On the Fifth Day of Christmas Crafting...

 

Earlier this month, I strolled through an Amazon returns store when the prices were lowest at $1 each item. The box this came in was closed, so I took a chance and scored a large sealed poster of the Grinch, along with one of his dog and another with his hand held out (maybe to hang something from it.

I was inspired to create this "wreath" out of one piece of an embroidery hoop and spray painted it white. After attaching the Grinch to the hoop, I added a sprig of pine tree to the top. Then I took three green glittery ornaments from my Christmas stash and wrote the words, "Stink, Stank, Stunk" with glossy 3D paint. I hung them from the hoop and now I have another new Christmas wreath (never mind, the craft fair brought a new owner to mybooth and they now have this fun wreath for their own home...

On the Fourth Day of Christmas Crafting...

 

I found a burlap-wrapped cork board in need of a lot of TLC at a thrift store last year. After taking off the frame, I made pockets and covered them with designer papers that were in my stash. I put last year's handmade cards in the pockets to show how it worked after attaching a Santa head and bow to the front. I added snowflake stickers to the frame. 

I think it's time to pull last year's cards out and start slipping this year's cards in...

On the Third Day of Christmas Crafting...

 

I played around in Photoshop to create this cute puppy holiday wall decor. The dogs are a free digital image from the Graphics Fairy. I added their holiday caps from Eena's Creations from the Doll House. To frame the scene, I added green and silver trim to the edges and topped it all with a small Christmas wreath that used to a magnet.

The canvas is a wooden box, like those sold at the Dollar Store, but i bought this along with 11 others at a thrift store for $3.50. What a deal!!

On the Second Day of Christmas Crafting...

 

This piece caught my eye at a thrift store. When I go to garage sales and thrift stores, I see what things could be after altering. Do you? This was rusted and ugly and had no backing, but I saw it in my mind with new paint and a pretty winter scene hanging behind it.

Giving new life to this old card holder was fun. The copper acrylic paint looks good and I created a backing out of foam board to fit the circle. A ribbon and bow finishes it off and I'm ready to add cards to it. Um, does anyone still snail mail holiday cards out?... 

On the First Day of Christmas Crafting...

 

Good morning crafters! Since my holiday card supply is running low, I decided to make a few cards for family and friends. Today's card features an image called  Vintage Christmas Sticker Sheet from Conjuror of Dreams for the base or background. It's a  beautiful grove of pine trees, which works perfectly with the images I colored and fussy-cut to pop into the winter scene.

I wanted some dimension on the card, so my Simply Betty images were colored with Copics, then adhered onto the card with dimensional tape. After framing the paper layers, I popped a shiny star up top and my first Christmas card of the season is finished. 

 Challenges I am Entering :

 

A Season of Thanks and Giving

 Check out the Path of Positivity challenge blog for their newest challenge, The Power of Words: Family & Friends. They're at the midway point of the challenge...

 

Most of my neighbors know that I'm a crafter. They've also seen me pock up interesting things from the ends of driveways to upcycle or alter. Last month I created and gave mini charcuterie boards complete with cheese and a Halloween spreader/knife. 

This month I'm gifting a couple more neighbors with a portable family game center. because I was inspired by the Candyland tin to fill it with game materials. It holds a new holiday deck o cards, Yahtzee score sheets with dice and little golf pencils, and an unopened UNO dice game. I added an extra die for a game known by many names, like Foo, Farkle, etc,.

 The second game center started out as a cardboard card box shaped like a book. I decorated it to make the outside look like a real book using designer papers and a little gold paint. This box holds a deck of holiday playing cards, Yahtzee score sheets and pencils, the extra die for Foo+, and a velvet bag holding an 8-sided, dreidel-shaped "spinner" with "directions" on each side. I included a baggie of chips to use with this game.

Both game centers are also decorated with bows and a small notecard telling each family how blessed I am to have them for neighbors and friends. And of course, each family has young children to enjoy family game nights. I'll be dropping these off this coming week...

Day if the Dead card

Day of the Dead, or "Dia de los Muertos" is celebrated throughout Mexico. Many other countries around the world celebrate similar (or hybrid) versions of Day of the Dead as well, by having special days for honoring the dead.  It is a festive, joyous time of celebration, falling on November 1 and 2 of each year, coinciding with the Catholic holidays All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day.

I started with coloring a Rick St. Dennis image called Death on a Saturday Night with my trusty Copics. The image is one of my favorites from RSD. I made the background digitally with a paper from Rucola Designs. The moon and paper flags are free clipart from Google. In order to have the "family" appear naturally in my setting, I fussy-cut it after coloring it so it looks like it's truly part of the scene.

This is my DT make for November's challenge at Halloween & Other Occasions All Year 'round.. Besides offering Halloween all year round, as implied, each month offers challenges for each month's celebrated holidays as well. I chose Day of the Dead as my heritage may be German-Irish but my heart is Mexican...