All Families Need a Stable Foundation

A while ago I promised a "Stable Foundation" picture that my daughter was creating. It was delivered today, Christmas Eve. 

I am grateful for the stable foundation of the teachings of the Savior in my life. I feel honored and blessed as I get to know Him and His purposes more clearly. He inspires me to live a quality life and He desires me to reach out and love others. When I truly embrace His teachings, that is when I have joy, as His teachings are always about caring for others, seeking peace, and bringing about goodness. What a wonderful gift to all. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Quick Neighbor Gift Idea

Hello! Welcome to my blog!

I don't know if you are like me this year - but a lot of things I like to do for Christmas kind of fell by the way side. Did Christmas sneak up fast this year or what?  Every year it seems like I need some quick gift ideas. Here is an idea that I saw on another blog - but I did not bookmark it so I could give credit where credit is due. I can't even remember if the idea was for a neighbor or not - as this idea can be used for a lot of different recipients. If you need a quick gift - here is a tag for you below to add to a bottle of soda. I did wrap some paper around the pop label to hide the label as it wasn't very festive. I printed the tags on kraft card stock and tied a ribbon to the top of the bottle. 

Right click on the image below, open in new window, copy, paste to desired program, resize as desired, print and cut.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a Merry Christmas!!

Gift Topper Ideas and Wrapping with Kraft Paper

 Gift wrapping is one of my favorite things to do!! I love kraft paper and I LOVE getting creative with gift toppers. Here are some ideas that I have done:

I love black and white ribbon with kraft paper. This ribbon was actually Halloween stock that I got for a good discount at Michael's. I added a kraft paper tag and a rusted out jingle bell to this gift. Check out  the tutorial on how to rust medal HERE!

These gift toppers pictured above and below are clay ornaments (made from baking soda clay - click here for recipe and tutorial). I then Mod podged a piece of book page on the tag that I had stamped and colored. I attached the ornaments with jute.

The next two gifts were fun to decorate!

 I like to buy ribbon from a fabric store and it is amazing the variety that can be found there and sometimes for a great deal. I liked the black and white gingham that I found - and I love to put red with black and white. I purchased a ceramic bird ornament that came complete with a clip so it was easy to attach to a bit of greenery and the ribbon.

I love how this gift turned out for my sister. I used champagne ribbon purchased from a fabric store. I found some odds and ends greenery from a really old candle set that I was going to throw out because it was cheesy looking- however the greenery was worth saving. I printed out a music sheet image onto card stock and cut two skates from my Cricut. I inked the skates edges, put a hole in the top, added a bit of tulling, and added pearl string to attached to the ribbon. I also added iridescent glitter to the skates. I love how this turned out.

I hope these ideas help you with some creative gift wrapping. Remember to have fun!!!

Merry Christmas!

Gift Wrap Survival Kit For Your Man

Last year I made a gift wrap survival kit for a present. One of my followers suggested that this would make a perfect idea for the man in your life or your kid's. I thought that was a wonderful idea and I needed to make one for my husband. I have a confession to make. I LOVE beautifully gift wrapped presents - which I strive to give - and to be honest I feel a little bummed out when my presents are thrown into a dollar store bag. So yes, I will admit this is a bit of a self indulgent gift from me to my husband in the hopes that the gifts under the tree have eye candy appeal.

I bought wrapping paper and ribbon that I liked. I printed out some tags, and used a couple stamped images to make tags that matched the wrapping paper. After I cut out the tags I glittered the edges with Mod Podge and champagne glitter. The really cool tag above in the center is a free digi stamp download that I found via Pinterest. Here is a link to get the free stamp - CLICK HERE. The tags on the bottom are free printable from
  The Winter Wonderland Holiday Tags by Three Little Monkeys Studio.
The other tags are from stamps.

I gathered all the little bits and put it in a clear plastic bag with a zipper (left over from a sheet set). Then I stapled on a print out from the survival kit I made last year (CLICK HERE to go to the link). I gave my hubby the bag, boxes and gift wrap and he was thrilled. When I came home from work that day he had all his gifts wrapped and he said he actually enjoyed wrapping the presents this year. And I must say - they look fabulous!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Christmas 2012 Card - Make Your Own, It's Easy!!

Here is this year's Christmas card that I made. I don't have any fancy program - I use my slideshow program called Keynote. CLICK HERE for the tutorial...

Now, for the particulars. Start with a full page color black. Add desired background, resizing it to show some of the black for a frame. I included the background I used below.

I used the fonts Rage and Circus for "Christmas"making them different sizes. I added a white shadow to each letter (go into "Inspector" click on shapes, click on shadow, change color as desired)

The other font I used is Harrington. The snowflakes are from the font "Flakey" and I used the opaque option in the inspector to fade them a little. I put black boxes around the pictures and the mid section.

Here are cards I made for the last two years...

Thanks for stopping by!!

Advent Calendar Boxes

Can you believe it is December 1st already? Time to get out the advent calendars. I discovered  these awesome advent boxes a few years ago. I thought I would try a little different version of them this year.

The one pictured above I covered in cork. I used thick cork for the top and bottom (I found this at a dollar store) and thin cork to cover the match boxes. I glued some silver decorations that I got from a dollar store on, and used screw brads and black brads for the drawer pulls. I glued wooden beads to the bottom. This is a more masculine box that I am giving to my nephew.

I made this silhouette advent box for my niece. This is my favorite advent box yet. I cut the silhouettes from the "Child's Year" Cricut cartridge. I mod podged champagne glitter on black brads leaving the black to frame the brad. I painted the wood beads that I glued on the bottom - black. Before I glued the top on the box I glued a long piece of ribbon in between the layers, and then tied a bow on the top.

CLICK HERE for the tutorial I made a couple years ago. Some things I did different this time: 1)Instead of hot glue, I used mod podge to glue all the papers on. Next time I will try using mod podge to adhere the match boxes together. 2) I painted the cube with a background color to cover the matchbook colors. 

Thanks for stopping by!