Tags til When?

Aloha, all!

     One of the sets in Stampin' Up!'s newest catalog, the 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog, is called "Tags til Christmas."  You might recall from reading yesterday's post that I said I'd include a project from the Holiday Mini with a definitely non-Holiday feeling.  So Tags til Christmas it is!  Except that this is not a Christmas card – not even near to it!

     Here's the Tags til Christmas stamp set…  It coordinates with 9 punches, including three that are just being introduced in the Holiday Mini – the 2-1/2" Circle, Decorative Label and Medium Oval Punches.

     And here's my card…

     I cut a bit of the bottom off the Ornament Punch Stamp, and I eliminated the "dec.25" from the inside of the Decorative Label Stamp.  I added a greeting from the Stamp Set, Simply Said, and put flowers from the Stamp Set, Flower Fancy in the "vase."

     A couple of hints about how make the most out of this project:

1. When you cut the Top Note Die with the Sizzix, cut a 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" piece of card stock and make sure that it's centered on the die both vertically and horizontally.  I have made marks on the edge of my die with a Gel Pen to show the middle point on all sides.  When you finish cutting, you will have both the "outside" or "negative" piece of the Top Note Die as well as the Top Note piece itself.  In this case, I'd cut a Top Note out of the Melon Mambo card stock for another project.  When I was ready for this one, I took the "outside" piece of the die and placed it over a piece of Very Vanilla card stock.  Then I ran the whole piece through the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder.
2. To make sure that the inside letters of the Decorative Label stamp don't appear on your project, cut a small oval out of the sticky end of a sticky note.  Place that over the words "dec. 25," and ink up the stamp.  Be sure to remove this paper when you use the stamp!  A piece of sticky note is not good for more than 2 or 3 times being inked up before it lets the ink through to the words.  How do I know this??  Guess!

     More projects later this week.  I'm going to take a day or two off to try to fight a bit of a bug – hope it's not the flu!  Too early for that!!