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.

Teacher Appreciation Gift...

My oldest daughter is in Preschool and has the most wonderful teachers! So, for Teacher Appreciation Day, I whipped them each up a small Thank You gift. (Both were the same, just different letters on the front). The box is made with the Scallop Envelope Die from SU, it's basically two of them glued together with sides added. Easy. Below are pictures of the notecards I filled these with, and I also included envelopes. I hope they liked them today! I also cooked dinner for each of them, which I am sure they will appreciate!

And, here are the notecards I stuck in the box. They're quick and easy, and time was of the essence this week!

To the gift bags, I tied this card that I made for them as well.

These are some amazing women, I am glad that God graced my daughters life with them this year.

April Stamp Club Class...

For April's Hostess Club Meeting, I decided to go ahead and focus on a gift set that would work well for Mother's Day gifts next month. After tossing out many ideas, I settled on a bath set. What Mom doesn't need a nice, quiet bath? The candle holder includes a PartyLite tealight, and is wrapped with Rich Razz ribbon, and a scallop circle with initial. We had a few women use DSP scraps in the circle to give it as teacher gifts, etc. Great idea! The jar is a Starbucks Frap bottle, and is covered in CS and DSP, the lid is wrapped with white ribbon, and decorated the same as the front of the candle holder. We made Faux Suede Roses, using the Smooshed Flowers technique. They turned out lovely, and I think that was everyone's favorite part of the class! The jar is filled with Green Tea bath salts, which are wonderful! I kept the card simple using the Scallop Square Clear Die for the BS. Some Orchid Opulence CS, and Scallop Sq punches of DSP, we then added a sentiment (again, a few used a different one) to the Wide Oval, and finished off with the bird and branch from the 2-Step Bird Punch.

Complete project (aside from glass items) are SU only! There is also a white lunchbag altered into a gift bag to match the set! This was such a fun class, I think 'set' classes are my fave. And using the same products the whole time makes it easier to plan and clean up! Win, win!

---CS is Rich Razzleberry, Orchid Opulence, Whisper White, and Old Olive
---DSP is Cottage Wall
---Stamps are Whimsical Words and Lovely Letters
---Ink is Rich Razzleberry, and a White Signo Gel Pen
---Accessories are a few Circle Punches, Scallop Circle, Scallop Square, Wide Oval, 2-Step Bird. Also a Paper Piercer, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, R.R. Ribbon, Silver Brad.

Torn Paper Frame and a Gift Box...

Every year I throw a Christmas Party for my Hostess Club. We do a drawing in Oct to get our Secret Sister, and we have to make them a homemade gift AND buy them a certain amount of SU items from their wish list and package them with SU products. This is by far my favorite event of the year! This year, I made a frame for my Secret Sister, Amy. I took a plain, unfinished wood $1 frame from a craft store, painted it front and back with white acrylic paint. I then tore several different patterns from the Ski Slope DSP pack. I used Mod Podge to adhere those all over the frame. I then applied another layer of Mod Podge over the top to seal it. I used Baja Breeze textured CS for the insert. I ran Old Olive and Real Red CS through my Big Shot with the Petals A Plenty folder, then punched them with the Ornament punch, as well as a Chocolate Chip piece with a Merry & Bright rub-on. Red and green are stuck on with Glue Dots, Chocolate is popped up on dimensionals. Silver cording finishes these off. I cannot stand empty frames and always fill them before giving. This can be a decoration, or you can put a holiday photo in it.

Amy had 3 ink pads on her Wish List, and those were within our 'budget', so I created a box for them. I started by stacking the 3 ink pads on top of each other, then measuring height, width and length. I added 1/4" all the way around for a nice lip on the box, then scored along the box measurements to make the bottom. I then used the same dimensions for the lid, altering slightly for the edges. I punched the top with the Scallop Edge border punch all the way around and stamped it with the Medallion background stamp before folding. CS is Kiwi Kiss and RidingHood Red (trying to use up retired colors!). I tied some RHR Tafetta Ribbon around the box, then punched the flower with the 5Petal Flower after running it through the Bis Shot with a CB folder. Brad is Making Memories, all other supplies are SU. I tied on a Scallop Oval with Red Twine to put her name on it, so she can easily remove it and reuse the box.

She seemed very happy with her gifts, and I really enjoyed making them!

50 Sucks

This is the little gag gift I made for my Mom who turned 50 this week. She absolutely loved it, and laughed like crazy as soon as she 'got it'! This is a small paint can, covered with Bella Rose DSP, I used a few of the patterns. Chocolate Chip CS around the band was punched with the Scalloped Edge and the scallop in the center is from the Scallop Circle 2 Big Shot die. I stuffed the can with grocery bags, and arranged 50 Dum Dum suckers in an flower arrangement. I stuck silk leaves all around to make it pretty. The sign is a Top Note die for the Big Shot (SU exclusive), and is attached to popsicle sticks with glue dots. I wish I had some floral foam, but this was SO last minute, and there wasn't even time to go buy any, so the suckers would fall out easily if it was moved around a lot. Definitely go with foam if you do one! However, it turned out great, and she LOVED it!

A gift for Haley...

My beautiful niece, Haley is having a birthday this weekend! This is what I made her for her room. Hopefully, it will hang over her bed. I love how it turned out. The group picture is bad, so I am including individual pictures of each letter beneath.

The letters themselves are 9 in wood letters already finished in white, by Provo Craft. The paper I chose was based on the colors in her room already. I decided on this beautiful paper by K&Company, called Sparkly Sweet. I think this is the first project I have ever made with no Stampin' Up products! The ribbons are various and were all picked to match this paper. The butterfly dimensional stickers are by SandyLion.









I hope to make a matching frame in time, and if that gets accomplished, I will post pictures ASAP! I must learn to take decent pics, I can get amazing shots of the kids, but if my target is sitting still, forget about it! These are so much prettier IRL.

PS---Blogging buddies....if any of you know how to line pictures of horiztontally, I would love to know! I wanted to individual letters all in a line, or two lines, but not have to scroll down that far to see them all. I couldn't do it. Let me know what I am doing wrong if you know!

Mother's Day Gift Set

This is the gift set that my hostess club made last week. We made the tag out of scallops from the Scallop Circles #2 with the Big Shot. The card is almost a direct CASE of the catalog example using this set, Always. The small square item is a Post It note holder we made to complete our gift sets! There aren't any special techniques on this one, just a lot of cutting!!!

Starbucks Bottle Transformed...

This is the Valentine's gift I made for my sister. It's a Starbucks bottle decorated and it holds Jelly Belly's. I wrapped Bella Rose DSP around it, added some ribbon and punches, her initial with Lovely Letters, added a Hero Arts bling to the 'E', and filled her up! I must say, Juicy Pear, Strawberry Cheesecake and Cherry match the paper pretty well!

I wrapped the edge of the lid in Chocolate Chip Grosgrain ribbon, then topped it with some punched paper to tie it all together. This was quick and easy to make, I enjoyed making it, and my sister loved it! She's going to put it on her desk at work.

Special Delivery...

These are Target Dollar Spot mailboxes that I bought about a year ago and have been stashing away waiting for something to use them for. I finally decided that they would be valentine's for my two little girls. I will fill them with sweet treats and a small toy item each. The supply list for these will be hard for me, as I have resolved to start using things I have had for ages, and this project appears to be my kickoff to using up those old things.

Paper is Miss Elizabeth's called Be Mine from Dollar Tree 2 years ago.
Thin ribbon is SU Pretty in Pink 1/4" Grosgrain
Organdy is SU, retired, Pretty in Pink
Chipboard letters are from Michael's, years ago, brand unknown.
Flowers are a couple years old, I do not know brand.
Frosted Lace Stickles.

---I cut a small slit in the side to the flag and used SU 1/2" circle punch for the flag.

Sorry for now knowing where all the products are from, I must get my stash under control!

I am finally working on V-day, on to cards, and gift sets for it, and I will for once, be ahead of the game!

Unique Necklace...

Well, I sat down tonight to make a little ornament to hang over a cars rearview mirror to give to a friend. About 1/2 way into this project, I thought it would be better suited to be a necklace. I am unsure which I will end up saying it is, but to be a necklace, I would need to talk to a friend of mine who makes jewelry as a hobby for a little help with clasps, etc. It's a gift either way (even though I am kind of fond of it now). The entire thing is made using retired SU Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware, which I still grieve the retirement of. I used two large oval pieces, and in between is watercolor paper stamped with StazOn and watercolored using Earth Elements WaterColor Crayons, and an Aquapainter. The stamp set is old SU called Sculpted Style, I punched that with the Large Oval Punch, there are two of them, this looks the same front and back. I also punched two large ovals of a very heavy acetate I salvaged from some plastic packaging. I used Crystal Effects to hold the pieces together, and used 4 small binder clips all the way around until it dried. The top little piece and bottom swirly piece, along with brads, are the Hodgepodge Hardware as well, Crystal Effects is under each piece to make sure it stays put. I dangled a little pearl button from the bottom, and added Pumpkin Pie ribbon at the top...

I saw inspiration from this in a SU mailing to demo's, mine is very different from what I got the idea from, and I like it a lot. So, what do you think? Necklace or rearview mirror decor???

Hostess Club Gift...

This is what I made every member of my Hostess Club as a thank you for being with me this past year. This past Sat was our last meeting (until the new club starts in Feb), and it was also our Christmas Party so I wanted to do something special for each of them. Here's how I made them:

I made 11 of these and it took HOURS...not a quick process, but could be done quicker with some shortcuts, I however am a recovering perfectionist and couldn't skimp, so they took forever...

I punched (for each ring) one piece of cardstock for all SU! colors minus the neutrals, as I feel black is black and white is white for the most part. I did In Colors, Bold Brights, Earth Elements, Rich Regals, and Soft Subtles. I typed up each color name, family name, and the SU front label on an Avery label template in MS Word, two per label. One sheet perfectly held every title with no space left. The front of the color ring is a piece of acetate, punched with Scallop Circle, behind that is a piece of DSP, then acetate, then colors, then acetate, then colors, etc. Each color family is divided by an acetate punch holding that color families name. The color families are in ABC order, the colors follow the order on the back of our marker box and catalog. After putting all of them in order and punching holes in the top (through a template I created for perfect holes) with my Crop O Dile, I found it can punch through 12 sheets at a time about halfway through the project...LOL!!! I put them on Book Rings in order. I then printed the labels, and got to work. The labels are precisely 1" tall which made it VERY difficult to line up as I used a 1" circle punch. You punch out every single label, then place them on the CS or acetate piece it goes with. Once punched these are hard to peel apart as well. So, that's how I made them. You could always just cut the labels in half, which would save hours, literally. They look great, though. Everyone really seemed to enjoy them.

I originally made them for matching embellishments from craft stores (I am not one of those demos who will cut your head off with Craft & Rubber scissors if a customer mentions a craft store). We all need things that SU! doesn't sell from time to time. So, they can take these with them to match colors as closely as possible. However, as I was assembling these, I couldn't help but notice amazing new color combos as different colors laid against each other. So, now it also serves as a scaled down Color Coach as well. When you are struggling to come up with new colors to use together, you can flip through this and get some inspiration.

Hope you all like it!

Flight of the Butterfly Set

Is there anything more exciting than opening up that fun box that the big brown truck drops off??? I don't think so!!! Got my club order in yesterday, and in it was my newly ordered Flight of the Butterfly set. I had so much fun creating this little set with it. I made a card with matching envie, bookmark and pen. These projects are for a workshop I have scheduled for next week. I hold classes, and run a full club, but have never done a workshop outside of my home. I am nervous that I will leave and forget something vital, or something silly like that! So, planning for this is much different than my clubs, classes, etc. These are non/new stampers. That means I can't turn to my love of techniques, I had to keep this clean and simple, and showcase my favorite SU products. For me that is our punches, our paper, our ink, and our stamp sets. I chose to use only one set. I am hoping possible future stampers will see how much you can acheive with a small selection of supplies. I kept it all the same color to make a little Thank You set for everyone to have on hand. The THANK YOU on the blue strip on the card is from All Holidays, I tried to incorporate the thanks sentiment from FOTB, but it wouldn't fit where I wanted it.

What do you all think about this as a workshop project? Never having planned for something outside of my club, I was unsure how much/little to plan to make, etc. Thanks for any comments on this one!

Supplies...
SU Cardstock in Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Baja Breeze, and Kiwi Kiss.
Ink is Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss.
Punches -- Corner Rounder (it's CM,...shhh), Scallop Circle, Round Tab, 1 3/8 Circle, Handheld 1/16 for brads, Handheld rectangle for bookmark ribbon.
Stamps - SU Flight of the Butterfly (small Thank You from All Holidays)
Accessories -- Choc Chip Grosgrain ribbon, Silver brads, Dimensionals, Pentel RSVP Pen (filled with stamped printer paper, it rolls so much easier than CS), oh and a regular office stapler to really hold on that tab on the bookmark, as the ribbon is knotted under there.

Let me know what you think about this one. I think it turned out great, but how is it for a workshop?

Bella Rose Card Organizer...

This is the class I offered my customers for September. For a $15 charge, they got a full pack of the Bella Rose DSP, wire binding for the book, the RSVP pens filled with matching paper (see this hanging by ribbon off the book), ribbon, calendar pages, and all the cardstock needed for the project. I have already held one of the two classes, and everyone had a great time making these, although I must admit part of the fun was chatting with the girls, drinking coffee, and eating Terry's incredible homemade coffee cake. Here is a view of the inside front cover, I created stamp pockets, which perfectly hold a book of stamps to have on hand for mailing cards....
And next is a view of the inside cover and front calendar page. Each page uses a different paper from the Bella Rose DSP collection and the calendar pages are all stamped to match. Feel free to contact me if you want a soft copy of my Excel Spreadsheet where I created these. I searched everywhere and never found one that I liked, so I made my own. I am happy to share:)
Everyone had to option of adding extra pages for cards that were not for birthdays/anniversaries which is what the month pages are for. I simply typed up the words in font that matched the month names, and punched them out to label these pages. There is THANKS, GET WELL, SYMPATHY/THINKING OF YOU, and the last page says MISC CARDS.
That's it for this one. Hope you enjoy it. If you want more info on this, feel free to leave a post/comment and I will get back to you!

A Gift for Grandma

I don't think there's much in this world more special than a Grandma. My grandma's birthday is the day before mine in late Sept. Our entire family (let's see how well this goes...lol!) is vacationing in Hilton Head in early Oct. So, since grandma lives hours away, and we only see her twice a year, I wanted to make something special to give her on the trip for her belated birthday. I made this card using the now retired Porcelain Prints DSP. Not Quite Navy and Mellow Moss were paired with it for this easy, but elegant card for Grandma. It matches her gift below.
This is a squash book that I made for my grandma's gift set! I made the covers out of chipboard coasters, covered them in paper, sanded the edges. I then attached the inside book part to the covers and decorated the front. Here's a view of it open...
The 4 big squares will hold pictures of my sister and I with our babies for my grandmother to forever cherish. She's one of those precious grandma's who is so proud of 'her babies'. The Very Vanilla triangles will hold journaling for me to write the dates of the photos, and little things the kids have been up to this year. Here is a close up of one of the inside panels...
Well, this picture is a little fuzzy, hopefully you still get the idea here. I stamped around the edges of the main photo mats, the edges will show around the pics, and I wanted it pretty! I stamped the word 'joy' on one of those pieces in NQN ink, as that's what her great-grandchildren are to her.

I will also be making a clear glass candy jar filled with her beloved sugar-free peppermints decorated to match this set. I will try to finish that tonight and add some pics of it so you can see.

What do you all think of this gift set I made for grandma??? I hope she loves it, as she is unquestionably the most wonderful woman I have ever met, and she has had such an amazing impact on my life.

3x3 Box & Card Set

I love this little box! I have it standing on side in the picture so you can see the front. I used the new Fresh Cuts set, and the 5Petal Punch to make the front. Ribbon is run underneath to tie box closed. These little boxes are so easy to whip up and look beautiful when you put your own touch into the embellishing. This was a class my customers took a couple months ago. We made the box, and everything below....
These are the 6 3x3 notecards we made to go into the box. Everyone's turned out so great, and it was a fun class. I really think the matching envelopes just add to the whole project. The make great last minute gifts to have on hand as well. Who doesn't love handmade cards???
This is a close up of my favorite design for the box set. Heartfelt Thanks remains one of my favorite all time sets, and I use it all the time. With the friend stamp from All Holidays, it makes a great, just because you're my friend card. Whew. That's a few posts today. I think I will take a break now. Maybe tonight I can get some more stamping done, to have a few more new things to post soon. Happy Stampin' everyone!

Citrus Set...

Here is a set of cute notecards I made using the Tart n Tangy set! Who can resist this adorable fruit set??? In one stamp alone, you have an orange, a lemon, or a lime. I couldn't decide which I liked better, so I made one of each!!! I also stamped the fruit one time on the bottom corner of the envelopes that go with these. The insides remain blank so these adorable little cards would make wonderful gift tags! Below is the box I made to put these in! I will never make this exact box again, as it took too long, but I like this one! I also made jumbo paperclips to match! I think the paperclips holding the cards in matching envelopes onto a plain gift bag would be just adorable.

Here are the paper clips. The ribbon is all Whisper White, colored with markers to match my fruit! I love how the touch of black on these cards and box really makes the fruit pop! Well, enjoy, and more goodies coming your way!