Embossed Petals-a-Plenty Christmas Wishes...

Kim's beautiful card uses the Petals-a-Plenty textured embossing folder for the Big Shot, along with the Christmas Wishes stamp set.

Kim cut an oval through the folder. She put the 4" x 10-1/2" Whisper White card stock inside and the entire card was embossed with the flowers.

Then she inked up the dove stamp with Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive and Brocade Blue markers and stamped it in the middle of the oval.

After adding the Mistletoe Ribbon Originals, Kim layered the white card on a 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" piece of Elegant Eggplant.

Holly's Snow Buddies snowglobe card...

By far, the most popular swap at our latest demonstrator gathering was this snowglobe card by Holly. It's absolutely stunning.

Holly got the idea off the back of the Holiday Mini Catalog, but all of the hard work is hers. The globe is Bashful Blue, with snowflakes and swirls from Snow Buddies (Level 2 hostess set in Holiday Mini) stamped and then glittered.

The base is Soft Suede, with a knot of Soft Suede polka-dotted ribbon. The sentiment is from the stamp set Best Wishes & More.

To check out more of Holly's great work, visit here.

Modern Sparkly & Bright...

Kim earned a prize for this card contest entry at my Christmas Spectacular. The Rose Red card uses four punches, Thoroughly Modern designer series paper, and the Sparkly & Bright stamp set.

There's glitter on the stocking, reindeer and the letter "i" in the word "bright." The knot of Bermuda Bay polka-dotted ribbon adds to the bright cheeriness of this card.

Snow Swirled...

This Snow Swirled card is simple and pretty. The tree stamp has been heat embossed in silver, with the Tag Corner Punch used on the top corners of the Whisper White and Garden Green layers.

This was a swap at our last demonstrator gathering. We get together once a month (December is our annual Christmas party - hooray!).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is truly a day to reflect on how many blessings we have in our lives. Even when things don't seem to be going our way, there's always something to be grateful for.

Here's my Grateful List:

• A loving and healthy family
• Terrific friends & downline
• Wonderful SU! customers
• A roof over our heads
• Working transportation
• The opportunity to help others
• Being alive and able to appreciate the little things that are so easy to overlook

I wish you and your family a blessed Thanksgiving. I hope you'll pause to say thanks for all of the blessings in your life, no matter how small. God bless you!

Now for the card details. This is a swap from one of my downline, Brandy. She's got a lot of things going on in her life with family and full-time job and such, and took the time to cut out and color the details on this Voila card. Thanks, Brandy!

Night & Day Herringbone Technique card...

This Night & Day Specialty paper is so fun to play with. Here, I used strips on a shipping label in what is called the Herringbone Technique for my Technique Lover's Class this month.

To do the Herringbone Technique: Lay a strip at an angle across the entire sticky surface. Then lay strips on either side of that one at a 90-degree angle, which make triangles. Keep laying additional strips at 90-degree angles to the last, filling up every space. Trim off the strips and layer and create your card. It's that easy!

The FYI stamped sentiment is stamped in Basic Black ink and punched using the Word Window Punch, then layered on a Modern Label punched piece of Basic Black card stock.

I used a knot of 1/4" Basic Black grosgrain in keeping with the black and white look, then stamped and cut out the butterfly from Great Friend, adhering it with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Bea's pink Christmas Classics card...

Bea brought this lovely swap to our downline gathering. It uses So Saffron, Brocade Blue and Pretty in Pink card stock, as well as pink taffeta ribbon.

The ornament and sentiment are both from the Christmas Classics stamp set. There's lots of Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the ornament.

My favorite thing about this card is the use of non-traditional Christmas colors. Love it!

Pearl's Delightful Decorations card...

Pearl swapped this Delightful Decorations card at our demonstrator gathering.

It's a Sahara Sand card with snowflakes in the same color ink, a strip of Holiday Lounge designer paper down the middle, and three punched ornaments from the Delightful Decorations stamp set in the Holiday Mini Catalog. She added Chocolate Chip strips of card stock from which the ornaments hang.

Only one month 'til Christmas is here!

Dasher...

This Whisper White card features our terrific flocked designer paper in the Christmas Cocoa pack.

I like monotone cards. They're clean and simple.

There's a knot of 5/8" Real Red grosgrain just around the flocked layer, with a Whisper White Top Note on top that's been stamped with Dasher and Merriment stamps (merry & bright) in Real Red.

To add the final touch of glitz, I used my 2-way glue pen with Dazzling Diamonds glitter on Dasher's antlers.

Cheryl's Petals-a-Plenty Christmas card...

Cheryl contributed this swap to our latest demonstrator gathering. She's one of our newest American Ink group members and I love the fresh ideas she brings with her!

This swap reminded me of a few things - adding glitter to our fabulous designer paper really makes a difference, edge punches can be used at an angle, and a little bit of texture is nice - it doesn't have to be the whole card.

Cheryl used several different designs from the Merry Moments designer series paper pack. The only stamping is the "thank you" that was punched out and layered.

The Petals-a-Plenty textured embossing folder for the Big Shot was used on the white corner of the card, as well as the oval scallop punched behind the greeting, and the strip at the top corner.

Even with those things going on, what really stands out when you hold the card is the glitter on the ornaments. You feel it, see it and it's amazing! So try something different on your own cards.

New images available for My Digital Studio...

There are seven new digital downloads for My Digital Studio available, including several holiday-themed kits that will make your Christmas projects a breeze!

Item 118117 - Berry Christmas stamp brush set - $5.95
Item 118118 - Friend by Definition stamp brush set - $1.95
Item 118119 - Just Perfect Alphabet stamp brush set - $9.95
Item 120880 - Christmas Cocoa II digital kit - $9.95
Item 120881 - Write Stuff II digital kit - $9.95
Item 120882 - Icicle digital photo card kit - $3.95
Item 120883 - Merry Moments digital photo card kit - $3.95

If you'd like to order any or all of these downloads, please email me OR you can just visit my online store here: http://therubberroom.stampinup.net/ and click on SHOP NOW.

Michelle's Serene Snowflakes & Holiday Best...

A photo can't do this card justice, because there's shimmer paint all over it, including some of the snowflakes that were stamped in it!

Michelle W. brought this as a make & take to our recent demonstrator gathering. We used the paper trimmer with scoring blade to score a few lines at the bottom of the Very Vanilla card.

The Serene Snowflakes were stamped in Chocolate Chip, Not Quite Navy and Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, then layered on Chocolate Chip before being adhered to the card.

The sentiment is from the Level 1 hostess set, Holiday Best. We used the Wide Oval Punch to punch it out, then sponged around it in blue and added it to the card with dimensionals. It's also covered with shimmer paint for a dazzling sparkle.

Delightful Decorations & Elegant Bouquet...

Sherry brought this beautiful card as a swap to our recent demonstrator gathering. It uses the Elegant Bouquet Textured Impressions Die and Holiday Windows Movers & Shapers Die for the Big Shot.

The card is Whisper White with a 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" piece of Real Red card stock behind it.

Then one of the ornaments from Delightful Decorations (Holiday Mini) is stamped in Real Red, with a "middle" stamped and punched and layered with a brad in the center.

The knot of 3/4" Real Red Polka-Dotted Ribbon is just around the front white flap.

The greeting is from the Christmas Greetings stamp set.

Ornament punch Four the Holidays...

This Whisper White card uses a 4" x 5-1/4" piece of Christmas Cocoa paper, a Whisper White Top Note cut with the Big Shot, and two punched ornaments from the same paper pack.

I put adhesive on the back of one punched ornament after adding a bit of silver cord. Then with the second punched ornament, I folded it in half and attached it to the middle of the first with a few mini glue dots. The half pearl from the Pretties Kit was also adhered with a mini glue dot.

The "Merry Christmas" is from the Four the Holidays stamp set and it's stamped in Always Artichoke ink.

I CASE'd this idea from here.

Winter Post filmstrip technique card...

Filmstrip Technique is fun to use when you have lots of great images in a stamp set, as in Winter Post.

I stamped the images in Close to Cocoa, Brocade Blue and Old Olive, then punched them out with the 1-3/8" square punch and layered them on a Chocolate Chip strip 2-1/4" wide that had been punched on each side with the Spiral Punch.

There's a Brocade Blue layer under the "filmstrip" on the Very Vanilla card, and a knot of Chocolate Chip taffeta at the fold.

For the greeting, I inked the stamp in Brocade Blue then used a blender pen to remove the blue ink from "Dec. 25" and inked it with an Old Olive marker. I punched it with the Designer Label Punch and adhered it with dimensionals.

Vintage Ornament stencil and Shimmer Paint...

With all of the great products in the catalog and mini catalog right now, it's easy to overlook something cool like Stampin' Up!'s Vintage Ornament stencils 1 and 2.

I started with a Very Vanilla card and some foliage from Le Jardin Botanique stamped in Handsome Hunter.
I used a sponge dauber in Night of Navy ink and stencil for the ornament, then used the flourish stencil (in the same packet) for the inside of the ornament in Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint.
The sentiment is from Four the Holidays (Holiday Mini). I rounded the corners on the right side, sponged around it with Night of Navy ink, and adhered it with dimensionals. A navy button was added with a mini glue dot.
The bottom photo shows the shimmer paint a little better.

Shimmery Sparkly & Bright reindeer...

Here's another card from my Christmas Spectacular, featuring the Sparkly & Bright stamp set.

Can't have Christmas without a red-nosed reindeer! This one was stamped in Close to Cocoa on Very Vanilla card stock, then adhered to a small metal-edge tag.

I dipped a sponge dauber into the lid of Champagne Shimmer Paint and dabbed it all over the reindeer layer and the rim of the tag.

After adding a little red pom pom with a mini glue dot for the nose, the tag was stuck on with dimensionals.

The red designer paper is from the Christmas Cocoa pack. It's layered on Old Olive card stock, which has been scalloped at the bottom with a punch. Add a strip of ribbon with all of the colors in it, and the greeting and that's it!

Sparkly & Bright shaker card...

I hosted my annual Christmas Spectacular today. The star of the event was the Sparkly & Bright stamp set. All five projects used stamps from that set.

Here's the first card. It's a shaker card using a Sweet Treat Cup and coarse white glitter.

The card is Bermuda Bay, with a knot of polka-dotted ribbon. I added a quarter sheet of snowflake vellum (available in the Holiday Mini Catalog), using two mini glue dots under two snowflakes and hidden by the ribbon.

I punched the 1-3/4" circle first in the window sheet, then stamped the sentiment in Basic Black on Soft Suede card stock, positioning that piece in the center of the window.

I used Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay and Soft Suede markers to ink up the tree image, which was then adhered through the window to the Soft Suede layer.

To finish the card, I added coarse glitter to the cup, removed the adhesive around the rim and placed it on the Soft Suede layer. I love those Sweet Treat Cups!!!

Dasher decor element...

I am happy with the way this framed Dasher decor element turned out when framed.

Dasher is a Level 2 hostess item (free with a $300 order/party).

I added some Christmas Cocoa designer paper inside the frame, with a strip of double-stitched Real Red ribbon in the middle. For a final touch, I added two red buttons (from the Playground pack) with mini glue dots to the middle of the two snowflakes.

Big Shot Joy wall hanging...

The Holiday Bazaar is today. I want to show everyone how many different kinds of things you can make with Stampin' Up! products - including cute wall hangings like this one.

I'm only asking $5, so I'm selling "U-Build" kits. There's everything a person needs to put the wall hanging together in the kit.

I used the Big Shot for the Scallop Squares (out of chipboard and card stock - Always Artichoke, Real Red and Soft Suede), and for the big alphabet (Serif Essentials Bigz Alphabet die set).

I've added 3-1/2" squares of Christmas Cocoa paper, along with some red gingham, a Playground button, Chocolate Chip corduroy button (for the loop at the top), and a Whisper White snowflake I punched out with a Ruby Red brad in the center.

It's hard to see, but the bottom square behind the "Y" has flocked snowflake paper that feels so yummy! This is a cute and simple gift anybody can feel good about giving.