2013 Christmas Card Challenge - April!

April!  Has Spring arrived or is Old Man Winter hanging on where you are?  We've got a mix - 80° one day, 30° the next - snow predicted, but the daffodils are blooming, and my grape hyacinths are up in the flower bed in front of the house.  Who knows what's next?  Spring?  I hope so - Christmas might be my favorite holiday, but Spring is my favorite season.

Let me jump right into the theme for April:  Christmas Icons!

Sounds strange, doesn't it, but when I searched online - there were thousands of images!  Then I really started getting ideas!  Put it this way... I didn't make 6 cards this month. ;)

SO, just for inspiration, I have some of the images I found online.  Here they are:

Alright - on to my samples for April's challenge.  I mentioned that I didn't just make 6 cards this month, I actually ended up with 20, or I should say I STOPPED at 20!

We didn't travel this year for Spring Break, so I had the whole week to play in my craft room in addition to some other things I wanted to get accomplished.

OK, for my first 6 cards - a Christmas Door - what's more iconic to Christmas than a door with a wreath on it?  We made these at a Stamp-A-Stack this past November, and I really loved 'em!  Isn't that antique brad doorknob cute?  I used 2 different brads.

 

 The wreath was made with the 'new' 1 1/4" scallop punch and a 3/4 inch scallop punch from some of my green scraps.  Gotta LOVE using scraps when you can! Above you can see my craft table.  NO, it's never clean - I just can't work in clean.  It isn't possible. ;)

For the next set of 6 cards, I got out my Jolly Bingo Bits stamp set and had to choose!  There are 24 in all, and in a moment you'll see how I incorporated a few others for the inside and envelope.  They make wonderful Inchies!  I also added some rhinestones and Stickles to add some interest.

 Click HERE for a link on how to make these awesome, easy, quick bows!

 Here you've got the envelope and inside view of these mini-icon cards.
"No naked envelopes" is a quote I heard from Shelli Gardener at the Regional in Dallas last month - It resonates - 'naked envelops' - LOL


Here is the last set - I actually made 8 of these in total 2 of each design, and one red and one green for each icon.
These are a shameful CASE from another Stampin' Up Demo with some of my own touches added.  I remember clearly when I first saw them.    Enjoy!

 Yes, the gingerbread men, trees, cocoa cups, and candy canes hold the card fronts together!
Below is a picture of the inside - I made an extra die cut from the original cardstock for the backing to give it extra strength.

 Here are the envelopes - giving just a little hint of what's inside.

Please leave a comment. Thanks so much!

Stampin' Up Dallas Regional!

 I am SO SO SO SO SO excited!

There is a Stampin' Up Regional Meeting in Dallas, on February 16th.
Why am I so excited??  Because I'll be there, AND I'll be back in TEXAS!  WHOO HOOOOOOOO

Feels just like "Old Home Week!". :)

I'll be able to tell you more about this even when I return - since it's only the 2nd one I've attended, and this one is a full-day event.

At these huge events - I estimate there will be over a thousand demonstrators there, & swaps are 'encouraged'.  Basically, you come up with  a card design, make however many you want to, and use them as trades.  Give one, get one basically.

I made 3 designs, with a total of 50 of each card.
Now you know why I've been a little absent on the blog lately.  I've been at these for quite awhile, as you'll see.

 1st card:  Rainy-Day Inchies Thank You; Stamps:  Spring Sampler, Perfectly Penned.  Paper:  Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, Whisper White.  Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Wild Wasabi, Marina Mist, Midnight Muse.  Punches:  Postage Stamp, Decorative Label.  Embossing Folder:  Cloudy Day.  Ribbon:  Midnight Muse 3/8" Stitched Satin.

 2nd Card:  Easter Inchies;  Stamp Sets:  Spring Sampler, Teeny Tiny Wishes.  Paper:  Pretty in Pink, Delightful Daffodil, Whisper White.  Ink:  Wisteria Wonder, Wild Wasabi.  Markers:  Regal Rose, Gumball Green, and Tempting Turquoise.  Punches:  Postage Stamp, Word Window, Modern Label.  Embossing Folder:  Square Lattice.  Ribbon:  Gumball Green 3/8" ruffled ribbon.
***After this picture was taken, I changed the design on the jellybeans, and used the 3 marker colors listed above instead of the pink.

 This card took the most time, and I ended up with 52 of them.  Can anyone say assembly line?
3rd card:  Thank You Blossoms;  Stamp Sets:  Stippled Blossoms, Blooming with Kindness.  Paper:  Certainly Celery, Whisper White.  Ink:  Pretty in Pink, Primrose Petals, Daffodil Delight, More Mustard, Certainly Celery, Wild Wasabi, and Raspberry Ripple.  Die:  Top Note  Embossing Folder:  Square Lattice.

I'll have more to say about this even when we return...  and 150 card designs to play with!


Please leave a comment. Thanks so much!

Happy Halloween!

 Happy Halloween!

This is always such a fun day!  I didn't realize I had the Spooky Bingo Bits stamp set, so with my recent purchase of the Stamp Punch, I decided to play around with it a little.  At Hobby Lobby yesterday, there was a package of Halloween paper just calling my name.... so here you see the background paper.

Please enjoy!

This card I LOVED the second I saw it....  it's a CASE from another Stampin' Up Demonstrator, and SO adorable!

You won't believe how easy this is to make:  Heart punch, cut in half, 'clipped' with the small circle punch.  The large star punch (ret.) *just one star prong!  The large circle punch, twice to make the curve, and then the jewel tag punch for the 'teeth'.  I had the stamp from Hobby Lobby for a few years, embossed in Tangerine Tango powder, then sponged the Daffodil Delight pieces with  Tangerine Tango ink.  SO SO cute!!!

Your comments are treasured!

Ultimate Twinchies - Surprise!!! 500 Butterflies

Before you even get to see my post, I want you to know that I hand-cut each one of these 500 butterflies. THEN Stampin' Up comes out with a butterfly punch!!!! UGH! LOL

I have witnessess that I hand-cut all of these butterflies! :)


Follow this LINK to join our swap!!! Our moderator needs people to fill slots for our swap!

This is my second set of Twinchies... the surprise set... so as you can see, I posted this on July 2nd, but you are not able to see it until the surprise has been sprung!!!

The butterflies are stamped with Brilliance Ink - so they shimmer: Pearlescent Orchid, Pearlescent Purple, Pearlescent Lavender, and Pearlescent Sky Blue. They are then stamped with Close to Cocoa Stampin' Up ink.

I cut the white cardstock at 1 1/2 inches, and used the corresponding ink to color the edges.

For this swap, we were to make 500 twinchies - so I made 125 of each of the 4 colors. Each member of the swap will get a baggie of the four colors in variations of 3 of one color, 3 of the second color, 2 of the third color, and 2 of the fourth color.

I hope you enjoy them! Now I miss having something to cut in the evenings while I'm watching TV!

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Baby Boy Book - It's DONE!!!!!

Each page here except 2 show some cuts from two of my Cricut Cartridges.....
New Arrival, and Tags, Bags, Boxes and More. The tags came in more handy than I could have imagined!
There are also lots of inchies and twinchies running through the book in lots of places! They just work so perfectly sometimes!!!

Each 'month' page includes a facing page with space for a picture to show how much he's growing, and the back of the tag says, "I am 3 months old, and I can..." so my friend can write down all the things he can do and show how much he's changing as he grows.

Here you can also see my "binding solution" - where the book then flips over and turns the other way to make sure all the pages are included.

I used SO many Cricut cuts!!!!! The very first swap I participated in over on the Cricut Messageboard was for a baby book. I joined this because my dear friend was pregnant, and I wanted to improve my skills over the first baby book I'd made just one year ago. BOY was this one better!!!!!

I used the 8x8 DCWV stack Nursery, Boy... matched the papers, and adhered them back to back so the facing pages would match... as you can see from the pages.

Each space for pictures is already corner punched, so all she has to do is crop the pics and slide them into their places!!!!!

I used quite a few of the cuts from my swap group to complete the book... and I also used some for other baby cards and things as well. It's been GREAT!!!!

Now, for the problem solving part. I made a 50 page book.... YES 50 pages, can you believe it!!!!! For anyone that has a Bind It All, we know there aren't any binding wires for a 3 inch thick book!!!!! SO, after thinking about it for a very LONG time.... I came up with quite a solution! (Yes, too many exclamation points. I promise to stop.) :)

I split the book into 3 'sections'. The first and last section are bound normally, and the middle section is bound with smaller wires on the RIGHT. It actually works pretty well. You open the book normally until you get to the middle.... then turn the ENTIRE book to the right, and open those pages the other way.... then at the end, you flip the entire book back over, and then open normally again! **Clear as mud, right? I included some pictures and hope that will help.

I really LOVED making this project. It took an incredible amount of time and work since each page is different - not like so many things I make that are one design and just duplicated many times.

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Cards for Soldiers "Red, White, and Blue" Challenge 5/1 - 5/22

As you can see from the side bar on my blog, I've been caught by the "Inchie Bug" lately. I signed up for the Red, White, and Blue Challenge this time for CFS... and just got my Series 30 stamps in the mail from Pez... They were PERFECT for this challenge! The timing just couldn't have been better.

I used Brilliant Blue and Real Red Stamin' Up ink for the images, Marvy Brush markers in red and blue for some extra color accents.

Each card has 2 Twinches, 3 Inchies, and one flag that measures 1" by 1.5". That one just didn't look right on a 2x2 piece.

Please enjoy!

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One Set of Twinchies finished!

Click on the image to get a good close-up! :)



These Twinchies were quite a process to create! I used 2 types of ink; Brilliance Ink, and Stampin' Up ink. These Kitchen Sink Stamps are 4 layers to create the pansies... stamped from the lightest image to the darkest on the top. Gotta love those Stampin' Spots for help with the subtle colors! For the top 2 layers, I used my Craft ink, and heat embossed them with clear ranger powder.

Each flower is 1 inch, matted at 1.5 inches, and 2 inches to come up with the final 2 inches.

They were quite a bit of work with all the layers of stamping and matting - but they turned out so great, it was WORTH IT! :) Totally!
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More of those Crazy Inchies...Twinchies!!

Click on the picture for a screen image...

Since I finished my 1,000 inchies for that INSANE swap. I signed up for two spots on the Twinchie challenge. Twinchies are the same concept as inches - except they are 2 inch squares.'

These are my "started" twinchies - Kitchen Sink Stamps, stamped in 4 layers with 3 colors of Stampin' Up ink, and one Brilliance ink color for some shimmer. Since I love the SU Craft ink, I'm also heat embossing these so they are nice and shiny.

The last step for these is mounting on 2 layers of coordinating cardstock. I'll post those later when I have them finished.

Come join our swaps!!! There's spaces left on the Inchie challenge, and Twinchie challenge.

The Ultimate Inchie Challenge - 1 inch art

and

The Ultimate Twinchie Challenge - 2 inch art



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Inchies, and Inchies, and Inchies!!! The ULTIMATE Inchie Challenge!

I joined the Ultimate Inchie Challenge over on the Cricut Website... and we are all having a GREAT time making these crazy little things!!!

Why is it called the ULTIMATE Inchie challenge??? Because we are making 1,000.... yes, that's ONE THOUSAND inchies each!

I signed up for flourishes... and above are some pics of what I've made so far. I don't have an exact count, but I figure I've got at least 400 or so made.

I've kept the pictures quite small, so just click and you'll see a screen-sized image.

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