Secret Santa Swap Reveal

Okay, so my reveal is not so secret. I signed everything on the back, LOL. Anyway, I was invited to participate in a Secret Santa Designer Swap and thought it might be fun. The directions were for participants to create an altered book or journal, a tag, an ornament, and a card. Well, the card I included was the one featured on the A Muse blog for Fast and Fabulous Christmas cards, and the ornament I didn't get a picture of. I was in a serious time crunch to get it to its recipient in time for Christmas. I promise it was cute, though.

I created this fun altered book for my recipient. I sure wish I hadn't chosen hot pink paper to set it on to take the pics, though. Blech!

(Cover)

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Here's my tag:

I sure hope my recipient liked her items. I sure had fun making them. I'll post pics of what I received in a day or two. I have to take pics of them first. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. I had a great time with family and received a handy, dandy Sony Webbie HD video camera so now I can film my tutorials!! Wohoo!!

Baked Goods

I don't know what it is about this holiday season but I am SO behind the ball!! Normally my house is decorated and my tree up the weekend of Thanksgiving but not this year. I just got the tree up earlier this week. Luckily, I did some crazy shopping on Black Friday so I'm not really running around freaking out about needing to buy gifts.

One of my Christmas traditions is to take a weekend and bake like a madwoman. I usually bake about 11 or 12 different things, double batches, and disperse them out. This year I only managed 9 things. I was just too pooped!

Layer 1 (below): Sugared Date Squares, Pecan Tassies, Birds Nests (jam thumbprint cookies), Caramel Balls, and Almond Florentine Bars.

Layer 2 (below): Cranberry Orange Tassies, 5-Minute Fudge, Butterscotch Shortbread Bars, Sugar Cookies.

Here's a pic of everything but the sugar cookies.

Now multiply what you see in that last pic by oh, say 15 - 20 gift boxes, and you have an idea of what I had to make. But it's all baked with love, people!

Slice Embossing Picture Tutorial

Today's picture tutorial is for the Making Memories Slice Embossing Tips. My Slice setting is at 'draw/emboss'.

^ First you must remove the cutting unit and replace it with the embossing tip unit. I selected the finest embossing tip.


^ Here's what it looks like with the embossing tip in it.


^ Place your Slice in the far left corner of your patterned paper with the side you want raised, face down. This is double sided American Crafts patterned paper with solid brown on the other side. Placing your Slice in the far left corner will make it easy to line things back up when you are ready to cut. *** You must use the embossing mat ***


^ Select your image under a 'normal' cutting setting.


^ This is what you get on the backside. Cute little gingerbread man from the Mistletoe cartridge.


^ Remove your embossing unit and replace it with your cutting unit. No need to overtighten! I just twisted the tool until it was hand-tight, then turned it counter-clockwise 2 notches for my blade depth. That's the one that seems to work for my machine. Don't forget to change your Slice setting back to 'cut'


^ I meant to take this pic while it said 'SHADOW' but I had already hit select. Anyway, realign your patterned paper on your cutting mat; place your Slice in the far left corner! Select 'SHADOW' and push 'SELECT' to make your cut.


^ This is what you get when you cut it out!


^ Using a fine sanding block, lay the block flat against your diecut and lightly sand the raised image.



^ And Voila! Here is your cute little embossed gingerbread man.


Hope you enjoyed today's tutorial. Now you all run out and buy yourselves some embossing tips.

Gift Card Holder Tutorial

This is going to be a long post but it'll be worth it! I'm going to teach you how to make this fun gift card holder. You can create additional pockets to hold more gift cards if you want, but I only created 2. I must apologize in advance for some of the blurry photos but we had no sun, my camera battery was about to die, I couldn't find my charger so I had to hurry, and I was standing on a chair that spins. Let's get started!

^ First you need a piece of cardstock that measures 3" x 10".

^ Score this piece at 2.5"

^ Shift your piece of cardstock over to the 1" line then score again at 4.25"

^ Shift your cardstock back to the far left and score at 7".

^ Shift your cardstock over 1/4" then score at 8".

^ The picture above is what you should have once you fold at your scored lines.

^ Now you need another piece of cardstock measuring 4" x 5.75". You will need one piece for each pocket you make. I probably wouldn't put more than 3 pockets in this holder but you could probably squeeze 4 in if you need to.

^ Shift your paper over 1/4" and score at the 1/2" mark.

^ Shift your cardstock over to the 1/2" mark and score at 3.5". I forgot to put the bone folder at the score line for you. Sorry!

^ Turn your cardstock sideways as shown. Score down the length at 1/2".

^ Trim your pocket so it looks like this.

^ Get your handy dandy Scor-Tape out. I used the 1/4" width. I love this stuff cuz you can tear it! . Add tape as shown.

^ Can you see how it's going to go together?

****** DON'T REMOVE THE LINER FROM THE BOTTOM FLAP YET ****

^ Use a 1 1/4" circle punch to create a notch to make it easier to get the gift card out.

^ Decorate the front of the pocket with patterned paper. I used a 1 1/2" punch to create a notch that layers. See, my tape liner on the bottom flat is still there!! Hope you remembered not to take yours off.

^ Now you can take the bottom tape liners off and attach the pockets to the inside of your holder.

^ I covered up the bottom flaps with a small strip of patterned paper. Your recipient will appreciate the attention to detail.

^ Decorate the front as you wish. I used Basic Grey Magnetic snaps to hold the flaps closed. And how handy is this tip.....I used the 1/4" Scor-Tape across the top on the inside to add the wonderfully yummy brown stitched grosgrain ribbon as a handle. There is no way that sucker is coming off! Now, you all run out and make your own gift card holders then link your creations so I can see them. Go on!