Jolliest Time Of Year!

First of all, if you like online shopping deals or sales, make sure I have your email address so you can participate in Stampin' Up!'s weekend to celebrate Black Friday, Cyber Monday and all other holiday shopping times! The Online Extravaganza will last from Monday, November 21 and run until Wednesday November 30, but there will be some 24hour limited deals that you won't want to miss. Just select me as your demonstrator and place your holiday stamp order!
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My Christmas Card class was rescheduled from today to this coming Tuesday but here are two cards that we'll be making. They both use the stamp set Jolliest Time of Year, which I borrowed from my MIL. I chose not to buy any new holiday stamps this year since I had 5 sets carry over from years past, but I still wanted some new ideas and borrowing is a great way to do that!

On this first card, I added some Dazzling Details to the snowflakes, which is in the Holiday Mini. It hadn't dried by the time I decided to swipe that piece of card stock in Real Red ink, hence the smudging....

Supplies:
Stamps: Jolliest Time Of Year
Ink: Basic Black, Real Red
Paper: Whisper White & Real Red card stocks
Accessories: Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Watercolor Pencils, Dazzling Details

This second card is very simple but I think perfect for winter.

Supplies:
Stamps: Jolliest Time of Year, Come to Bethlehem
Ink: Night of Navy
Paper: Bashful Blue & Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: White grosgrain ribbon, stapler

A Birthday!

Yep, I'm throwing a birthday card into all the holiday fun going on! A good friend of mine had a birthday this week and even tho I never seem to get to her house ON her birthday, I try to take her something every year. This year I had a cute little gift bag decorated with a paper cupcake so I made this card to go with it:

Supplies:
Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes, Swirls & Curls (retired)
Ink: Basic Black, Chocolate Chip
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, retired hostess pack

Another download!

From those free downloads I also made this page, but this set is for my inlaws calendar. 

The letters across the bottom 1/3 of the page are part of the DP. I added the Pool Party ribbon, the red abc strip and the letters across the top and made a great September/back to school themed page that I love! ....I might just print a page of this off for myself!

MIA?

It isn't that I lack projects to share, its that I have about 960 commitments right now and hardly any time to blog and post them! Its that time of year, isn't it? I literally wrote out a map of my week just so I could keep track of everything and mark it off as I completed it. I actually have most of my Christmas Card Class projects still to share, since the first round of the class was this last weekend! I also have more calendar pages to share with you!
So, here are two cards that are similar and yet different. Colors and accessories make a difference! The first is more vintage and the second is more traditional/classic. I really like them both, which must be why they're sort of similar to last year's designs! LOL!

 and here's a detail shot to better see the fabulous new ribbon and buttons found in the Holiday Mini!

Supplies 1:
Stamps: Greeting Card Kids
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler & Very Vanilla card stocks
Accessories: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Blender Pens, Victoria Lace, Vintage Trinkets

Supplies 2:
Stamps: Greeting Card Kids
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Real Red, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Whisper White
Accessories: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Blender Pens, Holly Berry Buttons, Early Espresso quilted ribbon

Another reason to love it!

You've seen plenty of scrapbook pages done with My Digital Studio on my blog. This week I made something new. Have you noticed the many types of signs you can hang in your home? Boutiques and home decor' shops are full of them and they're all everywhere online for purchase or for print. I love the idea but I don't have many yet. In the past when I have liked a sign, my husband suggests I find a way to make it work with stamps. I saw THIS sign on Jill's blog a few weeks ago and thought that quote would be sooo perfect for my son's room...but her sign was a little more girly than I would like. I was sure I could recreate it using My Digital Studio, so here's what I did with it:

And then I had seen a wooden/painted sign in an ad for a local bookstore a few months ago when I was going thru a struggling time. I wanted to run right out and purchase it, but couldn't right then, and for some reason I saved the ad, I guess to remind me on a small level, lol. But then I realized I could make it myself! Hooray for quotes, that can be used by anyone!

So here's just one more reason to love (and have!) My Digital Studio software! Christmas is a great time to get it- that's what I did!

A change-up!

Its been a few days since I've had a chance to create anything, and then I made up for it yesterday and today! Love that!
Here is a quick Christmas card for my upcoming classes that I designed today! The idea comes completely from HERE, except that I used Perfect Plum instead of Wisteria Wonder, and mine is a simpler version. That means we can make it quicker! hee hee! I really loved the soft purply color that makes it like a very cold winter day in the forest.

Supplies:
Stamps: Lovely As A Tree, Come to Bethlehem
Ink: Perfect Plum
Paper: Very Vanilla, Perfect Plum card stocks

Digital Scrapbook Weekend!

One Stampin' Up! promotion I missed mentioning in my newsletter was this fun digital scrapbook weekend they have going on. You can read more about it HERE and find links for four FREE digital downloads!! Whether you have My Digital Studio software or not, these are fun additions to your digital collections.

Here are two digital pages (calendar pages, actually!) on which I used two of the new free downloads!
First you can see the words...these come from the So Typefelt download....

And here the little house, trees and snowman come from the Home for the Holidays Ensemble. This second page is not complete, I need to check my mom's photos for more pictures.... There are spots for two more square photos across the top row.

I'm always more excited to digi-scrap when I have a new download to play with! How about you??

Thankful!

November is a month full of gratitude! What are you grateful for? Today I am especially grateful for a warm house, a furnace, and coats and blankets, LOL! The power was out this morning for a few hours and our house only got down 4 degrees from where we normally keep it in the winter. Considering it was 30* outside, with snow on the ground when the power went off, I thought that was pretty darn good!

I put these autumny cards together to thank the other mom's who helped with the class party. I used Jen's October SFYTT to create the basic look, along with this favorite hostess set and my current favorite DP. All four cards use the same sheet of DP, so I used both sides. The pear is sponged with More Mustard ink, and the flower, stems and leaf were scribble-colored with the pen tip of the markers.

 Supplies:
Stamps: Faith in Nature
Ink: Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Pool Party Marker, Lucky Limeade Marker
Paper: More Mustard, Chocolate Chip & Very Vanilla card stock, Spice Cake DP
Accessories: White grosgrain ribbon, In Color Patterned Brads, Regals Brads, Mat Pack, Stamping Sponges

Yes, you read that correctly, I used white ribbon! I was all out of Chocolate Chip (not to mention Early Espresso, which is actually the color on the DP!) so I dyed my white using the Chocolate Chip marker and ink pad. If I'd had an Espresso marker that would have been nicer, but I don't, and with the little pattern on the DP, chocolate chip was close enough!

Happy Halloween!!

Today, for the first time all school year, I managed to send cute notes in the kids' lunches! I know, who'd have thunk now that both of them take their lunches it would be *that* hard?? Well I didn't expect that. So today I planned a head and stuck these little 3x3 cards in some lunch boxes:

Supplies:
Stamps: Spooky Bingo Bits
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Wisteria Wonder, Basic Black, More Mustard, Lucky Limeade, Crumb Cake, Wild Wasabi
Paper: Pumpkin Pie textured card stock, Whisper White card stock

And just for kicks, this is how I sent them on their day!


Rapunzel & Luke Skywalker

(actually, I took them to school, and stayed for the school costume parade..and then had them change into normal clothes for the rest of the day....because our school is insane...LOL!)

a project.

I am still trying to decide if I am insane, dedicated or ambitious. hee hee! First of all, I signed up to be my son's class room mother - a decision I wonder about frequently, LOL! Secondly, that made me in charge of class parties, which you'd THINK wouldn't be stressful, but...turns out...you'd be wrong. It is quite stressful for me, LOL! Plus, this is the first Halloween I've sewn a costume (just part of one...second time using a pattern...wow, stress!) and I'm working on Christmas card classes and working on getting a job, and my house has had three colds, pneumonia (coupled with pleurisy) and a sinus infection for me. ..its kinda been crazy 'round here this month!

So, me being me, decided to make Bingo boards for this class party. See that? That would be 30 boards, completely randomly spaced images, ready to go.

I'll share my process in case anyone else wants to do this too. (Altho to be honest, I would suggest something smaller, like a Halloween -or other holiday- party at home, haha!)
First, I stamped 30 Bingo Boards. Two fit on a 8x11 sheet without worry of overlapping. I chose the ink colors I own and laid them out, and then stuck a stamp (or two!) with each color. Then there's the trick of how to play the game, since this isn't letters and numbers...after a lot of thinking on my part, my brilliant husband came up with the plan to stamp each image 5 times and on the back write a B or an I, etc. That's how I used up the scraps of paper that I had stamped the boards onto. Worked out quite nicely!

the various boards... I tried hard to make it super random. Like I'd take the stamp and fit it on a B square, I square, etc, and also tried to keep the similar colors apart to make the boards prettier. Because I am *sure* these kids will appreciate the way it looks! hahaha!

After I wrote the letters on the backs of the squares to draw, I had my helper sort thru and make sure I had stamped each image. I was sure I would have missed at least one!

and here we are, ready to go! Each kid will get a handful of candy corn to use as markers and we'll see how it goes!

Supplies:
Stamps: Bingo Card, Spooky Bingo Bits
Ink: Peach Parfait, Basic Gray, Certainly Celery, More Mustard, Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Old Olive, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Pumpkin Pie, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Classic Basic Black, Craft Basic Black, Lucky Limeade, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, Pear Pizazz, Rich Razzelberry, Daffodil Delight, Wisteria Wonder, Early Espresso, Tangerine Tango inks!
Paper: Whisper White

A Hike!

This is one of the layouts we did at my scrapbook class last week. It is super quick and simple, and yet captures the essence of the photos I used. I figured it would be useful for anyone who hikes or camps or otherwise gets dirty outside! LOL! Plus I love this new Denim Jean Ribbon!

Supplies:
Stamps: Taffy Alphabet (retired!)
Ink: Not Quite Navy
Paper: Cajun Craze card stock, Well Worn DP
Accessories: Blue Denim Jean ribbon

Sparkly Christmas Card!

Here is a simple, and yet -I think- beautiful remake of cards I've made with this set and punch before. I love the sparkly red ornament, peeking behind the embossed white ornament on red card stock. This is definitely one we'll make at my Christmas card class. I think there will be a fair amount of embossing going on...!

Supplies:
Stamps: Delightful Decorations
Ink: Versamark
Paper: Whisper White, Always Artichoke & Real Red card stocks, Red Glimmer Paper
Accessories: Ornament Punch