Blue Gingham Christmas Gift Bag

I recently had a chance to buy some gingham gift bags at a good price from Store Supply Warehouse. My goal was to make gift bags with a Bible message. Here's one of the blue ones I decorated. This was the only one I made with a favorite white flower I'd hoarded, the others have snowflakes, but I've given them away. I used some long retired CTMH paper because it matched best.  I used a Martha Stewart punch on the  Kraft cardstock and white embossed it with "Joy to the World the Lord is come" (ODBD stamp) and "Gloria" (old CTMH).  I subtley stamped John 3:16 on the banner piece on the right but it doesn't stand out.

The clothespin was stamped three times with music from PTI.

Thanks for visiting!

I'm sharing this project with the following challenges:
ABC Christmas - X for Crisscross (the pattern on the blue paper making x's)

Addicted to Stamps #136 - die cuts and/or Punches

Allsorts Challenge #391 - Anything Christmas

Crafty Cardmakers #178 - Anything but a card

Holly Jolly Christmas #86 - Anything but a card

Love to Scrap #90 - anything goes

Cyber Monday: Cricut Craze!

When you spend $30 on retail-priced product, you can buy one of our Cricut® collections at 30% off! The sale starts Monday, November 28, at midnight (MST) so get ready to start shopping! »

Simple 12 Days of Christmas Mini-Album

I've been spending all of my time crafting or scrapbooking. I just finished a scrapbook of high school years for one dear lady and lots of craft items for a local store that's having an open house today.  Here's  one of the mini-albums I made using Graphic 45's Twelve Days of Christmas ephemera cards and background paper. It's  a 7" x 5" accordion album made from Kraft cardstock with black cardstock "hinges." All of the pages have either a mat for photos or some type of pocket or partially adhered fussy cut image that serves as a pocket. Two of the pages have fold out flaps to include more photos.

I tried to keep it simple and it took me most of one morning between breakfast and lunch. Not bad since I'm usually slow. Here are lots of photos:

 Days 4 (Four calling birds) and 7 (Seven geese a-laying) have the fold-out features.

Here's the back side. It unfortunately received too much sunlight when I took the photos.

The last page included the entire song. If you grew up singing this like I did, it's a great reminder of Christmas past that is lovely to pass on to the next generations.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you as you craft and bless the recipients of your work!

I'm sharing this project with the following challenges:
Allsorts week #391- anything Christmas
Christmas at Sweet Stampin' - anything goes
C.R.A.F.T. #391 - Not a card
Crafter's Café Challenge #161 - Christmas comes early
Crafty Girls Creations #30 - anything goes
Crafty Ribbons #177 - Christmas
Moving Along with the Times #34 - anything goes with Christmas
PDE Linky Party #148 - anything but a card
Scrap from your Heart #3 - Christmas
Simply Papercraft #41 - anything goes

Using Christmas Negatives

I was cleaning scraps off my workspace when I realized this great leftover from a Cricut cut would make a great card with other scraps. All I had to do was back it with another great scrap leftover from recent cards. (This attention to scraps may be a sign of my obsessive paper frugality OR, hopefully, a sign that my aging creativity loves to manifest itstelf!) Now I will definitely be looking at my Cricut negatives before tossing them!

All the paper on this card is a leftover scrap, even the kraft card base. The red circle is the back half of a CTMH circle card that I cut to use the front. It was flat on top so I trimmed it a little more to fit. The ribbon was placed to cover the CTMH label.

The sentiment was from an older Layers of Color Art Stamp set, "Glad Tidings," I had gotten when they were going out of business.

Thanks for visiting! I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

A Gem of a Challenge #182 - use ribbon and bling -sequins
Crafty Gals Corner #97 - use a sentiment
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge November - anything goes
Holly Jolly Christmas #84 - Trees or Christmas Trees
Sweet Stampin' Christmas - anything goes
Through the Purple Haze #112 - add embellies
Winter Wonderland - Add ribbon (or lace and/or Christmas flowers)

Mojo Monday 473 Christmas Joy

I've been absent too long creating for our community's craft fair, then recuperating afterwards! This was the 25th craft fair and so many craft-loving people came! Now I'm having to make Christmas cards like crazy because we had to fill our card rack four times. The second day I had to take cards I'd planned on keeping because we sold so many this year. This is the first year I wondered what to do at the end of the first day when our tables and racks looked half-empty. I'd prayed that God would bless the sales because the proceeds were going to Him and an area charity. Sales were beyond my imagination. I may show photos of our booth later.

Here is this week's Mojo Monday card using CTMH City Sidewalks paper. I usually find it more difficult to know how to use paper with a scene, but the square in this sketch gave me a chance to use it. The holly was cut using Cricut City Sidewalks. The "slit" was filled with green glitter glue and the berries were coated with a little Liquid Glass. I love using the Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder that CTMH sells!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Bitten By the Bug2 - Nature/Christmas - my holly from Cricut City Sidewalks.
Mojo Monday #473 - sketch

To make Christmas cards more quickly I've made several from each pack of paper using simple designs, duplicated stamped parts like the "JOY" on the first card assembly-line fashion, and printed multiple inside sentiments I keep on my computer or stamped the same sentiment inside multiple times.

 Here's another one using the same gold-embossed sentiment and some older CTMH White Pines paper begging to be used up!

Here's another using the same White Pines background with some strips of Frosted and a snowflake cut using Cricut Flower Market: I'm sharing it with Heart to Heart Challenge - Christmas but no Red or Green. How about blue, white and chocolate?

I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever use up the Christmas paper packs I've hoarded over the years!  May God bless you as you craft and bless others with your own cards!