SAYING GOODBYE TO HOLIDAYS AND HELLO TO OCCASIONS

Well it is time to get back to reality now that the holidays are over.  It has been a whirlwind making gifts, attending events, and celebrating.  But, even though it was busy, I had a great time making memories and doing a lot of crafting.  Today I'm saying goodbye to a favorite stamp that will be gone at midnight (your last chance to order), and saying hello to a few new stamp sets you can purchase later tomorrow from new Occasions Mini Catalog.  I hate saying goodbye to my favorites; but one thing we can always count on: there are always new and beautiful product around the corner from Stampin' Up!

I had to show you one more Christmas card -- just because he is cute!!

I am so sad the Wonderland Stamp Set is retiring after today.  Besides using the pine trees from this set, I used the Watercolor Wash Background Stamp.



Another sample using the Wonderland Stamp Set.  The background was stamped using the You've Got This Stamp Set.  I stamped the trees twice; first using my favorite green ink, Wild Wasabi, and then Garden Green.  I love this card!!

You can get this stamp set (Honeycomb Happiness) free with a $50 order, from the 2016 Sale-A-Bration Mini, starting tomorrow.

Buy the new Party Wishes Stamp Set, Party Punch Pack, It's My Party Designer Series Paper Stack, Baker's Twine Combo Pack, and Card Stock to earn 2 free products from the Sale-A-Bration Mini!!

Until next time,
Sandi

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest."  --  Matthew 11:28

WATERCOLOR WORDS FROM STAMPIN' UP!

I had an awesome time at the July RubberQueen meeting.  We had a shoebox swap so each of us could make 20 cards that other RubberQueen's had designed.  I will be posting some of those in the future, but today I am featuring the versatility of the Watercolor Words Stamp Set.  This is another new stamp set that I love because of the "watercolor" font used in the sentiments.  You also get an awesome bang for your buck with this $26 photopolymer set (with 11 stamps!!).  The first card was my swap card and the other four cards were the make'n takes designed by Ronda Wade (with a few little changes) -- all of the cards use the Watercolor Words Stamp Set:

This is my shoebox swap card using the Watercolor Words Stamp Set for the sentiment, flowers, and leaf and the Writing Notes Background Stamp on the Whisper White Card Stock layer.  I also used the new White Perfect Accents for the center of the flowers.

All of Ronda's make'n takes are "punch cards" using the new In-Colors Card Stock, Designer Series Paper, and Ink Pads.

This is Ronda's design, but we did not make it at the meeting.  I did not have the designer paper, so I improvised by making the striped layer using the new Brushstrokes Background Stamp, which goes so well with the Watercolor Words Stamp Set. 

Hope you like!

Until next time,
Sandi

"Now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." -- 1 Corinthians 13:13

LAST OF THE WINTER PROJECTS!!

You have no idea how hard it has been for me to finish with my Winter projects!!  But I really think I am done -- all my gifts have been wrapped with Stampin' Up! Festive Designer Kraft Paper and decorated with my previously shown name tags and ribbon.  Also, I'm done with all my Christmas and December birthday cards.  I may do some treat boxes (time permitting) to fill with chocolate; as my family has grown to love these little treat boxes on the dinner table.  I am so excited because Friday morning I can open my two UPS boxes from Stampin' Up with all new product from the Occasions Mini Catalog and Sale-A-Bration (if you were a demonstrator you could have gotten yours a month early also)!!  I promised myself not to open any new product until I was done creating for the holidays -- and I did it!!

So here are my final winter projects:

Perfect birthday card for my brother-in-law!!

Inside of card.

A little Christmas Grinch punch card that took a long time.  Thank goodness I only made 3 of these for 3 special people!!

Inside of Grinch -- yes they were naughty for opening before Christmas!!

This is what you do when you run out of Polka Dot Tag a Bag Gift Bags -- make your own with the new Festive Designer Kraft Paper!!

And this is how they turned out (bottom 2 gift bags) -- just as pretty as the top one!!

And my favorite stamp set this year:  Visions of Santa!  I loved this set because Santa looks just like my husband (right down to the hair on his chest -- LOL)!!

Inside -- I love how he dances over the sentiment!!

Merry Christmas to all of you who have continually visited my blog throughout the year and took time to leave me a comment and give me inspiration!!

Until next year,
Sandi

"The angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people.  For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.'" -- Luke 2:10-11

MORE SHOEBOX SWAPS & CHRISTMAS MOUSE

Today I have my cute Christmas Mouse to share with you and a few more RubberQueen card designs from our shoebox swap.  I can't pick any favorites because, honestly, I love all of them!! 

My plans were to start Christmas shopping today, but as you can see I am doing something that I like to do much more than shopping!!!  Oh well, maybe the crowds will die down by next week.  I am seriously thinking about visiting my brother in Texas after Christmas to find some warmth (a mile from the warm Mexican border).  I totally can't handle the thought of going out in this cold weather.  Now to just persuade my husband to take a month off from work (2 months would be awesome!!).  If anybody has an idea on how I can do this, I would love to know the secret (don't bother suggesting the "S" word, I have used that one way too often). 

I only made 2 of these and the snow in both of them are a little different.  You can use whatever embossing powder you like to make these, but I went with this:  Heat & Stick and Dazzling Diamonds Embossing Powders; Silver Glass Stampin' Glitter; and the retired Stampin' Up Mica Flakes.  Mix them all together in a small container and dump on your card.  Use a brush to remove snow from your images and make your piles of snow.  Using tweezers, pick up your cardstock and heat on the back, using Stampin' Up Heat Tool, and making sure you don't move (that was the hard part for me).  After the embossing powder/heat & stick have melted, check to see if you need a few sprinkles of Heat & Stick to adhere all the Mica Flakes (I didn't do this, but I should have).

On this one I added a little bit of White Embossing Powder.  As you can see, I added too much at the top.  I wasn't going to show this picture, but wanted you to see what not to do (I did like it, however, in the bottom snow).  You can't see it in these pictures but the snow just sparkles in real life.  I also used Silver Embossing Powder on the top of the ornament.

This shoebox card design was done by Ronda Wade (that I altered a tiny bit).

I didn't get the name of who designed this card, but I love how she used a masculine stamp (Wetlands) to make a Valentine's design.

Another awesome design done by Joanne Jeter.  Perfect sentiment for the I Am Me Designer Series Paper.

Sorry, I didn't get the name of the person who designed this card, but loved all the small details added (notice the bottom-right corner half-square under the Summer Starfruit Card Stock to tie in the Night of Navy).

Okay, see if you can pick a favorite and let me know (along with suggestions on how to get to Texas).

Until next time,
Sandi

"Through love serve one another."  --  Galatians 5:13

STAMPIN' UP PUNCH CARDS

What a day it has been!!  It has rained the entire day so it was perfect for stamping.  The only thing, I wasn't expecting to spend an entire half-day making one card!  Only for my family would I spend that much time on a card, and this one is special.  This Sunday is my great-grandson's first birthday so I wanted something very special (as special goes in my dictionary).  The theme of his birthday party is Dr. Seuss, so I decided to mimic the design on his birthday invitations.  WARNING:  This is not the type of card to CASE for a card class!  I did the best I could, but now that it is done I see some things that I would do differently next time.  Lesson learned:  Continue to buy Stampin' Up! stamp sets, as I still can't draw stick figures!!  However, I still get a smile on my face when I look at it so that is all that matters.  Here is Mr. Sam:

Product used (a couple of punches are retired):
Head:  Ornament Punch
Neck:  Modern Label Punch
Ears:  5 Petal Flower Punch
Hat:  Stocking Tag and Small Oval (for brim) Punches
Whiskers:  1 3/4" Circle (Punch twice) Punch
Eyebrows:  1/2" Circle (Punch twice)
White Stripes on Hat:  Cut freehand from Stocking Punched on Whisper White
Eyes & Nose:  Freehand
Bow:  Small Oval Punch
Cardstock and Marker Colors:  Whisper White, Real Red, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, & Daffodil Delight

And here is another punch card that will be done at my Christmas Stamp-A-Stack Class.  I thought this was so cute when I saw one done at our monthly RubberQueen's meeting.  Mine doesn't really look like that one, as I didn't have a picture of it when I made mine.  For the class, I punched everything ahead so all they have to do is assemble.

How do you like my socks (I even frayed them so they looked like they are rolled over).  Product:  Top Note Die cut in fourths; Gumball Green and Basic Black Ink; Polka Dot Parade Designer Series Paper; and Silver Glimmer, Real Red, Gumball Green, and Whisper White Cardstock; Christmas Messages & Fun With Christmas Stamp Sets; Small and Large Tag, Blossom, 1/2" Circle, 1" Circle, 3/4" Circle, and 1 1/4" Circle Punches; Gumball Green Ribbon; Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine' Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder; Glue Dots; and Dimensionals.

These cards are so "out of the box" for me, so let me know what you think.

Until next time,
Sandi
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."  --  Psalm 119:105