Coaster Box gift

Excuse this picture! I was taking the picture quickly yesterday morning before I put the gift in another bag to take with me. Last minute Lucy, you know! lol!

This a fun gift to make someone...it consists of a decorated snap closure notebook, post-it note holder box, matching beaded pen and a coaster box to hold everything. I wrapped the inside items in a cello bag and placed the bag in the decorated coaster box with some shredded tissue. This one I made for my girlfriend who is moving away to Alabama (bye Linda!) I'm going to miss her a whole lot.

I used the stamp set Ginormous Flowers (love it!) to stamp the flower twice and made "leaves" with it, too, then punched them with the 5 petal punch. In the center of the double flower, I placed a yellow rhinestone brad for some extra bling. The front of the post-it note holder box is decorated the same to match.

No stamping on here, but as a little extra item for her gift, I made this cello bag of real buckeyes so she won't forget her Ohio Buckeye friends! The Buckeye leaf and nuts are made from a new Sizzix die made exclusively for our local scrapbook store...pretty cool!...AND all Sizzix were 30% off, so I couldn't resist. There is a huge Buckeye tree on the property at my parent's church, so they brought me a whole bag of the nuts. The words I just typed up on the computer.

Last Chance for 20% off Simply Sent Card Kits!

Don't forget that today is the last day to order any of the Simply Sets at 20% off in celebration of World Card Making Day! See more information here or pages 12-14 in the Fall/Winter 2007 Collection catalog.

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Email me today with your order!

Merry & Bright again

I can't stop using this set! I think it is SO cute... These are a package of glass flat marble magnets that I put together for the craft fair...I did sell out of these. I think they made a nice little gift for someone. The magnets I stamped the images on Whisper White and used colored pencils...then applied a thin coat of Crystal Effects on top to secure the glass and added a heavy duty magnet to the back. The topper I stamped the snowman and used markers to color. I found that cute sparkly ribbon and love the look! The ribbon hides the staples holding the cello bag. I added a little liquid glue and dazzling diamonds to the snowman's body for some added sparkle.

Part one of my World Card Making Day event is over. Each person created 18 cards using 1/2 pack of Holiday Harmony designer paper and 1/3 a tin of Hand Selected Adhesive Die-cuts, plus a 1/2 bold of Pomegranate Double Stitched ribbon. After the challenging part of cutting the designer paper, the cards were easy to make. Part two is scheduled for Tuesday!

I'm Exhausted!

Whew...the craft fair is OVER! I'm so tired! I did well...over $200 worth of small items I stamped or altered sold. In fact, I sold out of several items. I was shocked that nothing over $10 sold! Luckily, I had only done a few things in that category. Good news is that I can use them for gifts, door prizes and hostess gifts. I'm excited that I picked up a few new customers for my classes, too. And, I was happy that I used up some of my retired designer papers and supplies.

Remember the Altoid type tins? I sold out of all the Santa face ones, sold several Snowman ones (which I'll use for my Christmas gift cards this year) but only sold ONE Frankenstein tin!!! Everyone picked it up and commented how cute it was. So now I have about 7 poor lonely Frankensteins left... I ended up filling the tins with wrapped Hershey Nugget chocolates, 5 fit in each tin. Almost everyone who looked at the table picked up one of those tins to look at it closer. lol!

Silly me didn't take closeups of the items I had for sale. I just had a picture of my overall "practice" table. I always practice my table arrangement at home before I go to a craft fair...that way I can determine what goes where instead of doing it the morning of the show. I'll post it tomorrow when I have a little more energy. lol!

Blogger's Challenge Week #15

Today's Blogger's Challenge was to use the colors Black and Orange. Of course...I naturally think of Halloween, especially this time of year. So...I wanted to challenge myself to do something a little different than a Halloween or Fall card using those colors.

So.........Ipulled out Pick A Petal and used my favorite polka dot petal, stamped it in Only Orange on Glossy White cardstock and cut out all six petals. I love how vibrant the colors are on Glossy paper. I then used the fun circle stamp for the center, using Basic Black on the Glossy and punching it out with the 1" circle punch and popping it with a dimensional. As I started to pull the card together, I needed something to break up the black background...but my Creepy Crawly paper is made with Pumpkin Pie, not Only Orange...and it has other colors in the paper as well...what to do... Of course, get out my favorite swirl from Baroque Motifs...as a bonus, I haven't used it for a while! It looks good stamped on black with White Craft! Now I needed bold words...this is the only one I could find in my current stash of stamp sets that I thought would work. Guess I need to invest in some word stamps next time I order! Colored some brads with Orange Craft and we are set!

Make sure to check out the others who do the Blogger's Challenge each week (see my sidebar for links). I had a peek at a couple and they are really great!

Sets: Baroque Motif, Pick A Petal, All Holidays
C/S: Only Orange, Basic Black, Whisper White
Inks: White Craft, Basic Black, Only Orange
Other: 1" circle punch, Paper piercing tool and mat, mini brads, dimensionals

Season of Joy

Ack! Only two more days until the craft show on Saturday. I still have pricing and labeling to do on some things and need to put together my "kit" for working the table...money, flyers, class schedules, etc. I spent the day making several notebooks with my Bind-it-All machine! I love that little machine! I'll make sure to take a picture to share with you tomorrow after I finish decorating the fronts.

This was another card we did last night in my Techniques Class. The technique is called Glitter Ridges...another Technique Junkies technique features in the April/May 2005 newsletter. I love using this technique on winter or snow type holiday cards! It just seems to fit! It is SO sparkly in person!

The card is actually a tri-fold card. The cardstock is cut to 4 1/4 x 11, then scored at 4 1/4 and 8 5/8. The remaining 2 1/2 inches is torn to about 1-1/4 inches and overlaps the front of the card...held closed by a spiral paper clip. There is a layer of vellum torn and placed under the Season of Joy focal point...I think it adds to the "icy" appearance of the card!

Sets: Season of Joy

C/S: Ballet Blue, Whisper White, Cardstock Vellum

Inks: Blue Frost Spectrum pad

Other: Spiral clip, Blue gingham and Bashful Blue grosgrain ribbon, Liquid Glue, Dazzling Diamonds, Crimper

With Gratitude

Still working on getting stuff ready for the craft show this weekend. I think I'm getting in pretty good shape. I started the packaging of some of the items and pricing. To me that is almost the hardest part!

My Technique Class was tonight and this was one of the cards that we made! It is called Rainbow Strip Flip and was featured in the June/July 2005 issue of Technique Junkies. (Pat is celebrating 5 years of the Technique Junkies newsletters with great prices and giveaways every day in October! Go over here and check out her newsletter...it is well worth the price AND you'll learn these techniques before everyone else!)

We used my new set, With Gratitude. I purchased it because I love the veins and lace that are apparent in these leaf stamps...so realistic looking. The Pumpkin Patch Spectrum pad is also one of my favorites...although I also enjoy making up my own color combos using an uninked Spectrum pad and reinkers. Look at the Snow Blossom punch, too! I think it looks fun as a little flower with the ribbon pulled up thru it and knotted.

Sets: With Gratitude, Sincere Salutations

C/S: Glossy White, Only Orange, Old Olive

Inks: Pumpkin Pie Spectrum, Basic Black

Other: Snow Blossom punch, Ticket corner punch, Artichoke ribbon, 1/8 circle punch