Holiday Greetings

The days from the start of the school year each fall until Chirstmas seems to just fly by too fast. Between getting my classroom started for the year, settling into classroom routines, Halloween, report cards, Thanksgiving, and then Christmas...there really is not a much down time for an elementary school teacher. This year has been no exception. I cannot believe it is the first Monday of Christmas break already! I really am not sure where 3 1/2 months have gone.

Because of several nerve wracking events in my family's life this fall, our Christmas Card was turned into a Thanksgiving themed letter and card to family and friends. I used a variety of pictures of my husband, Dennis, and myself, a few boxes of DCWV Autumn Splendor Cards, and some coordinating papers to make the cards.

Recipe:
Wallet sized photos, some trimmed
Corner Rounder
George and Basic Shapes Cart - ovals at 3.3"
Celebrate with a Flourish Cart - Leaves at 1.75"
George Cart - Squares and Rectangles
Celebrate with a Flourish Cart - Words at 1.5"

I hope as you reflect on this year, you will find many things to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving Cards for Friends

This year we spent Thanksgiving Day with friends. This group truly has become a second family to us over the years, and we appreciate the fact that they have included us in yet another famiy tradition. To say thank you, I made the following Thank You card to send to all the various households involved in the day's events. This design was originally created by Kristy at Craftin-on-My-Door and shared on the Cricut Circle Message Boards. Thank you, Kristy, for sharing with us.

Recipe:

Square Card - kraft paper cut 11 x 5.5, folded to 5.5 x 5.5
Background element - DCWV Amber Autumn Paper Pack,
                                - Lacy Labels Cart, cut Flower2 at 5"x 5"
Turkey - Cardstock scraps
            - DoodleCharms Cart, Turkey cut @ 2 1/2 "
Inked edges - Creative Memories, Brown Chalk Ink
Pop dots under Turkey shadow and the "paper" cap on the turkey legs

At our Thanksgiving festivities I also gave everyone a jar of Moondust Tea Mix (Orange Spice Tea), a holiday favorite in my family. I used 1/2 pint jars (cheaper by the dozen at the grocery store), and cut a circle and a ring out of coordinating papers to attach to the lid. These were cut at 2 1/2" from George and Basic Shapes Cart.)

I added leaves cut at 1.7" from the Thanksgiving cartridge, and a 4" tag, Rolly Poly font, Plantain Schoolbook cart.



Seasonal Treats

Today I would like to share a few simple seasonal treats I have made in the past month or so. You don't have to have any fancy equipment (i.e. cricut) or tools. They can be made with printed papers, precut shapes and stickers that you might have laying around in your scrapbook stuff. I will be adding picture of new versions I make using left over stickers and die cuts next week.

Halloween Treat Bags

For these I cut square of patterned card stock for the base. The paper in the picture came from the DCWV Amber Autumn Fall Stacks. The Creatures are from Mini Monsters and the Jack o Lantern (far left) is from the seasonal cart Pumpkin Carving. I welded one of the faces to one of the pumpkin shapes. Then cut out the welded shape in orange, the basic shape no face in yellow and then a shadow in black (just a slightly larger cut). I stuck mismatched "googly eyes" on all of the critters using small glue dots.I thought he looked sad after I took this picture so I added some eyes to him. The bags are 9 x 4 inch bags from Michael's in the treat/candy making section. Lastly, I stuffed the bags with treats for my students, taped the bag closed and then stapled the base of the bag topper to the bag for stability.

"Recipe"

6 x 6 inch patterned card stock for base

3.5 to 3.75 inch Shapes of your choosing

4 x 9 inch treat bags

Thanksgiving Treat Box

Here is a close up of the box front I made using instructions a friend shared with me. You can see the tutorial she shared with me on Pink Buckaroo's blog, at Pink Buckaroo's Soap Holder. For my holders I used Bazzil Basics and Amber Autumn papers, CM Chalk inks, and 1" square punch. I put fall scent and cupcake scented Bath and Body Works hand sanitizer inside.

I had to make a few changes to be able to use the tools I had around my workroom. Instead of the oval punch Pink Buckaroo used (she is a CTMH rep) I used the 1" square punch from CM (I am a CM rep). I cut one square centered between the 1/4" scorings, and then shifted my punch to cut about 1/3 of the square again on each end of the initial square. That gave me a big enough hole to put my little bottles in. The acorn is cream card stock cut from Give a Hoot cut at 3 inches. I inked the edges of my acorn and then ran the base of it through my Cuttlebug with a sizzix folder called Diamonds. The cap cut in dark brown, inked and run through the Cuttlebug with CB Swiss Dots folder. The leaf was inked in green and stem drawn on with a pen. I ran out of scraps of one off white paper so you can see my leaves especially came out different colors. The acorn was attached with pop dots. I added some repositionable tape to the back of the flap to keep it closed.

Well, I will post more later, but for now I hope everyone is finding a great way to celebrate all you have to be thankful for. Enjoy the holidays, be safe if you are out to do the Black Friday shopping tomorrow, and come visit again soon.

Me? Today we are going to enjoy the company of good friends, and tomorrow I am going to an all day crop, more good friends.