Archive for November 2008

Easy Holiday Money Holder

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

A recent request for a quick money card holder made me realize that I never posted this!  You can click on the image below for a larger picture.

Holiday Lineup Deer Money Holder

This pattern is an oldie (and suspiciously similar to the pattern as used here).

You can use the step by step (above) and if you need more information about the cutting and scoring, I have a tutorial online HERE (in my Project Gallery).

I love Holiday Lineup… especially the reindeer… they are all looking at Rudolf like they are either confused or they want to strangle him!  If you have a big family or just familiar with the hassle of working in large groups, you’ll definately understand this!   

Holiday Lineup is an adorable 3 stamp set for $21.95 (item #111648).   C’mon, you KNOW you want it!

The Christmas blues…

Sunday, November 23rd, 2008

And an untraditional blue at that!   Baja Breeze and the Designer Series Paper "Manchester" grace the front of this holiday card made also with the "Keep Christmas" set.

This was also done with the 2/3 / 1/3 formula with the Designer Series papers and the ‘chair rail’ type division of top and bottom is with a sliver of a fine pinstripe design from the same papers.

Accessories:
5 ½ x 8 ½ Baja Breeze Cardstock
2 ½ x 4 Baja Breeze cardstock
2 x 3 ½ Sahara Sand cardstock
1 ¾ x 1 ¾ Vanilla cardstock
Designer Series paper Manchester
  4×3 in. sand color plaid
  4×2 in. tri-color stripe
3/8 x 4 in. Baja Blue fine stripe
Black StazOn
Earth Elements Watercolor Crayons, Aquapainter
Glue Dots, Taupe grosgrain ribbon

Keep Christmas Simple Holiday Card

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

I just love the story ‘A Christmas Carol’ so this purchase was a no-brainer!  I own at least 4 versions of this story (the musical one, a serious one with Geo. C Scott, as well as Muppet Christmas Carol and Scrooged).  I know, I’m a strange person, but I saw a version I don’t know at Borders and had to force myself not to buy it!

Keep Christmas Holiday Card

This is the fastest, easiest formula for quick card using our Designer Series paper in a  2/3 and 1/3 type of layout (the top stripe is 2" x 4" and the bottom 3" x 4" (see "pattern" left)

I use this a LOT and you get quite a few cards from a 12×12 piece of Designer Series paper.  This paper used ‘Parisian’ is so beautiful and immediately the tone on tone burgundy pattern (on the bottom) it looked like Christmas to me!

Simple ‘recipe’:

Set: Keep Christmas, Access; Bravo Burgundy cardstock, Parisian Designer Series Paper, Burgundy wide grosgrain ribbon, Black StazOn, Watercolor crayons (Earth Elements plus Bravo Burgundy crayon from Rich Regals)

Okay, so my class this evening features quick Christmas card layouts using all types of our Holiday (and non-Holiday) DSP.

Don’t miss my Sat., Dec. 6 all-day stamping Extravaganza… check out my calendar for more information.

Inspired by Nature Paper Bag Book

Friday, November 14th, 2008

 Pictures are worth a thousand words… and here is a simple pictorial essay of the construction and design of my paper bag book which was a project at our October stamp camp!

 How stinkin’ easy is this?  You can click on each photo for a larger view.

Bag Book Layout 1 Bag Book Layout 2Brag Book Layout 3

I needed one more project for the stamp festival (which included this set and all projects were made from it). 

I designed this and fell in love with it despite how stinkin’ expensive the paper bags were… *and* surprise, surprise the ‘rings’ that hold it together were very expensive (6 for $3!).

So, caution to the wind–nothing too good for my customers–we went with it!  It was a sold out event and I am looking forward to our February Stamp Festival… featuring another *new* stamp set… details TBA!

Gold on Gold Embossing – Christmas Card

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

I absolutely *love* the uniqueness of Stampin’ Up!’s ‘brushed gold’ paper… I’ve never seen it anywhere else.  The look of gold embossing on our brushed gold is quite striking (see second photo).

Gold on Gold Embossing - Christ is Born

You need to see a photo of it on an angle to appreciate its beauty!

The set is the new "Christ is Born" which is bold enough to be embossed (finer print actually *doesn’t* emboss clearly).  Card is Riding Hood Red and the DSP is the poinsettia print from "Holiday Treasures". 

The poinsettia stamp is surprisingly from the "Christ is Born" set… I say ‘surprisingly’ because I don’t know that I like a poinsettia flower in a religious set.  I would have preferred a less secular image… but that’s just me.

I inked the poinsettia in Ruby Red (pad), added detail with a Bravo Burgundy marker and then colored the berries in Mustard after wiping off the red.

This is a totally easy card!

Holiday Lineup Paper Pin — treasure from trash

Monday, November 10th, 2008

You can make this from scraps of cardstock!  View my video on making paper pins HERE.

Holiday Lineup Paper Pin

So, don’t throw out your scraps (you’ll never look at them the same again)!

The basic ‘pin’ is 4 layers of white paper glued together with ModPodge, a ‘lone’ snowman (the center one) is also 4 layers and added with a Dimensional.  You can see my full tutorial here.

All hats and scarves are a single layer of cardstock added on top before lacquering (with Crystal Effects).

Paper Pin in the making

And good news… if you missed the previous classes, I have planned a “Holiday Extravaganza” day on Saturday, December 6th where you can take this class again, or take a 25 quick Christmas Card class.

Click here for more details… hope to see you there!