I love the Icicle Rub-ons!  Have you tried them yet?  They rock!  They are so easy to use and make great accents or focal points for all of your paper crafting projects.  Check out this card I made that uses one of the snowflakes as the main focus for this non-traditional Christmas card:

I used Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White to create this layered look.  I cut the cardstock to fit the snowflake rub-on image and then layered out from there.  I also sponged the edges of the card stock to help tie everything together.  This card is so easy to make that you'll want to make a bunch of them (good thing you have both white and silver rub-ons in the pack!).

Of course I had to use the coordinating Serene Snowflakes to stamp the envelope in Tempting Turquoise.  Don't you love getting a hand stamped card - and envelope - in the mail?

Stamps: Serene Snowflakes (for the envelope), Many Merry Messages

Ink: Tempting Turquoise

Paper: Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise

Accessories: Icicle rub-ons, bone folder, stamping sponge

I don't know about you, but gift cards are very popular in my family. People prefer to receive them because they get exactly what they want, when they want it. So we give a lot of gift cards for birthdays, special occasions and especially at Christmas.

I enjoy packaging my gift cards so it has a little more pizzazz than just giving the card in an envelope, or using the plain covers that some stores provide. This little project is a simple idea, easy to mass produce, and looks great! You can dress this up for different events just by changing the colors, designer papers and stamps used.

For this gift card, I used one of my retired gift card holders, but you can easily create your own with a piece of card stock cut 4" x 7 7/8" and scored at 2 3/8" and 5 1/8".

Fold your wrap along the score lines and determine which side you want to be the front. Stamp the front of your gift card holder as desired (for my sample, I used Brilliant Blue with the Serene Snowflakes).

For the belly band, cut a piece of Ballet Blue card stock 2.5" x 7.25" and score at 2.5" and 5.25". Now stamp the belly band using the Shimmer Paint and Brilliant Blue ink and the Serene Snowflakes stamps. Stamp the greeting with Brilliant Blue ink, if desired. Punch a strip of white cardstock with the scallop edge punch and attach to the left side of the belly band. Wrap the belly band around the gift card holder and attach in the back. Tie a ribbon around the belly band (and don't forget to insert your gift card – you can use the slit punch to create a place to slide your gift card if you don't have an existing gift card holder).

Isn't this much nicer than just a simple, small envelope?

Stamps: Serene Snowflakes, All Holidays

Ink: Brilliant Blue

Paper: Ballet Blue, Whisper White, Sahara Sand gift card holder (retired)

Accessories: Platinum Shimmer Paint, scallop edge punch, red gingham ribbon (retired), slit punch (optional)

I love this card created by Michelle Sturgeon and just had to share it with you.

She used the Delightful Decorations and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets and the ornament punch.  This card would be very easy to mass produce for your holiday greetings.

Happy Holidays!

You still have a couple of days left to register for the last Christmas Card stamp-a-stack this year. But don't wait too long, spots fill quickly. Here are the other 2 cards we'll be making at this class:

I love the nostalgic look of this Winter Post card and the old-fashioned colors.

Here is the last (but no least) card using the beautiful and elegant Serene Snowflakes stamp set:

You can see pictures of the first 2 cards here.

Like my Dashing Thru Christmas stamp-a-stack, you choose how many cards you want to make! You can conveniently register and pay online here.

Don’t you love it when you give a gift that is so pretty that your
friend almost doesn’t want to open it?  Well now you can give your
friends that anticipation easily with the super-fast and versatile
Treat Boxes from Stampin’ Up!  They are so pretty your friends will
never know what a value they truly are!  To purchase the Treat Boxes visit my store page.

Products Used:

Stamps
•    Delightful Decorations

Paper
•    Whisper White
•    Chocolate Chip
•    Taken with Teal
•    Real Red

Ink
•    Close to Cocoa
•    Taken with Teal
•    Real Red

Accessories
•    3/4” Polka-Dot Grosgrain Ribbon-Real Red
•    Elastic Cord-Gold
•    Treat Boxes
•    Ornament Punch
•    3/4" Circle Punch
•    Crop-a-Dile
•    Stampin’ Dimensionals
•    Sticky Strip
•    SNAIL
•    9” x 12” Catalog Envelope-Whisper White

Treat Boxes (115690) Highlight

Ornamental Bags & Tags is now available for download.  Click here for more information and to buy now.

Here is another sample of this class made with different colors and stamps:

Sign me up!

If you missed out on this month's Christmas Card Stamp-a-Stack featuring the Dasher stamp, you still have time to register for November's Stamp-a-Stack.

Elegant and beautiful holiday cards!  We'll use the beautiful Serene Snowflakes and Winter Post stamp sets to create these enchanting, shimmery, almost nostalgic holiday cards. The cards are designed to be beautiful, easy and affordable to make, whether you make a few or a lot!  Share joy and warmth by sending friends and family heartfelt greetings with handmade cards this holiday season.

Just in time for the Christmas/holiday season!  Get your Christmas cards complete before Thanksgiving!!

PRICE: Your choice!  (Choose how many cards you want to make.)
Date: Friday, November 6 (6:30p-9:00p) -OR- Saturday, November 7 (10:00a-12:30p)
RSVP by 23-October

These are just 2 of the cards you will be making (total of 4 different designs – you decide how many sets you want to make).

Click here to register for this class before it's full.

I am so excited about this new stamping class I am holding next month. Do you remember the Tri-Fold card I made here? This card was a lot of fun to make, and I shared it with my team. One of the very talented ladies on my team – Sheri – took this concept and turned it into this fabulous memory album and showed me how to make it!

This is the front of the album (using the Tailor Made Simply Scrappin' Kit). This album is perfect for almost anyone, but it is especially good for those hard-to-buy for guys in your life.

Here's a top view of the album so you can see how cool it looks open:

(Be sure to click on the pictures for a larger view.)

This album is so much fun to make and even more fun to play with! You can add pictures to most, or all, of the different panels in this unique album, along with journaling and embellishments.

I am offering this class on 2 separate days in October – Friday night, October 23 (6:30p), or Saturday morning, October 24 (10a) – and your choice of the Tailor Made or Christmas Jingle Simply Scrappin' Kits.

Get a jump on your holiday gifts and create this memory keepsake that will be treasured for years to come.

Can't attend in person? If there is interest, I will create this as a tutorial, with step-by-step directions and full-color pictures. Email me if you are interested or leave a comment.

Tri-Fold Memory Album - Choose the day and SS kit

Friday - Tailor Made $25.00 Friday - Christmas Jingle $25.00 Saturday - Tailor Made $25.00 Saturday - Christmas Jingle $25.00

This is a view of the Christmas Jingle Tri-Fold Memory Album.

We're back from convention and had a fabulous time (as usual)! One of my favorite things to look at during convention is the 4 vignettes they create while we are there. They create these themed rooms from 4 "wall" in the shape of a plus sign (+), and have different themes in each room.

I really enjoy Halloween, and while I know this holiday isn't for everyone, but I think you can get some great decorating ideas from this room (remember that you can click on the pictures for a larger view):

On the left wall they used the Definitely Decorative Décor Stencils, specifically the Brocade Flourish. On the lamp shade –on the right - they used the Kind Thoughts Brocade stencil. And they used the Definitely Decorative Toil & Trouble vinyl wall art (which comes in 4 different colors and 2 sizes!).

It was fun watching them create the cupcakes with their cute little skirts and the coordinating tree and treat holders:

And this banner was a lot of fun (sorry the picture isn't more clear):

Doesn't this give you all sorts of ideas for decorating your home? How do you decorate for the holidays? Please leave me a comment or email me here.

I've seen a card similar to this on a couple of different blogs and loved it so much that I had to try my hand at one. Here's what I came up with:

Can you keep a secret? There is almost no stamping on this card at all (well, the inside is stamped with Easter Wishes and I stamped the back with my name). Only the egg has some polka dots from Itty Bitty Backgrounds – stamped in Barely Banana, so I'm not even sure you can see it in the picture. J I also finally received my backordered Texturz Silicone Rubber mat and Texturz Backgrounds 1, so I could play with dry embossing my card stock using the Big Shot! Unfortunately you can't really see the dots on the yellow card stock (if you click on the picture to bring up a larger view, you might be able to see it better). In real life, it is really just too darn cute! Even Chuck (my husband) commented on how cute this card was (yea!).

This was a lot of fun to make, and it makes me want to try some other "critters". Want to know how I made it? Here you go:

Stamps: Itty Bitty Backgrounds, All Holidays (for the Easter greeting on the inside)

Ink: Barely Banana, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Pretty in Pink marker

Paper: Delicate Dots DSP (Sale-a-Bration), Yoyo Yellow, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango

Accessories: Big Shot, Top Note, SU Backgrounds 1 Texturz plates (dots), Scallop Circle punch, 5-Petal Flower punch, Spring Blossoms punch (retired) Wide Oval punch, Small Oval punch, Eyelet Border punch, Blue Gingham Ribbon (retired), Crystal Effects, Fine Supernova glitter, sponge dauber

Instructions

1. Fold Whisper White card stock (8.5 x 5.5") in half to form card.
2. Tear Delicate Dots DSP (4x6") approximately 1/3 of the way, and attach the blue side to the top of the card (like the sky), and then turn over the paper and attach the green side to the bottom of the card, overlapping in the middle.
3. Using the Big Shot and Texturz plates (dots), dry emboss a piece of Yoyo Yellow card stock (5x6").
4. Using the Big Shot, cut a Top Note die using the dry embossed piece of Yoyo Yellow card stock. Note: I cut the Top Note from one end of the card stock leaving the other end to punch out the wings and eyelids.
5. Punches:
   1. Yoyo Yellow scraps: punch out 1 Scallop Circle and then cut it in half and 1 small oval and cut it in half
   2. Whisper White: punch 1 small oval (cut in half) and 1 wide oval
   3. Tangerine Tango: 1 5-petal flower punch (cut off one petal for the nose); use another punch of choice – I used the retired Spring Blossoms punch – to punch out the feet
6. Decorate the Easter egg (white wide oval punch) as desired. I used more of the Delicate Dots DSP and punched using the new Eyelet Border punch along both sides. I also stamped the egg using Barely Banana and the dots in Itty Bitty Backgrounds (to mirror the dry embossed dots on the chick). I drew a simple line with the Pretty in Pink marker, echoing the lines of the border punch. To add some glitz (that the picture doesn't show well), I used Crystal Effects and extra fine glitter to outline the edge of the eyelet border.
7. Sponge the edges of all of the Yoyo Yellow pieces (Top Note, Scallop Circle, Small Oval punch) with More Mustard ink to help define the edges.
8. Attach the Tangerine Tango feet to the back of the Chick body (Top Note).
9. Attach the chick (Top Note) to the front of the card.
10. Punch and attach or draw eyeballs on the Whisper White eyes (small ovals) then attach the eyelids over the top. Attach to the face of the chick.
11. Attach the nose to the chick's face.
12. Attach the egg and wings in the desired position.
13. Use a sponge dauber and Pumpkin Pie ink to create the cheeks.
14. Tie a bow in the blue gingham ribbon and attach to the top of the chick using your favorite method (glue dots are nice to use, though I used the Tombow Multi Purpose Adhesive).

Thanks for the inspiration Sharon Field!

- Kari

Happy New Year everyone! I am a bit embarrassed as I thought I had posts set up to automatically post to my blog but when I looked this morning, there is nothing there. Oops!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and the new year has started off with a bang for you! Our holiday was wonderful, but quiet – and that's just fine for me. I have to admit that I couldn't ring in the New Year on New Year's Eve, but I stayed up late on New Year's Day – does that count? LOL!

This was one of those things I thought I shared earlier, and realize now that I didn't.

My husband and I were trying to create handmade gifts this year that people will use (don't you hate getting a gift that you will never use?). I shared in this post some hot cocoa mix that I made for my nephew and sister-in-law (sad story – they never got to try it as their dog got in the package and destroyed it before Christmas; luckily their dog didn't get sick from eating the chocolate). To mail their package, I didn't want to send it in glass, so that one was packaged in the cello bag and topper.

The rest of the cocoa mixes we made, we packaged in pint glass jars and I digitized and embroidered jar toppers for each of the gifts. I was very pleased how they turned out! Is anyone else into embroidering and digitizing?

Anyway, I wanted a cute way to include the instructions for the mix, and I remembered my Like It a Latte set (retired unfortunately) and made these little 3x3" note cards for each one. The instructions are on the inside, and the To/From is on the back.   I used Close to Cocoa for the card base (3x6"), Riding Hood Red (2 3/4 x 2 3/4") and Very Vanilla (2 1/2 x 2 1/2").  I stamped with the Riding Hood Red and Close to Cocoa.

Here are some close ups of the cards with whipped cream and marshmallows:

Everyone said they enjoyed the hot chocolate (well, except my nephew and sister-in-law – guess I'd best send another package!). My wonderful husband, Chuck, also made a yummy Marinara sauce (spaghetti sauce) that we canned and gave to friends and family for Christmas. Makes a great pasta sauce, pizza sauce, or we even like to top hamburgers with it and cheese – sort of like a mini pizza without the bread (since Chuck is gluten intolerant). Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of all of those jars, but it looked really neat under our tree!

What handmade treats/items did you make for this past holiday season?

Happy New Year!

- Kari