The Geese Are Getting Fat

Well, if you hadn't caught up with the news yet (or have been studiously avoiding it in a mild state of panic and denial) - Christmas is getting close! There's no way we can put it off forever on the basis of "it can't be Christmas already" or "didn't we just have Easter?" So there's nothing for it but to embrace that hectic lead up to the Big Day and go all out with Christmas craft!

At home we always have a decorating theme and this year DD19 picked a colour combo of cherry cobbler, gold and white. I modified that slightly (because she was in a whole other state and I thought I was safe!) to make it a vintage Christmas theme with those colours predominating but others allowed too. I am the person making all the decorations, after all, LOL!

To start you off here's a little something made from the petal cone die:

After I had cut out my two petal cones I gold embossed them with the swirl from Creative Elements. Next I attached my striped papers to the flaps and then the pleated lace underneath. The stamped label is coloured with markers and the lovely chipboard poinsettia finishes it off. So far I meet DD19's criteria of plenty of cherry cobbler and gold plus I hope it looks suitably vintage!

Materials used:

• stamps - Tags Till Christmas, Creative Elements
• card - cherry cobbler, very vanilla, paper from Kaiser
• other - decorative label punch, markers, dimensionals, Victorian lace, gold embossing powder, Big Shot, petal cone die, heat tool, chipboard poinsettia from Scrapmatts, gold brad, sticky strip, cherry cobbler brads

I hope you find time to make a start on your decorations too! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Secret Santa

Our SU team has a Christmas dinner every year and we all get allocated a person to be Secret Santa for. We don't spend a lot on gifts, but most of the fun is in the packaging and wrapping and making the present look totally gorgeous.

I was SS for Rachel and these are the gifts I made for her:

Here are the packets individually:

The decorated glass bauble from yesterday's post

A box containing gift tags

A container of Smooch Spritz (looks like a Toblerone!)

Some Xmas ribbons in a small window box

A mini bag in a box with shimmer paint inside

Three spray bottles to use for water or shimmer paint

Tubes filled with antique brads, brads and label holders from hodgepodge hardware and Christmas coloured jelly beans and I made a box to store them in.

Phew! So many photos - I'll have to come back another day to show you the beautiful things my SS gave me!

Have a great day.

Cheers

Kez

"Regionals" Goodies

We had such a fun day on Monday at our own version of "Regionals". Robyn I showed us a staggering number of ways to use our embossing folders and we all loved having a play with those, Liam gave us a terrific gift box to make and I shared a lovely gift idea which, as mentioned in an earlier post, I can't show you until Friday night.

But here are a few photos of our goodies. First up is the lovely gift box we made with Liam. I changed mine slightly to use some gorgeous "cherry cobbler" satin ribbon - so luscious! - and added stamps from the Tags til Christmas set.

Next up are swaps, firstly a cute little milk carton Santa box from clever Liam:

Then this gorgeous card from Robyn I using Aviary, Well Scripted and the Square Lattice embossing folder, all from the Summer mini:

And this card from the lovely Kari with punch art Santa and Rudolph - sooooooooo cute!

We also received an adorable miniature star book that turns into an ornament to hang on the Christmas tree, from talented Robyn P:

And last but not least one of the shoebox projects (I didn't manage to get the other one made, sorry!). This one was from Robyn I and is the first time I've managed to make one of these awning cards - they've been on my "Must Do" list for ages, so thanks Rob! Doesn't the Daffodil Delight look gorgeous?

So as you can see, it was a MOST enjoyable day of crafting and fellowship and we've already started planning our "Convention" for next year!!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Ho Ho Ho

Hello all, yes I'm back from hot and rainy Melbourne and into the thick of Christmas things again! Today a group of friends and fellow demos are getting together for our own version of Regionals, as we were unable to attend SU's version. We are having some projects and doing swaps too, as we don't like to miss out on all the fun! LOL.

Here are the swaps I made for everyone:

Lovin' my owl punch again, LOL! Too cute!

Materials used:

• stamps - Welcome Christmas, Tags til Christmas
• card - crumb cake, soft suede, whisper white, basic black, real red
• other - Christmas Cocoa DSP, dimensionals, pom pom (non SU), real red spotty ribbon (retired), basic black marker

I can't show you the project I prepared just yet, as I am making one as a Secret Santa gift for our team Xmas dinner on Friday night and I don't want to let the cat out of the bag!  I'll schedule it for Friday so you can see. It is simple and fun and a little bit different.

But before then I'll be back to show you what clever things the others came up with for our fun day today. Catch you later!

Cheers
Kez