Stitched Web: Spiderman Layout

Good morning!  Today I have a layout with a stitched spiderweb that I made from the new My Creative Scrapbook kit. It was a fun layout to make!

I started by adhering the striped paper to the background, then stitched a large spiderweb in the upper left corner. 

I stitched the web freehand. It's a little messy, but I solved that in part by adding some stickers on top. I used a Stampin' Up punch to make the bat. 

Next, I created a multi-layered photo mat, using a mix of papers from the kit. The papers are from the Home + Made collection from Pebbles Inc. 

I added a 6-inch white doily on top of the photo mat. I colored the doily with Night Sky mist from October Afternoon then stitched it down for a little extra texture. 

I added my photo and a few pop-dotted stickers. To complete the page, I added journaling strips, a title and a couple stickers in the corners for balance. 

I think it turned out pretty cute! This November kit from My Creative Scrapbook is so versatile. It's not Halloween themed at all, but it worked just perfectly with this photo. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great weekend!

A Tag and A Card: October Afternoon

Before we get too far away from the holidays, I wanted to share a Christmas tag and a card that were published in the December 2012 issue of CARDS magazine. Both feature paper and embellishments from October Afternoon.

Up first is the tag: 

I used a bit of burlap and twine to give the tag extra texture.

Here's the card:

The little kraft bag on the front is designed to hold a gift card. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. I'll be back tomorrow with the reveal of the new January kits at My Creative Scrapbook.

Read To Me / Our Handmade Christmas

I hope your new year is of to a good start!  I wanted to share a couple of Christmas layouts that were recently published. 

Up first is Read To Me.

This was published in the December 2012 issue of Scrapbook Trends and features paper and embellishments from Little Yellow Bicycle.  I took these photos Christmas morning 2011. When my little boy, then 2, opened a new set of Thomas the Train books, he immediately went lap to lap and had everyone in the family read to him. I love his love of books.

The second layout is Our Handmade Christmas.

This was published in the Winter 2013 issue of Scrapbooking and Beyond and features October Afternoon. These little felt ornaments hang on my grandmother's tree. I remember sitting by her side as a young girl, making ornaments. It was a holiday tradition to make something new for the tree each year.  She's 90 now and it makes me smile to visit her and see her little tree and the ornaments still hanging that we made together so long ago. 

I was so blessed to have had a grandma who crafted with me.  Her stitches were straight and true. Mine were crooked and tentative but she instilled in me a love for homemade things. Thank you, Grandma.

You're At The Top Of My List

Merry Christmas, everyone.  You, my friends and blog readers, are definitely at the top of my list.  My best wishes to you and yours this holiday season.

Supplies:
Stickers/Chipboard: Echo Park
Wood veneer: Studio Calico
Brad: Echo Park
Ribbon: May Arts
Twine: Trendy Twine
Burlap: Canvas Corp
Sewing Machine: Bernina

Teacher Gifts: Owl Treat Bags

These little owl treat bags are one of my favorite things to make. They're easy, don’t require fancy tools and are always a hit with recipients.  The sentiment can be changed to fit the occasion. I used these as holiday gifts for teachers and staff.

To make each owl, I cut a 3 inch by 12 inch strip of patterned paper. I used the Once Upon A Christmas collection from Little Yellow Bicycle and scored the paper strips at 4.5 inches from either end. The score marks gave the owls a 3-inch base, perfect for flat-bottomed treat sacks from Martha Stewart. After scoring, I folded the paper into a tent shape.

To make the owl's eyes, I punched two large circles from cardstock, covered them with adhesive, then added twine and googly eyes.  I used Trendy Twine in Holly (green) and Holly Berry (green/red mix). I have a tutorial for making twine circles on this post.

This is a side view of the treat bags. To make the sentiments, I ran bits of scrap patterned paper through my printer. One owl says:  Whooooo's a great teacher?  You are!  The other owl says: Merry Christmas, Y'owl.

We'd love to have you play along in the Trendy Twine monthly challenge. You have until December 31 to enter. There's a great prize up for grabs. You can find out all the details here on the Trendy Twine blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Festive Holiday Cookies: Candy Cane Blossoms

I love these pretty holiday cookies. They are so festive and easy to make. They follow the same idea as Peanut Butter Blossoms (peanut butter cookies with Hershey's kisses) but are made with a sugar cookie base instead. The Candy Cane Blossoms are perfect for families with peanut allergies or any family! 

Really, I will take any excuse to eat the Candy Cane Kisses.  They are sooooo good. Here's the cookies we made:

The recipe for the Candy Cane Blossoms is from Hershey's.  It makes 3 dozen.  

Ingredients:

1 bag Hersheys Candy Cane Kisses

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 egg

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons milk

Colored sugar

Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove wrappers from kisses. 

Beat butter, sugar, vanilla and egg in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternatively with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in colored sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 2 to 3 minutes. Press candy into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

We made three trays of cookies, one dozen each, and I learned a few tricks with each tray. White chocolate Kisses (Hugs, Candy Cane Kisses) melt faster than classic Hershey's Kisses. 

If you aren't careful, the Candy Cane Kisses will melt in the cookies as shown above. While they still taste great, the cookies don't look as pretty.  We got the best results by putting the Kisses in the freezer as the cookies cooked. 

Christmas Carriage Ride: My Creative Sketches

During the holidays last year, we visited to the Billy Graham Library one evening and it was beautiful in every way: a pastoral hideaway in the busy city. We took a horse-drawn carriage ride through the hills and valleys, alive with lights and music from carolers.  It was a night to remember and I captured a nice photo of my folks with my son.

I used the photo on this layout, following the new December sketch by My Creative Sketches. My paper and embellishments are from the Once Upon A Christmas line by Little Yellow Bicycle and this project is featured today on the Little Yellow Bicycle blog. I love the elegance and traditional holiday colors of the collection and thought they worked perfectly.

To make the cluster in the upper-right hand corner, I used a mix of chipboard and stickers and stitched a red "hanger" for the ornaments. 

This is the sketch I used:  

We'd love to have you play along.  You can find all the details on the My Creative Sketches blog.  The challenge runs through January 14 and there's a great prize up for grabs.

Cookie Cutter Ornaments: My Creative Scrapbook

I love homemade ornmaments on a tree.  Today, I have some easy ones to make using cookie cutters. 

I used metal painted cookie cutters from Wilton as my base but any type will work.

Start by tracing the cookie cutter on patterned paper. I used Bo Bunny's Mistletoe collection, which was included in the December kit at My Creative Scrapbook.

I dut out the shape then used a glue medium to attach it to the back of the ornament.  I'm partial to Claudine Hellmuth's multi-medium matte.

Decorate as desired. This cookie cutter was meant to be a candy cane, but I liked it better as a stocking.  Artistic license and all that!

Before you start decorating the cookie cutter, think about how you want to attach a hanger.  If you have a strong hole puncher like a Cropadile, you can punch a hole in the top, then thread in twine for a hanger.  Otherwise, you can just tie twine around the top of the ornament. Either way works well.

On this ornament, I punched a hole at both the top and bottom of the ornament and ran twine through both holes with a jingle bell anchoring the bottom. I used baker's twine from Trendy Twine.

On this ornament, I traced the house shape, then pop-dotted the windows and doors. It's important to add dimensional elements prior to putting the paper on the back of the cookie cutter. Once the paper is glued on, it is really tight to work inside the ornament.  

To finish this ornament, I added a roof line, chimney, scallop trim and a tree. Decorating both inside and outside the cookie cutter gives a nice dimension.

I hung these outside to show them in natural light.

And they look so pretty on the tree.

The design team at My Creative Scrapbook has tips and tutorials for the holidays every day this month on the MCS blog. Thanks for stopping by!

Handmade Holiday Packaging: Wine Bags & Tubes

I love all gifts (well, most gifts!) but I especially love a nice presentation.  A pretty package makes me smile before I even open the gift.  I confess that I don't always spend the time or the effort to doll up the packaging, but I always feel better about the gift-giving when I do. 

A gift of wine or a favorite spirit is always a popular gift. Personally, I like to give Amarula, a cream liqueur from South Africa. I discovered it while a Peace Corps volunteer and it is all kinds of yummy.

Today, I have two ways to package wine or spirits using bags or tubes.

To make the wine bag, I started with a pre-made burlap bag that I got on clearance at Michael's Craft Store and took out the side seams.  I used a small square punch to make 12 squares from patterned paper. I used Bo Bunny's Mistletoe collection, which was included in the December kit at My Creative Scrapbook.  Once I had my squares, I laid them in a pattern on the table to decide how I liked them. Then I stitched the squares onto the burlap bag and re-stitched the side seams.

To give the bag a little extra flair, I added some chipboard to the squares.

Then made a hanging tag and tied the bag with ribbon. 

To make the wine tube, I started with an Autumn cardboard tube from a craft store.  I knew it would be easy to recover with scrapbook paper as the decorative part (without the lid) measured exactly 12 inches tall and was 12 inches around.

To use the wine tube for the holidays, I wrapped a piece of Bo Bunny's Mistletoe paper around the tube using modge podge. I wrapped the lid with a coordinating paper.

Like the burlap bag, I added chipboard and ribbon to the tube to decorate it.

There you have it. Wine, only better!

Thanks for stopping by!

Easy Handmade Christmas Ornaments

One of my favorite things to get into the holiday spirit is to make Christmas ornaments, especially paper crafted ones.  I love that homemade touch on our tree.

This year, I made Christmas ornaments using lightweight chipboard frames, patterned papers and small embellishments.  Holiday paper is of course best for this project but you can also use non-holiday lines for a bolder look.

I started with the new Once Upon A Time collection from Little Yellow Bicycle.  I love the red cardinals featured throughout this line and wanted to spotlight the pretty birds.

To make the two smaller ornaments, I used the “hanging wreaths” patterned paper in this collection and two round frames from the chipboard shapes. 

I pop-dotted the paper and chipboard together to give a little dimension then embellished the ornaments with sentiments and bows from the clear cut shapes. To hang them, I added Peppermint Stick twine from Trendy Twine.

To make the large ornament, I used the Vintage Santa paper in the frame, then embellished it with a tag, a vellum tape pennant and a cardinal from the fabric favorites.

I don't have my tree up yet, but you can get a feel for how the ornaments would look on a Christmas tree in this photo.

This type of ornaments isn't limited to holiday paper.  I also made chipboard frame ornaments using The Good Life collection from Fancy Pants Designs.  This line was included in the November kit at My Creative Scrapbook.

I loved the decorative chipboard in this Fancy Pants line and the way the chipboard frames could be layered.  On each of these frames I layered a plain small frame on top of a larger, decorative one.  I backed each frame with patterned paper then added sentiments and small embellishments.

There you have it: quick and easy Christmas ornaments.  Adding these to Paper Issues holiday linky party and to Tip Me Tuesday.

Christmas Projects with Little Yellow Bicycle

I’m super excited today to show you a couple holiday projects I made for a guest spot with Little Yellow Bicycle.  LYB is doing a fun 12 Days of Christmas series with 12 members of the Once Upon A Christmas cycling team.  I’m Day 3 and am featured on the Little Yellow Bicycle blog today.

If you don’t have Once Upon A Christmas, run to your closest scrapbook store.  This collection is a classic.  It features deep red and green and great neutrals to soften them. The icons are of nature: birds, trees and deer.  And there’s a Father Christmas too.

When I opened my cycling team box, the dark brown houndstooth paper was the first thing that caught my eye. I went to work with it right away.  It made the perfect cozy backdrop for this holiday photo of my sister and son on a carousel ride.  My son’s sweater featured reindeer and snowflakes so I pulled both of those into my design.

  

On this page, I used a journaling card as a decorative element for a cluster of items, including a little pennant made from a vellum strip and a stick pin.

  

For my actual journaling, I made a tag to slide under the photo. I used a piece of cream paper from the collection, stitched around the edges and added a word sticker at the top. The tab at the top of the journaling card is made with a little piece of vellum strip backed with cardstock.

For my title spot, I used a tag, embellishing it with a sticker and punched snowflake.

For my second project, I made a simple holiday card.  The OUAC collection has a pretty piece of red damask paper with a large script sentiment, Merry Christmas, at the bottom. As soon as I saw that paper, I knew it would be perfect for a card.

To make the card, I trimmed the sentiment from the damask paper, then added a bit of red houndstooth with a vellum strip above it.

An accordion flower from the line’s Paper Crafting Kit added some dimension to complete the card.  These flowers come pre-scored in the kit and are so easy to make. I love them.

I have one more project with Once Upon A Christmas: paper ornaments.  They are on the Little Yellow Bicycle blog today. I'll be back with those - and a tutorial - on Monday.