Fa la la

Supplies : Paper, Elements, and Stickers by Cosmo Cricket; Rustic Cream cardstock, Jute, and Buttons by Papertrey Ink

Oh what fun it is to snuggle with your Christmas morning goodies! The girls got the most adorable stuffed ponies first thing Christmas morning last year. We had them waiting for them out in the livingroom and I think if that's all they had gotten they would have still loved Christmas more than any other holiday! Little kids are so precious that way. It reminded me of old Christmas stories when the children only got one or two gifts and they were always simple toys - a doll, a wooden pull toy, a small ball - yet they were so overjoyed. I loved the vintage toy element because it brought to mind that same thing and I knew I had to use it with the girls playing with their ponies that morning. They didn't ask about opening presents at all after getting them and we had to prompt the whole unwrapping gift fest, lol. I love that Christmas is so easy right now for them! Anyway, about the layout, I used the #36 sketch from Inspired Blueprints. I haven't really kept up with the layouts in the past few months but I still love visiting them for inspiration. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the layout!

Red and Green Christmas

Supplies : Paper - Figgy Pudding by Basic Grey; Tree Trimming Trio, 2008 Holiday Tags, and Signature Christmas stamps by Papertrey Ink; Cocoa, Olive, Bamboo, and Cranberry Ink by CTMH; Nestabilities Labels 1; EK 2" scallop punch; Epoxy Circles by EK Success; Diamond Scallop Edge Punch by EK Success;

Sparkle's extra Christmas Card Challenge this week was to use the classic red and green colors. I must confess that I don't use those colors often for Christmas! I broke out my Tree Trimming Trio and some Figgy Pudding scraps to put together this card. I finally used some of my clear circle epoxy stickers too. I cannot tell you how many times I've lost these things, lol. They and my 3D squares keep disappearing just when I want to use them! Anyway, this card was made for a set of cards that our friend wanted me to make for him to give to his family. The others are the blue flat bulk cards I made when I first got this set since he wanted flat ones for mailing to the rest of brothers and sisters. This particular card is for his mom since he wanted something more special for her. Below is the little stack all tied together. I included some envelopes for the cards since he's a single guy and probably doesn't think of that kind of stuff, lol. Enjoy and thanks for stopping by!

A Christmas Story and a Stocking Stuffer

In Caitlyn's class they are doing a Christmas Story each day until Winter Break. Our room mothers set it up so that one parent comes in and reads a Christmas Story. Then they add something to each of the childrens' stockings that they made from yarn and paper the week before. It's so fun for the kids. I volunteer Thursdays and Fridays so I've heard plenty about it and how excited the kiddos have been since they started this last Monday. My day is today and this is what I put together for them. In case you're wondering, the story is about a little Mouse without a name who on Christmas Eve suddenly wonders if anyone ever thinks to give Santa a present. So he gets out his best cheese, the one he's been saving and wraps it up to give to Santa. The little mouse wakes up to Santa holding him and thanking him for such a thoughtful gift. He asks the mouse's name but the mouse confesses that he doesn't have one. Santa decides that he needs such a generous helper and gives him a suit, boots, even a beard and calls him Santa Mouse. It's a cute short story and I loved how it focused on the mouse giving to others. Our stuffers don't have to match the story but when I brought the book home I realized my little mouse stamp would go perfectly with it. The stuffer I made is simply a mini cello bag with a couple chocolate treats. I made sure each baggie got a figure treat whether it was Santa or a snowman and then tied it with some simple curling ribbon. I punched out the tags and stamped them all with the mouse stamp from the 2008 Holiday Tags collection by Papertrey Ink. It's my go-to stamp set for Christmas goodies and present tags if you couldn't tell ;D I added a single jingle bell and then curled the ribbon up. They look so cute all together! I know the kids will probably only care about the candy, but I can hope that when they pull these out of their stockings they'll remember the Santa Mouse story. Thanks for visiting and have a marvelous Monday!

Cozy Campy Cocoa

Supplies: Rustic White Cardstock, Ocean Tides Ribbon, Jute, Warm Happiness and 2008 Holiday Tags stamp sets by Papertrey Ink; Mini Cello Bags; Twilight Ink by CTMH; 2" Scallop Punch by EK Success; Mug from Pier 1;

Here's another take on the mug gift set I posted a couple days ago. I remembered seeing some chocolate dipped marshmallows on Nicole Heady's blog a while back and thought it would be so fun to try. I got this fun Monogram mug from Pier 1 and the colors instantly made me think of camping, roasting marshmallows in the fire and making s'mores. I made more of the fun cocoa samplers and then added the marshmallows dipped in melted chocolate to the set instead of candy canes. In fact I had a little extra chocolate so I got to taste test some other marshmallows and boy are those little guys yummy! Marshmallows like to get stale in the air so if you aren't giving the gift right away to you can wrap them really easily with some of the mini cello bags and some twine or ribbon like I did here on the bottom post. Wouldn't you love to get a fun gift like this! This one is for Paul's brother. He's so outdoorsy and into camping that when I saw the mug I knew it would be perfect and the dipped marshmallows seem to just complete the campy s'more theme ;D I hope you enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Tea or Cocoa

Supplies : Rustic White cardstock, Warm Happiness, 2008 Holiday Tags, and Everyday Classics stamp sets by PTI; Winter Cello Bags; Twirling Ribbon; Jingle Bells;

We have a pretty large extended family on Paul's side so instead of buying gifts for each person we do a Secret Santa where we each draw a name of someone else in the family. While that works wonderfully for us I like to try and make a little something for everyone that is inexpensive but still a fun treat to receive. I usually bake goodies but there are some instances where that isn't really feasible, like when mailing gifts (this is only because I'm ultra picky and want my treats to be received no later than a day after I bake them so they are as fresh and tasty as possible ;D ). So I made some fun gifty bags full of little goodies for the family members we mail out to. Using the same concept as the darling mug I posted yesterday I created a couple samplers, one tea and one hot cocoa. Each baggie has various flavors of tea or cocoa and then a bunch of fun chocolates like Irish Creme Kisses and Ghiradelli Peppermint Bark along with some candy canes to complete the set. One of those simple tags with the name of the recipient on the back along with a couple jingle bells finishes off the gift. I love making these because I get to share some of the little things I enjoy and they are easy to mass produce!

For all our nieces and nephews I made little stocking stuffer gifty bags whether they live near or far. I know the girls always feel extra special when another relative sends something just for them, so I wanted to do that for the kiddos in our family. Each baggie comes with a single serve pack of hot cocoa with marshmallows, a candy cane for stirring, and lots of fun chocolate goodies like the crispy rice santas and the funny chocolate christmas balls, all goodies my own kids love. This year I added one non-edible item that would be fun for them to use, the kiddos in school or starting school next year all got winter themed pencils with an eraser and the littler ones got a non-shatterable ornament to hang on their tree. One of my girls' favorite things to do is hang and rehang the ornaments on their trees so I thought that would be a fun thing for them to share with their cousins. And you'd be surprised just how much easier having a fun pencil makes convincing your Kindergartener to do their homework! I made ten of these little baggies and Caitlyn was so excited, especially since they are also doing stockings in her class right now. Everyday this week she has been asking about the stockings and the stocking gifts and when I'm doing the Christmas story and stockings in her class. This coming Monday I keep telling her but still she keeps asking, lol. So there's a little of what I'm doing this holiday season en masse for our big family ;D Thanks for visiting and have a fab Friday!

Simply Sip and Enjoy

Supplies : 2008 Holiday Tags stamp set and Rustic Cream Cardstock by Papertrey Ink; Mini Cello bags; 2" scallop punch by EK Success

The Practical Scrappers challenge this week is Christmas gifts or wrappings and I thought how fun would it be to create a cute quick gift that costs less than $3? This darling mug is from Wal-Mart for just $1 with some sampler hot cocoa mixes I packaged in 4 mini cello bags and a couple of candy canes. We always keep various flavors of hot cocoa on hand in our house so I thought it would be fun to create my own single serve cocoa sampler with some of my favorite flavors as a fun gift that would also be easy on the pocket book. The flavors include Pumpkin Spice, Cinnamon Chocolate, Mint Truffle, and Belgian Dark chocolate. Each has a stamped tag with the flavor written on the back. Cute and cost efficient, I'm sure we could use a lot more of that during these rough economical times! The tags were also very easy and inexpensive to make. Simply punch out the circle, stamp, then punch a hole for attaching. I've made over 50 of these little tags for presents, bags, and little gifts like this all with just 3 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11, one stamp set, and one ink pad - all items I already had on hand. It doesn't get much easier than that! I hope you find a little inspiration from this little gift :D For more crafty gift ideas head on over to Practical Scrappers. We've been posting projects every day this week! Enjoy and have a terrific Thursday!