Most of my craft projects are waiting to be unveiled until after Christmas so as not to ruin the surprise for some of my frequent readers. However, I am too excited about this one to keep it a secret . . . and I don’t think that Ran’s grandmother is checking my site as often as some of you. The inspiration for this project began when Ran’s grandmother moved into an apartment complex called “The Forest at Duke.” The move wasn’t an easy transition, but I think the hardest part was changing her address to imply that she is anything but a die-hard Carolina fan. To help her continue the rivalry with her neighbors, Ran and I made a decoupage sign for her front door that reads “The Forest at Carolina.” To make your own decoupage creation you will need: 1. An item you would like to decoupage. We purchased a blank wooden plaque from AC Moore. We sanded and stained it before we started the decoupage process. 2. Pictures to decoupage. We printed the sign and basketball images but you can

Down to the wire with this Christmas gift! This week a friend hired me to paint a portrait of her family's beloved cat, Bees. It was a really fun project and I was so pleased that I finished it in about 5 hours. I think her parents will love it! Adorable side note: Bees and her sibling, Apple, were rescued from an Applebees parking lot.

Click the below link to download, print, and cut your very own Love Actually themed gift tags. All you need is paper (card stock works best), a color printer, scissors, a hole puncher, and ribbon. Enjoy! http://files.kshcreative.com/theletteredset_gifttags.pdf

My nephews made my day with a wonderful collection of paper crafts. The special package included little letters and envelopes, each decorated with stickers, drawings (Matt does a perfect "Domo"), and special notes (written by Will). Like my mom did for us, my sister encourages lots of hands-on creative time with her boys. Cultivating creativity in our children is so important - and it is wonderful to see the results!

My holiday cards are assembled and ready to be personalized. I finished them by layering the white card (with the embossed stamp imprint ) on top of a red card with scalloped edges. I used double stick tape to bond them together. For the envelopes I am experimenting with decorative liners . It's a little tedious so we will see how far I get -- but the first one looks nice!

I'm starting a new category called "shopping." Thanks, Ran, for thinking of this idea! I am pretty sure he suggested it because he was having trouble sharing my enthusiasm for trips to AC Moore or my online purchases (such as this new font family at myfonts.com). So now I will share my excitement with the WWW!