Valentine Class projects

Here are the projects for my Valentine Class next week:

This card was cased with slight changes from Kay Kalthoff whose original can be seen at http://www.stampingtoshare.com/2010/12/1220-word-play-with-heart.html.

Stamps: I (Heart) Hearts, Word Play

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Real Red

Accessories: Elegant Bouquet Embossing folder, White Embossing Powder, White Organza ribbon, Dimensionals

Stamps: Filled With Love

Ink: Real Red, Pretty In Pink

Paper: Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Real Red, "Love Patterns" Designer Series Paper pack

Accessories: White Satin ribbon, Dimensionals, Pinking Hearts Border punch, 3/4" Circle Punch

Stamps: Be My Valentine

Ink: Riding Hood Red, Basic Black

Paper: Love Letter Designer Series Paper, Riding Hood Red, Basic Black, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Black Satin ribbon, Pearls, Dimensionals, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing folder, Top Note die

Stamps: I (Heart) Hearts

Ink: Real Red

Paper: Love Impressions Designer Series paper, Basic Gray, Real Red, Whisper White

Accessories: Full Heart punch, Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit, Silver Glass Glitter, Crystal Effects, Dimensionals, Matchbox die

Stamps: I (Heart) Hearts, Be My Valentine

Ink: Versamark, Basic Gray

Paper: Basic Gray, Love Impressions Designer Series Paper, Pink Pirouette

Accessories: White Embossing Powder, Silver Glass Glitter, Dimensionals, White Organza ribbon

My husband's banana bread

My husband bakes the banana bread in this family and he's been very busy:

I found these cute little baking dishes at Kohl's and bought all they had. They're the size of a mini loaf so you can bake two from one batch of banana bread recipe. Wrapped them with our 1 1/4" striped ribbon (Real Red and Marina Mist). They turned out nice, don't you think?

Off to more baking!

folded Vintage Xmas tree

Some of my holiday cards this year were similar to this one:

Stamps: greeting from Holiday Happiness
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Paper: "Deck the Halls" DSP, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Crochet ribbon, Early Espresso 5/8" Grosgrain ribbon, Silver Glass Glitter, Northern Flurry Embossing Folder, Lg and Scallop Oval punches, Dimensionals

I was inspired by Connie Babbert whose original can be seen at http://inkspiredtreasures.com/tag/folded-christmas-tree/.

Here's the steps:

Use the Circle Scissors Plus to cut a 5 1/4" Circle. Cut that in half. The longest line is your first fold and starts about 1 1/4" from the top.

Fold that over and secure with a little bit of adhesive.

Make a 2nd fold in the opposite direction. On each of the folds, you want to keep the top part even with the first fold and the bottom part pokes out about 1/4" on the side. Secure with a little bit of adhesive.

Make a 3rd fold in the opposite direction and secure with a little adhesive.

You can see another sample by Meg Loven at http://lovenstamps.com/blog/2010/12/09/a-vintage-christmas-crochet-trim-buttons/. Her tree is taller and slimmer and the sides all line up and don't poke out like my sample. Your tree can be slightly different in the size and the folds and still turn out great :-)

Valentine Pouch

I'm almost finished with my holiday cards (just need to mail the last batch :-) and wanted to play with some of my new product from the Occasions Mini. Here's a pouch perfect for Valentine's Day:

Stamps: Filled With Love
Ink: Real Red
Paper: "Love Impressions" DSP, Real Red cardstock, Whisper White cardstock
Accessories: Petal Cone die, Lg Scallop Circle punch, Dimensionals, Pearls, Silver Glass Glitter

more xmas cards from friends:

From Virginia:

From Tracy Bollinger:

From Marilyn and Carolyn Rawlings:

From Linda Mullen:

From Doris Bell:

From Christina Sentz:

(Christina let me know she cased this card from "makandastamper" whose original can be seen at http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1754541?si=dasher&perpage=12&thumbsonly=0&thumbcheck)

From Carol Price:

(Carol cased a sample from Laura Leonard :-)

Holiday cards from friends!

OK, I confess I haven't even started my holiday cards yet (I know, gasp!) but I've already received some beautiful cards and gifts from my fellow stampers:

How cute is this one?! This "Santa's Drawers" box is from Chris Frazee. There was candy in two of the pull-out drawers and a cute gingerbread pin (she made that too - picture will follow). Directions for this project can be found at http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/santasdrawers/

Pam McKell made this cute Santa face card using a variety of punches and dies

The wreath card above is from Katie Duzmal, a member of my downline. The greeting and wreath are embossed in gold and the white and red cardstock have a beautiful shimmer to them

Judy Jensen created this beautiful poinsettia card using the Bird Punch and Polka Dot embossing folder. Love the pearls in the center!

The heart ornaments card is stamped by Janet Shannon. She added Crystal Effects to the hearts for added dimension - so pretty!

Frances Hale created this adorable Santa peeking through the window card. I love all the details and her beautiful watercoloring

Another of my downline, Renee Irizarry, created this cute little holiday box (it's a pyramid shape underneath). You can see more of her samples at http://mygiftboxcompany.com/favors.html. Of course there was candy inside :-)

Thanks everyone!

Grinch Bag

I came across a cute "Grinch Pills" project from Jen Hutchins at http://dysongirl76.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-do-you-do-for-grinch-in-your-life.html. I made just a few changes for mine:



I thought the Grinch went perfectly with the "Even the naughty deserve something nice" stamp from "Tags til Christmas" set so here's a gift bag:

Stamps: Tags til Christmas

Ink: Basic Black, Real Red

Paper: Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White

Accessories: Top Note die, Square Scallops die, 1 3/8" Circle punch, 1/2" Circle punch, Word Window punch, 1" Circle punch, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" Square punches, Corner Rounder, Dimensionals, Old Olive 1 1/4" Striped ribbon

Blog music (you're welcome Tracy :-)

I'm giving one of my downline, Tracy :-), an early Christmas present. For the rest of this month, my music (see right sidebar) will not automatically start playing. If you enjoy my music favorites, then you'll have to press the play button to listen.

Not sure if I'll like it but I'll give it a try - change is hard for me! If you have a preference on whether or not the music automatically plays or not, please let me know :-) Thanks!

Brenda

December meeting make-n-takes

I had our annual December Holiday Party/Meeting for my downline yesterday. We enjoyed a potluck lunch of Honey Baked Ham, Marcia's "funeral potatoes", mashed potatoes and gravy, cooked cabbage, salad, veggies, gingerbread, cookies, and pies, oh my! :-) After lunch, we chatted about SU! promotions, viewed some of the new products from the Occasions Mini, shared some projects we'd been working on, had a gift exchange, raffle and card swap. Even with all that, we still had time for a couple of make-n-takes:

This one uses the new "Petal Cone" die from the Occasions Mini catalog. I wheeled the "Sparkle and Shine" jumbo wheel across both sides of the Garden Green cardstock using Garden Green ink. The die also gives you these scalloped half circles that fit under the flaps. I gently folded the scallops up so they wouldn't "fight" each other where they meet at the top. I used Dimensionals to hold the flaps down but they had popped open this morning. I'm going to try Sticky Strip and see if that holds better. I used Crystal Effects to add the Silver Chunky Glass Glitter around the flaps. 1/4" Red Grosgrain ribbon is added for a handle to hang on the tree.

This card uses the new "Fun Flowers" die, "Framed Tulips" embossing folder and "Springtime Vintage" Designer Series Paper - all from the new Occasions Mini catalog (you can order these products beginning Jan 4th :-)

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Always Artichoke
Paper: Always Artichoke, "Springtime Vintage" DSP, Very Vanilla, Rose Red
Accessories: "Fun Flower" die, "Framed Tulips Embossing folder, Modern Label punch, Vanilla Satin ribbon, Stampin' Sponges, Dimensionals

Bo loves the dogs!

Bo is our white cat who has no fear of dogs and I think may even have a crush on Holly and Maggie:

Bo loves sleeping right next to the dogs.

Maggie didn't want to go in her crate tonight and I unzipped it thinking maybe she'd had an "accident" in it and I needed to clean it up but instead, found Bo sleeping in Maggie's bed inside the crate. We zip the dogs in their crates at night and a couple of mornings we found that Bo had spent the entire night with Maggie - I'm guessing they got along fine :-)

I thought this one was cute how their heads were touching

It's hard to see Holly since she blends right in with the Black sofa but aren't they sweet?