Merry Christmas!

I know it has been ALL month since I've posted... that's just how it goes this time of year! I hope that you and your families have all had a wonderful holiday (we sure did!) and are enjoying some time off this week (we sure are!).

Here is the Christmas card I sent to each of my team members this year. I thought I'd share it with you before we close out this month.

I used the immensely popular Photopolymer set called Endless Wishes along with some Pool Party, Island Indigo, and the sparkly Silver Encore ink. It was simple to make and easy to duplicate.

I can't stay to chat - must get back to game-playing and movie-watching with my family! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to each and every one of you!

Michele

Gift Card Holders

What a wonderful Thanksgiving! I hope you had as wonderful a time as I did! I hosted this year and our table was surrounded by some of my favorite people - my husband, sons, mom, dad, brother, and his girlfriend. I am truly blessed...

Now onto Christmas preparations! I am having just one class this month to help with all of your gift-card-holder-making needs. Here are some samples I've made recently:

These cards use the new Envelope Punch Board to create the "file folder" look. I love this new tool - it is so simple to use, and so affordable too! (item #133774, $19.95)

 When you slide the belly band off and open the card, it looks like this:

Instead of using a belly band, you could also just tie a ribbon around the card:

Here's another sample:

 ...and let us not forget that the Envelope Punch Board can ALSO make custom-sized envelopes - which you need for this particular card!

 Here's one last one I made for a friend's 40th birthday...

Such a fun and simple card - with a wonderful purpose! I do believe every one of my nieces and nephews will be receiving one this year!

Hugs,
Michele

November Paper Pumpkin!

Wow! What a kit we got this month! I absolutely loved the sample as-is, but I did come up with several alternate ideas for my Paper Pumpkin subscribers (let me know if you'd like to join)! Here are just a few...

This next idea is actually an altered Altoid tin... I used to make these all the time. It was fun to pull one out again!

Next is my favorite style of gift card holder. It's held closed with a belly band, but when you slide that off...

 ...a gift card is revealed inside!

Stay tuned to my blog, as I have made several of these. I'll be showing the rest of them over the coming days.

I have family arriving this weekend for the holiday, so if I don't get back to you before Thanksgiving, I hope you have a WONDERFUL time eating turkey with those you love. :)

Michele

Festive Flurry Ornament Kit

Check out this gorgeous (and EASY) kit to add some sparkle to your holiday decorations - the Festive Flurry Ornament Kit! Gorgeous! Use them to string a beautiful garland for your mantle, decorate your holiday gifts, hang them on the tree... lots of uses!

The kit comes with all the supplies you need (except adhesive - they recommend hot glue) to create 10 of these beautiful 3-dimensional snowflakes. The pieces are printed, cut, and even scored so they go together in a snap. Click below to see a video of how simple they are to make!

The kit is only $14.95, item #135813 - get yours now!
Michele

Christmas Card Buffet Option #4

The final choice for my upcoming Christmas Card Buffet is my personal favorite:

This one was also inspired by the Stampin' Success magazine (lots of GOOD stuff in there!). I love the postcard look and the big ole' Santa fits beautifully! Colors here are Early Espresso, Real Red, and Very Vanilla.

That's it for this month's buffet! Again, if you are local, give me a holler and I'll get you hooked up!
Michele

Christmas Card Buffet Option #3

My third Christmas Card Buffet choice features a VERY popular Photopolymer stamp set called Endless Wishes. It was so popular that it sold out shortly after being introduced! No worries... Stampin' Up! has replenished their supply and it is available once again. Whew!

This set comes with several different words that you can mix & match to suit your needs. One brilliant thing about the Photopolymer stamps is that you can arrange more than one word on an acrylic block and stamp them all at once! Colors here are Island Indigo, Whisper White and a touch of Silver Glimmer paper. I made the smaller snowflakes POP by using the Sliver Metallic Encore stamp pad.

Final card choice coming tomorrow!
Michele

Christmas Card Buffet Option #2

Here is the second card choice for the Christmas Card Buffet:

This one was inspired by an article in Stampin' Success - a fabulous publication that Demonstrators receive. I had a lot of fun creating this one... I made two separate templates (one for the Pool Party and one for the Smoky Slate) and used a snowflake stamp from Festive Flurries to make the patterns. Then I bling-ed it up a bit with some Dazzling Diamonds! Gotta love sparkle!

Card #3 comes tomorrow!
Michele

Christmas Card Buffet Option #1

We had so much fun at my Christmas Card Buffet last month that we're doing it again! If you're local, give me a holler and I'll get the information to you so you can join us!

Here is the first card choice (I'll show the other 3 over the next 3 days):

I actually CASEd this from my Upline, Amy Taylor, who CASEd it from a swap card she got at convention made by Tara Bazata. The colors here are Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green, and a bit of Early Espresso (behind the sentiment - looks black in the photo, but it's actually a very warm brown).

It's beginning to feel a [bit] like Christmas!
Michele

Christmas Card Buffet

It's time to think about Christmas cards... and after you're done thinking about them, it's time to start MAKING them! I'm hosting my first Christmas Card Buffet class this month - on the 23rd and 24th. We'll be making lots and lots of these cards:

I purposefully kept them fairly simple since we'll make them in bulk, and I also kept them on the flatter side to aid in mailing.

If you're local, drop me a line and I'll give you all the nitty-gritty details!
Michele