Christmas tags and Stampin'Up!'s Online Extravaganza!

Hello all!  How are you? I know it's been ages since my last post, so thanks for bearing with me and visiting my blog. Life has been busy, but all is good. I will catch up with you guys with some pics and highlights from the last few months soon. I do have a couple of Christmas tags to share today. I was really excited to be in my craft room, although I admit I felt a little out of practice. After some trial and error, these fun tags are what I came up with while I was playing with these fun Delicate Ornament Thinlit dies. Here are a couple more pics for you:

Aren't these ornaments so pretty? I love how they look using the red and gold foil sheets - they look like you can hang them right on your tree! For the tag base, I used the Ornate Tag Topper Punch and then just dressed up the tags with Cherry Cobbler twine, Real Red Pom Pom trim, and Gold and White 3/8" Glitter Ribbon. Hope these inspire you to get your Christmas crafting on!

But wait - there's more! Did you know that Stampin'Up!'s Online Extravaganza starts TODAY?! You can shop the sale HERE and you can check out the list of items here.

There's lots of great items on sale for gift giving as well as for your own personal crafting stash! :)  It's definitely worth checking it out!

Now, for those of you who've been wondering what I've been up to these past few months, I have been crafting here and there, but family and my day job have taken the priority. Things have been quite busy on all fronts for me, so with the time that I have, I've focused in on my life priorities, which I know you all can understand. While my presence has been limited here on the blog-o, I have been posting on Instagram and Tumblr, just because it's been easier to post and share some quick pics. I can really appreciate how precious time is these days, especially when it seems like it's such a limited commodity for me...so I share when I can.  :) Feel free to follow me there or check out the links every now and again. 

I'll leave you with some pics from my recent trip to Japan - it was an amazing trip with the hubs.  These shots are from Kyoto at the Kiyomizu-dera Temple. All in all, I was inspired and awestruck by the beautiful country and wonderful people.

Well, all, thanks so much for dropping by today and checking in. My dear friend Norma at PinkBlingCrafter has challenged me to post at least once a week, so I am taking her up on that and will try to do a little more.  Catch up with you all soon!

This Week's Stampin'Up! Weekly Deals {Mar 3}

Hi all! Happy Tuesday.  Hope you all are having a great week! Are you ready for this week's weekly deals?  Well, St. Patrick's Day and Easter are right around the corner, and this week, there are some great deals for crafting something cute for these upcoming holidays! Take a look...

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Lots of packaging options are on sale! I'm especially eyeing the Filter Paper and the Sweet Treat cups, myself!  I saw the cutest little egg favors on Pinterest using the treat cups.  You can check them out here on Paper Ecstasy's blog. They are the cutest little eggs that I think you'll want to make them, too!

Thanks for coming by today. Have a great one! Bye for now.

Oh Wondrous Wreath video and Weekly Deals for week of {Dec 9}

Hello there friends!  Have you seen the Wondrous Wreath and framelit and coordinating photopolymer stamp set?  Well today, I've got a video share that'll show you the cool features of this framelit and stamps and give you ideas of how you can incorporate it in your holiday season of crafting! I actually used it for my Thanksgiving napkin holders, so it's definitely versatile enough to use for a lot of occasions.

Without further adieu, here's the video!


And, since today is Tuesday, that means Stampin'Up!'s got new weekly deals for you! These deals are good thru next Monday, Dec 15th while supplies last.

I personally love the envelope liners!  You can quickly fancy up your envelopes with a pop of designer series paper! The modern mosaic embossing folder is pretty awesome, too!  Here's a sample of cute simple cards I made with these a little while ago:

Thanks for popping by today.  Have a great one!

A look at November's My Paper Pumpkin kit

Hello peeps! One of the things I look forward to getting in the mail each month is the My Paper Pumpkin kit and I have to say I just LOVE this month's project.  The snowflake cards and holiday tags are perfect for the holidays.  

The die cut snowflakes make the card look so fancy! 

I love the silver baker's twine around the card.  It makes it such a pretty little package.

And the tags - how cool and hip are those? The silver foil snowflake accent with a little rhinestone bling in the center will dress up any present!

And here's a look at the card slightly opened. The sentiment is stamped on a piece of white card stock and attached to the card by a piece of festive washi tape.  How cute is that!

Here's a pic of all the goodies that come in the box.  The kit comes with enough supplies to make 8 cards and 12 tags, plus there's always extra goodies and embellies left over, so you can really make the project your own.  It really is such a nice surprise to get each month!  And, with the holidays approaching, I think it would make a great gift to give to friends who love crafting or want to dabble with crafts.  They'll love that everything they need is in the box!

How fun would it be to give a friend this cute little package that they can look forward to getting each month?  To make things easy for gift-giving, there are prepaid subscription options for you to choose from:

Not only are they great for gifts, but a great treat for yourself, too! ;)  You can check out more details and purchase your prepaid subscriptions here or visit My Paper Pumpkin to sign yourself up for month-to-month subscriptions. Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Have a great one. :)

Don't forget! I have a November Blog Candy Giveaway to celebrate my Stampin'Up! Anniversary!  Leave me a comment here to play!

Cute paper packages tied up with string

Do you love packages as much as I do?  Then you will just LOVE these fun boxes made with the Gift Box Punch Board. They are perfect for little presents for the holidays, stocking stuffers, or cute decor for your tree and/or around the house! I had a lot of fun putting these together. I made 3 sizes - the smallest are 1.75" square boxes and the largest is a 4" square box.  What I also love about these boxes is that you don't need any adhesive to put them together as you see in these pictures.  The tops have a notch closure, so the box will stay together nice and securely. They do look adorable using the Under the Tree Specialty Designer Series Paper, don't they?  Not only are the prints super cute, but the paper is a nice and durable cardboard weight.  Here's a closer look at the boxes:

These small square boxes are perfect for tiny trinkets!

This medium sized box would make great packaging for a pair of socks or mittens.

This 4" square box is the largest that can be made with the Gift Box Punch Board and it's just the right size for a belt, candle, or even sweet treats! Whatever creativity you can fit, you can rest assured it will be cutely packaged! ;)  I decided to embellish this box with a bow that I die cut using the Gift Bow Bigz L die which I then embossed with the Polka Dot Embossing folder.  I'm a big fan of the polka dots, so I really love how this bow came out.

Thanks for popping by today!

Don't forget! I have a November Blog Candy Giveaway to celebrate my Stampin'Up! Anniversary!  Leave me a comment here to play!

Special blog candy for my Stampin'Up! anniversary!

Hello there blog friends and HAPPY MONDAY! Today, November 10th, is my 14th anniversary as a Stampin'Up Demonstrator!  Can you believe it?!  To share in the celebration and as a thanks to you all for being a part of my crafting world, I am giving away a Stampin'Up! Holiday Home photopolymer stamp set.  One lucky person will be picked at random. All you have to do is leave me a comment by Sunday, November 30 at midnight Pacific Time. You can leave me a comment about anything, or you can tell me what your all time favorite Stampin'Up! Stamp Set is! I'll announce the lucky winner on Monday, December 1st.

I'm so glad to be celebrating this anniversary. It's a testament to my commitment to Stampin'Up! and my love for stamping and paper crafting.  As many of you know, I work full time and I'm more of a passionate "hobby demonstrator" that enjoys the craft and sharing my experience with others.  What I do love about this company is that I'm able to make my business fit my needs.  There are times when I've throttled it up, but in more recent times, have had to take it down a notch in order to keep a balance with family and my day job commitments.  In every case, I've still enjoyed the benefits of being a demonstrator and all the comraderie that I've experienced with fellow demonstrators and customers who also have a love of the craft. I've got great downline demonstrators as well, that I am so glad to be part of my team.

I thank you all for coming to visit with me and also getting the chance to know some of you.  It's through our mutual appreciation of all things paper crafting that I think allows for us to feel like we know each other and it's a really nice feeling.  I know that my blogging hasn't been the most consistent, but I do enjoy sharing with you all and hearing back from you on occasions, too!

I think I'm in a good place to have more regular postings to share with you all, so I hope you continue to come and visit.  As you'll see in upcoming posts, my craft room transformation has had a lot to do with my ability to craft again. IE, I've cleaned it up so that I can actually DO some crafting :)  There are also lots of things to celebrate in the holiday season, so I definitely want to pop in and share ideas on that front, too!

I look forward to reading your comments and am excited to be giving this fun stamp set away to a lucky winner!