I have been having so much fun crafting recently. The holidays are ideal for crafting but also can be difficult because of all the other things going on during this time of year. It is always fun to just sit down and have me time when everything else is hectic and crazy. On the bright side, I am about 95% done with my Christmas shopping. I would have been completely done but I ran across this furniture store that was closing and they offered me a king size, pillow top mattress for $500. I have been looking for one for a while now and $500 is an unbeatable price. I couldn’t pass it up so I splurged on a little gift for myself and bought it. I am happy I did it though.

I got a chance to sit down and write out my Christmas cards today. I made these over the past couple of weeks, most of them with my cousin and I’m glad I can finally get them off of my desk. Here are a few of this year’s Christmas cards.

Fun tea-length vintage card with masking.

Embossed card with fabric.

Cute, fun post card style greeting card.

My ‘modern’ card.

I think one of my favorite parts of Christmas is the crafts. I love making things and anything DIY so of course, I have to make some of my Christmas presents by hand. Today I finished two really easy, really simple projects.

The first was a piece of framed art. The person I made this for absolutely adores the Beatles so I wanted to make a very classy piece. The frame itself only cost me about $6 on sale at Michaels and the pictures were found on the internet by googling ‘Beatles Wallpaper’. I printed each one out on premium photo paper and taped them to the guide. This is the result. I left it black and white just because I thought that would look the most modern. Simple, simple, simple. The frame could be altered but because I was making this for a male I figured it would be best to keep it simple.

The second gift I made was for the same person. In addition to being a Beatles fan he loves chocolate (who doesn’t!). I picked up these stackable boxes at Michaels for around $3.50. I also picked up some individually wrapped chocolate and filled each box with different flavors. Ta da! A very easy gift box of chocolate that didn’t cost $30.

More Christmas crafts to come. I am currently working on a desk calendar and a recipe book. Stay tuned!

It is December and that means it is time for December daily! Hopefully I can finish one this time. I started out by doing Tim Holtz 12 Days of tags and finished off with a little journaling and a fun paper bag. I still haven’t decorated the cover. Right now it is a green corrugated cardboard that just screams use me for Christmas!

The entire album is 5.5″ x 8.5″. I don’t bind my albums in the beginning just because I like to add things while I’m working on it. I usually add each page individually on the day of. I do punch the holes and just secure it together with a binder ring in the mean time. I’m so excited for day 2!

My step dad’s birthday was last month. He was a wonderful addition to the family and he has done a lot for me. I wanted to make him a special card that reflected his own unique personality with my own touches. He loves motorcycles and classic cars. It is hard making a masculine card. Women are so much easier to design for but I think the end result was gorgeous. He loved it as did I.

The actual card is plain black card stock and I covered it with several pattern papers that I distressed and tore until they had a vintage, weathered and rough look. I embossed the top most page with a Tim Holtz stamp and distress embossing powders. I attached brads in each corner and used jewelry wire to wrap around the card. On the jewelry wire, I hung metal charms that remind me of a rotary dial phone (something else my step dad loves). I used a Tim Holtz stamp and distress embossing powder to do the vintage truck that I cut out and used pop dots to attach to the face of the card. The tag was something I had made a while ago with alcohol inks. I just stamped happy birthday on it with silver, metallic ink and stuck it in the pocket I made with the wire and the truck.

I have terrible hand writing when it comes to writing on the inside without lines, so I distressed a piece of paper that I tore out of a journal and attached it on the inside so I could write my sentiment.

And there you have it, a vintage, hand-made, masculine card all ready for my step dad’s birthday.

I have been going to the Las Vegas renaissance festival for the last three years. My favorite part of it the fair has always been the costumes. Many of the attendees dress up in various costumes full of all kinds of creativity. Last year after going I had planned to dress up and I let an entire year roll by where I did not work on a costume. Disappointed in myself, the day before the fair I decided I was going to make a costume in a day. I somehow managed to pump out two costumes the day before the fair, one for my cousin and one for myself.

The fair was fun as usual even though it had moved to a newer, much bigger and more spread out venue. The shows were good and we even saw some new ones.

I love playing dress up but wish I had more time to work on these. I would have done something slightly more elaborate but we had fun with these. Now, time to start planning my costume for next year.