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Thoughtful Gifts for Teachers, Neighbors, and Colleagues

Today we're featuring clever, elegant, and do-able ideas for the gifts you can make in batches and share with teachers, neighbors, colleagues, or anyone else you'd love to share some holiday cheer with!

A Note from Katrina

jar covers | materials journaling spots, stickers, cardboard elements, ribbon (Jillibean Soup) + mason jars, vanilla beans, bourbon

I love to bake, and love high quality vanilla extract. I found an easy recipe for diy extract online, and decided to make a few extra jars for gifts. So easy to embellish the jars with these goodies from Jillibean Soup!

A Note from Kim

Last year for neighbor gifts, I baked a whole bunch of shortbread and gingerbread.

To decorate them, I used a couple of scrap supplies, namely my square punch and a piece of chipboard, to create templates. I placed them on the cookies as I topped the cookies with either decorative sparkling sugar (before baking) or powdered sugar (after baking).

I was very pleased with how well they came out. They looked so festive.

A Note from Beth

materials ribbon, chipboard (My Mind's Eye)

It’s always good to have small gifts/favors on hand this time of year. Here, I wrapped ribbon around a recycled water bottle and filled it with holiday m&m’s. Quick, easy and delicious!

A Note from Celeste

materials patterned paper, embellishments (Cosmo Cricket) + coin holders

I had a few hundred of these #3 coin holders leftover from another project and I wanted to put them to use. I was pleased when I figured out that a gift card would fit inside the envelope. I decorated the fronts of the envelopes using supplies from Cosmo Cricket's Mitten Weather line and now I can just slip them into a holiday card for a customized handmade touch.

A special thank you to Jillibean Soup, My Mind's Eye, and Cosmo Cricket for their generous sponsorship of our second annual WCS For the Holidays celebration!

The Twelve Days {Before} Christmas

A Note from Marie

For the past four years, starting way back in 2006, continuing in 2007, and again in 2008, and highlighted here today from 2009, I have taken a picture each day starting on December 14 to commemorate the 12 days {before} Christmas.

I then turn these pictures into a little mini album each year.

So who would like to join me this year? I promise it's easy and fun and only 12 photos to take! I always write my journaling and blog it right away, so it is super easy to put together in January! If you want to join in, link your blog in the comments so I can join in on your fun.

Cookies

  

Santa Fail

We know so many of you are hoping for the happy, magical Santa photo this month; we're here today to commiserate with you in case you don't get it. : )

from Angie Lucas

Angie's Story:

This photo was taken in 1983 of me and my brothers Matt and Jon, and sister Michele. It's a bit of a fail. Look at my little sister's face. How tight is Santa squeezing her anyway?

from Amy Sorensen

Amy's Story:

This was taken the year Kaleb was about 18 months. It is the ONLY picture I got because he was so terrified I couldn't bear to not hold him. Like...full-body shakes he was so scared!

from Karen Grünberg

Karen's Story: 

This was Nathaniel's first real Santa photo since he was too young last year. We thought he might be all excited to sit on Santa's lap with his big brother but as soon as he realized that his dad wasn't holding him anymore, he started sobbing and could not be consoled. Finally, we just gave up and let David have his own shot with Santa. Even though it's far from perfect, or exactly because of that, both my husband and I love this photo. It's a perfect representation of life - especially life with kids - and how it can't be scripted.

from Erin Sweeney

Erin's Story:

This was taken December 13, 2008. Mackenzie was 13 months old. While it was her second Christmas, it was her first time meeting Santa. It didn't go well. We were at our town's Breakfast with Santa. Michael had the camera and I put Mackenzie on Santa's lap. She was in such a rush and/or panic to escape him that she just threw herself off his lap. Thankfully Santa had quick reflexes and caught her. As you can see by my hand in the picture, I wouldn't have made it in time. :)

from Elizabeth Dillow

Elizabeth's Story:

We went to tour the Jelly Belly factory in California on Gracie's second birthday (2006) and lucky for us, Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus were there to help us celebrate after our tour! Gracie was absolutely fine as we stood in the very short line, then when it was our turn she turned on her Gracie-brakes in a most Gracie-like way. Santa and Mrs. Claus cajoled and begged her to hop up, bribed her with more jellybeans, promised her a special gift for her birthday...nothing could make this child budge. Then they directed me (pregnant with Bridget me, by the way) and Matt to hop up first. Gracie was still screaming, Matt and I were mortified to be sitting on Santa's lap as grown people... Maddie was oblivious to everyone's discomfort. In the end, Clauses and Gracie made up on our (hasty) way out the door : )

Jody W. and Moon took their Santa Fails one step further...

layout by Jody Wenke

card by Moon Ko

May everyone have better luck than we did (or at least a good sense of humor if it all goes south!)

Holiday Photo Frames

 

 
A Note from Paula

materials wooden frame (Dollar Store) + Christmas Chestnut Soup patterned papers (Jillibean Soup) + Snowflakes ribbon (Jillibean Soup) + Sugar Picks (Jillibean Soup)

Here's a quick photo frame project you can finish in no time. I cut my papers into 1 inch strips and mod-podged them onto the frame at an angle. I hot glued twine around the frame opening. I finished it off with a ribbon tied in a bow, accented with decorative pins. You could make a batch for teacher gifts, grandparent gifts, or to display your own holiday photos through the years!

A special thank you to Jillibean Soup for their generous sponsorship of our second annual WCS For the Holidays celebration!

and the giveaway goes to . . .

Thank you, Scrapping Simply, for your kindness in offering a gift certificate to one of our sweet readers!! It was fun to read all of the changes that we have made in growing our skills for our favorite hobby!!

If you are like me, going digital meant many (thousands) more photos taken, but far fewer printed. Which will break your heart if you lose your data files. Trust me. Don't forget that hard copies have their purpose too!!

Without further ado, congratulations to

Ellie, please email us at writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com so that we might get you your coupon code!!

Stay tuned for more holiday fun!

give.away.day. featuring SCRAPPING SIMPLY

(to the tune of The First Noel)

The page begins with a photo or two
(Probably of your kids, your pets, but not you!)
You took this pic to preserve the day
it means so much but what the hay...

Let's print it at home on a cruddy machine
That makes you cuss and sometimes scream

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If you now do your scrapping digitally,
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Scrapping Simply will print your pages for you,
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If it's gifts you need, they've got those too,
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Doesn't mean you must go out and drive ten blocks.

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Comments will remain open until 8:00 pm PST. One lucky number will be drawn at random and posted tomorrow. Please remember to check back as it is your responsibility to claim your number before midnight Saturday!

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Better Tickets Through Scrapbooking

A Note From Elizabeth

Once upon a time, if you bought a ticket for a sporting event or concert or college dinner/dance you'd receive a thoughtfully designed (or at least colorfully designed) ticket in return to hold in your hand. To me, tickets serve two purposes aside from the obvious: before the event, they represent anticipation; afterwards, it's all about the memory. I'm a ticket-saver—always have been. This has been shown here before, but I'm using it again to prove my point:

That's a big collection of dating memories I gave Matt for his birthday the year we got married. We've hung it proudly in every house we've lived in, because it tells a really good story.

Now, however, in an actual case of "the golden days were so much better" if you purchase tickets for an event, you're probably making the transaction online. If you have a printer, you'll probably be encouraged to print your e-tickets yourself. No design. No color. Just convenient function.


These are the Vendini e-tickets for tonight's performance of The Nutcracker my family is attending. Sorry Vendini, but you've given me neither anticipation nor memory in this home-printed gem. I tried to appreciate your clever use of the scissors icon, but even that attempt to inject these tickets—no, "tickets"— with a little Christmas spirit fell short.

But then it occurred to me: I'm a SCRAPBOOKER, for goodness sake! I love design! I love color! I love memory! Sorry, Vendini, I'm making my own tickets.

materials digital papers (Crystal Wilkerson of Creativity by Crystal, Cosmo Cricket at www.jessicasprague.com) + fonts (Helvetica, Engravers, Snell Roundhand) + Pages for Mac

Here are four of the seven pretend tickets I made—I based them loosely on a Toad the Wet Sprocket ticket from a show at Miami University in 1993 (third row over, fifth ticket down). One quick design and a lovely selection of Crystal Wilkerson's and Cosmo Cricket's digital papers, a paper cutter, and look—

I think it's clear which one is more fun. : )

A special thank you to Crystal Wilkerson of Creativity by Crystal for her generous sponsorshop if our second annual WCS For the Holidays celebration!

More Décor Than You Can Shake a (Peppermint) Stick At

We sure hope Melissa helped reduce your level of frantic in November but just in case you're sensing a relapse, we have some beautiful decorations to feature today—always calming to look at pretty things! Chances are you have at least some of the items on hand, and sometimes the best way to slow down and enjoy the season is to take an hour to make something lovely with your own hands. Enjoy!

A Note From Lisa

Here is an easy way to share a little holiday joy on a shelf or even on the dinner table. I had these plain wooden blocks that nobody was playing with anymore. I sanded them a bit, so that I could paint them easier. I used some more water than needed for the paint to prevent it from being entirely covered. Let it dry and then I sanded them a bit again to get that aged look. Then from your letter sticker stash you can spell out Merry Christmas or any other holiday greeting, one letter per block.

I actually spelled another word on the backside of the blocks so I could use it for Valentine's Day too!

Translation from Swedish:
GOD JUL = Merry Christmas
KÄRLEK = love

TIP: If you would want to use the blocks as a part of a center piece be sure to spell the word on both sides for everyones pleasure!

I like to make something nice to put in a frame for the holidays. This year I am making some scrap circles with some holiday words. I took a few scrap patterned papers from my stash and adhered strips to my pre cut circles. My circles are just cardstock, but you can go with heavier paper it you want to. Then I got my sewing machine and set it to make a zig-zag stitch. I sewed along the circle and along the strips vertically. After that I added my letters. I used a digital kit called Teeny type alpha by Zoe Pearn I bought at the Sweet Shoppe Designs.

Frame your artwork and admire it all through the holidays.

A Note From Cheryl

This frame was inspired (heavily!) by the girls at eighteen25. When I saw their digital art I couldn't stop thinking about it! I created it in PSE—and clipped all the text to different digital papers to give it some texture. I added a ribbon, jingle bell and Holly leaf to the outside of my frame.

materials digital papers (Libby Weifenbach: Frageelay) + fonts (plantagenet cherokee, winter essentials, script mt bold, outlaw, century gothic, scrypticali) + metal holly leaf (Making Memories)

These decor pieces were made using digital scrapbooking kits, paper and my cricut. I cut the shapes that the letters sit on with my Cricut and the letters themselves were made digitally using a font on top of a digital paper and printed out to size.

materials digital papers (Creations by Crystal at www.jessicasprague.com + fonts (winter essentials, essential) + velvet ribbons (Making Memories)

materials digital papers (Tis the Season) + papers (Making Memories)

The Christmas Tree ornament was a little wooden plaque I found at the thrift store for 50 cents.  I spraypainted and sanded it and then used spray adhesive to adhere the digital art I created in PSE.  I sanded the edges of the photo paper to make it blend in, covered the back with coordinating cardstock and added a ribbon.

materials digital papers and elements (Creativity by Crystal at www.jessicasprague.com)

I made a bunch of these little ornaments, which measure 4x4, from a stack of chipboard coasters I had purchased a few years ago. I designed it in PSE, printed it and used spray adhesive to adhere it to the front, I then used my scissors to trim the rounded corners (which the coasters already had) and repeated on the back with co-ordinating cardstock.  I used a sanding block to sand the edges (which is helpful if your sticking on technique is not super straight!) and then punched a hole with my Crop-a-dile and added a ribbon and a piece of twine to hang it with.

materials digital papers and elements (Creations by Crystal at www.jessicasprague.com) + ribbon (Making Memories)

A Note From Aly

These will be our Christmas centerpiece this year—so easy and fun to make! This is a great project for
using up ribbon scraps.

materials foam cones (Styrofoam) + ribbon + ric rac + twill + buttons + hat pins (Jillibean Soup) + glue dots (Therm-O-Web)

A Note From Beth

The minute I saw these felt shapes I knew they would make the perfect holiday garland. I simply tied them together with baker’s twine and called it done. They would look especially sweet on the footboard of a child’s bed!

materials felt shapes (My Little Yellow Bicycle) + baker’s twine (Martha Stewart)

A Note From Jody W.

I have always wanted to make a Christmas banner for my fireplace mantle and after receiving these goodies from Kaisercraft + American Crafts, I got my scrap on! I think once my house is fully decorated for the season, this will be a great simple addition to my holiday decor!

materials patterned papers, chipboard (Kaisercraft) + circle punches (EK Success) + letter stickers (American Crafts Dear Lizzy Christmas) + ribbon (AC Moore) + rub-on (“Merry” American Crafts Dear Lizzy Christmas)

A special thank you to Crystal Wilkerson of Creativity by Crystal, Jillibean Soup, Little Yellow Bicycle, Kaisercraft, and American Crafts for their generous sponsorship of our second annual WCS For the Holidays celebration!

A Few More December Daily Ideas

Love playing along with Ali Edwards' December Daily project? So do Jody Dent-Pruks and Monika Wright... check out their in-process albums today plus download a few freebies to include in your own album from Karen Grünberg!

A Note From Aussie Jody

I have followed along with Ali Edwards each year as she puts together her December Daily album. I tend to do my own thing each year but this year went with Ali’s downloadable pages and then made the rest of the album. Having this already to go now means that I am just adding photos and a little journaling now in December, which is always very hectic.

I also made one for a friend who will be travelling in Europe in December and will have some amazing photos to fill this album (an actual white Christmas!)

A Note From Monika

This will be my third year participating in Ali Edwards’ December Daily memory-keeping project. And since my very first in 2008, I have made several mini-albums along the way. My two youngest children have seen me make my albums and journals and are always interested in doing their own projects sitting right beside me.

This year, I’m going to make it even easier for them to play along with Mommy!

I pulled a black chipboard Ethan album by Cosmo Cricket from my stash and separated the pages into two piles. Lucky for me, I’ll have 3 pages for each of the girls’ albums.

Using the Mitten Weather Crafting Pack by Cosmo Cricket, I had plenty of choices. The only extra things I added were a few more binder rings, a small strip of gingham ribbon and used my letter stamps. Ultimately, I embellished 12 mini-album pages with the Mitten Weather kit and there’s plenty of crafty goodness left over.

I’ll show you the back covers now.


For my older daughter, I chose the journaling spots that had space for her to write a short note about the photos she will choose to highlight in her December Daily. For my younger daughter, who is just learning to spell a few words, I used the embellished die cut accents. We’ll let her practice writing her thoughts on a separate piece of cardstock and then adhere it to the album.

When designing the album, I only adhered the border strips at the outer edges, leaving the middle portion of the strip without adhesive so that we could slip the photos under the patterned paper border strips.



May you be blessed with the warmth of family and friends this holiday season and have a few moments to sneak in some crafting time!

A Note From Karen...

I wanted to make some holiday themed overlays to use on my December Daily pages so I thought you might want some, too. Here are the six overlays in this pack:


You can download them by clicking here.

In case you haven’t used overlays before, you can see a video on how to use them here:

 

All of these overlays are PNG files and they are transparent which means you can change the color of the overlays, as well. Here’s how to do that:

I can never have enough journaling spots. I wanted to make some for the holiday season since I journal every day in my December Daily album. So here are six journaling spots I’ve made.

You can download them by clicking here. I hope you enjoy them!

A special thank you to SEI, BasicGrey, and Cosmo Cricket for their generous sponsorship of our second annual WCS For the Holidays celebration!