On the 1st Day...

On the first day of Christmas SEI gave to you one amazing wreath idea! Pia made this beautiful holiday wreath using WinterSong's starlight paper. First she cut 12" x 3" strips of paper. Then she folded them accordion style (like a paper fan). Last, she overlapped them a little, pinned them onto a styrofoam wreath, and voila!

Time to Decorate

It is crazy to think that Christmas is less than a month away. For many people the day after Thanksgiving means it's time to decorate for the holidays. If you are Jenny Chesnick it means you have been preparing for a while. Jenny sent us images of these wreaths she made using our WinterSong and Christmas Mint collections back in October. Way to be on the ball! To see more of Jenny's creations, check out her blog (we especially like her house using WinterSong). Thanks, Jenny. Keep submitting your projects to us at seiblog(at)shopsei(dot)com. We love it!

For those of you who are not quite as ready for Christmas as Jenny, be sure to check back next week for our annual 12 Days of Christmas. We will have a different wreath idea and so much more. Don't miss it!

Thankful for You

Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you will have a wonderful day full of family & food. What are you thankful for? We are thankful for you. The blog wouldn't be the same without you. We appreciate all of your encouraging comments and e-mails.





Today we are featuring a few of Monika Wright's projects. Monika is a busy mom of three. She graciously thanked us for the products she won from one of our giveaways and even sent us images of what she created and here they are! Above is an album she made using the oasis collection. Below is a 2009 December Daily album and Santa's list envelope embellished with our Christmas Mint collection. Thank you, Monika!





We love to see your creations. Just send them to our e-mail at seiblog(at)shopsei(dot)com. We will feature some more reader's projects soon!

Fall Family Tree

Although the first official day of winter is not until December 21, in my mind fall is over after Thanksgiving or the end of November. So, I thought we should show you some of the beautiful autumn creations that have been submitted to us by our readers before it is too late. This one would be a lovely Thanksgiving decoration. It was submitted by Laurie Cinotto, a crafter and craft writer. She created this project, using the Moravia paper collection, for the wedding blog, The Bride's Cafe. For complete instructions follow this link or the link on her blog. Thanks for sharing, Laurie!



We love to see your creations. Just send them to our e-mail at seiblog(at)shopsei(dot)com. We will feature some more reader's projects soon!

3rd Thursday - Christmas Mint

Club SEI's December kit will feature Christmas Mint. This collection has a charming combination of traditional holiday colors and sweet candy colors. The papers are treated with elegant pearl, mint foil, and varnish accents. Click here to see what club members can make with this kit. Every month Club SEI does something new and this time it is this gingerbread house designed especially for club members! If you aren't a club member, you can still sign-up and receive this kit.

This bread gift box was made using the December kit leftovers. We got our instructions here. Happy 3rd Thursday!

Think Outside the Box

This is such a lovely simple layout that we hope will inspire you to think outside the box. Here are two things that this layout inspired me to think about. First, don't be fooled by the name of a line. WinterSong's crystal arabesque paper is perfect for a wedding or try the back of flurry kisses or starlight for a summer picnic! Who would have thought? The second thing that I noticed is this layout design could be perfect for any season. In the summer, use bright papers and replace the snowflakes with flowers. In the fall use rich fall colors and replace the snowflakes with leaves. How does this layout inspire you to think outside the box?

Maria

Giveaway Winner + Blog Schedule

Thank you for all your comments on Melissa's blog posts last week. It was neat to see where she gets her inspiration from! The giveaway winner as selected by random.org is:



Congratulations Ahuerta! Now all you need to do is send your mailing address to us at seiblog(at)shopsei(dot)com before November 23rd.



If you remember, for the last giveaway we had we asked for your input on the blog. Since then we have done a lot of planning and decided to make a blog schedule for you. This new schedule includes some exciting new opportunities for you to be involved in the blog including challenges and features! To be eligible for the features please continue to e-mail us images of your projects at seiblog(at)shopsei(dot)com. We are still researching and idea making for a way to display your projects, but for now this is our venue. More information on the challenges and features will be given as they come up.

Another thing to look forward to is our annual 12 Days of Christmas. Click here to see last year's wonderful Holiday ideas and get excited for this year! We'll start November 30 and as a result, next month's schedule will be a little different (but still great!).


Thanks for all of your support and love, and thanks again to Melissa Phillips; we loved having her talent here!

Pine Boughs & Holly + Giveaway

Two of my most favorite things to not only smell, but to decorate with for the holidays are pine boughs and holly. I was so excited to find beautiful images of these things in the Alpine Frost collection. The stamp set has the sweetest pine bough…filled with detail…the rubons are intricate and beautiful as well and I couldn’t wait to do a bit of stamping with the rich colors associated with this set along with adding in the pine tree rubon somewhere as my focal point.



The colors in this collection remind me of a country Christmas complete with jumbo pine cones and delicate snowflakes…imagine getting cozy in a cabin for the holidays and peeking out a frosty window…that’s just the feeling this collection gives.





It’s been so much fun visiting with you this week. Hope your holidays are merry and bright!
Melis

Thanks for an inspiring week, Melissa! We love how well all of your posts showcased the beautiful & classy style of your projects.

Which post was your favorite this week? Leave a comment answering this question and you will be entered into a giveaway to win some of the products Melissa used throughout the week (as shown below - 20 papers, epoxy stickers, frames & tags, ribbon, and rub-ons from the Alpine Frost and Christmas Mint collections)! Just leave your comment by Sunday November 15th at midnight and we will announce the winner Monday. Be sure to check back next week to see if you are the winner because if we don't hear from the winner by November 23rd we will pick a new winner!

Deck the Halls

I’m a sucker for sweet, vintage Christmas decorations and right now finding vintage inspired images and replicas is so easy. There’s something about an old fashioned Santa Claus, bottle brush trees, Rudolph and Frosty, and tinsel that takes me back to the ornaments that we hung on our family tree each year as children. These things never go out of style, they only grow more cherished and important over time.

For my project today, I wanted to create a wall hanging with a large Bingo Card as my base.



All it took was to pick out some playful paper from the Christmas Mint line to use as my background and everything came together quickly.



The next step was to layer on all the goodies such as a vintage inspire postcard, bottle brush tree complete with mica flakes as the snow, glittered chipboard flourishes, traditional holly berry leaves, a glittered chipboard snowflake, a crepe paper ruffle and trim along the bottom edge, a bright cherry red vintage button, and tinsel to hang it with.





Let your favorite memories inspire you to create something for your home…..it will be like a walk down memory lane each time you glance at it throughout the holidays.
Melis

Fresh from the Oven

One of my most favorite places to find inspiration is in cookbooks or magazines that have a place tucked away just for beautiful, freshly baked creations. I love to see how others package their treats, how they’re displayed, and even the colors used in either the presentation or the baked goods themselves. Inspiration is everywhere and right now as the holidays approach, ideas are everywhere. My most favorite thing to do when I have a free bit of time is to curl up with a magazine loaded with Christmas recipes for candy, cookies, breads, cakes, cupcakes, peppermint cocoa, etc.

I chose this picture for my inspiration today because it carries a super simple sketch, beautiful colors, wonderful design, and some shine (which I am always drawn to).



The image once again comes from my most favorite source of creativity, that of Country Living, and here are a couple of cards based on the image.











For the first card I pretty much took the basic design, colors, and shine and made it into my own creation. This card uses supplies from the Alpine Frost collection. The trees in the center are layered to add dimension…I wanted to recreate that particular concept which I was immediately drawn to in the baked cookie image.

For the second card, I used the same design concept, but mixed up the elements a bit and added die cuts and an epoxy sticker as my focal point. This card uses the Christmas Mint collection.

As you can see, the possibilities that can come from one image are never ending…a quick, fun, and delicious way to get your creativity flowing.

Melissa

Good Things Come in Small Packages

I’ve always enjoyed small packages more than the big kind….as a little girl, and the only girl in a family of three boys, my mom, dad, and Santa sure spoiled me. I remember being more excited over the small, shiny package peeking out the top of my stocking, all dressed up with ribbons, than in the big package under the tree. Small packages meant something very personal and special...they remain my favorite today.

For my project today I was inspired by this image from Country Living….this tiny package has sparked so many creative ideas. What a fun idea to tuck a coordinating gift card holder under the bow!



Here is one idea that came from the above gift-giving idea.









I found this adorable embossed paper mache heart box and distressed it using acrylic paint, sand paper, and ink. I wanted to bring it to life for the holidays so I added foil paper from SEI’s Christmas Mint line along with trim, a die cut, and epoxy ornaments.

Of course no gift is complete without a matching card, so I put something simple together using more products from the Christmas Mint line…I just love the traditional colors used in this along with the patterns, sparkle, and the yummy names of the papers too of course. The 3-dimensional chipboard trees are fun accents to dress up and use for the holidays as well…such a fun idea.

Hope to chat again soon.
Melissa

All Dressed Up

I love the art of gift-giving….it truly is an art…I am fascinated by it and am constantly seeking for creative ideas in giving love away. Dressing up a box, a bag, bread or muffin tin, tags, envelopes…the list goes on and on, and since Christmas is rapidly approaching, I thought it would be fun to focus on a few fun ways to dress up gifts for the holidays. Today I’ve chosen this picture from Country Living as my inspiration piece….I adore it…its sparkly and sweet.



I’ve made paper cones before but liked the simplicity involved in these waffle cones. All it took to make my own paper creation was a simple circle with trim along the edges, then formed into a cone with the decorative edges showing, and ending with a few embellishments to top them off….how fun to hang from a doorknob…perhaps even making smaller cones as decorations for your tree….easy and irresistible.











Paper and chipboard from the Christmas Mint and Alpine Frost add such beautiful and elegant touches.

I’m looking forward to sharing more packing ideas with you throughout the week!
Melissa

Melissa Phillips, Guest Blogger

We would like to introduce you to Melissa Phillips. She is an amazing paper-crafter that will be guest blogging next week. Be sure to check out her blog, lilybeanpaperie.typepad.com for tons of project ideas and more!

Hi there! I'm so excited to be a Guest Blogger on the SEI Lifestyles blog....not excited to be chatting about myself, but here goes nothing. I am originally from American Fork, UT, but am now a country girl living in Southern Nevada with my two sweethearts...my husband Nate and little girl Sierra. These two are the wind in my sails I tell you...life revolves around them and together we have so much to be happy about. I started paper-crafting about 5 years or so ago and it has become a very rewarding activity that I hope I have time for each day...for just a few minutes, I get to let my creative mind take over and enjoy all things associated with it.

I have several fascinating quirks, but just for you I'll leave most of them out.
1. I don't text...never done it...don't even know how...am I pathetic?
2. I dream about all things crafty...from baking to quilting to card making...buttons, trims, glitter, fabric...I close my eyes and there they all are dancing across my dreams.
3. I don't know how to get the messages off of my cell phone...I know my box is full...and I wonder sometimes if I've missed out on something really important...but the secrets will stay there indefinitely. I don't even carry my cell phone with me...don't know where it is right now either :)
4. I would rather shop for paper than clothes...shoes are tempting, but I still think I'd go for the paper.
5. I love to read cookbooks back to front....over and over again...nothin' wrong with that though, right? I have such a lovely collection of these beautiful treasures....sigh...just one more simple pleasure.

Thanksgiving Place-setting

One of the best things about November is EATING! Michelle created these beautiful place-setting projects to help make this year's Thanksgiving feast something to remember.


The centerpiece was made using candles wrapped with paper and an alphabet sticker attached to each one. Simple, right? Just make sure not to burn your candles without being in the room or for a long time since paper is flammable.


Place-cards are always a nice addition to any place-setting. It helps your guests feel welcome and avoids confusion. These place-cards were made with a few pieces of paper, a cut-out leaf, and ribbon.


Not only are these napkin rings pretty, but they serve another purpose too. They wrap around your head to make an headdress! Thanks for the creative ideas, Michelle. Will you incorporate these ideas into your Thanksgiving place-setting or do you have any other ideas to share? We love your comments!

Giveaway Winner + Recap

Thank you so much for all of your comments on the blog. Watch for some exciting new additions in the near future. We are looking forward to another year full of great ideas to inspire you to create!

Without further ado the winner of some of our Juliette products (thanks to random.org) is...



Congratulations Expressions of a Creative Mind! Please send your mailing address to us at seiblog(at)shopsei(dot)com so you can receive your goodies!



Now here are a few of October's highlights:



• Halloween party - Mandi kicked off October with some party ideas and printable downloads she designed just for you!
• Moravia projects - Moravia is the perfect collection for your fall projects.
• Jessica Wilson - Our guest blogger was wonderful at showing different ways to use paper including a pinwheel bunting, treat toppers, and an autograph book.
• Exciting announcements - New designers, November's club kit, open house, and our newest line - Juliette!