Shadowed Snowflakes

These stamps are from Inkadinkado. For the background, I stamped the snowflake in the same color as the cardstock (or versamark ink), and then stamped the snowflake in craft white a hair off of the first image. The snowflakes look like they are floating on the page.

This year I have been experimenting with unusual colors for Christmas cards. How about Pink (Regal Rose) and Purple (Orchid Opulence)? For the pink snowflake card, I stamped the snowflake in craft white on the vellum square and heat set it with a hair dryer. Then I added some stickles to them. Both "Merry Christmas" tags were sponged on the edges and adhered with a dimensional.

Snowflake Sticker Cards

Here are some better pictures of the Sticko (from Joanns or Michaels) Snowflake cards referenced yesterday (one post below this one). Huge difference, huh?!

(I usually stamp at night, when lighting conditions are bad, so my pictures aren't as dazzling as in real life. *conceited smirk*)

Christmas Sticker Cards

I found some really cute glitter stickers at my dollar store (Honk's $1.05) and decided to use them to make more Christmas cards.

The top two cards are matted on black cardstock, and the french horn is matted on red and GREEN--not blue. I can't wait for the day that I can get a new camera. I have to use the "Night" or "cloudy" setting on my RAZR cam to take pictures this well--but it changes the colors on me.

The last one is my favorite. I bought some Stikopatamus vellum snowflake stickers a while back and never used them. Then I remembered I had this cute pink circles paper from the dollar store and put it all together. The vellum stickers have silver foil as an accent. I actually used pink passion and pixie pink, although the picture makes me look like a liar. I wish you could see the stickers in real life--they are so pretty.

The Candy Cane Poem

For those of you who are Christian, you may be interested in this post. I just wrote a poem about the symbolism of the candy cane and created a printable file to help you make quick and easy gifts. If you are interested, here's the link to my freelance blog and the files. If you stamp your candy cane tags, let me know where I can view the final product. *excited grin*

I created three dozen gift sacks for teacher appreciation gifts. I got cute little Christmas sacks at Target (12 for $1.99; they had 16 kraft sacks for 3-4 bucks, I think), stapled the poem to it, placed a red or green jingle bell ornament (at Target, 6 for $4.99 less 20% sale--I had to buy metallic ribbon to tie on) inside with two candy canes (75 minis for $1.99). With my Target discount and sale price on ornaments, it came out to about $1.05 per teacher. Not baaaad. (The ornament goes with the following story: The Symbols of Christmas.)

Disclaimer: Because I was making 3 dozen, I didn't stamp the bags or the tags. I was saving myself time and sanity.

Have A Very Vintage Christmas

This is my first vintage-esque Christmas card. I'm not good at creating the look, but I'm practicing. (Or, maybe I'm way off and this isn't vintage to you. I dunno.)

Stamps from Inkadinkado.

If I had to do it all over again, I would not have stamped the ornaments in white on the background. Oh well. I stamped the other snowflakey-circles on the burgundy cardstock with versamark. The snowman is matted on Cranberry Crisp and Always Artichoke, which has distressed edges. I stamped the snowman in burgundy, as well as the snowflakes, but I stamped off to create a softer snowflake image. I sponged Bravo Burgundy to give it the warm, worn look. The Merry Christmas oval is on cranberry crisp with burgundy ink.

I really liked the way this card turned out, especially since I rarely use these colors. But I'm sure it would make some sweet soul happy to receive it.

Red, White & Blue Christmas

I had such a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend with three of my four sisters, two BILs, my brother, and my parents. The best part was getting to stamp with my cute sisters and seeing how different our cards were. I'll try posting a few of theirs later. I don't know if I got pictures of them all. (Darn it.)



My parents have a huge dining room table that we commandeered for our stamping supplies. We eventually had to bring up a folding table to make more room. I only brought a portion of all my stuff, and I took up half of the table. I bought the cutest Inkadinkado Christmas stamp set from Michael's. So you could say that I found my groove with my new stamp set. And here's a peek at what I produced.

Card 1 Recipe:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Brilliant Blue, Ballet Blue, Real Red, Glorious Green
Inks: Brilliant Blue, Ballet Blue, White Craft
Accessories: Hemp twine, eyelet, stickles (in center of snowflakes), dimensional

Card 2 Recipe:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Ballet Blue, Real Red
Inks: Real Red, Ballet Blue, White Craft
Accessories: Brads, Sponge

Card 3 Recipe:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Real Red
Inks: Bashful Blue, White Craft
Accessories: dimensionals, cute red staples

*Sorry! BLogger made my images disappear and now they won't insert again! Arghghg.

Cutest Nativity Stamp Set

I just had to warn you that I just found the cutest precious-moments-like nativity stamp set at www.stampsbyimpression.com. These would be perfect for making little Christmas cards for the children in my church where I serve. Or even for my Christmas cards that I'll send out. Adorable little people, huh?

BTW Does anybody have experience with this online store?

Blogging Tutorial: Adding A Watermark to Photos

For those of you interested in watermarking your photos like a profesh stamper, follow the link to my other blog. It's not a video, but a step-by-step picture tutorial that I think you'll find helpful. (I try to only post paper-craft related things here.)

I'll be going to my parent's house Wednesday morning for Turkey Day and probably won't post again until November 26th. (For a cool tutorial on how to create animated GIFs with Photoshop, visit SBS sister Savitri's blog. She stamps and digiscraps wonderfully.)

Blogging Tutorial: Adding Labels

If you want to learn more about labels on blogs and why you should have them, click here. If you're thinking "What the heck is a label?" This post is for you. This will take you to one of my other blogs.

Tidbits

I don't have any stamp creations to share, just some tidbits.

Blogging Hint: Galleries
If you are interested in including a gallery of all your card pictures on your blog, go to http://picasaweb.google.com and get signed up. It will give the HTML code to put in a page element to include a link to your card gallery. Also, you can upload any pictures and create albums on this site. Very handy little feature. Thanks, google.

....And I have to share my cute little treasure. My DH works as a manager for Target (luv my discount). They all got some freebies two days ago. My hubby came home with a cute gift bag and told me it was all mine. I found some hersey kisses, EMPTY milkyway wrappers, and this cute tiny stapler with red staples! I am so excited. It even staples well. Now I'm anxious to get to work on my pretty red embossed images so that I can put my pretty little red stapler to good use. Isn't it so tiny and cute?

Red Dragon EP

Okay, you can't tell by these pictures, but all of these red images were embossed with Stamp-N Stuff's red dragon EP. It is spectacularly glittery, red with golden sparkles--perfect for Christmas. The star images really twinkle, and the other hard-to-see images are little Christmas trees. So I created all these UFOs and now I have more work to do today.

I get to see my parents, brother, and 3 of my 4 sisters for Thanksgiving this year. We're having a huge Un-Birthday party, since we're never together to celebrate each other's birthdays. We'll be making all of our favorite desserts and snacks and eating ourselves sick. Anyways, what I meant to say was that we'll be spending a day or two stamping Christmas cards. Which is why I made all of these images to begin with, but I don't know if I can wait another 9 days to use them.

BTW I am too cheap right now to buy and embossing heat tool, so I just use my gas stove. I turn a burner on about 6 or 7 and hold my paper with paper tweezers. I have burned more than one image before because I was not paying attention. But mostly it works just great. I know my sister puts her cardstock on the back of a hot iron to emboss, but it always seems to curl the cardstock.

Tiny Gift Tags

These are smaller versions of the Gift Card Holders from yesterday.

Very Punny is one of the best sets for these cute little gift tags. (If you don't have the set, I have two extra that I'd be willing to trade.) The finished size of these cute chocolate chip and pink gift tags is 3-3/4" x 2-3/4" (scored at 3-1/4" and cut at 7"). I use them as little cards on the gifts my daughter gives to her friends. They love the miniature size! In fact, I made some of these for my mother, and she sent one to my four-year old on her birthday with a $20 bill, and she handed us the money and kept the card!

Recipe
Stamp Set: Very Punny
Cardstock: Pixie Pink, Pink Passion, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip
Inks: Pixie Pink, Chocolate Chip

Again, I'm sorry for the lack of picture quality. Read the disclaimer in the top right corner--it will take you to a post on my family blog that explains in a round about my current camera situation.

Using My UFOs

I decided to finish off some gift card holders/gift bag tags for my stash using my UFOs (Thanks for the motivation, GinaP). I try to keep about 15 on hand at all times for those emergencies that always seem to crop up.

Alana's Gift Card Instructions
Finished size: 2-3/4” x 4-1/4”

Each card is 2-3/4” x 8” long, which means you can get 4 from an 8-1/2” x 11” sheet of CS. If you aren't worried about saving paper, 3" x 8" looks great.

1. First score sheet at 3-3/4” (x 11”).
2. Cut at 8” (x 11”).
3. Cut into strips 2-3/4” wide x 8" long.
4. Layer and embellish card. *Hint: I always use dimensionals to adhere the layered image to the card (it allows for more flexibility in opening and closing the card flap--otherwise layers tend to rebel and fall off).
5. Use slit punch to create flap to hold card closed.
   
6. Attach gift card inside with mini glue dot(s) if desired. If you want to hang it just as a tiny note from a gift, punch a 1/8” hole at the top left corner and set an eyelet.
7. For a SMALLER CARD to attach to gift (without a gift card inside), you can score at 3-1/2” and cut at 7-1/2” OR EVEN SMALLER score at 3-1/4” and cut at 7”. (If they aren’t holding a gift card, they don’t need to be so long…in my estimation☺)

Paisley Peacock

Another sneak peak...

I know I haven't posted a card in a while, but I promise I've been busy. We had some family in town that just left today. *sad sigh* I just wanted to show you what I've been up to lately, besides trying to manage the Sisterhood of Blogging Stampers.

This is part of my Paisley Peacock stamp set. This is by far the most time-consuming stamp set I've worked on and I still need to add more detail to the feathers. But I've ignored my DH enough this afternoon, so I'm going to go watch football with him on the couch. Thanks for looking!

Tagged!

My new SBS sister Meredith tagged me (check out her cute stamped tile coaster). And it's my first time being tagged! Let's see if I can do this right.


Here are the rules…………..

Please answer the questions on your blog and tag 5 more people to answer the same questions……….make sure you list on your blog who you are tagging….Thanks!!

1. If you could have 100.00 worth of scrapbook paper or assorted embellishments, which would you choose? Making me choose between the two? Since I just bought some cute bling brads and such, and because I'm running low on paper (to my standards, at least) I would go with paper.

2. If you had to choose between using only stamps or ribbons, which would you choose?
Stamps, hands down. A plethora of stamps!

3. If you knew how to do both awesome cards and layouts but could only do one for a whole year…which would you do? Um, just cards. Never done layouts.

4. Would you rather own a scrap booking store or have your own scrapping room at home…(can’t have both he he he). My dream stamping room! Right now all I have is a closet under the stairs to store my stuff. I have to drag everything out onto my kitchen counters and table, where the kids bother it.

5. What is your CURRENT card making or scrapping style? I'm not sure what style mine is. Any ideas?

Tag--You're It!
1. Lesa
2. Karrie
3. Jen
4. Marilyn
5. Maria

Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers

Get your SBS badges here!

Hi, ladies. It's already been a real treat getting to know you and your cards. This is how we'll get started. For those of you with a blog, click on the badge below that you want to embed on your blog and copy the URL (or right click on image and select view image). Go to your blog settings (for blogger template), click on add page element. Click on add picture. Paste the URL from the image in the appropriate space. Click on save. That should do it hopefully!

To make it easy, why doesn't each group member create a new post entitled "Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers." Write a little getting-to-know you fact. Each of us will leave a comment to each SBS post with our blog address. Then we'll add everyone to our blog roll with the acronym SBS. And we'll all do the same for you, too!

If you don't have a blog, leave a comment and give us the link for your SCS gallery instead, and leave a little factoid about yourself. I hope that covers it. I'm retiring for the night...and it's not even midnight yet. Wahoo! Inky hugs, Alana

Edit: I forgot to post a factoid. I am 31 and have been married for over seven years and have a two girls, 4 and 2. If I could take a vacation anywhere, it would prolly be to a beach in Mexico. I would like to go back to the Netherlands for a fist full of stroop waffles, and to Belgium for a REAL Belgian Waffle (not the kind you eat for breakfast, but a rich pastry). I lived in these two countries for 16 months and learned to speak Dutch and Flemish. I love the rich heritage of these countries. I am going to branch out and try clear stamps for the first time...hopefully soon. And I love Little Caeser's 5 buck pizza.

Another Stamp Set Preview

Bold Buds.

I created the design for this stamp set on Saturday evening. I wanted something swirly with bold blossoms. Wasn't sure what kind of blossoms. It kinda looks like a tulip--my favorite flower since living in the Netherlands ages ago. It wasn't what I had intended to create, but I'm satisfied with the final result.

The set is 2-step. The leaves and blooms are separate from the stems. And the swirly vine perfectly fits the 5-1/2" length of a card.

Here are two cards that showcase my Bold Buds stamp set. What do you think? Should I tweak anything?

Before Rubber Stamping

Hidden Treasures (pronounced tray-zures, like my dad says) in my closet.

Okay, I was rummaging through my craft closet the other day and came across my oldest daughter's first birthday invitation. I have to chuckle. I think I made at least 12 of these: strung the beads, cut out the pigs and fence, put backing on the fabic pants and cut them out (pants matched the dress she wore for her birthday), hand wrote each poem (maybe my printer was broken?), etc. It must have taken me at least five hours. Crazy! SOOOO glad I've found rubber stamping to streamline the card-making process.

And running across this old card made me remember a card that I had made before the piggy invite that I had forgotten about. It's a thank you card for my friends for letting me stay at their house while passing through the state of Idaho before I moved here. This one probably took two hours or more. And when you open the card up, it says "Spanks. Spanks a lot." I don't know how I cut all those pieces so well. It makes me shudder thinking about the complexity of it all. (I don't have a cricut or anything like it...yet. Hopefully for one of my birthdays down the road. DH even agreed to it last night!)

Actually, maybe I will create a stamp set after this card. ....hum....