Only 3 more sleeps until Christmas! Have you got all your Christmas shopping done?

If you are like me, it's never over until the fat lady sings... Always one more little gift.

If you need a little extra gift, may be you can give this a try.

These cute little milk cartons contain some lovely treats. Mine have chocolate coins and sweets but they would be a great package for bath bombs, cocoa and marshmallows, or anything that needs an adorable package.

I used a beautiful digital kit from Digital Press  - Once Upon a Christmas. It contains fun 'sticker' embellishments as well as beautiful papers.

I cut out the embellishments on my Silhouette, but you can fussy cut them or use a punch for the labels. The Milk carton was from the Silhouette store, but there are plenty of free templates on the Internet. Mix in glittery snowflakes and jingle bells and you have the perfect stocking filler!

There are some great new releases at The Digital Press.

I wish you all a peaceful and happy Christmas!

In the meantime, I saw this in Birmingham's Selfridges...

Step Into Christmas | The Digital Press

There's nothing like a  festive lunch with friends to get the Christmas spirits up!

My lovely scrappy friends are always great fun and always up for a photo op.

I couldn't resist this adorable digi kit by LJS Designs - Kindess is Cool. There are adorable papers and elements perfect for any wintery project!

I really love the polar bear. There at actually to kissing polar bears in the kit - so adorable.

I added some snowflakes here and there

And a bit of sparkle.

I traced the tree and bear in the Silhouette Studio. To give it the white outline, I simply offset the cut line. Makes life so easy!

Here is a quick tutorial to trace and cut your own tree...

Select the Trace option from the tool bar. Select the area to trace. The object will turn yellow.

Move the High-pass slider bar so that the object is filled in nicely. You may have to use the low pass filter depending on your shape. Trace the Outer Edge.

As this was an intricate shape, I added the white border to my die-cut. To do this, I used the offset tool. Select the object then click the Offset button. I set my offset to 0.04 which is about right for me. Just move the slider or type in the number to increase or decrease. Then apply. You can see the outer edge in the above shot.

I deleted the original shape to give me the outer shape only. You can cut this out but there are extra cuts that I didn't want. To delete these, select the Modify too, then Release. The shape will be ungrouped so that individual cuts can be removed. I deleted the small cuts in the middle of the tree.

Here's the final cut shape. Remember if you are printing and cutting to use the registration marks so the silhouette can line up with your printer.

I hope that you see how easy it is to print  and cut your own die-cuts! That's the beauty of hybrid scrapping!

Thanks for stopping by..

Morag x

You Got Mail

Christmas may be looming fast, but I haven't really got to grips with it yet!

I have however, found time to do this cute little project. I saw a blank mail box that was crying out to be altered.

I covered the mail box in the fabulous My Mind's Eye Sugar Plum paper. It is my most favourite Christmas collection ever! The sparkly stars are just so pretty.

I needed a little occupant for the mailbox house. This is a robin made from a polystyrene egg shape. I punched hundreds of heart shapes which were then glued into place (yes it took a while).

Robin is wearing the latest Christmas accessory - a santa hat (although you can't really see in my photo, he does have eyes and a beak). 

The little envelopes were made from several different collections

I think this would make a great little gift for someone. I'm going to do another version for a special person in my life to stash their treasures.

Thanks for popping in. I'll leave you with a sneak peak of another layout.

Morag x

Rockin' Christmas

Phew! Are the Christmas preparations as manic for you as there are here?  It's a busy ol' time for us all at this time of year, but crafting is a great escape from all the hustle and bustle.

Riikka Kovasin has been hosting a fabulous craft advent this month with posts from amazing designers around the world. I shared one of my favourite Christmas projects with Riikka which you can check out here.

My lil' robin was made from a polystyrene egg and covered with hundreds of punched hearts.

The girls at the Solihull crop will testify to me punching and punching and punching! LOL.

 

I decorated the base with a little postbox for the robin to post his Christmas cards - you can see his letters and parcels in the picture below.

 

Fly on over to Riikka's blog for more details and check out my giveaway.

 

I am giving away two sets of buttons on Riikka's blog - check out the details here.

 

Good luck!

Only 7 more sleeps....

Yikes! Only 36 Days until Christmas

How did that happen? I would probably say I am as organised as usual (which very disorganised  but I have managed a few tasks that I wouldn't normally do by now. I spent the whole day yesterday making a special Christmas present which I won't share because it's a surprise. I have also made a December journal for Merly Impressions which is super-organised huh?

I created my own chipboard book but obviously a ready made book would make it much quicker to make.

The Turtle Dove Collection features loads of beautiful images in traditional festive colours.

The collection has a beautiful die-cuts and stickers which are perfect for this type of project.

If you click on the images to see a larger version, you will see that many of the pages are shaped. I had bought a Basic Grey chipboard album years ago which I use as a template. I often will buy a chipboard piece with a view to using it as a template only (saves lots of money!)

As I have never made a December journal before, I kind of went with a page to cover several days (I wouldn't be taking photos and journaling every day as I don't have time).

Most days I left a spot for journaling but I can add extra tags later if needed.

I think in hindsight I would put the numbering on later but the Sticker sheet has such cool numbers to choose from I had to use them straight away.

I tucked in Boutique Buttons here and there from The Vintage Christmas.

I have left space near the end to allow me to add anything I missed out during the month.

Products Used:
Turtle Dove Collection
Turtle Dove Number Stickers
Turtle Dove Collectables
Turtle Dove Clear Stamps
The Vintage Christmas Boutique Buttons

Thanks for popping in!

Christmas Eve

I guess it will be hard to sleep tonight - we'll be listening for sleigh bells.

I have mentioned it before, but we didn't have too many family traditions, so I have instigated new traditions of our own.  A new 'tradition' for this year will be table gifts.  Just something very small to open at the lunch table - kind of stretch things out a bit and mostly because crackers are just so disappointing.

My gifts have been wrapped in kraft paper and decorated with a simple ribbon, tag and candy cane.  My favourite part are the jingle bells though. (Sorry that my photos are pretty poor).

Did you notice the nutcracker soldier?  DD begged me for one on our visit to the German Market recently.  He is adorable.  I think that we'll be collecting those in future.

Thank you so much for spending time on my blog - I appreciate it.  I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas.

Only 3 more Sleeps...

and we have snow forecast for Friday - WOO HOO! I don't think it's ever snowed on Christmas day so I am keeping my fingers crossed. It is all so beautiful here with a sprinkle of snow, bright, cold days and warm noses. I took the kids sledging today and we made cookies - crikey, I could get mother of the year at this rate (HA HA).


I know I've been totally swamped with stuff to blog - I have been scrapping, honest! Much I can't share right now, so I'll share the card I made for Jacob. He is really into penguins because of Disney's Club Penguin (although he has found another new craze now which is rather annoying).

Those cute stamps are Unity and the papers are MME (Colorful Christmas). You can click on the images for a more detailed look.

I'm off to make DH's card now - nothing like leaving things to the last minute eh?!

Hope you're having a wonderful season so far. Thanks for stopping by.

Sweet Tooth

'Tis the season to be jolly and it snowed today! This is the first time I remember snow at Christmas since I was a kid. I just hope it lasts until next week.

I had a play this week at making a cupcake gift holder. I have seen these cupcakes when they hold a gift card, but I really wanted to make one to hold bath bombs or jelly beans.


As it is my first attempt, (well it took me 3 goes to make the base), it didn't turn out too bad. I have thought of some ways to improve for next time. It was really fun to make, but I've burnt my fingers again and again with hot glue.


The lid comes off to reveal the gift. It should be jelly beans, but they got eaten instead (not by me you understand).

There is lots of glitter and dew drops, but it is hard to see from the photos. I think Lauren will enjoy opening it on Christmas day.

Thanks for stopping by.