Teacher/ Coworker Presents

Well, of course with Christmas right around the corner, and I had biology class until the 14 of December, time is of the essence.  Fast and easy has been my motto this year.

Here are some note pad holders for teachers with matching pens. They are made from empty stamp storage cases.  What was funny, is I had a customer buy these and she never realized they had a slip cover on them.  She bought some more so she could make these too.

Here is a photo of the inside.  There is a little calendar for 2012 I put on the inside.  The scallop envelop can hold postage stamps or a receipt. A piece of the DSP covers the ugly logo on the memo pad.  All that with one sheet of 12x12 DSP and there are still large scrap pieces.

Another super easy project was made using decor elements!  I mean it is easy to just rub on a design.  I am not kidding-getting the label off the glass block was the hardest part!  Seriously, it took me 20 minutes to get the label off. Who's bright idea at the company was it not to use rubber cement?  No, ultra super glue, heaven forbid that label ever came off the glass (oops does that sound a bit snarky?) The rest of the project took me less than 20 minutes. A little rubbing, a small set of Christmas lights and some ribbon.  Tadah...pretty holiday decoration.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Until next time,

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!  I can't wait to see what the new year will bring!

Oh by the way, the UPS man made it to my house before Christmas.  I have new stamp sets from the mini catalog and the salebration catalog!  What a present! I hope to have samples soon.

Enjoy your holiday and be safe!

Until next time,

Dear Santa

Well, it's getting closer to Christmas and my to do list is a mile long.  However, I can say I have accomplished two things already.  December Stamp Club and Human Biology.

I know, I know you all will be glad not to hear any more whining about bio class.  I managed to pull of an A.  Not bad for the girl who took Mr. Davis' high school AP class.  Mr. Davis promised anyone who tried hard wouldn't fail.  Well, guess what?  I was the one who failed despite help from her close friend who won awards for getting above and beyond an A+.  Oh well, 25 years later there must have finally been a connection.

Stamp Club was "awesome" according to the ladies.  Now I am scared.  Some projects I spend planning months in advance.  Others I know it is something I think is cool and I want to share, and sometimes I just wing it and fly by the seat of my pants.  This month was more of I wanted to share something I thought was cool and flying by the seat of my pants.

So here is our scrapbook page.  I saw an awesome card made by Jackie Topa here.  Jackie's work is amazing.  But at the last minute I didn't think I had time for everyone to punch a ton of little squares for the the fire place. So Big shot to the rescue.

I just love the Dear Santa stamp.  Of course with my friends and family, I think there should be an "I can explain" stamp to go with it.  We also used my new favorite: The Stocking Builder Punch with green and glitter red paper.  The fire is the wing of the Bird Builder Punch and the square punch is the opening of the fire place.  We aged the background paper to give it that smudged fire soot feel to it.  Of course we will have to put the fire out before Santa can come down the chimney!

Well, off to work some more on the "to do" list that seems never ending before the holidays.

Until next time,

Flower Ball (Or Should I Say Flower)

What is a girl to do on a rainy, gray, dreary day while fighting a headache?  Well, originally, I thought it was take some Excedrin, drink coffee and clean the craft room.  It turned out to be take the meds, drink coffee, spend time on the computer and then decide to try something new and use up retired supplies.

 

I have seen these flowers/flower balls online.  I got as far as making a flower.... It would take a dozen "flowers" to make an entire ball out of them.  It wasn't overly hard to make, just a lot of folds and then gluing them together. I used paper from Patterns Pack 3 which I think was a hostess gift at some point.  I thought it was great because you need to start with a square sheet of paper.  This pack of paper is 6"x6"-no cutting needed!

Don't you think these would be wonderful kissing balls for Christmas?  Nice reds and greens would be beautiful I think.  Hmmm I think I see a school project coming up.  I love when I can work paper crafting in as an occupational therapy project!  "PAPER THERAPIST" can that be my new title and could I get raise for having a title?

Well, I think I need more coffee and I need to get more Christmas paper while it is on sale at Stampin Up.  Check out the special on Designer Series Paper here.

Until next time,

Elf Shoe Gift Box

Isn't this stinkin' cute?!?!?! I wish I could say I was clever enough to say I designed this but I am not. I found it here. Valita is a very talent woman and has so many cute ideas on her blog.

I used Taken with Teal and some retired DSP from Stampin Up.
White ribbon and a blue brad. I embossed snowflakes on the boot with snowflakes and added dazzling diamonds to the ruby red pompon.

Here is a close up of the DSP , ribbon and rhinestone.

I have been trying to find something cute to put a gift card in for my brother in law and now I have it. (I think these would be cute with a few chocolates in them for coworkers as well.) The one for my brother in law is a little more plain. I made it without the embossing, or brad. He is a very outdoorsy person-he is not "all about the bling." Hahaha.

Tomorrow I will be working on casing an idea I saw at a craft fair....cupcake socks.

Until next time,

A Couple More Craft Fair Items

Here are a few more items I made for the craft fair. Peppermint snowmen and stamped tea-lights. I also made the boxes for the tea-lights. I have two craft fairs I am working this weekend so hopefully my supply will go down.

August VC Rocks Swaps

I joined two swaps in August during the last bit of VC Rocks. My favorite holiday to make things for is Christmas and I love when I worked in the elementary school because the young children love Halloween. So guess what two swaps I joined? You guessed it!



The tricky part of these swaps was the fact so many colors from Stampin' Up retired, it was hard to find enough card stock in current colors that I had. I only see my demo once a month since we live so far from each other. (But stamp club is a great excuse to go see old friends where we used to live.)

Not only will a receive great swaps in return, but my Christmas card was the first one the hostess received so I got $20 of FREE Stampin Up product!!!! I couldn't believe it. So I am getting the new dress for the BAB! I will be having a ball with that!

Happy Stampin

Snowflake Tealights

I saw this candle here first. And it said snowflake #2 in her directions. I thought for sure it was a sneak peak at the holiday mini that is coming out. I mean SU had a snowflake already and this "is #2" I thought. Well someone else made them as well (sorry I can't remember who it was) but they listed the catalog page number. OMG I felt sooo stupid for not realizing it was the snowflake I already had!

So out came the roof flashing from the hardware store and tadah! A tea light with some snowflake paper from the craft store and instant cute gift item for the craft fair.

I must admit I was obsessed with finding a container to put it in. And of course I just had a transparent box stuck in my head. So I looked at Sizzix online and the measurements for box #3 seemed like they might work but it would have to wait. I didn't want to order anything online.

Well, I got a coupon from JoAnn's for teacher appreciation day, get an extra 20% off your entire order even if things were on sale. Well guess what they had. Box #3 with several embossing folders all in a package! AND ALL SIZZIX ITEMS WERE ON SALE 40% OFF! Not only did I get that, I got paper that was on sale and misc small things, went to the checkout, showed my school ID and got another 20% off everything. I was as happy as a pig in mud let me tell you! I walked away with a recycle bag ( a free gift to school employees while supplies lasted) filled with goodies and only spend $34 and change. It was like Christmas to me.

So here is the packaged candle. If you click on the photo the embossing on the transparency may show better.
So I was busy for a day making 15 candle holders, wrapping the tea lights with paper. Then cutting and embossing all the parts (4 parts/box) for 15 boxes. I was tired after all that, but I sure had fun in my craft room with Harry Potter (a standard series of movies for me while I craft)

Happy Stampin'

From Our House to Yours

I just love my Big Shot!  Anything that makes projects go so quickly gets a thumbs up in my book.  For this project it is actually two tags taped together on the bottom.  They make a little tent that I tied with ribbon-there is a cello bag with gum drops inside.  A small strip of designer paper, a punched sentiment and you are good to go!  A bunch of these could be made in no time at all.

Happy Stamping

Christmas in July (Almost)

I can't decide if I am early or late with Christmas cards at the end of June.  Let's pretend I am early since usually I am late.  I was born on time (actual due date) and I have been running 15 minutes late ever since.

The first photos are of a gift card holder.  I am not 100% sure I like the cover.  I think either the dark blue is too dark or the other colors aren't dark enough--I am not sure what it is I don't like....

The inside has one of my favorite holiday sentiments inside.

The second card I think came out very cute with a matching envelope.  I really have to start trying to use designer paper more often.  I love Stampin Up dsp but I always feel guilty there is a side not being used, so I feel like I have wasted something.  I am silly I know...

Happy Stamping

Snow Flake Scarves

I was inspired by someone who made a fleece baby blanket with the snowflake die.  I was shopping in the dollar store and saw pink scarves the same color as the baby blanket and I thought "Hey I could make a scarf with a snowflake on it".  I ended up making many of these for my co-workers who loved them.  I think I bought the supply of fleece scarves at the dollar store.  I plan on making more of these for next year along with a few other ideas that my son & I came up with.  I would hate to deprive my co-workers of any new scarves.....

So keep your eyes open for those dollar store goodies.
Happy Stamping

Flower Gloves

Here are some gloves I made.  The black ones were made with a large die so they weren't overly difficult.  The brown ones I used a sizzlix die which was a little more difficult to cut material with.  However, they were for my close friend who loves crafty things, so it was worth the trouble.  I was afraid of melting the yarn not knowing what it was made of.  Instead of my iron I used my hair straitening iron on a low setting.  It never got hot enough to straighten my curly hair but it works well on material.

Black Memo Cube

Here is a photo of some black memo cubes that I stamped with snowflakes.  Unfortunately the photo is black on black-sorry about that.  I stamped the snowflakes on the cube with silver ink.  The bags are stamped with white Staz-on.  A simple white bow with a gel pen.

Snowman Soup

I found the cutest snowman Sizzix die at JoAnn's. It has the nose, eyes etc on the die but I had this stamp that fit perfectly on the face and the Snowman Soup stamp fit perfectly on his stomach. I used my Cuttlebug folder to give his scarf and the topnote die some texture. I made about 20 of these for the craft fair at the high school. I have Christmas cards that I have made, some candles and stamped post it notes. Hopefully, I will be more prepared for next year having cards for all sorts of occastions. This year I am just trying out a few things that may sell.

Happy Stamping!

Punch Ornament

I just love when stamp sets and punches make card making so much easier!

Seasons Greeting

I have been dying to make on of these cards and thought it would be much harder than it actually was. The little deer stamps up so cute. It is a really basic stamp but can be made into so many cute things I think.
Here is the view from the other side. And finally a close up on the verse. If I remember correctly it was done with Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip markers. Basically two tones of brown. I think this would be cute done in a red and green combination.


Happy Stamping