holiday gift giving

I can hardly believe that it is almost December ... what happened to November?

I've been so busy with so many different projects ... I really need to find some time to take pictures and start sharing. I have a bunch of freebies to add so keep posted for those soon.  Speaking of pictures ... I just bought a new camera and I seem to be going through a bit of a "learning curve" so I may not show a lot of photos to illustrate my how to's for a while. Hopefully a few good pictures will be enough. 

I just finished making my Christmas cards (70 of them) and I'm hoping to started writing inside and addressing them all by this weekend. I also designed the holiday cards for my husband's work and they are on the printing press as we speak ... can't wait to see the finished product!

I also decided to offer two more workshops in December ... I didn't think that I was going to have time but I've had a number of people ask me about projects for gift giving. So I've just added the details to my  class website . The classes are at Scrapbooking Queens and there is one this coming Sunday afternoon and another in a couple of weeks during the day while the kids are at school. We are going to make two of my charms, similar to the ones I sell on etsy and two gift containers, one is a small metal pail with a lid and the other is a metal gift card holder. Here's another picture of the projects ...

My hubby has done most of our Christmas shopping for us this year ... what a sweetie. There are a lot of gift cards so I'm going to be making a bunch of these gift containers to give as gifts myself this year.

I'll offer more classes in the new year but I haven't had time to work out all of the details yet. I really want to offer a couple of  introductory and intermediate mixed media collage workshops and I've got a great idea for a banner that I'm really excited about too. I recently designed the gift cards for Scrapbook Queens - they should be arriving in the store this week. The gift cards can be used for product in the store, crops and classes ... so they are great to ask for if you are interested in taking class and they are great to give if you want a friend or family member to take a class with you. Here's a sneak peak of my design ....

... this is the marketing piece that I made for the store to display. I can't take credit for the elements in the design ... I purchased a commercial licence for a digital kit to save time ... but the design is mine and I think that they are something that I'd like to see in my wallet!

Well that's all for now ... I'll post again this week with a holiday project that you can add to your tree.

BTW ... it's my baby brothers' (48th) birthday today ... I hope you had a great day Ted!!!



Michaels Holiday Contest

I'm so excited ... it's back again this year ... Michaels Holiday Crafting Contest! And I just entered the wall hanging (picture above) that I made as a gift for my daughter Robyn. I created a similar mixed media collage on a wooden canvas last weekend ... and it was my inspiration for making this piece. You see, as soon as I was finished making my original collage, my daughter Robyn told me that she loved it and wanted it for her room at the cottage. Making another one for the contest was easy and I now have another gift to check off my list!

 In case you didn't know about the Michaels contest - this is the second week of the contest - I think that it runs for 7 weeks. Every Monday there will be a new "challenge" and a chance to enter the contest. Michaels posts on facebook what three basic items have to be used in your project and you have until Sunday to create and upload your entry onto their facebook page.

They ask you to list your materials and how you made your project ... and I thought that I'd share with you here how I made my entry ... so here you go:

I started by glueing old book pages to the charger. Once it was dry ...

then I used acrylic paints and distressing inks to add some colour and antique the edges.

Then I used my scrapbook papers to create a design for the centre of the charger. I printed the words on my inkjet printer and left a space for the word "butterflies". The scrapbook papers were glued to the charger. I used an assortment of metal and sticker letters to spell out butterflies ... 

... I added a paper measuring tape, some lace and some Martha Stewart glitter to the inside rim of the charger. Next I used my brand new, handy dandy Martha Stewart butterfly paper punch to cut butterfly shapes from two-sided scrapbook papers ...

... I love this paper punch because you can use it anywhere on a piece of paper (not just the edges!). I scored each of the butterflies to make them a little more 3-D. Some butterflies got glitter and a few others got rhinestone bling ... little girls gotta have bling, right?!! I glued the butterflies on the charger ...

... as you can see this charger is not going to be used during Christmas dinner ... so I punched two holes at the top of the charger and added a velvet ribbon to hang.

If you click here it will take you to the Michaels facebook contest ... please click "like" if you want to vote for my project for this week's (November 15-21) challenge under the "winners and gallery" tab. There are weekly prizes for a $100 Michaels gift card (every week!) and a grand prize at the end for a crafting cruise with Jo Pearson! ... wouldn't that be cool to win?

Jo Pearson has a really cool video on how to decorate chargers that you can actually use on your table and you can see it right here!

Good luck everyone and let's get creative!

Locks of Love donation ... Luke and Kathy

Here's a little story that I wanted to share about a beautiful friend, Kathy, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and her very caring and loving godson, Luke who decided to cut his hair to raise money for cancer research and donate his hair to the Locks of Love.

Luke plays left wing with the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Today I went to the university with Kathy and Luke's mom and sister to take pictures and cheer Luke on as he cut off his long blonde locks!

 ... this is Luke before the cut ...

... Kathy and Luke's Mom getting Luke's hair ready so it could be sent off to Locks of Love afterwards ...

... Kathy made the first cut ... followed by Luke's Mom, Breann (Luke's sister) and Marlin Muylaert (Luke's head coach) ...

... and here's the "after" picture!

Luke's hair was just about 12" when it was cut ... more than long enough to donate for a wig. Luke has been taking pledges for Cancer here and I believe that he has reached his goal of $3,000. Congrats Luke and Kathy!

Luke's hair cutting ceremony is on youtube ... you can see it here.

 For anyone in the area that is interested, the Super Boobie Fairy's are hosting their 5th annual  Crop for a Cure at Scrapbooking Queens this Friday. The 24 hour crop event is to support Breast Cancer research at Princess Margaret Hospital.