Holiday Gifts Pt. 3--Foray into the World of Trays

This year, I got the great idea of making my mom and my mother-in-law
holiday gifts. When Archiver's was giving away free accessories with the
purchase of a 7gypsies tray, I knew it was time to delve into the world of 3-D
scrapbooking...

Goodness knows that I am a card maker, not a scrapbooker. But I figured
that it couldn't be that hard...just slap some pictures and patterned paper into
the holes and embellish with some little trinkets...UUMMMM...WRONG!!!! It
actually takes planning and organization (which I lack) along with lots of
different embellishments to give it variety, and everything must be
strategically placed in order to create balance.

I made it through though, thanks to perseverance (and the lady at
Archiver's who talked my off the ledge at 7:00 on Friday night). I am really
happy with the finish products...not too shabby for my first try. And the
recipients were pretty impressed--there were even some tears!

Eklund Family Holiday Card

Ah, yes...the holiday card. When Sir Henry Cole commissioned the first one in 1843, I bet he never imagined the impact this would have over a hundred and fifty years later.

As a paper crafter, my Christmas card is the biggest endeavor of the year. I usually start thinking about my card in September, make a prototype in October, resolve to start and finish them over Thanksgiving break (which never happens), and then a week before Christmas decide that I need something flashier and totally revamp the whole thing and vow as I mail them that "I won't do this next year"...Welcome to my World!

This year's card was definitely outside my comfort zone--a tad too whimsical for my normal style. That's okay though...you have to try something new every once in a while. I used the new HeroArts/Sizzix stamp and die set and had to do a bit of cutting by hand (ugh...I hate cutting). But any excuse to use my Stickles glitter glue is a good one and thanks to YouTube, my bow tying abilities have definitely increased.

So here it is...the Eklund Family Card 2011 edition! Enjoy!

Holiday Gifts Pt. 2--Customer Service is Still Alive

Home Decor decals have become one of the go-to products in my stash this holiday season. They are so versatile...attaching to any smooth surface and relatively easy to apply (unless it's 11:30 at night and you keep scraping the wrong side...but that's another story for another time).

I saw some projects using these glass blocks so I started trying some things out. This is what I ended up with--a holiday decoration. I gave it to a friend who has her bathroom decorated with similar glass blocks so it fits right in with her own home decor.

On a side note, I am amazed at the customer service of Stampin' Up. There was an issue with the shipping of the decal for this project. When I called to verify the shipping information that I had and the customer service rep realized the shipment might take much longer than the 5 business days they had quoted me, she had a new set overnight expressed to me!

Holiday Gifts Pt.1--Magnet Man not included...

This year, I am flexing my creative spirit and making many of my gifts. I did a lot of searching for ideas and tried some new things...some worked, and well, some didn't.

One that I was uncertain of, but ended up really liking in the end, is the project that I gave as gifts to the members of my team. I saw this project done as a series of frames set upon a mantle to spell "ho, ho, ho." I created one that was a single frame and was able to hang on a wall.

So here's the finished product!

Holiday Adventures Pt. 1

With the holidays approaching, there's a whole lot of crafting going on! I will have lots of pictures to post, but many will need to wait until after Christmas as many of them are actually gifts.

The past few weeks have been very busy--work and life in general have really caught up with me. Additionally, my grandma has been very ill so we have been making many trips to visit her. To help cheer her up, I offered to make her Christmas cards for her. They are simple, but they meet the purpose--they have a reindeer and say "Merry Christmas." We are slowly working on writing in them...doing 3 each time I visit. (The colors are hard to see--I'm still working on the lighting--but it's cranberry, olive, and vanilla.)