Deck the Halls Card

Merry Christmas!!!  I'm back again with another of the amazing cards from my swap with Marlene Caravello:

I love how she created the caroling Rudolph!!!    Here's a close up:

Inside the card is a very fun gift card holder, made with the Pop-Up Look Here die:

Hope you have a Merry and Bright day with your friends and family!

- Michelle

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

My apologies for not posting in so long, but had a few minutes tonight, so thought I'd sneak on and post a few fun Christmas projects I've been wanting to share with you! 

Here's my favorite project that we made at my Christmas Stamp Camp a couple weekends back -- a Rudolph Sweet Treat gift:

The original idea for this came from Marie Shaughnessy. 

For my version, I decided to create an easy-open back to make candy access simple!  On the back oval, I cut off part of the top, and punched an opening with the 1 3/8" Circle Punch.  Then, I created a slider-closure out of the 1 3/4" Circle I had punched out for the Treat Cup, plus a round tab punch.  Here's what it looks like apart:

The second project is another one from the swap I did with my friend Marlene Caravello.  Isn't this a wonderful Santa Box?!

I love how she made this from the Fancy Favor Treat Box, and think the detail of embossing his beard, hair, and fringe on his hat with the Finial Folder was fabulous!  That texture adds so much!!!

And, last but not least, here is a wonderful cocoa and candy cane gift holder also made by Marlene! 

So much fun!!!  (Thank you again, Marlene!)

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas eve!

- Michelle

12 Days of Holiday Sales!

Stampin' Up! announced today great deals on some amazing Big Shot dies and Decor Elements sheets (including 18 just-released styles!  I'm very excited about the Chalkboard sheets in particular -- have some great ideas for using these!) 

These specials run from today until December 22nd.  You can check out the great deals in my online store (click shop now near the top of my home page, then you can click on the 12 Days of Holiday Sales to see the dies and Decor Element sheets on special)! 

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Happy Shopping!
Michelle

Time to Say Goodbye . . . to some stamps on the "dormant list", that is!

The following Stampin' Up! stamp sets will be discontinued on January 4, 2010:


Item Number      Stamp Set

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



If any of these stamp sets are on your wish list, visit my website or contact me to purchase them now before they are gone for good!

- Michelle

Santa Christmas in a Tin Ornament from 2008

As promised, here are a few photos of one of the scrapbook ornaments I made with my boys last year.   Here is the outside front:

The Santa punch art idea came from Mercedes Weber.  Santa's beard and hat topper are made using flowers from the Trio Flower Punch, and his hat is made using the Scallop Square and Word Window Punch.  His face and nose were made with circle punches, and the top of his hair comes from the Scallop Circle Punch. 

Here are a couple photos of the inside pages:

It's so much fun to decorate these little pages with rub ons and bling.  They are so small, it doesn't take much work to finish them up nicely!

If you'd like to make a Christmas in a Tin ornament of your own, please contact me for information about purchasing a kit!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Snow Family Scrapbook Ornament in a Tin!

Today is my scrapbook ornament in a tin class -- I started doing these a couple years ago, and always have so much fun with them.  My boys and I love to look through their scrapbooks from Christmases past as we hang these ornaments on the tree. 

Anyway, here is a sample of the ornament we will be making today:

The candy tin I used for this had a window in the front, so thought that naturally would lend itself to making a shaker!  So, before I attached the snow family image behind that window, I put a little white chunky glitter into the window.  The top of the tin is basically Kiwi Kiss in color, so I ended up pulling out some paper from last year's I Wish Simply Scrappin Kit to create the piece for the front and the band to go around the outside of the tin.  Also could not resist using a Little Felt Flurry with a half pearl to dress up the front a bit.  I think I may have to go back and add some bling to the centers of the snowflakes on the Designer Paper using Crystal Effects and Chunky Glitter, too. 

Inside it has 6 pages, attached together with some gold cord.  Here's what it looks like:

All ready for photos from Christmas this year!  I usually order a couple of 4 x 6 prints with six photos (each 2 x 3 inches) on it.  Then, either punch or cut those out and attach to the pages.  Will show you one from last year tomorrow so you can see what I mean!  These make wonderful gifts, too!

Want to make one of these, but missed out on signing up for the class?  I can put a kit or kits together for you.  (Each kit is $10, plus shipping, if needed, in the U.S. only).  Please contact me for more information!

- Michelle

Dashing Luminaries

You might remember I was creating some goodies for a swap a little while back and showed some of them here . . . well, today I want to show you one of the amazing projects I received from the super-talented friend, Marlene Caravello, who was swapping with me! 

In the most recent box, Marlene sent me a gorgeous luminary that she created out of card stock, with a battery operated tea light to add a safe and gentle glow!   Here are some photos:

The cardstock for the luminary is Pretty in Pink, and was embossed using the Finial Press Big Shot folder.  Ribbons are Melon Mambo 1/2" Polka Dot Grosgrain, Regal Rose 5/8" Grosgrain, and Whisper White Taffeta.  Marlene stamped a heart from the I {Heart} Hearts stamp set on vellum using Melon Mambo Classic Ink.  This stamp set is from the upcoming Occasions Mini catalog, available starting January 5th!  This stamp set is very cool because it coordinates with Stampin' Up!'s heart punches!  The top of the luminary is punched using the Eyelet Border Punch, and Marlene sponged Melon Mambo Classic Ink around the top.  I love all the wonderful details!!! 

In fact, I loved Marlene's Valentine's luminary so much, it inspired me to create a Christmas luminary -- using the Dasher stamp again (can you tell I am really enjoying this stamp right now?)  I decided to try taking a short cut and use the Fancy Favor Big Shot die to create the box for the luminary.   Here's how my creation turned out:

The box was cut from the Christmas Cocoa Specialty Designer Series Paper, and to give it some extra holiday glow, I sponged on some Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint.  I think the ribbon is Riding Hood Red Taffeta.  We'll be making more of these at the Christmas Stamp Camp on Sunday -- hope you can come! 

Such a fun project -- have some more of Marlene's amazing projects to share with you soon, too!  Thank you, Marlene, for the wonderful ideas and inspiration!!! 

- Michelle

Dashing through the Snow . . .

       A week from this Sunday is my Christmas Stamp Camp, and it's been great fun preparing projects for everyone to make at it!  If you are in the area, I hope you will come join the fun!!!

        One of the cards at the stamp camp uses two of my favorite new techniques.  The first is masked dry embossing -- not sure if this is the technical name for it -- but best I can come up with for now!  I first saw this technique on Patty Bennett's blog.   With this technique, you use a piece of chipboard, or a thinner wood frame as part of the sandwich for your embossing.  Then, the open area in the frame or in or around the chipboard will not be embossed.  In my card below, I used a frame with an oval opening, and that left me with Petals a Plenty flowers embossed around the oval.  I used the flat oval space to stamp my focal image -- really love the Dasher stamp! 

The second new technique I used is stamping with shimmer paint.  To make it appear as though Dasher is walking through the woods on a snowy evening, I inked up a snowflake stamp with Frost White Shimmer Mist and stamped that several times.  I used a dauber to swipe some shimmer mist to create some snowy ground underneath Dasher as well.  Then, Bashful Blue ink was sponged around the oval, and actually the ink resists the shimmer paint on the snowflake, for a neat effect.  Finally, I added some chunky white glitter on the ground and snowflakes, and in Dasher's antlers.  A bit hard to tell from the photo, but there is lots of sparkle on this card -- the white cardstock used was even shimmer white.  

The Chocolate Chip frame around Dasher was cut on the Big Shot using the Scallop Oval die, which automatically cuts the scallop frame, as well as an oval piece, which you could use for another project.  There is a layer of Chocolate Chip paper under the Shimmer White, and everything is layered onto a Close to Cocoa base.

I think this would make an elegant Christmas card or thank you note! 

I have another fun project using the Dasher stamp to show soon!

- Michelle

Blog Candy Winner and Answer to Turkey Punches Question!

Thanks to everyone who left a comment on my blog candy post!!!!  Really appreciate your kind words.  I used random.org to draw a number from those who left comments, and it chose comment 4, which is Yvonne's!  Congratulations, Yvonne!!!  I'll be in touch with you about getting your new stamp set and album to you! 

Next, for the answer to my question about the number of punches used to create the turkey in my Thanksgiving blog header!  Here's what the header looks like:  

I do have to admit this was a bit of a trick question -- there were two ways to answer.  One was to count the number of punch shapes I used, and the other was to count the total number of punches of all shapes.  So, I'll give both answers.  I think the best way to do this is with a visual -- so here are the component pieces that make up the turkey:

As you can see, the body is a scallop circle (the color around that, as well as the feet and the 6 oval punch feathers is from a mat rather than a second punch).  The two feet are small hearts, the waddle is a tall heart punch, and the beak is a corner frame punch.  Finally, the head and the whites of the eyes are circle punches (turns out in digital studio, there is only one circle punch, which you can resize all you want).  The black parts of the eye are actually brads. 

Final tally -- I used 6 punch shapes and a total of 14 punched pieces.  There were a lot of close guesses -- I think Teresa came the closest, though!  Have a little something fun as a surprise for her!

- Michelle