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!