American Crafts: New Year's Eve Count Down Bags

Good morning! Today I have a quick and easy tutorial to share with you for New Year's Eve Count down Bags that I made for the American Crafts blog. Our New Year's Eve celebrations have certainly changed over the years and now we celebrate at home with our family.

I love the pretty, glittery gold in the 5th & Frolic collection and was inspired by it to create a set of New Year's countdown bags to ring in the new year with my family! Inside each bag is a tag with a family friendly activity such as playing a board game together, lighting a fire and drinking hot chocolate, etc. The larger paper bags could also hold a treat or little gifts. A sprinkle of confetti is also in each bag. Depending on the ages of your children, you could start the countdown earlier in the day and adjust the number of bags you use accordingly.

1) Cut a piece of patterned paper to fit the front of a glassine or paper bag. Cut a strip of gold polka dot vellum and adhere it to the top of the bag. Cut 3-5 pieces of the stitched triangle or scallop banner Flutterbys and adhere them below the patterned paper. 

2) Cut out a Polaroid from patterned paper and edge it with gold ink. Add Thickers numbers to the Polaroid then adhere it to the bag with foam adhesive. 

 

3) Punch confetti from patterned paper and cardstock. 

4) Add sequins to the confetti pile (a little confetti goes a long way!). 

5) Place the confetti in the bag. Add patterned paper or cardstock to a tag with removable adhesive (this way you can reuse the tags on another project). Add a family activity to the tag. Tie ribbon in bow on top.

6) Place the tag in the bag and fold the top over. Punch two holes through the top of the bag and tie ribbon through in a bow. 

Thanks for stopping by today! See you tomorrow! :)

Little Yellow Bicycle: Magical First Snow

Good morning! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! This was our best one yet! We had so much fun with the girls! But now it's back to the routine for at least a few days until we get to ring in the New Year! Today I have another layout to share with you using the Winterings collection from Little Yellow Bicycle as their guest designer.

These are photos of the girls last fall during our first snow. They were so excited to be outside playing! I made the photos black and white to better coordinate with the Winterings collection. I also created the page on an angle for a twist. I LOVE the transparencies in this collection - the tree and icicles provide the perfect wintry touch!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! More tomorrow... :)

Simple Stories: Winter Wonderland Home Decor

Good morning! Today I have a "Winter Wonderland" home decor project using Simple Stories' "Handmade Holiday" collection and Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive. The main piece is a flat 5 x7 canvas and I chose to create a neutral piece using the kraft, cream and white in the collection.

I had a chipboard snowflake by Melissa Frances that I drizzled with the Helmar Quick Dry Adhesive and then sprinkled on shaved ice glitter. I then added scraps of pretty lace and pearls to tie in the theme. I also used the Helmar Zapdots in Black to add some dimension behind the snowflakes.

Thanks for stopping by today! We're off to enjoy an early Christmas with my family but I'll be sure to check in on Christmas. Enjoy your weekend! :) 

Little Yellow Bicycle: I Love Gently Falling Snow

Happy Friday! Just wanted to share a new layout with you using the "Winterings" collection from Little Yellow Bicycle. I am excited to be guest designing for them with this collection over the next few weeks.


A few weeks ago, we had our first snowfall in Des Moines and this was the view from my sun porch that morning. I just sat and enjoyed a cup of coffee and looked out into my back yard. It was so pretty and peaceful that I snapped a photo so I could remember that moment.

That lacy looking pattern is vellum tape - I LOVE it! And LYB has a lot of options for alphabet stickers in this collection that I mixed and matched here.

And I really love the transparency pieces too - check out that glittery snowflake!

So, so pretty! Thanks Little Yellow Bicycle for having me. I'll have a new project on their blog every Friday for the next few weeks.

Have a great day! I'm busy, busy here with last minute preparations! :)

Elle's Studio: December Gallery

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...I am cozy and warm in my house today as the wind is howling outside and we're in blizzard conditions. The entire city is pretty much shut down for the day so I'm taking advantage of this snow day to get caught up and work on my mile-long to-do list. Today I want to share my work for the December gallery at Elle's Studio. I used the December kit from Noel Mignon to create this month - her Christmas kit is always a favorite!

I was instantly drawn to the religious tags in the "Be Merry" collection and knew that I wanted to create a layout about a new tradition we started last year - singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. 

I inked the wooden star with gold ink and heat embossed it. 

Love that "He is the reason for the Season" tag! We definitely have a lot of fun with Christmas - crafting, baking, Santa, etc. but it is so important to us that the girls know WHY we celebrate.

And here's a page that is actually current to this year! The girls were more than excited to help decorate the tree this year and they were the official light bulb testers - hence the title!

And finally, I also created a card using the exclusive stamps. I actually stamped the sentiment in two shades of green ink and then heat embossed.

I also inked and embossed the tree with gold ink. Thanks for stopping by today! Keep warm! :)

Simple Stories: Merry & Bright

Today I have a new two-page layout to celebrate Christmas in style! I'm bringing back a favorite Christmas collection for my post today - Simple Stories' 25 Days of Christmas. I loved the black in this collection with traditional Christmas colors and it happened to match the girls' dresses from Christmas last year. Every year we take a lot of photos of them in their pretty Christmas dresses so a layout with a lot of photos was exactly what I needed. This layout was featured in the sketch column of Creating Keepsakes' recent issue.

 
As seen in the November/December 2012 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.
My embellishements are minimal with some simple layering of snowfkakes in different textures - transparency and wood veneer.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! More to come next week...

Webster's Pages: They Have Our Hearts

Good morning! Some exciting news at Webster's Pages the past few weeks....the very talented Allison Kreft is releasing new collections as part of the Webster's Pages family, and I had the opportunity to work with one of them so far - Composition & Color.

I just love the combination of the linear design elements - the arrows and starbursts - with the softness of the damask overlay and weathered wood. It's unexpected and yet, it works!

Here are the girls this summer at my mom and dad's. I just love those little yellow dresses. So bright and sunshiny.

I was able to focus on some of the trims - the twine around the photo and the chevron ribbon are just two of them in the collection. The damask overlay at the top and the arrow overlay seen here are also new!

Webster's Pages is also holding a Clean & Simple design team call that goes through December 19th. I have loved being part of the team this past year and would encourage you to apply!

Thanks for stopping by today! I have a lot to share over the next few days. We have really been enjoying Christmas around here! The girls had their church Christmas program on Sunday, we visited Santa last night, we made a gingerbread house on Sunday with grandma and we have been making some fun Christmas crafts. I just love this time of year!

See you tomorrow! :)

Emma's Paperie: On, Comet On, Cupid!

Good morning! Today I have another layout the sketch challenge at Emma's Paperie that features the Wonderland collection by Studio Calico. I absolutely adore everything about this collection and as soon as it was released, I snapped up every little bit of it.

Last year, we started a new tradition of making reindeer food (oatmeal with a little glitter for flying, of course) so we could help the reindeer find our house and give them a little something to munch on while waiting for Santa. It was really fun and easy and the girls talked about it for days after. They wanted to make reindeer food every day!

I layered some die-cuts, sequins and a button. Love those wood veneer snowflakes!

The Polaroid frames are just amazing and instead of using it for a photo, I placed a reindeer transparency (by Hambly) behind it. And the little "believe it's possible" sticker is from Heidi Swapp.
Perfect for a little Christmas magic page, yes?

I'm just loving the selection of die-cuts and flair!

For a complete supply list, please visit the Emma's Paperie blog here.

Here is a list of Studio Calico products I used on the layout:
Wonderland Sleigh Ride Pattern Paper by Studio Calico
Wonderland Alpine Pattern Paper by Studio Calico
Wonderland Snowdrift Pattern Paper by Studio Calico
Wonderland Tree Farm Pattern Paper by Studio Calico
Wonderland Mistletoe Pattern Paper by Studio Calico
Wonderland Handknit Pattern Paper by Studio Calico
Wonderland Metal Badges by Studio Calico
Wonderland Ephemera Pack by Studio Calico
Wonderland Journal Cards by Studio Calico
Wonderland 12x12 Stickers by Studio Calico
Wonderland Die-Cut Polaroids by Studio Calico
Wonderland Snowflakes Wood Shapes by Studio Calico

Thanks for stopping by today! We're off to story time at the library and our last session of Bible Buddies tonight until after Christmas break.

Have a great day! :)

Emma's Paperie: What Happened to the Apples?

Good morning! Today I have a layout to share with you for Emma's Paperie that uses the Acorn Avenue collection by Crate Paper. At first, I wasn't quite sure what to think about Crate Paper's new designs but I'm definitely loving the retro vintage vibe. And once I had the products in hand, I liked them so much more. They came out with some great new embellishments - the vellum garlands and wood pieces are amazing!

This layout is for the color challenge at Emma's Paperie last month. We went to our local apple orchard to pick apples this year except we.couldn't.pick.apples. Catastrophe (as my girls would say!) We had a late spring frost that killed off a lot of the blossoms and that combined with a drought over the summer did not give us a chance to pick apples this year. Luckily, we could still buy some and have fun at the orchard's farmyard activities. But it was still a bummer!

Here's a close-up of the vellum garland...I punched an apple from patterned paper as well.

Love that wood veneer leaf! 

Sweet girls!

For a complete supply list, please visit the Emma's Paperie blog here.

Thanks for stopping by today! I'm feeling really good about where I am in terms of shopping and being ready for Christmas this year! My Christmas cards are all done and sent and that feels so good! And everyday two little girls ask, "Is today Christmas, mommy?" Love this time of year!

Have a great day! :)

American Crafts: Christmas Cards

Happy Friday! Holy moly, I can't believe tomorrow is December 1st! I'm looking forward to a very fun night tonight and special breakfast tomorrow. Our favorite friend, Buddy the Elf, is headed our way tonight and we have a special North Pole breakfast at our house to kick off December. It's a new tradition we started last year and I'm very excited to do it again this year.

I've been quite busy this week finishing up decorating, cleaning, and creating, and I managed to come down with an ear infection. I haven't had an ear infection in years and good grief, it was so painful! I'm feeling much better now but I didn't move from the couch one bit on Wednesday. I wish moms had sick days because I could have used one that day. Luckily, the girls played really well together and I was able to rest!  

Today I have a couple of Christmas cards to share with you that were on the American Crafts blog this week featuring the Kringle & Co. collection. I love the addition of black and teal to otherwise traditional colors. It gives it a little elegant feel. The little puffy stickers were just screaming at me to create a grid design so that's what I did for the first card.

And for the second card, I kept the focus on the beautiful die-cut in the collection and added a few Thicker dots to highlight it and give it a little more dimension.

Thanks for stopping by today and enjoy your weekend!

Elle's Studio: November Gallery

Good morning! I just realized that I have not yet shared my projects for the November Elle's Studio gallery and thought I better get on that before it's time to share my December gallery.

I focused on the Spooky Tales tags this month and created several Halloween themed projects using photos from Halloween this year.

For my first layout, I loved, loved, loved this photo of my little ballerinas ringing the door bell. This was really the first year that they were able to do so and they were so excited about it. The layout also features the Pumpkin Patch collection by American Crafts.

I used so many of those black tiny Jenni Bowlin stars on my Halloween projects this year.

The next layout was actually not created for the gallery but for a special promotion Elle had going on with the number stamps and 3 x 4 tags. (My other layout was picked up for publication so I won't be able to share it here quite yet).

I used all of the tags in this set and printed my photos to 1.5" squares. The numbers were stamped and then heat embossed.

I created this one with a lot of October Afternoon's Witch Hazel collection.

This one was fun to embellish here and there...

And finally, I also created a simple thank you card by layering a bunch of tags with elements from the Pumpkin Patch collection from American Crafts.

Thanks for stopping by today! More to come soon...