Posts Tagged ‘Handmade Christmas Cards’
Oh, There’s So Much That’s New!
Aloha, all!
Today I’d like to share FOUR of the new products that you’ll be able to order in January 2010. This Christmas Card features the brand new Scallop Trim Corner Punch (from the Occasions Mini Catalog) and the brand new Scallop Trim Border Punch from the Sale-A-Bration brochure. I think I did a lot better on this card than I did on yesterday’s, don’t you think? I’m learning these punches!
Now look at the card again, and you’ll see some of that gorgeous 5/8" Satin Ribbon, today using the Real Red color. There’s a whole new line of this ribbon and does it feel yummy! I bought some Real Red and Old Olive, and will be showing them off with Christmas cards through the rest of the month. And that Real Red Corduroy Button in the lower left corner is also new–there will be Real Red and Pretty In Pink Corduroy buttons for all your Valentine needs this year! Of course, I’m featuring them for Christmas this month. THEN I’ll switch holidays.
And there are some current products in this card as well: There’s the lovely papers from the set, Merry Moments, some Fire Circle and Ice Circle Rhinestone Brads, and the lovely greeting from the stamp set, Heard from the Heart. The old and the new go wonderfully together!
There will be lots of Christmas cards that I’ll be sharing over the next few days and I’ll be telling you more about Sale-A-Bration, too! So keep coming back!
Subscribe to the comments for this postStampin’ Up! Regional Training in my own Home!
Aloha, all!
What fun six of us had today, enjoying almost all the benefits of attending a Stampin’ Up! Regional Training event, but without having to travel outside of East Hawaii! This fall, Stampin’ Up! made a video recording of its Cincinnati Regional training seminar and made it, along with the Make and Take packet used by demonstrators attending the training, available to Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators,.
Of course, this training is not limited to demonstrators, and we had three of my friends who are my Stampin’ Up! customers and two other demonstrators besides myself. One is my downline and another is a fellow demonstrator, but not involved in my up or downline. Oops! I managed to be the picture taker, so my photo is not here.
And what fun we had with those Make and Takes. I had no idea how my customers would react to those or to the video of the training seminar. But everyone loved everything! And we’re even going to have to get together again next Friday to finish up the make and takes. And, of course, chat and have lunch, and chat some more! (Maybe I’ll get my photo taken next week).
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Here is a copy of one of the cards in the Make and Take packet. It’s the only one I managed to finish because I was running around trying to make sure everyone was having a good time (and they were!)
If you’re in East Hawaii next Friday (December 11th) by all means call and let me invite you to join us! I only really worked on one of my Make and Takes, so there’s plenty to go around for an extra person or two.
Oh, and we had company off and on throughout the morning. I had to move one of my bowls off the table to make room for the crafting. Our cat, Cholla, never misses an opportunity to try out something "new"!
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!!
My 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!
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!
A New Stamp Set from the Holiday Mini
Aloha, all!
The 2009 Holiday Mini Catalog is still alive and well, and still providing me with much inspiration. Finally last week I broke down and bought the set, Berry Christmas. For one thing, I’ll need it when I do a program for some fellow Stampin’ Up! demonstrators next month. So I figured I might as well get the set sooner than later and use it for something fun.
The fun for this card was a Chat and Challenge on the SUDSOL website. If you’re a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, it’s really a fun place to hang out to learn lots of great ideas and stay on top of what’s going on in the world of Stampin’ Up! If you’re not a demonstrator (and why not???), it’s good for you that I belong because I get some great ideas and creative challenges to share with you.
I did get somewhat carried away with this card, though (and I’ll share another "carried away" card with you later this week!). The stamp set comes with a wreath shape and some berries that you can use either with the wreath or with a poinsettia that’s also in the set. In this case, I wanted the wreath to be a bit thicker than just the one layer of greenery. So I tried putting two, then three different colors on the wreath. Finally, I decided it really needed some holly. Then I stamped red berries. But, hey, they were overwhelmed by all that green. So I added some bling in the way of some Red Chunky Glitter. Whew!
The greeting and the bird are also from the Berry Christmas set. You’re going to see more of this set as we get into December!
For now, enjoy your holiday stamping!
Back in Town with a Christmas Card Program!
Aloha, all!
After a wonderful time with my son and his family in Washington, I’m finally back and into all that great "stuff" in my craftroom. But where to start!
OK–here’s where I start. Last week I introduced a "Twelve Weeks of Christmas Cards" program for those who are on my newsletter list. Each week until Christmas week (and I’ve got a sneaky suspicion that there may be one extra!) I’m sending out a brand new card with a supply list and detailed instructions on how to make the card. And it’s FREE! If you’d like to get in on this program, just sign up for my newsletter by clicking on "Sign Up for My Newsletter" just to the right! Oh, and besides the instructions, I have coupons for free stuff for those who order some of the supplies to make the cards!
These are the first two cards of the program, both made with the same Designer Series Paper set, stamp set and Stampin’ Up!’s new Ornament Punch. The Stamp Set – Delightful Decorations – and the Ornament Punch are in the Holiday Mini Catalog. And ALL are just so much fun to work with.
So–sign up for my newsletter now!! And get all those greeting card instructions for FREE!
My Digital Studio Cards and Webinars
Aloha, all!
Once again I participated in an online chat and challenge where it was just easier to sit at my computer to make my card–then I get to chat with everyone in the chat room! Can’t beat that.
With this card I tried to make the white layer look textured. I think I should have used something a bit larger than the little white circles. But overall I like the idea of the texturizing.
As the month goes on, I’m planning to design some webinars about using My Digital Studio. They will be overviews of the program as well as instructions in making specific projects. This will be a new venture for me and I’m really looking forward to it! If you’d like to be notified when I have a webinar available, please join my newsletter list. The first few webinars will be free of charge while I make sure that I’m providing you and my customers what they need out of a webinar. Once everything gets settled, then I may start charging for the webinars except for customers. If you help me out by participating in a few of the original programs and providing critiques and input for how I might do things differently, you’ll definitely be part of the group that gets them at a very special price!
OK–off to enjoy what looks like it may be a sunny afternoon in East Hawaii!
A Wednesday Afternoon to Play!
Aloha, all!
This morning I worked and this evening I have to work. But this afternoon was just to play. I went looking for some ideas about what to do and stumbled upon the Diva’s Coffee Break Design Challenge. OK, I’d already had my "coffee break" (that would have been the Diet Coke break I took in between chores on the road this morning). But I still felt like trying some of my new "stuff" out with the sketch they provided today.
What I used that’s new is the Christmas Cocoa Specialty Designer Series Paper and one of the Ribbon Originals that you’ll be able to buy from the 2009 Holiday Mini Catalog beginning September 1st. I matted the card with a bit of Real Red and Whisper White card stock, and added a Build-A-Brad in the center that uses one of the little snowflakes from the Designer Series Paper. The pewter color of the Build A Brad goes wonderfully with the Soft Suede in the Designer Series Paper.
Now I’m off to work. But I always have time to stop and drop off a mini catalog if you don’t have one! Work tonight is in Hawaiian Paradise Park, and tomorrow I’ll be making a trip into Hilo. But anywhere in East Hawaii is easy for me to get to! Just call (808.854.6145) or e-mail me, and I’ll be happy to stop by!
Oh! And here’s the original sketch from the design challenge!
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