Many Heart Valentine

This is what happens when I find myself with LOTS of time to craft. :) I've always wanted to make some of the projects I see in my Stampin' Success magazine that involve a zillion little pieces all put together. But, honestly, I never have the time to both create the zillions of pieces & put them together. It was a super fun cahnge of pace! All the little hearts were made with the smallest part of the Heart to Heart Punch. I was able to keep the shape of a large heart by adhering them all to a punch made with the Simple Heart Punch. With a focal image as complex as this one, I really didn't want to distract with a busy card front. So, instead, I kept things simple with just the frame & sentiment. This project will appear in my Valentine's Class in January. Don't worry, I've already punched all the little hearts out for you! I thought we could all benefit from my time off. :)

Blossom Punch Butterfly

I love to look through the Stampin' Up catalogs not only to get a glimpse of all the fun new products coming our way, but also to get inspiration for new projects! When I saw the new Blossom Punch used to create a simple yet elegant butterfly, I couldn't wait to try it myself. I went back to my favorite image from the new Mixed Bunch set & punched it out with the Blossom Punch. Then, I trimmed off a couple of petals & curled the wings a bit to make the butterfly. The body for my little friend came from the left over bits after using my Lattice Die. I've saved them knowing that they would come in handy eventually! To color in my flowers, I took out my Aquapainter and just dabbed ink off the lid of my Elegant Eggplant ink pad. Did you check out the ribbon in my little bow? It's a pre-view of the great things to come in the 2012 Sale-a-Bration promotion! One benefit of being a demonstrator is that Sale-a-Bration started early for us! Jealous? There's no need, just ask me about how to join the team so you can take advantage of great promotions too!

Pig Post It Holder

Tee Hee! I had such fun making this one. Winter Break is a great time for me to just play up in my studio. I've been wanting to make a Post It holder from an acrylic frame for years. It's so simple!! I just cut some Flirtatious Designer Paper to fit the frame, stamped & cut out my piggy, used my new Framelits Dies to make my sentiment snappy, and added one of the specialty doilies. Then, on the outside, I added the pig's google eyes & button nose. Taking the back sheet off the Post It pad makes it able to stick to my frame. As a last minute detail, I added a bit of bling with some rhinestones. Fast, easy, and a super good time. I have to admit, I giggled while making this one. It just makes me smile! So, pop on over to the dollar store to get a little frame and start making your own. It's good for us to remember that we can make more than just cards with our paper crafting skills! I think I'll take this little guy to work, so he can make me smile day after day...

What do you do with Waffle Paper?

I'm not ashamed to admit that I pre-ordered the new White Waffle Paper primarily so I could figure out what the heck to do with waffle paper. I've never used it before and thought this would be a good opportunity to give it a try. I can't talk about products if I have no idea how to use them, right? So, I got my roll of waffle paper and got started. Here's what I came up with on my first attempt. I cut the waffle paper into a 3" strip and then folded it fan-style. Once I finished folding, I tied a bit of Baker's Twine around the center & opened it up. Ta dah! A no worries focal fan flower for the center of my card. Waffle paper is super thin & collapsible so it should go through the mail just fine. The center of this creation provided a chance to pre-view yet another super cool product from the new Occasions Mini Catalog: In Color Baker's Twine! This is the Island Indigo version. We'll be able to get all 5 of the latest In Colors as baker's twine with this new catalog. Sales start on Jan 4th and I'll have a baker's twine share to go along with my Satin Pleated Ribbon share soon. I'll get details to you ASAP. Meanwhile, keep checking back for more Occasions Mini pre-views!

Faith In Nature Framed Flower

Time for more previews! This card is a mix of old and new for me. The focal image is one I stamped & chalked months ago. Then I set it aside to create a card with at a later date. Little did I know it would be a MUCH later date! I'm glad I had it on hand though. It provided a great reason to create my first frame using the new Framelits Dies. This one is the Labels Collection and it appears along with a Hearts Collection in the new Occasions Mini Catalog. Check it out, they're super easy to use and go so nicely with the new Edgelits Dies too. I decided to use the bracket edge die on this card to complement the frame. It works beautifully. So much of what I pre-ordered from this new Mini Catalog is tools. There are new dies, punches, and folders. Don't worry, you'll get to see them all here & I'll teach you how to use them in classes too. Another fun addition in this catalog is the Pleated Satin Ribbon. Here, I've used the Pear Pizzazz version of the new ribbon. I love the extra texture this fancy ribbon brings to the project. I see a ribbon share in our near future! Stay tuned for even more pre-view projects. I'm excited for all these new toys, can you tell?

Embossed Mixed Bunch... A Preview

This card is one of my all time favorites! The photo did a pretty good job of capturing it, but it's even better in person. It used to be that I would have ideas for cards bouncing in my head all the time. Lately, that hasn't been the case. So, it was super exciting when this one started to haunt me the other night. It's even more exciting when the idea in my head turns out in real life! I experimented a bit with this one. It was so nice to have the luxury of time to fiddle with it. I ended up going embossing crazy with a little sponging added in too. The stamped images come from the Mixed Bunch set in the brand new Occasions Mini Catalog as does the Blossom Punch. Don't worry, you won't have to wait much longer to get your hands on the great new products. The Occasions Mini Catalog sales period starts Jan 4th! For my Blossom layer, I embossed the image using Versamark & Clear Embossing Powder. Then, I sponged & brayered Early Espresso ink over the top. Finally, I just used a paper towel to take the ink off the embossed image. It turned out great! None of my brads had quite the same shine as the gold embossing powder. So, to get that effect, I took one of my silver brads (I have a TON of those) and coated the top with my Gold Smooch Accent Ink. For good measure, I dry set the Smooch using my embossing tool. It was out already, so I may as well put it to good use! No doubt you'll be seeing this little beauty at my classes this month.

Merry Christmas from Mom & I

Okay, so it's the first time I've published "contraband" on my blog. By that, of course, I mean non-Stampin' Up items. However, I couldn't resist. My mom and I made these little beauties while I was visiting over Thanksgiving. I thought I would share it with you especially since I didn't actually get my own cards out! Oooops! There's always next year... sigh! We had a great time making this simple but ever so cute little card together. And isn't that what crafting is all about? Punching 120 of the little snowflakes from Glimmer Paper may have been a little painful (I sure came to really appreciate our SU punches!!) but well worth it. Notice the Stocking Punch had to play a major role. I'm still bummed that it won't be around after this catalog ends. :( I hope this finds you all enjoying the season in whatever way you celebrate. Keep a little bit of the magic from this time with you all year and remember to Believe...

It's All About the Details

Getting ready for your Christmas or Christmas Eve gatherings? Do you have everything ready? I know we often get caught up in the stress of getting our holiday get togethers actually together and forget to have fun while doing it. Add a little fun to your prep work and a great detail to your table by creating this simple project. Just take a scrap of designer paper (mine was two inches wide by three inches long) and a binder clip. Adhere the paper, add a bow, and you're done. They make great place card holders or an easy way to label the food on a buffet. I use mine to give folks a way to identify their cookies at our annual cookie exchange. I've also seen folks use them as photo holders. If you use a non-holiday designer paper, then you can give them as little gifts holding photos. Folks can have them out year round! I'm sure you can come up with tons of ideas to use this little trick. I hope you will & that you remember to add a little fun to your holiday preparations! Make merry!!

A Little Snowman for a Snowy Day

I wasn't going to post this little guy, but with the foot of snow outside this morning he just had to make an appearance. We made him at our team Xmas party (thanks again, Cindy!) and then I added his sign & attached him to the cool long cello envelopes from the Holiday Mini catalog. Of course, we also filled those cello even lopes with M & M's at my class this month. A little extra holiday chocolate is always welcome. The tiny little mini brads make him completely collapsible. Fun huh? Where did his arms come from? The Simple Snowflake Punch! However, I struggle with that punch. Does anyone else find it super hard to use? Worth it for those perfect little arms though. Hope this finds you warm and snug!

Stocking Punch Baby Bootie

I know, I know... it's just days before Christmas and this is so bot a Christmas card. I do have a good reason to insert a baby card in the midst of my Christmas projects though. Yesterday Stampin' Up told us that the wonderful Stocking Punch from the Holiday Mini Catalog will not be in the new catalog some summer. It's gone for good after Jan 3rd. Well, one of the things I love about this little punch is that it can be used for more than just Christmas cards. I've used it for gift tags and the like, but I hadn't had the chance to make anything totally non-Christmas with it yet. I had to make the card while I still could! So, out came my Stocking Punch to make this super cute little baby bootie. Wouldn't it make a great congrats card or a super fun baby announcement? I even made my own little pom-pom out of bakers twine. Aren't you proud? If you've been thinking about how much you like the punch, but were going to wait to get one to use for next Christmas, please don't wait! It will be gone after the Holiday Mini Catalog sales period ends & I know I'm still holding on to mine even though it will be retired!

Christmas Collage Matchbox

Time for more fun with the big dies for the Big Shot. This time I made a Christmas matchbox perfect for wrapping a pair of earrings or other small gift. It's too bad that that Early Espresso stamping on the Bravo Burgundy doesn't show up as well in this photo as in person. The Christmas Collage stamp provides a great background/wrapping paper. It covers the whole piece of Bravo Burgundy so that it appears as designer paper. Fun and easy...just what crafts need to be as the holidays approach & time becomes more and more scarce. It's hard to believe we just have a few more days until Christmas! The snow here yesterday helped out a bit, but there is still much to do. Not to panic though, I've decided that what gets done is great and the rest will be okay too. I think sometimes we get so attached to the idea of perfection that we forget to appreciate and enjoy what we're doing. So, remember to take some time today and just enjoy!

Holly Berry Bag

Sometimes it's the little presents that make a big impression. This little bag made out of a half sheet of Holly Berry Designer Paper is perfect for holding just a couple of treats & for bringing a big smile to a special someone. At class, we filled them with two shortbread cookies stamped with the snowflake Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamp. Using these new stamps is super easy and fun! Be careful though, I attempted to use them with a ready-made roll of sugar cookies and that didn't work at all. As my cookies baked the snowflake slowly disappeared. I've been told you can stamp these ready-made cookies just as you take them out of the oven, but haven't had a chance to try that yet. I do know that the shortbread cookie recipe that comes with the Sweet Pressed Stamps works great! It's a simple way to add an extra touch to a heartfelt gift. Right now there are stamps for Halloween, Winter, & Valentines and soon there will be even more! What a great way to combine baking & stamping, especially since they're dishwasher safe to make clean up a cinch!

Thanks, Cindy!/ Owl Punch Turned Penguin

My dear upline, Cindy, held a holiday team party just a couple of weeks ago. It was a great time to get everyone together and craft. We made a couple excellent make and takes that inspired me to have a Christmas Crafts class after all. This little guy is simply too cute. I've made a penguin from the Owl Punch before, but I love the idea of adding a little extra show with the Peppermint Bark square. The package for the candy acts like designer paper. Do you recognise the little guy's beak? It's one of the flower centers from my Triple Layer Punch. Clever, huh? Of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone. I added the little "merry" tag as well as the button/jingle bell combo. Ever since I saw the tiny little bells in the Holiday Mini catalog I feel like no winter project is complete without at least one! Tonight we'll make this little fellow along with other projects perfect for gifting. I can't wait & I'm so excited to be back to blogging. Winter break will be a great chance for me to create a back log of projects to share with you. Just two more school days left...