Bells and Boughs

Today I wanted to share with you another card we made in our October classes.  This one is made using Cherry Cobbler cardstock, with Old Olive at the complimentary color.

To really see how this card opens, you have to see this close-up (below).  To make this one, I scored the left side of the long piece of CS (4.25" x 11") at 1-1/4" and folded it.  Then I folded the other longer end to meet that end, so that it almost looked like a book of matches, except that the two ends touched rather than overlapping.  Then I cut 1-1/4" off the longer end, so that there was an opening showing the inside of the card.  (Is that clear as mud?  I hope you understand it.)  Inside between the two edges (in the opening) is where I glued a 4-1/4" x 1-1/4" piece of designer series paper.  This was from the Jolly Holiday pack.  This card is a GREAT way to use up DSP scraps!  I also ran the two sides of the front of  the card through the Big Shot embossing it with the Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder.

Then I stamped the image from the Bells and Boughs stamp set in the Holiday Mini on Very Vanilla CS and colored it with reinkers and my aqua painter.  I rounded the corners of the Vanilla CS and mounted it on Old  Olive CS, also with rounded edges.  The "A Merry Christmas" sentiment is also from the Bells and Boughs set.  I stamped it in the Cherry Cobbler ink and punched it with a large oval punch.  I matted that onto a scalloped oval in Old Olive. 

Now the trick on this one.  You only glue one side of the image piece (the LEFT EDGE) onto the left side of the card.  Lay that down and only glue the RIGHT side of the scalloped oval down so that the image piece is fitted under it.  This is what holds the card closed.  You tuck the image piece under the sentiment piece.  If all this isn't clear enough, leave your questions and I'll clarify! 

Thanks for stopping by today!! More later......  Smiles, Laura

You Mean the World 2 Me!

Today's share is made using the Work Play stamp set.  I made this one in my favorite colors--Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, and Crumb Cake.  I know you've noticed I use these colors ALOT.  But in all fairness, what color goes with the "water" on the Earth better than our Baja Breeze! 

 I stamped the sentiment using Soft Suede.  I stamped the Earth part on a second piece of Vanilla cardstock and colored it with my aqua painter and some re-inker.  Then I punched it out with a 3/4" circle punch and popped it up on the original sentiment with a dimensional to make it look "real".  Here is a close-up of that.

The strips at the bottom of the card are cut from Elegant Soiree designer series paper--each 3/4" wide.  I put a Soft Suede strip across the top of the DSP and tied a Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon around it. 

This is another layout that you could use any stamp set at the top and any color scheme for the bottom strips.  Hey, I think I'll make a Christmas card like this.  OK, I'm off to the stamp room.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Smiles, Laura

Top Note Sleigh....

At the Stampin' Up! Regional Seminar in Columbia, SC, someone shared with SU a card with a sleigh on it made from theTop Note die.  I never saw the artist's name to give her credit.  But I could tell she had used the Top Note die to make the sleigh and when I got home, I made one myself.  I think it turned out cute.

The card is Old Olive and the sleigh is Real Red.  I layered Crumb Cake on the Olive card.  The "gifts" are cut from Jolly Holiday designer series paper.  I cut the runners from Brushed Silver CS, using the Swirls Scribbles Die and the Big Shot machine.  I had a little Holly punch so I punched some holly leaves to go on the side of the sleigh.  I didn't have any Tinsel Trim SU makes, so used a glittery pipe cleaner I had on hand to edge the sleigh and make it "pop".

Merry Christmas stamped on the card is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set.  I want to put some bows on my packages and just haven't gotten to it yet.

Thanks for visiting my blog today!! Leave a note; I love hearing from you!!   Smiles, Laura

Ornament Acorn....

I made this card recently with a birthday sentiment and liked it so much I revised one of my October classes to include it.  Isnt' he a cute fellow. France Martin showed how to make him on her blog and wanted to try it myself.  The acorn is made using Crumb Cake punched with the Ornament Punch.  The cap and stem are  made using the large oval punch punched from Soft Suede.  I ran the cap through the Square Lattice embossing folder to give it some interest.  I used the small oval punch and Early Espresso CS for his mouth.  And I cut the little fellow some bangs from Soft Suede.

The card itself is Soft Suede and layered with Crumb Cake that I've run through the Square Lattice embossing folder.  The sentiment is from Seasonal Sentiments set in the Holiday Mini. 

I stamped the leaves behind the acorn in Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and Daffodil Delight using a leaf in the Day of Gratitude set (also in the Holiday mini).  I colored his cheeks with a finger dauber using Regal Rose ink and put a white dot in each using the White Gel Pen.  His eyes are black brads and his nose is a GLimmer brad in Old Olive.  I would never have purchased these cute glimmer brads but Stampin' Up! gave each attendee at Regional a pack of them.  Isn't SU the nicest!  I used them on this acorn fellow and today ordered the Glimmer Brads in all the colors they come in.  I LOVE them!!

I hope he's inspired you!! Thanks for stopping by today.  Smiles, Laura

Too Long!!

Yes, who knew I'd be away from you so long!  I'm sorry.  It's been a busy time for me.  I've had a couple of classes to design and prepare for, we had Homecoming at our church, I designed a new brochure for our church, my sister came for a visit, and the list goes on and on.  So my blogging has fallen behind.  But I have a couple of neat cards to share with you today.  This first one we are making in one of my October classes.  I love how it turned out and it was a hit with my ladies.

I used Crumb Cake for the card itself, with Vanilla on that for the sentiment.  The sentiment is from the Seasonal Sentiments set in the Holiday Mini and is stamped in Soft Suede.  Then I put four 1/4" strips of colors down the side of the vanilla CS.  I used Soft Suede, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, and Daffodil Delight for the strips and for the leaves.  The leaves are punched using the Two-Step Bird Punch.  They are glued onto 1" Very Vanilla squares.  Then those squares are mounted onto an Old Olive scalloped square that I cut with the Scalloped Square Duo Die on the Big shot.

 I wanted you to see this close-up.  I used the piercer and the mat pack to punch little holes around the vanilla squares to give the card some dimension and interest.  Neat, huh?  One of my ladies, Elizabeth, put her leaves in a circle and I thought they looked very nice that way, too. 

 I told my ladies that this is a good layout to use in any color scheme and with anything in the squares; that it would look great as a winter/Christmas card.  So I came home and made one using different colors and snowflakes in the squares to show them. 

Here is that one.  For this card, the card itself is Sahara Sand with Whisper White for the sentiment.  That sentiment, too, is from Seasonal Sentiments in the Holiday Mini.  I chose Not Quite Navy, Marina Mist, Baja Breeze and Bashful Blue for the 1/4" strips and for the squares for the snowflakes.  I cut the snowflakes using the Northern Frost Decorative Strip in the Holiday Mini using the Big Shot.  This snowflake is the smallest flake on the strip.

 Here is a close-up of the scalloped square.  I cut this one from Elegant Eggplant CS and stamped the sentiment in Elegant Eggplant ink, too.  In the center of each of the snowflakes, I glued one of the Basic Rhinestone Jewels to give the card alittle shine. 

I needed a swap for a group I'm swapping with and my husband selected this sample from a couple I showed him, so I made these for my swaps.  I was pleased with the layout in BOTH color schemes.  Just shows you when you find a good layout you like, make it in several themes for several seasons!

Thanks for stopping by again today!!  More later.....  Smiles, Laura

Making apple butter....

Yep, that's what we've been doing today, making apple butter.  Yummy!! It tastes so good!  I've made jelly all my life, but NEVER made apple butter.  I got my mother-in-law's recipe from my sister-in-law and decided to try it.  The gleaners from our church had left over apples they gathered last week and gave them to my husband to put out for the deer.  Well, they were just too pretty to put out for the deer, so I decided to try my hand at apple butter.  I think they are Rome apples but I'm not sure---I do not know apples.  In this first shot, you can see several jars we have already sealed and another batch cooking before I put the sugar and spices in it. 

 Here are the apples I left for the deer on our place--not too many, huh!

This is an old fashioned apple peeler that my first father-in-law gave me for Christmas one year.  As soon as I started peeling all the apples by hand, I remember the peeler.  Boy, did it make it a LOT quicker to peel them all!  Anyone making apple butter needs one of these.  I used to dry apples alot, so that's why he got me the peeler.

 Here is the finished product!  Good eating this winter!! 

Thanks for stopping in today.  Sorry I have no stamping to share--no stamping time today.  Come back tomorrow!  Thanks for stopping in!  Smiles, Laura

Paper trees....

I told you yesterday I was at my son's house for a few days.  Well, I didn't have the whole time off---I made several Christmas cards while there (I had pre-cut and pre-stamped them and just worked on assembling them).  I also took with me supplies to make the little Christmas tree on the back of the SU Holiday Mini.  Here is the first one I made.

I like to use purple and green for my Christmas colors so I used those colors in my designer series paper (DSP) for my tree and since I wanted 3 colors, I added pink to that. 

This tree uses a 9" foam cone as the core.  I am showing you the bottom of it here, so you can see the kind I mean. 

I bought pins with pearl heads to hold the circles of DSP on the tree.  They have these at Michaels and at WalMart.  For the tree, I have 13 rows.  The bottom row will be #1 and the top row is #13 since you start at the bottom adding circles and work upward, row by row.  Here are the sizes of circles I punched and how many I used on each row:

Row 1--12 ea---1-14" circle

2--12 ea---1-1/4"

3--11 ea---1-1/4"

4--11 ea---1"

5--11 ea---1"

6--10 ea---1"

7--10 ea---1"

8--9 ea--1"

9--10 ea---3/4"

10--10 ea---3/4"

11--10 ea---3/4"

12--8 ea---3/4"

13--9 ea--1/2"

I just used trial and error to decide how many and sizes to use on each row, so if you make a tree , you might add one or two more or less circles per row, depending on how much you overlap the circles.  For the top of the tree (see below) I punched a 1-1/4" circle and pinned it on.  And you could stand up a star or snowflake (3D) on top of that, too.

 After I made my pink, purple and green one and figured it all out, I made my son and daughter-in-law a set of three trees to leave with them. They like traditional red and green for Christmas so here are their trees. 

Their tallest is also 9" tall.  The two smaller ones are 5" cones.

 For their largest tree, I used the same size of circles and the same numbers of each.  I thought pearl-headed pins would be too dressy for their colors, so I bought white headed pins for these three trees.

 I decided I wanted different designs for each of the three trees, so for the second one (5") I used MOSTLY 1" circles and affixed each row in a diagonal curve around the tree.   I did not record how many of each one I used.  Sorry!

For the final tree (5") I decided to cover the entire tree with green circles first.  Here are how many and sizes per row (again, the bottom row - the largest row - is row 1 and the top row is row 9):
Row 1--12 ea--1" circle
2--11 ea--1"
3--10 ea--1"
4--9 ea--1"
5--10 ea--3/4"
6--9 ea--3/4"
7--9 ea--3/4"
8--8 ea--3/4"
9--9 ea--1/2"

After I got the tree covered with green rows, I went back and added a few red circles (1/2") all over the tree, so they looked like tree lights or ornaments. 

I hope these trees have inspired you to make some yourself!  I thought they were fun and pretty quick to make!

Thanks for visiting my blog today!! Smiles, Laura

Columbia, SC Regional...

Friday I went to the Stampin' Up! Regional seminar in Columbia, SC.  It was a beautiful day to drive down and I totally enjoyed it!  SU has three of their employees there to talk to us, cheer us on, and generally share tips and ideas with us.  And in advance SU invites local demonstrators to share "wow!" samples and ideas with us so four girls presented their cards and tips to us.  On top of all that, we get to make some "make and takes" and it's fun to make cards someone else designed.  Here are two of my make and takes from that event.

I added the Cajun Craze behind the sentiment label by punching out another Decorative Tag , cutting it in half and gluing it behind the sentiment label.

 We received the stamp set Day of Gratitude from the Holiday Mini as a part of our registration, so the M&Ts used that set. 

For this one (below), I colored the sentiment with three different color makers so that the words could "pop" out at you.  I also colored two of the image stamps with markers to get different colors on one stamp.

 I think both of these turned out neat.  We also made a little box to put a bag of "goodies" like M&Ms inside.  And we made a note card that could be attached to a package.

They also gave us supplies to make a scrapbook page, but I didn't get it made at the event.  When I got home, I decided I'd rather make a couple of cards rather than a scrapbook page.  Here (below) are those two cards.

For this first one, I inked the stamp with River Rock and then used my Old Olive and Cajun Craze markers to add some color to it in a few places.  I like how this one stamped off.

 This is a close up of the tag on the card (below).  Can you tell the wording tag and leaves are popped up with dimensionals?  For the tag, I first stamped it in River Rock and then overstamped in Cajun Craze, so it looks like the words have a shadow behind them.  Neat, huh?

 For the second card, I again stamped the image with River Rock and again added color with the Old Olive and Cajun Craze markers.  I just added MORE color to the image.
                                         
 I cut three 1/4"strips of Cajun Craze  and River Rock, to put at the bottom of this one to put the sentiment over.  Again, I punched an additional Decorative Label (from River Rock this time), cut it in half and mounted it behind the vanilla label. 

Thanks for stopping in today.  Sorry I was away a week; we visited my son and daughter-in-law near Myrtle Beach, SC.   Smiles, Laura

Cute by the Inch...

The stamp set used on this sample is a Level 2 Hostess Set called Cute by the Inch.  I love the stamps in it and alot of my customers want it but cannot buy it; they have to earn it.  This card is made from Pacific Point blue cardstock.  The white front is backed with Tempting Turquoise and I've used Pumpkin Pie on it, also.

The squares are punched using a 1" square and a 1-1/4" square punch.  I love how they layer.

The sentiment is from the Friendly Words Jumbo wheel.  Actually, I bought a second of these wheels and cut the individual sayings apart.  That allowed me to stamp this sentiment and punch it out using the Curly Label punch.  I also punched out a Curly Label in Turquoise, cut it in half,  and put it behind the white one.  Both of these are backed with the Decorative Label punch from the Holiday Mini.

Here is a close-up of them.

Actually before I made this card, I had made a little box to hold the Bath and Body Works hand sanitizer and put this design on the front.  (I showed you those in an earlier posting.)  I liked the box front so much that I made the card to go with it.  Here they are together.

And if you want to see the inside of the sanitizer box, here it is:

The use of the Decorative Label on the front of the card goes with the inside of the box.  Neat, huh?

Stop in another day!! I love having you visit!! Smiles, Laura