MCT 12 Days of Christmas: On the Fifth Day of Christmas...

Welcome to the FIFTH day of Christmas in our "12 Days" Hop! If you're arriving here from Trell's blog, you're on the right track! If not, take a swing by Emma's blog to start the hop from the beginning.

'Tis better to give than receive. That's a given. But after you've given: 'tis better to receive a gift with adorable packaging - am I right? Okay... so it's the thought that counts and you should never look a gift horse in the mouth, and all that jazz. But really: cute packaging is a lot of fun to receive! It shows that extra bit of effort.

I like to think of myself as a crafty girl. I'm no stranger to ribbon, paper, glitter and the like. But gift wrapping is not my forte. My Mom is a tremendous gift wrapper! Not only does she create beautiful, crisp packages, but she does it in no time flat! I did not inherit the 'wrapping gene' from her.

To hide the fact that my 'wrap-jobs' are less than perfect (much, MUCH less), I like to dress my gifts with big bows and fun little extras for some added oomph. This year, I've created adorable gift tags in our Christmas colors to attach to the presents under the tree.

Click image for larger view

I plan on keeping the wrapping paper patterns pretty simple - red/white polka dots, lime(ish) green/white swirlies - to let the gift tags and ribbon SHINE!

The bases of the gift tags were cut out using MCT's XL Label Die (my fave) and then stamped using the coordinating XL Label Borders stamp set (also used for the "To:" and red heart). I used two different Cuttlebug folders: Wood Grain for the kraft colored bases and Bricked for the red bases. It doesn't really matter if you emboss or cut your shapes first, but I prefer to emboss them after they've been cut out.

The cutie-patootie gingerbread man is from Peachy Keen's Winter Peekers and Phrases (I used all three 'peekers' on my tags, but only am showing a select few tag designs here today). The Santa suit and snowman are from MCT's All Around Accessories. All of the images were colored using my Copics. I used the Build a Banner Kit for the shapes on the '25th' and 'Joy' tags. The "25th" number comes from All Around Birthday Time and the "JOY" letters are from Anyday Bingo & Crossword. Of course, pop dots were used on these tags as though the world would crumble around me if I didn't use enough of them. I LOVE pop dots!

Here's a tip to add some flair to your projects: Consider hand cutting strips for sentiments like I've done here for the "To:" and "heart" strips. The uneven angles add a fun and interesting element to projects and really give a handmade feel.

***12 Days of Christmas Give Away Alert***

To qualify for ALL the AMAZING giveaways for the next 12 days, you must comment on every blog in this hop! You will have until Tuesday, December 13th @ midnight to have all of your comments in! VERY IMPORTANT: PLEASE LEAVE A WAY FOR US TO CONTACT YOU IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE WINNERS! There are some AMAZING giveaways for this special 12 day event and some SURPRISES to help celebrate My Creative Time's One Year Anniversary! Yep, Emma released her FIRST set of stamps one year ago! So make sure you are tuned in because this is ONE hop you do NOT want to miss!

Thanks so much for joining us on this 5th day of Christmas - we're all so happy to came hopping along. I'm the last stop, but be sure to come back tomorrow for another round of AMAZING projects by the My Creative Time Design Team. I hope you were inspired!

-Veronica