Christmas Tags in a Box

Hi everyone,

I want to show you a really fun project today!  I cased this one from Carla Brasher (http://www.thesouthernstamper.com/) - it's nice having someone so talented do the thinking for you ha ha! 

Ok and I have no idea why one of my pictures turned up vertical instead of horizontal on here.  The other one is fine and they were both taken in the same orientation. Oh well.... just crane your neck to the right!

It is a darling little slider box that holds little Christmas card or present tags!  There are SO many options for what to fill it with...

You could also just change up the design and use it for an all-purpose tag holder. 

I have a feeling I will be making lots more of these!  I think they would make great gifts or be great to keep on hand for your own personal use. 

I have lots of Christmas/holiday stamps and many of them coordinate with punches so it makes it even easier to make the tags.    This set of tags uses mainly the new Tags til Christmas set ("Dec.25", Snowman "to/from", pinecone "to/from", "for eating"), but I also snuck in one from Delightful Decorations ("to/from" ornament) and Holiday Collection ("enjoy").

Hope you like :)

CASE Closed!

Hi everyone!

Another CASE for you today - as I've been too stressed and busy to be original ha ha.  I'm extremely busy at my normal full-time job, keeping busy with Stampin' Up!, plus studying for the MOST IMPORTANT exam of my life in October.  My pass on this exam determines if I get my professional designation for Human Resources or not! Wish me luck...

And enjoy my take on a card by Lisa Young - she's another crafter whose work I stalk endlessly :)  Her original can be seen at http://addinkandstamp.blogspot.com/2010/08/pull-up-chair-and-relax.html 
My card looks like this...

The script paper is actually a piece of the Presto Patterns DSP.  It is white with white embossed images that only show up after you ink, spritz, sponge or otherwise imbue the paper.  In this case, I sponged heavily with Cherry Cobbler and lightly near the edges with Early Espresso.  The key image is from the set Artistic Etchings (love it!) and the vintage lace is the 1/2" Chantilly lace.  The key has tiny Basic Pearls on the end of it, and the black punch behind it has tiny black rhinestones from the Halloween section of the Holiday Mini.  I love how it all looks together!  Thank Lisa, not me :)

Boy Birthday

Hi everyone!

Today I want to show you a birthday card I made for my brother "in law" ... he turns 20 this weekend.  Boy cards are always a bit challenging...it's like my mind says "Ok, man colours, man colours this time" but my hands have a mind of their own and reach for the Perfect Plum or Melon Mambo.... "No! Bad!"

So this time I reached to Cajun Craze.  Mostly because I felt bad that I was neglecting it.  I played with all the other new colours, but poor Cajun Craze sat unused!  Not anymore!  It is a great colour for boy cards - and to perk it up a little I paired it with circle accents punched from retired yellow cardstock and Pacific Point coloured cardstock.  To jazz it up a little more I wound silver elastic cord around the card and added a Designer Brad from the retired star collection.  The stars in the background are stamped with Versamark ink.  Those stars plus the sentiment that's punched out and popped up with dimensionals is from an old set called Starring You.  I'm trying to keep to my promise of using old stuff more often - seriously - this set was unmounted prior to this card, that's how bad I am.

It's fun, funky and not too serious for a 20 year old.  Now I have to get to work on my grandma "in law" birthday card... If I get it done tonight, I'll post it, but don't hold me to that :)

CASE - Copy and Share Everything!

Hi everyone! My favorite thing to do when I'm stumped is to surf the blogs of those who inspire me.  I always find a card I want to case! What usually happens is I start out thinking "Perfect, I'm gonna copy this entire card EXACTLY" but as I get going it transforms into something else entirely because my own flavour always comes through.  This is the beauty of casing! It's a great jumping off point. 

Today, my card was inspired by Erica Cerwin.  You can see her fantastic blog at http://www.pinkbuckaroodesigns.blogspot.com  ... she is great!  This is her card....

And this is my card....

My card uses the new paper daisies, which I simply sponged with ink to colour them.  The centers are punched from Chocolate Chip cardstock, then covered in Crystal Effects, then sprinkled with Micro Beads.  How ashamed I am that I've had Micro Beads sitting in the embellishment drawer for TWO YEARS and not used them! They are awesome - look what I was missing! {Only down size is if you don't prepare your work surface well enough, they WILL run all over the damn place and you WON'T find them again!}  I also cut a swirl from the Decorative Strip die and accented with 2 Old Olive brads.

Here is a close up of the Micro Beads in case anyone is interested: 

Hope you like :)

Holiday Mini Goodies

Hi everyone! I've been very very busy with the new house lately, if that helps explain the lack of posts!  I have been itching/dying/craving to play with my new goodies from the Holiday Mini...they arrived just before we moved, so I just kept them right in the box and moved them just like that.  Now they've been unpacked for over 2 weeks but I haven't had a chance to play til lately. 

Sometimes when I'm crunched for time, but have that creative urge that I know won't go away until it's satisfied, I will make one or two tiny things that I can feel proud having accomplished something and also not feel guilty about being holed up in my scrap room for hours at a time.

Here are a couple cute little things I made just to 'test out' the new stuff!

The top flower uses the new waffle paper from the mini catalogue.  It's available in brown, black, silver and gold and it is FUN! It's so easy to mold and bend - especially for circular trim, etc.  What I did here is molded it into a circle, punched a flower center, adhered that along with a button and hemp...then took small wedges out of the waffle paper with my scissors to make it look more like flower petals.  I like it! I can see it becoming a new favorite embellishment.

The bottom flower uses a new punch that came out with new catalogue - it's a giant scallop circle! As you can see it layers wonderfully with our smaller scallop circle.  Again, I have a feeling LOTS of these will be made for embellishments!

This shiny little Christmas tag was so fun and easy to make.  It features the new 2 1/2 " circle punch from the Holiday Mini, as well as the regular 1 3/4" circle punch.  Also featured is the fabulous glass glitter!  This stuff is a must have - it changes colour after time to look more vintage and distressed.  When I put it on it was bright silver, now it's a more faded champagne look - I love it! I can wait to bust it out again & make some vintage retro Christmas cards! 

The stamp set is from the very appropriately named Tags til Christmas set.  It's filled with wonderful tag images that coordinate with our punches.  There.  Now YOU have no excuse as to why you aren't making HANDMADE tags this year! 

Hope you like :)