Christmas Tags, Part II

...and the playing continues:)

Christmas Tags, Part I

I saw these adorable Christmas ornament stamps and punches that I wanted to order to make Christmas tags with, and then I thought, 'that's crazy! I have lots of things here that I mean to make tags with and I never seem to get around to it.'

Well, I finally got around to playing;)

We Need a Little Christmas...

As I said, it snowed here this past week, and so it kind of got me into the spirit of making Christmas cards. I'm still loving my new medallion stamp, so this time I gold embossed it:)

Happy Thanksgiving

Another thanksgiving card - this one for our friend and neighbour:) This is the first time I've used razzleberry since I got it - I had to, I think her favourite colour is purple;)

Emboss Resist

Another thanksgiving card today...this one using the emboss resist technique. You clear emboss your image and then sponge it with ink.

It has snowed here...before the trees in my yard even turned fall colours - so I have to get my fall colour in my cards;)

Friendly Thanksgiving

This is a card I made for a dear friend for Thanksgiving (Canadian Thanksgiving is this weekend:) I used the SU medallion stamp (I just love it!) and my earth elements spots. Cardstock is dusty durango, soft suade and very vanilla.

Christmas Card

This is my first Christmas card of the year! I was totally inspired by Andrea, but didn't have the same supplies, so adapted to what I had. Recently I had gotten last year's Country Living kit from SU (and for like $11!), so I decided to play with those stamps - and low and behold, the large snowflake fits perfectly in my scallop punch and the small fits in one of my smaller flower punches! I used Crystal Effects to glitter it up a bit too:)

Pumpkin Placecard

I got the idea for this pumpkin placecard/picture holder from Busymom. The idea was just too cute not to try:) She enlarged her punchouts, but I made mine with round tab punches the way they are:)

World Cardmaking Day

Saturday was World Cardmaking Day - and I didn't even get to make one card - can you believe that?! So you know I did what was necessary to steal a few minutes today to make one;)

It's just a simple thank you card inspired by my new fleur de lis embossing folder (Cuttlebug folder through Big Shot Machine) :) Cardstock and ribbon are all from SU (soft suede, basic black & very vanilla).

Colourful Fall

It's so beautiful outside right now! The trees spectacular in their colour, and so I couldn't resist making this card:) I took inspiration on this from Andrea at Sunny Stampin'. I saw a card on her blog last week using an orange, red and yellow for the leaves - I had different cardstock on hand than she used, but I totally love these colours together (dusty durango, riding hood red and crushed curry). The 'leaves' were made using SU's 'Darling Dots' stamp set and an assortment of circle punches.

Home Organization

Stampin' Up came out with some designer file folders and gusseted envelopes this fall that caught my eye, but $14.50 for 12 file folders did not catch my pocketbook, if you know what I mean;) Still, I found myself looking at pages 116 & 117 of the idea book more than any of the others...the 'organization collection' -- and while I decided against ordering the file folders and envelopes mentioned, I simply HAD to HAVE the 'Favorite Things' stamp set (loved the journaling stamp and loved that there was a stamps where you could check of whether something was 'for..today..tomorrow..another day..or..NEVER - something in me LOVES that *NEVER* is an option - we'll just call that the administrative rebel inside me;) Well all that to say, that I took inspiration from those favoured pages of mine in this fall's idea book to create my own organization solution for incoming bills, filing to be done, medical receipts to be submitted etc and this is the result.

The file folders I used and embellished further came from Michael's ($1.50 a pack - and they have a French flare:) I housed them in a basket also from Michael's ($8 - on 50% off - and I think it coordinates well!) I also altered a folder into a notepad holder for the notes I made when I'm paying bills, etc. I used the 'Favorite Things' stampset throughout - and you'll notice that I altered one of the stamps because to me it's NOT 'all in the details';) This was simple and fun to put together and I'm sure I'll add to it or adapt it further as time goes on. Already it's been an improvement on my previous organization system:)

Pillow Box Bucket

I made this using last week's Splitcoast Tutorial. It is made out of 3 pillow box dies! I love finding a new use for something I already have - you know! Lynn from The Queen's Scene came up with the idea! Thanks so much, Lynn!!

Altered File Folder/Notepad Holder

I've see several of these notepad holders on the blogs I visit, so I had to try my hand at one. Most people have been using SU's new modern file folders which I haven't ordered. I made this one from a Mary Engelbreit folder. It fits a 5 x 8" pad inside and has pockets to hold stuff:) I got the file folder that I used in a pack at Michael's quite a while ago. Here's a tutorial for making these:)

Sketch Book

This is the sketchbook I made with Kristina's MACM a couple of weeks ago. I'll probably play with it a bit more yet, but I love having a place to sketch my cards out. The DSP, border and journaling tag are all from Basic Grey...I believe it was called 'bittersweet'.

Diorama

I made this diorama at club too - the windows were created with the 1 3/8" circle punch and the 1 1 /4" circle punch.

Club

Last week I went to the first stamping club of the season - which was a good chance to "play" with new things. Here is one of the cards we made... Thanks again, Nicole!!

Good Works

This card was intended to have a tissue flower on it...a tissue flower that didn't work out...oh well, I like the colours;)

Merci

This is a recent thank you card I made for a friend who loaned me a bag of goodies to help me brush up on my French. Tres bonbon!

Pumpkin Basket

I saw the idea for this adorable little pumpkin basket on Becky's blog, but I didn't have the punch she used, so I thought, what do I have that might work?... and I have a large (but not huge oval punch) - so I punched 7 of these for each pumpkin (one on each side of the basket) and voila! (If you have the really big/wide oval punch, then you only need 5 ovals:) It's pretty stinkin' cute - even if I do say so myself;) I dtp'd the edges with red ink to give a bit of a shaded effect. Paper was last season's tangerine tango from SU and the handle is attached with brads.

Quote for Today

On the weekend, we caught 'Akeelah and the Bee', a movie we had wanted to see and had never gotten around to. We just happened upon it flipping channels after our housework. There was a lot of good food for thought in it, and this is the quote that Akeelah's coach had her read as they started working together. I think it struck a chord with all of us, so I thought I'd make a place for it to rest upon our shelves so we could think about it some more...

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same."

The frame is an 8x8 wooden frame that I got at Michaels for all of $1.50. Most of the dsp I used is from Webster's Pages (Your Life. Beautiful.) I also used the Baroque Motifs stampset from SU, Chestnut Colorblok Chalk, some Ridinghood Red CS, etc.