Happy Holidays!

What a great response to the funky Christmas Tree!  I wish I had of thought of it sooner than Friday at 1pm so we all could have made one this Christmas.  We already have a list of names to contact when the kit becomes available next year.  If you would like to be on that list, just send us an email that says, "put me on the list" and we will.  When the kit becomes available we will send a reminder email.

Once again, great comments from all...I really loved this one from our friend gypsy magpie: 
Oh my gosh! I am still squealing with delight over this project... GOTTA have it. Sunday dinner plans have been shelved for the moment- I have to go start digging in my stash to see what I've got to play with. Thank you for this darling tree along with all the great posts during the past week. It's been so much fun to read everyone's stories- some made me laugh, some made me cry, but all made me happy that it's Christmastime once again.  

I love that last line.  She PERFECTLY sums up what this week has been all about, the stories.

Well on to our very last drawing of the year.  (Insert drum roll)

 Congratulations!

The winner of Day 7 of the 7 Days of Giveaways is...

Powers Fam has left a new comment on your post "Day 7 - Oh, Christmas Tree...":
 I couldn't stop looking at all the ornaments! Love, love, love all the details on each one. I love the tree idea and that it is something that you can use all year. 
What do I want for Christmas? A watch! Then I would be less likely to be sucked into my phone every time I check the time. :)
Merry Christmas!

 Powers Fam please email me at paula@2gypsygirls.com to claim your prize!  

You have 24 hours or it goes back in the pot!

I finally came up with a Christmas Card for this year.  Still totally inspired by the paper Leslie sent me as you can see (I'm in debt to her!)  I know I mentioned this yesterday about cutting the words from old books to make a piece more personal.  These worked out so very good.  I did scan the words so I can make more than one of the same card. 
I do think 7gypsies needs to make the tiny red oval labels!

The inside of the card has a copy of a little etching.  I have a very nice friend, Carol that travel to Europe a couple of times a year.  Last week she brought me a large envelope of paper items to scan.  This etching was one of them.  I copied it on better white paper and inked it.  I think it looks quite perfect and the words...I ran across in an old educational primer.  The number tape is from Cavallini.
(click on photo to make larger)

Well, that's the end of 7 Days of Giveaways!  It was a lot of work to do this, but it sure was fun.  Maybe next year I will be more prepared and have something done more than I few hours before I have to post it.  I do know I should decorate my tree (and my house) before the 7 days starts!

Have a great Holiday everyone, see you next week!   

Cheers! - paula

Day 7 - Oh, Christmas Tree...

This week has been fabulous...reading all the comments you have left (but I admit I need to leave the house soon).  And to be quite honest I want to thank everyone for being such good sports in answering all our Christmas questions.  
I hope you have taken a few minutes to read the comments.   Not something I usually do when I'm reading other blogs, but there have been some very touching as well as funny stories. These are three of my favorites from this week: 
From Dria:

MY favorite decoration =now that is hard to choose. I love my Nativity because it represents the true reason of Christmas. But my favorite decoration has to be my little pair of baby angels my dad bought me during my 4th Christmas season-- I still remember seeing them in the store. It was snowing and I was Christmas shopping with my daddy while my 2 older sisters were shopping with my mommy. The ladies had gone to a big girls store daddy and I went to the toys and decorations areas. We were looking at the tree with all of the glittering ornaments when I spotted a baby girl and baby boy angle--she has long white hair and he has short white hair- Every time I pull them from their tissue wrapping I am transported back through time to that evening(over 46 years ago now) a little girl hanging on to her daddy's finger and asking "PLEASE?" Although that daddy passed away 12 years ago now his indulgent smile lives on. 

From Cynthia:
My sister and I used to have a tradition when we were younger: Two days before Christmas we would open one gift each, then wrap it back up so our parents wouldn't know what we had done. On Christmas Day, we would shake the box and 'magically' guess what was inside! This was so funny to us until our parents clued in and that tradition was nipped in the bud!! =D 

And from Crabtree-Creations: Every year since 1960, we have bundled up on Christmas Eve and set out to find Santa Claus. I have wonderful memories of piling into my Dad's Buick, kids all crammed in the back seat, my Dad and Uncle up front, one driving and one navigating, our little cold noses pressed up against the car windows, trying to get a glimpse of the Sleigh, or Rudolph or the Big Elf himself.
Every year without fail, we would return to Grandma's house to find that HE HAD JUST BEEN THERE!! Oh so frustrating!
One year I decided to stay at the house, so not to miss him, but was somehow convinced that it was better to go out and look for him, so off we went, and when we came back, HE HAD JUST BEEN THERE! I repeated this tradition with my children, and now I am a new Grandmother, so will continue to take the grandchildren out on that yearly trek going out to find Santa Claus, returning home to find a home full of love, goodies on the table, and presents under the tree, because HE HAD JUST BEEN THERE!
See what I mean?  Great stories!

Again, thank you everyone who commented!

The winner of Day 6 of the 7 Days of Giveaways is...

 Congratulations! 

Lori said...

This is something that my mom did for me and my siblings when we were kids. She made our Christmas Stockings from brown grocery bags. They were sprayed gold, trimmed in red rick rack and sprayed with snow and of course our names on them. To this day I love and remember those stockings. This year, my mom recreated one for me. I was in tears for the whole day over it!     December 17, 2011 4:40 PM  

Lori please email me at paula@2gypsygirls.com to claim your prize!  

You have 24 hours or it goes back in the pot! 

Oh, Christmas Tree... 
Well, we've made it our last Giveaway!  When I started this week I intended to make a few small projects...today's project is anything but small!  I used the 7gypsies ATC & Photo Display as my structure.  If you have never seen this product, it has a heavy base and a tall rod that screws into it.  Each of rings gets successively smaller and they can be put on the tall rod in any order or you can use as many or as few of the rings as you want.  The thing I love about this product is that you can make something for Christmas and then change it out for your summer vacation photos.  

So here's the base,

Pick a paper to cover the top of the base. I am choosing the vintage paper Leslie sent me because I am so inspired by the red numbers!  Place the paper on the base and punch the hole.  Then turn the paper over and sand off the excess so the paper will not cause problems with the rod screwing into the base.

Add nice coat of Multi Medium to the top of the base, then the paper.  Use a brayer to smooth out any bubbles.

Flip the base over and cut off the excess paper with a cutting knife.  Sand the edges and ink...Vintage Photo (right, Sue?).  Don't leave home without it!

So you could put paper on the edges or leave as is but I am going to use a vintage measuring tape. 

Here's the finished product.

Now were ready to put the ATC and Photo Display together.  Then start adding the embellishments (or junk as we like to call it).
Three tips to Remember:

1. Embellish the back of things because you will see it, even if it's just paper.
2. Limit tying or wiring things to the structure.  Why?  When you take it apart you will have to deal with that and it's no fun.  I created one of these with vacation photos and hand wired everything to the structure...not fun when summer was over and I had to take it apart.  Learned my lesson!
3. Hanging thing from the clips makes them at least 1/2" longer.  More times then not I haven't taken this into account and had to move items from the top row to the middle because it was too long.

So let me walk you through the project.  

Most of the items are self explanatory so I will give you the product information and a few notes.

7gypsies Tag set - Affirmations

7gypsies Mini Hanger - brass

Idea-ology Vial labels  (obviously my favorite product of the season)

Vintage pearls as ornaments in the tiny tree.  A vintage thimble serves as a tree stand.

Needed a way to hang the tree.  Not sure why I figured this out today after hand wiring almost 170 trees for the Junk Drawer Advent kit.  Why didn't this come to me sooner?  Grab one of Tim's Memo Pins and shove it down into the branches of the tree.  Glittering the tree gave it just that extra something to hold the pin in place.  So simple. 

Wendy Addison tag (I added the words)

Who doesn't need a bottle of snow?
7gypsies Apothecary bottle
label - vintage

I had to add a few pictures...these are from my friend Rachel at Darkroom Door.  Our long term readers know these photo booth shots are a go to favorite of mine.  These are from the sheet of couples.

More vintage items
7gypsies key

Vintage red velvet coat buttons.  These have been in my stash for years and they never seem to work till now.  I just stitched them with some thick wool thread so the stitching would show up.  Added the vintage red label at the bottom and the number from a page found in an old book.

I made the window from 7gypsies collage paper that has been treated with Ice Resin.  You can see how I did it here (amendment: you can skip step three of the instructions...I have now made at least 50 sheets of ice resin paper and you don't need to wait for the bubbles to rise to the top when making paper.  Just stir for 2 minutes and go.)
The red metal flower is an old earring hanging from a Swivel Clasp.
7gypsies collage paper - Birdsong

You can see how I cut the Collage Tissue for the frame.

This card was made using one of my favorite stamp- Vintage Polka Dots from Red Lead.  It is a must have!  The chipboard letters are 7gypsies - Paddington...they have been painted silver and glittered.  The card is doubled, stamped on both sides and then sewn together.  Add the bell at the bottom to finish it off.

This little tree in the wooden spool has red beads from an old necklace.

Vintage card with some glittered pine cones.

Chipboard swallow with vintage paper.

7gypsies Tag Kit - Family
My favorite part of creating is cutting words from old books.  It always surprises me how the words come together to make the project unique and have more meaning. 

Glittered pine cones with a stitched leaf I cut from felt.

Another card from the 7gypsies Tag kit - Family

7gypsies Tag - Lille

There definitely needs to be a Naughty and Nice List, right?
7gypsies Numero Clear Stamp

Okay so you have already seen this calendar in the gift wrapping post but I stole it off my sisters present because I decided I needed it here more).  I added the silver metal star (American Tag)

Vintage numbers and a bit of leftover packaging from the village kit.

And the tree topper...a glittered star (can you believe my luck to run across the word tinsel?)

The ATC & Photo Display comes with a metal ball that screws on to the top.  I replaced the metal ball with a vintage clothes pin to hold the star in place.

Loving this project so much that I can almost guarantee 
we will be selling it as a kit next fall.

If you would like to enter to win today's giveaway (I do, I do!)
to win a KIT to create this project, please leave a comment.  The kit comes with everything you see here and the ATC and Photo Display structure.  There are full packs of two tag sets, the mini hangers, the large Vintage Polka Dot stamp from Red Led, the thimble tree and the spool tree, vintage labels, vintage earring, pearls and beads, all chipboard pieces, ice resin collage tissue, red clothes pin and even the little notebook and pencil.

Today's question: What do you want for Christmas?
I know my husband needs this one answered quick!

Day 7 Giveaway is open till 12 midnight pacific time.  

Winner will be posted tomorrow morning and you will have 24 hours to claim your prize. 

When we started 7 Days of Giveaways it was really a way to say "Thank You" to all of you that have supported us in our creative endeavors this year, whether it be in the classroom or buying a kit online, we appreciate it and you.  There are so many of you that we now call friends and we always look forward to hearing from you.  

Welcome again to all who have joined us from Pinterest and Tim's World.  We're glad you're here at One Lucky Day for a bit of this and that with a little gypsy flavor thrown in and we hope you'll stay awhile. 

Deb and I are taking a break from blogging this week to spend it with our families. 

We'll see you back here at One Lucky Day after the holiday!

and you can see I already purchased the ding dongs and hoho's for the neighbors!

cheers!

paula

Day 6 - Within Arms Reach

Paula and I have enjoyed all the great comments each day, so many fabulous ideas!  

Thanks again for all who commented!  This one was not the winner in the random giveaway but we laughed so hard about it (at the same time thought it was a great idea) that were going to give an extra prize today.

Cliptix said...

I usually go on a massive baking spree for friends and neighbors.
3 or 4 types of cookies and 2 or 3 breads and at least 1 candy.  Although for the neighbors I plan on buying a box of HoHos and DingDongs and giving those with a note that says Ho-Ho-Ho Merry Christmas from the DingDongs next door. :P

The winner of Day 5 of the 7 Days of Giveaways is....

Congratulations!

Thea said...I give different little gifts every year. This year it was a note tote - made out of folded files. I stamped put clear contact paper on them. They have four pockets for notes, a small pocket for business cards and a 2012 small calendar. I put a small Dec. calendar in the business card pocket.

 

Cliptix and Thea please email us at paula@2gypsygirls.com to claim your prize!

You have 24 hours or it goes back in the pot!

Within Arms Reach

(or using what you have on hand) 

Paula asked me to do this post and for whatever reason I didn't get her email until midnight last night. At that point I decided I would just go to bed and figure it out this morning.  After much thought I decided that a good lesson for me when I'm stressed or short on time is to use things I have....especially since I have a very well stocked studio with years of accumulated items ready to be used.  

THREE THINGS

Here are 3 projects appropriate for the holiday season that I made with items 

"within arms reach"

IDEA #1 - Image transfer onto muslin bags
These bags were created to package ornaments for our family ornament exchange.  I think good packaging always bumps a gift up a notch.  The photos used were old family photos.  The kids loved seeing their grandpa and great grandpa in a different light and made their ornament more of a special gift.

Instructions:

Step 1 - Use a muslin bag that you have on hand or make your own with a drawstring top.

Step 2 - Make photo copies (dry toner) of your photos and cut them out. 

Step 3 - Wrap a piece of cardboard with waxed paper and insert it in the bag.  Place the bag face up on another piece of waxed paper.

Step 4 - Brush a thick coat of transfer medium onto the printed side of your photocopy.  I used "Picture This" by Plaid, but you can also use a matte medium or gel medium  (....and I bet most of you have one of those in your stash).  Place the copy onto the bag, photo side down.  Cover with a paper towel.  Using the transfer medium bottle, lightly roll over the entire copy.  Remove the paper towel.  Press around the outside edges with your finger.  Let dry for 24 hours. 

Step 5 - When dry, saturate the copy with a wet sponge and let it set for 2 minutes.  Gently rub off all the paper pulp covering the photo.  It really is an easy and fun process.

TAG - Here is a close up of the tag attached to the bag.   Cut a few paper scraps and sew them onto the edge of the tag.  Include a few strands of gold thread of whatever you have on hand to add interest.

Idea #2 - JOY

In my entryway I have a ledge that at Christmas time screams to be filled.  I wanted to use items that I had on hand and decided to use three of my four vintage typewriters to spell out JOY.  I might add that of all the other decorations in my house, this one gets commented on the most.  

HOW TO:  Using a typewriter style font I printed the letters on vintage sheet music.  I added a piece of chipboard behind the paper so it would stand up and not flop down.  A piece of jute was tied around the layers to hold them all together.....DONE, so easy!

Disclaimer:  I know that not everyone has 3 typewriters, but the idea is that you take something you have and repurpose it into a fun idea.

 
Idea #3 New Year's Eve Party Invitation
I know that this isn't a Christmas idea, but it is after all, time to plan for your New Year's Eve party so I figured it could still count.  This is a fun idea for your New Year's invitation (and don't forget to only use items on hand).  If you love to keep cool shopping bags, old maps, wallpaper, old music this is the project for you.   
Envelope -

Step 1 - Take apart an existing envelope.  

Step 2 - Trace the envelope onto a piece of bookboard and cut out with an xacto knife.  

Step 3 - Now for the fun part....place your bookboard template onto whatever paper you want to use (the one below I used old music paper).  You don't even need to trace just tear around the edge.  The torn edge adds to the look of the invitation.  

Invitation - 

Step 1 - Print front and inside of invitation onto cardstock or watercolor paper.  

Step 2 - Cut or punch small square approximately 1".  You can see they vary in size.

Step 3 - Gather some trims - lace, ribbon, cord, rick rack, string, etc.  

Step 4 - Lay squares and trim in place and stitch across.  

It is really very easy and you can create a large amount in a short time of you use an assembly line...I have made over 100 at a time!

Here's a couple of other options.  
You can see that the paper and trims you choose can change the whole look of the invitation.

I think some of the best ideas happen when we use what we have on hand. 

If you would like to enter to win today's giveaway

to win a stash of 7gypsies products, please leave a comment.

Today's question: At Christmas time have you ever had to use items "within arms reach"?  Whether by choice or by circumstances....we would love to hear about it.

(if not, you can still enter to win...no pressure!)

Day 6 Giveaway is open till 12 midnight pacific time.  

Winner will be posted tomorrow morning and you will have 24 hours to claim your prize.

Good Luck...Now I need to go do some shopping!

Enjoy,

deb

Day 5 - Rub-a-Dub-Dub

  Great comments everyone on our Day 4 question about what gets you in the Christmas spirit...Christmas music, perusing Pinterest, reading holiday magazine issues (make me stop), putting up the tree, wrapping packages (still doing that here) and seeing the holiday lights.

Thank you everyone who commented!

The winner of Day 4 of the 7 Days of Giveaways is...

 Congratulations!  

jmizelle said...

The moment I turn the page on the calendar to December 1st it happens automatically!
Love, love this project!

December 15, 2011 12:20 PM

jmizelle please email me at paula@2gypsygirls.com to claim your prize!  

You have 24 hours or it goes back in the pot!

Rub-a-dub-dub

I will admit, I am behind in just about everything except blogging this week, including decorating my Christmas tree!  So for today's post I needed to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.  This project is totally self serving since I needed to create the packaging for the gift we give our friends and neighbors.  I am going to preface this by telling you that for 10 years we have always given a white box full of sweets that takes at least 2 FULL days to prepare and that's not including clean up.  I just didn't have the time to do it this year so we moved on to Plan B without any kicking and screaming on my part.  

This year were giving barbecue rub...it will be a gift that can last all year long instead of 1 or 2 days.

I sent for these fabulous jars from Crate and Barrel.  I ordered them Sunday night and they were on my doorstep on Wednesday.  perfect.

Weck jars come in 5 sizes ranging from 9 to 26oz.   For this project I used the 18oz size.  Just for a reference...in the picture below it is the jar right behind the marmalade.

I love the Weck logo impression on the jar and the glass lid and also that orange rubber seal.  And yes, I know I could have done this way cheaper with glass canning jars from Walmart.  
But I didn't.

Barbecue Rub
2 TB of each: salt, sugar, brown sugar, chili powder, black pepper, ground cumin
1 TB: cayenne pepper, granulated garlic
1/4 cup paprika
Apply generously to meat.  

Especially good with pork roast. 

Remember to cook it low and slow.

NOTE: When making the rub in large quantities use a large bowl or disposable pan.  After mixing we used a big strainer to sift out the lumps.  And...If you are even thinking about mixing this concoction  with your hands, wear disposable gloves...you don't want cayenne pepper anywhere near your eyes or some other vital parts, if you know what I mean.

Note: You will need to double the recipe to fill the 18oz jar

PACKAGING

You could easily just tie up the jar with bakers twine and have a great look but that wouldn't be much of a blog post for today would it?

So were going to sew a very simple bag.  

Cut a piece of red and cream ticking 12" tall and 15" wide for the 18oz jar.  

Fold in half and stitch it closed on one side and bottom.

To make a flat bottom, fold each corner of the bag into a triangle and pin.

Stitch across the bag about 1 1/2" from the tip.  Repeat on opposite side.

 Cut off the tip of the triangle.

 This is what the bottom of your bag should look like now.

 Hem the top (or you can leave it raw).

I'm using May Arts Twill to close the bag (nice and flat) which is great for stamping.  Cut a piece of twill tape 30" long.  I used the 7gypsies Christmas stamp and black Archival Ink to add Merry Christmas to each end of the twill tape.

Next, I typed and printed out the recipe, then stitched it to a tag.  I added my favorite red label at the bottom and stamped it with 2012 so the receiver would know that if it's still in the cupboard in 2014 it's time to throw it out!
Fonts - Pharmacy and Euphorigenic

I know I spelled Barbecue, Barbeque on this tag.  Both spellings are acceptable at our house but spell check only accepts the first.  Hope I didn't offend any grammarians out there.

Then, because I just can't leave well enough alone I added a little wooden spoon that I stamped the word YUM on.  In reality no one is going to use a tiny spoon for barbecue rub so I figured it was okay to stamp on it.  The stamp set is from the dollar bin at Michaels (but not recently).
You can buy the spoons here or I can sell you some.  They are $5 for 50 spoons + $2 shipping.  Just email me - paula@2gypsygirls.com
Oh, and I punched the hole with my Crop a dile.

Inside the bag I have also included this recipe for the North Carolina Barbecue Sauce that goes quite nicely with the rub.  This is a thin sauce so it works great to store it in a squeeze bottle.  Just keep it in the fridge after you make it.  Makes for a fab-u-lous pulled pork sandwich.

2 cups cider vinegar
1 tablespoons sea salt
1 tablespoons ground white pepper
1 tablespoons red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup ketchup

 And were done!

Now I just need 20 more.

If you would like to enter to win today's giveaway
to win a stash of 7gypsies products, please leave a comment.

Today's question: Are you giving a small gift to your friends and neighbors?  Is it always the same or do you change it up from year to year? (if you're not, you can still enter to win...no pressure!)

Day 5 Giveaway is open till 12 midnight pacific time.  

Winner will be posted tomorrow morning and you will have 24 hours to claim your prize.

PS) I'm gonna put a plug in for the new Michael Buble' CD.  I just downloaded it last night (you can also get it at Target and Amazon).   His version of "All I want for Christmas" is worth the price of the CD...really the best version of the song I have ever heard.  Love the full orchestra, adds depth and richness to a pop song.  You can preview it here to see if you like it too. 

Cheers for a great day!

paula