Love Lives Here for the Holidays

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas! It's the most wonderful time of the year.

What? It's September and Christmas is months away? Nah, not at Papertrey Ink. September kicks off our creative holiday season for a few months. And I'm here today with my first group project of the release. We're featuring the new Love Lives Here: Holiday. It's just as fabulous as the original in all it's vintage, homespun glory. And dies! Oh good gravy...the dies. The dies are always the cherry on the sundae, right?

Now, one of my favorite parts of the holidays is the ornaments on our tree. Pulling each one out of the box conjures up certain, specific memories for me. And every year, starting just about now, the kids and I stop by Hallmark every time we're at the mall so we can start planning which ornaments we are going to buy. It's our tradition to buy one special ornament per family member every year. Hank LOVES deciding on which one is going to be his. It is quite the decision.

The beloved ornament idea got me thinking about the type of project I wanted to create for today. It would be really neat to make a commemorative yearly ornament to hand out as gifts. And every year, you'd make a new one. With a good stamp set (like Love Lives Here: Holiday), you could have enough different shapes and sentiments to keep them unique for a few years. Perfect.

Now, I have a little trick with chipboard to make sturdy, long lasting ornaments.. Using dies (such as this angel die), cut multiples out of thin chipboard. The thickness of a cereal box. Or, if you are super duper thrifty, there is absolutely no reason not to use a cereal box for this project. For my ornaments, I used six layers of chipboard and one layer of cardstock. The result is an 1/4" thick die cut shape. Sturdy enough to hold up for years. Fabulous. I used spray adhesive to evenly coat them with sticky stuff before stacking them together to dry.

After that, I stamped my pieces, aged them with vintage ink, and tied a ribbon in the hole. When Tag Sale #4 came out, everybody commented on how it looked like a Christmas ornament. I just went with that and used it here. Both sides are stamped. And I included the year to date the ornament (Library Ledger Year Additions) and a sentiment (Faux Ribbon seemed to fit my needs nicely). Subsequent years will have the appropriate date to make them more commemorative. Can you tell how sturdy these are? Isn't that angel great?

I packaged one ornament in a clear card box and embellished the front. I wanted to make it look like the ornament was hanging from a tree branch. Maile's new Bells & Boughs suited just fine.

Up close of the label. Lisa's new Christmas labels are perfect for longer sentiments.

Just a little shot of the contents of the box. I made a little patterned paper filler box on the bottom to take up some space and make it seem more professional.

And of course, we've got to have a matching card. I used this Impression Plate technique to block the embossing from the Impression Plate. It helps mimic and reinforce the ornament theme.

Hope you enjoyed my project and are inspired to start thinking about Christmas gifts. It really is just around the corner. For more ideas, blog hop over to my esteemed colleagues virtual homes and see what they are up to using Love Lives Here: Holiday. Guaranteed to blow you away.


Nichole Heady
Jessica Witty
Betsy Veldman
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Lisa Johnson
Melissa Phillips
Michelle Wooderson
Maile Belles
Danielle Flanders



Supplies

Box

Stamps: Love Lives Here Holiday, Christmas Labels, Bells & Boughs
Cardstock: Spring Moss, Autumn Rose, Scarlet Jewel, Vintage Cream
Patterned Paper: Pacific Vineyard
Ink: Scarlet Jewel, Ripe Avocado and Fresh Snow
Ribbon: Bitty Dot Autumn Rose
Versamark

Card

Stamps: Loves Lives Here, Christmas Label, Faux Ribbon
Vineyard Impression Plate
Dark Chocolate Satin Ribbon
Edgers Dies #4
Spring Moss, Autumn Rose, Scarlett Jewel, Vintage Cream Cardstock
Love Lives Here Dies
Christmas Label Die
Dark Chocolate, Ripe Avocado, Scarlet Jewel, and Fresh Snow Ink

Ornament

Stamps: Love Lives Here: Holiday, Faux Ribbon, Library Ledger: Year Additions
Vintage Cream Cardstock
Scarlet Jewel, Dark Chocolate, and Ripe Avocado ink
Dark Chocolate Satin Ribbon
Cardstock
Dies: Love Lives Here: Holiday, Tag Sale #4, Love Lives Here