Ho, Ho, Ho

My friend, Cheryl, gave these three 12" x 12" fun wall decorations for my birthday back in Oct. I asked her to hang onto them until all our house renovations were complete. She stopped by with them on Tue and I'm so excited! I had completely forgotten about them. Our house renovations are nearly complete and this weekend we're moving stuff out of the garage, hanging pictures, etc. It will be great to hang these on the wall for Christmas. She said they're so lightweight that a pushpin is strong enough to hold them (so we won't have to put nails in the walls). The last view is a side view of the three of them stacked so you can see the ribbon that runs around the outside. They're made from all SU materials: ornament punch, dsp, ribbon and the glittery chipboard that's in the holiday mini, felt flurries (and a few contraband items as well).

Happy Holidays! Mary

p.s. Here's a link to a great accapella group performing "12 Days of Christmas" on You Tube Enjoy! Thanks Lisa for sending me the link!

Christmas Candle Gifts

Here are some candles that I decorated with ribbon & vanilla Hodgepodge hardware, rub-ons or punched images. I made these to give as gifts for the boys' religious ed teachers, Dave's sis and others. They're pretty easy to make. Enjoy the holidays!

Dec Club Projects

The first project this month is an adorable Tic Tac Holder. I saw this online over a year ago, but can't remeber who to give credit. Last year we made a different version with Bashful Blue cs and the Cold Play stamp set (now retired). The second project is a shaker card. It has microbeads as the "shaker" mix that looks like snow under Dasher's hooves. It makes a neat swishing sound when the card is opened. Dasher should be "Rudolph" because he has a tiny red fire circle rhinestone brad on his nose. In hindsight I probably shouldn't have added that touch because the timy microbeads escaped through the minute hole where the brad was inserted. I think a better choice would have been to color his nose red and add a blob of crystal effects.

Supplies:

Project 1:

sets - snow buddies (hostess level-2 set from the holiday mini)

cs - night of navy, whisper white

ink - craft white pad, basic black pad, assorted markers

access - 1" circle punch, corner rounder, red gingham ribbon, snowflake printed window sheets, rectangular handheld punch, TicTacs (can purchase at Lucky's in a pkg of 8), computer printed poem, sticky strip

Project 2:

sets - dasher, serene snowflakes, grateful greetings

cs - kraft, very vanilla, chocolate chip, real red

ink - chocolate chip, real red, & gold pads

access - always artichoke 1/4" gg ribbon, paper piercer & mat pack, 1/16" handheld punch, gold and fire circle rhinestone brads, 1-1/4" square punch, small & large tag punches, snowflake printed window sheets, photo foam mounting tape (or dimensionals), sticky strip, microbeads

Happy Stamping! Mary

Secret Pal Cards

? I can't remember who made this card. Please let me know so I can give you credit.

Billie - Snow Swirled

Pat - Five Petal Flower Punch

Pat - Inspired By Nature (November's card, but the recipient had been sick and didn't make it to club)

These are the cards Club members made to secretly mail to another club member during the month of December. How fun would it be to get one of these in the mail?

A Date with My Bro!

My brother Paul invited me to his company Christmas Party Sat night. It was at Beni Hana's - Yumm! Here we are after a big, enjoyable meal. It was fun to go on a "date" with my brother. Tomorrow we get our new carpet and on Thur our solid surface shower is being installed. Fri our contractor will install the grab bars, finish the plumbing and any leftover items. Our house renovations are almost complete ~ Yipee! I'm so excited. Also, our new couches shipped and should be here soon. We are selling the old couch/love seat (shown in the photo) cheap. They'd be good for a college student. Let me know if you or someone you know is interested.

Mary

Chris' Birthday Party Favors

These were really simple party favors I made for Chris's birthday party Fri. They held a folded up "Fun Dip". Even though he's now 13 years old, I wanted to make them cute. I told him, "You know I have to wrap them up some how!" When they were done, he didn't mind. It's a simple treat holder. First wheel desired image over an 8-1/2 x 11" piece of cardstock (this will make two). Score it at 5" on the undecorated side, flip it over and score it at 1", 4", 6" on the decorated side. Cut in half vertically (4-1/4 x 11"). Fold on the score lines. It makes a little "w" at the bottom (see side view). Add a focal image, some ribbon, insert candy and seal flap with a little snail. You can also add things (like hot cocoa mix) in a cello bag and put that in the treat holder. It's very versatile. Enjoy! The whoopie cushion was the prize for the person with the worst score; it was a bowling party.

Happy Stamping! Mary

Three Snow Swirled Cards

Above is the Snow Swirled card we made in club last year. Everyone loved it! It was designed by Lori, a demonstrator friend from Livermore. If you look at my website you will find the supplies for it and dimensions of cardstock under my Creative Projects.

Above is a simpler card we made last year in my Christmas Stamp-A-Stack. It has fewer layers, but is still elegant.

The last card shown above uses the same Snow Swirled set and is also very easy. There's a 1" strip of brushed silver cs under the scalloped edge at the bottom. We made it in the same Christmas Stamp-A-Stack class last year. I think this would be a great card to duplicate using the Serene Snowflakes set from the Holiday mini catalog.

Enjoy the season! Our house is coming along and I can see light at the end of the tunnel. I will start planning classes again soon. Sale-a-bration (SU's biggest sale of the year) is quickly approaching. Book your workshop now to get some really great merchandise for free!

Happy Stamping! Mary

Tri Shutter Thank You

Well, I painted my closet this weekend with the help of my friend, Kathy. She's so AWESOME!!!! I never could have done it without her. She gave up her entire Sat to help me. So, here's my thank you card for her. It's another tri shutter card. They aren't really that hard, but they do take a bit of time. Today I'll help her with her Christmas cards. She doesn't really need help, because she's a great stamper. I'm just trying to pay her back for helping me out (even though she's the kind of friend who doesn't want to be paid back). Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Kathy - you're great!!!

Supplies:

stamps- inspired by nature, oval all

cs- lovely lilac, almost amethyst dsp, whisper white

ink- white craft pad, lovely lilac classic pad

access- white ep, butterfly punch, fire circle brads, oval & scallop oval punches

Happy Stamping! Mary

HUGE SALE STARTS TODAY!

SU is holding an Online Extravaganza with savings on products at 30%, 40% and 50%, but only until Nov. 30th. Checkout my business website to see more details. Let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to shop online through my website to get started immediately!

Tri shutter Birthday Card

We celebrated my friend Cheryl's b-day today and so now I can post the card I made for her. It was a lot of fun, but took some time to complete since I kept adding (maybe a little too much! lol). There are 2 purple butterflies adhered back to back with a piece of hemp sandwiched between them. The hemp is then anchored to the top and bottom panels with glue dots and punched flowers are adhered with glue dots to cover the ends of the hemp. This butterfly is carefully twisted and then the card is closed. When the card is opened it spins on the hemp. It only lasts a second, but it's cool. The pink butterfly has a rhinestone brad through it and is attached with a dimensional. Cheryl loves glitter, so I added dazzling diamonds glitter to the upsy daisy flower focal point on the front of the card, which i had colored with markers. Finally, the flower image is stamped on the back panel in white craft ink directily on the dsp and embossed with white ep. Thanks for looking! Hope you are inspired to stamp.

Supplies:

sets-upsy daisy, flight of the butterfly

cs -whisper white, lovely lilac, almost amethyst dsp

ink- lovely lilac, almost amethyst, pretty in pink and pixie pink pads and markers, white craft pad

acces- butterfly punch, circle fire rhinestone brads, 1/16" punch, hemp, mini glue dots, dimensionals, white embossing powder

Happy Stamping! Mary

Happy Birthday Cheryl!

In honor of Cheryl's birthday (which is today) I'm posting the cards we made at her stamp-a-stack class recently. Aren't they beautiful? I'll post the card I made for her at a later date, after I give it to her.

Happy Birthday Chris!

It's my son Christopher's 13th birthday today. I thought I'd make him a special card. I had started this one a couple weeks ago and put the finishing touches on it last night. He's been home sick with the flu and this card really helped perk him up.

Supplies:

sets- voila

cs - real red, whisper white, pumpkin pie, old olive, bashful blue, summer picnic dsp

ink- real red and basic black pads, various markers

access- retired birthday hat punch, wide oval punch, aquapainters, paper snips, dimensionals

Happy Stamping! Mary

Stamped Trivet

I didn't want to put hot pans on our new granite countertops, so I made this trivet. I stamped four tiles using stazOn ink and watercolored them with craft ink refills. Then I heat set them in the oven. After they cooled I "gorilla glued" them into a frame I had stained to match our wood cabinets.

Secret Card Pal Cards

pine cones by Caroyl

flower burst by Lisa

a tree for all seasons by Susie

tied circles by Mary (me)

snow swirled by Shelagh

petal pizzaz by Billie

(the person who got Pat's card was absent due to illness, but I'll try to get a photo of it to post)

Every month club members have the opportunity to participate in anonymously sending another club member a card. It's a great excuse to stamp and a lot of fun!

November Club Cards

These are the cards we made for Nov Club. The first card used the Big Shot and the pumpkin sizzlit, placed on the watercolor vine wheeled image over a saffron card. The second card used the Autumn Splendor set or the Gobble Gobble stamp, both from the Holiday mini catalog. I don't have all the photos of the Secret Card Pal cards, but I'll post the ones I do have tomorrow. Post a comment or e-mail me if you'd like the recipes for the club cards we made.

October Club

The sweet treat cup is adhered to the eggplant layer. The mustard "bookmark" bear layer just slips between the eggplant layer and the olive card to create a "garage door" of sorts. That way one can get at the candy without tearing apart the card!

Supplies:

sets - under the stars, grateful greetings, button bear accessories (retired), halloween bkgrds (retired)

cs - old olive, elegant eggplant, very vanilla, more mustard, pumpkin pie

ink - versamark pad, pumpkin pie pad, basic black pad

access - horizontal slot punch, 1-3/4" circle punch, corner rounder, 5/8" wide gg ribbon, narrow delphinium gg ribbon, sweet treat cups and candy corn, sticky strip

Supplies:

sets - grateful greetings, the more the merrier (hostess L-3)

cs - elegant eggplant, whisper white, pumpkin pie

ink - elegant eggplant, whisper white, frost white shimmer paint, black ink cartridge

access - arachnaphobia wheel, sponge daubers, dimensionals

We made the two cards above in club. The cards below are the ones sent by secret card pals.

This z-fold card was made by Shelagh and uses the cottage wall dsp.

This card was made by Billie using the Manhattan Flower embossing folder.

The final card was made by me and is similar to the one we made in Technique class last month.

Happy Stamping! Mary