Joyful Reindeer Gift Bag

Five days!! I can't believe that it's December 20 already! The days have been flying by.

As most of you know, this year has been an incredibly difficult one with the passing of my beloved husband. I am one who celebrates and thrives on tradition so was dreading the holidays and couldn't imagine how I'd get through Christmas. As a result, we've decided to do something totally different this year and we're heading off today for a cruise to the Bahamas! It will be a Christmas like no other but I think that's a good thing right now. I've still been baking (although scaled down this year) and have stockings and gifts that we'll exchange when we get back. I'm also looking forward to sun and heat!

This week's Little Red Wagon challenge is hosted by Sandy and it's called "It's a Wrap!" Sandy wants us to either create something with wrapping paper or a gift. I've created a little gift bag. After I took the photo, I realized that my paper is upside-down - and I'm pretty sure it was upside-down the last time I used it! Perhaps I was standing on my head the first time I ever saw a candy cane...

This will be my last post before Christmas and I wish you all a very happy holiday filled with love, peace and blessings.

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Deck the Halls

Only 12 days until Christmas!! I can't believe that we're pretty much halfway through December already. With the exception of some baking, I feel all set at this point.

I'm excited to be hosting at Little Red Wagon this week - although I messed up on my schedule and didn't realize until Monday night when I went to create this week's post. It was then that I realized I missed my own challenge so spent last night in my craft room!!! Unfortunately, it was dark by the time I took the photo. In fact, it was dark by the time I even started creating my card!! It was fun to have an extra night colouring though!!

My challenge is "Christmas Critters" and I'm challenging everybody to create a project with some Christmas critters. I used Gerda Steiner's Reindeer and a Tree stamp set to create my little Christmas scene with Santa and a few of his favourite critters.

Please head over to Little Red Wagon to see what the rest of the Girlfriends have created this week. And please link up your own Christmas Critters creations. I can't wait to see what you make!

I'm linking up my card at Gerda Steiner's monthly Share Your Designs challenge. In fact, I purchased the Deck the Halls stamp set from my winning the challenge at Gerda Steiner a few months ago!

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Season for Treats

Happy December! I can't believe it's the 6th already. The house is decorated and I've started my baking - but gifts are stacked in the closet and I need to get wrapping!

Sandy is our hostess at Little Red Wagon and she is looking for gift card holders. I do purchase gift cards for some of my nieces so this challenge was a good one for me. I used an old die from my stash for the holder itself and then decorated it with stamps from My Favorite Things (including a several heat-embossed snowflakes) and a Holly Jolly sentiment from My Craft Spot (no longer in business).

I'm looking forward to getting ideas for more gift card holder creations so can't wait to check out what the rest of the Girlfriends have been making. Please head to Little Red Wagon to check things out too - and then link up your own gift card holder!

I'm also linking this up at Simon Says Stamp for their "Gift It" challenge.

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