Sleigh Bells Ring

......are ya listening?

Supplies used:

Red cardstock and silver bells - Stampin' Up

Patterned paper and sentiment - October Afternoon:Make It Merry collection

Season's Greetings washi tape - Recollections - (Michaels)

Jillibean Soup

No, Jillibean Soup isn't some new recipe - it is the name of one of my favorite paper craft companies.  Each of their collections has a soup name.  I've been working on some simple Christmas cards using Jillibean's Winter Tortellini and Spinach Soup collection.  Take a lookie.....

 

 

With the exception of the "Merry Christmas" sentiment (2nd card), gingham bow (3rd card) and the cardstock, all supplies used came from the Winter Tortellini and Spinach collection.  

Supplies used:  

Jillibean Soup - Winter Tortellini and Spinach Soup Collection:

6x6 mini pad

soup labels 

pea pod parts (12x12 die cut sheets)

bite size bits

Merry Christmas sentiment (2nd card) - Stampin' Up Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set

Cardstock - Stampin' Up and Bazzill Basics

Gingham ribbon - stash

Hope this inspired you to get your craft on.....along with a pot of homemade soup!

Guess It's Time to Start Thinking About Christmas Cards!

At the beginning of 2013 I had a goal to make one Christmas card each week.  Had I actually *kept* that goal, I would have lots of handmade Christmas cards ready to send out next month.  I think I kept up with my goal for one week.  So, guess what I'm going to be working on for the next few weeks!

PaperCrafts magazine had a cute Christmas card posted on their Facebook wall today.  I tweaked the design a little and came up with this card.

Supplies used:

Red cardstock - Stampin Up Riding Hood Red (same color ink also)

White cardstock - stash

Green paper - Authentique 6x6 Bundle - Festive Collection

Embossing folder - Stampin Up Snow Burst

Striped Ribbon - Stampin' Up Riding Hood Red

Labels Die Cuts - Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Four

Sentiment - Inkadoo Holiday Expressions stamp set (which I found last year at T.J. Maxx for $1.49...set of 5 Christmas sentiments)

Christmas is coming!  Better get your craft on NOW!

Give Thanks - A New Card Challenge

I *love* Fresh Squeezed Stamps and I *love* card challenges.  I think you know what I'm leading up to....

There is a card challenge going on over at City Crafter Challenge Blog.  I'm submitting this card for their Week 181-Give Thanks challenge.  The sponsor for the challenge is Fresh Squeezed Stamps.  

Supplies Used:

Card stock - Bazzill Basics Paper

Embossing folder - Cuttlebug (Swiss Dots)

Sentiment - Fresh Squeezed Stamps Subway Series Holidays

Give Thanks Ribbon - The Paper Studio

Now, how about you???  Why not get your craft on and enter this card challenge too!

Playing with New Stamps!

There's a new rubber stamp company called Fresh Squeezed Stamps.  I recently ordered two of their stamp sets, Happy Hexagons and Subway Series: Holidays.  Last week I finally got around to using the stamps to make some cards. 

First, I started with the Happy Hexagon stamp set.  Seems like hexagons are "big stuff" in papercrafting these days.  When I saw the Happy Hexagon stamp set (which has 10 different hexagon stamps and 4 sentiments), I knew that I could come up with lots of different designs for cardmaking. 

If you are familiar with quilt patterns, you know that the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt is made piecing hexagon-shaped fabric pieces together.  I started stamping a piece of white card stock with good intentions of making a Grandmother's Flower Garden design for my card front.  I kinda got carried away and covered the entire card front in hexagons.  Here is what I ended up with.........

 

The white cardstock was going to be mounted on blue cardstock so I started stamping the hexagons in blue.  The blue cardstock was then going to be mounted on a red card so.......halfway thru stamping, I decided to stamp one hexagon in red to match the red cardstock.  A sentiment from PTI Framed stamp set was added to the front of the card using foam squares for dimension. Since making the card shown above, I made two similar cards but I stamped a separate red hexagon on a scrap piece of white cardstock, cut it out and adhered to the card front using foam squares.  This really makes the red hexagon "pop"!

 

 

The next card pictured was made using the Subway Series:Holidays stamp set.  The left hand side of the card is (discontinued) paper from Creative Cafe.  The Thanksgiving Subway stamp was used on the right hand side.  I stamped the image on orange cardstock using orange ink.  A green ribbon and green buttons (with orange/white twine) were added as embellishments.  Everything was adhered to green cardstock. 

 

 



Time to get your craft on and make some holiday cards!!!!

A Christmas Card That *Anyone* Can Make!!

This card is for those of you who say: "I'm not crafty/talented enough to make cards." or "I just don't have time to make cards" or any other excuse you can come up with.

It doesn't get much easier than this! Here's a list of supplies to gather:

Holiday-colored blank cards
A few sheets of holiday paper (Hobby Lobby or JoAnn's has a great selection)
A sheet or two of brown paper
A "star" rubber stamp or stickers
Green or Red Rickrack (use the tiny/baby size)

Cut a strip of brown paper for your Christmas tree trunk and adhere to blank card.
Cut strips of holiday paper (different lengths as shown in the sample card) and adhere to card starting with the longest length at the bottom.
Rubber stamp the star or adhere a star sticker to top of tree
Cut different lengths of rickrack and glue (Alene's craft glue is my fave) diagonally to your tree.
YOU'VE JUST CRAFTED A HANDMADE CHRISTMAS CARD!!!!
If you have Christmas "sentiment" rubber stamps or stickers, you can decorate the inside with a "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays", etc.

This really makes a cute and simple card. I used paper with red, green and white polka dots so it looks like the tree has ornaments. You could also adhere little "gemstone" to your tree for ornaments if you wish. Depending on the design of your holiday paper, you may not wish to add any embellishment other than the rickrack to keep the design looking simple.

So now you have no excuses..............................start crafting!