Visions of Sugarplums ~ Day 1

Welcome to the first day of VOSP 2017! There is so much inspiration to be found for the next 3 days. If you came upon my blog from Greta's, you are in the right spot. If not, but sure to start at Lori's and follow along. 

I have been loving some craft fair tutorials on youtube and rather than just watch them, I decided to make some fun little gifts from the tutorial. This one comes from scrapdaworld. Tmika is so much fun to watch and she gets so excited about her projects. You can't help but smile.  

For today's projects I went with a less traditional color scheme: pinks, rose red, mints, and light blue.

I'm always needing a little sweet gift to give now and then. You never know when you might make a

BIG difference in someone's life by brightening their day with a little love. This designer paper is even appropriately named "Mint Berry". I bought it at Hobby Lobby when it was 1/2 priced.

I also love making these little notepads. They make great gifts and who doesn't need paper to make lists, esp this time of year?

Karen's blog is next on the list, but first, be sure to read the info below on the prize challenge.

Here is a list of everyone who is playing along with Lori's challenge this year.

LORI

Mitra

Tracey

Lisa

Greta

DebbieDee

Karen

Debbie

Annette

Bety

Along with all the inspiration you will find along the way, there is also a challenge out with a chance to win a great prize. You have until Saturday the 16th to enter, so there is plenty of time for you to create. Be sure to go to Lori's blog to enter. You can create anything you want as long as it is a Christmas/Winter themed project. The prize for the challenge is a $20.00 gift certificate to Mama Elephant.   The challenge will start Dec 2^nd and run through Dec. 16^th.

How do you win?  

1.  Start by leaving a comment on Lori's blog that you would like to win. 

2.  Visit all the other blog's and leave comments.  

3. Lori will pick up your name from her blog, check all the other blogs and put your name in the "hat"  as many times as you leave comments.  Example:  Leave 14 comments = your name 14 times in the "hat".

Prize winners will be announced on Sunday, December 10^th. 

Visions of Sugarplums

coming soon! I am excited to be participating again this year

BFB God Gave Us Family

God Gave Us Family by Lisa Tawn Bergren is a cute children's book explaining what makes a family. It starts out with little pup from the wolf family asking why he is the only child in the family. He points out that of his friends, one has 8, one was adopted... Papa explains that God gives us family in many different ways. It goes on to explain about different family dynamics with working parents, some children live with grandparents, etc.

You can see another book I read by  the same author HERE.

• More Info
• Author Bio

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Book Review: A Plain Leaving

A Plain Leaving by Leslie Gould is the first book in her The Sisters of Lancaster County. This book was so good, I read it in one day. We were travelling and it was a great time to get some reading in.

I loved the format of this story. I combined the current story of Jessica Bachmann who had walked away from the Amish faith only to return when she received word that her father had died, to the story of her ancestor Ruby Bachmann from over 400 years before whose story was a lot like Rebecca's.

Both women had 2 men who loved them, one of the Amish faith and one who was not. They both had loss of family and hard decisions to make.

It was wonderfully written in a way that makes you want to read for more. Now it will be hard to wait for the next book in the series.

**I received this book for free from Bethany House in exchange for my honest review.**

Halloween Candle and Pill Bottle

I went to throw an empty pill bottle away and thought it would make a fun pumpkin project. Well, it went a different direction. I spray painted the lid and added some fun elements. I filled it with Reese's Pieces.

More Halloween Projects

Here are a few more projects I've created...

Pencil Holder, tutorial can be found HERE

pillow box using Inky Antic's stamp

pillow box with one end not scored and punched with an oval punch to make a handle

Mini Coffee Cup Holder

I have a fun project to share with you using Dawn's tutorial for this mini coffee cup holder. You can buy the Mini Coffee Cups and Mini Coffee Cup Lids online. I have had these in my stash for a very long time. I've used a few from time to time for fun little gifts, but I really like this project.

 The straw is cut in half to fit in the little drink spot.

You can fit 2-3 snack sized candies into the cup and then the band in the back holds a gift card. What  a fun idea to give to a teacher, friend, family member with a gift card to their favorite coffee shop.

AFTER I cut one cup apart to make a pattern to add patterned paper to my cup, I came across a blog that has a free cutting file...cut file for covering coffee cup

Small Halloween Loaded Bag

This Loaded Bag is made with a smaller flat bag that I got at Hobby Lobby. The package came with orange with white polka dots and black with white polka dots.

In the front pocket a treat sized bag of Skittles. 

In the back pocket there is a pen and altered mini composition notepad. 

 cute little epoxy spider peeking out

Medium Halloween Loaded Bags 2 more...

Here are 2 more Loaded Bags using the medium sized flat gift bags.

 altered mini composition notepad

Medium Halloween Loaded Bags

Yesterday I shared a Halloween Loaded Bag using a lunch sack. Today I have 2 medium sized ones to share with you. These were made using a flat bag. Our drug store uses these when one buys a card or flat item. I had purchased some from them many years ago and decided to use them for something.

I am just going to show you the bags and items in them. If you would like any details as to any products I used, just let me know.