Oma's Brag Book

I ordered a custom scrapbook from a friend to give to my Oma (Grandma) filled with pictures of my adorable baby boy :)  To see the pictures of the book before I added the photos visit my friend's blog here.

 I am sure Oma will be thrilled when when she opens her mailbox to find this little Christmas gift.

 I loved the denim page that is page two.  I sewed the pictures on each side of it :)

 The other side of the denim page.

 I love the clear overlay page!  So fun :)

 My little pumpkin.

And the back of the book with my friend Chrystie's signature and an old passport pic of my baby. 

I love this book.  It is so adorable and was so quick and easy to put together.  It is nice to have a quick project every once in a while :)

Vintage Sheet Music Tree Topper

Fresh trees are sooo expensive.  We always buy a Noble Fir, but this year we decided to try a Frasier Fir because it cost considerably less but has a very similar look.  I LOVE it!  It is really pretty and the branches have almost a silvery look in some light.  I was excited to make a new tree topper for it, so last night when we decorated I left the topper off.

 

Tonight this is what I made.

 Last night we put up the tree.  Hubby put the lights on for me.  But I used my flash when I took the picture, so it is hard to tell :)
I decorated.

 Our outdoor kitty was so happy that we have an inside tree :)

 I saw a cool idea on mudpies blog to use book pages to make a tree topper.  Last weekend while enjoying a weekend away with hubby for our anniversary I found a book of sheet music for a couple of dollars in an Antique Mall.  I decided to use it to make my own :)  I have never liked my tree topper, so I really hoped it turned out.  I LOVE it!!!!!

 I inked the edges with chalk ink to add to the vintage look.  I am so happy with the way it turned out!!!!!!!

 So pretty!!!!

The full view.

 Our kitten seems to enjoy the tree as well.

I am SO in LOVE with it!  I am in the process of making a matching wreath, but since it is 2am I think I will finish it up tomorrow :-)
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Christmas Gifts

Last year was the first time that I can ever remember MAKING gifts as an adult.  I was somewhat leery about it, but ended up LOVING IT!!!!  And everyone who got one of my hand made gifts loved them too!!  This year I am making more gifts than ever, scaling down and spending less.  I am ready to simplify and celebrate Advent and the true meaning of Christmas!!  I am ready to get more creative and make more gifts.  I recently posted a good stocking stuffer idea about making lip balm.  Another idea I heard this week was to buy a favorite children's book for your grandchild, neice, nephew, etc and record yourself reading the story so they can listen and follow along whenever they want!

Here is something I made for my son.  He is only 14 months and still too young for it, but I couldn't resist making if for him!  I will save it for his second birthday, but if you have toddler in your life who is the right age, this would make a great and inexpensive, adorable Christmas gift!

A hand made matching game!  I love it, it is SO cute!  Hubby drilled two holes in the back and I plan on hanging it on the wall in the nursery at some point when it is not 3:17am :)

 I found this frame at Ben Franklin over the summer on a huge sale and painted it blue to match the nursery.

 They also had these neat 12x12 metal sheets that fit perfectly inside the frame.  My awesome hubby attached it with some industrial strength silicone something or another.  He is a contractor :)

 Now to the fun part!!  I already had this really cute ABC paper with a different animal on every letter.

 I bought the matching set of chipboard so I had a thick duplicate of all of the animals.

 I Mod Podged them for added durability.

 And stuck magnets on the back of all of the animals.

 Now I have a super adorable magnetic matching game for my son to play and learn with when he gets a little older.  I didn't adhere the ABC paper to the sheet metal because the magnets hold it there just fine, and that way I can make him more matching games in the future.

I love the fat little elephant and frog!

 I cut ABC and 123 out of vinyl on my cricut and added them to the top and bottom of the frame.

I just finished this project tonight and I am sooooo proud of it.  It turned out really cute!!!!

Edited to add, now that it is not 3:17am I managed to get it hung in my son's turtle nursery.

 So happy I finally finished it and got it off of my scrapbooking desk!

 A super cheep Christmas gift.  I bought these metal re-usable drinking bottles at Wal-Mart for $1 each.  Then I grabbed my cricut vinyl and got to work cutting out words!!  On this one I wrote my little brother's name at an angle in a circle around the bottle and put a star at the end.  The one for my teenage brother is already wrapped, so sadly I can not show you, but I wrote his name in a straight line with Class of 2011 under it.  I used a silver water bottle and black vinyl.  I LOVE how it turned out and I think he will like it.  Great $1 gift!!!!

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