Christmas cards by the hundreds -- literally!

Hello Everyone!  Yep! I've been missing in action since, uh,.... October maybe????  BUT I DO have a few good excuses. :)  I recently organized a huge (well, it felt huge to me, anyways) fund raising event at my kids' school.  I am the new PTO president, as of late last year, and this event was my idea of a fund raiser.  I'll be honest, it was a pretty big leap of faith -- in so many ways!  We had a high quality arts and crafts show in one gym, a Kid Zone in another gym, bake sale to benefit our PTO, food booth for our 8th graders to fund raise with, and raffle fund raiser.  My worst fear was that no one would come to the event, but I'm happy to say the parking lot was packed solid for hours that morning, everyone was smiling from ear to ear, and the feeling of community coming together was simply, incredible.  Our two main goals for the event, was to draw the community together, and raise money for the school -- and we accomplished both!  Woo Hooo!   AND, I am very glad it's over! I have to share a couple of the decorating pictures with you, cause they made my little heart happy! A local wood worker made the palate trees, and I thought they looked so woodsy and natural, which was kind of my decorating theme for the event.  The LED trees made such an awesome little cheery accent for the entry way -- complete with little wooden snowflakes I found at Michaels.  AND, those incredibly cute little reindeer below the trees, were another amazing find I purchased from another local wood worker.  They are most definitely one-of-a-kind reindeer!  Those little red light bulb Rudolf noses! Sweet!

And, now, onto some Christmas card ideas to share with you.  I did my Christmas card classes differently this year -- Christmas card buffets.  There were 10 card choices to choose from, and folks could choose to make sets of 8 or 16 cards.  I think it helped make the classes run more smoothly, as there was less waiting for one particular card kit.  I had 24 folks attend between the three classes I did, and prepped around 400 cards, I think.  Lots of fun was had by all!  Here is the line up of designs!  I'd love to hear which ones are YOUR favorites.

 These little gingerbread peeps on a cookie sheet, was not my idea -- I saw it on Pinterest, and thought it was so incredibly cute! so had to share.  That patterned paper is the Candy Cane Lane DSP.  It is some of the prettiest Christmas paper I have worked with in a while.  Beautiful patterns, in some non-traditional colors -- like Crumb Cake and Espresso.

 This little flurries card, is made with the Snow Flurries punch and matching stamp set.  I also used the Fancy Frost Specialty paper for the background.  This paper has a raised pattern on it that isn't glossy as some of our other papers like this have been -- just a beautiful, raised pattern in heavy wt white.  Colors used: Island Indigo and Pool Party.

 The cable knit embossing folder, has made quite a sensation, as it is 3-D.  The dimension of your paper looks different with this folder, than it would with a regular embossing folder.  Also used on this card, is the bow from the Holly Berry Builder punch which happens to be on sale this week! and the sentiment is from the Christmas Pines set which is also on sale till the end of November.

 I always try and throw in a non-traditional color combo card, and this was the one for this year.  I ended up altering the card from this photo, as it needed some sprucing up. :)  I added a strip of gold glitter paper and a gold star which made it much prettier than this photo shows.

 My stash of washi tape has gotten out of control, so I told myself I may NOT buy anymore until I use up some of what I have, so this little tree card was the perfect thing.  I had strips of white card stock -- 2x4 1/4" and we added our strips of washi tape to the strip, and then die cut it with the tree from Santa's Sleigh.  I simply love that die set!  The sleigh is kind of fiddly, but the end result is really beautiful!  Colors used: retired Lost Lagoon, silver glimmer paper, heavy weight white.

 This little reindeer and wreath is also from the Santa's Sleigh bundle.  I guess I just really like this set, as I used it for three of the cards in the class!  Other products used: Woodland embossing folder, tree builder punch, silver glimmer paper.

 This card was by far the favorite choice all the way around.  I happened to have a bunch of Mossy Meadow card stock on hand, so I paired that with Pear Pizzazz card stock.  The Christmas background stamp - Merry Medley -- makes the perfect background to layer the pine cones and greenery using the peaceful pines thinlets.  The pine cones are cut from our new copper foil sheets -- simply a must have in my book. One nice thing I found about these dies, is that I could cut several pieces with one pass through the Big Shot, so it didn't take ages to cut the pieces you need if you were strategic in how you layered them onto your plate.

 Another non-traditional color scheme, using Sweet Sugarplum and the retired Blackberry Bliss.  I LOVE the star of light bundle featured here.  Such and elegant, different set than we've had in a long time.  Simply elegant and beautiful!

 I'm generally not a big Santa fan, but I thought this die -- detailed Santa -- was so unique, I just had to get it.  I think you could use those swirls at the bottom for waves on an ocean card or layout, or drifts of snow, or so many other things!

 Here is the sleigh from the Santa's Sleigh thinlets.  It is cut in two parts -- the sleigh base and the top piece which I cut from red foil paper.  You then glue the two parts together to make the completed sleigh. Of course, the Dazzling Diamons glimmer paper makes the snow bank look beautiful!

Whew! I think that's it for today!  Be sure to check out the amazing online extravaganza happening right now!  Just click on my website and shop away!  There is a big list of stamps on sale, as well as the extravaganza so be sure to check out both!

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you!

Christmas cards by the dozen!

It's that time of year again, where I host my Christmas card stamp-a-stack -- folks choose to make 10 cards (2 each of five designs) or 20 cards (4 each of five designs).  These are by far my best attended classes of the year.  In fact, sometimes I see people at these classes that don't come to any others throughout the year.  Anyways, this year I prepped 350 Christmas cards, so I was determined not to make them too involved or I would STILL be cutting card stock.  I try to do a mix of styles in this class -- some cutesy, elegant, non-traditional color theme, etc.  Here is the lineup!

 For this first card, we are using the new Delicate Ornaments thinlet dies to make that beautiful ornament.  Such a simple card, but has some class I think.  Of course, it is helpful to stamp the sentiment FIRST, and then emboss the Soft Sky panel with the Softly falling embossing folder.  I then added some white craft ink to the embossed dots to look like snow.

 Here is a less traditional card, using Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, and Very Vanilla.  Featured on this cards is the Holly Jolly Greetings bundle, that comes with the word stamps that coordinate with the die cut words -- jolly, merry, and peace.  Love this set.  the little wood snowflake elements add so much to a Christmas card -- here, I used a sponge dauber with Cherry Cobbler ink and added some ink to the snowflake to make it pop.  So easy to do, but changes the look of the snowflake!

 The Flurry of Wishes bundle features these beautiful snow flakes that have a matching punch, that punches out two snowflakes at once. The medium sized snowflake in this set, coordinates with the flower medallion punch. I like the elegant style of these flakes.  Again, I used a sponge dauber dipped in Island Indigo ink to color the wood snowflake blue.  I then added Dazzling Details to the snowflake to make it glitter!  Oh, how I love sparkle!

 This is my favorite card -- inspired by some I saw on Pinterest.  This is again a non-traditional color scheme.  You start with a white panel -- stamp the trees from the Winter Wonderland set in Memento black ink.  I stamped once, and then again without re-inking to give that look of some trees being in the background shrouded in mist.  Next, I used a sponge in Marina Mist ink and added blue ink towards the base of the trees, then Wisteria Wonder ink above that with that color fading out towards the top.  I then added white "snow" to the branches with the white chalk marker.  Once the card was fully assembled, I scribbled some Dazzling Details onto the entire trees to further make them "pop".  A little strip of silver glimmer paper at the bottom, and a Winter Wonderland embellishment finishes the card!

 This little penguin card is a total CASE of one I saw on Pinterest, so I can't take any credit for this one.  I thought the igloo was so incredibly cute, that I just had to share.  It is one of the oval framelits cut in half.  Then use the large oval punch to punch out the 'door'.  This little penguin is from the Snow Place bundle -- THE cutest snow people you've ever seen! and a framelit to cut out each little accessory.  If you love all things snowmen, you will LOVE this set.  Sabina was especially excited to get this set. :)  To make the oval look like an igloo, simply emboss it with the brick wall embossing folder, then sponge with ink -- here I used Coastal Cabana, a retired color.   Of course, I had to have some glittery snow. :)  So I used a 4 x 2" piece of the Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper -- simply cut it in a curvy line and that gives you two snow banks to use on cards.

Ok!  That's it for today!  Happy Sunday to each of you and may you get your stampin' ON!

Happy Scenes Bundle is so versatile!

The Happy Scenes bundle from the holiday catalog, is so incredibly versatile!  You can make winter, Christmas, Halloween, or fall cards easily with this stamp set and framelits.  I have seen so many gorgeous creations on Pinterest with this set.  For my last Stampers' techniques class, I used the same card pieces to make both a fall and Christmas card, so people could choose to make the one they wanted.  I used the new Black glimmer paper from the holiday catalog for the window frame, so the window frame is glittery!  The window box is cut from the corrugated paper.  It is a really fun textured paper, that is perfect for a wood kind of look.  We used an aqua painter and ink pads to color in the pumpkins and grass, etc.

Other products used on this card: Brick Wall embossing folder, gold and silver foil doilies, washi label punch, inks: pumpkin pie, old olive, real red, crushed curry, memento black, pool party.

Happy Day to each of you!!!

Sleigh Ride Edgelits and a starry sky!

This card was inspired by Lydia from Understand Blue.  She does amazing stuff with coloring!!! and I was so incredibly inspired by her card, that I had to teach it to my peeps.

We started with a 4x5" panel of the thick whisper white card stock.  You do need to use the heavy wt card stock because you are adding a lot of color and moisture and lighter wt would not hold up.  We first sponged the entire panel with Bermuda Bay ink.  Put a lot of ink on -- not just a light layer.  Next sponge Night of Navy ink onto the top third or so of the panel.  Lastly, add Blackberry Bliss ink to the very top fourth or so.  Go easy with the Blackberry ink or your whole card will end up purple! :)  The final step is to splatter your panel with water -- dip your fingers in water and flick the water at the card stock OR you can spritz your panel with water to create a more even look.  The top card was spritzed and the bottom ones were "flicked".  At the class, some of the gals did a combination which looked really cool -- spritzed AND flicked. To me, this technique almost looks like Northern Lights in the sky.  Such depth of color.  I'm no color genius like Lydia, :) but I think the layers of sponged color gives you the depth of color when you add the water element.  We used a heat tool to speed up the drying process of the panel, then adhered it to a white thick card stock base.  We used the sleigh ride edgelits from the Jingle all the way bundle to create the winter scene.  If you do a Pinterest search for Sleigh Ride Edgelits, you will seriously HAVE to have these.  So many gorgeous cards -- and the new fine tip glue pen works great for adding a tad of glue to the little houses, sleigh, and trees when you're fastening it all down -- just sayin'!  In the first card, we cut the houses from silver foil paper.

Please excuse the poor lighting in the second photos here.  I took them when we were having all the forest fires in Montana in August, and this is truly how yellow it was outside!

Woodland Beauty

Happy Thursday, Everyone!

One of my very favorite things in the Holiday catalog, is the woodland embossing folder.  It is a 6" folder, so you can orient your card either horizontally or vertically.  Yeah!  I just love the natural birch tree kind of look it creates.  I saw a card similar to this one on Pinterest, and thought it was so pretty, so I gave it my own twist and used it for my Stamping Techniques club at my last class.  The little cardinals are from the White Christmas stamp set.  We stamped them on the tree branches, and then colored them in with a Real Red marker.  After embossing the Crumb Cake panel with the woodland embossing folder, we then used an Early Espresso marker to color in the "bark" openings in the tree trunks.  Next we added White craft ink to the trees with a sponge dauber.  We dried it with a heat tool to keep the ink from smearing.  Note: to get your white craft ink on the little branches without getting it where you don't want it, use a Q-tip! :)  We made  little snow bank for the bottom of the card, using the dazzling diamonds glimmer paper.  I simply cut a 2x4" piece of the glimmer paper, and cut it in a curvy line with my paper snips, creating two perfect snow banks for two cards at once.  The red border at the bottom, is the new red foil paper from the holiday catalog.  LOVE it! So beautiful!!!  I embossed it with the softly falling embossing folder -- also from the holiday catalog.

For the final touch, we added the wood snowflake elements -- another darling embellishment from the holiday catalog.  I love these little guys so much, I am using them on TWO of the cards we will be making at my Christmas card Stamp-a-stack.  Here, I just added the plain snowflake, but you can use a sponge dauber to color it and then add glitter on top -- Oooh la la!!!

For the final touches: use the new fine tip glue pen and add a little trail of glue on the branches.  Then dump a healthy portion of Dazzling diamonds glitter on top, and you get that kind of 3-D look of snow on the branches.

My kids don't have school today, and there are BIG PLANS!  Bryn is going fishing with his friend, and Sabina is having five little friends over for a tea party/play date -- "fancy dresses welcome, but not required."  I found a Frozen themed tea party set, and she has been working on the "tea party decorations" non stop since she got home from school yesterday.  Gotta love these little moments in their lives!  Each one is unique and special, and they all go by way too fast!!!

Letterpres Winter and the Snowflake thinlets die

Happy Saturday, Everyone!

Recently two items were added to the Clearance Rack that I HAD to purchase -- the Letterpress Winter stamp set and the coordinating snowflake card thinlits die. I had wanted these when they came out in last year's holiday catalog, but just couldn't justify the cost.  Well,.... now they are on clearance for a killer deal and so I snatched them up.  As you know, with the clearance rack, things sell out, so jump on there and grab them if you love them as much as I do.

This die makes the cutest fun fold Christmas card.  I used the All Is Calm specialty DSP which is also on the clearance rack, with a Lost Lagoon card base.  To make this card larger than the die is intended for, read this blog post.

Also used in these cards: silver foil paper, Island Indigo card stock, Lost Lagoon ink, Island Indigo ink, and basic rhinestones.

The retirement list is also here, with many beautiful treasures up to 50% off!  -- check out the framelit sets and punches especially that are on sale.  Many awesome deals to be had.