Christmas countdown!

With December 1st around the corner—TOMORROW (eeek!)—many of us like to pull out our advent calendars. It always makes the wait so much more fun!

So... have we got a countdown idea for you, created by Katie Rasmussen. It involves candy. Which automatically ups its coolness level. Katie took cellophane and wrapped up candy for each 25 days, and then wrapped them together and tacked on darling ornaments using the Fancy Pants Christmas Magic kit. She decided to make hers quite large, so once all 25 days were attached to each other she had quite the chain! Check out these pictures!

With each passing day you can open up a new goodie and you and your family can enjoy a tasty treat and being one day closer to Christmas!

What do your advent calendars look like?

Happy holidays!

'Twas the eve of Thanksgiving

...and all through the valley, anticipation of feasting grew so strong it near started a rally.

...Okay, stopping there. We're crafters, not really verse writers. Yet despite that, we've got loads to be thankful for! For one, we're enjoying quite possibly the most glorious weather in the nation. How's the weather where you are? Let's keep our fingers crossed that mother nature smiles upon all those Thanksgiving Day and weekend commuters.

But most importantly, Oh My Crafts is thankful for our good, faithful customers! We heart you all.

So before we leave you all to your fresh, outta-the-oven rolls, bubbling green-bean casserole, flaky, succulent pies...(do we dare continue? No drooling on the keyboard...) we'd like to showcase one more fun project that we found at the Cricut idea homeland. This wall hanging was created with the Plantin Schoolbook, Storybook, and Opposites Attract cartridge. Give it a look-see.

And ya know what else you should give a look-see? Our Black Friday specials are going on right NOW—and boy do we have some super-de-duperdy sales.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear Santa

Don't you just love those cutsie little Santa letters that little kids come up with at Christmas time? Well have you ever thought of scrapbooking them? (Of course, once they're older. ...What would they think if their precious letter to Santa was found weeks later in a scrapbook??) Here's a fun layout created by Katie Rasmussen, using Imaginisce Polar Expressions.

What a cute way to preserve memories of your children!

What other ways do YOU like to remember the cute things your kids do or say?

Happy scrappin'!

Christmas is coming...are your cards ready?

Some of us have been finished with our 2009 Christmas cards since 2007. Some of us aren't quite that caught up. Either way works. And with the Thanksgiving holiday coming upon us, maybe some of us might have some needed free time (yeah right) to finish up those last-minute Christmas cards.

Check out these amazing cards and tags that Machelle Newmen created using Imaginisce Polar Expressions.

May this offer everyone some inspiration. Aaaahhhh, aren't the holidays wonderful?

Happy crafting!

Oh My Crafts—Croppin' in Japan!

Oh My Crafts owners Sandy and Kevin Cottle recently returned from a crop in Japan! Just outside of Tokyo, in Irma, Japan, the Cottles and many other eager crafters joined together for an all-out scrappin' party! They had a blast! A lot of them brought their children along, which made the event even more fun! Everyone was excited to learn new methods of crafting!

Sandy Cottle, our creative director, leads the class in a demonstration.

The classes featured two fav's in the industry—Cuttlebug and Cricut, but the ladies also got to test out the Letterpress, vinyl, and fun misting techniques.

Here's the goodies each cropper was able to create and take home:

Hmmm—where should we venture off to next? ...Maybe your way?

Happy crafting!

P.S. View some short footage from the event by clicking here. Oh and take note of the BLUE Cricut Expression they used—which is a limited edition look for the holidays! Get yours quick!

The time to gobble 'til you wobble is almost here!

"Thanksgiving, man.

Not a good day to be my pants."

—Kevin James

Read more awesome Thanksgiving quotes here.

*************CONTEST WINNER ANNOUNCED BELOW*************

Thanksgiving is an exciting holiday—filled with two wonderful things—family, and food. And no matter how you and your family choose to celebrate the holiday—crafts can always be incorporated. It's a beautiful thing.

Invitations? Seating arrangements? Scrapbook pages for years worth of reminiscing? No problem. We've got a selection of great ideas from some of our wonderful providers. *And to view more amazing products and ideas from our suppliers, you can visit their web page or blog, listed under "Sites We Love" in our right-hand column.

Need a fun layout idea to showcase that wonderful feast? Here's a great Cricut page using Accent Essentials, Plantin Schoolbook, Solutions: Blackletter, and Cursive 101:

And here's another one by QuicKutz:

Yum! Is your mouth watering? ...Is it over the thought of food or the thought of crafting?

Here's a cute idea for an invitation, made by Sizzix:

Get a load of these Cricut seating placards. Perfect! These little gems used All Mixed Up, Celebrations, and Doodlecharms:

When's the last time you decorated a napkin holder? Been awhile? Well now's the time to start—inspired by QuicKutz!

Okay. That should be enough to get you started on the craftiest Thanksgiving you'll ever dream up. May your holiday be full of tasty treats and fun family traditions!

And if you recall, yesterday we held a contest! It's time to announce the lucky winner of the My Mind's Eye 95-piece paper and accessories All-Star Boy pack:

Deanna Andrews, who said:

"I like to say thank you with little awards I make with my Cricut machine along with a card to say thanks. I do them randomly and for many different reasons, like if I catch someone being extra helpful or nice in a giving manner then I reward them.... Thank you for this contest"

Congrats Deanna! Please e-mail your shipping info to lana @ ohmycrafts . com! And a big thank you to everyone for participating! As usual—stay tuned for more fun contests!

Happy crafting!

How do you show YOUR gratitude?

"Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow." —Edward Sandford Martin

Read more awesome Thanksgiving quotes here.

Is anyone else already having dreams of a delectable Thanksgiving dinner? ...Waking up with the smell of turkey still lingering? No?? Hmmm. Well—if you do, know you're not alone. Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that sometimes (okay, usually) gets the shaft from all the big stores. The minute Halloween is over Christmas decorations come bounding in. Not that there's anything wrong with Christmas—but today we'd like to take a minute to reflect on Thanksgiving. On being thankful.

People show their thankfulness in many different ways, which is great. As crafters, often we like to show our gratitude through a crafting medium! So if that's what you like to do, then here's some projects for you. *And to view more amazing products from our suppliers, you can visit their web page or blog, listed under "Sites We Love" in our right-hand column.

Say it with a card that's not only adorable, but heartfelt!

Here's a darling Sizzix idea:

QuicKutz always has wonderful ways to show sentiments of gratitude:

Love these Fancy Pants cards:

Aren't these cards just lovely? There's still oodles of other ways to portray feelings of thankfulness.

Check these out.

This poignant Cricut mini album is great for storing personal treasures! This project used Plantin Schoolbook, Storybook, Wild Card, Stone Script and Design Studio:

Or here's another great idea from our Provo Craft peeps. It never hurts to have a little reminder box—especially when you're trying to teach small children to have gratitude for all their blessings! This Cricut project uses Storybook, Opposites Attract, Street Sign, and Home Accents:

Here's a great layout by Karen Foster—perfect for bein' thankful

and perfect for posterity:

And we already mentioned how QuicKutz it so quick to have something grand, didn't we. This is a great idea:

As far as Oh My Crafts goes, we're thankful for all our wonderful suppliers—and naturally our amazing customers!

Happy thankfulness-ness!!

How do you dress YOUR paper dolls?

It's a blustery and chilly day here in Utah—more snow could very well be on it's way. So our little snowbunnies in the mix might be the most appropriately dressed. What do you think? Do you like their outfits?

What have you dressed your doll in lately?

Happy dress-ups!

"Fun-ness" in the kitchen

As usual, we like to bring "fun-ness" to the masses. And here's a few particularly fun looks using Basic Grey's Nook and Pantry paper kit, which were featured in the November Basic Grey newsletter. We just had to share.

Makes bein' in the kitchen much more fun, yes?

Oh, and if you're a card maker, don't miss our card Kits of the Month featuring some of the finest Basic Grey paper kits!

Happy crafting!

Let the game begin!

The wonderful thing about scrapbooking is that it covers ALL aspects of life! Scrapbooking even has room for sports fanatics! And right now, football is all some people can think about! So check out this awesome layout using Karen Foster's Football scrapbook kit.

Isn't this a great look? This is another project created by Machelle. Here's all the products she used:

Karen Foster Football paper pack

Black Brads

Bazzill Beetle Black cardstock

Bazzill Bon Bon cardstock

Bazzill Leapfrog Green cardstock

Memento Ink Pad—Tuxedo Black

Glue Glider

For this particular layout, Machelle took her black cardstock, cut it into two 3x12-inch strips and then crinkled it so it looks worn. She also did the same with her Bon Bon cardstock, only cutting one 3x10-inch strip. Crinkling is such a fun and simple technique that adds such texture to any design!

And then she used the ink to distress edges anywhere and everywhere. No design is fully complete without a good dose of distressing! Wouldn't you agree?

So there you have it. Now the game can really start. But before we leave you to your daily duties for the day, may we remind you of this Erma Bombeck quote:

"Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence."

Happy crafting!