Using Sticker Negatives as Stencils

Merry Christmas in Hawaiian

Sorry for the lull in posts lately.  I've been on Maui for the last week soaking up the sun and relaxing!!  But I'm back now and have been busy unpacking and tidying up.  The babe has been running a fever and has been very sleepy so I even managed to get some crafting in.  I ran a coconut giveaway last week on my other blog:  A Real-Life Housewife and decided to paint a little message on it before sending it off.  Instead of digging out my Cricut to cut stencils, I grabbed some stickers and used the negatives.

This is a great method if you don't have a cutting machine! 

It worked great!  I was debating about drawing a rainbow next to the message but realized my painting skills are not that great and decided to keep things simple.  I hope the winner likes it!

Hop on over to A Real-Life Housewife to learn some useful household tips as well as to get to know me a little better.  You might just be inspired to clean your shower head or shine your glassware!

Free Printable Treat Bag Toppers for Reindeer Noses

Are these the cutest Christmas treats you've ever seen or what?  I got the idea from Zoe at A Personal Touch.  She used real scrap booking supplies, but I cheated and designed them in My Memories Suite.  I found the cute little reindeer clip art here and used embellishments and monograms from the software to create the rest.  I am just loving this digital scrap booking stuff!  It has come in handy for all sorts of things.  I think I may make a Christmas themed header for the blog with it next!  They just came out with Version 3 so I've been playing around with it and there are definitely some improvements!  They even fixed one of the things I complained about in my review!  There is now an easier way to find your store purchases.  And I really love that they made custom sizing available.  You can set your paper size to just about anything you want. 

   

If you would like to try it out for yourself, use code STMMMS54717 for $10 off, making it only $29.97!!  Plus this will give you $10.00 of in-store credit to buy some supplies!  This would make a great Christmas gift! 

I filled each bag with 8 Whoppers and 1 Sweet's Christmas Fruit Sour (can be purchased at Walmart).  Click here to access the free downloadable tags (via freepdfhosting.com)!  I recommend printing them on some nice paper like Premium Presentation Matte.  Once they are printed, simply cut them out on the dotted lines and fold in half.  Staple to your treat bags and you have a fun and cute little gift or favor.

Buy Handmade This Season + a HUGE Giveaway

Today I would like to introduce you to a new favorite blog of mine:

This blog showcases Etsy shops and is always giving away something.  It is easy to enter their giveaways and it is a great way to discover other handmade vendors.  Right now they have a HUGE holiday giveaway in conjunction with their Holiday Gift Guide.  Over $600 worth of handmade goodies!!  Entering is as easy as becoming a follower of their blog (don't see why anyone would not want to do this!) and leaving a comment.  So head on over to a little etsy love for some great handmade gift ideas as well as a chance to enter this awesome giveaway!!

An Unconventional Christmas Tree

200 + book pages rolled and glued to a heavy cardboard cone then attached to a wooden dowel.

And a 3D star for the topper.  If you missed the tutorial, click here.

Although the rolling and gluing were very time consuming, the hardest part of this tree proved to be the base.   My original idea of sticking the dowel in a piece of styrofoam and covering it with burlap, completely flopped.  It was top heavy.  So, I thought about it and experimented with different things and finally decided on some scrap wood I had laying around.  And guess what?  There was already a hole which was the perfect size for the dowel!! How lucky is that?  I spray painted it Rust-Oleum Metallic, sanded it down a little and my tree is now finished!  What do you think, good use of an old book?

Create Thank You Cards with My Memories Suite

Think to thank this holiday season with a simple card.

  

I designed these thoughtful gestures using My Memories Suite.  This digital scrapbooking software is not only great for documenting life's most memorable moments, but you can also make a lot of other things too-like calendars, slide shows, and cards to name a few!

To make these cards, I used the following two Designer Packs, which I got for free because I liked the My Memories FB page (get a $5.00 credit just for liking them!)

After downloading the embellishments to my computer, I opened up the software and came up with this design.  I saved it as a JPEG and inserted into Microsoft Office where I decreased the size and arranged it so that when printed it could be folded into a card.

Turned out cute, don't ya think?!  I thought the printing quality was excellent and will be designing up some more.

Use the code on my sidebar for an awesome discount! ($10.00 off purchase of software + $10.00 credit to store)

How to Make a 3d Paper Star

I was in need of a star to top a rolled paper Christmas tree I am working on, so to be all matchy matchy, I made it out of paper.  Book pages to be specific!  Are you excited to see it?  Well, it should be finished soon - just working on a few little details.  And boy will I be glad when it is done!  My fingers can't take any more rolling.  Luckily this star only involves folding, giving them a break! 

All you need are a couple of paper stars and some glue.  I used Mod Podge.

Like the pictures show, start with one star and fold it in half at each point.  This will give you 5 creases.  Then fold the star in between the points in the opposite direction you folded the points.  Do this to both stars and then glue them together.  Use them for tree toppers, ornaments, shelf decor, or whatever your heart desires.

Printable Birthday Calendar

Keeping track of birthdays can be difficult, especially when you come from a sizable family and then marry into an even more sizable family.  Between my parents, my siblings and their kids, there are 21 of us.  Combine that with 35 people on my husbands side and I have 56 birthdays to remember.  Plus 3 Grandparents and a handful of friends.  So I started searching for a system that would aid my memory, and I pleasantly stumbled upon this free printable Birthday Calendar at Lemon Squeezy.  I really like that everyone's birthdays are displayed on one page.  With a single glance I can see who's birthday is this month and how many cards I will need to get for next month.  It will make planning ahead a cinch and hopefully I won't miss any more birthdays!

Click here to print yourself one!