And today I made those Covered Pens.

I bought a package of pens with the clear center and filled it with scrapbook paper. I used size 1 inch by 3 inch paper. I rolled the paper up and inserted it into the tube. I think they turned out GREAT. But you tell me what you think.

Would you buy one for 50 cents??

Don't forget to enter for the give away in the entry two posts down. Deadline is August 16th.

Can we start talking about Christmas yet?

I know that the stores don't have the Christmas decorations up just yet but I think I need to begin thinking about Christmas presents and decorations and such. This year will be a lean year in our household. The economy has decreased our household income by almost 50%. So I have begun to think about who I will be buying for and who will appreciate handmade gifts. I have begun making my lists and checking it twice (laugh) and assigning projects and gifts.

I was blog hopping today and found this blog: http://craftsonawhim.com/. It is so cute and has a great many easy projects. One of the things I like about this site is that it has a difficulty factor with each project.

Here are a few I love!

Beaded Angel: Check this out. I will be making a ton of these (going out today to get the supplies for it and will be working on them tonight). How easy are they??? I am thinking that these will be nice gifts for my co-workers, as gift tag decorations, for kids to make for their teachers and perhaps to sell at the next craft show I am doing.

I found these through a link from AMR that Nicole posted and love these little clothespin magnets. I am thinking that these will also be fun to make and sell as well as for little gifts. I want to make my girls bulletin boards for their room and if I use some metal frames for them they can use these magnets too.

And what about this idea? I love the idea of putting scrapbook paper in a tube of a pen. You could do Christmas paper and give as a gift. You could do fun paper and they can be a great first day of school gift to the kid going off to middle or high school. OR for the teacher, just make it a RED pen (laugh). Oh, I think I need to make some of these too!!!

So, what are you making for Christmas gifts? Leave me a link to your blog with the ideas you have or leave your ideas in my comments, but I will tell you I can learn best from a picture!!!

You leave me a comment with some ideas or other sites that I can go to for more great homemade stuff no later than August 16th at 6pm eastern time, and I will put everyone's name in a hat and get one of my kids to pull it out and I will send you a goodie.

The kids did this project!

We are all in the holiday spirit. The kids want to help as much as I want to do it myself. So I bought these foam kits for them to make a little ornament for the gifts as a topper.

They still need a string and some glitter but I think they did a great job!

I am working on a gift basket to give to some family, neighbors, and other sundry friends. I am brainstorming what to put in them. I bought a cute little basket, and it is not big.

Isn't it cute??? The basket is about 8 inches wide by 6 inches deep and 4 inches tall.

And I bought these cute little tins with a curved top.

Wow, the tins look huge in these pictures but they are only about three inches tall and 5 inches wide. They are as tall as they are deep.

So here is what I am thinking. We will have some fruit from Florida so an orange and a grapefruit. I was thinking a jar of apple butter, some sugar cookies, some bourbon balls (maybe) or peanut butter bars, and a handmade washcloth or a potholder. Do you think that is a good gift? Is it enough? Oh, I forgot the ornament I made too. (See the blog entry from Saturday).

Well.....what do you think? do any of you make baskets for Christmas? What do you put in it?

Christmas Cards

You are in luck! I had to open a couple envelopes so I took advantage of it and snapped a few pictures to show you all (all two of you!! Hi Jingle!!) I used K &Co papers and stickers and used a pattern from Sheetload and came up with these.

Hope you are having a creative, scrappy day. Get those Christmas cards out!!

It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!!!

Yes, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas at our house. We have already put our Christmas tree up and we are in the midst of getting the gifts and packaging ready. It is a very exciting time of year. I just love the Christmas spirit!

In that light, I woke up this morning and decided to embark on a new project. I wanted to paint Christmas ornaments. I know what you are thinking. With really only two weeks for us to be completely and utterly ready for Christmas, I begin a new project when I probably should be working out the recipe list, gift list, and shopping.

You are in luck this time. I took pictures:

They were super easy and done with paint pens. Of course I didn't have any of the supplies so I had to go out and purchase the paint pens and ornaments. These ornaments are not the shiny ones. They have a matte finish. I have limited it to a few designs that I felt confident free-handing.

I think these will become gifts for teachers, neighbors, and friends.

Christmas in just a few weeks!! Update on Craft Show

And I am not ready yet. In years past I have gotten most of my Christmas shopping done the weekend before Thanksgiving. Then I scan the Black Friday ads and end up doing a lot of exchanges and returns and rebuys that weekend because of the sales. So not this year. I decided to wait until Black Friday to BEGIN my shopping. We are on a tighter than tight budget this year so I really have to watch my pennies. But today the Monday before Thanksgiving I am feeling a bit out of sorts. I feel like I am behind the curve for shopping and such.

I have three weeks before we go to disney world again and that isn't much time. December 13th is out due to us seeing Santa in the morning. I can use that afternoon but really want to be done done before then. I had thought of doing some holiday shopping on line this year but just haven't mentally gotten there yet either.

I really need to get my act together. I think I know what is bogging me down and I hope to have that cleared up tonight. It is that the Christmas tree isn't in the family room. We thought of putting it in the living room but it looks so lonely in there and we don't really use that room so it isn't in a place that we can sit and enjoy the tree. It isn't in the room that we live in. So here is the problem. All my scrapbooking and crafting stuff is in the corner where we usually put the Christmas tree. That means that I have to clear out all my stuff and put it somewhere so we can move the tree down there. I considered swapping my scrapbook stuff to the living room which isn't such a bad idea but then that room really is a more formal room and I tend to be messy with my stuff so it isn't quite the right place. So at this point I have to pack it all up. Yup ALL of it. And that is what I am going to do tonight. I started yesterday and I am about a third done. Tonight it just needs to go somewhere.

Just to get you in the mood for decorating your house, here are some links that you might like!

http://bucketideasforchristmas.blogspot.com/ (too many trees for me but I picked up an idea or two anyway) Scroll all the way down to the big pictures. there are soo many trees!!!

http://www.100daystochristmas.com/ cool give aways and lots of ideas on what to do to get ready for Christmas.

~~UPDATE ON CRAFT SHOW~~

Remember by goal for the Craft Show this past weekend? Well I hit my goal, sort of. I said I would like to make $150 but would be happy if I broke $100. I ended up making $130! I think that is pretty good since there weren't nearly as many people as I had thought there would be. I was really hoping for more people but they just weren't there. I suppose the economy has everyone not shopping anymore. I didn't sell any scarves and I thought they would be big sellers but not a one. Guess what everyone is getting for Christmas this year?? Sh, don't tell....a SCARF!

Oh, and while sitting there during one of the many lulls, I remembered that I forgot my camera AGAIN! sorry for no pics... :(