Christmas Gift Bags

Just a few more things to finish up before Christmas! This was my project tonight: gift bags for my church family. I will probably be making tags to tie onto the handles as well.

I made copies of some old Christmas sheet music, distressed with walnut ink and added a sprig of greenery, twine, and jingle bell! Very easy...and elegant in a simple kind of way!
More projects to come.....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

A couple Christmas Projects

I saw this idea a long time ago - don't even remember where - to decorate a matchbox to give with a candle gift. I could not find a large pack of matches, so this one is a very small box that I found in the camping supplies at the local thrift store. I've had these little jingle bells in my craft stash for SEVERAL years and was never real sure just what to do with them...until this year! I should have thought of this sooner!

The only thing that is wrapped completely around the box is the twine. I didn't want to cover up too much of the strike area for lighting the matches. I think I've mentioned before how much I LOVE my Xyron sticker maker!
I think it was a couple years ago that I went to Archiver's with my friend, Suzanne, and we made frames. Since then I've made a couple - they are really simple to make! When my oldest moved out on her own, she requested a frame and picked out the paper. Here is the end results:

I hope it's not to frilly for her, but her sister has assured me that it is not and that Brianna will love it.
I inked the edges of the frame with gold ink - I can't remember who makes it, but it's in the shape of a teardrop. The paper already had gold accents, kinda marble-like or crackled, but I added some more just for good measure! :) Before I added the paper to the border, I inked the edges of the paper as well.
Hemmed & hawed about whether to use gold or pearl accents, but I'm glad I went with pearl...gives it a softer look I think.
The flowers were sprayed with gold Glimmer Mist and swiped the edges with gold ink.

I placed a picture from Brianna's graduation party of the 4 of us in sepia tones in the opening - looks good! I hope she likes it....my fingers are crossed!

Another Amazing Give-Away!

Patti at Sassafras Stuff is celebrating her 100th post with some beautiful goodies to be given a new home! Visit Sassafras Stuff to see detailed pictures and to enter for your chance to win!

Time Flies and Adorable Blog Give-Away

Christmas is almost here! Where has the time gone??? I have a couple projects to show you, but I can't post them because they are gifts!!! I will post them after Christmas.

In the meantime, I found this adorable blog give-away at Spun By Me. All you have to do is add a comment to her blog to be entered in the drawing - THAT'S IT! So what are you waiting for?!?!

Look Ma ~ No Lace! Verve Oct Release Party

Tonight my dh had to work - someone called in sick - so I used the opportunity to play! Was able to finish a card I started last night, AND get 2 more cards done, too!!! I used 3 sketches from theVerve October Release Party.

First up: Retro Rover! Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

I wanted the bottom strip to look kinda like a dog collar with the tag hanging off. Hopefully that point gets across... The dog is cut out and popped, and the green portion is popped, but you can't see it too well in the pictures.

Recipe: Latte matstack (DCWV); Retro Rovers stamp (TAC); Brilliance Starlight Silver ink, Outdoor Denim ink (CTMH); watercolor pencils, Big Bite, Gamsol.

The next 2 cards are more my style - vintage.

Sketch:
My Card:

I got this picture from Vintage Stampers Freebies! Lots of cool pictures on this blog to use for papercrafting! I love to use vintage "findings" on my crafties! Here I used a stick pin that's been sitting in my stash for quite awhile - it's about time I used it!

The flowers were sprayed with Tattered Angels Pearl Glimmer Mist. I used a heat gun to speed up the dry time...but be careful! Don't whither the flowers (experience speaking here)! Charm and pearl button are also from my stash. I opted to leave out the journaling piece. Maybe I'll add it later when the card is needed for sending....maybe using a Nestabilities label! That would look nice! :)

Recipe: K&Co "Hannah", CDWV matstack papers; Old Paper distress ink; Pearl Glimmer Mist.

Next Up - Sketch:
My card:
I used a bit of creative license on this one...the little tab on the focal point just wouldn't work with what I had in mind, so I substituted a flower. Works for me! Lots of distressing on this one...almost wonder if it wasn't too much... But I'm happy with the end results so I'm not going to worry about it! :)

I found an old dictionary at a garage sale this summer so I used that for the "ribbon" across the bottom. The large butterflies are popped for dimension.

Recipe: K&Co "Ancestry paper; Vintage Postcard (CTMH), Travel (SeeD's), Postal (SeeD's), Collage Elements (SeeD's) stamps; Martha Stewart butterfly punch; "Bliss" Kaiser pearls.

OK - I'm done now! PHEW!!!! Long post! Productive night!

Mojo Monday Sketch 109 - Fear Not

Got some time in my scrap room last night, so I made a couple cards. Another Mojo Monday sketch - did I mention before that I LOVE 'em!!!!
Here's my card (sorry it's so dark! Couldn't get my lighting to work right...):

Close-up of the sentiment. I had to use the largest of the Nestabilities Labels 4 to fit all the words, so there was no way to layer. So I opted to shade the inside of the die with a coordinating chalk to get the "layered" look. I like how it turned out! Added pearls for a bit of bling. Both the sentiment and cross are popped up, but very hard to tell in the picture.

The stamp of the cross came from a CTMH set, I think it's called Faith. Added a pearl to the center, and jute ribbon. And of course - LACE! I make very few cards without lace! Here you can also see that I ran the black thru my Cuttlebug Dots for some texture.

Thanks for looking! Have a great day!

Verve Oct 09 Release Week Challange

Here's another card I put together last night for the Verve October 2009 Release Week Challenge. This one went together really fast since I had a good idea what I wanted to do with the sketch.

Flowers and leaves stamps are from Close To My Heart - Treasure Life set. Sentiment is from CTMH - Say It In Style.

MORE lace...MORE pearls!!!! Can't get enough!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mojo CONTEST and Verve Words of Encouragement!!!

Another 1st Monday of the month is here (well...it was yesterday!), which means a new Mojo Monday Contest! I tell you what, I LOVE these sketches! Don't know what I ever did without 'em!

The first time I saw this sketch, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it! Here is the sketch:

I had envisioned a card with a sewing theme, and when my daughter asked, "Is that PAPER?!" I knew I had succeeded! It took me awhile to finish because I tried out my little crafty sewing machine...and it worked pretty good! But if I ever want to zig-zag I will need to pull out the big machine.

And here's my card:

Verve Stamps is having a new Project Parade and this month's theme is...
Encouraging Words/Friendship. So, I think this card would qualify as encouraging, don't you? Check out the Verve Project Day Challenge!

Paper is from the new fall stack Indian Summer from DCWV. There are some beautiful papers in that stack!!! Before I stitched the pieces together, I distressed the edges of the paper with the edge of my scissors, rolling portions to get that worn fabric look. Also used my Worn Paper Distress Ink on the sides and swiped it across the fronts of each rectangle. Everything else is from my scraps / pieces parts.

Hope you like it! Thanks for stopping! Leave a comment if you have time! :)

JustRite Mojo Monday

My very good friend's birthday is this week, so it was the perfect opportunity to break out my new JustRite stamps and play! Honestly, it took me a while to figure out how to use them without smudging everything, but just like with many stamps, you may need to "season" it before you actually use it on a project.

I used the Mojo Monday card sketch as the springboard for this card...made a few changes as you will see. But I actually chose to use this sketch for a very specific reason. My friend is always teasing me about how linear I am.... I hardly EVER use circles on my cards or on my scrapbook pages. So I made a point to show her that I really can do it! I am getting better! And the Nestabilities die cuts really help with that! LOVE 'EM!

Front of card:

I changed the length of the strips accross the front (you can hardly see the thin lace in the picture), and put the pearl accents in the upper corner instead.

The center of the large circle is popped up, as well as the small circle with the butterfly on it depth. Also added glitter to the transparent butterfly sticker.


The paper is actually a scrapbook page kit that I found at the Dollar Store a couple years ago. Love the colors and the stickers! Don't know why it took me so long to use this stuff! The friend sentiment stamp is from the See-D's Victorian Flourishes set.

If you're reading this, Kim, I hope you had a wonderful birthday and that you are enjoying your vacation!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fantastic day!

Treasure Altered Journal

A few years ago I started making altered journals to sell. Though it takes me FOREVER to complete one and they are pretty labor-intensive, I really like making them! I'm considering starting to make them again...

Anyway, all this to say that a couple weeks ago my daughter asked me to make her a journal. She picked out the paper for the front cover, and the rest she left up to me, which is pretty scary considering our tastes are not the same. So I'm hoping that I didn't over-do this one because I am very happy with how it turned out. I would probably put a little more bling into it if it were up to me, but I don't think Bri would like that. I can always add it if she wants me to later.

Here is the front. Her favorite color is blue, and at first I didn't think I had much blue paper until I sorted through all my stash...and it's the color I have most!

(all pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them)

The charms, cross and fibers are hanging from a hair pin that I just slipped over the cover. I found the heart with her name on it a couple years ago and was just waiting for the right time to use it!

The Fun Fur has beads on the ends...not much...just enough to add some weight to keep it hanging straight.

Here's a close-up of the bottom corner. I think the butterfly is also off a hairpin that was probably picked up at the local thrift shop sometime, as well as the "MakeAWish" pin. I LOVE the metal roses in the center of the flower & on the cross! Found those at ARTChix Studio and they come in several different colors.

Inside the front cover is a frame die-cut from my stash with a flat metal heart in the center. I didn't want to have too much inside here so it won't interfere with writing in the journal. You can't see it well in the picture, but I sponged Staz-On black, purple and blue ink onto a piece of Denim cardstock (CTMH) to coordinate with the front paper. REALLY like how that turned out - sort of a soft marble look.

The paper on the back of the journal is from a stack of hand-pressed paper I found at our local grocery store's scrapbooking section!

One more thing to scratch off my To Do list! Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great weekend!

A Gathering Place Blog Give-Away

A Gathering Place is celebrating her 200th post with a blog give-away of a beautiful, soft pink Christmas stocking valued at $60-$75!!! All you have to do to win is go to Rebecca's blog and add a comment! SIMPLE! Check it out...it is STUNNING!

Mojo Monday Sketch 103 - Baptism Card

A friend at church is getting baptised today! I was very limited on time to make a card for her, and I was very shocked to see how quickly this one came together. I used the Mojo Monday Sketch 103 and mainly scraps to make this card in just over 30 min (that NEVER happens for me! Thanks Mojo Monday!!!) :

You can't tell, but the background DP has crosses on it. I was kinda bummed that they got covered up, but that's ok. Yesterday I picked up some Brilliance metalic inks at Michael's & used the copper one for the stamped cross. You can click on the pictures to enlarge to see the metallic effect of the ink. The swirly flowers on the sides of the cross are from the Close To My Heart stamp set "Adorable."

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you all had an enjoyable and relaxing Labor Day Weekend!

Willow for Hannah!

Our godchild turned 3 on Sunday! Time sure flies...It seems like just yesterday that she was born!

This card was made using the Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #81 and Whiff of Joy's Willow in the Summer Breeze stamp, and KI Memories paper. Hannah's favorite color is pink, so naturally I had to go crazy with PINK!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET BABY GIRL, HANNAH! We love you!