MONDAY

Two posts today, because the BIG news from Stampin' Up is that today is Cyber Monday and you get FREE SHIPPING on ALL products! 

Click on the SHOP NOW button at the right side of the blog, get the hostess code from the top of the website page, click on SHOP NOW again and "take it away" by adding all your goodies to your cart.  Even if you don't need any stamps or great items from the Holiday Catalog (which I can't imagine!), it is a great time to order those staples that you need for stamping.  Make your list, check it twice and order what you need.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.   Sale ends at 2 a.m. MT.

Have fun shopping!

The second regular post is a picture of the treat holders I made for our family for our Thanksgiving dinner.  I know Thanksgiving was on Thursday, but my family could not get together until Sunday, so that is what we did.  A good time and yummy food were had by all.

I used the stamp and thinlit from the Colorful Seasons set for the front of the box and then colored them with our Stampin' Blends.  The little box is very easy and is made with Pumpkin Pie c.s.  

• You start with a piece of cardstock measuring 3 x 3 1/2.
• With the 3 1/2 side at the top of your Simply Scored, score at 1" and 2 1/2".  
• Turn your c.s. with the short side at the top and score at 1" and 2".
• On the 2 short sides, cut up on the score lines until you meet the next score.
• Put some Fast Fuse on the end pieces and fold up to make your box.  So easy.

I filled mine with two Hershey Nuggets.  Of course, these can be made for any occasion when you change up the stamped image.  Try one.  So easy and fun.

FRIDAY

Here is another Christmas project for you to try.  It is a hot chocolate holder and I will be giving these to my 26 sorority sisters at our Christmas dinner.

These are both the same except for the diamond in the center of the snowflake.  I had these extra large jewels left from several years ago.  In order to get the jewel to be red, you just color it with our new Stampin' Blends.  They are so awesome.  They are alcohol based markers so coloring pearls or jewels is a breeze.

First of all, thanks to Dawn Olchefske for the pattern.

• Start with a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 sheet of cardstock, scored in half at 4 1/4.
• The next step is to make a score line at the corner.  Using your retired diagonal plate for your Simply Scored is the way to go, but I couldn't find mine anywhere, so here is the tip for scoring without it.  Lay the left corner of your c.s. piece at the 6" mark at the top of your Simply Scored and move your bottom right corner to the 8" line.  Then make your score line at the corner by coming down from the 10" mark at the top.
• Next you need to lay your c.s. into your Winter Wonder (snowflake) Embossing Folder (HC) by lining up your c.s. with the bottom and side edge of your folder on the side of the c.s. that is scored at the corner.
• Fold your scored corner to the INSIDE of the c.s so that your embossed snowflake is now on the front.

• Put a strip of Tear and Tape along the bottom edge of the inside of your holder and close your holder by creasing on your center score.  You now have a sealed bottom so your cocoa packet does not fall out.  
• I also added a snowflake from the Seasonal Layers thinlits as the center of the embossed snowflake.
• Punch two holes along the open edge so that you can thread your ribbon through in the next step. I used my Crop-o-dile.
• The final step is to place your packet in your holder and put your ribbon through the holes to add your candy cane.  I have also seen a treat tube placed in the ribbon filled with mini marshmallows instead of a candy cane.  Here is a picture of how to thread your ribbon through.  I used the ribbon from the MINI Tinsel Trim Pack (red and silver) for my tie.  It worked GREAT because it pulled tightly and held to the candy cane without making a double knot.  My piece was 9" long.

WEDNESDAY

Sorry I missed Monday.  I came home from the stamping retreat and continued to work on projects, forgetting to post.  Here is another project I worked on.  These will be for the other bell ringers (40+) in our Bell Fest concert on Dec 10.

This is always an easy treat holder to go to when you need a bunch.  It can be used for any occasion by changing the DSP and the embellishment or message.

If you have never made one, you start with a piece of DSP measured at 6 x 6, which means you can get 4 out of a sheet of DSP.

Next, fold your paper corner to corner to create a triangle shape.  

Then bring the left point across the triangle to the right side and crease.

Bring the right side of the triangle across to the left side and crease.

No need to use any adhesive when you crease well with your bone folder.

Pop open a little and put your treat inside.

SO EASY!

Supplies used: Merry Music Specialty DSP, Quilted Christmas 1/4" Ribbon (both in the Holiday Catalog), Gold Foil Paper, Bell Punch, Glue Dots.

Each treat holder will hold one peppermint, one chocolate bell and one gumdrop bell.  

I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Hopefully you are able to spend some time with friends or loved ones.  Peace to those who may be suffering or remembering the loss of a loved one during this holiday.  Blessings to all, thanking God for all He has done.

FUN FOLD FRIDAY

Here is a cute little pencil holder that I will be making for the 20+ first graders who I help with kid writing one day a week.  It can hold 4 pencils and can be adapted for any holiday or occasion.

Here are the dimensions for making:

Thanks to Dannie Graves for the idea and the dimensions.  So cute and so easy!

After finishing this and taking a picture, I added one more thing.  I had a lot of little mini jingle bells left from last year's products and decided to hot glue one in the middle of the antlers of each of the Rudolphs.  Turned out cute.

WEDNESDAY

I am working on some samples of projects I can work on at our scrap and stamp weekend.  This is a treat box I will be making for the members of my bell choir.

Of course I used the Mini Pizza Boxes from the Holiday Catalog to hold the treats.  I LOVE these little boxes.  I hope they hold them over when the catalog ordering period ends.  I used some retired DSP so I could get rid of it, but there are lots of other current Christmas DSP papers you can choose from.  The message is from The Little Things Stamp Set also in the HC.  I colored the images with the new Stampin' Blends.  They work great.  I have to find some more things to color.  I used the Circle Framelits and the Stitched Framelits also.  The cutest little thing is the Mini Bow, found in the HC.  They come in red, white and green and you get 45 in a box.  I needed to use them for a project that would not have to go through the mail.

Inside the box will be some bell shaped chocolates and bell shaped gumdrops plus some mints.  I will hand them out at our combined Bell Fest on Dec 10th.  Everyone will need a little hit of sugar during our day long practice session.

On Friday I will share another project I will be working on.

MONDAY

Just a little late this morning.  I had a Bible Study and got up late.

I know it is a little early for Christmas, even though we see it everywhere in stores now, but I am working on getting my Christmas card ideas together.  I will be going to a scrap/stamp weekend beginning this Friday so I need to have my ideas ready to go so I know what supplies to take along with me.  I am trying desperately to use items I ordered earlier so that I don't have a lot of left-over Christmas items when the holidays are over.

Here is the first card.

For this card I used the Swirly Snowflakes Die for the top border. The embossed snowflakes on the left side are part of a retired embossing folder.  I put Wink of Stella on them (not sure if that shows up)

The "peace" is cut from Silver Foil paper, but is also a retired thinlit.  The ribbon across the top is the Silver Metallic Edge Ribbon in the AC (pg 199).  This ribbon is so pretty and comes with a gold edge also.

Jewells help to finish off this pretty easy card.  I get bored with making all of my Christmas cards the same so there will be more samples to come.

FRIDAY

First of all - DISCLAIMER!
I will explain the corners in a minute.
This was a 50th anniversary card I made to send to my college roommate.  It looked great until tragedy struck.

Here goes - I wanted to take a pic of the card for the blog, but I forgot and put it in the envelope.  In order to release the glue on the envelope flap I placed it in the microwave.  Right away it sparked and started to burn on the corners!  Lesson learned - never put anything in the micro that has metallic paper on it.  I am sending my roomie an explanation because I refuse to do this whole card over again.  It is now even more unique than ever.  I know their anniversary was great, despite the card!  What a great milestone, but it seems just like yesterday.

Supplies used:  Gold Foil Paper and Glimmer Paper, Vanilla c.s., Bloomin' Heart Thinlit, Number of Years Stamp Set and Large Numbers Thinlits, Gold Embossing Powder. 

WEDNESDAY

The second Christmas card we will be making at the retirement community is just a fun, general one with Christmas colors.

For this card I used Cherry Cobbler c.s. embossed with the Oh My Stars Embossing Folder.  The other side of the front is a piece of Be Merry DSP.  The ribbon is last year's silver Sale-a-bration ribbon. The message is from the Snowflake Sentiments (H.C. pg 35) and the Silver Foil snowflakes are from the Swirly Snowflakes Thinlit Dies (H.C. pg 35).  I also used the scalloped edge Layering Oval Framelits and the Stitched Shapes Framelits.

I hope the stampers will find these cards fun and easy to do.

MONDAY

At the end of the week I will be sharing some card making at a local retirement community.  They want to make a Christmas card so here is the first one we will be making. This is the religious one.

I tried to make it easy since I am not sure the people have stamped before.  The Foil Designer Acetate is adhered to a piece of Night of Navy c.s.  I did this so that when they stamp their Bethlehem city, they won't have to worry about where the left part of the stamp ends.  It will be covered with these pieces.  A piece of the Year of Cheer Washi Tape is added to the edge.  The city and the message are stamped with Sahara Sand and Mary and Joseph are stamped with Night of Navy.  I will cut this out for them using the Big Shot.  I will already have the star cut out of Gold Foil Paper.

Of course, the stamp set is Night of Bethlehem.  Love this stamp set and matching framelits!

On Wednesday I will show you the other card.  I'm off to jury duty today, so hope it goes well. 

FUN FOLD FRIDAY

Today's post will highlight a diorama card.  At our Proverbial Stamper's meeting last night, Cheryl George demonstrated how to make these cards.  Even though they look difficult, they are very simple and the basic design can be stepped up to be really cool.  Here are Cheryl's samples:

Here are the directions:

Fold the cardstock and the DSP in opposite directions and then glue together.  You can decorate an inside layer or stamp right on the inside layer, depending on the color of the card stock base and what you want your final result to be.

I am anxious to try some of these myself.  Let me know how you make out and "thanks to Cheryl"!

WEDNESDAY

On the road home from the beach and didn't get to a Monday post.  Here are some Halloween favors I made for my sorority sisters for our long weekend shopping beach trip.  I used the Mini Pizza boxes and lots of stamps and embellishments - some retired and some current.  I LOVE these little boxes.

Sorry, the second pic is a little blurry, but I already gave them away so I can't retake the pic.

Hope everyone had a good Halloween and you weren't  too scared!