The True Meaning of Christmas

The girls at Faith Sisters had a 9-day challenge going on in October. You were to make a page about each of the Christmas symbols, based on a story they had posted. I finally got around to printing the story and making my project, using a MOSD album, of course!


I used a MOSD Cover to Cover Tabbed Album, which has two clear covers and six tabbed chipboard pages. I did have to trace two extra pages from some scrap chipboard in order to finish my album. But, I had some chipboard left over from an Expressions Build-a-Book project, so I was in good shape!

I painted the edges of my covers with Cranberry alcohol ink (Tim Holtz) and white acrylic paint (Tim Holtz paint dabber). The star is Cosmo Cricket naked chipboard that I sprayed with "Gloria Glimmer Mist." (To see a tutorial on how to make your own glimmer mist, go here.) I also used a red MOSD Twirly Gig Stick-On and cut some circles with my Spellbinders Nestabilities dies.

The rest of the book contains the printed story from Faith Sisters (I used the Ali's Handwriting font downloaded for free from the CK site). I used a lot of different papers again for this project. For each Christmas symbol, I tried to find an embellishment or a stock photo to match.

Here is the inside of the front cover.

And a close-up shot of page 1.

And here are the rest of the pages.

And the back cover. Do you love that Bo Bunny Christmas tag?! I stamped the Christmas phrase on it with cranberry ink.

And a top view:

I hope you enjoyed your Christmas Holiday (or other celebration) this past week. This is my last post for 2008, so I will see you again in 2009! Have a Happy and Blessed New Year!

- Gloria

(side note - the two photos I used in this project were downloaded from the Getty Images site.)

Clearly Festive

There's something about the holidays that make me want to create. I love working with the color pallettes and adding touches of glitter where I can. My project today is a quick and easy one that can add a bit of festive flair to your home.




Here's what you'll need:
3 pages from a Clearly Designed Acrylic Easel Album
MOSD Snowflake Stick Ons in pink and blue
Large chipboard letters (I used Making Memories)
Zip Dry adhesive
Mica flakes
Ribbon / ric rac of your choice

1. Begin by randomly placing the snowflake Stick Ons to the backs of the 3 acrylic pages.
2. Glue the large chipboard letters to the front side of the acrylic.
3. Outline 3 edges of the pages with adhesive. Add mica flakes over adhesive. Shake off the excess.
4. Tie bow on center hole of each page with coordinating ribbon.
5. Thread banner using remaining ribbon and hang where desired. I like how the frosty effect works with my tree.

Wishing you and your family the happiest of holidays!

8 days till Christmas!!!!!

Wow the excitement sure is building--only 8 more days till the big guy in red starts his flight around the world! Are you still scurrying around trying to find or make some goodies for those on your holiday list??? Here's a quick ornament that you can make in multiples!




How to make the Joy Bird Ornament

You'll need
Swirl Flourish Stick On Set in brown or black
a scrap piece of Chipboard (the back of a legal pad works or spiral notebook)
Patterned paper
Chipboard Accents (I used Chatterbox bracket chipboard and Tim Holtz Grunge board bird)
Ink/paint (for this project I used Vintage Photo Distress Ink by Tim holtz and Radiant Rain in Hot Cinnamon (for the bird)
Christmas Red Stickles
Script stamp or some other small background stamp
Alphabet stickers or stamp set ( I used the letter stickers in the Chatterbox Christmas set)

Cover the Chipboard with patterned paper and trim to size--I always use a nail file--seriously the best thing for chipboard edges if you like the distressed look--I buy mine at the local Dollar tree. Sand the edges of the paper. Add ink to edges to distress further


Paint your bird or other chipboard design and let dry. To save time you could use a preprinted holiday chipboard piece.
Once the radiant rain has dried or the paint has dried. Stamp your background design in black over the top of it. This is a script stamp that I use on tons of projects!

Now take your chipboard frame and outline the edges with Christmas red Stickles. Let dry.

Once dry adhere to the Chipboard square.Now it's time to put your Swirl Flourish Stick on's on top of the elements.

Layer the chipboard bird or other chipboard ornament top of it.

Add the letter stickers to spell out your sentiment--I chose Joy for mine.

Next you'll put a ribbon holder on the top of it--by gluing it on the back of the chipboard square. If you'd like you can cover the back of the ornament with a coordinating piece of pattern paper or cardstock to cover up where the ribbon is glued on.

Have a Fantastic Week!
Veronica

Holiday Wishes

I'm such a packrat--I've been trying to think of a scrappy way to save all the Christmas Cards from last year..so they have set in a pile on my kitchen desk area for a year. Yes, a whole year. Well I finally got some inspiration to create a Holiday Wishes Card holder album. It's super simple. I'll warn you now though the pics I took were not that great--we haven't seen the sun around here in a few days so the lighting isn't wonderful, but hopefully you'll get the idea even with the pic problems.

Holiday Wishes Card keeper Album

You'll need a 6x12 Big Boy album
Your fun favorite Christmas Patterned Paper stash
bull nose clips
ribbon, tulle, fabric
embellishments
adhesives

I'm a huge fan of daisy d's so all of my papers came from the Mistletoe collection from last year.
I covered each page of the album with patterned paper--sanded and inked the edges after they were covered. I decorated the front cover with the same patterned paper and the die cut's that were included in the Mistletoe Daisy D's paper crafting kit. I also used the treading water punch from Fiskars to make the scalloped edges. I Loooove this punch!
Once you have all the pages created--I chose not to embellish the interior pages--simply because they will have all the gorgeous Christmas Cards from 2007 tucked inside. I seperated my cards into categories, but you don't have too. Friends, family, coworkers, my daughters cards, etc. Then I started using the ribbon, fabric, tulle and clips to attach the cards to the front and back of each album page.
It went super fast and the great thing is the cards can be taken out in years to come to enjoy all over again since they aren't glued down!

It's a fun and fast project and a great way to keep those cards and memories of years past!



Edited to Add:
to attach the cards to each page I stacked the cards on the album page and wrapped ribbon around the entire page. This allowed me to hold cards on both sides of the album. On the pages that I used the bull nose clips from the office supply store, I took the cards and lined them up on the edge of the page or at the bottom of the page and clipped them on. Then I tied ribbon on the clip ends for decoration. I added ohter pics showing one with the ribbon ties

ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM

When I saw the Transportation Intricacies and Stick-Ons, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them! Create this little mini book for my nephew!

I used my Cricut Expressions to cut out the title "Built Tough" (Graphically Speaking cartridge) and then attached it to the clear cover of a Hip 2 Be Square album.

I used the Adventure Monogram Stacker on the reverse side of the clear cover. Then I placed the Transportation Intricacies on the first chipboard page of the album. (The letters were cut using the Cricut Expression and Schoolbook cartridge.) A few of the Intricacies were pop-dotted to give added dimension. As you can see, I was digging into my Basic Grey paper stash again! Let me assure you, I have LOTS more!

Each page of the album has definitions and Stick-On pictograms. I copied the definitions out of my trusty dictionary and printed them out onto cardstock, using a newsprint font. All the letters for the vehicles were cut using the Crictut, but you could simply use letter stickers.

Here are a few close ups.

The last page contains a poem about transportation.

Here is the top view.

I kept this book very simple with all the focus on the pictures and definitions. This 6x6 album will make a cute gift for any little boy who loves things that go ZOOM!

- Gloria

A little bit of snow to share

Winter is on it's way here for sure! Super cold, wind blowing and snow showers. It's a little early here in the South here for it to start--but I love it. Get's me in the holiday spirit!

Speaking of snowflakes and holiday spirit--these ornaments were super easy to make.

You'll need the following to make the ornaments

Clear Glass ornaments (buy at the local craft store's)
Paint
Clear glaze glitter paint or white school glue thinned down with water
Glitter, fine and coarse glitter.
paper cups
Snowflake stick on's


How To:
To do the Silver and Blue ornament
Take the ornament ball and the glitter glaze or the thinned out white glue and pour about 1-2 tsps inside. Swirl around making sure to coat the entire ornament completely. Then turn the ornament upside down in a paper cup for the excess to drain out. Don't leave it for long or it will dry completely. Once drained, take the coarse gliter and pour 1-2 tsp's inside the ornament and shake it around to coat the ornament. Add more glitter if you have blank areas. Let dry for a couple of hours. Put the ornament cap back on.
Now it's time to pick out the snowflakes from the snowflake stick on sheet. I found out that the snowflakes with skinny spindles actually applied better to the curved surface. Rub them on completely. TA DA! You have a gorgeous snowflake ornament!

To do the Pink multi paint ornament

Take pink paint and pour a small amount about 1 tsp in the ornament swirl around. Let drain over a paper cup. Come back in about 10-15 minutes and pour your second color of paint in the ornament ball. Swirl around again. Let drain into the paper cup.Take your fine cut glitter and swirl around in the ornament, some will show heavily and some will not. Wait another 10 minutes and then pour in your third color of paint. Let drain over a paper cup for a couple of hours. I used pink, light pink and white paint on the example. Don't get impatient when adding in the second and third colors of paint, if added too quickly the colors can become muddy. Put the ornament cap back on. Then you're ready to apply the snowflake stick on's.
You could add further embellishments with ribbon, a little bling, some christmas floral mini picks(those are super cheap this time of year)
These would make great gifts for the kids to help make for grandparents, teachers and friends. Just be sure to watch the younger ones, these ornaments are glass and will break. Or another great gift idea would be to make a complete set of ornaments for a terrific present. The ornament sets are usually sold in a set of 6 and can be purchased using one of those great 40% or 50% coupons.

Happy Holidays and Happy Scrapping!
Veronica

Done in a FLASH!

My daughter and I were recently talking about making some flash cards. To make it a fun experience for her (cause who really likes studying for a science test??), we made a new file in Photoshop Elements measuring 4x6. Then, using a digital kit by Di Hickman, and made both the front and the back of the flash cards.

After we developed the 4x6 prints, we cut them in half and glued them together, rounding the corners. We then punched holes in the top and added the acrylic covers from the Cover to Cover Mini-Flip Album

A great project to do with your kids because they learn the materials and have an easy way to keep their flashcards for future studies. When it comes to learning, it doesn't have to be hard...MOSD makes it easy to create fun and educational projects that you can share with your children...and you can do them TOGETHER!!!

~Shannon