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I've always liked Sock Monkey (111550, p. 90*) but haven't used him that much due to lack of imagination. Really. But my friend Nancy knows how to use him. Her sons grew up with sock monkey toys so to create special cards for them (and a nephew) this year was a given.
He has a pom pom at the top of his hat, Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the brim, and a present in his hand. The hat and gift box are from the Sock Monkey Accessories stamp set (111552, p. 90*).
Inside:
This silly guy just makes my heart sing. Here's how he arrived at my home:
This package also made my heart sing and reinforced the fact that I really do connect with my stampin' "students" here in Mi Wuk Village. Check out these stamped goodies:
The embossed Mr. Snowman, from the Punch Pals stamp set (116588, p. 40*) is hiding a small cellophane bag (103104, p. 159*) filled with nuts. Nancy knows I try not to eat cookies! (My success rate is not very high.)
These cute little holders could also hold yummy cookies (yes, I do love them). I'll post a link to the pattern later today or tomorrow for sure.
Warmest holiday greetings!
I sincerely hope you have a wonderful Christmas Daytoday, no matter how you spend it.
*Page references are to the Stampin' Up! 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog. Let me know if you need a copy by zipping me an email at <blythe@stampinwithblythe.com> .
This has been an extremely fast and busy year for me, especially the past 2 months. Our poor Christmas tree got put into its snug little corner right after Thanksgiving and the lights were placed in position. That's it. And slowly but surely five ornaments found their way to the tree. The nostalgic, regular ornaments are still in their boxes in the attic awaiting a moment to bring them down. Yesterday, being the 23rd of December, I took a look at the tree, and then at the wonderful cards we've received and had an AHA moment. Love those moments!
And here's the Stampin' Up! section.
So now, rather than looking rather forlorn, our tree looks so bright and festive. A friend came over later in the day after I'd begun my card decorating and she was really taken with the idea. I'm thinking she's going to be doing the same thing with some of her cards when she returns home.
I wish you all a safe a blessed Christmas, full of warm cheer and warm friendships and the love of family. Let's all give a THANK YOU and say whatever kind of prayer you say for our men and women who are serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other dangerous places. We wouldn't be who we are without them. Thank you.
THIS ARTICLE IS A TIP!!! Using the Embossing Buddy
As I was finishing my last bunch of Christmas cards this morning (yes, really) I tried to sort of take a short cut that I thought was working. I stamped, using Scenic Season, right on to my Hunter Green card stock, using White Craft Ink followed by Heat & Stick powder, without using my Embossing Buddy. I gently heated the Heat & Stick powder with the Heat Tool. So far so good. Then I sprinkled my Dazzling Diamonds glitter over the trees. Beautiful sparkles and glittering but it didn't just shake off. I had to really brush it off rather vigorously with a large paint brush. OK. Lesson not learned because I then went back and stamped Merry Christmas, from Stampin' Up!'s retired All Year Cheer III stamp set, again with White Craft ink, followed by White Embossing Powder. It too remained almost everywhere, especially inside the letters of the greeting. I had to brush out what I didn't want with a teeny tiny paint brush and that didn't get rid of all of the unwanted the powder. After heat setting the embossing powder with my Heat Tool I had little (ugly) splatterings in way too many places that I didn't want it. I've been stamping for well over 15 years and should certainly know better. I was just trying to 'get away with it'.
You might say the sparkles below look good around the trees but you can also tell it doesn't belong there! Click on the picture to enlarge it and have a good look. Check out the words while you're at it.
At about card #5 (out of 20) I thoroughly used my Embossing Buddy on the entire piece of Hunter Green cardstock. My, my, what a clean crisp difference. Lesson learned. Henceforth, I will always use my Embossing Buddy when using any kind of embossing powder.
The photo below is WITH the Embossing Buddy being used.
TIP #2: Scoring an entire sheet of card stock prior to cutting. Next thing to do for my cards was to cut the card itself from an 8-1/2" x 11" piece of card stock. Rather than cut the card stock into 2 pieces, 8-1/2" x 5-1/2", I first scored the card stock, lengthwise, at 4-1/4". Then, when I cut it into two pieces for cards I didn't have to score two pieces. I was able to score only once.
Why do I score my card stock for a card? It makes the fold much neater and crisper. Simple as that.
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Final thought for today: Where I sit in my stampin' studio is directly across from 3 narrow windows.
We had a lovely snow fall overnight that remained on the trees for us to see when we got up this morning. Later came intermittent snow, sun and clouds.
It is just so pleasant to look out these windows while stamping, thinking and daydreaming. To think that this room was once a bedroom (over the garage) with a solid wall. The windows are such an improvement. :)
I hope you have a wonderful day. I'll see you again tomorrow.
..........I'm often knitting. I have to share this year's accomplishment, a stocking for my youngest grandchild, 10-1/2 month old Zion:
And here's a fuller shot---in motion!
In my spare time, I'm certainly not a photographer! I guess you could call me a stamper by day and a knitter by night---in front of the television as we wind down after a full day. I'm also very much a patriotic flag waver, so Zion got the Flag Waving Santa that I found in a knit shop in Spokane, Washington. The heel was an obstacle for me due to incredibly poor directions, so it took over a year to successfully complete his stocking. Fortunately I'm very pleased with the finished project. And so are Zion's Mommy and Daddy. He just doesn't 'get it' yet. :)
Back to some stampin' ideas tomorrow. Have a great day.
Today and tomorrow are the final two days of Stampin' Up!'s 12 Days of Holidays Sale. This is your opportunity to get 15-25% discounts on select Big Shot Dies and materials. There are no quantity limits or qualifiers to make a purchase. It doesn't get much better than that. I've taken advantage of the Chalkboard Décor Elements Sheets, 2 15" x 24" vinyl sheets that can be cut or Die Cut to any size. I plan to use them for a project for next year and I want to work on it sometime during the next few weeks. Planning ahead. :) These vinyl sheets come in a huge variety of colors and work wonderfully in the Big Shot Die Cut machine using the Big Shot Dies of course. Check them out by clicking on the 12 Days of Holiday Sales (title above says 12 Days of Christmas) button on the right.
I'm sure these are very busy days for you. Me too. We've already had enjoyed part one of our Christmas celebrations this past Saturday, with my son and daughter and their families. You want to see a treasure? It's not stamped but it is hand made with love:
My 5-1/2 year old grandson, Austin, has been trying to tell me about, and then getting me to open, this gift since Thanksgiving. I was truly amazed when I did finally open it---the first gift opened this year.
There's a beautiful happy face on this side. Almost as beautiful as Austin's happy face!
Not to be left out, nearly 3 year old Nora, shows the camera the dimensional butterfly Austin placed in the bottom of the cup. For me there's a joke there: when I pour a full cup of coffee into the cup, if I can see the butterfly at the bottom of the cup, the coffee's not worth drinking---too weak. No butterfly = a great cup of coffee. This morning's coffee was great! Years ago, like 25, when I was having coffee with my Bavarian girlfriend Sigrid, in Germany, she told me that if you can see the flower at the bottom of a tea/coffee cup the coffee is called "blumchen kaffe" -- too thin and weak to bother with. I always think of that roadside stop for coffee, in the Alps, when I even see a flower or image at the bottom of a cup. Thanks Sigrid! And huge hugging thanks to Austin for my fabulous coffee cup and saucer.
As I mentioned yesterday, Russ and I began creating our Christmas cards on Tuesday, December 15th. When My Digital Studio first came out I created a card as a requirement to become MDS Certified---certified to teach others how to use the program. The card I made is 5" x 7" and although I love it, it wasn't going to work for a mass production project.
I really wanted to use that photo in our card because my sweetie made the "British" Phone Box from 'found items' and because of the beautiful fresh snowfall. It was taken last February but---it's still snow and winter-y. Being unable to make a decision Tuesday, I asked Russ to select a card he liked from all of the samples I've made during the past few months. And now, here is our card:
I'm not a "seasons greeting" type of gal so I omitted those words from the Scenic Season stamp set and instead used a retired (sorry) Merry Christmas stamp. The trees and Merry Christmas greeting are stamped in Whisper White Craft ink, then embossed with White embossing powder. Then I scribbled over the trees with the 2-Way Glue Pen and sprinkled Dazzling Diamond glitter over the card front. Yes, I've been sporting glitter in my hair and on my face for several days now.
Inside:
I could not do anything that I liked with our photo so I decided to shape it with the Bigz Top Note Die for the Big Shot Die Cut Machine and just place it inside the card. I'm telling you, I love that machine!
Just so you know I'm totally human, this is what my work table looks like right now. I still have about half more of our cards to finish. I'll have to unbury some working space before I get started again!
In my defense (ha ha) I had to take a break to design and prepare the two cards for the Library while working on Christmas cards.
I'm not sure what's next but I'll see you in a day or so.
Six stampers joined me in making two Christmas/Holiday thank you cards at the Mi Wuk library today. As always, we had a great time.
Card 1:
And here's where I got the idea! I love the Elegant Bouquet Textured Impressions Embossing Folder for the Big Shot. It's so easy to quickly create a beautiful card.
And here's card #2:
On a third version of this card I left the 'thank you' at an angle, sort of like a snowball rolling down the hill. This 'snowball' is punched with the 1-3/8" circle punch.
Stamp sets: Short & Sweet (thank you and single snowflake), Christmas Punch Level 2 Hostess Set (larger snowflakes), Punch Pals (smaller snowflakes and snowman)
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Bashful Blue Classic Pad; Markers: Glorious Green, Real Red, Going Gray, Only Orange, Close to Cocoa
I don't know if you've 'played' with the Shimmer Paint yet but, if you haven't, you should. It makes gentle or dramatic changes on your cards. Unfortunately it's kind of hard to see in photos. The good news though is that it will be available as a "Catalog Write-In" once the Holiday Mini Catalog goes away on January 5th. Otherwise, the last day to purchase from the Mini is January 4th.
There are three colors:
And the order numbers, valid both now and after the Mini retires, are
Here are a few samples I've made with the Shimmer Paint. And as soon as possible I'll be trying them out with some Valentine (yes already) ideas.
The card below uses Platinum Shimmer Paint and it was the first one I did so it's not a smooth all-over distribution--but I also wanted it to show up.
This was probably my second shimmer card! I've mailed all my others out already. In real life these ornaments have quite a lovely shimmer.
If YOU want to order anything else from the current Holiday Mini Catalog, be sure to do so on or before January 4th, 2010. Either click on my ORDER NOW box in the upper right hand corner, or email me and I'll do the ordering. That's in the upper-ish left hand corner.
I'll see you tomorrow with the holiday Thank You cards we're making at the Mi Wuk Library this afternoon. Think Bashful Blue.
I've received a few totally Stampin' Up! Christmas cards and I want to share them with you.
My friend Nancy used Dasher, one of my favorite holiday stamps---and it is one that's sold singly, for only $8.95. Check it out on page 208 of Stampin' Up!'s Idea Book & Catalog. This card fits in a legal sized envelope. Dasher is embossed in gold. I love the touch of corner rounding one corner of the card and photo.
Mary used the Wandering Words stamp set from the Holiday Mini Catalog, p. 16. You'll be seeing it again in a Valentine's Day card--not with the sleigh of course, but with the mailbox sending out hearts and sweet thoughts. This stamp set won't be available after January 4th so be sure to purchase it before then.
Berniece used A Cardinal Christmas for her lovely card. She also used the Top Note die with the Big Shot Die Cut Machine as well as the Textured Impressions Folder (also in the Holiday Mini so only available until January 4th).
We just started our Christmas card yesterday so I'll be sharing it tomorrow. Have you ever had one thing in mind and then the finished product is totally something else? Well, that describes our card. More about that tomorrow.
If you've made a Christmas card using Stampin' Up! products, consider sending it to me via email (blythe@stampinwithblythe.com) and I'll put it up here on my blog for everyone to see. I love seeing your creations.
I can't believe how quickly twelve weeks have flown by, but.....tomorrow will be the last entry of my Twelve Weeks of Christmas emails. I've had a great time preparing and sharing them. If you haven't already signed up for my newsletter, then do so quickly and I'll add that final group on Thursday morning so you'll receive the final gift.
Here's a little tease:
You might be able to surmise a bit of the project but seeing the entire thing is really believing. I hope you check it out.
See you again tomorrow. I'm back on track again after several hectic days away from home.
