Holiday Card Throwback #7: Snowmen in the Forest

Here's another throwback from 2017 by Gina K.  Even if you don't have this stamp set, you probably have similar stamps in your stash.  I love mixing and matching stamps from different sets to make something fun and creative!  This video is a bit on the long side, but Gina teaches some simple, useful techniques, so I think it's well worth the time.  I hope you like it, and thanks for following my Holiday Throwback Series!

Potholder Organizer

Today I have a guest blogger whom I've asked to share a project she made earlier this week.  It's my daughter Haley (14), and she made this adorable potholder organizer in Girl Scouts this week. Take it away, Haley!

Hey everyone!

So, holidays.  Stressful time, am I right?  The time of year everything's on sale and you end up arguing with a middle age mom over the last monster high doll on the shelf.  Wouldn't it be so much easier to get presents anyone can enjoy, without sticking to the usual gift cards and socks?

Well, that's where this little beauty comes in.

That, my friends, is a portable organizer made from a potholder, six plastic baggies, a button, and a (Totally optional) piece of ribbon.

This makes a great present in sooooo many ways.

1.  Super affordable.  Just one trip to the local dollar store gives you everything you need.

2.  Simple to make.  If you can sew and/or use a hot glue gun, you can make this no problem.

3.  You can customize it to suit everyone on your list.  Use a potholder in someone's favorite color, decorated with flowers for a pick-me-up, or even drawn on by hand with some sharpies.

4.  Useful for anyone.  Your teenage daughter can use it for makeup and hair ties, the family workaholic can store metrocards and cash, your well meaning but kinda nutty aunt can use it for coupons and little candies, etc.

So now that I'm done gushing about how great a gift this is, let's dive into the materials and steps.

MATERIALS

1 Potholder (Super easy to find at the dollar store, ranging in colors and patterns from solids to snowflakes)

1 button (Again, super easy to find.  If, on the off chance, you can't buy one, just take the spare that every button up garment comes with.  Shhhhh, nobody will notice...)

Needle and thread and/or a hot glue gun (I recommend sewing the button and hot gluing the baggies and ribbon, but if you only have one or the other you can make it work.)

6 snack baggies (  If you don't have a box of these in your house, reconsider your life choices and buy a box.  Maybe two.  Definitely two.  Yes, you do need that many.  Trust me.)

Ribbon (Optional, mainly just used to pretty up the finished project.  If you don't have any, no biggie.)

INSTRUCTIONS

1.  Take your potholder and fold it in half, design (If any) facing out.  See where the loop is resting on the potholder (For me it was Santa's boot)?  Mark that with chalk or something.

2.  Sew or glue your button to the marked spot.  Don't worry about being super exact, but make sure the loop can fit over the button securely.  Congrats, you've made the closure!

3.  After reveling in your victory, flip the potholder over.  This is where the baggies will go.

4.  Sew or glue the bottoms of the baggies together in two groups of three.  Tip:  Use a low setting for the hot glue gun.  Not only will it reduce any plastic melting, but you'll spare your fingers a mighty deal of pain in case of any mishaps.

5.  Now to glue or sew them into the potholder.  Take your groups and put one on either end of the potholder, openings facing out.  You can glue them with a little space in the middle or completely together.  If sewing, sew only through the first layer of the potholder.

6.  If you'd like, sew or hot glue a piece of ribbon between the baggie clusters.

7.  Pat yourself on the back for your hard work and reward yourself with a bowl of popcorn and a netflix marathon.

There you go!  A great gift for everyone on your list!  And a homemade one to boot!  

Happy holidays, everyone!  :)

Thank you so much, Haley!  I'm sure you have inspired us all to make some of these adorable - and affordable - organizers for holiday gifts this year.

Project Life: Incorporating the Holidays

Hi everyone!  Do you do Project Life?  Do you wonder how to include the holidays in your layouts?  I have some ideas for you in my latest article for Scrapjazz.

*********************************************************************************

One of the things I like the most about Project Life is that it frees me to document the common, everyday happenings in our lives.  Since I started Project Life, I've been able to capture moments like my son helping his sister with her homework, my children playing a video game without arguing, and seeing a package of cookies that took me back 40 years to when I was a little girl in my grandmother's store.  These are the things that I want to remember, and that I want my family to remember as well.  But what about the big events, such as birthdays, weddings, and holidays?

Like many other scrapbookers who are doing Project Life, I still scrapbook single events and holidays in separate albums; however, I do want to include some photos in my monthly Project Life layouts as well.  That can present a challenge for some of us, and here is how I've decided to handle this challenge.

 

The first thing I did was decide which pictures I would include.  Since I had already made the Christmas layout in our holiday album, I wanted to use some of the ones that I didn't use for that layout.  Then I chose some of the everyday photos that I had taken during December.  After trimming them down to (or printing them in) the sizes that I wanted to use in my layout, I moved on to selecting my papers. 

I decided on the Season's Greetings collection by Echo Park, and I added cardstock in matching colors.  Although the turquoise cardstock isn't in the patterned papers, I thought that adding a pop of blue would add a wintry touch to the layout without it being overwhelmingly "Christmas."  I love the contrast that it adds.

For my title, I used white cardstock and stamped "December" in a matching blue ink.  I used the same white cardstock, plus a scrap of vellum, for my journaling.  I added some of the stickers from the Season's Greetings collection, a few flowers from my stash, and a couple of strips of washi tape.

So there you have it:  my solution to the challenge of how to include the holidays in your Project Life layouts.  Combining both seasonal and non-seasonal supplies makes it easy to mix holiday and everyday photos smoothly, so that they complement each other and result in a balanced spread that is fun to look at.

Need a little Christmas Cheer?

Here ya go!  Enjoy!

The Ellen Show Visits Michael's

I'll have more Christmas Cheer very soon, so don't forget to stop by!