Christmas Cards

Okay, I *think* all my family rec'd the Christmas cards I sent... I was soooo late this year! I really wanted (and needed) a simpler card than last year's card to mass produce... this was not it!

But, wow, it was very pretty!

The most important thing is that gold shimmer cardstock... PTI all the way!! Beautiful! And it took ink like a dream.

Hope your celebrations were wonderful (I know those international friends of mine were able to stretch it out a bit this weekend with Boxing Day!).

Enjoy!

Kristin

Merry Christmas

I'm off the normal posting today, but thought you might enjoy a sweet story...

For the first time ever, my 5 (almost 6) year old son asked to write a letter to Santa. We thought he was going to write him about that red bike he wanted (that is under the tree waiting for him this morning).

Instead, he took the paper and pencil to his table and after writing the letter himself, brought back a priceless piece of paper.

On it he had written (I'll translate his 5 year old spelling for you!):

"Dear Santa, I love you. Do you really know the true meaning of Christmas? Love, Jacob"



If you are unsure of the true meaning, please read on...
Luke 2:1-20 (New International Version)

The Birth of Jesus
1In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3And everyone went to his own town to register.
4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
The Shepherds and the Angels 8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Merry Christmas!

Kristin

Cricut Christmas Tags

These are the tags I made this year instead of buying them or using the Mary Engelbreit tags I've used the last 8-10 years. I've never really paid that much attention to my Christmas cheer cricut cart, even though I've had it now since the first month I've had my cricut.

These tags are within the cart itself! And, it has a "foundation" key which meant the shadow was built in at 1/4"! Love that!

I gave everyone in the family their own 'symbol'... just for fun!


Merry Christmas Eve everyone!


Kristin

Teacher Gifts

These were the gifts I made for all the teachers (again, 7!! of them, whew!). I used the free download off of Nicole (PTI's) blog for the notepad, and this is again all PTI (except for the monogram stamp, embossing ink, and ink used to stamp).

I thought these would come together pretty quickly, but after starting sometime in early November, I didn't finish until almost the night before I needed to be done! YIKES!

But, I think these were beautiful and for the teachers who have any appreciation of handmade craft items, it went over well.

Enjoy!

Kristin

Teacher Cards

Quick post today using almost all PTI (with a little DCWV glitter matstack paper) cardstock and paper. These are the cards I made for all the teachers for my kids. My daughter only has 1 teacher, but my son has 6 teachers (1 main teacher for kindergarten and the rest are "speciality" teachers for art, music, spanish, computer, etc). Oh goodness... next year I am buying cards from the dollar store! ha!

Enjoy!

Kristin

First day of Kindergarten

I *finally* scrapped my son's first day of kindergarten page. One thing I really loved is the glue bottle. I used textured orange cs for the top so it really looks like the glue bottles we use. Then, with a white pen I made a white tip for the extra glue that is always there after opening (scroll down for a close up)! Love those little details!

Anyway, for all my scrapping friends who have kids close in age to mine, I wanted to pass on my idea for how I am scrapping the first day of school pictures...

You may know that I really enjoy Stacy Julian's way of scrapping (check her blog out on the right side of my blog... she's changed her blog address recently and I need to update it, but you can still get there!). Well, I scrap chronological *events* for the kids' albums (pumpkin patch/halloween, birthdays, easter). But, I have a family album that I scrap the pictures I want, in any order, any way that I want. There is no stress and no pressure. Love that!

I have a Christmas album for just Christmas layouts (the kids get a 2page layout in their own album).

But, for the 1st day, I wanted something special. I would ALWAYS take 1st day pics. So, I decided I wanted an album of just those 1st days. Kindergarten pics of my son next to kindergarten pics of my daughter (even though she won't be in kindergarten for a couple more years). Just 1 page layouts of 2 or 3 pics only. Just them (not any of the family) and maybe their teacher. I also will include a handwriting sample of their name or something else as they get older (tucked behind their pic).

Just a thought if you want to *steal* it or change it to suit your own (even if you homeschool)... or even if your kids are older, the "Stacy Julian" way says you can always go back and scrap the pictures you want... stop the stress!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Last of the simple Thank you cards

This is my last one(sorry about the camera angle).

I was super excited about this *find*. I have been wanting to get my hands on some of the new CTMH colors... one of them is Juniper. It's a bluish/greenish color. Looks pretty and I've seen it in their printed papers (pp). In their Jingle paper sample pack that I have and was playing around with, I paired it up with PTIs Ocean Tides and ta-da! What a neat coordination of colors. Matched it with some of the pink in that same pack and PTI Sweet Blush and what a pretty color combo, IMHO.

Enjoy!

Kristin

Pumpkin patch/Halloween layout 2

I did the same type of layout for my son for the Pumpkin patch/Halloween. If you notice, I use the same or similar poses, the same sketch, but different papers, and some different cricut cuts to make his look more *boy* and my daughter's (scroll down) look more *girl*. It means I can stay caught up with my scrapping, still scrap several pics at a time, embellish a little more on some layouts if I want too, and most of all RECORD the memories and move on to continue making more memories!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Simple thank you cards (2)

This is my 2nd in a series of simple thank you cards. I LOVE this one. The pp-top and bottom- is from CTMH Jingle sample pack. CS is PTI Sweet Blush. Isn't it yummy? Monochromatic cards are always so pretty in my opinion!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Pumpkin Patch/ Halloween layout 1

This is for my daughter. I created a lot of things over the holiday and my daughter's pumpkin patch/halloween layout was one of them. I used the cricut for the letters and pumpkins, matted the pictures, and just tried to make sure the focus is on her.

Enjoy!

Kristin

Simple thank you cards (1)

I got a little time to play over the holiday and created some simple Thank You cards. Here is the first one. Had the cs for a long time, scored the top at a diagonal, and used some pp from CTMH sample pack I have (you should see their papers!!). Then, I used a ribbon to cover the seam between the paper and cs. Finally, I used CTMH Chocolate ink to stamp the sentiment and put it on a scallop circle on pop-dots.

Enjoy!

Kristin

Antique christmas/ birthday

Love this card! Turned out just the way I wanted it too... don't you love that! The strip of paper on the left matches b/c this paper is double-sided paper, so after measuring, I just cut it and flipped it over! I think ALL paper should be double-sided! Don't you :-)??

I used Sleigh Ride from i {heart} papers, Bella Baubles, PTI Scarlet Jewel cs, ink, and CTMH Chocolate ink (and a blender pen!).

This is one of those cards that is festive for this time of year, but is really a birthday card for a December birthday.

Enjoy!

Kristin

Jake's 4th of July layout

I've finally gotten around to uploading the pics of Jake's 4th of July layout. We had some fun with his pics (his personality is so funny at this age) so I had to show that off in his layout! His layout is really similar to Emma's (you can scroll down a couple of posts to view hers). I just changed the main color of cardstock and the pics to focus on him.

Enjoy!

Kristin