Life happens...

So much for posting cards everyday, right?!  Oy.  Life happened in big ways the past two weeks.  First, my biggie came down with the 6 year old version of RSV, with a fever and horrible cough for a week.  Then I was sick with a massive head cold all weekend.  THEN my 3.5 year old had a fever/cold for a couple days.  I was about to sit down and start a new post on Friday when I heard the news about what happened in Connecticut.  It just didn't seem right to be posting Christmas cards when so many people's lives had just changed forever.  I just wanted to spend the day holding my girls forever.  It's sad that it takes such extreme situations to make us realize how blessed we are, but when we do, it hits us hard.  I spent the weekend soaking up as much of my girlies as I could and now I am ready to share some more projects with you.

This is a card and travel coffee mug set that I made for one of my preschooler's teachers:

I love how they both turned out, but man alive was it hard to get the piece of paper into the mug!!  After all of that work I put into making it look nice, I didn't even take the thickness of the paper into account when I was trying to stuff it into the mug.  Sheesh!

Anyway, that's what I have for now.  I'll be back soon with more.  Until then...

Christmas Copy Cat...

Recently Paper Smooches had a blog hop showcasing their latest new releases.  When I got to Teri Anderson's blog, I noticed that she was doing a "25 in 25" challenge.  (Making 25 cards in 25 days.)  What better place to find inspiration for cards than a blog showcasing exactly what I'm working on?!

This is a card that Teri made:

And here is my version:

I think this card turned out beautifully.  I love finding inspiration on blogs and Pinterest because there are people out there who are way more talented than myself and they deserve a bit of copy cat flattery.  :)

That's all for today!  Until next time...

Some swanky snowmen...

Hello!  Today I am back with a couple more Christmas cards I have created.  I recently purchased a cute stamp set by Paper Smooches called Swanky Snowdudes.  I love the cute little snowmen and accents in this set. 

Here are a couple cards I've made with this set:

This first card is one of my favorites.  I paper pieced the scarf and hat and heat embossed the sentiment onto the banner.  I'm not a pro at doing the heat embossing thing, but I still like how it turned out.  

This second card is my girls' favorite.  This is one of the first cards where I've used blocking to create a layered effect.  I paper pieced the scarves and colored the rest in with colored pencils.  To make the colors look more blended, I used mineral spirits to soften everything out.

Thanks for stopping by again today!  I'll be back with more soon!

Until next time...

Christmas Card Time!

I decided this year was the year I take a stab at making my own Christmas cards.  It always seemed like way too daunting of a task in the past, but now that I'm more comfortable making cards, I figured now was as good as ever.  For the past couple weeks, I've been making a card or two every few days.  No two cards are the same yet, so I'm still having fun creating them.  :)

I thought I'd share a couple with you throughout the month.  If I can inspire someone in even the slightest way, well then I've done my job.  :)  And some of my crafty friends may join in and show some of their creations along the way as well...double bonus!!

Let's get started!  Two of my favorite things to work with this year are kraft paper and jute twine, so you'll probably be seeing a lot of both in my Christmas cards.  Below is the first card I made this season.  It's simple yet to the point.  And it would have been better to practice with the glitter glue before I actually put it on my card...total party foul.  Oh well.  You live, you learn, right?  

This next card was super easy and fast to make.  I think that's why I'm enjoying making these cards because they're not overly intricate or detailed, so they don't take much of my time or energy.  Something I have little of at night when I get to sit down and create. 

That's all for today!  Until next time...

Paper Smooches Picture Perfect Challenge

Ok, I lied...I'm back with one more entry for you all.  :)  I made something for this weeks Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge and wanted to show what I created. 

Here is the inspiration picture for this week's Picture Perfect challenge:

And here is the card I created:

The ink I chose was a bit too light for the background, but I like how it all turned out.  I pulled the yellow, grey and salmon colors from the inspiration photo, as well as the different patterns.  It came out just as shabby chic-y as I had imagined in my head.  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year is HERE!

Happy December 1st, everyone!  I don't know about you, but now that I have kids, this season takes on a whole new meaning each year.  What used to be a season of pretty lights, traditions and cheer has turned into seeing those things through the innocence of my girls' eyes.  There is absolutely NOTHING like it!

I wanted to share a few traditions that I have started with my girls.  The first, which started today, is our Christmas Advent Calendar.  This is something my parents used to do for my brother and I when we were little and I wanted to pass on the tradition to my girlies.  My brother and I used to wake up every day so excited to see what was on the card or in the pocket of my mom's handmade calendar.  This is what I created this year for our new calendar, thanks to a steal from Scrapbooksteals.com...

The calendar itself came as plain as can be with naked wood and cardboard.  I painted mine with acrylic paint to match the papers I was using.  I also created a file for my Cameo to cut out the pieces of paper that I wanted to cover the front of the drawers with.  Some of them turned out a bit wonky, but wow did that make it So. Much. Easier!

I used papers from Crate Paper's Snow Day collection, which was also a steal which I purchased at Scrapbooksteals.com's retreat in October.  I love this collection because it's not overly Christmas-y or holiday-ish.  It can be used way beyond the holiday season.  

The collection that I purchased at the crop didn't contain all of the papers from the Snow Day line, so I was pretty giddy when I found a 12x12 paper pad at Michaels that had all of them!  If you want to look for it, it is the Recollections brand and it's called Peppermint Twist.  My daughters had so much fun picking out fun trees and presents for me to cut out and place in the shadow box.

This morning, our Advent Calendar contained something more than just a note about where the girls would find their new Christmas pajamas...our resident elf, Holly, decided it would be a good place to spend the day.  :)

This is a tradition that my husband and I started a couple years ago and we absolutely LOVE it!  I found this adorable little elf ornament at Target a couple years back (they still have them and they are MUCH cuter this year, to boot!), cut the loop off the hat and decided she would be our friendly elf friend.  My girls love running around to see where Holly is hiding and always run up to me with excitement to get me to go look at where she is.  The girls talk to her (sometimes read: tell on the other sister to her) throughout the day.  (Side note:  I love that our elf isn't the typical Elf on a Shelf elf because how in the world would I explain it when the girls see that one in the stores and catalogues??) 

A few weeks ago, Holly left a note with the two journals below...

 
These are the "Dear Santa" books I created last year when I was on the Authentique Design Team, thanks to inspiration from fellow DT member and friend Heather.  The note that was left with them said that the girls should work on their lists and then she would return the books to Santa on the first night she returns to our house.  It was so fun to look through the first lists that the girls created last year and have them add to it this year.  I really hope the girls "believe" for many years to come as I think this will become a treasured memory of their childhoods.

Do you and your families have any fun traditions for the holiday season?  I would love to hear some!  Be sure to check back tomorrow...I will start sharing Christmas cards that I have made!

Until then...