Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Shimmer Paint Paper Tutorial Video

You can make GORGEOUS Christmas cards by creating your own shimmer paint paper and creating ornaments using punches and die cuts. This is a simple WOW technique that I did last year for Christmas on a website. Lucky for you, I retain all rights to my videos and creations, so I can share it here on my blog. Have fun creating!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Portland Head Light Gingerbread

This year, we made Portland Head Light our of gingerbread.  Here is the final product.  If I get a chance, I will upload pictures of the entire process.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Christmas Crazies?

Every year, I have to remind my hubby that the children will not die and Christmas will not be ruined if the they only get one gift.  Jesus was God and He only received 3 gifts.   That aside, if they got nothing, they would be okay.  Are you caught up in the Christmas Crazies? 

Christmas can be difficult for many folks. Often times we put ourselves through unnecessary stress over gift giving.  I am guilty of it, as well.  It is difficult not to get caught up in the Christmas hullabaloo.  So-in-so is getting you a gift, so you feel compelled to return the favor.  We've had to learn to be frugal and give handmade gifts.  This year, I have made altered notebooks and hand-stamped cards for people on our gift list.  I also give small scrapbooks and baked goods.  Of course, at some point, your list could just continue into infinity--- We have so many people that we'd like to give a gift, but we simply cannot afford it.

A friend told me about writing IOUs for gifts.  What a neat idea!  Kids can write things such as, "IOU an hour of quiet"  "I will empty the dishwasher without complaining", so forth and so on.

As we are in the last week of Advent, we are trying to focus on the true meaning of Christmas- the birth of Christ.  Sometimes, we have to step away from the Christmas craziness to find Him.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Batik Cards

I had so much fun creating cards  handmade cards using the Batik technique.  This is one of my favorite creations.

To see a tutorial video on how to create using Batik, it will be my video next week (December 14, 2010) on Tuesday's Techniques.