Christmas Gifts 2008

I finally had some time to get into my craft room and create! YEAY! I've been really missing my desk and all my stuff! But, when your whole family gets the flu and Christmas comes around, there's not much time to sit and play! Our family exchanges gifts with some of our extended family on New Years Day because it's less chaotic and my parents always have a New Years Day party at their house, so it's an extra day to look forward to!

Every year I try to make things for my cousins and aunt because I know that they really like my stuff. At least, that's what they tell me! Haha! So, last year they got a set of Christmas cards and coasters, and a block with pictures. I will NEVER make those blocks again! There's a reason why photos should NOT be bent! Anyway, this year is no different. I had to create something cool that they could use, because they are all busy and need something that's efficient and useful. Not that a set of cards isn't, but I wanted to do something different. So, I had my mom drink the rest of her Starbucks Frappucino's and save me the bottles. I still have a few to finish up, but here are a couple that I made. I received the gingerbread man as a gift from Virtual Stamp Night. I LOVE this little guy! He's just SO cute! I tried to make the bottles completely different. That's hard when it's 1am on New Year's Eve!!!!

For the jars of candy, the paper is all from The Christmas Stack from a few years ago. I used an oval nestibility for the middle and a circle nestibility for the lid and then cut to size. The pink tree is from Lovely As A Tree by SU!. On that jar, I stamped some snowflakes with versamark and then clear ep. and then embossed. I painted that ArmorEtch all over it and let it dry. I think I shoudl have put another layer on top. Oh well! The sparkly red on the gingerbread men is red stickles. The snowflake and some of the rhinestones on the blue jar are also from My Favorite Things. It was a special that they were having and I knew that I would use those snowflakes! They are perfect for this!!!!

And then my last gift is a clipboard for my cousin who's little girl is in school. This will be a storage place for all of her important papers for school. I wrote with a Inkssentials Opaque white pen the alphabet and numbers along the edge. To get it black, I sponged StazOn Black ink all along the edges. The pen and the sparkly ribbon are from My Favorite Things. I'm sure you could find them elsewhere, but that's where I got my stuff. The ribbon is from Scrapbook Station. I'll show you the real reason why I bought that particular ribbon in a later post. I have to finish that project this weekend. The paper is from the 8x8 Grade School stack by DCWV. And I have no idea where the rhinestones came from. I received those as a gift from VSN, so the wrapper is long gone, and I have no idea who makes them or where they were purchased. I adhered the paper with Craft Bond Spray Adhesive. I find that this works better than decoupage. It's cleaner, it's not as time consuming, and did I say it's cleaner?! I just love this, and will never use decoupage again! Talk about freakin' messy! And streaky! UGH! I adhered the ribbon by running it through my mini xyron. Instant sticker! And that's it!

Ok, that's it! I have to go bake now for my parents party! Blue Cheese stuffed mushrooms and sausage cheese balls! YUM!
Have a wonderful New Year! I hope you all have a happy, healthy and wonderful 2009!