Sweet Holiday Traditions with Shellye & Tiffany

Holiday Baking
by Shellye McDaniel 

Hello!  Shellye along with you today to share a sweet "traditions" layout.  Like many of you, we have a day set aside during December when we do the majority of our baking and candy-making.  Who needs supper when you've snacked on cookie dough, tasted fudge and finished off all of the broken dipped pretzels all day long? :)

For my 12X12 layout, I started with a sheet of Limeade Textured Cardstock for the base and then layered on patterned paper from the Home For the Holidays Collection.  I die-cut my photos and then cut four panels that measured 1/2" larger;  I added the pictures to the diagonal striped panels with foam adhesive (just around the edge of the photos).

Before attaching the panels to the background paper, I cut two paper doilies in half and created a border. Using the Tiny Type alphabet stickers, I mimicked the shape of the doily to create part of the title.

Next, I added two standard tags behind each picture.  Because I only added foam adhesive around the four edges of the photos, I was able to tuck in the journaled tags behind them.

To give a finished look, I machine stitched in a zig-zag pattern around the background paper.  A couple of stitched X's (with Lily White Twine) helps to break up the 'boxed' look and also gives a little soft texture.

I have several year's worth of 'baking day' photos with my daughter...I think an entire album dedicated to this tradition will be a nice keepsake to have on hand!
Shellye

Caramel Apples
by Tiffany Hood

Our family has a lot of holiday traditions, we always to fondue on Christmas Eve, we go to a certain park with lights every year, we go to Temple Square to see the choir and the magnificent lights and scenes, and we always, always, always make our now "famous" caramel apples!

We've been making these since 2006, and we usually do them with my side of the family and the kids and cousins (and eat them all ourselves) and then later on, my husband and I have made it a tradition to make these for the neighbors- the cinnamon-sugar version.

The ones in the photos are mostly ones made by the kiddos, but the white chocolate cinnamon-sugar ones have become a perfected art, are very time consuming, and we only settle for perfect (or close to perfect) looking ones for our neighbors and friends.  It's so much fun!

What are some of your holiday traditions?

-Tifany

Sweet Gift Ideas by Amanda & Tiffany

Peppermint Oreo Pops 
by Amanda Coleman

When it comes to neighbor gifts during the holidays, I am all about quick and easy (and yummy).  These dark chocolate peppermint Oreo pops are super easy to make and are delicious to boot.  Hand them out individually or gift them as a fun bouquet.

Oreo pops have been around for a while, but I'll bet you haven't seen them made with Doodlebug's colorful pixies straws!  Rather than insert a regular ol' white lollipop stick, add some extra holiday cheer to your treats by using pixies straws to turn Oreos into pops.

Insert finished pops into treat bags and tie with Doodle Twine and a cute Pixies tag.  The back side of each tag is blank making it perfect for labeling.

The dark chocolate-peppermint combination is divine!  Dark chocolate candy melts and peppermints are widely available so you won't have to hunt down a bunch of supplies.  For more detailed information on how I made these Oreo pops, click HERE to head over to my blog.

Happy Holidays!

Amanda

Caramel Apples 
by Tiffany Hood 

Our traditional neighbor gifts are Caramel Apples.  We've been making these babies since 2006, and they're a labor of love, let me tell you. :)

We buy the biggest granny smith apples we can find, and the best caramel and white chocolate coating, and we've perfected the technique. Most of the time we add cinnamon-sugar to the outside, but we've also done toffee, candies, or chocolate drizzles.  Yummy!!!

(The cinnamon-sugar is my favorite- just like Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory)

I made this super simple card using Doodlebug's "Simply Put" cards, added it to a white piece of cardstock and then a green cardstock base, and then added a sticker with dimensional adhesive, and a "Mini Bow" that are Doodlebug's cute little embellishment kits that coordinate with the "Home for the Holidays" collection.

The apple was simply dressed with another bow, some twine, and a sticker!

Don't you wish you were my neighbor? :)

-Tiffany

Give Thanks Project: Give Thanks Jars and Fall Wreath Tutorial

Here at Doodlebug, we are THANKFUL for our Design Team. They continue to amaze us all the time with their talent and support of Doodlebug. And we are thrilled to share more wonderful ideas to "Give Thanks" ideas featuring the Happy Harvest Collection here on the blog this week. 

GIVE THANKS JAR
by Amanda Coleman

In an effort to increase the spirit of gratitude in our home during the holidays, I created a simple gratitude jar that we can fill to the brim with things we are grateful for.

The goal is fill the jar to overflowing with strips of paper where you have written down what you are grateful for.  You can add a strip of paper to the jar once a day for the entire month or fill it up all at once.  Save the jar and the paper strips for next year or scrap your favorite ones.

I couldn't think of a more perfect sentiment for how I feel when I ponder on the things I am grateful for.  I created the jar label by layering patterned paper and border stickers on top of a strip of burlap.  The fall leaf Doodle-pops and jute twine made a perfect accent.

Indoor plumbing, mountains and Coke Zero are just a few of the many things I am grateful for.  What kinds of things will make your cup runneth over?

Supplies: Happy Harvest collection, Mason jar, Burlap, Jute twine

FALL WREATH 
by Tiffany Hood 

It's not too late to create this darling fall leaf wreath to impress your guests coming by for a visit. Tiffany does a great job explaining how quick and simple this can be to create!

Doodlebug challenged the Design Team to create a project inspired by a project on the Doodlebug Pinterest page.  I chose a Christmas wreath by Sherry that can be found HERE.

The base for my wreath was made with grapevine.  You can buy it by the roll, or buy a pre-made grapevine wreath. 

I wrapped the grapevine in a large circle and tied craft wire around it to make it stay.

Then I cut various fall leaves with my Silhouette Cameo.  

Scored them with my Scor-Pal

And then hot glued them to the wreath.  The banner was done with the Silhouette as well, and the font is Times New Roman.

The banner was adhered using a tiny hole punch and Fall Collection Doodle Twine.

Give Thanks Project: Layouts by Tiffany & Shellye

Giving Thanks
by Tiffany Hood 

This layout was done using the Happy Harvest Collection by Doodlebug Design.  The colors in this collection are perfect for fall and Thanksgiving, and are vibrant and beautiful.

I used Pixies on my layout, as I have with several other Doodlebug projects lately.  They are one of my favorite new embellishments.  Adhere with pop dots.

The Sprinkles are another fun new embellishment.  They add shine and dimension.

And the title is actually from a sticker sheet and says "Thanksgiving."  I simply cut the two words apart and adhered them in a different order.

What are you thankful for?

-Tiffany

I Am Thankful For....
by Shellye McDaniel

It's always easy for me to count my blessings, although I may not do it as often as I should.  I kept my layout for today pretty simple by focusing on two subjects that I'm greatly thankful for: home and family.

As you can see, I have two large circles in the center of the page...it's my "plate of thanks" :)  Before adding the photos, I cut a strip of paper and then stitched a few X's over the center for decoration...sort of like a napkin laying to the side.

Appropriate stickers were attached to each photo, as well as some of the cute characters from the Happy Harvest Collection.

For the heading of the layout, I trimmed down one of the Simply Put cards to the size of my photo.

Halloween Parade: Tiffany Takes over the Blog

The Doodlebug Design Team was challenged to use the new Pixies embellishments in a new way. Pixies come with sticks and toppers in a pack, and are meant to be used like I used them in the bottom left corner, but they can also be used in a lot of other creative ways.

I chose to use them to make a black spiderweb, and I used Beetle Black Doodle Twine to complete the effect.  I used Crystal Effects adhesive but you can use any liquid adhesive like Zip Dry as well.

I used the Halloween Parade collection, and the new stickers and Doodads. I think I've used Doodads on almost all of my new Doodlebug Projects.

Halloween Parade Mini Album

If you've been a reader of mine for a while now (a couple of years) you may remember a mini album I did for Doodlebug Design two years ago. You can see it HERE. Well- I decided it's time to add to it.  So here are some new pages for the last couple of years.

2011:

I just love the washi tape by Doodlebug.  It's by far the cutest out there.

 2012

Aren't the new stickers so dang cute!!???

And I can't wait to add another spread in a couple of weeks for this year!

-Tiffany

Shadow Boxes: Happy Harvset + Video Tutorial Bonus

We are wrapping up a week of fun ideas featuring the Doodlebug Shadow Boxes. Tiffany created a fun Happy Harvest Thanksgiving Cornacopia home decor project. Be sure to check out the "Sprinkles" on the veggies...super cute!

And today we have a fun bonus...another video featuring the Shadow Boxes from My Craft Channel. These darling "Half a Pumpkin" projects were the spotlight of the latest Inspired by Pinterest episode from Lori Allred. Scroll down and you can check out how this fun craft technique in the VIDEO BELOW the image.

by Lori Allred

Happy Thanksgiving Shadow Box
by Tiffany Hood