Hand Print Christmas Tree Skirt ~Super Simple Tutorial~

I LOVE capturing my children's hand prints. A few years ago, my friend Suzanne, who just so happens to be Jewish;) gave me this super cute idea for a Christmas tree skirt. It's made with one hand print from each of my children each year. It is so neat to see how they've grown each year as we pull it back out.

I use gold acrylic paint from the craft store. I don't worry about keeping it the same exact shade (manufacturer) from year to year as I mix up the hand print spacing anyway. The kids are expert hand print makers by now so this project only takes me a few minutes at the beginning of each season. 

A chunky paintbrush makes paint application quick and tickely for extra fun;) Simply paint the hand, press it onto the skirt, and carefully lift off so the print doesn't smear.

Then, use a paint pen to mark the child's initial and year. Voila!

Merry Christmas!

Back Porch Memories Medley Kit

I'm thrilled to be back over at Back Porch Memories this month working with their Medley Kit. The December kit includes a wide variety of papers and embellishments from Teresa Collins, My Mind's Eye and Fancy Pants.

 This layout is based on the sketch at BPM this month. I love the bright, fun colors! I fussy cut some of the papers and used a border punches on others.  I used my Cricut to cut the deer, love how majestic they look. I am staying current on Christmas layouts for the first time in YEARS! These photos are from THIS year. YAY! 

With some of my kit scraps I wrapped up our chicken feeder candy dispenser. Whipped this out in 10 minutes, even with border punching and machine stitching.

This layout is my first go at a gallery wall layout. I just adore this type of layout. This page starts off my 2014 Christmas album. See, told you I was keeping up this year! It features some, not all, {my children let me know} of our favorite traditions during December. Seriously though, we have LOTS of traditions, waaaaay too many for one page so I told them this is just a teaser for the rest of the album. 

To create the layout I used the Teresa Collins Tinsel & Company goodies that came in my Back Porch Memories kit. I cut the center out of the back paper "frame" to use in other projects and then I trimmed the background paper to fit. Next I cut the frames using both my Cricut and Cameo. I cut the title with the Cameo using white cardstock but it just didn't have the look I wanted. So I gave the title and some of the frames a bit of shine using embossing powder. Then I went to town placing my chipboard and sequins. After I got them all placed in the spot I wanted them to go in, I used a little gold acrylic paint on a few of them, just for a bit of extra shine. I added sequins to the chipboard tree as it was silver and for balance I wanted it gold. 

I've got a couple more layouts using my kit and some SUPER CUTE photos to share with you soon.

Happy Holidays!