Should I or Shouldn't I?

There's been quite a bit of creative energy flowing through our foothill home as of late. There's always an underlying current, but at times our system really amps up and you can almost see sparks. My question is, should I share all our recent ideas or are you too overwhelmed with your own creative energy right now? Maybe your system is on overload and if you plug in one more idea, you might crash. Then again, maybe you need a little creative recharging.

We both know the answer to my rhetorical question. I should share. I have to share - it's my nature. When I put ideas out there, even more ideas flow to me. It's a win-win situation for both of us.

So I'll start off by sharing some pretty easy and basic projects. These are things we've made using materials on hand. In fact, I haven't spent a dime on any of the ideas I'll be sharing over the next few days. Frugality fuels my creativity.

Got contact paper? Make some adhesive snowflakes.



We cut white contact paper into squares, folded it as we would fold regular paper for snowflakes, and started snipping. Peel and stick for an instant splash of winter on your windows.

Clear contact paper makes great gift tags/bookmarks.



Avery finished her shopping early and wrapped her friends' presents. She made gift tags that double as bookmarks using clear contact paper, a pair of scissors and an old National Geographic magazine. Punch a hole in the top of the bookmark, string a ribbon and it's a wrap!

No doubt you have some cardboard laying around the house from online gift shopping (the only way to go, really). How about a little cardboard reindeer?



Use Google Images to find a reindeer silhouette, enlarge the image to the size you want, cut out a stencil and transfer the image to a piece of cardboard. Cut out the reindeer using an Exacto knife or scissors, then give your reindeer antlers using sticks (yes, I do have sticks lying around my house - a beautiful cluster of manzanita branches currently adorns my mantle). I think this would make a cute gift tag or ornament.

That's it for today. I'll be posting a few more projects over the weekend and the beginning of next week. Here's what you can look forward to:

- Beeswax acorn tutorial
- Homemade baker's twine(ish)
- Felted wool mistletoe
- CD case made from greeting cards

See you again tomorrow!