Tiny Little Christmas Gifts

I wanted to share some small gifts I made that were truly appreciated by the recipients.  First off, here is a gift card holder I made for my beautician.  I included a gift card to IHOP, her family's favorite weekend eatery. 

I used the Cricut Christmas Cards cartridge and cut the card at 5".  I cut the envelope at 5 1/8", just to be sure there was enough room to easily slide the card in and out.  I made the red strip to hold the gift card by cutting a piece of cardstock 4" in length.  I then used the Martha Stewart floral vine punch.  I trimmed it after determining how much room was needed to actually hold the card.  I cut it approximately 1 1/2" below the punch cut.  The cardstock was attached using my ATG.  The stamps are from a set I got from Michael's.  On the red strip I used green ink to stamp the holly leaves.  (Probably overkill, but oh well!)  The patterned paper came from the DCWV "The Christmas Combo 180 Stack". 

The next gift is a container of bath salts that I made for my sister and my mom.  I got the glass containers from Walmart and the bath salt supplies and ribbon from Michael's.  I designed the labels using the Cricut Design Studio and the Cricut Lite cartridges Lacy Labels and Splish Splash.  The "Relax" came from Splish Splash.  I welded the words to their frames.  All of the circle elements were sized at 3", while the square elements were 2 1/4".  The "Relax" was initially sized at 1" and had to be adjusted to fit within its frame.

This last gift was so fun to make.  I have to thank Nubian of Nubian Crafter NC for introducing me to the idea and for pointing me to Andrea's blog Love is in the Details for the instructions.  These cocoa cones were a hit!  I made them as gifts from my son for his daycare teachers, the young kids in our family, and his grandmother.

For each cocoa cone you will need:

• 2 12" disposable decorating bags
• 3 1-ounce packages of hot chocolate mix
• hot chocolate "embellishments" (I used mini chocolate chips, crushed candy canes, and mini marshmallows)
• 2 clear elastic bands
• ribbon
• a tag   

Please visit Love is in the Details to get the complete instructions.  I made the tags with the Very Merry Tags Cricut cartridge, cutting them at 4".  The patterned paper also came from DCWV's "The Christmas Combo 180 Stack", while the cardstock came from their "The Christmas & Winter Combo Cardstock Stack". 

Now let's see if I can get these Christmas pictures scrapped...

Merry Christmas!!!

Wishing you and yours a very Blessed Christmas Day!


"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.  (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)  And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.  And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)  To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.  And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.  And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.  And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon the, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them:  and they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great job, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

Luke 2:1-14

Glitter Ornaments

I just discovered that this post never posted.  I had scheduled it for the 13th, but I apparently hit "save" instead of "schedule."  Oh well.  Here ya go!

I have been wanting to make these ornaments for some time.  They are quite popular on the Cricut message board.  And it turns out they are easy to make!  All you need are ornaments, glitter, and floor wax.  I bought a 12-pack of Tree House Studio plastic ornaments from Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago when they were on sale 50% off.  I knew I needed the plastic ones with a 2 year old afoot!  I also bought a package of Tree House Studio ultra fine glitter using my 40% off coupon.  I used Mop & Glo Multi-Surface Floor Cleaner.  On the Cricut boards, the Pledge with Future Shine is most often used, but it was more expensive and I had a coupon for the Mop & Glo.  I wanted to spend as little money as possible, in case I messed up the ornaments.

So, I started with this:

And ended up with these:

To make them, remove the ornament cap.  Pour a small amount of the floor cleaner into the ornament.  Swish it around and make sure it covers the entire inside surface of the ornament.  Then pour the excess out.  (Pour it back into the bottle to be reused!)  I then set the ornament upside down on the floor cleaner bottle and let it drain well.  (I also used an empty yogurt container so I could have two ornaments draining at one time.)  One thing I noticed, if there is any excess that pools in the ornament, the glitter will be concentrated in that spot.  Pour a good amount of glitter into the ornament.  Twirl the ornament around until the inside is covered.  Add more glitter if necessary.  It does take a lot!  I made a little cap of aluminum foil and placed it on the ornament so I could turn it upside down and make sure there was good glitter coverage near the top of the ornament.  Pour out any excess glitter (again, saving it to be reused!).  Replace the ornament cap, and you're done!

Here are a couple of close ups:

I'm debating whether I want to get some vinyl and cut out phrases such as Merry Christmas, Noel, Peace, Joy, etc., and put on the outside of the ornaments.  I've never used vinyl before, so I'm not sure.  If I do, I'll be sure to post the final creations!

Thanks for visiting!  Have a great day!