I apologize for Feedburner ‘kicking out’ two old posts from October yesterday–that’s not the first time, I know.

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and as a gift to my loyal followers, I am sharing a step-by-step PDF on how to make this lovely vintage distressed Christmas card (click on the graphic below to download the directions sheet).

I’ve had a LOT of fun with the new Distressing Kit that we carry! And it lent itself well to the awesome ‘Christmas Collage’ background stamp (#121279).

And you can’t tell from looking at the card, but after coloring and distressing, I spritzed it with the shimmer mist we now sell.

I have attached the step-by-step instructions PDF on how I did this card and it includes all the supplies that were used as well.

For the first time I have done a photo step-by-step on how to make these pins.

In the past I have done a video (seen here) which is about 20 minutes long, but it you need a ‘quicker fix’ feel free to download the step by step (click on the graphic below).

The bells and ‘holly & berry’ images are from the ‘Bells & Boughs‘ stamp set from Stampin’ Up!’s Holiday Mini Catalog which is only available for a limited time!

The materials I used for this project include:

Four 2 ½ x 2 inch Vanilla cardstock  (for stamping the bells)
Four 2 x 3 inch Vanilla cardstock (for stamping holly leaves)
Black StazOn (#101406)
Stampin’ Write Markers:  Real Red, So Saffron, Marina Mist, Sahara Sand, Certainly Celery, Old Olive
3 ¼ x 2 ½ inch Artichoke cardstock
2 ¾ x 2 inch Designer paper ‘Deck the Halls’ #120810
Basic Rhinestone “Jewels” (#119246), Basic Pearls ‘Jewels’ (#119247)
12 x 2 inch Very Vanilla cardstock (for die cutting the snowflakes)
Sizzix Big Shot, Sizzix Snowflake Decorative Strip (#120901)
Decorative Strip Spacer Platform #113477
Decorative Strip cutting pads (#113479)
Sticky Strip (#104294)
OTHER:
Mod Podge, 1 ¼ inch pin backs, Rectangle punch, Sponge brushes

I am TRULY sorry that this awesome Level 2 hostess set ‘Peaceful Season’ from the Holiday Mini Catalog will likely not be back again (hostess sets usually aren’t).  I would take this as your excuse to go nuts and spend $300 in Stampin’ Up! products just to get it (don’t worry, your husband told me it’s okay, remember he did that ‘weekend’ thing with the guys so fair is fair, LOL!).

This is actually ‘my take’ on a photo of a swap that I didn’t get at the Baltimore regional–my girlfriend got it.  I would have TOTALLY knocked people over to get it, as it is, I was just happy to get a photo of it.

To get that background, I took a white crafters ink and pressed it to the ‘relief’ textured side of the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder Crumb Cake cardstock rectangle through it.  Try not to get too much white on the background, but if you do it just adds to the almost ‘pewter’ look of the Crumb Cake cardstock with the white crafter’s ink.

I made the ‘debossed’ cardstock as a layer to make the card was more sturdy.  And just a warning that the Antique brad holding the ribbon in place is beautiful but between the two, it will totally cost you more to mail… this is the type of card that I would put on top of a gift (without even an envelope).  I’m such a showoff!

I believe that I have officially entered the video age!

(Click on thumbnails for bigger detail)

This technique is an ‘oldie’ called Polished Stone that I have seen less and less these days, so I dusted it off and shared it at my ‘Technique Freak’ club in January.

Polished stone is a technique that is better ‘shown than described’ so I present to you my first ever video (actually made back in January) that is being published after a lot of tears, blood (and ooops, maybe some mild swearing).

Details on materials:  91% Rubbing Alcohol, dye re-inkers, glossy cardstock, gold embossing powder, Versamark pad, Always stamp set (#113620), and the background stamp is Gratituitous Graffiti (#111636).

I used an inexpensive webcam on a tripod and after some minor editing (the drawback of a cheap recorder is that you need to convert the video format to one that is compatible with online services… fortunately I found a terrific FREE converter).  I  uploaded it to OneTrueMedia.com which by the way if you have no editing software, you can do some editing there as well… such as flip it (I video’d it upside down) and you can also watermark it (so if it is shared, it has your watermark in it).  For more information on what OneTrueMedia.com ask my (or any) 14 year old… my Sarah was a huge help, all her friends use it.  I’m so happy that she was in the room when I was doing this… she was very into the process (I can only hope that her and her dingy friends don’t have some videos out there somewhere…).  For networking reasons, I also uploaded to YouTube, but for $25 a year, I got a cool ‘TV’ looking player with OneTrueMedia.com (I’m such a geek!).

By the way, I’ve since moved on to a hard drive video camcorder, Sony Vegas Studio software as well as Adobe Premier Elements and after that huge investment have not had time to go back and use any of it.  Actually, that’s not true, I reshot the video and edited it and didn’t see any different (ouch!), so you are seeing my ‘cheap’ rendition I did first. I will blog this journey and share my video trials with you… what you’ll need and what you don’t, shortly!

I have been an inconsistent blogger lately, I had surgery last week and my website work schedule just gave me no time off to enjoy the pain killers.  (I have a bottle of Oxycotin just calling to me that I am going to flush today).  I have had hearing loss in my left ear for years due to an undetected cholesteatoma in my inner ear that eroded bone and nerve.   This is my second rebuild (next time, I’m going all-body rebuild).  So now equipped with the finest titanium inner ear parts, I hope to hear better (when all stuffing comes out–and if I don’t itch out brain matter).  I don’t think I am imagining that I already hear better even with layers of packing (probably all the way back to my brain, LOL!

If I don’t hear better, perhaps I’ll pick up XFM radio or better cell phone reception at least… so be kind, how did I do?

Materials:  Inspired By Nature stamp set (on the dormant list), More Mustard, Old Olive & Close to Cocoa Crafter’s Inks, Versamark, Crystal Clear Embossing powder, sponge daubers, dry (dead) blender pen, Vanilla cardstock.

I could say it was a new take on emboss resist, but it’s been around for years.  Ironing off the embossing powder onto newsprint or other scrap paper to get rid of the shiny ‘resist’ layer is an old trick, but when you use Crafter’s ink, it doesn’t really ‘resist’ like it should so you have no choice but to iron off the excess.

EXCEPT that if you iron it off onto good cardstock, you end up with a mirror image of just the ink you sponged onto the flower on the first…

Below are a few step-by-step photos but you can download the project ‘to go’ (left).

First the flowers were stamped in Versamark on Vanilla cardstock and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I used a sponge dauber and crafters ink to color to the entire card.  I wiped off the excess ink on the embossed areas (but it leaves a residue).

This is what it looks like immediately after ironing the two together. You have to pull it apart while it is hot.

The BEST part is that the embossing powder is half on each project and you can actually color it directly with a ‘dead’ blender (yes, I keep old dry blender pens) and some Crafter’s ink on both of them to give them definition.

Heat set the entire project and the clear embossing powder melt again and set the color for good.

This was very easy… and one of my October 08 Stamp Festival projects!  So, how’d I do?

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

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).

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!

This is one of the paper pins we made on Monday night at my "Paper Porcelain Pin" making class.  See my entire tutorial on making these pins here.  I’ll be publishing the date of this class (I’m going to do it again) soon.

You can see from the side view (shown left) that I made a second wing in 3 layers of Riding Hood Red paper and then adhered it with a Dimensional.

The face (noteably the eye) lacked clear definition, so I added one layer of the head/beak/neck stamped on white and colored in with marker (Ruby Red & More Mustard)–see last photo below, and then Crystal Effects over the entire thing. The branch and rhinestones were added last.

Okay, so, how did I do?

Okay, here is another teaser for you. My class on October 25th (see my Calendar) will feature holiday pins (or if you don’t want to make it a pin, you can make it a magnet or leave as an embellishment).

This set "Free & the Brave" is awesome… I love the Eagle, it’s demeanor says ‘don’t mess with me.’

Remember to check out the Step-by-Step tutorial on my Project Gallery HERE.

Its been a long time since I’ve had the time to make these wonderful pins… AND just in time for the holidays I am offering a class on October 27th (see my calendar).

I needed an ‘over the top’ idea and pulled out my old samples and found a "Kelli Purkey Paper Pin"!!!  I actually met her in person and watched her teach a spontaneous class (literally sitting at a table, cranking these pins out) at Convention years ago.   I saw her again on a cruise once (not that she’d remember me!).

So in homage to the phenomenally talented Kelli Purkey, I have come up with the ‘Attention Deficit Adult’ version which instead of layers of acrylic spray (which used to take a day or so to finish), I use Crystal Effects.  (By the way, if you are like me and can’t control yourself from touching the Crystal Effects before it’s dry… well, you *will* need that acylic spray to fix that right up!)

I have published a Step-By-Step in my Project Gallery HERE with a link to my Project Gallery page featuring the original pins that I saw her make. For the super lazy… I have the PDF for download (left).