My Christmas Projects...

Every Christmas for the last 5 or so years I've been making my mom & sisters something special for Christmas. Things, like card sets, coasters and stamped candles to name a few.

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This year I planned to make these calendars last summer, got crazy busy this fall and only decided I HAD to do them on Dec. 23rd!!! Oh my, how crazy is that! Seeing as each one took me about 3-4 hours that is all I did until our get together!

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I used 4 x 4 chipboards coasters, 2 - 12x12 designer papers and lots of flowers & embellies!

Here is a side view...

And here a few of the pages to show you some of the different, yet very simple layouts I used.

Since then, I decided to make a few more for friends!!! They are soo fun!

As Martha as I'll ever get.... Christmas 2007

I saw this idea in a commercial to use cranberries inside, upside-down glasses and then they become candle holders!!! Make sense!?!?!? Anyway, this is the easiest way to create something fun. Then we got to thinking about all kinds of things you could put inside the glass depending what the occasion is - gumballs, paper curls, tinsel or whatever!

Anyway, this year Christmas was a year of posing and picture taking! Everyone got in on the fun! (This is my beautiful 12 year old daughter!!!)

Even my 4 year old nephew loved his new camera!

Getting lessons on what new camera's can do! Great! Now Chad wants another new toy!!!

Grandma is enjoying her yearly Christmas story reading time to the Grandkids! It looks like they are all enjoying it too!

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Every year I get to enjoy Christmas Eve with my parents, sisters and our families. We eat fun food, exchange gifts and enjoy each others company.

My sister making fun of my re-using a Christmas bag from last year!

My sister Pam and I, before we both got sick! Well, you can't say we don't share!!!

Then on Christmas morning, "Dad" gets to pull out the gifts from under our tree!

This year, he got the gift "wrapping" that never ends! Thanks to an un-named brother-in-law of mine, Kassandra has been dying to wrap Dad's gift with an endless amount of saran-wrap. I think she actualling used packing plastic and doubled the size of the gift with the many layers!

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He was pleased when he finally got the end though, it was his Lord of the Rings extented editions that he has been wanting. (Yuck!) hehehe

Then the girls got the first of 2 big gifts. This is their reaction to finding tickets to the TobyMac concert in February!

Then getting a Wii. Maya was great, she got all excited and was cheering with Kassandra until Chad asked her if she even knew what it was. She has no idea what it was but thought it must be good!

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If anyone is considering some kind of video game, this is most definatly the way to go! I've even enjoyed a few games of bowling!!!

An action shot!

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That was our Christmas in a nutshell! Yes, both my sister and I got sick, missed a few extended family get togethers but all in all it was a great week.

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If anyone actually made it to the end of this post I'm impressed! I posted most of this for the out of province family! Happy New Year!

Making the Most!

Making the most of patterned paper! Seems to be something I tend to try a lot!!!

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Anyway, this is paper I received from a friend a while ago and I'm finally forcing myself to use it. It came in 6 X 6 size and I loved it so much (hence the delay in cutting into it) that I had to use every inch! Easily decided to make 3 X 6 cards.

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Then after cutting enough to make 12 cards, I wanted to make 2 different themes. Also something I love to do, use the same layout/paper and have them available for different occasions.

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The birthday card is watercolored with SU! watercolor crayons & a Dove blender pen. The Christmas card is embossed with Kaleidoscope powder but you can't really see that in the photo. So, you will have to trust me that it is all glittery!

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Then I added baubles, like the ones from Stampingbella, and also one of her sentiments.

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Hope you all have a great beginning to your week! I've got a jam packed week of classes, shopping & my office job! Should be fun!

I've crossed over to the Dark Side!!!

Yes, it was a day a dear friend of mine will be proud of. I dug through the closets, cupboards and everywhere I could think of until I found my good old sewing machine in the garage storage room!

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So, this is my first attempt at applying some dusty old skills to my love of paper! I'm showing you both of these as I'm not sure which one I prefer. The zig zag or the straight stitch. Either way, this took me a while but I'm pleased I finally set the beast up in my work space. Yes, I has found a home once again!

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Another thing I did was use my large oval, scallop stamp to versa mark UTEE over Father Christmas, by Crafty Secrets (WHAT AN AMAZING SET!!!). I pressed it super hard into the granuals and it kinda stuck all over the paper. I wiped some of it off but liked the way it gave a more scattered effect. Don't look too close or you might see some of the edges in a scallop!

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One of the other fun things I did was take out my grandma's old pinking shears to cut some felt. Not sure if anyone else out there has ones like this so took a pic.

Aren't they great?!?!? They work more like a pizza cutter and roll their way along your fabric, so much fun!!!

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Hope you are all having some stamping fun this Thanksgiving weekend!
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I got it done!!!

What a fast week! My DH is out of town and I'm being a single mom for 7 nights! My hat's off to any parent out there who is raising kids on their own! It is for the birds!!!! Now, I love my kiddies dearly, but it is exhusting doing everything on my own!

Anyway, in the middle of the insanity, I had an order for Christmas cards. AND I GOT THEM DONE!!!! It truly was my therapy this week! hehehe! (2 more sleeps till DH is back and tonight is girls night! Home made pizza, chocolate, Treatsa Pizza, soda, cookies, chips, movies, daughters, sister & friends! Maybe, I'll take a pic of us all and our pizza! Yippy!)

Enjoy your weekend! And here's hoping for creative time next week!