It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Oh how I love this time of year! Everything is so festive and decked out in holiday beauty. I so hope you are all taking some time here and there to be creative and let the season inspire you. I am trying to do that too. My studio is covered in Christmas scrapbook paper, glitter, snowflakes and all sorts of holiday pretties just waiting to be tinkered with. So much to do and never, ever enough crafty time...

I mentioned my excitement about the Teresa Collins design team in my last post. Unfortunately, I did not make the DT, but I sure had fun playing with her products and submitting. It has been a long time since I submitted for a design team and I love the challenge it brings - always an inspiration for me. If you have not already, please visit Teresa's Blog and take a peek at her new DT - they are fabulous. Congratulations ladies! I thought I would post my entries for all of you since they are perfect for the season. My first project is a little wall hanging featuring Cole in a Santa hat. This picture was taken last year by my photographer friend Dawn and I actually used it on our Christmas cards. I wanted an airy light look to the picture, so I edited in photoshop and then printed it on some resume paper instead of photo paper. For all of my projects I used the NOEL line. I had mentioned in a previous post how pretty and classy this line is - love it!



The holly paper was so pretty in its most simple state. I hand cut some of the holly leaves and edged them with silver glitter. This paper is so pretty and has such a heavy weight to it that it stands up to all sorts of distressing, crinkling, twisting and rolling. For the small rosette-type paper flower, I simply took a thin strip of paper and twisted it around a pencil. A small dab of hot glue secures the ends.

Some time ago, fellow blogger Cristal aka Pinky posted a tutorial on the Helmar blog on how to make these adorable paper bows. Remembering just how cute these were, I took her lead and fashioned my own paper bow for the top of this piece. So fun to hang this up in Colson's room and bring a little bit of Christmas cheer into his sweet little life.

I also submitted this little round box topped with some paper trees, fluff, and the "Naughty or Nice" sentiment. The vintage image is from Lisa's Altered Art. Please pay her site a visit - she has the cutest collage sheets for every occassion. I loved how this little girl is trying to be so sneaky...

And a close up of my simple paper flower with wound ribbon in the center:

I used the ribbon from the NOEL line and cut it into two inch pieces. Then I looped it and secured it with hot glue to form a "fringe" around the box lid. All in all, it turned out so cute and made the perfect gift for my friend Jen. Hope you liked it, sweets! Remember, Santa is making a list and checkin' it twice...

My final entry was the card I had posted a few weeks ago. Thank you to Teresa Collins for the awesome opportunity to submit! I for one am looking forward to seeing what the new team has in store for all of us. I will leave you with a few Christmas cards I whipped up after digging into my holiday stash. Amazing how many Christmas papers I have. Some of these are a few years old and it was fun to revisit them again and use up some scraps.

Kids are gettin' antzy and ready for dinner. That's all for tonight!
XOXO
-Nik