Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Watercolor Crayons Updates

Wahoo!!!

Great news! The Watercolor Wonder Crayons are now available for purchase. The Watercolor Wonder Crayons were delayed due to a relocation of our supplier. Stampin' Up! now has inventory and you can start ordering today!


When you receive your Watercolor Wonder Crayons, you may notice that some of the crayon sleeves feature old artwork on them. This does not affect the quality of the crayons; Stampin' Up! simply needs to deplete inventory of crayons with the old artwork before they use crayons featuring the new artwork.

 Use the following item numbers to purchase your Watercolor Wonder Crayons:

•120949 New Color Kit
•119802 Subtles
•119803 Regals
•119804 Brights
•119805 Neutrals

Thanks for your patience!

Have an inspired day!


Monday, November 29, 2010

Snow Much Fun

No stamping today, but I have two great pictures to share!  Yesterday was such a gorgeous day here...the sun was out, the temperature was reasonable (for winter) and it was snowing!  Since it was pretty warm and not windy, we sent our boys outside for the afternoon.


I love the vibrant colors and the looks on their rosy little faces!  I can't wait to scrapbook the pictures I took!  We also sent our little chocolate furry boy out to play.


He was in there like a dirty shirt chasing the boys around, stealing their toques (that's Canadian for "winter hat"!!!) and racing through the snow!  I'm pretty sure he thinks he's human...

I will be back tomorrow with some stamping to share.  Have an inspired day!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Blushing Ornament

Ok, so not the greatest title...I used all my creativity for the weekend at the workshop/Stamp-A-Stack I did for the Army Wives yesterday!

Today I have a wonderfully simple card for you.  Most of it came from my scrap pile on my desk...it's a container where I put unused pieces from class projects or stuff I started, but it wasn't coming together so into the container it went.

Have a look...


The whole card base was in my "not working today" container.  For real!!!  So was the ribbon and the piece of crochet trim.  So it's a 3x6 Soft Suede card which was stamped with the Jolly Holiday Jumbo Wheel in the Holiday Mini.  I added the ornament (from Jolly Bingo Bits) stamped in Blushing Bride.  Before stamping it, I colored the top part of the ornament with my Soft Suede marker.  It is stamped on a piece of Natural White cardstock,  punched with the 1 1/4" Square Punch and then matted with a Soft Suede square (punched with the 1 3/8" punch).  And, then I matted it again with a square of Blushing Bride.


The whole focal image was popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals and then just to add a little something I added a row of little pearls.  The pearls are from one of the long strips of joined pearls that you find along the side of the sheet of pearls in each package.  I just cut 5 off of the chain and stuck them down where the row of dots were in the ornament.

Cute, simple and done in 15 minutes (including cleaning up my supplies!).

Have an inspired day!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Scrapbook Saturday is Back!!!

I'm working on organizing my pictures and then getting some serious scrapbooking done.  My new scrapbook club started this week and I think this is what is inspiring me!

Here's my layout...


I went way back in my stash of pictures for this one...Carter is now 6 1/2!  Oh, how time flies!  It seems like just yesterday I was making that monkey cake.  It was a banana cake with chocolate icing...yum!

I started with an Early Espresso base for my page.  Then I layered some of the Very Vanilla DSP I used the stripe, but you can't really see it in the picture).  My pictures are matted with Marina Mist cardstock.  I really like this color combination and will definitely be using it again in the future.  Don't you think it would make a great combination for a baby boy card or a masculine birthday card?



I love the title part of this layout.  I used some chipboard letters in my stash and of course buttons! 


Ya'll know how much I love buttons!  I used Crumb Cake & Early Espresso buttons from the Neutrals pack and a Marina Mist button from the Subtles pack.  Each of the buttons has some linen thread tied through it.  If you go back and look at the whole layout, you will see I used the buttons on the other page too...same colors, just different buttons.



Take a look at the strip of Early Espresso cardstock that goes across the middle of the page.  It was cut with the Tasteful Trim die, which you can find in the Holiday Mini.  A little story...at first I was set against this die and I thought I didn't need it.  Then I started seeing projects done with it and decided to order it.  Best thing I did!  Once I started using it, I found more and more ways to use the different trims from the die.  Seriously, this is a "must have" die for your collection!  Get it while you can before the mini is done on Jan 3!

Have an inspired day!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Countdown to Christmas-Week 9

I *heart* the project I'm sharing with you today.  This is actually a class I'm doing tomorrow night and it's the first in a series of classes I will be doing throughout the next year.


Throughout the year we will be making different seasonal inserts for the frame.  So fun!!!

I started with a piece of Soft Suede cardstock, which I stamped with the Jolly Jingles jumbo wheel in the Holiday Mini.  I used a Soft Suede ink cartridge with the wheel.  Then I cut some 3x3 squares of Very Vanilla cardstock.  Some of them are layered with Cherry Cobbler and some are layered with Old Olive.  The Cherry Cobbler ones are stamped with the sweet little poinsettia image from Jolly Bingo Bits in Cherry Cobbler ink and topped with some Very Vanilla letters cut with my Big Shot!  All the Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive squares are sponged around the edges.

Here are some close ups of some of the elements on the project.

The wreath...



The tree...


The ornament...ooooh, check out that bling!!!


And, finally the buttons.  I have a thing for buttons...they take me back to my childhood and my grandma's HUGE jar of buttons that my cousin's and I always played with. 


I will leave you with one more shot of the complete project.


Have an inspired day!



Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Photo Holders

I was commissioned to make some table tags for the vendors at the Candy Cane Lane Craft Sale this year.  These helped the vendors know which table was theirs.

I really wanted to do something that they would be able to use again...and want to use again...while still incorporating the theme of Candy Cane Lane and the red and white colors.  When I realized that there was a candy cane print in the Candy Cane DSP (duh!) the ideas really started flowing!

Here's what I came up with.

A photo holder made from a Binder Clip which was wrapped in some Candy Cane DSP and finished off with a piece of Blushing Bride ribbon.


Aren't they cute?  I did up 30 of them and was so thrilled with how they turned out!

So, I bet you're wondering how I incorporated the vendor's names!  I did up some Scallop Envelopes in Real Red and decorated them with the candy cane print from the Candy Cane DSP.


So simple, but so cute!  The vendor names were done on little tags and stuck with removable adhesive just inside the envelopes (so they could easily take them out).  Here's what the final product looked like.


So cute!  The vendors could use the holders again at home to hold pictures, cards or recipes and they could also use the envelopes for a small gift card this holiday season.  I hope they liked them!

Have an inspired day!


Tuesday, November 23, 2010

A Fun Way to Display Cards

Today I have a super fun way to display your cards.  This project was a collaborative effort between me and my friend Sherri!  She started them and I finished them off.

We have two different styles because our table at the craft fair was half Deck the Halls and half Candy Cane!  First, check out the Deck the Halls one without cards...


And with cards...


It's a canvas that Sherri painted Cream.  She distressed the edges with Crumb Cake and Early Espresso ink (I think...*wink*).  She used some fine chain and put paper clips on the ends.  They're just glued to the canvas and the top of the chain is covered with a fabulous Deck the Halls button.

Then it was my turn!  I added some Always Artichoke Seam Binding around the edge and glued on some Antique brads in the corners.  Then I added some fabulous vintagey cards to match!

Here's the Candy Cane one without cards...


And with cards...


This one was done the same way as the first one, only Sherri painted it white.  She also added that fabulous metal snowflake (cut with the Big Shot and some Aluminum Flashing) and some Glimmer Brads to it.  I finished it off by gluing Blushing Bride ribbon around the edge and then I smooched it with Vanilla Smooch.  The snowflakes were stencilled on.  To make my stencil, I punched a snowflake from a scrap of Medium Window Sheet (you have to use your big muscles to do this!!!).  Then I used Frost White Shimmer Paint to stencil with.  I love how this one turned out!

I plan on offering a class on these in the new year, so watch for details after Christmas!

One last thing.  I want to share a picture of our table display from the craft fair!  We got so many comments on our display from customers and vendors.  I have to say thank you to my friend Allison for sharing a picture of her display.  We loved how hers looked and went with the same concept.  The result was fantastic.  That glowing thing at the end is my snowflake lamp from this post.  And, the purses in the background were NOT part of our display...that's all I'm going to say about those purses.  All in all, it was a great day!






Have an inspired day!


Monday, November 22, 2010

Countdown to Christmas-Week 8

This week I have some fun Christmas gift packaging ideas for you.  Before I show you the projects, I have to say that I can't take credit for these!  All three of the projects I'm going to show were inspired by other crafters.  Thanks for your inspiration ladies!

Each of the projects uses DSP from a different Christmas set.  First off, I have a super fun and easy Christmas Tube made with Deck the Halls DSP.

I've seen a lot of these while surfing the web.  This is just my take on the project!  You start with a 6x6 piece of DSP and make it into a tube.  You want to score 1/2 inch from the bottom (do this before making it into a tube!) and then make some cuts.  The little tabs that you make will fold into each other and allow the tube to stick to the scallop circle on the bottom.  I finished it off with some gold Waffle Paper and a fun tag.


Don't you love that Glass Glitter?  It's the perfect touch to finish off the project!

The next is a Scallop Envelope box.


These little boxes have been around since we started carrying the Big Shot and Scallop Envelope Die!  There are so many little boxes and baskets you can make just by joining a number of these envelopes together.  This one uses 2 of the Scallop Envelopes.  It was done in Garden Green and is embellished with some of the Candy Cane DSP.  I *heart* those strings of mittens!  It's finished off with a punched snowflake and a silver Glimmer Brad.   I've said before that I'm so not a flashy, blingly kind of girl...but I love the Glimmer Brads!  They add just the right amount of bling to finish a project off!

The third and final project this week is a fun little gift box.  I got the measurements from Becky Roberts.


So fun!  This is the perfect little box for a great little gift!  I used Cherry Cobbler cardstock and embellished with Jolly Holiday DSP.  The tag is from the Two Tags die and was stamped with the poinsettia from Jolly Bingo Bits...the perfect little Christmas set!


I did a fun little trick with the ribbon!  Rather than wrap it around the box, I cut some slits in either side of the lid and fed the ribbon through before tying a bow.  This way, you can take the lid on and off easily and not have to wreck the awesome bow!!!

That's all for today!  Have an inspired day!

Speechless...

Stampin' Up! has gone and done it...I'm speechless!  On top of the fabulous half price Starter Kit promotion, for one week, you can get some amazxing products deeply discounted and free shipping on orders over $200.  WOW!


You're definitaly gonna want to head on over to my online store and check out all the details!

I totally forgot to post my Countdown to Christmas this last Thursday before we left town for the weekend, so I will be back later today to post those projects for you.


Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Flurries

Check out these fun projects I did with the Flurry Decor Elements.  With just one package, I made all three of these great projects!


First up is this fun frame project (which is one of the projects for my Great Little Gifts class)!  The background is Baja Breeze DSP and it was shimmered and shimmered with Silver Foil and Vanilla Smooch.  The snowflake was applied to the glass of the frame and decorated with rhinestones.


It's really hard to get a good picture of the shimmer and not get a reflection of either me taking the picture or the lights in the room.  You get the idea, but it looks waaaaay better in real life!!!

Next is my travel mug!


So fun!  The snowflakes go all around my mug.  I got a lot of comments on my mug at the craft sale I recently did!  With the snowflakes on the mug, it has to be hand washed so they don't come off in the dishwasher.

And, finally, a super fun lamp!


This was super easy and a HUGE hit at the craft sale!  Because the lamp is square, the decor elements went on and around the corners really easily.  I did trim some of them to go along the top and bottom of the lamp (I recommend doing this before you stick them on...don't ask!!!).

Here it is lit up.


I was a little worried that the lamp would get really hot and affect the decor elements, but it didn't.  It got warm, but not overly hot (we could still touch it) and the decor elements were fine (we had it on all day at the craft sale).

If you haven't checked out all the fun Decor Elements we have, you need to!  They are a quick, easy and fun way to add to your decor!  You can find the Definitely Decorative catalogue online here and if you want a paper copy let me know and I will  mail one to you (Canada only!).  If you order online, be sure to choose me as your demonstrator for preferred pricing!

Have an inspired day!

Great Little Gifts

Good snowy morning!  Today I'm going to share the projects for my upcoming "Great Little Gifts" class.  If you already have my class schedule, please note a date change to this class!

Great Little Gifts
Thursday, November 25 OR Tuesday, November 30 (both start at 7:30pm)

Choose your projects!  Each project is individually priced so you can make whichever ones you want and make as many as you need for little gifts this year!

Notepad Holder & Matching Pen
$5 (pen is not pictured!)


Hand Sanitizer
$3 (includes a small container of Hand Sanitizer)


Gift Card Holders
$1 each (when registering please choose which ones you want to make)


Sweet Snowman Mint Patties
$2

Shimmery Snowflake Frame
$20 (you may have different snowflakes for your frame...maybe a few smaller ones or a different big one since I will be dividing up the package for this project)
-the background is Baja Breeze cardstock stamped with snowflakes and then shimmered!


Chunky Frame
$30
-you will alter one of our Chunky Frames with either Deck the Halls DSP or Elegant Soiree DSP, some die cuts, ribbon and other fun accessories!

If you would like to register for this class, please contact me.  When you register, I will need to know which projects you want to do and how many of each you want to make.

Have an inspired day!