Merry Christmas

photo heavy post

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!  I hope you have received what you wished for.  Me, having the luxury to craft and to share my passions, is my gift.

I have quite a few photos of some home-made gifts, that I will be giving out to family members today.  We go to quite a few family homes.  So, here we go!

I buy plain kraft bags by the case.  I just love altering the bag to match the gift.  So, I took some medium size kraft paper bags, (with handles) and altered them, with what I had on hand.

gift bags to hold the home-made goodies:

I used 3/4 of a 12" x 12" pattern paper for the toppers.  I cut snowflakes out of coffee cuffs and distressed them with paint and glitter.  I tied cream twine bows onto the buttons, and adhered them to the center of the distressed snowflakes.  The tag is a digital creation.  I stamped the 'made with love' banner and added a heart shaped pearl brad.  I added a green scallop trim to the pattern paper.  I stamped the sentiment on the lower right corner of the bag.  Viola!  I didn't personalize the bags, because I have found that my bags have been re-used for other gifts, so this makes it easier.

close-up of one bag:

 close-up of the sentiment stamped on the lower right corner:

One of my holiday traditions, is to bake Pumpkin-Cranberry bread.  Its moist and super delicious!  You can eat it for breakfast, snack or a dessert.  It also pairs lovely with coffee/latte, tea, or a glass of milk.

I wrapped each loaf in a cello bag, and then tied red ribbon around the bread.  For the tag, I added a digital circle tag.  I printed the type of bread with the computer and used a decorative punch.  The label is adhered to the circle tag with foam tape.

home-made Pumpkin-Cranberry Bread:

 close-up of the tag:

One of my favorite 'candies' during the holidays, is peppermint bark.  And it is super easy and super inexpensive to make.  I put the bark in a cello bag, added a paper doily to the top.  Added a digital circle tag, and my own label.  The label is adhered to the tag with foam tape.  I added a banner piece made from coordinating pattern paper that I had left over from some other holiday creations.

home-made Peppermint Bark:

 close-up of the tag:

I love candied nuts.  They just taste fabulous! and once agin easy and inexpensive to make.  I have a wonderfully easy 10 minute recipe, and so I made a few batches.  My husband also loves them, so I have to make extra!

Once again, I used left over coordinating pattern paper I had from another project.  I used my crop-a-dile to punch the holes.  Strung red ribbon through and tied in a bow.  I added a circle digital creation and my own label to the front.  The label is adhered to the tag with foam tape.  The bags were actually a clearance item from a big box craft store, probably 3-4 years ago.  I purchased them, because they were super cheap, and I knew that I would eventually use them {smile}.

home-made Cinnamon Nuts:

 close-up of the tag:

I hope this has given you something pretty to look at.  Tomorrow, I will be posting some photos of gift card tins we gave as Christmas gifts.   Have a safe and wonderful day!  

Merry Christmas! and Happy Crafting!  hugs, Sharon W.

Holiday Note

Welcome.  I hope you are well.  I have been super busy, trying, and trying to get everything done this holiday season.  Wheew!  I think I forgot how busy this season is, and I am still struggling to get everything done.  I don't even have my Christmas tree up.  So, it really doesn't feel like Christmas.  Maybe that's why I'm having so much difficulty.  

I did find an hour few hours this morning to get a jump start on a few holiday thank you notes.  (the stores aren't open yet, anyways.)  

I was shopping at a local scrapbook store several weeks ago, when I saw these papers, and I just had to purchase them.  I knew that I wanted to do something with them, for Christmas, but didn't have any idea at the time of purchase.  Well, I found a  use for them!  Christmas 'Thank You' cards!

The card base is Old Olive card stock.  The pattern paper is from Authentique, it's one of their holiday lines, Peaceful.  I guess the first thing I thought was, green, black and cream for a holiday paper?  uhm.  Well, I have to admit, I just love the simplicity of it.  I used three of the pattern papers (the bird, the stripes, and the flourish) for my card front.  Because the papers were CAS, I wanted my card front to follow.  I used the Tasteful Trim die from Stampin' Up! to make the scallop trim on the card.

The sentiment panel is from Paper Trey Ink, called Stylish Sentiments.  This stamp set, has a variety of holiday stamps that are square (like this one), rectangle tall and rectangle long, with a variety of three different styles.  So, to me, very versatile and easy to work with.  I stamped my sentiment in Basic Black classic ink onto very vanilla card stock.  I distressed the edges with Crumb Cake classic ink and sponge, and swiped Pear Pizzazz classic ink pad across various spots.  I matted the sentiment square onto Old Olive card stock and used foam tape to 'lift' the sentiment square off the card front.  

I used some of my Old Fashion Christmas crinkled seam binding from Prairie Boutique , to tie a multi-loop bow, and secured it to the front of my card with a Recollections pearl brad.  I created two different tiny tags, one is 'Thanks', the other is from a holiday post mark.  Both tags where stamped with Old Olive classic ink, and the edges were distressed with Crumb Cake classic ink.  

The sentiment on the lower right side of the card is from Paper Trey Ink, called Signature Christmas.  The thing I love most about this set, is the small, beautiful font.  These stamps fit perfectly on tiny tags, and other small places.  One says, 'just a little Christmas note' and the other one says, 'A Christmas Thank You'.  

I stamped the envelopes this time, which is something I seldom do.  Not sure why, but I typically don't. I stamped a bird on a holly branch from Stampin' Up!, called Beautiful Season, in Basic Grey classic ink.  I stamped the sentiment that is included with this stamp set, 'thinking of you at Christmas', is stamped in Old Olive classic ink.

Thank you for stopping by.  Now, I'm off to the mall.  Wish me luck! and stop by tomorrow, if you have a moment.  I'll share with you a few photos of a holiday 'thank you' box I have made for the various families we visit on this joyous day: Christmas!  

Happy Holidays & Happy Crafting! hugs, Sharon W.