North Port Christmas 2019

We made it to North Port Florida about 2 weeks ago! The weather has been warm and sunny for most of that time!  I love Florida!  But it seems funny to be celebrating Christmas here...with out snow or cold weather.   We are still getting used to being away from home for Christmas.  I have been working on a Christmas project to get into the Spirit!  

When we got here - I broke down and bought a Cricut Explore Air 2!  I just love it!  I have been watching You Tube videos and playing around with it.  I purchased this SVG file from 3D Cuts!  They have some really cute designs. 

I am no expert by any means- this was my first project and I did make some mistakes but I love how it turned out!

This is another project I tried!  I love how the machine cuts such intricate designs.  

The overlay is so pretty!

I could use this as a place marker for Thanksgiving dinner!  Such fun making this!

We did go to the Poinsetta Festival the other night!  It was such a cool event!  They had

59 floats in the Christmas Parade.  People put in such an effort with their floats!  Lots of talented people!

Here is just a picture of a couple of the fabulous floats!

The Frozen float was my favorite!

I will end my post with a couple of pictures of my craft room set up.  It is quite a bit smaller than what I had in our home in Maine.  But I am still able to do some projects.  The picture doesn't show my new Cricut but I put it on the corner of my table.  I have plenty of room to work but I keep moving things around to make the work flow better.  

We are headed to Wesley Chapel today to visit with my sister, Phillis and her family.  They live in Georgia now but are here for a mini vacation!  I can't wait to see them.  Hope everyone has a fabulous day!!  If I don't post before Christmas I wanted to make sure I said,  Have a Very Merry Christmas!

All Packed and Ready to Go!

Finally getting to post on my blog today!    My sisters and I had lots of fun doing 2 fairs the first part of November.  We met lots of nice people and just had a blast!  The picture above shows a couple of the gift boxes that we sold.  They were a great success as was a lot of our items!   It is always interesting to see what sells each year.   Below is a recipe/organizer box that opens from the top.   This was something new this year.   You could also store passwords in this cute oven!

I made a bunch of these cute tea lights. They were easy to make and

we sold quite a few of them!

My husband and I have been packing up our house in Topsham.  We have sold it and are planning on heading to Florida again.  We are officially homeless since we don't have a home in Maine any longer and don't have one in Florida right now.  We plan on looking for smaller homes in both states.  The pictures below are of my Craft Room.  My daughter says there are more boxes in that room than any other room in the house.  I am sure it's true!

I really miss being able to go in and work on a project!  I know any house we buy will have to have a room that I can make into a craft room!

This room had such great natural light!    

It's going to be hard to say good bye to this house.  We have been here for 5 years and I really did love being here!  But it really was too big for us with 4 bedrooms!  Plus we want to spend more time in Florida so having a place there makes sense.   We will be here for Thanksgiving but will then head south to warmer weather- I hope!  I may be absent from my blog for a bit but once we get to the condo that we will be renting - I should be back!!

Here is a sneak peak at our Christmas cards this year.  I followed May May's instructions with just a few changes!  The picture doesn't show the completed card!  The card looks great with a tea light just inside the card when it stands up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj-cJU-GV1I

I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!

  

Craft Fair 2019

Today we are packing up our crafts and getting them ready for the Italian Heritage Craft show this Saturday - doors open at 9AM.  I can't wait!  Here are a few pictures of the last of the projects I have been working on to get ready for the show.  

These advent cubes are the most fun to make!  This one is a  little different since it was made with more glittery paper than I usually use.  But I love how it came out!

I love working on the frames below to create this lighted look!  They would look so

cool on someone's mantel or book shelf!  We will have a bunch of these at the show!

We will also have some wonderful 3D type cards for sale!  The card below is called ( I think) an Easel card with add ons.  It does fold perfectly flat so you can mail it!   The sentiment is on the back. 

Here are some Christmas Loaded Envelopes!  I made a Halloween Loaded Envelope for my Grandson  - but these would make cute Christmas gifts!

The have Christmas pencils, shaker cards, wands and Christmas tags.  You will even find some chocolate in these envelopes!  These Loaded envelope stand up so you can see them much better.  They also have gussets so they can really hold a lot of goodies!

Sorry to have made this post so long.  Here is the last picture!  It is another Loaded Envelope but his one can be given to a loved one!!  It's made with Graphic 45's Love Notes paper.  Can you see the cute musical charms hanging on the front?  It also contains Pencils, a rosette wand and chocolates.  There are some tags that have Love Notes on them too!  

As I said, the Fair is this Saturday at the Italian Heritage Center in Portland!  We will also be doing another Fair the following weekend in Windham!  More to come on that fair!  Have a fabulous day!

Happy Halloween!

I made this Halloween Loaded envelope for my youngest Grandson!  I just love the fall and especially Halloween!  We don't get that many kids treat or treating anymore so I love making stuff for our Grandkids.

I saw the cute idea above on Pinterest.  I don't really want to give him lots of candy so this seem to be a good way to keep the sugar content down.  

The Ghost poop is my favorite!  Love the spongy eyes on the envelope too!

I put gussets on my envelope too so there is enough room to add the bags of goodies!

The hanging skeleton is a nice touch, don't you think? Hope he likes my Halloween treats! I am 

working on making Christmas Loaded envelopes to sell at the craft fairs we are doing the first 2 weekends in November.  I will post those pictures next time!

I thought I would end my post with the card I made for my sister in law.  It's a tuxedo card and it's so easy to make - you can find tutorials all over Pinterest.  The flowers are from Tim Holtz's Wildflower dies.  They are some of my favorite flower dies. 

I arranged my inserts in the center.  I like that the flowers face forward.   The purple ribbon is from Becca Feeken's Spellbinder ribbon die.  

We have started packing up the house for our move.  We won't be moving until the end of November but it is coming up fast!  I haven't started packing my craft room but will have to start soon.  I am not looking for to that job!  I will post pictures too!  Happy Halloweenie!

Craft Fair items continued

Just a quick post to show you more projects I have been working on for the Italian Heritage Christmas Fair in Portland, Me. on November 2nd.  This Kimekomi cone is 9 inches tall - not the larger one that is 15 inches.   But these are fun to make too!  

Love the Christmas lights hanging from the top!  I am really into Gnomes this year!

I decided to do a Christmas Explosion box.  Love decorating these guys! 

I used a plastic Christmas ornament ( that comes apart) for the inside of the box. 

Love, love the little truck with the Christmas tree in the back!

One of the inserts says - All roads lead home at Christmas time!

This is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss sentiments!

I had to make a New Baby Girl Explosion box since we sold the 

last one I made at the Spring Craft Fair.  I still have the Little Boy Explosion box

so it felt right to make the Little Girl Box.   Love the little Pacifier handing off the box with the little rocking horse. 

Here is the inside of the box.  Just a sweet little rocking crib.  Hope someone will

like this box!

Well, we have sold the house and the plan is to close the end of October.   I will keep you posted as to where we will be going.  I know we have plans to stay in Florida again this year to avoid Maine's long winters.  But not sure when we will be going this year.  Tom and I are going on a new adventure and soon we will be homeless.   If we don't find a home here in Maine right away- we plan on staying with my sister and her husband in Yarmouth.  It's comforting to know we can stay with them!

It is getting colder each week here- I have been playing lots of golf and crafting too!  The Craft Fair is right around the corner.  Won't be long now!

Christmas Projects 2019

Today I am posting some of the Christmas projects I have been working on for our November Craft fairs.  The picture above and below are some of the lighted frames that I made.  These are such fun to make because of the cool lights!   The town scene are dies from Stampin Up.  The Manger scene are dies that I bought from Darice.  Love those dies!

I made a couple of these Gingerbread Gift boxes.  You can see from the picture the top comes off so you can add your gifts.  I am adding the link to the original instructions for these gift boxes.   I made my own adjustments so that the top comes off.  The tutorial has the closure at the top.  Either closure works well.  Love these instructions!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKroCczYw1c

The boxes below are called Napkin Fold gift boxes.  I used the directions from Samantha from Mixed Up crafts.  You can find her tutorial here-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=lldgBGiJ7D8

Her instructions are great!  These boxes are really fun to  make and so pretty when they are completed.  

This is what it looks like when you remove the cover

You lift one end and it opens like a flower-love it!

Another look!

I had to make more Snowman Soup.  This can will contain the ingredients for hot chocolate.  That includes the hot cocoa mix, marshmallows and Hershey kisses plus a peppermint stick. 

Just a quick personal note- we have a contract on our house!  If all goes well- we may be moving in October.   Of course, we have no where to move to as  yet...but our plan is to have a place in Florida and a smaller home here in Maine.  We may have to move in with my sister and her hubby in Yarmouth until we find a place.  I keep telling my husband "it's an adventure"!  The worst part is going to be packing up this home- and by that I mean my CRAFT ROOM.. I dread that!!

I will keep you posted!!