HO HO HO

Welcome to day 1 of my 12 days of Christmas. I have some really exciting projects for you for the next 12 days and I hope you enjoy them all!


Today card came from inspiration from a store bought card---gasp! I didn't buy the card but I saw it in the store and thought, that's cute and I can do it AND I can do it better! Their card was a red base with "Ho, Ho, Ho" written vertically on it and nothing else. So here's my stepped up card.
I used Santa as a base for my card. His beard is made with the scallop circle punch. His shoes are the 1 3/4 inch circle punch and his belt is scraps of brushed gold and black cardstock. I used the Serif Essential Alphabet die to do the Ho Ho and then sprayed them with shimmer paint spray and sponged them with Going Gray ink.

But wait!! isn't it supposed to be Ho, Ho, Ho? Well the 3rd one is inside!

Along with your Merry Christmas greeting. I'm not sure why it looks so fuzzy, it didn't photograph that way so I'm not sure what happened.

Supplies:

Stamp Set: Four the Holidays

Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Black and Brushed Silver

Ink: Going Gray, Basic Black

Accessories: Sponges, Serif Essentials Alphabet dies, Big Shot, Shimmer Paint Spray, Scallop Circle, 1 3/4 inch circle punches, dimesnsionals

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow for day 2!!!

Wonderful Bird

I thought I throw in a non holiday post today, since the whole week has been full of great Christmas and Thanksgiving posts. AND Monday I'll start my 12 days of Christmas posts. Starting on Monday I'll be showing you a different Christmas idea each day for 12 days. It might be a card or gift box or home decor items or maybe even something else! I'm very excited about it, and I may even have some fun surprises so make sure to check back everyday!
I just LOVE today's card though. I have it displayed in my stamp room because it came out so great! I just got this stamp set a week ago or so and this was the first card I made with it and I love it, I can't say that enough!

I stamped the bird twice, once on the card in Chocolate Chip and another time on scrap paper colored with markers. I cut out the bird I colored with markers and attached it to the other piece with a dimensional. It's so pretty!

I love that gray corduroy button with the taffeta ribbon!!!

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Friends 24-7, Wonderful Favorites

Cardstock: Night of Navy, Brocade Blue, Chocolate Chip, White, Going Gray

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Night of Navy, Brocade Blue ink pads, Old Olive, Brocade Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Close to Cocoa and Night of Navy markers

Accessories: Basic Gray Corduroy buttons and taffeta ribbon, dimensionals

Thanks for looking, see you Monday for the 12 days of Christmas!

The First Noel

Happy Black Friday! Are you headed out to shop or just returning? I'm glad you stopped by, I have some more home decor stuff to show you today. First though I have to thank my upline Amber, she let me borrow her Serif Essentials Alphabet dies. I wouldn't have this or any of the other awesome things I've made with them otherwise! So THANKS AMBER!!
With the alphabet dies I cut out lots of words in different colors so don't be surprised if you see one or two more Noel banners or home decor pieces! I had so much fun making them! I was inspired to make them from Mindy's demo at our meeting last week.
This one is especially nice. I used the flocked DSP from the Christmas Cocoa pack and it really brings out the letters!
The scallop squares are mounted on Soft Suede cardstock that's mounted on the cardboard that comes with the DSP so it's pretty sturdy and will last for many seasons.

It's really pretty! These would make great gifts too!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Soft Suede, Christmas Cocoa DSP

Accessories: Scallop Square Die, Serif Essentials Alphabet dies, Big Shot, silver brads, tombow multi glue, dimensionals, Real Red ribbon

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!!!

Give Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I had a really hard time coming up with a Thanksgiving card this year. I'm not sure why. I think I'm in such a Christmas mode that other holidays just aren't coming easily right now. But I am pleased with this card. I used my punches to make a holiday scene. Their arms do not look that big in real life. I had to giggle when the card loaded on my post because it looks like they're wearing oven mitts instead of holding their hands to pray. But trust me the actual card doesn't look like oven mitts.

I think it's really cute and the turkey was so easy to do! It's a wide oval punch with small oval legs and the bones are the horizontal slot punch.

So remember to give thanks today! And for those going shopping tomorrow, make sure you get to bed early-if you're going to bed at all!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Supplies:

Stamp Set: Holiday Best

Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Old Olive, Vanilla, Close to Cocoa, Cameo Coral, Blush Blossom, Basic Gray, Creamy Caramel, Night of Navy, Chocolate Chip

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Blush Blossom, Night of Navy pad and marker, Cameo Coral, Old Olive marker

Accessories: Wide Ova, 1 3/8 Circle, Horizontal Slot, Small Oval, and Tag Punches, sponges, silver brads, Old Olive ribbon, crop a dial, dimensionals

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!!

Joy!

I got a ton of stamping done last weekend and I'm looking forward to tomorrow to stamp too! Possibly alot on Friday too! I doubt I'll get up super early to hit the sales. Most of my Christmas shopping is done anyway. Speaking of early, I was at the mall on Monday and I stopped in the Disney store and the clerk told me they're opening at 3AM!! Oh my word. WHY!? I'm all for saving money but at 3AM I'd so much rather be sleeping! What about you? Will you get up early to hit the sales? Don't forget about Stampin' Up! mega sale going on right now!! If you haven't had a chance to see it head over to my website and check it out. There's a lot of amazing products on sale! And you can shop from the comfort of your home!

For today's project, I spend alot of the weekend working on home decor stuff for the holidays, this is one of the projects I made. It came together so quickly and I just love it!

Right now I have it hanging on my door to my stamp room. I want to make another one to hang on our front door.

To finish it off I sprayed it with the shimmer paint spray so it's so glittery and pretty! The letters are cut out with the bigshot in Soft Suede and Real Red. The red letters are layered on the suede ones just slightly off to give a slight two toned look. It's so pretty in person, I wish the pictures could capture how pretty it is.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Soft Suede, Whisper White, Real Red, Christmas Cocoa DSP

Accessories: Shimmer Paint Spray, Big Shot, Serif Essentials Alphabet Dies, dimensonals, 2 way glue, silver brads, Real Red ribbon

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!

Tutorial Tuesday-Glittery Tree

This is such a cool technique! Amber showed it to us at the meeting last week and I just adore it! I couldn't wait to try it and I can't wait to show you! I'm not sure what this technique is called but to do it you'll need a hobby blade, some glitter, 2 way glue and some DSP, I'm using the flocked DSP from the Christmas Cocoa pack.

To start, I've cut out a tree from the cardboard backing that comes with the DSP. I've scored a line down the center of the tree. Position it where you want on your DSP and use your hobby blade to cut HALF the tree out.

After you cut half the tree, remove your pattern and fold your DSP in half so the opposite side is showing. Doesn't it already look cool?!

Stick it on a piece of white cardstock. Look how awesome that tree looks!

I used my 2 way glue and covered the backside of the DSP where the tree was cut out. It's a little hard to see but there's a ton of glitter on it!

Here it is on the card! Doesn't it look great!!! But we're not done. Now it needs a rhinestone tree topper.

To add a rhinestone tree topper, open the back of your rhinestone brad and use small tweezers to pry the top and bottom tab up...

The rhinestone will pop right out!

Attach the rhinestone with a glue dot or tombow multi glue.

The finished card, isn't it great!!!

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!

The Stork Has Arrived

Before I get to today's post I wanted to let you know of Stampin' Up! Holiday Extravagana Sale. Head over to my Stampin Up! Demonstrator website and check out all the fantastic deals that are only available this week! You have until November 30th to take advantage of the sale. Make sure to check today for specials today only!

I've showed you a lot of punched cards the past couple of days but I think this one may be the cutest one of all! I made these about a month ago and I've been holding on to them for a while. I made them knowing I would be mailing one of them to another SU demonstrator who had a baby a couple weeks ago. But since I didn't know what she was having I just made one of each. That way I could mail the correct one and keep one for me (since they're so cute).

The storks are sponged in Basic Gray ink to give it more depth.

Here's the little girl bundle.

And the little boy bundle.

Aren't they just the cutest!

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Warm Words, En Francais Background, Always

Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, Blush Blossom, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, White, Pumpkin Pie

Ink: Versa Mark, Blush Blossom, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, Basic Gray

Accessories: Clear EP, Dimensionals, 2 way glue pen

Punches: 1 /4 inch circle, 1 1/4 inch circle, Scallop Oval, Small Oval, 1/2 inch circle, 5 petal flower, Word Window, Boho Blossom

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow for Tutorial Tuesday!

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!