Just Us Girls Challenge #13

Merry Christmas everyone!  I know, yesterday was the big day, but we type these posts in advance so as I sit here typing, it IS Christmas.  A nice, relaxing evening with my family...tummy full of ham and pie, and watching Christmas movies.  I love the holidays spent in peace ♥

So, today my daughter and husband made my Christmas very special.  My daughter bought me a scarf I have been wanting and some expensive VS perfume that I've been eyeballing for a YEAR, with her own money!  I cannot believe she spent that much on me!  She is so generous...such a sweet girl :]

My husband bought me the one big thing I really wanted - a sewing machine!!  YAY!  No more hours of hand stitching...that's for the birds!  Now I just have to figure out how to use this thing ;o)  LOL  Wish me luck!!  I'm sure I'll be googling tutorials.

I'm excited to announce that Just Us Girls decided NOT to forego a challenge over the Christmas holiday!  We did this primarily because this is one of those holidays that a lot of people find some relaxing craft time away from work!  So, we went forward with the 3-D/Template challenge.  This week is extra special, not only because sweet Dana is hosting but also because we have our first sponsor, Kelleigh Ratzlaff!  We all used one of her templates from the Digi Chick for the challenge.  They are so much fun!  BIG thanks to Dana for making the arrangments and Kelleigh for her generosity!!  Our challenge to you is to use one of Kelleigh's templates, another company's templates, or create one of your own.  An optional twist is to use the color blue!

You'll see that I kind of forgot about the blue part until after I finished my project :|  Whoops!  Sorry Dana :[  I chose Kelleigh's Hexagon Box for my project and created a Santa!  He's holding lots of my favorite treat - Reese's Peanut Butter cups!  YUMMM.

For the middle layer I printed the large box at 85% the regular size.  I printed it onto some MTME Pretty Printables paper that I designed.  I thought the red/gray Throw Me A Line paper would be perfect for his "pants" and the red That Hit the Spot paper would be fab as his shirt!  I was so happy with the end result!  It turned out just as I had imagined :O)

I drew an arm and mitten on cs, cut them out and just held them on felt and trimmed around them twice to get both arms/hands.  I glued the mittens to the arms with Zip Dry and glued some Bernat Lu Lu yarn around the wrist.  I did the same for the hat :]  Isn't it cute?! 

The beard is actually a section of chenille stems from Michaels.  I trimmed one and glued the chenille using Zip Dry.  Added a red, felt nose, some googly eyes and pink cheeks, and my "head" was done!  After I added the belt, buttons and arms to the middle and bottom layers, I was finished with those!  So super easy :O)

We certainly hope you can play along this week!  Kelleigh is offering some goodies over at JUGS...be sure to check it out and add a link to your project using Mr. Linky to be in the running!  You will also be in the running for our next Chic of the Week also!!  If you upload to any online galleries, please use keyword JUGS13 so that we can see your creations in one place!

Don't forget to stop by the team members' blogs for some awesome eye candy!  Seriously, you won't believe what these ladies came up with this week!  SUPER inspirational!!  Kelleigh is a guest designer this week so please stop by her blog and give her some love also :)

I hope that you and yours had a relaxing, warm, peaceful Christmas with those you love.  Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Happy Holidays!  Be safe ♥