Place Setting Creations

Short post. I just wanted to share some napkin holders I made for our Christmas dinner place settings.

Hope you like :)

Supplies:
I used the cardboard wrapping paper tube for the base. I then used Christmas papers from the dollar aisle at Target. The flowers are from Making Memories brand and the brads are from JoAnn Fabrics.

I'm still working on playing with the napkin and silverware to make it look a little nicer, but that's what I've got so far!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas 2010

I finally took pictures of our Christmas tree this morning. (Probably because I had finally moved all of the things sitting on the floor around the Christmas tree so that I am now okay sharing a picture of my living room ;) ) 

Things have been a little crazy lately. I've had two Physical Therapy appointments a week for the last month and with prepping for Christmas, we haven't had a whole lot of spare time! But, my parents and sister are going to be here tonight and thus sets off the Christmas festivities. I am very glad my family can come spend Christmas with us. It will be a nice time. 

It seems that Christmas gets busier and busier each year. With all of the hustle and bustle (especially in the DC Metro area) it is so easy to lose site of the true meaning of Christmas. I was reading a friends blog the other day and she was sharing on her meditations of what Christmas really means. I would encourage you to head on over to Anita's blog, The Other Side of Me, and read her entry entitled The Greatest Gift. May all of us remember what Christmas really means and remember to give thanks for the Father's precious gift to us all.

Wishing a blessed Christmas to you all!

Encouragement

Hello all... Hope you are all having a grand weekend.... I just finished working on a card for my boss's wife who is having some health problems. We're all going to sign it on Monday and give it to him. I used bright, cheerful colors to hopefully bring some spring time into her day. :) 

Supplies:

Paper: From my cousin

Ribbon: From Ollie's ( a discount store)

Embellishments: Gems from Michaels dollar aisle, Flowers a stamp from my cousin and colored with Marvy Uchida marker pens (hubby bought them for me :) )

Sentiment: Digi image from TLC Creations blog

Congratulations on your new baby...

A childhood friend is having a baby soon, but she lives in Georgia so I couldn't make it to her shower. Instead, I made her a card.

Using some papers from my cousin, some ribbon from a friend and a digi image from I can't remember where, because I accidentally did not add the blog name to the file extension (sorry to whoever created this image :( ).

The next picture is from a card from a couple of weeks ago. Made from patterned papers from a friend, ribbon from Ollie's and flowers from a friend. The digi image is from Raindrop Echo Designs.

Christmas decorations up, check....

Our Christmas check list is actually coming along quite nicely. We put up our Christmas decorations up last night and I now have MOST of the family gifts (still have one coming in from being ordered and two more to get) boxed up and labeled (so I know which belongs to which) and ready to be wrapped. I still have to finish shopping for my hubby and a few more things to pull together for our parents, but I think we're right on schedule. :) I actually managed to slide two gift bags under (or up against as the case really is) the Christmas tree last night. I created a couple of cards this week, just haven't had a chance to take pictures and edit them yet...

And on to some rambling.... The past couple of months have been difficult. The Lord has been taking me through a new, and as it looks right now prolonged, trial and I have been having a bit of a hard time being very thankful for the situation. But (the past few days particularly), I have been contemplating on how gracious the Lord is to send us blessings, even while in trials. Right now, I am in a fairly difficult situation at work, but amidst the situation the Lord has given me a blessing. He put a spirit filled Christian woman in as my immediate supervisor. The situation has been difficult for her as well, but how gracious the Lord has been to provide another lady with whom to be able to talk to at work, while actually going through these circumstances, and be encouraged through this whole situation. I am very thankful for this lady and am so thankful for the Lord, who is ever faithful to us in each and every situation.

The Last of the Christmas Cards....

And I am done.... waiting for two more addresses and the last batch go out tomorrow morning!!! Woohoo!  Here are a couple of pics of some of the last ones that I made. I didn't make them all this year. We send out almost 50 and I am not quite at that level yet!

Card Update: Supplies used on cards (sorry.. I was super tired last night when I posted these.)

Paper: Card stock from Michaels, Textured card stock from a paper pack from Michaels, patterned paper from a magazine bonus and from a friend
Embellishments: Foam sparkly snowflakes from Michaels, ribbon from a friend, black and white pearls from acMoore, Wreath and ornament on last card from some bonus materials in a crafting magazine I bought a few weeks ago. 
Sentiments: Free hand (at this point, I was running out of Christmas card mojo and did them freehand!)

Hope you likey. :)

 

And with that, I am quite sleepy, so I will say goodnight :)

Sidenote: There are very few things better than coming home after a LONG day at work to find that your hubby has dinner done and has dug the Christmas tree out of the closet and put it up to get ready for decorating :)

Some Christmas Home Creations from last year....

Well, life has been super busy lately with traveling and some editing I've been doing for a Pastor friend of my husband I and editing I'm doing for my dad, and grading exams from our Bible Institute, so I haven't had much time for crafting lately. I did make a birthday card for my aunt-in-law, but I still have some Christmas cards to finish up and send out (I think I'm doing pretty well this year though, I passed out most Christmas cards for my family over Thanksgiving, plus we had some friends in town so I was able to send like 10 cards with them to give to other friends and I sent out 3 in the mail this morning. I think I've got about 25 more to go - either to send out or finish making.)

Anyhoo, since I haven't had time to craft I thought I would share some home decor crafts I made last year for our living room and as a center piece for our dining room table.

I made the branch in the vase, not the vase :) It actually wasn't that hard. I Just bought a branch with the neutral colored beads, then bought bundles of the other colored beads and wove them in. I was pleased with the outcome.

This also wasn't too dificult. I just bought ornaments to tie in my green table cloth (not shown here :) ) with the blue Christmas decorations in the living room. ( I live in an apartment so the living room and dining room are all in one room). My dear hubby spray painted this thing silver out in our cold storage shed. He had to put on like 3 coats of spray paint!

Hope everyone's Christmas preparations are going well!