Tag Archives: Christmas

Christmas bags: Delightful Decorations

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Crystal and I offer a series of classes in the fall to inspired our customers for Christmas.  Tomorrow we’re doing the last of the set – Christmas bags.  Today you get a little sneak peak of one of those bags.  It’s very, very easy, and we designed it to perfectly coordinate with THIS card.

Ornament_bag

  • Delightful Decorations and All Holidays Stamp sets
  • Whisper White, Bermuda Bay and Rich Razzleberry card stock
  • Old Olive, Bermuda Bay and Rich Razzleberry Classic ink pad
  • Ornament punch; Scallop Edge punch; 1/16″ hand held punch
  • Gold brad, Stampin Dimensional, 5/8″ Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Gold elastic cord
  • Purchased white bag and gold wired ribbon

I’m really pleased with all of the bags we’ve designed for this class.  Maybe next year, you’ll plan your trip to Maui just right and be able to join us!

Flip scrapbooks

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Ah, Monday.  My To-Do list is long and the days grow shorter.  I’m struggling to do the things that must be done before I tackle the things I really want to do.  Being grown up and attentive to one’s responsibilities is such a challenge.  I think I enjoy stamping precisely because it allows me to forget that I’m a grown-up!

Saturday, I did a Flip Album class using Simply Scrappin’ kits.  (Topic derail:  I have such awesome customers.  They bring goodies, they laugh and share stories, and they make me feel like a genius.  Even when I’m not.  Thanks, friends!)  I gotta tell you, the Scrappin’ kits make this project an absolute breeze.  My friend Kellie had the absolutely BRILLIANT idea of adding a CD pocket to the design and I’ll be making a Christmas music CD to fill the pocket.

Olive_Jingle_Flip

  • Christmas Jingle Simply Scrappin’ Kit
  • Real Red 1″ Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon
  • Sticky Strip

 

Red_Jingle_Flip

  • Christmas Jingle Simply Scrappin’ Kit
  • Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon (retired)
  • Sticky Strip

These are a lot easier than you might think!  I’m a pretty visual person, so it helped me to hold an actual Flip Album in my hands while I read the directions.  If you’d like basic instructions, check THIS link for a PDF.  I made both of these with one Simply Scrappin’ kit and had plenty of resources left for at least one or two more.  If I get enough requests, I’ll take some photos of the inside.  Maybe.  If I’m feeling really grown up about the whole thing.

Tags in little boxes

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I’ve mentioned before – I’m a container kind of person.  I like little drawer organizers and things to hold stuff on my desk and Tupperware in my pantry and boxes for my shoes.  When I saw the Christmas Punch Hostess stamp set in the Idea Book and Catalog (page 14) I put the little box full of tags on my To Do list.

(Digression:  My To Do list is an act of faith and a work of art.  It has catagories and priorities and there is always more undone than done at the end of the day.  I hope it will always be that way.)

Crystal and I played around with the box until we liked it, and then added it to our tag class.  Peanut butter and Jelly.   Romeo and Juliet.   Tags in a box.  It had to be.

Tag_Class_Tags

Tag_Class_box

Decking the Halls

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I am all about simple-plus cute…so how about these ornaments?

Ornament_Tree

Yes, I know the tree is leaning.  It’s not – really – but I leaned when I took the picture, trying to get everything to fit in.  I ought to take another, but I have a thousand and one reasons not to.  And every single reason is just a lazy excuse, so there!

These little paper gems use 6 ornament punches, scored down the middle and attached to each other with Tombo Multipurpose adhesive.  Before I stuck the last two edges together I put a loop of Elastic Cord down the middle (gold or silver, Holiday Mini Catalog p. 27 $4.95).  When everything was dry I threaded a few beads on the bottom and tied a knot.  Personally, I kind of like the tails, but to each her own.

These go together in no time and are a very portable craft.  I don’t recommend trying to thread the beads when you’re out and about unless you have more patience and a steadier hand than I do.  I tend to mutter a lot when I add the beads, and appearing to talk to yourself without a cell phone or ear-bud in sight will attract some pretty odd looks.

Shopping for the holidays, Stampin’ Up! style

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It wouldn’t be NovembeHoliday Gift Guide 2009r without a Stampin’ Up! special, now, would it??

Yes, I know I wrote yesterday about celebrating too early, but shopping is another thing.  I mean this sincerely.  If you leave your Christmas shopping for too late, it makes you grumpy (trust me, I know this.)  We would all like to give the perfect gift, and we have to invest thought and effort into finding those gifts – and that doesn’t happen on December 23rd (at least on Maui it doesn’t – everyone is sold out!)

Stampin’ Up! has ever so kindly created a Holiday Gift-Giving Guide to inspire you, and in keeping with the spirit of the holidays, there’s a gift for the giver, too!  From November 1 to January 4, every time you purchase $50 worth of products from the Holiday Gift-Giving Guide, you may select a free Decor Elements item with a value up to $16.95.   There are so many images for a variety of occasions that you’ll be tempted to spend in multiples – because there’s no limit to the number of free Decor Elements you can earn.

There’s also the Sweet Rewards promotion (choose any item from the Holiday Mini Catalog for $10 with a $250 workshop and purchase My Digital Studio for $40 with a $400 workshop) and the Digital Starter kit, your opportunity to be a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator and jump in feet first with My Digital Studio.  Check the Promotions page on my website for more details.

Don’t forget to look around your crafting space for inspiration for other gifts…a stationery set, a mini-scrapbook, or a personalized package of goodies is a cost effective and thoughtful gift too.  Of course, a hand-made card is the finishing touch!

Starting to think about Christmas

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I generally object to any kind of Christmas marketing before about the middle of November, but when it comes to crafting I have to make an exception.  Cards, tags and decorations take time and planning.  Leave it too late and they just don’t get done.  I go through a lot of paper, ink and accessories in the process of choosing our annual family card, and I need time to let the ideas and examples simmer before I make my final selection.

This won’t make the cut – literally – with those hand-cut pines.  Sure are cute, though!

Pattern_Pines_card_crop

  • Patterned Pines and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set
  • Handsome Hunter and Real Red Classic Stamp pad; Champagne Mist Shimmer paint
  • Kraft, Handsome Hunter, Whisper White and Glossy White cardstock; Riding Hood Red Designer Series Paper (retired)
  • Kraft Taffeta ribbon
  • Modern Label punch, Stampin’ Sponges, Sponge Daubers
  • Metallic eyelets and Crop-a-dile

This concept actually began as the embellishment on the top of a box for A-2 cards.  The tutorial is HERE and don’t miss it – the first box is two pieces, base and lid.  Scroll down to the bottom and look for the dimensions for the pizza box.  That’s what I made.

Pattern_Pines_box_crop

Cute, isn’t it?  And easy as can be.  But please don’t ask me about that evergreen garland.  It’s a retired wheel.  Use Soft Holly (112968) instead.  It’s better.  Really.

And no Christmas Carols in the stores until after Thanksgiving, OK??

Shimmery Dasher

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Are you ready for another Christmas card?  I know it’s early…but I like to get thinking about these things.  I like to simmer a bunch of ideas on the back burner and let the best one come to the surface.

This card uses the awesome Champagne Mist shimmer paint again.  I can’t get enough of this product – there are so many ways to use it.  I inked the Dasher stamp in Old Olive and then used a dauber to add a very light coat of shimmer on the antlers.  I stamped it on the ivory panel, then inked it again but didn’t add the shimmer and stamped it on a second piece of cardstock.  Finally, I used a dauber to add a very light layer of shimmer over the entire image.  This leaves messy edges, so I cut out the Dasher and layered it over the first image.  Finally, I used the Aquapainter with a little more shimmer to give Dasher a shimmery pool to stand in.

Olive Shimmer Dasher

  • Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Basic Black and Very Vanilla Cardstock
  • Old Olive and Encore Gold ink, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint
  • Dasher and All Holidays stamp sets
  • Old Olive 1 1/4″ grosgrain stripe ribbon
  • Aquapainter, Stampin’ Dimensionals