Christmas Planner update

I've received several questions about finishing off the inside of my Christmas Planner.  Well I just happen to be off work today so I'll see if I can finish up the inside and provide an update with how I did it.  Stay tuned...

Hugs
Carrie

Dream Valley Challenges #12

I was on vacation for challenge #11 but I am back now.  The challenge for the next fortnight is "Suprise - a hidden flap, popup, etc."  This was a fun one.  Our sponsor is Digi's with Attitude and the prize is $10 Canadian.  They have some fun images.  I chose to use Disco Tween. 

I did not make a card but my project does have a surprise.  I made for my DD cause she's been doing a great job saving all her babysitting money this summer.

And the suprise:

I sent hubby to the store to get me a candy bar for this.  I told him I didn't care what kind as long as it was flat like a Hershey's bar.  It didn't occur to me that I need to clarify the size.  He brought home a king size candy bar.  Needless to say this is a pretty large project.

I started with a 7.5" square.  I probably should have made it 7.5"x8"  to allow just a little extra because the larger bar is thicker.  I scored it at 1", 1.25", 4.75" and 5".  I ended up being a bit short on sealing it so I add a narrow piece so there was more overlap to glue, hence the 7.5"x8".  I cut my mats to fit the front, colored my image and started assembly.  The glitter ribbon was from Michael's $1 bin.  It's not sealed so glitter comes off of it whenever you touch it.  This was a good way to use it up and DD could careless if she has glitter all over her.  The roses are from Recollections, purchased on clearence at Michaels.  The flower rhinestones are Kaiser.  Use a nice long piece of ribbon around the candy bar and push it into the sleeve.  Tie you bow and you have a something to pull it out with.  Works like a charm.

I'm sure DD will enjoy this.  Be sure to go over to Dream Valley Challenges and see all the other wonderful creations by the DT and then get to work making your own creation.  Can't wait to see what everyone creates.  I really love getting ideas from all of you!

Hugs

Carrie

Christmas in July Blog Hop Day 4

As promised, the rest of the planner details are added to the bottom of this post.

Happy Thursday everyone!  If you came here from Giselle's blog then you are in the right place.  If you stumbled here by accident be sure to go over to her blog to see all the planners created for day 4 of her hop. 

I choose to make a Christmas planner. I found this little planner at Michael's for $1. I would have described it as kinda ugly but my 15 year old daughter was mad that I covered it up. Go figure.  They say there is no accounting for taste right.

It had a nice mangetic closure and I like the edge on the flap. I covered it with a very antiqued looking sheet of cardstock that had an old santa image in the corner. I love this look for Christmas. I positioned santa on the back because that was the only place I could fit the full image. Beside the back needs some personality too.

The front of the planner has a bit of a story behind where I got the image. Our county museum is 2 beautiful homes. Every year at Christmas the Museum asks for volunteers to decorate all the rooms in different themes. One year a library group decorated a tree with photocopies of vintage Christmas cards. I was speaking with someone from the group about how much I loved the old images. When they took down the decorations she mailed me the copies. This is just one of about 30. I trimmed it and glued it to the front. I had a scrap of ribbon that matched well. Letter were cut out with my Cricut with the Alphalicious font.

I added a receipt pocket with accordian sides to the inside of the cover using the same paper I covered it with.

I still need to make my divider pages that include: gift list, grocery list, gift ideas, parties and Christmas card list.  For those that might be curious the overall size of the planner is 5"x7".

I carry a pretty good sized purse so it will fit with no problems. I hope you enjoyed my little planner. I pretty pleased with it myself. Have fun checking out everyone's projects.

To add dividers to the notebook, I measure a page and add a 1/2" to the width.   Score on the 1/2" mark and fold.  I glued the divider in on the strip that is folded under.  Then decorated with some more of the vintage Christmas postcard copies I had.  My dividers are Cards, Gifts, Food and Events.  I've also included a picture of the back since I somehow managed to miss it the 1st time.

Below you will see the strip that I glued into the book.  The book is a little stiff so it is hard to get a picture without it closing up on me.

This is the backside and the whole reason I used the paper I did.  Love this old Santa!

Hugs

Carrie

Christmas in July - Day 1

Welcome!  Welcome! Welcome to Christmas in July!

It's nice to be in crafting mode again. We were on vacation 2 weeks ago up in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was perfect. Temps ranged from 75-80 degrees and there were almost no mosiquitos. It was so nice to get away. We have no cell phone service at the cabin so the kids were forced to be unplugged for quite awhile. Unfortunately, when we got back, temps in Nebraska were pushing 100 degrees and the humidty's killer. It's supposed to hoover around 95-100 degrees for the next week. Yuck, but a good excuse to stay inside crafting!


I was originally going to use the Christmas Card solutions cart, that I won last spring.  I had good intentions and the card isn't a complete bust but it just didn't turn out as cute as I was envisioning.  I used an aqua cardstock for the people and reins and they just disappeared into the white background.  In person it's cute but doesn't photograph the best.  I think I just need to spend a bit more time with this cartridge.  You'll see it again down the road.

So, I switched up and used the Winter Woodland cartridge.

I used the card function on the Winter Woodland cartridge. I also used my gypsy to size an ice skate to go over the silhoutte of the card.  You can't just cut an ice skate at the same size as your card because they aren't made to line up with each other.  By using the gypsy I could line them up til the skate fit over the silhoutte with just a smidge of trimming.  I really do love my gypsy for a # of reasons.  I never got into the Design Studio.  I love the portability and seeing what I am cutting on the mat before cutting.  It also enables me to let my sister use the cartridges for projects in her school libraries.  She doesn't have any kind of budget for that type of stuff.  If you work in a public school system you know what I'm talking about. 

I used AC cardstock for the card base. DCWV silver glitter paper and a scrap of pale aqua cardstock. Normally when you use the card function you would have a very plain card. I added all these extra layers so that the silhoutte would be the dimensional ice skate. This ice skate does have a ribbon that is part of it but I cut that piece off so I could make my own. I used my crop-a-dile to add eyelets for lacing the skates and then a piece of red/white twine for the laces. I think this one turned out so cute and I love how I really made this one my own by adding the eyelets and laces!

I'm sure that at least some of you looked at the picture of the inside and are wondering about the sentiment.  I left it blank on purpose.  I've got some stamps ordered that haven't arrived yet.  No worries, it will be stamped before I use it.

Hope you enjoy it and take a minute to look at some of your carts in a different way! 
Hugs
Carrie

Christmas In July Blog Hop

I am particpating in an awesome blog hop beginning tomorrow and running thru 7/24.  Giselle over at Cross My Heart Papercrafts has a complete line up and details of all the wonderful sponsors.  Please go check it out.  You won't want to miss this one!

Be sure to stop back tomorrow to see the Christmas cards I made for day 1 of the hop.

Hugs
Carrie