Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone!  I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  I hope you are able to spend time this holiday season with those you love. ♥

My inspiration board, at the moment

Ah... look at my pretty little board of love from friends.  :)

I think I need a bigger board!

I was trying to think of a way to display items made by my scrappy friends on my board, without damaging them.  I suddenly had this idea last night, and promptly climbed onto my desk to recreate my vision... haha!

I had these little clothespins for quite a while, as I wanted to some day make an organizer like a Clip It Up... I also already had the twine, and some old push pins.  Not sure if I like the push pins the way they are.. I might cover the heads with fabric... yes, that sounds like a good idea!

(The last ATC there was one I had made for a local swap...)

PCS December 2010 - Winter's Tale

Hi there!

I just wanted to let you know that on December 10th, Paper Crafters Sampler will be releasing the December 2010 issue!  This month's issue is called "Winter's Tale" and features a variety of beautiful winter-themed projects.

Here's a sneak peek of my project:

If you'd like to subscribe, head on over to the Paper Crafters Sampler website, and be sure to note the code "PCSMH"!

My Christmas Wreath

Hello!

I knew I wanted to make my own Christmas wreath this year (although I've never made or bought one before), and had many different ideas on how to go about doing it.  I toyed with a few different wreath bases in my head for a while, and the one that I kept going back to and finally decided upon was this ruffled wreath made by Emily Jones of Jones Design Company.  I was drawn to its natural feel.  I pretty much followed her tutorial, using a 10" styrofoam wreath from a dollar store, and burlap bought by the yard.  Then I just spiffed it up!

Here's the end result!  I absolutely love it!

I used a few things from my stash, and some wreath adornments found at the local craft store.  The pinecones are those ones that smell like cinnamon... yum!

Love how the banner turned out!  After I made each pennant, I hot-glued it to the retired silver elastic cord, and hand-sewed it onto the wreath.

I made the pretty little flower below out of the Deck the Halls Designer Series Fabric (SO glad I have two more packages on the way.. I love this stuff!)... I just die-cut some flowers using the retired Flower Layers #3 Big Shot die, folded and layered them, then sewed them together and onto two unfolded layers of flowers.  I sewed this as well to the wreath.

And here's how it looks on our door!  You'll have to excuse the lighting, as the sun had already set.. :)  Maybe I'll try and take another photo in the morning.

I also am thinking about getting a longer wreath holder... as you can see, our peep-hole is a little blocked!  You can kind of see through it, but there's a big ol' pinecone there, haha.  I'd love to hear what you think about it!  

Well, I gotta go.. think I'll make myself some hot chocolate!  It has been snowing a little bit off and on, and it's quite cold out.  Hope you are staying warm where you are, and thanks for stopping by!  :)

I'm linking this here:

The start of my December Daily album

Hi!

I really wanted to start this year with doing a December Daily album, inspired by Ali Edwards.  For those of you who don't know, December Daily is an album that documents the days leading up to Christmas, December 25th.  Well, some people do the whole month of December, or even just as a "12 Days of Christmas"-type of album, but you get the point.  I've been working on getting my album ready.

It took me a while to really get started, for several reasons... one being that I wanted to use a lot of my stash.  You may or may not know that my blog contains only projects using 100% Stampin' Up! products (well, whenever possible.. with the exception of things that SU! doesn't sell, like an acrylic picture frame or something).  I think I have finally convinced myself that it's ok to let myself even use non-SU! items in my December Daily.  Now, that's not to say that I will start posting a bunch of projects with non-SU! items... I'm just allowing myself to do so for my December Daily, since I consider it more of a personal project than most things.  If this disappoints you, I hope you understand.  :)  I anticipate that my album will, however, probably contain at least 90% SU! products.. just because that's mostly what I have and love!

For that reason, and the fact that a lot of the items I might use are retired SU! products, I won't be posting a detailed list of supplies for my December Daily album (but still will of course, for my other projects).  If you want to know what I use, though, feel free to shoot me an email!

I also kind of felt that at this stage in our lives, that maybe it wasn't "worth" doing a December Daily.. after all, we don't have children yet.  It's something that I tend to struggle with in scrapbooking, too, but I think I am getting better at not feeling that way.  But really, this part of our lives is important too, right?  Has anyone else ever felt like that at some point?

I've never taken on a project quite like this, but we'll see how this goes, eh?  :)

Thanks for reading through that, or at least skimming!  Here is part of what I've done so far... mind you, I haven't been printing pictures and adding them yet, and I will be adding more embellishments and journaling to the pages as I add pictures.

My album is 6" x 8".  Here's my cover, which is chipboard, trimmed down from a mini album piece I had in my stash.  You can't really see from the photo, but the letters and numbers are glittered.

Here are the next two pages: the inside of the front cover and my title page.  I like how Ali created her title page, so I based mine off of hers.  She is planning on putting a filmstrip of photos from the month in the blank space.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the inside of the front cover yet, though.

And here's the 2-page spread for Dec. 1st:

Well, thanks for stopping by!  I need to get back to work on things on my to-do list. :)  Have a great day!

Last chance for the Simply Amazing kit promotion and Online Spectacular sale!

Hello!

Just a quick post to let you know that today is the last day to shop the fabulous deals going on in Stampin' Up!'s Online Spectacular sale, saving you up to 50% on popular products!  Click HERE to see all the deals!  Remember that online orders of $150 or more get free shipping, in addition to the regular awesome hostess benefits!

Also ending after today is the Simply Amazing kit promotion.. what a perfect gift for you or someone else!  Check out the price breakdown HERE!

Feel free to email me at melissahuie@gmail.com if you have any questions.  Have a great day!

"About a Boy" challenge layout

Hello!

It's been a little while, but I've been busy trying to prepare for the holidays!  :)  My Dad and my stepmom will be coming down here tomorrow and spending Thanksgiving with us.  I'll try to make this a fairly quick post, as I need to get back to getting ready!

I finally finished my layout for the About a Boy challenge over at one of my favorite hangouts, the Memory Makers forum.  There's still time to play (needs to be uploaded by the end of today), so you should give it a try! Check the thread out here for details.

So, many of you know that my fiancé Seth and I have been together for quite a while.. it'll be 9 years in February.  My, how time flies!  I've never actually done a layout like this before, just about him.

The challenge included using a technique from the new PageMaps book by Becky Fleck - creating a faux notebook edge.  It took a little time, but I like how it turned out!

I created my background with the En Français retired background stamp, with VersaMark on Early Espresso textured cardstock, then sewed around the page with my sewing machine and white thread.  After creating the notebook edge at the top, I stamped the image from Lovely as a Tree (stamped off on scratch paper first to make it a shade lighter) with Crumb Cake on the textured Whisper White cardstock.

Here's a close-up of the journaling:  (it's a little mushy!)

I really love how that little border under the photo looks!  It was easy to create using just four punch-outs from the Decorative Label Punch (which is on sale as part of the Handmade Holiday bundles at SU!).. I trimmed the side edges and taped them together on the back.

The tag on the side is from the Table Setting Bigz XL die (which is also on sale!).  I punched a hole in it and threaded some Linen Thread through.  I did leave my chipboard letters raw, as I felt it added to the overall look of the page.  What do you think?

Here are a couple more close-up shots...

Well, I must go.. don't forget to check out the challenge!  And don't forget about the items on sale in the Stampin' Up! store.  They would all make great gifts!  :)

Happy Thanksgiving!  I'm grateful that you stopped by my blog!

"heart" layout supplies:
Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree, French Foliage, En Français (retired)
Ink:  Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, VersaMark
Paper:  Early Espresso, Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Marina Mist, and Soft Suede cardstock, Green Tea Designer Series Paper (retired)
Accessories/Tools:  Antique Brads, Neutrals Designer Button, Antique Trinkets (safety pin), Timeless Type On Board Chipboard Letters, Old Olive 5/8" Satin Ribbon, Linen Thread, Soft Suede Stampin' Write Marker, Basic Black Stampin' Write Journaler, Stampin' Sponges, Decorative Label and Heart-to-Heart Punches, Crop-a-dile, Table Setting Bigz XL die, sewing machine and thread, Big Shot