Day 9 - Teacher's Holiday GIft

I always to love to spoil my kid's teachers this time of year with some sweet treats and a gift card to their favorite place, but being a scrapbooker, I can't just give a plain old gift card! So I've come up with an easy gift card holder that you can attach to a mug, a plant, a plate of cookies, or whatever you might want to give your favorite teacher!

Gift Card Holders by Lisa Dickinson

Lily Bee Supplies:

     Jingle Patterned Papers: Peppermint, Garland, Tinsel, Mistletoe

     Jingle Stickers

Here's a step-by-step to create these card holders:

1. Cut a strip of patterned paper 2.75" x 6.25".  Score at the 4" line and fold.

 

2.  Cut another piece of paper to 2.75" x 4" and adhere it behind the flap you just folded. (Technically, this step isn't necessary if you're using 2-sided patterned paper, but I like to add the extra layer of paper to give the holder a bit more weight.)

 

3.  Stitch around all four sides of the card which will create a pocket from the folded flap.

 

4.  Round the top corners of your card holder.  Then use a die-cut machine or punch to make snowflakes to adorn your card holders. Christmas trees, stars, or snowmen would also be cute!

 

5.  Layer your die-cut shape with a sticker on the non-pocket side of your card.  I adhered mine using foam adhesive to give it some dimension.

6.  Punch a hole in the top edge, add some twine, and slide your gift card into the pocket!

 

7.  Attach your tag to any assortment of small gifts - a coffee mug, a stack of notepads, or a bundle of new pens.  And wish your teacher a very happy holiday!

 

BUT HERE'S THE BEST PART!  To make your holidays a little happier, too, we're giving away a Jingle Collection set to one lucky reader!  Just leave a comment on this post before Monday, December 12, at 12 noon (PST.)  We'll drawn one name as a winner and post their name on the blog that day.

Happy Scrapping (and holidays, too!)

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Day 8: A Do-It-Yourself Christmas Tree

I am constantly inspired by all that I see on Pinterest, and when I saw this Christmas tree made from recycled wood, I knew I could put my own spin on it using the gorgeous Jingle collection.

Here is what I made.




When I showed the project to my husband, he thought the cedar shims he had in the basement would be perfect. Sure enough, 5 minutes later he had snapped the pieces into the shape of a tree.

First I sprayed each piece of wood with Glimmer Mist, in essence "staining" each piece. As it dried I cut strips of paper to fit each piece and inked the edges with chalk ink. Then using Glitter Mod Podge (AKA my newest obsession), I attached each piece to the wood. Finally I used Elmer's Wood Glue to attach the pieces to one center wooden piece.

Here is a view from the back. I am going to hang it using one of those 3-M strips. It's super light!



Here are a few close-ups:

See how shimmery the Mod Podge is? I covered this chipboard piece with patterned paper.



I liked the rough edges of the wood, so I tore the end of the paper to match the feel of the rough wood.






And again, the final product.



Products Used:

Jingle Mistletoe
Jingle Merry & Bright
Jingle Peppermint
Jingle Tinsel
Jingle Frost
Jingle ABC Stickers

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Day 1 - Lucy's Christmas Memories

ETA: We have a WINNER!

Congratulations, Kristin! Please email me with your mailing info, milesofpaper [at] gmail [dot] com. We'll have more giveaways coming soon!


Welcome to Day One of our 24 days holiday inspiration where we'll have something new to inspire you every day from now until Christmas. Of course it wouldn't be Christmas without presents, so we're throwing in some give aways too - starting with one today!

To get the ball rolling, I've created a memory box for my eldest daughter Lucy. Lucy really loves writing in her diary at the moment so I thought it would be nice for her to have a special place to record her holiday memories.

This was so quick and easy to make I thought I'd include some step by step instructions for you too...

To start, I made a basic origami box (you can find some easy instructions here) and reinforced it by tucking in some thick card stock before folding each side.

Then I made three memory tags, each on a different theme, using the same basic design for each.

To start, cut a piece of black card stock 5" x 4", one piece of patterned paper 4" x 2.5" and another 8" x 4". Attach the small patterned paper to the card stock and fold the longer piece in half and place an eyelet in each.

Stick the 8" x 4" paper to the tag so the fold lines up with the end of the tag to make a flap. Cut another smaller piece of patterned paper and stick it under the flap for journalling.

Use stickers, alphas and index journalling tags to embellish the inside of your tag and include a spot for a photo to be attached later.

Embellish the front of your tag by layering paper, stickers and index cards. The Jingle sticker sheet has some great titles you could use to create the topic for each tag. For this one I've used some of the banner stickers to create Christmas trees to tie into the trimming the tree theme.

Thread some string around the tag and through the eyelets, tying them together to keep the flap closed. I've attached the string to the back of my tag with masking tape and then finished it off by placing another piece of card stock over the top.

and that is one tag done! I've made two more using the same steps, one for Lucy to record the presents she receives...

and one for photos of the day itself...

[Lily Bee Products Used]

Jingle - Cranberry

Jingle - Mistletoe

Jingle - Tinsel

Jingle - Egg Nog

Jingle - ABC Stickers

Jingle - Mixed Cardstock Stickers

Jingle - Index Journalling Cards

Memorandum - 6 x 6 Mini Tablet

And for the giveaway... leave a comment on this post by Monday 4 December and we'll draw one name at random to receive a Jingle Collection Kit!

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Scheduled fun - a step by step...

I'm sharing a step by step for one of my layouts today - I always love seeing how other scrappers go about putting their pages together, hopefully you guys do too! This is my layout, using a mix of the Memorandum and Head over Heels lines.

My youngest daughter had a playdate recently and she and one of the other girls spent an hour on the phone planning what they would do, down to the minute! They stuck to the schedule too - it was super cute and I couldn't resist turning it into a layout.

Instructions.

First up, cut out the two roses from the bottom of the Swoon patterned paper, leaving the title strip below. Layer this on top of some muslin and black card stock and machine stitch it all together messily.

Next cut down a piece of white card stock to 11 1/2" square, ink heavily around the edges and mat it onto a piece of black cardstock. Do the same for two pieces of patterned paper, one 8 1/2 x 9" and the other 6 1/2 x 4 1/2" and doodle a messy line around the edge of each with a black journalling pen. Cut some strips of Kraft cardstock and use the same border punch - and please ignore the orange semi-circles, they ended up in the bin somewhere around step 4 lol...

Once you're happy everything is in the right spot, mark the placement of each element with soft pencil marks then separate the papers and splatter them randomly with black ink.

Put the papers back together using the pencil marks as a guide and stick them down. Use foam tape between each piece making sure to leave enough room around the edges to slot things under later.

Now to build the first cluster. Cut out one of the smaller roses from Swoon, choose a couple of stickers and mat them onto black and use a die cut machine or punch to make leaves out of patterned paper and Kraft. Also grab a scrap of muslin, a safety pin, some string and another smaller strip of scalloped black cardstock. Build the cluster by placing the larger items at the bottom and working your way up. Add some foam tape between each layer and trim any unseen parts of the stickers to use in your other clusters. Thread the string through the safety pin, drape it over the cluster and add a few drops of clear drying glue to keep it in place.

Once you're happy with the first cluster it is just a case of using smaller pieces of the same elements to create the second and third.

Try and mix things up a bit by using the elements in different ways, such as using the string to tie the rose and leaves together rather than threading it through the safety pin but try not to add any new pieces.

All that's left now is to add the title, journalling and fill out the background with some small touches. Use a black pen to lightly trace over some of the gridlines on the Payday paper, punch some small butterflies and glue some tiny scraps of muslin randomly over the page.

And we're all done!

If you have a go at a layout based on this step by step, please do load it to our Facebook page, I'd love to have a look!

Lily Bee Supplies

Patterned Paper:

Memorandum - Payday

Head over Heels - Swoon

Head 0ver Heels - Dreamy

6x6 Tablet

Head over Heels - Crush

Head over Heels - Courting

Mixed Cardstock Stickers

Head over Heels

Other

Cardstock, punches, muslin, string, safety pin, ink, lettering

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