More Christmas.....

For the next "installment" of Christmas cards we have a card and a couple of 3-D items:

Reindeer Noses--(computer generated words) and reindeer from punches.  Add 8 malted milk balls for the reindeer and a cherry chew for Rudolph's nose and you are set!

The other 3-D item was the Kiss tree that I've already shared here.  Everyone loved it!  I had to make the pieces for 52 of these babies!  =-)

The card on the right is cased from Dawn Olchefske.  I didn't have the stamp set she used so I found in my stash of retired stamps Winter Foliage (I think) and it did the trick!  If you look carefully you can catch a glimpse or two of the glitter.  The background was made using an embossing folder that the top is inked up and then pressed--not run through the Big Shot---I used my brayer to help!

Another Installment...

Here are a few more cards that I offered for the Christmas Card making at my school....

Love this Santa---it was cased from someone, but there was no watermark on her photo.  It's adorable so thanks to whomever came up with this chubby fellow!

This is a little too green for my taste, but I do like the focal image--if I were doing it again I would probably make the background a different color!  =-)  You can't see it, but I used the dazzling details under the skates to look like an icy pond.  I got my idea for this from Angie Leach.

The best part of this "card party" time at work is getting people in that are new to stamping!  Our P.E. teacher joined me for the first time and is loving it!  That's what makes all the work to do it worthwhile!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree....

This was the most popular card of the offerings that I had for the Christmas Card event I held at my school.  I cased it from Lorri Heiling--her card was square and a bit different, but basically the same design.  Love that country look--especially on the naturals ivory paper.

The second card (on the right) was only chosen by 2 people to do, but it's so easy and striking.  

It uses the perfect pennants die--no stamping at all on this one!  Cased from Connie Tumm (if I can read her watermark correctly).

I'll talk more about the one on the left tomorrow!  =-)  Too tired tonight.  Time for bed.

Christmas Cards!!

I try every year to offer some Christmas card designs that my coworkers can make if they choose to join me for a Christmas card buffet!  I lay out all the cards and items and they fill out an order form and then I cut all the pieces and get a tub ready for them to stamp and create their cards...it's always great fun, but my schedule has been crazy from mid-November until now so it's a little later than I like for it to be!  Here are the first couple of cards I displayed:

These cute little wreaths are made from the largest banner die in the Itty Bitty Banners set of framelits.  I got the idea from Catherine Pooler on the site Stamp Nation which I would recommend if you are looking for a place with good ideas--there is a monthly fee.

This is my "retired" card.  Love this sentiment--it's a set from last year's holiday mini catalog.  

The ribbon and the ornaments are also retired.  I saw a 1 layer card that had this layout and really liked it.  

I'll be back tomorrow with a couple more Christmas cards/projects.

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!