Give Thanks

I know that Thanksgiving has come and gone, but talking about the Spice Cake DSP and color scheme yesterday reminded me that I had not shared this card with you that I made on my blog hiatus.

It uses the faux silk technique, but instead of the tissue paper, I used a coffee filter for a little more texture.

Christmas card marathon

I know it isn't even Halloween yet, and quite honestly it's against everything that I believe in to start celebrating one holiday before others have even arrived, BUT I knew that the holiday season will be a busy one, so I invited my downline members over to my house this past Saturday for a Christmas card marathon. Although I ended up being the only one making Christmas cards--they made other projects. :) I goal was to complete 40 Christmas cards, which is half of what I need. I just did batches of 10 which made assembling them much quicker.

The first one I created focused on the ornament from the "Tags til Christmas" stamp set in the Holiday Mini Catalog. I also used the XL Decorative Label punch to bring the ornament front and center on the card. A little bit of "Jolly Holiday" DSP to tie it altogether and viola! A clean and simple Christmas card!

Trick-or-Treat Candy Jars

I hope you aren't too tired of Halloween projects yet, I told you I had a bunch! :) One final project inspired by Brent Steele's presentation at convention with the Halloween products from the Holiday Mini: Trick or treat jars!

When Brent created a project using the "trick-or-treat" portion of the Spooky Things Decor Elements, he adhered the words and Designer Jewels onto white pumpkins. When I went to our local craft store and saw that they wanted $22 for an artificial pumpkin (!!!) I nearly had a heart attack and decided there must be something less expensive that I could use that would still have the same cute, creative effect...then I thought, "what better project to represent Halloween than candy jars?" so I went back to the glass jar section and picked up 3 glass jars (which were half-off, for a total of $2.50!!).

I went home and adhered the "trick-or-treat" words onto the glass and then transferred portions of the Black Flourish Designer Jewels onto the jars. Putting some colorful Halloween candy into the jars will give them the perfect finish, although our store didn't have Halloween candy out on the shelves yet, when these pictures were taken, but you get the idea. ;)

Oct 31 Luminary

Another project inspired by Brent Steele at convention: Halloween luminaries using the Spooky Things Decor Elements from the Holiday Mini. The decor element images are so versatile and there are so many creative projects that you can make with them! These luminaries took a little bit of time, so I decided that instead of making 6 of them (like he did), I'd make one for the inside of my house and save the other pieces of decor elements for a couple of other projects I have in mind, which I will share with you after I complete them. Hubby frowns upon decorating my house too early for any one holiday so I'll have to wait until I decorate to share those project ideas with you. ;)

Halloween Design-a-House

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to decorate for, after Christmas. Stampin' Up! has made decorating much easier with all of the wonderful, crafty products they have in the Holiday Mini Catalog.

At convention, Brent Steele challenged us with a unique twist on the Design-a-House decor accents from the Holiday Mini and transformed the solid white cardboard house into a spooky haunted house. Honestly, I wouldn't have given this house a second thought as the traditional gingerbread house, but seeing a project taken to another level was just inspiring. So I took Brent's project and CASEd it changing up a couple of things.

NOTE: Learn from my mistake and choose a non-windy day to spray paint your house outside. Mine rolled in the grass twice, so I had to cover up a few "boo-boos" with bats and embellishments. No mistakes, only opportunities, right? :)

Holiday Mini Catalog Starts

After much anticipation, the Holiday Mini catalog finally goes live today! For the past few days, I've shown you sneak peeks and idea samples using product from thew new Holiday Mini catalog.

See something you like? You can order from my website 24/7-it's so simple, and items can be shipped directly to you!

Holiday Mini Sneak Peek Pt. 4

Don't forget, there is a brand new Holiday Mini Catalog coming out this Wednesday! Continuing our sneak peeks from the new catty, today we are breezing right past Halloween and Thanksgiving straight into winter! Brrr, makes me shiver just thinking about it (even though I'm still soaking up sun rays on the beach in Hawaii). ;)

This card features a stamp from the new "Tags Til Christmas" stamp set, in which each of the stamps perfectly coordinates with a punch-I love it! Today's stamp features the stamp coordinating with the 1-3/4" circle punch, which also perfectly coordinates with our Sweet Treat Cups! I have had two boxes of treat cups sitting on my craft table since they first came out in a mini-catalog last year...waiting on the perfect stamp to inspire me. This is the one! I thought it would be perfect for a "snow globe" effect, so I decided to add Dazzling Diamonds to the inside of the cup. Added a few rhinestone accents to jazz it up and viola! A cute little Christmas/snow card!

Funny side story and personal recommendation: While putting this card together, after I had poured in the Dazzling Diamonds and removed the sticky strip adhesive backing, I wanted to line the treat cup up perfectly with the snowman image, so I lifted it above my head to be able to see the light shine through revealing the stamped image, making it easy to line it up before adhering. Do you see where I'm headed here? Sure enough, I dumped that silly treat cup of Dazzling Diamond glitter ALL OVER myself. Glitter in my hair, on my clothes, on my face, on my floor, on my craft table. I was a shimmery MESS! So, note for you: do not lift a cup of glitter over your head for ANY reason unless you are prepared to wear it. ;)