A Moment of Silence...

Let me take a moment of silence for my HORRIBLE Kodak Z650. It died an untimely death with an SD card FULL of pictures I had taken for my blog! I *may* take it into the backyard and bash it on the ground to show my "appreciation". LOL I had taken about FIFTY pictures for a "science experiment" for my blog and now they are lost in cyber land. Grrrrrr! I went today and bought a new digital camera and new SD card, so I HOPE the new one works ok. :) I didn't want to spend a ton of money since Christmas is around the corner, so I bought a semi-inexpensive one. I am crossing my fingers! :) I hope the pictures look ok.

OK, now for the irony in this post... my project today is all about MUSIC, not silence. LOL

I was inspired by Lauren to make a Holiday Mix CD for some of my friends this Holiday season. Anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE music. I listen to it just about every time I stamp. So, I went to iTunes and downloaded 14 songs that I loved to make a Holiday Mix CD. This isn't your traditional "Frosty the Snowman" type CD. LOL I have actually enjoyed listening to it since I made it a couple weeks ago and I wasn't even in "Christmas Mode" yet.

I loved the idea of being able to make a cute box for the CD case like Lauren. Unfortunately, I cannot share the dimensions because the original idea is hers and it is for sale. I suggest you go purchase Lauren's Music Makeover template for $5 and make your own. Her templates are designed to be printed directly on your card stock and then cut and scored using the lines provided. If that is something you wouldn't like to do, you can always print it out and use it as a template.

I dressed up the box a little with patterned paper and some simple stamping. I knew I wanted to make quite a few of them so I wanted to make them reproducible. :) The CD case itself is decorated with patterened paper, a sentiment and a list of songs on the CD inside that I printed directly from iTunes. Oh and FYI, I used the STANDARD jewel case size, not the new slim type. You can buy 10 standard jewel cases from Walmart for about $4.

So for 15 Holiday Mix CD gifts I spent:

$14 iTunes downloads

$6 jewel cases

$3 blank CDs (out of a big spool)

$10 pack of patterned paper (used almost the whole pack)

$5 card stock (approx)

$3 Heidi Swapp ghost shapes (have some with every meal LOL)

$3 copper brads (used 60 of a pack of 100)

$5 adhesive (approx)

____

$49

$3.27 per Holiday Mix CD gift

That is a small amount of money for a cute little gift don't you think?

You could also use a different type of CD sleeve or holder to decrease your cost per gift!

Here are the songs used for my Holiday Mix CD:

1.) Carol of the Bells/BarlowGirl

2.) The Heartache Can Wait/Brandi Carlile

3.) Mistletoe/Colbie Caillat

4.) Winter Wonderland/Kate Havnevik

5.) All My Bells Are Ringing/Lenka

6.) Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow/Michael Buble

7.) The Christmas Song/Michael Buble

8.) Grown-Up Christmas List/Michael Buble

9.) I'll Be Home for Christmas/Michael Buble

10.) White Christmas/Michael Buble

11.) Winter Song/Sara Bareilles& Ingrid Michaelson

12.) Happy XMas/Sarah McLachlan

13.) Song for a Winter's Night/Sarah McLachlan

14.) Christmas Time is Here/Sarah McLachlan

So have YOU started your holiday gift-giving goodies yet? What are you doing? I would love to hear your ideas.

Have a wonderful day!

Jody