JOY Boxes

Wednesday, I posted about a free cutting file from the Cutting Cafe that Regina is offering until midnight Christmas day. I was needing a fun way to box up some yummy treats I had made and this file was perfect for it.

The original boxes are about 2" square. The beauty of  svg cutting files is that you can enlarge or shrink them to the size you need. I knew I needed something a little bigger, so I messed around with a few sizes to see what would work the best. I ended up making 3 sizes: 2.5", 3.25" and 4". (btw, this is the lid size, so the box is a little bit smaller for the lid to fit)

There are SEVEN (and they are FREE right now!) designs to choose from...JOY, snowman, tree, snowflake, ornament, Santa hat, Star of David. I love them all! I decided to go with all Joy boxes this time, but will definitely be making the others. This is the largest one. I also used Cutting Cafe's Christmas Mini Words Set for the tags.

 here is a peek inside with a yummy treat...

The 3.25" box. You can't tell in any of the photos, but the JOY is very glittered. To make the JOY a different color, I "ungrouped" (on my Silhouette) the JOY section and cut it in white. Then I fussy cut the J and Y to finish cutting it out and detach from the frame. I glued it to the box, layering on top of the already cut kraft image. There is a piece of clear cardstock (you can get this from Regina's store as well) behind the JOY image.

This is the small box I created and 5 of the pretzels I made fit inside. A cupcake liner fits in there perfectly. I did that and then put the pretzels inside of it. I don't have a photo of that, as I needed a little something for someone right away and added it and gifted it last night.

Here is what is inside the box...something that I created. I have never seen and/or heard of cranberry/pecan/orange pretzels, so don't know if anyone else has ever made these or not, but they are amazing! (if I say so, myself. LOL)

to make I added orange essential oil to some white almond bark and dipped the pretzels. only doing 3-4 at a time while they are still wet, I sprinkled on chopped pecans and finely chopped dried cranberries.

Free Cutting File

I wanted to pop in quick and share this free cutting file from the Cutting Cafe. THIS SET WILL BE FREE UP UNTIL CHRISTMAS DAY at MIDNIGHT!! You can find it here. 

Visions of Sugarplums ~ Day 3

Welcome to the last day of this years Vision of Sugarplums blog hop. Which project has been your favorite so far? I know I have some favorites that I want to try to make as well. If you just came here from Lisa's blog, you are right on track. If not, be sure to head on over to LORI's blog and don't forget to leave comments along the way to better your chances for some fun prizes.

Today I had something else completely planned and then my daughter in law and I were finally able to get together to craft yesterday and wanted to share this advent box instead. 

I had bought a couple of these 3-4 years ago from Hobby Lobby and it had just never worked out quite right for us to get together to cover them. (hers is in grays and burgundys.....very pretty!) The hardest part was deciding what color scheme to go with. I had planned to do aqua and red, but as much as I loved the papers, the colors really didn't go with my house. These colors do. 

The stickers didn't photo very well, but they are all glittery and was from a sticker sheet in the Target Dollar Spot.

It's time to head over to Bety's blog. But before you go, read on for the challenge info. Thank you so much for stopping by these past 3 days.

In case you get lost along the way, here is a list of who is playing today (so did not mean that to rhyme Ü)

Lori

Greta

Mitra

Lisa

Debbie Dee

Bety

Debbie

Karen 

Tracey

Challenge info:

How do you win?  

1.  Start by leaving a comment on Lori's blog that you would like to win. 

2.  Visit all the other blog's and leave comments.  

3. Lori will pick up your name from her blog, check all the other blogs and put your name in the "hat"  as many times as you leave comments.  Example:  Leave 14 comments = your name 14 times in the "hat".

Prize winners will be announced on Sunday, December 10^th. 

Visions of Sugarplums ~ Day 2

Hello! If you just came from Mitra's blog along the hope, you are in the right spot. If not, after reading this, be sure to head over to Lori's blog as you don't want to miss anything along the way.

WOW! Was yesterday's hop full of inspiration or what? I have a few favorites that I want to recreate myself. You are in for another treat today as we have even more awesome inspiration for you!

Today I have a crafty idea for you. First up is a snowman ornament I made. I used to make these years ago and gave or sold them all. I was wanting to make some for myself as I still had the supplies and this was the perfect opportunity to get them done.

The bottom is a clear glass ornament with some iridescent snow added inside. The top is a styrofoam ball and then painted with snowtex and face with black paint. The carrot nose is a toothpick.

Next up are two boards I painted, stenciled with stars and then hand painted the wording. These are going to be gifts this year.

Now it's time to head over to Greta's. She has a fun project for you today. Below is information on how to play along for a chance to win a great prize.

In case you get lost along the way, here is a list of who is playing today (so did not mean that to rhyme Ü)

LORI
Bety

Debbie

Lisa

Mitra

DebbieDee

Greta

Tracey

Maria

Karen

Nancy

Jinny

Kathy

Mackie

Larissa

How do you win?  

1.  Start by leaving a comment on Lori's blog that you would like to win. 

2.  Visit all the other blog's and leave comments.  

3. Lori will pick up your name from her blog, check all the other blogs and put your name in the "hat"  as many times as you leave comments.  Example:  Leave 14 comments = your name 14 times in the "hat".

Prize winners will be announced on Sunday, December 10^th. 

Visions of Sugarplums ~ Day 1

Welcome to the first day of VOSP 2017! There is so much inspiration to be found for the next 3 days. If you came upon my blog from Greta's, you are in the right spot. If not, but sure to start at Lori's and follow along. 

I have been loving some craft fair tutorials on youtube and rather than just watch them, I decided to make some fun little gifts from the tutorial. This one comes from scrapdaworld. Tmika is so much fun to watch and she gets so excited about her projects. You can't help but smile.  

For today's projects I went with a less traditional color scheme: pinks, rose red, mints, and light blue.

I'm always needing a little sweet gift to give now and then. You never know when you might make a

BIG difference in someone's life by brightening their day with a little love. This designer paper is even appropriately named "Mint Berry". I bought it at Hobby Lobby when it was 1/2 priced.

I also love making these little notepads. They make great gifts and who doesn't need paper to make lists, esp this time of year?

Karen's blog is next on the list, but first, be sure to read the info below on the prize challenge.

Here is a list of everyone who is playing along with Lori's challenge this year.

LORI

Mitra

Tracey

Lisa

Greta

DebbieDee

Karen

Debbie

Annette

Bety

Along with all the inspiration you will find along the way, there is also a challenge out with a chance to win a great prize. You have until Saturday the 16th to enter, so there is plenty of time for you to create. Be sure to go to Lori's blog to enter. You can create anything you want as long as it is a Christmas/Winter themed project. The prize for the challenge is a $20.00 gift certificate to Mama Elephant.   The challenge will start Dec 2^nd and run through Dec. 16^th.

How do you win?  

1.  Start by leaving a comment on Lori's blog that you would like to win. 

2.  Visit all the other blog's and leave comments.  

3. Lori will pick up your name from her blog, check all the other blogs and put your name in the "hat"  as many times as you leave comments.  Example:  Leave 14 comments = your name 14 times in the "hat".

Prize winners will be announced on Sunday, December 10^th. 

Visions of Sugarplums

coming soon! I am excited to be participating again this year

BFB God Gave Us Family

God Gave Us Family by Lisa Tawn Bergren is a cute children's book explaining what makes a family. It starts out with little pup from the wolf family asking why he is the only child in the family. He points out that of his friends, one has 8, one was adopted... Papa explains that God gives us family in many different ways. It goes on to explain about different family dynamics with working parents, some children live with grandparents, etc.

You can see another book I read by  the same author HERE.

• More Info
• Author Bio

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Book Review: A Plain Leaving

A Plain Leaving by Leslie Gould is the first book in her The Sisters of Lancaster County. This book was so good, I read it in one day. We were travelling and it was a great time to get some reading in.

I loved the format of this story. I combined the current story of Jessica Bachmann who had walked away from the Amish faith only to return when she received word that her father had died, to the story of her ancestor Ruby Bachmann from over 400 years before whose story was a lot like Rebecca's.

Both women had 2 men who loved them, one of the Amish faith and one who was not. They both had loss of family and hard decisions to make.

It was wonderfully written in a way that makes you want to read for more. Now it will be hard to wait for the next book in the series.

**I received this book for free from Bethany House in exchange for my honest review.**

Halloween Candle and Pill Bottle

I went to throw an empty pill bottle away and thought it would make a fun pumpkin project. Well, it went a different direction. I spray painted the lid and added some fun elements. I filled it with Reese's Pieces.

More Halloween Projects

Here are a few more projects I've created...

Pencil Holder, tutorial can be found HERE

pillow box using Inky Antic's stamp

pillow box with one end not scored and punched with an oval punch to make a handle

Mini Coffee Cup Holder

I have a fun project to share with you using Dawn's tutorial for this mini coffee cup holder. You can buy the Mini Coffee Cups and Mini Coffee Cup Lids online. I have had these in my stash for a very long time. I've used a few from time to time for fun little gifts, but I really like this project.

 The straw is cut in half to fit in the little drink spot.

You can fit 2-3 snack sized candies into the cup and then the band in the back holds a gift card. What  a fun idea to give to a teacher, friend, family member with a gift card to their favorite coffee shop.

AFTER I cut one cup apart to make a pattern to add patterned paper to my cup, I came across a blog that has a free cutting file...cut file for covering coffee cup

Small Halloween Loaded Bag

This Loaded Bag is made with a smaller flat bag that I got at Hobby Lobby. The package came with orange with white polka dots and black with white polka dots.

In the front pocket a treat sized bag of Skittles. 

In the back pocket there is a pen and altered mini composition notepad. 

 cute little epoxy spider peeking out

Medium Halloween Loaded Bags 2 more...

Here are 2 more Loaded Bags using the medium sized flat gift bags.

 altered mini composition notepad