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Scrapbooking Special Ornaments

Aloha, all! 

I’ve been pretty busy getting straightened up after the holiday AND checking out all the news from the Stampin’ Up! Leadership conference which is concluding today.  I can hardly wait to share some of the wonderful new products to be featured in the 2009 Spring/Summer Idea Book and Catalog!

But I digress.  Today I finished the first page of 4 pages that I will make to create a memory book of ornaments made over the years by my dear friend, Janet.  For the last 20 years or so, each Christmas Janet has hand-stitched a most wonderful ornament for our Christmas Tree.  And she made DOZENS of these ornaments for her friends and family.  For several years, Janet’s wonderful husband, Gary, has encouraged her to move on from this time-consuming activity to other projects.  This year, Gary passed away suddenly, and Janet has now acceded to his request.  So there will be no more new ornaments on our tree.  In fact, right now, we have enough ornaments, including those that I made and those made by other friends, that we cannot fit them all on our trees (yes, we have two trees–Norfolk Island Pines cut from our garden each year).  ALL of the Janet ornaments ALWAYS make it to the trees. 

Before we took down this year’s trees, I took photographs of Janet’s ornaments, and decided to create a small 4-page scrapbook with the photos. 

This photograph shows one of our trees and four of the Janet ornaments that were on it.

As I complete the remaining pages over the next week or so, I’ll share them with you, too!

Thanks, Janet, for all the wonderful memories you create each year as we decorate and enjoy our Christmas trees!

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It’s More Fun With Stampin’ Up!

Aloha, all!

It’s very hard for me to browse a magazine rack and not pick up the latest issue of everything stamping and scrapbooking.  I know, I know–only on occasion and in very special magazines do I see a project that is completely made of Stampin’ Up! products.  But the ideas in ALL of these magazines are just priceless when you just need a shot of creativity juice!

My latest foray into a bookstore to select "just a few" magazines resulted in my purchasing the November 2008 issue of CardMaker Magazine.  Yes, it’s lovely here in Hawaiian paradise.  But we get the magazine issues late, even in the book stores. Sigh.

Yesterday, as I browsed through my latest purchase, I spotted a card and my brain instantly turned it into a Stampin’ Up! project.  If you have the magazine, the card that inspired today’s Christmas Card is on page 58 (don’t think I can print a copy of the original here without infringing on copyright, even if it is a blog).  This is my Stampin’ Up! take on the card.

The stamp set throughout is Punch Pals (109489) which is fast becoming one of my favorites for this Christmas season.  The papers are Baja Breeze, Read Red, and Whisper White.  The snowman from Punch Pals is mounted on a scallop punched with the Sizzix Die, Scallop Circle #2 (113469).  That is mounted on a square of Baja Breeze on which I stamped my VersaMark pad and added Heat and Stick Powder (100625) and Dazzling Diamonds (102023).  The sparkle is outstanding (if I do say so myself!). 

The finishing touches are some white Little Felt Flurries (113697–and, yes, I am starting to run out of them!), Baja Breeze Striped Grosgrain Ribbon (111375) and a piece of Designer Series Paper from the Ski Slope pack (112994).  The "Let it snow" punch is from the Curly Label Punch Bundle (112966).

Luscious, don’t you think!!!  Want to make it yourself??  You can order all of these items by using the item number I’ve included throughtout this post on my online ordering site.  Or just call (808.965.1391) or e-mail me and I can do the ordering for you!

Happy Glittering and Stamping!

Robin

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Christmas Gift Cards

Aloha, all!

Gift Cards are a great way to give a gift to someone when you don’t know specifically what he or she would like for a gift.  Think iTunes gift cards when your taste runs to classical and his taste runs to heavy metal.

Especially in this economy, when I need to buy a gift for someone who (1) wouldn’t necessarily appreciate a set of hand made stationery and (2) is not someone I know really well, I certainly don’t want to risk spending money on something that will not be used or, worse, thrown away! 

In this case, there are three elementary school students (5th and 6th graders) who serve with me and a half dozen other adults on our local school’s Community Council (a state-mandated group).  These three young ladies have been very conscientious about their attendance at and participation in the Council’s meetings.  (Note that, at their age, I would have been bored to tears and would probably have used the time to catch up on my sleep!)  So the adults on the Council have purchased gift cards to a store where they can stock up on school supplies.

Here are the cards that I made to hold the three gift cards. The cards can be made as simple or as fancy as you’d like.  For these, I used Glorious Green Card Stock as the base for the card, with Real Red Patterns Paper from the Level 1 Hostess set in the Fall/Winter 2008 Stampin’ Up! Idea Book and Catalog.  I added Real Red 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon (109034) and a greeting from another Level 1 Hostess Set, Best Yet (can you tell I’ve been doing my job for the economy by buying lots of Stampin’ Up! supplies???).  The two ovals are punched using the Large Oval Punch (107305) and the Wide Oval Punch (112082).  

Here are the instructions for making the gift card holders, along with some ideas for decorating them.  I hope that you enjoy making and using them this Christmas!  And if you need some of the supplies for making and decorating them, you can order them from Stampin’ Up! any time, 24/7.  Just click on the"Shop Now" button!  Or call (808.854.6145) or e-mail and I’ll be glad to help you with ordering supplies or with making the Gift Card Holders!

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A Class for the Younger Generation

My first event since returning from all my summer travels was with eight young women (seven "tweens" and one  about-to-be-first-grader — sister of one of the others). 

Boy, did they have a good time!  (Me, too!) The project was to decorate the cover of a composition book.  I had hoped to use some new materials to show off to their moms; but August 17th was just too close to August 11th (the first day to order from the new catalog) for me to get the materials on time.  While I did have a good supply of the preview set of "Simply Sent Elements," there just did not seem to be enough stickers for 8 youngsters.  For me, fine!  For them, no. 

So I tore into an unopened pack of Summer Days Simply Scrappin’ from the Spring/Summer catalog, and had a winner on my hands.  I put the basic cover on the front and back of all the books ahead of time so all the kids had to do was decorate.  And decorate they did!

The favorite:  well, stickers, of course!!  And punches.  In the sample I made for them, I had a photo of my son and grandson.  To help them with some ideas for adding photos to their books, I brought along a tween magazine with plenty of photos of the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus and other assorted current favorites.  I had them in the palm of my hands when I said that I wished the Jonas Brothers had been around when I was THEIR age!  A little research for this age group goes a long way.

Here is a collage of the finished projects.  They all posed with their books for the hostess’s photographer husband, and I’ll be keeping a copy of that photo in my own albums.  (You might notice that one of the books is covered with Riding Hood Red instead of Real Red.  I was expecting only 7, and had to make a quick 8th book.  All I had with me at my hostess’s home was RR Red!  Can you spot the lone RR Red Book?) 

And they all wrote a thank you note to me, too!  Nia is my hostess’s granddaughter.  What a sweetheart!  And they all were.

Oh, and the moms/grandmoms made some cards using Bella Rose and Riding Hood Red papers.  Kept them out of the kids hair, and they had lots of fun, too!

So–I can do events with kids, too!  If you’d like to have a party for the young people in your life, just call or e-mail me to set up a planning date.

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