Keeping Christmas {Just for you: Homemade sweets}

 It's the 25th and that means it is time for this month's Keeping Christmas Blog Hop! I always love this time of the month and I had so much fun creating my projects that I am sharing with you today! Before I dive into the details, don't forget to stop by the rest of the ladies' blogs to see what fabulous inspiration they have for you!

Kelly Lunceford (you are here)

Anita Madden

Broni Holcombe

Claire Broadwater

Julee Tilman

Kim Heggins

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth

Rachel Bergfeld

 Like I mentioned earlier, I had so much fun creating everything for this month! It's amazing how different it is when you're not doing it last minute! LOL! Even though I'm happy when the project is DONE, it is much more rewarding when you're enjoying the process and not stressed! I had so much fun making THIS project so I decided to make some Christmas ones as well. I host a Christmas brunch every year for a few ladies in my neighborhood and thought these would be cute to put at each place setting....OR, they may also be used for other little gifts depending on my needs when the holiday rolls around!  I'm just grateful to have them done!  I used the Favor It: Box 1 die for the boxes and die cut them using Pure Poppy and New Leaf cardstock. 

I used Mat Stack 1 die which coordinates with this treat set that is sadly discontinued.  I just love it and have used it for so many projects. In fact, I specifically bought this particular favor box because it coordinates with this set. However, there are other great sets that still work with it, too, which you can see HERE. 

 I just love how easy it is to layer everything up for a professional look! I stamped the base of the Mat stack in red, then I stamped the circle portion in white and used a punch to punch them out. Then, I stamped the "sweets" portion in black onto a white strip and used foam squares to pop everything up!

 I've used this cute little holly berry embellishments on a few projects and I had just enough to add to these boxes. I've been able to find them at Hobby Lobby the last 2 years, so I am hoping they have them again this year. They are the perfect addition to so many projects!

I was so thrilled when I opened my Papertrey Ink design team package to find these incredible new stitching dies. They are called Heirloom Ornaments 1 die and I am in love! I decided to whip up a few for this month's project as well. These two are both "experiments" in a sense because I am getting a feel for which stitches I want to use, etc. For this first one, I used green felt and green and white floss. I forgot that I wanted to do the chain stitch around the inside edge, so I did it around the perimeter instead. I actually love how it turned out, BUT I still want to try the chain stitch on the inside on my next one.

I'm hoping to stitch up quite a few to use as package adornments or to just tuck inside of a gift. I also think they would make cute gifts on their own with some candy or something. I added a red jingle bell to the center of this one using glue for some extra detail.

 This blue one was actually my first attempt and I had so much fun adding all of the beads to the snowflake. This particular one also uses the ombre type floss which is always so much fun to use. Once they were all stitched up, I stuffed them with batting and finished sewing them closed. I also added a twine loop for hanging on the tree. It's been fun to sneak out to a shady place in my yard and stitch away! It is very relaxing and I like doing something crafty that I can do outside! I hope you had fun on the hop today! Thanks for fluttering by!