Fun and Simple Gift Wrap

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IMG_7427Christmas is almost upon us so I guess it’s time to start thinking about wrapping presents.  I suppose many of you are completely done with this little chore.  Hmmm…

If you’re not done wrapping those gifts here’s a fun and simple idea for you.  Last week I went to a team Christmas party.  I had this pom pom trim on hand that I wanted to try and use.  This is what I came up with for wrapping my gift.  I had first wrapped the trim around the box going in both directions and then tried to tie a bow.  That DID NOT work.  Have your actually tried tying this stuff?  I finally just wrapped it in one direction and tied a cute little knot.  The red trim and the white box worked.  My job was done….except it needed an adorable tag.

IMG_7426You can’t get much more adorable than the little critters in the Snow Place stamp set!  Love it!  I’ll definitely be hanging on to this stamp set and the COORDINATING framelits.  Did you know that these two items are not retiring at the end of the Holiday Catalog?  Nope!  They’re among the “returning favorites” from the Holiday Catalog.  Yippee!

My favorite critter from the Snow Place stamp set is actually the stinkin’ cute penguin.  I have a fun project I made with him that I think I might just share with you tomorrow!  🙂

Have a great day!  Don’t get too stressed during these days leading up to Christmas!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

 

World of Dreams

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IMG_7391This card is another from my last class of 2015.  It’s gorgeous if I do say so myself.  Of course I didn’t come up with the idea on my own.  I did change the card up quite a bit but the sponged “sunset” idea was copied.

Isn’t the “sunset” striking?  It’s made with ink and sponges.  Start with your lightest color.  Sponge it on your card stock until you get the desired depth of color.  Then move on to the next color.  Just remember to overlap the colors a little.  Easy-peasy!

On my card I added the required multiple layers and ribbon and it was complete!

This is another card that can really be used for any occasion but I think it would be perfect for a sympathy card.  You just never seem to have one of those on hand when you need one.

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Get Well Soup

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IMG_7387Well, it’s that time of year.  The time of colds, flue and all around yuck.  Luckily (knock on wood) no one in my family has gotten sick yet.

Since it’s “that time of year” it’s always good to have a few get well cards on hand.  This Get Well Soup stamp is perfect!  Isn’t it cute?  The hardest part of the card was figuring out the design.  I got this idea from my favorite source….Pinterest!

I didn’t want to color in the entire bowl so I stamped the image a second time on Crumb Cake card stock, cut out the front portion of the bowl and adhered it the image I had stamped on the Whisper White card stock.  Quite a creative idea if I do say so myself.  🙂

Unfortunately I had to use a retired product for the red heart.  Stampin’ Up! no longer has heart framelits but that’s what I used.  Oh, well….there’s a reason I don’t get rid of retired product!  Ha!

I’m hoping that I don’t have to use this card too soon.  Stay healthy, have a great weekend, take care and Happy Stamping!

Joyful Season

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IMG_7384A beautiful and simple card.  This is a great card because it can be a Christmas card or a card for almost any occasion.  We actually made it this week in class.

I was suppose to have three classes this week, two on Tuesday and one on Wednesday.  Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate.  I knew I’d wake up to snow on Tuesday but I didn’t quite realize how much.  I got up early to shovel a little but the further along I got the more I realized no one would want to come out in this mess.  At 7:30 am we probably had 8″-10″ of snow already and it was still snowing.  We ended up with close to a foot of snow.  I did cancel both classes on Tuesday and had only 3 people show up on Wednesday.  That’s ok.  It really is a bit close to Christmas.

Christmas….YIKES!  It’s only a week away!  I’m not ready!!!!!

Back to the card…..I fell in love with this cardinal when I first saw it in the catalog but I wasn’t sure what to do with it.  I didn’t use it on any Christmas projects but I wanted to use it before it goes away on January 4th so I came up with this card.  I wanted something pretty easy.  I’ve figured out that my favorite 4 1/4″ x 4 1/4″ size works perfectly for easy!  🙂

A few fancy punches on the corners and this card goes from easy to WOW!  Did you notice that I used two of the punches on the Curvy Corner Trio Punch?  One on the Early Espresso piece and one on the white piece.  It’s becoming one of my favorite punches.

I think this card will be perfect for winter birthdays, thank you notes or almost any occasion.  OK…I have to ask….did anyone notice that I forgot to stamp the beak?  Yikes!  I did remedy that before class but never got another picture taken.  Oh, well….

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

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Lots of Joy Gift Card Holder

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IMG_7379Another gift card holder!  I actually saw this gift card holder way back in July.  My friend Jan gave those in our group attending convention one of these.  Aren’t they cute?  All of the items used on it are from the main Idea Book and Catalog.

The adorable little plaid stamped tree is from the new Lots of Joy stamp set although you could use any of the tree images in the Festival of Trees stamp set which was originally found in last year’s Holiday Catalog.  The little sentiment is from Festival of Trees also.

This little gift card holder isn’t too difficult.  Start with a piece of card stock that’s 10″ x 2 3/4″.  Score it at 2 1/2″ IMG_7367and 6 1/2″.  After that you just fold and decorate.  Most of the decorating is on your belly band.  I love projects that aren’t too complicated.

Well, do you have all of your shopping done?  Nope, be neither.  I should be able to finish the out of town gifts tomorrow.  I do love Amazon Prime!  🙂  However I am still at a loss on what to get my husband and my younger son.  It doesn’t help that hubby has a birthday four days after Christmas.  Well, I have a little over a week, right?

Good luck with the rest of your holiday shopping!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

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Flurry of Wishes Gift Card Holder

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IMG_7373Some people like giving gift cards, some people don’t.  Some people like receiving gift cards, some people don’t.

I kind of like giving and receiving gift cards.  At least with a gift card you can’t buy the wrong thing or get the gift in the wrong size or color.  The recipient can get exactly what they want.  As the recipient of a gift card I can get exactly what I want.  I especially love gift cards for e-books!

If you like to give gift cards then you really must have an attractive gift card holder, right?  I got the idea for this gift card holder online from another talented demonstrator.  I love when those talented stampers share their ideas!  🙂

IMG_7374This gift card holder starts with a Sketched Dot Tag a Bag.  Simple!  Just score and fold and you have two pockets.  One pocket for the gift card and one pocket for a little card to put your sentiment on.

To begin with, score your bag at 3″.  With the bag in front of you fold the bottom edge up along the score line.  You don’t need to use adhesive to adhere the bottom portion of the bag to the top to form your front pocket.  Your decorated belly band holds the bag together.

The sentiment card for the back pocket is 3 3/4″ x 4 1/4″.  I decorated the top corners of mine with the new Curvy Corner Trio Punch.  The other piece of card stock for the front pocket is 5 3/4″ x 4 1/4″.  Score at 3 3/8″ to from the pocket.  You will need to use adhesive on the edges of this to form the pocket.

This gift card holder is pretty quick and easy to make depending on how fancy you get with your belly band.  I’ll probably be making a few more before Christmas arrives!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Sneak Peek: It’s My Party

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IMG_7408At Stampin’ Up!’s recent On Stage events we got introduced to many of the new products in the upcoming Occasions Catalog.  Not only did we get to see them, we got to play with them.  We didn’t actually make full projects, we just made parts that we could use on our own projects.

On today’s project I made everything but the Melon Mambo card.  The rest of the design is with all new products from the It’s My Party Suite.  This suite of course includes all sorts of fun products for birthdays!

The It’s My Party designer paper is bright and fun!  The best thing about it is that it comes in a pack of 48 sheets.  4 sheets each of 12 different designs.  This is especially great for us demonstrators that hold classes and need lots of designer paper!  🙂

Did you notice the three fun new punches?  It’s a new little punch pack that of course COORDINATES with the Party Wishes stamp set!  You know me, I LOVE coordination.  One of the great things about these new little punches and the stamp set is that the stamped image is slighty larger than the punch so you won’t end up with the white edge around your punched image.  BRILLIANT!

I know you’re going to love the new Occasions Catalog.  If you’d like a copy of it be sure to contact me.  You’re not going to want to miss out!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Adorable Punch Art Santa Tag

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IMG_7381My bank has a branch in one of the local grocery stores so I had stopped the other evening on the way to choir rehearsal to make a deposit.  After making my deposit I had walked by the bank again and Santa was there!  He was right there at the bank!  There weren’t any little kiddos around but all of the adults in the area were smiling.  It was quite a fun sight.  You just have to smile when you’re around Santa, right?  🙂

Well, this little Santa tag makes me smile too.  I received one as a swap while I was at the event in Dallas last month.  It uses about a gazillion punches but it’s pretty easy to make.  The fun part is making his beard and moustache out of the Bow Builder Punch.  Another creative person on the loose again.  I would never have made anything but a bow with Bow Builder Punch.  You?

You’ll definitely want a package of Mini Glue Dots around when you put this little tag together.  You use a ton of them!

Here’s a run-down of the uses for the different punches you’ll use on this card:

Bow Builder Punch: Moustache and Beard
Tree Punch: Hat
Word Window Punch: Hat Brim
Note Tag Punch: Tag, Face
Owl Builder Punch: Nose
¼” Handheld Punch: Eyes
Tree Builder Punch: Pom Pom on Hat

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Snow Place Tic Tac Holder

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IMG_7017Last week or so I showed you a cute Tic Tac holder that was perfect for Thanksgiving and promised you more details on how to make it.  Well, here it is.

This is the holder we made at classes this week.  It’s really easy and everyone liked it.  As you can tell from my two posts on this little project you can change it up for any occasion.

For any Tic Tac holder for the regular size box of candies you want to start with a piece of card stock that is 3″ x 5 3/8″.  With a long side of the card stock at the top place your card stock in the Simply Scored (or your Stampin’ Trimmer) score at 1 3/4″, 2 1/2″, 4 1/4″and 5″.  Just crease well along the score lines and form your little box.

IMG_7020You can decorate your box however you’d like.  I used the adorable Snow Place stamp set and the COORDINATING Snow Friends Framelits on mine.

Fold the wide ribbon (12″) in half, slip the candies between the two sides and then tie a piece of baker’s twine (10″) around the ribbon.  Now just slip the box of candies, ribbon and all, in the box.  That’s it!  An adorable and easy treat holder for those holiday parties or dinner favors!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Classy Bottle Tag

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IMG_7362Did you notice how I didn’t say Classy WINE Bottle Tag in the title?  That’s because this project can be so much more!  You can use it for any type of bottle.  How about fancy home-made flavored oils?  Yep.  There are many types of bottles out there so don’t be limited .

I had to use the word classy just because of the fancy black and gold color scheme.  Isn’t it sharp looking?  This was one of those projects that when I finished it I just sat back and smiled.  It made me happy that it turned out so well!

I started with the Gold Foil sheet then decorated it with the fabulous Winter Wonderland Vellum and some Basic Black card stock.  The vellum is GORGEOUS!  Of course with vellum you have to figure out how to adhere it so that the glue doesn’t show.  Well…I had a brain storm!  🙂

I first adhered my Candy Dots to the vellum with Mini Glue Dots to make sure they didn’t come off.  Then on the back side of the vellum I used a dot of the Fine Tip Glue Pen behind each Candy Dot to adhere the vellum to the card stock.

If you don’t want your bottle tag to be holiday related you could always use the “cheers” or the “thanks” from the Greetings Thinlits.

Such a cute project.  Now I just need to figure out who might need a bottle of wine or flavored oil so that I can give one of these great tags away!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Fabulous Advent Calendar Tree

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IMG_7308Hello on this first day of December!  Who all has some type of Advent Calendar in their home?  I have one that I made a few years ago when Stampin’ Up! had an Advent Calendar stamp set.  I guess I’ll have to share that with you soon.  This Advent Calendar tree is one that I WANT to make.  I know it won’t get done for this year seeing as this is the first day of December but maybe next year…..

One of the gals at the Dallas event had made this and shared it with us?  Isn’t it great?  It’s a wooden tree frame with Stampin’ Up!’s little clothes pins attached to it to hold the muslin bags on.  Too clever!  That way you can easily remove the muslin bag to take out the day’s treat!

IMG_7309This second picture is of the back of the tree and you can see how easy it would be to make.  I imagine I could probably do it myself but why bother when you have a husband who is quite handy with tools……just sayin’!

I’m sure you’re now wondering how the adorable little bags were decorated.  Well, the designer used the Hello December 2015 Project Life Card Collection!  Project Life isn’t just for scrapbooks!  How simple is that?!!!  Just punch/die cut some circles, adhere them together and you have your date for the muslin bag!  Clever, clever, clever!  I can’t say it enough.  You can see a close up of the bag tags in the last photo.

IMG_7308 (2)Now I’m getting all excited again about this project!  Hmmm….can I get it done by Christmas?  OK…it’s not really going to happen but I’ll definitely let you know if it does!  Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Home for Christmas Designer Paper Card

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IMG_7321This is a swap I received in Dallas.  The images are all from the Home for Christmas Designer Series Paper.  I’m going to admit this….I do not like this paper.  It’s a bit old fashioned for me.  I do however like this card which is why I’m sharing it with you.

This card must have been a lot of work.  All of the images had to be cut out by hand….fussy cutting at it’s best (worst).  The little reindeer is pretty cute but definitely not my style.

I like how the designer used the starburst from the Kinda Eclectic stamp set underneath the focal point to add a little more pizzazz to the card and then of course the Red Foil Sheet “merry” makes everything pop.

Today’s the last day of the Online Extravaganza.  Get your shopping done here!  It’s also the last day of November which means I really need to start thinking about Christmas.  I did get all of my Thanksgiving items put away but now I need to start the Christmas decorating.  I know a number of people who already have their trees up and decorated.  Are you one of them?  🙂

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Sparkly Flurry of Wishes

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IMG_7319It’s a chilly and overcast day here in CO so I thought some sparkly snowflakes would cheer us up!  🙂

This card was designed by my friend Glenda who joined Jan and I in Dallas for Stampin’ Up!’s On Stage event earlier this month.  Isn’t it pretty?  All of the snowflakes are embossed.  The silver foil sheet and the jewels add that sparkle I am in need of today.

I’m still recovering for food overload.  We had a little over 20 people for Thanksgiving dinner the other day and then 12 of them returned last night for our annual “Leftover Night”.  Yep….in our neighborhood we kind of have two Thanksgiving dinners.  It’s a tradition we started when we first started celebrating Thanksgiving together almost 20 years ago.  Next year will be 20 years exactly so we may have to think of something special to help us celebrate.

What do you all do for Thanksgiving?  Family?  Friends?  Both?  My mom and dad joined us from the MN Homeland this year.  That was pretty nice.  I tell you though…I’m still exhausted….my mom doesn’t stop.  She’s kind of like the Energizer Bunny.  She keeps going and going and going.  We did get a chance to play a couple of games together though so that was nice.  She even joined my church choir for the service Tuesday night and sang with us.  Mom and Dad haven’t been out here to CO since my son got married 2 years ago.  They were do and they’re lucky to be healthy enough to do it.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving however you celebrated.  Take care and Happy First Day of Advent……Christmas is coming!

P.S.  Don’t forget that tomorrow is the last day of Stampin’ Up!’s Online Extravaganza!  Get those deals while you can!

Grateful Tic Tac Holder

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IMG_7023Sorry I missed a few days but my parents are in town and we’ve been visiting and running around.  It’s great to have them visit.  They haven’t been here since my son got married two years ago.  Of course we get to the Minnesota Homeland at least 2-3 times a year so it’s not like we haven’t seen them.  They had an uneventful flight.  They are a little nervous about how crowded the airport might be on Friday when they head back home but I assured them we can get them to the airport as early as they’d like.

My son and his wife arrived in town from California last night.  So we will have a lovely Thanksgiving tomorrow.  We host every year.  It starts with the neighbors who aren’t traveling and grows from there.  This year we’re up to about 28 people or so.  Should be fun!

IMG_7024This little treat holder is what I made for my friends that I went to Stampin’ Up!’s On Stage event in Dallas with.  It’s a fun and easy treat holder for regular size Tic Tacs.  Oooo…that reminds me….we’re making a Christmas one in class next week and I still need to get the Tic Tacs!

The original idea I saw for this project used a miniature little Tic Tac box from the dollar store.  Since I didn’t want to run around looking for little ones I just designed my holder around a regular size box of Tic Tacs.  Stampin’ Up!’s wide striped ribbon is the perfect size!

These treat holders are so easy.  I’ll give you directions and dimensions when I post the Christmas one…probably next week.  If I forget to post again tomorrow have a wonderful and peaceful Thanksgiving!

Take care and Happy Stamping!

To You & Yours Shaker Card Kit

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IMG_7314I was finally able to hold my Shaker Card Kit classes this week.  This kit has been so popular that it’s been on backorder forever!  They’re finally in stock!  Woo Hoo!

With this kit you make 6 each of these three different designs.  They’re really fun to make and shaker cards just make a person smile!  🙂

You do need the coordinating stamp set and three different ink pads along with liquid glue and mini glue dots to complete the kit.   Everything else needed for the cards is included.

Everyone in class had a fun time making them.  I would definitely make them again.  Hmmm….maybe I should order another kit…

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

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