Merry Christmas To You!

Merry Christmas, from my family to you!

This is the card we sent out (late...) to 80 people. I created it in MDS, so I still used my stamping supplies!

These are the treats we delivered to friends and neighbors, along with a stamped card already shared somewhere on this blog. Recipes can be found HERE and HERE and HERE.
(caramel popcorn, solid peanut butter cup, candy cane fudge, gingerbread cookie bars, pumpkin cheesecake cookies)

This is our beautiful, decorated-by-excited children tree, along with lights that burned out and the kind that was purchased doesn't match the kind we had, haha!

And possibly my favorite Christmas video, which I have shared before and still love:
 I truly hope you have a lovely Christmas day filled with the spirit of Christ!
Merry Christmas!

November & December Pages

It's Christmas Eve! Today should be a beautiful day- all the last minute baking, wrapping, and Christmas movies on all day long! What are your favorite holiday movies? We love the cartoon classics- Charlie Brown Christmas, the animated Grinch, Mickey's Christmas Carol, Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman... but also we love White Christmas, Polar Express and my husband loves the Christmas Carol with George C Scott. We usually have a nice Christmas Eve dinner, which we're all looking forward to. AND my husband has the whole day off so I'm excited about that!

This is the end of the 2019 Calendars! (they even say 2019 on them this time, haha!) I love the November pages. The photos are all from the same day- both pages. We did family pictures with my family so the page for my inlaws is just our little family, and the page for my family are the pics we took in between and after!

And the December pages feature last years' Christmas.

And that was that. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Not stamping....

This month has been jam packed with Christmas prep and activities and a whole lot of sick time at our house... sigh. There has not been a lot of stamping time, unless you count me stamping a greeting inside cards to give out.

However, earlier this month I put together a fun project! I saw it on facebook a month or so ago, pinned it, thought about it, and finally put it together one of these December Saturdays. The original idea is found HERE.

It didn't cost very much at all. I bought two boxes of "wide mouth canning rings and lids" (and the lids and extra rings will definitely be used in future canning days). I bought one container of small ornaments from Walmart and used all but two. The ribbon at the bottom was saved off a gift from a previous Christmas. I hot glued my rings together, and tied the ornaments using some Gold Twine from I think the 2016 Holiday Mini, because I pretty much didn't play with anything I ordered that year, and the roll was pretty much untouched, haha....

I was waiting to share it here, but it won't make it on the front door this year and that's okay. Our door frame is too snug to use the hanger I have, which is already quite thin. My husband had an idea of how to hang it, but as I said we keep being sick! But that's okay, there are many more years to come, haha!

Anyway, I think this would make a cute gift, and you could use any colors you like! I even like the silver rings with the gold ornaments.

Last Year's Paper Pumpkin!

Last week when I pulled out my newest Paper Pumpkin kit, I brought up the two boxes of the previous years' kits too. Last year's kit was never even shared here! I discovered I made one complete card, even tho I'd stamped the panels and folded the bases...and then I quit?! Maybe that's because we did a photo card last year so I just didn't bother? I really don't know.

I will say, we're doing a photo card again this year, because when you have kids that seems to be the best part- seeing how they've grown. So, I decided to give out completed stamped cards with neighbor goody plates. We live in a brand new area and there are still lots of people I don't know very well, so I figure that's a great use of the cards PLUS advertising! :)

So here's some of that kit for some Christmas card making inspiration for you! Here's what I did put together last year...

And that was all! So last week, within about an hour, I completed the kit...

...including a bit more! I cut some of those card bases to stretch the cute paper, and made just a couple alternate ideas using the punched out part of the ornaments.

Let's try a close up of that first alternate... see the star sequins?

And! This is what is still left over to play with another time!

Isn't that awesome?!

Just a few similar stamps and you can easily recreate a similar card yourself.

And, if you're looking for a last minute Christmas gift, a Paper Pumpkin subscription really is a great idea! It's so easy to love and everything is ready for you! And if you don't love the designed kit, you can always find more ideas on Pinterest and elsewhere! Just click the Pumpkin button on my sidebar to sign up for yourself or someone else!

Missed pages...

When I started sharing these pages I only had one calendar done, so here are the pages I would have shared if the second one was done too!

January:

 February:

March:

 April:

Paper Pumpkin for Christmas!

The title sounds a bit like something I wasn't intending, however! Paper Pumpkin really IS a great Christmas gift! You can pre-pay for a subscription for 1 month, 3 months, 6 months or even 12 months!
The November kits have always been some of my favorites. They always design cute Christmas cards that can be mixed up to make even more projects! I've done scrapbook pages and tags with my kits.

Today I'm just sharing one of each design the kit came with, because I've been sick for a few days and didn't feel like gathering up any extra supplies. But I pinned a bunch of alternate ideas and I have other ideas of my own too. Hopefully I'll get some stamping time another day and can share more of this kit with you then. In the meantime, here you go!

My wreath kind of turned out a mess, flailing about everywhere. But I put the glue dots on so once you set it down, it is set, lol! I thought if I did it like a clock, placing one at 12 and then at 6 and then 3 and then 9, going around, would be best. I don't think it is, haha. Lesson? Fiddle first, then glue. You're welcome!

 And this one is just so easy and pretty!

The kit is designed to make ten cards- five of each. But we'll see what I end up doing.

And here's the unboxing video for you, so you don't miss any of the details! Like the vellum that you might not notice on the photos of the cards!

September & October Pages

Another day for calendar pages! Which are completely done, btw, and they're even on their way in the mail!!
I happen to love how both September pages came out, even tho they are completely different.

I also really like the October pages!

How about you? Are you ready for Christmas yet??

July & August Pages

Stamping is just going to be a little fewer and farther between for the rest of the year...! I'm sure you, like me, are busy with all the Christmas gifts and projects. I also had to clear my stamp stuff off my counter so that helps make things a little more difficult, lol. But I wanted to keep featuring calendar pages on Mondays, so here's a few more!
(The calendars, btw, are complete! I got them done before it was actually December and I am super excited about that little fact!)

July:

And August:

What kinds of things are you busy making? Honestly, I've got cookies in the oven right now and that counts as "making" too! hee hee!

We Create Christmas Blog Hop

Hooray for December!! I am one who loooves the music, the decorations, the lights, the events, the shopping, the wrapping, the baking.... ALL the Christmas things! I really just love Christmastime! So I am excited about this blog hop!

For my projects, I picked the Making Christmas Bright bundle. It's this fun Christmas lights stamp set, and a punch perfect for punching out the light bulbs. I love it! 

First, I wanted to use a non-traditional color scheme. I needed bright colors for this card, and apparently this is the first time I stamped the light bulbs instead of punching them! I used the latest Freshly Made sketch for the layout, and added some more bright bling with Silver Glimmer paper for the screw part (does it have a name??) and some silver sequins. The Take Your Pick tool definitely helps with the sequins!!

Supplies:

Stamps: Making Christmas Bright

Ink: Lemon Lime Twist, Daffodil Delight, Flirty Flamingo

Paper: Lemon Lime Twist, Flirty Flamingo & Whisper White card stock, Silver Glimmer DP

Accessories: Christmas Bulb Builder Punch, Metallic sequins, Take Your Pick Tool, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

And then, I wanted to use more traditional colors for another idea. I loved the sponged bulbs I saw on THIS Artisan blog hop card and I've been anxious to give it a try! My light bulbs didn't turn out quite like hers, but I'm still very happy with them! For this card I used the latest Fall to Layout, and some of this beautiful bokeh print DP! And of the two, this is definitely my favorite card!  

Supplies:

Stamps: Making Christmas Bright

Ink: Real Red, Shaded Spruce

Paper: Real Red, Shaded Spruce, Whisper White card stocks, All is Bright DP, Gold Glimmer DP

Accessories: Christmas Bulb Builder Punch, Gold Thread, Dimensionals

Now click the "Next" button to hop on over and see what Cheryl has created to inspire your Christmas season! Then hop thru everyone's blogs, and be sure and leave us your thoughts- everyone loves feedback! And Happy December! I hope you have a month filled with happiness and peace!