Happy Birthday Alana!

Today is a dear friend & tea-lover's birthday! When you are born around Christmas I'm sure it sometimes just gets mixed in, but this is a very special lady, so I always make sure to separate it in my mind & heart and, of course, in her gifts and card. This is this year's special birthday card.

I took some inspiration from Artistic Avenger in terms of coming up with the idea for what to use to make the tea bag. It's a piece of ivory cardstock, with the punchouts from the eyelet border punch and a heart punchout and then a piece of vellum which is folded around:)

Recipe (all SU):

Cardstock - natural ivory, early espresso, cherry cobbler, old olive

DSP - jolly holiday

Stamps - take a sip, occasional quotes, tiny tags, very vintage

Ink - cherry cobbler, old olive, early espresso, versamark

Buttons - button latte

Ribbon - victoria lace

Santa Stockings

I saw this idea last weekend on Becky's blog and decided to make my own for my neighbour gifts this year since I was running out of time but still wanted to make something a little special. Usually I give a bit of my baking, but since I haven't had time to bake yet, this year it's store-bought, so at least I made the stockings - kwim! I also loved that it gave me an idea of how to use some of my punches in new ways like the ornament punch!:)

Recipe (all SU):

Cardstock - old olive, cherry cobbler, naturals ivory

DSP - jolly holiday

Ink - early espresso, versa mark, old olive, cherry cobbler

Punches - ornament, xlarge oval, small oval, 1 3/4 circle, 1/2 circle (and bird punch if you have it; if you don't use ornament punch and trim down for the moustache!)

Noel Banner

I made this 'Noel' banner this weekend using an early Christmas gift from my hubby. He gave me a Bigz alphabet for my Big Shot and gave it to me early because he wanted me to make a Christmas banner. The initial idea for this banner was a fall banner - see this link (and it's original inspiration came from Kimberley as linked in that post:)

The dimension of each flag of the banner are 3 1/2 x 8.

Recipe (all SU):

Cardstock - crumbcake, cherry cobbler, early espresso

DSP - deck the halls

Stamps - medallion, tiny tags, winter post

Ribbon - cherry cobbler seam binding, chocolate taffeta

Accessories - vintage brads, vintage trinkets

Punches - ornament, label, tag

Buttons - button late

Filled with Love

It's never to early to start thinking about valentines or love by any means! Stampin' has started a new promotion when you pick up the new Love stampset and the Love patterns paper, you get the coordinating buttons for free:))

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And fellas, if you need a last minute Christmas gift or stocking stuffer for your wife or girlfriend for Christmas, contact me by December 22nd and I can provide you with a Stampin' Up Gift Certificate. Just call or email me at: sherriBstampin@yahoo.ca

December Non Traditional Challenge

One of the challenges over at A Charming Place (ACP) this month was to make a Christmas card using non-traditional colours. I chose marina mist & early espresso. My inspiration came from the fact that I hadn't even used my new marina midst ribbon & ink yet.

Recipe (all SU except for charm which is from ACP):

Cardstock - early espresso, baja breeze, natruals ivory, crumbcake

Stamps - winter post, contempo Christmas, baroque motifs

Ink - crumbcake, marina mist, eary espresso

Ribbon - marina mist satin & chantilly lake & linen thread

Snowflake is a la a sizzex die

Punch is large oval

Buttons are from button late

Right corner uses vanilla smooch spritz

Christmas Post-it Notes

I was helping my daughter get her secret santa gifts ready for next week and made this little post-it note pad for her friend. The ornament punch sure made quick work of it!

Well, I placed the last SU order with guaranteed delivery for Christmas this week! I actually taught a mini-album class to a group of fun ladies Wednesday evening as well. At it, I was asked if I could "help" if one of their husband's contacted me for a Christmas idea for them - and I can!....

If your husband or friend wants an idea for you send them my way and I'll put together a Stampin' Up Gift Certificate of almost any amount so you can go shopping after Christmas or into the new year when the new Occasions Mini comes out! I might even be convinced to wrap it! (Any gift certificates sold are only redeemable with me as SU does not directly offer certificates.)

Recipe (all SU):

Cardstock - old olive

DSP - jolly holiday

Stamps - baroque motif

Ink - old olive

Simply Adorned Bundle

This necklace was made with the Simply Adorned bundle that SU has on sale until December 16th. It comes with the charm, a 24" chain and the coordinating stampset 'Charmed' which can be used for making charms and so much more.

I love the simply adorned charms - the quality is amazing and the bevelled glass on the front adds such dimension (hard to see in the picture)- and can accomodate some layering. These are such quality pieces (so much better than memory glass which shattered when I tried to make a necklace).

If you are interested in ordering the bundle you can click on the link to my website on the right bar and click 'shop now' or contact me before December 8th because this will be the last non-online order that I place before Christmas. Stampin' Up is recommending ordering by December 8th if you want delivery before Christmas.

I plan on making of of these for my sister for Christmas and making a number of inserts that she can switch out throughout the year depending on seasons or outfits.

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Recipe for inserts above (all SU)

Stamps - artistic etchings, charmed, tiny tags

Cardstock - natural ivory

DSP - naturals dsp pack

Ink - basic black, cherry cobbler, crumbcake, bravo burgundy (on the create charm back), always artichoke

Accessories - black bauble & vanilla satin ribbon

Hockey Night in Canada

Saturday is Hockey Night in Canada - our team, the Canucks, isn't playing tonight, but we recently celebrated my father-in-law's brithday and his team, the Habs are. He is their best fan and if they would only listen to him they would win the cup every year!;) It's sometimes hard to come up with card ideas for male family members, but I just always try to go back to what they love. I may love romance & vintage, but that definitely isn't my FIL, so I made him this card using his favourite team's colours. I used SU's All in the Family stampset along with the Family Accessories and came up with an equation that made him smile. My FIL + hockey = winning combination. I tied a piece of striped taffeta around the bottom and attached a computer charm from ACP on the bottom since he does most his coaching from his computer!;) It's not my favourite card I've made, but it was one of my FIL's favourites so I achieved my goal!:)

Recipe (all SU except for charm which was ACP):

Cardstock: cherry cobbler, not quite navy, very vanilla

Stamps: All in the Family & Family Accessories

Ink: basic black, cherry cobbler + markers

Jolly Holiday Contempo Christmas

This is a card that we've been making in my workshops lately. It uses a stampset & paper pack that are part of current bundle Stampin' Up has that is still 20% off until December 16th. If you're interested in the bundle or learning about any of our other current specials, be sure to contact me!:)

Recipe (all SU):

Stamps - contempo Christmas

DSP - jolly holiday

Cardstock - old olive, very vanilla, cherry cobbler

Ribbon - cherry cobbler seam binding

Accessories - rhinestone