My Talented Downline

Rae Anne and her sister, Becky, made this Christmas ornament for me. Can you figure out what it is made out of? If you guessed a Diet Sunkist soda can, you are right! After cutting the can so that it can be run through the Big Shot with the snowflake die, they simply attached two with a rhinestone brad. How cool is that? They even made my ornament out of my favorite soda. Talk about personalized gifts!

During Sale-a-Bration is a great time to sign up to be a demonstrator.  Please visit my website if you would like some information about joining my awesome team of Inkredible Inkers!

Dormant Sets retiring soon!

There are several stamp sets that are currently on the dormant list that will no longer be available after January 4, 2010:

113407 Back Woods

114492 Beautiful Baby

114486 Birthday Wish

113200 Branch Out

114496 Celebrations

113732 Central Park

113206 Classic Sketches

113226 Classy & Fabulous

114498 Flowers in Silhouette

113405 Font of You

113216 For the Bride

114494 Forever

109425 Friend by Definition

114488 Fun Flowers

113716 Garden Greetings

114490 Glad Friends

111580 Grand Soiree

113242 Hit the Road

113710 Lexicon of Leaves

113236 Man's Best Friend

114423 Ocean Commotion

113728 Playful Petals

109276 Polka Dot

111544 Putt Putt

113240 Quilt Quips

113754 Really Retro

113403 Sip by Sip

113726 Sweet Stems

113250 That's Funny

113688 Wonderful Watercolors

114028 Para la novia

114032 Acuarelas Maravillosas

It happens every year to make room for some great new stamp sets, but there is often one I am sorry to see go. Those of you who attend a lot of my events probably aren't surprised to read that Branch Out is the one I will miss most. Here are a couple of samples made with that set.

Visit my Stampin' Up! website if you would like to purchase Branch Out or any other retiring set.  And be watching your mailbox for the new Occasions Mini Catalog and the Sale-a-Bration catalog to arrive any day!

Simply Said Birthday Card

Here is one more card from that bundle I gave at Christmas. Simply Said is an oldie but a goodie, but I love it with this Bashful Blue, Real Red and Whisper White combination. In fact, now that I think about it, I did a few Christmas cards with this exact same color combination and snowmen stamps! This one is especially easy as you use the jumbo wheel to roll up the side and then a simple stamped image in the center.

Game Night birthday card

This is one of the cards in the bundle I gave as a Christmas gift.  I tried to include a variety of birthday, thank you, wedding, sympathy and blank notes.  I was sure to include this because it would be good for a man's birthday.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! Since I started blogging, I have been posting mostly Christmas cards. Well after today, that will have to change even though I have some more great holiday cards to share. Today I thought I would post my family Christmas gift exchange gift. Add a book of stamps to this bundle of handmade cards, and someone in my family will be set for any major gift giving occasion for the next few months!

Simple Christmas Card

This is one of the make-n-takes we did at convention this year.  I like this set a lot, but as some of you know, it is hard to line up the ornaments and strings without using the Stamp-a-ma-jig.  Well here's the solution for that!  Cut out the ornaments and mount them on a pop dot.  Hide the end of the strings under the ribbon, and they don't have to be even either.

Christmas Swap

I'll admit it...I watch Survivor. So what better to do while watching the 3 hour finale than stamp? I worked on swap cards for the new Occasions Mini Catalog and Sale-a-Bration Catalog. Both should be arriving in your mailboxes soon and will be available starting January 5. I will share those cards with you another day, but here's one that I made several months ago for our Occasions Mini Catalog swap. That's one of the great things about being a part of my Stampin' Up! family. I am sending off 30 cards today and will have 30 great samples made by my demonstrator friends to share with you in a couple of weeks!

Lovely As a Tree Crayon Resist

This is one of my favorite stamp sets because it is so versatile, but I must admit, I think I like doing Christmas cards with it the most.  This is the crayon resist technique, and it is a great way to create a simple effect.  Stamp you image on glossy cardstock with black StazOn, then with a white crayon, draw a line where you want the color to "resist".  On this card, it would be anywhere you want there to be snow.  Then roll your ink color (here it is Bashful Blue) over the image with a brayer.  It's impossible to goof this up because you keep rolling and changing directions until the color is even and smooth.  Finish the card with craft white ink for the greeting.

The More the Merrier in Soft Subtles

This is a color combination that doesn't shout Christmas, but I find that I usually make at least one snowman card a year with Certainly Celery and Bashful Blue.  This particular card has been well loved.  I did a few of these for my convention swap and have done them at some of my events.  Those snowmen are just great for coloring and making them your own.  Add some Dazzling Diamonds with your Two-way glue pen and instant snow!

Ornament Spinner Card

The ornament on the front of the card is 3-D. Simply punch 3 ornaments, fold them in half and stick them together on the back sides. They even lay flat for mailing.  On the inside, create a pop-up by cutting a circle in the green using a Coluzzle or your Circle Scissors Plus and stringing a piece of dental floss from top to bottom. Attach 2 ornaments and you've created a spinner card!

The More the Merrier

We made this card in stamp club this month. It could be a Christmas card or just about anything else! We used the Top Note die and the Big Shot to create the blue piece. With the large oval punch, we punched an oval in the center and put a piece of clear, packing tape, sticky side up (so the sticky is coming through the hole) on the bottom. After dipping the sticky side in Dazzling Diamonds glitter, we stuck the snowmen on the back.

Mystery Treat Can

It is so much fun to give these treat cans to friends. They don't want to "ruin" the can by opening it.













Open a small, pop-top fruit can (this one is 8oz.) from the bottom with a safety can opener - the kind that leaves a smooth edge. Fill the can with wrapped treats, and reseal with Crystal Effects. While you have the Crystal Effects out, why not add some dimension to the snowman tag? It creates a smooth, glossy dimension. Wouldn't these be great treats for friends for the holiday?

Christmas Moonlighting Technique

This is a technique I have been wanting to try for awhile. We talked about some good stamp sets for the moonlighting technique in stamp club a few months ago. I couldn't resist this oldie but goodie from Lovely As a Tree. I started by embossing with black on glossy white cardstock. Simply punch a circle with a Post-it note and place it where you would like your moon. Use a brayer to brayer ink over the image. The great thing about using a brayer on glossy is there is no way to mess it up. Just keep rolling and move the brayer around - perfect every time. For an added touch, I misted the Ballet Blue cardstock with a mixture of shimmer paint and rubbing alcohol.

This same card could be a man's birthday, sympathy or thinking of you.

Mover and Shapers Christmas Card

This card was made using the Movers and Shapers Die. The combination of Whisper White snowflakes, Ballet Blue and Kraft gives it a wintery look.

When open, the holly jolly remains on the inside of the card for the greeting.

Supplies: Christmas Punch Stamp Set, Movers & Shapers Die, Big Shot, Kraft, Whisper White and Ballet Blue cardstock, Craft White and Ballet Blue ink, 3/4" punch and silver brad.

O Christmas Tree

This is the card I made with the awesome O Christmas Tree Pop-Up Big Shot Die. There is also a Sizzlits Die with tree decorations. I ordered the tree earlier and just recently ordered the Sizzlits Die of the tree decorations. So check back and I can post it decorated! I thought a more subdued outside would make the tree popping out even more of a surprise to the recipient. This was by far the most time consuming Big Shot Club project this month, but I think everyone really liked their finished card!

Even More Christmas Tags

Here's one more set of tags. I like using the Snowfall Printed Window Sheet from the Holiday Mini Catalog for the top layer of the snowman card. The glue dots hardly even show with the snowflakes. We used 2 Way Glue on the snowflake punch before covering it with Dazzling Diamonds.

My family has gotten used to giving me their tags back - who wants to risk not getting a gift next year! But I have a nice new supply for Christmas 2009.

More Christmas Tags

I just love the shimmer paint. I used the silver for the snowflakes on white and used the shimmer white on the kraft. It is so easy to use a sponge dauber in the lid of the bottle and then I store the daubler and paint together for the next time.

Christmas Gift Tags

I had my monthly Stamp-a-Stack last night. Instead of making cards, we made gift tags. We did 18 different tags, two of each. It was a fun night! Please contact me if you would like to join us next month.

Another gift card holder

I liked the first gift card holder so much, I decided to try another. This one is for a man's birthday, so I had to keep the frills to a minimum.

Christmas gift card holder

One of the many great things about being in the wonderful demonstrator groups that I am a part of is the swapping. I found directions on Michelle's blog for this awesome gift card holder. I made this for a "Wow" swap and liked it so much we made it in stamp club the next month.

Happy Thanksgiving

Here is that great chef from the Voila stamp set. This was another stamp club project. We used the Autumn Traditions Designer Series Paper to paper piece his outfit. Enjoy your pumpkin pie with your families today!

Side Step Christmas Card

Here is my version of the side step card that my friend, Julie Davison, created for a make-n-take at our Impeckable Stampers meeting. I wasn't able to attend the meeting but had to try one out for myself. I changed her colors and did this one with my stamp club. It's another great way to use the ornament punch. Both the punch and Delightful Decorations are available in the Holiday Mini Catalog through January 4.

Delightful Decorations 3x3 cards

I just love the Delightful Decorations stamp set and coordinating punch. They make great cards of all sizes. These are 3 x 3 cards that I put together for a hostess thank-you gift. It's just a little something extra for my great workshop hostesses.

My Digital Studio

Our new My Digital Studio™ is so easy to use. I created an 8 x 8 bound scrapbook of my trip to the Stampin' Up! convention with no troubles. And it does oh so much more than scrapbook pages! You can design cards, calendar pages and even multimedia creations.

I have also found it helpful when I am creating a traditional cardstock scrapbook page to use My Digital Studio first for design, and then it's a cinch to sit down and create the pages with cardstock and stamps.

I recently went through the online training to become My Digital Studio Certified, so I will be glad to help you with your projects.

Holiday Shimmer

My photography doesn't do this card justice. The Very Vanilla cardstock has been misted with a mixture of rubbing alcohol and shimmer paint. Add that to one of my favorite color combinations of Night of Navy and Silver for an elegant holiday card.

Snow Buddies Christmas Card

This card uses the cute Level 2 hostess set, Snow Buddies, available in the Holiday Mini Catalog. Because I used kraft cardstock this time, I resisted the temptation to use shimmer paint. This is another of our Stamp-a-Stack cards this month.

Christmas comes on Halloween?

Though it's Halloween, I am getting ready for my Christmas stamp-a-stack next week. Here is one of the cards we will be doing. I used the shimmer paint from the mini catalog to stamp the background snowflakes. It's a subtle shimmer, but looks great in person.