December projects

Poor, poor neglected blog!! My blog definitely got neglected with all of the craziness of the Christmas season. Between preparing for and attending craft sales every weekend from mid November to right before Christmas and trying to prepare for Christmas at home, there was just no time to keep the blog up-to-date. Hopefully things will get back on track here soon.

There were times when I didn't even take pictures of the projects I was working on but I will post what I did manage to photograph. This is a pic of a gift card holder that proved to be a good seller at the craft sales:

This gift card holder uses one piece of paper folded in half and placed on the stocking die so that the crease is just below the top cutting mark of the stocking. The cuff, heel and toe are cut from the silver glimmer paper and the holly berry is cut from the stocking accessories die from always artichoke card stock and red glimmer paper. There is a pocket inside that holds the gift card.

Here are some of December's club projects:

This ornament is cut from red glimmer paper using the scallop circle die and a treat cup. The snowman is stamped on vellum using black stazon ink and coloured using markers. A small amount of mica flakes are placed in the treat cup before attaching the stamped vellum to the back of the cup. You don't want to use too much of the mica flakes or the snowman looks buried in the snow! Punch a circle out of the red glimmer scallop circle using the 1 3/4 circle punch. By putting the scallop circle in as far as it will go into the punch you end up punching out towards the bottom of the circle but that's okay as it gives you room to place a Merry Christmas banner on the top. A second red glimmer scallop circle is also punched out with the circle punch. These two scallop circles will be attached to each other but remember to attach a loop of ribbon at the top first so you have something to hang your ornament by. Having the back punched out allows the Christmas tree lights to shine through the ornament. The Merry Christmas banner was stamped on whisper white using basic black ink and cut out free hand (something I don't do well!). I loved how this ornament turned out!!

This Christmas card uses non traditional colours and the bling is a definite wow! The colours used here are basic black and tempting turquoise. The ornament is punched out of the silver glimmer paper using the ornament punch and then coloured using an aqua pen and tempting turquoise reinker. Thank you to Patty Bennett for the instructions on colouring the silver glimmer paper. Check out Patty's blog here:

http://www.pattystamps.typepad.com/pattys_stamping_spot/

The whisper white layer is embossed using the perfect petals embossing folder. A piece of black 1/8 ribbon is placed on the whisper white layer before it is attached to the tempting turquoise layer. A piece of silver glimmer paper is punched out using the ribbon punch, placed on the coloured ornament and then the sides are trimmed. The ornament was popped up and a black ribbon bow was attached to the top of the ornament. The bling on this card is stunning! Love it!

Another club project was a post-it note holder. This item holds a mini gel pen and a post-it note pad inside. A simple project and a popular item at the craft sales.

I finally was able to play with some of my new product that will be coming out in the Occasions Mini starting January 4th:

This card also uses the coloured silver glimmer paper but this time I used baja breeze. Some of the products used are the baja breeze 3/8" pleated satin ribbon, the labels collection framelits die, the adorning accents edgelit die and the adorning accents textured impressions embossing folders. I am such a sucker for anything using the Big Shot so all of the wonderful new dies in this mini made me very happy!!

Today I need to prep for a kids class we are having tomorrow. A very smart Grandma booked a class so that the kids could have a little something to do during the Christmas break. I will post pics of our class projects after tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Thanks for stopping by.

Pat

More craft sale items

Hello again. I thought I would post a some more pics of my craft sale items.

This pretty banner is done in night of navy and whisper white. I stamped snowflakes from the Serene Snowflakes set using whisper white craft ink on night of navy card stock. Once dry, these pieces were attached to chipboard using the Stampin' Up! adhesive sheets. The adhesive sheets sure do make the big projects a lot easier. The chipboard pieces were then cut using the Big Shot and the scallop square die. The whisper white pieces use the scallop circle die and the letters were cut with the serif alphabet dies. Some retired night of navy ribbon keeps it all together and a couple of snowflakes and rhinestones add the finishing touches.

This is another Christmas wreath using rosettes made using the simply scored and the Holly Berry DSP in the mini. Some shimmery red paper and Holly Berry buttons make this wreath so pretty.

I was so happy with how these turned out. These are jumbo clothespins covered with DSP and prettied up with some scallop circle flowers and large brads. They work great as a photo holder or recipe card holder.

This little guy is my favourite so far this season. This snowman gift card holder is made using the top note die and some punched pieces. Love him!! This idea came from Marian Foerster and I thought he would make a great gift card holder. Thank you for sharing Marian!

Lastly, an altered picture frame. I loved last year's Christmas specialty paper for altering picture frames and wasn't sure how this year's selection would work. I love this one!! The idea for the angel came from Debbie Henderson. Check out her blog:

http://debbiesdesignsblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/punch-art-angel-of-joy.html

The colors for this frame are Wild Wasabi and very vanilla. The very vanilla velvet ribbon looks so nice on the frame.

That's it for today. I should try and get a few more projects done this week and post them next weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Pat

Christmas Projects

Hello. I have been busy preparing crafts for the upcoming Christmas craft sales. Here are some of the items I have been working on:

Christmas wreaths, banners and stamped tiles. Just a few of the items I have been working on. I will post more later in the week.

Thank you for stopping by.

Pat

November Club #1 Projects

We were very busy last night working on our three Club projects. I love the stocking die and have seen so many wonderful samples. My plan was to use the stocking die as a gift card holder:

My version incorporates some of the many ideas I found online. Thank you to all of those that inspired me! We used two stockings in real red, embossed with the snowburst embossing folder. It is important to remember to emboss one of the stockings in the reverse of the first so that you have a mirror image on the back. The same goes for cutting the cuff, heel and toe for the stocking. The glimmer polka dot paper comes from the Holly Berry Specialty Designer Paper in the holiday mini. The bottom half of the stockings are attached to each other using sticky strip and the top half uses dimensionals. The gift card sits on a piece of always artichoke which has a tab at the top and a candy cane from the stocking accessories die. By using dimensionals on the top half of the stockings it gives the card holder room to slide in and out. Some pretty vanilla velvet ribbon adds a pretty touch to the cuff. The holly leaves are cut from always artichoke using the stocking accessories die and the holly berries are punched from the red glimmer paper. Love it!!! This is a lot of work so I'm going to have to simplify my craft sale versions!!

We started the night with a photo/scrap layout:

I seem to frame my layouts more than actually scrapping them!! I like to decorate my entry way according to the seasons and, since we have had our first taste of snow, this seemed like an appropriate layout. The layout base is pacific point stamped with snowflakes in whisper white craft ink. The snow at the bottom is whisper white torn to give a ragged uneven edge, add some tombow and mica flakes and you have some glittery snow. The letters for snow were cut using the serif essentials alphabet dies and the big shot. We embossed the letters with the snowburst embossing folder and adhered to the pacific point. The picture is layered on night of navy. It was difficult to do but the snowflake is punched from the silver glimmer paper using the snowflake punch. Even with the backing taken off of the silver glimmer paper, it was still really difficult to punch. Proceed with caution if you try this at home!! :) A basic rhinestone in the centre of the snowflake is the finishing touch. Needless to say, after this project we were all sticky with glue and covered in mica flakes. That stuff is all over my house and seems to be totally resistant to my vacuum. Oh well, everything is glittery and pretty that way.

Finally, we had a simple card to end the projects:

This card uses cherry cobbler card stock, layered with brushed silver card stock. The stamp set used is from The Sounding Joy set in the holiday mini. The star image is stamped on whisper white using cherry cobbler ink. The joy image is stamped using versamark and embossed using the new pewter embossing powder from the holiday mini.

I had also done this card using night of navy for another stamping event:

These cards use the lovely 1 1/4" striped grosgrain ribbon and some retired big buttons. I absolutely love these buttons and hope we get some more again soon!!

I hope you enjoyed this week's projects. Thank you for stopping by.

Pat

Remembrance Day

Not much to say today. I wanted to do something for my entrance way in memory of my Grandfather and other war veterans:

The poppy was punched from real red card stock using the petal builder punch. Four petals and a black circle complete the poppy.

Remembrance Day is November 11th. Wear your poppy!

Thank you for stopping by.

Pat

Club #2 projects

This week I was excited to have my second club start up. We only did two projects as we had a little getting to know you session to start with. Here is the first project we did:

This Christmas card uses the Pennant Parade stamp set from the big catalogue. Our card base uses wild wasabi and the image is stamped on whisper white using wild wasabi, chocolate chip and daffodil delight for the star. The tree is stamped again on whisper white and punched out using the pennant builder punch. Popping the tree up with dimensionals over the first tree gives some great dimension. The image is layered on marina mist and finished off with a scallop border using early espresso cut with the tasteful trim die and the Big Shot. Some white bakers twine holds our merry tag. The card base is embossed with the Northern Flurry embossing folder. Final touches are the basic rhinestones.

Our final project uses the ornament from the Tags til Christmas set. The card base is real red with a very vanilla layer. The ornament is stamped in real red on whisper white and punched out using the ornament punch. Basic pearls dress up these ornaments. The lower layer is the shimmery striped paper from the Holly Berry specialty paper in the holiday mini. This is topped off with a real red satin ribbon tied in a knot. So pretty!

I hope my new club members had fun and hope that they are looking forward to meeting every month to do more exciting projects.

Next week I will be posting the projects from Club #1. Stop in later to check them out. Thanks for stopping by.

Pat

Estevan Bridal Show

Last weekend I attended the Estevan 1st Annual Ladies Night/Bridal Show. I had my Stampin' Up! booth with samples of handcrafted invitations, favours and decorations, in addition to some of my other projects. Here are pics of the items I had on display:

This was a coupon that I provided for the gift bags for the registered brides. It also serves as a sample of an invitation. The colour scheme I used for all of the bridal projects was soft suede and very vanilla. The stamp set used is Wedding Sweet on page 80 if the big catalogue. This set can be used for invitations, congratulations, save the date and thank yous. This particular sample has a belly band around the coupon that is embellished with a flower made from scallop circles. I love these flowers!!

This sample of an invitation uses a different fold and is tied closed with soft suede taffeta ribbon. Inside there is a the invitation info on the centre space and the side has a pocket for the RSVP card.

The main image from the Wedding Sweet set was used to stamp on a battery operated pillar candle. The outside has a wax coating so you are still able to heat set the image onto the candle. The shade for the luminary is cut from vellum using a template. A battery operated tea light sits inside a wine glass which is the base for the shade. Add some basic rhinestones to these items and you have some lovely lighting for your tables.

Last but not least are samples of the favours. The sour cream or twisty favour is embossed with the elegant lines embossing folder. An oval is punched out at the bottom of the favour and covered with window sheet. This allows you to display the treats inside. Basic pearls add a nice touch to this favour. The match box favour uses specialty paper from the Beau Chateau paper pack. A pretty in pink ribbon is so pretty with this paper. Inside are Hershey nuggets wrapped with the Mr. and Mrs. wrap from the It's a Wrap Occasions set. Finally, a simple thank you note card is stamped with the smaller image and thank you from the Wedding Sweet set. The eyelet border punch, basic pearls and soft suede ribbon make this simple card look quite elegant.

In addition to the excitement of the Bridal Show, I was so excited to have another club start this past week. The majority of the members are new stampers and I can't wait to share the fun of stamping with them. I will post our club projects next. Thanks for stopping by.

Pat

October Club Projects

This month's Club had such a different atmosphere. We were missing half of the group so it felt really different. I picked some projects to do that work better with a smaller group and the ladies did a great job.

Our first project was a Christmas sour cream or twist favour:

This project was cased from the September Stampin' Success magazine. The container is wild wasabi embossed with the square lattice embossing folder. The ends are crimped - had to blow the dust off the crimper for this project! A strip of fabric from the Holly Berry Bouquet pack is tied in a knot around the favour. This is topped off with a real red button from the Holly Berry Bouquet designer buttons, some linen thread and a tag from the Tags til Christmas set. These favours would work for gift giving, party favours and place settings for dinner parties. Quick and easy and oh so cute!

Our second project uses my new favourite tool, the Simply Scored Scoring Tool:

These ornaments were cased from Laura Leuenberger and modified by me for Club. The rosette (medallion, lollie) uses paper from the Holly Berry Bouquet Specialty Designer Series Paper, shaker frames, red glimmer paper and mica flakes. These would make cute ornaments or decorations for gift wrapping.

Our last project was a quick and simple Christmas card:

This card was cased from Andrea Karadimos. Check out her blog:

http://stampmyday.blogspot.com/2011/10/christmas-cards-yes-already.html

I modified the card a little bit. The colours are always artichoke and cherry cobbler. The stocking is from the Stitched Stockings set and punched out with the stocking builder punch. The sentiment is from the retired set Peaceful Season - I just love that font!

My next post will be the projects from the Mommy & Me Halloween Class this last weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

Pat

Halloween Wreath Version #3

This is the third and final version of the Halloween wreaths I have been making. I love the new Simply Scored and it comes in so handy for making the medallions (rosettes, lollies) for these wreaths. This last wreath was supposed to go to Ty's teacher but he helped me make it and insists we keep it at home to enjoy. I guess I will just have to give the teacher a Christmas wreath later on!

My next post will showcase the projects we made in Club last week. One of the projects also used the Simply Scored medallion! I'm hooked!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day.

Pat

Audrey's Workshop

I had such a great time at Audrey's workshop on Wednesday. Workshops are a great opportunity to share my obsession, I mean joy, of crafting with others. Three of the guests were first time stampers and they did so well and everyone had a lot of fun. Audrey was a lovely hostess and I thank her for introducing me to such wonderful ladies. I demonstrated the new scoreboard that was introduced in the Holiday Mini. I briefly described how medallions (some call rosettes or lollies) were made using the scoreboard. After the demonstration I presented Audrey with the project I had made for her:

This Halloween Wreath has a styrofoam base that is wrapped in black crepe paper. The medallions are made out of basic black card stock and Halloween DSP from last year that has since retired. The stamped images are from the On a Limb set in this Holiday Mini. The colour combinations are black, white, pumpkin pie, old olive and concord crush. I am busy making a few more of these wreaths for Halloween and then I will be moving on to making the Christmas version.

As part of the workshop we did two make and takes. Here is the first one:

This Christmas card has a cherry cobbler base and a layer of whisper white embossed with the new snow burst embossing folder. The stocking is from the Stitched Stockings stamp set and is stamped on whisper white with cherry cobbler. It was then punched out using the stocking builder punch. The cuff, heel and toe of the stocking were punched out of the new silver glitter paper using the stocking builder punch also. A fancy bow is made using the new cherry cobbler quilted ribbon. With the addition of some rhinestones to the stockings and the bow, there is some pretty awesome bling on this card. Love it!!!

The last card we made was a birthday card:

The ladies did so well with the builder punch on the first card that they were pros by the time this card came around. The base is melon mambo with a whisper white layer embossed with the polka dot embossing folder. Some lovely melon mambo scalloped dotted ribbon was tied in a knot above the happy birthday stamped in old olive. The scallop circle base is in old olive cut with the Big Shot and the perfect pennants die. Another layer of whisper white embossed with the polka dot embossing folder makes the background for the cupcake. The cupcake base is stamped in chocolate chip on whisper white and punched out using the cupcake builder punch. The topping is punched out of melon mambo with some chocolate chip sprinkles. Voila, a cute happy birthday card.

In addition to working on Halloween wreaths, I need to prepare for Club this week. Club projects will be posted later in the week.

Thanks for stopping by.

Pat

World Card Making Day

Whew - it's been a while since I posted!! I have been busy working on various projects that I can't post as they are for upcoming events. This Saturday was World Card Making Day. I should have hosted an event for this special occasion but I had a big project to work on instead. However, it did seem appropriate to spend the weekend working on a card that was meant to represent multiculturalism. I had received a special order to have 50 thank you cards done for the sponsors of a recent multicultural event. It was the second annual Collage Culture Festival and I attended as a vendor for the second year in a row. This is a terrific opportunity to experience the various cultures of the people that live in our community. There are display booths, food vendors and entertainment. I love this event and had a perfect location this year that allowed me to practically have a front row seat by the stage. I was honoured to be asked to do the thank you cards. Here's a pic:

This is a 4 x 4 card using Pacific Point card stock. The dove and the world image are from Peaceful Season from last year's holiday mini and has since retired. The olive branch was punched from Old Olive using the branch from the Bird Builder punch. All of this was placed on a piece of whisper white punched using the 2 1/2" circle punch. The thank you sentiment is from the Just Believe set and is stamped using basic black on whisper white and punched with the Modern Label punch. It does seem appropriate for World Card Making Day don't you think?

I am looking forward to posting one of my latest projects later this week. It is an item that I will be presenting as a hostess gift for a workshop on Wednesday. I may also post one or two of the projects that we will be doing for a make and take.

Thanks for stopping by.

Pat

September Stamp Club

I am so happy that Stamp Club has started up again and that I get to see my club ladies regularly. The three projects we worked on all showcased product from the new Holiday Mini:

This project uses the Kraft Gift Box on Page 15 of the mini. We decorated the box using layers of early espresso and First Edition Specialty DSP stamped with the leaves from the French Foliage stamp set. The colours used for the leaves were cajun craze, old olive and more mustard. I absolutely adore the Gently Falling stamp set in the mini but tried to use some restraint and didn't purchase it knowing I already had French Foliage. It's so hard using restraint!!! I have seen so many beautiful samples using Gently Falling and it would definitely be a good purchase. The top of the box is decorated with the same layers but we added a beautiful scallop circle of early espresso cut with the Big Shot and the Perfect Pennants die. The vintage flower is made from six scallop circles of the First Edition DSP and a vintage brad. Love those brads!!

Our next project uses the Always Grateful stamp set from the new Mini. I have been using this set a lot as it is perfect for thank you cards and for Thanksgiving cards. The image was stamped on water colour paper using basic black ink and then coloured using a blender pen and pear pizzazz, more mustard and soft suede ink. The image was then punched out using the 2 1/2" circle punch and layered on a soft suede circle cut using the Big Shot and the 3" circle die. The card base is soft suede and the layer of pear pizzazz card stock is embossed using the Big Shot and the new houndstooth embossing folder. Grateful is stamped on very vanilla card stock using soft suede and punched out with the oval punch and layered on a piece of soft suede punched with the decorative label punch. The ribbon is very vanilla seam binding.

Our last project was done in anticipation of Halloween. This project is cased from Page 11 of the Mini using the new cellophane bags. I used the Out on a Limb stamp set instead of the Howl-o-ween Creeps set and loved the results. There are 50 of the bags in one package for $3.25. This is a great deal for making up those special Halloween treats.

I am excited to start moving on to some Christmas projects now. There might still be one or two more Halloween projects in my future too. Thanks for stopping by.

Pat

Always Thankful

I think I have made the last thank you card for another get well gift received by my husband. The Always Thankful set in the Holiday Mini was the perfect set for some of my thank you cards and it works well for Thanksgiving cards. Here is a card made using the pear stamp in the set:

Appropriately the layered card stock used is the pear pizzazz from last year's in colours. The base is soft suede card stock. The image is stamped with basic black on water colour paper and coloured in using a blender pen and pear pizzazz ink and soft suede ink. I also added a little more mustard to give some dimension to the pears. I really like the combination of soft suede with the pear pizzazz. Grateful was stamped on very vanilla card stock and accented with a glimmer brad and lace ribbon. The pear pizzazz layer was embossed using the Big Shot and the new stripes embossing folder. I am seriously addicted to embossing folders. It seems that no card is complete unless at least one layer has been embossed!!

That's all I have for now. The weekend will be busy as I will be a vendor at the Collage Culture Festival on Saturday and Sunday. I have a booth near the stage so I will be able to take in all of the entertainment. It's going to be a good time!! Next week is our first night of Stamp Club so I will post our club projects after Wednesday's meeting.

Thanks for stopping by.

Pat

More thanks

My husband is doing so well after his surgery. It is hard to believe it has almost been a month since the operation. He is back to driving again so he is much happier now that he can get out of the house and have some freedom!! I'm happier now also as things are starting to settle back into a routine. Some wonderful friends came by and brought a beautiful fruit basket. Here is the thank you card I made for them:

This card uses a basic black card stock base with layers of lucky limeade, basic black and whisper white. The new lucky limeade colour is really starting to grow on me and pairing it with black is my fave combination. The lucky limeade layers were embossed using the Big Shot and the vintage wallpaper folder. The stamp set used is Clearly for You. The small frame is cut using the new die - Peekaboo Frames - which is now available in the Holiday Mini. I love these frames and I can tell they will be used in a lot of projects. A "thanks so much" sentiment from the Tiny Tags set is stamped inside the small square frame. There are soooo many frames on this die, large and small. The final touch is to add the three basic rhinestones. Loves me some bling!!

I have a birthday card that needs to get done and I will hopefully post a pic soon. Thanks for stopping by.

Pat

Kards for Kids continued

So I managed to get some more cards done for the Kards for Kids program. All Halloween cards except for one Thanksgiving card:

I love this card!!! It uses the Beware of Pirates set that retired this year. I just had to order this one as my son is a big fan of Jack from the Pirates of the Caribbean. He had to ask me if that was Jack on this card.

This card uses the Haunted Forest a la carte stamp from the upcoming Holiday Mini. A la carte stamps are a great way to get a special occasion stamp. Some sponging gives this card the various shades of colour.

This two cards were CASEd from the upcoming Holiday mini and use the Out on a Limb stamp set. Such a cute set and very versatile.

This Thanksgiving card is made using the French Foliage stamp set. Love the fall colours.

Finally, I prepared a couple of altered mini notebooks for the parents to use for medical information, if needed. These notebooks use the Faith in Nature hostess set. One of my favourite hostess sets in the new catalogue.

All of these projects presented a challenge for me in that I was not able to use embellishments of any kind. You all know how much I like my bling so this was really hard!! Challenges are good though and forced me to come up with other ways to add texture and interest to the cards. Now I need to work on some fall home decor to decorate my entrance way. After that, I really need to start working on projects for the local Farmer's Market and upcoming craft shows. Hopefully once school starts I can dedicate more time to my crafting. I'm excited to get working on my crafts but extremely sad that summer is over.

Thanks for stopping by.

Pat

Kards for Kids

I have been working on some Halloween and Thanksgiving cards for the Kards for Kids program. Here are a few that I have managed to get done:

I love using punch art to make pumpkins and spiders!! The spider web embossing folder adds a great touch. I have a few more ideas for more cards and will post as I get them done.

Thanks for stopping by!

Pat