Christmas Stockings

I love Christmas stockings, especially when they're filled up :) So, I wanted to do something with stockings on a Christmas card. These little stockings turned out pretty cute. They're made with the small and large oval punches. I really enjoy making things with the punches...if you don't have many supplies, I suggest spending the money on the punches - they're the best! Anyways, the tops are felt cut from the big shot and the snowflake is a felt flurries from the holiday mini (which you have through January 18th to order from). This card is not a quick and simple as my cards usually are so I wouldn't suggest making 50 of them but one or two for a couple of special people in your life will be much appreciated!

I hope you love it as much as I do (my arm is getting tired from patting myself on the back - hahaha)!

Stamp Set- Heard from the Heart

Paper- Real Red, Baja Breeze, Ski Slope DSP

Ink- Whisper White

Miscellaneous- Small and Large Oval Punches, Scallop Edge Punch, Felt Flurries, white felt (from Michaels)

Talk soon!

Question Answered

There have been questions regarding the gift card holder like "How did you do this?" Well, it's very simple...

You will need:

12x12 piece of stock card

glue dots

scallop edge punch

First, trim your paper at 4" so you end up with a piece of 4"x12" cardstock

Second, score at 4", 6", and 8"

Third, fold at the 6" score and then, fold back at the 4" and 8" scores

You should now have what looks like a card from the outside, but with a middle

Place gule dots at the very edge of the back so that the middle section sticks together (you want to do this at the very edge, because if you put glue dots too far down, your gift card will not stick in the holder)

Now, take your scallop edge punch and punch out the middle section leaving a little of both ends untouched (so your gift card won't fall out the sides)

You're done with the assembly...now you just need to decorate :)

These are going to make great Christmas gift card holders...you can even use your Country Living Holiday Collection kit supplies to make your holders beautiful!

Here's some pictures of a birthday gift card holder we made last month in my monthly class...

Ok...I cannot get this picture to post the right way (grrrrrr....)!!!

It's Done....

My Christmas card is designed and finished! Yay! Now all I have to do is make 50 of them! Designing is the hard part not the assembly so that's what I'll be working on these next few days and then my goal is to get a great family picture. My friend is taking our picture this year, outdoors, so I'm very excited about that. We always go to a portrait studio and it seems that everyone I know goes to the same one, so everyone's picture looks the same. Not this year - Ha!


I'm not sure what the technique for this card is called, but it was demonstrated to all of us at the Fall Fest a couple of Saturday's ago and I fell in love with the concept. I'm sorry, I don't know what the woman's name was, I do know she was from Canada, but if anyone out there knows her name, I would love to give her credit for this great technique! Her name is Judi Szyndrowski - Thank you Rhonda :)



Here's the card...





Stamps- Holiday Trinkets, Many Merry Messages

Paper- Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Ski Slope DSP

Ink- Old Olive, Baja Breeze

Miscellaneous- Riding Hood Red grosgrain striped ribbon, silver brad, slit punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, Basket & Blooms Bigz XL die, white gel pen



I love this centerpiece. This came from a card I made at Diana Gibb's 10/10/20 Christmas card class last month. The best thing is that the outer piece comes from the Big Shot!

Well, I did a little tutorial of how to make this card. Hopefully you can figure it out and make one yourself. Let me know if you have any questions...

1. You'll cut a piece of cardstock at 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" and fold in half.


2. With your slit punch, you'll start at one end and start punching. I put the punch so that the outer edge of the punch lines up with the edge of the cardstock (approximately 1/4") and then I did the same thing on the opposite end so that when I start punching accross, I can eyeball where the last punch should be (Does this make sense???)


3. Then, you'll fold in this portion (back towards the inside of the card)4. You'll get a 5 1/2" x 1" piece of cardstock and insert it into this fold and adhere it to the inside of the card
   

Here's what the backside will look like:


5. Lastly, you'll cut a piece of designer series paper at 5 1/2" x 3 1/2" and adhere it to the
back and this will cover up what you've done

I hope that I explained this well enough for you to duplicate. Have fun!

Talk soon.

Great Idea!

My brother went to see his girlfriend this long weekend. He hasn't seen her in a while and wanted to bring her something extra special. So, he asked me if I had any ideas and I remember seeing this project one night at Diana's Gibb's house. She had done this at one of her classes and I thought it was such a great idea - a CD Photo Cube.

So, what it is, is four CD jewel cases snapped together to form this box. It can be used for so many different things. I'm going to make someone in my family (I'm not mentioning names) one of these for Christmas and I think it would be super cute as a plant box - of course, you would have to wait until the plant was completely dry before putting it in the box since the botttom is just card stock. Throw a piece of acetate on the bottom just in case and you're good to go!

You can see the tutorial here http://paperjewels.blogspot.com/2008/06/cd-photo-cube-tutorial.html. It's very simple to put together...the hardest part is decorating and making everything fit and embellishing it. So, here's my crack at it...

If you have any questions, please let me know, but the tutorial is great and very easy to follow. I'd love to see photos if anyone out there makes one!

Talk soon and enjoy your last day of this fabulous long weekend!

My Favorite Day...SHOPPING!!!

So, I'm a die hard black Friday shopper. Love it, love it! I was up this morning at 3:30a getting ready to hit the sales. By 11a, I was on my way home after shopping at five stores and completely finishing my Christmas shopping except for a few gift cards here and there. I'm relieved it's done and I believe I got some VERY good deals!

Speaking of shopping, you have the remainder of the weekend to shop and receive some really great discounts...http://www.stampinup.com/ECWeb/itemlist.aspx?categoryID=320 Don't miss the deals!



On Wednesday, it rained off and on the entire day (which is not too common here in Arizona) and around 4p, there was this incredible rainbow out my front door. I've never seen anything like this before. Here's a pic :

Isn't this amazing?

Well, I'm posting a project I did for my brother. Turned out great. I'm so tired right now that I need to get off the computer and go veg in front of the tv. Sorry...

Talk soon :)

Swapping??

Well, yesterday I went to a Fall Fest stamping extravaganza!!! It was put on by Rhonda Morgan and Diana Gibbs. There were around 40 women there all stamping their hearts out. All of the projects were so cute. I'll be taking pictures of everything we did and posting them. Lots of cute Christmas ideas.

So, we were asked to participate in a swap that was floral themed. Here's my swap card...

Stamp Set- Eastern Blooms, Flight of the Butterfly

Paper- Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Sweet Always DSP, Whisper White

Ink- Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip

Miscellaneous- On Board Scallop Frame, Scallop Square punch, Scallop Edge punch, 1" Circle punch

I used a sponge and chocolate chip ink to dye the chipboard. The piece of chipboard I used was the outer part of the frame which fits perfect in the scallop square punch.

Talk soon!

Too Cute...

I'm so excited that I stumbled upon this gift card holder. It's just the cutest thing ever. Everyone I've shown it to just loves it. I was asked today if I made this up and my response was "Why invent the wheel". I'm sorry, I wish I had time to think about how to make these projects, but I just don't. That's what's so great about stamping...there's so many ideas out there. The only thing you have to do is add your own flair!

Tonight is our stamp club. This month's hostess, Chrissy, saw and loved these gift card holders so she requested the project tonight. Plus, I've incorporated the big shot so everyone gets to try it out tonight! Yay!

Here's our projects:

Stamp Set- NONE!

Paper- Baja Breeze, Ski Slope DSP, Whisper White

Ink- NONE!

Miscellaneous- Little Felt Flurries, Circle Ice Rhinestone Brads, Baja Breeze grosgrain ribbon

Stamp Set- Holiday Trinkets

Paper- Old Olive, I Wish simply scrappin' DSP, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla

Ink- Real Red

Miscellaneous- Baskets & Blooms die cut with Big Shot, Real Red grosgrain ribbon, White gel pen, silver brad, 1 3/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch

Ink- Merry & Bright

Paper- Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Very Vanilla

Ink- Chocolate Chip

Miscellaneous- Alpine ribbon, Scallop Frame chipboard, Square Scallop punch

Hope you love them!

Talk soon.

Thinking About Christmas

I really cannot get over that Christmas is right around the corner. My oldest son has his mile long santa list already and is adding to it everyday. I've even started to shop (well, I haven't actually bought anything yet, but I'm comparing prices with different stores). It seems that everything on Brenden's list is around $100.00!!! How ridiculous. He's a star wars fanatic so all of the ships are very expensive! These are the toys that usually are not on sale the day after Thanksgiving...we'll see I guess.

I've been playing around with some Christmas card ideas in my head. I really need to start working on these. We'll be getting our family picture done this year (last year, we only did the boys picture). Taking a family picure is tough. Not a big fan, but our family lives all over the states and everyone wants to see the family, not just the boys, which I totally get, because I want to see other people's families too.

Well, here's a card I've come up with today. I don't think I'm going to use it personally, but probably a card we'll be making in December's class:

Stamp Sets- Holiday Trinkets, Holiday Collection (Country Living Holiday Stampin' Collection Kit)

Paper- Real Red, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Patterns Pack DSP (Hostess Level I)

Ink- Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze

Miscellaneous- Real Red marker, Scallop Circle Punch, Scallop Edge Punch

Hope you like it :)

Talk soon!

I Dare You All

These sketch challenges are great. I look forward to receiving them every Wednesday. It's great when I'm in a card slump and need a kick in the butt (especially around my monthly card classes and I always feel like I'm running out of ideas).

Try it...

Here's how mine turned out:

Stamp Set- Upsy Daisy

Paper- Tangerine Tango, Close to Cocoa, Kiwi Kiss, Very Vanilla

Ink- Tangerine Tango, Close to Cocoa

Miscellaneous- Tangerine Tango and Kiwi Kiss striped grosgrain ribbon

Have fun and talk soon!

Too Cute!

I was looking around at different blogs last night and I found this gift card holder (found on stamping mommy of four - her link is on the left side) that I love love love! It's so simple and easy to make - it probably took me less than 10 min - and it's super cute! This is going to be perfect for Christmas gift card holders.

My cousin, Eric, just had his first baby, Kylie, last month so I'm sending her a little welcoming gift :) I can't wait to meet her. They live in South Carolina, so who know when that will be. For now, we just communicate through the highly addictive thing called Facebook. LOL. I think that's why I haven't been posting so much here - I'm too busy on Facebook.

Anyways, here's what I made for Kylie last night. I'll be making the parents one also with a little gift for them as well.

Stamp Set- Fun & Fast Notes

Paper- Ruby Red, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirquette, Bella Rose Designer Series Paper

Ink- Ruby Red

Miscellaneous- Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon, glue dots to hold down the ribbon, Scallop Edge punch (gift card holder sleeve)

Here's what the inside looks like. Isn't that just genius???

Love It!

Have a great rest of your weekend. I'm preparing for my calendar class for this Tuesday. I have lots of cutting to do :)

Talk soon!

More Thanksgiving...

Here's a Thanksgiving card we'll be making this month in class. I duplicated this card from a class I went to a couple of months ago. Although, Kresta used the big block stamp from Thoroughly Thankful stamp set and cut out the individual pictures, I do not have this stamp set, so I used stamps from a bunch of different stamp sets. I'm really happy with how it turned out!



Stamp Sets- Occasions Collection (turkey), Organic Grace (flower), Season of Friendship (leaves), Happiness Always (leaf), Sock Monkey Accessories (pumpkin), Pocket Silhouettes (stemmed flowers)

Paper- More Mustard, Close to Cocoa

Ink- Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, More Mustard

Miscellaneous- Summer Sun marker, Creamy Caramel marker, Old Olive marker, Pumpkin Pie marker, Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon


Have a super Saturday!

Talk later :)

Busy Busy...

It's been awhile since I've posted. I don't know where the time goes. I can't believe Thanksgiving is less than three weeks away. I still don't know exactly what I'll be doing that day...our plans are up in the air. Well, one good thing, my Thanksgiving cards are completed and ready for stamps! I'm excited because I've never sent out Thanksgiving cards before.

I just received my BIG SHOT!!! I'm so excited. I have so many ideas for Christmas decor, tags, gift card holders, etc. Can't wait to get things started. I've just been learning the ropes. Click here for all the information that you need about the Big Shot and let me know if you have any questions. http://www.stampinup.com/us/documents/BigShot_Cust_US.pdf

Although I haven't been posting, I have been very busy stamping. If you click on the top left of my blog, you'll see the link for the Country Living Holiday Collection Stampin' Kit. What comes in this kit is unbelievable. You'll be able to make a lot of different projects such as Christmas tree ornamants, tags for presents, little frames, etc. The possiblilities are endless with your creativity and imagination! Here's some little projects that I've done with the kit-

These are just a few examples...this is the greatest kit ever...not to mention that it comes with a stamp set of six!!

Well, I'll be posting the other project that I've been working on for Christmas gifts for my extended family.

Talk soon!

Thanksgiving card winner...

Thanksgiving is in 4 1/2 weeks...can you believe it? My favorite is shopping the day after Thanksgiving. People think I'm crazy but it's so much fun. I can't pass up the deals, especially now with kids!

Here's a Thanksgiving card that I made. Although I have never sent out Thanksgiving cards before, I think I'm gonna send this one out this year. I love this Autumn Vine paper - it's so pretty.

Stamp Set- Holidays & Wishes, Pocket Silhouettes

Paper- Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Whisper White

Ink- Really Rust, Whisper White

Miscellaneous- Scallop Edge Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, 2" Circle Punch, and 1 3/8" Circle Punch

Have a great day!

Talk soon!

"Harvest" vs Halloween ???

I've been a very busy bee these past few days. There's not enough time in the day to do everything I want to do! I'm making 30 Halloween treats for Brenden's "Harvest" celebration (I can't believe they can't call it Halloween anymore - that's just crazy to me). There's no more costumes, decor, parties. When I was growing up, we had a Halloween parade every year. We'd get all dressed up in our costumes at lunch time and then the entire school would parade around. We would have a big party with cupcakes and candy and awards for best costumes. Not anymore though. It's just bizzarro to me!

Anyways, here's what I've been working on (there's a kit kat inside...mmmmm):

Here's a cute card I put together for the swap at convention. I didn't use it, but I really like it. It's a good graduation card or change in job card. There's so much to do with this stamp set - it's very pretty!

Stamp Set - Dreams du Jour

Paper - Red Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Bella Rose DSP

Ink- Chocoalte Chip, Red Riding Hood Red, Garden Green

Miscellaneous- Scallop Edge Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Blender Pen, White Gel Pen, Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon

Well, I'm off to do laundry and play with the kids. Tomorrow I have a couple of girlfriends coming over to stamp - Yay!

Have a great weekend.

Talk soon!

Seasons of Change

Our season is changing...ever so slowly! I remember being very cold on Halloween night and now, we sweat! Well, soon I'll be wishing it was hot as I do every winter. I'm not one for cold weather. I'd much rather be sweating in the pool then bundled up and cold to the core.

Anyhoo, in the new holiday mini catalog is this stamp set - Season of Friendship. Very versatile because it comes with the bare tree, a flower stamp for summer, a bird stamp for spring, a leaf stamp for fall, and a snowflake stamp for winter. Love It! This is a card for the Thanksgiving season. I'm sending Thanksgiving cards out for the first time this year so I'm just playing around with a few ideas.

Here's one of them:

Stamp Set - Season of Friendship

Paper - Sage Shadow, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Ink - Sage Shadow, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard

Miscellaneous - Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, Large and Wide Oval punches, 1/8" Circle Punch

Talk Soon!

I'm in Love

I just got home from a Create-A-Calendar class at Diana Gibb's house and I'm in love with my calendar! It's the cutest ever. So cute, that I'm duplicating the class on November 11th at 7p. If you're interested, please RSVP by THIS Friday, October 24th (I want to make sure I have the supplies on time).

Here's what it looks like:

Don't you just love it?! I'll probably change up some paper and ribbon here and there, but you get the idea. Everyone needs one for 2009.

Talk soon!

Back to "real" life

We are home from The Happiest Place on Earth and it's been tough getting back into the swing of things. We had a great time. We thought we were leaving Arizona for a little relief from the heat but that was not the case! It was in the high 90's the entire time we were there. That was kind of a drag, but we all had a great time! The kids had so much fun, so it's all worth it!




Here we all are with Goofy at California Adventure.









This coming Monday is our Stamp Club. This month's hostess wanted a Thanksgiving theme, so I've decided to make a place setting. We'll be making a place card, a napkin holder, and a menu card. I think this set would look really great on anyone's table!





Menu Card:

Stamp Set- Fall Flair (hostess level 2 set), Occasions Collection (hostess level 2 set), Best Friends Alphabet Upper (retired - unfortunately)

Paper- Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, More Mustard, Very Vanilla

Ink- Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, More Mustard

Miscellaneous- Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon







Napkin Holder:

Stamp Set - Fall Flair

Paper- Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, More Mustard, Very Vanilla

Ink- Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, More Mustard








Place Card:

Stamp Set- Fall Flair

Paper- Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, More Mustard, Very Vanilla

Ink- Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, More Mustard

Miscellaneous- Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon






I'm off to work! I'm hoping to get some stamping done in the next couple of days. We're having a community garage sale this Saturday and I'm trying to get ready for that. I have tons of baby stuff to sell and hoping it's successful!

Talk Soon!

Thank You, Thank You

What a day! I've barely had time to breathe and I still have at least three more hours to go!

The countdown in on...we're going to Disneyland on Sunday morning, and as much as I LOVE to go on vacation, it's so hard to prepare for. There's always 101 things to do with making sure the landscaping company is taken care of (I'll be missing four work days) so sometimes I wonder if all the last minute stress is worth it. But, in the end when I'm watching the boys go round and round on the Dumbo ride, the past week of preparation is totally forgotten. This feeling is what's keeping me going!

Not to mention that my two boys and now my husband have all gotten an eight hour stomach bug. Justin had it on Sunday, Brenden on Tuesday, and Mike caught it today. I'm walking around this house holding my breath because the last thing I need is a stomach bug on Saturday when I'm trying to do laundry and packing up the house. It's been every other day this week, so Saturday should be my turn. Keep your fingers crossed that this bug skips right over me!

Well, enough of my complaining! I love this card. It's such a simple card, yet elegant looking. That scallop square punch is my absolute favorite thing in the new catalog (along with all the DSP, new In Colors, and stamp sets - hee hee). Anyways, I wanted to post it and found it appropriate because there's been so many hits on my new blog and I just want to thank you for stopping by and checking out my stuff!



Stamp Set -Say it With Scallops

Ink - Bashful Blue

Paper - Banbury DSP, Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Miscellaneous - Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, Scallop Square punch














Well, I have one more day of work and then off to Disneyland. Yippee!!!

Talk soon!

A New Baby is on the Way!

A friend of mine is expecting in the next nine months (yeah, a new baby!) and I wanted to make her a card. As I was looking through my stock, I noticed that I don't have any updated baby stamps. I, personally, am done making babies so I guess I've never thought to update my baby stamp sets. So, I used two retired sets. She obviously doesn't know if it's a boy or a girl, so I used a combo of blue, yellow, and pink (although, I really stressed on the blue - hee hee).


Stamp set - Baby Talk, So Many Scallops

Ink - So Saffron, Pink Pirquette

Paper - So Saffron, Pink Pirquette, Bashful Blue

Miscellaneous - Bashful Blue grosgrain ribbon, Coluzzle Cutting System, Scallop punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, Dimensionals

Talk soon!