Designer Series Paper November Special

For the month of November Stampin' Up! is offering a special perfect for everyone. When you purchase 3 packs of Designer Series Paper, you get a 4th for FREE! The Designer Series Paper is found on pages 170-173 of the Fall/Winter Collection. There are also two in the Winter Mini Catalog.
To help you keep all your projects looking good, here is a list of the colors used on each paper. Check your stock and be sure you are ready to make wonderful coordinating projects.

Brocade Backgrounds: Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, River Rock
Cerise: Real Red, Very Vanilla
Charbon: Basic Gray, Very Vanilla
Creepy Crawly: Basic Black, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust
Cutie Pie: Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Rose Red, So Saffron
Darling Doodles: Brocade Blue, Groovy Guava, Rose Red, Wild Wasabi
Dashing: Old Olive, Real Red, River Rock, Very Vanilla
Fall Flowers: Old Olive, Really Rust, Sahara Sand, Soft Sky
Flowers for You: Certainly Celery, Lovely Lilac, Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise
LeJardin: River Rock, Soft Sky, So Saffron, Very Vanilla
Linen Prints: Apricot Appeal, Cameo Coral, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, Pink Passion
Notations No.2: More Mustard, River Rock, Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi
Outlaw: Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Really Rust, Sage Shadow, Very Vanilla
Petals & Paisleys: Certainly Celery, Cool Caribbean (retired), Rose Red, Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Taken with Teal

Porcelain Prints: Blue Bayou, River Rock, Wild Wasabi

Uptown: Almost Amethyst, Basic Gray, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi

Wintergreen: Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Sage Shadow, Soft Sky

Holiday Harmony: Always Artichoke, Purely Pomegranate, River Rock
Apple Cider: Close to Cocoa, Really Rust, River Rock, Wild Wasabi

Prints: Monochromatic papers available in Almost Amethyst, Always Artichoke, Blue Bayou, Brilliant Blue, Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa, Groovy Guava, Lovely Lilac, More Mustard, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, River Rock, Rose Red, So Saffron, Soft Sky, Tempting Turquoise

Trial and errors with Mod Podge

I have been working on a number of crafts to give to the church craft bazaar in two weeks. Most of the crafts have nothing to do with stamping at all. (the reason I have no new stmaping items to show lately) This is one project I was hoping to make for them, but it has turned into a big learning tool for the future. There are too many mistakes and imperfections on here to give it to the church craft bazaar, but it is good to show you what you can and CAN'T do if you try and make one.

The first thing I learned is to use something other than newspaper to protect my table. Newspaper is my standard table protectant. Easy to clean and always available in my house. When you are working with Mod Podge though the newspaper can become stuck to your project and does not peel off. The picture covered most of it well, but there are dirt smudges all over the bottom area.

I do like the cookie sheets that I got at the dollar store. When I was done I could peel the excess glue that was not on the paper, but on the cookie sheet itself. It does make me nervous that later the paper will peel from the cookie sheet also.

When you use the Mod Podge and white or vanilla paper, be sure your hands are clean. Wear gloves if possible. Any dirt I got on my hands from the newspaper would get into the Mod Podge on my project and give it little dirty spots.

DO NOT USE CLASSIC INK IF YOU PLAN TO COVER IT WITH MOD PODGE. The ink will run and give a faded look. Afterwards I did go back with a marker and color the letters in "christmas" back in. It helped a little, but I still had to seal the ink afterwards with a spray. It is best to use craft ink or emboss your items first before coating them with Mod Podge.

The flowers and leaves are cut out of paper. These went on easily and look very nice.

Don't be alarmed if your paper bubbles up a little when you cover it with Mod Podge. As it dries it work its way out on its own. Be sure to coat the item with a good layer of Mod Podge before putting your paper down, this will help it to stick better. It dries enough to hold the paper very quickly so be careful when placing it, so you don't have to try and move it.

The numbers are also cut from paper. After the letter fiasco I had to try something else. I stamped the numbers in versamark onto the Real Red cardstock. I cut them out and adheared them to the panels with Mod Podge. The number panels are actually chipboard coasters cut in half. I covered them in Old Olive cardstock. I them put a panel of Very Vanilla on top and the number on top of all that. Each layer was put on with Mod Podge. I like how these turned out and next time will do all the letters this way. There are pieces of magnet on the back of the number to hold them on the sign. The extra number go on the other side of the sign (what is actually the top of the cookie sheet).

The crop-a-dile went through the top edge easily to tie the ribbon on.

I hope my trial and errors helped you as you think about talking a project with Mod Podge.

Left Overs

I havn't posted one of my own works in a little while. I have some other obligations I need to tend to right now. I did make this page this morning. I had to get out my sewing machine for something else and thought, "I havn't sewn on a card in a long time." I have also had a bunch of pieces from my Winter Bright Simply Scrappin' Kit taking up space on my desk.

I rumaged through my paper scraps and found a Real Red 6x6 piece. Perfect for a little scrapbook page. In my SSK pieces I have a number of little pattern pieces left over. I pulled out my photo corner punch and some scrap Wild Wasabi. A couple pieces of Wild Wasabi Double Stitched Ribbon and we are done.

I stitched the photo corners on so I can add a picture later. The piece in the lower left corner is from the SSK. It has some lines on it to write on. I think it will be perfect for names and ages of those in the photo. That is my sewing machine in the background. Nothing special, just basic stiches.

Capture the memory

Halloween is next week. All of us parents and grandparents will whip out those cameras and take pictures of our cute little kids. I have a couple of scrapbook page ideas for you. They are both 6x6. Perfect for a brag book or smaller album. They can also be layered onto larger pages to have more room for more pictures or journaling.

Neither page is mine. I received these in a swap on SCS. The first is from cindycmns. It has an area for one good sized photo. The images are from "Batty for You". They are rasied up with dimensionals. The pattern paper is "Creepy Crawly".

The second page is from cvstamper. Using the "Holiday Blitz" stamp set. She has space for two smaller photos or one photo and a short journaling entry. The main colors are Pumpkin Pie and Green Galore.

portable ribbon storage

On my desk I have a series of drawers. A drawer for adhesive items, a drawer for wheels, a drawer for cutting and altering items, a drawer for neutral scraps, 2 drawers for colored scraps, and a drawer for eyelets, brads and ribbon. My ribbon collection is growing beyond it's drawer. Each time I want one I have to rumage through the drawer to find it. Then wind the roll back up. My drawer is overfilling with embelishments and it has been time to find a new storage solution for some time.

I was at Walmart yesterday. My DH and I had taken a short cut through the household area to go to the hardware department for lightbulbs. On my way down the isle I glanced over and saw this cute little bit, the perfect size for my ribbon rolls. I especially like that I can see through the side and see what I have or what I am running low on. The top folds shut to keep everything clean and dust free. You can also stack several of the bins on a shelf. I only got one to try it out, but see more in my future. It fits the grosgrain rolls perfectly. The smaller rolls fit well, I simply put another roll in sideways to help hold the rolls in place. Best part.....this stylish bin was less than $2. It will also easily fit into a rolling bag to go to a crop or on vacation.

Alternate Glitz Ideas

I got a set of the Holiday Glitz card kit last week. I have to say, the kit is wonderful. It is so fast to make your cards. Skipping all that measuring and cutting. I have the "Big on Christmas" stamp set that the kit was designed to go with. It was easy to make and the card does look nice. I was wondering though what other sets I have that might go with the kit. I have a few customers who stamp on a budget and I wanted to see what other sets might work with the kit, so they didn't have to get both the kit and a new stamp set if they didn't want to. Here are three other examples I made using alternate stamp sets.
For the first two, I simply changed the stamp set. I kept the layout of the card just like the examples in the instructions. I used "Merry, Merry" in Sky Blue and Wild Wasabi for one of them and "Lovely as a Tree" in Sky Blue for the other.

For my third card, I used "Sidekick Sayings" (hostess level 1) in Wild Wasabi and Real Red. I also changed the direction of the papers. I didn't alter the size of them from the kit, just changed the layout.

I hope you enjoyed these alternate examples. The image panel is 2" x 4-1/4". Look around your stamp collection and see what might work for you.

Pocket gift card holder

We did the ghosting technique at stamp club last night and I promised the ladies that I would post the measurements to the card we made today. So here are the steps and measurements.

Supplies Need:

Glossy Cardstock (4" x 2-3/4")

Neutral Cardstock (4-1/2"x3-3/4") Whisper White Used

Insert Cardstock (4-3/4"x4") Soft Sky Used

Main Cardstock (5-1/2"x8-1/2") Purely Pomegranate Used

Versamark

Classic Ink Pad-Soft Sky Used

Ribbon or cord --silver cord used

Stamp set --"Merry, Merry" & "Warm Words" Used

2 way glue pen

Glitter-Dazzling Diamonds

Slit Punch

Sticky Strip

Word window punch

Brayer

1.) Using a versamark ink pad, stamp images onto the glossy cardstock.

2.) Coat your brayer well with classic ink. Starting off the paper roll ink onto the glossy cardstock. Wherever you stamped in Versamark the colored ink will not appear. Your versamark image will appear white like the paper. (sorry the picture doesn't show this well) You can rub a tissue over the images to take off any ink you may have on them.

3.) Using the 2 way glue pen, put glitter where desired on your images. I placed a little glitter in the center of each snowflake.
4.) Stamp any desired images on the neutral cardstock for the insert panel.

5.) If you wish to make this a gift card holder like shown.....push your slit punch onto the paper as far as it will go from the top. Do this again on the bottom.

6.) Adhere the neutral piece to the insert piece with snail adhesive.

7.) Score your card base in half at 4-1/4". Turn the paper over and score at 1" for one end to make the flap.

8.) Adhere the glossy paper onto the card front. The top edge will be partially under the flap.

9.) Tie ribbon or cord around the flap.
10.) Place sticky strip on both sides inside the card pocket and underneath the flap. Be sure to place the sticky strip as close to the edges as possible or the card insert won't fit.

11.) Peal back red tape and adhere card together. Slip insert into slot.

12.) On a piece of scratch cardstock stamp the words "be merry" and punch out with word window punch. Adhere to front of card.

Here is another version I made. All of the steps are the same. I used the blue frost spectrum pad for the glossy panel. The main card is Ballet Blue and the insert is Brilliant Blue.

Back to Blogging... with Chipboard Coasters

It is good to be blogging again. My new hard drive seems to be working well. I am fairly confident that I can start to load my computer full of files and ideas again without loosing them.

I got a shippment of chipboard coasters awhile back, but have not done too much with them. I have a few ideas in my head and wanted to start with this one. These little boxes are perfect for all sorts of things.

Making them is just as easy as deciding what to put in them.

Supplies needed:

5 square chipboard coasters (mine are 4")

Designer paper (Creepy Crawly used here)

Coordinating Solid Paper (Pumpkin Pie used here)

Crop-A-Dile

Ribbon (Black Grosgrain used here)

Glue Stick

Sanding blocks

Ruler or mat pack

1.) Cut Designer paper to be the same size as your chipboard coasters. (I covered 3 sides with the Creepy Crawly paper so the words would read around the box. The 4th side I covered with a different print from the collection)

2.) Cut the coordinating paper for the inside of the box and the bottom. Again cut the same size as the coasters.
3.) Coat one side of the chipboard with glue stick and adhear the designer paper. When Dry turn over and do the same thing to the other side with the coordinating paper. Don't forget to do the bottom.

4.) When dry sand the sides of the chipboard to be even. (OPTIONAL--Decorate the sides of your box now. I used Haunting Halloween for the panel on the front side.)

5.) Using your ruler or mat pack mark the holes for the sides of the box. Be sure to mark all the sides the same way.

6.) Punch the holes with your Crop-A-Dile.

7.) Tie bits of ribbon on each side to hold the box together. On the bottom holes I first looped it through a hole in the bottom of the box to hold it together.

8.) Fill your box as desired. (I put a styrofoam block inside and stuck suckers inside for a sucker garden. The suckers were decorated with "Batty For You" images layered on 1 3/8" circles and scallop punched black circles.)

Non-traditional stamps for Christmas

Thank you for being patient with my computer problems. I have had to load the opperating system twice. Each time I loose everything I already had done. A new hard drive is on its way and then I get to start over again.

The good news--it has prompted me to make some changes I have wanted to make in awhile. I have been putting off changing email accounts and reorganizing many of my files. Now I can start fresh. The browser updates I have downloaded do not recognize my old email and passwords so it was the perfect time to switch to a new user. I love the new one, it has so many more capabilities. Since I don't have any files reorganizing the new ones will be easy.

Anyways, enough of the personal and on to some stamping. I had loaded these onto SCS last week and was going to post them here .....until......well, you know.

This projects are all about getting the best bang for your buck. People are always looking for more ways to use something. They hate to buy a stamp set just for that one time use. I own more Christmas stamps than I can use, but not everyone can. Maybe you want to make a couple of Christmas cards, but what do you do with those images the rest of the year. Why not use a non-traditional stamp to make your Christmas card. The "Pick A Petal" stamp set has many uses. My latest use for it is below. Use the petals to make holiday wreaths.

I stamped one of the smaller petals in the set onto Whisper White cardstock several times. I cut them out and layered them around the hole to form a wreath. A quick little bow and we are done. The hole was cut using my coluzzle system. The sentiment is stamped on the inside panel of the card.

Stamps: Pick-a-Petal, Holidays & Wishes

Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White

Ink: Wild Wasabi, Basic Black

Accessories: Coluzzle, Purely Pomegranate Dbl Stitched Ribbon

The box was made in a similar way. This time I adheared a transparency sheet inside the box. Now the recipient can see the contents of their gift.

Stamps: Pick-a-Petal, Holidays & Wishes, All About Christmas Jumbo Wheel

Paper: Real Red, Whisper White

Ink: Wild Wasabi, Basic Black

Accessories: Coluzzle, double hole punch, corner rounder, key tag punch, gold elastic cord, real red grosgrain ribbon, transparency sheet

2nd to a fire

I don't normally post personal things, but I didn't want you to think I had forgotten about you or fell from the earths surface. My computer died yesterday. To the point where we had to wipe the drive and start over. I have NOTHING. No files, no pictures, no checkbook, no ideas, no workshop directions for projects, nothing. No address files, no flyers for promotion the church craft fair I am in charge of in 3 weeks, no web sites or passwords in my favorites. No tax estimates for the business this year. No internal wireless card. nothing. It is all gone. I am half way through loading programs so I can even start to rebuild my files.
The only thing that could have been worse at this point is to have actually had a fire in our house. At least I do have all of my possessions. And though it is going to take awhile I can rebuild my computer. Most everything can be found again. The only thing I can't replace is all the pictures I took the last year. (Back up your files folks) We know we should, but we don't always do that till it is too late.
The good side. My harddrive has tons of room. It works a little faster without all that crap you never use in the way. A full system scan doesn't take very long now. I can have all the excitement and fun of searching on SCS for all the tips and ideas I had found once before.
I wish everyone a wonderful weekend. I hope you find time to stamp something beautiful.

I couldn't resist.

I showed you the little ribbon stamp I got the other day. Well, I could help but pick up this stamp also that day. There are not a lot of patriotic style stamps out there. This one had me hooked from the start.....and it was.....ON SALE!

It is a large stamp and after I colored it in I felt like it could handle the card all by itself. I did color this one with markers, but plan to make another one with chalks or ink and aqua painter. I want to send some to a fire department in Ontario. They tryed to save a fellow stampers home and she wants to send them thank you's for everything they did. If you want to send some also here is the link to her blog and address for the cards.

I woke up this morning with an idea floating in my head, I am off to stamp it. See you tomorrow. Thanks for checking today.

Fold it over

Stampin' Up! has some of the prettiest pattern paper collections. There are many times that I can't decide which side of the paper to use. Why not use both? A simple fold of the paper and you can show both sides and add even more to the texture of your card.

I made this card on World Card Making Day. I didn't have any greater purpose in mind, I just love this paper. The cardbase and image colors can be found in the flowers of this "Cutie Pie" DSP. Instead of coloring in the image with markers or such, I decided to paper pierce the image together. I stamped the vase and flower onto cardstock. I cut them out and layered it onto the panel with the stem stamped in basic black.

Stamps: Vases in Vogue (Hostess level 3)

Paper: Cutie Pie DSP, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Bashful Blue

Ink: Basic Black

Accessories: dimensionals, gold brad

Going Pink!

I wanted to let any stamping sisters I may have with Breast Cancer know that I support you and wish you well. For this reason, I have gone pink for the month of October. I send you my wishes, prayers, or congratulations depending on the stage you are in or celebrating recovery from. I have been blessed to not have any family history of breast cancer. My DH cannot say the same. Those of you who battle with this are stronger than I could ever be and I commend you for that.

While at HL the other day shopping for some fabric and ribbon (for Christmas wreaths not stamping...shhhh don't tell the ribbon), I saw a wonderful little stamp of a cause ribbon. Though I don't know anyone personally with breast cancer, I do know LOTS of women who are lucky enough to be married to the wonderful men of our armed services. Being one myself, we are a strong group (as strongly bonded as stampers) who stick by each others side in good and bad. Over the years we change units and maybe towns from one another, but always try to keep in touch. I know several ladies who have deployed or soon to be deployed husbands. So, long story short, I thought I would use my new ribbon stamp to make cards for some of them this month. The yellow ribbon is our symbol of support. We collectively pray for the safe return of our men (and women) who serve our great country. I have been working on past SCS sketch challenges. #94 was the perfect layout for a quick little card of support.

The star in the lower right corner is punched to show the insert where you can write a short message. The one in the upper left corner is on a dimensional. The rest of the card is fairly self explanatory. The second picture shows how the card opens in the middle.

Please consider going pick this month to show support for the women battling breast cancer. Also remember those who wait patiently here while our loved ones do the job they were asked to do.

A quick post

I had a blast yesterday stamping with a few people. I made a few more cards after they left. I made this card the other day. It is for the brother of the Dunn twins. (you can read more about them in early posts from this week) I wanted to make a card for the brother so he didn't feel left out of all the attention.
I used sketch challenge 143 from SCS. I had bought the "By Land" stamp set to use for my son. It is the only boyish set that I really own. I thought the brother might like the big tractor though. I stamped it in Old Olive and then added a little dirt with my Chocolate Chip Marker. The tires were stamped in black, cut out and mounted on the original image.
I hope all of you had fun yesterday making cards. Take care and thanks for checking in.

Stamps: By Land, Making Tracks wheel, Sanded

Paper: Old Olive, Basic Gray, Not Quite Navy

Ink: Old Olive, Basic Black, Chocolate Chip, Not Quite Navy

Accessories: Jumbo Eyelets, dimensionals

Happy World Card Making Day

I hope everyone finds the time to stamp a card today. I have set aside 8 hours to stamp with friends today. We are making 30 cards from 1/2 a Simply Scrappin' Kit and an open crop all afternoon.

I really like the look of the criss-cross cards, so I made another one. The tutorial for this one can be found on SCS in their resources section. Here is a direct link. This time I wanted a Christmas theme. I am contemplating using these cards to send out Christmas pictures in this year.

The stamp set, "Baroque Motifs" is by no means a Traditional Christmas set, but can be when you use the right colors and paper. I stamped the emblem on Naturals Ivory cardstock in Purely Pomegranate and then colored in areas with an Always Artichoke marker. I cut it out and layered in on a piece of Always Artichoke punched with the Scallop Circle. The card band and insert back are River Rock. The motif swirls are also stamped in River Rock on the Naturals Ivory cardstock. The sentiment is from "Holidays & Wishes". Everything goes well with the Holiday Harmony DSP in the Holiday Mini Catalog. I like the elegant classic look to these colors together.

Enjoy your card making day.

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Holidays & Wishes

Paper: Holiday Harmony DSP, River Rock, Purely Pomegranate, Always Artichoke, Naturals Ivory

Ink: Purely Pomegranate, River Rock, Always Artichoke

Accessories: Scallop Cirle Punch, Round Tab Punch, Purely Pomegranate Dbl Stitched Ribbon, glue dot

"Cutie Pie" Criss-Cross

As promissed from yesterday, here are the cards I made for the Dunn twins. I really encourage you to consider making cards for them. If you need a bonus, Andrea (Crafty Engineering) is offering some great blog candy to one lucky person who sends cards to her. To up the ante, Anita is offering a free stamp set to the person who wins Andrea's candy. The stamp set is "Just Like You" from the curent catalog. A portion of the sales of this stamp set goes to benifit the Ronald McDonald House Charity. Please consider adding this stamp set to your wish list on your next order. Stampin' Up! contributes over $100,000 to the RMDH each year.

Here are the cards I made. I have been wanting to make some of these criss-cross cards. The tutotial for a tall criss-cross card can be found here at Creative Bug.

I started with the "Cutie Pie" DSP. Taking colors from there, I used textured Purely Pomegranate for the card base. Some details that are hard to see in the picture are: the letters are stamped in Purely Pomegranate and then the spaces colored in with So Saffron. There are also Bashful Blue doodles are the edge of the circle with the letters. The letters are from a retired alphabet stamp set. I wanted to use the girls initials on their personal card.

The band around the cards is also from the Cutie Pie collection. One of the sheets has a series of different print stripes. I cut off a couple of them for the bands. I stamped the small swirls from "Priceless" on the insert in So Saffron. I have found that sticky strip is the best thing to hold on the folded tab punch. The brads that I used here are another solution to holding it on well.

Please consider making a card for these girls. This is a wonderful family and you will be helping future families that the Dunn's will be happy to support with their guidance and medical research.

Stamps: Priceless

Paper: Cutie Pie DSP, Purely Pomegranate Textured, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Bashful Blue

Ink: So Saffron, Purely Pomegranate, Bashful Blue, So Saffron

Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" circle punches, Round Tab Punch, gold brads, glue dot, spiral punch, sticky strip

Eyelet rings

I made a few cards yesterday. I was moved by the story of the Dunn twin girls with cancer. They are only three months now. I couldn't even imagine going through something like that with my kids. I give the parents and extended family a lot for being able to be so cal, as the babies go through chemo. I found out about them through Andrea's blog. Here is the story of the family and their fight.

I made cards for each of the girls as part of the blog candy for a cause. (Though I don't need candy to fulfill this request for cards. I will show those tomorrow) I thought it would be nice to also make a card for the mom. Honestly, how does she have the strength to watch her babies go through that. I would be a crying heap of a mess.

So here is the card for mom. From reading their story, they are very strong in their faith. I instantly thought of one of the sentiments in the stamp set "Star-Studded Season". For the layout I went with this weeks SCS Sketch Challenge. I wanted to have a shinny star for the mom to follow, so I embossed a gold star onto Naturals White cardstock. I cut it out, layered it on the black cardstock and cut it out again. I used the window image from "Holy Triptych" for the main panel background. The sentiment is also embossed in gold on the naturals white cardstock. A few eyelet rings to add some decoration and a strip of Brocade Backgrounds DSP and I am done.

Stamps: Star-Studded Season, Holy Triptych

Paper: Naturals White, Basic Black, Rose Red, Not Quite Navy, Brocade Background DSP

Ink: Versamark, Basic Black

Accessories: Crop-A-Dile, Basic eyelets, 1/4" circle punch, mini glue dots

Here are the quick and easy steps to making the eyelet rings (they may have another name, but that is what I call them). They help when you want to add a little decoration to your simple embelishment.

Basic Supplies Needed: Crop-A-Dile (CAD), Eyelets, cardstock for rings (basic black used here), and 1/4" circle punch

Step 1: Punch holes using the 1/8" hole of your CAD in the cardstock you wish to be the rings. Also punch same size holes in your project where you want the eyelets to be placed.

Step 2: Using your 1/4" circle punch, line up the CAD hole and make the rings.

Step 3: Place the rings on your eyelets.

Step 4: Set your eyelets on your project with your CAD as usual.

Optional: You can make more rings of different colors by using larger circle punches.

Quick gifts

I have been starting to think about Christmas gifts. What to get for people, what I want if they were to ask, what to get at the last minute for those I didn't think of. There is always one fall back gift that everyone can use and never goes out of style. What is it? Money of course. Nowadays we don't give cash anymore, we give gift cards. Be it from a particular retailer or from a bank to be used anywhere, gift cards are more and more popular each year.

Here are a couple of gift card holders I made yesterday and wanted to share with you. They are both the size of a standard card and can be mailed in a standard card envelope.

The first one is a sort of gate fold card. It opens in the middle to reveal the gift card inside. There is a small area inside to write a quick message and a mat to mount the gift card on. The circle punched in the front lower corner reveals the snowflake on the inside of the card. The pattern paper helps to cover up any gap that might be there after folding the card shut. The gold elastic band slips off the side so you can open the card and is attached under the image panel.

Stamp sets: Merry, Merry

Paper: Real Red, Old Olive, Dashing DSP, Whisper White

Ink: Real Red, White Craft

Accessories: Winter White EP, Gold Elastic cord, 1" & 1 1/4" circle punches, Scallop punch, dimensionals

The second one is a matchbook style card. The left strip is actually a covering for the flap where the front tucks in. I used a small piece of velcro to close it, but you can also place a staple to the left of the brad to keep the flap down. When you open the card, there is a slot made with the word window punch to put the gift card in. I left the rest of the inside area blank to write on. You could stamp a quick message or images inside if you wished.

Stamp sets: Jolliest Time of the Year, All Holidays

Paper: Old Olive, Whisper White, Real Red, River Rock, Dashing DSP

Ink: Basic Black, Real Red, Old Olive, Summer Sun, black marker

Accessories: Red Grosgrain, Double rectangle punch, Fire Square Brad, velcro, word window punch

Aye' Chihuahua!

I have the winner of the blog candy, but first how about a card.

I participated in a MEGA swap hosted by Buckeye Stamper over the last couple of months. I got back some of the most wonderful cards and 6x6 scrapbook pages. These two stood out in my mind after going through them all. In honor of our new little chihuahua puppy I thought I would post them here. They were both done by Pam C. (not sure of her SCS name to link her gallery, sorry-if someone knows please comment as I would love to see her other work)

The only instructions we had were to use a stamp set new to the Idea Book & Catalog. She picked "Yappy Day". I do not have a recipe from her, but have guessed to the best of my ability. She used "Yappy Day", "See You Around" Jumbo wheel and "Speckled" Jumbo wheel. Real Red, Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla and Creamy Caramel Cardstock. The lines around each panel are drawn on.

For her card she used Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Basic Black and Whisper White cardstock. Basic Brown Ink. The colar is made with cardstock and a white signo gel pen. She also colored in several of the spots from "See You Around" with the gel pen. The images and mats were punched with 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" circle punches. The colar is also stamped color on color with the canvas background stamp.

Now for the winners.......yes I said winnerS. I was so happy with the entries and subscription participation I decided to pick two. Using my random generator (by daughter picking out of a hat) the winners are...

Cheryl KVD

and

Marci Wilson

Please email me (kjbmusic@cs.com) with your address so I can send out your candy.

Congrats and thank you to everyone!