Tiny Treat Boxes

I am preparing for this weekend's card classes and the little box on the right is one of the items we will be making.  (I actually copied from the Occasions Mini.) The Tiny Treat boxes are in the Occasions Mini on page 5.  They measure 2"x2"x2" and are just adorable.  I did not purchase any Valentine sets this year, which works well when making these.  Both boxes are embellished with paper from the DSP Stacked With Love Paper Stack in the Occasions Mini and  1/4" red Cotton Ribbon in the Annual Catalog.  I did use framelits for the banners on both boxes.  That being said, if you don't have banner framelits, you can easily make banners.  Just cut a strip of paper the width you need and make a tail at one end.  There is a variety of hearts on the boxes and the Hershey Hugs & Kisses are the perfect little surprise inside.    If you are going out tonight, be careful!  Have a great day and Happy New Year!

Love Is Kindness

The image and saying is a single stamp in the Occasions Mini, Love Is Kindness.  I stamped the image thinking I would use my Melon Mambo Blendabilities.  Well, one of them was dry!  So, I reached for my Marvelous Markers and colored the tulips red,  shading the newspaper with Smokey Slate ink and a blender pen and then using my oval framelits.  The DSP is a pattern in the Stacked With Love DSP Paper Stack.  This could be a Valentine card or a thank you card.  Whichever it turns out to be,  I think it is pretty.  The bitter cold is here so stay warm and have a great day!

New Year Favor

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.  We had a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  We really are so blessed with our family and friends.  On Friday I went down to the basement to put a few things away and oh boy!  What a disaster area.  So I started cleaning and organizing the big storage closets.  The Good Will donation center will be happy to see me pull up with the goodies I have found for them.  Then I went into my scraproom.  Between Friday and Saturday, I got all the Christmas craft things put away until next year, my scrap cardstock drawer straightened out a bit and even had time to play with my Cricut on Sunday.  My Close To My Heart demonstrator, Morgan Vogt, had created this really cute Valentine box.   I wanted to create this box but I created a "happy new year" favor box.  I used some cardstock that I had purchased at Archivers~~a long time ago! It fits 6 hugs and kisses easily.  The box is from the Artiste cartridge, page 44.  The sentiment is from the Good Greeting stamp set and the stars are also Stampin' Up!  And my island is once again a mess!!  Have a great day. 

Merry Christmas...

...from our house to yours!  

Merry Christmas Eve!

We have been busy around here as have many of you.  Today I am sharing photos of favors made by others in the midst of Christmas hustle and bustle.  The Hershey kisses favor was made by Kathy Z and she made 60 of these!  She always does such a good job and this is a  reminder to use the Top Note die.   The penguins were made by Cherie.  She used the Curvy Keepsakes box and made 80 of these!!  They are adorable and I can only imagine how much time she spent on the penguins.  Changing the subject, Stampin' Up added new items to the End of the Year Closeout.  Included is the Good Greetings stamp set that you earned with a $300 workshop/order.  Well, it is now available as are a few of the current items in the Holiday Mini at very nice discounts.    Have a great day and a wonderful Christmas Eve.

That's The Ticket Valentine

This card turned out just like I pictured.  The card could probably use a little bit more grunge, but maybe not.  The "xoxoxoxox" DSP square is from the new Stacked With Love Paper Stack.  The paper stack has some nice prints/patterns and include the colors black, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe, Red and Whisper White.  Once again I used the hearts from the Perpetual Birthday Calendar stamp set.  I then used current items:  That's the Ticket stamp set, embossed heart from Fashionable Hearts sizzlet and Scallop Border punch.  The little black hearts are from a handheld punch, not SU. We will for sure be making this one at card class in January.  Have a great day!

A Little Grunge

Over the weekend, between wrapping presents and finishing up Christmas cards, I did take a break and think about Valentine's Day.  And that came about because I wanted to use the little stream of hearts from the Perpetual Birthday Calendar stamp set with the splatter stamp from Gorgeous Grunge.  I also used two framelits from the Mini Treat Bag framelit set~~the hearts strip and the "torn tape" shape~~on which I stamped the sentiment.   I have not purchased a new Valentine set so for now I am using  stamps from sets I already have.  This sentiment "I heart you" is from the And Many More set in the Annual Catalog. Today's card is cute; I like tomorrow's better!  So check back and in the meantime have a great day!

Perpetual Birthday Calendar

I have thought about making a perpetual calendar a few times over the years, but then I never did.  When I saw that Stampin' Up! had a perpetual calendar kit in the Occasions Mini, I jumped on it.  The photo on the left shows the first 3 months that I completed.  The calendar kit includes printed calendar pages to embellish, die cut little banners and shapes, alphabet stickers,  glitter, sequins and more.  The photo on the right shows just a few of the embellishments included together with the coordinating stamp set that is sold separately.  I will be using it for much more than just the calendar.  I saw the little images and thought how cute these would be when used with the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set~~"themed grunge"!  I just gave myself an idea for the next card!  Have a great Friday and wonderful last weekend before Christmas.  And to  my Jewish friends~~Happy Hanukkah.

Three Step Stamping!

Here is the card I mentioned yesterday.  I feel that I have more than enough flower stamps, so I was going to take a pass on this one.  But when I saw the pretty cards created using Lotus Blossom, I needed another flower--hahaha!!!  Anyway, you stamp first with the dark color, then stamp off using the same color and finally stamp in the lightest color.  On the taller flower, I started with Melon Mambo, stamped off once before stamping the second image.  I then stamped off twice before stamping the third image.   For the shorter flower I started with Melon Mambo, then stamped off before stamping the second image and finished using Crisp Cantaloupe.  The stamp set, Lotus Blossom, is one of the items you can earn for free when you spend $50 during Sale-a-bration.  The sentiment is one of two sentiments included in the stamp set.  We will be making a card using Lotus Blossom in the January classes.  Have a great day!

Butterfly Thinlets

There are so many new items in the Occasions Mini that it was tough to prioritize.  But when it came to the new set of butterfly thinlets, there was no question that would be on the first order.  The card on the left is monochromatic using Perfect Plum.  Two stamp sets were used for the background of the card~~Gorgeous Grunge and Summer Silhouettes.  I then added the lovely die cut butterfly and the sentiment (And Many More) to finish the card.  The card on the right includes a butterfly cut using the large butterfly thinlet included in the set.  The sentiment is from a Sale-a-bration stamp set,  Lotus Blossom.  I will show you a card I created using that new set tomorrow.  Have a great day!

Making Progress

I have mentioned that I need to work on my Christmas cards and yesterday I finally made a little progress! Many of you will notice that we made these cards in previous classes.  I had bits and pieces of all of these cards.  Rather than pitch the bits and pieces, I got to work cutting and organizing the bits, pieces and card bases I needed to make complete cards.  Today I plan on working on the remaining cards I need to create.  I pretty much have an idea as to what I want the finished product to look like.  They will be simple and pretty.  Have a great day!

Peace and Harmony

Christmas cards are arriving and on Saturday we received our daughter's card.  Jen used one of my favorite retired hostess sets together with Pool Party ink and cardstock.  She mentioned that after a while removing the ink off the bird's hat and recoloring it red got to be a little much.  The card is very cute.  Even cuter than the card is the photo of our granddaughter with her bird, Harmony.  The sentiment inside of the card "May peace and harmony be yours. . ."~~very clever, Jen!  Have a great day!

Thanks Thinlet

I went down to my scraproom yesterday to work on Christmas cards.  As usual, I got distracted!  In the new Occasions Mini, there is a set of thinlets that I needed.  I just had to roll the words thru the Big Shot once and then I had to use one of the words. The "thanks" on today's card is one of the four thinlets in the set.  The other words include: happy, you and hello. Besides retired DSP, I pulled out the retired Fabulous Phrases stamp set knowing there would be a word or phrase I could add to "thanks".  Sure enough, "heartfelt" is perfect!  That being said, there is a coordinating stamp set (Crazy About You) of 33 stamps of words or phrases that can be used with the thinlets or by themselves.  As of today I do not need Crazy About You, but that might change soon.  Now this weekend, I do have to create my Christmas cards.  Have a great weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time!

New MIni Treat Bag

So the other day I was able to get a look at the Occasions Mini and the SAB catalogs which go live on January 6th.  They are both filled with some great products.  Needless to say, I purchased a few things on the demonstrator preorder and the order arrived yesterday.  I really need to start working on my Christmas cards, but this treat bag die begged to be used!!!  Out came retired DSP for the first bags and retired red satin ribbon.   The little red hearts on the Crumb Cake bag and the large heart are dies that also come with the set.  Actually, the little hearts is a die that creates a row of hearts.  I just used the hearts to embellish the white polka dots.  The white pennant, the row of red circles and the "for you" on the green bag are also dies that come with the set.  The size of the finished bag is approximately 3-3/4" x 5-1/4".   This mini treat bag will get put to good use.   I look forward to sharing more sneak peeks.  And again, if you are a current customer of mine, I did order minis to be mailed to you from Stampin' Up!    Have a great day!

A Little Winter Favor

In the Spring I posted the favors I was making for Easter using the Scallop Tag Topper punch.  When I was at Target the other day, I saw and purchased these little Lindt chocolate snowmen, similar to the Springtime bunnies I used previously.  The first winter favor I made using an old retired color cardstock, Brilliant Blue.  It matched the snowman's hat perfectly! I embellished it with metallic ribbon (Walmart) and the little snowflakes included in the Frosted Sequins embellishments in the Holiday Mini.  I also added the "sparkle" diecut using the Itty Bitty framelits.  I wish Target had Lindt Santas!! They would look really cute in the red favor.  Tomorrow I will post the first sneak peek from the Occasions Mini which goes live January 6th.   Have a great day!

Thank You

As promised, in today's post I am sharing two more beautiful cards created out of friendship and concern. The Rich Razzleberry card was made by my friend, Kathy W.  I can only imagine the time she put into this card.   The heart card was made by my friend, Nancy.  The sentiment inside the heart really is very sentimental to me.  You see, many years ago after my sister's death, my sister visited me.  In that visit/dream Jen and Matt were little kids and they came running to me and said, "Chrissy is back!  She said she would never leave us.  She will always be in our hearts".  At that point, my sister faded away.  I remember that visit/dream as clear as if it just happened.   Nancy's card is the perfect reminder that my Mom, too, will never really leave me.  She lives on in my heart forever.  I want to say that each and every card and email that I received means very much to me and my family.  Your support, friendship and love surely helped me before and after my Mom's death and will continue to help in the future.  Again, I am blessed to have so many caring friends.  THANK YOU!

Friends

 Today would have been my Mom's 84th birthday and it is also the 9th anniversary of my sister's death.  So while it is sad for me, my Mom and sister are together again.  They were the best of friends.  And friends are so very important.  I am blessed with wonderful friends.  In fact today's cards are "made with love" sympathy cards created by caring friends for me and my family.  The Praying for You card is from Kathy Z and the Sending Love and Sympathy card is from Cherie.  They are such good friends that they even used Stampin' Up products!  Come back tomorrow and see two more pretty handmade cards made by friends.  Have a great day.

Navy Holiday Home

The little blue Christmas house has been sitting on my counter for probably two months.  After coloring it in using the Night of Navy Blendabilities, I was not sure what I would do with it.  I finally put it to good use as you can see in today's photo.  Not traditional Christmas colors, the little wreath (from Holiday Home) with Red Dazzling Details together with the sentiment (also from Holiday Home) leaves no doubt that this is a Christmas card.  The Labels framelits together with the Night of Navy DSP adds a cozy feeling to the card.  As a matter of fact, the more I look at the card, the more I like it!  Have a great day and a great weekend. 

End of Year Clearance!

Check out the year end closeouts announced by Stampin' Up this morning.  Below is a direct link to my online store and the closeout items.  As usual, this sale is "as supplies last". 

 

http://www.stampinup.com/ECWeb/ItemList.aspx?categoryid=493&dbwsdemoid=2031833

 

 



Happy Wonderful Christmas

I made Halloween wreath cards and Fall wreath cards, but had not yet stamped a Christmas wreath using the Wondrous Wreath set.  So last night I did just that.  I pulled out the stamp set and matching framelits, two shades of green ink and red ink and in no time the card was done.  Both the wreath and the bow were adhered to the card front using dimensionals.  And once again I colored a few of our rhinestones using alcohol markers and added those to the wreath.  Today we will be putting up our Christmas tree~~yeah!  Have a great day!

Fry Box Two Ways

One of the items we made on Sunday was the Christmas fry box favor pictured on the left.  Whenever I spend a little time on Pinterest, I see some of the cutest things created with the fry box die.  Yesterday I was on Pinterest and saw a  version of the fry box in which you need two die cuts of the fry box, removing the shorter section on both and then attaching the two larger ends.  That version is on the right~~looks like a miniature tote.  I used the same paper and ribbon for both fry box favors although the tote needs a pretty little tag, maybe a star or a little tree.    In my mind I already see  how elegant one of these favors can be all decked out with silver or gold on white.  You will be seeing one of those in the very near future.  Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time. 

Christmas Mingle

I have had a bit of a creative block for the past few weeks.  It was very easy to just chose an item from one of my Close To My Heart cartridges and let my Explore do the work.  Last night I decided that I really needed to make a Christmas card~~without the Explore!  So I sat at my island for a while, finally deciding on the Mingle All The Way stamp set and some retired DSP.  Today's post is the finished product and it is cute.  As I am sitting here looking at it, this stamp could be a great sentiment for a holiday party invitation.  The 2" circle layers very nicely on
the 2-3/8" scallop circle.  I used the Stylish Stripes embossing folder and added a little color and bling using Stampin' Up rhinestones and my alcohol markers to color them.  Success for me!  Have a great day!

Yesterday was our Christmas Craft afternoon.  It was more than enjoyable and it was good to be with friends.  I am quite excited to share this wine glass tea light which was given to me and created by my friend, Kathy W.  Talk about cute!  The wine glass has a battery-operated tea light inside and is topped off with a Vellum cardstock lampshade.  Kathy stamped the images on one side of the vellum and then colored in the images on the opposite side using SU's Marvelous Markers.  The Holiday Home stamp set and the pretty red ribbon  from the Holiday Mini look perfect together.  Thank you, Kathy!  Something tells me I will be making a few of these.  Have a great day! 

Happy

Thanksgiving!

Enjoy your day with family and friends.

Embossed Wreath

I saw a card on Pinterest where the wreath framelits were used to cut out the wreath and then embossed rather than stamped.  It caught my eye and I did the same thing, adding little red rhinestones and a red bow to the wreath.    After embossing the red layer using the Stylish Stripes
embossing folder, I adhered the wreath using dimensionals.  The "Noel" is also from the Wonderful Wreaths Framelits set.  Next time  I create this card, it will be in different shades of white and vanilla    In my mind it will be very elegant.   Have a great day!             

Altered Chipboard Container

Over the weekend I went to an open house held by my Close To My Heart consultant.  I made a couple of cards and she had items available for purchase.  One of the items I purchased is this kraft cylinder container.   It is approximately 2-3/4" wide by 6" tall.  I wrapped the container in retired Stampin' Up DSP and pretty ribbon. I could have altered the container in no time at all, but I "needed" to have a rosette on the lid.  I had to guess at how to size a rosette on the Explore and after one bad guess, I was able to make this one.   The container is nice and sturdy and will look pretty under the tree or even as a little decoration in a little nook or on a little table. IT is time for me to get serious about Thanksgiving.  Today and tomorrow I have to stay away from my scrap room so I don't get sucked in and create instead of clean and prepare!!  Have a great day and be careful if you are out and about when the snow begins here. 

Online Extravaganza

 

The annual Stampin' Up Online Extravaganza begins on Monday, November 24th and runs through December 2nd or while supplies last.  There are doorbuster specials on Monday November 24th and then again on Monday, December 1st.  Those days and in between there are some great sale items including the Magnetic Platform which will be on sale for $23.97.  Below is a link to the PDF file showing the items which will be on sale.  Beginning on Monday, if there is something you want to order, godirectly to my SU website and shop the Holiday Extravaganza.  

http://su-media.s3.amazonaws.com/media/Promotions/NA/2014/11_November/OnlineX/Online_Extravaganza_Products_US.pdf

Any questions, just call or email.  Have a good rest of the weekend.

Gift Tags

Happy Friday!  Another Christmas Craft Day project will be this set of coordinating gift tags.  Once again all items were cut on the Explore.  The cardstock is Stampin' Up and the to/from stamp is from the Holiday Mini.  I just need to come up with a little packaging idea for this set.  It will be a cute little gift for a co-worker, teacher or a hostess.  On another note, my friend Regina wanted a pic of my messy scraproom.  So here it is!!  I do have a bit of a chore ahead of me~~hahaha!!

Gift Bags

Each day I try to work on something for the Christmas Craft afternoon.  Yesterday I created these pretty little gift
bags that I cut on my Explore using the CTMH Artiste cartridge.  I cut one bag per 12 x 12 sheet of paper and the best part~~the Explore did all the scoring!   The paper is from Michael's and is the perfect weight for little gift bags.  The finished size is about 5-1/2" x 3-1/2".  Now before I work on the next item, I definitely need to clean up the wonderful mess I have in my scraproom~~lol!!!!  Have a great day!

Christmas Center Step Card

When I was in Arizona last week, I visited a great scrapbook store, Scraps of Love, in Peoria, AZ. And truly it was great.  This store had everything!  But what caught my eye were "card toppers".  I had never seen these before or else I just didn't pay attention.  They are printed images which almost look as though a person colored in the image.  The cards using card toppers on display at Scraps of Love were gorgeous with a lot more detail than today's card, but isn't this pretty?   We will be making a center step card during the Christmas Craft afternoon on November 30th using a card topper by The Hobby House.  Have a great day and again, keep warm!

Nativity Card

Today's pop-up card is one that we will be making at the Christmas Craft Day on November 30th.  Everything Night of Navy was cut on my Explore from the Artfully Sent Close To My Heart cartridge.  The sentiment is from an Amuse Studios stamp set.  You may notice that the sentiment is on a separate piece of cardstock.  Well, I messed up when I stamped an image and I needed to cover up the oops!!!  The class attendees will have all of their pieces cut out using a pretty metallic dark teal rather than Night of Navy.  I think the card is just beautiful.  Have a great day and keep warm!!!!

Veterans Day

I cannot let this day go by without sending my thanks to all the veterans.  This day is about you and I certainly appreciate the freedoms I have thanks to each and every one of you.

Christmas Vinyl

While having good intentions as far as being creative these past days, I found that I just didn't know what to do. I decided that maybe I should attempt one of the beautiful vinyl projects people were creating using their Cricut Explore and vinyl.  I found this word art in Design Space and thought it would be a nice Christmas gift~~if my attempt was successful.  As you can see, it was!  There was an awful lot of "weeding" to do (removing all the little unnecessary pieces of vinyl inside the letters) but after the weeding was complete it was time to adhere it to my Cherry Cobbler 12x12 cardstock.  I was holding my breath as I centered the vinyl and I laid it down crooked~~oh no!!  It was most obviously crooked, so not a gift!  After thinking about how to save it, I took care of the problem by cutting the original 12x12 cardstock down to even it out, layered it on a piece of white cardstock and centered and adhered that to the 12x12 base Cherry Cobbler cardstock.  The project is really pretty, but I am not sure that I will create another vinyl project that was this involved.  But, maybe!  I will not be posting for a few days  so have a great week, keep warm and find yourself a little' stampin' time!

Thanksgiving

 It has been a sad week but I have received many beautiful cards, flowers
and the care and concern of so many~~I cannot thank you enough. I was not very creatively motivated, but I did make the Thanksgiving favors. I used my Explore to write the names on the favors.  I am sure I would have spent a lot less time just handwriting them using a gold pen, but it was the fact that the Explore could do it.  Then I decided that the kids will get little turkeys made using the Curvy Keepsake box  Again I used the Explore~~to cut out all the feathers.  They turned out cute, didn't they? I guess I should work on the Thanksgiving menu!  Have a great day!

My Mom

It is with deep sadness that I tell you that my Mom passed away on Saturday.  Her health issues since the replacement of a pacemaker lead had been very hard on her.  She was the best Mom and we always said she was a saint having put up with the four of us and my Dad, too.  How appropriate that the good Lord would take her on All Saints Day.  We love you, Mom! xoxo

Happy Halloween!

It is going to be cold and windy here in the Chicago area (and maybe even snow in some areas)!!  The little ghosts and goblins need to dress up nice and warm!  Here are a few more fry boxes I made.  This is another fun die that I can see myself using again and again.   Today's card was made by my friend, Kathy Zimmermann.  She used the Tee-Hee-Hee stamp set together with a variety of Stampin' Up! cardstock and DSP.  Have a fun, safe and Happy Halloween and a great weekend, too!

Thanksgiving Happiness

The Mingle All The Way stamp set has a nice variety of Fall/Winter holiday sentiments.  The Thanksgiving sentiment leaves me with a comfy, cozy feeling.   Blackberry Bliss cardstock was stamped using the Hardwood background stamp and Blackberry Bliss ink.  I cut the leaves using my Cricut  and added metallic raffia.  After stamping the sentiment I used one of the Chalk Talk framelits to cut it out, added a couple of Cajun Craze brads and then adhered it over the leaves and raffia using dimensionals.  The Cajun Craze card base completes the festive look and feel of this card.  Have a great day!

Celebrate

I had every intention of creating a completely Stampin' Up card for today's post.  And it started out that way.  I had an idea in my mind using the color combination of Night of Navy and Crumb Cake.  So I took out the two star framelits I needed and die cut the Navy layer and then die cut the smallest star, also using Night of Navy.  After adhering the Navy layer to the card front using dimensionals, I adhered the little star to the Crumb Cake inside the star.  I finally used SU's Confetti Star Punch (Holiday Mini)~~one punch and I was able to create all the little stars I adhered to the card front and more, too! Just as I was going to stamp a sentiment on Crumb Cake cardstock, my Cricut called to me and I die cut the sentiment instead.  Have a great day!

Still Playing w/Vinyl

I wanted to show you the Halloween gift bag I made for Sydney.  It was quick and easy.  I chose the images I wanted for each side of the white bag, fed the vinyl into my Explore and in no time at all my images were cut.  After weeding out the little pieces using the Cricut dental-like pick tool all I needed to do was adhere the images to the bag.  I wish I had orange or lime green gift bags, but the white worked just fine.  Between now and the time I see Sydney, I might add a few little bats or spiders, but the ribbons finished it off nicely.  I did place an order for some brightly colored vinyl so not all of my vinyl projects will be black!   I think that if I don't stamp my gift bags in the future, they will be embellished with vinyl~~or a combination of both! Have a great day!