Challenge - Use those Holiday cards

Oh Christmas Card. Oh Christmas card (sing with me now). It seems like there is the same dilemma every year. Create your own with your blood, sweat, and tears? Order one from an online service and try not to feel guilty about it?

After all that hard work in deciding what to do, what happens? You send them all out and are left wondering if the stress was worth it. Does anyone really care if you make it or buy it, as long as you send one? You know, not there's anything wrong with NOT sending one....

This is not something to be worrying about this time of year!

One dilemma I have had is what to do with the Christmas cards I have received. Steve's grandmother used to date hers every time she sent us a card for any occasion, which made me feel she must think we intend to keep them. Now don't get me wrong. I don't throw all of my cards away. I keep the special ones. But after a while, they tend to pile up, don't they?

What do you do with yours?

My challenge for you this week involves your Christmas cards, either the one you sent, or the cards you've received.

Below I have some very VERY old projects to share with you, ideas on what I've done in the past. Be nice.

In this first one, I took the photo I used for our 2005 Christmas card (I was about 20 weeks pregnant with Payton here) and put it in the center of my layout. Then I trimmed squares (no square punch for me at the time) from the Christmas cards I had received, and layered them around my photo. How fancy. Do I want to rip off those Quickutz alphas right now and switch them for something bigger? YES I DO, lol. I will work to restrain myself though. heeeeeee.



If you are the type of person who likes to save your Christmas cards, though, especially if they come from Grandma and have a special message, you might try making a special notebook.

The following project is Morgan's card book. I simply trimmed two pieces of chipboard, covered them with paper and embellished them a bit, and then attached them with jump rings. Every time she receives a card, be it for her birthday, Valentines, or just because, after it's been displayed for a bit, I punch holes in it, and put it in her book. This book is currently getting full and needs bigger rings, but it's a great keepsake and fun to look back on the cards she's received, from Congratulations at her birth to a random postcard she received from her Grandmother.



I know it might be a busy week at your house, but my challenge to you is to think about those Christmas cards, and do a project with them. Make a mini album, create a layout, etc. I plan to create a layout with my 4x8 photo card and will share it later this week.

You have until Saturday night at midnight, PST. I'll then draw a winner for that weekly $5 gift certificate to the SC store. It'll help with those star punches that work perfectly with the main kit coming up. This one. And this one for sure.

Grateful for Inspiration

One of my favorite thing about the holidays is looking through magazines and websites and dreaming of what I would do to decorate if I had money and gumption to do so. I just love seeing how different people (and truthfully the magazines) decorate for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The reality of OUR crazy family dinners is "faux" plastic china (from Costco) red drinking cups and lots and lots of food and laughter, but a girl can dream, eh?


Love this simple buffet with a combo of pewter and wood and whiteware. The berry twigs just scream fall, and they can be found in (someone's) yard for free :)

This is another "cheap" idea of turning veggies into candle holders wrapped in ribbon or just hollowed out. Those artichokes are seriously adorable!

Another totally "do-able" paper craft, cut letters out of cardstock or fall colored patterned paper with a Cricut or craft knife, and slip them over candles as covers! I love this idea!

Not really something I'd ever do, but I really like this idea of an all white table. Very modern and wonderful!

I'm always a sucker for multiple things inside of glass pieces. Random, I know. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that big glass hurricane with candles, twigs, acorns and PHOTOS, are you kidding me? PHOTOS! (you must see this bigger, click through, click through!)


That Martha, she (well, her staff) is always a fount of cool decorating ideas. Most of them are do-able by the common (wo)man! I love these corn husk covered votives!!

Glue some acorns onto ribbon, cut leaf shapes for place cards (or press some real leaves) and you're in business!!

Another pressed leaf project. Clear plates sitting on top of a small branch of leaves. Loverly!!!

OMGosh, seriously? The cutest thing EVAH!!! Check out Martha's whole Thanksgiving decor slide show by clicking on that cutie!!


:) This turkey is more my speed. This project totally makes me smile. I have a bunch of nieces and nephews, (and my own 3) and this is a project that we could make at the cabin before we do the big Thanksgiving on paper plates thang ;)

Most of these photos are clickable to other ideas....if you need more inspiration click around through some of the lovely tables I found, and be inspired!!!

Thinking Ahead

So in preparation for enjoying the holidays more, I've started thinking about family pictures for the cards. I made my family go out on Saturday and take some photos, I'm not sure I'm sold on them, so I headed over to Flickr for some more ideas. I found plenty. Here are a few:

More Valentine fun...

I don't know about you, but I think Valentine's Day is really fun...I love all the pink and red and the polka dots and hearts. I'm a total sucker for the holiday aisle at Target...everything is just so cute! I've stumbled up on some super cute Valentine crafts that I wanted to share.

These adorable heart bookmarks would be a great addition to kids' valentines:

These fortune cookies look like a cinch to make and how CUTE!
I'm thinking about making these crayon hearts with the boys sometime next week...

And I've been searching for some cute make-your-own Valentine ideas and came across a few worth sharing...

You make my heart glow!

You rule!

Plane Awesome!

Hope you enjoy these ideas and please share any fun things that you've found...I'd love to see! :)

I Dare You

I was thinking about Valentine's Day all this week with these blog postings...and ways Valentine's Day and scrapbooking intersect. And mostly I was thinking in terms of USING scrapbooking supplies in creating Valentines or decor or whatever. But then I realized....

I have a lot of LOVE for my scrappy supplies too.

And, yes.. I say that sort of tongue in cheek. But if you are even reading this blog... then I have a hunch you feel the same way! So here's my dare for you...

Create a Valentine for your one true scrapbooking love. :) The supply you can't live without, the tool that is your right hand.. er... tool, the manufacturer you want to marry, or the kit club you adore (had to throw that one in!). Let's do tags to make it easy. And somehow incorporate your scrappy love on the tag along with a sentiment or whatever. Mine would be ode to buttons or patterned paper. Can't quite decide yet. Whatever you do, make sure you post it in the gallery... PLEASE! I have a feeling these could get pretty funny and I don't want to miss any of them! So, humor me and play along... please?

Here's one more project for you. I found this little valentine heart tote in Family Fun magazine. (which is a great little mag for those of you with young children...lots of fun ideas in there) Anyways, I thought this was cute as could be AND a great little craft to do with your child. They have full directions here ... even have you make a child safe needle out of twist ties! There'd be all sorts of ways to dress this up even more with your scrappy stuff and I think you could use cardstock instead of felt if you needed to.

Have a great weekend... and don't forget those tags! ;) Can't wait to see your creations!

Did You Know...?

To go along with our Valentine inspired theme here on the blog this week, I looked up some fun trivia about the holiday. All of these were taken from http://www.stvalentinesday.org/

• About 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are exchanged in US each year. That's the largest seasonal card-sending occasion of the year, next to Christmas.
  
• Women purchase 85% of all valentines.
  
• In order of popularity, Valentine's Day cards are given to teachers, children, mothers, wives, sweethearts and pets.
  
• About 3% of pet owners will give Valentine's Day gifts to their pets.


• Worldwide, over 50 million roses are given for Valentine's Day each year.
  California produces 60 percent of American roses, but the vast number sold on Valentine's Day in the United States are imported, mostly from South America. Approximately 110 million roses, the majority red, will be sold and delivered within a three-day time period.
  73% of people who buy flowers for Valentine's Day are men, while only 27 percent are women.
  
• In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week. To wear your heart on your sleeve now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling.
  
• The Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare's lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every Valentine's Day.


• Richard Cadbury invented the first Valentines Day candy box in the late 1800s.


• In Medieval times, girls ate unusual foods on St Valentine's Day to make them dream of their future husband.


• Superstitions:
  If you see a squirrel on Valentine's Day, you will marry a cheapskate who will hoard all your money.
  If you see a goldfinch on Valentine's Day, you will marry a millionaire.
  If you see a robin on Valentine's Day, you will marry a crime fighter - maybe they mean Batman!
  If you see a flock of doves on Valentine's Day, you will have a happy, peaceful marriage.
  If you find a glove on the road on Valentine's Day, your future beloved will have the other missing glove.
  

I thought these were amusing... single gals be on the lookout for random gloves in the street! :)

And here's a photo of one more Valentine project for you (I made this back in 07). I altered a Heidi Swapp box of chipboard letters with some patterned paper. I cut squares of chipboard that would fit inside and then altered those too. I wrote the things I love about my husband on each card. :) Have a great day!

LOVE will be in the air

here on the SC blog this week! :) Valentine's Day is a month away and Kirsty and I thought it would be fun to focus on all things Valentine this week. After all, the stores are already full of hearts and roses in anticipation of love day. So, I thought I'd start our love fest off with some Valentine projects I've done in the past couple years. Just to get you in the mood...and maybe give you some ideas so you can get started now on your Valentine crafties.

Here's my favorite Valentine family tradition we started last year. AND I noticed that Target has these in their dollar spot again this year!!! I altered the mini mailboxes from Target...one for each family member. In the weeks leading up to Feb. 14th we leave each other little love notes and treats in them.

And speaking of items from the Target dollar spot... This mini ice cube tray with the heart shaped openings was just calling for some patterned paper and embellies! I added some photos and a few magnets on the back and now it's a refridgerator decor item for Grandma.

Make sure to snap some photos on Valentine's Day when everyone is wearing red and pink. They make for great layouts!

Don't forget the actual valentine's of course! I picked up some little Jolee's stickers that I knew my kids would love... BUGS! Then used some scraps and mismatched stickers to make them valentines.

And here are two more for the non-bug lovers. :)

That's all I have for now... but Kirsty will have some more goodies for you tomorrow. Laaahhhoooovvveeee! ;)

Last Minute Gift Ideas

Caroline and I brainstormed and came up with a list of FIFTY, yes 50 last minute gifts. Some are scrappy, some are not!

1. Make a Glass Ball Ornament with curled paper and bells and stickers



2. Put a bottle of wine in a pretty bag

3. Make several kinds of cookies, put them on plates, when you wrap them up include the recipes so that your friends can make their favorites next year.

4. Make a 4x6 Brag Book



5. Make Salt Dough or Cinnamon Dough Ornaments, paint them, and give them away.

6. Have your kids draw on a T-shirt, or Frame, or Mug for a parent or grandparent.



7. Make up some easy Mason Jar gifts. Top them with fabric and ribbon for a pretty presentation.

8. Make a Band-Aid Box Gift Card Holder


9. Make some pom pom barrettes for the little girlies on your list!

10.Make a felt and fabric brooch.



11. Fill a Gift Bag filled $1 Spot gifties

12. Hot glue cinnamon sticks around a candle. You could embellish it with ribbons and flowers too.



by Martha

13. Put a bow on a bag of mixed nuts (my dad's fav!)

14. Give a Paper Bag Card Gift Card Holder



15. Present a nice mug holding an individual packet of hot chocolate and a chocolate dipped spoon.

16. Make someone a piece of Monogram Wall Art



by Caroline

17. Make a set of refrigerator magnets out of bottle caps and round magnets

18. Give a Photo Ornament



by Denise

19. String a bell or two on a ribbon and tie it to a shepard's hook earring set. Give it to your favorite merry friend! This one you might want to make a few sets at a time, they'll be a crowd favorite!



20. Buy an I Tunes Gift Card

21. Decorate a box or tin filled with homemade cookies



by Danielle

22. Cover a 2009 Pocket Calendar

23. Decorate a NoteCube



24. Consider maing a different photo ornament



by Elisa

25. Find a favorite quote and make a piece of Wall Art



26. Dip Pretzel logs into melted chocolate and then roll immediately in sprinkles. Package 5 together in a lollipop bag and tie with a ribbon, viola, insta gift for your coworkers.

27. Speaking of sprinkles, Fill a restaurant sugar container (I got mine at Big Lots) with Sprinkles and wrap a ribbon around with a tag that says "spread joy"



28. Give a gift subscription to a favorite magazine.

29. Monogram a hand towel.

30. Give some Name Wall Art



31. Make a fun and bright statement for someone by stringing a button necklace.

32. Give a mix CD of your own making:)

33. Punch butterflies out of different patterned papers and make a butterfly collage.

34. Get a $1 Store big bowl, fill it with Microwave Popcorn, a couple of candy bars or movie candy and a gift card to Netflix or Blockbuster

35. Make a family tree.



by Davinie

36. Make your own gift bag, decorate the outside, fill it with candy, give away the love:)

37. Cover a Kraft Notebook from Target, wrap a matching pen with it and give it to a special friend.

38. Cover some Letters

39. Decorate a Tin and fill it with candy



by Denise

40. Give a "Night Out" to a busy couple of parents. Buy them 2 tickets to the movies, and offer to watch their kids!

41. Make a pillow box Gift Card holder.

42. Make your own Coupons

43. Wrap up a set of matching cards



44. Make a Ribbon Belt

45. Decorate a Candle

46. Make a Felt Tree, or a stuffed tree.

47. Or Make a paper tree, or a different paper tree or a different different paper trees.



by Francine

48. Frame some recent photos of your family or kids for a parent or close family member.

49. Make a reusable Coffee Cozy out of Felt and give it with a Starbuck's gift card.

50. Make an Altoid Tin Mini Book



Comment here with any other suggestions or you know, whatever, and on Monday I'll pull a name for a last minute gift or two from Studio Calico :)