December Card Class- BIG POST!

So, as I said in yesterday's post, I was running short on time...BUT, wanted to share my cards that we did for December card classes.  I don't have the time to even detail each one of them, but if you need any assistance on anything, leave a comment and I will get back to you.  I won't be on here much over the next 5 days, I will be enjoying some time with my family and I hope that you will be too.  I hope that your Christmas is full of CHEER and WONDERFUL memories! Have a great rest of 2014 and a blessed 2015!

Curvy Keepsake Snowman

 Well, here it is, the last project of the Hostess party.  I got the idea from Deb Henderson, who saves the day most of the time for me. Thanks Deb!  I seriously have no idea how she does it but she always has a million ideas done in no time.  She's my Stampin' Idol. lol  It's pretty simple. I cut out the two parts for the Curvy Keepsake box and adhered them together.  I then assembled the face by coloring 5 medium sized Basic Rhinestones and 2 small ones with a Sharpie Black marker and then turning them into eyes and mouth.  Then I punched out a Pumpkin Pie nose from the Bird punch and used my Pumpkin Marker to draw some lines on it to resemble a carrot and popped it up on a Dimensional.  I then tied some of that beautiful Real Red Satin Ribbon around him to mimic a scarf .

For the finishing touch, I threaded some Basic Gray Baker's Twine through a Snowflake trinket(sorry, can you tell I'm in a hurry?) from the Holiday Mini(which ends in two weeks!) onto the handles of the box and tied it into a bow.  We filled him with York Peppermint Patties.  Well, tomorrow I will be posting all of my December cards from class at once since it is Christmas time and they were all Christmas and well, we will soon be posting Valentines and all things spring! Hope you are getting your to do list dwindled down and presents wrapped.  Have a super Monday!

Fancy Gift Card Holder

 Happy Saturday! Holy Cow, only 6 days left until Christmas and I hope you are all close to ready! I am NOT!  I will get it done, but just not feeling well today still.  So, here is the 4th project from our Hostess Party.  I love making these, so easy, and so many possibilites for colors, papers etc.  It appears to be a card, but if you lift the "lid", it becomes a "slider" type gift card holder. I think it would be adorable baby or wedding announcement also. So the outside is made from Baked Brown Sugar card stock and I chose this color to accomodate the Nordic Holiday DSP pack.  I love that they are not traditional Christmas colors.  I used a strip of Calypso Coral cardstock behind the strip of DSP on the front.  For the lid, I used Soft Sky and Gold Glimmer paper that I punched along the edge with the Scallop Border punch.

 I cut a bow from the Bow die(yes, it gets its use!) out of Calypso Coral and assembled it.  I wrapped a piece of DSP around it and hot glued it to the lid. I then stamped out Mingle All the Way onto Baked Brown Sugar with Whisper White ink and punched out with the 2" Circle punch and then edged it directly from ink pad to tag, punched a hole and added some Linen Thread to it and adhered it with a glue dot.

Open it up and viola! a piece of card stock taped to the inside on the flap that opens and it reveals a gift card!   I'm going to get back to cleaning now, I took a 2 hour nap today for sinus crud, but woke up with a dull headache and just am trying to keep up with my list of to dos so that I can relax before the big stuff happens this week!

Clarice the Reindeer Box

 Well, today has been lovely, not! I have a severe sinus infection, can't breathe, smell, taste..blah..hopefully the meds will kick in and I will feel better soon.  So, here is project number 2 of our Hostess Appreciation party.  I made the box from half a sheet of Baked Brown Sugar cardstock, so you get two out of one sheet. For her eyes, I punched out Whisper White Wide Ovals and then Basic Black Large Ovals and placed them over the white.  I used the Chalk Marker to make them look like they are shining.  I punched another Wide Oval from Baked Brown Sugar and cut it in half, sponged around the edges and popped them up on Dimensionals.  You will notice behind her eyes, the eyelashes, yeah, I used the Small Scalloped Circle punch and cut one in half to make them. I used the Autumn Leaves BigZ die and Chocolate Chip card stock for the antlers.  I realized I forgot ears...?  

For her nose I used the 1" Circle punch and Red Glimmer paper.  I tied the whole box together with 1/8" Gold Ribbon.  Inside I filled it with Reese PB Minis.
Well, I am hoping tommorrow to get some cleaning done, tonight it's Christmas movies and card addressing...(yes, better late than never!)

Big Shot Bow Die Santa

This past Monday, I held my Hostess Club Appreciation Party for Christmas.  I was sad that not all of them could join us, but I had over 3/4 of them able too and we had fun.  We met for supper at Boogaloo Cafe and had a sit down dinner in which I heard a few say that they loved that because some are in groups that they have never met before.  That warms my heart.  We don't get to meet monthly or even quarterly as some clubs do, due to so many busy lives and the distance between me and them, so every 6 months, I host a party just for them to come and stamp! This was one of the projects we made. I LOVE the Bow Die for the Big Shot! One of the most versatile dies we have had.   So, had seen this last year at Christmas time and didn't get a chance to make it, so, finally this year, I did.

I cut the bow out in Whisper White, and assembled it as I would for a bow, except, I did "squish" down his "beard.  I added a sliver of Blushing Bride behind it and punched out some eyes from the Owl Builder Punch.  I also just cut a 1/2" inch wide piece of Whisper White for the brim of his hat.  For the hat, I traced out a triangle of Real Red and then just simply folded it down.  I used the 3/4" circle punch and punched out a Blushing Bride nose and sponged around it for a little "chill" to it.  I finished of Santa with the Boho Blossom punch and some Silver Glimmer paper.  I made the tag by cutting a piece of Night of Navy card stock to 3" x 9 1/2" and used my 1 3/8th circle punch to punch out the hole for the wine bottle neck to fit through.  I simply stamped snowflakes from Many Merry Stars stamp set in Whisper White ink and then took the ink pad and edged the tag.  I stamped the Tis' the Season in Real Red ink onto Whisper White card stock and fussy cut it out and then adhered it to the tag.
So, come back tommorrow and I will show you something else we made!

Making Spirits Bright

 Well, here's one of my last cards for card class in November.  I seem to be busier than I "wanted" to be for December, I actually just thought I would "take it easy" this month so that I could get stuff done for my family...yeah, hasn't happened, I seem to be a mad woman.  This card is pretty simple, layering up the Real Red and Crumb cake, I used the Sponge Daubers stamped them in Crumb Cake ink and randomly onto the Crumb Cake cardstock.  I cut my Pool Party cardstock a 1/2" inch larger than my Whisper White so that I could stamp the Merry Christmas above and below.

On the Whisper White, I stamped out the glasses with the sentiment in Real Red ink and colored in the leaves with Pear Pzazz marker.  I finished it off by tying a Gold 1/8" Taffeta ribbon to the front of the glass.  I love this stamp set, it is so quirky, but fast to grab and use. Well, today we are busy between the Festival of Trees music and dance performances for the girls, so no crafting for me today, but that's okay, I still have 2 1/2 weeks to get my Christmas cards done right? EEEEEEK!

Festival of Trees

I'm up and at em' this morning, I drove up and back to the Catalog Kickoff all by myself and was happy that I didn't back out on myself.  I was a little worried that I would be too tired to drive home, but I just kept thinking of all the GREAT class ideas that I had swirling in my head from the catalogs that coming in January!
But for now, I will continue to share my cards from November class.  For this one, I started out embossing a piece of Island Indigo with the Filigree Frame embossing folder.
I layered up the image with a piece of Basic Black card stock and then the Whisper White that showcases all the good stuff.  I punched out the corner with the Confetti Stars punch.  I stamped out the trees with Garden Green ink directly on the paper and then again on a scrap and punched out with the coordinating Tree punch.  I stamped Rose Red "balls" on top of the one I punched out and popped it up with Dimensionals.  I stamped out the sentiment in Rose Red ink also.  And I couldn't not add a Gold Glimmer Star to the top.  Sorry for the brief post, but it really is a simple card, and I need to catch up on so much stuff today, so until next time, have a super day!

White Christmas

 Well, here's everyone's most favorite  card from class.  It features not only one of my favorite stamp sets in the Holiday catalog, but my favorite color combo for Christmas.  I stamped on Sahara Sand all the images, and even the sentiment, in Early Expresso.  I used the Chalk Marker to color in the snowman and some snow on the trees. I tore a piece of Vellum Cardstock and adhered it to the bottom of the card and then took the speckled image from Gorgeous Grunge and stamped snowflakes all over the front. ( I know there is a snow image in the White Christmas, but Gorgeous Grunge was larger and covered more area quicker).

I stamped out the Merry Christmas in Cherry Cobbler and used the Large Oval Punch to punch it out. I sponged the edges with some Chocolate Chip ink and then popped it all up on Dimensionals.  The layers of card stock is Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler and Sahara Sand.
Well, I'm off to the Catalog Kickoff in Des Moines, Iowa today, cannot wait to see what is in store!  Happy Hump Day!

Many Merry Stars

 Let me start out by apologizing for the crooked photo above...must have splashed back too much eggnog while taking pictures..lol  Anyway, I thought since we are officially in December, I better get my November card class pictures blogged.  This card was inspired by Kimberly Van Diepen, I switched up the colors on mine.  It's a clean and simple(to me) kind of card and is totally qualifying of mass production if you need too.  I stamped on in Baked Brown Sugar, Lost Lagoon and Pink Pirouette inks different stars from the stamp set (this is only while supplies last, don't wait to order it now!) randomly on the front of the card. I stamped out the words in Baked Brown Sugar.

For the two stars that I popped out, I stamped the larger on in Pink Pirouette onto PP cardstock and the other one in Baked Brown Sugar onto Whisper White and used the Star Framelits to cut them out. I added some Gold Baker's Twine around the Pink Pirouette one and used Dimensionals on both.  I think this was the second favorite of this month's cards, I will post the number one pick this week sometime.  Thanks for stopping by and stay warm, it's cold out there today in the midwest..

Santa Stache

 Wow! If nothing else besides the Christmas ads on TV and everywhere else weren't enough to remind you how quickly Christmas is coming, we had to get the blast of artic air and snow this past weekend. We here are still in the frozen tundra today at a balmy 8 degrees with a windchill of -2..BRRR....So, since that has gotten me in the spirit before Thanksgiving, well, I may as well as share a workshop card I made in October (lol, October, see- I was thinking of Christmas back then...) I started with a Whisper White base and layered some paper from the Trim the Tree DSP pack onto the bottom half of it.  I adhered some of that beautiful Cherry Cobbler Sheer Linen Ribbon. (It is so nice to tie into bows as well!)  and then ontop of that ribbon, I added some 1/4" Gold Ribbon and tied a nice bow off to the side.  I stamped one of the sentiments from the Santa Stache set (I love both the sayings) in Momento Black ink(pay no attention to the little marks above it, nerves always get the best of me at workshops, "don't rock your stamps" says the demonstrator who rocked her stamps..) I punched out some Gold Glimmer stars with the Star Punch and used Mono Multi Glue to adhere them to the card.

I used my Blendabilites and Momento Black ink to stamp out and color the santa.  I stamped out the santa twice and used the Mustache Framelit to cut the second one and then used Dimensionals to pop it up onto the first one.  I added a Basic Pearl to his puff on his hat to finish it off.  I also showcased the Envelope Punch Board to make an envelope to go with the card, and it's hard to see in the photo but it's there..Thanks for stopping by.

Wonderous Wreath Ornaments

 Good Monday morning to you! I had a great weekend and hope that you did too.  I wanted to pop in and share some projects from my recent workshop and thought maybe some Christmas inspiration would be good today since we are getting closer and closer to the end of November and before we know it, will be scurrying about to decorate the home and make gifts for giving.  This idea came from Becky Roberts, and I knew when I saw it, I would be making these.  I started by stamping out TWO wreaths in Always Aritichoke ink and then the "holly berries' in Cherry Cobbler and then using the coordinating dies to cut them both out. I used a 1 3/8" Circle punch for the center to insert the LED tealight though, NOT the center die for the wreath as I normally would do for using it on a card or other wise.

I punched a hole for the Gold Taffeta Ribbon for hanging, with the 1/8th handheld punch.  I added a Crumb Cake Seam Binding bow to the bottom. I know that you cannot see it in this photo, but I wrapped a scrap piece from Trim the Tree DSP pack around the base of the tealight to just jazz it up a bit.
Well, today, I am back to designing some customer wedding invites, I hope that I get some mojo soon, as I feel the Monday completely today! UGH...

Lovely As a Tree-20 Years Cancer Free!

 So, this past Saturday, November 1st, my husband hit his 20th "birthday", which is the day he had a bone marrow transplant 20 years ago, which would cure his Hodgkins Lymphoma.  I made this card for him and took him out for a nice dinner.  I used Garden Green cardstock and stamped out the leaves from Lovely As a Tree in Garden Green directly onto the cardstock and layered it onto Garden Green card base.

I used some retired Brushed Copper paper for the larger oval, and then cut a smaller Oval from Very Vanilla and then used the negative image of the cut out to sponge on a light layer of Crushed Curry ink before stamping the tree in Chocolate Chip.  I stamped out the sentiment (which I try to really live by most days)in Cajun Craze onto an oval of Very Vanilla I punched out with the Wide Oval Punch and sponged the edges.  I added some Very Vanilla Seam Binding ribbon behind it all and tied it off with some Linen Thread.  I like how it turned out, it sits on my computer desk so that I am reminded of the place we are and that I need to practice this everyday.  Today is cold and windy in the midwest, and as much as it is the perfect day to stay in and stamp, the upstairs is calling my name to be cleaned...ugh....Happy Thursday!

Seasonally Scattered

 Well, now that Halloween is officially over, it's on to Thanksgiving and Christmas and all things that can be in between.  This is another card we did at October card class and I have to say it was the majority favorite.  I started by layering up a Very Vanilla base with Chocolate Chip and then a layer of Cherry Cobbler that I edged with my Gold Encore ink pad-direct to paper.  I used the Scallop Edge punch on the Gold Glimmer Paper and attached just under a piece of Venetian Crochet Trim.   For the Thanks, I stamped the whole stamp into Cherry Cobbler ink and then using a Dauber, I picked up Crushed Curry ink and dabbed it randomly around the word, direct to stamp, and them stamped it onto Very Vanilla cardstock.

 You can see some specks of the gold through the Wooden Leaf Elements that I adhered by using Mono Multi Glue.

Here's a little closer view of the gold ink around the edges.  Tomorrow I will show you a card I made for a super special guy in my life. Thanks for stopping by.

Tee Hee Hee

 Since tommorrow is Halloween, I best post my last creation for this year.  I almost forgot about it, until I was sitting at my crafting table and thought to myself, I hadn't even taken photos of it...what?  So, here it is, my second attempt at a card in a box.  Super simple... I made the card from Whisper White and then added layers of Sahara Sand card stock and then added some Motley Monsters DSP to the flaps. I stamped the images from the stamp set Tee Hee Hee in various inks onto Whisper White card stock and hand cut out or punched with punches.

 I added the images to the box to make it 3D .  (Not sure what happened to my shoes, guess I got lazy?)

 I hung the witches' "dress" and hose on a piece of Basic Gray Baker's Twine wrapped around some toothpicks.  For the bubbles in the cauldron, I just punched out some circles.

For the front flap, I stamped the broom and hand cut it out and then stamped the  sentiment and punched it out using the Modern Label Punch and popped it up on Dimensionals. 

Sorry for the quick post, but I have a busy day on Friday and just wanted to get this posted to say HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Go TEAM!

 I decided to post something today that I made in honor of our highschool football team and my husband and coaching staff.  My husband coaches the varsity football team and for the second time in high school HISTORY(last year he coached them to the FIRST EVER!) for our school, they are in the playoffs!  Another first is that we are HOSTING the first round!   I wanted to present this to him tommorrow morning before he heads to school, so he doesn't know about it yet..shh...lol

 I started by layering our school colors of Pumpkin Pie onto Basic Black and then a piece of Brights DSP Pattern Pack onto those two layers.  I made a rosette from the Nuetrals Pattern Paper Pack of DSP and then punched out a Champagne Glimmer Pennant and layered the Go Team that I stamped in Momento Black ink onto Whisper White and punched it out also with the Pennant Punch and then adhered it to the rosette.

For the football, I used a Circle Framelit, cut out the circle and then stuck it back into the Big Shot with the circle framelit laying over half of the circle to make the "football" shape.  I ran this through the Big Shot and Decorative Dots embossing folder.  I made the grid on the football all free handed with strips of Whisper White.  I added some cute pom poms behind the football.  I made them by winding some of the Tangerine Tango and White Two Tone Trim around my fingers about 3 times and then twisting some lightweight wire to the center and then cutting each end of the loops open and then using a comb, fluffed it out.  I hope you enjoy the card, and I hope he does too..lol.
Wish us luck to make it ANOTHER first tommorrow night and make it to the SECOND ROUND!

Monster Mash

 Thought I better make my Halloween cards priority this week since we are heading into the final week of October...already!   This is one we made at class using the Monster Mash stamp set and the Frightful Wreath stamp set.  I started out by layering up the Old Olive that I punched with the Chevron Punch on two sides and staming with the Trick or Treat in Momento Black ink, onto the Basic Black card stock and then onto a Whisper White base.  I stamped the eyes from the set in black as well, to cover up some blank spots.

For the Frankie, I stamped him in Momento Black onto Whisper White and colored in his face and legs with the Old Olive Blendabilities and used the Color Lifter to lighten up some spots on his face and punched out using the 1 3/4" Circle punch .  I added some of the smallest Basic Rhinestones to his "bolts" on the side of his head, which ended up looking like earrings...lol   I used some Dimensionals and popped this up onto a piece of Silver Glimmer Paper punched out using the 2" Circle Punch.

Making Spirits Bright

 So, I had a workshop this past weekend with a group of FABULOUS ladies and my hostess requested a wine tag.  So, I pulled out my Making Spirits Bright stamp set from the Holiday Catalog and came up with something festive for Halloween and this stamp is PERFECT for the wine tag.

I started by cutting a piece of Basic Black card stock to 3x6 and scoring it at 2".  I punched a hole for the neck to come through with the 1 3/8" circle punch.  I layered up the front with Pumpkin Pie card stock and a piece of Monster Mash DSP (the ghosts were just too perfect NOT to put with the sentiment).  I cut a piece of Gold Glimmer paper with an Oval from the Oval Framelits and then another piece of Whisper White card stock to stamp and color on for the front.  I colored with the Pumpkin Pie Blendabilities the drink and the eyeball olive with Old Olive Blendabilities.  I stamped out the Happy Halloween from the same set on Whisper White in Momento Black ink and flagged the end.  To the top of the layers, I added a black button from the Nuetrals pack with some Tangerine Tango Baker's Twine tied in a bow.  I added some Crystal Effects to the "drink" to make it look wet. I love this set and plan to do some gift giving at Christmas with some of the other stamps in the set.

Wonderous Wreath

 First off, let me start by saying I cannot believe it's been one month since I posted on my blog....secondly, this is why!  I took some time recently to keep my 6 month old grandson for a week and just "forgot the rest of the world" ....I had stuff to post, but being on the computer was the last thing I wanted to do with him here.  I was pooped by week's end, BUT I wouldn't change that week for anything...

 He is just a HAPPY baby and that made it so much more of a GREAT time with us.  I hated walking away from him on Saturday when we sent him home. :(  We took lots of pictures and these are some of my favorites.

 As I said, this is how he is most of the time...PRECIOUS~

 I have cards to show from October's card classes.  I just now got to taking photos of them as you see above, my camera was busy elsewhere.  I started by layering up Crushed Curry and Cajun Craze card stock onto a Whisper White base.  On the top layer of Whisper White, I stamped out the sentiment from Mingle All the Way in Blackberry Bliss.  I stamped out the wreath in Crushed Curry and then another time with the Cajun Craze ink and cut out using the Wonderous Wreath Framelits.

I used some Dimensionals to pop up the wreath  and then stamped out the bow using the Blackberry Bliss and also cutting it out with the framelits. I finished it off by adding a Basic Pearl to the center.
My goal is to get all my cards from this month's class posted this week and then I will have some workshop projects and my Christmas Class projects from my class I'm hosting this evening.  Thank you for stopping by.