The Spice of Life

Christmas Cards pt 2

Yesterday, I shared my first set of Christmas Cards for this year. Here's my second set.

 

Christmas Cards pt 1

Every year for the past 4 years or so, I have made Chrismas Cards to send to family and friends. You can check out some past years here and here.

Here is my first set of cards for this year. Using Stampin Ups "Tree Trimmings" and Stamp It's "sisit043", I came up with these cards.

I'll be back tomorrow with my next set.

December Dare

I'm a little late with this post. The theme this month at How Dare You is Celebrate. Perfect!! More Christmas goodness to create. This time I have made a mini album which records the lyrics of some of my fav Christmas Carols. Singing and listening to Christmas Carols are one of my fav things about Christmas time. If you peaked into my house on any given day during December, you would find me listening to Carols with the volume pumped and singing along, somewhat out of tune and very loud. IT adds to the excitment and Christmas spirit. So here is what I have created.

 

 

And now for some more Christmas decorations:

 

 

 

This wreath is straight out of last months BH&G mag. I've added some bells at the top and a few ribbons.

Christmas, Christmas time is here.........

  Who is getting excited? I am. Can you tell? We have Christmas day planned, presents organised (mostly) and I am looking forward to relaxing with my family.

This is going to be a photo rich post, so please just scroll past the jabbering straight to the photos if it takes your fancy.

Before I share anything else, I just had to share this:

 

Check out the cheeks on our little Charlee. She looks like a chipmunk storing up nuts for the winter.

Today I dragged the girls over the road to the oval for a quick photo shoot. I wanted to get a group photo to send out with my Christmas cards. I dragged the bean bag over as well, so little miss Chubby Cheeks would have somewhere comfy to sit. These are my two faves.

 

 

Okay onto some Christmassy stuff.

 

You can find a tute for this bag here.

   

Notebook for a teachers present.

 

Crayon rolls. I have shared this link to a tute before.

   

Drawstring bags. These are great and can have so many uses. Library bag, swimming bag, shoe bag, toy bag, overnight bag...and the list goes on. Here is the link for this one.

   

 

Notebooks. Altered slightly to suit my needs. 

Pencil case. Also from here! I adapted the tute to suit and added some wadding for padding.

 And this tote. 

All of these projects were quick and simple to create and the tutes were easy to follow. As you can see I have spent some time sourcing the net for ideas and how to's. It has made my christmas making that much easier.

And lastly, here is a photo of some christmas ornaments I've made. Super easy and oh so pretty hanging in our tree.

 

The countdown begins

Oh my goodness, we're half way through November. Does anyone else think this year has gone by way too quickly. We've had a big year and I am looking forward to some down time over the Christmas break.

This year, we have decided to try and minimize Christmas; lessen the stress, the gift buying, the cost, the crazyness that Christmas has become. Part of this means going handmade. Not with everything!! Greg and I each have an item we've put on our wish list, and the girls also have somethings that they 'really want'. I think the key is not over do it though.

This theme of handmade, minimizing, making do, seems to be spreading. It might be something that you have always done, it might be something you are considering doing. I think with the 'global financial crisis' (how often have we heard that term over the last few months) and the environment being at the forefront of so many people's thoughts, it will continue to grow. It's also about getting back to the basics, about personlizing this celebration that is the Holiday Season.

So for the next month, I'm going to be displaying some of the handmade items that will be part of our christmas this year.

First up, are this years Christmas cards. Using a combination of old scrapping supplies and some new papers, and stamps, I've made some really simple Christmas Cards that I was able to mass produce. I've reach 37 so far and have a few more to make.

   

 

 

 

In this instance, going hand made is not neccessarily cheaper. You can pick a box of 12 cards up from any Cheap Shop for a few dollars! For me, this is all about the thought!

 

Last month's issue of Better Homes and Gardens has some wonderful Christmas crafts in it. They had some beautiful Angel garlands made with paper and sewn together. This is a slight variation. I have glued paper onto cardstock for some extra strength. They are all tied together with ribbon. This is something simple to make with scraps from your stash.

If you've got projects you'd like to share, I'd love to see them. If you know of any blogs or websites with Christmas projects send me a link so I can check them out!

Thanks for popping by. I don't think I say that anywhere near enough!!!!