Keeping Christmas {Sending Christmas Cheer}

It's the MOST wonderful time of the month! Welcome to this month's Keeping Christmas Blog Hop! I had so much fun on today's projects and I hope you enjoy them, too! They are similar in feel to most of the projects I've been making this year; a little bit vintage, paired with a few trendy patterns to keep things fresh! I FINALLY asked my sister what the name of the paper pad is that I've been using for the majority of my projects this year. It is called "North Pole News" and it is made by Craft smart. I believe it is from Michael's. She gave it to me last year, so I don't know if it is still available, but I wanted to let you know for those of you have asked about it. Don't forget to head to the other designers' blogs to see what Christmas inspiration they have for you!

Kelly Lunceford (Creator)

 Claire Broadwater

 Lori Tecler

 Nance Salkeld

 Nina Forsyth

 Nancy Guse

 Marybeth Lopez

 Nancy Penir

 Carol Hintermeier 

As you can see, I have two separate projects that I'm sharing for today's post. I made three mitten pouches, and 4 gift card/treat envelopes. I keep telling myself that I don't NEED to make anymore gift card holders, but they're always so fun. These would also make fabulous tags and you could easily slip some holiday treats down inside, something like Ghirardelli squares. All you would need to do is to punch a hole and add some twine or ribbon.

Up first are the mittens! I usually make mittens like this every year, but I normally use felt. I decided that I could try creating them out of pattern paper since the stitching makes them strong. I die cut three of the mittens out of pattern paper using the Shape Up Series: Mitten die. I die cut three out of Rustic Cream cardstock since you can't use two of the same side, so it would be a waste of pattern paper. I would end up by having the pattern on the inside, so I opted for a sturdy cardstock. I stitched them together using my sewing machine and white thread. 

The trickiest part is sewing around the thumb portion, but I just put my machine in the needle down position and go slow and steady. I set these aside and got to work on the the embellishments. I die cut the largest snowflake from the Snowfall Style 2 die twice for each mitten for a total of 6. I used Weathervane cardstock and then added the chunky silver glitter to the tips using a 2 way glue pen. I set those aside to dry and then got to work on the rest of the design details.

The "Sending Christmas Cheer" and "Peace and Joy to you & yours this holiday season" sentiments are both from the Holiday Photo Finishers stamp set. I heat embossed the cirlce image using silver powder and then punched it out using a circle punch. The wrist portion is scored at the beginning and end of the sentiment and then secured in the back using ScorTape. It gave it an arced shape so that it will be easy to fill the pouch up and not impede the wrist portion. It's a little whimsical, but I really like how it ended up.

The red patterned portion was created by die cutting the label shape using the Mat Stack 1 die and then stamping it using images from theMat Stack 1 Collection stamp set. I used another one of the images on my projects from last month that you can see HERE. I really like how the red pops and the stripes look like a candy cane or ribbon candy! All of these components are layered together using foam squares. The holly sprigs are embellishments that can be found each year at Hobby Lobby and I attached them using a hot glue gun for security.

Next up are the gift card/treat holders. I die cut these out of pattern paper using the Seed Packet Die and then I glued them together using a tape runner adhesive and ScorTape. The flap is secured by a half circle of velcro on each flap. This will allow it to stay closed nicely, but easily opened for the recipient.

I attached a cute plastic red bow embellishment that I have used on some other projects this year that you can see HERE. I'm crossing my fingers that these are available again this year because I REALLY like them! My sister got them for me so I will have to ask her where they came from....I'm guessing Hobby Lobby, but it could be Michael's, too!

I used the smaller snowflake from the Snowfall Style 2 die collection to die cut the silver and champagne colored glitter snowflakes. I toyed around with mixing the two colors for one snowflake, but they made my eyes go buggy so I opted to keep the same color together.

This sentiment is also from the H0liday Photo Finishers stamp set and I fussy cut around the edges since it doesn't have a companion die. The rustic cardstock makes it a little bit more difficult to get a crisp impression, but I like the vintage look it gives the project.

I've been loving the idea of Christmas, but now that my grass is so green and the leaves are on the trees, I'm happy that Spring/Summer is here for me to enjoy! ha ha! I guess that is why I love this series so much because it gives me an excuse to dive into the feelings of Christmas all year long. I bought a new Bing Crosby album for my phone so I could listen while I was working, much to the chagrin of my children! I've had years where I didn't listen to any Christmas music while I created during the year because I wanted to "save the magic" for the holiday season, and I've had years where I listened to it each month. I think this is definitely going to be a "listening" year! LOL! Thanks for fluttering by!