Some handmade Christmas gifts

Ok, so now that Christmas is over, I can finally share some of my Christmas crafting projects that I gave as gifts this year. They were for my mom and sisters, and I am not sure how often they check my blog, so I didn't want to chance it and ruin the surprise :)

First is one of my very favorite projects this year is a ribbon wreath that I made for my mom. I first saw the idea in the Papercrafts magazine holiday edition, made by Alli Miles. When Alli featured hers on her blog, I knew I had to make one. You can see Alli's here:

http://allistamps.blogspot.com/2010/09/crafty-goodness-la-holiday-cards-and.html

And here is mine, done in colors to match Mom's dining room :)



Up next is a project that I had been wanting to make, also for my Mom, since Nichole Heady featured it on her blog, back in June of 2010. She made silhouettes of their children for her husband for Father's Day and I love how they turned out. You can see Nichole's post here:

http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2010/05/senior-design-team-challenge-dearest-dad.html

Here are the silhouettes that I did of my boys, using the same technique. I chose to put them in the same frame since my mom doesn't have a lot of wall space, and chose a black frame since my mom has silhouettes of my sisters and I from ages ago, and those are in black frames, so I wanted them to match.



And finally is a 2011 planner that I altered for my sister. I bought a plain black planner that came with the three colored inserts inside. Then I bought a 2011 calendar, recovered it, and added it to the planner. Dressed her up a bit, and here is the end result (she cried when she opened it):

My top 10 of 2010

Since I became a more serious stamper in the last half of 2010, I don't have too many cards posted on my blog. So, my top 10 of 2010 will include some other projects too :)

Here they are, my favorites (in no particular order)... Can't believe this year is already over. I look forward to having more time to create in the new year, and hope to post to my blog more frequently :)

PTI December Blog Hop

So hard to believe that Christmas is over, and 2010 is coming to a close! Today marks the final PTI blog hop for this year as well! This month, our challenge was:

Holiday Leftovers

It's that time again for our annual holiday leftovers challenge! Use scraps of wrapping paper, parts of
holiday cards, recycle gift tags or bits of ribbon on a paper crafting project. We all have plenty of it
laying around after all the holiday excitement and this is your chance to incorporate some of those pretty
little things into an amazing piece of art!

I used a cute little penguin Christmas card to make a gift tag! He was too cute to throw in the trash! I also used my new PTI Seeing Stars dies to make a 3D star. I am addicted. They are so cute, and SO easy.

Edit: Since so many asked how to make the star 3D, I will share with you how I did it. It is really simple. You just take your star cut out (any size will work), and simply score the star by making a vertical score line from each point of the star straigh down until you can't go any further. Make sure that each score line intersects the others in the center of the star. Then crease the score lines and that will give you the 3D effect. I hope I explained it clearly. It sounds more complicated than it is. Let me know if you have any other questions :)



Supplies (all PTI unless noted:)
Stamps: Tiny Treats Christmas
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Pure Poppy
Paper: Kraft, Pure Poppy, Stampers Select White, Distressed Dots, misc. blue dot
Other: Tag Sale #1 die, Seeing Stars small star die, Pure Poppy Bakers Twine, Christmas card front

Baby Rag Blanket

So we just found out earlier this week that my sister, who is due in May, is having a little boy! For Christmas, little baby Malakai will have his own stack of presents, and one of them will be this handmade rag blanket from his Auntie. Now, I must say that this blanket is FAR from perfect. In fact, it was my very first sewing project. I had taken my machine out a few other times to practice threading the needle, but never actually make anything. I figured that since this was pretty much sewing straight lines, it was a good project to start with. It is a small lap blanket, about 20"x20". I used the Stampin' Up Scallop Square die to cut the squares, sewed them together in a patchwork design, snipped the edges, and washed it twice to start the ragging process. My sister's nickname is Bubbles, so as soon as I saw the fabric, I knew it was the perfect choice for Baby Bubbles, now known as Malakai :)

Holiday Tags

Cute little tags can make all of the difference :) Here are a few tags that I made today. The first one uses PTI Tiny Treats: Christmas, and Holiday Jar Fillers:



This second little jar of Turtles Candies is for my mom. She LOVES Turtles, and only gets them at Christmas time. It's a tradition. With the color of the wrappers, I had to incorporate blue into my project... more winter-y than Christmas-y, but I am ok with that :)



Supplies (all PTI unless noted):
Stamps: Tiny Treats Christmas, Friendship Jar, Friendship Jar Holiday Fillers
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Pure Poppy, New Leaf
Paper: Stampers Select White, Pure Poppy,
Dies: Frienship Jar, Jar Toppers, Limitless Layers
Other: Copic markers, Stardust pen, Pure Poppy Satin Dot Ribbon, Pure Poppy Bakers Twine

Homemade Gift Card Holders

If you have purchased gift cards as gifts for the holidays this year, you may have noticed that the little gift cards holders that are often sold near the gift card displays can be expensive... sometimes $2-$3 each! After seeing some of the holders made by a few of the girls on the PTI forums (thank you Sue Ann & Stephanie!), I had to try some for myself! You can see their gift card holders here:

http://hallingerwire.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-card-and-gift-card-holder.html

and here:

http://stephaniemino.blogspot.com/2010/12/gift-card-holders-yippee.html

Here are the two that I have made for my best friend and her fiance. They are avid Starbucks drinkers, so they will be getting Starbucks gift cards for Christmas! This project was the perfect opportunity to use my new Warm Happiness and Warm Happiness Too stamp sets from Papertrey Ink. (I still have to pick up the giftcards, so I stuck another one in there so you can get the idea):












Supplies (all PTI unless noted):
Stamps: Warm Happiness, Warm Happiness Too, Fillable Frames #10, Friendship Jar, Friendship Jar Holiday Fillers
Dies: Mat Stack 4, Warm Happiness, Fillable Frames #10, Jar Label
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy, Fresh Snow
Paper: Pure Poppy CS, Pine Feather CS, Aqua Mist CS, Kraft CS, Distressed Dots PP, Christmas Prints PP
Other: Pure Poppy Bakers Twine, Pop Dots, Paper Doily (Hobby Lobby)