3 Double-Page 6x6 Layouts

Hello again... I hope you are all gearing up for the big Thanksgiving Feast tomorrow (I'm still a little stuck in holiday denial, but much better than yesterday's post.... hee hee!). I'm actually doing some baking this afternoon, so if the smell of cookies, pies and cake doesn't get me in the holiday spirit, I don't know what will...!!!! Before I send the flour flying, I thought I'd better get these layouts posted for ya! :)

I took pictures of these layouts, but I think in the future I will have to scan them so that the layouts are flat and uniform in size and color. Please excuse the bowing or photography angles - in real life, they match up quite nicely and I wanted to share them with you right now! Yes, patience is NOT one of my virtues.... LOL!

These 6x6 scrapbook pages were put together using leftovers from the Home Again Scrapbook Kit and Porcelain Prints Designer Series Papers. I also used embellishments like rub-ons, brads, flowers (non-SU) and ribbons here and there. The Top Note photo frame die-cut (below) is not glued down yet... the brads are holding it together for this picture, but I think you can imagine having the photo inside...

Here's the last double-page layout ~

Thank you for stopping in to check these out today. Be safe out there on the streets, and I hope you have a very blessed Thanksgiving holiday! Come back soon!

Holiday Extravaganza Sale starts today!

Happy Wednesday to You!

Stampin' Up! is offering a super sale starting today, November 26th and running through December 1st. This Holiday Extravaganza Sale and has 14 different product bundles offered at special promotional prices - up to 50% off! If you are interested in purchasing any of these bundles, you can order right away through my Stampin' Up! website and click on the "Shop Now" button located in the top right corner. Bundle quantities at these promotional prices are limited, so don't wait! Here's a quick listing of just the bundles ~

Holiday Extravaganza Sale

All in the Family Bundle (item 116217) – 50% Off
Retail $63.40 NOW $31.70
All in the Family, Family Accessories, Neighborhood Stampin’ Around® jumbo wheel
(pages 78-79)

The Manly Man’s Bundle (item 116224) – 50% Off
Retail $56.80 NOW $28.40
Sporting, Just Football, Just Basketball, Just Baseball
(pages 82-83)

Seasonal Stamper’s Bundle (item 116221) – 40% Off
Retail $83.80 NOW $50.28
Autumn Harvest, Snow Burst, A Good Egg, Something New to Love
(pages 30, 34, 47)

Alpha-Betcha Need This Bundle (item 116226) – 40% Off
Retail $64.90 NOW $38.94
Well Worn Alphabet, Well-Worn Numbers
(page 155)

I’m On Board Bundle (item 116218) – 30% Off
Retail $67.75 NOW $46.65
On Board Patch of Blooms, Essentials, Lots of Letters, Timeless Type and 8.5x8.5 ring album (pages 180-181)

Bags & Tags Bundle (item 116216) – 30% Off
Retail $74.95 NOW $52.46
Punch Pals, Riding Hood Red Classic inkpad, Note cards and Envelopes, White gift sacks, Riding Hood Red Patterns Designer Series paper, Tag punch
(pages 37,162, 167, 171, 188)

Santa’s Stocking Stuffer Bundle (item 116219) – 30% Off
Retail $23.85 NOW $16.69
Square Rhinestone Ice brads, Metallic Eyelets, Fresh Favorites 2 buttons
(pages 185, 187)

Curly Label Punch Bundle (item 112966) – 30% Off
Retail $33.95 NOW $23.77
(page 189)

Star Struck Bundle (item 116220) – 30% Off
Retail $41.80 NOW $29.26
Starstruck, Starring You, Star designer brads, Star Punch
(page 117, 138, 184, 188)


Sticky Situation Bundle (item 116222) – 30% Off
Retail $47.30 NOW $33.11
Sticky Cuts Letters, Blue Bead Duos, Green Bead Duos, Fine Cosmo Stampin' glitter, Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' glitter
(page 190)

Mission Embossable Bundle (item 116223) – 30% Off
Retail $66.10 NOW $46.27
Heat Tool, Gold Stampin' Emboss powder, Silver Stampin' Emboss powder, Iridescent Stampin' Emboss powder, Powder Pals, Embossing Buddy
(page 190)

Scrapbooker’s Dream Bundle (item 116227) – 25% Off
Retail $82.95 NOW $60.71
Blooms Again die cuts, Urban Garden DSP, On Board Lots of Letters, Roof Garden Accents & Elements, Natural Linen 12x12 ring album, Basic Gray taffeta ribbon, Basic Black journaler
(pages 166, 168, 181, 182, 183, 187, 193)

Wild Thing, I Think I Love You Bundle (item 116225) – 20% Off
Retail $54.40 NOW $43.52
Wild About You, Bold Brights 8.5x11 assortment cardstock, Bold Brights Classic Stampin’ Spots
(page 77, 164)

Ribbon Storage Bundle (item 116228) – 20%Off
Retail $46.85 NOW $37.48
Small, medium and Large ribbon keepers, 2 each
(page 195)

Altered Wooden Key Holder

Well, for me, it's hard to believe it's Thanksgiving week... honestly, didn't Halloween like, *just* happen? Surely not nearly a whole month ago! I'm feeling so behind! Maybe it's because I haven't scrapbooked the Halloween pics yet... I don't know. That's one thing about living in Phoenix - the typical changes of seasons is virtually non-existent, so these holidays have a way of sneaking up on ya! The weather is "stinkin' B-E-A-U-tiful...." or it's "stinkin' HOT"! :)

Back in the 80's, DH and I lived in Massachusetts for almost 3 years, and the change of seasons after summertime was unmistakeable. Our very first Autumn and Winter experience there is one I will never forget! Of course, we enjoyed the fabulous and fiery fall colors in October ~ complete with blowing, swirling leaves creating the perfect "spookiness" necessary for Halloween night! Then the bare trees and gray days with bitter and icy cold weather for Thanksgiving, and finally, the peaceful, calm and quiet snowfall Christmas Eve and untouched, fresh and sparkling snow on Christmas morning. I didn't have any trouble with "holiday spirit" then... *sigh* I think I need to pick up the house a bit, put out the cornecopia on our dining room table and start listening to the holiday songs- see, I'm so behind!!! :)

OK, enough whining!!! Let's get on with the pictures that I'm posting today... I altered this wooden key holder with Stampin' Up!s beautiful Ski Slope designer paper and the hostess paper pack. The bare wood item which included the hooks was found in the craft section of my local Walmart for a steal! I painted the sides and back of the frame with light blue acrylic craft paint. After tracing/cutting out the paper, I sponged Baja Breeze ink lightly around the oval shape. I glued the background paper on the wood frame with Mod Podge. The die-cut letters were glued down with Mod Podge, and I applied a light coat over the letters and sides/back of the frame itself. I left areas untouched where the flowers/butterfly were going to be, and the frame was set aside to dry. I die-cut and sponged the edges of the flower petals with Riding Hood Red ink, and formed my 3-D flowers w/leaves. The butterfly was stamped on white cardstock, colored in with markers, then trimmed out. Getting a small sheet of wax paper to protect my work surface, I sealed in the shaped flowers and curled wings of the butterfly with Mod Podge and a small paintbrush. I was careful not to get the sealer too far down on the back side of each item where I wanted to place a piece of sticky strip. When all pieces were dry, I adhered the 3-D items to the frame with small squares of sticky strip, pressing together as well as possible without ruining my shapes. I used a very small paintbrush or a 1 inch sponge paintbrush to Mod Podge a final time around all areas/3-D items for its final coat and to help stiffen up the flowers/butterfly even more...

So what do you think? This project was really fun to do... of course, altering *anything* is super fun, in my book ~ :)

I've been working on some scrapbook layouts, and I think I will post them either tonight or tomorrow morning. For now, I'm going to turn on some holiday music, get the vacuum out and dig out my Cornecopia items and hop to it!!! Have a great day and I'll check in again very, very soon! :)
Stamps - butterfly is a SU! hostess incentive stamp
Paper - Ski Slope and Hostess paper pack DSP
Inks - Black, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red and SU markers to color butterfly
Accessories - Big Shot, Birds and Blooms AND Serif Essentials Alphabet dies, black brads, sponge daubers, sticky strip, mod podge, paintbrushes

Same Layout - Different Looks

Hello again. I hope that your week is going well. I was busy with our last scrapbook club meeting for 2008 this past weekend, and getting swap cards ready for a meeting yesterday. My swap card was based on this simple sketch above, and I enjoyed using it to make a simple and quick holiday card that can pack alot of punch.

This card used Season of Joy, and it's a perfect solid stamp set that makes fast cards during this busy time of year. The colors used were Riding Hood Red and Handsome Hunter. Perfect, traditional colors where you can't go wrong, don't you think?
The next card uses the exact same sketch, but turned to make the panels vertical. This card uses the same color hues (Handsome Hunter and Rose Red this time), and it took a bit longer to put together because I watercolored all of the flowers. This wonderful flowery stamp set is Embrace Life ~ which I hope you do every day! :)

To add some depth to the two largest flowers after watercoloring, I sponged the very edges of the petals with ink, trimmed them out and popped them up with dimensionals. The leaves were cut free-hand from Whisper White cardstock, and I added the veins in the leaves with my stylus. It's colored with sponges for dimension. There are two small flowers on the sentiment panel that were cut out and popped up with dimensionals. Again, I sponged the edges of my main panels to soften the overall look... I hope you enjoy my post today! Till next time.....

Autumn Thanks

Well, Thanksgiving is just around the corner for those of us that live in the United States, and it's time to start getting my Thanksgiving celebration cards made for family and friends. I had made this card some time ago for one of SCS's challenges, and thought I'd share it here tonight. I bought this stamp set made by Stampin' Up! many years ago. I think it's called Bushy Tailed Blessings (I have alot of my stamps out on shelves in my craft room, so I sometimes forget the names). Regardless, I didn't have very many Thanksgiving type of sets back then (and still don't - gasp!), and I remember that I was especially happy to get this one with these cute squirrels sharing their harvest. The background was stamped in Ruby Red and sponged on the edges of the base panel, and the plaid patterned paper was found from my huge scraps pile. The main image itself was watercolored with markers and aquapainter. The ribbon and brads were added to provide alittle bit of ooommph. Thanks for visiting today... till next time... :)

Stamps: Bushy Tailed Blessings, background acorn/leaves from 2000 SAB set (unknown name at this time)
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Vanilla, plaid DP (unknown source)
Ink: Ruby Red, black, various SU markers for coloring
Accessories: brads, ribbon, aquapainter, sponge dauber
Techniques: watercoloring

Winter Post Gift Card

Hello again! As promised, here is another gift card holder using the Big Shot Top Note die to create my pocket that holds the gift card on the inside (see picture below). I used the very edge of the Top Note die to cut away and make the fancy scallop to create the pocket that the gift card slides into...

To make this, I cut my Night of Navy cardstock in half lengthwise to give me a sheet 4 1/4 x 11 inches. Measuring from one short side only, I scored at 4 3/4, 5 1/2 and 6 1/4 inches. Fold the card so that you create the flap on the inside - see pictures below:



Use Mono-Multi glue on the outside edges only to secure the flap together (see below). You don't want to glue the entire flap together because you won't be able to make your pocket that your gift card slides into! :)

Once the glue sets for about a minute or so (this glue is amazing.... I love it!), you'll be able to run the card through the Big Shot using the Top Note die. I put a couple of pieces of tape along the edges of the die to help me line up the flap for cutting (see below). This way, the cut is even all the way down the flap. (Tip to share: You may want to use additional tape to help secure the card/flap to the die to keep it from sliding around while you cut it.)

And Voila! Your pocket has been created....

I have to note here that I did take my scissors and trim the edges of my curve about 1/8 inch on each side because my gift card was just a smidge larger than the pocket cut-out... notice the white lines of the gel pen in the above picture. I drew those in for you so see how much I trimmed. I'm not sure if all gift card sizes are the same, so you may or may not need to do this step.

I decorated the front by stamping/heat-embossing the skaters from my Winter Post set (found in the Fall-Winter Holiday Mini) in black ink and clear embossing powder. I masked the skaters and stamped/heat-embossed the trees from Lovely as a Tree the same way. I used my 3/4 inch circle punch and a post-it note to create my moon mask. Using another post-it note, I protected the snowy ground while I sponged the night sky in Bashful Blue, Bordering Blue and Night of Navy ink. The post-its were removed and I drew in the edge of the lake below the trees. The skaters were watercolored with markers/aquapainter. The ice was sponged in Bashful Blue. Lastly, I heat-embossed the Christmas sentiment from the Curly Label bundle and punched it out with the Curly Label punch. This sentiment was popped up with dimensionals.

I created another one below, but this one is a standard size card using More Mustard as my cardbase and watercolored the ice instead of sponging.

I hope you enjoy today's posting.... I'd love to hear what you think! As always, thanks for visiting, and I hope you had a great weekend!!! See you next time... :)

Winter's Coming!

Winter's on the way! Here's a matchbook card utilizing stamps from 4 different Stampin' Up! stamp sets. The trees come from the always adaptable Lovely as a Tree set, along with the cute reindeer from the new Fall-Winter Mini Catalog's Winter Post set. The snowflakes are from the very popular, but now retired Snow Flurries, and the Christmas sentiment is one of four different stamps found in the Curly Label punch bundle. I love mixing different stamp images from Stampin'Up!s sets because so many of them compliment each other in ways that you least expect at times...

Matchbook cards are perfect to use for gift card holders. Cut your 8 1/2 x 11 inch cardstock in half lengthwise to make (2) pieces 4 1/4 x 11 inches. I did this using Pumpkin Pie. Measuring from one 4 1/4 inch side only, score at 1 inch and fold, and from that score line, measure and score at 5 3/8 inches and fold. This gives about a 1/4 inch overlap that will tuck behind the 1 inch pocket flap that was first created. For decorating, I heat-embossed my little Old Olive snowflake panel at the bottom with Versamark and white embossing powder, then glued it to the 1 inch flap. I folded the flap over and added brads to secure my pocket to hold my gift card. For my main image, I stamped the trees in black ink on a block of Whisper White. I used a torn post-it note along the ground to protect it when I sponged the sky in Really Rust, So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie inks. Then using a different post-it note, I covered the sky and sponged the ground in Old Olive ink. The reindeer was stamped on top in black ink using the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig so it would be placed exactly where I wanted it. I stamped/heat-embossed the snowflakes on the top of the panel with Versamark/white embossing powder. Lastly, I took my Versamark pen and drew in the snow and heat-embossed this with white embossing powder (went alittle crazy on this step, but I still like the effect - LOL!). This panel was mounted on Old Olive and a ribbon bow was tied across. After gluing the main panel down to my matchbook, I added the sentiment by stamping in Versamark and heat-embossing in black powder on Pumpkin Pie cardstock. This was punched out with the Curly Label punch, and I glued the lower half of the sentiment only onto the pocket flap.

Thank you for checking in with me today. I hope you like my gift card holder and get a chance to play with matchbook cards and heat embossing soon! I'm posting a different type of gift card holder tomorrow using the Top Note Die/Big Shot, Lovely as a Tree and this wonderfully fun Winter Post set - it has officially become a favorite one for me (ya, ya, ya... along with about 150 other "favorites" - hey, what can I say? SU! stamps ROCK!) :)

Simple Christmas Elegance

This Christmas card is a CASE from my upline's last group meeting. When she showed it to us, I knew I was going to have to make this because it is so simple to do, yet stunning to look at in real life. Not only that, but mailing these will be a snap! No bulky items to wonder about, no increased postage costs, and best of all, this card design is quick to put together so you could whip up a bunch to send to family and friends in no time flat.... yay! Thanks so much for sharing this beauty, KM... Truly, it is simple elegance at it's best!

The Whisper White cardstock was cut to 8 x 5 1/4 inches and scored in half to make the "card" 4 x 5 1/4 inches in size. The back of the "card" was adhered to a 1/4 sheet of Night of Navy with the card crease along the top to make a standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch card. It leaves such a pretty 1/8 inch dark blue border all around (the pic shows the top white layer bowing out a bit, so I took my bone folder afterward and ran it across the crease to stiffen it up and make the card lay flat against the base). To stamp the design, I cut a 2 x 3 3/4 inch rectangle out of the center of a 1/4 sheet of vellum using a ruler and craft knife, then stuck a small piece of repositionable tape along each rectangle edge. The vellum mask was put on top of the Whisper White, and I very lightly sponged Going Grey ink in the rectangular opening to create the grey block. The grouping of trees comes from a stamp from the timeless set ~ Lovely as a Tree, and it was stamped in Going Grey ink too. The vellum mask was removed, and the the large pine tree from the same stamp set was stamped in Night of Navy ink. Finally, the sentiment comes from one of our current Level 1 hostess sets called Best Yet and was also stamped in Night of Navy ink. I am finding this sentiment set to be extremely useful with a great variety of sayings, and perfect for adding just the right touch!

I hope you enjoy this beautiful card as much as I am... thanks again, KM... this one's a keeper! See you next time!!

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Best Yet
Cardstock: Whisper White, Night of Navy, vellum
Ink: Night of Navy, Going Grey
Accessories: ruler and craft knife to create rectangle in vellum, sponge, repositionable tape

A Big Snowflake!

I love this large Snowflake #2 Die by Sizzix! I know I'll be getting alot of mileage out of this die, especially this Christmas. It's on page 31 of Stampin' Up!s Holiday Mini Catalog for just $15.95 (before S/H & tax) and well worth every cent. It makes a big statement for cards, but can you imagine your Christmas tree decorated with these lovely snowflakes, or dangling from a garland or attached to a wreath? You could die cut cling vinyl and put it on your mirrors, windows, or cookie jar! What a great afternoon assembly project for kids, too.... As you can see, I really do adore this particular die!! LOL!

This quick and simple card was created for SC201. I didn't need to use any stamps for the front of this card. I did sponge a bit of Ballet Blue ink on the edges of my Bashful Blue cardbase and the very top Whisper White block. The edges of the Cutie Pie patterned paper blocks were distressed with my sanding block. The large snowflake was made with the Bigshot/snowflake die and sandwiching thin cardboard and patterned paper together to give a bit of weight to the snowflake. I used the Snow Blossom punch and one of the flowers from the Spring Bouquet punch to create the center focal on the large snowflake. The snowflake was popped up with dimensionals.

Have a great day and come back soon ~ thanks for visiting today!

Stamps: none!
Paper: Cutie Pie DP, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Certainly Celery
Ink: Ballet Blue
Accessories: silver brad, dimensional popdots, sanding block, sponge dauber, Big Shot, snowflake die, snow blossom and spring bouquet punches