O' Christmas Tree

I am one of those crazy Christmas loving decorating fools. My friends all tease me because normally I put my tree up the day after Halloween. Yes, November 1st!!!! I got a late start due to the craft show so it didn't go up until the 2nd weekend of November. My 2.5 year old daughter helped me decorate and was rather cute helping me place ornaments. Here is a picture of her helping with the lights.

I also get teased a lot for having a non-hodge-podge tree. I will cherish this until Ashlinn starts making ornaments for the tree. I've been teasing my husband that this will be "MY" tree and we can put another in our finished basement. He's not buying that idea just yet.

So here is our 2008 tree that is missing the bow for now. I haven't unpacked it yet. I have to dig for it this weekend.

What a success!

I had my very first craft show this past Saturday. I was a little nervous, no...I was down right scared to death!!!! I stayed up until 2am on Friday night crafting more as I felt I didn't have enough. When 2am hit...I told my friend Stephanie - I quit! We had to be back up at 6am to get ready to head to the show and set up. We arrived with about an hour or so to set up and not having time to do a "mock set up" I just sorta winged it... I didn't have time to take pictures so that bums me out.

The show started at 9am and we had a steady stream of customers through out the entire day. They seemed to flock to my booth in groups which was kinda weird. I had people lined up to get Christmas tags that I had made and put in piles allowing them to mix and match. This was against my wishes as I had wanted my husband to help me bag them up. However, lesson learned...we both think they sold way better unbagged where people could pick which 8 they wanted for $2.00.

I had several compliments on how beautiful my cards were. Although I didn't sell as many cards at this show as I had hoped...profit wise...I did EXCELLENT. Way more than I expected. It boosted my ego some and left me with motivation to get into another craft show on December 6th. We had several requests for birthday, thank you and get well cards and I had only a few on hand. So in the next week or two, I'll focus solely on those cards and restocking my gift tags.

I had altered letters " Ho Ho Ho" and that sold within the first hour. I actually had one other person come back and want to buy it but it was gone. I've picked up more for the next show and can't wait to get them done.

In the mean time I haven't been able to take many pictures - but I'll leave you with an altered frame that I made with a Christmas theme paper. I don't remember who the paper manufacturer is though...

Mini Tote's and 3x3 Cards

I finally got a chance to sit down and make some more stuff for the craft show. These 3x3 cards are so fun and easy to make. I've decided to put them in a mini tote. This set was made from new Stampin' Up! Ski Slope designer paper, Old Olive Card Stock, and the following stamp sets: Tags So Much, Say It With Scallops, and Punches Three.

Each tote holds 4 cards and envelopes pretty comfortably. I added some tissue to finish it off. I'm pretty happy with the results and they are super easy to mass produce. I've made 3 sets already!!

Brad and I headed out to a LSS out by my parents house. I was in search of some different stamps and designer paper but only ended up buying one set of stamps and a few sheets of paper. Sometimes they have super cute stamps but I only saw a few but didn't feel the "have to have" feeling with them. From there we hit up Hobby Lobby to pick up a few more frames for me to alter.

I'm making good progress on the craft show stuff finally! I felt so behind. I just haven't been up to it lately. My Grandma has been diagnosed with Stage 2 lung cancer. She starts radiation and chemotherapy on Monday. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Merry Wishes Nugget Tin

I've been trying to be productive this weekend. I think I was able to make about 20 cards, one altered letter and one nugget tin. I have 9 more nugget tins to go!!! The one I made tonight was using new Designer Series Paper from the Holiday Mini Catalog that is available in October. This project is incredibly easy to make no matter what the occasion. I have made this set for Christmas to sell in the craft show. I may have to lock them up to keep my daughter from getting into them. While I was wrapping the nuggets she discovered that I had them out and asked for one. I told her she could have just one but Mommy needed them for a project. She ate it and sure enough she came back for another one. My husband chimed in and told her "No Ashlinn, Mommy needs those".... she started saying "want one Mommy" so how could I resist. She got another one and headed over to my husband and says "Ha Ha, got one!!!" He and I both burst into laughter. For being only 2 she amazes us sometimes! She ended up getting three! That would fill one row of my nugget tin!!! Little stinker!

For the outside I decided to use my new snowflake edge punch made by Fiskars. It's not as easy to use as the SU Scalloped Edge or my Martha Stewart edge punches that's for sure. I made a 2" band of Kiwi Kiss and a 2" band of Baja Breeze. I took the snowflake edge punch to both sides of the Baja Breeze. Then I punched Tangerine Tango and Close to Cocoa circles out and glued every other color behind the snowflakes to add color. Once I was finished I glued it to the center of the Kiwi Kiss cardstock. I used 5/8" white grosgrain ribbon in the center of the band. The tag is made from a SU! set that I don't recall the name of at the moment. I attached it with silver elastic ribbon to match the tin. The tag is also layered a bit to give it some dimension and I used two different inks as well.

Picture this...

I'm still at a loss for what all I should sell at the craft show. I don't want too much product but I also don't know what will sell and what won't. I ran to Michael's thanks to them sending me a coupon for 50% off one regular priced item. There really isn't anything that I "need" or "want" for that matter. While wandering around aimlessly trying to find something to spend my coupon on Sherry and I came across some small wood block picture holders. They were plain wood with Christmas pictures on each side. I thought they might be perfect for altering. Whether they will sell at the craft show is beyond me. I tinkered around with one and added a bow to the top near the swirl that holds the picture. I took the picture before I added the bow as you can see. If they don't sell, I'm only out a dollar and scrap supplies. I'll then turn them into X-mas gifts for someone!! haha.. beware...if one of these ends up in your mailbox after the craft show, you'll know why!