Saturdays With LeAnn

Welcome back, my dear friends.  I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving and spent some quality time with your family and friends!  This time of year is such a great time to focus on our blessings and our relationships with those we love. I am truly grateful for each one of you and feel so blessed to spend part of my Saturdays with you.  I hope to inspire you today with more fun projects from outstanding designers.  So sit back and enjoy!

December Daily Album

It is no secret that I love to make little mini books full of pictures and memories.  This little mini album will be extra special to make; it is all about your fun day-to-day memories made in the month of December.  This is a great way to put in some of the fun activities you want to do with your family.  December is such a busy month, so prepare your album now and have it ready to go for December.  As you do your daily activities, jot down the memories and activities of that day.  Just think when December is over – all you have to do is add your photos and you instantly have a completed mini album!

You can make all kinds of secret flaps and fun pockets and the best part is that there are no rules. Creating mini albums it is also a great way to try out ideas that you might use down the road in your scrapbook page layouts.  Creating is even more magical when you savor every moment and memory of an outstanding holiday.  Let me take you over to Time to Create where you can follow a video created by Alicia McNamara.  She will show you how she created her darling December Daily Album.  A big shout out to Alicia for her inspiration and her fun idea for the month of December!

All Is Calm All Is Bright

Die cutting is a wonderful element to add to your paper crafting  The creative possibilities are endless.  Using die cuts will give you the little extras to expand your creativity.  Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  Christmas doesn’t always have to be done in the traditional colors of red and green. Try something a bit different in your cards this year!

Melissa Phillips shares a video that shows you another fun way of using die cuts. You won’t want to miss out on all of the great tips used in this video.  Come with me and I will take you over to Lilybean Paperie. You will also find so many more of her wonderful projects.  Take a few minutes and look around her blog, I promise you will be very inspired by Melissa’s talent.

It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

This whimsical card will really put you in the mood to start creating your Christmas cards.  Don’t you just love these vibrant, fun colors?  The different shades of green and aqua, along with the pop up snowflakes, really put a smile on my face. You can create such amazing backgrounds just using stamps and distress inks.

This fun card is sure to brighten anyone’s day.  This is surely one of those cards that will be fun to receive at Christmas time – there is nothing like a handmade treasure.  Are you ready to get started?  Click here and I will take you on over to Double Stick Heaven where you will find a full list of supplies used on this card. Thank you, Laura Bassen, for truly being an inspiration to all of us crafters.  Don’t forget to look at more of Laura’s fabulous creations while you are visiting her blog.

Advent Calendar Shadowbox

Can you believe it is almost Christmas?  Time to start thinking about Christmas crafts!  This is a fun Advent Calendar to count your days down ’till Christmas.  Your children or grandchildren will have a blast peeking inside each little individual drawer to see what prize is awaiting them!  Last year I decided to take a twist on my advent calendar and have a count down of 25 acts of kindness so we could serve others.  My grandchildren got a kick out of this; they could hardly wait each day to find out what we were doing to put a smile on someone’s face.  It was so much fun and a great way to teach them how to serve others.

This adorable advent calendar is a bit detailed so you may want to get started on it right away!  Let me take you on over to Scraps Of Life where you will see how Gloria Stengel created her darling shadow box.  She will give you some step-by-step instructions to make your project come together a bit easier.   Be sure to pull out some of your extra Christmas embellishments and just have fun creating!

Gingerbread Roll Cake

If you have never made a roll cake, it is time to change that! You should not be afraid, just follow a few simple steps and in no time you will have the most beautiful swirl cake.  I have to mention that these are surprisingly easy to make.

This moist gingerbread roll cake filled with spice creamy filling is a delicious traditional Christmas gingerbread cake, and your family will love it!  Having a family Christmas party?  This will be the treat everyone will go for.  For those who don’t love gingerbread, then make a pumpkin roll, or even a vanilla roll cake.  These are the perfect dessert for Christmas parties! One bite and you will understand why.  Let me escort you over to A Treats Affair where you will get all the recipes from Roxana.  You will be way ahead of the game for the hollidays!

I hope you have enjoyed today’s post and have been inspired to give these lovely projects a try.  I know you will have fun creating them.  Thank you again for sharing some of your weekend with me; as always I look forward to having you return next Saturday.  Have a fabulous week!

~LeAnn~