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we hope your holidays have been going great so far. Now you might have some downtime with the extra family members that are still milling around. We have some ideas on what might keep some of the kiddies and even adults entertained. Above we discovered what great press-on earrings our epoxy stickers can be for playing dress-up. It's great for those girls who are wanting their ears pierced but aren't quite at the age to get something permanent. Our little cousins loved them and changed out their Dill Blossom 'earrings' numerous times throughout the day.

We were testing out some of our new rub-ons from a few of our different lines. The Kitty's Place line has some rub-ons that we used for our own homemade tattoos. **We do warn that they don't wash off too easily, so that could be a good thing or a bad thing. They worked great on fingernails too. And if you add a clear coat it just prolongs the rub-on that much more.

The other rub-ons we used were from our Poppy line. We had a boring old calculator that got beautified. Some other employees said that their kids individualized their hand held PSP's that they got for Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Hope that these holiday season is going wonderful for you! It's such an amazing time of year to make everyone feel cared for and thought of. If you are still delivering some last minute goodies, Josh had a grand idea. He bought small craft paper bags at the local craft store. He had an old shirt lying around and cut it into strips. You can use double stick tape or hot glue and adhere it to the front. Just add some ribbons and you're done. Simple! Be safe during the holidays and you can always email us your ideas to artdept@shopsei.com and be spotlighted.

Paper and Decorating

Dorthea and Maria made the most amazing wreath a few weeks ago that we wanted to share with you! It's really straightforward. All you need is:

• a leaf punch
• floral picks (you can put 3 leaves on each pick)
• styrofoam wreath (ours is 12" diameter)
• a LOT of your favorite paper!

First you punch out your leaves. We used Winter Glitter Land, Caspia, Oasis, and Celery. You can always punch more as you go, so make a guess based on your wreath size and don't worry.

Next, take your picks and attach leaves to your wires. Careful not to get poked too much! Be sure to mix and match your papers as you're putting the leaves on.

Now that you have all your leaves ready, start putting them into your styrofoam! Angle them as you push them in, fluffing and arranging as you go.

Ta-da! You're all done. Isn't it beautiful? Just don't hang it outside or it won't last very long.

Another idea is to take a cool vase or hurricane and to fill it up! We had some twig balls hanging around, a green rock garland, and some ornaments. (One of the paper ornaments is from our 5th and 6th Day of Glitzmas!) It's just a quick and easy way to incorporate all your hard work into your displays! It's totally versatile and you could even make arrangements for other seasons. (Maybe use gourds at Thanksgiving or eggs for Easter with coordinating papers!) We hope you enjoy and let us know if you have questions!

Peanut Butter Cups

This recipe came from my sister’s in-laws. They are amazing cooks so watch out these peanut butter cups are addicting! My husband is always begging me to make them. Mandi and Josh gave made me a couple of fun ideas on how to package them as gifts. Mandi made some boxes out of Alpine Frost papers. Here are her instructions for the short box and the tall box. Josh used a simple bag that you could buy or make and added some of his favorite Alpine Frost embellishments. Here are his instructions.

Peanut Butter Cups
From: Grandma Nona

1 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. margarine
1 tsp. vanilla
powdered sugar
chocolate

To make the peanut butter centers mix all of the ingredients together except the chocolate. Add enough powdered sugar for desired consistency. We like ours solid enough to form but not too crumbly & dry. Roll into balls and flatten into a size that will fit nicely into your baking cups.

Melt chocolate on very low heat. Stir often. Spoon some chocolate into the bottom of each baking cup (make sure to save half for the top). Then press peanut butter center into each cup (there should be room around the edges for chocolate). Cover top and sides of the peanut butter center with chocolate. Let cool. Store in an air-tight container in a cool, dry place.

Enjoy!
Maria

Caramel Recipe

Here is the recipe that was requested from the last post. Before you take on this project I have a couple of warnings. First, you need a really big kettle to do this. I usually do a half batch because I have had it boil over before since my largest kettles aren't big enough after I add the milk. Second, the last step (reaching the firm ball stage) takes a while so be patient. I am not very patient so I just keep turning the heat up until I end up burning them and I have little dark specks in them. They still taste good though. These caramels are definitely worth the trouble but don't say I didn't warn you.

Caramels

from: Krista Magleby

1 cup real butter

2 cups light corn syrup

4 cups sugar

2 cans evaporated milk

On medium, in large kettle, melt butter, add corn syrup and sugar. Cook until boiling, stirring constantly with wooden spoon. Add milk a little at a time so candy doesn't stop boiling. Continue to stir to firm ball stage (240 degrees).

Put in buttered 9 x 13 pan. When cool, cut into squares and wrap in wax paper. Makes 117 (1 inch squares).

On the Last Days...

It's sadly come to an end but it's been so much fun. Here are the last ideas for this week. We have this family recipe for caramels that everyone looks forward to every Christmas. I knew that my sister would appreciate the time that I put into making the caramels but I also wanted to have them wrapped in a nice way. We came up with a paper matchbox idea. It was really simple but holds about 8 caramels. I thought it would be a perfect neighbor gift idea as well. We just picked out our favorite Glitzmas paper, Let it Glow and pieced together our own matchbox. I made a template on how I created it so that I could simplify the instructions. Click here to view the template.



So I counted making the caramels and packaging them as her final gifts. I've had so much fun sharing these ideas with you. Next week we'll be going back to our Monday posts. Let us know if these projects were helpful & have a wonderful weekend!

9th & tra-la-la-la 10th...

Growing up, my mother would always count down the last 12 days to Christmas with her stories. My sister and I looked forward to this time of year when she would pull out this old binder and read magical stories to us. I'm sure many of you have a similar tradition. This year as I've carried on the tradition in my own home, I realized how bulky that binder was. I decided I would compile these stories for my sister but I wanted a smaller format, one that would be easy to read with a child on your lap.
• First- I found these accordion flip albums at work. They have 6 pocket sleeves and counting the backs of the sleeves it added up to 12 slots, perfect!
• Second- I made copies of all the stories and shrunk them down to a smaller 4"x6" format. With stories that were more than 1 page I just stapled them together and slid them into the sleeves.
• Third- I covered the album with our let it glow
paper and I inserted solid 4"x6" card stock from Glitzmas to frame each story
Done, a three step process that makes such a memorable gift!

Are you wanting a simple idea? Does someone you know have a pet? Well my sister has a dog, Toby, that she just loves. Going on walks is one of the activities they both look forward to during the day. I wanted to make this event a little more personalized. I used our iron-on strips from our Park Buddies line. I bought a leash and collar and ironed the strips onto them both. It's so cute and easy. You could even do a onesie for a baby with some of our other iron-on's. Iron-on's can be the solution to your holiday gifts.

On the 8th & 9th Days...

Do you ever get tired of trying to figure out how to display all the wonderful Holiday cards people send you? Well I am all about less clutter and I found the perfect way. I used a 5.5" x 8.5" preservation album, which I know might sounds like a weird size but it actually fits most Holiday cards. I always have a hard time throwing away Holiday cards so by placing them in an album, I already have them archived for when the holidays are over. My sister has the same tendencies, so she'll love to have this for her coffee table.


So I had made my sister some earrings and I kept trying to find a unique way to wrap them up. Did you ever melt crayons when you were in elementary school? One of the girls at work had the idea to melt every color of blue, white & silver crayon we could find. We placed them between two pieces of wax paper and placed an iron with a med-low temperature on top. We moved the iron around until all the crayons had melted into these beautiful swirls. By dipping the outside of an old paper jewelery box, we achieved a marbleized look on the package. I simply tied it off with a silver ribbon and I think it's beautiful! Below I have a close-up of the wax & you can kind of see the glimmer from the silver crayon. It was so much fun we just wanted to keep dipping anything we could find.

-Dorthea

5th & 6th days... We're Half Way There!

Since I'm halfway done I decided to show a simple way to spruce up some goodies that I baked (or pretended to). I picked up a loaf of bread at a local bakery but you could use this packaging idea on a box of treats or a plate of cookies. All I did was grab a piece of Merry Little Ornaments from our Glitzmas line and cut a 2" strip. I wrapped the strip around the bread and attached an embellished tag with a brad. Simple, and my sister will think I'm a great baker!


Ok, so take a deep breath for this next project. It's a little time consuming but you get faster the more you make. My sister has a little Christmas tree that she keeps in her room. I wanted to make some little ornaments for it that would be nice enough for her to treasure for some time. They also look great arranged in a bowl without the ribbons as a centerpiece or used in place of a bow on a gift box. I have illustration links with each step if you need a visual-so jump in!


Before you begin you will need:
• one 12 x 12" sheet of paper (per ornament)
• a small scrap of stiff cardstock (for the template)
• an 8" to 10" piece of ribbon (per ornament)
• a 2" circle paper punch (or any size you have)
• glue

1. First, punch out 20 circles that are the same size from your choice of 12 x 12" paper (or use old Christmas cards, or photos, etc).

2. Using this template you can print & cut the template triangle out of stiff cardstock (or light-weight paper board). I used the first triangle in the template for the 2" circles. Basically, it's just a perfect triangle inside a circle, so that the three points of the triangle touch the circle.


3. Lay the first circle down on your work surface with the printed side up. Place the triangle template on top of the circle and fold the three overlapping sides of the circle towards the center (see instructions illustration 1). You should basically have a triangle of paper with three rounded flaps sticking up. All of the circles need to be folded the same way. That's it for the folding! Now repeat step three with the remaining 19 circles.

4. Use five of the folded triangle-circles for the bottom of the ornament. Glue the triangles together using the rounded flaps (illustration 2).

5. Use ten of the triangle-circles for the middle of the ornament. Glue the triangles together with the points alternating up and down (illustration 3). After the glue dries, wrap the two ends around and glue the matching flaps together (illustration 4).

6. Glue the remaining five triangle-circles together for the top. Before you glue the two ends together, tie a knot in the length of ribbon so that it makes the ornament hanger and place it in the center (illustration 5). Then glue the ends together.

7. Now glue the top, the middle, and the bottom pieces together. If you want glitter on the edges, spread glue on the outside edges of the flaps and dip in glitter. That's it! Ok, so maybe it's a little tedious but I promise you'll get faster with each one and they look beautiful.

Let us know what you're thinking about these projects! We love your comments.

On the 3rd & 4th Days of Glitzmas...

Good afternoon! My next little beauty that I want to impart as a gift is a family word book. What's great about these word books is that they come blank in a lot of different sayings and all you have to do is cover them with your favorite scraps of paper. I chose the family word book but you can make these books for a friend, father, mother or different holiday sayings. Check out our different sayings here. This album shouldn't take more than an hour or two, depending on the details you want to add. I think it's a great way to reminisce on some past family holidays. Now on to the next little number...


Holiday dish clothes! This has been by far my fastest project. I visited a dollar store and saw these cute little red wash clothes. All I did was adhere the Alpine Frost iron-on's to three of the wash clothes. Next, I found an old paintbrush packaging tube into which they fit perfectly. Look around the house for old packaging that you might have saved, it comes in handy. I was also thinking that cellophane could work just as well with a little bow on top. Just to brag a little, the iron-on's were only $1.99 and the wash clothes came in a pack of 3 for $1. I only ended up spending $2.99 +tax for this gift, isn't that amazing? You could also use hand towels and if you're not too keen on the holiday iron-on's, there are year-around friendly ones that you can eyeball here.

On the 1st & 2nd Days of Glitzmas...

Today we are starting our 12 Days of Glitzmas. It's going to be a wonderful event full of gifts, packaging & all the fun things that can turn your Christmas into a memorable inexpensive event. Each day we will post 2 ideas & we will be posting daily until Saturday. So make sure to check back with us everyday and as always let us know what you think! Moving on to our 1st project...

A striped strip frame! How did I do it? First I decided if I wanted to have this frame just for Christmas or for all year round so that I could pick out my paper. I decided it would be a good Christmas card/picture holder so I used Sparkle all the Way from our Glitzmas line. (Some other wonderful stripes you could use for an all-year frame are Adirondack, Kent or Begram to name a few.) Next, I found an old frame at a thrift store and painted it to match the paper. Try to find a frame that is no wider than 12 inches due to the paper size (The inside of my frame was 14"x12"). I then measured 2 pieces of paper and cut them out to fit the size of frame. To create the slits that hold the pictures, I used a blade and made slits along random stripes on the paper. Be sure to start and finish your cuts 1 inch in from the edge of the paper so that you don't end up with individual strips of paper. Once I was done cutting the slits, I glued the papers to the inside of the frame. Finally, I cut a piece of foam core the size of the inside of the frame and glued the edges to the back of the papers and frame for extra support. Voila, a simple project that anyone can cherish!


This next project that I decided to make was a compilation of our family recipes. I'm making these 12 days of Glitzmas gifts for my sister, who just loves to cook. In this recipe book I included all the recipes my mom & grandma use to make their Christmas dinners, treats & other family recipes. I started by using our 8.5"x11" preservation album. I covered the front & back covers with the All is Merry & Bright paper and the inside covers with the Emerald paper from our Glitzmas collection. Next I made two 3/4" slits on the front cover and two slits on the back cover to weave the 3.5 foot red ribbon through. On the inside I used some 4"x6" page protectors and inserted them into the preservation album. Using this template, I personalized some notecards to fit into the 4"x6" page protectors. I included the 8.5"x11" page protectors that came with the preservation album because my sister loves tearing recipes from magazines but who likes copying them onto a little notecard? No one! So, this is a simple solution to save those larger recipes. Lastly, I used the tabs from the Glitzmas cardstock sticker sheet to organize the different recipe sections. All in all I finished two projects in under 2 hours. Hopefully you like these projects as much as I did!

And the winner is...

We would like to congratulate our winner for the Windsor 1 hour album. And the winner is (drumroll.....) Alyson!







Alyson, if you could please email us your shipping information to artdept@shopsei.com, we will contact you as soon as possible. Thanks for all of your entries. We are looking forward to having another drawing in the near future. Be sure to check out our 12 days of Glitzmas starting today!