Here are larger pics of the card fronts I made with it. Notice how I used the template in both landscape and portrait orientations:

This card features the kit “It’s Christmastime in the City” by Britt-ish Designs

My fondness of Chelle’s Creations continues! This is a recent kit of hers, called “Midnight Crow”

Have fun with the template! Can’t wait to see what you do with it!

And, I was right about talking cookie exchanges- I mentioned it to a friend at work on Friday, and I might as well have had three heads.   But regardless, the idea seed has been planted, and well, I have two batches of Almond Joy bars (6 dozen bars) headed to the freezer.  The house smelled of chocolate all afternoon.

This week’s target room is the master bedroom.  Hmm, I’ve got my work cut out for me!

Master Bedroom Week at Holiday Grand Plan

Have you started shopping for gifts yet?  I have a couple of gift cards purchased, but until DD’s birthday has passed in October, it’s difficult to think about.  But the lists are starting.

Have a great week- the card template and samples are already done for Tuesday!  Woot!  I’ll finally be on time!

(image is linked)

I downloaded a new kit to make sample cards for these templates- Gingerbread by Chelle’s Creations.  I’ve been eyeing this kit since she released it back in July for our Christmas in July sale, but I didn’t want to grab it until I was sure I was going to use it (sometimes I go on a bender and “lose” kits- eek!).  I am SO glad I finally grabbed it- it made some really lovely cards if I do say so myself!  Take a look!

So, go snag the templates and start working on some cards!  Even making a couple of cards a week right now will make a dent in your list later!  Besides if you make a comment here with a link to a posted card in a gallery of your choice, there’s still a chance for a $5 Geeky Diva Designs gift certificate in it for you!!  I draw a winner from all of the entries I get this month!

See you Friday with a new crafty project!

This week, the entry/foyer is the area of focus.  Here is the link to your cleaning checklist:

Entry/Foyer Week

I took a little time during the Giants/Redskins game this afternoon to clean the front and storm doors, dust the needlework in the front hall, and dust the baseboards- yippee!  The main task this week will be to make heads or tails of our entryway closet- eek!

Among your tasks this week is to make a batch of Christmas cookies, and so I will share a great resource with you.  For several years, Better Homes and Gardens has released a special holiday cookie issue, and I have built a small collection of those issues.  So many wonderful recipes!!!!  I can typically find it near the checkout lines at Target, so if you see it, you should pick up a copy!  I’ve been looking for it for a couple of weeks and have been unsuccessful- but it should be there soon.

Have you ever done a cookie exchange?  It combines two of my favorite things- swapping and cookies!  I’ve done one in one form or another for a few years- it’s a nice way to get a wide variety of cookies and share time with friends.  Here’s how it works if you are unfamiliar- assemble a group of friends (a group of 6-8 is good without getting crazy), and decide how many cookies to swap (we do anywhere from 6 to 12 cookies per swapper).  On the appointed day, you get together and swap your cookies- so easy!  It’s even easier if you are baking cookies in advance and freezing.  Start asking around now if anyone might be interested- they’ll think you’re crazy now, but you’ll be the sane one later.

Ok, my favorite BH&G cookie recipe, from the 2007 edition.  They call them Coconut Candy Bars, but I call them my “Almond Joy Bars.”  DH and my MIL are crazy for these, and they are SO easy.  And these days, if they’re not easy, I’m not doing them!

Coconut Candy Bars

2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs

1 1/2 cup whole almonds, toasted

1/3 cup packed brown sugar (for whatever reason, I always use dark brown sugar becasue it’s a little richer, but that’s just me)

2/3 cup butter, melted

1 14-oz package of flaked coconut

1 14-oz can (1 1/4 cups) sweetened condensed milk

18 oz dark chocolate pieces, melted (I subbed semi-sweet morsels once (a 16-oz bag, like you use for chocolate chip cookies) and it worked just fine

Directions:

1)  Preheat oven to 350 deg F.  For crust, place graham cracker crumbs, 1/2 cup of the almonds, and the brown sugar in a food processor.  Cover and process until almonds are finally chopped.  Add melted butter; cover and pulse with 4-5 on/off turns or until mixture is well combined.  Press crumb mixture on the bottom of an ungreased 13″x9″x2″ baking pan.  Bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes.

2) Combine coconut and milk in a medium bowl.  Spread mixture evenly over crust.  Sprinkle remaining 1 cup almonds evenly over coconut layer.  Bake for 10 minutes.

3) Spread melted chocolate evenly over top of coconut mixture.  Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.  Cut into bars- makes 36 bar cookies.  You can refrigerate these for a week or freeze them for 3 months (although, we found a box of these yummies a few months after Christmas- and they were still so good!)

That’s it for me today!  Come back on Tuesday for a new card template!!

Here’s my binder for this year:

When I was conjuring this “Hybrid Holidays” blog idea, I knew I wanted to make a binder for myself- I planned one for last year, I just never followed through with making it.  Last year, I purchased a Bare Elements chipboard binder by Creative Imaginations- it’s a half-sized binder, measuring about 6″x9″.  And it’s sat in a basket for a year.  Then I made it into the Hybrid Team for Britt-ish Designs, so I knew my binder was going to be Britt-inspired!  I have chosen “Hustle and Bustle” for my binder.

Here’s the list of supplies:

-Binder

-Paper Trimmer

-Strong Adhesive (I recommend Xyron adhesive or perhaps a roll of Terrifically Tacky Tape by ProvoCraft- Tombow Monoadhesive doesn’t grip the chipboard exceedingly well)

-Papers:

If you’re a paper crafter, you can easily cover a binder in pieces.  I’d select 2 papers to cover the front and back (if you choose a binder like mine, then trim 2 papers, 8″x11″), and then another strip to cover the spine, 11″ long x the width of the spine plus 1/2″ or so.  I prepared a single sheet to cover the front and back as a single unit measuring 16″x12″, and a separate strip for the spine, 1-1/2″ x 11″.  Both of these pieces fit on a single sheet of Super B (13″x19″) Epson High-Quality Ink Jet Paper.  You also need to pieces measuring 6″x8″ to finish the inside surfaces of the binder.   I thought that the thinner paper would make it easier to mitre and round corners.

Now, on to covering your binder:

1) On my work surface, I turned the main paper right side down, and opened my binder onto the wrong side.  You can run the wrong side of this paper through Xyron adhesive- I would measure the center of your paper and place a tiny tick mark with a pencil, align the center of the spine to that tick mark, and adhere spine-first, and then lower your covers onto the exposed Xyron adhesive.  You only get to stick it down once, so it’s worth it to take your time.

2) Fold up the corners of the paper onto the inside of the binder, as shown in the lower panel.  After the corners are secured, then you can fold over the straight edges to form neat, mitred corners.  Adhere securely- Tacky Tape is your friend!  Trim around the binder rings, if necessary.

3) Go ahead and fold your binder closed- it will feel a little tight.  Once you are done with the binder, you could put a couple of heavy books on it to “teach” it to close, but you don’t necessarily have to, especially if you are going to pack it to the gills with planner pages, anyway!

4) Cover the inside binder faces with your 6″x8″ papers.  You can cut those pieces a little larger if you don’t want the front/back cover paper to be seen on the inside, but I personally like the border-like effect.  I pushed these papers very close to the ring assembly- there was a tiny bit of space between the metal and the chipboard so I could actually slip the paper under the metal.

5) Apply your spine cover.  Center the strip on the binder’s spine, and wrap the trailing top and bottom tails to the inside of the binder.

That’s it!  Now you can just embellish as you see fit.

- I added the text to my papers as I printed the paper, but you can add rub-ons, chipboard letters, die cuts- whatever

- I added rhinestones (Darice) to the snowflake centers

- Every once and a while, I added a little dot of red Stickles Glitter Glue (Ranger) to reindeer noses

- Finally, the spine edge felt a little unfinished, so I covered it with a length of ribbon (Doodlebug).

I’m so happy with it!  I hope you decide to give it a try!

Yay, it’s just like Christmastime…  With the nasty cold and everything!  I’m still feeling like death warmed over, so this will be short.  Let’s get to the freebie!

(image is linked)

I have this officially set-up through my store at ScrapMatters- but don’t worry- it’s still free!  It’s a nice simple design- great if you’re taking baby steps with making your own cards.  The box in the center can be a piece of paper, or you can place a photo in that spot!  Here are the sample cards I made with it:

This one was made with “Very Merry”- a collab kit from Britt-ish Designs and DeCrow Designs.

This one was made with “Merry Merry” by Jeni Hopewell Designs.

(I need to do another shameless plug for Jeni Hopewell!  See the font in the template “sentiment goes here”- that’s my handwriting!!!  And the lovely Miss Jeni turned it into a font!!  She’ll turn your handwriting into a font, or if you’re really liking my writing, you can purchase JH Geeky Diva.  Ok, plug over!)

So even though I’m under the weather, I’m still taking time this week to pull together my Christmas Card list per the Holiday Grand Plan.  I don’t have an address book program that I like, so what I’m going to do is create a label document in MS Works and just create my address labels.  That will give me a count of how many cards I’ll need, and when I’m ready to go, I can just print the labels and stick them on the envies.  Maybe this way, the cards will get out this year!

I want to see the cards you make with the template!!  Please reply to this post with a link to your project in a gallery!  I’ll pick a winner from those you who reply- and I’ll work up a gift for you!!

Happy Crafting!  Good luck on getting your front porch spic and span!

This is designed to be a companion site for The Holiday Grand Plan, found at Organized Christmas.  It will be a crafty nexus, providing with ideas for handcrafted gifts, links to card ideas, and holiday scrapbook page ideas.  It says “Hybrid” holidays, but these ideas can be used across the paper crafting spectrum.

Here’s the general plan for the site:

Sunday: link to Organized Christmas and the tasks for the week.

Tuesday: a card sketch or a link to a card sketch for your holiday card ideas

Friday: craft project

So this week is the first week of the Grand Plan.  Put some fresh ink cartridges in your printer, and get ready to print your planning sheets!  We’ll see you Tuesday with a card sketch!

Several years ago, my friend, Heidi, introduced me to the Holiday Grand Plan.  It’s a plan to do your Christmas planning a little every week, so that by the time the holidays are here, you have a chance to enjoy them!  The Holiday Grand Plan is housed at a site called Organized Christmas.  This site is amazing- the Grand Plan week by week, lists to plan your meals, your baking, and your budget (among many other things), and lots of other great ideas!  I haven’t been able to make it though the entire Gand plan yet, but even the bits and pieces I have followed has been very helpful.

I want to get through the Holiday Grand Plan this year, and I want you to join me!  I plan to use this blog as a nexus- to the Grand Plan, to the wonderful holiday kits and projects at my digital home at ScrapMatters, to great craft projects around the internet, and other helpful tips!

The Holiday Grand Plan begins on Sunday, August 29th!  Stay tuned for a link to Week 1 of the Grand Plan, the first ScrapMatters Featured Designer, and your first craft project!  Welcome aboard!!!