Christmas Photo Cards

What do you do with your holiday photo cards? You can't throw them away-they're too cute (especially if they have my kids on them) ;-)

Anyway, this is a dilemma I faced last year. I had all these photo cards in a basket and they were starting to get worn-OH NO!

So I made this little cutie...

Open her up and this is (kind of) what you'll see.

I normally don't have a normal Christmas card on top but I wanted to keep the privacy of my kids intact. The photo cards we have sent out in the past go first, then I have them in alphabetical order. Yeah, I know it's a little like Monica from Friends.

To make one for yourself you'll have to visit one of my favorite people in the whole wide world. Who is it, you ask? Well, Martha of course! Here's a link to her Holiday Card Scrapbook. I made a few changes on mine to suit my needs. First, I didn't have a grommet setter or grommets. And I didn't want to buy one, so I used a hole punch-it worked fine. Next, I punched 2 holes in mine to make it more like a book. And finally, I added some ribbon to the back cover before covering with the paper completely. In doing this I can tie up a cute bow and keep the dust out while it's not being looked through. I hope you have fun crafting up this little cutie. It will get tons of use.

"Cheap Trick of the Day"

Try a 1/4 c. of distilled white vinegar in place of your liquid fabric softener. I put it in the compartment on the washer. If you don't have that handy little compartment then you can use your downy ball. Don't worry your clothes will not come out smelling like salad dressing. Still not convinced or just a little worried about smell you can put a couple of drops of lavender essential oil on an old washcloth and put it in the dryer. The one and only complaint I have about the vinegar is that sometimes the micro fiber clothes get extremely clingy with static. But I can deal with some static if I'm going to be saving some green.

Here is a little cost comparison from my local warehouse club:

2 gallons of distilled white vinegar $3.38 (this does 128 loads)

Downy fabric softener $9.98 (this does 150 loads)

So I can get about 378 loads of laundry done for the price of 150 Downy loads.