December Daily - New Year's Eve

Happy New Year everyone! I hope all of you have a happy and healthy year ahead!

I've been thinking about what New Year's resolution I'd like to share with you tonight. I typically do not wait until the New Year to make personal growth type resolutions so I'll share a scrappy sort of one which is to make more scrapbook pages! I just made my first page in three months the day after Christmas which does not make me too happy. This hobby of ours is all about capturing and preserving our memories. When my husband and I are older, I want to be able to spend time looking through our scrapbooks, walking down memory lane together. And I want our son to be able to look back through his childhood years and share them with his family.

With that said, I changed my mind about sharing another Valentine craft project with you tonight. Instead, I'd like to show you this page I made today. Thought I would get a head start with my New Year's resolution a day early!

These pictures were taken a couple days after Christmas. Here Christopher is putting together the Emerald Night Lego train his dad and I got him for Christmas. The boy is crazy about Legos and had a great time building this train and the two sets Santa brought him.

Whether you are on your way to a special party tonight or staying in, I hope you have a wonderful New Year's Eve! Thanks so much for visiting my blog when you can! And thank you for sharing your blogs with me! I love to blog hop and I'm always inspired by your posts!  :) Kathy

December Daily - Days Twenty Nine & Thirty

What a year! It's amazing to look back and think of all that has happened and what has been accomplished. Last year I resolved to get my work published. Whenever I purused my favorite idea book or latest scrapbook magazine, I always felt my work was up to par. Well, I did it! I've had a few things published this year and several more things are in the works for next year! Now I'm looking to 2010. What will be next? What do I want to accomplish? I better get to thinking hard and fast about this because tomorrow is New Year's Eve! I promise I'll share my resolution(s) tomorrow when I get them worked out.

Since I don't make New Year's cards and crafts my office is now filled with all things Valentine's so I'll show you a card I made this week.

Shabby Chic is such a beautiful style, one that I find a bit difficult since I tend to lean towards a clean graphic style. But oh how I love a vintage look and the old Victorian images so once in a while I'll dabble in it. This card took quite a bit of time, but I'm pleased with the outcome. I used some vintage sheet music and lightly inked the edges to give it a more aged appearance. The heart is one of those cheap foam shapes used for kids' crafts. I took a white heart, lathered it with glue and added some of Martha Stewart's silver glitter. Wow, it shines beautifully! The Victorian image is one I have on disc. I bought several discs years ago with tons of images for every holiday you can think of. The ribbon is actually seam binding from Midori ribbon that I tied into a bow with jute and an antique pearl button. I did some machine stitching and added a couple pink felt flowers with adhesive pearl centers. And there you have it!

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. I hope you all have a wonderful last day of 2009! Come back tomorrow and I'll share another Valentine project. :) Kathy

December Daily - Twenty Eight

This year is quickly coming to a close and it's time to look ahead to 2010. Over over at 2 Sketches 4 You, our project for this final week of 2009 is perfect for ringing in the the New Year.

Our talented Laura Davis posted another fabulous sketch design and an incredible project! Come along and play with us this week and you just might win a card kit from our sponsor, Creative Cuts & More!

Here's my take on Laura's sketch. I used the crayon box from Creative Cuts & More right on my card to create an explosion of fun for New Year's eve, complete with champagne glasses, streamers and stars.

I'm happy you could visit my blog today. Hope to see you again tomorrow for another December Daily. Have a fabulous day! :) Kathy

December Daily - Twenty Seventh

The day after Christmas was almost as fun as Christmas day! It was so relaxing, just me and the boys at home. Christopher was busy building his Lego City Garage, Dan was tinkering with his new electric guitar amp and I managed to get some scrapbooking time in!

Here's a page I made of my son giving me a special gift. I just started collecting The Original Snow Village pieces from Department 56 this year and Christopher got me this adorable little Christmas Town Tour Bus. You can't tell from this photo that the little bus is covered with real working lights! My son adores school buses so it was quite appropriate for him to give me a bus!

Tonight, we finally ventured from the house to go out to dinner. We went to our favorite Mexican Restaurant, Fiesta Mexicana. Afterwards, Christopher always likes to go have ice cream at The Golden Cone. Tonight he had Moose tracks with gummy bears! What a combo!

Thanks once again for stopping by my Daily December blog post. Tomorrow I shall be trying to get back into a typical weekday routine. Tomorrow come by to see see the new 2 Sketches 4 You challenge and my take on the sketch. Kathy :)

December Daily - Twenty Fifth & Twenty Sixth

The most wonderful time of the year! That's what Christmas was yesterday, a wonderfully joyful and relaxing day at home! Here's Christopher checking out his new Lego City Construction Site that Santa left.

And here's my sweet husband, Dan, who just got a long sleeve shirt for Christmas.

And here I am with my new cell phone. Dan got it for me so I can text now. Yes, I know....it's about time! ;)

I must include this guy...our cat Java...he's playing with a cat nip mouse Santa left in his stocking. Santa always leaves our cats something too. ;)

Java really got into that mouse! He can't resist fresh cat nip!

Today a little bit of scrapbooking is going on in my office since it's been a month or more since I've made a page! Really bad, I know! I was so busy creating Christmas cards, ornaments and other crafts during the holidays. Hope you can come visit tomorrow. I'll show you a page I make. :) Kathy

December Daily - Christmas Eve

Here it is! The days we've been preparing and planing for! Santa Claus is coming to town tonight and my son couldn't be more excited or anxious! This year he decided to ask Santa for two gifts and he's probably wondering if he'll bring both of them. Christopher wants a Lego City Garage and the Lego City Construction Site. Oh to be a child on Christmas eve! I was never able to sleep thinking about Santa coming and what would be under the tree in the morning. As an adult I can sleep most of the night, but I still find I'm a bit restless anticipating the excitement of the next day!

Here's the annual gingerbread house my son and I made yesterday. I think it's the best one we've done so far. This year we decided to decorate all the gingerbread pieces before we assembled the house which made it much easier to place the candies on and to pipe the frosting. Christopher picked this house design with the mint leaf gum drops sliced in slivers and added to the house door and roof ledge as pine decor. Turned out quite cute.

Thank you once again for dropping by my blog today and throughout December. It's been fun sharing the month with you! Have a very Merry Christmas! Hope all your dreams come true! :) Kathy

December Daily - Day Twenty Two & Twenty Three

Christmas is so close I can almost hear the jingle of bells from Santa's reindeer! :) Lovely time of year, isn't it? I was at my friend Audrey's house all day baking up a storm and had the best time! I want to bake with friends each Christmas since it is so much more fun to do together!

Here Audrey is holding a rather large piece of peanut brittle we made. We were pretty amazed that it came out of the pan in one piece! I'm holding a mixing bowl full of Snicker Cookie dough. They are sinful little cookies with a bite-size Snickers candy bar in the center. We decided that we would bake four kinds of goodies, two of my traditional recipes and two of Audrey's. Audrey showed me how to make the peanut brittle and some super easy and delicious chocolate covered pretzel rods. Wow, those are fun and you can get quite creative with the toppings if you like. Or not! ;) For the peanut brittle recipe, hop over to Audrey's blog.

The second recipe I shared didn't turn out quite as well as we had hoped. I like to make peppermint bark as it's also a very easy, festive and yummy. I think a lot of folks were making the same treat because the grocery store was out of white Ghiradelli chocolate so I bought a store brand. Please note that cheap white chocolate will NOT due! It tasted aweful!

Snicker Cookies

1 cup margarine

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

60 miniature (bite-size) Snickers candy bars

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream margarine, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and add to peanut butter mixture. Take 1 tablespoon of dough and flatten into a round shape in the palm of your hand. Place Snickers bar in center and fold dough around it. Roll in palms of your hands to form a smooth ball with the Snickers bar completely covered with dough. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool a little and then remove from cookie sheet and place on wire rack to cool completely.

Today, Christopher and I are making our annual gingerbread house. I'll have some pictures to share with you tomorrow. Hope you can drop by. Enjoy!

December Daily - Day Twenty One

Tis the Monday before Christmas and time to pull out some paper, scissors and glue and play along with us at 2 Sketches 4 You! But wait! I here you don't actually have to make something this week for a prize? What? Better go check out the details!

This is the new sketch from Kazan, a tag! Perfect for this time of year, don't you think? With all the presents to wrap what could be more perfect? Here's my take on Kazan's design. Can you tell who our fabulous sponsor is? That's right Starving Artistamps! And Sakura of America! Great combination for a fabulous prize package! My fellow design team members at 2 Sketches 4 You did an amazing job with their tags and stamps! Wow, you have to check them out...these girls rock!

Ashley Connel Newell

Cheryl Nelson

Sankari Wegman

Sarah Martina

Shanna Vineyard

Last week Shanna Vineyard provided us with a bonus sketch that I'd like to share. Since Valentine's is our next big holiday, I used Shanna's design to make this card.

Before I close for the day, I'd like to share another of my Christmas craft projects. It's a quick and easy gift idea that's perfect for your holiday hostess or as a stocking stuffer. So easy you can whip one of these up  quickly if you need to.

These are magnets made from those glass marbles used to fill the bottom of vases. These are the extra large size that you can find at your local craft store. I used this vintage style Daisy D's paper and a round paper punch to punch our the image I wanted. The I applied a generous amount of Gloo from Ki Memories to the bottom of each glass marble and ythen placed them on top of the images. Apply a little pressure when placing the marble on the paper so that any air bubbles will go off to the sides. When dry, cut excess paper around the edges and apply a magnet to the bottom. To make this container, I used a mint tin and covered the top with some of the same paper that I used for the magnets. Then I tied a bow around the tin. Now your gift recipient has a place to store their magnets too! If interested, this set of magnets is for sale in my Etsy shop.

Thanks for stopping by! Tomorrow I will be at a friend's house baking goodies. I hope to share some pictures and recipes if I don't get home to late or we don't burn down the kitchen!  :) Kathy

December Daily - Day Twenty

Wow, just a few more days left before Santa Claus comes to town! Christopher is so excited and my husband and I are trying to find ways to keep him occupied so he doesn't get too restless waiting for the big day! :) We'll be baking this week and decorating the gingerbread house. Oh what fun!

Do you have all your to-do items checked off your list? Did you forget to send someone a gift? We got this lovely tower of fruit and treats in the mail and it's such a great gift! There are chocolate covered dried cherries, truffles, mixed nuts, two of the most gorgeous apples and six equally beautiful pears! I bet The Fruit Company could send a last minute gift for you if you need one!

My crafty share tonight is this fun round glass ornament. If you have a copy of the December issue of Simply Handmade, you will find it there along with two more of my projects! I filled a plain round glass ornament with all kinds of goodies like white pompom balls, felt snowflakes from American crafts and a couple ghost snowflakes from Heidi Swapp. The finishing touches are the delicate sheer white ribbon and a simple rub-on sentiment.

That's my post for this evening...sweet and simple. Hope you all are enjoying these last few days until Christmas and can stop by for a visit tomorrow. :) Kathy

December Daily - Day Eighteen & Nineteen

Oops! I forgot to blog my December Daily last night! It was a lazy kind of day too so I can't blame it on a busy day!

We were expecting a storm to come our way yesterday so our county decided to let the kids off from school an hour early. Before my son arrived home I wrapped the last couple of presents for him and made some split pea soup. There's nothing like a hot bowl of soup on a cold and snowy day.

Ingredients

1 Package split peas rinsed

4-5 Stalks celery diced

1 yellow onion diced

6-8 carrots peeled and sliced

1/2 lb. Ham diced

Sea Salt

2 Tbsp. Parsley

Fill soup pot 3/4 full of water. Add split peas, celery, onion, carrots, ham and parsley. Simmer for 2-3 hours with lid on. Add sea salt to taste. That's it! Enjoy!

My crafty share is one that you make with an empty ribbon spool! I always love to make ornaments from something that would either be thrown away or put in the recycle bin.

Supplies needed:

Empty chipboard ribbon spool

Sheet music

Craft glue

Green craft string

Red card stock

Vintage image

Tinsel stem

Hot glue gun

Cut the overlapping sides off your chipboard ribbon spool so that you have a round disc. Cut about a 5" piece of green craft string to use as your ornament hanger and set aside. If your ribbon spool had 3/4 inch width ribbon on it, then cute a 3/4 inch strip of sheet music and glue it around the perimeter of your ribbon spool making sure to add your green craft string hanger at the. Then cut two round pieces of red card stock to cover both sides of your spool overlapping about 1/4 inch. I used my Silhouette to cut two red scalloped circles. You can use decorative scissors to cut scallops as well. Use craft glue to attach your red card stock to both sides of the spool. Take an image you like and cut it into a circle and place in the center of your ornament making sure the top of the image is lined up with your green craft string hanger. With a glue gun attach a tinsel stem around the border of your image. There you have it!

I hope you enjoyed today's entry and can come back tomorrow. Now that the to-do list is done, we will be enjoying days counting down to Christmas by making a gingerbread house and some baking for the neighbors.

December Daily - Day Sixteen/Seventeen

Wow, what a fun and busy time of year! I missed posting yesterday because I was gone all day visiting a friend and having a swell time! I have to share with you a couple Christmas gifts she gave me because they are just too sweet and cute and hopefully they'll put a smile on your face like they do for me. I put these two in my bedroom when I got home last night so that I would wake up to their cute faces.

I love the vintage look of this Santa and his long thick beard! He's just so sweet standing on his little green box. On the back of him he has sparkly snow that's fallen on his hat and coat. Lovely detailed guy, isn't he?

Isn't this snowman just as fun as can be, standing on his snowball with a belt of jingle bells and a 'Wish' sign?!?! And look at those chubby legs! Too fun! And that collar is adorable. These two will be cherished for many Christmases to come!

Now for a crafty share. I think I'll show a snowy item since we are expecting a snow storm to come our way and it may interrupt the last day of class before the holiday break.



I purchased this little shovel at the craft store in the unfinished wood section and painted the handle white. Then I layered some felt snowflakes. The very top snowfake is a glittered button that I clipped the shank from. Then some rhinestons were added to the end of the white felt snowflake. I attached all the snowflakes to the handle of the shovel. The silver mesh ribbon was tied together with white craft string, a white button and a couple silver jingle bells. Finally, a few snowflake rub-ons were added to the metal and I called it done! Easy, fun and a great decor item for Christmas and throughout January.

Thanks for dropping by my December Daily. Hope you enjoyed my post and will come back tomorrow! Enjoy! :) Kathy

December Daily - Day Fifteen

Wow, just 10 more days until Christmas! How exciting is that!?!?! A day to sit around with our families, drink cocoa, open presents, and cook a delicious dinner. Ahh....sounds fabulous, doesn't it?

What do you cook for Christmas dinner? Growing up, my dad always wanted turkey again. As the cook in our home, I'm not ready to do the whole Thanksgiving spread again! I still have a little turkey in the freezer I need to make soup with! I like ham for Easter dinner. I made a pot roast last year and I think I'll make that again. It's really simple and if you have a Crock-Pot, or get one for Christmas, it's even easier!

Here's the Crock Pot I received for Christmas last year with our dinner in it! After I wash my roast, I place it in the pot with some fresh diced onions, cubed potatoes (skins left on), carrots and celery. I add a couple packages McCormick brown or mushroom gravey from the spice section of the grocery store. Add 1 1/2 cups of water, a 1/2 cup of cooking wine and turn pot on! I also bake some Sister Schubert's yeast rolls, my husbands favorite! They are in the frozen bread section. Too simple and so delicious! With this easy recipe, I can enjoy the day and kick my feet up for a little!

My crafty share for the day is a couple things I found at the second hand store and turned them into fun holiday decor items. This first one, a wooden sled was still unfinished. Someone probably had plans to make something out of it and never got around to it.

I painted the sled white and then added a silver glittered leaf pick along with a red glittered berry pick. I cut them a little since they were too long as is. Then I hot glued the picks on and layered them with a silver mesh and white satin ribbon bow. The bow was tied together with some white craft string that enabled me to add these old Ki Memories chipboard accents and a white glittered snowflake. On the lower right hand corner of the sled I added another couple pieces of Ki chipboard, a rusty metal snowflake and a rub-on sentiment.

This next piece was one of those old recipe boxes many of us grew up seeing on the kitchen counter. No longer a hot item, this recipe box was waiting for a remake!

Since this box was already painted blue and made to look like a house, all I had to do was give it a good washing, glitter the roof and front to look like a coat of freshly fallen snow and cover the sides with this pretty snowflake patterned paper from Bo Bunny. I embellished the house further with a pine stem cut in two and made into two tiny wreaths for the windows. Baker's twine was used for bows on the wreaths. On the roof I added a berry pick, a white satin ribbon bow layered with a couple felt snowflakes, a white button and a rhinestone brad. The roof still comes off the house so it can be used as a container to hold goodies or whatever your heart desires.

Well, I hope you  have some free time during this busy season to make a couple fun things. If you are interested, these projects are for sale in my Etsy shop. Thanks again for stopping by my December Daily and I hope you can visit again tomorrow. :) Kathy

December Daily - Day Fourteen

While my husband and I were sitting in front of the tree last evening sipping hot chocolate we were remembering what it was like to be a child at Christmas. Waiting for the big day to arrive seemed like it would never come! Remember that? More than a week before Christmas was almost more than you could stand! For me, it's just going to darn fast!

Well it's another Monday, a great day for all of us who love to make cards! 2 Sketches 4 You has a new card design for all of us along with a great prize package from our sponsors Sassy Studio Designs and Sakura. Here's the sketch for this week from the talented Laura Davis and my take on her design.

This week is a bonus sketch week too! Shanna Vineyard one talented design team member at 2 Sketches 4 You came up with this great sketch. I love that there is a tag on it...that'll be fun to play with!

Since it's the holidays and many of us are scrambling around trying to get our cards made and/or mailed, I thought I'd share a card I made last night. Another simple one to whip up in no time and pop in the mail.

This is an A2 size card made with a red card stock base. I embossed a piece of white card stock with a cuddlebug folder for the dotted texture to layer over my base. Then I cut a little rectangle tag out of the same red and white card stock and attached a piece of Bazzill Basics Just the Edge scallops to the left of my tag. The sentiment is a K & Company rub-on from their Evergreen line. I sell these rub-ons in my Etsy shop if anyone is interested. Anyway, I further accented this card with a green polka dot ribbon and green stitched button. That's it! Easy!

Thanks for stopping by another December Daily. I look forward to having you stop by again tomorrow! :) Kathy

December Daily - Day Thirteen

One of my favorite things about Christmas is home baked goodies! I love to bake for our friends, neighbors and family and I love when the neighbors drop by with a plate of cookies and treats! Yesterday we got some wonderful bon bons and turtles in the mail from Laura Davis. She recently started a food blog called Delicious and boy are these candies to die for! Even the packaging is gorgeous! You have to go visit Laura's food blog because the recipes are awesome and the directions easy! She'll have you cooking like a master chef in no time!

Since we have less than two weeks before Christmas, I thought I'd get some gift wrapping done. I so enjoy wrappng presents! And wrapping is easier than ever since we went green a couple years ago. Most of our presnets are put into gift bags made of recycled materials that we use over and over. I use nice ribbon that can be used again too. And a friend of mine told me a little secret for ironing wrinkles from ribbon by rubbing the ribbon across a light bulb! Works like a charm! No need to drag out the iron and ironing board! Most of our lights are low energy but we still have a couple lamps that use the old fashioned kind.

Well, that wraps up another December Daily! Thanks for dropping by! I hope you can come 'see' me again tomorrow! :) Kathy

December Daily - Day Twelve

Today was the big day, the day Christopher went to tell Santa what he wants for Christmas. My son really likes Legos and asked Santa for a Lego City Construction Set and a Lego City Garage. It was two or three weeks ago that Christoper announced he wanted to see Santa on this day. And look at how cute he is! He's getting so big!

My project I'd like to share with you today is this holiday Tussie Mussie I made with vintage sheet music. These are easy and fun to make and they look so pretty on the tree. Just roll some of your favorite patterned paper into a cone shape. Don't worry if the bottom doesn't come to a perfect point since you cut a little off to add a ball. I added a jingle bell on mine. Then I used a tinsel stem to decorate the top of my Tussie Mussie. K & Company has some wonderful embellishments out in their Evergreen line that I used to embellish the front of my cone. Lastly, I added a silver glittered leaf sprig and a jute handle. So easy!

I want to close my blog post today with a heartfelt message to my dearest friend Audrey. She lost her little hedgehog, Sonic, this morning. He was the sweetest little beast! I was fortunate enough to get to know him this past year and spent many moments with him snuggled in my sweatshirt pocket. Sonic will be missed terribly and Audrey you in my thoughts! It's terribly difficult to lose a cherished pet. I'm here for you my friend. If you would like to let Audrey know you are thinking of her, click on her name and leave a message on her blog.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I hope you can visit again tomorrow for another December daily. :) Kathy

December Daily - Day Eleven

It sure is cold enough here to snow! It didn't get out of the 30s today! I took a couple more pictures of our holiday decor to share with you. I apologize they aren't the best pictures. The air vent behind these beautiful trumpeting angels is not too attractive. Perhaps next year I should get a little table for this corner in the foyer and display them on top?

This next photo is our dining room table. I collect vintage pressed alluminum pieces, often called poor man's silver. I have four pieces on display here. There's one hiding behind the two snowmen with a trio of ornaments on it. This room can be difficult to photograph in since the walls are a darker color along with the furniture.

The last decor photo is of our coffee table in the living room. I just recently bought the mirrored tray at a favorite decor store for 40% off with a coupon. Got to love sales! I think this piece is awesome the way it reflects what's on the tray.

Lastly, I'd like to leave you with a simple craft project. This is the 2009 ornament I made for our family, friends and my Etsy shops. They are very easy to make. The star is a cookie cutter you can purchase at your local craft store in the Wilton Cake Department. Then cut 3/4" strips of your favorite patterned paper and glue it around the perimeter of the cookie cutter. A tree shape would look cute too. I then embellished the ornament with a bow tied with craft string, button and two jingle bells. This ornament doesn't require a hanger since it looks great with a tree branch stuck through the center.

I enjoyed spending more time with you on this Decmber Daily. Hope to have you back again tomorrow. Until then, wishing you much enjoyment! :) Kathy

December Daily - Day Ten

Hello! Hope you are having a fantastic day! I've been cleaning house! Unfortunately, not every day of December can be filled with fun events and festivities! As much as I dread 'cleaning day' I love when I'm done and everything is sparkling! Ah what a wonderful feeling!

Anyway, I'd like to share with you a couple cards I've made. I need to get mine mailed in the next day or two so they will arrive in time for Christmas. If you are still working on yours and need a design idea or two, you can try these.

This card is quite simple if you have a die cutter of some type. I have a Silouette and made the fancy white rectangle and sentiment with it. The snowflake is a simple chipboard accent that I embellished with a rhinestone in the center.

This card is made with a metal snowflake ornament I had. You don't always have to use scrapbook supplies. I embellished it further with a white foam snowflake sticker, a red rhinestone and some adhesive pearls. The sentiment is made with rub on alphas. Both of these cards were made with pieces of patterned paper I had left over from other projects. I love to make cards with my stash. A great way to use it up!

Well, as I said, I have to get my cards in the mail so I'm going to close now and get to it. Thanks for coming by and spending a little of your day with me. Hope to see you again tomorrow. Enjoy the season. Cheers! :)

December Daily - Day Nine

I love idea books! I always look forward to reading the latest scrapbook magazine or finding a new idea book in the store! It's inspiring to see all the cool pages and projects and I usually start crafting by the time I've reached the middle of the book! Once I've looked over a magazine or idea book, I store them on a shelf in my craft room where they tend to collect dust. I have to remind myself once in a while to look through them again. Recently I decided to look through a book I've had since 2004 called Vinatage Christmas Crafts and I found a great project for a tinsel star ornament. This is a photograph of the one I made.

Tinsel Star Ornament

Supplies Needed:

Hot-glue gun and glue sticks

Ornament hanger

Silver metallic beads (4)

Silver metallic pipe cleaners (16)

Wire, 26-gauge (18")

Wire cutters

1.  Cut a pipe cleaner into thirds, approximately 4" long. Bend each piece in half. Holding ends, push top down toward center, creating a diamond shape. Do not twist ends together. Repeat 15 times for 16 untwisted diamonds.

2.  Fold one untwisted diamond crosswise over another, creating a dimensional diamond. Twist the four ends together and shape. Repeat for eight dimensional diamonds.

3.  Cute four 4" lengths from wire. Thread each piece through a metallic bead.

4.  Holding bottom end of one beaded wire at bottom of dimensional diamond, run top end of wire up through and over cross-section of daimond, coming back down through bead. Twist wire ends around pipe cleaners at bottom.

5.  Center bead in the diamond. A dab of hot glue may be added to secure bead in place. Repeat for four beaded diamonds.

6.  Wind a pipe cleaner tightly in a spiral, creating a flat circle. Repeat for two circles. Set aside.

7.  Hot-glue twisted ends of one beaded diamond toward center of first circle.

8.  Hot-glue one plain diamond to circle, next to beaded diamond.

9. Evently space and hot-glue remaining diamonds around the circle alternating beaded and plain until ornament has been formed.

10.  Glue remaining pipe cleaner circle on top of the first, covering all twisted ends.

11.  Hang ornament from ornament hanger.

I hope you have a chance to make one of these lovely vinatage style tinsel star ornaments. They really look pretty on the tree. Thanks again for stopping by my December daily post. Hope to see you again tomorrow! :)

December Daily - Day Eight

December is flying by right before my eyes! I'd like to slow the clock down a little to enjoy sitting by the tree with another cup of cocoa or two!

On this eigth day of December I'd like to share a fun little ornament that doubles as a gift card holder. This mini lunch pail is the perfect size to hold a gift card or some cold hard cash. And when the money is gone, your recipient is left with an adorable ornament to enjoy year-after-year.

I started this project with a mini Sprite lunch box that I found at Target and added patterned paper to the front and back to hide the Sprite logo. Then I embellished it with a chipboard tree that I painted red and glittered. To the tree I added punched snowflakes and layered them with stitched micro mini buttons. The final touches are the chipboard date accent, the ribbon and jingle bells.

In my etsy shop, I have these mini lunch pails available for sale along with the 'Ho Ho Ho' ribbon and jingle bells for anyone who would like to make this project.

Now I'd like to share a couple of our holiday traditions. In 2004 we moved from California to North Carolina and decided at Christmas to start collecting nutcrackers. This year marks the sixth one who is standing proudly up on our mantel in the family room.

He's a pretty special guy because the drum he stands on is also a music box that plays the theme song from the Nutcracker ballet. This next guy is from last year and proudly plays his drum for us. He's displayed on an antique folding card table next to our Christmas tree in the living room.

I can't remember off hand the years we received the next few nutcrackers. They are marked on the bottom of each piece. I love the bright colors of this next red one who has a list of good girls and boys in his hand. He's on the living room coffee table under a glass cloche. Don't let my dear friend Audrey know, she'll tell me he can't breath under there! :)

This next one, a fine pirate, is sitting between all the photos of Christopher with Santa Claus from his first Christmas in 2001 to last Christmas. That's the other tradition I want to share. We see Santa each year and have collected different frames to display each photo taken. I love to see how much Christopher has grown each year. This display is also in the living room.

This last nutcracker graces the opposite side of our fire place from the newest nutcracker in the first photo. We have one more downstairs somewhere, but it seems I missed taking a photo of him. Anyway, you get the picture.

Maybe you will feel inspired to start a nutcracker collection or new tradition this year? We started a new one this year, a collection of Department 56 village houses. What a fun display we'll have in 10 years!

Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to stop by and take a peek at our Christmas traditions and my craft project for the day. Hope you can come back tomorrow! :) Kathy