Xyron and Basically Bare Blog Hop - Christmas Activity Book

Today I get to share with you this adorable Christmas activity book I made for Charlotte using some awesome products featuring Xyron and Basically Bare!

I started with a fantastic album with a gate fold cover and lots of different types of pages inside - cardboard, canvas, even a plastic page (which I sadly melted trying to emboss some snowflakes...yes, an obvious duh moment at 3 am).  :)  This project also reflects my attempt to use up my massive Christmas stash with older papers and embellishments from a number of companies.  So without further ado, here goes.

Here is the book cover.  I used my Xyron 5" Creative Station to cover almost all of the pages in the book.  (I would have used my Creatopia but it's on a barge somewhere in the Pacific Ocean headed to Hawaii.)  But it worked beautifully.

Since the cover was a gatefold and I wanted it to stay closed when not in use, I just added some velcro to the backside of the circle scallop to create a faux clasp.

For the first page, I created this stocking stuffer game for Charlotte.  Inside the library pockets are some cards with numbers.  Whatever number she draws is the number of candy canes she needs to put in the stocking.  To make sure that the game pieces would last, I laminated them using my Xyron 5" Creative Station again.

For this library pocket, I just simply embellished it with a chipboard piece that I ran through my Xyron machine and filled it with some festive Jenni Bowlin Studios digital files that I printed on Kraft cardstock.

On the canvas page, I stamped a number of pine branches from a Lawn Fawn (Ornate Ornaments) set using my Faber Castell PITT artist pen big brush.  I then stamped, colored, cut, and laminated a number of different ornaments and pine cones (from the same Lawn Fawn stamp set).

I then attached some velcro throughout the tree and on the ornaments so that Charlotte could decorate the tree as she pleased by just mixing up the pieces.  (I think that the Xyron magnet tape would work just as well - but again, my tape is on a barge somewhere headed to Hawaii.)  TIP: I noticed that the velcro I bought kept sliding off of the laminated pieces so consider using a hot glue gun or stronger adhesive to attach the velcro to laminated pieces.

In this little cute envelope, I just put in the extra candy canes, ornaments and cards from the various games in the book.

And for the last page, I made a matching game by stamping a number of different holiday images and then covering them with laminated presents that have velcro in the back.

Supplies:  Basically Bare Album, Patterned Paper (My Mind's Eye); Cardstock (Neena Paper); Stickers and Embellishments (My Mind's Eye, Imaginesce, Crate Paper, Echo Park, American Crafts); Stamps (Lawn Fawn, Paper Smooches, Chicken Girl Designs, Technique Tuesday; Inks/ Pens (Derwent, Copics, Tsukineko, Faber Castell, Uni-ball, American Crafts; Digital Elements (Designs by Dani, Jenni Bowlin Studios); American Crafts Knock Out Punches; Adhesives (Xyron Mega Runner, Xyron 5" Creative Station; Xyron 1.5" Sticker Maker); Other (Silhouette Cameo, Photoshop CS5, HP Printer, Craft Foam by Creatology).

Make sure that you head over to the Xyron blog for more awesome projects all week featuring Xyron and Basically Bare!  As always, thanks for stopping by!