25 Days of Gift Ideas: Simple Gift Card

  My Plan is to post every day for 25 days leading up to Christmas!  I hope these ideas will inspire and hopefully the directions will help you recreate!

I love these super simple gift card holders!  Quick, easy and inexpensive to make.  These 4x4 cards will rock your holidays and gift giving any time of the year!

For these cards I used the Close to My Heart Pear & Partridge paper pack (X7162B), New England Ivy Cardstock (1282), and the Pear & Partridge Complements Glittery Rub-Ons (X7162C).

Each card uses a 4x12 sheet of cardstock scored into 4" squares with the middle section being scored diagonally in half 1 time to create the pocket.  Click here to visit my website and download the instructions.

I added a bit of "bling" to each card from my "stash".  These 3 benefited from our Sparkle Flourishes (Z1708), Bitty Opaques Pearl Adehsive Gems (Z1707) and the pretty bling from our Boutique Assortment (Z1763).

Christmas Family Traditions

What are your family traditions?  Are they traditions that have been around for decades, or new traditions your family has stumbled upon?

Many of our family traditions are new with our immediate family, but of course we do have some from each of our extended families that have been carried over to our household.  It will be interesting to see which traditions our children choose to keep and carry on!

Quite a few years back I created an Advent Calendar, which has become the centerpiece of many of our Christmas Traditions.  Our boys look forward to the Advent Calendar being hung and get excited about each day (some more than others), quickly reading through them all so they can "hi-five" over their favorites!

Here is what I had put together, inspired by an advent calendar I had seen posted those many years ago (sorry, don't remember who originally created it, or even when).  I can just remember being in my workshop working diligently on putting this together and being so proud of how it turned out!  The hardest part was determining the "activities" for our advent calendar.  Each day had to be something that could be done regardless of day of the week (i.e. workday, schoolday, weekend, etc).

This is our list of Advent Calendar Activities...if you don't already have your family traditions or an Advent Calendar, hopefully our list, or some of the other ideas show below will help you get started!

December:

1 - Write Letters to Santa

2 - Put Candy Canes on the Tree

3 - Read Precious Moments Christmas

4 - Look through our Christmas Album

5 - Write a Letter to a Soldier

6 - Watch Rudolph

7 - Make Gingerbread Houses

8 - Watch the Grinch

9 - Make Bird Treats

10 - Create Teacher Cards

11 - Order Pizza & Play Board Games

12 - Drink Cider & Listent to Carols

13 - Watch National Lampoons Christmas

14 - Hang the Mistletoe

15 - Create a Christmas Photo Ornament

16 - Donate

17 - Make Reindeer Food

18 - Watch Frosty & Drink Cocoa

19 - See Christmas Lights

20 - Make Chocolate Covered Pretzels

21 - Make Santa Cookies

22 - Deliver Goodies to Community Service Workers

23 - Read Twas the Night Before Christmas (yes, a little early)

24 - Set out Santa Cookies and Reindeer Food

Here are some other ideas:

Order Pizza and watch a Christmas movie together	Clean out closets of unwanted toys and clothes and donate those in good condition to a shelter or charity.	Talk about hope and share one thing each of you hopes for.	Write a letter to Santa.
Decorate the tree.	Wrap  present(s)	Go see some Christmas Lights	Do an act of service for someone you love.
Read a holiday story	Sing a Christmas Carol.	Make a new ornament for your tree.	Make a list of the gifts that God has given you.
Come up with as many words from  the letters MERRY CHRISTMAS as you can	Read about how Christmas is celebrated in another country	Go Christmas caroling	Watch a Christmas movie
Purchase an item for “Toys for Tots” (or whatever is in your area) and wrap and deliver it	Do an act of service for a neighbor	Draw or color a Christmas picture	Take a photo of your Christmas tree
Make Christmas cookies	Make a Christmas Card.	Put out the cookies and milk for Santa	Tell what Jesus Christ means to you

NoreensChat Sale-A-Thon: FREE Embellishments

Cyber Thursday, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday....oh my, the sales and shopping season are hitting their stride!  I've got tons of embellishments to give away, so start your shopping with me today!

NoreensChat SALE-A-THON FREE Goodies/Embellishments

NoreensChat SALE-A-THON (Tuesday, November 20th - Monday, November 26th) ***Order directly through my website and JOIN the SALE-A-THON gathering.  Your order will ship directly to you and I will mail your bonus goodies separately!!  This special is only available via my website http://noreen.ctmh.com *** Please email, call or text me with any questions or concerns. Noreen@tscretreats.com  618-604-5490 Click each underlined/linked item to view. Place an order of $25+ Bonus:  Receive Wrangler Assortment & Haunted Assortment($10.90 value) Place an order of $50+ Bonus:  Receive Wrangler Assortment, Haunted Assortment, &Autumn Lane Assortment ($16.85 value) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ***NOTE:  The $50+ and all higher levels enable you to receive the Stamp of the Month for only $5 and any other stamp set of your choice for 50% off!!**** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Place an order of $75+ Bonus:  Receive Wrangler Assortment, Haunted Assortment, Autumn Lane Assortment & Sparkles Black Flourishes ($21.80 value) Place an order of $100+ Bonus:  Receive Wrangler Assortment, Haunted Assortment, Autumn Lane Assortment, Sparkles Black Flourishes, & Boutique Assortment ($27.75 value) Place an order of $150 or more Bonus:  Receive Wrangler Assortment, Haunted Assortment, Autumn Lane Assortment, Sparkles Black Flourishes, Boutique Assortment,  Brocade Assortment, & Opaques Pearl Florishes($38.65 value) PLUS $25 in Select Product Credit of your Choice!!!  (TOTAL $63.65 VALUE!!!) PLUS, everyone who places an order on my SALE-A-THON gathering between now and Monday 11/26 will be entered into a drawing to win your choice of Workshop on the Go (up to $44.95 value) (Winner will be notified on Tuesday 11/27!!) **Be sure to check MyBlog throughout December for my "25 Days of Gifting"**

CTMH Flirty for Fall

The Close to My Heart Flirty paper pack (X7160B) and chipboard Complements (X7160C) are a fun "flirty" way to celebrate fall!

Flirty is also one of our new collections that has two limited-edition colors only available in this set: Flirty Raspberry and Flirty Yellow.  I opted to make my background for this layout with New England Ivy so the accent colors can pop without this layout looking overly feminine for my boys and their fall adventure.

 I love the texture the chipboard complements provide, and with a touch of bling...bliss!

Want a little more bling?  Check out our Autumn Lane Assortment (Z1749) which includes resin flowers and epoxy sentiments: Autumn & Family

CTMH Dakota Collage Cubes

We had opportunity to try out our firing range when our good friend Gino came into town for a visit!  Gino runs the Tomorrows Hunter www.YouthOutdoors.Org a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting youth hunting, fishing and outdoor education!

I used our Dakota papers (X7157B) and our My Creations Collage Cubes (z1737) to give my kids an interactive way to commemorate this fun day!

The Dakota Complements Foil Images (X7157C) give a little sass and shine to the cubes without adding bulk, allowing them to be dressed up without distorting how they rest in the cube tray!  And I added some of our pearl badge buttons from our Wrangler Assortment (Z1780) to the outside of the cube tray to give a little extra bling (they remind me of the buttons on a western shirt!)

 The cubes measure 2"x2", making it super easy to create using 4x6 photos (landscape or portrait) and adding some scrap papers to the remaining cubes!

We all enjoy a little target shooting...but as a Mom, I know I love it more knowing they're learning the fundamentals of gun safety while enjoying learning a new skillset!

Of course, with 6-sides to the "cubes", I was able to grab two pictures of each of the 3 children to highlight their experience!

One tip when selecting pictures:  look for prints with a little distance, so they can be cut into the 2" squares without cutting through a persons face.

CTMH Make It From the Heart: Dakota

This layout is Pattern 01 in our new Make It From the Heart pattern book (9035)!  This publication features 16 two-page layout patterns, 2 single-page patterns, as well as 12 different card patterns and is only $7.95!  There is a variety of beautiful artwork examples throughout the book, showing different variations, as well as tips and techniques to help you with your next project!  A little more exciting...this is Volume 1, which means we will continue to have fabulous pattern books to offer to help make your crafting Faster, Simpler and Easier than ever!!

www.noreenschat.com

Our new Dakota Paper Pack (X7157B) and coordinating embellishments were ideal for this layout for Caden, my youngest dude!  I know I'll be using this paper plenty, especially as we spend more and more time out at Texas Scrapbook Cabin and our property!  

The boys love running around, collecting "stick guns" and just being boys!  And of course I love snapping pictures and capturing them at play!

Dakota is complemented with a collection of Foil Images (X7157C) and our new Wrangler Assortment (Z1780).  I'm really partial to the Wrangler Assortment, as it includes 6 pearl badge buttons as well as 3 embroidered self-adhesive patches!  I love the different textures this adds, and I've always had a thing about my layouts having different textures...I always strive for 3!

I created my title using our new Irresistibles Houndstooth Alphabet (Z1779) which have a resist pattern allowing me to sponge them any color of my choosing and having a great houndstooth pattern pop on my title!

I also added some of our Black Hemp (Z282) to give me some additional texture and dimension to the layout!

 For this pattern, I brought out my Get-It-Straight Laser Square to help me align my pieces properly!  Since this pattern doesn't slide right up to the edge of the paper, it's nice to have the laser guide me in keeping my pieces straight!

 Our CTMH Versamat Pad helps me with my measurements while the Get-It-Straight Laser provides measurement spacing and the awesome laser!  You can see here how great it worked with this layout, being able to place each piece and photo while measuring the 1/4" spacing between...LOVE IT!!

 Kelly Crafts will be right across from me at our CKC San Marcos Expo, so be sure to stop by and visit them and check out their fabulous Get-It-Straight Laser Square...  If you have a minute, chat with Jimbo and ask about how the Get-It-Straight Laser came to be...I just love hearing their story and am so excited to see how successful their new business venture is going!!  Be sure to "Like" them on Facebook to stay connected with the latest and greatest news: https://www.facebook.com/pages/KellyCraft/370329252992941

CTMH Avonlea Mini - Cricut Artiste Album

We have an awesome new Cricut Collection: Artiste

The new Cricut Artiste collection takes your creativity over the top!!  With 700 images, this cartridge features themed projects, interactive cards, 3-D items and more!  From robots and spooks to wedding and Valentines, your cupcake liners, invitations and party favors will coordinate and quickly come together for any celebration!!

Close to My Heart's Cricut Artiste Collection has three coordinating stamp sets and 3 sheets of Dimensional Elements shapes!!  One of those is the Dimensional Elements Album Pages (Z1791) chipboard that creates an adorable mini-album (or wall hanging or use to accent a scrapbook page or other project!).  Since these Dimensional Elements coordinate with the Cricut Artiste, they're super easy to create using any papers you choose...just cut the coordinating shapes (all located on 1 key!!) at 3.75" and embellish as desired!

 This mini-album was created with our Avonlea papers and was one of our Close to My Heart Convention projects!  That's why the cover title is "ME".  It never occurs to me to scrapbook myself or pictures of just me...I'm normally behind the camera taking the pictures...so even finding current pictures to put in this album was a stretch...but since it was designed for "ME", I decided to go with it!

I used a couple 1" rings to assemble the pages, then tied our Slate Satin Polka-Dot Ribbon (Z1802) to decorate it up a bit more (are you picking up on my infatuation with this ribbon?  The photos don't do it justice!)

 Front and back covers.

 Do you see our Silver Shimmer Trim (Z1799)...it's self-adhesive and comes with 5 yards...a quick and easy way to add a little "bling" to any project!!

This photo, just me being silly!  At our Convention, our big Dream Team meeting was a Western Roundup theme, complete with Sheriffs and a Jail!  Great fun and photo ops...and me taking a "page" out of the Puss in Boots Movie!  Such Fun! 

 Some of our Just Blooms Floret Paper Shapes (Z1764) collection which includes 68 paper shapes in Autumn Terracotta, Cranberry, Sorbet and Olive...great for all our upcoming fall projects!!

Okay, I'm guilty...I will get around to journaling something...or maybe I'll pass it around to my family and let them describe me...hmmm, maybe not!

CTMH Avonlea Card Kit

Close to My Heart introduced 13 NEW Workshops on the Go kits in our new Autumn/Winter 2012 Idea Book!

Two of those kits are Cardmaking Kits providing you the materials and instructions to create 15 beautiful cards (5 each of 3 designs).

The Workshops on the Go Avonlea Cardmaking Kit (G1041) includes a beautiful exclusive stamp set, 5-yards of exclusive grey organdy ribbon, AND a package of Slate Epoxy Bubbles that are only available in this collection (plus after making your cards, you'll still have some leftover for your other projects!)

Since I was making a great stack of cards, I decided to decorate a coordinating My Creations Card Box (Z1647) with the Avonlea papers.  I used some of my extra Slate Epoxy Bubbles and had to include the beautiful Slate Satin Polka-Dot Ribbon (Z1802) and the Brocade Assortment (Z1748) to top it off!  So elegant!