When I was a kid, my mom taught Sunday school and always made these cute little trees. Rich asked me why I didn’t hot glue them together and that would be a lot easier, but this is how I learned to do it, and it makes the tree pliable, and I think that’s kind of fun.

You’ll need to have several sizes of red and green buttons…I used two of the same size green that were a little larger than the next two smaller green buttons, as they make the base of the tree…Then you take your largest red button and a matching size green button and layer the next smaller size red then green button, and continue until your smallest size and put something on top for a tree topper…I used two Stampin’ Up ivy leaves. I started with two strands of green embroidery thread with a large knot on the end..I ran the needle up through the tree that I’d already laid out in order and tried to keep as many buttons on the needle as possible until I got to the top…once there, I put the two ivy charms on, then ran the needle back down through all of the buttons to the bottom, and then back up through as many of the buttons had four holes. My knot was too small, so the base of the tree came out of the thread and I had to rethread it… I knotted it near the top and put a dollop of hot glue on the very bottom and where the knot was at the top. After it was done, I ran some red and white twine through the ivy loops and created a hanger for the tree.
I bought my buttons from Joanns and they were in a package called the big bag of buttons.

I found a set of four cute headbands at the Dollar Tree and decided they would make really great bookmarks as a fast, last minute stocking stuffer for people who read books (not Kindles) or could also be used as decorated headbands.

I used buttons and button covers that I found at garage sales, but you can buy pretty decorator buttons at craft stores or from your mom’s button box, and I’ve seen large buttons at the Dollar Tree from time to time as well.

I used a double strand of embroidery thread to sew one of the large buttons on to the headband,  far enough away from the seam that you won’t see the seam when you put it on a book. I ran the needle through the button three times for each hole to ensure it stays in place then knotted it on the back.

I also used old button covers from the 1980’s, and popped the metal latch off the back with my hand, then used my hot glue gun to adhere it to the headband. If I was making this into an actual decorated headband, I would have turned the button covers side way so they hangs correctly on a girl’s head.  If you look at the one I made in the photo with Noah’s Ark, I would have turned Noah’s Ark side way for a head band as an fyi..the others would work well turned in any direction.

I made a tag using a stamp set that I bought at Oriental Trading, but unfortunately, it’s no longer available there. I used Versafine Onyx black ink and clear embossing powder and heat set it then ran a loop of ribbon through a hole I punched near the end and pulled the two ends of the ribbon through the loop and pulled them tight, then tied it to the headband.

I’ve been on a crafty bender the last couple of days, making several videos every night.  I didn’t get finished this morning until 1AM, as I was finishing my sister’s Christmas card and decided to make the most complicated, time consuming card you can imagine.  Basically I took one of my Carolyn Shores Wright Christmas bird stamps that are large and highly ornate, and decided I need to watercolor pencil them to the picture on the stamp.  It involved using around twenty colors of watercolors and took literally, hours to color.  I wouldn’t have done it more than once, I’ll tell you that much, as it looks OK, but my expectations were much higher than the results.  (Isn’t that always the way it goes.)

I wanted to make some last minute stocking stuffer ideas, so played with that idea last night as well….and I had a vision for a large wreath made only out of Dollar Tree materials, none of which are normally used for a wreath.  I really like the end result, it’s super blingy, haha.  I’m not sure if I’ll keep it or give it away, but you’ll be able to see it for yourself to determine if it’s something you’d want to try.

I made a few decorated frames that I love making, and will donate those to our local nursing homes.  I have a few more to finish, then I’m delivering my Christmas goodies.  Oh, and did I mention I made more covered note pads?  I swear those are my absolute favorite things to make.  I could play with those and different ideas as often as I’d have the materials to do so….I almost wish I could find a local store that would sell them, as they’re easy and fun to make and most of all, cute. And honestly, how many covered note pads can I give to friends and family as gifts?

I have to apologize for being so far behind on the blog.  I’ve never missed this many days in a row, and I can only chalk it up to trying to get so many things done in such a short amount of time.  I’m trying to make a lot of last minute craft videos for stocking stuffers and at the same time, realized that almost all of my Christmas stamps are on wood blocks, and I’m just sick of the space they take up…So I’ve been taking them of the wood and putting them in binders and hoping before the end of the year that I’ve finished that project.  To be honest, I can’t find any of my Christmas things, because they are all in different vintage suitcases.  I have three large ones and one small one just for Christmas things.  I need to downsize them by taking out the wood blocks and so far, I think I’ll be able to get rid of one of the suitcases, and it needs to go, as it’s falling apart.

So today, after taking a few more stamp sets of their blocks, I decided to make some stocking stuffers, and ended up making four videos.  I think at least two of the items will be things viewers will try to make and hopefully more.  I made a Christmas tree ornament out of buttons, covered small notebooks, made a Santa mirror and book marks out of hair bands from the Dollar Tree.  All of the gifts take less than 10 minutes to make, so hopefully people will be able to fit some of these ideas into their gift giving…and they are very inexpensive to make.

 

I wanted to show a video using pre-made card bases. I bought mine at Joanns, and they are simply craft cardstock with the word “Love” on them. I decided to use the “Love” on the back of the card, and wrote Sandy with a white gel pen from Uniball below. That takes the place of “This was made by Sandy Parker.”
For the front, I used scraps of gold mirror paper that fit a base that was 4″ tall by 5 1/4″ wide…these card bases are a little smaller than an A2 size card….the strips were each 1″ wide.
I had 12″x 12″ Christmas pad and used a page with Christmas packages and cut a bunch of them out, as well as a sentiment that was on another of the pages in the pad. I used the sentiment and cut it to 5 1/4″ and laid it over the gold mirror paper and centered it, and then put one of the packages over it on foam tape on an angle. I cut Merry Christmas out with a die out of the same gold mirror paper, and that was the first card.
The second card I showed on camera was gluing the packages across the front and adding glitter to the packages and putting some on foam tape so they were different heights.
The third card I made on camera is using a Stampin’ Up triple banner punch, here’s a link to one on ebay, http://tinyurl.com/y7kp2c6j. I punched scraps that were 3/4″ wide and then punched black scraps that were 1″ wide, then laid the scraps on the black paper and made sure there was a small gap at the bottom like on the sides, and layered them across the front of the card at different heights. I trimmed the ends at the top and decided I didn’t like the sentiment that I originally used on the base of the card, and added black cardstock with a white layer and onyx black ink with clear embossing powder on the “Merry Christmas” then heat set it. The white piece was about 3/4″ and the black was 1″ wide and both were 5 1/4″ long.

The 11th is Rich’s birthday, so I invited two couples that included Rich’s college football teammates for dinner and a movie.  We had a great evening of laughing and reminiscing about our youth.  When I see those men, it seems like yesterday that we were together in college.  One of them was a great friend of mine and we spent most of our sophomore year trying to get through Intermediate Accounting together.  He and I spent so much time together, and I knew his wife, though not as much as him…Through the years, he’s played in several three on three basketball tournaments with Rich, even though he lived in Maryland.  After retiring as an air traffic controller, decided to move back to this area, and we couldn’t be more pleased.  He and his wife are our movie buddies, and since we’re all retired, it’s great fun spending time together.

At the end of the evening, I looked in the mirror and my right eye was bright red.  We had just had lunch a couple days ago with close friends, and he had what looked like pink eye.  I didn’t think I had gotten close enough to him to get it, but know it’s really contagious.  I try to be pretty careful about any infections, because of my arthritis, so made an appointment with our eye doctor.  He was able to squeeze me in by mid-afternoon and before he even looked at me, said he thought he knew what it was.  I was still thinking pink eye, but no, it is some kind of side effect you can get from rheumatoid arthritis…And yes, that’s the other reason I am careful about infections…as I never know what my arthritis might have in store for me on a given day or time.  I probably should call my rheumatologist and tell her about it, because in three months I’m hoping I’ll have completely forgotten about it….

And I had wanted to finish putting stamps and mailing my Christmas cards today, but decided to rest instead.  I really want to get those in the mail, and I need to buy a bunch of stamps since they are going to significantly raise their prices in 2019.  A five cent raise on a regular stamp is the biggest single increase I can ever remember, so I’m going to buy a lot of forever stamps in regular stamps, but mainly in the ones for thicker envelopes that are currently 71 cents.  I thought I’d mention that so if any of you didn’t know about the increase, it would give you the opportunity to stock up before they raise their prices.

I am going to pressure Rich into putting up another video of mine tomorrow and I’m going to not only put stamps on my cards, but also make a couple of videos using Dollar Tree Christmas items for decorations/gifts and a planner I’ve been thinking about making all year.  I need to get those videos up before Christmas, as this small break I’ve been taking is at the wrong time of year.  January would be a better time for a small rest.

You probably thought I’d given up with cards, but I’m doing two more and then Rich is going to do one bonus card by himself…..Can’t wait for that.

I saw this technique at the stamp show I attended and will link the video to the end of this one.

Instead of using double sided craft tape, I used double sided carpet tape that you can buy at any hardware store. Here’s a link to some. http://tinyurl.com/ybt42w58
You can buy craft double sided tape and Sparkle n’ Sprinkle sells it.

I started with a card base that is 11″tall by 4 1/4″ wide and scored at 5 1/2″ on the 11″ length. I used a layer of white card stock that is 4″ wide by 5 1/4″ tall and wrapped the carpet tape around the ends of the top and bottom of my white cardstock. If you have any bubbles or wrinkles, try to rub them out before taking off the backing. You’ll also want to keep your backing paper once you remove it, to put it on the top and bottom on the back where I wrapped the carpet tape.
Before you take off your backing, you’ll want to trim the edges where you don’t have carpet tape, so cut that off. If you have a gap in the center, you’ll have to put glue in there when you are glittering that section.
The stencil I used is from Stampendous and is called Snowman Peeking and is #FMS4078 and here’s a link to it. http://tinyurl.com/ychq25p4

You’ll need to use a Hawaiian Coconut Oil Soap and rub it on the back of the stencil so it will allow the stencil to be removed from the tape. (I’m not sure if any other soap will work.) Here’s a link to where I bought it.  http://tinyurl.com/y93xuopw    Be careful of these metal stencils, as they are sharp on the edges…. Cover the whole back with the soap and remove any soap that is stuck in the lines of the stencil. Then lay your stencil on the cardstock where you want it placed. I placed mine near the bottom of the paper. Then rub it to make sure it’s attached to the paper.
The glitter spoon is the greatest for this project….we made a lot of fun of it and now I have a glitter funnel from Joanns…I used a variety of glitters from Stampin’ Up, Martha Stewart, Sparkle n’ Sprinkle and I bought a packet from Joanns for a dark green.
I started with the mouth and used the glitter spoon to put the black glitter right where I wanted it…Once the glitter filled the spot, I rubbed it, to ensure it was adhered. I did the eyes and eyebrows with black and rubbed it into them. I used red and green for the hat. I had a gap from the space between the two pieces of carpet tape, so I had to add some glue to that spot…I made sure I flattened the glue so I didn’t have a bubble of glitter. If you put the glitter in the center of the area you want to glitter, it works better to then move it with your finger to get it to the edges. If you sprinkle it near the edges, you risk having the glitter go into another section where you don’t want it…

Once you’ve covered the stencil with glitter, gently pull it away from the carpet tape. Then you’ll need to glitter the background. i used a white for the snowman and had to cover over some darker colors with white glitter and should have used a white marker to color the dark glitter where it needed to be white.
I used a blue glitter from the surround and white glitter between the layers of his hat and for his face. The blue didn’t stick well all over, so I added glue and more blue glitter and it had almost a layered look to it.
I put foam tape behind the snowman and put it on a layer of mirror paper. I had a die for Merry Christmas and cut it out of gold mirror paper and glued it to the inside of the card.

I am waiting for Rich to finish uploading one of the videos I made for days 8 and 9 of my seven days of simple cards.  But in the meantime, I’ve been busy inviting friends and buying and preparing different dishes for Rich’s birthday tomorrow.  I thought it would be nice to have a couple of our college friends and their wives for dinner and a movie, and I wanted to make a lot of Rich’s favorite foods.  He loves hot sausage sandwiches and an oriental salad I make, plus some chessy potatoes that are really yummy…..he’ll be a happy camper with a full belly once he’s eaten…I’m looking forward to it and believe it or not, never made him a birthday card…Worst wife ever….  We’ve never really been good at giving each other cards for birthdays/anniversaries, etc., and it’s odd that now I’m considered to be a card maker…

My project for tonight is to write in and address all of the cards I’ve made for this 9 day experiment, as I know so many of my viewers will appreciate getting one of them and some will keep them, which means so much to me.  I hate it that I haven’t been writing in the blog as much as I used to, but I’ve been really busy with my week of cards and trying to finish everything that needs done before Christmas..  So for that, I’m sorry..

I’ve been working really hard on finishing the last two cards I’m making for the series of easy cards.  I wanted to make one with a glittered stencil and one with scrap paper…In the end, I made two with scrap paper so there are actually ten different cards.  I’m saving the actual tenth video for Rich, and hoping he’ll make the card he promised he’d do on video about a month (or longer) ago.

I thought it would be a great Christmas present from Rich and I to our viewers to make his card, and possibly show a dog trick or two.  I guess we’ll have to wait to see if he follows through and makes the card, or if he decides he’s just not up for it.  I’m crossing my fingers that he’ll make his card.

 

I went to the doctor in Pittsburgh, and things went well there, so stopped at my favorite bakery on the way home and treated myself to some of mine/our favorites. We love to share their lemon coconut square and their bear claws are phenomenal.  I’d like to say that I know the name of the bakery, but I don’t.  It’s in Wexford, in a new development they build where they made a community of townhouses then a community of stores in the center of the townhouses.  Every time we go there, I tell Rich if we were young, we’d live in a place like that, as they make everything so convenient.  And the stores are all terrific, as are the restaurants.

So day seven card for me was a real accomplishment.  I was a little bit disappointment that it didn’t get a bigger reaction, but I really can never tell which cards will make a big hit and which will be mediocre.  I’m taking today off to rest and tomorrow I’ll be back in the craft room for at least another card.  I also want to make a new planner for 2019 as well as a couple of Christmas decorations.  I will try to make some easy gifts for Christmas as well…I know time is running out and I need to get serious about some of these ideas I have….