Polar Bear Christmas Tags

I always aspire to make ALL of my Christmas tags, which usually doesn't happen. It gets to be Christmas Eve, my packages aren't wrapped, and the tags aren't all done, so I end up using stick-on tags on the people I know won't notice (my husband, for sure).

I've made a few tags this year, and these polar bears turned out cute:

I started with regular 4-3/4" x 2-3/8" shipping tags from Staples. I trimmed the bottom to look like icicles with a Martha Stewart punch, which I think is the key element to make these tags unique. The cute polar bears are from a very old stamp set "Polar Bear Holiday" from CTMH. I colored them with a mixture of Copic markers and watercolor pencils. The bears are affixed with dimensional adhesive, and the little white dots are Nuvo drops. There are also silver Nuvo drops on the skate blades and tiny touches on the blue sweater.

These wintery tags would work with any winter character stamp. They came together pretty quickly, and I think my gift recipients will appreciate them.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog during this busy season, and good luck to you in getting all your holiday projects done in time!

Whimsical Christmas Journal

 This journal is outside my normal eclectic, junky style, but I do think the papers are super cute and whimsical. I used Doodlebug Design, Inc.'s "Christmas Town" papers and stickers exclusively, along with some CTMH cardstock, ribbons, Nuvo drops, and Stickles. I picked the blank album up years ago on a clearance shelf. It's from Fancy Pants Designs. It's unique in that between every page of kraft papers for decorating and journaling, there are sleeves for photos, both 4x6 & wallet size. The book has 23 pages and 24 sleeves.

I added lots of tags, tuck spots, photo mats, and pull-outs:

One of my favorite thinks to do in holiday albums lately is to make a pocket out of a snowbank like I did in the next picture:

For as many pages as there are, this album came together very quickly, and was a lot of fun. All the papers are so cute. This is going up on my Etsy shop today.

Etsy Shop is Open!

Finally, my Etsy Shop Is Open!

Even though my blogging has slowed down immensely, I'm still creating! Recently, I've been busy making lots of Christmas junk journals, and I finally opened my Etsy Shop.  You can visit it HERE or go to https://www.etsy.com/shop/GoodGollyMsMolly. Here are some of the items I have for sale.
Little Golden Book junk journals:

I take apart the books, then bind them back together with rings. All the original pages are there, so the books can still be enjoyed, but I add extra pages that contain lots of pockets and foldouts and places for pictures and journaling memories of Christmases past and present:

I'm also making little journals out of antique post cards. Here are some that I have left for sale. I'm currently making more, so watch my shop for new arrivals.

These mini journals make great Secret Santa or presents for gift exchanges.  They are also filled with lots of fold-outs and tags and little extras dangling from the edges. Here are a few pics from inside the postcard journals:

I've been happy with my sales so far. I've also sold a few items in Spring City Vintage, the antique/vintage shop in which I have some items for sale in Colfax.

If you like my items, please go to Etsy and take a look around at my shop.  To help me get more traffic, please follow and like my shop, and mark some of my items as favorites. If you search for me look for GoodGollyMsMolly or click HERE.

Travel Art Kit

SOMETHING TO KEEP  KIDS BUSY ON THE ROAD

If you've ever gone on a road trip with little kids, you know you have to keep them busy. It keeps them happy and the adults from losing their minds. We're heading out on a 1000+ mile road trip soon with our toddler grandchildren for the first time and want some activities to occupy them other than movies and video games. (These are absolutely fine in reasonable amounts, and we will definitely have those too!)  Here's what I prepared for our upcoming beach vacation:

I used large index cards and punched a single hole through all of them. Using my Crop-A-Dial made this pretty simple.  I added a binder ring to keep the stack of cards together. The index cards are a little sturdier than most notepad paper, and affixing them together with a ring keeps you from having hundreds of pieces of paper strewn throughout your vehicle.  I used the cards that are lined on one side and blank on the other. I also decorated the top card as a "cover," but that's not necessary at all.

I added a set of new WASHABLE markers. (You don't want to find unexpected permanent "art" on your upholstery.) I also added some colored pipe cleaners, which are very cheap. Bending the pipe cleaners into shapes and making chains with them should keep the kids busy for miles. 

I found some oversized, cheap pencil cases at Target to keep the kit together. They even have a vacation theme to them. What kid wouldn't want to doodle if they had this on a long road trip?

My daughter suggested adding a pad of Post-Its for each child too. She's done this before, and they were a hit. I still need to pick some of those up.

One last thing about road trips with kids: I like to hold back some treats and activities for times when you can tell the child has about had it with being on the road. Pulling a small surprise out of a bag really perks them up and usually keeps a meltdown at bay. I'll probably give the kids the art sets after we've ridden for awhile, and I'll probably hold the pipe cleaners out until even later so they're "new" when the kids need a fresh activity to keep them occupied.

Examples of other things I'm packing are some new books, sticker books, child binoculars (which we'll use at the beach too), an I-Spy card game (similar to travel bingo), small treats like Smarties, and the Barrel of Monkeys game.

I hope this post gave you some ideas. Safe Travels!