Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! The days leading up to Christmas were a bit hectic for us, but the day was lovely and the kids (and I!) got spoilt! I love Christmas, and Boxing Day is always a bit of a downer because I'm a bit sad its all over. But in saying that we had a nice day today playing with toys, building things, opening a multitude of boxes etc. The kids loved it!

Anyway, just thought I'd show a couple of things today. The first is a small "cutesy" gift I gave to a few friends kids. They were simple to make and I've used the Reindeer again that we used on Jacobs cards.

Some are filled with Jelly Beans, the others with M&Ms. The kids liked them!

I also wanted to show you a card. This is the card I made for my husbands birthday last week. It is using one of the new sets, Love Defined, from the latest mini catalogue and I just love it. This card was based on one in the catalogue, with a few slight alterations.

I am loving this colour combination at the moment - Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise and whisper White.

I am planning on getting some Scrapbooking done this week, so hopefully I will be back in a few days with some layouts to show you.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the break. I am hitting the shops tomorrow for the sales...hopefully I survive!

Kids Christmas Cards

So this year my kids wanted to make their Christmas Cards for their friends. At first I was really excited about the idea, however hours into it and I was not quite so excited!!! The kids enjoyed it, but 3 kids giving cards to everyone in their class adds up to around 70 cards! Each of my kids wanted to do a different design and they were not keen on me making too many suggestions!!! So I had to go with the flow and offer advice where I could and keep my mouth shut about crooked pieces stuck to cards!

So the first card was by my 8 year old son, Jacob. He actually saw me looking at this reindeer on a website and he wanted to make it for the front of his cards. It is very cute and he was so proud of his cards. It is easy to make, although when you are doing 25 of them, it is quite fiddly!

It is made using the Owl punch and the leaves from the Bird Punch. I really liked how it turned out and apart from me helping with the eyelids (those pieces were so tiny!) and cutting the square, Jacob did it himself.

Next up was my 8 year old daughter, Ella. She and her friends love crafting so she was keen to impress them! Ella is a complete animal lover so of course she was going to pick to do a rudolf. However, she wanted a cutesy Rudolf rather than the Rudolf Jacob did above. So this is what we came up with.

This deer is from the Forest Friends Stamp Set and we just added a red brad for the nose. Of course, what 8 year old girl wouldn't want a bit of bling, so their is the Rhinestone Jewel next to the Merry Christmas. Ella was also very proud of her cards and her friends liked them too!

Now to the trickiest one, my 5 year old son Noah. He is very stubborn and really didn't want to listen to my suggestions. He was adament he was using the Make a Monster Stamp Set! So after a lot of coaxing, I talked him into this...

And funnily enough, I actually liked this card when it was done. Combining the monster with the tree actually worked quite well! I helped a bit more with Noah's, although he still did a lot himself.

So even though it was a long process, we got there in the end and the kids were all happy with what they made. I love that they knew what they wanted to do and stuck with it. It makes the cards a lot more personal.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by. I hope you are surviving all the last minute Christmas preparations...only a few days to go and it will all be over for another year. Even though it is busy, I really do love Christmas time!

Christmas Gifts

The last week I have busily been making a few Christmas Gifts for teachers at school and a few other people that I give something small to.

For the teachers at school, it is just a small gift as each class also collects money to buy one combined present (much better for the teachers I'm sure as they are not ending up with multitudes of chocolates & candles!!!). My kids like to give their own presents to their teachers as well so I made these cute little milk cartons with the caddy. Each caddy holds 4 mini milk cartons. The mini milk cartons are made from a Big Shot Die and the caddy is just a template I have. These are so, so cute and definitely give the wow factor. They are fairly simple as well...a little time consuming, but not difficult.

The cute flower that is on the caddy is my new favourite thing to make right now. It is very easy and looks very effective. You just need the scallop circle punch. In the new year I might post some instructions on how to make it.

The teachers were very grateful for the present. In case you are wondering, the mini milk cartons are filled with M&Ms, Favourites Chocolates, jelly type chocolates and jelly beans.

The other gift I made was for the ladies in the school office. I have a lot to do with them as I am part of the P&C and they are always so helpful so I wanted to give them something small to say thanks. I made some Rocky Road and packaged it up.

Again I have used the cool flower...told you I like it! These little boxes were so easy to make and they look really effective. The recipients loved them!

Thanks for stopping by. Don't forget to leave me a comment so I know you've been here!

I will be back in a couple of days to show you the Christmas cards each of my kids made for their friends.



One Week to Go...

Amazing that it is only one week until Christmas. Things are just so hectic this time of year. I really have neglected my blog a little...Sorry!

So I have a couple of Christmas items to share with you. Firstly another card...one of my favourites that I have done for Christmas this year.

I've used Real Red and the In Colour, Pear Pizzazz and I just love this combination together. I've also used a strip of the Designer Series Patterned paper stack and the very versatile Taffeta ribbon. The Stamp Sets are Delightful Decorations and Heard from the Heart. This is an easy, but effective card to make. The little Rhinestone jewel in the centre of the bauble finishes it off I think.

Next up some Christmas Gift Tags. These are very, very simple to make, taking no more than 5 minutes each to complete which, at this time of year, is vital!

This uses the same colour combination as the card above and also uses the Contempo Christmas Stamp Set (my favourite Christmas stamp set this year!).

Well that's all I have to share with you today. I will be back in a few days with some more Christmas items and an adorable birthday card I made for my hubby (it is his birthday today...Happy Birthday Babe!) using the Love Defined Stamp Set from the new Mini Catalogue.

Have a good weekend.

In the Christmas Mood

Today I've definitely been in the Christmas mood! This morning I spent some time with my kids making Christmas cards for their friends...I will share them in a few days once they are finished. I also went with some friends and put together a Gingerbread House and decorated it with lots and lots of lollies! It was really fun and overall I'm happy with how my house turned out. The kids loved it when I got home and were desperate to break it open now and eat it...I managed to deter them, but not sure it will last till Christmas Day! We've also been watching a Christmas movie - Santa Paws! The kids really enjoyed it and I have to admit I didn't mind it either!!!!!

Anyway, I have another card to share with you...again a Christmas one. This is using the absolutely beautiful wide striped grosgrain ribbon. It is absolutely divine.

I've also used the Season of Joy Stamp set and the adorable Pearls. The colours are a little non-traditional, but I like them! I've used Crumb Cake (formerly Kraft), Night of Navy and Cherry Cobbler.

I still haven't come up with what I am doing for my own cards as yet, I am still putting it off. It is my plan for tomorrow though, so fingers crossed I can come up with something!

Hope you are having a good weekend.

I'm Back as Promised

As I mentioned this morning, I am back to share a couple of Christmas items with you. I taught a Christmas Card class a few days ago and we made some lovely cards. One of which is this one...

This card uses the very versatile Season of Joy Stamp Set. The carstock is Pear Pizzazz and Real Red along with Whisper white. Its the same colours in the ink. The addition of the little Rhinestones at centre of the flower really finish it off. I can't take all the credit for this card...I did see something similar somewhere on the net, I just can't remember where!

The ladies that attended my class have been regular customers this year so I made each of them a little gift using the very cute Milk Carton Die for the Big Shot.

Here I have used a baulbe from the Delightful Decorations Stamp Set and again the Real Red cardstock and ink along with the Rhinestone. The Patterend Paper is from the DSP In Colour Paper Stack and it is again in the Pear Pizzazz colour. I've put a few chocolates inside these and finished tehm off with a bow. The ladies loved them!

I have a few more cards to show you over the next few days, so stay tuned!

I have to admit I'm feeling the pressure for coming up with a design for my own Christmas Cards this year. I've always done a photo card in the past, however now that I am a SU Demonstrator I would like to incorporate stamping into my cards as well. Plus I'm also thinking that the kids at 8 and 5 have kind of lost the cutesy look for the front of a Christmas card. Perhaps I should just stick a photo inside for those that don't see them very often? I can come up with lots of designs if they are not for my cards but as soon as I sit down to start my cards, I'm not happy with anything!!! I've got to get my act together as several of my cards get sent overseas, so I am cutting it a little fine! Hopefully this weekend I will get organised.

Thanks for stopping by. Don't forget to check out the new mini catalogue through the link on my sidebar and also the December Frenzy Specials on the previous post.

Stay dry!

Two Big things start today...

The 1st of December...who can believe it!!!!

Today is the start of the new Stampin' Up! Summer Mini Catalogue and believe me it is adorable. There are some wonderful new stamp sets and products. To view the catalogue online click here. If you would like to order anything just send me an email.

The second big thing is the Stampin' Up! December Frenzy. There are a bunch of Stamp Sets and products on sale for up to 50% off. This is a huge saving so take advantage of it NOW! It is while stocks last only. To view the December Frenzy items click here. Some of the products on sale include the Wonderful Favourites Wood Mount Stamp Set, Teeny Tiny Sentiments Stamp Set, Heard from the Heart Stamp Set, Baby Bundle Stamp Set, a variety of Stampin' Write Markers, the Hodgepodge Hardware and many others. Take advantage of the sale now and buy yourself an early Christmas Present!!! To order please email me asap to get the items before they sell out.

If you have any questions at all, please let me know.

I will be back later today with some Christmas Cards I have been making.

Have a good day.