Mini Album Monday #68- Christmas Card Album

I know I've done this type of album before,

but I like it so much, I make one every year.

It's an album of the Christmas cards we received this year.

I started with two paint chips.

They measure 5"x 6". I got them from the paint sample section at Home Depot.

I cut a 2"x 6" strip of pattern paper and adhered it about 1" from the right edge of the first card.

Then I added a title.

For my title, I used an old vellum tag and stamped on it with Staz On ink.

 

Then I flipped the paint chips over and covered the backs with pattern paper.

I punched holes along the outer edges.

I used those to measure out holes on all my Christmas cards.

Finally I bound the cards and the paint chips with two office rings.
 

Yes, some of my cards peek out from around the paint chip cover, but I like that random look.

I love keeping my cards from past years.

As a matter of fact, this is my sixth year to do this.

Here are the other albums I've made.

Can't get any easier than that, my friends!

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; 

let Your glory be above all the earth.

Psalm 57:5

This post is linked to Tip Junkie, Today's Creative Life, and Plucky's Second Thought.

Merry Christmas!

I wish you the merriest of Christmases!

Enjoy this time with your family and take lots of photos!

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

Easy Coaster Christmas Wreath DIY

Do you ever go to a restaurant and sit down and see a pile of coasters on the table and think,
"Man, I could make something with these?"

That's what goes through my mind. :)

Grab a few of those coasters and give this wreath a try.

All you need to do is cover the fronts of the coasters with Christmas pattern papers.

You can do as many layers of circles as you like.

I have two different sizes on my wreath.

You can use a circle punch on a cereal box to get the smaller circles.

Once you get all the coasters covered, you need a large circle to adhere them to.

On a sturdy piece of cardboard, I traced around a large plate, then cut it out.

I then placed a smaller plate in the center, traced it and cut out the center.

To finish it off, I added a loop of ribbon to the top
and a big bow with some candy canes on the lower left edge.

Not too shabby for a bunch of coasters, huh?
I may try this for Valentine's Day and Easter. . .

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, 

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Psalm 51:10

This post is linked to It's Overflowing, Tip Junkie, Too Much Time, and Skip to My Lou.

Vintage Wooden Shoe Form Christmas Door Hanging

Recently I picked up an old pair of wooden shoe forms at a rummage sale.
I thought I could add a little something to them and use them as Christmas décor.

First I tied the two forms together with some twine.

Then I made a small bouquet of Christmas flowers and greenery and tied it to the form.

I finished it off with a big red bow.

Isn't that cute?

The shoe forms were $5 and the flowers came from the dollar store.

I just love it when a plan comes together. . . inexpensively!

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

Only deliver us this day, we pray.

Judges 10:15

This post is linked to Embracing Change, Tatertots and Jello, Funky Junk,
and My Salvaged Treasures.



Mini Album Monday #67- Review of Christmas Albums

On this Mini Album Monday, I'd like to visit some mini albums of Christmases past. . . 

This one of my favorite Christmas albums.

It's a collection of favorite photos and memories from over the years.

 This album is made with a single envelope and four tags.

You can't get much simpler than that!

You could have a tag for every family member and ask them to write their favorite Christmas memory, their gift wish lists, or why they love Christmas.

This is a Countdown to Christmas album I did in the style of Ali Edwards.
Every page is different and documents the 25 days leading up to Christmas.

I sure love this time of year. I'm so glad I have a documented it in different ways.

Thanks so much for stopping by and God bless.

So he answered and said, "

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul,

with all your strength,

and with all your mind,"

and "your neighbor as yourself."

Luke 10:27

This post is linked to Between Naps on the Porch, Tip Junkie, and The Dedicated House.   

Let's Wrap It Up! Fun Gift Wrapping Ideas

I've been so inspired by different gift wrapping that I've seen lately.
I just had to give some of those ideas a try. 

I bought a roll of masking paper in the paint section at Walmart.

It's a bit lighter than kraft paper and worked great as wrapping paper.

I just added some twine and a candy cane to this gift.

I always think tickets make cute tags.

This one is wrapped in a map (that I picked up at a thrift store).

I used a little twine and a cute green price tag (picked a box of those up at the thrift store, too).

I stamped some festive words on regular clothespins to add some charm.

This one has a wide band of holiday ribbon which I taped at the back.

Then I used a short piece of red twine to tie on a tag and a bell.

Looks cute and sounds cute.

I got a pack of snowflake decorations at the dollar store 

and placed one on this gift before tying it with Baker's twine.

Don't you just love Baker's twine?!?

Yep, that's newspaper on this one.

The ribbon really dresses it up.

Guess what these circles are. . .

Cupcake wrappers!

I used a regular size and a mini one.

I adhered them with double sided tape before tying the gift with Baker's twine.

This one was super simple.

Sheet music with a mini ornament and a ticket as a tag.

This one is one of my favorites.

I love doilies and thought one would look cute on the brown background.

I used a glue stick to adhere the doily.

Then I wrapped it with green twine.

This final idea is crazy easy.
It's a wrap for a glass bottle. Mine is a bottle of sparkling grape juice.
I cut off the sleeve of an old sweater so I ended up with a piece not quite as long as the bottle.
Then I slid the wrist to the bottom of the bottle.
I rolled a little bit of the top portion down and added a ribbon.
If you use a printed sweater, you could skip the ribbon.
Isn't that too cute?

Notice that all these ideas are not only simple, but very frugal too!

Doesn't this make you want to wrap your gifts?

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

God is our refuge and strength, 

a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 46:1

This post is linked to Too Much Time, Tatertots and Jello, Funky Junk, and The Crafted Sparrow.

Lovelies That I Love

When I show you cute stuff I find while virtual shopping,
I typically don't feature much for men's stuff.

Today I'm going to change that.

Here are some cool items that would make great Christmas gifts for the men in your life. . .

Check out this shotgun shell Christmas wreath.

Cool, huh?

My hubby would love it.

How cool are these motorcycle cufflinks?

This personalized ammo can is a great idea.

I never would've thought to personalize such a thing.

I love this mug.
It speaks for itself.

This personalized leather wallet is manly and classy.
I love the monogram on it.

Such fun and unique gift ideas, don't you think?

I'm not affiliated with any of these companies; I just like their stuff.

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

I delight to do Your will, O my God,

and Your law is within my heart.

Psalm 40:8

 This post is linked to My Girlish Whims, Ivy and Elephants, and Plucky's Second Thought.

Christmas Ornaments

I love all kinds of ornaments.

I could never go with just one theme on our Christmas tree 

because we have too many precious ornaments that we've collected over the years. 

We have some that my mother-in-law sewed, 

some that my boys made in preschool, 

and we even have one that my husband painted when he was in kindergarten!

I've made a few over the years that I thought we could take a look back at. . . 

For this one, I used a clear ornament and filled it with punched paper hearts.

You can have a little paradise on your tree with this one.

It's a glass ball filled with sand and tiny shells.

This one is covered with pieces of map.

I made several and stamped words on them like "peace," "love," and "joy."

You can go here to read more about them.

What kind of ornaments have you created over the years?

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.

Luke 6:36

This post is linked to Too Much Time, Life With Lorelai, Funky Junk, and Lil' Luna.

Lovelies That I Love

It's my favorite time of the year.

Christmas.

I love the music, the lights, the feelings.

It all makes me so happy inside.:)

Here are some fun Christmas finds that will make you happy. . . 

I can't even express how much I adore this wreath.

It's made of sheet music.

Unbelievably amazing.

This shirt is too cute.

If you haven't seen the movie Elf, you need to.

It's my favorite Christmas flick.

My boys and I curl up to watch it every Christmas season.

I love the idea of using a holiday vinyl decal on a front door.

It looks cute under that wreath.

This Christmas necklace is beautiful.

Check out the handmade lampwork holly bead-so pretty!

You can go here to get a custom illustrated family portrait.

Wouldn't it be fun to have one of these?

I love the idea of using this for a Christmas card.

All this cute stuff kinda puts you in the Christmas spirit, doesn't it?

I'm not affiliated with these companies; I just like their stuff.

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust.

Psalm 40:4

This post is linked to Between Naps on the Porch, Embracing Change, and Skip to My Lou.

Distressed Wire Christmas Card Display

 It's that time again. . . when Christmas cards start showing up in the mail.
It makes it fun to check the mail, don't you think?

This year as the cards come in, I have a place where I can display them.
It's cute and it doesn't take up much room.

I'm using a secondhand find.

I was tickled when I scored this photo display at a yard sale for $6.

I cleaned it up and distressed it with my hand sander.

 

I added a few Christmas flowers in the corner.

I used last years' cards for today's pictures.

I can't wait to fill it up with this year's cards!

After the holidays, I'll remove the cards and flowers and use it to display photos.

Cute, cute, cute.

Who says you can't find good stuff at yard sales?

Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

Judge not, and you shall not be judged.

Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. 

Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Luke 6:37

This post is linked to It's Overflowing, Ivy and Elephants, My Salvaged Treasures, and Tip Junkie.  

Mini Album Monday #45- Record Your Christmas Memories

Welcome to the first Mini Album Monday of the new year!

Today I'm going to show you a Christmas album-
 I  don't think we're too far past the holidays for it.

This is a Christmas album that doesn't document just one year, but displays favorite memories, photos, and mementos from many years. 

I can't tell you how much I love looking back through old photos and reading stories that I otherwise would have long since forgotten.

 

 Several years ago, I took an awesome class from Janet Hopkins where we made an album out of an old book cover and placed a binder in it. Then we filled it with pages.

I decided to use this album for my project since it was already put together.

The outer edge has some cute dangly things like buttons and chipboard pieces.

Because I used a pre-built album, I just went through and added journaling and pictures

 where they fit.

This page talks about when we gave the boys a puppy for Christmas.

That puppy is now 6, so I'm glad I have this memory in the book.

This page has a photo of cookies, milk, and a note my boys left for Santa.

The actual note is tucked behind the photo.

This page shows a picture of my boys helping to decorate sugar cookies.

So glad I have this picture because they are not nearly so helpful with cookies now!

 Here's a page that still needs a photo.

This book is actually a work in progress.

 Whenever something new occurs that I want to be sure to remember, I add it.

 Each page is different, and there's lots of room to add stuff.

This page shows two photos of my nutcracker collection.

An album like this allows pictures like this to be added.

This page is a photo of an ornament that my hubby made when he was in kindergarten- and we still hang it every year!

This page shows a Christmas list one of my boys made several years ago.

The envelope on the left holds several more wish lists.

These are so fun to go back and read.

Imagine if every Christmas you could sit down and look through years of memories like this.

You don't have to have a special album to do it.

You could use an old Christmas storybook and just add your own photos on top of the pages.

The point is to just do it! :)

I feel documenting memories is SO IMPORTANT!

Whether you make a scrapbook or just keep a notebook, it is so worth it!

Thanks so much for stopping by and God bless.

 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Phil. 4:13

This post is linked to Skip to My Lou, Daisy Cottage Designs, Be Different, Act Normal, 
 and The Dedicated House.