A SEASON WITH A REASON…

By the time you read this, Thanksgiving will have come and gone, the leftover turkey will have been eaten, you will have recovered from all the Thanksgiving guests and those of you who live on the “upper right” side of the US may have had a sprinkling (or more) of snow….

This has always been my very favorite season and favorite Holiday. I love everything about Christmas, from its very reason to the preparations leading up to and the festivities during. I love the decorations, the church services, the plays and concerts and especially the fun of watching little kids whose eyes are full of excitement in anticipation of Christmas Eve.

As an empty nester I miss the hustle and bustle of getting ready for Santa to come and with a small family locally, I no longer have the gift buying frenzy to deal with. With the mellowing of age, I find more and more the gifts we mail to family are those from florists or gourmet food shops. I must admit that I have the reputation of considering any packages arriving in the mail as fair game for opening and folks no longer worry about sending them to me early enough to put under my tree….they know they won’t make it. I love getting packages in the mail! (Even my message board friends here are aware of my gift opening shortcomings!*) *They are aware but they won’t tell…

My Christmases past are now more and more in my mind and pages. My Christmases present are very simple, but both are enjoyable. Our holiday now includes sweet time spent with our grown up daughter just relaxing and visiting together. We usually open our packages on Christmas Eve after the midnight service if she spends the night with us or we go to her house in the afternoon and exchange our gifts after a hearty early Christmas dinner..

I no longer spend days and days decorating as I once did. Our Christmas trees have gotten smaller through the years, the ornaments less ornate, and our Christmas card list smaller, but the joy of Christmas in my heart has only grown stronger! For truly Christmas is not held in the hands, but in the heart!

Project 1: Christmas Is Not Held In the Hands

1. I chose a wonderful background from Scrapbook Seasons for this adorable photo of my friend Carol’s grandson. Once I saw this precious photo, I knew what I wanted to do with it.
2. With the add a cutout tool in Digital Image Pro I added a star to Jacob’s tiny hand
   and then used the soften edge function to give it a bit of a magical feeling.
3. I added a title to create a very simple but magical page.
   

Project 1a:

I used Jacob’s photos on a smaller page and created a Christmas card. I had a second photo that I used for the outside of the card. I put just a hint of the star in his tiny hand to make it appear as if the star was just growing and starting to glow. (No, he was not actually holding a star, but I cannot divulge what he was actually holding…although you moms of little boys probably could guess…)

Project 2: Can You Hear Me Now?

1. I took this photo of my sweetheart talking on his cell phone.
2. I added only writing to the front of the card and will personalize with the name of the person being called. On the inside I used the Noel image from Christmas Sampler.
3. In order to let you view it better I used the transparency tool to make the upper right corner a bit transparent.
   

Project 3: Merry Christmas From Myssi’s kids!

1. My friend Myssi from Leora’s Clubhouse sent me this adorable photo of her kids in front of her tree. I placed it on a green background to make a very simple card.
2. I added the words at the top by using the Sloop font and a gold gradient from Digital Image Pro.
3. Using the add a shape function, I added corners to two sides and filled them with green color.
4. I added a bit of holly from Christmas Goodies and added the same images behind the green version.
5. I filled them with gold gradient using the fill with color function in DIP.
   

Project 4: Sharon’s Glass Block Light. (Many of the ladies on the message board are creating wonderful projects using the Hugware images. From time to time I ask one of them to share her projects with us. Sharon graciously shared one of the blocks she has created to decorate her home for Christmas!)

1. Sharon created this beautiful block using a glass block from the hardware store drilling a one half-inch hole in the back.
2. She inserted some Christmas lights inside …..anywhere from 20 to 35 are best or at the most 50 lights on a string with the cord and plug coming out the hole.
3. She printed her graphic on label paper and added it to the front and back of the block. This one was sprayed with High Shine Glaze to seal it and give it a shine.
4. She added ribbon to top and let it hang down the side.
   *These instructions have been simplified. Most of the ladies agree that getting hubby to drill the hole is a great idea and great frustration saving device.
   

Project 5: Christmas With Katie

1. Sharon’s granddaughter looked so cute that I just place a little verse on the page with her photo and nothing else.

Project 5a: Card from Katie

1. I added the snowmen (Snowbuddies from Winter Wonderland) to the front of the card.
2. I used the Effects, filter, then the paint function in DIP to create the illusion seen in the photo.

Well, there you have it! These are just a few ideas to use to make holiday pages and cards. You don’t have to have “Christmas” photos to create a special card for family and friends. A good example is the photo of my hubby on the “Can You Hear Me Now” card and the fall photo of Jacob.

And now it is time for:

Your assignments should you desire to accept them:

1. Go back through previous assignments and see if you find one that you completed that was beneficial to you. Is it one that is worth repeating? If so, do that assignment again!
2. Hug someone!
3. Write down some special Christmas memories and create a special page or card.
4. Set out to create some special memories this year, for you, your family, your kids, your parents or anyone dear to you.
5. Sing Christmas songs as you work, as you create and as you drive.
6. Smile when you read this.
7. Color a page in a coloring book. Go wild….don’t worry about staying in the lines…have fun and enjoy the thrill of coloring. In fact, purchase your own box of crayons …the BIG box!
8. Call a friend on the phone and tell them how special they are to you.
9. If you are blessed to still have your parents, thank them for something they have done for you.
10. Tell the folks at PCC Merry Christmas! (MERRY CHRISTMAS PCC and ALL THE ARTISTS!)
11. Stop by the message board and say hello!
12. And, oh yes, hug someone!!

Until next month (next year?) have a wonderful time and Happy Scrapping!!

Gentle tip for the month:

Be conscious of copyrights and observe those laws when creating your work. If you know the artist or author of something be sure to cite them if sending work off for publication or for sale. When using a poem or quote in your scrapbook be sure to list the author’s name under the quote in order to prevent the quote from becoming an “unknown author”.