Time for Christmas Crafting!

I used the “Fa La La” Line from Making Memories and whipped up this little diddy.  It’s a 3×3 inch mini Christmas Advent Calender.

Specifically, it was this sheet of the “Fa La La” paper that inspired me:

I turned it into this:

Each day has it’s own numbered pocket with individual tags (I left the tags blank for personal sentiments).

I have to give a special shout out to my Mom for all her late night help getting things ready for my ESTY shop.  I sure appreciate all you do for me Mom!  Love you!

For those of you who want to see what my Mom and I have been working on Click HERE.

A project I made for the Graphic 45 Blog…Instructions on how to make this ornament will be posted HERE soon.

Also…keep an eye out on the Graphic 45 blog this month & next…they will be featuring projects from all of us on their design team.  Today’s project is by Heather Mellstrome, check it out HERE.

This weekend is packed full of projects & fun.

I’ve been working on these little charms for a swap I’m doing:

Here’s a close up (I threw in a sharpie pen to give you an idea of how small these charms are…they’re about the size of a nickle).

I’m also taking this class today at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique:

To top it all off, I get to see this with my friend Laura tonight:

YAY!  What a fantastic Saturday!

I remember little of being an 8 year old but one memory I do hold dear involves a Cherry Tree.

This particular Cherry Tree was in my Grandma Wolfe’s font yard.  While climbing the branches, my cousins and I would fill a huge bowl with the reddest, plumpest, juiciest cherries.

I loved to lay down on the grass in the sunshine, I would close my eyes and feel the warmth on my face.  I remember the sound of the wind through the trees.  I would eat cherries until my stomach hurt.

My cousins and I always picked cherries for Grandma and Grandpa.  I remember Grandma’s face when we would bring her the huge bowl, she was always so pleased when we placed it in her hands…Grandma’s eyes would shine with love, she would touch my face and kiss my cheek; her hands were wrinkled but her skin was so soft.

To this day, I still love cherries.  I love to lay down in the sunshine and I love to feel the sun’s warmth on my face.  I love the sound of the wind in the trees and when I close my eyes, I feel peace.

I now wonder if the peace I feel today is in part a remnant of the 8 year old child, lying in the grass with no real worries, feeling only the joy of childhood. I’d like to think so.

Blocked?  Sometimes when I need inspiration I look back on some of my older projects.  I like to re-use ideas when I feel stumped.

I love tags.  I’ve used them quite a bit.  I used several tags together to form a word.  I’ve done it before, liked how it looked, so why not do it again?  Am I right?

Do you ever re-use old ideas?  I would love to hear about it…

After cutting kits for my upcoming Blessed Class, I had quite a bit of left over paper and & leaves (thanks for the leftovers Karen).  The paper was mostly 4 inches across or less, so I decided to make some little mini notebooks.

To make these little books come together I used things I had lying around.  I buy white cardstock by the ream so I had plenty to cut into pages for the inside of the notebook.  I used Chipboard for the back and front covers (these I covered with the leftover paper).  Then I used my  Bind-it-All to “bind it all” (haha) together.  After the notebook was bound I added the leaves and embellishments.  Simple, right?

If you don’t have a Bind-it-all, this project would be just as easy using a punch and individual rings.

With the Holidays coming up this would be a fun gift for a good friend, a happy hostess or sweet family member.

I created this little Fall inspired Blessed Book for a class I will be teaching at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique on Saturday, November 15th.

With Thanksgiving coming up, I thought this little book would be perfect to fill with photos of family, pets or friends…the people that bless my life, that I am thankful for.

I’ve been admiring decorated Barn Stars for awhile now.  I’ve seen them painted, covered with paper,  distressed or stenciled…each very unique and beautiful.

For the past couple of months, every time I’ve visited a craft store, I kept my eyes peeled for Barn Stars.  I finally found a couple quality metal stars that were about 14 inches across.  There were only 2 left (around $5 each) so I snagged them both.

I thought it would be so fun to cover one of them with my beloved Graphic 45 paper as an altered project.

It was not as easy as I planned, only because it took me a little while to measure the sections that I wanted to cover with paper and then cut them properly.  Once all the pieces were cut, it was pretty darn easy.

I used Mod Podge to glue the paper to the star and then again over the top of the paper to seal the deal.

Now that it’s finished, I wish I would have sanded the edge of the paper and maybe added a little paint. Oh well,  I still have one more to experiment with.

Here’s the before picture:

Here’s the after picture:

What do you think?

OK, first things first…the Shameless Plug:

I’ve been working hard to get some new product up on my ETSY store, here is what’s new:

As for the GIVEAWAY…my viewers (as in YOU) are going to choose the prize!

Here’s how it works.  CLICK HERE to visit my ETSY store, look around, find your favorite item.  When you’re done come back here and in the COMMENT section tell me what your favorite item is.  This Sunday (October 19th) I will draw a WINNER from the commenters on THIS POST.  If your name is chosen you will win your *FAVORITE ITEM!

*If your favorite item is sold before Sunday then I will be happy to create another just like it or present you with your 2nd favorite item.

GOOD LUCK!

OK, I admit it’s been a bit spooky around here.  Pretty Paper Blog has had a little ‘Halloween Fest’…or something of that nature.

Going along with the same theme (it’s finally October and appropriate) I made this little “Spooky” garland for Karen at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique.  She’s celebrating her Boutique’s 2nd Anniversary (I’m sure I’m scrapbooking away up there as you read this post).

I cut letters for the “SPOOKY” garland from chipboard, spread on some Mod Podge, then sprinkled on some silver glass glitter.  The cool thing about the glass glitter is that it will eventually tarnish and give the garland that “vintage” look.

For the back side of this Spooky Garland, I used Vintage Tarot Cards (I picked them up at a local Antique Store).

This is what the back-side of the banner looks like:

I hope you all have a SUPER weekend!

~Christie