I've often come upon a Christmas gift giving tradition where parents give "something to wear, something to read, something you want, and something you need." Ok, so maybe "something to wear" would be a little tough but I can tell you that I both wanted and needed this new Christmas collection from
Pink Paislee! It made me want to create something in every category and more. The versatility is amazing... and one of the many reasons you'll *need*
Mistletoe & Co. too! It is extremely rare to find a holiday collection that can go from vintage to modern and can also be used for non-holiday projects. There is a reason why Pink Paislee is one of my very favorite companies!
The double sided papers of
Mistletoe & Co. offer a lot of flexibility in your papercrafting. Pink Paislee has also really expanded their embellishment offerings lately, including glittery brads, beautiful rustic canvas tags, and fun coordinating paper tags and rub-ons. Although I did create mostly Christmas themed projects (it IS that time of year, after all!) this collection would be great for heritage projects and layouts of both genders. The blue, red, and neutral browns would be perfect for masculine pages but if you use these papers with brighter whites and creams they would be awesome for more feminine subjects too!
Frankly, one set of these products was just not enough for me and I will likely be asking Santa to bring me more!
Naughty or Nice
I knew the minute I saw this collection that it would be the perfect paper to scrap this heritage photo of my dad as a little boy. You can see the excitement on his face as he told Santa what was on his list that year! I chose the vintage look printed brown paper as a background but layered half of the die-cut circle on top... the stars were just so "little boy" to me. A strip of folded red paper, some pearl clusters, and a gorgeous Prima flower made a border to balance the left side. This photo did not require much embellishment to give it the spirit of the season.
Home for the Holidays
I went a little more modern for this page. My photos were a bit busy so I divided the page into four off-center sections to ground it. Again, it took so little to embellish this because the papers and coordinating elements have such great detail on their own. One of my favorite ways to get more use out of rub-ons is to apply them to cardstock, cut them out, and use foam pieces to give them dimension. I did this with the trees in the bottom, right corner.
Joyeux Noel Card and Envelope
Seriously, I LOVE the canvas tags in this collection! I am a freak for texture and fabric elements are hot right now, lucky for me. Some people might trim the loose threads off these tags but I embrace them... I think they give the tags character! This card came together quickly by using the tag as a base and layering everything else under or over it. Of course, I went crazy with the brown inking (you'll see this happened on almost all these projects) and I needed to add just that bit of sparkle by using the blue glittered flourish. A great way to make a holiday card even more special is to decorate the envelope. It takes only a few minutes but when your recipient gets it in the mail it is sure to bring a smile to their face! Just remember to leave room for the post office to clearly read the stamp and address.
Altered Wooden Block Calendar
This project was completely my favorite of the bunch! How adorable is this little calendar desk set?! I bought this at the local craft store and thought it would make a great Christmas present once I dressed it up in Mistletoe & Co. It was completely naked when I started but the blocks of dates and months were printed. I decided to cover the number blocks with paper and number stickers but leave the month blocks as they were, except for a bit of inking. All I did to cover the rest was measure or trace all the sides and trim the paper to match. I added some matching ball trim to the bottom. To fancy up the note pad that came with it I simply used a piece of chipboard from my ACOT order, covered both sides with paper, rounded the corners, and embellished with some velvet ribbon and a bling center. I used a holiday collection but I love this color combination and this could defiintely be used all year round.
Here is a more detailed shot:
Matching Gift Bag and Tag
Naturally my wooden calendar gift needs to be wrapped! This year I am planning on going easy with my wrapping and using a lot of gift bags. However, that doesn't mean my gifts have to look cheap! I purchased a whole bunch of kraft paper bags to embellish and when I add a matching tag they will be SO easy and fast to grab for all my holiday gift giving occasions. I used another of the canvas tags on this bag, backed by the striped paper and a border of curled, punched circles. Border punches added a couple of lacy strips that I embellieshed with assorted buttons from my stash. For the tag, I simply cut a rectangle from extra paper and layered another punched circle and some buttons to echo the design on the bag. A pretty ribbon bow always makes everything a little more special!
I used the following products on my projects:
