Merry Christmas Eve!

I have a couple more Christmas cards to share with you today. I made this one using the Home set from Artistic Outpost. The image is stamped in Fired Brick and the edges were sponged with Vintage Photo. For the greeting I used Walnut Stain. I tried to make the barn look like it was covered in a blanket of snow by adding some Diamond Dust. For the finishing touch I wrapped some Ecru floss around the card and added a button and some punched branches.

The second card is a 4 1/4 inch square card with no dimensionals because I wanted to make something that would go through the mail easily and not cost extra postage. I will just use a regular invitation size envelope.

I'm glad that I did my grocery shopping last night before the blizzard hit. We don't have too much snow on the ground yet but they're forecasting snow all day today and 6-8 more inches tomorrow with really high winds so at least I don't have to worry about getting to the store.

Merry Christmas everyone and I hope you all have safe travels! Thanks so much for stopping.


Supplies (top card):

• Stamps: Artistic Outpost
• Paper: Kraft, Vanilla, Creative Imaginations Winter Woodland
• Ink: Distress Inks Fired brick, Vintage photo, Walnut stain
• Misc: Edge distresser, Embroidery floss, Button, Martha Stewart branch punch, Diamond dust
  

Supplies (second card):

• Stamps: SU Bud Basics, Papertrey Ink sentiment
• Paper: Vanilla, Rich Razzleberry, Creative Imaginations Winter Woodland
• Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede, Distress Ink Vintage photo
• Misc: Circle punch, Paper piercer, Twinklette clear
  

Paper Stockings

All of the older nieces and nephews get money for Christmas so each year I try to come up with a way to package the money other than just putting it in a card. This year I tried making paper stockings. I cut out two stocking shapes, sewed them together and then added a faux fur top. The create the faux fur top I cut white cardstock to 2 x 4, ran it through my cuttlebug with an embossing folder, rounded the corners and then attached it to the stocking with scor-tape.

For my assistant I went with an iTunes card and a chocolate Santa. To accommodate them I had to make the stocking a little wider.

These went together pretty quickly which is great because I still have 8 more to make. Happy Holidays!

More birthdays

One of my dearest friends had a birthday this week and when I saw this adorable image with the huge bottle of wine/champange I knew I had to use it for her birthday card. She is a huge lover of wine so I'm sure this will make her smile.

My girlfriend is in Vegas at the Lady Gaga concert celebrating her birthday. Can't wait to hear all about it.

Supplies:

• Digital image: GoMakeSomething.com
• Paper: Kraft, K&Co Ancestry collection
• Misc: Slit punch (to create scalloped border), Ribbon, Flower, Button, Tracing wheel
  

Bacon & Eggs

Yesterday I came across this blog post on Lick The Bowl Good and it inspired me to make some bacon and eggs this morning. All you need are pretzel sticks, almond bark, and yellow M&M's.

Happy Friday!

Feeling Stressed?

 I decided to take a break from Christmas cards and just make a couple of fun cards. I love these ladies from American Art Stamp. They were stamped on Neenah white and colored with Copics. The layouts are the same so they went together pretty quickly. 

Hope you're all having a wonderful week and not getting too stressed with holiday prep. If so, maybe a glass of wine is in order. Happy Stamping!

Supplies:

• Stamps: American Art Stamp (Emerson Quillin line)
  
• Paper: Neenah white, Stampin Up Rich Razzleberry, K&Co Black & Ivory Fusion
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
• Misc: Copics, Pop dots
  

Holiday Thank you cards

Last night I made a set of 12 holiday thank you cards for a friend. The Be Merry paper collection from My Mind's Eye was perfect for this project. I punched 2 inch circles from 4 of the different papers and adhered them across the bottom of the cards. Next I cut out trees from another sheet in the collection and mounted them to the cards with pop dots. Finally I stamped thank you in Memento Rich Cocoa just above the circles.

I'm really happy with the way they turned out. I hope my friend likes them. Now if I could just get motivated to finish my Christmas cards and get them in the mail. Maybe I should just start making New Year's cards and send those out instead. Happy Stamping!

Supplies:

• Cardstock: Stampin Up Very Vanilla
• Designer Paper: My Mind's Eye Be Merry
• Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps
• Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa
• Misc: 2 inch circle punch, pop dots

with Sympathy

I was in need of a sympathy card the other day so I pulled out the K & Company Black & Ivory Fusion paper pack that I bought a couple of weeks ago and Anna Wight's Wildflower Silhouette set from Whipper Snapper Designs and put this card together. I love how it turned out.

I'm totally not ready for the holidays. Thankfully my family and friends will understand when their card is late and I don't bring a big tray of cookies to each gathering to share. I did manage to do some shopping for myself. I was in need of a new printer so I asked around and decided to go with an Epson Artisan 810 and since it qualified for free shipping from Amazon I had to place an order. According to FedEx it's on the way!

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're all having a great week and things aren't too hectic.

Supplies:

• Stamps: Whipper Snapper Designs Wildflower Silhouette
• Paper: SU Vanilla, Black; K&Company Black & Ivory Fusion
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Ink Vintage Photo (sponged on edges)
• Misc: SU Scallop edge punch, Flower, Gem
  

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Dad's 70th Birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!

CSS Designer of the Month

I have the honor of being the Designer of the Month for Clear & Simple Stamps. You can see my interview here. For my project I was inspired by the Beary Well set to create a Get Well Party in a Box. I envisioned bringing this to the hospital as a gift for a child who is recovering. My thought was to fill the box with things to help curb boredom while being in the hospital. I filled the box with crayons and a set of cards to color, a card game, some bandage stickers, a box of tissues, a box of bandages, and a small tin with jelly beans.

Box Directions


Start with an 8 ½ x 11 inch piece of cardstock. Score all four sides at 2 ½ inches. Cut corners, assemble box and secure with scor-tape.

To create the decorative flaps on the box, select a complementary designer paper and cut two pieces to 6 x 2 ½ and score along the 6 inch side at 1 inch. Next cut two pieces to 3 ½ x 2 ½ and score along the 3½ inch side at 1 inch. Round the corners of the 1 ½ inch sides. Apply scor-tape to the reverse sides of the 1 inch flap and attach over the sides of the box. Wrap twine or ribbon around box to hold down the outside flaps of the box. Decorate as desired.
 

To create the Get Well Beary Soon banner cut 1 inch square pieces of designer paper and fold in half. Note: I folded them slightly off center to expose a little of the pattern on the reverse side of the paper. Stamp one letter on each piece from the Alpha Modern set and stamp the bear image on white cardstock, color with Copics and cut out. Next stamp the word beary from the Beary Well set and cut out also. Attached the pieces to the string with scor-tape to create the banner. Finally attach the string to the chopsticks and add bows.
 

I also created a 4 pack of thank you  cards that the child could color and  present to their Doctors and Nurses.
 
For the card game, crayons and bandages I just wrapped the boxes with designer paper and decorated them.
 

The bandage stickers were created by stamping the bandage stamp several times, cutting them out and then running them through my Xyron machine. Everyone loves stickers and what's more fitting than bandage stickers. I created a little holder to store them in. Cut designer cardstock to 4 1/4 by 4 3/4. Score the 4 3/4 side at 2 1/4 and 2 1/2. Attach scor-tape to sides and fold in half. Round top corners with corner chomper and use the oval punch to partially punch out the top. Stamp bear image on white cardstock, color with Copics and punch out with circle punch. Adhere bear circle to front of holder.
 

I think my favorite item is the tissue holder. The directions for it can be found here.
 
Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you've enjoyed my Party in a Box. Please be sure to visit my fellow Clear & Simple Stamps design team members to see what they've been doing and check out the Clear & Simple Stamps new website with lots of fun updates.

Clear & Simple Stamps Well Wishes Collection

Clear & Simple Stamps is releasing their Well Wishes Collection today and I am happy to announce that I was selected to be the Designer of the Month and showcase one set. All of the sets being released this month are really fun but I decided to showcase the Beary Well set and create a get well package for a child. Please stop back in a bit for more details on my project and in the meantime be sure to check out the rest of the design team members for samples with the new releases.

WELL WISHES COLLECTION

Cup of Cocoa 

Get Well Darling

Get Well Gent

Beary Well

Love

Believe in Words IV

Bubble Talk

Month to Month I

Month to Month II

SOTM TEMPLATE:

Cup of Cocoa

ADDITIONAL TEMPLATE:

Calendar of Cards 

Yes that's correct we have an additional freebie to giveaway this month - a fabulous calendar template.  It fits perfectly on the front of a standard card.  You can trim it down to be smaller or mat it to make it larger - this little calendar has tons of possibilities and works wonderfully with the new Month-to-Month sets releasing with the collection.

Vintage Santas for Christmas

Have you ever been to the Go Make Something site? They have a wonderful selection of printable images. One of my favorites are the Vintage Santa's in the postcard sheets section. Here are a couple of the cards I created with the vintage Santas.

Both cards use a kraft base with a mat from the K&Co Ancestry collection. Then some green and red prints from the Creative Imaginations Winter Woodlands collection. The edges of the red pieces were sponged with Vintage photo after using my edge distresser on them. The green pieces were matted with vanilla cardstock and also sponged with Vintage photo ink. For the top card I went a little crazy and tied some twigs together with thread then coated them in glossy accents and diamond dust. Once they were dry I wrapped a ribbon around them and adherred them to the card along with some flowers and a button. This card is very dimensional and not postal friendly so it will have to be hand delivered or maybe tied to a package.

 

For this one I decided to just go with an ivory ribbon, a flower and button in hopes that it could be mailed.

Thanks so much for stopping by and please come back tomorrow. The next release from Clear & Simple Stamps happens tomorrow (December 10th) and I have a fun special project to share with the Beary Well set that will be released. Happy Stamping!

Take The Challenge: Holiday Decor

It's the last TTC of the year, can you believe it! Please join us over on Paper Craft Planet for our year-end Take the Challenge.

With the winter holidays upon us, we challenge you to create something fun and festive for December. Create a holiday decoration for the table, a fun wreath, or an ornament. Anything that is inspired by your holiday spirit. Share your holiday decor with us on our forum over at Paper Craft Planet.

Click here to view samples or to play along, select the TTC Holiday Decor Forum.

I decided to try making a couple of ornaments for the challenge. For the first one I used my Nestabilities Labels 3 and Circles to create a frame and then stamped the Cup of Cocoa in Palette New Canvas on a transparency and colored the image with Copics. I sandwiched the layers together with scor-tape and added a ribbon to the top for the finishing touch.

For the second ornament I used the Taste of Christmas set and stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black on Neenah cardstock then colored it with Copics. Next I pulled out a Tim Holtz Frangments Charm and some Rnager Glossy accents and adhered the image to the backside of the charm.  The cord was added along with a button and bow.

Thanks so much for stopping. I hope you're having a great day!

SOTM Set and Template: Clear and Simple Stamps

Happy December 1st! Hard to believe it's December already. Sorry I've been MIA for a bit but I ended up in the hospital having my appendix removed and then spent a quiet week at home recovering. I'm happy to say everything went well and I'm feeling great. Now, let's get on with the crafty stuff. . .

It's time again for a new Stamp of the Month set and free template from Clear and Simple Stamps. This month is the adorable Cup of Cocoa set. From December 1st through the 31st (2009) you can receive $1 off the set by entering DTBlog1209. There is also a new Copic Trio Bundle: Earth 6 featuring E71, E74 and E79. The trio set of Copic Markers has been paired with the SOTM to create the December SOTM Bundle Set for $26. You will receive the Cup of Cocoa stamp set and three Copic Markers - a main color, a highlight and a shadow. This is an economical and fun way to build your inventory of CSS and Copics all at the same time! (Save an extra dollar using the SOTM discount code supplied above and you will be able to purchase the bundle for $25.) 

Along with the new SOTM set also comes a new template created by fellow design team member Sue Berker and this month she's created a wonderful Cup of Cocoa Template to share. 

 

I filled my cup with Cocoa mix and an almond bark covered pretzel rod. For the cocoa bag I filled Wilton Pretzel bags with some cocoa mix, chocolate chips and mini marshmallows then secured the top with a ribbon. To pair with the cocoa mix, I found some Andes mint chips at the store and thought they would be great sprinkled on pretzel rods so I got out some almond bark and pretzel rods and got to work. After the pretzels had cooled I packaged them in the Wilton bags and then tucked one in the cup with the bag of cocoa.

The design on the cup was drawn with my Copic Multiliner and then colored in with Copics. I carried that pattern over to the cup on the card. The cup stamp in the Cup of Cocoa set would also be fun to paper piece.

Thanks so much for stopping by and don't forget to check out the other design team members for more samples with the Cup of Cocoa template.