Stamping with Kim

More, more, more!!

Only 5 days away from the fat man's visit!!!

These simple little gift card holders have been so much fun to create this year!!

These are for the adult children.  The girls get the ones with the pretty bows, the boys get the ones with the buttons & twine.

There is one more step before handing them out - I have tiny little tags similar to the SU! Jewelry Tag Punch, but slightly larger.  I attach them to the front of the cards with twine or embroidery thread.  This way they can go in the mail or be handed out in person & I keep everything straight!!

I'm getting so excited about Christmas!!  This is the first time in YEARS that we will see both of our families for Christmas!!  We will be with Steve's family on Christmas Eve, and then Christmas Day my family are all coming to our house.  I can't wait!!  My mom's arm is still in a sling so I can't wait to see how she opens her presents *wink*  Should be fun!!

Y'all be good now - Santa's watching!!! 

Gift Cards for the faint-of-heart

One thing I've learned over the past couple of years is NOT to beat myself up over not having everything perfect and everything - shall I say - "intense"??!!

This year I came up with a very uncomplicated template for all of our gift cards.  Let's see if I can explain it here --

I started with cardstock that measures 5 1/2" (basically, one sheet cut in half) and measures 3 3/4" wide.

Then I scored 1 1/2" from the bottom end.  The next step is highly technical - or not!  LOL!!  After placing the gift card at the bottom of the fold, I literally just folded the top around to the front!!  Yeah, I know, I really should've gone for that engineering degree all those years ago!

The last step is making a belly band that will hold everything together.

Easy breezy.  Especially when you use a brad & a felt snowflake!!  These can either be made with one of our Sizzix dies, or in this case, these were ones that SU! carried a couple of years ago.  Talk about easy!!

Here's what the band looks like all by itself....

That's all there is to it!!  For decorating, just choose your favorite DSP's and mix it up a bit.  It's amazing how things coordinate so well when using papers from the same packages!

These gift cards are all for the grandchildren.  I have several more to make - and will be sure to share those with you over the next few days, too!!  Above all, just have fun dressing them up a bit & don't get too overwhelmed.   Life's too short!!

Happy wrapping!!  And thanks for visiting with me today!!

 

The Finishing Touches

Today is hubby's b'day - and guess what....I didn't even make a card for him!!  It's true!  That's how far behind I am on soooo many things... sigh...

Oh well.  Sometimes you just have to let some things go.  I did get him a couple of awesome gifts AND this afternoon we're going on one of our Friday afternoon dates - to see SHERLOCK HOLMES at the theatre!!  It's opening day for the movie, and we're both excited about it.  Follow that with dinner at Outback :)  Yeah, I think he'll most likely forget about the missing card by the end of the day!!

By giving myself permission to skip the card, I'm making good use of my "home time" this morning to put some finishing touches on a few other gift projects that I've been working on....like these boxes that I first showed HERE. 

Now the boxes are filled with goodies, some confetti added, and tied up in nice little cello bags.  I love putting the final touches on little gifts like these!  I found these little retro-light ornaments at WalMart some time ago, and now they're perfect for these little treats.  Don't you think so?!!

The big day is just 9 days away!!  I hope you're having fun with your own shopping & wrapping - and take a little time to treat yourself.  Just remember....tis the season to be jolly!!!!

Happy Stamping!  Have a great weekend!!

 

Tag Time!

We had a fabulous weekend!  Not that we did anything fancy or special - in fact, we stayed home pretty much the entire weekend.  But after being gone all of last week, it was quite nice to be home & relax.  It gave me a chance to finish Christmas cards AND to start working on some tags.

What do you think of this little guy?!!  He really makes me smile! 

A couple of weeks ago we were in Greenville, SC and discovered this old-timey store called MAST GENERAL STORE.  It was so cool!  Lots of old-timey things to browse, especially candy.  YUM!!  So we picked up several boxes of these soft candy sticks - kinda like Peppermint sticks, but these were Vanilla.    OH.MY.GOODNESS!!  They are like Heaven in a stick!!  Good thing we bought several because I've already eaten a whole box myself!

Anyway - I thought these would be nice to have on hand during the holidays as a little treat for folks that you just want to say "Hey, I really appreciate you & wish you a Merry Christmas"...like my UPS man, my mail lady, my hair stylist....and even my Insurance Agent!!  Seriously - when was the last time you gave your insurance agent a treat at Christmas-time?!!  Well, now is a good time to start!!

To keep things really simple, I ripped a piece of fabric and tied a simple knot with it.  Then I made a (Sizzix) tag, stamped soft snowflakes in the background, sponged the edges & added glitter.  Next, I made the bird (Sizzix die) and layered him with Dimensionals.  I hand-drew his legs, and made his feet out of a 4-flower punch (by cutting off one of the flowers).  Lastly, I added a snowflake punch & eyelet to the top and tied on with some Wild Wasabi ribbon.  Colors are Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue & Cherry Cobbler.

These are the kinds of special and unexpected tags I love to add to a simple gift.  I think it's a way of letting the recipient know that they are extra-special to you.

Remember to take time out of your busy day to smile.  I hope my little tag helps you do just that!!

Happy Day!!

More decorations to share

Even though it took me a week and a half to decorate this tree - it's still my favorite one in the house!!  And this year, I only put HALF of the ornaments on it!

That sounds worse than it is actually - my cousin came to visit in the middle of decorating, so this tree was put aside.  Last week Steve & I were in FL all week.....so I'm just now getting some pics up to share!

This year I only put about half the ornaments on.  I was at this stage & Steve said it was perfect - so I stopped!  Job well done!!

But I can't post just this one pic without showing you WHY this is my favorite tree of them all.....

My fairies...or angels.  I'm not sure which one they are!  So I simply call them my "fairy angels".

I started collecting them 4 or 5 years ago, and now have enough to pretty much fill the tree.

That's pretty impressive considering this tree is 9' tall!

These are just a few of my favorites.  They always make me smile!!

The last one is a real DIVA.  Check out how she's posing!!

I hope your decorating is all done, too!  I have just a couple more gifts to purchase & then a whole lot of wrapping to do.  I love having extra time to wrap gifts - it gives you time to get very creative!

Hopefully my Christmas cards will be finished this weekend & go in the mail on Monday.  I did say "hopefully"!!  I have another cousin coming to visit tomorrow.  Kelly is actually interviewing for a job here in town.  I'm wishing her lots of luck!!

In the meantime, stay warm!  And thanks for visiting!!  I promise it won't be another full week before I post again!!

14 Days 'till Christmas!!