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Archive for November, 2009:
Playing with the Sizzix Big Shot!
Aloha, all!
With all the Christmas Cards I’ve been making, I’ve hardly made my Sizzix Big Shot crack a sweat at all. That’s going to change over the next couple of weeks. December will be here in just two days, and I’m going to be into making Christmas Cards and gifts big time! Except that I just looked at my schedule, and I’m not sure when I’m going to have time to breathe this week! I’m sure that I will, though. And I’m sure that I’ll take some time to make stuff 
So–with the Big Shot this current weekend, I made my card for the weekly Stamping 411 challenge. I used the Movers and Shapers die with the insert piece that coordinates with Stampin’ Up!’s Ornament Punch. The stamp from the Delightful Decorations set is actually stamped inside the card. The window through all those layers was made with the Sizzix. I actually used the Sizzix Movers and Shapers die twice–once to cut through the top two layers and then through the card itself, with the bottom three layers attached to it. While the Sizzix can cut through many, many layers, I thought that this required a bit more finesse that just chopping through everything.
The papers are all from what’s become one of my favorite Designer Series Paper set of late, Holiday Lounge. I just never thought of using Taken with Teal and Ruby Red as "my" Christmas colors. But they’re working on me. The poinsettia is from the stamp set, Berry Christmas. I added some Rhinestone Brads to give that necessary "bling" to this card, and some Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon.
Don’t forget–November 30th is the last day of the big Stampin’ Up! Thanksgiving week sale!! If you need to stock up, now’s the time to do it!!
Subscribe to the comments for this postMy Own Take on My Own Challenge
Aloha, all!
Today I was a host of a "Chat and Challenge" on SUDSOL (a group for Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators). OK–the Saturday after Thanksgiving, everyone’s stuffed and sick of shopping, right? Wrong! We just had a small group. But what fun we had with my sketch! It’s a bit different from the sketches I usually make or use. But I just felt as if I had to do something a bit different.
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Here’s the Challenge Sketch. I’d been looking at some pinwheel cards, and this just popped into my mind. Of course I made the sketch using My Digital Studio. I didn’t have to waste a scrap of paper in the making of it!!
And here’s my own take on it as a greeting card. I’m definitely back into my Green and Red phase of Christmas Cards. But what struck me most was, as I looked at the photo I’d taken of my card, that I realized it looked just like a CD or DVD. Now I have this idea in my head that I’m going to use a disk as the background for a card. Hope I can get it out of my system before I ruin too many blank CDs!!
I used the stamp set, Four the Holidays, just inking up the word "Merry" in "Merry Christmas" in Versamark then applying Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder and heat embossing it on each rectangle. The background papers are all from the Designer Series Paper set, Merry Moments.
The center piece is a Very Vanilla Jumbo Grommet, with Real Red 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon.
I made the circle of Designer Series Paper, with the Garden Green mat behind it, with the Circle Scissors Plus. I’m really starting to get the hang of the Circle Scissors! In another couple of months I’m going to be an expert and ready to start teaching others how to use it!!! One of the problems I have here in East Hawaii is that paper is so often just so saturated with moisture that it’s hard to get a good clean cut. So I try to find the time of day when things seem driest to go playing with it. Had a good stretch of dry time when I made this!
Why don’t you try this sketch out for yourself! I’ll send off some Designer Series Paper samples (four 4" x 5-1/4" pieces) to anyone who e-mails me a link to a card they’ve made with this layout! Deadline for this "offer" is Saturday, December 5th. Have fun!!!
Finally We’re in the Christmas Season!
Aloha, all!
Although I’ve been making and showing off Christmas cards for quite some time (and have most of my cards for the year made in the process!), now, with Thanksgiving Day here, I’m really ready to get into the Christmas spirit!
I’ll begin today with a card made for two challenges. The first is one of the SUDSOL (a group for Stampin’ Up! demonstrators) challenges which was to use the stamp set, Four the Holidays. I can tell you that this stamp set has been one that I’ve used more than any other set this year! It’s just four greetings stamps, but it has so very many uses!
The second challenge was for the Divas Coffee Break. They have a weekly challenge (this week it was a sketch), and it never fails to get me out of a mid-week slump (if I’m in one–not always the case). If you need some inspiration some week, you should go to see what they have to offer! The sketch this week was a great one for paper piecing, and I used the Designer Series Paper, Holiday Lounge, with its complementary colors, Taken with Teal and Ruby Red. I accented the central motif with some of the smaller Ice Circle Rhinestone Brads.
And speaking of offering–Stampin’ Up! has a WONDERFUL Holiday Extravaganza sale going on this week only! 30% to 50% off bundles of all kinds.
CLICK HERE FOR THE WHOLE LIST OF SALE BUNDLES!
Then just click here to visit my Stampin’ Up! website, then click Shop Now in the upper right corner, and click on the block with the words HUGE SALE!
Stampin’ Up!’s Great Thanksgiving Week Sale!
Aloha, all!
This week only, Stampin’ Up! is having a Holiday Extravaganza Sale. These are individual items or bundles that are 30% to 50% off regular retail price!
One of my favorite stamp sets, Game Night, is part of one of the bundes (I showed you this card back in June as I recall)l And the bundles aren’t all just made up of stamp sets! There are button bundles, punch-stamp-ribbon bundles, starter bundles–just about anything you might want (OR might want to ask someone to buy for you for a special holiday that’s just around the corner!)
CLICK HERE FOR THE WHOLE LIST OF SALE BUNDLES!
Then just click here to visit my Stampin’ Up! website, then click Shop Now in the upper right corner, and click on the block with the words HUGE SALE!
Have fun with this online sale–just through Monday, November 30th! So don’t delay if you think you might be interested.
One Last Thanksgiving Card!
Aloha, all!
If this card seems to have a lot of the elements of yesterday’s card–well, it does! I thought I had all my Thanksgiving cards in the mail this morning before we went off on a day trip. Then I realized in horror (well, maybe not that bad, but still….) that I’d forgotten one very important family for whom I’d not made a card. We arrived home late this evening, and I wondered what I should make. I had left all my "stuff" from yesterday’s card out on my craft room table (BAAAD Robin!). So there was all this paper and these markers and the stamp from Gobble, Gobble (yes, I had cleaned my stamp–of course, I’d do that!).
But first, I had to check my e-mail for some business things for which I was waiting. And there in my in box was an e-mail referring to a Challenge sketch. Ah ha!!! There was my idea, and here is my card. The Autumn Traditions Paper, with its colors, are the same as in yesterday’s card. But it’s definitely its own card, and I feel confident that the family that gets this card will certainly feel that it has an original! One thing that I did differently with this card is to punch the turkey from Gobble, Gobble, with the Scallop Circle Punch, and mat it on a 2" circle that I cut with the Circle Scissors Plus. I’d put my Circle Scissors away a few weeks back. But now it’s back on a table in the craft room as I’m sure I’m going to need it as I make Christmas gifts throughout the next few weeks.
As I said before, we’re having company for the Thanksgiving holiday. So I’m thinking that I’ll need some decorations for the Holiday Table. I’m really hoping that I’ll have time for that after our guests arrive day after tomorrow. If so, I’ll definitely be sharing them here! If not, well, I’ll find something else to share with you.
Have a great Thanksgiving Week!
Thanksgiving Week Begins!
Aloha, all!
We are expecting company for Thanksgiving week, and I’m really looking forward to showing off our wonderful island to friends from the mainland.
But first I have to mail out my Thanksgiving greeting cards! I have quite a few made, but they have to be in the mail by Friday in order for them to make it to mainland destinations in time for the holiday.
Today, as I was trying to come up with some more ideas for cards, I once again started looking for challenges to get my creative juices flowing. SUDSOL did not disappoint, and here is my card based on their sketch for this week.
I really wish I had publicized this wonderful little stamp a bit more this season. Gobble, Gobble is a single stamp, including the greeting. But, as I often do with stamps such as these, I cut the greeting from the rubber pad before I mounted the stamp. Then I placed the greeting on the END of the wood block, so that it would be easy to stamp them separately. (A bit of a hint for what might be coming down the pipeline from Stampin’ Up! – I may not have to worry about this much any longer!!)
I’m sure I’ll have some time to post some comments about our Thanksgiving week as it progresses! But I want to make sure that you know that I’m hoping that you all have the BEST Thanksgiving ever this year!
Our Rainforest Garden – Part II
Aloha, all!
Ah, the rain continues! But with rain in Hawaii always comes rainbows, at least when the sun has a chance to peek through the clouds!
This photograph shows the view I have from my kitchen window. A friend told me, upon seeing this picture, that she’d gladly wash dishes all day if she could see this view! I have to tell you, that washing dishes all day gets old, even WITH this view. It’s better just to stand there with a cup of coffee and drink in the beauty of my husband’s garden (yes, he’s definitely the gardener!)
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As with yesterday’s photo, I framed this up a bit with My Digital Studio. There are tons and tons of embellishments for scrapbooking pages (and cards, of course!). But I really didn’t want to clutter this photograph up on a blog with too much of that. By the first of December, I hope to have a complete 2010 Calendar to share with you that will show off more of what My Digital Studio has to offer.
Also as I said yesterday, I hope to have my webinars fully up and running by the first of the year. I have several "guinea pigs" who are taking my webinar training now, and they’re helping me make sure that I’m going to have the best product possible once I start offering it to you. I could use a few more "guinea pigs", though. If you’re interested, please send me an e-mail and let me know. We can set up a one-on-one session if there’s somethign you’d like to learn about My Digital Studio. Or I could invite you to one of the group sessions that I’ll be hosting in December. Just let me know!
Our Rainforest Garden – Part I
Aloha, all!
I take most of the photographs of my cards and other projects out on our front lanai (or porch). All year round, the New Guinea impatiens bloom gorgeously, and a few frequently seem to peek out from the sides of my cards. Last week, in a Chat and Challenge session in which I participated (in a group called SUDSOL, which is a great group for Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators), one of the women asked if I could show off a photograph of more of the garden. And I gladly shared this picture with the group. Yes, we see several stalks of bananas from our lanai, though it looks right now as if all of them will become ripe at the same time. Ladies and gentlemen, there is only so much banana bread that one can make in a single week!
Of course, I had to frame this up a bit with some images from My Digital Studio, with which I’ve been working a lot. It is just the most wonderful toy for this computer junkie. I just don’t know where to begin to show you what you can do with it! But I’m working on it. I’ve been practicing on my training webinars, and I should be ready to set up some classes right after the first of the year–when there will be more wonderful digital downloads to add to this great new product that Stampin’ Up! offers!
Tomorrow I’ll share a photograph of the garden as I look out the kitchen window towards the back of the house. Then I’ll have to get back to making some more holiday cards! The Holidays are HERE!!!
Sunshine Daisy
Aloha, all!
It is STILL raining here in the Hawaii rainforest! I keep telling myself that’s why we have this lush garden. But I’m ready for some sunshine! Maybe that’s why I chose the colors I did for this card.
There was a color challenge on one of my oneline groups (SUDSOL, for Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators) and I picked Crushed Curry and Bermuda Bay, which are two of this year’s In Colors I used the Sizzix Flower Daisies #2 die and cut a piece of Bermuda Bay and a piece of Crushed Curry card stock. I layered three of the Daisies, then added the circle from the center of the largest Bermuda Bay daisy, which is held in place by a Whisper White 3/16" Jumbo Brad. The Designer Series Paper is from the set, Thoroughly Modern. The greeting is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set, and is punched with the Small Oval Punch, and layered with a piece of Crushed Curry card stock cut with the Large Oval Punch.
Finally, I added a piece of the Crushed Curry 1/2" Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon.
And doesn’t the flower look like there just might be a bit of sunshine in it? I needed that!!!
A New Tutorial – The Stamp-a-ma-jig
Aloha, all!
I’ve been really busy this week working on my weekly Holiday Newsletter. What made it so busy is that, last week, my newsletter featured the supply list and instructions for making this card. I had questions from a couple of people who wondered how I got those ornaments to line up so nicely with the ornament hangers – all of which are a part of the stamp set, Tree Trimmings.
The answer, of course, is that I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig. I can’t remember when I last mentioned the Stamp-a-ma-jig, but I realized that now was the time to mention it again. I decided to make a video tutorial to show how to use it. THAT was easier said than done. Now, I’ve had a lot of fun making my video tutorials. But for this one I really needed either 4 hands or a camera person. As I had neither, I had to really work hard at arranging my work surface and my camera to try to make sure I didn’t get my hands and arms in the way TOO much. But now the video’s done, and you’re welcome to view it AND let me know if you have any more questions about the SAMJ. I can always add onto the video if I need to in order to make something clearer.
This week in my newsletter I’m featuring some more cards made with the Tree Trimmings stamp set. But THIS week they’re not nearly as labor intensive as last week’s card – which ended up with 7 layers! I love layers, but I’m not sure everyone else does. So this week’s cards are all no-layer cards. They get some textured interest by having the ornaments cut out and mounted with Stampin’ Dimensionals.
My newsletters right now are going out on a weekly basis with the theme, Twelve Weeks of Christmas Cards. Each week I feature a card (or cards) and I provide the supply list and detailed instructions for making each card. Throughout the 12-week period, I’m using the same stamp sets, Designer Series Papers, and embellishments several times to help show you how economical Stampin’ Up! purchases can be. Oh, and there is a special each week available ONLY to people on my newsletter mailing list. Don’t miss out!! Sign up by clicking on the link at the top right of this page that says, "Sign Up for my FREE e-mail Newsletter." That’s all there is to it! And you can unsubscribe at any time, and I’ll never bother you with any newsletters again.
No rest for the wicked! Now I have to go work on NEXT week’s card!
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