Come on, Christmas!

We had our monthly Stampin' Up party tonight and it was my turn to demonstrate.  There are so many wonderful designers out there that come up with beautiful and creative ideas and I am truly appreciative of their talent!  Here are the cards that I demonstrated and then we all made the Kiss Trees.

 
The first card I demo'd was the twisted easel card that's all the rage online right now--you know--the one with the little battery operated candle behind the vellum window.  I was going to totally case several that I saw that used the little deer on Joyous Christmas, but that early espresso embossing powder that I swear I bought last month was nowhere to be found.  So I improvised and used my cherry cobbler ep with the ornament in the same set.  My DSP is from the holiday catalog--Snow Favorites.

The next card is a little cutie--easy to make card using the stamp set "For the Birds."  I love the little skating bird and it fits wonderfully in the labels framelit.  The button is from the regals collection and is threaded with the cherry cobbler baker's twine.  You can't see it, but I added a bit of clear dazzling details under the tail of the y in merry so it looks "icy" where the bird is skating.  The dsp is still from the Snow Favorites collection.

My next card was cased from a RAK that I received last year as a member of VCRocks.  Unfortunately I don't remember who sent it, but I loved it and couldn't wait for Christmas to come so I could use it!  What made it even better was that the stamp set I used, Come to Bethlehem"  is on sale right now (until the 28th)  Half Off!

The blue I used was marina mist.  You can't see it, but I versamarked the embossing folder before I embossed the cherry cobbler piece and it gave it a deeper, vintagey look!

The last card I demonstrated was an idea I got from Stamp Nation a group that I pay a monthly fee to belong to.  This was the owner, Catherine Pooler's, great idea to use the Itty Bitty Banners to cut out pieces to make a 3-D wreath.  I added the cherry cobbler seam binding and dazzling details.  The greeting is from the set, Greeting of the Season, from the holiday catty.

The paper is from the Festival of Favorites pack in the holiday mini also.  

Our make and take was the "Kisses Tree" an idea I found online along with a great tutorial here.  They are super easy to make--and cute!

I used the Merry Christmas from "Teeny Tiny Wishes" for the tag.  A-dor-a-ble.  Kudos to the designer--Brenda Q.  On a side note, we discovered that the mint truffle kisses are yummy!  Happy stamping!  Dawn

SU Stars November Blog Hop

Welcome to stop # 6 of our November hop which has the theme of Gratitude! I'm glad you could join us!  We are a small, but mighty group and I hope you've enjoyed the hop--you should be arriving here from Creative Designs By Jackie. Wasn't her card beautiful?
I'm the last stop so I'll send you back to the beginning of the hop if you started somewhere in the middle!

When my sister, who loves the craft of writing, was here last year at Thanksgiving she wanted to create a Gratitude Book, but ran out of time.  Obviously, I ran out of time also since it's taken almost a full year to get this project done.  I used a retired SU spiral bound notebook of blank pages, scraps of the beautiful Orchard Harvest dsp, a leftover piece of my core'dination paper that was a punched out piece from the birthday card I made my daughter earlier this week, and the Day of Gratitude stamp set and a lot of ribbon!  Sorry for the shadows....it was a late night picture!  =-)

My other project is actually a card that I made for a swap last year.  Unfortunately the swap never was distributed and I don't think I ever posted this (maybe I was too disappointed since it was one of my first swaps).  Anyway, here's my pumpkin card that I made with the ovals from the now retired scalloped oval bigz die and a circle cut with the now retired circle cutter.  This is actually my practice card, but I still like it!  It's made to fit in a regular envelope.  Notice I used the same sentiment last year as this year---there's a lot of truth held in these words!

Now head to Michele Tinsley's blog, Paper, Glitter and Embellies- Oh My! and check out her wonderful project!  

Here's wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving!   Dawn

Big Birthday Card!

Well....the card isn't big--it's the birthday--my daughter Amy (middle child) turned 30 on Wednesday and this is the card I created for her!  I got the idea from Darlene Design and made a few revisions according to the supplies that I had on hand.  Anyway--Amy got the card on Tuesday so I can show it now.  Since it's a moving card she said she was creating a gif (whatever that is) that would show the movement that I could post, but in the meantime--here's the card--I really like how it turned out!  =-)  Here's the link to the movement of the card shown by my daughter--I can't figure out how to get it on here!  =-)

I used the c'oredination paper and the woodgrain embossing folder--I really have trouble with it cracking so I'm going to have to try the vellum trick that I've read about!  My balloons were embossed with clear embossing powder and punched with the small oval and 1 1/4" circle punches.  The owl holds the card closed--when you turn him you can open the card and it looks like this:

Cute huh?  Here's the deal with the owls....I made about 150 of these little boogers when I making a swap for SU convention last year.  Then I got pneumonia and couldn't go so I have all the parts--not put together.  So I'm always looking for ways to use my owls!  Ha!

Catching Up!

I was going to make the witch's broom that's been all the rage on the internet for my class this year, but 2 days before Halloween I saw a post by Heather here and just had to make these sweet bats!  My first graders had just finished a study of bats and had them hanging upside down in the classroom as well as a story that they had written hanging outside in the hallway.  Fortunately the hardest part was coming up with a pattern that worked with some candy that I'd already purchased--and then getting all 24 of them cut out!  =-)  Then I took the pictures of them being made step by step, but the next day when I went to put them on my computer...alas and alack!  I hadn't put my photo card back in my camera.  Last Thursday when I put my card in my camera they were put from my camera onto my card!  Yay!  Now I can share them...

The open bat...

Closed...ready to decorate.

Ready for my first grade trick or treaters!

Fall Card Buffet!

I had a bunch of fall cards ready to demonstrate at this month's SU party, but our hostess is out of town until after Thanksgiving....so I have to do something with all these wonderful ideas!  Right??
I decided that I'm having a "card buffet!"  Anyone who wants to come to my house to make some fall cards just needs to let me know which ones they want to order at $1.50 a piece or 4/$5.00 and I'll have the supplies ready for them next Friday evening or Saturday afternoon, November 16 and 17--just in time to get them mailed!  =-)  Here are the cards they can choose from--all totally cased from other super talented people!

Cased from Frenchie here.

Saw this one on Pinterest--no watermark so I don't know who designed it...sorry.

Made using the owl punch--I found this idea over a year ago--I'll have to go digging to figure out the original source!

Triple Time Stamping with French Foliage in Dusty Durango

(directions all over the internet for this type of card)

Triple Time Stamping with Gently Falling in Cajun Craze

 (cased from Lorri Heiling)

and Triple Time Stamping using Day of Gratitude (cased from Andrea Botten).

If you want to join me--just give me a call or e-mail me and we'll work something out!  Now to get to work on Christmas card designs!