Bidding Adieu to the 2012 Holiday Catalog

Hello, Studio Visitors!  This weekend's projects mostly came from the Holiday Catalog, which expires on January 2...  Please contact me soon if there's something you need (or click on the {Shop} button to shop 24/7)!

The centers of these flowers are from the Snow Flurries Bigz Die.  The inspiration for this card came from one of my favorite linen catalogs...

These elliptical shapes are from the Ornament Keepsakes set (and coordinating Framelits):

In an earlier post, you've seen me tuck some starlight mints inside this canning jar (aside from the fruit that the set comes with).  Here's another way to use it to make it a versatile set for your stash:

I loved using this Merry Minis set and its coordinating Punch Pack this season.  Here's a quick and simple New Years' card:

Thinking ahead to Valentine's Day, here's a card made with two sets.  First, the sweet Hostess set, Mixed Medley (lots of cute scalloped circle images and smaller 3/4-inch images to fit inside!) can be found on the ribbon.  I used the sentiment from the Seasonal Sayings set on the Melon Mambo piece that I then fed through my Big Shot for the polka dot embossing...

The cupcake liner on this sweet and simple card comes from the Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper stack (which I'll sorely miss)...  The Cupcake Builder punch makes for such a quick and easy project!

This "Thank You" project is actually a gift box; I've got a video that I'll post this week to show you how quick and easy it is.  

Wishing you a healthy and happy 2013!

{12 Weeks of Christmas} -- Hostess/Teacher Gift

This year's gift to teachers, hostesses, service providers, girlfriends, etc, was a jar of hand-stamped notes.  One can never have too many Thank You notes, so that was my thought here...

From the 2012 Holiday Catalog, I used the Designer Series Fabric to decorate the top of the jar (I included a bow around the lid, as well, but forgot it before I took this picture).

This card is a re-run of what I've made before.  I used the Festival of Prints DSP in the Holiday Catalog to make the easy strip.  Once the entire card face was assembled (minus the ribbon embellie), I fed it through my Big Shot for the texture...

I love the look of this 3-D ornament from Tags til Christmas!

You might recognize this technique from my early "Negative" post.  This card also uses the Festival of Prints DSP from the Holiday Catalog.  What a snap!

My bows and knots look so good when I tie them using the Seam Binding Ribbon!

Hope you're enjoying the magic of the season!

{12 Weeks of Christmas} Week 4 -- Easy Gift Idea

I'm always in need of an easy gift to make that I can give at Christmas time.  This little gem is perfect!

With a little muscle, I punched a folded piece of card stock with my Designer Label Punch (just make your fold come in a little bit so that you don't end up with two separate punches).  

Notice that I punched the Cherry Cobbler one with the fold along the long edge of the punch; with the Crumb Cake one, I placed the fold along one of the shorter sides.

I punched the Festival of Prints Designer Series paper with my Curvy Label Punch and then snipped it to make the layered look (save the snips for the next one!).

The cute coordinated stamp and punch are from the Merry Minis set, offered in the 2012 Holiday Catalog.  Access it here or email me (use the link on the left) to contact me for a hard copy.

With the Merry Minis set and coordinating punch, your project is a snap!  It's so easy to stamp and punch these sweet little images!

I took slips of the Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper Stack to easily cover my little chocolates.  A sweet gift for people at school, church and in our neighborhood.  Can't wait to bring a smile with these easy gifts!

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps:  Merry Minis (2012 Holiday Catalog, W127916, C127919)

Papers:  Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper Stack (126904), Crumb Cake (120953), Cherry Cobbler (119685) and Lucky Limeade (122926) card stocks

Inks:  Cherry Cobbler (126966) and Lucky Limeade (126984) Classics

Accessories:  Decorative Label (120907) and Curvy Label (119851) Punches, Merry Minis Punch Pack (2012 Holiday Catalog, 126882), Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine (123125), Linen Thread (104199), 4" x 6" Cellophane Bags (102757)

Have you missed my previous {12 Weeks of Christmas} posts?  You can find them here:  {1}, {2}, and {3}.

{12 Weeks of Christmas} Week 3 -- Embrace the Negative!

What?!  No, no, this is a *positive* post about Christmas...

The fact is, when we use our Bigz dies, Framelits or punches, we're often left with the negative from which we cut our shape.  How about using the "negative" as the focal point, or key feature, of our project?

Here's what I mean.  A simple punch with the Decorative Label Punch leaves us with this delicious negative in which to showcase the Festive Designer Series Paper Stack (page 20, from the 2012 Holiday Catalog).  I am IN. LOVE. with this new DSP and will be using it in our family Christmas cards this year.  I love the color palette, the designs provided and since they're double-sided, there's a lot of variety.

This card features a color combination suggested by my Color Coach:  Island Indigo, Baja Breeze and Rich Razzleberry.  I used the Decorative Label Punch on my Rich Razzleberry (which I ran through my Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots EF).

**Studio Suggestion**:  Stampin' Dimensionals add the lift necessary to make the punched negative really stand out.

Since I have used a couple of layers of card stock, I'm able to use smaller pieces of my DSP and really stretch my supply.  This is a great and cost-effective way to make note cards for gifts (they'll be among my gifts this year!).

The sentiment, "My friend," is inked with my Island Indigo and Baja Breeze Stampin' Write markers and punched with the Curly Label punch.

A rhinestone and knot of Baja Breeze seam binding add a little {flair} to the project.

Here's another example:

Using the Lacy Brocade EF from the Holiday Catalog (page 6), I added a classic texture to the Not Quite Navy piece.

Very Vanilla seam binding has a bit of sheen which adds another nice classic touch.

The stamp from Tags til Christmas is created to fit the Decorative Label punch, but by using my Stampin' Dimensionals, the Very Vanilla card stock along the edge of the stamped image lends a bit of contrast.

I used my Jewelry Tag punch and the Tiny Tags stamp finish off the look.

Once again, the Color Coach guided me to choose the palette:  Not Quite Navy, Regal Rose and Very Vanilla.

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Project #1:

Stamps:  Perfect Punches (W117022, C120516)

Papers:  Festival of Prints DSP Stack (Holiday Catalog, 126904), Rich Razzleberry (115316), Baja Breeze (111352) and Whisper White (100730) Card Stocks

Inks:  Island Indigo and Baja Breeze Stampin' Write Markers (Can be purchased in color family collections)

Accessories:  Big Shot (113439), Perfect Polka Dots EF (117335), Baja Breeze Seam Binding Ribbon (122331), Decorative Label (120907), 3/16-inch Corner (119871) and Curly Label (119851) punches, Rhinestone Basic Jewels (119246) and Stampin' Dimensionals (104430)

Project #2:


Stamps:  Tags til Christmas (W120847, C121169), Tiny Tags (W118091, C118592)

Papers:  Not Quite Navy (101722), Regal Rose (105130) and Very Vanilla (101650) Card Stocks

Inks: Not Quite Navy (126971) and Regal Rose (126947) Classics

ccessories:  Big Shot (113439), Lacy Brocade EF (127819), Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon (120999), Decorative Label (120907), 3/16-inch Corner (119871) and Jewelry Tag (117190) punches, Linen Thread (104199) and Stampin' Dimensionals (104430)