Reindeer Food

I'm starting a new tradition this year, the Christmas Eve Surprise Box and reindeer food is one of the items going inside the box.

You can find tutorials or how-to's all over the internet.  I did mine a little different in that I didn't use any glitter (cuz I didn't have any) and made my own tag using picmonkey.
I used sugar I colored myself with food coloring and regular oats I had in my cabinet.

To color my sugar I put a couple spoonful's into 2 separate baggies and the oats in another baggie.

 

I used red and green gel food coloring but you can use regular if that's all you have.

 

It really only takes one drop from each of the food colorings in the baggie with the sugar.

 

Seal the baggies and move the sugar around with your fingers until the food coloring is distributed evenly.

 

Pour the sugars into the baggie with the oats and attach your tag.

 

I made this one in picmonkey using a poem I found online.  I saved it as a picture image, copied it into a Microsoft works word document and printed it onto white cardstock.

 

If you're wanting to use the same tag you can save this one as an image.

 

I know Grant is going to have fun sprinkling this all over the driveway for the reindeer on Christmas Eve.

 

Embroidered Christmas Card

Ok so actually this card isn't completely finished but I'm so excited with how the front has turned out with the embroidery that I had to share, I couldn't wait until it's finished.

I saw some embroidered Christmas cards when doing a google search awhile back.  I was trying to decide how to make my cards this year and couldn't quite figure anything out.  I saw the embroidered and thought they looked classic and simple but really wanted to use my Cricut like I did last year.  Last year I made reindeer, Christmas tree, and sleigh cards with my Cricut.  I just couldn't find anything that was working for me this year.  Every idea I had didn't turn out right after I cut the images and started laying them out.  Of course when I told my husband this his response was "why don't you just go to the store and buy them?", silly Derrick, he should know better right? haha

I searched for free embroidery patterns online and found these snowflakes.  They looked simple enough and I found this youtube video on embroidering cards.  Of course I didn't do it how they said to because I have to do things my way, but it still worked so I'm gonna say my way was the right way.

Here is my unfinished card:

Ok so I don't feel like I normally brag on myself but isn't this awesome!

I love it! So much so that I really don't want to give it away to anyone haha.  I don't have all the knots and strings covered on the inside and as you can tell there are no words yet on the front.  I can't decide what I want it to say and if I want to use my Cricut, computer, or embroider the words too. 

I have to say when I started poking the holes for the design and sewing my first few stitches I thought, "there's no way I'm gonna want to do this 10 more times, this takes forever."  But once it was finished I wanted to start on my next one immediately.  Of course it was almost midnight, so I refrained but I'm super excited about sending them and this makes me want to embroider other cards for Mother's Day and birthdays.

Ornament Christmas Cards

I've been trying to get Christmas cards done over the last couple weeks and this is one of 3 I've created so far (if you're wondering why I've made 3 different ones instead of making all of 1 design it's because I'm indecisive, too many ideas floating around in my noggin to pick just 1):

 

This is not my favorite of the 3 designs but I still love it's simplicity.  The only thing I have left to do is buy some ribbon to attach to the Christmas ball.  I thought I had some when I made them and when I went searching all I found was an empty ribbon spool (so annoying!) 

 

I again used the Joys of the Season cricut cartridge to cut the ornament, tree, and the word "peace".  The bottom cardstock I just cut to fit where I wanted and used glue dots to attach everything.

 

 

The other 2 designs I made were the reindeer and sleigh.  Now all that's left is addressing and mailing them out.  Times a tickin!

 

 

 

Sleigh Christmas Cards

I made these cards using my Cricut and some cardstock. 

 

I used the Joys of the Season cartridge for the sleigh and holly leaves and Accent Essentials cartridge for the image behind the sleigh.  I used the same cardstock stack as I did with the reindeer cards I made last week.  I cut the Sleigh at 2 1/2inches and the background image at 3 inches using micro glue dots to attach everything.

 

As I was making these I messed up a few times, and verbalized my frustration to my husband to which his response was, "You know some people actually go to the store and buy their Christmas cards.  Just a thought."  Haha, you mean everyone doesn't hand craft their cards?

 

I could have done what most people do nowadays and trecked to Wally World's photo section, downloaded my favorite family pic and made a photo card, but what is the fun in that? My husband would tell me people will just end up throwing my beautiful hand crafted cards away when they take their tree down but for me there is something special about cards made by someone, and I make them because it makes me happy and that's a good enough reason for me!

 

 

 

Handmade Christmas Cards

I've been wanting to make Christmas cards since I got my first Cricut and for whatever reason it has taken me about 2 years to actually get around to it.  I looked online for inspiration, gathered a few ideas and came up with this:

 

With everything I do this year from the wrapping paper, to the gifts, to the cards, I'm trying to go simple and classic.  I think Christmas has gotten out of hand in alot of respects and I think there is something to be said for simplicity around the holiday season.  I think these cards hit the mark.  I debated on whether or not to put Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays on the front but nixed the idea since I always write personal messages on the inside and lets face it, everyone will know this is a Christmas card regardless if it says Merry Christmas or not.

Now, on to how I made them.  I bought the cards with envelopes from Hobby Lobby (I'm really into rustic country/primitive looking stuff right now which is why I chose the brown) they were a package of 50 for $6.99, and I of course used a 40% off coupon.  The green/white polka dot paper I purchased in a Christmas stack of cardstock at Hobby Lobby as well. I used my Cricut and the Joys of the Season cartridge to cut out the reindeer at 3 inches, and Accent Essentials cartridge to cut out the green/white polka dot image behind the reindeer at 3 inches too.  I attached everything with micro sized glue dots.

 

I have to say for my first attempt at Christmas cards I'm really really pleased with how they turned out.

 

Whenever I start a project with my cricut I almost always google ideas whether it be Christmas cards or birthday invites and let me tell ya there are some amazingly talented cricut users out there.  I usually end up getting more discouraged the more ideas I see because some of them seem so intricate and time consuming, I figure there's no way to make them and have them turn out well.  That being said, what I try to stick to and my piece of advice is to keep it simple, at least to start with.  If you start simple you can always add ribbon, buttons, glitter, or words.  By starting with a simple design or idea first it makes the task less daunting and keeps you from getting discouraged.  So if you, like me, have been wanting to make your Christmas cards this year go ahead and bust out the Cricut and get crafting.