Favour Boxes

Sarah breaks for  Christmas tomorrow, she's so excited. Her final Christmas break in grade school! Wow, how did that happen? She has 5 special teachers she wanted to make truffles for. They looked so gorgeous, I thought she should make a simple and easy gift bag to package them in.

Fancy Favour Die ~ easy peasy. I let her use my Raspberry Ripple ribbon, I have tons of it from when it was a freebie a few months ago. Doesn't quite coordinate with the DSP as it should, but still looks pretty!

Here they are, all packaged up and ready for school tomorrow.

See those oval tags? Available in the Spring mini .... oval framelits!!!

One more Christmas Card

I'm still working furiously on my Christmas cards! Here's a very simple design I came up with yesterday which is easy to mass-produce and pretty cute!

I think I came up with a good way to use the 'window' framelit as a card base. You do all the work on the back so the front just looks like the beautiful shape it is. Cut 2 framelits, the back section is scored along the top, lining up the squared-off corners and then the trick is to trim about 1/8 to 1/4" from the bottom. This gives it a nice, firm base to stand up on. It works really well and is easy once you know the trick! The photo shows you exactly what I mean.

Recipe

Stamps : Scentsational Season, Teeny Tiny wishes

Ink : Crumb Cake, Gumball Green

Cardstock : Naturals Ivory, Be Of Good Cheer DSP

Accessories : Big Shot, Window Framelits, Holiday Collection Framelits, Dazzling Details (Cherry Cobbler), Dimensionals, Heart Punch (for the flag banner)

Thomas is ONE

My cousin and his wife will be celebrating their son Thomas's first birthday next week. I am late sending this card, it has to get to China and with the Christmas post, there's no way it will arrive in time. However, I don't think they'll mind waiting, how CUTE is this??? All credit goes to Stampin' Up for the cuteness ... this is a stamp set which will be available in January AND there's some Pool Party cor'dinations paper AND a new scoring template (waves) AND a sizzlit which cuts out the whale, fish and anchor. Oh my, too many lovely things!!!

This bottom pic really shows that great cor'dinations paper, you score the wave lines first, then use a handy dandy sanding tool to take the top off the paper which adds so much dimension. Love that!

Recipe
Stamps : Oh Whale, Memorable Moments, Itty Bitty Banners
Ink : Marina Mist, Pool Party
Cardstock : Shimmery White, Pool Party core'dinations
Accessories : Big Shot, Clearlits Happy Whale, Simply Scored Borders Plate, 1/2 Crystal, Itty Bitty Framelits, Small Oval Punch, Sanding Blocks

Christmas Cards ~ Late AGAIN!

Will I NEVER learn? I'm late once again for the England cut-off dates for Christmas cards. Oh well, I say it's better late than never. Right? I am pulling together this card to get in the post tomorrow. It's so easy to put together, the gold embossed ornament is so luxurious-looking in the flesh, I love the way it turned out. Lots of shimmer from my frost white shimmer paint and alcohol mix. The carpet is sparkling tonight!!!

This last one is the sentiment on the inside. Love that, it's from Open Sleigh, a set from the main book. This shot really shows off the shimmer from the frost white spray. 

Recipe
Stamps : Ornament Keepsakes, Open Sleigh
Ink : Versamark & Soft Suede
Cardstock : Shimmery White
Accessories : Big Shot, Ornament Framelits, Snowflake Embossing Folder, White Taffeta Ribbon, Dimensionals, Gold EP, Heat Gun, Frost White Shimmer Spray

Seasonal Catalogue Product Sneak Peak

I had some fun today playing with some of the new product being offered in the Seasonal Mini Catalogue from Stampin' Up. Included in this card are:

Hearts a Flutter Stamp Set
Hearts a Flutter Framelit Dies
More Amore Specialty DSP
Artisan Embellishments Kit
Pool Party Core'dinations Paper
Pool Party Embossing Powder
1 1/4" 2 Tone Ribbon

Gift Box

A very dear friend had a birthday over Thanksgiving so Sue and I bought her some beautiful jewellery  from Lord & Taylor and I made this gift box to make the present special. I have this tutorial in my sidebar (slider box), all my instructions are free so please use them and leave me a comment so I can come and see what you've made.

My only alteration was to make the card insert for the earrings and necklace. I cut my cardstock 3 7/8" square and scored in 1/2" on all 4 sides, then just cut away the corners so when the edges were folded down, it made this little insert. The flower on the sleeve was made by stamping two flowers, then cutting them both out. The flower underneath is glued flat to the cardstock and coloured quite roughly. The top flower was coloured with more care and then curled with a bone folder for added dimension. There's some dazzling details around the pearl for a little extra pizzazz!

Recipe
Stamps : Fabulous Florets
Ink : Lucky Limeade, StazOn
Cardstock : Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Shimmery White, Floral District strips inside the box
Accessories : 1/2 Pearl, Dazzling Details, Blender Pen & Reinker

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is breast cancer awareness month, and to mark this important part of the year, Splitcoaststampers have come up with a month-long HYCCT (Hope You Can Cling To) set of challenges with hostesses each day bringing us their unique set of challenge rules. Today is my friend Patty's turn to be a hostess.

Our challenge is "Real Witches Wear Pink" and we're to make a treat holder of any sort for Hallowe'en but with a Pink/Black/Silver theme. Here's what I came up with. If you'd like to play along, upload to the SCS gallery with keyword "HYCCT1229"

This was made for my very dear and special friend, Elaine, who is winning the battle right now as we speak. Love you, and am SO proud of you, Elaine.

I bought pink Ghirardelli squares to fit into this cute little pouch which was made following directions from Angie Juda. It's called a 'Double Pocket Treat Holder'. Here's a link to her video if you'd like to have a go yourself!

Thank you to Patty, not only for being a wonderful hostess today, but for EVERYTHING you do to build Splitcoaststampers as a fabulous online community for papercrafters. Love you!

Recipe
Stamps : You are Loved
Cardstock : Subtles Paper Pack, Basic Black, Silver Glimmer
Ink : White Craft
Accessories : Decorative Label Punch, White Gel Pen, White Pencil, Pink Pencil, Black 1/8" ribbon

Traditional Touches for Christmas

A quick and easy  CAS card today using one of our single stamps "Traditional Touches". I stamped the ornaments in Soft Suede and then stamped again using versamark and embossing powders. These 2nd ornaments were cut out and stuck to the originals using tiny pieces of dimensionals.

Recipe
Stamps : Traditional Touches, Petite Pairs
Ink : Soft Suede, Versamark
Cardstock : Shimmery White, Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green, Brushed Gold, Champagne Glimmer
Accessories : Scallop Punches, Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler, Gold EPs, Dazzling Details

Decorate a Daisy for a 2 yr Old

My cousin's little girl, Minna, is two shortly. I thought I'd make a fun and bright girlie card for her using today's "Sweet Sunday Sketch".

Recipe
Stamps : Decorate a Daisy, Papillon Potpourri, Memorable Moments
Ink : Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo
Cardstock : Shimmery White, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, World Spectacular DSP
Accessories : Big Shot, Retired Junior Type Sizzlit Alpha, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punches

Mary's First Birthday

Last October, our friends Stacy and Steve had their beautiful little girl, Mary. I can't believe she's ONE already! I thought I'd make a girlie pink card for her. Isn't that paper bow genius? You can see how to make it here from the talented Connie Collins. So easy to do once someone shows you!!

Here's a closer look at the bow. It really is easy, 2 oval shapes folded in half and secured in the centre. I used a little pink button and topped that off with the 1/2 pearl. The possibilities are endless once you know how to make one ....

Recipe
Stamps : None
Ink : Pink Pirouette (sponged)
Cardstock : Shimmery White, Pink Pirouette, Fan Fair DSP
Accessories : Oval Punch, Button, 1/2 Pearl, Big Shot, Lacy Brocade & Polka Dot Embossing Folders, Retired Alphabet Sizzlit, Build a Cupcake Punch, Dimensionals, sponges

The Christmas Tree & The Angel

Time for bed, just time to post these 2 cards which we'll be making in my October club, along with the frappuccino bottle. I love this little tree, so sweet and simple. The Very Vanilla layer is popped up over the 'Be of Good Cheer' DSP. I then dotted the 'baubles' on the designer paper with Crystal Effects and added the star. Cute!

Here's my angel. I wonder if Mum will giggle when she sees this ... you know what it reminds me of, Mum? The angel you made for the top of your Christmas Tree when you and Dad were first married ... with the ping pong ball head and silver tinsel wrapped around it. You painted on the face ... JUST LIKE THIS ONE! Once I thought of it I couldn't stop laughing!!! Do you still have her? If you do, we should take a photo to post here. They're twins :)

Joking aside, this is actually a really clever idea. It's a scallop circle trimmed up to look like an angel. Here's the post with instructions. I just added the 'face' and the gold halo.

Recipe ~ Tree Card
Stamps : Scentsational Season
Cardstock : Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Be of Good Cheer DSP
Ink : Versamark
Accessories : Gold EP, Heat Gun, Holiday Collection Framelits, Crystal Effects, Dimensionals

Recipe ~ Angel Card
Stamps : Evergreen
Cardstock : Shimmery White, Pink Pirouette, Gold
Ink : Versamark
Accessories : Gold EP, Heat Gun, Scallop Circle & Small Circle Punches, Fine Pen, Dimensionals

October Club Starbucks Bottle

I'm wrapping up this round of Club with my Saturday morning girls this weekend. I wanted to do something a little bit more exciting and thought it was about time we made a Starbucks Altered Frapuccino bottle. I love how this turned out, so cute ~ we're going to fill ours with hot chocolate mix. Hope the girls love them!

Recipe
Stamps : Perfectly Preserved, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Scentsational Season
Ink : Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green
Cardstock : Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green, Champagne Glimmer, Be of Good Cheer DSP, Naturals Ivory
Accessories : 1 3/8" Circle & Scallop Circle Punches, 2 1/2" Scallop Circle Punch, Holiday Framelits, Window Frames Framelits, Big Shot, Itty Bitty Banners Framelits, Gumball Sweater Trim, Linen Thread.