T minus 14 days and counting...

Dang, 14 very short and fleeting sleeps til Christmas. And, I wanna know one thing: what's the secret to getting in the spirit and mood to make Christmas lollies and such, and can it realistically be practiced in, say, July?

It always happens to me. I spend most days just a-buzz with inspiration, energy and ideas for decorating and gifting this holiday. And there's never enough time. It just usually ends up making me feel worn out and needing a nap.

So, I'm putting that question out there for anyone who knows. In the meantime, I may be tempted to try what I never have before, and that's just make Christmas stuff all year long. Like, have a weekly quota. LOL, I don't know what else to do!

Well, let's change channels. Here's some stuff I've made:

First, I need to show you the altered miniature matchbox shrine I made for a swap.

It's my first one and I had a blast making it, but I doubt I'll ever make another one. Stretched my wings. And almost went cross-eyed with the beadwork. What saved me was glue-dotting the beads on before running the gold thread through them. It helped a lot. I must say, that was one of my most awesome brain farts! :-)

Here's the back of it. The little drawer can be removed. The entire thing is resting on a painted makeup sponge wedge. Another crafty brain fart. Like I said, I had fun with this.

Here's a Christmas skinny (3x5 card) that I made for a lottery. I thought the sentiment matched the collage sheet image perfectly. I used a Coluzzle template to cut the arch.

Last week's mingle in one of my groups was The Letter D, so this is the atc I made for that. I used ancient KI Memories, so old that Elsi Flannigan helped design this collection as her duties on their design team, BEFORE she was ever her own brand. Now, that's old! LOL But you can tell it's vintage Elsie. I love this paper and am glad I still have some.

This is the current week's mingle card, for a white-on-white theme. What didn't I do on this card, lol? Cuttlebugged it twice, heat embossed it, added lace and felt. I love how it came out. It glistens with a wet look in real life, the scan doesn't even show a bit of that. I was gonna put add text that said, Reading is SNOW Fundamental. But once I finished the card to that point, I thought it was pretty perfect without another thing. A tip for anyone having problems working with monochromatic colors: if trying to focus on different tones of the same color isn't helping you, then concentrate on finding different textures. It will work! The tones and shades will take care of themselves. Texture rocks a monochromatic piece.