Here Comes Christmas

A couple of months ago my friend, Beckie visited me and we even had a chance to stamp together. Beckie is an amazing stamper! We had not stamped together in years. I was amazed by how quickly she came up with several cute cards. In about the time it took her to make 4 cards, I had agonized over one and how to finish it. And that certainly doesn't mean that she did sloppy work! No, her cards are all beautiful. So, here are three of the cards she made that night.

Two views of this non-traditional Christmas card. I love the Christmas Collage stamped on the patterned paper. I never would have thought of that. And the unique fold too! LOVE IT!

I love how elegant this one is. It has just the right touches with the torn paper and

little banner greeting.

And this one is so cozy feeling, like an old quilt. So great!

I hope you enjoyed Beckie's cards as much as I do. Even after all these years, I still learn from the Stamping Queen! Thanks Beckie, for sharing your talent with me and the world! Love you!

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Got Tags?

Card Swap Group met last Wednesday. We had a great time swapping our gift tags and Michelle Hansen brought a fun gift card holder for the make-n-take.

Sweet and Simple Tag Assortment by Christine Fouts

Festive and Fun Collection by Michelle Hansen

All Occasion Set by Cindy Roberg

Contemporary Christmas Collection by Nickie Kenyon

Christmas Tag Assortment by Michelle Tweedy

Fun Tags by DeeAnn Haworth

Christmas Collage of Tags by Lisa Jones

Snowman Tags by Becca Goodwin

Here is the cute gift card holder I made for the make-n-take. Thanks so much, Michelle!

Next time will be something different: Shape Cards! I can't wait!

Vintage Kindness

I love the vintage look, but I don't actually have very many items of the vintage variety. But, I was inspired to make do with what I had on hand. This is the result:

The card base is Crumb Cake (which I adore). The next layer is Very Vanilla. I stamped the flourish from Baroque Motifs, first lightly in Crumb Cake, then with Marina Mist. The flowers were stamped in Blushing Bride and the flower centers are self adhesive rhinestones. I would have preferred pearls. but I haven't purchased any of those yet. The pink strip on the left is punched with the eyelet border and the sentiment is punched with the oval punches. The ribbon is retired SU! stock I still had on hand: Ivory Organdy Ribbon. Once I tied a square knot, I used my embossing gun to melt the ends a bit for more of a vintage look.

Don't forget to sign up for my stamp camp. coming up in December!

Join Me For Stamp Camp in December!

Aren't home made gift the best to give and receive? I know I love to get a gift that is hand made. I know that the giver has taken the time to think of me and spend some of their precious time to make something just for me. And I also love to give a gift that I have labored over. I love the see the recipient open their gift. It is always obvious that people are touched when they see it.

To help you prepare for the Christmas Season I have four projects for you to make at my upcoming Stamp Camp on December 4th, 2010. I have prepared these beautiful, one of a kind gifts for you with gift giving in mind. Take a look at the photos below and then the registration information at the bottom of the post.

Ceramic Plate and Mug: beautifully and simply decorated with Stampin' Up!'s Definitely Decorative Vinyl. You can give these items together or separately. You will find out just how easy it is to work with the high quality vinyl that Stampin' Up! has to offer.
Album in a Jar: This a creative way to share some photos of your kids with Grandma and Grandpa, or make an album just for your special someone. The album consists of circles that can display photos, journaling and embellishments.
An open view of the Album in a Jar.
3x3 Note Card Set with Tote: Isn't this adorable? The tote holds four different 3" x3" note cards and includes envelopes. What a great gift for a teacher or friend.

Gift Card Holders: A set of 3 gift card holders. These adorable cards have a clever opening on the inside of the card for you to give the gift card of your choosing (not included) : ) This assortment of three will help you cover those many quick gifts we end up giving each year. Mine will probably go to the teenagers in the family... they are so hard to buy for!

Here is the info you need to know:

When?

Saturday, December 4, 2010 at 10:00 a.m.

How Much?

$25.00, payable by November 22, 2010; I accept Paypal, Checks and Cash

Email me at cmtweedy@dslextreme.com to sign up and arrange payment. There are only 12 spots available for this Stamp Camp, so sign up early! I look forward to hearing from you.

Gifts of the Season

I had to make a Christmas card for a swap with Beckie's downline group. And I love this stamp so this is what I came up with. I'm still building up my current supplies so I had to go with what I had on hand. And I had Night of Navy paper and ribbon. I started by stamping the dove/flourish stamp in Night of Navy. Then I used Red Riding Hood maker to color over the flowers and berries in the flourish. I used the Eyelet Border Punch on one end and tied ribbon around the other end. Then I used Vanilla Smooch Spritz on the dove. See the card below for a better image of that.

All in all, this was a pretty and quick card to make. Remember that you can make something beautiful without spending a lot of time or money! Have a great day!

Halloween Tag

Here is a quick and simple Halloween treat idea. I made up two dozen of these in about an hour. The scallop circle is punched from paper by Rusty Pickle and the cute jack-o-lantern is from a retired Stampin' Up! set called Trick or Treat. I tied these to the cello bags with hemp twine, available from Stampin' Up! These will be treats for my Primary kids this weekend.

October Card Swap

Today was card swap day again. We had a great time getting together to swap our cards and make a cute project provided by Becca Goodwin. The theme this month was to make a card with no sentiment so that it could be used for whatever you want; i.e. birthday, thank you, congrats, etc.

For the make-n-take, Becca brought homemade caramel popcorn in cello bags and we each stamped tags to go with it. She had an assortment of fall/halloween stamps to pick from. I liked the witches hat the best. Thanks Becca for a great project!

Caramel Corn and Tag

Birdhouse, by Michelle Tweedy

Cherish, by Meagan Tweedy

Picnic, by Cindy Roberg

Sweet Cherries, by Michelle Hansen

Flowers in Bloom, by Julie Broderick

Smile, by DeeAnn Haworth

Rhinestone Flowers, by Christine Fouts

Watercolor Flowers, by Lisa Jones

Sisters, by Becca Goodwin

Baseball, by Nickie Kenyon

Christmas Card Stamp A Stack coming up in November

Hello! Need some help with homemade Christmas Cards?

I have just the answer for you. Sign up for my Christmas Card Stamp-a-Stack.

Here is how it works:

Pick any of the below cards in increments of 10. You can do as many increments of 10, in any combination that you like. Each increment of 10 cards is the low, low price of $10.00 and includes envelopes. The paper will be cut for you, you just stamp, punch and assemble. Please bring the adhesive of your choice.

When is this class?

You have two class times to choose from, but don't delay as there are class size limits!

Friday, November 5 at 6:30 pm or

Saturday, November 6 at 10:00 am

Classes must be pre-paid, all sign ups and money are due by October 22, 2010.

You can sign up for the cards of your choice via email or phone. I can accept check, cash or paypal for payment. If paying by paypal, please submit payment by October 19th.

Contact me with any questions.

Card #1, Joy

Card #2, Flourish

Card #3, Gifts of the Season

Card #4, All Spruced Up

Tweet, tweet

No, not the twitter type of tweet. The chirpie, birdie type of tweet. I created this little tweeter using the Two Step Bird Punch. Isn't it just adorable? Colors used here are Baja Breeze, Marina Mist, Rose Red, Wild Wasabi and Sahara Sand for the neutral. The background is stamped with the flourish from Baroque Motifs, as is the sentiment. and that is all the stamping there is on this card. I let the chick-a-dee take all the focus, he's even popped up a bit with a dimentional. For a little bit of interest I tore one corner of the focal piece. I like how simple, yet elegant this card turned out.

Don't forget, if you are near me, I am having an Open House tomorrow night. Come by for a make-n-take, a FREE gift, great prices on retired stamps, ink pads, paper, etc. And take a look at the new Idea Book and Catalog. I hope to see you there!

Are you getting ready for Halloween?

As I looked through my stamps, I realized that I had no Halloween stamp sets. That is not really that surprising. I'm not the biggest fan of Halloween. The candy is great, but I tend to get annoyed with the hassle of picking and preparing a costume, whether for myself, or my kids. So anyway, I wanted to make a Halloween card for my sample basket. So what did I do? I got creative, that's what!

I started with a Pumpkin Pie card base (what could be more appropriate?) I stamped swirls around the edges from the Baroque Motif set. Next I punched a bunch of circles and ovals in Pumpkin Pie and layered them together to make just little pumpkins. I drew the jack-o-lantern faces on with marker. I added vines to the tops of the pumpkins with an old corner punch I had hanging around. I attached the pumpkins to a white layer that had been cut with the Top Note die for Big Shot. Next, I added some Garden Green swirls. At this point I was liking the card, but it need something more. So I cut a strip of Garden Green to go across the back of the card, but before I attached it, I spritzed some water on it and crumpled it like crazy. Once it was dry, I attached to the card. It was still missing something... a greeting. I do have the All Holiday set of greetings, so I added the Halloween sentiment and layered that on an oval cut from the crumpled Garden Green card stock.

I hope you are also inspired to make a Halloween creation!

Color Challenge

Today I visited Splitcoaststampers and decided to do today's Color Challenge. I liked the combo so I thought I would give it a try. I used Wild Wasabi, Cajun Craze, and Baja Breeze, along with a neutral of my choice: Whisper White. And the bonus challenge was to use strips for the sentiment. The sentiment is from a set in the Holiday Mini Catalog called Filled with Love. The medallion/flower is from Baroque Motifs. I also used two punches here: Scallop Circle and Eyelet Border. I am just smitten with this card. The color combo is so unlikely but I find it striking. If you would like to see more cards done with this combo, click here for the gallery on Splitcoaststampers.

Northern Hearts Wreath

I was in a stampin' mood today. I also had new stamps to play with, so that's always a good time to stamp! I love the Christmas Collage background stamp that is in the Holiday Mini. Here it is stamped with the Versamark Ink pad on Cherry Cobbler. Cherry Cobbler is one of the new colors in Stampin' Up!'s color line. This color makes me happy. I love it. I even dreamed about it last night, weird, right? I know, but that is how passionate I get over colors. Anyway, I was inspired by a card sample in the Mini Catalog. I didn't have all the products shown in the sample, so I improvised. The blue strip down the side is punched with Eyelet Border in Bashful Blue. The wreath is stamped in a new In Color: Pear Pizzazz. It is stamped twice, the second time I cut the wreath out and distressed it a bit and added two red brads. The whole thing is layered on a Whisper White card.

I love this card, I hope you do too! I did some more stampin' today, so you can expect those to pop up on here in the next few days. Happy Stampin'!

Holiday Fun Card Swap

Hey there! This month our card swap group decided to embrace the holidays. And we could not decide on just one holiday, so we just decided to each decide what holiday we were in the mood to do. So we got a nice selection here. Take a look!

Easter, by Breanna Kenyon

Butterflies, by Nickie Kenyon

Bewitching, by Becca Goodwin

Valentines, by Christine Fouts

Pumpkins, by Michelle Hansen

Thanksgiving, by Lisa Jones

Frankenstein, by DeeAnn Haworth

Merry and Bright, by Michelle Tweedy

Happy Stamping!