SUper Friends November and December Swaps

Merry Christmas Eve!   I have a real treat for you today -- the projects from my SUper Friends group's November and December swaps!

In November, we did a choice-of-Thanksgiving-or-Christmas projects shoebox swap.  So, we each prepared a sample, and then all the components needed for each person in the swap to create the project when we met.  Very fun!

Cheryl created this festive Thanksgiving favor using some elements from My Digital Studio:

Nancy designed this beautiful card for us using the Snowflake Card Thinlits Die, coordinating Letterpress Winter stamp set (part of the Year End Clearance right now, while supplies last!), and the All is Calm Washi Tape:

 Agnes designed this gorgeous, shaped card using the Top Note die, All is Calm specialty paper, Tree Punch, and Good Greetings stamp set:

 Jana designed this jolly Santa card with the Santa Stache stamp set, Windows Collection Framelits dies, Nordic Noel Paper, and Nordic Designer Buttons:

Connie designed this elegant card with the Ornamental Pine stamp set, and one of my favorite parts is the double bow on the ornament (learned that you can tie it by just doubling up the twine! Very clever!):

And, my card was this CASE from page 9 of the Holiday catalog (using the Wondrous Wreath stamp set and Framelits):

Then, for our December swap, we all created Christmas ornaments to exchange.  Here are all of them together:

Nancy's fancy star (such a delicate size!):

Agnes's beautiful star with the Many Merry Stars kit (now part of the Year End Clearance!):

Jana's gorgeous crocheted snowflake:

Connie's fabulous ornament with the Curvy Keepsake Box Thinlits die:

Don't you love how she colored the All is Calm Embellishment with Blendabilities to make it gold!?!!

And, my ornament, which uses the Get Your Santa On stamp set:

 And, my lovely group of SUper Friends!  So thankful for all of you!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!  Thanks so much for stopping by!!

- Michelle

Clay Christmas Ornaments

 Hi!  Happy holidays to you!  The past few weeks have been very busy here with lots of Christmas projects and preparations, but we are just about finished with everything and that means I finally have a few minutes to sit down and write a blog post!  Yippee!

When I first saw the Stampin' Up! Holiday catalog, one of my favorite projects in it was the Simply Pressed Clay ornament on page 14.   And, there's even a great video by Stampin' Up! with tips and tricks for how to make these.  You can see it here.   So, I had to try creating some!  I started with some circles as in the catalog (didn't have a circle cutter in the size I wanted, so just used a glass with the right size circle opening).  I also tried mixing some Gold Glitter into the clay, which is hard to see in the photos, but lends a subtle sparkle.

This ornament has snowflakes from Endless Wishes stamped into the clay, and the "joy" from Endless Wishes is stamped in Encore Gold.  I also added some Rhinestone Jewels:

A few others I made (though just shaping the ornaments by hand, so that's why they are not perfectly round):

For the next ornament design, I decided to step things up a notch with more layers.  I used the starburst stamp from Kinda Eclectic, stamped in Gold Encore for a background, then stamped one of the stars from Bright and Beautiful, again with Gold ink, onto another piece of clay, and used my snips to cut it out.  I have to say, I was surprised how easy (and fun) it is to cut the Simply Pressed clay.  I did that again for the three stars along the top, which are from the Get Your Santa On stamp set.   And, again, I added some Rhinestone Jewels.

Here's a close up so you can see the "joy" better (and also the glitter specks):

And, a close up of the star:

Then, I was having so much fun with trimming the clay, I decided to stamp one of the Bright and Beautiful stars and cut it out.  I added a bunch of Pearl Jewels as well.  Here's how that turned out:

I packaged a couple of ornaments up to send to my friend Marlene as part of a swap we did, and had great fun creating a special box using the Gift Box Punch Board and lovely Under the Tree Designer Specialty Paper (which I notice is on the Year End Clearance, so if you haven't gotten any yet, you'll want to be sure to do that before it sells out!   I'm almost out, so may have to take advantage of that great deal as well!!!)

And, all wrapped up with Cherry Cobbler 1" Sheer Linen Ribbon and a fun tag from the Letterpress Winter stamp set (also part of the year end clearance):

And, Izzy making sure everything is just right (and wondering why I didn't bother to add any catnip to the package?!):

Thanks so much for visiting!!!  I'll try to be back soon with more Christmas projects!

- Michelle

Merry Christmas Scene

Hi!  Happy December!  Can you believe there are only about 17 more days until Christmas?!  This year has really flown by!  Anyway, you might remember back in October, I made this Halloween card, and told you I'd come up with a Christmas version . . . well, here it is at last! 

 

 

Supplies used:

 

Stamps:  Holiday Home

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Basic Gray and Old Olive Classic Ink, Real Red Stampin' Write Marker

Paper:  Smoky Slate, So Saffron, Soft Sky, and Whisper White Card Stock; Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper

Accessories:  Homemade Holiday and Bitty Banner Framelits; 1-3/4" Circle Punch, Confetti Stars Punch, Oval Framelits, Nordic Designer Buttons, and Stampin' Blendabilities (Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Coastal Cabana, and Crumb Cake assortments)

 

Thanks so much for visiting!

 

- Michelle