Splash of Color Blog: Day One of our Twelve Days of Christmas!

We want to welcome Shelley Hamilton to our annual Twelve Days of Christmas celebration! She will be joining our team to share some fun gift giving projects just in time for the holidays!

Hi y'all~ Shelley Hamilton here from Texas! I am a guest designer this month, and couldn't be happier to share some of my creations with you guys!

A little about myself...I started scrappin' about four years ago when my dad passed, I think as some type of outlet for the grief I was feeling. Once I began, I never stopped. Now, I scrap everything I can get my hands on. I am happily married, and I have 3 children--7 yrs., 9 yrs., and 20 yrs. old. I love to scrapbook their events--sports, plays, birthdays...you name it. I love the vintage, grungy, shabby, and just plain fun! I've been designing for The Crafty Scrapper in Waxahachie, Texas for about a year now, and I am thoroughly enjoying it!

For my first project, I'd like to share with you my "Sweets for Santa" Cupcake Album. I wanted to begin with a bang, so this baby lights up! No, reallly, it does!

I began with Heart of Texas Studio's cupcake album--such a cute book! On the front cover, I used Renae Lindgren's, SWEETS FOR SANTA collection. This particular paper is the yellow side of "Sweet Family". I used the sticker sheets from this line for the gingerbread people, tree, and sign. I pop dotted them and used Stickles on them. I used a lighted necklace for the lights and secured them into the top piece of the cupcake using a hole punch and zipdry. The top part of the cupcake is a separate piece, so it is around 1/2 inch higher than the piece with the yellow paper on it. I used Sparklyfluff for the snow, and some mini ornaments, twine, and tulle to embellish the top of the cupcake to fancy a whimsical Christmas tree!

I added Sweets for Santa stickers on cardstock and hung them from the cupcake for fun ornaments! There is a small hole big enough for your fingernail to fit into on the left-hand side of the cupcake--here is where you can turn the lights on and off...actually, the cupcake will light up in 3 different modes, depending on what mood you're in! I was going to put a little music player in it, but thought that might be over-doing it, and we wouldn't want that! ha! :)

Inside Front Cover: I used "Sweet Love" and "Sugar and Spice" to cover the chipboard. The presents and the house are stickers on cardstock pop-dotted and embellished with stickles. The tiny candies are the same stickers that i added Glossy Accents over them to create a real candy look! I added some found objects of various trims and embellishments to finish the page.

Page Two: I covered the chipboard with "Santa Peppermints" and "Sweet Love" papers. I painted the bottom of the chipboard page with red paint and embellished with the stickers and some maya road trims.

Page Three: I covered the page using "Sugar and Spice" and "Santa Peppermints". The top of the page is adorned with Maya Road trims.

Page four: I covered the chipboard using "Sweet Love" for the top, "Santa Peppermints"for the bottom and the mat(opposite sides). The jolly snowman cup is a sticker with tulle and Glossy Accents. The words are by Maya Road. I painted them red, then sprinked Sparklyfluff for a little bit of snow!

Page five: I started with "Santa Peppermints"for the paper. For the shiny Maya Road kraft envelope, I stamped it with some fun kitchen stamps, then used Luminarte Twinkling H2Os in Stargazer and Periwinkle to achieve the so-shiny-it's magic appearance! I cut apart the cards in"Sugar and Spice", stapled a small portion of ribbon embellishment to the corner, then tucked them inside our envelope. The little cake that sits atop the envelope is just a sticker, but doesn't it look great? Makes me hungry... mmmmmm... Tulle, a button, and twine finish this page off.

Page six: I used "Sweet Love" for the background paper, and one of the cards from "Sugar and Spice". I added Maya Road chipboard pieces and felt flowers to embellish this page.

This is the back of the album. I covered the back using "Santa Peppermints". One side of the paper covers the top, the other covers the bottom portion of the cupcake. The mat is "Sweet Love"! I used fun leaf trim around the mat and a cupcake sticker for the top of this page. On the side of the mat, I used a Christmas package embellishment that had regular buttons on it, but I changed out those for some that matched better and were more fun!

This is a little video of how the Sweets for Santa Cupcake looks when the lights are burning solid---no blinking!

This one shows the Sweets for Santa Cupcake with the third setting for the show of lights...check it out!

I'm really looking forward to sharing more of my creations with you! Please feel free to comment or ask questions here. Signing off for tonight...Shelley :)