Christmas Gifts

Now that everyone has received their Christmas gifts, I thought I would share a couple I made. As soon as I saw the Papertrey Ink set, “All Booked Up,” I knew what I would do for the women I work with when I volunteer, as well as two other friends with whom I exchange gifts. I decided not to use holiday colors and went with a pink and green color scheme. Not my usual, but I liked the results, and the patterned paper actually came the Papertrey Holiday Cheer collection.

I started by creating a card and a coordinating bookmark. With the bookmark die I cut a piece of Ripe Avocado cardstock and embossed it with the Book Print Impression plate. Then I sewed it to a piece of Raspberry Fizz felt and trimmed around it with my pinking shears.

The bottom portion of the card was stamped with Hero Arts Friends Definition stamp. The images on the bookmark tag and card are from “All Booked Up,” backed with a Martha Stewart doily on the card, and a Limitless Layer die on the bookmark. A piece of Ripe Avocado ribbon and a Raspberry Fizz button topped the bookmark.

Here’s the inside of the card:

The message “Friends are the True Gift of the  Season” is one of my favorites, and it’s from “Believe” by Papertrey. Inside the pocket created with the Pocket die are several bookplates that I stamped on adhesive paper, and a gift card to Barnes & Noble. I used two different sentiments on the pocket both of which I love: “I think of us as bookends, one friend supporting another.” And ” Having you as a friend is like curling up with a good book.”

I packaged the card in a glassine envelope tied with twine and a cute little tag that read “Life is short; read fast.” 

The gifts were a big hit, and they were a lot of fun to create.

I drew my sister-in-law in the gift exchange for Christmas. She’s an avid bird-watcher so I bought her a backyard bird watching guide and a beautiful wooden blue bird house. We’re hoping it will bring blue birds to her backyard. I also bought her a ceramic chickadee ornament when I was in the Adirondacks this fall and needed a box to put the ornament in. I also made her a birdhouse ornament with my new Silhouette. All the papers for these projects were from last year’s Making Memories Mistletoe collection. I created the box following the instructions on my Martha Stewart Scoring Board. I’d never done this before and was amazed at how easy it was to do.

Jill loved this. I think she liked the box even more than the ornament. I already have some ideas for next year’s Christmas gifts for my friends, but you never know what will show up on the papercraft blogs that will inspire something else.