Merry Christmas!

 

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!  I thought I would share a few pictures from our Christmas Day.  These are the cookies we made and decorated for our Christmas Party!  I am practicing so I can get better at this!!

My sisters and I got together and made the lantern below to give as favors on Christmas.  Each one is a little different.   

My sister, Rochelle, made the train below for a center piece!  I think it is so adorable. I want to make one too!  She says it isn't hard to make at all.  You can find the tutorial below from Mixed Up Crafts.  I love her blog!

https://mixedupcraft.com/2018/11/12/santas-candy-train/ 

Our Grandson, Ezra, got a big surprise on Christmas morning!  His family now has a fabulous ATV.  He can't wait to get home to drive it!!

Here's Ezra's dad with his Christmas sweater.  The stockings are removable.  I love this sweater!!

This was the best Yankee swap today! My brother in law ended up with it and he promptly put it on his toilet.  I love this too!

I wanted to show my favorite gift this year.  This is Tim Holtz's storage cart.  I put it together myself.  I can't wait to use it!  I am sure I will feel more organized with this fabulous gift. 

I had a fabulous Christmas with the family.  These are just a few pictures of some of the fun!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas too.  I also hope the new year is full of fun and excitement- Happy New Year!!

Christmas 2018

Can you believe Christmas is just around the corner?  We put up most of our Christmas decorations after Thanksgiving!  The Manger above is my most favorite!  This year, for my birthday, I got the 3Wise men.  I love this Willow Tree nativity scene. 

I thought I would show you my Christmas card for this year!  The deer are from Stampin Up's Dashing deer set.  What I love most about this card is the shading used for the back ground.  I used the brushes below - which are new to me!  I found them on Amazon and they are fabulous.  I think they are easier to use than the Tim Holtz's brushes.   Now, they are advertised as makeup brushes but they are great for shading craft inks- you can't use Stazon or any ink like that but your Tim Holtz inks and Stampin Up inks work fine.  I watched a video about them-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=s3IJZTlOriA

I have posted pictures of the large Lanterns I made for Christmas.  But I have been working on making smaller lanterns for putting candy inside.  I made 2 mid sized lanterns and one mini lantern.   Sam, from Mixed Up crafts did a great tutorial for the mini lantern!  You can check that out here-

https://mixedupcraft.com/2018/11/08/mini-lantern-tree-decorations/

You can see the size difference below-

I think this one below is my favorite!

I will end my post with a picture of our living room with the Christmas decorations up!  It's going to be a busy month- so if I don't get a chance to do another post- I want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!

Christmas Lantern

The Christmas Fair is over and it was a big success!  What a fun day we had at the Italian Heritage Center!  Not only did we sell some things but we met a lot of wonderful people!  Can't wait to do it again next year!

The picture above is something we did not have at the fair but my sister, Rochelle, found the tutorial on Pinterest.  We three sisters got together and made the lanterns.   It makes a lovely lighted lantern that is not hard to make.  I love the size of the lantern too!  Check out the wonderful tutorial below from Mixed Up Crafts.  She makes it so easy!!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/48835977195758027/

Here's a few more pictures!

I finished this Lantern with some embellishments.  I made the toy soldier from Punch Art. 

We used taller tea lights so you could really see the glow of light. 

On the Lantern below,  I added a red trim around the windows.  The vellum in all the windows can be dry embossed with your folders.  I used the snowflake folder below. 

Here is a picture of the Lanterns with tea lights on-

I wanted to add a few pictures of our set up at the craft fair...

Love our signage!  My sister, Connie, designed and made the sign.

You can see my brother-in-law, Russ in the photo below.  He was a big help in setting us

our display!

Love this picture of my sisters below!  I have the light blue apron on!  It was such a fun day!  If I don't post before Thanksgiving- I want to wish everyone a fabulous Thanksgiving day!  Eat lots of turkey!

Italian Heritage 2018 Christmas Craft Fair

We are in the home stretch for our Christmas Fair at the Italian Heritage Center in Portland this Saturday!  My sister's and I have had a lot of fun getting ready for this event!  The picture above is one of the lighted frames we will be selling !!!  I love this stamp set from Stampin Up!!  Below 

is the stamp set from... I think it's from My Favorite Things but don't quote me.   Anyway, I think the elves are adorable.  I made a Card in a Box card with these cuties!  

The wood grain paper is from Stampin Up.   I did add more decorations and a sentiment on the back but forgot to take a picture of the completed card... bummer...

I am laughing at these  next pictures!  When we were in Florida, I would go for a walk almost everyday.  In March, I would pass these trees and they were dropping these gorgeous Pine Cones!  I thought they were the perfect shape for these Gnome ornaments!

I added a hanger to these so they could have from your tree! I did use glitter on their "beards".  We will see if these will sell.  But I think they are a hoot!!  If they don't sell- they will be on my tree for sure!!

In order to keep this post from being TOO long...I have just thrown up some pictures of some of the stuff for sale.  We set up our display in my sister's basement so we could get an idea of what it will look like at the fair.   This Friday, we take it all down and set it back up at the Heritage Center.  Take a look-

Anyone for Snowman Soup?

These corks are from my sister,  Rochelle.  She sure has a lot of them!  Says they are from several years... ahuh…!

Love these no sew wreaths!  Really fun to make!

The birch logs are from our back yard.  My hubby cut them and then drilled the opening for the candles.  I have a set I use every year!

Finally, we made these cute Music boxes.  Graphic 45 paper was used on the particular box and it has a Christmas tune.  I love doing Craft Fairs- we get to meet a lot of people -like the  other vendors and the people who come to shop.  I am sure this will put us in the Christmas spirit!  Take care!

Christmas Fair continued

October is getting away from me!  I thought I would show you some of the projects I have been working on in my craft room.  My sister's and I are doing the Italian Heritage Christmas Fair the first weekend in November.  We are all busy making items for the fair.  These pictures are of the Advent Calendar we each made.   I used a lot of Graphic 45 papers. 

You have to check out Dawn's tutorial!  She does a great job of explaining how to make them.  Now, 

I have to be honest …. we bought the boxes instead of making them.   I think we got them from Amazon.   They weren't expensive at all.   But Dawn does show you how to make them and put the calendar together.  

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/48835977195503771/

Here is where you can see I have attached the numbers. It really was fun to make!

I made some cute Magnets for your refrigerator !  I saw these cute sayings and just had to 

use my little Chef from MFT Recipe for Happiness.  I love using this collection.   

You can see- I also used Stampin Up's apron die and Lawn Fawn's oven from the Sprinkled with Joy set. 

After I made the Magnets, I decided to use them in a Shadow Box.  It would be nice to

hang in your kitchen. 

The card below is one of my favorite. It's from Stampin Up's Night in Bethlehem.  I have seen it all over Pinterest and so I had to try it.  It is so lovely! 

I did the card in white with a navy background. 

Then I tried it in silver with Stampin Up background paper. I loved

them both!

I used Stampin Up's Lots of Labels to make the base of the card.  

Just love how it came out. 

My last picture is of the recycled Wine Corks that I made.  I made a necklace ( what a hoot to wear wine  cork) a couple of Key Chains and Lanyards.  I have made about a dozen in total.  But on the very last one- when closing one of the jump rings - the tool I use  slipped and split open my thumb.  Not a very big cut but did it bleed!  I did it a couple of days ago and it's still sore!!!

So you can see I have been very busy!!  Still plenty of project to complete!  The weather here has been crazy.  Cold and then in the 70's.   I think it has settled down and seems to be staying in the 50's.  The leaves are just beautiful.   I do really love fall in Maine!   Enjoy!