This week I decided to do something decidedly winterish for my project.  The project itself is not yet made into an item, but it is intended to go towards re-decorating my daughters binder with a winter theme.  As soon as she brings it home, I will redo it and post it.  Anyhow, this week I decided on some naughty little snowmen.  I love adding expression by changing the position of the eyes and hands and in the way the body is held.  It was really hard to do the video because there are so many variations and expressions that I would have loved to show you, unfortunately with only ten minutes to a video, it becomes really hard to show much.  I hate being rushed, but oh well, what can you do?  So the standing snowman is holding and throwing snowballs, and his victim is laying on the ground with the offending snowball on his head.  The third snowman is designed to go to the side and is showing shock over the whole affair.

Tutorial:

1.   Decide on the layout or scene that you want to project with your snowmen, and create them in the correct positions.  The hat was created with a circle punch the same size as the snowman’s head and a 1/2″ circle punch for the pom-pom. 
2. Next hand rip or cut the snow banks from Whisper White CS, sponge lightly with Tempting Turqoise ink. 
3. Take your blue CS ( I used Soft Sky) and sponge the edges with Tempting Turqoise ink.
4.  Glue down by applying glue to the bottom of the banks only.  This will allow you to lift the top portion to tuck the snowmen into.
5. Add stamped and cut trees to the BG with the trunks tucked into the snow bank.  Glue the snowmen down, add highlights with the Signo White gel pen and hand draw snowflakes.
6. Add Snowballs with Stampin’ Dimensionals and then add glitter with your 2-way glue pen.  Glitter was added to the snowballs and snowbanks.

Hugs,

Click Here to Order your Stampin’ Up! Products Online 24/7! (Canada Only)
Stamps: Patterned Pines (mini catalogue hostess level 1)
Ink:  Bravo Burgundy (105214), Tempting Turqoise (100814), Chocolate Chip (100908), Old Olive (102277)
Paper:  Real Red (102482), Whisper White (100730), Close to Cocoa (101341), Basic Black (102851), Dusty Durango (115321), Soft Sky (retired)
Accessories: Paper snips (103579), Snail adhesive (104332), Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), 1 3/4″ Circle punch (112004), 1 3/8″ circle punch (104401), 1 1/4″ circle punch (104403), 1/2″ circle punch (104390), Jumbo Snowflake punch (116628), My Way punch (110709), 1/8″ hole punch, standard hole punch, tweezers, 2-way Glue pen (100425), Dazzling Diamonds (102023), Sponge Daubers (102892)

With Christmas just around the corner, I thought I’d share with you a small gift idea that can be used as a stocking stuffer, a gift for a friend, teacher, co-worker etc. It is a set of three scalloped note cards created using Stampin’ Up!’s scalloped square die.  The colors of the cards were based on the colors of the felt flowers in the Flower Fusion collection. I just love the bright, bold colors!  The design is very simple making these cards very easy to mass produce.  I packaged them in a very simple, yet practical manner. Each card is packaged in one of Stampin’ Up!’s clear envelopes – BUT – and here’s what I loved about this – the envelopes are NOT stuck to the cardstock topper – I fastened them together in such a way that they can still be used as envelopes to package the note cards in.  To see what I mean you’ll need to watch the video below:

Directions:

1. Die cut three scalloped squares out of Pink Passion, Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie CS using the Scalloped Square die and the Big Shot.
2. Punch a hole in the center of each scallop using a 1/16″ handheld circle punch.  Set aside for a moment.
3. Take three 3 3/4″ x 7 1/2″ pieces of Whisper White CS and fold them in half using your bone folder to create a 3 3/4″ x 3 3/4″ note card.
4. Stamp a greeting in Basic Black Classic ink in the bottom left corner of each card (make sure the fold is positioned at the top). Center and stick one Whisper White note card to each scalloped square.
5. Die cut three flowers – 1 each Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie and Pink Passion – using the Bigz XL Flower Folds die.  Layer a medium or large flower fusion felt flower and a small felt flower in the center of each of the CS flowers.  Pierce a hole through the center of the CS flower with a paper-piercing tool and foam mat.  Insert a coordinating rhinestone brad from the fire circles collection into the center of each flower. Set aside for a moment.
6. Layer a small felt flower onto a medium or large felt flower and insert a rhinestone brad through the center.
7. Stick both sets of flowers to the card front using a mini glue dot.
8. Place each note card into a clear transluscent envelope.
9. Take a 5″ x 5″ piece of Pink Passion CS.  Fold it in half using your bone folder.  Round the bottom corners using a 3/16″ corner rounder punch.
10. Hold the three envelopes with note cards together (one on top of the other). Fold the CS topper over the tops of the envelopes.  Hold it in place as you pierce a hole through all the layers (centered about 1/2″ up from the bottom edge of the CS topper).  Insert a flower brad into the hole you pierced and open up the prongs on the back.
11. Tie a 16″ piece of 1 1/4″ striped Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain ribbon around the cardstock topper.  You’re done!

Click Here to Order your Stampin’ Up! Products Online 24/7! (Canada Only)

Stamps: Thank You Kindly (111700)
Ink: Basic Black Classic ink (101179)
Paper: Whisper White CS (101730), Pink Passion CS (102762), Old Olive CS (100702), Pumpkin Pie CS (105117)
Accessories: Bone Folder (102300), Paper snips (103579), Snail adhesive (104332), mini glue dots (103683),  paper-piercing tool (116631), mat pack (105826), Big Shot (113439), Stampin’ Up! Scallop Square die (115950), Stampin’ Up! Flower Folds die (115970), 1/16″ handheld circle punch (101227), 1 1/4″ Pumpkin Pie Striped Grosgrain Ribbon (115616), Circle Fire rhinestone brads (109110), Flower Assortment Designer Brads (112583)

What a week we had last week!  Although every week since September has been incredibly busy, I think last week had to have been the craziest.  As Soph mentioned in the last post, a good part of last week was spent designing and filming the videos for the remainder of the 12 weeks of Christmas.  Last week I also had two big events to finish prepping for. On Thursday morning I did a creative for the mom’s group at our church – there were 35 women and they each made a Christmas card, a gift card holder and a cello bag with 8 tags & a decorative topper.  On Saturday I had my Christmas Stamp Camp – we had 32 women attend.  It was an all-day event with lunch and two snacks, and everyone made 12 Christmas cards and a tote to hold them in (you can see the projects we did here). Then of course we’ve been busy all week with shipping out the Memories Your Way and the Gifts your Way products.  This week is not quite so crazy so we should be back to our regular blogging schedule.

Since it’s been awhile since I’ve shown a project using Stampin’ Up!’s shimmer paint, today I thought I’d share with you a Christmas Card that shows you how to get a debossed shimmery effect. I used the Champagne Mist shimmer paint and the Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder. Now unfortunately, the picture just does not do this card justice- the shimmer looks so beautiful in real life.

Although I’ve done my best to give you the written instructions on how I made this card, it’s actually a best to simply watch the video.

Directions:

1. Take the Petals-a-Plenty Textured Impressions Folder and brush Champagne Mist shimmer paint on the debossed side using a foam brush.
2. Lay a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Real Red CS in the Impressions Folder and run it through your Big Shot.  Set it aside to dry.
3. Die cut a label from the Stampin’ Up! Lots of Tags Sizzlet collection out of Whisper White CS using your Big Shot.
4. Stamp the Merry Christmas greeting from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set onto the label in Basic Black Classic ink – use a Stamp-a-ma-jig if necessary.  Sponge the edges of the label with Real Red Classic ink and a wedge of stamping sponge.
5. Pierce a hole on either side of the greeting and insert a gold brad into each hole.  Set the label aside for a moment.
6. Take a 3″ x 3 1/4″ piece of striped DP from the Christmas Cocoa collection and pierce a row of holes along both the 3 1/4″ sides (these will be the top and bottom).
7. Lay a 5″ piece of 5/8″ Real Red Grosgrain ribbon across the DP.  Bring the ends around to the back of the DP and stick down using Snail adhesive.
8. Center and stick the DP along the right edge of the Embossed Real Red CS. Center and stick the Real Red CS to a 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″ piece of Whisper White CS.  Center and stick the Whisper White CS to a Soft Suede card base (created out of a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Soft Suede CS folded in half to create a 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ card base).
9. Take the 5-petal flower punch and punch out two flowers out of Real Red CS and one flower out of Soft Suede CS.  Sponge the edges of ONE of the Real Red flowers with Champagne Mist shimmer paint.  Pierce three holes in the center of the flowere and a row of four holes down the center of each petal.  Curl the petals upwards with the edge of a bone folder. Place a gold brad into each of the three holes you pierced in the center of the flower. 
10. Take the Soft Suede flower and cut off two of the petals to create leaves.  Stick these to the back of the second Real Red flower using Snail adhesive. 
11. Stick the first Real Red flower to the second Real Red flower with a Stampin’ Dimensional. 
12. Stick the label to the card front with one Stampin’ Dimensional and one mini glue dot. Stick the flower to the card front with a mini glue dot. You’re done!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

Click Here to Order your Stampin’ Up! Products Online 24/7! (Canada Only)

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes (115370)
Ink: Basic Black Classic ink (101179), Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint (116806)
Paper: Whisper White CS (101730), Real Red CS (102482), Soft Suede CS (115318), Christmas Cocoa DP (116770)
Accessories: Bone Folder (102300), Paper snips (103579), Snail adhesive (104332), mini glue dots (103683), Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), paper-piercing tool (116631), mat pack (105826), Big Shot (113439), Standard Texturz Impressions pad (114614), Standard Texturz Silicone Rubber (114615), Stampin’ Up! Lots of Tags Sizzlits Die (114508), Stampin’ Up! Petals-a-Plenty Textured Impressions Folder (116824), 5/8″ Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon (109052)

Oh wow, what a week!  The Virus officialy killed my computer and it had to be wiped.  The photo’s thank the Lord could be saved.  This is very much a lesson about backing up your data and files on a seperate hard drive…………..oh ya, and not watching Ghost Whisperer on questionable sites.  I started out watching it on TV and had to know how the continuation went.  The rest, well, is history! 

You may have noticed that the posts have been a touch infrequent.  We very much apologize for that.  At the moment we’ve been super busy finishing up all of our projects for the 12 weeks of Christmas.  As you know, the 12 weeks of Christmas is a free special offered each week to email newsletter subscribers.  On week 4 we officially finished sharing the card projects and last week moved on to 3D projects. We shared the first one last Saturday and have 7 more to share with you.  And let me tell you, we’re quite excited with what we have come up with. However, because each project is only available for a limited time (1 week only), there are those of you that wanted to be able to have a copy that you can keep and refer to over and over again. That’s why we decided to offer it in a DVD format (it may actually end up being 2 DVDs).  The DVD will contain all of the 12 Weeks of Christmas project videos AND we’ve included a super-cute bonus project that won’t be posted as part of the 12 weeks of Christmas as an extra treat for those that order the DVD.  The shipping date for the DVDs is set for November 15th but pre-ordering has already begun. That means that those that have pre-ordered the DVD will essentially be getting all the projects plus the bonus project early – they won’t have to wait each week for that week’s newsletter. If you are interested in purchasing the DVD then click here order yours:   DVD 12 Weeks of Christmas. Remember, these projects (except of course the bonus project) are shared for free each week to our email subscribers, so please make sure you are subscribing so that you can view each new project as it goes live each week.

Ok, now last week I created the Peas on Earth, and a lot of people mentioned how it reminded them of the Veggie Tale french peas.  Well they had a fantastic idea and I ran with it.  So this week we have Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber.  I had a lot of fun making these, and I hope you enjoy it to.  I realize that in the video I am moving fast and talking fast, I was just trying to get a lot of info into that 10 minute limit

Tutorial

1. Take your Old Olive 4 1/4″ x 11″ CS and crease in the middle.  Sponge the edges with Handsome Hunter Classic ink.
2. Mat a Very Vanilla 4″ x 5 1/4″ CS and sponge it with Creamy Caramel.  Mat it on to your Old Olive card.
3. Using your Bigshot, cut out a Scallop Oval frame from your Bermuda Bay CS.  Sponge the scallop portion with Taken with Teal Classic ink.  Glue it down on to your Very Vanilla Mat using your Tombow Multi Purpose Adhesive. (discard center)
4. Glue down Larry and stick down Bob using a Stampin’ Dimensionals.
5. Cut a strip from your Very Vanilla CS 3/4″ wide and 5″ long. Glue down your letters for JOY.  Sponge the edges with Tempting Turqoise Classic ink. Curl the body of the strip, cut a fish tail on each end and adhere down the ends. 
6. With your Crystal Effects, create dots along each of the scallops of the Scallop Oval Frame.  Sprinkle with Silver Glitter.  You are done.

Hugs,

Click Here to Order your Stampin’ Up! Products Online 24/7! (Canada Only)

Ink:  Bravo Burgundy (105214), Tempting Turqoise (100814), Handsome Hunter (105215), Taken with Teal (103252)
Paper:  Real Red (102482), Old Olive (100702), Glorious Green (101697), Bermuda Bay (115655), Very Vanilla (101650)
Accessories: Bone Folder (102300), Paper snips (103579), Snail adhesive (104332), Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), Naturally Serif Sizzlit Decorative Strip die (113453), Big Shot (113439), 1 3/4″ Circle punch (112004), Scallop Oval Frame (114521) Crystal Effects (101055), Fine Galaxy silver Glitter (114286), 1/8″ hole punch, standard hole punch, tweezers