a little tinsel

Happy Sunday, bloggie peeps!  Today I'm sharing the last couple of cards from my Holiday Class last week.  This first one is super simple and so festive with the tinsel!  Here's a look at it in full view:

The card base is Cherry Cobbler, layered with a Top Note die in Very Vanilla.  I also die cut a half of the top note die in the Jolly Holiday paper.  Then, just a simple string of tinsel across the middle, topped off with a punched Ornament from the Contempo Christmas stamp set.  Add a little tinsel around the neck of the ornament and stick it onto your card with dimensionals.  And lastly, stamp the Merry Christmas Sentiment {also from the Contempo Christmas set} in Cherry Cobbler - viola!  You're done! 

For this card, I used Riding Hood Red and Old Olive.  I ran a piece of Very Vanilla through the big shot using the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder.  I love that background!  Next, I took a piece of Riding Hood Red striped Grosgrain ribbon and cinched the center of it with an antique brad.  Then, I wrapped that ribbon around the Vintage Wallpaper piece and adhered with Snail.  Layer that cardstock over Old Olive and adhere to your Riding Hood Red card base.  For the sentiment, I stamped the greeting from the Gifted stamp set and punched it out using the Wide Oval punch.  Next, I punched out 2 Decorative Label pieces - one in Riding Hood Red and Old Olive.  To create the layered look, I cut the long side ends of the Riding Hood Red label  about 1/2" on either side.  Then I used snail to adhere to the Old Olive label, so that it looks like a layered "shadow."  Pretty cool that you can create that layered look with the same punch! 

Here are the recipes:

{Tinsel Ornament}

*Stamp Set: Contempo Christmas

*Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Jolly Holiday DSP

*Inks: Cherry Cobbler Classic Ink Pad

*Accessories: Top Note Bigz Die, Ornament Punch, Tinsel Trim

{Season's Greetings}

*Stamp Set: Gifted

*Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Very Vanilla

*Inks: Old Olive

*Accessories: Vintage Wallpaper Embossing folder, Decorative Label Punch, Riding Hood Red Grosgrain ribbon, Antique Brads, Wide Oval Punch

Hope you like them.  Have a great day!

PPA Color Challenge...Just for You

Hi all!  I know I should be decorating my house right now, but I came upon the PPA Color Challenge and the colors were too fun to pass up, so I thought I'd play along.  I feel like it's been such a long time since I've done a challenge!  How do you like the sneak peek picture?  The colors are Early Espresso, Pear Pizazz and Regal Rose:

I wanted to use the Northern Frost decorative strip die, so I managed to work that in.  Here's the full card for you:

What do you think?  I had fun making my snowflake flowers!  Though I will say it took me a while to figure out how I was going to put them all together on my card to make it work.  Hope you like it.  Here's the recipe:

{Snowflake Flowers Just for You}

*Stamp Set: Teenie Tiny Wishes

*Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Regal Rose, Pear Pizazz, Early Espresso

*Inks: Early Espresso Marker

*Accessories: 2 3/8" Scallop Punch, Large Scallop Punch, Northern Frost Decorative Strip Die, Basic Pearls, Corner Rounder

Thanks for coming by!  Enjoy your weekend :)

Noel, noel...

Hi blog peeps!  Happy Saturday.  Not only do I have a card for you, but I've got a matchy matchy frame, too!  I thought I'd keep it simple yet festive with the card - no stamping at all, can you believe it?  I love the Timeless Type sizzlet alphabet letters and used them for both the card and the frame.  Speaking of...here's a look at both:

I shared the frame as my Week 10 of my 12 Weeks of Christmas Newsletter series, and I had the extra lower case letters already die cut, so I came up with a simple card that coordinates with the festive little frame.  No need for anything to go to waste, AND you have a cute gift set!  Perfect little hostess gift or neighbor gift.  I also had a little fun tying the jingle bells onto the card - the're tied to the ends of the bakers twine, so they're hanging freely to jingle all the way :)  Enjoy!

Here's the recipe for you:

{Noel Frame and card}

*Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Whisper White {on the card only}, Jolly Holiday DSP

*Accessories: Old Olive Grosgrain ribbon, Cherry Cobbler Buttons, Scallop Square Duo Bigz die, Timeless Type Alphabet Sizzlets; non SU!: white die cut frame {PTI}, Baker's Twine

Have a great weekend!  Now, I'm off to get some decorating done here at the house.  Bye for now!

Santa Claus is coming to town...

Oh you better watch out, you better not pout, you better not shout, I'm telling you why...

Santa Claus is coming to town!

I love this image of Santa - he truly looks so JOLLY, doesn't he?  This is another card we created at my Holiday Class, but slightly stepped up.  I made a few extras after the class and decided to add the twine and bells.  I also "vintaged" it up a bit by using a sponge dauber and inking Crumb Cake around the edges.  Here's a look at the original - still super cute with clean lines:

And here's how just a few slight tweaks can change the look:

So what do you think?  I like them both.  The simple clean line version is great for mailing and mass producing - it's super quick to put together if you cut all your supplies first and assembly line it.  If you're just making a few or hand delivering some cards, then the stepped up version is a fun one to try.  Just keep in mind that the bells add a thickness to the card which will require an extra 20 cents of postage.  Here's the recipe for you:

{Happy Jolly Santa}

All supplies Stampin'Up! Except where noted

*Stamp Sets: Jolly Old Saint Nick, Bright Christmas

*Cardstock: Shimmery White, Candy Cane DSP, Real Red, Whisper White

*Inks: Basic Black, Blush Blossom, Real Red, Regal Rose

*Accessories: Real Red Polka Dot Grosgrain ribbon {from SU! Clearance Rack!}, Scallop Circle #2 Bigz die, Circle Cutter (Santa Circle is 3" in diameter), Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink (on the white parts of Santa's hat); Baker's Twine and Bells from craft store

Hope you like it! Thanks for visiting today :)

December Final Friday Giveaway!

Are you ready for the last Final Friday Giveaway of the year?  I thought I'd give away a few fun things to the lucky winner!  How about some stamps, buttons and boxes? The lucky winner will get:

*God's Beauty Stamp Set

*Playground Buttons

*Pack of 12 Island Oasis Party Favor Boxes

Would you like to win?  Here are the rules {only enforced by the "Honor System"}:

1. Leave me a comment on this post by midnight Pacific Time, Wed, December 29, 2010.
2. On your comment, please make sure to include a valid email address or a blog link (where I can leave a comment or have a way of contacting you). For those of you that are uncomfortable with leaving an email in a post, you can write your info like this: yourname at emailaccount dot com.
3. One comment per person please. :)
4. Anyone can play - international visitors welcome!

You can leave me a comment about anything, or tell me what you plan to do for New Year's Eve!  Let's end the year with a BANG, shall we?  Look forward to reading your comments, and GOOD LUCK! :)

My Punchy Frosty the Snowman!

Hi bloggie peeps!  Happy December to you!  Sorry for my late post - this has been a busy work week for me, so I've had limited time on posting...boo!  Anyway, I am eeking out a few minutes to share my Frosty the Snowman card from my Holiday Class.  This cute little guy was inspired by Doris Denman, but I managed to put my own take on him with his big Black Eyes and his hat!  The scarf was Doris's clever idea that I had to case, along with his overall body shape, too :)  Doesn't he look like such a happy snowman?  He's all made out of punches!  Here are the directions and supplies:

{Frosty The Snowman!}
*Snowman Body: 1 3/4" Circle Punch and 2 1/2" Circle Punch in Whisper White
*Hat: 1/2 of the Decorative Label Punchand  Word Window Punch, in Textured Basic Black; Itty Bitty Punches flower in Cherry Cobbler and branch from 2Step Bird Punch in Pear Pizzazz; embellish the flower with the largest half pearl from the Basic Pearls
*Scarf: 1 and 1/2 Modern Label punch, 1/2" Circle Punch in Cherry Cobbler
*Buttons: 1/2" Circle Punch in Baja Breeze
*Face: Eyes are the large circles from the Owl Punch in Textured Basic Black and accented with White Gel Pen, Nose is from the largest flower from the Boho Blossoms punch in Pumpin Pie, Mouth was drawn in with Basic Black Marker
*Arms: 2 sprigs from the Snowflake punch, in Early Espresso

1.  Punch out your snowman pieces above.  Sponge the hat and scarf pieces with Whisper White Craft Ink.
2.  Cut Crumb Cake cardstock into a 5 1/2' x 8/1/2" piece and fold in half.  Then, use the Northern Flurry embossing folder to run the front of the cardstock through the Big shot to create your embossed card.
3.  Assemble Snowman onto the front of carstock and adhere the body to the cardstock using dimensionals.  Use glue dots to add on Frosty's face and adhere his accessories together. 

Viola!  You're done!  He's a lot of fun to make.  Enjoy!

all packaged up...

Hi blog peeps!  Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend.  I know I did - and I feel more stuffed than a turkey right now.  Definitely time to get back into my gym routine!  But that's another conversation :)  I just wanted to pop in with a quick share of the projects we made at my Holiday Class from this afternoon.  We had lots of fun crafting the afternoon away.   

So, what do you think of the projects?  First of all, I have to give credit where credit's due for the snowman card - it was inspired by a card that Doris Denman made.  She's a fellow Stampin'Up! demonstrator..and a very crafty one at that!  Her card  was called "Mr. Flaky" and it was just super cute.  I just changed up the snowman a bit by adding his hat. Isn't he a cutie?  The rest of the projects are a mish mash of my own concoction and elements inspired by many cards I've been admiring...too many for a specific attribution!  Now unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a good "group" picture of my projects. So, I turned to My Digital Studio {MDS} to create my project collage.  By creating a page layout in MDS, I was able to gather my projects in one place, and even though each one is separate, they're all together for an improvised group photo - YAY!  The program's pretty nifty!  Anyway, the snowflake package in the top picture above is the box we created to put the cards in - super cute and super easy!  I'll post each of these projects separately this week and include supplies and instructions, so stay tuned!

I'm gonna say good night for now.  It's getting late for me and tomorrow's a back to work day...I can't believe the weekend's already come and gone!  Have a good one - whatever time zone you're in - and I'll see you soon!

Bye for now :)