2025 Christmas Card Layout

I like to include our family's Christmas cards in my scrapbooks, but I struggled figuring out how to deal with this year's card. I ended up treating the card like picture frame and "hanging" it on a split background. My page was inspired by the Half-It Challenge at A Cherry on Top.  

2025 Christmas Card (affiliate link)

It's a really simple page, but I'm ok with that. The title and journaling that I would normally put on a layout happen to already be on the card itself. Into the album it goes!

Christmas 2025

It's out of character, but I took very few pictures last Christmas. I'm not sure why, but I didn't insist on a family picture in front of the tree. I didn't take pictures while we opened gifts. I didn't take pictures at my in-laws' house. I did take a picture of Trevor in front of the tree and Trevor giving treats to the bunnies. I paired those with a photo of me reading during the Christmas Eve church service to make this layout. 

Christmas 2025 (affiliate link)

I actually combined two different pictures of Trevor feeding the bunnies since they weren't close enough together to both appear in the frame of either photo. I fussy-cut Tulip and Trevor's hand that was feeding her and layered them on top of the photo with Brayden in it.

It's not my favorite layout - far from it - but I'm glad to have it in the album. 

Hidden Money Ornaments

It's time to share another money gift idea! This year, my nephew Timothy's Christmas gift was money hidden inside Christmas ornaments. 

I shared the steps to painting and decorating glass ornaments a few weeks ago, but I intentionally didn't mention how great they are for hiding money! 

To hide money in a glass ornament, simply remove the top of the ornament, roll up the money, and slide it in. Replace the top. Money fits perfectly inside. It's not too difficult to get out; tweezers help. 

Making the gift was the easy part. Getting it from California to Idaho took a bit more effort. Fortunately, all four ornaments survived the plane trip. Once I got to Idaho, I attached a tag (1 of 4) to the green ornament. I wrapped it for Timothy to open and kept the other three to hide. 

I'd expected we'd be opening gifts at my mom's house, where I could hide the ornaments amongst the many on her tree. Instead, we opened gifts at my sister's house. They don't have a traditional Christmas tree up anymore. 

Needless to say, a cat tree would not be a great place to hide glass ornaments (for many reasons), so I had to resort to tucking them anywhere I could find that would not be too obvious (to the humans) or enticing (to the cats). Success! No one noticed the ornaments until Timothy opened the first one and started looking for the rest. 

Believe it or not (I barely do), this is the 42nd money gift tutorial I've shared. You can see them all here: Creative Ways to Give Money. Fingers crossed that I can dream up something for #43!

Choose Your Own Themed Christmas Gifts, White Elephant Style

I did something completely different for my inlaws' Christmas gifts this year: I created six themed gifts (each with a single word clue as to what was inside), then let them pick which gift they wanted, White Elephant style. I designed the gifts so that each was similar in value and would appeal to multiple relatives. The gifts included: Savory, Furry, Playful, Sweet, Pampered, and Faithful. 

In Steve's family, the youngest person opens their gifts first. So his younger sister got first pick. Being a proud Dog Mom of two, she guessed (correctly) that Furry contained dog-themed items and chose that one. It included a super soft blanket with dogs on it, a mug with a paw print at the bottom, dog-themed playing cards, and a donut-shaped dog chew toy (affiliate links here and below).  

Steve's older sister opened Savory next. It was filled with meats, cheeses, crackers, and mustard. 

Steve's brother-in-law chose Playful. He got Raptors playing cards, IQ Puzzler Pro, Eight Eighteen, and I Know.. You Don't.

Steve's aunt stole the Furry gift, so Teri opened Pampered. She got a pack of winter-scented foaming body scrubs, a battery operated candle in birch wood, and a 'Fresh Cut Roses' candle. Roses are a thing in our family because of our last name.  

Steve's mom chose Sweet. I included only a single edible item, the Maple Baking Chips. The other items were Sweets by Hershey lip balms, a Pillsbury Cinnamon Roll Candle, post-it notes that look like candy, Holiday Cookie hand soap, Sugar Cookie hand sanitizer, and a s'mores snowman ornament. 

Steve's dad opened the final gift, Faithful. It had been completely ignored up until that point, yet when he opened it almost everyone in that group of faithful 49ers fans wish they'd chosen that one. It included a 49ers drink cozy, 49ers buttons, and a 49ers nutcracker. 

It was a lot of fun putting these themed gifts together. I enjoyed thinking up each theme and then trying to find items to fill the bags. And it was just as fun seeing who picked each bag as their gift. 

Merry Christmas 2025!

Happy holidays from the deRosier family!

I will be taking my annual winter blog break and will return on January 5. Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season. 

Peeking Reindeer Painting

I made a companion piece for the Peeking Snowman. It's a Peeking Reindeer!

Peeking Reindeer

Materials: 

• watercolor paper
• Folk Art acrylic paint
• pencil
• Apple Barrel Paint Pens
• black pen
• centering ruler

Steps: 

Cut the paper to the size and shape you want the window to be. With a wet brush, moisten the area where the sky goes, then brush a small amount of light blue paint horizontally onto the paper. Let the paint dry completely. 

Use a pencil to sketch the outline of the reindeer. Paint the reindeer brown, with tan for his inner ears and muzzle. Paint the hat red. Add green trees. 

When the paint is dry, outline the reindeer and his hat with a black pen. Add eyes, a nose, and a mouth. 

Use the brown paint pen to make a window sill by coloring each edge of the paper. Then use the ruler to mark the center of each edge. Draw a vertical and a horizontal line through those center points to finish the window. 

Look how cute the two paintings look together!

   

 Who else can you imagine peeking in the window? Let me know in the comments!

Santa's Closet - A Printable Drawing Challenge for Kids

We all know what Santa wears during the winter, but what does he wear the rest of the year? This printable challenges kids to use their imagination to draw what they think Santa wears during each season of the year. 

Of course I tried my own challenge! But before you scroll down and look at my sketches, take a minute to decide how you think Santa dresses in spring, summer, and fall. 

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It was great fun thinking about what Santa does in the off-season and how he would dress. I decided that Santa's spring wardrobe includes a red polo shirt, khaki convertible cargo pants, a yellow and green ball cap, and tennis shoes. In the summer, he wears a red tank top, yellow and green floral board shorts, a green visor, and red flip flops. In the fall, he wears a black and red knitted sweater, brown corduroy pants, a yellow knitted beanie, and brown hiking boots. I colored my designs with my Ohuhu Kaala markers, which are always so much fun to use. 

If any of you take the challenge and draw what's in Santa's closet, I'd love to see it! You can email photos to cindy.mycreativelife@gmail.com. Enjoy!

Printable Christmas People Bingo

Our church is having a congregational Christmas party on Sunday. It's going to be a lot of fun. I'm running the People Bingo game. This is the card I made. 

I tried to include a mix of things that apply to a lot of people and others that are more unique, so that the game is winnable but not ridiculously easy. Nine of the 16 apply to me. How many are true for you? Let me know in the comments!

Peeking Snowman

I love snowmen. This one is peeking in the window of a cabin. My tutorial includes the materials I used, but feel free to change it up and use markers, crayons, or any other art material you want. Affiliate links below. 

Peeking Snowman

Materials: 

• watercolor paper
• Folk Art acrylic paint - Light Blue
• pencil
• Apple Barrel Paint Pens
• centering ruler

Steps: 

Cut the paper to the size and shape of the window you want. Use a wet brush to moisten the area where the sky goes, then brush a small amount of Light Blue paint horizontally onto the paper. Let the paint dry completely. 

Use a pencil to sketch the outline of the snowman. Use paint pens to color the snowman's hat, scarf, arms, eyes, nose, mouth, and buttons. Add trees - small ones in the background and a larger one in the foreground. I added shadows with the pencil. 

With a brown paint pen, make a window sill by coloring each edge of the paper. Use the centering ruler to mark the center of each edge. Draw a vertical and a horizontal line through those center points to finish the window.  

Painted Glass Ornaments

I've been painting glass ornaments to give as a gift. This set of four sparkles and shimmers in the light. I like them individually but I love them together as a set. Aren't the colors pretty? Affiliate links below. 

 

Painted Glass Ornaments

Materials:

• styrofoam block
• wooden skewers
• sponge
• plain glass ornaments
• Folk Art Gesso
• Folk Art Color Shift paint
• Folk Art Extreme Glitter
• craft glue
• colored rhinestones

Steps: 

Set up a drying station BEFORE painting. Insert skewers into the styrofoam, leaving enough space between them that the ornaments won't touch. 

Remove the metal tops of the ornaments and set them aside. Use the sponge to cover each ornament with gesso. It's tempting to try to cover the whole thing at once or do sponge painting with the ornament on the skewer, but I found it's easier to cover half of each ornament (while holding it in your hand), let that dry on a skewer, then paint the other half. 

When the gesso is dry, paint the ornaments with your desired colors. (Same recommendation: paint half first, then the other half). For three ornaments I used the three shades of Color Shift that I own, then painted the remaining ornaments with a base coat and corresponding shade of Extreme Glitter. 

When the paint is completely dry, replace the gold hangers. Decorate the ornaments with rhinestones as desired. I found it really handy to use a jewel picker. Add an ornament hanger, decorative cord, or ribbon and they're ready to hang or give as a gift. 

Decorated Cinnamon Ornaments, Three Ways

Have you ever made the classic cinnamon ornaments? They are fun and easy to make and they smell absolutely amazing. I've made cinnamon ornaments a handful of times, but this time I wanted to experiment with decorating them in three different ways. The results were really interesting! Affiliate links below. 

Cinnamon Ornaments

Materials: 

• 1 container cinnamon (2.37 oz)
• 6 tablespoons applesauce
• plastic wrap
• Christmas cookie cutters
• straw
• needle file
• Folk Art paint, Titanium White
• Folk Art Dots, Whisper White
• Apple Barrel Paint Pens
• twine

Steps: 

Mix the cinnamon and 5 tablespoons of applesauce in a bowl. Add the remaining applesauce if needed to make a smooth ball of dough. (Note: Some people add a tablespoon or two of Elmer's Glue to the dough, allegedly to help the ornaments last longer. I don't find this necessary, but go ahead and try it if you want.)

Roll out dough between two sheets of plastic wrap, to approximately 1/4" thick. Peel off the top sheet of plastic wrap, then cut ornaments from the dough. Use a straw to poke a hole in the top of each. Transfer your ornaments to a baking sheet. Ball up the scrap dough and repeat the steps until the dough is gone. Bake the ornaments at 200°F for about 2 hours. (Alternately, you can air dry them on a wire rack. It will take a day or two.)

Use a needle file to smooth any rough edges. You can see that the tree ornament below has some extra material (especially on the bottom branches) that needs to be removed. This task only takes a minute or two and it smells amazing. 

This is what all of my ornaments looked like after filing. See how much cleaner the tree looks? (Bottom left). 

On to decorating! I used three different products by Plaid to decorate my ornaments. I used Dots for the gingerbread man, star, and dotted tree; the paint pen for the snowman and holly leaf; and the paint for the bell and the other tree. 

As I was decorating, I was comparing the merits of each method. I found the Dots most difficult to control, but you can't beat the vibrancy and coverage. With practice, I could probably do better than the uneven dots and lines I made. The paint pen was the easiest to control, perfect for little details, but I had to let the first coat dry and do a second coat in order to get full coverage. The paint had good opacity and it was relatively easy to make simple lines and designs with a liner brush. 

I let everything dry overnight and ended up with this: 

The ones done with the paint pen are slightly less vibrant, but look at those tiny details. Now that I've tried them all, I'd recommend the paint pen for children, the paint or a paint pen for teens, and the Dots for cake decorators and other people who have spent a lot of time practicing squeezing with uniform pressure. 

The final step is adding hangers to your ornaments. I like the look of twine with these, but you can use ribbon, cording, or whatever else you want. 

The ornaments will last indefinitely, but their scent will fade over time. There are two ways to keep them smelling just as good as when you made them. The first is to gently file the edges and back each year before hanging them on the tree. This will, of course, make the ornaments smaller over time and will eventually cause them to break. Alternately, you can add a tiny drop of cinnamon oil to the back of the ornaments. 

Myself as an Elf

Turn yourself into an elf with this creative Christmas craft. Go traditional, with a red or green tunic over stockings, a pointy hat, and curly-toe shoes, or design something completely different. It's totally up to you! Affiliate links below.  

Myself as an Elf

Materials: 

• a small photo of your face
• microtip scissors
• cardstock in assorted colors
• craft glue

Steps: 

Carefully cut our your face with microtip scissors. Position your face next to a piece of scratch paper and sketch our your elf outfit. Make changes and adjustments until you are satisfied.

Use the sketch as a template to cut out the outfit pieces. These are the pieces I made for my elf outfit. 

Glue the outfit together, then add a background. I did a simple snowy outdoors using white and light blue cardstock. 

Have fun making yourself as an elf!

Gingerbread-Inspired Joy Christmas Ornament

I love making Christmas ornaments. This one is inspired by two of the best scents of the Christmas season: gingerbread and pine. The ornament took very little time to make, other than the drying time for the paint. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Affiliate links below. 

Gingerbread-Inspired Joy Christmas Ornament

Materials: 

• unfinished wood letters
• Plaid paint (Nutmeg Brown)
• white paint pen
• twine
• artificial pine tree branch
• wire snips
• red flatback craft pearls
• hot glue gun

Steps: 

Paint the letters brown. When the paint has dried completely, use the paint pen to add the frosting details to the letters. Cut a piece of twine to make a hanger. Snip the pine branch to the desired length. 

Assemble the ornament by first gluing the letters to one another. Glue the connected word to the pine branch, then add the twine. Finish the project by adding pearls in clusters of three. 

Christmas Name Art

Turn on the holiday music and challenge the kids to turn the letters in their names into Christmas icons. Like all good name art projects, this works with any name and is a fun and creative activity. Affiliate links below. 

Christmas Name Art

Materials:

• Neenah Bristol Vellum
• Ohuhu Kaala Illustration markers
• Sakura fineliner

Steps: 

Use a pencil to lightly write your name in block letters on a piece of bristol vellum. Sketch in details to turn each letter into something associated with Christmas. I made my C into a candy cane, the I into a snowman, the N into gingerbread, the D into a gift, and the Y into an oddly skinny Santa. Other ideas include: an elf, snow on a chimney top, an angel, a reindeer, a sugar cookie, or tree lights. Certain letters are perfect for specific shapes, like a stocking for J or a Christmas tree for A. Feel free to mix upper- and lowercase letters to get the shapes you want. Anything goes!

Once you are happy with your design, color it in. Erase any stray pencil marks, then outline your design with a fineliner. 

Idaho, December 2024

Today's scrapbook layout is from the December 2024 visit Trevor and I took to see our family in Idaho. We stayed for five nights and packed our time with family fun - lots of games, an early Christmas celebration, and a trip to Zoo Boise where we fed anteaters. (We did not feed them ants. We fed them yogurt. They love yogurt.) We had a great time. 

Idaho December 2024 (affiliate link)

I completed this page during the National Scrapbook Day event, but it was not inspired by a challenge. If I have any complaints about scrapbook crops, it's that most of the challenges are not compatible with getting lots of photos on a page. For example, one of the challenges from this year's event required participants to fill at least 1/3 of the page with stickers and tiny scraps before adding a photo and journaling. Another challenge requires you to follow a 2-photo sketch, use shades of green, add two patterned papers featuring hearts, AND put your journaling in word bubbles. That is an incredibly difficult challenge with just two photos and literally impossible with nine. 

Scrapping the 2024 Christmas Card

At first, I was stumped about how to scrap our family's 2024 Christmas card. It doesn't use traditional Christmas colors and the photos were clearly not taken during the winter, so the usual Christmas papers and embellishments would look weird. I ended up layering Christmas stickers over labels in order to make this: 

Christmas Card 2024 (affiliate link)

It was really fun playing with all the stickers and I'm happy enough with the completed layout. Into the album it goes!

Christmas 2024

Last week was the final game of Bash Bowl VII. After two games, the score was tied. My team, Twisted Scissors, won Game 1. Our opponents, Scrappin' Banshees, took Game 2. As they say, it all comes down to this. 

Here is my contribution for Game 3:

Christmas 2024 (affiliate link)

It's busier than my layouts usually are, but I'm happy with it. I've had those patterned papers and die-cuts for years; SEI released "Holiday Cheer" in 2011. So I'm glad to finally have used them. 

Here are the elements for Game 3:

I earned three points for Twisted Scissors: one for ephemera I sprinkled at the top left and bottom right; one for a textile (that's a white ribbon above the photo); and one for the Project Life cards that I layered above the photo and that are holding my journaling. It would have been easy enough to add buttons, but I didn't want the lumps and since I wasn't going to do paper distressing anyway, it would only have meant a single extra point.

Merry Christmas 2024!

Happy holidays from the deRosier family!

 

I will be taking my annual blog break and will return on January 1. Wishing you a wonderful holiday season.

Fireplace Christmas Ornament

Part Two of my Pinterest challenge was to make a craft inspired by something on my Christmas Crafts and Gifts Pinterest board. I chose a super cute fireplace ornament by I Heart Crafty Things. I made a few tweaks and came up with this:

 

This is the original: 

As you can see, the basic concept is the same. I replaced the cardstock logs with mini craft sticks, which I decorated to look more like logs. I colored the main part of the fireplace like bricks and left the mantel wood. I shrunk the stockings significantly, added a third, and wrote in names: Trevor and his cousins, Timothy and Allison.

Below you'll find a tutorial that includes the changes I made. Definitely check out I Heart Crafty Things' detailed tutorial; Caroline includes a video plus photos for almost every step. And, of course, she is the original artist who came up with the idea. Affiliate links below. 

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Fireplace Christmas Ornament

Materials: 

• craft sticks (8)
• mini craft sticks (4)
• Folk Art paint (brown, red)
• cardstock (black, red, white)
• fine Posca pen (white)
• tissue paper (yellow, orange)
• Scribe-All pencil (white)
• colored pencil (brown)
• craft glue
• twine

Steps:

Paint three of the regular craft sticks and all of the mini craft sticks brown. Paint the remaining five regular craft sticks red. 

While the paint is drying, cut out the cardstock. Cut a black square that is approximately 4" and set it aside. Cut out however many stockings you want. Write the names on the stockings with the Posca pen, then glue white trim to the main part of the stocking. Tear the tissue paper to make flames. 

When the paint is dry, use the white Scribe-All pen to draw three lines down the length of each of the red craft sticks. The lines don't need to be perfect - freehand is fine. Then draw short vertical lines to represent the mortar between the bricks. Use the brown colored pencil to draw arcs at the ends of the mini craft sticks, as well as woodgrain along their length. 

Arrange four of the brick-painted craft sticks vertically to form the sides of the fireplace. Lay the final brick-painted stick across the bottom of those sticks and glue it in place. Then glue the remaining standard craft sticks side by side across the top. Allow the glue to set for a few minutes.

Glue the black cardstock to the back of the fireplace, then glue the tissue paper in place. Arrange the mini craft sticks over the tissue paper at the bottom of the fireplace. Glue the stockings to the mantel. 

Cut a length of twine and glue it to the back of the ornament to make a hanger. 

Quilled Cross Ornaments

Quilling is a great craft. It's inexpensive and easy to learn. The projects you make can be as simple or as complex as you want them to be. This simple quilled cross ornament is a great project for people who are totally new to quilling. Affiliate links below. 

 

Quilled Cross Ornament

Materials:

• white cardstock
• Taylored Expressions Big Cross die
• white quilling strips (5 mm)
• quilling tool
• craft glue
• paperclip

Steps: 

Cut four crosses from white cardstock. You will be using one whole cross plus three extra borders for each ornament. 

Glue the borders, one at a time, on top of the base cross. You’re forming a barrier that will hold the quilled shapes in place. 

If you are not able to find a die with a border like this (I wasn’t able to find this particular die for sale online to link to it), you can glue a quilling strip on its edge to form the border. This is the more traditional method for quilling. You can use that technique for any shape, which makes it a lot more versatile. 

Now start quilling rolls. You can make loose or tight curls, teardrops, marquise shapes, or a combination of them. As you complete each roll, glue it in the cross. Continue until the entire area is filled. 

You can get completely different looks depending on what rolls you use to fill the cross. The cross on the left has a variety of shapes arranged symmetrically, while the cross on the right has a single shape in different sizes. 

Open a paperclip to make a hanger. Attach it to the back with hot glue or a piece of tape. Your ornament is ready to hang on the tree or to display anywhere in your home.