Packing up the Ornaments ...

Every year I'm sad to put my Christmas tree away. There are so many wonderful memories connected with all my Christmas ornaments that it's hard to say goodbye to them for another year. When the girls were born we started a tradition of buying or making an ornament to hang on the tree each Christmas that they'll get to take with them when they leave home. This year we made their ornaments together, which made them extra special.

Olivia wanted to do a Paris-theme so we decoupaged tissue paper stamped with Staz-On ink and Stampin' Up's Artistic Etchings stamp set. We added a tag and a crystal and then coated the whole thing with sugary glitter. Yum!

Sophia wanted to do a book page ornament, so we shredded up some vintage book pages, moistened them and decoupaged them. We added a tag and a crystal to her ornament as well, and she chose a gorgeous ruffled ribbon.

I used printed Kraft tissue paper stamped with some Winter Post images for my ornament. These ornaments were tons of fun to make. Thank you, Julia Stainton, for the wonderful inspiration and tutorial!

Thanks for stopping by, my friends!

Joy

I've been saving up ideas for a Christmas banner for my living room for more than a year, and I finally got around to making my vision a reality over Christmas break. (Can you tell that I'm exactly the opposite of a spontaneous crafter?) My living room is very girly, as is my Christmas tree, so I wanted my banner to be distinctly Victorian in character.

Here are a few photos of what I finally came up with:

My sheet music stamp roller was indispensable on this project, as was glass glitter and dazzling diamonds glitter. Glitter, glitter, glitter! I found a tube of faceted gems in the bridal section of my local craft store and used those to add an extra girly touch.

I cut the flowers on white crinoline with my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die and inked the pieces in pastel colors. Then I stamped the petals with Staz-on and my music roller and curled the petals with my heat gun.

Merry Christmas, my friends!

Christmas Tag Swap

I can't believe it's been a month since I updated my blog! How the holiday flew by! I always marvel at how busy the month of December gets even when I resolve to keep things simple. The holiday cards all got out on time (a small miracle), and we had a delightful time with family. I absolutely LOVE spending the holiday break with my girls. We make such a mess and have so much fun!

Despite all the craziness surrounding the holidays, I did manage to get a few projects done. (Not photographed and blogged until now, even with the best of intentions.) Over the next few days, I'll post my last batch of holiday crafts for this year.

First up are our Stampin' Club Tag Swap tags! This was our group's first tag swap, and I was so amazed by how they all turned out!

Erika did an awesome canvas background which gave her project so much texture and pop! Jae (right) did the coolest paper pieced background for her tag!

Gia's tags: One from the swap and one she gifted me for Christmas that I just had to share! The blue tag was her first adventure with alcohol inks, and it has the most gorgeous silver sheen!

Melinda couldn't be at our Christmas meeting, but I look forward to sharing her tag with you when I can.

I hope the Tag Swap becomes an annual Christmas tradition for our group. I loved receiving and displaying these tokens of friendship over the holidays! Thank you, ladies!