LYB and May Arts Holiday Blog Hop

 

Looking for some home decor ideas for the holidays?  This 3-dimensional 8 x 10 framed Christmas Tree makes a great mantel or side table decoration.

To make the accordion style tree, I cut ten 6 x 8 rectangles from Little Yellow Bicycle's Once Upon a Christmas collection Let it Snow/Green Medallion patterned paper.  I used a scoring tool to make a center fold in each rectangle and stapled them into a little booklet. Then I used the scoring tool to fold each side of the booklet into the shape of a tree.  HERE is a great tutorial for making this type of tree.

I wrapped the May Arts red packaging twine around the tree like garland and then made little bows to trim the bottom of the tree from a sheer red ribbon.  To create the shape of the tree at the bottom, I ripped the corners off for a more rugged effect.  

 

The LittleYellow Bicyle Chipboard Shapes were great tree trimmers.  I used the Chipboard Shapes - with foil ornaments and stars to finish off the decorations.  The sentiment for the project is from the LYB Cardmaking Stickers -with foil and the snowflakes are from the  Fabric Favorites.

Hop to the following blogs to find more fantastic ideas for projects with May Arts ribbon and LYB's Once Upon a Christmas.

Tania Willis

Liz Qualman (You are here)

Vicki Boutin

Heather Leopard

Jen Chesnick

May Arts Blog

Leave a comment here, at each Biker Chick blog and a comment at the Little Yellow Bicycle blog telling them what you saw on the hop, and you will be entered for a chance to win some of our Once Upon a Christmas collection.  Don't forget to leave a comment at the May Arts blog too for a chance to win goodies from them too.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Fun Holiday Gift and Storage Ideas at ScrapbookSteals.com

There is a great steal at ScrapbookSteals.com today.  They have these adorable little canisters and if you are looking for some comfy, cozy and inexpensive gift ideas, you can find them right here...and there?  The canisters are made of plastic and metal and are large enough to fit many different gift or storage ideas.  I thought I would make one canister into a family meal gift basket and include a mason jar of homemade spaghetti sauce along with the canister full of pasta.  I also thought it would be fun to make a hot cocoa gift basket and send the marshmallows in this protective canister that will keep them fresh and safe.

The canisters seal the marshmallows perfectly so they will hold their freshness.  Right now my local grocery store City Market has them on sale for 50 cents a bag and I found coupons for a $1 off of two bags, which made them FREE.  Check here for coupons at couponsuzy.com.

The top of the canisters were easy to decorate.  I cut the patterned paper for the lids from the Simple Stories Handmade Holiday collection with my Creative Memories circle cutter and then added the matching cardstock stickers.  Also, the cardstock stickers REALLY stick to the plastic on the canisters, so make sure you know exactly where you want them before you stick them in place.

The Hampton Art Tag Making Stamp Set (keep an eye out for this item at ScrapbookSteals.com - it's coming up) was really easy to use and includes the tags, ink, wooden stamps and ties. I'm not much of a stamper, but this set was super simple.  The stamps are adorable (especially the Santa) and will coordinate with many Christmas scrapbooking collections.  The red scalloped circle is the Hampton Art tag that comes with the set, but I added a patterned paper circle background from the Simple Stories Handmade Holiday collection and some larger Offray ribbon to the gold tie.  If I get enough nerve to break out the markers, I might go back and color the Santa.

I think I might go back and color the present too.  It would look really cute with the tag, although I do like the look of the black and white stamp against the plaid paper from Simple Stories.

Have a safe and crafty weekend and don't forget to check your local grocery for sales on baking items like marshmallows!