DIY Christmas Decor Gift Basket

I don't know about you, but I LOVE making homemade gifts... especially Christmas gifts. Last year, my younger sister asked for some Christmas decorations so she and her new husband can decorate their new abode. Instead of spending a ton of money on very little, I cranked some ideas out of Le Studio, and made an awesome gift basket full of homemade Christmas decorations. 

I started with a big, green bucket that I had laying around. Barely used. Made it all nice and shiny, and slapped a sparkly, red bow on the front. 

I went to the dollar store and picked up a couple of frames, for the printables I had either found online or made myself. One was a cute saying with some Christmas clip art, the other a Santa Key poem I found somewhere online. Other items from the dollar store included fillers such as a bell, cookie cutters and some window clings.

For the DIY pieces:

• Apple Pie Moonshine
• I used a mason jar with a pretty ribbon wrapped around it, and a cute sticker that says "Homemade with <3"
• A Cookie-in-a-Jar Recipe
• Hand painted Christmas bulbs
• I painted adorable penguins with pink and blue scarves on the outside of them.
• I used white glitter inside the bulb as snow, and tied a blue and pink ribbon on each.
• Sock Snowmen
• These were so fun to make! I used some new, clean socks, rice, and some spare buttons I had laying around. I even made some for myself!
• Wedding Invitation Bulb
• I made their wedding invitations, so I had an extra printed. I cut the invite into small strips, curled them and placed them inside the bulb. 
• I added a small silver heart charm and some gold ribbon to the top of the bulb.
• Snowman refrigerator magnet set
• By using Microsoft Word, some clip art and some light magnets, I created a big snowman for the front door or refrigerator. 
• I printed a large picture of each piece: coal eyes, mouth, carrot nose, a wooden pipe, a two piece scarf, big coal buttons, and a three piece top hat with mistletoe. 
• I cut out all of the printed pieces and laminated them so they'd last.
• I used some crazy glue and light magnets from Michael's. 
• For the presentation, I used a large white envelope and printed a border and picture of the snowman altogether on the front.
• Here's a DIY link if you want to use construction paper instead of the printer.

Everything was so much fun to make!

To make sure everything looked nice in the basket, I used some small foam blocks on the bottom, to boost everything up a bit. I used all kinds of tissue paper between the foam and the gifts.

She really loved her homemade decorations. :)

I did have pictures of everything while I was making them, and finished products of each. So sad that I lost almost all of my pictures when I was switching between an old and a new laptop. Good thing I sent this picture to my mom when I was done! It would have been lost for good like the others!

Happy Birthday to Me! Meet my new Cricut Explore!

I celebrated my 24th birthday a few weeks ago, and it totally slipped my mind that I should show off my new crafting tool!

My fiance bought me a Cricut Explore, so I can enter a whole new world of crafting. I had been eyeballing it for a while, so intrigued by what it can do. I was so happy when I opened it!

Let me tell you though.. it is intimidating. I thought I'd be all over this thing, cutting out little craft pieces right away. I haven't been able to properly cut anything yet.

The set up for this machine requires connecting to the computer, cutting some samples and making sure everything lines up correctly. Well, it said it couldn't connect to my laptop, then it wouldn't cut on the right lines, now I can't figure out how to cut my own image.

I started watching some YouTube videos on how to use this beast. I have a lot of learning to do!

The first thing I wanted to make with the Cricut is a homemade Christmas present for my mom. Awe. I'm going to cut out the state outlines for Arkansas, Texas, Florida and Michigan, and stick them each to a coffee mug. Then I'm going to paint a dashed line, connecting each of the states from one cup to the next. It's a way of connecting all of her kids in a way... my mom lives in Arkansas, one sister in Texas, my grandmother in Florida, and the rest of us in Michigan. I thought it was a cute idea.

If I can figure out how to cut my vinyl, I'll show a picture of the cups next week! :)

Allow me to introduce myself...

You may call me Melissa... or Missi. Almost twenty-four years old. Artist. Crafter. Avid DIYer.

I'm in my last year of business school at Walsh College. When I'm finished, I'll have a BBA in Business Management.

I ask myself all the time, what's an artist doing at a business school? Well, College for Creative Studies was out of my price range. The idea is that the business degree might be able to help me with my artistic hobbies, and maybe even turn it into a real job one day. A girl can dream.

Because college and an office job was sucking the life out of me, I decided I needed a creative outlet. Or I was going to go mad.

When I moved into my first apartment, I turned my second bedroom into an office. I call it Le Studio. As it went from an unorganized storage room to a studio, I went from just college student to amateur entrepreneur. I didn't just want to make and paint things for myself in Le Studio. I wanted to share my ideas. What better way to share my ideas than with a blog?

This is probably the fifth blog that I've started. 

Onward! Into the over saturated world of bloggers! I'm going to need to work on my blogging and artist skills if I want to stand out in this world. Let's hope the fifth time is a charm.

Speaking of charm!

I started a small business out of Le Studio. I called it Charming Creations, and decided it would be a Boutique. I started with a Facebook fan page  to spread the word of my creations.

Reviewing my projects, I think I need to practice painting. 

So what prompted this business idea? I've always had fun making cakes, cupcakes, invitations and custom paintings for friends and family. They knew I loved it. I was asked to paint a custom wine glass for a 21st birthday. Okay, cool. That was fun. The ladies loved it. They instantly suggested that I create more and sell them online.

And just like that, Charming Creations was born.