More Tags

Not only am I fixated with punches this Christmas season, but also with making tags. Here is another quick way to make festive tags.

 

To make your own glittery tags, dip a rubber stamp into a glue pad, stamp it onto tag and sprinkle with glitter. Easy peasy!

D.'s been using the tags too. What a nice boy. :)

Frasier and Friends

Well, my sister wanted to see my Christmas tree, so here is Frasier and some of his inhabitants.

Frasier is pretty little and is crammed between our table and the wall. We didn't have a tree topper of any sort, so a few days ago I found a cereal box on the stairs (why did someone leave an empty cereal box on the stairs? I have no idea), cut a star out of it, covered it in glitter and tied it on the tree with a piece of baker's twine.

My first Christmas ornament. D. left all his ornaments at his parents, too bad; I wanted to see his baby ornament.

Two of my all time favorite ornaments. I used to love The Rescuer's Down Under, and here is Bernard and Bianca decked out in their Christmas finest. I still have the boxes they came in from McDonalds in 1990! 

An ornament made for me by my mom's friend (the one at whose house I used to craft rubbish bracelets, thus beginning my crafting career). For some reason I really liked that it was wearing little golden leaves around its neck.

Snoopy too is a childhood favorite. My mom used to always let me rent Charlie Brown videos from Blockbuster. For some reason they were only 49 cents to rent. I couldn't pass up camping Snoopy, since that is how D. and I met; working at a summer camp.

So there you have another glimpse at my tree and its occupants. Merry (almost) Christmas!

Tick Tock We Need a Clock

There are several little clocks around our apartment, but in our eating/sitting area the only clock we have is on our microwave. Eww, yuck; a digital clock! In case you are wondering, the microwave is on top of the fridge which  happens to be in the living room. Anyway, we need a cute wall clock. I found all of these over at the etsy shop decoylab.

I really like this one, it reminds me of a vintage flower tray of my mom's.

D.'s been wanting a cuckoo clock, but I'm not sure that this is what he had in mind...

My personal favorite from their shop, but it's reserved for someone else. Sniff.

Punch Love

Here I am, crafting with punches again. Every so often I get stuck on one particular crafty thing, and for the past several weeks it's been craft punches. My dad's birthday is this week and knowing how much he likes trains, I bought a train punch and made him a birthday card. Here is the how to.

What you will need; cardstock, patterned paper (I used origami), a glue pad or glue stick, scissors, paper slicer, bone folder, double sided tape, and an edge punch. Martha Stewart carries a nifty little line of edge punches at Michael's.

The punch I purchased happened to be on sale at TJ Maxx for $2. Normally they cost about $16. Oh, I do love a good deal.

Cut cardstock into the length and width you want your card to be. Save scrap pieces. Fold cardstock almost in half, leaving 1/2 and inch at the top.

Position edge punch at the top of cardstock and punch across the top of card.

It should look like this.

Cut patterned piece of paper smaller than the front of your card and tape down with double sided tape.

Use your scrap piece of cardstock to cut into little squares. One square per letter.

Cut letters out of cardstock square and affix to card with a glue pad.

The finished product. I also used the edge punch on his gift tag for a little extra dose of trains. I do hope he likes his card!

Paper Punches

You know, as of late I've become a teensy bit obsessed with paper punches. I never could figure out what to do with a punch before, but thanks to the "craft team", I've been running wild with them. For instance, here is one of my latest creations.

(you can find here)

 

I punched the tags out with a large tag punch (which is now my new best friend, I've been making all of my Christmas tags from it) and I punched the cardinal with another punch. The bird punch also punches out a wing, which you glue onto the bird body, making it a little dimensional.

 

Here is a cute, last minute gift idea that is made with a paper punch.

(source)

All of these items could easily be picked up at an office supply store and personalized with a punch of something the recipient likes. I'm going to store this idea in my archives...

Gingerbread Houses

Last year my sister bought your run-of-the-mill gingerbread house kit:

And here is what we turned it in to:

I think that our house turned out pretty unique, it was her idea to give the house a "thatched" roof with pink strawberry frosted Shredded Wheat. D. and I bought the same kit this year, but we need to make it soon, Christmas is just next week!

Here are some little gingerbread houses that I really want to make...

You can find out how to make them here.

So cute, I wouldn't want to eat them!

Trimming the Tree and Decking the Halls

Being newly married, this is D. and my first official Christmas together. I grew up in a family that always used a fake Christmas tree, while his always had a fresh tree. I was never very fond of the way my family's thin fake pencil tree looked so D. and I decided to go out and buy a live tree. I quite liked the experience of picking out a real tree, even though we just went to Lowe's. I was a bit silly though and failed to bring a coat, scarf, gloves, hat or anything that keeps a person warm in December, with me. D. kindly offered me his coat. We picked out a nice little 6 foot frasier fir and put him in the front seat of our car. It was kind of funny riding with a Christmas tree in the passenger's seat. We didn't have any way to strap it to the top of the car, so this was the next best thing.

D. with Little Frasier (I named him).

We found this record this summer at Salvation Army, it's now one of my favorites.

"Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, how lovely are your branches."

Here's a peek at some of the ornaments we put on our tree.

In honor of my little dachshund who lived to be sixteen. She passed away last month.

These are fun, I really do love Lucy. These are all from my mom and they all do some kind of motion; the one on the left stomps grapes, the middle one has knives that pop out, and the one on the right has a conveyor belt that moves chocolate.

When my nephew was little, he couldn't say Santa Claus, he said "Wannie Claus". And it just kind of stuck. So this is old fashoined Wannie Claus. He looks okay from the front...

...but the side is a little questionable.

Cupcake Mail Out

Oh, it is such a bother to trek to the library any time that I want to use the iternet, maybe someday I'll have wireless. Here is a recent batch of ornaments that I've sent out.

Getting the cupcakes ready to go to their new homes.

My mom sent me little favor boxes, from TJ Maxx of course, that fit the cupcakes perfectly.

Ready to stuff in a stocking...

...or nestle in a tree.

Bon Voyage little cupcakes!

Holly Pins

While visiting my parents in Korea a couple of years ago, I bought a bunch of felt from a mega craft warehouse, it is the best quality I have ever stumbled upon and it has been serving me well. And here's what I've been doing with it of late...

These vintage inspired holly/poinsettia pins are pretty quick to make and only require a few supplies. It's so much fun to mix little berries with different types of ribbons and pom-poms; the possiblities are endless! All of these can be found in my shop.

This particular one is good for either a girl or a boy, since it isn't too feminine. I made one for D. too, he is such a good sport when it comes to wearing my creations.

I can't help but think of the old Grinch cartoon when I look at this one. Which reminds me, I have yet to watch that this year.

While making these I had to also make a few for myself, I made a copy of this one for me. My mom has a Christmas table cloth from the 1950's covered in poinsettias, this pin reminds me of that vintage tablecloth.

Icy cool

Even though these are pins, sometimes I put them in my hair as well. I make them serve double duty. Hop on over here, and pretty soon you too can be gazing at your Christmas tree with a little holly pin in your hair or on your sweater.

Ginger boys and ginger girls

I decided to make a felt gingerbread ornament, kind of like this one from a few years ago.

It was my intention to make a ginger boy ornament, but I only had pink rickrack. I made a ginger girl instead and she turned out really cute.

I scribbled out a little pattern on a piece of paper and cut her out of two pieces of brown felt.

I glued her rickrack icing and pom-pom buttons on with fabri-tac, which is by far the best glue for felt. It is the only glue that I have found that actually will stick to felt.

I love the way she turned out, so much better than those ginger boys from a few years ago.

Wrapping Packages with Baker's Twine

Did I mention how much I like baker's twine? Here are some packages tied up in string, these are a few of my favorite things...

I saw this wrapping technique in the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living. Oh my gosh, I mention Martha Stewart wayyyyyyyyyy to much. I can't help it, I like her crafts! I know that she has a team who creates these crafts and it really isn't Martha herself. So I like the "craft team".

To make the mini package garland just sandwich the bakers twine between two white circular labels.

The snowman is really a chocolate bar that I wrapped up in a recycled white paper bag.

Another idea from the "craft team".

I bought this tag craft punch a few days ago and I am having such fun making Christmas tags. I don't think I'll ever buy labels again! I've also been wrapping some Christmas presents with newspaper, I'm liking the way it looks.