- P. Kelly Smith
Welcome to Freebie Friday! I think I’m still in denial about Christmas being three weeks away. I’ll let you in on a little secret…I still have NOT put up my Christmas tree or holiday decor. (I’m sure Jennifer and Brandy are gasping in horror as they read this!) I promise it will get done this weekend. It has to. Did I mention Christmas is three weeks away?
My grandma and I will be attending the Festival of Trees on Saturday. (Hopefully you read Jennifer’s post and saw pictures of our beautiful tree!) Once I return home, the rest of the day will be dedicated to opening boxes and wrestling ornaments away from Devil Dog. Lexus is not really evil – she just has evil tendencies. But when her mom dresses her up like a glorified reindeer, what do you expect?
Lexus the White-Nosed Reindeer
Besides her obvious pained expression, doesn’t she look cute? I’ve always been a sucker for little critters – especially when they’re all dressed up for the holidays! So it’s no surprise that I instantly fell in love with the shaped critter cards we featured in our November/December issue. In my humble opinion, Paper Crafts Go-to Gal Teri Anderson is the queen of shaped cards. She literally dreams up these designs, makes her own patterns and then embellishes them in her cute, Teri way. It’s almost like they come to life!
Even though he's not a critter, Teri's Triangle Santa Card makes me squeal with ho-ho-ho delight!
And don't even get me started on Teri's Christmas Owl Card! Love the personality on this guy!
But let’s not forget fellow Paper Crafts Go-to Gal Kim Hughes…her Not a Creature was Stirring Card not only made our November/December cover, but it was the perfect addition to our All Creatures Great & Small feature. To create the body of the mouse, she traced a mug to get the perfect half circle!
I love how Kim cut out the ear flap and made a festive little night cap, complete with pompom.
If you’re looking to make some playful Christmas cards, these three designs have cute written all over them. To download the patterns for Teri’s two shaped cards, please click HERE. Instructions can be found in our November/December issue on pages 40 and 69, respectively. For complete instructions for Kim’s mouse card, please turn to p. 70.
Ready for today’s giveaway? Since I’m happily living in denial about the time of year, I’m giving away spring-infused critter product! Leave a comment telling me where you are in your Christmas decorating process: completely done, almost done or not even started. I’ll pick two winners to take home an assortment of American Crafts Blue Skies collection! All comments must be received by midnight (MDT) on Sunday, Dec. 6.
Two lucky winners will win an assortment of this fun product!
Here’s to the critters!
Kelly
P.S. It’s time to announce the winner from Kim Kesti’s December Daily Album post!
Anita Surrett (Dec. 2, 5:42 a.m.)
Congrats, Anita! You’ve won Close To My Heart’s chipboard album, their Reminisce stamp set and some fun holiday papers. I’ll be contacting you shortly to get your mailing address. Thanks to all who left comments!
P.P. S. Our two-week Inspired By challenge ends at 9 a.m. on Monday! If you’ve been “inspired by” a project in one of our magazines, create a new project and upload it to our Inspired By Flickr group. You could be one of our three winners that walks away with a free subscription or special issue of your choice! Click HERE for all the details!
Oh, my! I have been THINKING about getting my stuff out to decorate and have received 2 cards which are on my kitchen table. Does that count! LOL!
Decorating: not even started (Scandinavians seems to start a lot later than the Americans), but DS7 has put up his fake tree in his room.
Cards: All made but none written.
Shopping: I least I know what to buy, so I consider myself done
decorating? Haven’t even started it yet, LOL! Hopefully this week we’ll start working on it!
I’m just putting my decorations up, too. Oh well.
Almost done! All we have left are hanging stockings on the mantel! Woo-Hoo! Now it’s time to get cracking on the shopping.
I have actually finished all my holiday decorating, however I haven’t even started present shopping yet!
I have put up 2 “JOY” ornaments on 2 lamps, because we won’t have a tree this year. So I’m done!!!!!
Well, I don’t do the decorating, but we have a couple of Christmas cards displayed….
I love those cards they are so cute. as for my decorating I’m all done. DH hung the lights outside today but all the other stuff has been up since last weekend.
We are having a low key Christmas, just my hubby and kids,
so we are pretty much done shopping, I am still making about 2 or 3 cards every other day.. i wanted them all to be different and handmade….
I am also making a handmade gift for every body on my list, which is taking up too much time, it really helps that I am enjoying the process.
Thanks for the chance to win that super fabbie gift. I heart AC.
yikes! I havent even started yet!!
we just moved from florida to wisconsin , so I am useing that as my excuse!we are still living out of boxes on some things……
but hopefully i will get started tommorrow,,,, and shopping ,,, havent even bought the first thing yet,,,,, I know ,,, I suck,,,,
Every thing was up, the DAY AFTER Thanksgiving!! My hubby loves our tree this year! We did a totally different theme …all about the Chicago Bears! Orange and blue bulbs, tiny footballs, white lights, and a old school helmet for the topper!! He tells me that not to many wives would let their hubbys do this! Why not…gotta keep the man in your life, Happy!!
Besides, THEY need all the support they can get this year!! LOL
I have not even put the tree up! Really bad. I’ll do it tomorrow. We’ll see.
I feel better now I know I’m not the only one who has not started decorating for Christmas! There are no Christmas parties/meals at our house this year so we may just put up the basics. Problem is there is too much on at school, work , church and scouts at the moment so no spare time! In Australia school and clubs all wind down for 6-7 weeks holiday which starts in a week – hopefully more time available after this week is over. I have made a bunch of cards and sent my overseas ones and have done 85 percent of my Christmas shopping which is a huge job in our family. Thanks for the chance to win some goodies!
I haven’t even started !!!! HELP!
These are absolutely adorable!!!
I am DONE with decorating, HOORAY!
I am all finished decorating only because I simplified this year. Put up the tree, decorated the mantle, and put up a few lights outside. I’ve decided it’s easier and less stressful to simplify. (did you name your dog after a car – because we have two boxers named Honda and Bentley)
I have finished decorating…in my head. In the real world, I have not even started. I am soooo ready for spring too!
I haven’t started decorating. I may put up a little tree in my bedroom eventually….
Lexus looks so cute in her outfit! Have fun decorating with your helper!!
(I haven’t started either, but today is the day! Wish me luck with my big devil dogs, LOL!)
B-
I am going to the store and buying a cute x-mas outfit for my dog! wonder if she will give me the look!
have fun decorating! and thank you for the giveaway!
Unfortunately, haven’t started or even thought about decorating yet. Doing my first season of craft shows and have been paper crafting all hours of the day and night to stay caught up. Last one is the coming weekend. Will start crafting for myself then. Love all the ideas you have inspired in me on your site. Thank you!!
I’m almost done, but I have to use most of my decorations for a church party on Thursday so I’ll be taking them all down, and then trying to get it all back up in time for our caroling party here at our house on Monday! Its going to be a LONG week!
I’ve started and we are putting the tree up tonight after dinner
I am almost done…just need to add some finishing touches. Thanks for the chance to win…I am wishing it was spring with the cold temps and chilly wind we are getting – how many days til spring?! lol!
I just returned from seeing my sister in Omaha so I have not done anything for Christmas. Hopefully after I unpack I will start decorating the house. It seems Christmas has come very early this year. I still have to shop for the grand kids.
Done with decorating and ready for the holiday!!
We decorate the 2nd Saturday every year so I am anxiously awaiting our annual Honey Baked ham dinner and holiday hot cocoa as we decorate our tree to our favorite Christmas songs! Ohh the things I could make with all this yummyness!! Thank you for the opportunity to win!!!
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What a cute IG. We used to have a retired racing greyhound, I always thought IG’s were so cute!
What great blog candy, I absolutely LOVE everything!!! Right now I have my tree up, lights only, the cat seems to think it’s her sleeping place now. lol! We have some decorations up around the house, but need to put our lights up outside this weekend and finish decorating the inside of the house as well
Thanks for sharing!!! -Samantha
Beautiful decorations!