New Year, New Beginnings Challenge- Part 3

For my New Year, New Beginnings challenge I wanted to use my New Year resolutions in some way. I love the idea of a New Year, clean slate, self improvement and all that but I often forget what my resolutions are, which makes it easy to not keep them all...lol. With Dedication being one of my resolutions, I decided if I was reminded on a regular basis it would be harder to forget so with that came the idea of New Year's ATC's! They are small enough to carry with me and with a little pocket to keep them in, I was on my way!




The first step was to pick the paper, for this part I incorporated another resolution Accept Change by using colors I normally stay away from, in patterns I would often use for someone else. I went with American Craft patterned papers in complimentary colors (red, black, yellow and I had to throw some green in there). I used a few embellishments but not many. Simplify was another resolution, so I wanted each design to be clean but appealing. I was more successful with some more than others :) With all the cool products out there it is hard to not grab a bit of each one every time! Above is the pocket that will hold the ATC's. I simply measured around the outside of one ATC and added a little to handle the depth of 10 or so cards. This is a great way to make a custom envelope for a specialty card (look for custom envelope instructions on our community site soon) See my ATC's below and don't forget to work on your project, to show us what New Year, New Beginnings means to you!

The whole group; I used some Making Memories alpha stickers, Tim Holtz hardware, Ranger Stickles, Martha Stewart glitter and a bit of home made shimmer spray for some shine .

Two of my favorites, Focus is the key and Create everyday! Hopefully if I focus better, I can have the time to create everyday :)

My husbands favorite ended up being the Simplify one, no wonder, he is always telling me to Simplify my life. I really like how Change looked on the paper, it made me more comfortable with using red that's for sure. The last few are, reminding myself to Be healthy, Donate time to charity, Inspire others, and Think Scrappy!

We can't wait to see your creations,remember the deadline is coming soon, Jan. 13th and someone will win a Scrappy kit. Send your entry to thescrappytree@hotmail.com

Have a wonderful day, thanks for stopping by!

*Look for our Candy Gram Sneak Peek this weekend, orders will start Jan. 14th!

*Also, check back on Monday when Julie will introduce a monthly Inspiration challenge!


Don't worry, be Scrappy!

Kristin

New Year, New Beginnings - Part 2

Bringing you another idea for our New Year New Beginnings challenge - after discovering Ali Edwards' One Little Word over at her blog, my idea for this project was to use a scalloped chipboard album with cardstock pages inside and scrap one thing each month to tie in with my chosen word bliss.

Having had a few difficult times over November and December it can be hard to remember all the good things that happened earlier in the year, so starting with our trip to London to see a musical next weekend I wanted to make something that I could look back at this time next year and find my 'bliss' all over again!

I layered patterned paper, paper scraps and ribbon onto the chipboard and lots and lots of embellishments!

I wanted to have the themes for my mini-album on the front cover so that they were obvious but didn't take over the page.

I didn't want to make the back cover as heavily embellished as the front, but still wanted it to tie in with the same style - a metal plaque from my Secret Santa finished this off perfectly! I finished up by decorating the bookrings with coordinating ribbons.

Supplies:

Scalloped chipboard album - Papermania. Patterned paper - Creative Memories, plus scraps from stash. Ribbons from stash, blue spotted flower by Petaloo, brown flowers from stash, black butterflies and flower - vinyl stickers by Papermania. Rub-ons by Letraset. 'Life' key by Tim Holtz. 'Heart to heart' metal plate by Making Memories.

So here's a reminder of what you need to do:-

Create a project that reflects what the words New Year, New Beginnings mean to you. It can be a layout reflecting your New Years resolutions, a mini book of the past year in review, or even an ATC set of all the goals you have for the New Year. Be creative, be Scrappy and email us your results by January 13, 2010 to enter. The winner will receive the very first scrap kit designed by The Scrappy Tree team.

Email: thescrappytree@hotmail.com

Due Date: 1/13/2010

Requirements:

*You must use the title of the challenge.

* Be a follower of The Scrappy Tree.

*Feel free to ask questions here or shoot us an email.

The Scrappy Tree team wishes you and yours a Happy and Safe New Year!

Thanks for looking! Gayle xx

Butterfly card

Christmas may be over but the card-making continues! We had to share this beautiful card made by TST's Julie; her cards are so beautiful and a great inspiration.

'In my opinion, when you make cards, you need to think like you are dressing for Winter.....you need layers! I love the weight that the layers add to a handmade card. This card has six different pieces of cardstock/papers on top of the base! (seven if you count the butterfly!) It is a sturdy card!

Of course my love of layers also adds to the postage in sending these cards to loved ones and friends, but in my opinion, it is worth it. One thing you should keep in mind when you heavily layer a card on the outside is that you will need to layer it up on the inside or the card will never stand up on its own well. It would slide down or fall if your recipient wants to stand it up for display. So, make sure you layer the inside too!'

Supplies:

Bazzill Basic kraft cardstock, DCWV papers, paper piercer, American Crafts brad, Fiskars border punch, Inkadinkado stamps, Color box ink.

New Year, New Beginnings Challenge

The New Year always brings us a fresh start and time to reflect on the past year. We make resolutions to improve our life in some way or to reflect on what great things happened the past year and make plans on how to repeat our success.

Here’s your chance to get organized, reflect on the past year, be creative and win a prize! Create a project that reflects what the words New Year, New Beginnings mean to you. It can be a Layout reflecting your New Years resolutions, a mini book of the past year in review, or even an ATC set of all the goals you have for the New Year. Be creative, be Scrappy and email us your results by January 13, 2010 to enter. The winner will receive the very first scrap kit designed by The Scrappy Tree team.

Email: thescrappytree@hotmail.com

Due Date: 1/13/2010

Requirements:

*You must use the title of the challenge.

* Be a follower of The Scrappy Tree.

*Feel free to ask questions here or shoot us an email.

The Scrappy Tree team wishes you and yours a Happy and Safe New Year!

Now, let’s enjoy Julie’s awesome idea for her New Year, New Beginnings challenge!

As each year marks a new beginning, I thought it might be kind of cool to see what the kids might want to do or work on in 2010. I asked each of my children for a list and I wrote down their responses. I think this will be a nice way to remind me and them about what mattered to them in 2010!

Supplies:

Sassafrass Lass papers and journaling spots, Color Box ink, distressing tool, Thickers, DMC floss

Christmas Week winners!

Announcing the winners of Christmas week! We greatly appreciate all of the support from our readers and followers, and as a thank you, the following people, picked through random.org, will be receiving a Scrappy Tree bag! The perfect size to hold all your Scrappy supplies! Please email us at thescrappytree@hotmail.com with your name and address so we can ship it out.

Blog winners
Day 21- Michelle
Day 22- Pigott Clan
Day 23- Dianapena8
Day 24- Erica
Day 25- Chey can cook (and more)

Our Facebook winners
Corey
&
Katie

*Jean and Diana, our previous winners, yours is on it's way, sorry for the delay!

Thanks again to all for visiting and following us often and leaving the wonderful support via commenting. We are gearing up for a Valentines celebration you won't want to miss, including Candy Grams (remember those from school?) Look for a sneak peek soon. We also have a very LOVELY challenge planned and more prizes!

In the mean time check in tomorrow for a New Years challenge! The winner will receive the very first Scrappy Tree kit, put together by our talented design team (worth $25.00)

Don't worry, be Scrappy!

Kristin

Dat 25- Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all. On our last day of the 25 days of Home made holiday gift ideas, we come full circle to the best home made gift of all, the love we can show to those who mean so much to us. Appreciate your friends and family and tell them often how much they mean to you. This gift is free and means more than any other thing in the world.

To help you tell that special person what they mean to you, here a a few more beautiful cards from Julie.



Holly Berry House stamp, Basic Grey and Graphic 45 papers, silver embossing powder, chalk ink, foam squares. This was a very easy card to make. I embossed the cross twice and cut out the desired parts to make a 3d cross when I used the foam squares. I used the Basic Grey paper as the base for my card and then covered it with the torn Graphic 45 paper and inked! Then I put the cross on top. Since the Basic Grey paper was the card base and thin, I needed to bulk it up so I used more Basic Grey paper as well as Graphic 45 paper inside. It gave it the needed heft.

Naughty or Nice?:

Inkadinkado stamp, Glimmer Mist, My Minds Eye papers, ribbon, stickles.

This was a very quick and easy card, perfect for a last minute card you need to give! I used the My Minds Eye paper as the card base. Their paper has a nice weight to it and doesn't need anything extra to make it hefty. I inked the edges of my paper with chalk ink and tied the ribbon on. Then I put the stamped image on the card with Glue dots. I then used Old Lace Glimmer Mist which added a nice, subtle glimmery sheen to the card. Finally, I used stickles on the center of the snowflake on the stamped image. Quick and easy!

Have a Safe and Merry Christmas,

The Scrappy Tree Team

Day 24- Home made jewelry

One thing that never fails is home made jewelry, you can customize the colors and beads for whoever is getting your creation and of course being made with love is always appreciated by the recipient. Below are a couple of items I made. They are pretty basic, you can get much fancier but for about $20.00, you can purchase enough supplies for a few bracelets, some earrings and a necklace, depending on what type of beads you pick, etc.





This necklace was the last of my gifts to my Mother-in-Law. I used tiger tail as the string base added some brown pearls, raw glass beads and gold dress-maker pearls and filled the space with brown iridescent seed beads. The clasp is a gold toggle clasp, I used about 100 beads total and it took about an hour. If you are making one this size, invest in the bead trays that will hold the beads in their pattern until you are ready to string, they will save you a big hassle in the end.

This Necklace is for my daughter, Dy, she has an eceltic style and loves color! With this one I started with a black chain and added a toggle clasp and beads to the structure. I bought the charm on the end to dress it up and add some weight, she likes big things. All the beads were added by using headpins and creating a loop at the end to connect them to the chain, I thought it added a little bit of interest to each bead. I used a combination of ceramic, glass and foil beads and with this type you use less beads but the time is about the same since you have to attach each bead separately.

A few bracelets with misc. types of beads, clasps and charms.
These can be made for children or adults and will take about
20 to 30 beads to complete. All are strung with tiger tail.

Some orange, yellow and red options, charms dress it up a bit or mixing the types of beads that are used make them interesting.





























Remember to comment below to enter the daily Scrappy drawing, thanks for stopping by!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Kristin

Day 23- Red Hot Jelly

Today's home made gift suggestion; another edible but unique tasting one, Red Hot Jelly! Made with real Red Hot candies, see the recipe below and how I finished mine to give to friends and neighbors.

This year I used plastic canning jars, so I can ship them through the mail easier. You can also find the traditional glass jars in your local super market. I used a medium size bowl to get a big enough circle to cover the top of the jar, traced a template and cut them out with pinking shears. Next I measured the width of the top of the jelly jar, cut out the needed circles with my Cricut machine, used a dab of felt glue to stick them to the felt then added at least two lines of a zigzag stitch to hold the paper to the felt permanently. I then picked out some paper embellishments to add to the top of the circles. Lastly I tied the felt circle on with accenting ribbon. *Last year I used a Christmas stamp on a Muslin cloth in a holiday red or green, made a circle top and then tied them on with ribbon, this way saves you the sewing step and the cost of an embellishment. Be creative, there are lots of options.

My Mom loved this jelly, our whole neighborhood got a copy of the recipe and a jar of jelly every Christmas. It is best with English muffins or toast.

Red Hot Candy Jelly

2 cups apple juice

4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. margarine
1/3 cup red hot cinnamon candies
1-2 (6 oz.) pouches liquid pectin


Wash and sterilize canning jars and lids.

In a large, heavy saucepan, combine juice and sugar, stir well.

Add margarine, and candies. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly,

add pectin once the candies are melted and boil 1 minute.

Remove from heat.

Skim foam from top of mixture with a large, metal spoon.

Fill sterilized jars to 1/4-inch of tops.

Wipe jar rims and seal. Yield: 4 half-pints.

A view of the tops.

Remember to leave a comment to win a Scrappy prize, to be announced on Christmas!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kristin