Merry Christmas!!! A small gift and a card.

 Here's a pen and keychain I made for a fellow SU demo, Lisa, whom I have been swapping buddies with for a few months. We've had SO much fun together. This is simply and RSVP pen filled with retired DSP. The keychain/purse clip is made on a bookring for easy on/off. It's made from Styled Silver HodgePodge Hardware, Filigree Brads, Rhinestone Brad, and Certainly Celery Grosgrain Ribbon! Crystal Effects holds everything together. The 'L' from Lovely Letters is stamped on acetate in JetBlack StazOn. So easy, just requires overnight drying while held in place with binder clips. The 'tassle' at the bottom is simply frayed ribbon;)

Here's the Christmas card I sent to her as well! It's a quick and easy one. The scallop rectangle uses the Scallop Trim Corner and Border punch, and while this takes some time to master, it's nice to be able to make these square or rectangle in any size you want. The lace trim is sewn on. The brad is non-SU, I found it in my stash, and it worked nicely:) I won't do the supply list below as usual, I am short on time, but this stamp set is Welcome Christmas, and I LOVE it! Also, the base is Crumb Cake and sprayed with the Color Spritzer with Choc Chip marker.

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Christmas! I received from my hubby a Nikon DSLR D3000 camera with lens, super nice bag and all accessories. A Nook (I LOVE to read), and an Epson Stylus Photo 1400 Printer which prints up to 13x19 prints, PERFECT for 12x12 scrapbook pages! Perfect to use with MDS! My girls gave me a diamond/sapphire ring that is gorgeous, I love it so much! (We spoiled them as well!) I also got some Miche bags/sleeves from hubby (forgot that, and it's one of my fave gifts). My Mom and sis were extremely good to me as well! Pics should start getting more interesting on my blog now that I have an incredible camera to play with! There's a huge learning curve going from a PointnShoot to a DSLR, but I am picking it up nicely. And I have a friend who is a pro photographer who I am sure will help me, too! Merry Christmas and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you!

A quick and simple Christmas gift...

 My hostess club met today and this is the project I designed for them this month. We made three cards, all the same, we just varied the colors within the Regal Collection. I LOVE that the SU collections work so well together, you don't have to stress about color combos! Here we used Elegant Eggplant, Cherry Cobbler, and Night of Navy. The base of the cards and the stamped block in the center is Sahara Sand, my new favorite neutral (well tied with Crumb Cake;). It's light and lends itself well to the Regal Collections deep, earthy, rich tones.

 And here is a close up of just the red card. For SU enthusiast (the best kind to be;), we used clear block 'D' inked with Sahara Sand to form the box in the center of the card. This technique adds great depth and interest, and is SO easy to do. Gone are the days of masking off these areas! Clear blocks are so versatile, I definitely use them for more than just clear stamps. We kept these cards very clean and open. I really like the feeling of simplicity and they match more personalities when giving as a gift.

And here is how we packaged them up. This is the Large Cello bag (SU, naturally) filled with 3 cards, and 3 envelopes, then excess folded back and ribbon and tag finish it off. I definitely think a set like this is going to be my teacher gifts this Christmas. Hope you all like it! We had fun making them, and I definitely think it's a nice gift for a party hostess, or someone that you like to give a gift to without really spending much! Supplies below. Thanks so much for stopping by! Remember to take a break this busy time of year, ink a stamp, and enjoy it all!

Happy Stampin',
Naomi

Sets: Welcome Christmas (on the tag...the family), Teeny Tiny Wishes, Holiday Wishes (retired), and Just Believe (flower)

Inks/Paper: Very Vanilla, Sahara Sand, Elegant Eggplant, Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy

Accessories/Tools: Decorative Label Punch, Modern Label and Word Window punches, Sleigh Bells ribbon (retired), sponges, Dimensionals.

Christmas Reflection...

Greetings, friends!!! It's been a while since my last post. Life has certainly sped up around here lately. The new puppy, Allie (the last post is about her), is doing great. She's a wonderful puppy, time consuming, but we wouldn't know what to do without her! I actually have a few things to post. But, my stamp club meets tomorrow, and one of the gift sets I just completed is our project, so I cannot post it until after that. So, come back!

This card is 5x5" and uses one of my favorite simple techniques, called the Reflection technique. Basically, you stamp the image on the cardstock. I then stamp it again on the StampAMaJig sheet, invert it over the original image, and press the inked side down so I get an exact reflection of the stamp. It's so easy and I LOVE using it with water. These trees sit on a shoreline that is laced with freshly fallen snow! I need to go back and snow the treetops too, Oops! The sky and water are brayered, and I simply drew in water ripples with the White Signo Gel Pen. 2 way glue and Dazzling Diamonds were used for the snow. I used a Basic Rhinestone over the sentiment, and some Early Expresso Grosgrain finishes two of the edges.

Merry Christmas!
Naomi

---Early Expresso, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Not Quite Navy (edge sponging)