Peace and blessed wishes.

A winter kind of beauty,

A Christmas kind of happy,

A family kind of warmth and caring....

May the holidays hold all this for you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO MY BLOG FOLLOWERS, AND FRIENDS AND FAMILY!

I'm addicted to tiny little envelopes and fork bows!

I've yearned for the We Are Memory Keepers (WRMK) Envelope Punch Board ever since it was introduced a few years ago. Although I could make envelopes with the Martha Stewart score board, I finally caved in and bought myself a WRMK envelope punch board a few months ago, because I was sure I NEEDED it!

Lookie.... lookie what I made!  I'm so hooked.

And I did need it, and I love it! I've watched a ton of YouTube videos to find out how to use it. There are so many uses for this little cutie envelope punch board........

But...........wait! ...........the other day, I found one of my favorite uses for it, and that is making little 3x4 envelopes out of gorgeous designer papers, and using them as money and gift card holders....... and hanging them on your tree, with the little gift tucked inside! Ingenious!

The gal who did the video (and I can't for the life of me find it now or remember her name- and believe me, I searched), used the 3x4 envelope standing up on the short side end, leaving the flap open on top. She left the top flap unscored and open, punched a hole in it, put some twine or ribbon for a loop, and voila.... ready for a gift card or money, to be hung on the tree! You need double sided paper for this one.  Again I say..... INGENIOUS!  Why didn't I think of that?

On my little envelopes, I chose not to make them for hanging.  I wanted to be able to close them and seal them to put under the tree as a gift.  The ones you close and seal can be made with one-sided paper.  These are so much prettier than those blah white envelopes you get from the stores when you buy a gift card.

A piece of 6x6 paper makes a cute little 3x4 envelope, perfect for gift cards or a money holder.  I had just bought a Simple Stories Country Christmas 6x6 double sized paper pad. I made a whole bunch of the little holders already, but they are long gone and mailed to friends and family. So of course, I HAD to make a bunch more, just in case I needed them! The top tag that is hanging on the tree, uses the Simple Stories papers. I love them!

White on the inside - I use score tape for closing and put it on all of the envelopes at once.

It's amazing all the things you can make with this envelope punch board!  There are tons of YouTube videos to show you how to make bows, little boxes, gift tags, tabs for tags, and envelope mini albums. 

The Crafty Gemini has some really good tutorials on using the WRMK Envelope Punch board if you are interested in finding out more about it. Here's a link to one of her tutorials, We Are Memory Keepers tutorial. She has several good ones.

Here's a tutorial on YouTube by LiveLoveScrap for making paper bows.  Card below is one I made last Christmas with a WRMK paper bow. So many things you can do with this punch board.

These little gift envelopes are so much fun, and fast, and a way to use all that darling 6x6 paper that you have hoarded (um... collected)! I had just bought a pad of Jolee's Boutique Holiday papers by ekSuccess and wanted to use the papers for something, as my cards were all done!  I needed some little gift card envelopes and hadn't thought of using my envelope punch board. Why? I don't know.

I guess making a simple skinny envelope with the opening at the top just hadn't occurred to me.

I had fun decorating each one with little bows, buttons, strips of glitter tape (from Close to My Heart) and odds and ends stickers from my stash. I had sat in front of the TV one night weeks ago, making little "fork bows" from green and red ribbon, and some gold ribbon, as I knew I'd use tons of bows on my cards and other projects. I'm glad I did because I've used every single one.

This is a fork bow - all the bows I use now are fork bows!

If you want to find out how to make a "fork bow", which is super easy to make the perfect little (or big) bow, just do a search on You Tube.  There are alot of videos out there. You actually use a fork (any size) and the bow comes out perfect every time. Here's a very good video by Deb Valder: Variations of fork bows. 

Here's a pretty little red gingham fork bow below. The paper is some Christmas paper from My Mind's Eye, Countdown to Christmas, that I've had for several years. I just can't seem to use it up! It keeps popping up in my projects. The green paper above is also from this pad of paper.

Here's what these look like undecorated (below), which of course, you can use that way, and just close it with a little piece of sticky tape..... but since I can't leave something alone, I would pop on a little button with a glue dot (at least).

When you put the flap on the end so the envelope is tall, it looks more like a little coin envelope (top picture of the one hanging on the tree). When you put the flap on the longer side, it looks more like a traditional, though mini, envelope.

I had so much fun making these, I could not stop. And I'm in no way trying to promote the envelope punch board or getting paid for this post! (Stampin' Up also has a similar envelope punch board). I just love it, that's all.

Here's some little mini envelopes I made, even smaller! These were for some little mini thank you cards I made. So cute...

Just thought I'd share. These are so bright and fun... a little bright splash of color in an otherwise dull and gray day..... a little bit of joy I'm sending your way.

 

Just had to share............

My husband and I LOVE Pickles comics.... we can relate so well to Earl and his wife!  He found this one today and showed it to me. We both had a good laugh!  Just had to share it, because he knows how much I LOVE fabric, quilting, and sewing.

This could also say "have my ashes scattered at a scrapbooking store...." and we could definitely relate to that too!


 

Not a Christmas mini...but so cute!

I'm so darned hooked on making little "one sheet pocket mini albums". I love them so much and they are so fun to make... and a quick result for those of you who like instant gratification!

This is my newest little pocket album... just love the bright colors. I'm trying to get a bunch of these done for my Etsy shop... this one went in the other day. It's here in my MyPinkPaperCottage shop if you want to go take a look.

These little minis have 5 double pages, with a whopping 10 pockets.... 2 are on top so longer tags can slide in on the top.

I used some older Close to My Heart scrapbook papers. I always have loved that orange and cream "giraffe spots" paper. Of course it's retired now, but I just thought I'd try something with bright colors, as I usually use more muted colors or vintage papers. 

See that "cherish yesterday, live today, dream tomorrow" little tag above? (top left)..... I made that a few years ago, by taking a brown paper grocery bag, cutting out the best area, wadding it up, smoothing it out, and then stamping that  sentiment all over it. Then I inked the wrinkles with a brown ink. Took a picture of it and put the picture on my computer, and then used the picture to make some little tags I could print out.  I tell you, I use this image over and over and over again! This one has a pinkish tinge because I was printing out some tags last year on my old printer, and everything I printed had a pink tinge! I liked the effect, so printed a whole bunch of them and I think I've used every one now.

Here are some of the little tags in the album. I think I put 16 little tags in this album. These are all tags that I printed out myself (again, see the ones with the pink tinge??!!!).... and inked the edges with black ink. The little "treasure" tag was a free printable, probably one I got from Sweetly Scrapped.  She always has free printables and I love her site.

More tags inside - some can be used to mount little photos on.

Above - a couple of close-ups. The little paper flower on the top photo is one I made using little circles of paper, spritzed with water, wadded up, and then use a brad to hold them together, then spread it out to make a flower. Once it dries, it's really stiff and solid. These are my little "shabby flowers" in my Etsy shop. I have a few there of different colors.

I got the sparkly buttons at our local discount store! Love these.. of course I love any kind of buttons.

Oh... I almost forgot. I did make a typed out tutorial for making this little pocket album.  Here is a photo of the cover:

I think it's 3 or 4 pages and in Word format. If anyone wants one, I'll be glad to send it to you. I think the instructions are pretty detailed and clear and I also direct you to the YouTube video that I watched to make this. There are several videos out there, but this one was the easiest and most clear to follow.

And don't forget to hop on over to my Etsy shop to see one other tag album I have for sale, and tons of Christmas paper rosettes.  I'll also be posting (here and in my Etsy shop) another of my mini pocket albums using Graphic45 papers. Oh so yummy!

Thank you for visiting.

 

Rosette madness.....

I've been on a roll lately... making paper rosettes. They are so much fun to make! I take them with me to work on when I'm out and about, and waiting (always waiting for something it seems), the same way others take their knitting or quilting projects to work on.

Aren't these pretty??? I'm so in love with these darling little rosettes, or pinwheels as some people call them.  I can't quit making them! All I need are some strips of paper, sticky tape and a pair of scissors. And then, of course, comes the fun of adding the buttons and bows and glitter. 

I'm starting to stock my Etsy shop with packages of 3 or 4 rosettes, here at MyPinkPaperCottage.  You can either view them at the top of my right sidebar (there is a little Etsy widget there where you can scroll through the items in my shop), or you can view the blue ones HERE.  

I'll be adding the red and green rosettes tomorrow (there are some other reds and greens already in my shop). The red and white pinstriped rosettes can be found HERE in my Etsy shop.  Go see.....

Here are some ways to use these darling little bits of happiness. 
How about on a card, to add some pizzaz.

How about adding them to little gift boxes or bags, or add a few on top of a wrapped present.

Rosettes look awesome on gift bags!

I have one set of Halloween rosettes left in my shop, HERE.

These are also great for using on canvas board art..............

This canvas board art can be found  HERE in my Etsy shop.

.............or on little mini albums.....

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I will be posting more of my newly added Etsy surprises and some of my unique cards that I've made, following some very crafty YouTube videos. I'm finally on a crafting roll again.... and very thankful.