Shopping and such - -

Went to the Maxwell Road Yard Sale that is near Fayetteville, NC and held yearly. All I found was:

For the two background stamps, two packages of embellishments, and the Fiskars crimper I paid $4.00 in total. The background stamp on the right is by JudiKins and I really liked that pattern - cleaned up the stamps once they were home and here is the after of those:

The JudiKins background stamp is going to be used for Halloween projects ahead for this year. I was happy to find that and for such a great deal!

In the past I have seen videos of the charity box that SimonSaysStamp that they offer each year and the money you pay for the box all goes to the Huntington Disease Foundation. Since I already went to the one stamp show of the year that I am going to - and now that Impression Obsession/IOStamps has decided to close their doors I will not be going to their yearly Warehouse Sale, I decided to use my craft dollars for a good cause. This week the box I paid for arrived and here is the stack of products inside:

Almost all of what I got I really like -- lots of great products and companies represented in this stash -

I was happy two of the embossing folders in the box are 3D folders I had seen on their site before but did not order - I used foiled card stock to emboss with to show the detailed results. First is their Forest Floor embossing folder that has mushrooms, leaves, and acorns on. I had recently picked up a pack of rust foiled card stock from Mikes on Clearance for $3.00:

Here is my embossed sample piece:

In the photo I put a piece of brown card stock in the embossing folder to show the folder design. The rust embossed piece is the paper from Mikes. As with all my 3D embossing folders I lightly mist my  card stock prior to putting it in the folder to be embossed but I did not mist the foiled pieces - but I was happy the foiled card stock did not crack or break down with the detailed design. Even the back of this embossed foiled piece shows no cracks:

For the other embossing folder I embossed, "Cheery Snowflakes", I used a piece of silver poster board from the Dollar Tree and also a piece of Park Lane (Joanns) holographic card stock:

Again here is a photo of these pieces with the embossing folder:

Again these two silver foiled card stocks did not crack with the embossing:

Never had ordered this charity box before but I was happy with all I received - only about 3 things in there I will not use so I can pass those on but happy with everything else. More products for holiday projects ahead!

Sorted sentiments for holiday projects - -

Recently bought two BetterPress holiday sentiment plates on sale at Spellbinders after I found out you can hot foil the BetterPress plates using the Glimmer Spellbinders hot foil machine - which I have. I used various hot foils and foiled these plates - using the waste foil as well once the sentiments were foiled:

Then used the included matching die sets and die cut out all the strips:

Once they were cut out I tossed them into a basket on the work table:

But once all were die cut the basket was really full and I decided I would need to sort these sentiment strips for future holiday projects. A recent trip to the Dollar Tree I picked up a box of snack bags to use for these strips to store in. Sorted the strips into piles on the the work table and put them in the zip lock bags when done and I have these bags in the basket now. The bags will help when I am looking for a sentiment strip for a holiday project.

Happy to have a sentiment stash on hand so when time is short at holiday time I will not have to stamp and die cut sentiments then.....

Santa Hugs Card

On sale at Spellbinders was the Stampendous Santa Hugs die set recently which I bought:

Very easy to piece Santa and Reindeer together as this die set does not have so many tiny dies to die cut:

Fun card to assemble:

For this card I used a red card stock base, cut and scored at the top. Wanted to have a blue background with a snow scene so I cut a piece of light blue card stock larger than I would need. Using a snowflake background stamp from my stash I stamped this in the MISTI using Versa ink for embossing:

I heat embossed this piece using fine white embossing powder. Set this aside. Die cut Santa out using scrap red card stock from the stash. Sponged all red pieces using a red ink and used black mirror card stock for his belt and boots. Used black card stock to cut out his gloves - just cut a small piece of black card stock for each hand and die cut those out. Once done I trimmed them to the size I would want for gloves. For the cuff on his gloves and the band on his hat I used white felt and cut those out. Cut out his beard and mustache and sponged the edges of those with light gray ink. 

For the face piece I sponged a little pink on the cheeks and I also sponged the pink around his nose. I assembled Santa and once he was done I wanted to add a holly piece to his hat but there was not a holly die in this die set. Went through my stash and used the holly piece from the Peeking Santa Bear die set from Cottage Cutz using scrap green card stock and red foil card stock for the berries:

Assembled Santa using foam tape behind the face/beard piece. Used liquid glue to add the felt to the front of his hat and his glove cuffs. For the reindeer I used scrap brown card stock and sponged those pieces. Sponged the antlers using brown ink and I covered his head with a Post-It Note to keep the brown ink off his head other than on the antlers. Used a white gel pen for spots on his back. Used red foil card stock for his nose. I used a black Sharpie and put a little black line across the bottom of his legs to look like a hoof.

Using rectangle frame dies from the stash I cut out a kraft coloured frame for the card front. Cut my embossed snowflake piece to the size I wanted for the card front. Used liquid glue and put the frame on the snowflake background piece. Put Santa on the card front using foam tape. Added the assembled reindeer next to Santa. For the greeting at the bottom of the frame "Here Comes Santa" I used a sentiment BetterPress plate from Spellbinders and hot foiled that using gold foil - to match his belt buckle. Santa and the reindeer have small pieces but very easy to assemble. 

Better Press BOO Card

For this card I used the Spider Web BetterPress plate from Spellbinders that I had bought on sale after I saw a video that said all BetterPress plates can be hot foiled. First I hot foiled all my pieces onto black card stock and I used silver holographic foil for this in the Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil machine:

Wanted to use the new "Faux Embroidered Pumpkins" die set Nicole Sphor had designed for Spellbinders for the front of the card. Using scrap card stocks I die cut the pumpkins and I used glittered card stock for the flowers on the pumpkins. The "BOO" is a die from the BOO-Licious die set from Spellbinders:

Hard to see the holographic silver design on the card front with the camera but IRL you can see the sparkle/shine it gives the webs. I used black glittered card stock for the witch hat and orange glittered card stock for the band on the hat. For the green leaves I sponged those using green ink. Used foam tape behind the witch hat pumpkin to give the card front dimension. The glittered flowers add extra sparkle to the card front:

Kept the card simple by keeping with the black card front and the pumpkin coloured card stock card base. The BetterPress plates foil beautifully with no over foiling and the fine lines in the detail show off the foiling.