Festive Friday

How was Thanksgiving? Ours was absolutely delicious and relaxing! It was a gorgeous sunny day, the turkey was juicy, Dan picked the perfect wine and it all ended with a heavenly slice of pumpkin pie topped with real whipped cream! :)

So today is Black Friday, huh? At our house we call it festive Friday since it's a tradition to spend the day putting up the tree, sipping cocoa and trying to keep the cats from loosing their little kitty minds when all the pretties come out!

Among the decorations we'll be setting out this little mailbox style advent calendar I created a couple weeks ago with Doodlebug's Home for the Holidays collection.

Tucked inside are 24 rolled up pieces of paper with activities, money and goody coupons.

If you don't want to chance your child pulling out this activity on your most hectic December day, you can assign numbers to each roll.

This little mailbox tin was purchased at Target, in their dollar spot section.

What do you think of the Home for the Holidays line?

Isn't this little holiday house adorable?

Ah....to be a kid at Christmas time! Well, it's pretty darn cool being an adult this time of year too! ;)

I'm off to deck the halls. Wishing you a fabulous day and weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today's the big day and there's a pretty good chance you'll here the phrase, "Please pass the turkey!" :) Recently I made these Pinsterest inspired cards knowing I would be sharing them with you today on Thanksgiving.

Both cards are created with one of my all time favorite Bella Blvd. lines...Thankful. These warm colors and playful patterns are so easy and fun to work with!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving day! Thank you for being a part of this blog of mine! I really enjoy sharing my work with you week after week...half the fun of creating is sharing!

Cheers!

Got Wine?

'Tis the season for holiday gatherings and what better way to thank your hostess than with a bottle of their favorite wine and a handmade card?

The Happy Harvest collection is perfect for creating Thanksgiving cards and tags, don't you think? When I was making this tag I realized this image of apples in a basket would work equally well for a bottle of sparkling apple cider!

If I want to get a little more fancy with my gift, I'll pack the wine in a basket full of goodies like fresh seasonal fruits, chocolates, flowers and home-baked goods...it's so versatile and well received!

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

SEI Cardmaking Kit

We're getting so close to Thanksgiving that I'm dreaming of stuffing and pie! And the perfect wine to go with dinner. How about you?

Today I have a couple cards to share with you over on the SEI Lifestyle blog using the November Cardmaking Kit. Here's a a little peek for you.

In case you missed my SEI project from last week, it was a quick and easy way to create gift tags using the pre-folded A2 size cards included in the kit. 

All you have to do is cut the card in half. 

Punch holes at the top for the ribbon.

Then decorate with pretty glittery stickers!  How easy is that? Now you just might have a little time to relax and enjoy the season! ;)

Happy crafting!

A Top Dog Dies Christmas

Hello, hello! I have a couple Top Dog Dies projects to share with you today using one of my favorite die sets, the Ornament and Tags #1 Die Set. 

A lot of gift giving goes on during the holiday season which means you'll probably be needing some tags at some point. To create a these ornament shaped to/from tags simply fold a piece of paper in half. Then lay your die on your cutting platform and place the folded paper just inside the die's cutting edge.

After I cut my tags, I used the Snowflake Trio Die Set to make colorful snowflake accents.

These pretty patterned papers and rhinestones are from Doodlebug Designs' Home for the Holidays collection.

For my next project I wanted to show you how beautifully Top Dog Dies cuts felt.

Using the same ornament die set and some good quality felted wool, I cut two of the ornament shapes along with the decorative top layer then blanket stitched them together, filling with cotton.

I love how every little detail of this die cuts easily and makes such a pretty little ornament. A little baker's twine and a shiny jingle bell complete the project.

For years, I don't even remember how many now, I've made ornaments for my friends and family. I think this design will be the one for 2013. Does anyone else do a yearly ornament? 

Hope you have a super day! :)

Card Creations for Him

The latest Paper Crafts magazine, Card Creations for Him, is out on newsstands. I just found my copy in the mailbox this morning and flipped through it already! There's a ton of awesome card styles for geeks, business men and dudes who love gaming and sports! 

For nature lovin' guys, the card I submitted features a guitar, sheet music and lots of trees. I created it with Pebbles' Lakeside collection.

(Buy Now - $2.99)

This card and many more are on sale in my Etsy store. I've been busy listing lots of holiday cards so if you would enjoy having one of my creations, I'd love to send one to you!

Well...not only did this magazine arrive today, but I also received an order of Papertrey Ink dies! Ooh la la! I got a bunch of sentiment dies that I'm going to go play with which means more crafty shares coming real soon!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope your weekend is the best! :)

Free Thanksgiving Printables

T.G.I.F! Another weekend is before us and Thanksgiving just days away! Can you smell the gravy? ;) 

How about a free gift from Stephanie, owner of Bella Blvd? She has a set of beautiful printable pages to download that your dinner guests fill out. Then, simply compile these pages into a mini album to make a memorable Thanksgiving keepsake! Such a fabulous idea and so easy since she's done all the work for you! 

Well, I'm off to the grocery store. I'll be buying a bulk of our holiday feast today...I'm so excited! I've been dreaming of pumpkin pie topped with home-whipped cream! Oh and mashed potatoes and gravy! The Pioneer Woman adds cream cheese to her mashed potatoes which is amazing and now I do the same! Then there's the stuffing! Do you like stuffing? And let's not forget the cranberries! I make those from scratch too. I learned how easy they are about 15 years ago...no more canned cranberries! Oh boy, I'm making myself hungry! I better get movin'! 

Hope you have an enjoyable Friday! :) 

Holiday Hoopla

Ooh la la...I've been having a lot of fun making Christmas cards and have a couple to share today that I created with Bella Blvd's Christmas Countdown collection. 

(Buy Now - $2.99)

You probably know I have a thing for dies and thought these conversation bubble and snowflake dies would make a cool Ho Ho Ho design. What do you think? 

(Buy Now - $2.99)

Check out these holiday cars....everyone is busy, busy, busy bringing home Christmas trees and presents! So much fun, isn't it?

Pretty soon we'll be putting up our Christmas tree. It's a tradition at our house to decorate the day after Thanksgiving. The long weekend gives us plenty of time to deck the halls and weeks of sitting by the tree enjoying the twinkling lights while sipping cocoa. I'm really looking forward to all these moments!

Hope you enjoy everyday of this magical season! :)

SEI November Cardmaking Kit Projects

Hi! I'm happy you've dropped by because I have a couple SEI November Cardmaking Kit projects to share with you! Not only is this kit, that includes instructions for 12 gorgeous cards, perfect for holiday card making, but you can also use your left over papers and accents to create quick and easy last minute gifts and stocking stuffers.

If you missed it on the SEI Lifestyle blog last week, I shared these fun mini notebooks.

This week I'm sharing another crafty idea for your kit. Can you tell what it is? To see the entire project, hop over to the SEI Lifestyle blog. Enjoy!

Thanks for visiting and have a FABULOUS day! :)