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I recently participated in a Christmas ornament swap with the theme "Holiday Home." Here is the ornament that I made for everyone.

I started with a tin star ornament that I bought at Target. I made a paper nest out of old sheet music and eggs from pearlized clay. I punched out the holly leaves, cut out the bird and added Stickles. I added a little tree for the bird's holiday home. I also added Stickles to the tree and punched out a little star for the top. I added a baker's twine hanger, but also have a clip adhered to the bottom to attach to the Christmas tree.

I've started on the Christmas decorating. I'm hoping to be finished very soon. My husband has the outside lights up, so we're looking mighty festive!

$2.44

That's what I paid for a bag full of these vintage Christmas goodies! I stopped at the thrift store the other day when they were having a 25% off sale. Among the Christmas items was a plastic bag full of vintage Christmas.

I'm hoping to dress up the putz houses a bit. They are a bit plain. Since the large reindeer is missing most of his paint, I'm planning to cover him in glitter - won't he be dashing!

My favorite is the herd of tiny plastic reindeer. I've already used one on a project that I'll share as soon as I can find some snow/mica flakes to add to it.

Thank You Zunky Chic Fans

I wanted to take a few minutes to thank everyone who has visited my blog since we launched earlier this year. I have enjoyed sharing my projects. What I enjoy even more is reading the lovely comments that you post. Each month, I've received more visitors than the previous month. Of course, I'm not talking Tim Holtz or Jenni Bowlin numbers, but it's exciting for me!

I appreciate you sharing the site with your family and friends. I appreciate your comments. I appreciate you taking the time to look at my projects. Crafters are the most genuine, thoughtful, and caring people around. I am so thankful for YOU!

I hope you enjoy a blessed Thanksgiving tomorrow.

10 Things I Can't Live Without

Today is my monthly post for Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs. This month is also my team's turn to do a theme. Our theme is "10 Things..." I took one of the Cover 2 Cover Petite albums (the tiniest album with acrylic covers and chipboard pages) and created a "10 Things I Can't Live Without" mini book.


I decorated the cover with sewing pattern paper, old sheet music pieces, and brown Staz On ink. I used number rub-ons from 7 Gypsies and mini alphas from My Little Shoebox to create a unique title. I tied on various ribbons, fiber, and lace. The patterned paper used inside the book is from Daisy D's - I've been hoarding it waiting for the perfect project.

 

 

You can read more details and see photos of other pages on Midnight Oil's blog today. I hope you'll take a minute to check it out and leave me some love!

Easy, Inexpensive Decorating

Here is one of the quick and easy decorations that I have up for Thanksgiving.

I bought the old chalkboard for a few dollars. It sits on my kitchen's window sill and we change out the message for each holiday, birthday, or whatever we want. For Thanksgiving, I embellished it with a beautiful brown ribbon that was in my stash. I probably saved this ribbon from a gift basket or something else that came into the house a while back. The glittery leaves are a $2 pick from Walmart, found in the Christmas ornaments.

This decoration took me 2 minutes to put together and cost about $7, including the chalkboard that I can reuse over and over.

Thanks for taking a look! I hope your home is looking festive for all of the holidays!

Altered Welcome Sign

I'm always looking for easy projects that I can make, especially around the holidays when I need ideas for unique gifts. I bought this Welcome sign at Hobby Lobby - here is the before photo:

Here are the "after" photos - after I layered on vintage dress pattern paper (on the back and sides of the letters), patterned papers, flowers, buttons, and embellishments. I added crackle paint, inks, and beige craft paint to the base, and then sealed it using Mod Podge.

Getting ready for the feast...

I did some shopping last weekend, some of it in preparation for Thanksgiving dinner. I don't have my turkey yet, but I have the green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, and pumpkin dessert supplies ready. I like turkey, but enjoy the "sides" more! I'm hoping that my parents will be joining us for Thanksgiving this year - I can have my mom make some yummy mac and cheese!

Even though it's more than a week away, here is my Happy Thanksgiving card. I used Basic Grey, Bo Bunny, and My Mind's Eye papers and a scrap of vintage sheet music (one of my favorite supplies lately). I added the title rub-on and a little acorn sticker. I tied a scrap of fabric through an eyelet for some softness.

 

Mid-Month Greetings

We're already half-way through November! I don't know where this year has gone. The days between Halloween and Christmas seem to go so quickly.

Here are a couple more Thanksgiving themed cards that I made. Both cards use the same Basic Grey patterned paper for the background, but the looks are so different.

For this first card, I layered on dark plaid paper, silk leaves from the $1 store, and some embellishments from K&Co. In case you haven't noticed by now, I love K&Co paper and embellishments. I think they are so creative and beautiful, and many lines have a very vintage layered looked that suits me perfectly. I used my Fiskars threading water punch at the bottom, with a strip of dark brown paper peeking out.

On this card, I've layered another piece of Basic Grey paper on the background, along with a Martha Stewart garden tag that I got in the clearance bin (I covered the "From the Garden of" part with some paint and colored pencil), twine and yarn, Prima flowers, a piece of vintage lace, and some rhinestones. The alphas are from Webster's Pages (another favorite!). Although both cards started with the same paper, this one has more of a feminine feel and softness to it.

I'm getting ready to share some Christmas projects. I need to get some good photos first!

Scrap Room Sneak Peak

The shelves are up in my craft room! I'm still working on getting everything displayed the way I want it. Since I'm working on Christmas gifts and projects, the room is a huge mess right now. I'll wait to share pics of the entire room until it's a little neater and I have everything hung up.

I bought this vintage velvety pin cushion at one of my favorite antique shops, Golightly's Gallery. I added some of my fancy craft pins.

Here it is on display with some other supplies in my craft room.

Another shelf holds vintage button cards, journaling cards (in the Paris suitcase), and old jewelry bits and bobs in the enamel canisters.

It's getting there! I'm hoping to get my projects displayed and photos hung this week.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday. Here is what I am sure is her favorite photo:


For our Christmas gift last year, my husband got my mom and me tickets to the Dr Phil show and a meet and greet with Dr Phil (Robin was supposed to be there, too but she didn't show). We just took the trip out to L.A. in October. My mom was so giddy, she paid no attention to any of us - interrupting my husband's introductions to ask Dr Phil for an autograph. Dr Phil was very nice and personable. We talked about living in Dallas and the guests that were on the show. It was a great experience.

Fall Homemade Swap

The other day, I shared the card that I made as part of my Fall Homemade Swap. My swap partner was Julie, and here are some of the beautiful things that she made for me. I have them proudly displayed in my living room.

She painted and decorated the gorgeous Blessings box. I keep some of the goodies that she sent me in there - a beautiful card, Dew Drops, and a "New Moon" ATC. She altered an old spindle with a beautiful flower and tag, and made the fall themed hanging that you see. She also sent me the candle, which is burning now. She decorated it with paper and wonderful lace, but since I'm burning it, I removed the paper. She was so creative and thoughtful in everything that she made. I hope we can do another swap soon!

Autumn Cards

I had a busy weekend. I went to a great craft show and ran all of my shopping errands. I got some great things at Hobby Lobby that I'm hoping to make for some Christmas gifts. But, I'm trying to hold off just a bit on sharing Christmas projects. I do have some Fall and Thanksgiving themed projects to share. Here are a couple of cards that I made recently.

I did a Fall themed swap with a friend recently. This is the card that I included with the package that I sent to her. I knitted a scarf for her in a lovely cranberry chenille that I hope will keep her warm through the Minnesota winter. (I'll share what she made for me later this week.) I used up some paper scraps, a Fancy Pants journaling card, Thickers letters, lovely autumn hued flowers, vintage lace, and blue gingham bow.

Here is a Thanksgiving card that I made using Basic Grey and Bazzill paper, Making Memories alphas, rhinestones, and a seam binding bow.

The shelves are finally up in my craftroom! I still need to hang the photos and projects that I've been piling up, waiting for this day. As soon as I get them up this week, I'll take a few pics to share.

As Summer Into Autumn Slips...

Even though it's been officially autumn for about 6 weeks, it seems that it's finally arrived here in TX. We've started with the leaves. Ours just turn brown and fall - everywhere, which is why I like to travel to prettier places in the fall.

I made a Fall paper bag album to capture some of the beautiful colors of fall. I layered the cover with different fall patterned papers, ribbons, and silk leaves and flowers.

I included photos from our trips to NJ and NC in the fall. Here are just a couple of the pages.

I made tags and put them in everywhere! Between the pages, on the pages, hidden in pockets... Here is one of my favorite tags.

The album was so thick by the time I was done with all my layers and embellishments. I used a beautiful satin Martha Stewart ribbon to keep it tied shut.

Baby Days

So many people are expecting new bundles of joy!

My scrappy friend Melanie is having a baby boy today. We created a round-robin book in which each of us created a two-page layout for her. Here are my pages for her book and the card I made using a vintage baby image.

My style is definitely not "masculine," but I did my best to make it more baby boy oriented. I added lots of blues and used images that were gender-neutral. Vintage storybook images adorn the right page.

Here is a close-up of the tag on left page. I used vintage trim that someone had sewn together, satin ribbon printed with "le bébe," and a little fairy image that I made.

My friend Amber is expecting another granddaughter. She asked me to create a card in honor of the special event. Here is the card that I sent off to her:

I used Basic Grey Procelain paper as the backgroun - it looks so soft and muted, just perfect for a baby girl. I added the caption to the vintage image and added pink and blue Stickles to the flowers. The trim is from an antique baby dress that was too distressed to use for anything other than its trim and pieces of aged fabric. The pink tulle on the flower is from a vintage hat that was covered in velvet millinery leaves. (I bought the hat just to take the leaves off and reuse in projects.)

I can't wait to see photos of the new babies!

19 Days and Counting...

Where will you be on November 20?

Can you tell that I'm already excited about seeing Edward again? Although it bothers me that I'll have to spend what should be 75% of the movie without him in it (but we all know that they won't stick that closely to the book). And why does France get the new movie two days ahead of the United States?

Anyway, I was at home sick with a terrible cold last week. One night, my husband came home with some "medicine" for me:

Have you seen these? Of course, he bought me all three boxes so I could "collect all 3."