Inspired by Ashley of Lil Blue Boo, I made some of these pretty little earings for some quick Christmas gifts. I loved how she stitched her own cards to hold the earings and had fun trying out a number of random arrangements... not paying to much attention to being exact. Ummm, some of them look like tadpoles. He he, very therapeutic though.
I guess we're pretty girlie girls around here, but we love pink, sparkles and all kinds of little treasures. My girls will beg me for any kind of box or container that I might be throwing out to keep their little treasures in. If that sounds like someone you know, this is an easy project for you. I found these small lunch-box type tins a the dollar store in Christmas themes. I know they have white ones at the craft supply stores too, but hey, these were $1. We spent a fun afternoon covering these with pretty paper, glitter, ribbons and flowers. Since my niece had a birthday this month we made one for her too. (See my cute, if reluctant, models?) Just the right size for little collections.
For my niece, I also made some of these arm warmers from knee-high socks using the same method as the baby legs here. Then added her favorite, gum & candy.
The elves and I have been busy doing little projects to make it look more like Christmas around here. I tried to get creative with some things I had in my stash. I had these three textured paper cones that we painted with a white, pearly paint and covered with white glitter. They looked a little plain still, so we turned over these thimble flower pots and they made a pretty base.
My table runner is a green felt runner with snowmen on it that had a black underside, so I flipped that over and we placed a few glittery paper snowflakes around the trees. Finally I found this black and white small-checked fabric that I hemmed to make into a table cloth... it looks grey in my pictures.
I'd wanted to do some kind of fun advent for the kids to countdown to Christmas... one that had all the activities I wanted to be sure to do with them this month. I had this fruit-loop colored garland that my my was getting rid of from her stash, so again I enlisted the help of my elves and a few neighborhood elves to paint the fruit silver. We had a lot of fun, and I even liked the sloppy result with some of the color – more muted – showing through. To cut the snowflakes I had my dad cut them on his Craft Robo (better known as Silhouette). Yep, he has one for cutting labels and stuff for his business and I've been wanting to try it. Aren't they pretty? Each snowflake has an activity, like baking cookies, driving around to look at Christmas lights, reading a new Christmas book, and service ideas on the back... one a day until Christmas Eve.
I've done most of my Christmas shopping online and am determined to fill this holiday season with more good memories with my family, and making sure they know how I feel about the reason for the season – the birth of Christ. 
My Shutterfly cards just arrived and I'm so pleased with the quality. Putting it together and previewing a number of different styles was so easy using their templates. The ink has a kind of metallic sheen to it, which is very pretty. The premium cardstock is nice. I have to admit that I was a little worried if I would like it as much as the "linen" type paper I've used for past cards but with the offer to try it for free I thought I'd give it a chance. I am not disappointed at all with these. I'm also feeling happy that I can check this part of my long, long and growing holiday to-do list. I hope I can keep up the momentum and get them sent out quickly too. As the Christmas holiday approaches I want to feel less busy and spend more time creating memories with my kids and helping them feel the true Spirit of Christmas.