Jules' Snow Swirled Winter Post...

My friend and downline Jules has come up with a great stamp-a-stack card for Christmas. It uses snowflake stamps from Snow Swirled embossed in white on Kraft card stock.

And don't you love that ribbon? It's 1 1/4" Riding Hood Red/Very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon in our Holiday Mini Catalog. It's laid over some Riding Hood Red card stock that's been scalloped on each side with the scallop edge punch.

The sentiment is from Winter Post, another favorite stamp set of mine right now. It's stamped in Riding Hood Red classic ink and punched out with the designer label punch, then stuck on with dimensionals for an added "pop."

Christmas Classics...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love the texture in the stamp set Christmas Classics. It's great for embossing (those cards will be coming up later, so check back), as well as with other techniques.

This Certainly Celery card uses a 2" x 5 1/2" piece of Rose Red designer paper with a 5/8" Old Olive ribbon tied in a knot. I inked up the stamp with markers, layered the Whisper White layer on Old Olive and attached these to the card with dimensionals.

Quick and easy!

Mr. Twigster finds a tree...

Mr. Twigster is one of those stamp sets that you either love or not.

My favorite part is the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I love that stamp!

I stamped Mr. Twigster and the tree in Basic Brown and used a Bashful Blue marker, along with an aqua painter and Kiwi Kiss and Tangerine Tango ink pads.

The patterned paper is from Frosty Day, and the greeting is from the stamp set Christmas Carols.

Big Shot Christmas card...

This card is a "wow." It's easy to make if you have the tools.

I used the Big Shot machine with the Snowflakes 2 die and the Top Note die to create this simple card.

The snowflake is out of Brocade Blue card stock, then I added 2-way glue and Dazzling Diamonds glitter with a clear rhinestone brad (Pretties Kit) in the middle. The snowflake is stuck on with mini glue dots.

The sentiment is from the All Holidays stamp set, centered just below the 5/8" Brocade Blue ribbon. The card itself is out of Night of Navy card stock.

Holiday Trinkets ornament card...

My friend and downline Jules sent me a card very similar to this one recently. We made this at a Christmas Card Stamp-a-Stack yesterday.

It uses Ski Slope designer paper, red gingham, a 1 3/8" circle punch and a scallop circle punch. The greeting is from the Level 1 hostess set Best Yet.

Using the ornament stamp from Holiday Trinkets, I stamped the ornament repeatedly on the Real Red card front in matching ink, as well as on a scrap piece of Whisper White card stock.

The designer paper has an inch folded onto itself at the top to show off the print on the other side. We adhered that down and tied the knot of ribbon around that layer before adding the ornament layers.

Merry & Bright shaker card...

Kim's shaker card uses a square scallop chipboard frame, some rubber from mounting a stamp set, some chunky white glitter, and a piece of a cello bag (or a clear envelope would work too).

The card is Kiwi Kiss with a rectangle of Frosty Day designer paper on it. There's a knot of Bashful Blue taffeta ribbon at the top of the frame, which is sponged Kiwi Kiss around the edges.

The greeting is a rub-on (still on sale for 20% off when you purchase $20).

So try your hand at this quick and easy shaker card. It's one the recipient will remember and display proudly!

Holiday Collection...

This is the stamp set included in the Country Living Holiday Collection Stampin' Kit. It's called Holiday Collection. Both the snowflake and greeting are from that set.

Thru Dec. 31, you can order this kit for $49.95. It includes the stamp set and die-cut ornaments that include designer series paper, silver cord, white taffeta ribbon, brads, dimensionals, glitter, adhesive and stampin' spots (1" x 1"ink pads). There's an 8-page spread in the December issue of Country Living Magazine.

This card uses Frosty Day designer paper and double-stitched Chocolate Chip ribbon. The greeting was stamped in Basic Brown and the gold brads added with a paper piercer and soft mat.

The snowflake was stamped in Kiwi Kiss ink, which is classic. But if your pad is juicy enough, you should be able to get some clear embossing powder on it quickly enough to emboss it! I punched it out with the 1 3/4" circle punch and stuck the button on with a mini glue dot. The snowflake circle is stuck on the card with dimensionals.

Let me know if you'd like to order a kit or two (these ornaments would be fun to make with a friend!). Or you can order it online through my website - http://TheRubberRoom.stampinup.net (hit "Shop Now"). Thanks!

Holy Triptych coluzzle card...

Club members asked to use the Coluzzle this month, so this is the card they made, using the oval template.

We actually stamped the main image through the oval, then tied a knot of Riding Hood Red taffeta, added a small Baja Breeze snow flurry and a fire rhinestone brad.

The image is colored in with watercolor crayons and an aqua painter.

Christmas Under the Stars card...

How cute is this bear?

I CASEd this idea from a Canadian demo named Heather. Mine has a couple less layers, and it uses Spotlight on Punches, along with Under the Stars and Crab and Company.

The paper is from the Ski Slope pack, and there's also Chocolate Chip and Real Red card stock used, along with 5/8" Real Red grosgrain.

Holiday Trinkets waterfall card...

It's been about 7 years since I've made a waterfall card... and it was easy!

I stamped each of the four stamps from the Holiday Trinkets set (More Mustard, Baja Breeze, Real Red and Kiwi Kiss with a Real Red marker), sponged around the Whisper White edges and layered on 2" squares of card stock that matched the ink.

The key to the waterfall card is the 2" x 7 1/2" strip to which you adhere the 2" squares, spaced 3/4" apart. The only adhesive on the long strip is on the bottom of the top piece under the star square.

When you pull the ribbon at the bottom, it flips up each square as they hit the horizontal strip attached with brads.

Best of all, you can open the card and write a nice, long message to a terrific friend!

Punches Three...

Punches Three is a hostess set (free with a $150 order) - and I love the Christmas stamp!

All three stamps in the set work with either the square scallops punch, such as this one, or with the wide oval punch.

Paired with the Frosty Day designer paper and some Tangerine Tango striped ribbon, this card POPs with color!

Scalloped Turkey...

Kim put together this super cute turkey with Big Shot dies, the scallop, word Window, circle, and 3/4" square punches, Autumn Vine paper and 1/4" More Mustard grosgrain ribbon.

She used the Scallop Circle #2 Bigz Die, along with the Bird with Leaves & Flowers Bigz Die (for the turkey giblet).

Kim even made the little box in the middle that holds a small cello bag with some Whoppers and more ribbon.

Curly Label Punch Bundle...

This card and the three below are ones we stamped and put together at a Give Thanks card class I hosted last week.

I'm digging the Curly Label punch and the stamps that are bundled with it.

For this card, the only stamping is the "thank you" in Basic Brown on some Autumn Vine designer paper. It was punched out with the Curly Label punch, then we added a brown felt flower from Flower Fusion Too with an ice rhinestone brad in the center.

More Autumn Vine paper is layered on Chocolate Chip card stock and adhered to the front of a Whisper White card with some Chocolate Chip taffeta knotted around it.

It's a simple and elegant card I'll most likely be making over and over again with other materials.

In Everything Give Thanks...

Gobble Gobble... I love the turkey and other Thanksgiving images in the stamp set In Everything Give Thanks.

The designer paper is from the Haiku pack. I used a 2" strip on the bottom and a 2" strip on the top, with the 5/8" red grosgrain knotted in the middle.

The turkey image was colored with watercolor crayons and an aqua painter, sponged with Chocolate Chip ink and layered on Chocolate Chip. The greeting was stamped in Chocolate Chip and punched with the wide oval, then sponged around.

Harvest Home...

I love the rich colors of fall.

I used watercolor crayons and an aqua painter to color the main image from Harvest Home, and stamped the vines at the bottom of the More Mustard card in matching ink.

The strip of designer paper is from the Autumn Vine package, with four Not Quite Navy brads from the Earth Elements pack.

The layer behind the main image is Not Quite Navy, as is the photo corner, which is attached with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Season of Friendship circles...

I love the simplicity of this card. It uses some Autumn Vine designer paper out of the Holiday Mini, as well as the Season of Friendship stamp set, also found in the mini.

I CASEd this idea online from mudflapmamma on Splitcoast. I used So Saffron, Old Olive, Real Red and Really Rust for the colors of the leaves. The greeting is stamped in Close to Cocoa, though I changed it to Basic Brown for a class I did last week so it would show up better.

Seasonal party favors...

If you're one of the people who stopped by my table at a recent bazaar, welcome to this blog! I'm happy you stopped by.

My friend Kim shared these ideas for party favors. We call them twist containers, or sour cream containers. They use a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of paper (card stock or designer paper, as shown), then you use a few inches of ribbon and finish up however you like.

These would make great favors for your Thanksgiving celebration. Kim used three punches for all three of these - a 1 1/4" circle, a 1 3/8" circle, and a scallop circle. They make quick and easy work of these cute little treat holders.

Reindeer ornament and snowman poop...

This is Kim's ornament and snowman poop version. These make great co-worker gifts and stocking stuffers. Kim used the Button Sizzlit on the Big Shot for the layer behind the reindeer head. Then she added googly eyes and a pompom nose.

Jolliest Time of the Year Santa...

Putting a tag on the front of your Christmas card is a great way to make quick work of your cards this season.

Santa is from the stamp set Jolliest Time of the Year. Kim used watercolor crayons and an aqua painter to color in the image, and then added Dazzling Diamonds glitter with a 2-way glue pen.

The three ribbons pull together the colors and sparkle on the card.

Fall frame...

Louise (aka Kim) happened to have this adorable distressed red frame on hand when looking to create some home decor.

The leaves were all made using the leaves die for the Big Shot machine. There's some gold cord, buttons, and brads used. She also sponged and bent the leaves for a more natural look.

Two Cool Dudes...

Louise tweaked a card she saw her friend and downline Wendy make. It uses the smaller snowman from Two Cool Dudes with both tag punches, some Ski Slope paper and a small felt snowflake with a rhinestone brad.

Love it!

Holly, Jolly Christmas reindeer...

The Top Note die from Sizzix makes a perfect, ornate layer for any card - especially this cute Christmas card.

The reindeer from the stamp set Holly, Jolly Christmas was stamped in Chocolate Chip on Whisper White card stock and sponged around with the same color. It was layered on Riding Hood Red card stock, then on a Close to Cocoa top note, which has some striped RHR ribbon knotted around it.

All those layers were adhered to the front of the RHR card, which I stamped with the stars from that same stamp set. "Joy" was stamped in Chocolate Chip ink to finish the card.

Punches Three glass ornaments...

I've been having fun putting a Stampin' Up! touch on a plain glass ornament I found in a local store.

Baja Breeze and Real Red are a beautiful combination - especially when the colors are in paper together, as they are in Ski Slope. I used Baja Breeze striped ribbon and ink for the tag, along with a Real Red eyelet and ink.

Super cute and super easy to make! Try it!!!

Oh, and for those of you coming to my Santa Workshop next month, you'll be able to make these!

Ski Slope glass ornaments...

These are fun and easy to make - and a great gift idea.

These are the large glass ornaments, so they use 1/2 a sheet of designer paper (Ski Slope) cut into 1/2-inch strips, wound around a chopstick and inserted into the ornament.

I stamped the Punches Three (hostess level 1 set) in Old Olive ink, then punched it out with the square scallop punch. I punched out another piece in Old Olive card stock to back the tag and make it thicker/stronger.

I stamped the sentiment a second time in Real Red and cut out just the "MERRY," adhering it with dimensionals. It's tied on with silver elastic cord, and a bow of 5/8" Real Red grosgrain is for decorative purposes only.

Two Cool Dudes snowman poop...

What is winter without snowman poop?

My kids crack up at this. I make some for holiday bazaars every year. They're just cute. I'll sell these for a buck apiece.

I stamped snowflakes in White StazOn on a small cello bag and filled it with mini marshmellows. It's topped with a Close to Cocoa Top Note that is stapled on.

I knotted Pacific Point striped ribbon in the middle of the folded Top Note and adhered the verse on Whisper White (punched out with the Curlicue).

Finally, I stamped the snowman tag from the stamp set Two Cool Dudes in Pacific Point on Whisper White and punched it out with the small tag punch, layered it on some Riding Hood Red, and punched a 1/16" hole at the top to hold the silver elastic cord, which is also tied around the Pacific Point ribbon.

Winter Post Top Note tags...

This idea for tags came straight out of the Holiday Mini Catalog. I loved 'em as soon as I saw them!

First you diecut the Top Note from Kraft card stock (with the Big Shot). Stamp the reindeer, post card and to/from stamps in Chocolate Chip ink, then use a crop-a-dile to punch through several corners at once.

Push through a jumbo eyelet and close with the crop-a-dile, then thread through cord and knot.

I made about 22 of these just to have on my table for a couple of holiday bazaars I'm doing. It's nice to show there are more things than cards and scrapbooks you can make with Stampin' Up! product.

A very green Lovely as a Tree...

This lovely embossed card was made by Pearl. It uses the stamp set Lovely as a Tree.

There are Whisper White, Sage Shadow and Always Artichoke card stocks, along with some designer paper, ribbons, ticket corner punch and dimensionals. Even the background is stamped with little snowflakes. It's very green and festive and glittery!

Oh, and the rectangle label holder and brads are from the silver Hodgepodge Hardware kit.

Mariah: A Cardinal Christmas...

This very special card was made by a downline friend of mine who has Huntington's Disease. Each task is more time-consuming and difficult because of lack of cooperation between the brain and her body. But she's got a fabulous spirit!

So what may seem like a simple task to us - stamping the cardinal in Basic Black - takes her awhile.

This card uses Whisper White, Old Olive and Riding Hood Red card stocks and ink. There's a strip of striped RHR ribbon, a little Summer Picnic dsp, along with a small felt flurry (white snowflake) and a half pearl from the Pretties Kit.

Covering the red berries is chunky red glitter that looks terrific in person.

Congrats Mariah, on winning second place in the contest!

Pearl's Deer Friends...

I hosted a card contest at one of my events recently and this was Pearl's entry.

It uses the level 2 hostess set Deer Friends, as well as Ski Slope designer paper, 1/4" Old Olive grosgrain, a flower slide and the stamp set Heard from the Heart.

I love the colors, the simplicity and the punches used on this card! Pearl even pierced the little scallops, though that's hard to see.

Holly, Jolly Christmas bling...

This Baja Breeze card uses some Ski Slope designer paper, a pierced strip of white card stock, a couple silver brads, Baja Breeze ink, a scalloped chipboard frame and lots of chunky silver glitter for that "bling!"

I used Tombow multipurpose adhesive to hold the glitter onto the chipboard. It works great.

This was one of the cards at my Christmas Spectacular II on Sunday. Come back to see more projects with this Holly, Jolly Christmas stamp set.

Jingle all the way candy dish...

So I've been doing a couple of holiday craft shows and having fun with coming up with a mix of ideas and products to alter and create.

This glass dish is from Michael's, with the small Decor Element Jingle all the Way in Old Olive and only $3.95. The small candy canes were $1.39 for a box. I'm not sure if I'll have this on my table for sale, or for holiday decor.

To make the words pop a little more, I inserted some textured Real Red card stock inside the glass dish, then added some 5/8" Real Red grosgrain around the stem.

I'd love to hear some holiday ideas from you! So e-mail me....

Season of Thanks...

This is a beautiful idea I first saw at the Stampin' Up! convention in August. It uses a Decor Element called Season of Thanks (this one is black, $14.95), and a 14" x 16" shadow box. And though there are millions of leaves around right now, I went the fake route so I didn't have to worry about bugs, brown spots, etc.

This is a quick and easy project that makes a terrific gift this time of year. It can sit on a table or hang on a wall.

I hope you like it!

Crazy for Cupcakes gift bag and tag...

I finally got a chance to get photos of the gift bag and tag we made at the Crazy for Cupcakes birthday party last week.

The gift bag is one of Stampin' Up!'s white gift bags (3 for $2.95). I used some Autumn Vine designer paper from the Holiday Mini on both sides, as well as the back side of the paper for the top piece with an inch flipped over for more contrast. The ribbon is our double-stitched Chocolate Chip. It's yummy!

My favorite thing on this project? It's easily the Big Shot leaves cut from chipboard and the designer paper. Gone are the days where you need to trace a chipboard item onto paper and cut it out. With the Big Shot and leaf die, I easily cut many leaves at once. Then we used adhesive to stick the paper to the chipboard. We put one leaf on the gift bag and used another for the tag, which is actually a 3" x 3" love note.

The cupcakes were stamped in Basic Brown ink and colored in with markers that took the colors from the paper - Sage Shadow, Really Rust, More Mustard, and Ruby Red.

You can see how quickly and easy it would be to make a gift bag anytime of year for that special someone's birthday!

Holly, Jolly Christmas swap...

Today is my Christmas Spectacular II using the Holly, Jolly Christmas stamp set. We're making two cards, two brag book pages and a pillow box. I'll post pictures of those later. This is the card I'm taking to swap.

This Certainly Celery card is stamped with the tree and words in Garden Green. The star is stamped in So Saffron. The words were punched out with the wide oval punch and layered on a Garden Green 1 3/4" circle, attached to the front of the card with dimensionals. I love the little clip with 5/8" Certainly Celery grosgrain. So cute!

This card opens differently from others in that the front flap is folded back on itself. Give it a try.

Crazy for Cupcakes balloons...

This is the third of four cards we did at the Crazy for Cupcakes birthday party earlier in the week.

This card design was CASE'd from here. I dropped one pink layer and used the sentiment from the Crazy for Cupcakes stamp set. Those were the only changes.

Pink Pirouette is a very light color, so to color in the balloons, we used a couple drops of the reinker in the pad lid with an aqua painter. That did the trick!

It's a beautiful card... lots of layers, some paper piercing, Pink Pirouette striped ribbon and a couple of punches - designer label and the large oval.