A 2010 start on Christmas Cards

Well I am back today with a Christmas card that I made using scraps. I made a total of 10, each slightly different based on scraps I had on hand.


The Happy Holiday sentiment with ribbon is what I put inside each of the cards.

Ingredients:
Stamps: PTI Signature Christmas;PTI Holiday Treats
Paper: Scraps
Ink: PTI Ocean Tides, Versamark
Accessories: Super Jumbo (yellow) Marvy Snowflake punch; 1 3/4" circle punch; PTI Ocean Tides Vintage Buttons; PTI Ocean Tides Saddle Stitch Ribbon

Christmas Recipe Book

When it's time to prepare for Christmas I always have to pull out all of my recipes to figure out what ingredients I need to buy. I was getting tired of having to search for each of the recipes. So I decided to put together a Christmas Recipe book that has all our family favourites. That way from year to year the recipes are all together and I don't have to spend time searching for each one. I have organized the recipe book into meals and by days, Christmas Eve, Christmas Breakfast, Christmas Lunch, Christmas Dinner, Desserts, etc.

The pages are simple, since I will only being using the book once a year. I created presents out of the pages, and recipe cards. There are still blank pages to add any new recipes my family think are Christmas worthy.

Christmas Cards

I am one of those type of people who are always ready for the holidays a month in advance. I love being organized, knowing that everything is ready to go, and then I don't have to stress and do things last minute...like my DH (it is four days before xmas eve, and he still hasn't bought my gifts) All my shopping is done, the gifts are wrapped, packages have been mailed, and the cards are already in the mail. My only problem is I can't post any of the gift ideas or cards until Christmas time. And of course I haven't been up to anything else but Christmas things. Hence the reason my blog has been so quiet. During the year I am always so busy with work; however at Christmas time I have two weeks off which allows me to relax and spend time scrapbooking. So I actually have had my Christmas cards done for a year now. During last years Christmas Holidays I put together some accordian fold Christmas cards. Back during the summer I posted a sneak peak at one of them. I am back today to give you a look at a few others. The first accordian card I did from scratch. Even the letter panels I stamped from nothing. I then decided to use Christmas paper packages that had letters included. It helped move along the process. I ended up making a total of 12 different accoridan cards. Three were quite long, but then I decided to cut it down to around 6 panels per card.

Below is the card I sent to my Grandparents. **Funny story.....my grandmother thought they were gift tags and almost started to cut the card apart.** Sorry for the first blurry picture. I didn't notice it till after I had already mailed the card. Each panel uses some Christmas DSP that I got from Walmart (was a huge package for around $13..bought it last year). I then used a gold pen to outline the panels. Each panel has a letter that spelt my various messages. Merry Christmas, Let it snow, Joyeux Noel (French), and Khristos Razhdayetsya (Ukrainian). Each panel also has eyelets at the top, threaded with various Christmas colours of ribbon. The panels are also embellished with Christmas brads and snowflakes.

Here is the Ukrainian card I posted last summer. Instead of putting ribbon on every panel I used some square pictures that were a part of the Christmas DSP paper I purchased.

And for those in my family who are not religious I made Let it Snow cards. Here is one example of many I made. The word snow is versamarked, stamped in Bashful Blue ink (SU) and then embossed. I used a snowflake as the letter O.
Well lets see how many Christmas cards I get done this Holiday for next year...LOL

Here is a little sneak peak at some notebooks I made.

Snow Cubes

Well life offline has been quite busy the last month so the bloglife has been quite quiet. I finally remembered to bring my camera with me to document a few of the offline activities I have been up to. Today a few ladies got together to make cubes using either the words Joy, Noel, or Snow. Our demonstrator, Tara, created the items using the new Digital Studio from Stampin Up. Here are a few shots:

Spoiler Alert To Family--Christmas Gifts Below!

It's that time of the month where Papertrey Ink challenges their customers to participate in the Blog Hop. This month the Blog Hop asks us to share our Christmas cards, gifts, and packaging ideas. Unfortunately I didn't receive my Papertrey Ink Package yet that had tons of packaging and gift ideas inside (nugget tins, tea tins, take note pads, etc) so I thought I would share with you what I have started on. The post is a little long today, but please enjoy.

First of all lets start with my Holiday Inspiration Table. I take all my Christmas themed stamps, paper, and embellishments and lay it all out so I can see what I have. It helps sparks inspiration and reminds me of all the items I have.

This basket contains nuggets (finally found some here in town); peppermint patties, snack bags, plastic card boxes, candy canes, recipe book, and PTI holiday stamps. Underneath is a huge package of paper, along with more holiday paper behind the basket.
Here you can see my other stamps; a Santa bag filled with kraft gift bags to decorate; vintage buttons; jingle bells; PTI ribbon; punches; and tons of holiday embellishments I found at Micheal's.

Now onto some gifts:
Snowmen Peppermint Patties

I took my scallop punch and punched out white scallops for both the front and back of each peppermint patty. I used my single hole punch to create the black coal buttons and the eyes. The hat is punched using SU 1 1/4" square punch and the word window punch. I then drew on the nose and mouth using copics. The punch art idea came from various people who shared on Splitcoaststampers, so thank you.
I then took the little snowmen and placed two in a small glassine bag from PTI. I then wrapped some PTI Enchanted Evening Ribbon around the bag, added a top note die topper in Enchanted Evening which was stamped in Fresh Snow (PTI) using a snowflake stamp set from SU. To finish it off I added a tag (sentiment To: From: comes from PTI's Halloween Tag set), and a marvy extra jumbo (yellow) snowflake punch with a Enchanted Evening Vintage Button, and a little Noel sentiment, stamped onto a punched marvy extra jumbo scallop square, from Dawn McVeys handwritten Signature Christmas set.
Here they are all packaged up!

Now onto some hot chocolate & other drink gifts:

As I posted the other day I made Trendy Tubes Hot Chocolate gifts. You can find the post here. These are individual gifts but I plan on using PTI's Tea Tin to create a family version along with some other treats to eat and drink on a cold Northern Canadian winter's day! All the treat ideas will be packaged up into a nice basket. If you also look at the post below this one you will see a PTI plastic card box that I have decorated. I have placed some drink items inside.

Now onto reusing PTI Stamp boxes:

I have a soon to be SIL whom I have just met. The two of us went to Sweet Flour in Toronto where you can create your own cookie and have it baked in front of you. Now my brother is Vegan so can't eat this sweet delicious treat, so I have put together a Hot Chocolate, Peppermint Patty, Gift Certificate package. I am reusing a PTI Stamp box to put together this package.

To create the Gingerbread Peppermint patty I used my scallop punch again, and just added some small circles to create the arms and legs. The sugarcoating is created using a white ballpoint pen. Added some hole punched red circles for buttons and a small ribbon as a bow. The box is wrapped in dark chocolate paper which has been stamped using a gingerbread stamp in Fresh Snow Ink (PTI). Ribbon was then wrapped around the box and jingle bells were added to the bow.
On the right of the above picture is a Gingerbread man created from the Top Note Die, marvy oval punch (blue), 3/4" circle punch, and the 1 1/4" circle punch cut in half to create the eye lids. The gingerbread man's edges were inked with Fresh Snow to make it look like icing. Then on the back of the gingerbread man I die cut another top note die, but cut it in half. I adhered just the edges so that it becomes a little pocket and the gift certificate to Sweet Flour will fit inside.

Here are two other Top Note Die Gift Certificate holders I made. Another gingerbread one and a snowman.

Do you see the gift that is illuminated???? Alot of people are making these these days. It is simply a glass cube (this one is repurposed from a lady's house here in town, but you can buy them at your local hardware store). You tie ribbon around it, tie a bow and decorate, drill a hole into the back side, and feed a small set of Christmas lights into the back. Neat huh???
Here is what I haven't gotten to. My to do list:

1. Nugget Tins

2. Alter Tea Tin into Family Hot Chocolate Package

3. Pillow Box gift certficate holders

4. Note Books

5. Christmas Crackers (heres last years picture) This year the items inside wont be cheesy

6. Still need to decorate my kraft pages.

Stay tuned for views of all of these, plus my Christmas Cards. I am not posting my cards here as I did not use any PTI supplies on them (as I made them last year).

Thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Packaging Ideas

Here is a sneak peak at two ways I am gift wrapping this year. All my gifts have to be mailed and shipped quite a distance, as both our parents and the rest of our family live across Canada. With that being said most of the gifts are small, so I want the packaging to be chic so that they forget how small the gift is they are opening.

You can also see in this picture my colour scheme for this Christmas....Enchated Evening, Scarlet Jewel, and Vintage Cream (all PTI).

Gift Box
The first gift idea uses a plastic card box (PTI) to place the gift items inside. I can't tell you what is inside as my family reads my blog; however there is tons of room to put something to take the chill off a winter's evening ;) I simply added ribbon, snowflakes and an image panel.


Ingredients:
Stamps: Warm happiness (PTI), Signature Christmas (PTI)
Ink: Enchanted Evening (PTI), Scarlet Jewel (PTI)
Paper: Enchanted Evening (PTI), Vintage Cream (PTI),
Accessories: Marvy Circle Punches (GIGA & MEGA), Enchanted Evening Ribbon (PTI), Marvy Snowflake punch (extra jumbo), Martha Stewart Glitter.

Stocking Gift Bag
This is a template by Lauren Meader. They can be purchased here. It is perfect for chocolates, candy, or small items like a pair of socks ;). I simply followed the template directions, added some stitching, and done!

Ingredients:

Stamps: Guide Lines (PTI)

Ink: Enchanted Evening (PTI), Scarlet Jewel (PTI), Fresh Snow (PTI)

Paper: Enchanted Evening (PTI), Vintage Cream (PTI)

Accessories: Template (PTI); Embroidery Floss, needle, pop dots

Christmas Ideas

Here is a simple Christmas idea. Fill some Trendy Tubes with Hot Chocolate, add some fancy ribbon, a label and a tag. Voila a simple Christmas idea in 5 mins.

Yes that is snow in the background, and yes it is only October 11, 2009!!!!!!!

I'm still working on some more Christmas ideas. When they are finished I will share them.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Ingredients:

Stamps: PTI Holiday Treats

Ink: Enchanted Evening and Scarlett Jewel (PTI)

Paper: Vintage White (PTI)

Accessories: Enchanted Evening Satin Ribbon (PTI), Extra Jumbo Scalloped Punch (Marvy), embroidery floss

World Card Making Day

Since it is World Card Making Day I thought I better get into the scrapbooking room and make something. I just haven't had the time lately, and I am currently trying to get over this awful cold. I know I haven't posted anything recently, but I do have many projects on the go.

List of things on the go:
-Sip & Stir Christmas Packages
-Christmas Recipe Book
-Christmas Gift Card Holders using Top Note Die from SU
-2010 Calendars
-Snowmen Peppermint Patties
-and the list goes on and on......

I swear once I have time to complete some of these projects I will post them. In the mean time here is a card I whipped up today.

Here is a card I made for my brother's B-day. The chipboard bird and fancy DSP is from an Asian Paper Store he took me to last summer. I wanted the card to be simple and masculine. Colours are PTI Enchanted Evening, SU Basic Black, and SU Going Gray. Sentiment is from PTI's Mega Mixed Messages.

Sorry the blog has been so quiet. Getting back into the groove of teaching has been a little busy. Plus I haven't been around the last few weekends. Spent this weekend at a scrapbook convention in town. Once I get some pictures uploaded I will share with you.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!!!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!!!, or so it seems on everyones blogs. Papertrey Ink is having it's monthly countdown to their stamp release date of September 15th, and this month it's everything Christmas. I already have my Christmas cards done, and kinda know what I'm doing for gifts, so I thought I would spend today whipping up some cards to go on my gifts this year.

My colour inspiration came from this DSP paper I have had for a while now. We R Memory Keepers: Christmas-Holly

I started by cuting my 8 1/2 x 11" paper into 3" strips. I then randomly stamped various images creating my own DSP onto SU Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery and Rose Red cardstock.

I then cut out tags from Kraft cardstock that was 3" x 4 " and adheared the different strips of DSP I made. I then added some sentiments and some ribbon, and voila.......Christmas card tags; Finished and Done!

Ingredients:
Stamps: SU Little Holiday Wishes; SU To You and Yours; SU The Snowflake Spot; PTI Holiday Treats; PTI Polka Dots II; PTI Guidelines; PTI 2009 Halloween Tags; Holiday Time-Holiday Treats (Walmart)

Paper: SU Bashful Blue; SU Certainly Celery; SU Rose Red; SU Kraft; We R Memory Keepers DSP "Christmas-Holly"

Ink: SU Bashful Blue; SU Certainly Celery; SU Rose Red; SU Always Artichoke; SU Chocolate Chip; PTI Fresh Snow

Accessoreis: Ribbon; Buttons; Punches; Pop Dots