"Deck the Halls & Trim the Tree" Challenge

Our challenge theme this week at Cooking with Cricut is "Deck the Halls - Trim the Tree."  As I sat and pondered what to create, I remembered a particular photo of my daughter "helping" decorate the tree when she was about 2 1/2 years old.  Perfect!  I've been working on her scrapbook on and off (more off than on) and decided to create a scrapbook layout as my challenge contribution. (Click on the photo to see a larger view.)

The patterned paper is by Elizabeth Brownd for K & Company; solid card stock - Bazzill; vellum - source unknown; ornament and package stickers - Jolee's; holly stickers - Creative Memories; and gold metallic ribbon purchased at Michael's.  The Christmas tree is from the Cricut  Joys of the Season cartridge and is cut at 6" tall. 

The quote was printed from my printer on vellum and reads:  The sparkle in a child's eyes of wonder and delight, shines brighter than the Christmas lights glowing in the night. ~ Anonymous.

I clearly remember the night this picture was taken in 2006.  Demi was so excited to help decorate the tree, she had been too little the previous year ~ the bead garland was her favorite!  All decked out in her Christmas-y pajamas with a Mannheim Steamroller Christmas CD playing softly in the background, we decorated our tree.

That was the best gift we received that year . . . the joy, wonder and amazement of the holiday reflected in our two year old's eyes as she hung and re-hung ornaments on our tree.  This Christmas I look forward to decorating the tree with our now 6 1/2 yr. old daughter.  It's fun to pull out the ornaments and hear her say "I remember this one, Mom!  I got it the Christmas I was 3!"  And I have a surprise for my dear daughter, this year we will set up our Lionel O gauge train under the tree.  It has been in storage since she was born and I think she's finally old enough to learn how to set it up and run it properly!

Please click on over to see what my fellow "Chefs" have created at Cooking with Cricut for "Deck the Halls" week!

This Birthday brought to you by the letter "L" and the number "3"!

Our niece, Layla, recently celebrated her third birthday.  And for the last year she has been telling anyone who would listen that her Aunt Dee was going to make her an Elmo cake and her Aunt Jen was going to make her Elmo cards (invitations) and an Elmo shirt.  Unfortunately, with our recent move happening right before her birthday - she didn't get an Elmo cake made by Aunt Dee.  Aunt Dee did make her Elmo cupcakes, though!  And Aunt Jen managed to get enough of her craft room unpacked to make her an Elmo shirt and a red tutu to go with it!  Fortunately, the invitations were created prior to our move.

I created most of the invitation in Microsoft Publisher and then used my Cricut to cut the letter "L", the number 3 and Elmo.  The letter and number were cut using the Mickey Font cartridge and Elmo came from the Sesame Street Friends cartridge.  The finished invitation is 8 1/2" x 5 1/2".

The t-shirt and tutu turned out really cute and Layla loved them!  The shirt was created using the freezer paper method and I cut Elmo out with the Sesame Street Friends cartridge.  

I had a few problems with this one . . . when I was ironing on the freezer paper, I scorched the shirt.  After I quit crying (it was the night before her birthday party and I had no time to go buy another shirt, wash it and start over!), I did a quick Internet search on how to remove a scorch mark (thank you, Google!) and found a solution to my dilemma!  Hydrogen peroxide will remove scorch marks from white fabric -- just dab the spot with a peroxide soaked paper towel until your stain disappears.  It took out about 95% of the mark -- I REALLY scorched it good.  So I free handed a couple of balloons to cover the rest of the faded mark! 

Just goes to show . . . sometimes a crafting disaster turns out better than your original idea.

Make sure you check back in on Wednesday, December 1st . . . that's challenge day at Cooking with Cricut.  Our challenge theme for this week is:  "Deck the Halls - Trim the Tree".  I created the cutest scrapbook page with one of my favorite pictures of my dear daughter at age 2 1/2.  You'll want to go and see what all of my fellow "chefs" have created too!

I'm baaaaaaack . . . kind of!

Move - completed. 

Craft room set-up - mostly.

Office set-up - mostly.

Kitchen unpacked - mostly.

All the boxes unpacked - not even!

Garage - looks like a tornado whirled thru!

We moved into our new house on October 27th; we finally had everything out of our old house on November 2nd; November 9th Dee's Dad arrived to spend the winter with us; and on November 10th I came down with the flu and have been battling it ever since.  Yesterday I finally was able to stay out of bed most of the day and am feeling a little stronger today.  My family has been hit hard with the crud this Fall -- my son is almost over his bout with pneumonia and yesterday my Mom's doc told her she had pneumonia.  This is my second go-round with the cold/sinus/flu and my youngest daughter was sick for two days at the beginning of our move.  YUCK!  Buy stock in Kleenex . . . we've already blown through three boxes in the last month!

As promised here are the photos of the two Halloween costumes I was commissioned to create.  First a lovely pink & purple butterfly featuring a hand-tied tutu and glittering wings for an adorable two-year old.

And a ladybug costume for a precious baby girl . . . hand-tied tutu, layered wings, and a beanie with antenna.



I'm hoping to participate in next week's challenge over at Cooking with Cricut - make sure you go and check out what my fellow "Chefs" have created this week! They are an incredibly talented group of women!