Hope your Thanksgiving was great!

Well, the hustle and bustle of Christmas has arrived. Are you prepared? My calendar is filling up with parties, lunches, and more. I'm not sure if I'm really ready, but I'd like to think I'm getting there. I made this ornament after being inspired by Taylor's tutorial. WOW, it was so easy and I simply used scrap papers that were sitting there longing to be used. I'm sure I'll be making more of these simple ornaments.

I also thought I'd share with you one last VERY simple Christmas card that I made. I kept thinking it needed more. I'm sure it does need more, I'm just not sure what. So I think I'll just send it to someone who may not care it's homemade. LOL. Basically, I used my silver Encore ink pad to stamp the poinsettias, then used my square punch to create a rectangle window. I then stamped my sentiment inside the window. I placed an acetate sheet behind the window using mini glue dots. The only other thing I did was spray the silver ink with cheap non-aerosol hair spray, b/c it will never dry- it will smear if you don't spray it.

Lastly, I want to share with you that I have decided to open an Etsy store. Please browse my stuff and share the link with others. It's www.kellyalbright.etsy.com. I'll try to add more as I can. Thanks for taking the time to look!

Do you remember shrinky dinks?

Today I want to share a site that has an easy way to make beautiful homemade jewelry. It uses shrink plastic, the same stuff that we called shrinky dinks as kids. I've got some from prior projects, so maybe I'll give a project like this a try soon. Have a great night.

Shrink Plastic Jewelry Instructions.

P.S. 2 big things happened with the baby today, her first tooth has come through AND she is now suddenly rolling everywhere! Happy and sad, I am so excited but I want her to stay little!

Make a custom gift box!

Ok, it's really simple, anyone can do it! I have some personalized notecards for a gift for someone I know ;) for Christmas. I know this person loves and appreciates handcrafted things that I make. So I decided to make a simple, but very special, gift box!

Basically the note cards and envies were 5x6x1" so I made two pieces of cardstock 7x8x1" (the length and width add 1" to each side for creating the 1" depth). Clear as mud? Score at the 1" markings and trim 1 side of each of the small corner squares. Add some adhesive (I like Sticky Strip for boxes). Fold at the score lines and adhese the corner squares to the sides, and you have a box. Voila!
I used my poinsettia flower stamp from Stamps by Impression and made several images of it on watercolor paper using several shades of watercolor crayons and spritzes of water. I cut out 2 and a half of them and layered them. It is easy to curl the petals of flowers when your paper is moist. When it dries it hardens. I used a doodad from Collected Objects for Creative Minds for the center of the flower. I adhered it together with Pop-Up Glue Dots.
The velvet paper I did the iron stamping (iron the velvet to the rubber for about 10 seconds). It makes such an elegant image! I just love how this box turned out, and I'm certain that the recipient will, too!

This particular size box would work for handcrafted cards! Below are a couple of mini pics on how the box is made if you are a visual person. Have a great week! :)