Happy Thanksgiving and ornament time

Hello! I am barely squeezing this post in to wish my US friends a happy Thanksgiving!  We have eaten our fill and I had a few minutes before retiring for the evening and wanted to share a little something crafty.

Every year, my mom and her sisters get the families together for a Thanksgiving dinner.  It tends to resemble a reunion more than Thanksgiving, but we always have a wonderful time together.  There is also an annual ornament swap that happens after the meal.  Anyone wanting to participate brings an ornament or two and then they swap 'sneaky Santa' style.  My girls starting making their own ornaments for the swap several years ago and while there was quite a bit of help from Mom in the beginning years, DD#1 has managed to make her own with only a bit of suggestion from me this year.  Here are her ornaments...

She used the Season of Cheer dsp and started with a punched circle (you can't see it in the photos, but it's the base) and used 2x2 squares rolled into cones to go around the circle.  Then she used the Rosette die to make the rosette you see in the center.  A button with the shank cut off was added to the center to finish it off.

I will try to share DD#2s ornament soon.  I didn't get a photo of it before it was given away, but she is making a few more for gifts, so I will get a picture when they are completed.

I hope you have enjoyed my crafty girl's ornaments and want to wish you the happiest of Thanksgivings.  Our family has been so blessed this year.  Even when we were dealing with difficult decisions and saying goodbye to loved ones, there was always something or someone reminding us that we have so much to be thankful for and that tough times don't last forever. It has reminded me that the little everyday things are what really matters in the end and hopefully this will keep me on the right track as we prepare for Christmas.  I'm going to try to be more focused on the purpose of my actions and gifts instead of stressing over what I think I need to get completed before the big day arrives.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I look forward to sharing more creativity with you in the future!

Early Christmas Cards

Well, hello! It has been so long since I've posted, I almost forgot how!!  I am finally getting around to making a few more Christmas cards.  We won't discuss how many more I need to make before I'm finished...  We'll just focus on the fact that as of right now, I'm ahead of the game! Hey... It's not Christmas yet, so I must be early, right?!

I had a little crafty time the other day and had initially planned to play with the box full of goodies from the Holiday catalog.  However, as I looked through my Pinterest board, I found the sweetest quilt-like card and had to make a few.  I had originally pinned this about two years ago and am finally getting around to making it!  You can see the original, made by Sandy, here.  I changed mine up just a little bit, but the overall design is the same.

 

I scraped together enough scraps from my almost depleted Ski Slope dsp.  There is such a small amount left that I'm feeling this pulling challenge to finish it off this year.  We'll see how that goes!  I used the triangle shape on the banner punch to make my 'quilt' pieces and then glued them to a piece of copy paper.  Then I trimmed the paper and ran it through the square lattice e.f..  The white background was embossed with the snow burst e.f.  I used Teeny Tiny Wishes for the Merry Christmas and Deck the Halls is from the new Happy Scenes.  A little distressing with chocolate chip ink and a few candy dots and we're done!

I am hoping to back here soon with more Christmas cards and maybe even a scrapbook page or two.  Wish me luck and have a fantastic day!  Thanks so much for visiting!!