HANDMAKING CHRISTMAS!

Well I was thinking, and I figured I should start showing everyone some of the handmade items that I have created for this holiday season. As many of you know, I have totally branched out from just scrapbooking with the beautiful papers that I have in my stash. No matter if it is a stack of vintage music books or some great new Cosmo paper, I am trying to use it rather then stash it. So lets start with this years Kitchen Tree. I try to make this something new and fun every year. And if it is a crazy year I resort to using a bunch of my antique cookie cutters to adorn it.



This year I have used my die cutting fun to create some great ornaments that could have been around 50 years ago. I have been sorting all of the different ideas I have seen and kept running into past holidays that paper ornaments where used. So I pulled out some of my "fine" glitter. This is so easy to do with any die cutting system that you have. Or drop me a line and I can get you some of these fun shapes. So I cut them and lined with a little glue so you could still see to the old music sheets once the glitter and glue dried. And that was it. I added a couple of Candy Canes and there you are. A Kitchen Christmas tree that makes people say..." you made all of those ornaments yourself?" I love answering yes to that question.

So tonight's homework is to create something for your holiday home this year. You will really enjoy making and decorating with your own handmade ornaments!

CREATE SOMETHING FABULOUS TODAY!

Traditions

Traditions are wonderful things. They're something you look forward to year after year. A few years ago, Amy and I started a Gingerbread House building contest that was held on Thanksgiving. Our combined 7 children were able to kick off the Christmas Season & have a little traditional family competition at the same time. Gram and Gramp are always the building judges. They coincidentally always score the two structures in a tie, (which drive the kids crazy)!!!


Another tradition we love is from our childhood. In our Home you could not play Christmas music before 3:00pm on Thanksgiving Day. Our Dad always wanted to have one holiday at a time. We would beg him to let us play Christmas music before Turkey Day, but he would never give in. As children, we would wait anxiously primed with a Christmas Album on the record player for the 3:00 bell. "BING BING BING" went the clock. "ZEET SCRATCH" went the record player arm. Then, we would listen. Elvis would sing "Blue Christmas" ahhh... Christmas had begun.

This year, after not having a record player for some time, our mother surprised us with a player they had bought on-line. We've always played 3pm Christmas CD's for our children and they love the tradition. But this year the record player made it feel like Amy and I were kids again. Not to mention our children were amazed by this old fashion contraption called a record player. Start some traditions with your family, you'll never regret it. ~Wendy