Meeting Highlights

Our meeting was Thursday and I had a great time as usual. We had a fairly large crowd, which is always more fun! Here's some highlights from the meeting.

These were our make and takes, we did some ornaments. My first one has issues and was no where near as nice as Amber's. I spaced my points too far apart so it looks a little strange but I can always add more.

Both ornaments are made with the ornament punch. Aren't they cool. I really love the second one!

Here are the swaps for this month. The theme was punches!!!

This one is Pam's. Really pretty and she left us a spot to stamp our own greeting!

This one was Michelle's. Cute. Cute. Michelle said she thought the eye was too big, but I think it's cute.

Jane die this one. I like the simplicity of it. It's really nice. I think Basic Gray is my new favorite neutral color.

Carmelita made this super cute gingerbread man. Doesn't he remind you of the gingerbread man from Shrek!?

This one was Karen's. Just lovely! Plus I love those colors!!

This one is Angela's. Love all thing butterfly! It's hard to see in the picture but Angela used the big shot to emboss the white with a textured plate. Very cute in person!

Now for the demos. I actually remembered to bring my camera to the meeting so I was able to take pictures of all the demos not just the one I get to bring home.

The first one is Angela's. She showed us how to make a tree with the large scallop circle from the big shot. Just a little bit of cutting and folding it's done. Isn't that cool? I really like it.

These are the 2 demos I did. I showed you the ornament yesterday and I also showed how to make that cute duck baby gift card holder.

This is Karen's. She showed us how to use the tag punches to make a star. She made it into an ornament and used a mini library clip to attach it to the card. How clever! But I would expect nothing less from Karen!

I LOVE THIS ONE! Thanks Mindy!! Mindy showed us this. She used the decor element stencils on felt then cut them out with the bigshot and make a banner with it. LOVE IT!

Amber did a demo too, but you'll have to check back on Tutorial Tuesday to see what she demoed-another fantastic project!

Thanks for looking, see you Monday!

Hat Pin Ornament

I love the Pretties kit that we sell. The pearls are great for cards and the flowers are so pretty and you can color them to match any project, but what do you do with the Hat Pins. I have a bunch from all the pretties kits that I've bought over the years so what do you do with them?? Hmmm, well I was so excited to see this on Splitcoast stampers and it's such a brilliant idea, and a great way to use the extra hat pins that you have.

This is what I demoed last night at the meeting. I just love it and can't wait to make more!!

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!

My Swap

Our monthly demonstrator meeting is tonight. We're having it a week early since next week is Thanksgiving. Can you believe it's already Thanksgiving! Time to start counting down the days until Christmas.

Our card swap theme this month was punches. Perfect. I was thrilled with it, I've been thinking and thinking for weeks about what to make and then when it came down to do it I just couldn't make up my mind. So I let Logan decide. He liked the turtle so I went with the turtle. The original idea for the turtle came from Heather Summers (again, I know but she is the punch queen and I love all her work!!!) He's super cute just walking along. That striped ribbon is so nice too. I've been hording it for a while it's so pretty!

While I was making my turtles I had punch supplies for Logan to make one too. I handed him a 2 way glue pen and let him make the turtle how he wanted too. I think it's cute. He did a good job and even drew a smile on.

I'll have the swaps I get back this weekend to show you.

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!!!

Pop Up Tree

I have debated for months about whether or not to get the pop up tree die in the mini catalog. I think it's adorable and I would love to make lots of little trees for decorations, but would I use it other times of the year? Is it worth it? So my upline Amber has it, so I borrowed hers to play with it to see if it's something I 'need'. I haven't made up my mind yet. This was the first thing I made with it and it is very cool!

My card is a 5x5 card and very simple on the outside. A simple belly band and some ribbon and that's it.

But when you take the belly band off and open it up, it's amazing! A tree out of no where! Please excuse my messy desk:)

I sprayed the entire inside of the card and the tree with shimmer paint spray and stamped snowflakes and my greeting inside. But isn't it cool? It wasn't too difficult to put together. A little time consuming but pretty easy.

So if you have the Christmas Tree die I'd love to hear what you do with it and how you like it.

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Four the Holidays, Serene Snowflakes, Sweet Season

Cardstock: Textured Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Vanilla, Merry Moments DSP

Ink: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Versa Mark

Accessories: Scallop, 1 3/8, 1 1/4 inch circle punches, Chocolate Chip Ribbon, Linen Thread, Chocolate Chip corduroy brads, Big Shot, Pop Up Tree die, Sticky Strip, Shimmer Spray, Dimensionals

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!

Tutorial Tuesday-Stamping on Candles

I have a special Tutorial for you today. This tutorial would be perfect for stocking stuffers or little gifts for teachers or friends. And you'll be surprised how fast and easy they are. I saw them a week or two ago on another blog and I can't find it again. So this not my original idea, it you know who's it is please let me know so that I can give proper credit to that person. But I think it's a fantastic idea and I'm happy to share it with you.

So to do this technique you'll need tissue paper, a candle (I'm using a small tealight), a heat tool, a 1/8 inch circle punch, 1 3/8 inch circle punch, ink pads and your stamps.

Stamp your image on tissue paper. I'm using some scrap paper behind it. It's just copy paper, but it's much easier to punch the tissue paper with some kind of stability behind it.

Punch your 1/8 inch circle punch in the center, this is for the wick to go through.

Punch the 1 3/8 inch circle punch and get rid of the scrap paper.

Place your stamped tissue paper on your tealight...

...and heat for a few seconds. The wax melt and mold around the tissue paper.

Set aside to cool.

I made a small box for mine from the bitty box and envelope die from the big shot. Then I made a small holder for the inside of my box. The holder is 2 3/4 x 2 3/4 score at 1/4 all around. Punch a 1 3/4 inch circle punch in the center and insert in your box.

Isn't this just the prettiest gift.

And how much would your friends enjoy getting this!

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!

Peace on Earth

What a crazy fun weekend we had here. How was yours? It's was freezing here this weekend, but that didn't stop my Christmas Punch Class. I had a blast and I hope those that attended did too. The projects were so cute, scroll down to Saturday's post to see them. I love using punches to create things.

Saturday afternoon after my class Dan and Logan and I made a last minute trip to the mall. Dan wanted to check to see if they had the calendar he's looking for. He's very particular about his calendars and he prefers to buy them online but they haven't had the one he's looking for. But while at the mall we saw Santa. YEAH-way early, I said that too! When I was a kid, which wasn't that long ago, Santa didn't make his mall appearance until after Thanksgiving. I guess not anymore. So we walked by and saw Santa and Logan said "I want to shake his hand". Well since it's so early in the season and no one knows Santa's out yet there was virtually no line. So I said, ok lets go. So after waiting in line for about 30 seconds. Logan got to shake Santa's hand. When Santa asked Logan what he wanted for Christmas, here's what Logan said "Just a present" Awwww, so cute!! Even Santa had to chuckle at that!!! Sunday we stayed home, watched some football, I cleaned up after my class, and we raked some leaves in the front yard. Our yard looks better but there's still a few leaves in the gravel that are nearly impossible to rake so I may have to borrow my Dad's "leaf sucker upper" as Logan calls it. The back yard is another story many many more leaves back there! But enough of my rambling.

I'm so pleased with today's card. This is another card that I made for Logan's preschools silent auction. The first design I showed you last week here. This one I love though, it's simple, elegant and just so pretty. I used the Christmas Cocoa DSP on the card and the Serene Snowflakes.

I used my sponge and added a little of the Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint to it too.

Don't you just love it! It was very easy to make and you can easily mass produce it too!

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Serene Snowflakes, Four the Holidays

Cardstock: Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Christmas Cocoa DSP

Ink: Sahara Sand, Soft Suede

Accessories: Jumbo Brads, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, Sponges, Soft Suede Ribbon, dimensionals, 3/4 inch circle punch, Paper Piercer

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow for Tutorial Tuesday!!

Christmas Punch Class

Today is my Christmas Punch Class! I think we'll have a great time. The projects are all TOO cute and we always have a great time at the punch classes. Here's what we'll be making!

Singing mouse, got this idea from Jackie Topa. Love this little guy!!

Christmas Bells. The idea from these came from Heather Summers from her Holiday Punches class. I just love these bells, they're incredible!!

A tag with a cardinal. There's a lot of this guy out there. I wanted to do him last year but never got a chance. So I wasn't going to miss the opportunity this year.

This is another idea from Heather Summers. She's incredible!

This chubby little reindeer is so cute! I used a sweet treat cup holder for his belly with brown M&M's.

Have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by, see you Monday!

Amazing Window Sheets!!

I'm always pleased with my cards when I use window sheets. They just make them so pretty and elegant and they never disappoint. So when I saw this tutorial at Tami White's website. I knew I had to try it on a card. She used a window sheet in one of our embossing folders for the big shot. What a brilliant idea. I had to try it!! I made this small 4x4 card and used the Petals a Plenty embossing folder from the mini catalog on mine.

This card is so pretty in person but difficult to photograph. It would be so lovely attached to a gift this holiday season.

I'm so pleased with the look of this that I can't wait to try it on a box now!! Watch for that soon!

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Four the Holidays

Cardstock: Whisper White, Real Red, Always Artichoke

Ink: Real Red

Accessories: Window Sheets, 5 petal flower punch, silver brads, petals a plenty embossing folder, big shot, white organza ribbon, glue dots, gold pen, paper snips

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!

Sparkly and Bright Tree

Have I mentioned how much I love Shimmer Paint Spray, the Two Tags Die and the Sparkly and Bright stamp set? I love, love, love them all!!!


I've been busy all week getting ready for my Christmas Punch Class on Saturday. I think I'm close to being ready. I just need to get the punches and the cardstock to punch together and I'll be ready! I think this class will be a blast. The projects are so adorable. But onto today's card. This card is one of the 4 designs that I'm making for Logan's Preschools silent auction next month. I'll make 6 of each design for a total of 2 dozen cards. I think it's so pretty and those bright non traditional Christmas colors really make the card so special.

I used this card from Splitcoast for my inspiration. I of course had to spray my Old Olive Cardstock with my shimmer paint spray. I took the rhinestone out of one of the rhinestone brads and used it for the tree topper. And look how the Two Tags die really makes the Melon Mambo Scallop pop right off the page. I truly love that die and I think it's one of my all time favorite dies!

Supplies:

Stamp Set: Sparkly and Bright

Cardstock: Bermuda Bay, Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink

Ink: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Big Shot, Two Tags Die, Scallop Circle Punch, Clear Rhinestone Brads, Melon Mambo Ribbon, Dimensionals, Shimmer Paint Spray

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!!!

Simple Suede

I know that I'm not the only one out there that struggle with masculine cards, especially when they have to be made at the last minute. As this one was. I actually had to make this card twice, here's what happened.

Last Thursday we were invited to go to a birthday breakfast Friday morning with some friends from church. So I went home on Thursday and made this card. Completely satisfied with it I wrote our well wished inside and put it in an envelope an stuck it in my purse. Thursday night I was meeting a friend for dinner. On our way home I was talking to Logan telling him about breakfast the next day and he asked if we made a birthday card (yeah, what a good boy!). I said "yes and I'll show it you you when we get home" So we got home and I pulled the card out of my purse and soaking wet! OH MY GOSH! WHAT HAPPENED! We'll apparently my travel sized bottle of antibacterial hand sanitizer had leaked a little and everything in my purse, including the card was germ free. So I put Logan to bed and made another card.

So here's the card.
The inspiration for this card came from Jen Sannes blog. I changed mine a little to make it a little more masculine. Still a wonderful card and thank goodness I had that inspiration! I was in total stampers block trying to come up with a masculine card.

Supplies:
Stamp Set: It's Your Birthday
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Thoroughly Modern DSP
Ink: Soft Suede
Accessories: Paper piercer and pad, silver brads, dimensionals

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!