Gift cards galore!

So with so many nieces and nephews that live so far away, I sadly can't really "shop" for them for the holidays.  I wish we knew if they liked cars, trains, or which is their favorite princess but alas we don't see them often enough.  So we now just send gift cards.  Hopefully they will enjoy spending it with mom.   I always let my kids pick out their own stuff if they receive a card.  It helps them learn about money a little bit.  So this was my scrap table last night.  I got a lot done.  My older nieces I picked up cute clear ball ornaments from Bath & Body Works that I altered a bit.  I added a gift card in a personalized holder and swapped out the fragrance for the new "Twilight" scent they had.
Enjoy!

Out of this mess came these!

Parade of lights...

The boys and I took a quick trip to Dollywood this past weekend. We had a grand time at the hotel swimming in the pool (well they did, I just watched). Then we headed to our favorite place Dollywood! The lights were fantastic as always. We took a train ride since it was a pretty warm day, and we haven't been on it for a while. They were fixing it earlier in the season and it wasn't running the few times we went.
I used my new camera for most of these photos (until the battery died, bummer).
Enjoy.

Holiday Photo Ornaments

An old friend from high school asked me to look up some ideas for her to use photos for ornaments for her kids Christmas trees. I figured I would share.  Happy Pre Holiday everyone!

Edited: found one more great link. Over 30 Paper piecing ornaments//decorations.
http://www.scrapbooksetc.com/magazine/piecetalk/holiday-paper-piecing-patterns_ss1.html

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/holiday_photo_ornaments

http://www.mychicnscratch.com/2008/11/country-living.html

Any of the following you can adapt for a photo instead of the stamped image you see.
http://www.mychicnscratch.com/2008/11/another-glass-o.html

http://www.mychicnscratch.com/2007/11/happy-friday-2.html

http://www.mychicnscratch.com/2009/10/photo-coaster-ornament.html 

http://holiday-kids-crafts.suite101.com/article.cfm/photo_christmas_ornament_craft

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/ornament-holiday-card-664244/

So many ideas at Family Fun online! 


http://familyfun.go.com/christmas/christmas-ornaments/