Elf on the Shelf

Two years ago my aunt gave us this

for Christmas, and so began the tradition with our beloved elf, Wilfred.

This year, I think the little elves at the North Pole have spent their summer learning how to be silly and mischievous little critters.  Or maybe they all sat on their computers and browsed through Pinterest.

Here's what I mean:

The wait is over; Wilfred announces his arrival on the kitchen chalkboard.

After dumping some trash on the floor, Wilfred plays "garbage man" and drives around trying to clean it all up.

There's nothing like reading a good Christmas story in the wee hours of the night.

Ahhh, chillaxing in a tub of mini-mallows after a long trip back from the Pole.

It snowed, it snowed!  Let's make snow angels {on the kitchen counter with some powdered sugar}!

Wilfred vs the Santas!

Looks like we know who's winning.

Wilfred gets in some writing practice.

What a cute little student.

Scrabble, anyone?

The boys wake early each morning to see what this crazy little elf has been up to while they slept.  Can't wait to see what else he has in store for us!

Scrapbook Heaven December Reveal

I've been working feverishly all weekend to create my projects using this month's kits.  So far I've delved into the Elite kit and am about to tear myself away from it to get moving on the Petite kit.  But first I'm taking a short breath of air to post these projects.  Hope you like them!

This is the December Elite kit:

and you can buy your very own for $24.99.

In the order in which they were created:

you can see the contents of this in my previous post

The papers in this kit really lend themselves to fussy cutting, like the string of lights above.

Couldn't resist "hanging" these ornaments from some stitched threads.

That felt flower was hand created by DT member Jules.  There are three of these beauties included in the kit.

My December challenge: hand lettering--your title, your card sentiment.  You can submit your layouts to this thread.

Absolutely love the fun colors and papers included in this kit!

I still have tons of paper left over to play with for more layouts and cards and maybe even another mini or some altered art.

December Organizer

 As part of my kit projects for Scrapbook Heaven, I decided to create a December Organizer.  Let's face it, this time of year, I can use all the organization I can get!

I started with a wooden box designed to hold 4x6 cards and painted it to match the papers in the kit.  A bit of embellishing with papers and a felt tree, and it was ready to fill:

I listed out the categories I wanted the organizer to have, and created divider cards for the box:

Here's a look at each section and what it will organize:

  a place for daily reflections on the season

 

 a place to record everyone's wishes and help me organize what I need to buy

a place to keep snapshots of our decorations

 a place to keep photos of our elf's daily crazy antics

 a place to keep the list of cards we need to send

a place to keep recipes and photos of this year's holiday treats

 

 a place to record and photograph handmade gifts

 

 I'm off to go put my organizer to good use!

Thanks for looking!

Handmade Christmas

Happy December!

It's December 1st, and for the last couple of weeks I have let the season get the better of me. 

The first stage was the denial: how could it already be Thanksgiving?  I was still mourning the end of summer. 

 Then came panic: Oh, my gosh, Christmas will be here before I know it, and I am so unprepared.  

Then the overwhelm: Christmas cards, gifts to make, stores to shop, lists to make...

And now it is December and I am vowing to enjoy this glorious month.

Lists are written, items are getting checked off, cards are started.  

This little guy arrived in the night:

And these handmade gifts are well underway.

Yup, it's going to be a glorious Christmas season filled with love, gratitude, giving, and peace.  So long stress and overwhelm; you are not welcome here!

Oh, and one more thing: have you seen this

from the adorable Jessica Sprague?  Class starts on the 5th and it's FREE!

Pinspire Me Monday: Tiered Cake Pans

 Happy Monday Thursday!  

Wish I had a good excuse as to why this is so darn late.  

It's too late to claim a turkey hangover, or to say I got tangled up in the Christmas lights.  

Really I've just been up to my tree topper in handmade projects (more on that later).  

And who knew that in late November, Massachusetts would have mild-enough temperatures to be spray painting outdoors.  Originally I had planned to do a Pinterest Recipe-Roundup for this week, but when temps hit the 60's over the weekend, I grabbed the half-empty can of spray paint and got busy on a last-minute

Here's the original from Alissa Fast:

Genius, right?  As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted it. 

So I headed to the dollar store for three different sized cake pans.  Then it was off to the wood store for some wooden candlesticks.  No luck, so I had to improvise by piecing together some little wooden gizmos.  Wish I had taken pictures of the pieces before I assembled them, but I can tell you the topper is two pieces, and the other two are made from 4 pieces each: a bell-type piece, a little rail, and two mini candle cups.

These are great for holding craft supplies, but how about make-up and perfumes in the bathroom, or jewelry on the dresser, or as a serving try at a party (minus the spray paint for that one), or the kid's little toys and figures.  Lots of possibilities with this one!

I'll be taking the rest of December off from Pinspire Me Monday so I can keep my sanity getting ready for Christmas.  We'll resume in January with more Pinspired projects.