More Christmas Gifts...

I think I am done with Christmas gifts. I am obsessed with glass etching right now! Today I etched a glass ashtray for my non-smoking husband. Well, let me clarify. He smokes an occasional cigar and thought he needed a personalized ashtray.

Go Bucks!

I also personalized some wine glasses for my sister/brother-in-law with their last initial.

Love how they turned out. Simple, sweet and perfect for them.

I also did some glass ornaments for 3 nephews and 1 niece. The other 2 nieces are moving to Germany next week and I didn't think a glass ornament would be great for travel.

Preston

Reese

Kira

Dexter

Can't wait to see them hanging on their Christmas trees!

Baby Boy Layout and Steelers Mug

Yay for vacation! I have been off of work for 2 days and I finally had time to papercraft. Lately I have been working on Christmas projects and have not been able to scrap at all. Yesterday, I spent about an hour digging out my desk and sorting my scraps. When I could finally see some white I knew that I would be able to get something accomplished!

I started on a baking layout but I haven't finished it yet. I am going to have a scrappy night with my friends while on Christmas break so I vow to embellish the layouts that I have finished! But for today, I completed a layout of my gorgeous baby nephew, Dexter, on the day of his birth.

How cute is he? Love everything about him!

I used Nate's ABCs, Create a Critter and B is for Boy for the title and used that as my main focal point (other than the pictures, of course). I added all of his birth stats and a little sentence because he shares a birthday with my brother!

I also finished a mug for my mom's boyfriend. We are doing a gift exchange with the adults and I drew his name. The only thing he ever wants is a gift card for Hot Wheels, of which he has a massive collection! I have been wanted to glass etch forever and make big glasses with the Steelers logo on it.

Love how it turned out! I am still working on my etching technique. I have to leave it on for a long time and I still get little imperfections but I still love it!

Because he doesn't drink, I decided to make his mug into a candy dish and put his gift card in it. I made a quick envelope out of football paper, added some Rolos (closest to team colors as I could find at Wally) and it makes an awesome gift!

Tomorrow I have like 4 more things to etch for gifts...can't wait to see how they turn out!

Christmas Projects

I have not gotten my hands on any paper lately and I am sad! But I have however, used some etching cream, glass bulbs, fabric and hot glue.

Here are a few projects that I have been working on for Christmas presents.

I made these cute rolled flowers and put them on a pin for a cardigan that I got for my mom-in-law. I really like how they turned out. I plan on making her a few more in different colors so she has a wide array to choose from.

Tonight was the first time I have ever used etching cream. I ruined one of the ornaments but I really like how these other 3 turned out. I made them using cuts from Winter Frolic, Accent Essentials and Birthday Cakes. I made them for the teacher that I share a room with--the middle bulb says The Thackers for her family tree.

I also have been making hair stuff...some to give away, some to keep. Here are a few headbands that I finished yesterday.

I am going to give the top one to my sister and I believe I will keep the bottom one. I don't think the picture does the top one justice. I really like it and I think she will too!

And finally, just for the fun of it, here is a picture of a blackberry pie that I made for my hubby on Saturday night. He really wanted a pie--I can't explain it, but he just did--so I made this for him.

It was pretty good and made a really good late night snack for a lazy weekend!

Secret Santa, Day 5

Today is the last day of Secret Santa and I have enjoyed myself a lot! My Secret Pal has been awesome and I am pretty sure I have been a good one to my person. She was wearing the black flower that I made her when I saw her in this afternoon!

I am giving her a super cute Christmas paper stack that I got at Michael's. It's the Recollections Jingle Bells stack and I love it!

 I have a stack of my own, of course, so I used one of the tags and the reindeer cut from Create a Critter to jazz up my butcher paper wrapping.

I put a little Stickles on Rudolph's nose to make it twinkle and I think it looks great! I love the simplicity of the wrapping and I know she will love the paper!

That ends my week as a Secret Santa. I have a few last minute Christmas projects to complete and I hope to be able to share them next week--if I can snag a few minutes!

Secret Santa, Day 4

We had our staff Christmas party last night so I didn't have as much time to put into today's Secret Santa gift. I did already have a few flowers made that I wanted to give to my secret pal and I have been working like crazy on homemade cookies for our family Christmas party this weekend so I just combined them into a cute little gift.

The purple flower is on a pin for a shirt and the black flower is on a clippy for her hair. Ironically, she complimented some flowers that were on my sweater today (not ones I made but ones that were on their when I bought it) so I think she will like them! And who doesn't like some yummilicious cookies?!?

Here is a closeup of the purple flower. The black gem finishes it off nicely, in my opinion.

Thanks for checking it out! Last gift tomorrow--something a scrapbooker can't have too much of...

Secret Santa, Day 3

For Day 3, I am giving my secret partner a Starbucks gift card, but I had to jazz it up just a bit.

If I am being completly honest, I bought Wrap It Up for this adorable cut of a gingerbread house and I have never used it! I was so excited to make this shaped card for the gift card. I used tons of white stitching to finish it off.

I put a simple little pocket on the inside for her gift card and a little note.

I have no dout that she will know that I am her Secret Santa--she knows I am a crafty one that scrapbooks and uses a Cricut. However, I am having so much fun doing this so it doesn't matter if their is no element of surprise!

Secret Santa, Day 2

Here is a cute bucket that I got from Target for $1 and some cuts from Winter Frolic and Winter Woodland.

I used some cello bags that were only a $1 and cut them apart. I wrapped popsicle sticks in pretty snowflake ribbon and glued the cute cuts on them. The snowman is from Winter Frolic and the words are from Winter Woodland.

I filled the bucket with her favorite candy, Dove Milk Chocolate. We did a little survey and that was what she said she loved--and it matched my color scheme!

Secret Santa, Day 1

This week at work (I am a long-term sub at an elementary school) we are having a Secret Santa exchange so I thought I'd share what I am giving to my person each day. I decided I would be the best Secret Santa ever and I put a lot of effort into what I am getting/making for her.

Today, I am giving her a cute shadow box frame with a rolled paper Christmas tree. I know that I got the idea from somewhere...but I can't say for sure. Pretty sure they did one of the DCWV blog which set this in motion.

This is it with a little tag from Winter Frolic and some green twine. I love how the frame turned out. I made another one to give to my mom-in-law.

It was so simple. I added a few button ornaments and a pretty yellow bow on top! I think it turned out really nice and I am sure my partner will love it!

More flowers!

I have the most boring hair...I either have it straight and down, tucked behind my ear or in a ponytail. I rarely do anything different. So lately I have been making some accessories to jazz it up a little bit! I posted some adorable flowers that I made the other day and now I have some rolled flowers that I put on no-sew braided headbands. I got the tutorial here via Pinterest. I am in love with that site...I have gotten loads of ideas from it!

Here are my two headbands for today. I am going to get some more fabric and make them for my gorgeous nieces for Christmas.

I think they turned out so cute and they were simple to make! I want to get some regular headbands and wrap them and add pretty flowers to them as well. Also, I think that my mom-in-law would love the flower addition to a cardigan so I am thinking about doing that and giving it to her for Christmas. Let's hope I can get it all accomplished, along with some massive Christmas baking that I need to do for family get-together this weekend.

Flowers in Her Hair...

That is so lyrics to a song but I have no idea what one! Anyway, I have been making some super cute flower hair bows in the last few days. Thanks to Pinterest, I found a great blog with a step-by-step instructions on how to make one out of a t-shirt. I had one t-shirt that I have had since high school that I kept because it was the first shirt I had with Smitty's Girl on it--an homage to my now-hubby! Anyway, I decided that it would look great as a flower bow.

Whatcha think?

I love it! Here is the tutorial I used. So easy and so cute and sooooo cheap!
I also used that same tutorial to make one of out regular fabric. Of course, you can see the underside of the fabric but I like the casual nature of it.

To change it up, I put a headband in my hair and clipped the flower on it. On this one, I also added an extra row of folded up flowers for more fullness since it was a thinner fabric.

I used a different tutorial found here to make a different type of flower. I need to print the template and use it because my flower is a little flat and somewhat wonky but I like it nonetheless.

I put a few beads on thread and sewed it in the middle. I can't wait to do this one up right because I am sure that I can make a much better one. And I bought a little bit of purple satin to try one as well. Can't wait!

Stay tuned for more flowers!

The Weekend is Over!

Just a few more layouts to finish up my weekend.

I love these pictures of my niece and nephew (the older brother this time) and I like most of the layout. However, when I made the circle for the title I didn't match it up very well with the green on the background. It bothers me quite a bit and I just don't know if I can stand it! Also, I forgot to put the date on this so I need to add that as well.

I love this layout! It is a picture of my niece's first Happy Meal. I never ever do 1 picture layouts but I only had 1 picture of this 'event' so I got to do something a little different.

I titled it Oh So Happy using Pooh Font Set and Designer's Calendar. I made the french fries from Locker Talk and I modified the M on the front from Birthday Cakes (I think). It was the closest to the golden arches as I could find. I also stitched using some twine and my Sew Easy. Now that I have the hang of it, I absolutely love it! It just adds some great dimension to layouts. I have a Sew Ribbon on the way and I can't wait to give it a try as well!

With Christmas just around the corner, I wonder how much I will get to scrap. Next weekend is going to be filled with copious amounts of cookie baking and I am going to try my hand at fudge as well! I do want to spend some time in Crafty World so hopefully I will squeeze in some time.

Hoot Hoot!

This layout has given me soooo many troubles today! I swear, it has taken me all day to complete it. I cut things wrong, I couldn't decide on simple papers to go with it, I had to re-arrange my pictures. Ugh. But it is complete and I love it!

These are pictures that I just took a few weeks ago of my niece and my newest baby nephew! I just love how the pictures turned out and I couldn't wait to make this layout.

I got the cute owl papers from the $1 bin at Target and I used Hoot n Holler for the great owl cuts and Create and Critter (Hoot) and Birthday Cakes for the words. I went crazy with my white pen and added just a touch of journaling.

I also have one quick addition to show. I had a simple family layout that I shared the other day and I added a few things to it to jazz it up. I am pretty sure I like the new additions.

Here is the original.

And here is the new one.

Thanks for looking!

2 Posts in 2 Days. No Way.

Only 16 more school days til Christmas break! I finished 2 more layouts since my post yesterday so I thought I'd do a quick post before bed.

First is a simple, simple layout of my beautiful family at our Easter Egg Hunt on May 1, 2011. As I said yesterday, my grandpa passed away and this is one of the last pictures (we have one more from Halloween) we have altogether so I cherish them so much.

I cut some banner pieces and used the Sew Easy to stitch them on and added the letters to spell out family. I added simple journaling strip and a big brad with a butterfly on it. I didn't want to clutter up the layout because the pictures are have so much going on.

Quick close up of the little banner. I love the stitching on it!

The last one for today is from my nephew's 4th birthday party. I made his cupcake racecar complete with a fondant Mario (that baby took several hours as it was the first thing I have ever made out of fondant!) and we had a great time at his party.

Another banner cut from Birthday Bash. It seems that I do a lot of banners. Fortunately I don't scrap chronological so they don't appear together in my book. The title is Party Time which is imposssible to read in this picture and the banner has his name on it. I used Birthday Celebration from DCWV and I love the paper--so bright and cheerful!

That's all for today! I have a half a box of pictures and I just printed 407 more--which catches me up to current and that never happens! I can't wait to see my new pics and do a layout featuring my handsomely adorable new baby nephew, Dexter, who was born in October!

Until next time...Happy Scrapping!