Gift Box Idea

My Christmas shopping is done.  My grocery shopping is done.  All the presents I ordered have arrived.  All I have left to do is finishing touches like wrapping the presents and putting them under the tree.  :)  It's a great feeling.

This year my kids have both asked for some expense gifts.  That means they won't have as many presents under the tree.  To make the morning last a little longer and to add a bit of fun, I am sending them on a gift hunt.  The first gift is in the tree.  Inside I will put some candy and a clue.

Can you spot the non-traditional stamp I used on the box?  I want them to open these boxes first, so I used the #1 from Blue Ribbon.

To make it sparkle I sprayed the finished boxes with shimmer mist.  One tip though... either spray the pieces and let them dry before adhering or use more dimensionals than I did to hold it on.  The paper curled where it wasn't attached using dimensionals.  oops.  :)

The great thing about decorating your own boxes is that you can make them any color you want.  Mine are made using my boys' favorite colors.

Tyler's box has the majestic Christmas deer. 

I was having difficulty lining up the ornaments on his antlers, and I didn't want to pull out my stamp-a-majig.  My solution was to take Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details (a red glitter glue) and place a small dot at the top of each ornament.  It helps cover the flaws, and honestly my son will never notice.

Do you have any fun decorating ideas using your creations?  I would love to see them!  Here is a look at our tree.   The envelopes you see in the tree are actually "presents" from grandparents and won't be opened until Christmas.  :)  I thought this was a fun way to have their gift not get lost.  It also drives the kids a bit crazy because they look at it every day.  :)

Hope you are able to take time to enjoy the joyful part of this season and spend time with your loved ones.

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

P.S.  The scallop circle is currently in the clearance rack WSL!!!  If you don't have it and want to make this box before Christmas you could easily cut a square or use the smaller circle and scallop circle.



Christmas Deer



Blue Ribbon



Kraft Gift Box




Snowflake Soiree



Wreath Door Card

Will you be going to any Christmas gatherings this year?  Today's card would be a perfect one to take with you for the host/hostess or to send out after the party thanking them for their hospitality. 

The door opens to reveal you greeting or message. 

In the video below I will show you how to make this wreath and card along with the tips and tricks I learned by trial and error.

Direct link to YouTube if you are having trouble viewing the video above.

Here is a close-up of the wreath.  It's easy to do, but it does take a little bit of time.  I enjoyed the process though.

If you are all done with your Christmas cards this year and want to get a head start on next year while you are still in the Holiday mood, this might be a fun project to work on while watching Christmas movies.

Creative Blessings,
Heather North



Merry Minis Stamp Set




Merry Minis Punch Pack




Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder



Easy Christmas Cards

Still need to make a few Christmas cards, but feeling crunched for time?  Here are some super quick and easy cards I whipped up a couple of days ago.  The Snow Festival Paper makes creating quick cards a snap. 

I love the little details on these cards.  It's a way to add my touch to the design.

The ribbon used in the last card is currently available in the Clearance Rack, while supplies last.  :) 

Creative Blessings,
Heather North





Snow Festival DSP



More Merry Messages



Creative Winnings!!!

Last week was a great week for my creativity ego.  I won two challenges and was given a (secret) honor.  (More on the secret soon.)   Boy oh boy was it an amazing feeling.   Thank you ever so much for boosting my confidence, commenting on my blog and giving me these pats on the back.  I've come a looooooooooong way in the past year.  

In case you didn't see my winning entries....

Mojo Monday was my anniversary card.  How sweet to have such a special card chosen.



Original Post

Unscripted Sketches was a Clean and Simple card.  I added layers, but still kept it pretty clean.  If you've been following my blog you know how I struggle with CAS, so this was a BIG honor. 



Original Post

Now it's time for me to head back to reality and finish cleaning my house.  I still have some Christmas cards and projects to show you.   If I get my housework done and I'll come back for a second post.  If not, I'll see you tomorrow.  Thanks again for stopping by.

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

Teacher Appreciation

First I have to send my thoughts and prayers to those who have been affected by the shooting in Connecticut.  My heart goes out to those families who have lost loved ones and all the children, staff and parents of Sandy Hook Elementary.  I cannot even imagine what you all must be going through, but my heart breaks for you.

Over the weekend we spent lots of time as a family.  I thanked the Lord for all the years I've been able to have my children in my life.  We watched The Hobbit in a private showing with about 30 other people on Saturday.  It was so fun to have the theater all to ourselves, even though we had to get there before 9am.  ;)  Saturday afternoon our power went out for a couple of hours.  It came back on, so I threw dinner in the oven and it went back off again.  My honey plugged in the generator, we re-heated pizza in the microwave and watched another movie as a family. 

 

Sunday was spent going to church and doing some Holiday baking.   The kids helped me make some chocolate dipped pretzel sticks.  Sooooooo yummy!  I asked my son which friends he wanted to give them to and he said he wanted to give them to his teachers.  In light of the 6 teachers/staff who gave their lives trying to protect their students I think giving these pretzel treats to his teachers is a great idea!

After putting the treats in the bag I added our homemade gift cards with some baker's twine. 

Teachers work hard and I am so thankful for the time and care they give to the children in our community.  It's always a good idea to let them know that.

Creative Blessings,
Heather North



Snow Festival





More Merry Messages




Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine



Scrapbook Sunday

Welcome to another scrapbook Sunday!!!  These pages were  created back in the Fall when I got together with some of my scrapbooking friends.  It's always a joy to scrapbook with these ladies.  We may not always get a lot of pages completed, but we always get inspired and have fun.

The background paper I used in this layout was fairly dark, so I matted the pictures with some light cardstock to make them pop.  I used a Cricut to cut out the titles.  On the LHS (left hand side) my son is signing "I Love You".   It's something we do to each other often, especially when I am dropping the kids off at school as a way to tell them I love them without embarrassing them in front of their friends.  My son did this to me as I was taking pictures of the sunset, and I wanted to capture it here.

On the RHS I only ended up with 2 pictures.  Sometimes it is hard to scrapbook if you only have 1 or 2 pictures.  I definitely wanted to include the lovely sunset and I wanted it to stand out.  What I did was take a wide strip of paper and placed it in the center of my page.  Next I put the two pictures in that center strip and I added sentiments above and below the pictures.  Sometimes just a word or two can really tell a story.  The last thing I did was to run the title in two long vertical strips, one on each side of the center strip. 

If you are looking for a good glue to stick those letters on, I think the 2 way glue pen works great!



2 Way Glue Pen


Another option when you don't have a ton of pictures is to add some fun papers and embellishments to the page and let your picture shine.  I like to layer stips of paper that are different widths together and add some strips with a border punched out. This works especially well with those school pictures or professional pics. 

It's also a fabulous way to use up scraps!  You gotta love the look on Tyler's face.  (LHS)  Yep, that's the smile we got for an entire year.  :) 



2 1/2" Circle Punch




Scallop Edge Border Punch


Creative Blessings,
Heather North

Clearance Sale

Today I was going to show you the video I made of the wreath door card.  Yesterday I was editing it for time.  (It was over 30 minutes and needs to be under 15 to load on YouTube.)  I was almost finished and had to leave so I saved it to come back to today. 

Unfortunately something happened to it last night and it wouldn't load this morning.  I just kept getting an error message.  Thankfully I still have the original 32 minute video so I have begun working on editing it again.  Unfortunately I  don't have it ready to show you yet.

What I do have for you though is pretty cool.  Stampin' UP! just put 300+ new items on the clearance rack!!!  Woot-Woot!  Who doesn't love a great sale?  I know I jumped on the website and ordered myself a few more stocking stuffers.  Better check it out fast though because these items are only available While Supplies Last.  Best of all they have 2 of my favorite stamp sets on the clearance rack.  Can you guess what they are? 

Here is just a sampling of what you can find: Ribbon, Paper, Scrapbooks, Tools, Punches, Stamp Sets!, Sale-A-Bration Items, Brads, Ink Pads, Markers, etc. etc. etc.  It's certainly enough to fill a stocking!




 







Creative Blessings (and happy shopping!),
Heather North

Click HERE to go to my Stampin' UP! Store

A Little Merry

As promised, here is another super simple card using scraps.  I used Holiday colors and the Merry stamp from tiny tags, but otherwise this card could be sent any time of year.

The sketch from Unscripted Sketches this week really lends itself to using up your strips of paper.  This card would be super easy to mass produce too.  :)



The only thing I would probably change if I was mass producing these is the tiny tag stamp that uses two colors of marker to color.  I would use another scrap of Designer Series Paper or Cardstock for the tag instead.  Maybe.  The Merry tag would be easy though.

To make the tags hang the way I wanted them to I just stuck a couple of glue dots on the back.  This way you can really see each tag. 

I'm off to do a bit of Christmas shopping and get the ingredients to make my Christmas cookies.  Another package just arrived at my door a few minutes ago with the cutest little stocking stuffers for my boys.  It's starting to feel a lot like Christmas around here.

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Tiny Tags
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive
Paper: Merry Moments Simply Scrappin' Kit, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Misc.: Lucky Limeade Ruffled Ribbon, Jewelry Tag Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Paper Piercer, Linen Thread



Merry Moments Simply Scrappin' Kit