Peace, Love and Joy Snowglobe Card

I've seen a number of fun cards using the Sweet Snowglobe stamp set to make a "shaker card" and even received a beautiful one from my friend Marlene Caravello, which I thought I had shared on the blog, but couldn't find, so will do that soon! 

Anyway, I thought it would be a fun project to make one of these at hostess club.  So, for our November hostess club meeting, this is the card I designed:

To create this, we colored the Sweet Snowglobe image with markers, then used the 1-3/4" Circle punch to punch out the snowy scene, and trimmed around the base.  I love how the image works perfectly with the Sweet Treat cups -- and it was so much fun to fill this with some chunky Sprinkles glitter (we used a combination of white, which you can still get in the Chunky Essentials pack, and blue, which is from a retired pack -- but the silver from the Chunky Essentials would be a fun substitute, too).  Here's a close up of the snowglobe and its glittery "snow":



The embossed image is the Northern Flurry Embossing Folder.   We used some Moonlight Smooch to add some sparkle on the embossed snowflakes. 

The ribbon is Pear Pizzazz 1/2" Stitched-Poly Ribbon.  The cardstock is Marina Mist and Whisper White.  And, the greeting is from the All Holidays stamp set, and was stamped in Marina Mist Classic Ink.

Thanks for stopping by!

-- Michelle

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope that you are having a wonderful day with family and friends.

 And, a big thank you to you for reading my blog -- I really appreciate you taking the time to visit, leave comments, and all.  In fact, I think it is just about time for some blog candy again -- so please check back soon for that!

I do have a project to share with you today, too.  This one is a variation on the Thanksgiving basket I put together for my World Cardmaking Day class (you can see the original in this post).  Here's my Christmas notecard basket:

I used the same method as before to create the basket out of Crumb Cake card stock, but this time sponged around the edges with White Craft Ink and substituted a Real Red card stock border for the Autumn Spice Designer Paper.  The Real Red pieces were stamped using the Little Cardinals and Striped Builder Wheels with Real Red Classic Ink.  I used a white gel pen to color the snow on the Little Cardinals wheel. 

The zig zag border is actually a piece of Early Espresso Card Stock, cut out with the Tasteful Trim Bigz Die and the Big Shot.  I then sponged the Early Espresso with White Craft Ink.

The snowflake was cut with the Northern Frost Sizzlit Strip for the Big Shot.  I spritzed it with Vanilla Smooch Spritz and added a pearl from Stampin' Up!'s Pearl Jewels to the center.

Here's how the notecards turned out:

The Real Red strips on the bottom were wheeled with the Contempo Wheel.  I added a piece of Early Espresso that had been cut with the Tasteful Trim die, and sponged with White Craft ink.

I also used the snowflakes from the Northern Frost die on the cards, again spritzed with Vanilla Shimmer Mist and with a Pearl Jewel in the center. 

The tag was created by punching a piece of Whisper White twice with the Decorative Label punch.  The first time to punch normally, and the second time the punched piece was re-inserted and punched again in a different direction to create the square shape.  Here's a close up of one of the cards:

The snowflakes stamped on the tag are from the Northern Frost set, and "merry!" is from the Berry Christmas set.  I added more pearls from the Pearl Jewels on the tag, and sponged around it with Early Espresso ink.

Hope you like this project!  Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Michelle VanWiggeren,  Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator

All Set to Deck the Halls with Bells & Boughs?

Have you checked out the amazing deals in the Online Spectacular yet?  If not, be sure to head over to my online store to shop now!  I had fun shopping yesterday, and am looking forward to my new box of goodies arriving sometime soon!!!  One of the specials I had to take advantage of is 50% off Stampin' Up!'s Designer Fabric!!!  There are so many fun things you can do with this -- even if you don't sew!  And, I've used so much of my fabric, it was definitely time to order some more!

A while back I demonstrated this project at a workshop:

I used fabric on the bookmark -- the large ric rac that runs through the center is from the Deck the Halls fabric pack, and is topped with a smaller ric rac piece of the coordinating Deck the Halls Designer Series Paper.  I cut both the fabric and designer paper with the Tasteful Trim Bigz XL Die and the Big Shot.  The fabric cuts so nicely on the Big Shot, and I was able to adhere it to the Always Artichoke base cardstock for the bookmark using only SNAIL Adhesive.  Super easy, and a great way to add some texture and interest to the project!

The bells are from the Bells & Boughs stamp set -- one of my favorites!  I showed how you can watercolor using an Aquapainter and the ink from Classic Ink pads.  I used Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke and Crumb Cake inks.  Then, painted over the Crumb Cake with Champagne Shimmer Paint, so the bell has some holiday sparkle!

A little hard to tell from the photo, but the gold paper on the bottom of the bookmark and in the Scallop Punched piece is actually Brushed Gold Card Stock -- love that for dressing up holiday projects!

The ribbon in the top of the bookmark is the Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, which I also love. 

For a recent swap, I decided to take the basic idea and ingredients of this bookmark and expand it to a Christmas card.  Here's how that turned out:

And, a close up of the watercolored bells image:

Here's a card with a slightly different piece of trim, shown at a different angle so you can see a bit more of this card's shimmer:

Hope you like this one!  Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle
Michelle VanWiggeren

Online Spectacular!!!!

From November 22-30, you can get spectacular deals in my online store! 

There's free shipping on orders of $150 or more.  And, selected products available at 20-50% off!!!  For instance,  My Digital Studio is available at 50% off!  Designer Fabric is available at 50% off!  There are also an assortment of Big Shot dies, stamp sets, accessories and more available at discounted prices.  You'll want to check out all the great deals -- click here to start shopping now!!!

Trim a Tree with Christmas Cheer

As many of you know, I really like making cards with Stampin' Up!'s Simply Scrappin' Kits -- and have been designing various 30 and 60 card classes with these kits for about 3 years now!  Anyway, when I ordered the Christmas Cheer set several months ago, and started working with it to design this year's 30 Christmas cards class, I had an idea to use the number pieces that come as part of the self-adhesive die cuts to create an advent calendar.  My friend Jana suggested the numbers might work well with the new Petal Card Punch, and I thought that was brilliant.  One thing led to another, and here's what I finally created -- a 5.5 x 7" card with a pop-up Christmas tree, which can be decorated each day of advent with an ornament hidden in one of the numbered pockets.  The reason for the somewhat strange size is that it fits perfectly inside one of the Sweet Treat Padded Envelopes.  So, this super-interactive card could be mailed to someone special!

Here's the outside of the card:

This is a Cherry Cobbler base, with a Very Vanilla strip of card stock along the side, and self-adhesive die cut strips and "celebrate" from the Christmas Cheer Simply Scrappin' Kit. 

When you open the card, here's what's inside:

The tree was created using the O Christmas Tree Pop Up for the Big Shot to die cut pieces of Always Artichoke card stock from the Simply Scrappin' Kit.  The gold star on top of the tree was created by cutting Brushed Gold card stock using the Tree Decorations Sizzlit for the Big Shot (which coordinates perfectly with the O Christmas Tree Pop Up Die). 

The designer paper under the tree is one of the patterns included in the Scrappin' Kit as well.  And, I created a tree skirt from Very Vanilla card stock, punched out with the 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Punch.

In the photo above, if you look carefully, you can see the tree has already been decorated with some ornaments, but here's what the tree looks like plain:

The little dots on the branches are pieces of clear velcro, which I punched out using the Crop-o-dile to get just the right size to hold the little ornaments.  There's a coordinating piece of velcro on the back of each ornament.  

Here's a close up of one of the ornaments inside its petal-punch envelope:

The envelopes were all punched out of Marina Mist card stock from the Scrappin' Kit.  I used small velcro dots to keep the envelopes closed, but still easy to open on the proper day (and to make this a reusable advent calendar).  Each of the self-adhesive numbers from the kit was attached to a circle of Very Vanilla that I punched using the 1 1/4" Circle Punch.  That in turn was attached to one flap of the envelope.

I topped each of the little envelopes with a Marina Mist 1/8" Taffeta bow. 

The "ornaments" for my tree are flowers and hearts that I punched out using the Boho Blossoms and Trio Hearts punches with scraps of designer paper and card stock from the Simply Scrappin' Kit.  I used Basic Pearl Jewels in the center of the flowers to dress them up!  Here's a close up of some of the ornaments on the tree:

You can also catch a glimpse in this photo that I couldn't resist spritzing the tree with Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz.  Love that stuff!!!

If you make an advent calendar of your own like this, you could choose to use the Tree Decorations sizzlit to create your ornaments -- or dress your tree up with Stampin' Up!'s beautiful buttons or tinsel trim . . . . or so many other options!!!   Please let me know if you have any questions -- and if you do make one, I would love to see your creation -- please be sure to email me or a leave a comment to this post! 

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Well, I never!

Never saw such a great deal on the Stampin' Up! starter kit as the one starting today, that is!!! 

Here are the details:

Demonstrator Starter Kit for 50 percent off!


You can get over $310 in crafting and business supplies for only $87.50!  From November 15-30, you can purchase either the Standard or Digital+ Starter Kits at 50 percent off the regular retail price of $175 (plus free shipping!), and enjoy these great benefits as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.

•Earn additional income while sharing creativity.

•Make new and lasting friendships.

•Enjoy access to nearly unlimited creative ideas.

•Receive a free subscription to our exclusive monthly magazine.

•Receive free two-month subscription to your own business website.

•Opportunity to earn free products and incentive trips.

Both the Standard Starter Kit and the Digital + Kit are available at this amazing price! The standard kit includes a variety of paper crafting products, and the Digital + Kit is a great option to showcase both traditional crafting products and our exciting digital design software, My Digital Studio.  Some examples of what you can choose for your kit are shown below:

This irresistible offer is only available until November 30, 2010, so if you are interested, be sure to ask me for more details asap!

You can also visit the following page on my demonstrator website for more information or to sign up -- I'd love to have you join my team!
http://michellevanwiggeren.stampinup.net/startyourownbusiness


My password: circle of friends

Day of Gratitude Digital Hybrid Card

At last month's hostess club meeting, another of the cards we made was a digital hybrid card -- in other words, a card that had some images that had been created online, printed out, and then put together with "traditional" card making supplies. 

I wanted to design a card that could be used for Thanksgiving, and I love the images in the Day of Gratitude set and the Autumn Spice Specialty Designer Series Paper.  The set and paper are in the Holiday Mini Catalog, but were also released last month as downloads for my favorite digital crafting software, My Digital Studio.  So, I decided to go with those.  It was so much fun to be able to resize the medallion and then fill it in with a little color, using some digital punches behind the digitally stamped images.  Here's how the card turned out:

 

The largest medallion was printed along with the designer paper background onto the Very Vanilla layer. That layer was adhered to the Crumb Cake card base, after a piece of Pumpkin Pie 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon was wrapped around it.  The smaller, half medallions were cut out, and then added to the card using Stampin' Dimensionals.  The greeting was also digitally-generated, but then punched out using the Decorative Label punch, and the edges were sponged with Early Espresso ink. 

I really enjoyed creating this hybrid card, and I hope the ladies from hostess club did, too! 

- Michelle

Just Believe Cards

At a recent one of my hostess club's gatherings, we were doing the bleach technique with Decor Elements and t-shirts, and I created a couple cards for the ladies to make as well.  For one of those cards, I decided to have them try stamping with bleach.  And I thought the Just Believe set would be perfect for that.  See what you think:

Here's a slight variation of the card design, with a little Chocolate Chip Classic Ink direct to paper around one of the layers of Naturals Ivory card stock.

 



The bleach seems to lose some potency as it sits out.  The card on the right was stamped soon after I put the bleach on the paper towel we used to stamp from; the card on the left was one of the last I stamped, a couple hours after the first one.

These are clean and simple cards, but I think work well for a quick and elegant fall greeting or thank you note!  What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Happy Birthday to my Little Guy!

My littlest guy, Timothy, just turned five recently, and we had fun celebrating that.  My boys really like the Fox and Friends stamp set.  So, when we decided to make bookmarks to go with books we were giving to Timothy's preschool class as party favors, that's what they wanted to stamp.   Here's how the bookmarks turned out:

The fox was stamped with Cajun Craze, the owl in Crumb Cake, the turtle with Garden Green, the monkey with Early Espresso, and the lion in Daffodil Delight.  The words are from the Fabulous Phrases set, and were stamped in Early Espresso.  I used strips of Whisper White card stock, and when we finished stamping, laminated them to make them more durable.

I also created a special little birthday card for Timothy using his favorite animal from the Fox & Friends set, Mr. Fox:

This card is only about 2.5 x 4.25 inches.  The base is Crumb Cake card stock, and there are a couple of layers of the Play Date Designer Series Paper.  The 5 is also from the Play Date DSP.  Mr. Fox is stamped with Cajun Craze, and I added some Basic Black on his nose and eyes.  The cupcake is from the Birthday Bakery set (a Level 1 Hostess set). 

Actually, I recently sponsored one of the challenges over at the Children's Challenge Corner, and the Fox and Friends set is the prize for that (my boys helped me choose it -- surprise, surprise!).  The challenge I was sponsoring wrapped up on Sunday, but I encourage you to check out the amazing entries, and if you know some creative children, you'll want to be sure to check out the future challenges!



Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Stamping!

- Michelle

Post - Halloween Treats!

Yikes!  The past couple weeks sure have been full of fun fall activities around here -- which means my poor blog has gone neglected!  Both boys had fun fieldtrips to farms with pumpkin patches, and I enjoyed being able to go with them on those.  I also created some treats for their classes that ended up being a bit more, well, let's just say involved, than I originally anticipated!  Here's how they turned out:

I created these owls as special treats for teachers, and I used My Digital Studio to make them.  I enlarged the owl punch pieces to be proportional to the treat cup, filled with designer series paper (at least for the owl's body and belly, the rest are solid colors).  I printed out the front and the back of the owl on Whisper White card stock, then cut out.  I punched the hole in the front for the treat cup, then perforated an X on the back on the same area as the treat cup to make it easy to remove the candies.  I adhered the two pieces together around the treat cup, and all set!

For class treats, I also went with the owl theme and created pencil toppers to include in the goodie bags: 

The kids seemed to enjoy them, so that was good!  In all, I made 44 of these, and it took me a while to get all the little pieces assembled and on the pencils!  :)

Hope you like these, too.  Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle