Simple Gifts

It seems weird to be here on a Saturday and not be posting a card with a new SFYTT. Stay tuned for the first of the year with some fun changes. Today I will be sharing with you what I have been working on for the last few days. I decided a while ago that I wanted to make hair-bows for all of the girls in Emma's dance class. I found the cute ribbon at Hobby Lobby, which if you haven't been there lately, you might want to go and see all of the new ribbon they have that matches the fabric. Super cute! I kept things simple and added buttons to the centers with hot glue rather than making knots and wrapping it around and glueing, etc. It can get messy and time consuming and my fingers get burned! LOL!

The bows worked up quickly; much quicker than I thought they would. I wasn't sure about how many I needed to make. At Emma's last dance class I counted the girls and there was only ten including Emma. I asked Emma and she was certain that there were 12 girls. By the time I was done, I only had made 11 with the three spools of ribbon I had bought, so I kept my fingers crossed. In the end, I had two left over! One for Emma and one for her friend! I decided to give Emma's student teacher something different, since I thought she was a bit too old to be wearing a polka-dot bow!

I wanted something cute to package them up in, but not too time consuming. Girls that age will rip through the packaging without a care about how much time or effort was put into it. In the end, the bags took the most time. I really didn't want it to end up like that. It is always amazing to me that even when I simplify, things always take so much time. I thought they turned out cute, though.

I used some paper from The Paper Studio (found at Hobby Lobby) that I thought looked cute with the bows. I also used a stamp that my Mom got me a few years ago. It worked out nicely for the tag. I just added a little bit more detail to it. Each snowflake had the same color button on it as the bow inside. I didn't know if I would give them choices or not, so I needed a way of knowing which color was inside. In the end, Emma just randomly passed them out, which probably was best anyway so no one got their feelings hurt if they didn't get the color they wanted.

My husband was called away urgently Monday morning to Chicago, so I have been a single mom all week trying to get Christmas done, homework done as well as all of the other daily routine. I had to take half of Rockwell's basketball team to the Utah Jazz game on Monday with a baby in tow as well as Emma. Can you say stressed out? We had quite a few commitments this week which ended up needing to be cancelled. My stamping time was zero until I got around to getting this project done. He is home safely now and we are all enjoying Daddy time. Emma has her dance recital tonight. She looks adorable in her costume! I can't wait! Thanks for fluttering by!

Deck the Halls *SFYTT*

Happy Saturday, everyone! A lot has happened since last Saturday. I narrowed down a date for a baby shower, got the invitations put together, passed them out and had the baby shower at my house on Thursday! Can you say "impromtu"? LOL! I was so glad that it all worked out, though. The baby shower was for the sweet gal that I made this for. The adoption went through and she brought her precious bundle home on the train on Thanksgiving! She is just the cutest thing ever! I am so thrilled for her.
Needless to say, there hasn't been any stamping going on here! It was good to sit down and get another Christmas card made. If you don't remember, we are changing things up this month. We are to choose a sketch from the past and make something new. I chose a relatively newer sketch, which is one that I absolutely loved the first time around. You can check out my orginal card here. I thought it was kindof funny that both cards used Graphic 45 paper, both cards used Papertrey Ink dies and stamp sets

I used the ric rac border die and some true black felt to create the border at the top. I used the Stocking Prints stamp set and coordinating die for the focal images. It is nice to have one more card to add to the stash. In addition to the craziness of this week, I get to feed all of the Luncefords on Sunday! Wish me luck!

You won't want to miss the other designers!

Jen Del Muro
Amy Rohl
Susan Liles
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O' Brien,
Jenn Diercks,
Amber Hight
Megan Lock
Sony Christoph
Jodi Collins P.S. This will be the last SFYTT for the year and coming up in January, there will be some changes so stay tuned! Happy Holidays and Thanks for fluttering by!

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A spot of Christmas Tea *SFYTT*

Things look a little different around here, huh? That's because they are! This week and next are the only weeks that we will be doing a SFYTT in December. We will be back in January with some fun changes! This week we all got to choose one of our faves from sketches past!

This morning, or should I say afternoon, has already been CRAZY!!!! We had our annual Christmas breakfast at church, which my husband signed me up to make some type of breakfast potatoes. I had decided to opt out this year since I had the baby and getting us anywhere at 9 a.m. is a struggle! Oh well...I am glad I helped out, especially since we were right on time! Afterwards, he insisted that we all head to the mall and get some Christmas shopping done. He is really into getting the lists checked off!!!! I am too, but I really wanted to get home and work on my card. I had put it off and then I got a call yesterday to see if I could take dinner in to a family from our church. Sure....why not? My family got fed better than they would have had I not been called. Needless to say, I am behind on my card making, but not on my Christmas shopping! LOL!
For this week's SFYTT, we were to use an old sketch and make something new! I thought that was a great idea. I randomly picked one, because they are all good! I knew that I could sit and decide for hours,and I didn't have hours. I knew that I wanted to make a Christmas card, but none of my Christmas sets were inspiring me. I was drawn to my beloved "Tea for Two" from PTI, so I decided to make a Christmas tea card. I used some old Basic Grey paper as well as the coordinating buttons. I liked how it turned out! If you would like to see my card from when the sketch was new, you can see it here.

Even though I own the coordinating die for the tea pot, I am strangely addicted to cutting the darn thing out. Call me crazy! I added a snowflake punch and button to the pot for some added interest. The rest is very straightforward. You won't want to miss the other designers and especially to see what sketches they picked! Isn't this fun?
You won't want to miss the other designers!
Jen Del Muro and Stephanie
Amy Rohl
Susan Liles
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O' Brien,
Jenn Diercks,
Amber Hight
Megan Lock
Sony Christoph
Jodi Collins

Postcards from Target....hmmmmm

If you are ever lacking inspiration, a trip to Target will never fail to deliver. I headed out this afternoon to get some much needed Christmas shopping done. As I wandered up and down aisles, I came across a fun little display of "rustic" type Christmas decor. As much as I wanted to pick up one of each item to come home with me, I decided instead to use the inspiration for a card. The funny thing about this "rustic" decor (as they called it), was that it was more "Modern Rustic" than anything else.

The color scheme was taken directly from the display; the details were my own twist. I used "Everyday Treats" from PTI, including the coordinating die for the mat for the focal image. The postcard sentiment and reindeer are from "Winter Post" by SU! Of course a little twine, gingham ribbon and a jingle bell were in order.

The leaf punch in from Martha Stewart and is the perfect tool for making little wreaths. Over the years, this has been one of my favorite things to do on holiday cards. I love using flower punches for spring and summer wreaths as well. The glitter is also from Martha Stewart and I only used a bit here and there for a bit of added shine. I will be back on Saturday for a fun version of Jen's SFYTT!!!! Thanks for fluttering by!