:

It is a 5' long, 1/4" metal cable you can buy at the hardware store, a ferrule and stop set, some tiny but super strong magnets from Amazon.com, and formy set, I glued buttons on the magnets instead of the little flowers. So easy and so cute!

For teachers, I covered a metal roofing tile (about 5 x 7) with pretty paper, rounded the corners wth Kelley's crop-o-dile corner chomper and punched holes so it can be used as a hanging photo holder:

or, if you put a screw and nut though the holes, it can stand up (I saw this at a craft show and was SOOOO excited because I really wanted these tiles to be able to stand and had no idea how I was going to do it. Brilliant!):

Again, I packaged these with the super strong magnets. This was Kelley's brainchild originally, though I never did get to see how hers turned out. A few of us went in together on the tiles, which she could only get in sets of 100.

Snow Day + 3 Hour Nap = Creativity!

Everyone stayed home today because of the snow and ice. Jillian took a three hour nap, so I finally got some projects done!

I am an assembly-line card maker. Every now and then I make a special, one-of-a-kind card, but mostly I mass produce. I like to find one card that I can replicate to send to lots of people or that I can make sets of to give to friends as gifts. I like it even better if it's a card that I can use for several occasions by just changing the sentiment.

So, my big plan for this year was to make all the birthday and anniversary cards I needed for the year in one setting (rather than make a few at a time and run out and be late getting new ones to the next batch of people).

This part of the post is kind of anti-climatic, because I am not actually going to show you the card...you will have to wait until your birthday (or anniverary)!
My other big project is a book of Christmas cards. A local scrapping celebrity used to do these and now that she's not, she sent a customer my way to do it. All I did was bind together all her holiday cards between two self-designed covers. I've never done this for myself (though I think it's a great idea) because I make a collage in the end of my yearly family scrapbook of my cards. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Now I'm working on 5 years worth of cards from this woman's sister.




If anyone out there is interested, I could do this for you, too! Cost is $25 for up to 25 cards and $5 more for each additional set of up to ten. Leave me a comment and I'll get in contact!

Catching Up

Here are some things I created this summer, along with the inspiration from them.

I ripped this from an old LIFE magazine years ago:

And finally created in Ryan's room:

It was pretty easy to do and inexpensive with cabinet knobs and picture wire.

And this was in a Creating Keepsakes this summer. I'll be making them for many family members, so don't be surprised if you see one in your mailbox!

Storage for Clear Stamps

My sister and husband both gave me a bunch of empty CD cases, and I finally got around to going through, organizing and pitching all our old CD's today while Scott worked on taxes (not often that we are both upstairs in the bonus room at the same time).

I know that the cases make a cute frame and I may use some to do activities for kids in the future, but I also wanted to use some to help organize my clear stamps (most of which were still in the plastic wrap they came in).

I organized them according to theme (like the journaling blocks below)

and then put them all in a little bin (from Bed, Bath, and Beyond).

I have many more cases if anyone is interested in trying this...just let me know!

Valentine's Day Wreath

Finally took the Christmas wreath down and replaced it with this:


Made from a grapevine heart-shaped wreath covered in red feather boas. Fun!

Christmas goodies

Wow! From Halloween to Christmas. Can you tell I haven't had a lot of time (or energy) to be creative lately?

Here's some things I'm working on for Christmas:

First, the fleece tie quilts that Kellie introduced me to. Many kids in my life are getting one of these. They are simple to make, although, kneeling on the floor to cut them with my big belly right now is tricky. I need to find some Terps fleece to make one for Ryan and I.

Next up is the containers for Ryan's teachers' gifts. I've had these Chinese take out containers for awhile, but can't stamp or paint on them. Then I got the idea from Paula to do rub-ons. Now they are almost gone! We are going ot fill them with chocolates.

Then, there's Ryan's ornament for this year. I knew I wanted to make him something related to pirates, pandas, soccer, or fishing (all big this year). I saw this ornament in a Bass Pro advertisement...they had the kids make them one weekend at the store. Thought it was perfect!

And finally, some cards. I do not make my own Christmas cards anymore. Too many, and I like doing the St. Jude ones at Target because they are cute and money goes to St. Jude. I do, however, like to make a few to send gift cards in or as thank you notes. The paper is from Archivers, the flowers are Making Memories, the stamps are Stampin' Up (Warm greeting) and Hero Arts (THANKS).

Hope you are getting the chance to be creative too!

Spring Break Checklist

Only one day into Spring Break and I can check a few things off. Finally made this frame I've had in my head for awhile:

The stamps are Autumn Leaves (stamped onto the mat) and the rub-on letters are American Crafts (rubbed onto the glass). Pictures are the front doors of the two houses Scott and I have owned.

I've also done two scrapbook pages, two loads of laundry, and built a snowman. So far, so good.

VDay goodies!

I have a bunch of these Chinese carryout boxes that I had ordered for favors for a friend's shower, then not used because they are too slick to stamp or paint on. So I pulled a few out for VDay and stuck paper things to them. Plus I got to use my fun scallop punch that I got awhile ago and hadn't used yet! Filled them up with chocolate buttercreams and pretzel kisses. Maybe I will post those recipes later.