Tis the Season of giving!

I'm the kind of person who loves getting homemade gifts! And I love making gifts for people even more. Ever since I worked in a craft store, I've gotten so many ideas for mini albums, and holiday craft projects that could be Christmas gifts or projects you might like, so I thought I'd post some pictures. Most of these are unfinished, but maybe they can help you come up with some gifts you could make this season!


I love all the colors, a bright take on a "Winter Memories" chipboard album.

25 Days of Christmas

It's not done yet... but a lot like the 13 days of halloween I posted earlier, this is made of 25 toilet paper rolls, decorated with scrapbook paper, stickers, ribbons, etc... I still need to number each roll.

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Here's a shorter version:

12 Days of Christmas

completed, with mismatched tissues and paper and embellishments.

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Another count down to Christmas! This Advent Calendar is made with a 24 count Mini Muffin Pan. Magnetic strips hold each "cover" on, and you can fit little candies, or strips of paper with messages in each cup. I want to make another one of these, but with red and green coordinating papers and embellishments. This one is a little chaotic

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A Glass Block you can get at craft stores or hardware stores, filled with Christmas lights, tied up with glittery ribbon like a present, and I added some scrapbook paper to the front and back to dim down the lights a bit. I've seen people monogram initials or last names on the glass, that can be cute for newlyweds... I like putting this in the window or on a mantel...

This is a brown paper bag mini album. You can tuck tags, photos, souveniers, etc. in the "pockets" each brown bag opening has. I just fiddled around with left over scrap paper, but I like the idea.

Above is a brown paper bag Christmas Planner I found online. You could keep recipes, and magazine clippings in the pockets. Christmas planners are helpful, I'm making one right now [ shown below], to store family holiday recipes, pictures, and traditions in, so I'll be sure not to forget them!
I'll add more pictures soon.

Oh how I love the holidays!!!

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sewed up some popcorn garland
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And here is a tag shaped cardboard display we had in the store I work in.

Thanksgiving Prep...

This is Chuck! My young turkey friend that I will be cooking up!!!

It's the week!!! Time for giving thanks and spending time with family and overstuffing yourself with delicious food!

My kitchen counters currently look like this... and I am getting nervous.
My very first Thanksgiving to cook a big turkey for an oldfashioned thanksgiving feast! Our first real thanksgiving dinner in years... and my dad just got called in to work on Thursday :( so I guess our dinner will be postponed until Friday, after of course, much anticipated Black Friday Sales hehehe... Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

11/20/09 Get here already!

WHEN I SEE NEW MOON AT THE THEATER I SMILE....
Okay it's that time of year again, where I get a little crazy. And I don't mean holiday crazy, I mean dorky twilight fan crazy. So with that said, my best friend Ashley and I have registered for a vacation aboard the TWILIGHT CRUISE yes it's true. In August of 2010 we will be on the Twilight At Sea cruise ship for a week and I made a box for my "money" to save for the trip. The downpayment is locked in and we'll fly up to Forks, WA to leave (okay, seattle, but close enough) but FIRST! New Moon has to premiere!!! And I can officially say now that NEXT Thursday :) I will be in line to see the midnight premiere Finally! After a year of patiently waiting since the twilight midnight premiere... bring it on Volturri. I've been waitin' for 11/20/09 all too long...

Some of my craftshow Finds!!

A Team Edward wooden block, which
is pretty cute, with an apple on top!














Cute aged bottles

I found under $5
Looks easy to make

The 1st label says
"Jolly Jacks Elixir:
cures what scares you"

The 2nd label says
"Bottle of Blessings:
Apply generously
May the bounty of
the season fill your
heart and your home"

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These super cute necklaces were all over the fairgrounds!

Little glass baubles, soldered together with images in the

middle. I'd love to learn how to solder jewelry.

And domino pendants were every. You could see everyone

had a different style of their own. I'm going to play with these

ideas and put my own flair on it.

The front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The back

This was a soldered necklace

I fell in love with! The front

says "Love is kinda crazy" &

back "with a girl like me"

with cute little '50s sexy witch.

Every other square
is a heart or zeta crown
:)



A plethora of CHRISTMAS decor!!!
An outdoors wall hanging that I love!!!

A knitted snowmen...






There were tons and tons of ornaments, angels and reindeer
made of bells, snow covered typography, twinkle light bottles, antique looking ornaments

Arkansas in the Fall

October is apparently a great Craft Show month! And Arkansas is apparently the mecca of Craft Shows. So my Big Sis and I had a roadtrip to Arkansas for a long weekend to visit with our good friend and craft show extraordinaire, and go craft show shoppin!

Driving through Arkansas, we drove passed the most beautiful scenery! The trees were burnt oranges, golden yellows, and bright reds! The views were breathtaking, and who would've thought? I don't normally think of Arkansas as "beautiful" but it was!

On the way to one of the shows, we drove over this lake, and it was stunning with houses on the cliff and miles of water and I'm not even an outdoorsy person!

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Stuck in traffic, but the views were lovely so we didn't mind

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Our friend Sarah gets to drink a cup o' joe and look at this view every day! Her back porch is high up, looking down into her own little forest! I'm jealous! :)

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The multi colored trees of her neighborhood

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The War Eagle craft show was like being on the set of "Sweet Home Alabama." And it was huge! They estimated 180,000 ppl over the weekend. With friendly people, funnel cakes, and super cute holiday crafts, I was in heaven!

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There was a little country band on the porch playing music the whole time. And tons of fair food! Yum...

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I couldn't take many pics of the booths, they're fiesty about that :( but I snuck the phone out once when they weren't looking

In the kitchen

The beginning of something beautiful!!!

You mix all this goodness together...

It turns into this mess...

You bake the bread for a little while

Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and roll it up!

Unroll after cool, smear filling, reroll = Ta da!!!

And theoretically it ends up looking like this!

Unfortunately my first go at it fell apart...

But doesn't this look good?

In the mood

[1993] . . . . . . . . [1989] . . . . . . . . [1997] . . . . . . . . [2005]

You should watch these! I own all but Teen Witch, and while searching for it on the web, I discovered Ashley Tisdale is in the works for a remake? Bummer... she's going to ruin it. There are certain cheesy movies, that are only appropriate for the 80's. Can't Buy Me Love, good example. When Nick Cannon redid it, it was shameful.
I am going to sit down this week and watch these! Starting with Teen Witch (thank you Netflix) I'm making popcorn right now and wishing I had a hot pink tutu...

I found some holiday treats to spice up my house

Morning coffee with a splash of Pumpkin Spice CoffeeMate

Freshen the house with Febreeze Pumpkin Harvst

Put a Pumpkin Roll bar in your Scentsy Pot!

The background paper is Rusty Pickle's "costume party" collection