The One with the DIY Paper Christmas Garland

Today I've got an "I Can Do That!" paper garland tutorial to share along with three different ways it can be used!

First - gather your supplies. I chose Christmas-themed patterned papers from American Crafts, Echo Park, and Elle's Studio. Double-sided papers work best so if the shapes flip over to the other side you'll still see a beautiful pattern. You'll also need a punch - I LOVE the new 1.5" pennant punch by American Crafts - and a sewing machine. That's it!

Punch 3-4 pennants from each of your patterned papers.

Start sewing the pennants together using a straight stitch through a sewing machine.

Slow and steady wins the race! I left a few millimeters of thread between each pennant so they'll flap around and dangle better.

Your garland is finished and ready to display!

Here are three ideas for your fun paper garland:

1) Curl it around a stair banister.

2) Hang it on the wall in a three-tier banner:

3) Wrap it around your Christmas tree:

Fast, easy, fun, and pretty - my favorite kind of project!

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The One with Jane's Bangs

Jane's bangs were getting out of control. One afternoon, I was bored, then I remembered this image I pinned years ago and always wanted to try when I had a daughter "someday":

Someday was the other day! I grabbed Chris's hair cutting scissors, doused Jane's head with water, and went to town.

Thirty seconds later, she was a brand new girl!

America's Next Top Baby Model :)

It's super un-even haha, but I ain't claiming to be a professional!

No more hair in her face and she looks like a legit German gal now :)

Moral of the story: Don't be around me when I'm bored :)
And now we call Jane "Bangerang".

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The One with the Semi-Annual Scrapbook Purge

UPDATE - I HAVE THREE LEFT :)
Every 6 months it's out with the old and in with the new! 

One woman's trash is the next woman's treasure! 

Though I would hardly venture to call this trash - it's all perfectly usable and ready to be used on your next layout/card/project!

I've gone through all my supplies and made 12 filled-to-the-brim goodie boxes with patterned paper, die cuts, stickers, stamps, and embellishments GALORE!

#1 - SOLD!

#2 - AVAILABLE

#3 - SOLD

#4 - SOLD

#5 - SOLD

#6 - AVAILABLE

#7 - SOLD

#8 - AVAILABLE

#9 - SOLD

#10 - SOLD

#11 - SOLD

#12 - SOLD

 I'm selling each box'o'goodies for $40 - that includes priority shipping!

1 box for $40
2 boxes for $70
3 boxes for $90
4 boxes for $100

If you're interested, please email me at paigetaylorevans@gmail.com and I'll send you a PayPal invoice. International purchases are welcome, but please note that shipping will be added. 

Questions, comments, concerns? Email me! paigetaylorevans@gmail.com

I feel so much lighter already!

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The One with "What Does the Fox Say?"

When Chris showed me this video a few months ago, I thought it was cray cray. I've only watched it through once in its entirety, well, now twice because I watched it just now to put it here. 

Catchy tune. El-stupido lyrics my own Fox, nay (or should I say "neeeiiggghh (like a horse)"), even Jane, could write.

Having a son named Fox, of course many many many people sent me a link to this video and I assured them I'd seen it :) Once is enough though, haha. 

Apparently all the kids in Fox's class like to sing it to him. And that's okay, he likes it and thinks it's funny.

We went to a get-together with some friends the other weekend and there was a face painter so we requested she paint a fox on Fox. 

What does the Fox say?

Ringdingdingdingadingaringading!

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The One with the German Countryside

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.  I think this one may even be worth TWO thousand :)

German Countryside

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The One with the Patterned Paper Tutorial on Shimelle.com

I've got a patterned paper tutorial up on Shimelle.com today if you wanna head over and take a looksy! Here's a detail shot:

Alrighty, Fox is at pre-school and Jane is napping - time to get back to work :)

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The One with the Weiden Christmas Market

One of the things we've been looking forward to most about this winter is going to all the Christmas markets Germany is famous for! Chris has been "on call" the last week so we couldn't venture further than a half hour away so we decided to go to the Weiden Christmas market on Saturday night. 

Weiden will always have a special place in our hearts because it's the very first town we visited when we moved here. We love it so.

We parked in an underground garage and made our way up to the "mall" - which was totally decked out - hooray!

Let Christmas begin! It gets dark by 4:10pm so the lights were already on when we arrived. So pretty.

Welcome to the Christmas market! That's not what this sign says, but I don't know what it says... I really need to work on learning German.

Manger scene in a glass case.

There were little shops set up on the street selling all kinds of knick knacks and baked goods.

Fox wanted some chocolate, so chocolate we got!

It was dark chocolate. I prefer milk chocolate. That's one of the very few things I did not inherit from my dad - he LOVES dark chocolate! I'm like him in practically every other way though. Soaking it all in.

The town hall is an advent calendar and will open up a window every day leading up to Christmas.

Walking through the tunnel to the other half of the market.

Twinkle twinkle!

It was a short trip, perfect for our first one!

As we were leaving the bells were ringing.

We got some brats for dinner and then headed home!

Pretty much every city has a Christmas market - that's a LOT of markets! We're hoping to go to the biggest and best one (supposedly) in Nuremberg this weekend!

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The One with the Garden Girl Holiday-Themed Layout

Happy December! It's the most wonderful time of the year!
The first of the month means new projects from the Garden Girls! The theme is HOLIDAY/WINTER. What could be more "holiday" than a Christmas tree?! Feast your eyes upon the cuteness that was Fox's 1st Christmas:

FOX'S 1ST XMAS

Description: When I think of the holidays, especially Christmas, the first thing that comes to mind is Christmas trees! I love make Christmas tree-shaped designs on my Christmas-themed layouts. I chose to work with a pretty traditional color palette of green and red with a trendy chalkboard paper background and hints of pink, blue, and kraft. I really love traditional Christmas colors though so I'm all about the bright red and green! After adhering dozens of patterned paper strips in a triangle Christmas tree shape I defined the look by sewing around the edges and outlining the thread with silver glitter glue. I added a few wooden American Crafts buttons and Echo Park stickers as "ornaments" to complete the tree look. A clustering of fun holiday-themed embellishments helps round out the grouping of photos and journaling on the left edge. The Uniball Signo white pen writes like a dream on this Elle's Studio chalkboard paper! I like putting photo corner stickers on the corners of my layout to help keep eyes from wandering off the page and these photo corner stickers by Echo Park were just the ticket.

Journaling says: We had big plans to drive to Colorado for Christmas but when you got RSV the Dr. said NO. So we stayed home and had fun as a new family of 3! 12.25.10

How to: Trim dozens of holiday-themed patterned papers into pennants of different widths and lengths. Begin at the bottom of a chalkboard paper layout background and adhere a row of pennants across the bottom. Sew across the top edges of that row of pennants. Add another slightly shorter row of pennants above the first then sew across the top edges. Repeat until you reach the top edge and you have a Christmas tree shape. Top the tree with a star jewel stickpin. Sew a triangle over the tree to define the shape and outline the string with silver glitter glue. Place a trio of photos over a snowflake patterned vellum block on the bottom right edge then add a sticker title above and a label die cut and clustering of embellishments below the photos. Journal on the left edge of the layout using a white pen. Add a collage of embellishments on the upper right edge then place a photo corner sticker on each corner. Drop white spray mist by the journaling and photos to finish.

Supplies: Cardstock, buttons, glitter glue, adhesive: American Crafts; Patterned paper: American Crafts, Crate Paper, Echo Park Paper Co, Elle's Studio, Glitz Design, Studio Calico; Wooden veneer: Prima (rocking horse), Studio Calico (starburst); Stickers: American Crafts (glitter foam number, glitter star, snowflakes), Echo Park Paper Co (black mini alphabet, candy cane letters, photo corners, stars), Glitz Design (green letters), Studio Calico (dimensional sentiment banner); Die cuts: Elle's Studio ("Dear Santa"), Studio Calico (vellum label); Spray mist: Studio Calico; Pen: Uniball Signo; Sewing machine: Brother; Thread: Coats & Clark

Crossing my fingers I'll make it for another year on the Garden Girl team and hopefully be back on January 1st with the next debut!

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