Merry Christmas Eve! With a little help from some fellow write. click. scrapbook. teammates, I, Vivian, am here today to help with some quick-fix last-minute ideas if you suddenly need something for last-minute gift-giving or decorating. Let's face it, we've all been there - suddenly there's an extra guest at at a holiday gathering, an impromptu visitor, etc. - and we all wish we had a quick fix (provided we have at least some advance notice!).
Decorating
Let's start with decorating. I am not one of those people who is good about switching out holiday decor, prettying up my mantel, etc. I would love to be that person, but never seem to find the time to get it done. I came up with this quick-fix art that could either sit on a mantel with some candles or could be hung on the wall to add a little holiday cheer (simply take down a non-holiday piece of art hanging up and replace it with this for the holiday):
Start with a simple shadowbox frame. Cut patterned paper to fit the background. A smaller-scale print, tone-on-tone print, or text print would work well. The subway art Christmas-print paper here is from Echo Park, and October Afternoon also has a fun one. Grab a couple of rolls of Christmas-y washi tape and add four strips of varying lengths at the top left and bottom right. Add dimensional embellishments over the washi tape at the top and the bottom. Add a large dimensional embellishment at the center (mine is a star cut using this Silhouette file - I cut just one half and just the background part), put the art in the frame, and you're done! I promise this can be done in under 10 minutes once you have the papers, embellishments, tape, and frame in front of you, even if you are cutting something with a die-cutting machine!
Cards
How about a 2-minute card? Grab a piece of cardstock, a sheet of washi-look stickers (like the ones I used here, from Crate Paper's Sleigh Ride line) or a few rolls of washi tape, a star punch, a scrap of holiday patterned paper, a pop dot, and a paper trimmer. Cut a 7" X 10" piece of cardstock, score at the 5" mark, and fold in half. Stack graduated lengths of washi-look stickers or tape to form a tree and its trunk, then punch a star from patterned paper and adhere with the pop dot. Done!
After I made the card above, I realized the negative star shape peeking out of the tag I'd cut it from looked pretty cool, so that got me another 2-minute card. I backed the opening in the tag with another scrap of paper (love those little reindeer peeking out at the North Pole!), tied the tag with a doubled length of baker's twine, and then adhered the tag to a card base with a washi-look sticker greeting.
Francine made some quick and easy cards by downloading free card printables, printing them, and adding embellishments, including washi tape, baker's twine, and gems:
See here for the source of the downloadable cards and here for more information on Francine's blog.
Tags
This first tag is super simple - just a tag base, alphas (these all came from one multicolored set, but you could mix and match sets nicely here), and some ribbon. Start with either a pre-made tag base or make your own by cutting a rectangle from cardstock and punching a hole at the top. You can also either angle or round the corners of your tag. Add words, tie a bow, and you're done!
The next tags are a non-traditional set I created using photobooth-print paper, chevron ribbon, colorful label stickers, and a stapler. I used my Silhouette to die-cut five tags from the patterned paper, added a sticker hanging off the edge of each and trimmed it flush with the edge, and then stapled a folded piece of ribbon at the top. This set could be easily replicated with black and white photos of the recipients for a fun twist, or could be created using holiday-themed patterned paper, label stickers, and ribbon.
Ornaments
Lisa made this fantastic (and quick!) set of ornaments. Don't they make a lovely gift? She simply added stickers to plain ornaments to personalize them and dress them up.
You can see more information about these on Lisa's blog.
Hopefully we've helped those of you in a pinch out a bit with today's blog post!
