O’ Christmas Tree

Hi there, friends. I hope these last few days leading up to Christmas are relatively stress free for you.

I just have to send out a few cards and finish up some shopping. I feel very stress free this year. Probably because I gave myself a lot less to do than I normally do. My Christmas card list got drastically pared down this year since I didn’t mass produce any of my cards. It will be mostly family and a few close friends who will be getting a card from us this year, and that’s OK. Maybe next year will be different, who knows. So, if you normally receive a card from us and you don’t this year. Never fear. It doesn’t mean we no longer like you. It just means I’m giving myself a little break this year.

Now on to today’s project. It’s one I made a couple of weeks ago to add to my Christmas decor. Each year I make a tree of some sort to add to my small, but growing collection. This is the fourth or fifth year I’ve been making a Holiday tree and each year the tree has been made from a different material. This year’s tree was inspired by one made by Layle Koncar that appeared in the latest Paper Crafts Holiday Cards & More. Hers was made in a black, white, red and green color scheme which was really beautiful.

This year’s tree is made from paper scraps. Take a look.

I started out with a styrofoam cone. Paper mache would probably work better, but I wasn’t able to find any. If anyone knows where to get them , please let me know. I might have a need for some in the future.

First off I selected some paper from my stash of scraps in the color scheme I was looking for that I thought worked well together. Then I cut them in random rectangle and square shapes. When I had enough I simply began gluing them onto the styrofoam using craft glue. Here’s where I think paper mache would work so much better because I had a hard time getting some of the paper to stick to the styrofoam.

Once I had the entire tree covered in paper pieces I glued on some buttons here and there to dress it up. Chloe helped with this part.

I love the way it turned out and i love how it looks grouped with my little collection of trees.

This would be my fifth tree. I made one last year out of an old magazine, but it didn’t store well. I have enough ideas to keep me going with the tree a year idea to last for at least three more years. Maybe you have some ideas for what kinds of items could be used for making a tree. I’d love to hear about it.

Have an awesome day!

Christmas Duo

It’s sooo COLD here today!!! I had to stop and fill the tank up with gas and nearly froze in the process. I enjoy being tucked inside my nice warm snug little house on days like today. It’s time to put my gloves and hat in the car so I have them just in case.

I have two cards to share with you this time. They are both using nearly identical colors and elements, but are just a tad different. I hope you like them.

This one uses a purple ribbon and cream colored paint on the chipboard snowflake. The sentiment was stamped, cut out, and tucked in behind the kraft stamped piece.

This one uses pink ribbon and white paint on the snowflake and the sentiment is simply stamped on the card front.

supplies: card stock, ink, chipboard, ribbon, thread: Stampin’ Up!; stamps: Martha Stewart Crafts; carfts paint

So just by changing up a few things here and there you can make your cards similar but still unique.

I have been making cards and more cards lately, but next time I’ll have a different kind of paper crafting project to share with you. And it’s easy enough to whip up your own in time for Christmas!

Tomorrow the kids and I are going to make some chocolate covered pretzel logs for a family Christmas get together. We’re also going to make the cut out cookies we’ve made every year since the boys were very small. It’s become a tradition that we really enjoy. The kids love to help cut out the dough with all kids of shaped cookie cutters. Then after they’re baked I frost them with several colors of frosting and the kids go to town decorating them with sprinkles and sugar, etc. It’s a good thing I haven’t cleaned my kitchen yet, because after we’re done tomorrow it’s going to be a mess!

What are some of your Christmas traditions? I always love to hear fun ideas for starting new family traditions.

oopsy, forgot to mention…

that since I’ve been really busy here lately with Christmas prep that Makeover Monday will be postponed. I’m hoping to get it done by next Monday because I have an idea that would be great for Christmas. If I don’t get enough time to get it done I’ll postpone Makeover Monday until after the holidays. So stay tuned. I have some fun ideas coming up for the Makeover Monday feature here on my blog that you won’t want to miss!

It’s Christmas time!

There are signs of Christmas popping out all over here in the Weaver household. We’ve had a bit of this:

(photo taken from our front porch looking toward the boarding stables across the street)

And some of this:

Plus lots of decorating, card making, gift buying and wrapping, and enjoying listening to lots of Christmas tunes, which doesn’t leave a whole lot of extra time for blogging.

I do have a card to show you today, though. It’s a pretty simple one that would be easy for mass producing. Just in case you are like me and don’t have all your cards made yet.

The trees are stamped with bleach and then I spritzed more bleach onto the card using an old toothbrush to give it the look of falling snow. Be sure to protect your clothes and work surface and wear gloves when spritzing bleach. It can be messy, but not very time consuming.
It’s impossible to tell but I also sprayed the card with some glimmer spray to make it shimmery. It looks cool in person. When everything was dry I stamped the deer and the sentiment and embossed them with black embossing powder. Tie a ribbon or some cord at the top and you’re done! Easy peasy!

Today was a funny day, weather wise. It rained buckets this morning and was all icy and slushy and foggy, but by the afternoon it turned sunny and beautiful. I was just thinking how nice it would have been if all that rain would have been snow instead. I love snow! I hate being cold, which during the winter months I’m pretty much cold all the time. But I figure if it’s going to be miserably cold it may as well be beautiful!
The kids and I were able to build a couple of small snowmen with the few inches of snow we got. How fun!

Winter wouldn’t be the same for me without snow. It’s magical. It has the power to transform a dull and lifeless landscape into a wonderland of sparkling beauty. It’s gorgeousness takes my breathe away and it makes me marvel at the beauty of the world we live in and how awesome of a God we have to make this kind of a world for us to enjoy. The snow makes me want to snuggle by the fire and draw my loved ones close and enjoy hot cocoa and cookies together.

How about you? Did you get any snow yet where you live? Are you hoping for some, or do you hate the white stuff? Maybe you live in a warm climate and won’t get any snow. Are you glad about that or would you like to see some snow every now and then? Curious minds want to know these kinds of things

Have a great day!

Season’s Greetings

Hi everyone. I’m back again with another Christmas card. Today’s card was made using this week’s sketch from CPS.

And was made with Lucy’s wings and strings challenge in mind.

This card was made using patterned papers and chipboard snowflakes from SEI, bird stamp, gel pen and ink from Stampin’ Up!, Season’ greetings stamp from Studio G, Nestabilities labels one dies, red Stickles, and some string.

I hope you like it.

I’m thinking of taking the kids ice skating tonight. I think I might be a little crazy trying to attempt it without their dad along, but the boys kind of have their heart set on it. It’s been several years since I’ve been on ice skates. I might make a complete fool of myself. Not to mention I can feel the bruises on my bum from falling all over the place already. Oh well. It’s going to be free tonight, so if we really can’t make a go of it we just come home and drink hot cocoa instead.

Later!

Embellish with leaves, acorns and pine cones

Fall is pretty much gone here in PA. The trees are bare and most of the leaves have been raked, bagged and hauled off or burned. We’re hunkering down in preparation for the cold months ahead. Pretty soon the snow will start to fly (at least my kids hope so) and everything related to fall will be hidden for a while.

As we bid fall farewell I want to share one last autumn themed project with you. I made this for the current Embellish challenge.
Here’s the challenge image.

I chose to create a mini book to keep for the next Thanksgiving season. I thought it would be fun to have a place to record things each family member is thankful for. I attached the pages with a book ring so that I can add more pages when we run out of room.

I chose to add all three fall elements in my design (leaves, acorns and pine cones), plus all three challenge colors. The acorn cap is scored in a diamond pattern. You can see it a little better in this photo.

I printed out “So Thankful” on my computer and then hot glued real pine cones on top of the ribbon.
Here’s a glimpse of the inside pages. Each page is plenty big enough to write a few lines on it. I think it will be fun to look back on as the years go by to read again what everyone has written in previous years and also to see how the kids’ hand writing has changed from year to year.

What do you think? I can’t wait to use it next November. Now I’m off to make a few more Christmas cards.
Check back in a bit. I have another Christmas card to share with you a little later today.

Have a good one!

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me….

a gift underneath our Christmas tree!

OK, so it wasn’t on the first day of Christmas. But it was on the first day of December. And it WAS from my true love. And it was under our Christmas tree. For a few minutes anyway. Until he told me to open it.

No. I didn’t beg and bribe. He TOLD me to open it. Even though I asked him several times if he really wanted me to open it before Christmas. He did. And he told me not to get to used to that idea.

It was the best gift EVER! Something I’ve been wanting for years. Something that recently I have begun to not only want in a really bad way, but needed. My old one was about to call it quits. It was time for a replacement. Well he replaced it all right. And he did it well.

I am in love. And I haven’t even really gotten to play with it much yet. Even more so I am in love with that wonderful guy who gave it to me. He’s such a thoughtful guy. And it proves that he really does listen to what I say. Even though I wasn’t all that subtle, let’s give credit where credit is due.

Have I dragged it out long enough? Wanna see what was inside? Yeah, I know you do. It was…..

This:

Except mine is XS and not XSi

Sweet! It’s a far cry from my little Sony point and shoot. My family better take a good long look at me because from now on they’re gonna be seeing me with this in front of my face.

I told hubs he doesn’t have to buy me another gift for a really long time. I’d say he’s good for another year or so.

Hopefully this means I’ll be able to take better photos of not only my family, but also better photos of my projects here on my blog. Hopefully that means I won’t have to struggle as much with my photos anymore to get them to look right.

Anyway. I just had to share with y’all. Gotta go read my manual.

Butterfly Crafts challenge #24

Hi everyone.

The beginning of the month means that it’s my turn to provide a page for the challenge over at Butterfly Crafts. This time the prompt was this:
‘What’s your beauty regime?’ Has it changed over the years, has it been influenced by anyone (mum, gran), do you have to have the latest products? Or are you a soap and water girl?

Our challenge was to create a page about our beauty regime. Ha! For me it’s almost non-existent. I have all the cleansers, toners, scrubs, and night creams, but by the time I get my weary body to bed each night I don’t feel like using them all, even though I know it would only take me a few extra minutes. I really need to get better at that. Here’s the page I made for the challenge.

supplies: card stock: Stampin’ Up!; glimmer mist: Tattered Angels; chipboard shapes: Basic Grey; Thickers: American crafts; rub on: Cherry Arte; gems: Teresa Collins; dictionary pages, sewing machine and thread, and patterned paper scraps.

Having said that, though, I do like to wear make up. I don’t wear it every day but definitely whenever I go out of the house. I feel naked without it, although I a minimalist when it comes to make up. I like the fresh, natural look. My mother and older sisters never wore any make up, so all I learned about it has come from either a friend or two, from beauty magazines, or from the web.

How about you? What does your beauty regime look like? If you’d like to play along with the challenge just add your page to the Butterfly Crafts gallery.

Gotta run along. I still have Christmas cards to make and Christmas decorations I’m finishing up, and I’m still trying to get all of my housecleaning finished.

I’ll catch up with y’all later! Thanks for stopping by!

RSCIC #19

Hello friends. I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving Holiday.

I do think last week was my worst blogging week to date! With the holiday happenings, blogging was one of the last things on my priority list.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day spent with Eric’s side of the family. My mother-in-law is one of the best cooks around, so you know the Thanksgiving meal was delicious! The only ones missing around the table were Eric’s sister and her family who live in Georgia. We’re looking forward to having them here in PA at Christmas time when the whole family can be together.

Yesterday we got to spend some time with my side of the family. The kids exchanged names for Christmas gifts, a new thing for us this year. It’s hard to believe the kids are all getting old enough to be able to do that now. Even my littlest niece, Brianna is old enough to help. Where does the time go? Each time my family gets together I marvel at how tall my nieces and nephews are getting. Proof that I don’t get to see them nearly often enough!

Today I have a card to share that I made for Dawn McVey’s Raspberry Suite Color Inspiration Challenge. These are the challenge colors:

I was inspired by this cute little girls outfit at Gymboree. The colors are so similar and I loved the snowflake patterns.

And here is the card I created.

Just a simple layout this time. I love the colors together and I think they look great for a non traditional Christmas card. Since I still need to make a few more Christmas cards I just might make a few more using this color combo.

How about you? Are you making your own cards this year? Are you finished? Haven’t started yet? I better get to making my list so I know exactly how many cards I need.

Thanks for stopping by!

ETA: I just noticed I missed the deadline for the challenge. (Sigh) Oh well. Hope you enjoy the card anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

Hello everyone and Happy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you. With all my heart I wish you all a wonderful day enjoying the people you love and focusing on those things you are most thankful for.

I have so much I am thankful for today.
A relationship with my heavenly Father.
My handsome husband who supports me in my paper crafting obsession and who works hard to provide for our family.
My three kids who make me laugh every day and have caused me to grow in so many ways.
This hobby of mine that keeps me sane.
A wonderful church to go to and the freedom to worship the way I choose.
All of you who visit my blog and leave sweet comments of encouragement. You are what keep me coming back to blog and share what I’ve been doing. You are all so special.

I could go on and on. I could probably spend the entire day naming blessing after blessing that I am thankful for today.

I don’t have any special Thanksgiving Day projects to share today, but I didn’t want to blog without sharing something. So I’m giving you this card today for all of you. My blog friends.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and visit here and leave your comments. I love to read them so much!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!