It’s time for the second annual Visions of Sugarplums – a week long event which began December 3rd! 

Over 17 blogs will be showcasing Christmas projects, recipes, and giveaways! 

I’m excited to be participating with both the projects, and a Giveaway!

My Time Made Easy is giving away a $20 Gift Certificate, so be sure you visit Lori at the Visions of Sugarplums event for details on how to win that 😀

So, after you check our my projects, hop along to see what the following people have whipped up!

Lori

Lisa

Maria

Ira

Sandy 

I want to encourage all my readers to comment on each blog posting today – each comment counts as an entry into the giveaways.  Winner will be announced the tomorrow on Lori and Lisa’s Blog! 

Here is what you have a chance to win:

Giveaways:   $20 gift certificate – My Time Made Easy ™ LLC

                        1 set of choice – Digital Paper

                        1 set of choice –  Moonlighting by Mary

                        1 set of choice – Paper Sweeties

I’ve got so many great gift ideas here on my blog, since I am the owner/creator of My Time Made Easy ™ LLC, where the focus is all about creative gift packaging. My Time Made Easy ™ LLC provides you with the basics for creating your own coordinating handmade cards, tags, and gift packaging in no time. It is fun, affordable, and we made it easier than ever! I have always said that it really is all about the TOTAL package. Now you can afford to create and dress up the simplest of gifts on your own, and make them appear to be that much more special. Nothing says love like something handmade.

 

Today I created a sample using one of our amazing templates called Tri-It. It was something I have wanted to create for some time. I think you can make many cute themed gift items with a triangle/pyramid style box 😀 I had seen some cute triangle pillows that were designed to look like garden gnomes, and I thought a box, designed to look like an elf would be pretty cool!

So this is kind of like my little version of Elf on a Shelf!

This is made for one of the counselors at Alexa’s youth group she goes to after school. I wrapped up some salty pretzel caramel bark!

You may recognize the tag…it was first seen here.

Tag Details: I colored, printed my tag from the Homemade Holiday Labels set, which was cut out using the Homemade Holiday Labels cut file. The sleigh, Santa sack, and candy cane image are from the Homemade Holiday set. Santa’s Sweets sentiment are from the Homemade Holiday Sentiments set.

That is the beauty of creating with digital images. I had saved this from my past project, and now when I needed a tag in a pinch I was all set. You create once,then you can easily re-use it again. I resized it to suit my project. I could even change the colors with just a click. Fast, easy, and fun!

Here is the screenshot from my computer to show you all the pieces before they were cut.

Can you believe those pieces quickly turned into this?!

Fill this with Homemade Cake Balls, Cookies, Hershey Kisses, Truffles, Peppermint Ghirardelli chocolates…whatever you choose really, and you are good to go!

Now back to my lil’ elf on a shelf box….

I used  the boy elf from the Holly Jolly © set to create the face on my little elf box!

I printed then cut it out, and colored it in. I used the Homemeade Holiday Paper for my little elf suit. I clipped the snowflake pattern to the top for my elf hat. I added a little white pom pom to the top of the hat.

I then clipped the plaid version for the elf shirt. His hands were created using the hands from the Bouncing Bunny © cut file, resized to be smaller to suit my project. The plaid paper was clipped to that as well 😀

I added some zig zag trim from the Border Builders Zig Zag © cut file, along the bottom of the layer to create a elf collar. The little button tied on was the perfect touch.

I used the Candy Striper © cut file to create a paper candy cane for him to hold in one hand, and a real little Christmas ornament in the other.

For the skirt of the elf I used the tree pattern in the Homemade Holiday Paper collection.

For the legs I just had my machine create the legs from the snowflake pattern, and the boots which was just a oval and a rectangle welded.

I added some white liquid applique, with glitter, and heat set it for my “furry” trim on the hat, sleeves, and boots.

Now that I have all these pieces created I can make as many of these little elves I want, any time I want, without too much work! The Tri-It goes together quick, so I can have a completed project in a matter of about 15 minutes each!

That does it for me today!

Good luck with the contest, and have a happy, healthy, and creative holiday!