"MarshFellow" Snow Ma'am

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. Although it was just my family of four and my mother-in-law at home for The Big Dinner, we had a very nice time together. My husband is an only child and I come from a very large family -- last Christmas there were about 64 family members at my brother's house. Such a huge contrast from my husband's family of two!

I am especially happy and looking forward to Christmas this year. I haven't felt this way since my mother passed away four years ago. (She was admitted to the hospital on Christmas Day and passed away on New Year's Day.) Since that time, the holidays have been very sad for my family and me. Also, six years ago, one of my best friends died of cancer on Christmas Eve. On New Year's Day this year, my 18 year old nephew also passed away. With all that, the holidays have been something of a dark cloud, but this Thanksgiving, I was so thankful that God has eased the pain and made it easier to deal with and has made me realized how blessed I am to have such a loving family.

Now, on to happier things. With Thanksgiving over, I now want to concentrate on Christmas. This card I'd like to share with you today was made with one of my images from my "MarshFellow" collection. I'm really starting to get the hang of using my computer tablet to draw my own images. (If you happen to like my images, I'll have it available soon for download.)

SUPPLIES
Images: MarshFellow Snow Ma'am, Yummiest Season (Creations by AR) available soon!, Script BG (SU!)
Paper: White, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, Bermuda Bay, Banana, Chocolate
Ink: Memento, Copics, Printer
Acc: Scalloped Punch, Oval Punch, Script Cuttlebug Folder, DMC Thread, Stickles, 1" White Organdy Ribbon, Button, Dew Drops, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

By the way, I don't know how many of you go shopping on Black Friday, but I'm debating whether or not I should go -- I've never, ever gone shopping the day after Thanksgiving, but I'm actually considering it this year. So, if any of you have suggestions or stories about it, let me know. Thanks and have a safe weekend!

Gumball

I've been playing around with my new tablet for my computer -- it allows me to draw easier. So, I drew this gum ball machine and although it takes hours to get it just the way I want it, I enjoyed using my new gadget to draw this. I couldn't get good lighting while taking the photo of my finished card, so it looks a bit orange (we recently changed the lightbulb in the dining room -- aka my craft room -- with those new energy saving ones, and even with my Ott-Lite lamp, the color still looks terrible. Oh well...

To make the card, I used the plastic cup (SU!) and filled it with some of the candies that my daughter had leftover from Halloween. My digi gum ball image can be altered to any size so you can use various sizes of circle punches. On the original image, I drew gum balls inside the container, so it really didn't need to be punched out, but I thought adding the cup would be fun. I also created the sentiment for this card. I got the idea from my daughter who likes to sing, "there's a party in my tummy, so yummy, so yummy." (Gotta love kids!)

The papers are retired SU! DSP and I used Copics to color.

Have a great week!

5-4-3 Tree-Tutorial

Happy Friday! With Christmas just around the corner, I wanted to start making cards that were "fast and easy" to create.  The tree on the card that I'd like to share with you today is actually quite easy to make and only uses two punches.  I made a tutorial with the basic instructions below, it's up to you if you want decorate it as simple or as ornate as you'd like.

For my card above, I used white card stock layered under the green patterned paper to emulate snow.  The trunk was hand cut and to give texture to it, I used an embossing folder.  The "snow on the ground" is just white card stock which was dry embossed and torn on one edge.  I then applied Stickles along the torn edge and also on the tree to give it a glistening look. The sentiment is one I made digitally.

This is the first time I used this technique for making a tree. Let me know if it works for you.

SUPPLIES:
1-3/8" Square Punch
Scalloped Border Punch
Strip of Card Stock 2" Wide
Dimensionals

1.  Punch along one of the long edges of card stock using the Scalloped Border punch.


2.  Position the scalloped edge in the square punch diagonally as shown in the photo. The first piece will have five scallops.


3.  Be sure to check that the card stock is positioned straight.


4.  Repeat with the second piece, but with four scallops, not five.



5.  Repeat again with the third and last piece.  That piece will have three scallops.


6.  With the largest piece on the bottom, apply a dimensional on the middle piece along the scalloped edge.  Do Not apply dimensionals on the pointy area (pointy area gets glued down).



7.  Repeat Step 6 using the smallest piece.
That is how to make a basic 5-4-3 Tree.

Have a wonderful weekend...

Christmas "Light" Tutorial

Here's a fun project to make for the holidays (or any occasion) using acetate sheets.  For this particular one, I used the Frosted Sheet rather than the clear one because it's sturdier and the effect is more dramatic. I wanted a metal base, so I used a 2" diam tin canister with a 1/2" tall bottom base. Of course it's safest to use a battery-operated tea light rather than the real one, but since I couldn't find mine, I used a real one for the pictures.  I had the light going for several minutes and it was fine -- not too hot.

When stamping on acetate, you'll want to use a specialty ink, like StazOn.  This won't smear like regular ink will.

BASIC SUPPLIES:
Stamp
Small Canister with Removable Clear Top
Frosted Sheets
StazOn Ink
Sticky Tape
Tea Light (Battery-Operated preferred)
Embellishments

Cut Acetate Sheet the width around the inside of the canister plus 1/4" by 3-1/2" high


Stamp image(s) onto the Frosted Sheet using StazOn


Apply Sticky Tape along one of the side edges and adhere together with the other side, forming a tube

Pop out the clear plastic top from the cover (you will need to have this off if using real tea lights)

Place the "tube" inside the canister and have fun decorating!

Heavenly Swirls Stamp Set: Stampendous
Frosted Sheet: Short Cuts 
Canister: Joann's
Half Pearl: Martha Stewart
Stickles
Mini Glue Dots

Acetate Challenge!

Every Wednesday for the past 11 weeks, Paper Craft Planet has been hosting Back to Basics, a FREE 12-week course sponsored by Stampendous! This is our 12th week and I have the privilege of making the samples for this week's lesson.  This week we're learning how to use specialty inks, like StazOn, to stamp on non-porous surfaces.

To go along with this lesson, we'll be having a challenge and you won't believe all the goodies the winner will get! To play along, make a card, scrap book page or 3D item using the technique shown in this week's lesson, Stamping on Acetate. Be sure to tag your photo b2b12 (all lowercase) when uploading to PCP.  Next Wednesday, we'll pick one lucky, random, winner from our challenge players for the generous prize pictured at the end of the lesson. To get all the details of this challenge and to take Lesson 12, click on over to our Stampendous Group on PCP.

For my card, I used both clear and frosted acetate, StazOn, Pearl Dew Drops, Frosted Lace Stickles, Kiwi Kiss and Vanilla Card Stock, Sparkling Yarn and glue dots.  The stamp set is Peace Everywhere from Stampendous (which is just one of the stamps sets included in the prize).


My second project is a tea light holder made with stamped Frosted Sheet.  I will post the tutorial for this on a separate post.

I hope you can play along!

Sweet and Sassy Stamps Sketch Challenge

I couldn't be more excited to bring you this challenge -- it's a sketch challenge, sponsored by Sweet n' Sassy Stamps. To play along, create a card using this sketch:

To play, upload your card to the Paper Craft Planet photo gallery, and use the tag "SNSS1" -- all caps, please. (Here is a tutorial on adding pictures to the gallery, if you need it.) Sweet n' Sassy Stamps has generously offered a chance to win this adorable stamp for one of our lucky challenge players.

Here is a close-up of my card:

The Supernovas all used the new digital stamps for our cards. I picked Noses 4 Sale. Isn't this little guy so cute?  He's printed on Neenah paper and then colored with Copics. I applied some Stickles for a glittery effect.  The patterned papers are retired SU!

If you've ever had a chance to play with digital stamps, then you know how much fun they are. If you wanted to resize your image, you could do that right in your image editing program. Now that's a great feature! Check out what the other Super Novas came up with:

Adela Rossol - ME!
Lynn Mercurio
Kim Burmeister
Wendy Price
Lori Tecler
Sankari Wegman
Susanna Boyd

3D Tuesday Challenge - Winter Box

It's 3D Tuesday at Paper Craft Planet! This week's challenge is to decorate this box using a Winter theme.  I downloaded the template from this SITE.  It can actually be printed in whatever size you want.  The ones I made here were printed out at 200% and 150% larger than the original.

Here's a photo of the box opened.  For easy decorating, I used the ornament punch and the snowflake punch. I then attached them to the ribbon using DMC thread for the blue box and linen thread for the pink.

I hope you can play along, especially since this is such a handy little box to have during the holidays.  When uploading your photo to PCP, use the tag "3d36" so that it will go into the correct album.

Note Cards and Tag Center

Here's a project I made last week that was supposed to be a mini card holder, but then I decided to add a third compartment to my template and my plan for a simple card holder changed. The third compartment actually fit some of my spools of ribbon perfectly!  So now, it not only holds mini note cards, but gift tags and a spool of ribbon. I call it my Note Card and Tag Center.

The handle ties uses the little leaves and the daisy die cut from.  I found that the hole in the center of the flower was not only convenient, but was big enough to slip a wide ribbon through it.  The ribbon served two purposes: as an embellishment and to hold the handles together. Cut about 9 in. of ribbon, tie a knot in the middle, then pull the two ends of the ribbon through the hole in the center of the flower.The leaves are simply glued on to the back of the flower.  Now you have a pretty tie for the handles.  This design also works well for tags; just cut the ribbon a few inches longer.

The cards are 6" x 6" and folded in half to form a card base.  I just layered some squares of card stock and patterned paper in the center and added a stamped sentiment.  I also embossed one edge with a Cuttlebug border file folder.

The tags are 2-1/4" x 3-3/4" and decorated with scraps of pattern paper and whatever embellishment I had handy.

Template: 3-Pocket Caddy (My Crafts)
Paper: White, So Saffron, Mambo Melon, Sage, Razzle Berry Lemonade DSP
Acc: Prima Flowers for the tags, Martha Stewart Border Punch, Slot Punch, Large Oval Punch, Spellbinders Nestabilities, Dew Drops Mini Buttons, DMC Thread, 5/8" Dotted Grosgrain Ribbon (SU!), Sizzix Dies, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals

The label on the box is one I made myself.