Crafting Christmas

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is to make homemade cards, gifts and home decor items.  I had gotten away from it for the last few years but am truly enjoying returning to it this year.  Past years have found me so busy with gift wrapping, cookie baking, shopping and practicing for Christmas plays that I had forgotten how much I like making things for the holidays.

I saw this banner in the Hobby Lobby scrapbooking publication in an advertisement for Glue Dots.  I loved it and decided to replicate it using my own materials.  The only things I needed to purchase were the burlap and canvas.  Burlap is so trendy right now that when I went to buy it I had to get specialty burlap (it has silver in it) because they were sold out of the regular kind.  Here's what it turned out like:

I knew just where I planned to hang it...in the cutout window between my kitchen and living room.  Then I realized I would have to make the other side pretty too.  So I decided to cutout a fancy design from the Damask Decor Cricut Cartridge with a snowflake motif and used some of my lovely snowflake embellishments that my friend, Heather (ScrapHappyLady) sent me last Christmas.  I knew just what it needed to say HOPE.  To remind me of The Lord and to keep my faith strong and Hope in Him for a bright New Year.