25 Days of December - Days 24 and 25

and it's done!

25 Days of December - Days 22 and 23

25 Days of December - Day 21

25 Days of December - Days 19 and 20

25 Days of December - Days 17 and 18

More inspired by Pinterest

One of my favorite things about the holidays is all the crafty and bakey goodness that happens - both things I love to do. Here are another series of things I've made that were either copied from or inspired by things I found on Pinterest. Although I am usually a fanatic about credits, I have cookies in the oven and I'm going to be lazy - you can find the original pins if you follow me on Pinterest here.

Melted snowman cookies (a three day process and really a PITA - and don't even taste that good. Not worth it again).

Laundry sign. Super easy. I used digi elements from Backyard Crawlies and Backyard Cuties by Iliella Designs.

My version of important dates (framed this time).

Handprint snowman ornaments. Much harder than I expected. Even Alexa (a coordinated 7 year old) had a hard time making a good print with my help.

25 Days of December - Day 16

25 Days of December - Day 15

25 Days of December - Day 14

25 Days of December - Days 12 and 13

25 Days of December - Day 11

My version of Santa Hat Brownies

Seriously - so easy. Another yummy thing I pinned on Pinterest. Brownie mix, small round cutter, premade frosting, strawberries, piping bag/tip.

Important Dates - My Version

I saw this pin on Pinterest - a framed version of the important dates in a family's history. I loved the idea and wanted to create my own, so I fired up Photoshop Elements and gave it a try! I'm really happy with the way it turned out. The background paper is from Sweet Songs by ViVa Artistry and the fonts are Impact (dates) and Aquarelle (script). There are two date layers, both in overlay blending mode - one at 100% and one at 60%. I'm going to print this out (it's 8x10) and mat and frame it! :)

25 Days of December - Day 10

25 Days of December - Day 9

25 Days of December - Day 8

In addition to Danyale's great stuffs, I added Noel by Mari Koegelenberg to my supply list!

25 Days of December - Day 7

Added All Stitched Up Volume 2 by Kimeric Kreations to the mix. I wish we had better lighting in the house - so much noise in these photos :(

25 Days of December - Days 5 and 6

25 Days of December - Day 4

Twenty-five Days of Christmas

I blogged twice in one day. Someone get me a drink! I am doing a "Countdown to Christmas" mini this year and instead of doing it at the end of the month (like I did last year), I am doing a layout each day, again based around our Christmas activities from our countdown tree. I had two goals:
1. Keep it very simple
2. Focus on the photos and especially the journaling.

In keeping with these two goals, I decided to use a single kit for the entire mini, and I chose I Dream of Snow by Etc. by Danyale. I am also using the daily FREEBIE mini album pages by Roadside Designs that you can find on her blog. I'm also using two fonts consistently: Jellyka Delicious Cake (a freebie) and Mel's Type A Personality by Mel Wilson.

And...I'm already caught up (three days in)! Here's what I've done so far:

Handmade Holiday Gifts

I've been super busy making a lot of holiday gifts this year....and thought I would share! The first one is my favorite (and also the most complicated) - I made four flavors of Skittles vodka (which is more time consuming than I expected - you can google and find the recipe) and packaged them up in a Starbucks Frappuccino four pack that I altered with some digi supplies from Ho Ho Ho by Chelle's Creations, fiber and fluid chalk.


The second was really easy - I packaged up a Tervis Tumbler with a hot lid and a cold lid and included several packets of Iced tea to go and several tea bags. This gift came in at just under $20 each (mostly due to the cost of the Tervis supplies - but I did get them at Bed Bath and Beyond and used my coupons). I topped them off with a cute tag that fit the "tea" theme using Holly Jolly Holiday by Chelle's Creations.


And finally, even easier - I packaged a Starbucks gift card, some chocolate nuggets and Starbucks Via (coffee to go) in a mug, finished off with a tag using 12 Days by Mari Koegelenberg (which is also available as a paper kit by My Mind's Eye).


Hope this gives you some good gift ideas!