Project du jour!

Had a great time with these crosses today!  So easy and fun to do!  Here is what you need:

3 crosses of different sizes for stacking
craft paint
patterned paper
glue
Mod Podge
glitter
buttons
rhinestones
pearls
Tim Holtz Ornate Plates

1. Paint your crosses.
2. Cover middle cross with paper of choice.
3. Decorate small cross with adornments.
4. Coat crosses with Mod Podge, sprinkle with glitter and stack together to dry.  This will hold them together.
5. AMEN!

You can make these as holiday decor or try something funky like zebra stripes or leopard and leave it out year round!

Vintage Photo Cards

Well, I hope everyone survived the big shopping day! I sat this one out. My husband and daughter left the house this morning at 4 am.  I never thought I would live to see that day! They came home with a box that   will drive me crazy until Christmas morning!  I have no idea what they may have bought me, and it's a heavy one?  Hmmmmm.  I had a great time making this card today.  The photo was one that a dear childhood friend posted on facebook some time ago.  The photo is a picture of her mother when she was in high school.  I fell in love with this pic the minute I saw it and I knew I had to do something with it.  I will drop it in the mail to her mom tomorrow.  I hope she is pleasantly surprised.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Merry Merry!

My daughter came home from college a few days early and surprised us this weekend.  I'm so happy to see her!  She is so much fun to be with and I am in much need of girl time!  She was ready to deck the halls the minute she walked through the door!  I was considering not putting up the big tree this year.  With only my husband and myself I was going to decorate a mini tree and be happy with that.  As a matter of fact I had a blast making these bird and birdcage ornaments using the Sizzix Tim Holtz dies.  I chose a silver tree reminiscent of the tree my great grandma Tillie had when I was a tot.  I loved her tree.  She had the old fashioned color wheel that would illuminate the branches in different colors.  She had beautiful glass ornaments and little birds that clipped to the branches.  I decorated my tree with the Shiny Brite ornaments that I found at an estate sale and a few minis from Hobby Lobby.  My favorites are the birds and birdcages I created!  I think grandma Tillie would like them.

Today Em and I are headed to Austin to go antiqueing!  Can't wait to see what kind of vintage goodness we can find!  Have a great day bloggers!  Enjoy your loved ones this week!

Winter Wonder Card...

I was surfing the Pinterest website this morning and came across a card that  someone had pinned from Hero Arts.  It was very similar to this one and it inspired me to try it on my own.  I love the way this turned out! I found the buttons at an estate sale.  The snowflakes, tree background and the gift bag were cut using the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge once again!  That cartridge has everything, and comes with coordinating stamps, and chipboard to make beautiful creations, all for $99 plus tax and shipping.  If you are interested in ordering it please contact me using the email link on my profile on the left side of this page.  I accept all Visa, MC, and Discover as well as Pay Pal.  If you would like to view a CTMH catalog go to www.closetomyheart.com.  This will ship to you directly from CTMH once I have placed your order. Unfortunately, there is no international shipping at this time. After you receive it, just plug it into your Cricut machine and prepare to be amazed!  I hope these creations inspire you to make something beautiful!

Keeping it simple...

Good morning everyone!  Today I'm keeping it simple.  I had a lovely day yesterday with my friend Janet.  We did a little shopping and then she treated me to a wonderful lunch of Tuscan tomato basil soup and  a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.  What a nice surprise!  After returning from shopping I began to wrap a few of my purchases when I realized I had no gift tags.   I sprang into crafty action!  These  little tags only take minutes to make and when tied with the festive red and white bakers twine they are as cute as Rudolph's red nose!  I hope you like them and remember to be creative every day!

Holiday Bootcamp Day 6

Just finished one of my cards for today's Holiday Card Bootcamp challenge.  I'm rather tickled with this one!  I used the same 6 petal flower from the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge that I used for the Christmas tree in my earlier post.  As a matter of fact nearly everything I used was from the cartridge right down to the circle card and branches ( which I cut to form a wreath ).  I hope you like it!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree....

Worked on a fun project last night.  This cute Christmas tree stands about 8.5 in. tall and is made completely with paper, glue, buttons, Stampendous Shaved Ice, and a little snippet of ribbon.  I am so tickled with the way it turned out.  The 6 petal flower from the Close to My Heart Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge makes the branches.  Simply cut 2 sets of 7 flowers out of patterned scrapbook paper.  High quality paper of a good weight works best.  Starting at the 1 inch setting, cut each of the flowers one inch larger than the one before.  So you have flowers cut at 1,2,3,4,5,6, and 7 inches. Now cut 2 more sets out of good quality white cardstock.  This time you start cutting at 2 inches. So you will have flowers cut at 2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8 inches.  Score each flower with its corresponding peak and valley.  This gives your tree dimension.  Attach patterned flowers to white ones using a quick drying paper glue.  Beacon's 3 in 1 is one of my favorites.  It works great on paper as well as ribbon and embellishments. Starting with your largest flowers and working toward the smallest,  glue each flower rotating so that the branches are staggered.  That completes the tree.  Now comes the fun part.  I know you love bling!  So bling to your hearts content!  Use buttons, glitter, rhinestones, whatever sets your heart a flutter!  If you have any questions just leave a comment and I will reply.  I'd love to see some of your creations! I think this would make a great project to make and take to nursing home residents that don't have Christmas trees in their room.  It would also make a great centerpiece.  I've used it in one of my Snow Village displays.  I may make an entire forest!  Happy crafting!

Just an old fashioned girl...

Hello Friends!
I hope you have had a fun weekend!  I've had fun catching up on things around my house.  Funny thing about laundry, it will never leave you and it always waits for you. More men should be like that....lol.

I was sorting through my linen closet today and came across some vintage holiday napkins that belonged to my Grandmother.  I absolutely love vintage linens of all sorts.  Unfortunately the tablecloth that matched these napkins was lost long ago.  If this pattern is familiar to anyone in blogland and you know where I may find the matching tablecloth, please drop me a line...

One of my favorite finds of the summer was this vintage box of original Shiny Brite Christmas ornaments.
Because of my love of all things paper, I was mostly interested in the box.  It is in fantastic condition.  It even has the original price written on the left corner of the box " 5 cents".  I'm guessing these are from the 1940's.  Can't wait to use them to decorate.

 I did one more take on the embossed Christmas card.  Hope you like it!
Enjoy your Sunday!

Happy Saturday!

The weekend is here again, don't let it go by without making something fabulous! I finished my Day 5 Holiday Card Bootcamp project. This card was so much fun and super simple! This would be a great choice to mass produce. Put on some holiday music and go get a gingerbread latte' at Starbucks, then sit down and get creative!

I used a natural colored cardstock for this one. The December calendar is a Tim Holtz embossing folder. Sponge Fired Brick and Peeled Paint Tim Holtz Distress Inks over the calendar. Then spritz the ink with Tattered Angels Diamond spritz. The reindeer is a Tim Holtz die from Sizzix. For the finishing touch I added a little green cardstock with a heat embossed greeting, then tied some fun red and white baker's twine. Voila!

11-11-11!

So today is supposed to be a lucky day! I guess I will go out and buy a lotto ticket! I'm having a great time making shadowbox Christmas ornaments. Today I made a cute little snowman ornament using

Tim Holtz products and Cosmo Cricket's Mr. Claus line.
I covered the inside and outside edges with Tim Holtz tissue tape. Love that product! Then I used his seasonal paper stack for the background. I fancy cut some miniature vintage advertisements for faux snow which I mounted with foam tape to give it some dimension. I added a mini tree from Dept. 56, then sprinkled Shaved Ice from Stampendous which I picked up at my new favorite store Paper Source. You can check them out online or visit a store near you!
Thanks for stopping by my blog! Leave a comment if you like what you see... :-)
Have a great day!
Laurie

Have a Merry Vintage Christmas !

I know...2 posts in one day! What an over achiever! I just couldn't wait to share this ornament with you. I made it out of the top of a cardboard jewelry gift box. The paper is from Cosmo Cricket. The line is called Mr. Claus. So easy to make. Love it!

Holiday Card Bootcamp!

Hello Friends!

Just wanted to share the Christmas cards I've made! I'm participating in Holiday Card Bootcamp with OnlineCardClasses.com .
I'm having so much fun creating! I will share the first couple of cards that I have created today, and share more throughout the class. I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I had fun making them! Go grab a cup of hot cocoa and listen to Bing Crosby sing White Christmas! In the words of my good friend Buddy the Elf..."The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear."