It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...Just kidding!

As I said before, I have been a bad blogger and I haven't updated all the cool and wonderful projects our stampin' group has been rockin'. So here were the cards we made in our November card class.

I freakin' love the wide, striped ribbon so I just couldn't wait to use it on this card.



This next card was one of my favorites. Had I not already created my cards for the holidays, I think this sweet dasher card would have been in all my friend's mailboxes.



I always like to demo a gift card holder around this time because we all know it nice to have some handy. I thought this particular gift card holder was interesting because you slide your gift card right into a coin envelope (found at a large office supply store.) Genius!

Long Time No See

WOW, blog how I've neglected you. I know it is easy to say we get busy with life, but it makes me think of how I have put life on hold in order to do other things. I have honestly not stamped for any other reason, but to hold classes. How sad! Well it's time to get my groove back.

Well start way back and come forward... so that puts us at about Christmas. First let me share the cards that I made as my Christmas cards for friends and family. I absolutely adore Seasons of Joy so I tend to go right back where I feel comfortable. I honestly think these were some of my best cards yet. What do you think?

A Gift for my Students

I really wanted to do something nice for my students for the holidays, but with 50+ students not a lot comes to mind that is economical. I decided on making each of them a bookmark since lots of them are hard core readers.

Here's the whole flower pot full of them. Believe it or not, I needed to refill it twice.





Here is a shot of a single bookmark. Nothing overly fantastic about it, but I think it is the simplicity and heart that make these amazing gifts. I am so happy with the way they turned out.

Bags, Bags, Bags

I have been on a sewing rampage since late October. I found a really cute post on a blog about these reuseable grocery bags. I bought the pattern and my little heart has been sewing away. I figured this would be an adorable and inexpensive homemade Christmas present. The trouble was that I loved the first set so much that I couldn't keep my mouth shut about it and I told my mom and sister (two of the recipents.) Oh no! The fabric was so cool and I found about a million more people to make them for. So I went back to sewing once more.







Not only that, but I made them a small personalized notepad for the front pocket. So it could be for grocery lists or just things you don't want to forget. I know I need that. I'm so forgetful, just ask my husband. Anyway, now I've wrapped them all up and given them away (except 2 for me), but I hope to make more and possibly sell them. They rock!

Better Late Than Never

Well it has been a long time since we have posted anything and we apologize, so we hope that this is better late than never. I wanted to share some cute bags I made to house gift cards this year. I actually found this idea from Amy Celona. I used the Big Shot and the Top Note die to create the sides of the bag and a small white craft bag in the center. As if it wasn't cool enough to get a gift card, now you get a sweet little bag too! You lucky duckies!

November Card Class

For our November Card Class Amanda concentrated on Holiday cards. The Silver Serene Snowflakes Card is absolutely beautiful. Yet it is not complicated and it is easy to mass produce. To see the video's for all of these cards, take a stroll over to the right hand side of the screen, Scroll down and click on Our YouTube Videos.


The Snow Swirled Holiday Wreath Card, Well Amanda was thinking outside of the box on this one. Using a Snow Flake Stamp to make a Wreath. It's elegant and again not complicated. I would not have any problems making these for my holiday cards.


And last but not least is the Delightful Decorations Suspension Card. I love the way the little ornament moves when you open the card.

Same Colors...Three Cards

Lately I've been thinking about the holidays, not just Christmas, but all of them and how we use the same color combos for all our projects. At least I seem to. We tried to break out of our mold a little for our September card class when we made Halloween cards. Don't get me wrong, some of these combos are tried and true, but do they have to be the base of every holiday card?

I got the Patterned Pines hostess set from the Holiday Mini Catalog, as well as Four the Holidays, also from the mini. It gave me a chance to make a couple "holidayish" cards using a color combo that has been stuck in my head for a while. I feel that Melon Mambo is extremely bright and have looked away from it for too long. The problem is always what color to pair with this insanely bright pink. Guess what color I picked? Taken with Teal, another somewhat bright color. What was I thinking? I did try and tone it down a little by using Kraft CS and Chocolate Chip CS. I ended up making three cards, all different, and yet used the same colors on each. I don't know if I got it just right yet, I mean what was in my head, but I will keep working on it.

This layout is from Clean & Simple Stamping and it was FLT #56. I love how simple all her layouts are. I also embellished with some little sticky rhinestones.

This layout is courtesy of Mojo Monday. This was actually back from when Mojo Monday had it's 100th sketch birthday. This was the MojoMaria Sketch. You can see how quick I am about using all the sketching I find. I stamped the snowflake in Melon Mambo and Taken with Teal, then I used VersaMark and inked all over the white CS. Last I sprinkled the whole thing with Iridescent Ice embossing powder and made it shine. It's hard to see in the picture, but boy does it sparkle.

Last, but not least, I again used a Mojo Monday Sketch from Week 100, but this one was MojoTeresa. I stamped the trees in VersaMark ink and embossed with clear powder. I then sponged all around the trees with Teal ink. The clear embossing resists the ink making the trees pop.

I really hope you enjoyed my very bright holiday cards!

Christmas Cookie Tradition

Our family has pretty much always made Christmas cookies. We used to do more sugar cookie cut outs and decorating when we were younger, but over the last couple years our interests turned to decorating gingerbread men and women. Now the traditional gingerbread cookie ansemble would consist of a white powdered sugar frosting, red hots, and raisins for eyes. A couple years back my sister and I thought we would jazz up cookie decorating by giving the gingerbread men and women clothes. Ever since then, our traditional family cookie decorating was turned upside down but in a good way. Here are some of the unique cookies we decorated this year.

Even my nephew Logan looks forward to decorating cookies every Christmas. He is getting very good and even created a Hulk gingerbread man.

Some of our favorites this year were the sumo wrestlers, girls in bikinis, a hula girl, tuxedo, man in lederhosen, and my sister's very special Elvis gingerbread man. She even got the curled lip part right! I think this is a great family tradition.

Playing with Pattern Paper

I was never one for using pattern paper on my cards, only in scrapbooking (which I feel I am neglecting right now- I have a stack of photos yet to be scrapbooked.) I have seen lots of beautiful cards using pattern paper lately, so I thought I'd get some and give it a whirl. The green snowflake paper came from Michael's and the blue paper is part of the Ski Slope designer paper from Stampin' Up. Both of the cards were super simple and turned out fabulous. I think I might be hooked on pattern paper! Just one more item to stock up on!

Holiday Creations

I know it is only October, but the chilly weather makes you start thinking about the holidays. Although I haven't personally created or put together my Christmas cards; I have been playing around with some cute holiday sets from the catalog. Have a peek at some cased and original creations that I found so adorable.