12 Days of Home for the Holidays Welcomes Kelli Crowe

I'm a big fan of Kelli Crowe's scrapbooking.  I became aware of Kelli's work at Two Peas in a Bucket.  She is an incredible scrapbooker.  I also love that she is a Big Bang Theory fan!  You just can't go wrong there.  I'm excited to Welcome Kelli!

Hi! I'm Kelli Crowe and my tree has been up since November 6th.  I like Christmas. A lot. I like pretty much everything about it. And because I enjoy it all so much, I get started really early on the preparations. 

One thing I like to do is to make the gift tags for my presents.  I don't make all of them, just however many I feel like.  (It should feel like fun and when it stops feeling fun, I stop making them.)  This year I decided to get my boys involved.

Supplies: I used big and small tags purchased at Staples Any ink pads I had around from scrapbooking or crafting A fine point sharpie Ed Emberley's Complete Fun Print Drawing Book (I already owned this and just used it as initial inspiration) Googlie eyes glue

At first they were tentative about what I wanted. I let them experiment a little, flip through the book, etc. I also got lots more cooperation because we did this in place of a few chores. They were much happier to make a few tags instead of unloading the dish washer.

This is Max, who is very much a ham and likes to show off his new braces. He made his first tag, a flower, following the directions in the book.

And here is the tag in action on a gift for Grandma. (I should note here, I do not buy Christmas wrapping paper.  My tastes change too much to buy paper that just sits around from year to year.  I wrap all gifts, all year, in the same bright and fun papers I love.  So yes, this floral yellow paper is on a Christmas gift!)

Max liked making tags for specific people.  This one he made for his cousin.  But then he misspelled "awesome." We just cut the words off the bottom and added a mini tag to go with it.  These will both tie nicely on the top of his cousin's gift.

Max had a lot of fun free-styling the rest of his tags.  I love the Christmas tree one he did for Grandpa.  I gave him the tree idea, but he figured out how to make it.
Knowing my relatives, they will just add a hook to some of these and turn them into ornaments or put them into a scrapbook.

My middle son, Alex loves to ski.  He made a skiing fingerprint man.  He added googlie eyes because he couldn't see the ones he drew over the navy ink.  

The collection that Alex made.  They remind me so much of his personality. 
Oh, that is not a Christmas Clam, as I first thought upon seeing it.  It is the bow on top of a present.

Even though not everyone was keen on having their photos taken, I did manage to snap a few. So now I have handmade tags AND photos of the kids making them!  I mean, I feel a scrapbook page coming on!

My oldest, David.  He was having a kinda Snape sort of hair day and was sent to the showers right after this project.  He loves to draw and really was proud of his cute little tag people.

All of his people tags.  I will probably just write the person's name on the back of these tags.  I think the front is perfect.

I ended up with a nice little batch of tags. The relatives will love them and keep them. I get credit for being such "clever mom." Don't write on the thumb prints until they are totally dry or it will ruin your pen. (The kids just blew on them a little bit) We used wipes to try and clean off their fingers to avoid accidental smudges. They used different fingers, even after they were cleaned, when changing stamp pads to keep from staining the pads. Know your audience: I put this task in place of another one.  I also kept reminding them we had music lessons and they didn't have forever to work on these.  That was true.  But it took away the all too common question I hear when giving my boys a task, "How long do we have to do this." Thanks for taking the time to look at our fun little Christmas Tradition of making our gift tags. And thank you, Debby, for including me in your crafts this year! You can find more of me, probably more than you would ever want, at: kellicrowe
 
Kelli Crowe
kellicrowe  blog

I really want to do this with my grandkids.  It would be great to have custom tags from my grandkids on the presents this year.  Thank you Kelli!

Giveaway

What an incredible giveaway from Graphic 45, X-ACTO, Sizzix, and May Arts!  Leave a comment for Kelli and I’ll put your name in the drawing. Leave a comment on each of the 12 day's posts to be entered for 12 opportunities to win this gorgeous prize package!  You can also go to  X-ACTO's, Graphic 45's, Sizzix's, and May Art's Facebook page and “like,” leaving a comment you came from D’s Paper Studio and leave another comment on one of the blog posts letting me know to be entered again. One blog reader's name will be drawn and announced on Monday, December 14th. On your Mark, Get Set, Go....!

Included in the Giveaway: 

Graphic 45:Nutcracker Sweet 12x12 paper pad; both sets of coordinating stickers; Ornate Metal Keys; Ornate Metal Key Holes; Flower Staples, Envelope Tag Staples

May Arts: (as pictured) Red and Green Center Strip 25 yards; Jute 400 yards; Mini-Pom Poms 30 yards;Velvet 50 yards; Cotton Strip 30 Yrds

X-ACTO: X-ACTO Designer Series 9’’ Fixed Blade; X-ACTO Designer Series Precision Scissors; X-ACTO Designer Series Corner Punch; X-ACTO Designer Series Gripster; X-ACTO Designer Series Shapes Templates; CraftBond Glue Spots; CraftBond Quick Dry Dual Tip Glue Pen; CraftBond All Purpose Glue Stick

Sizzix: The New Tim Holtz Texture Fades;  They include: 658269 Holly Pattern & Wreath Set;  658273 Brush Poinsettias and Winter Berries Set; 658270 Textured Poinsettia Pattern Set; and 658272 Holly Branch Pine Branch Set

WINNER of Lisa Swift's giveaway of  Little yellow Bicycle collection is 
joybear 8:25 PM

Love your traditions and all your projects Lisa! Thanks for sharing her with us Debby!

Congratulations!  Send your mailing address to dspaperstudio@aol.com and I'll forward it to Lisa.  Thanks everyone. 

Have a Wonderful Crafty Holiday!