30 Days of Holiday Projects with Xyron - Holiday Books Advent Tags

Welcome back to my second post for 30 Days of Holiday Project Ideas with Xyron.  Today, I wanted to share with you our family's Advent Calender for this holiday season.

Instead of 24 days of candy or activities, we are doing 24 days of holiday books!  Between the books we already own, checking out books from the library, and stocking up on some new affordable books from Scholastic Books, it's been a great month of reading thus far!

Using the new holiday papers from American Crafts, Crate Paper and Imaginesce, I made some super simple and easy tags to decorate the tissue paper wrapped books.  Here's how!

1.  Die Cut Tag Shapes.  I have recently (within the past year or so) started collecting steel dies to use in my manual die cutting machine (i.e. Xyron Creatopia with Shapez Component or Sizzix Big Shot).  Don't get me wrong.  I love my Silhouette Cameo (electronic die cutting machine) but there is something nice about not having to be at my computer and being able to cut other materials like felt or foam that keeps me reaching for my steel dies.

Here are the dies that I used for this project - from Spellbinders and Xyron, Sizzix, Lil' Inker Designs, My Favorite Things and Avery Elle.

I then die cut them out from a selection of super cute holiday papers from Studio Calico, American Crafts, Crate Paper and Imaginesce.

2.  For Layered Tags, Distress Edges with Ink.  For some tags that have layered pieces, I like to use Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo to distress the edges.  It makes the top layer stand out more.

3.  Apply Adhesive to Tag Pieces and Adhere to Tag Bases.  For the pieces that will be layered on the top of the tag bases, I run them through the Xyron 5" Creative Station with Permanent Adhesive.  This ensures that there is edge to edge adhesive on the shapes and it makes the process go SO RIDICULOUSLY FAST!!

 Then simply assemble the tags together.

4.  Punch Holes in Tags.  Using a We R Memory Keepers Crop a Dile, I punched little holes in the top of my tags.

5.  Apply Number Stickers to Tags.  Since it's an advent calendar, you need numbers!  I used a variety of American Crafts Thickers to put the numbers of the different tags.

6.  Choose your Books and Wrap Them Up!  Finally, choose a selection of books and wrap them up.  I personally like to use tissue paper since I have so much of it after buying some from Costco like 20 years ago.  :)  Using a white or kraft base also really helps the tag to be the main embellishment on the wrapped books.

7.  Add the Tags with Twine.  Finally, add the tags to your wrapped books with some pretty twine.  I used some Lawn Trimmings from Lawn Fawn.  Then display them all out for the kids to enjoy!

Since we don't have a mantle, I displayed ours on the piano along with some other homemade holiday decorations.

I hope that inspired you to try something new this holiday season (or for any holiday)! And just so you know, I don't put all the books out at once.  I get a good number of them from the library and mix them in with books we own.  That way, I don't have to have 24 Christmas themed books!  We also always have The Night Before Christmas reserved for Christmas Eve.

Check out these other advent calendar ideas from my blog.  Here is a banner advent calendar and a muffin tin advent calendar.

And please make sure to visit the Xyron Facebook Page all month for more awesome holiday inspiration.  As always, thanks for stopping by!

Project 100 - Catching Up

I usually don't post photos of all my crafty projects.  Let's be serious - not everything is worth blogging.  But since I have committed myself to Project 100, I want to be accountable to y'all by showing that I am actively creating my way through 100 projects.  I know it's a bit of a modge podge of projects, but I need to get caught up with my online tally!!!


1.  Charlotte Thank You Cards.  For some reason, it is so hard for me to throw away Charlotte's drawings and paintings.  I know that to most people, they're nothing special.  But to me, the process of sitting down and creating art with her is so precious.  So instead of keeping every.single.piece.of.paper, I decided to repurpose many of them into her embarrassingly belated thank you cards.  ::hanging head in shame::

I cut down Charlotte's watercolor paintings and various pieces of cardstock/ patterned paper down to 4.25" x 5.5".  Next, I ran the paper through an embossing machine with a journaling embossing folder to create writing lines on the backside of the card.  Glue the artwork onto the patterned paper.  I stamped a "thank you" sentiment directly onto the artwork.  To finish the card off, I just machine stitched around the edges.  Super simple but I really like them.  


Supplies:  Stamp (Paper Smooches); Embossing Folder (Sizzix).


2.  100th Birthday Card.  This card was custom ordered through my facebook/ esty shop.  It was such an honor to make something for such a momentous celebration.  100 years - wow.

Supplies:  Patterned Paper (Crate Paper, Sassafras); Cardstock (American Crafts); Brads (American Crafts); Stamps (Lawn Fawn); Other (Silhouette Cameo, Jenni Bowlin Inks, Uniball Signo White Gel Pen).


3.  San Francisco Birthday Wishes.  Here is another custom birthday card for a San Francisco recipient, also ordered through the facebook/ etsy shop.

Supplies:  Patterned Paper (Echo Park, American Crafts); Cardstock (American Crafts, Core'dinations, Martha Stewart); Buttons (My Mind's Eye); Stamps (Lawn Fawn, Paper Smooches); Digital Files (Silhouette Online Store); Other (Silhouette Cameo, Fiskars Cloud Punch, Provo Craft Embossing Folder, Jenni Bowlin Inks).


4.  Blueberry Birthday Party.  I've been helping a friend with the paper products for her daughter's Blueberries for Sal themed birthday party.  Here are some sneaks at the banner, favor tags and invite I made for them.  Can't wait for the actual party next week!

5.  Nursery Name Decor.  An Addie B Designs customer requested some custom artwork to match her son's nursery decor.  I really love how the handstitching turned out on this one.

Supplies:  Digital Files (Silhouette Online Store); Other (Silhouette Cameo, We R Memory Keepers Floss).


6.  Bib Baby Card.  You've seen these before but I still love how adorable they are.  Here is another baby bib card made to coordinate with a custom Addie B Designs bib and burp cloth set.  

Supplies:  Patterned Paper (Echo Park, American Crafts); Cardstock (American Crafts); Embellishments (Sassafras); Stamps (Lawn Fawn); Letter Stickers (Cosmo Cricket); Digital Files (Lettering Delights); Other (Silhouette Cameo, We R Memory Keepers Floss).


7.  Superbowl Cupcake Toppers.  This was one of my first attempts using the print and cut feature on the Silhouette Cameo.  LOVE!!!  I even had a customer purchase a set via our facebook page!

8.  Glass etched glass.  I think I might do a tutorial on this at some point.  I'm slowly getting obsessed with glass etching and the Silhouette Cameo lets me do it with such precision!

9.  Face Die Cuts.  And finally, someone saw my hairclip cards on etsy and requested some face die cuts.  I was so excited to get a "random customer" and ended up making her 50 of these die cuts with various colors and hair styles!  Here's a sample.

So now, the grand total as of today (and counting in project speak)?  12 thank you cards, 2 birthday cards, 1 birthday invite, 1 birthday banner, 2 birthday tags, 1 bib card, 1 nursery decor, 2 cupcake toppers, 1 glass etched beer pint, 3 face die cuts.  That's 26 projects in this blog post!!!  Wohoo!!!


Project 100 Update:  74 down, 26 to go.

Happy Valentine's Day - Ten Crafty Projects

I've been crafting up a storm this Valentine's Day and wanted to share all the adorable cards, tags and projects I've been making for Vanlikethecar Designs!!

1.  Chanel-Inspired Valentine.  My friend request a card for his Chanel-loving wife so I wanted to somehow mimic those gorgeous quilted Chanel bags.

Supplies:  Patterned Paper (My Mind's Eye); Cardstock (American Crafts); Stamps (Lawn Fawn, Inkadinkadoo); Digital Files (Silhouette Online Store).

2.  Marine Corps Valentine.  This valentine was custom ordered for a Marine Corps dad from his Navy daughter.  The flag and Marine Corps seal are both hand stamped, hand colored and then covered in glossy accents for a three dimensional look.

Supplies:  Cardstock (American Crafts, Bazzil); Stamps (Unity); Other (Glossy Accents).

3.  Conversation Hearts Pop-Up Valentines.  I love the look of long cards that fit inside a business envelope.  These are embellished with a rainbow of conversation hearts and have a pop up greeting on the inside.

Supplies:  Cardstock (American Crafts, Martha Stewart); Baker's Twine (Twinery); Digital Files (Silhouette Online Store).

4.  Love Bites Valentine.  This is a shape card for a little boy who loves sharks.  I initially wanted to place the heart banner on the outside but it didn't look right for some reason.  So I placed it on the inside along with some letter stickers saying "Love Bites."

Supplies:  Cardstock (American Crafts, Martha Stewart); Stamps (A*Muse); Letter Stickers (Echo Park); Digital Files (Hero Arts).

5.  Curious George Loves You.  My daughter is a Curious George fanatic so I made this cute little card to look like Curious George is holding a banner holding her name.  Super simple but I think she'll love it.

Supplies:  Cardstock (American Crafts); Stamps (Lawn Fawn). 

6.  I Cereal-ously Like You Valentine Tags.  This was inspired by something a friend saw on Pinterest and she wanted to make them for her daughter's preschool classmates.  I couldn't resist also making some for Charlotte.

Supplies:  Cardstock (American Crafts, Georgia Pacific); Embossing Folder (Provocraft); Digital Files (Silhouette Online Store). 

7.  I Like You a Ton Valentine Tags.  These are some cute tags for a friend to add to her son's treat bags.

Supplies:  Cardstock (Georgia Pacific, Martha Stewart); Baker's Twine (Twinery); Digital Files (Lettering Delights). 

8.  I Like You to the Core Valentine Tags.  I made these tags for Charlotte's classmates.  I wrapped a bag of apple chips in the lunch bag and just tied it all together with some green yarn.  

Supplies:  Cardstock (Georgia Pacific); Digital Files (Lettering Delights). 

9.  Candy Boxes and Tags.  These are the little candy boxes I made and filled with homemade chocolates for Charlotte's teachers.  For the tags, I simply hand stamped some cute images/ sentiments onto shipping tags and colored them in.

Supplies:  Shipping Tags (Avery); Stamps (A*Muse); Cardstock (Recollections; Martha Stewart); Digital Files (Loni Stevens). 

10.  I Love You Frame.  And finally, here is a frame I made for Justin and I.  Since you can use dry erase markers on glass, Justin and I write reasons why we love each other on the frame every day.  It's a good way for us to keep things in perspective.  I will post a tutorial on how to make your own soon.

Supplies:  Patterned Paper (We R Memory Keepers); Vinyl (Silhouette); Digital Files (Kerri Bradford).

Whew...that was a lot of crafting for Valentine's Day!!!  Thank you again for all the support and for dropping by.

Project 100 Update:  46 down, 54 to go.  There were three conversation heart cards and I'm counting each candy box as a separate project.