My Christmas Cards for 2007

I finally finished making my family's Christmas cards for this year and they've all been mailed! Such a great feeling of accomplishment and relief! Out of the many designs that I came up with, I ended up choosing two of my favorites. For one of the designs, I wanted to do something simple with a touch of elegance. For the second design, I wanted to incorporate my children's pictures on the front of the card to give to family since we live too far and we don't see each other often enough. After making and mailing several of the "Noel" and ornament cards with my girls' pictures on them, I read several threads online regarding sending bulky mail and having them returned for extra postage. After becoming aware of the post office's regulations, I revised my "Ornament" card a little so that it wasn't so bulky. Hopefully, none of my cards find their way back home asking for more postage!Here is the revised version of the ornament card. Read How To here.

Keepsake DVD Case

After I finished decorating the gift card holder tins for the kids on my Christmas list, I started looking for a small box to put my brother's Apple Store (a favorite store of his) gift card in. I just happened to have a dozen of these round CD tins in my ever-so-crowded work area and thought: Perfect! My brother is not only a very gifted musician, but also has an amazing talent in videography. When our mother passed away New Years Day 2006, he made the most moving video tribute in her honor for her memorial service. So, what started out as a simple box for a gift card, became a keepsake DVD case to store the video of memories of our mother. The front has a picture of Mama when she was a young mother and another picture of her taken 10 days before she passed on. For the back, I cut out part of the actual program from her memorial service and the rose petals were from the rose I saved that day. I added a heart bracelet charm to close the case securely. Inside contains the poem, "God's Gift." After mailing the gift, I felt a little uncomfortable because the more I look at the pictures of this project, the more I think it's too girly to give to a guy!
I will post a "How To" before the end of this week. Right now, I have other presents to "wrap" before the 24th creeps up!

Ultra Mini Lunch Box for $1!!!

I went to Target yesterday to pick up some gift cards for several kids on my Christmas list, when I saw these cute little 4x3 tin lunch boxes. They had Disney characters on them, but I would have wanted to decorate them anyway. And they were only a buck!!! Plus, the chocolate nuggets fit perfectly inside. Hmmm... gift card, chocolates, cute storage... How perfect is that? Read "How To" here.

Embrace Life

I was so excited when I received my shipment of the new Spring/Summer sets from Stampin' Up! on Friday! But with all the holiday goings on around here, I wasn't able to play with any of my goodies until the wee hours of Monday morning (1 a.m., I believe was when I started!). The first set I reached for was the Embrace Life stamp set. It was my favorite choice from the preview catalog. Here's a sample of one of the 3.5 x 5 note cards that I will be putting together for a class. This will be part of a boxed stationery set. I have two designs done, two more to go -- my first project for January '08!

Shannon, Angel and a Wish List

This is a picture of my special 11 year old neighbor, Shannon, with my "guardian" Angel. Angel was actually kind enough to pose several times with Shannon until Shannon finally got the picture right (just kidding, Shannon). But honestly, Angel does love to model for the camera!

When Shannon saw the Christmas Wish List Clipboard I made for my daughters, she was so excited to make one for herself. She came over today and we had a one-on-one class using the 9x9 chipboard clipboard from SU! She chose the Dashing DSP and we tweaked my original 3-clip design a little to make it for one child, rather than two.

Easy Christmas Cards

If you want to make cardmaking easy, just use good designer paper and a little bit of embellishment! This simple, but elegant card is 4-1/2 x 6 and was fairly easy to make. The only difficult part about making this was cutting the tag. Other than that, it's simple and quick. Recipe here.

If you really want simple, look at the card below. I would have finished this card in about 5 minutes, but I just can't leave well enough alone. I just had to add some shine, so I reached for my gold embossing powder! Skip that, and you're done in 5 or less. This card is also 4-1/2 x 6. Recipe here.

Get Well Wishes

A few weeks ago my neighbor was in a severe auto racing accident which, according to the news, left him with extensive injuries to his legs and hands. Over the weekend, one of my daughters babysat two of his nieces and had found out from them that their uncle is now in a wheelchair and his hands are "broken." How sad for him especially since he's a professional race car driver. When my husband found out about his condition, he asked me to make a card for him. Well, this is what I came up with. I haven't done too many masculine cards, so I pulled out the first set that came to my mind: Winds of Grace. The sailboat was quite appropriate actually, because he lives right across the lake from us. For recipe, click here.

Wish List Clipboard

For years, I have been wanting to make something like this for my two girls. Now that they're no longer toddlers, I finally made one. Wish I had made this 10 years ago! Every year I would put a piece of paper on the refrigerator with their names on it and had them write their Christmas Wish List on it -- how pathetic it looked! Anyway, this is going on the fridge today! It has a removable pencil under the tree and their lined paper can be changed every year. The tutorial on how to make this clipboard is on my other blog, Stampin' with Adela, under "Tutorials."

JOY!

Here are two fairly simple cards I made over the weekend. I'd been wanting to try the Love & Joy set for a while now, so I finally made a couple with the "joy" stamp. I'll be working on the "love" stamp another day.

Stamp Set: Love & Joy, Snow Burst
Paper: Very Vanilla, Purely Pomegranate, River Rock
Ink: Purely Pomegranate
Accessories: Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, 2-Way Glue, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, 1/8" Circle Punch, Dimensionals, Bling, Cuttlebug Machine


Stamp Set: Love & Joy, Snow Burst
Paper: Very Vanilla, Purely Pomegranate, River Rock, Always Artichoke, Holiday Harmony DSP
Ink: Purely Pomegranate, VersaMark
Accessories: White Organza Ribbon, Iridescent Ice EP, Heat Tool, Ticket Punch, Antique Brads, Dimensionals, Cuttlebug Machine

Peace, Love, Joy

Because of my slipped disc, I've been immobile for the last four days. But today, I was craving to create something -- anything! So, instead of laying on the couch all day, I actually sat up for a while and made some Christmas cards... yay!


I showed this card to my girls as soon as I finished it (they're my critics, and they're very honest with their opinions). Right away my ribbon choice was a thumbs down. From what I had available to me at home, it was my first choice, and I liked it... so I kept it. Needless to say, I ended up doing another version below which they really liked! Notice how I downplayed the ribbon on the 2nd card.

Stamp Set: All Holidays, Snow Burst
Paper: Soft Sky Regular and Textured, Whisper White, Brocade Blue, Brocade Blue DSP
Inks: Brocade Blue, Soft Sky, VersaMark
Accessories: Ribbons Original Flirty, Iridescent Ice EP, Heat Tool, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, Coluzzle, Sticky Strip, Crystal Effects, Mini Dots, Dimensionals, Beads, Bling, Cuttlebug Machine


Stamp Set: All Holidays, Snow Flurries
Paper: Bravo Burgundy, Blush Blossom, Whisper White
Inks: Bravo Burgundy, Blush Blossom, VersaMark
Accessories: Silver Cord, Iridescent Ice EP, Heat Tool, Ticket Corner Punch, Snow Burst Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, Coluzzle, Sticky Strip, Crystal Effects, Mini Dots, Dimensionals, White Gel Pen, Charms, Bling, Cuttlebug Machine

Christmas Blessings

This card started out as a very simple card, but every time I looked at it, I thought it needed something else. First, there was the addition of the rhinestone brad with the dazzling diamond glitter. But somehow that wasn't enough for me. And then I saw my box of beads!! So here's the final product.

Stamps: Snow Burst, Star Studded Season, Love & Joy
Paper: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy
Ink: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy
Accessories: Rhinestone Ice Brad, Blue Taffeta Ribbon, 2-Way Glue, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals, Silver Cord, Beads, Cuttlebug Machine

So Much To Be Thankful For

Although I injured my lower back yesterday and am stuck on the couch pretty much the whole day, I do have lots to be thankful for: family, friends, a comfortable home. I'm mostly grateful for my daughters. They took such good care of me last night while their dad was at work. They fed me and gave me my pain meds and what-nots. Today, my 14 year old even made 2 pumpkin pies all by herself from scratch and tomorrow she'll be making fresh cranberry sauce. Yes, I'm very blessed -- in constant pain, but very blessed!

Here's a card I made to send to a friend, but after injuring myself, it never made it to the mailbox. So, I thought I'd share it here.
Stamp set: Thankful Thoughts
Paper: Whisper White, River Rock Designer Paper, Always Artichoke
Ink: Stazon Black, Always Artichoke Craft, River Rock, Pumpkin Pie Marker, Really Rust Marker
Accessories: Grovy Guava Double Stitched Ribbon, Clear EP, Slot Punch, Blender Pens, 2-Way Glue, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals

Treat Box

Here are two treat boxes inspired by Beate's tutorial. The red one is made with one sheet of Dashing Designer Series Paper and one 12x12 Real Red card stock. It can be filled with candies (as I have done here in this photo), or fill it with just about anything you'd like.


The Soft Blue mini version is made with an 8x8 piece of card stock and decorated with punches -- corner rounder and snowflake punches. This would make a very pretty votive holder, but, of course, that's probably not a good idea, unless you keep a close eye on it!

The tutorial by Beate can be found here.

Before & After

This mini album was in the $1 bin at Michael's, and it even has a magnetic latch! I couldn't resist buying 10 of these. The picture on it might be cute, but I wanted something more elegant. Using a strip of the River Rock Designer Series Paper, I glued it onto the front and back cover. The inside cover is covered with the coordinating paper design found on the other side of the DSP. The latch was covered with Always Artichoke DSP. I then added Stampin' Up!®'s Designer Theater Ribbon Originals. The metal embellishments are ones I found in my drawer collection.

This tin pail is another dollar item...I found it at Target last year and knew I would use it one day, so I bought a dozen! I covered it with the new SU! wrapping paper and tied coordinating ribbons on the handle. I had several pens left from a recent project, so I thought why not use the wrapping paper to decorate the pen with and fill the tin pail with matching note cards? Wouldn't this make a great little gift?

This scented candle tin is another dollar buy at Michael's -- what a bargain! Again I bought a dozen. All I did was cover it with Holiday Harmony and Always Artichoke DSPs, then added ribbon, brads and a few punched out flowers, ovals and scallop.

Tags

These are some of the Christmas tags that I'll be making to attach to presents this year. I used three different sets: the long "Christmas Blessings" tag is from Holy Triptych; the small mistletoe tag is from Tags for All; and the larger square tag is from Peaceful Wishes. These all have stickles for sparkle and I used Crystal Effects on the berries on the larger tag because I just love the way it looks on berries. Also in this picture is an altered candle tin, which I bought at Michael's for a buck! Holiday Harmony and Always Artichoke Designer Series Papers were used to cover the tin.

Criss-Cross Christmas Gift Card Holder

This version of the criss-cross card uses Designer Series Paper to make the pocket, as opposed to using traditional card stock. For this particular gift card holder, I decided to design a tall card, rather than wide. Because I wasn't too crazy about doubling the backing of a regular criss-cross card, I used the DSP, which is wide enough to use one whole piece, rather than gluing two pieces of card stock together. I will be making lots of these for Christmas! AND... November is a great month to take advantage of Stampin' Up!®'s special of "Buy 3 - Get 1 Free" of any Designer Series Paper packages (see my earlier post). I will have this design and two other ones in my "To-Go" Class kit, which I will be posting very soon on my other site Stampin' with Adela.

"A" Birthday Card

I have so many birthday cards to make this month, so I thought today was a good day to start, being that it was my niece's birthday. For this card, I started with rose red ink on whisper white card stock, using the floral background stamp and the rose red Designer Series paper. After embossing Avary's initial, using white EP, and adding the taffeta ribbons, glass heart charm and non-SU lace, one of my daughters said it looked like it was made for someone older. I guess she was right! After all, Avary is only one!

Back to the drawing board and another card started was using pretty in pink and whisper white card stock; pretty in pink and regal rose ink. The background stamps I used were the Floral and Tres Chic. I also used pink taffetta ribbon, silver cord and non-SU lace. Letter charms are non-SU. I was more pleased with the outcome of this pink card for Avary!

Birthday Invitations For My Baby--

Well, okay... so she's turning 14, not quite a baby anymore... but she'll always be my baby. The invitations I made for my daughter was made with her favorite color combination: purple, turquoise and green. I thought a slider card would be fun for this little project, and here's what I came up with.
Card stock: Tempting turquoise, lavender lace, lovely lilac, green galore and whisper white.
Ink: Tempting turquoise and lavender lace.
Stamp sets: In the Spotlight, Short Order Numbers and Please Come.
Accessories: White grosgrain ribbon, silver cord, regular and small tag punch, horizontal slot punch, slit punch, scallop punch, 1/8 in. punch (for faux brads), stickles, non-SU ribbon and charm.

Pink Snowflakes

This is what I came up with for Beate's weekend sketch challenge. I actually never tried using the brayer before with the versamark, but it was pretty easy and I really like how the shade of pink turned out on the glossy paper... very soft. Stamps: Snowflake Spot, Star-Studded Season, Snow Burst, Snow jumbo wheel. Paper: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, glossy white, vellum. Ink: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Versa Mark. Accessories: rhinestone brad, Flirty Ribbon, snowflake punch, Irridescent Ice em. powder, brayer and dimensionals.

Meet Kylie...

This adorable little girl came dressed up in her Halloween costume to Sunday's Halloween class. Her name is Kylie and she's 9 (going on 16) and is a very talented stamper! I always look forward to having her come to class. The bag she's holding was one of the projects the kids decorated in class using the Batty for You jumbo wheel, which they got to keep as part of their class fee. We also made three different kinds of Halloween party favors. Thanks, Kylie, for being such a good sport in letting me take your picture over and over!

Merry & Bright Class - November 4

Okay...so I didn't go with the traditional Christmas colors of red and green, but when I saw this set, I just couldn't see it in anything but pink and soft sky. Anyway, I thought about adding more olive or celery, but I'm pretty happy with the lightness and cheeriness of it.

For this class, I have designed four cards with this cute set plus a box to hold the cards and envelops in. The Merry & Bright stamp set is included in the class fee. For more information about this class and to RSVP, please Email me by October 25.

Peaceful Wishes

I have been wanting to make a card with this set... I guess today was the day! Card stock: Whisper White, Purely Pomegranate, Mellow Moss and Always Artichoke. Inks: Mellow Moss and Rose Red. Accessories: Irridescent Ice EP on branches, Crystal Effects on berries, silver brads, dimensionals and Purely Pomegranate Satin Ribbon. (Silver charm is Swarvski Crystal from Michael's)

Angel Card

This is my favorite Christmas stamp set -- it's so elegant! I have more designs using this angel and I'll post them at a later date. The card stock I used here are Going Gray, Basic Gray, Purely Pomegranate, Very Vanilla and vellum. Inks are Jet Black StazOn, River Rock, Going Gray, Basic Gray and Purely Pomegranate. The ribbons are silver cord and basic gray taffeta. I used Stickles on the wings and gave her "hi-lights," but I don't recommend doing that on vellum -- the paper starts to warp! TIP: Did you know that you can use the horizontal slot punch as a corner punch to insert photo corners? I played around with it today and it works!

Altered Clipboard

Designing this clipboard was such a fun project... I ended up teaching a class using the above as a sample. But for the class, I offered three colors that my students could choose from. The three clips held a cork board, a plastic sleeve for a photo, and a note pad. The pen we decorated with coordinating paper is attached at the cap so that it never gets lost. You simply remove the main part to write with and the cap is always there. Everyone's came out different -- their personality really shined with the different details they added to theirs.

Kids' Halloween Class - October 21st

This Halloween class will be filled with lots of treats! In class we will be making a Halloween treat bag that you can use for trick-or-treating... I'll also include a mini flashlight for you in case you go out Halloween night. But for now, you'll be using it to put lots of goodies inside! You'll also be making three favors, each one a different design and filling them with treats. We will be using the jumbo wheel Batty For You, which is yours to take home afterwards. This class is all-inclusive. Please Email me no later than October 17 to RSVP. PLUS, everyone will win a door prize just for coming to class dressed in a costume!

Put Some Glitz in Your Holiday...

Take advantage of Stampin' Up!'s Holiday Glitz card kit, available only until October 31st (or while supplies last). Each kit comes with precut card stock, Designer Series paper, zigzag ribbon, rhinestone brads, whisper white envelopes and full-color instruction sheet. Each kit includes supplies for 15 cards.


There are two ways to purchase this kit: 1) Purchase one of four holiday stamp sets listed here and get the card kit for the special price of $24.95; OR 2) Purchase the kit for $28.95 with no additional purchase required. There is no limit to how many kits you can order.

Holiday Mini Swap

Here are three Christmas gift tags I made for a swap that I was in last month. The set is Stampin' Up!'s Tags For All, available in the Holiday Mini catalog. The set includes 12 (yes, 12!) stamps and I know that I'll be using this every year. Depending on your personality, you can go traditional or contemporary, simple or dazzling... it's up to you! For this swap, I showed three different ways to attach them to the gift itself. For the Merry tag I used Stampin' Up!'s new elastic cord in gold (also in silver) to attach to either a gift bag handle or package ribbon. For the Mistletoe tag, I inserted a large paperclip in the back, which is partially hidden by the card stock backing, and a ribbon tied on top disguises it even more. The paperclip can easily be attached to a gift bag or package ribbon. And for the Sparkly Tree tag, I used SU's new and adorable mini library clip. Another project I have going is a holder to put these babies in.

Baby Riley's Birthday Card

This gorgeous baby boy turned 2 last month and I decided to make a special card for him. Although this picture of Riley was taken at his 1st birthday party last year, I couldn't resist posting it because it's my favorite picture of him. The card measures 4-3/4 x 4-3/4 square, and the colors are bashful blue, brocade blue and mellow moss. The bashful blue cardstock is the actual card that opens and it's mounted on a square piece of brocade blue.

Welcome!

Hey! This is my very first attempt at this, so be patient if it doesn't look right. I want to use this little space of mine to share my ideas and creations, and also to share a little bit about me, my family and my friends. So, stay tuned...