Day 4 - Tags and Baskets

Introducing today's guest designer, Diana L.! Diana was the talented winner of our November Thankfulness challenge and has very kindly agreed to share some of her Christmas projects too.

Tell us about yourself Diana:-

"I've been married since 2007; we don't have any children yet but plan on having two in the near future. For now, we adopted a cat named Sammy and he is a brat who we love and spoil a lot!

I've been scrapbooking since 2005. They gave me a scrapbook 101 class at my local scrap store and since then it has been my main hobby. Scrapbooking is my way of documenting important events in my life that I would always want to remember and would like to share with my future kids and their kids. I also like to make all kinds of projects for my dearest family and friends; it's my way of showing them how much I care.

Besides my favourite scrappy pastime, making layouts, I really love to make mini albums! I enjoy all the process from decorating the cover to adding the photos and decorating the pages. I also like to make cards; it is the perfect way to use all the extra paper pieces from making LO's and I really like to give handmade cards to the special people in my life.

At the moment I am really excited about all the homemade Christmas gifts I am making for my family, and if I had to pick one favourite it would be a mini album I am making for my brother and sister with old family pictures - lots of childhood memories!

I listen to audio books when I scrapbook; sometimes I have to return several chapters because I am so concentrated on the project I am making that I don't pay attention! I also keep a box of almond roca chocolates near my desk to reward myself, something I do a lot, and any excuse for chocolate is ok! lol

I am recognisable by my curly hair, which I inherited from my beautiful mom. And I smile a lot! :) As well as scrapping I also enjoy photography; I like to read, mostly novels; and I really enjoy travelling - just a one day trip to a different nearby city is fun for me. I love downtown Chicago, there is always a lot to explore, but my most peaceful place is my scraproom.

To The Scrappy Tree team : I am so happy of you for making this awesome blog and it is a huge honor to participate as a guest designer, I was so happy when I got the invitation! Thank you all bunches, love you all!"

Thanks for accepting our invite Di! We love your work :)

You can see some more of Diana's great projects here.

To see where she gets her inspiration from, we asked Diana for some of her favourite blogs and websites. Favourite blogs were The Scrappy Tree, Zunky Chic, A Kiss On The Chic, Ali Edwards, Just Something I Made and Donna Downey.

Favourite websites included scrapbook.com, Peachycheap, Jenni Bowlin, Blue Moon Scrapbooking and Swirlydoos.

Now you've gotten to know our latest guest designer, let's see her take on home-made gifts for Christmas!

WINE BOTTLE TAGS

Last year I gave my 4 coworkers a bottle of wine from a local winery I like, to make the gift a little more special I made tags to decorate the bottles. These two tags or similar to the ones I made, you can add a piece of ribbon or a bow to make the bottle look even nicer.

Snowflake Tag Supplies: Bazzill Snowflake Chipboard, Imaginisce Snowflake, Making Memories Metal Snowflake, Silver Brad, Chalk Ink

Steps: Paint the sides of the chipboard snowflake; layer the other 2 snowflakes and the silver brad. Decorate the top part with little silver bells and leafs.

Here is another one.

Bingo Tag Supplies: Jenni Bowlin Mini Bingo Card, Red Cardstock, Poinsettia flowers, Brads, Pins

Steps: Cut a tag shape out of the red cardstock. Add brads to decorate the center of the poinsettias. I layered the bingo card on a sparkly piece of paper and made a little bow on the pins with silver twine to give it a little shiny touch.

GIFT BASKETS

One of the advantages of making your own gift baskets is that you can add products that the person you are giving it to is actually going to use. These are for my sister in laws and they both have colors that match there personalities.

First buy the items you are adding to the basket, and then look for a basket or in this case a metal container that will fit all the items in a way they can be displayed. Decorate your basket with ribbon and Christmas ornaments or embellishments.

We think you'll agree that Diana's family and coworkers are really lucky to be getting these this Christmas! Thanks for sharing!

Come back tomorrow for Day 5 of The Scrappy Tree's homemade Christmas gifts!