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Slaying Fiery, Smelly Breath Dragons . . .

Posted: Saturday, June 25th, 2011 | Comments (7)

Saturday, June 25th, 2011

Sarah Ban Breathnach said:

“Always remember, it’s simply not an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any dragons.”

and here’s what Amanda Coughlin says:

"Ahh…and when the dragon is blowing its fiery, smelly breath at me, I’m gonna stand up straight, hang on tight, and take it until it runs out of breath and then my frazzled self will conquer the beast!"

Yes, I did promise a document to download–but no, my blog is not cooperating! But this Blog Party is not going to poop out before it even gets started! NO WAY! I’m just going to post more wonderful samples AND give you the downloads when I can get it up and running! How’s that sound? Now, you’re getting MORE than I promised!

Am I generous or what?

Besides, I know my dear, wonderful web buddy will help me out if she knows what’s good for her!

So just what the heck am I up to? What’s all this mystery about?

Would you like some hints?

Are you sure?

Okay–but let’s make a game of it! With prizes! (Well, I promised didn’t I?)

Wouldn’t it be awesome to win this adorable 3×3 Notecard Purse filled with 3×3 note cards?

Yes, this set up is from our Occasions Mini catalog earlier this year, but 5 of the 8 stamp sets used are still active! And it is a darn cute ensemble if I do say so myself! This was the make & take for my mini catalog kick off in January. I used it as a show and tell at all my workshops and classes to show samples from the mini. If you’re a demonstrator, it could be an idea you could borrow for your new Idea book/catalog kick off or future mini kick offs. (No, I don’t have this as a download — sorry guys!)

So, now that you know what you’re going to win, let the game begin!

I’m going to give you three hints as to what the focus of my first two new services will be. Post your guess in the comments section (see mini "comments" link below) and I’ll draw and announce the random winner from the correct answers tomorrow!

1) This focus has been a passion of mine that I have pictured myself doing MANY years ago!

2) I have fond high school memories because of this.

3) It’s going to be a revolutionary, new way to turn the page on an old idea.

Okay, let the guessing begin!!!

And while you’re doing that, enjoy this beautiful page I created today for my Crop n’ Cards class next week! I can’t reveal the other two pages and cards we’re doing because that’s a surprise for another day!

And here’s the coordinating card–as my + ONE post BONUS!!!

Isn’t the theme appropriate? I’m lifting my glass of "un-spiked" V-8 juice in a toast to the the "spirit of the unknown"! I know… I know…an unspiked drink is no fun! But I can’t fight the fiery dragon with a cloudy brain, now can I? Now just where is that dragon? Let me at ‘im!

Talk atcha tomorrow!

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Change Will Do You Good . . .

Posted: Friday, June 24th, 2011 | Comments (3)

Friday, June 24th, 2011

Aristotle (384-322 BC) – Greek philosopher once said:
Change in all things is sweet.

This has been my ongoing mantra this last year as I began on this journey to change my Stampin’ Up! demonstratorship. It was played over and over when fears of failure plagued me in the middle of sleepless nights or when bumps along the way have (and still do ) hinder my progress. And when guilty feelings about the lack of updates on my blog still resulted in three months of silence as I tried to keep my head above water, the saying really came in handy!

And, as things get closer and my excitement gets even bigger ( I can’t believe I’ve kept this stuff secret for so long!), I practically want to shout everything from the rooftops.

William James said:
To change one’s life: 1. Start immediately, 2. Do it flamboyantly, 3. No exceptions.

So true Amanda style, I plan to do just that! To commemorate this transformation of change, I’ll be celebrating this new launch with a Countdown to Creativity! For the next 10 days, we’re having a blog party! Games, announcements, prizes and freebies will celebrate all my news! And it will included a download a day!! Starting tomorrow!

In the meantime, why don’t I give you all the cards I designed for this week,s Bon Voyage class! Sort of as a bribe to get you to come back . . . I’ll miss these good ol’ oldies but am loving all the new stuff that’s comin’ out in the new catalog! Call me if you want a copy!

Hope to see you tomorrow!

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Sew Much Fun @ SCRAPAPALOOZA Spring Fling

Posted: Sunday, March 20th, 2011 | Comments (13)

Sunday, March 20th, 2011

Sweet Stitches Tote Ensemble

Okay, so I really wasn’t going to get caught up in this whole line of sewing stamps, papers, buttons, etc. from the Occasions Mini when it came out. There was a fleeting thought about it because my mom does sew–but I don’t–so I figured I was safe! HA!

I was wrong..very, very wrong!

At Leadership in January, like I knew they would, SU! showed a whole bunch of adorable things and my resolve started to collapse. (doesn’t take much….)

Then, one idea after another of adorable ideas started popping up all over the internet and one day, I just caved and put it on an order with the logic that I would use it to tempt my customers when I had my Scrapapalooza Spring Fling stamp camp this month.

When it came time to start designing projects for camp, I made that cute tote with the button embellished flower and I was HOOKED!! My assistant and I just started creating this adorable cards and boom—here it is!!!

The details on these cards are adorable and fun and anyone — whether you’re "an old sew-and-sew" (like my mom says she is) or not — this ensemble will charm the pants off of anyone!

I adapted the instructions and measurements from a tote on Splitcoast Stampers to create this one and created a totally different handle style to really make it my own. Here’s how it’s done:

1) Take a 5 1/2 x 11 inch piece of Marina Mist card stock and score it the short way at 3/4" . Turn it the long way and score at 3/4", 5 1/4", 6" and 10 1/2". Snip these score lines up to the 3/4" score line you created first. You can even cut the square off of each end if you want.

2) Put the two largest unscored portions in the Square Lattice embossing fold and emboss them in the Big Shot to create the weave texture. Assemble the tote.

3) Cut a 2" x 12" piece of the Sweet Stitches Designer paper and adhere it to the bottom portion of the tote. Adhere the Melon Mambo Pom Pom ribbon to the top of the designer paper.

4) To make the tote handles, first punch a 1/3" oval opening to each side of the wide part of the tote (make sure it is even from front to back) with the 1 3/8" circle punch. Then, punch out a 1 3/8" circle out of the center of a two 2 3/4" square pieces of the Melon Mambo that you had also run through the Square Lattice embossing folder. Place the 2 1/2" circle punch over this to punch out the donut shape. Glue these "handles" to the top of your tote where the oval openings were punched out.

5) Finally, to decorate the tote, punch out three Daffodil Delight flowers with the 1 3/4" Scallop Circle punch. Slit each of the scallops on all three flowers all the way around. The first flower should only have slits about 1/8" in, the 2nd one about 1/4" in and the third one about 3/8" in. Curl up these scallops to create a more 3D look and layer the three flowers with the 3/8" cuts on the top and the 1/8" slit cuts on the bottom. Add the Sweet Stitches Fabric brad in the center as shown and you’re done!

Sew Sweet Sweet Stitches Cards

The inspiration for all these cards came from various places and blogs around the net. So for all you creative folks out there, thanks so much for the inspiration! I changed things up in several ways on all these cards but wouldn’t have been able to do it without your cards as my jumping off point!

This first one — I call it the Button Card–uses more Big Shot products. I absolutely love, love, love the Sweet Buttons Embosslit in the Occasions Mini and have used it several times for things. Here, on this card, it is kinda the focal point of the card with the Sew Suite buttons stamp in which I adhered some various colored/styles of buttons from the embosslit to this stamped buttons display card. CUTIE PATOOTIE!! I inserted this card into the Sweet Stitches Designer paper envelope I’d cut out with the Scallop Envelope die with the Big Shot.

The other fun elements of this card was the ribbon spool that had been stamped on our Wood Sheets and cut out (thanks to a video on the Stampin’ Up! website for that idea–this darn video is what put me over the edge for this product line! ha ha ha!) and the measuring tape stamped in black onto Daffodil Delight card stock with a half of a 1/2" circle punched from our Brushed Silver card stock and a silver brad as the final awesome touch!

The colorful background on the white card stock was wheeled with the In Stitches Jumbo wheel and a tricolor Jumbo cartridged filled with Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango and Daffodil Delight! FABULOUS!

A more simpler card of the three was the card I called the "Dress Form" card. This is a popular image seen everywhere these days and was a very appropriate image for this stamp set. I’ve seen it used so many different ways. Here’s a couple of them off the top of my head:

Wrap the bottom image of the dress form with a piece of ribbon to create a skirt
Stamp the dress form on designer paper and cut and and glue to a dress form you stamped to "dress" it paper doll style

I wanted a simpler card since the other two had a few extra steps and this card certainly fit the bill. After adhering the 2 x 5 1/4" piece of designer paper and the polka dot embosed Melon Mambo sheet to the Wild Wasabi card, we added more Melon Mambo Pom Pom ribbon. A black stamped dress form on white layered onto Wild Wasabi made this card come together very quickly. A pearl in the middle of the Itty Bitty Punch Pack’s mini scallop flower was just the right final touch!

Can you believe all of these awesome masterpieces were just a small part of our Scrapapalooza Spring Fling this weekend? Yes, there were THREE OTHER AWESOME PROJECTS and an 8×8 album, too! I bet you wish you could have signed up, huh? Might make you think twice the next time you see Scrapapalooza on the class line up, right? We had Sew MUCH FUN!! And here’s the thing, I haven’t even shared my favorite card from this ensemble yet:

My favorite card from this Sweet Stitches Tote Ensemble

The final card from this ensemble, is what had us squealing. It’s the card I called the "Sewing Machine" card and the one that makes me think of my wonderful mom the most! (She happens to be sewing me up some new kitchen curtains right now and I can’t wait! You’re the best Mimi!)

There’s so many reasons why this card quickly became my favorite:

Putting the ribbon underneath the sewing machine needle like it’s a mini piece of fabric! Stinkin’ cute!
Adding the button brad from our Vintage Trinkets to the sewing machine image! FREAKIN" ADORABLE! Which leads to the third thing:
The mini safety pin from the Vintage Trinkets clipping the Jewelry Tag punched image from our Tiny Tags set to our Victoria crochet trim. Simply DIVINE!

Yes, my favorite tool of all times came in to play with this card, too. First, with the Tulip Frame embossing folder on the Tempting Turquoise card and second with the largest oval on the Ovals Original die to create the white oval shape that the sewing machine is stamped on.

I think the hardest thing on this whole card is stamping, coloring and CUTTING OUT that tomato pin cusion–ESPECIALLY the pins…..I heard some mutterings about that one during stamp camp let me tell ya!

Adding all those adorable accessories mentioned above was the easy part but what I really think what made this card–along with the whole ensemble–was the two different background pieces from the cheery, colorful and FANTASTIC Sweet Stitches designer paper. So, the person who wasn’t going to even go anywhere NEAR this Oh Sew Suite, I’m ordering a SECOND PACK of this paper…I just gotta!

Can’t you see my pinched up face of pain from the yanking my elbow’s getting behind my back?

Ha! Ha! Ha!

I mean–take a second look at this ensemble. Really? How can anyone resist?

Whew!

Wow!

Was this a BIG SHARE or what?

Please show your appreciation with a post!

That way I’ll know that I’ve more than made up for my month-long gap between postings?

You forgive me, right? )

Besides–I wanna know if there are other people out there who have the same issues with lack of willpower that I do when it comes to this line of products!

Misery loves company! hee hee!

Ta-For-Now!

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Blushing, Rosy, Pretty In Pink Valentine Defined

Posted: Sunday, February 13th, 2011 | Comments (3)

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

….which kinda describes me, too, when I’m showered with love by my husband on Valentine’s Day…but that’s another kind of blog, isn’t it? ha ha ha!

As promised, here’s the last three projects from my Valentine Defined Whole Shebang class:

First up is this really cool Side Step card that was inspired by my uber-talented friend Diane Tritzs.’ swap card she gave me at Leadership. I switched up the colors, and a couple images, adding a new image from the Take A Spin stamp set from the Occasions Mini catalog.

Ssshhh…don’t tell my wonderful husband, but this is going to be his Valentine. I think I might even make up some rules for whatever "space" he lands on when he spins his card. …. But…that’s for me to know…this is a "G-rated" blog after all! ha ha ha!

This was another quick, cutie project created from our large Scallop Square die. Another project inspired by a swap I received from Monika Davis at Leadership. Change up the stamps and colors and it’s something you can give to anyone, anytime.

This final project is an Amanda original. Many, many SU! cruises ago, we did a card design with this pull-out pocket on it and I always wanted to create a totally new card using it again. The best thing I discovered creating this card is that the tag from our tablesetting die fits perfectly in the Word Window punched opening of the pocket. In class, this was attached to our sound card so I’m imagining lots of husbands getting fun recorded messages from their wives that took this class. The thought will make me smile even more on the day of love. I’ve got the greatest job in the whole world!

Hope your Valentine’s Day is filled with hugs, kisses and love!

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Red & Black Valentine Defined Fun

Posted: Saturday, February 12th, 2011 | Comments (2)

Saturday, February 12th, 2011

Last week I enjoyed the company of 14 Valentine Defined stamp set enthusiasts in my "Whole Shebang" class (they get the projects and the stamp set — thus, The Whole Shebang!" Ha!) . I thought I’d share a couple of projects each day over the next few days to celebrate our upcoming day of love on Monday!

The following card was inspired by a swap I received from my friend Linda Heller. In her sample, she had used the Love Impressions Designer Series Paper (DSP) from the current Occasions Mini catalog. I used Love Letter DSP from the 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalog that I had on hand instead because I liked the romantic feel it gave this more playful stamp set.

While this card looks complicated, it’s really not. Here’s what you’ve gotta do:

PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS:

Cut three 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" pieces of red card stock and score it down the middle (4 1/4 " side) at 2 1/8" .
Cut four 2 x 5 3/8 pieces of different DSP designs. (Linda Heller’s card actually had six pieces. I chose to leave two of the 2 1/8 panels blank for the "back" of the card for writing a sentiment.) Attach the DSP pieces leaving about 1/8" borders of red showing on all four quadrants.
Flatten all three DSP-covered sheets and stack them together on top of the Movers and Shapers die with the heart shape from the Punched Windows dies set centered on the die. Run it through the Big Shot all together so that when they are removed, all the hearts will line up.
Glue two of the 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" DSP covered pieces together only at the 2 1/8" quadrants. Glue on the Linen Thread piece and the three tiny punched out red glitter paper hearts that had been folded in center and glued together with the thread in the center. Then glue on the last blank 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" piece to form the trifold stand card. Add the punched greeting and 1 3/8" white circle and 1 3/4 Scallop glitter punched circle flamingo elements to complete the card.

This next class project was also a hit. An adorable desktop Post-It Note holder that was a cinch to make! Everyone was surprised at how quick and easy it was! I got this idea in a Leadership swap last month from Carol Payne. It’s a great lil’ token for coworkers on Monday, don’t you think?

PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS:

Cut two Basic Black card stock pieces 4 1/2 x 2 1/4 and 2 1/4 x 2 1/4.
Fold the 4 1/2 x 2 1/4 in half to make it a 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 mini card. Fold one of the the 2 1/4 inch flaps in to the center line to create two 1 1/8 quadrants.
Glue the 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 square to the top folded-in 1 1/8 quadrant you just folded in to the center.
Glue on the 1 1/2 x 2 inch post it note to hold this flap in the shown angled position.
Decorate the 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 square with a white small oval punched piece of card stock that had been stamped with the "Love" greeting and the red glittered heart. The original had used the Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit but I wanted to expedite the class a bit so I gave them the Extra-Large Full Heart punch instead.
A pretty Pearl Jewel addition to the center of the letter "O" in "Love" was a perfect touch to complete the project.

Hope this inspires some weekend fun for your Valentines. Happy crafting!

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Sweet Summer Becomes Angelina Jolie

Posted: Thursday, February 10th, 2011 | Comments (5)

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

Sorry it’s been a bit since I’ve shared. My life’s been crazy since returning from Nashville. We’re now dealing with the aftermath of a plumbing leak that is taking forever to get processed through the insurance. We’ve hired the contractor to do the repair work today so we’re hoping the work will begin soon. Of course, this means that my house will be topsy turvey for awhile as they complete the repairs. After all, I came home to a jackhammered dining room floor so they’re going to have to replace our laminate flooring, fill the hole and paint three rooms. It’s been time for a change after living 20 years with the same 90s pastel color scheme so I’m thrilled that we’re getting an update. Just isn’t on the timetable I would have chosen! )

Anyway, I thought I’d share a recent funny "outside-the-box" idea I came up with the Sweet Summer Sale-A-Bration stamp set. If you’ve been living under a rock for the last month or so, you need to RUN–not walk–to the phone and call me so that I can tell you all about this incredible special! If you’ve come to my classes — or know me at all — you know that I can be a real goof ball. So consider this a fair enough warning for what is about to come…..

So here’s the card:

Cute huh? Well, my customers have been asking me about where this little girlie stamp is in the catalog! Ha! Little did they know that they were in for a little surprise! Let me tell you how this idea came about.

The Sale-A-Bration brochure was lying on my stamp table upside down as above. And I took a look at the flower above the lone leaf and stamped two bouquets as follows:

In between them, I stamped the other mentioned flower, but then turned the paper upside down and drew two lines to each side of the single flower to connect to the two bouquets…as shown here:

Add a cute little smilie, like here:

And WAAA LAAAA!! The cute little girlie was born!

Of course, I thought to myself, "I wonder what it would look like if I used the leaf as lips for my girlie.

Angelina Jolie??? Ha ha ha!! Not so much! It was worth a shot! How else are cutie discoveries going to be made? I even tried:

What? A little over the top? You think? ha ha ha! I warned ya! BWAA HAAA HAAA HAAA!!

Have a stampingly wonderful day!

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Petal Cone Valentine & Nashville Leadership Training

Posted: Wednesday, January 12th, 2011 | Comments (2)

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

Happy New Year from Nashville, TN!! I’m here for Stampin’ Up!’s Leadership Training and the first day was a blast. There’s nothing better to clear your head than time away with some girlfriends and let down your hair and laugh. If yesterday is an indication of what is in store for the next few days, the laugh lines on my face are going to get a serious work out!

After a pleasant flight from Tampa on an underbooked flight where I had a whole row to myself, I hooked up with my friend and roomate, Amy Celona, and spent the afternoon relaxing and chatting with other new and old stampin’ friends. Last night, we went out on the town and enjoyed dinner and line dancing downtown at Wild Horse Saloon.

I just want to say thanks to my pals back home who got me so organized and ahead of the game with my swaps for this week, I was able to go out and enjoy myself last night. For this, I will be eternally grateful. Cathy Friday and Retha Haddock, my awesome assistants who make me look so good even when I screw up, and my dedicated downline, Marsha Craig and Cheryl Sanz, you are lifesavers! Your friendships mean the world to me so I wanted you know how much I appreciate you!

We’re taking it easy this morning, getting organized and I thought I would post one of my wow swaps I’ll be trading in a private swap later this week. Isn’t it GORGEOUS?!!

This one was designed with the Petal Cone die. Here’s how I did it:

1. Instead of keeping it 3D, I took one of the cut outs and cut it in half and adhered it so it would become a middle fold card.

2. I then ran the Petal Cone Pink Pirouette pieces through the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing folder.

3. I decorated it with our exclusive Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit with Pink Pirouette and Whisper White card stock and the Floral Fusion Sizzlit in Pink Pirouette.

4. For just the right final focal point touch, I added an Itty Bitty Punch Pack floral piece in Regal Rose topped with one of our self-stick pearl accents in the middle of the layered flowers.

5. The greeting was stamped in Regal Rose on a slim banner piece that was a part of the Petal Cone die.

It is one of my favorite cards I’ve done in a while! (Well at least until I post my next one that I like almost as well! ha ha ha!)

Tonight, we are off to enjoy a "SURPRISE" Managers Reception event. I’m looking forward to some more fun, even though it is snowing and very, very cold here right now! I can’t wait to get back to the warmth of Florida and share all the wonderful ideas and fun. I’ll try to post more while I’m here so stay tuned!

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Snowman Bath Salts Mason Jar

Posted: Friday, December 10th, 2010 | Comments (2)

Friday, December 10th, 2010

The week before Thanksgiving, I always have a 3-day event for all my customers to come over and make various gifts. This is my lazy alternative to joining a craft fair! Come up with the creative ideas and have someone else do the work! Ha ha! No seriously, everyone LOVES this and look forward to it.

Usually I have about 10 projects to choose from, advertise the projects and everyone signs up for which projects they want and what day they will attend. I have their personalized kits ready for them when they come at their designated day and they pay according to project and how many of each they want. Project prices range from $5 to $15 and the most popular are between $5-$8.

One of the projects I came up with is this adorable $10 Snowman Bath Salts Jar:

Isn’t this lil’ fellow just the cutest?!!! He was quite easy to do, too. Bath salts can be bought very inexpensively by the box or you can get a huge bag of Epsom Salts from Wally World for cheap — which is what I used here because it was white. DUH!! ) Here’s the supplies list and step-by-step:

Snowman Bath Salts Mason Jar

Mason Jar
3" Styrofoam Ball
1 small cork
Epsom salts or Bath salts
Googley Eyes
Basic Black card stock
Black Waffle paper (optional)
Real Red 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon
1 small designer button (I used the olive flower one from the Stampin’ Up! Brights collection)
2 1/2 inch circle punch
1 3/4 inch circle punch
Candy Cane Christmas Designer Fabrick
Big Shot Fabric adhesive roll
Heat gun
Hemp twine
Big Designer button (I used Real Red)

1. Cut a piece of 2 x 28 (approx) of the Candy Cane Christmas Designer fabric for the scarf and iron it onto a same sized Big Shot Fabric adhesive roll iron-on sheet. Remove liner sheet from cut adhesive piece. (If you’ll be doing several of these bath salts jars, just iron on the fabric adhesive to the fabric and then cut.)

2. Wrap this fabric around the top and bottom of the canning jar ring and heat with the heat gun to activate the adhesive and get it to stick to the ring. Fold the rest of the hanging "scarf" tails in half and heat to glue the two pieces together for each side of the scarf. Trim the bottom of each side to create fringe. Insert the middle part of the white side of the jar lid under the lid after the fabric is adhered.

3. Cut off about an inch off the bottom of a 3" styrofoam ball and glue to the center of the lid. DO THIS AFTER THE RING AND CIRCLE CENTER ARE TOGETHER AGAIN. Otherwise the ball won’t fit through the lid to insert the middle back in to complete the lid. (Ha ha ha…I learned this the hard way!)

4. Add googley eyes and a mini cork for the nose. (I inserted a needle in the cork, applied some spray adhesive and then dipped it in orange glitter to create the nose. By holding the cork by the needle and then dipping it into the glitter, you’ll be able to avoid any finger contact with glitter). Sharpie pen polka dots on the drawn on the styrofoam ball completed his cute face!

5. To create the hat, roll up a 1 1/2 by 7" piece of black card stock and glue to create a tube. I covered this tube with black waffle paper before rolling it up. For the hat top and bottom. Cover a quarter sheet of black card stock with black waffle paper and glue. Punch out a 1 3/4" circle for the top and a 2 1/2" circle for the bottom and glue to the tube with crystal effects.(or you can also punch out the circles and cut the 1 1/2 by 7" piece of card stock without the waffle paper, tape the pieces together with scotch tape and then cover the hat with the waffle paper to cover up the tape and help sturdy up the hat assembly.) Decorate with ribbon and a button. Glue the hat to the styrofoam head and then glue the head to the center of the canning jar lid.

6. Fill canning jar with bath salts/epsom salts and top it off by screwing on the styrofoam snowman head lid. It may take a little elbow grease as you are screwing on a thicker lid that has been covered with fabric.

WA LA!! An irresistable little jar of relaxation ready to give away! What a cure for the winter blues!

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Bells & Boughs Take a Bow

Posted: Saturday, November 27th, 2010 | Comments (0)

Saturday, November 27th, 2010

Ever since the Holiday Mini catalog came out, the Bells & Boughs stamp set and coordinating Deck the Halls Designer Paper has been my favorite! I still haven’t played with it enough to get bored with it and there’s not much time left…aaaccckkk!!! tHEN, they added it to the incredible Handmade Holiday special as a Vintage Christmas Card bundle for only $23.92 for wood and $19.92 for Clear, I was thrilled! So, I’ve been sharing different projects ever since. I already shared one of my favorite cards here , but wanted you to see three of the other popular projects I’ve created with this elegant ensemble:

BIRDHOUSE VOTIVE HOLDER

This pretty lil’ beauty is a battery operated votive holder birdhouse made with the Big Shot milk carton die. Isn’t it the cutest? This project can be as easy or as intricate as you’d like and everyone has LOVED IT! My wonderful assistant, Retha, showed me a version she had made last year after seeing it somewhere so I had her over one day and had her make another using some current supplies:

Very Vanilla Card Stock
Cherry Cobbler Card Stock
Always Artichoke Card Stock
Old Olive scraps (for branches)
Real Red, Basic Black & Daffodil Delight scraps (for bird)
Big Shot Milk Carton die
1 inch Circle punch (punch the hole on the flap side of the die so it will face the right way)
Gold Waffle paper
3/8" Real Red Taffeta ribbon
Cherry Cobbler ribbon
Vintage Brads
XL 2-Step Bird Punch
Deck the Halls Designer Series Paper
Scallop Edge Border punch
Pinking Hearts Border punch
Big Buttons
White Gel pen
Hemp

ELEGANT HOLIDAY SOAP ENSEMBLE

Here’s another fun and easy little gift you could proudly pass on to one of your holiday hostesses. I purchased the holiday soaps two years ago at 10 cents each (90% off the dollar bin price– woo hoo!) at a local craft store. I put two of them together, wrapped them with our elegant gold waffle paper (I love this stuff!) and added the beautiful gold embossed poinsettia focal point encircled in that gorgeous gold glass glitter. I have learned a long time ago that packaging is what makes any gifty project so a nice piece of white satin organza ribbon and clear tinsel trim added just the right elegant touch to this project. Here’s the materials list:

Bells and Boughs stamp set
Gold embossing powder
Versamark pad
Scallop Oval punch
Large Oval punch
1 3/4" Circle punch
Scallop Border punch
Gold Waffle Paper
Gold Glass Glitter
White Organza Ribbon
Clear Tinsel trim
Pearls
Rose Red marker
Always Artichoke marker

EMBOSSED IVY CANDLE & COORDINATING BOX

Vintage Christmas Card Bundle
XL Scallop Punch
Stazon Black ink
Artichoke marker
Real Red marker
Real Red Satin ribbon
Clear Tinsel trim
White 3" Candle
Box

ABC BUNDLED DEALS END DECEMBER 15!

Stamp Set Bundles Bundle Description	Wood-Mount Bundle Item	Wood-Mount Bundle Sale Price	Clear-Mount Bundle Item	Clear-Mount Bundle Sale Price
Vintage Christmas Card Bundle Bells & Boughs Set Deck the Halls Designer Series Paper	124067	$23.92	124068	$19.92
Vintage Christmas Card Bundle (Spanish) Tradiciones Navideñas Set Deck the Halls Designer Series Paper	124069	$23.92	124070	$19.92
Contempo Christmas Card Bundle Contempo Christmas Set Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper	124071	$20.72	124072	$17.52
Contempo Christmas Card Bundle (French) Noël contemporain Set Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper	124073	$20.72	124074	$17.52
Tags til Christmas Bundle 1 Tags til Christmas Set Decorative Label Punch	124077	$38.32	124078	$31.92
Tags til Christmas Bundle 1 (Spanish) Mensajes Navideños Set Decorative Label Punch	124079	$38.32	124080	$31.92
Tags til Christmas Bundle 1 (French) En attendant Noël Set Decorative Label Punch	124081	$38.32	124082	$31.92
Gift Packaging Bundle Gift Set Mini Lunch Sacks	124083	$26.32	124084	$19.92
Simply Adorned Gift Bundle	124076	$39.88



Charming Set Simply Adorned 1" x 1-1/4" Charm Simply Adorned 24" Chain

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Pearly Snow Swirled Beauty

Posted: Tuesday, November 16th, 2010 | Comments (8)

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

Hi there stampin’ pals!

Figured I was way overdue for some more Christmas ideas. I mean, after all we only have 39 more days until Christmas!! Aaaccckk can you believe it?

Wanted to show you a second version of the Faux Mother of Pearl technique card I had to create in a pinch. These were made from the same materials pack from the card I posted here (http://stampvamps.com/?p=963) using Angelic Joy and the same technique! One of my groups didn’t want angels or any religious style holiday card so this is what I came up with:

What you can’t really tell from this picture is just how pearly it is and how striking the Light Blue rhinestone brad on the embossed snowflake (from the Northern Flurries Embossing folder) and the Basic Rhinestones on the tree just make this card a ooohhh-la-la-la-OMG-Wow! card. And, could you picture this as an element on a scrapbook page? Your scrappin’ friends would go NUTS!

The color scheme is so simple with the Baja Breeze stamped tree with the Pacific Point over-stamped twinkles (hard to see the contrast here), making this a pretty quick card if it weren’t for the technique.

I absolutely LOVE the Snow Swirled stamp and am wondering if we’ll be able to enjoy it again next Christmas or will it retire? So, if you like this set, you may want to get it now and use it this season, just in case it goes away in July 2011!

Here’s what I used:

8 1/2 x 5 1/2 Baja Breeze Card stock
5 1/4 x 4 Glossy Card Stock
3 1/4 x 1 3/4 Glossy Card Stock
3 1/2 x 2 Baja Breeze Card Stock
White Shimmer Paint (116854 $5.95)
Northern Flurry Embossing Folder (120902 $7.95)
Northern Frost Decorative Strip (120901 $21.95)
Basic Rhinestones Jewels (119246 $4.95) Did you know you get 150 self-stick rhinestones for that price? A STEAL I SAY!
Circle Ice Rhinestone brads (109111 $10.95)
Snow Swirled Stamp Set (111690 $24.95) Only available in wood
Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine (113439) $99.95