A Stampin' Up New Year's Resolution

This Post is from the Stampin' Up Blog and was written by Melody H, a Stampin' Up Concept Artist, click here to go to it.    I'm posting it because stampers must think a lot alike - I did the same thing this year!  I gave cards to my sister and niece, and I had my customers come over and go through my swap cards to put together their own card gifts!

 "Continuing a Resolution"

In January, I decided that one of my resolutions for the year would be to work on my Christmas gifts throughout the year (instead of driving myself crazy during the last three months).  I love to give hand-stamped cards. To me, they are the gift that keeps giving because they're meant to be given away to someone else.

My relatives have expressed a need for cards—sometimes more often than I can make them. My goal was to make enough cards to give everyone a stack they can use throughout the year.

Many of the cards I gave away this year were from kits that were left over from my monthly card class. Some were from other random creating sessions. I loved that I had a purpose for what I was creating and it was fun to see the box I was storing the cards in fill up as the year went on.



I purchased a couple of the Festive Flurry Ornament Kits and used them as the embellishments on each gift.



It was so fun to see everyone's reactions as they flipped through the cards. I feel as if the packs of cards were a huge success, so I'm going to make it a tradition.

Melody H.
Concept Artist

Merry Christmas and some Stampin' Up Holiday cards!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas celebration with family and friends!  I also hope that you all have a New Year filled with joy and good health.  As I look to next year, I pray that I can handle the challenges ahead; this past year and a half have truly been difficult for me.  Since my husband passed, I feel like half of me died with him; I now understand how Humpty Dumpty can't be put back together again. 

I know that all of us face some kind of challenge daily, so I pray for all of us.  Living is hard, but have faith that you will be guided to a better place and given the strength to deal with whatever comes your way. 

So, for now, let's stamp and think about pretty things!  Here are some cards I've made the past couple of months.  A couple were inspired by cards I saw on our Demonstrator website made by fellow demonstrators Dee Slater, Kay Kaltoff, and Lorri Heling (thank you fellow demonstrators!), a couple are from Kits in the Holiday Mini Catalog, and a couple are from my imagination!  

Also, I want to give you all a heads up that tomorrow Stampin' Up is going to add more goodies to the Clearance Rack, so click here on Dec. 27th to take a look.  Hope you like the cards and Happy New Year!

Stampin' Up's December 2013 Paper Pumpkin Assembly Video & current Weekly Deals

I just wanted to post this Stampin' Up Video showing you how to assemble the AWESOME December Paper Pumpkin Kit!   If you're an email subscriber, you'll need to click here to get to my blog to watch the video.



Also, here are the current Weekly Deals (good to December 23rd- click here to view product details or to order online):

Blast Off Ensemble - Digital Download Price: $19.95 $11.97 Build A Banner Refill Kit Price: $9.95 $7.46 Christmas Banner Simply Created Accessory Kit Price: $9.95 $7.46 Extra-Large Gift Box Price: $3.95 $2.96 Gold & Silver Stampin' Glitter Price: $7.95 $5.96 Gold Metallic Encore Pad Price: $9.95 $7.46 Holly Jolly Greetings Simply Sent Price: $14.95 $11.21 Naughty And Nice This And That™ Rotary Stamp Price: $5.95 $4.46 Pretty Presents Designer Bows Price: $3.95 $2.96 Raspberry Ripple 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon Price: $8.95 $6.71 Season Of Style Designer Journaling Tags Price: $4.95 $3.71 Seasonal Stripes 8" X 8" Designer Ring Album Price: $14.95 $11.21 Silver Metallic Encore Pad Price: $9.95 $7.46 Snowflake Season Simply Sent Price: $14.95 $11.21

Stampin' Up's December "Best of" stamp set and Valentine's Day Special Offer!

Happy 1st of December!  Here are the Stampin' Up! specials that start today.  You can click on the image to enlarge it for easier viewing.

SU Simply Pressed Clay Mushroom Ornaments

This article is from the Stampin' Up Blog here; it was written by Cindy B., Sr Staff Writer:

 

Stampin' Up!’s new Simply Pressed Clay is lightweight, easy to mold, and absorbs ink beautifully.  Cindy has a Scandinavian Christmas theme at her house, so she thought she would try to make some mushroom ornaments for her tree.

To make the cloche (covered) ornament, Cindy cut the stem off a plastic glass using a dremel (or tool of your choice). She ran wire or twine through a clear bead, created a loop for hanging, and adhered the bead with hot glue to the top of the cup.  Cindy then covered the edges of the cut glass stem by encircling it with gold garland; she used hot glue to adhere it.

Cindy made a circular base for the cloche ornament using the Big Shot, Circles Collection Framelits, and Pool Party Cardstock.  Be certain to reinforce the circular base by adhering it to Coaster Board.

Finally, Cindy hot glued the mushroom to the circular base then dabbed hot glue around the rim of the plastic cup and adhered it to the base.  Ta da - what an amazing idea!
 

Sour Cream Container "Countdown to Christmas" idea using Stampin' Up's Morning Post Numbers stamp set

This post is from today's Stampin' Up blog here.  I love the idea of using these cute sour cream containers in a new way!

"Countdown to Christmas"

Got someone in your house who just can’t wait for Christmas? Help them count down the days by making this fun project.



The design/layout of the numbers and tags is from page 13 of the holiday catalog (US/CA); the stamp set can be found on page 36 of the holiday catalog.  The tags were die cut using the Deco Labels Framelits.

 The containers were made using the Season of Style Designer Series Paper Stack. So easy—no cutting necessary!

To make the containers, apply the adhesive like this. (I recommend using Sticky Strip.)


Roll the container into a tube, then pinch one end closed. Add candy (or whatever you want to put inside), then pinch the other end closed in the opposite direction.


Attach the tag using a stapler, then adhere the button using a Glue Dot to hide the staple.

Twelve containers will fit nicely inside the Extra-Large Gift Box. To make the box look a little more festive, I wrapped Season of Style Designer Washi Tape around it.


 

Stampin' Up Christmas Card using Expressions Thinlets Dies

This trendy and elegant Christmas card was designed by Sharon and Holly at Stampin' Up.   Shelli Gardner, Stampin' Up Cofounder, featured it on her blog at SoShelli.com; you can read the article here.  Have a great week!

Christmas Card using Stampin' Up's Santa's List stamp set

Here's a card made by Mercedes Weber that was on the Stampin' Up Blog; Mercedes is another member of Stampin' Up's Artisan Design Team and she is a great talent too!  I'm so glad SU gets a group like this together; the designers give us great ideas and motivation!

Supplies used:    Santa's List Stamp Set, Black Stazon Ink and I think Cherry Cobbler ink (Santa's coat) and Crumb Cake ink (for sponging around the snowflake), Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, Festive Flurry Framelits, Big Shot, and Delicate Designs Embossing Folder.   Thanks for visiting!

Stampin' Up's 2013 Holiday Sale starts today!

Yippee - here's the list of all the great Holiday Sale items!  Click HERE to download the flyer or click on the images below to view them enlarged. 

There are 3 Doorbuster sales listed on the top of the first page that are awesome and only on sale today, November 20th!  The rest of the list shows the other sale items broken out between a 20% to 50% discount and are available until Deccember 2nd.  Click HERE to see a photo at all of the goodies and bundles on sale.

You can order any of these great products by emailing me or ordering ONLINE here;  be certain to choose me as your Demonstrator to take advantage of my Frequent Shopper Rewards Program!

Stampin' Up's November 2013 Paper Pumpkin Assembly Video

Here's the video tutorial for the November Paper Pumpkin Kit. Email subscribers, be sure to click on the email post title above to get over to my blog to watch the video. It's my favorite Kit so far!

Get ready for Stampin' Up's HUGE Holiday Sale and here's this Week's Sales

Good day!  I'm posting this today to give everyone a heads up on Stampin' Up's HUGE HOLIDAY sale that starts tomorrow, Wednesday, November 20, 2013 and runs until December 2, 2013!  To kick-off the sale, SU is offering only select items for the ONE-DAY SALE, and other items will be discounted from 20% to 50% until Dec. 2nd, so make sure to check back tomorrow for a list of the items on sale.    Also, below are the weekly deals from November 19, 2013 to November 25, 2013.  You can always find the weekly sales here.    Don't forget to choose me as your Demontrator when you shop ONLINE to take advantage of my Frequent Shopper Rewards Program!  Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Backyard Basics Framelits    Price: $24.95                               Sales Price $18.71 Chocolate Chip 3/4" Chevron Ribbon Price: $8.95 Sales Price $6.71 Color Coach Price: $14.95 Sales Price $11.21 Little Labels Punch Pack Price: $16.95 Sales Price $12.71 Pumpkin Pie 3/4" Chevron Ribbon Price: $8.95 Sales Price  $6..71                                    Subtles Stampin' Write Markers Price: $28.95 Sales Price $21.71 Talking Tag Message Labels Price: $7.95 Sales Price $5.96 Unknown Blessings Ensemble - Digital Download Price: $17.95 Sales Price $10.77

Cards made using Stampin' Up's Be Merry and Wonderful Blessing Stamps

This article is from the SU Blog and it was written by Alanna Wharf - 2013/2014 Artisan Design Team - Alanna made these beautiful "more than cards"!

Since the Be Merry and Wonderful Blessing Single Stamps both have a matching Framelit, I was excited to create something to share with you using these two stamps!

The Be Merry stamp—featuring 'to/from' lines and the hot and trendy chalkboard look—makes a perfect gift tag. Cut it out with the matching Chalk Talk Framelit, and this ensemble becomes a cinch to use for creating all the tags you’ll need for Christmas gift-giving this year!



I like to create multiples of whatever I'm making so that I have at least one to keep as a sample and some to give away. This got me thinking that this tag would make a perfect gift for a teacher, neighbor, or hostess if bundled in a larger quantity and packaged up nicely! So I stamped a set of 10 tags and created this box using the Season of Style Designer Series Paper Stack and a Window Sheet. I wrapped the Cherry Cobbler 1" Stitched Edge Grosgrain Ribbon around the Window Sheet sleeve and tucked the bow through a fancied-up tag on the outside of the box. I kept the rest of the tags simple and will gift the set with a White Stampin' Chalk Marker so that the recipient is all set for gift-giving!



When I saw the Wonderful Blessing Single Stamp I thought it was the perfect image for a Christmas ornament—and then the thought of creating a dual-purpose card/ornament came to mind. (I do love when one creation can serve two purposes!) And when all you are giving someone is a card—sometimes you want to make it just a little bit more. This card can do that for you!



I stamped the World Map Background Stamp on the Naturals White Cardstock using Midnight Muse ink, stamping off three times. Then I layered the Naturals White 8-1/2" x 11" Cardstock onto the Midnight Muse card base using Stampin’ Dimensionals. I left the top mostly open so that the ornament could slide in and out. 



This ornament will look beautiful on a Christmas tree with twinkling lights shining through the White Vellum Cardstock. It would also work really nicely in a paper luminary. 

To achieve the colored/embossed image on the vellum layer, I first inked the Peace on Earth stamp using VersaMark, applied Midnight Muse ink right on top of that, then stamped it onto the Vellum. (I heat-set it using Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder to keep it from smudging . . . and to give it a nice shine!) I also used the Circle Framelits and Silver Glimmer Paper to frame the opening in the card as well as the ornament.  



Now, imagine switching the stamped image out for a photo of your family. That would make a great photo ornament/card! The possibilities for this stamp—and for the layout and style of this card—really are endless!