christmas countdown...

Okay, so maybe it's too early. Or way late, but I thought I'd share one of my favourite DIY projects to date. I had seen this idea *here* and wanted to try it for quite some time now. And now I have, using simple everyday items, and some of my great Curtsey Boutique supplies. My take on this sweet advent calendar:

To begin with I painted an 18 inch embroidery hoop with some Antique White Web acrylic paint and let dry. Once dry I traced the inside circumference of the loop onto some sturdy thick cardboard. I cut it out and made sure it was a snug fit inside the hoop. I then cut a circle about 3 inches larger than the cardboard circle and pulled it taught over the cardboard, hot gluing the edges making sure the face of the fabric was stretched and free of wrinkles.  Fit into the hoop and let the fun begin.

I knew I wanted to stick to a few pops of colour but mainly keep it neutral. I started with these great kraft envelopes with journal cards from Curtsey Boutique, along with small tags, small glassine bags, doilies, twine, burlap die cuts, snowflake die cuts and muslin bags. Other supplies included washi tape, bottle brush trees and wreaths, thumbtacks, burlap, felt, mini clothespins etc. Sky's the limit to decorating, so long as you have 24 little packets to countdown to Christmas!

Of course it's a personal choice to decorate how you like, but here I've jazzed up plain white tags with pretty washi and stamped names. Wrapped them in twine and adhered with mini clothespins.

Using confetti I made pretty little see through packets with small glassine bags and closed with washi.Using the same washi tape I adhered it to the mini clothes pin.

Using burlap I cut out a mitten and stocking, and made little pockets to stick instructions in.

And here it is all done. It would be easy to change out envelopes or packets each year to update. I can't wait to use it this year for Christmas.

~Becks

candy cane christmas...

Another month has come and gone and we're having another Linky Party over at the Crafty Secrets blog. I hope you all will join in for your chance to win a $50 gift certificate to Crafty Vintage Girl store and every one who enters gets a $6 gift certificate just for playing along. All you have to do is create something magical using fabulous Crafty Secrets products!

Today I'm gearing up for my Christmas dinner and one of my favourite things is the table setting. I think it's the best part of the meal. This year I've made candy cane place settings. I've seen these all over Pinterest, from simple to fancy and I've decided to try it out today.

Start by gathering all of your supplies:

Gather the three candy canes and form a tripod. I used washi tape to keep them together. You could use glue, but if you plan on eating the candy canes after it's easy to peel them apart if using washi.

 Wrap the doily around the journal card and add a snowflake with 3D tape. Add a chalkboard label on top with more 3D tape. Decorate with wooden snowflakes.

Tie a ribbon around the top of the candy canes and add some tinsel twine.

All ready to be labelled with some chalk and set on the table. I can't wait! It's so easy to do any theme for your table.

Be sure to check out the rest of the team:)
Vicki Chrisman (Team Leader)

Michele Kovack

Darlene Pavlick

Melissa Bove

Sheila Rumney

Kathy Clement

Elizabeth Lincoln  

Cherry Nelson


Happy Holidays!
~Becks

 Supplies used:
CS Christmas Image and Journal Notes
Ivory and Black Christmas Paper from CD 6

prepping for the season...

It's the time of the year I love... Christmas is approaching and I always seem to have a crafty list as long as my arms. So many great ideas to put into play. Maybe one of these years I'll get a good jump start on the season and complete all of my lists.

On the top of my last few lists has been doing a December Daily. I love the whole idea, yet I'm never on top of things enough. This year I've tried to get started and am making progress. I envision a shabby chic, pages of all sizes and shapes, envelopes decorated and stuffed with journal and great embellishments.

To get started I've used some bits and bobs I had left over from my Crafty Secrets Christmas Cd's 5(Retro) and 6(Vintage) Christmas,  and created some journal tags to put into clear pockets. They were so much fun to create using all my leftover scraps. I hardly throw anything away, and it's paid off here:)

Using some dies, twine and buttons along with half pearls and some stickers its easy to create oodles of these. Pennants of all shapes, sizes and colours are seperated by some 3D tape and layered on top of one another.

For these I chose to repeat colours, patterns and shapes so they all have some uniformity throughout my journal. I hope to pop back soon with some other pages of my December Daily album.

Until then my friends!
~Becks.

rustic Christmas... Crafty Secrets Linky Party

I love decorating for Christmas. This year I'm continuing with a rustic theme and so this month for the Crafty Secrets Linky Party I decided to make a hanging mobile for the door. I've used the ivory and black music paper from CD #1

Start by cutting out one large and four small stars. Score each point to opposite valley to create a 3D effect. Distress each of the peaks and around the edge of the star. Put some hot glue on the back of the star in the centre to keep the star from flattening out.

 Punch a hole in all but the top point of the star and one hole in the top of each of the smaller stars. Tie a knot in three pieces embroidery floss or twine and loop through each of the holes on the large star, with the knot hidden on the back side of the star.

 Add jingle bells, snowflakes and small stars to each of the thread and secure with a knot on the bottom.

Add mini bows, pine cones and embellish how you like. Hang and admire your handiwork:)

Be sure to link up your creations using Crafty Secrets products to the blog for your chance to win a gift certificate to CraftyVintageGirl shop. And be sure to visit our new DT member Cherry Nelson and welcome her to the team!

Vicki Chrisman (Team Leader)

Michele Kovack

Darlene Pavlick

Melissa Bove

Sheila Rumney

Kathy Clement

Elizabeth Lincoln  

Cherry Nelson 

Cheers!
~Becks

tic tac toe...TSTR #141

Hello Lovelies!

This week over at The Shabby Tea Room, I have the pleasure of being your host and I have a fun challenge for you all. This week I ask that you use
                               
              * A LINE FROM THE TIC-TAC-TOE BOARD(ACROSS, DOWN, DIAGONAL)
              * COLOURS FROM THE PHOTO.
              * MAKE SURE TO LIST WHICH LINE YOU USE IN YOUR POST.

I chose to use the middle line across: Embossing, gems/pearls and ribbon, and used the red, green and white from the photo to create my holiday card.

Bugaboo Stamps and Paper Sweeties are our two sponsors this week and I used Candy Cane (Bugaboo) and "You're a Superstar (Paper Sweeties) Play along and you could win 7 digital images from Bugaboo and one stamp set from Paper Sweeties.

For my 'ribbon' requirement I chose to add a woven wreath and decorate with half pearls.. I printed the candy canes as small as I could and then added them to the bottom of my wreath. I used an impression plate to add subtle dry embossing to my background. Don't you think that sentiment from Paper Sweeties just says it all? Holidays are happy days in my books.

 I'm curious to see what all the DT girls have come up with for this challenge. I hope you will play along with us this week! The Shabby Girls are:

                          Debbie- Deb's Simple Treasures

                          Lenet- To Scrap or Not to Scrap

                          Rebecca- Paper Primrose

                          Tracey- Trace Elementz

                          Starr- The Paper Chase
Happy Monday!
~Becks

sweet shabby Christmas...TSTR #140

It's time for another Shabby sweet challenge set for us by Lenet over at The Shabby Tea Room blog! This week we are to use:

 

                                            *COLOURS FROM THE PHOTO
                                            * MAKE IT SHIMMER

Our sponsors this week are Frost it Pink and Janet's Digital Papers (Etsy). We all got to work with Christmas Circles. Play along with us and our winner will receive a $50 gift certificate to Frost it Pink and our TTT will each win 3, 2 or 1 digital collage from Janet.

I chose to do my version of a CAS card.. I knew I wanted it to be glittery... Janet's circles were just the right size for the middle of my snowflake.. I was just taken with that gorgeous Santa image.. *swoon*

I'm going to stop by the rest of the team blogs to see what they all created this week. Won't you join me, and play along with our challenge this week.

                          Debbie- Deb's Simple Treasures

                          Lenet- To Scrap or Not to Scrap

                          Rebecca- Paper Primrose

                          Tracey- Trace Elementz

                          Starr- The Paper Chase
See you in the Tea Room!
~Becks

Crafty Secrets November Linky Party...

Hey there!

Today marks my first post as part of the Crafty Secrets DT! Over at Crafty Secrets blog we are having our November Linky Party Challenge.. Our theme is Christmas and I'm here to share my project with you!

I used papers from the Crafty Secrets Christmas CD5 to create my stocking and for the background.. Originally the paper for the background was blue, but I went into Photoshop and changed the hue to get it to just the right colour for me. What I love about the digital files is that you can change each of them to suit your needs! An endless amount of patterned papers:) After I got the right colour I simply printed and cut to size!

For my stocking I simply printed out an 8.5x11 sheet and traced a hand drawn stencil(thanks mama) and fussy cut it out. I hand stitched along the edges, then it was all about layering on the goodies! I used some old trim to add a cuff, heel and toe piece to my pretty paper stocking. LOVE the pattern paper!

 I used an embossing plate to add a little detail then added some stitching as well. The stocking rests on a crocheted star doily.

Whats a stocking without presents? I used some paper scraps I had lying around and tied with some twine and embossing thread..Made a sweet little candy cane out of a pipe cleaner to add to the red and white theme. The bow rests on one of my handmade snowflake doilies.

I hope you will join us for our Linky Party over at the Crafty Secrets blog! Just create something using Crafty Secrets products and you could win a $50 Gift Certificate for Crafty Secrets! We'd love to see what you've created:) I'm off to visit the rest of the team. Won't you join me?

Crafty Secrets Design Team:

Vicki Chrisman (Team Leader)

Michele Kovack

Julie Campbell

Darlene Pavlick

Happy Crafting!
~Becks

the stockings were hung...

...by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

Well neither stockings nor chimney have I, but the tree lights gleam and bounce off the bright round ornaments.. The house is quiet as I watch the sun rise. I'm most often the first one up on Christmas day. I love the quiet and calm of the house and the world before the festivities begin. I love being the first one up to start making pancakes while everyone is still snug in bed. One of my most favourite traditions.

 This year is no exception. I'm the first one up. The pets are roaming around. My guy is sleeping soundly, only just come home from work a few short hours ago. The house is cozy and warm as I wait on my dough to rise.

Just thought I'd pop in with one last Christmas card. Perhaps one of my favourite ones this year. Loving the rusty style jingle bells and all the red and white. I'm hoping to re create this next year and shabby it up.
I hope that your Christmas day is full of good times spent with family and that you create wonderful memories!
Happy Holidays!
~Becks

letters to santa...

Some of my fondest memories as a child around Christmas time was the yearly letter to Santa. I remember eagerly anticipating my mom bringing home the special papers to write our letters on. See, when I was a kid Santa would read our letters on t.v. I don't remember him ever reading my letter or my sisters, but it was fun to sit in front of the t.v. at 4:30 and listen to Santa in hopes he would get to our letters.

He would sit by the window at the North Pole in a big old chair, with oodles of presents around him and the snow falling outside the window. He was big and jolly; as Santa should be, and would read the letters out of a sack by his feet. Its funny how all these years later I can still see him clearly in that scene. His twinkling eyes and red cheeks, big full beard and his glasses perched upon his nose... good memories.

Of course back then it was all about material things, I love that I can look back and remember that. What new toy everyone wanted, asking Santa for it in hopes it would appear under the tree. Now years later I couldn't care less what's under the tree, but who's sitting around it with me. I think we were too little to actually grasp the concept, but I do remember being surrounded by grandparents and cousins, aunts and uncles eating good food and having a good time. Appreciating what we had and realizing there were others out there not so fortunate.

These cards are a tribute to those letters to Santa all those years ago. That feeling of wonderment and believing. I remember the year I found out there wasn't a Santa, courtesy of an older sibling of a friend.. I think it was too soon, now that I think about it. Such a shame that a part of the magical feeling of Christmas was gone. I hope one day when I have children of my own to keep that belief alive as long as possible.. there's few things in life that hold such a magical feeling as Santa and Christmas did back then.

Wishing all of you and yours a very Merry and Magical Christmas!
~Becks

snowflakes falling...

...on my head. I'm of course singing it to the tune of 'Raindrops falling on my head'. I love when it snows. I could watch it for hours just falling. Silent and peaceful. I'm hoping for a snowy Christmas.

 Snowflakes are one of my go-to stamps for cards at Christmas time, and I'm popping in today to show a few I did for very special customers this year.

I wanted to capture the feeling of looking out the window as the snowflakes fall. I spritzed Glimmer Mist over the card.. it had a wonderful shimmer in real life. My heat gun got a workout recently with all the heat embossing I did.

 Kept these cards clean and simple..Once again I turned to kraft and white, loving the pop of dark green ribbon.. some of the prettiest cards are the simplest. I upcycled an old card from Christmas' past to cut out the mat stack(PTI). It had a wonderful embossed image on it that I just couldn't pass up.
Are you all ready for Christmas? 2 days left. I can't wait :)
Be back soon!
~Becks