Tis Better to Give Blog Hop

The holiday season is upon us -- a blessed time of love and laughter, precious moments spent with family, good food aplenty, and, for many of us, gifts and giving. Now, we can almost hear the chorus of groans at that last part -- LOL! Yes, holiday gift giving can be stressful, especially when budgets are tight, gift lists are long, and the pressure is on to "shop 'til you drop." Well, we of the Deedees Digis design team firmly believe that gift-giving should be a joyful experience all the way around. That's why we have come together today to share with you some ideas of fabulous gifts that you can make, so that your gifts this year are meaningful, affordable, and hopefully as stress-free as possible. Join us today on our blog hop as we show you why "'tis better to give" -- because not only will you have fun giving these gifts, but making them as well! :-)

If this is your first stop on the hop, be sure to visit the Crafting with Deedee's Digis blog, where you will find the directions for the hop, a chance to win the grand prize of a $15 credit to our store, AND a little gift for you!

Since our theme this hop is such a 'giving' one, I decided to make the favors for Kyle's holiday sledding party. Last year, a girl in his class had a 'party' at a local sledding hill and that is where the idea came from for a special winter day this season. We will be inviting his class and a few other special friends and cousins and Mike (my DH) and I will chaperone an afternoon of winter fun. The great part is that we will take the camping stove and heat kettles of water for cocoa (to go with some homemade cookies and snacks)! My project showcases their 'mugs' everyone will be able to take home with them!

I was going to make my own template, when I said "Hello - check the internet"!  I found a great template at Mirkwood Designs and it worked so well that I didn't even need to modify it because of the size of my cocoa mix. Gotta love that! I used Picasa to add the sentiment from Snowy Sentiments to the image from Let it Snow. I also added the greeting using this software. I printed in as a 4 by 6 and then cropped it down to the size I needed. This idea would all work great with the Just Chillin' and Warm Wishes sets!!

I colored the image with my Bics and then just added a bit of snow highlight with my white gel pen; and added a sequined snowflake and a clear rhinestone to the top of that - TA DA - easy peasy. The steam coming from the cocoa is just ric rac stapled to the top of the cocoa mix which is in this adorable mug! [FYI - the red background is just that; printed as the background to my little collage thru Picasa.]

Your next stop on the hop is CEAL!

Before you leave, please be sure to leave me a comment in order to be entered to win a free digi of your choice from the Deedee's Digis store! You have until 12 noon Eastern Time on Sunday to comment. All winners will be announced on Monday at Crafting with Deedee's Digis -- be sure to check back then to see if you've won. Thanks so much for joining us today, and happy holidays to you!

Huggz,
April