Christmas M&M's

Had seen these packs of the red and green Christmas M & M candies at the dollar store and I picked up two packs:

Wanted to use these candies in a treat holder but did not want to use the long, thin cellophane bag to put them in since I have done that more than once.... checked around and found treat holders by Patty Bennett on her blog -- here is the link to that:

http://www.pattystamps.com/pattys_stamping_spot/2017/12/quick-and-easy-holiday-treat.html

She used this idea from "Pootles" who is a SU demonstrator in the UK.  I made six of these candy treat holders - three I used a circle punch for the bag top and three of them I used the Stampin Up Ornate Tag Topper punch - here is a photo to show what they look like using the circle punch at the bag top:

All holders I used the double sided printed card stocks from Stampin Up. This next photo shows the three treat holders I used the Ornate Tag Topper punch for:

The Ornate Tag Topper punch shapes the top of the bags and it also punches a hole like a tag would have. I wanted this small hole so I could close the bags using twines from the stash. With the curved bag tops I used a small circle punch and punched a hole in the center for my twine.

How many times we order dies from an online store and they enclose a free die with your order if you have spent a certain amount of money? Too many times these online stores send you a "thanks" or "thank you" die for free. I have too many to mention.... :0(     .... but one time I placed an order from Taylored Exprssions and with my order they enclosed a free die. Happy me that the free die is this little circle tag die with a tree inset!! When I made these candy bags I thought that die would be perfect for the top of the treat bags:

I cut out the small tree die using scraps and mixed and matched them to match the printed card stocks I was using -- here is a photo to show all the M & M treat holders and their tree tags. The greeting is stamped onto scrap white/GP using Stampin Up Cherry Cobble ink and I used a stamp from the Stampin Up Hostess set Good Greetings. Really like these treat holders because they are free standing and do not use too much card stock to put them together. Thanks to Patty for sharing her treat holders and for Pootles for sharing her pattern on Youtube:

Here are a couple other treat holders I made for the gift bags I put together this year:

Used the Stampin Up Candy Wrapper die for the above treat holders. These hold the Hershey Santa Hat chocolate kiss candies. The red center to the snowflakes are "bling" I picked up at the dollar store. Used a snowflake punch for the snowflakes. This next holder is a favorite and it holds three of the Hershey Nugget candies:

Also made matchbook holders for Fun Size M & M's:

and of course I made some Snuggets:



Snowman face stamp is from Morningstarstamps.com -- Pam sells a small snowman face stamp as well as a larger one. These two stamps are a MUST have for your craft room!!

Fun to put the gift bags together for the gals at work -- here are photos of the gift bags when I decorated them before I filled them up:

Fun playing Elf this time of the year! TFL

Want some cheese with that whine???

Want some cheese with that whine??? comes to mind.... Everything works until it doesn't and when it doesn't you want it fixed or changed... and NOW....

Long story - moved into this house and having a craft room without a guest bed in it (can't they stay in a HOTEL???) was a treat.... did not have cabinets but I checked on Craigs List and found a set of cabinets from a lawyer's office that was being demolished at a good price... but... when we went to see the cabinets there was a catch -- we had to take all the cabinets that were removed in order to get the ones I wanted... No problem -- I had craft room cabinets and DH had cabinets for his work shop area in the garage.... cabinets we did not use we then sold on Craigs List and that problem was solved.

In my craft room DH had put two of these floor cabinets back to back and he built a top for them using the used counter tops that came with the cabinets.. It is a good sized island and although it has served it's purpose it no longer works.... I now own quite the die collection and I have them lined up in refrigerator bins on a counter in the craft room.... they take up a lot of room and I want the counter top space back.... the island cabinets have two doors on them but I do not store things in them that I use all the time... like the dies..... so all I said....

I had mentioned to DH last week that although I liked the size and height of my island in the craft room the cabinets just were not working anymore... I told him I would prefer an island that is like a wooden workbench but something that has open shelves and can take the weight of my die collection... but I wanted the top to be the same size as the counter top he had built for the island in the craft room.... of course our house is constantly under construction with him working on this or that so although I asked about a new island I did not expect anything would happen until far in the future. He has a habit when I ask for him to build or change something that he has me draw a picture for him on a napkin or paper towel or whatever is nearby.... no request for a photo but I figured after the holidays he would come down to the craft room and do his measuring and ask questions and such....

So ... imagine my surprise when I got home from work today he called me out to the garage to see my surprise custom island he built today!!! :0)

First the top can be moved -- he did not know if I wanted the overhang to be on one side or both sides or what so that can be moved -

The above photo shows when I move the top to the front for an overhang and the next photo shows the top when I have the overhang on the back side:

He used left over oak stair posts for the corner posts of the island and this next photo shows left over oak flooring he had that he cut down to size for the front and sides of the shelves:

This next photo shows the front of the oak flooring pieces:

He has sliders under the legs but he can add casters if I wanted those on it. He put a backing on it and he remembered everything I had asked for!!! The top comes off so it will be easy to get it into the craft room once he finishes sanding it and putting the poly on it to seal the wood. Once the new island is in place he can attach the top or leave it so it can easily slide if I want it moved. With the weight of the oak it will stay in place.  He even put extra braces under the shelves and top to take the weight of the dies and anything else I would be using the island for. Here is a photo of the shelf attached to the oak stair post:

This island is the same width and height of the island I have now so it will be a perfect fit to replace my present island. Of course here I go again re-organizing the craft room but WELL WORTH IT this time!!! Happy me!!! Of course now I have to re-think my craft room and storage and such but this is going to be such a major improvement in here!! Nice Christmas present for me for sure.... Fuzzy Slipper Happy Dance in my craft room tonight!! :0)

Gift bags

Bought some of the white gift bags sold in sets of 3 at the dollar store to decorate for Christmas. Here is a photo of some of the bags:

Here is a photo of the gift bag I did last year:




For the bags this year I did not do any stamping. I had seen a new holly printed card stock at Hobby Lobby that I bought and I used that on the front of the bags:

For the front panel I cut and scored a piece of kraft card stock from Mikes to fit the front of the bag. Cut the holly printed card stock a bit smaller and put the holly print onto the kraft card stock using the ATG. Put these onto the bag fronts also using the ATG. Set these aside.

For the bows on the gift bags I used the gift bow die from Stampin Up and various prints from my stash. With the bows all cut out I assembled them using tear and tape. Put a bow at the top of the bag front panel using the tear and tape. Cut a small piece from each bow print and put those at the bottom of the bag front panel using the ATG.

For the white doily I used a Cheery Lynn doily die and cut out my doilies using white/GP card stock. For the center of the doilies I used two circle punches and punched out a kraft card stock circle and a holly print card stock circle. Used the ATG to put the circles together and then onto the center of the doilies. Put the doilies onto the bag front panel using the ATG.

The "merry" was die cut from both red foil card stock from the stash and a red shimmer card stock from Mikes. I wanted these to be stiff and have some weight to them so once again I use the tab from a kleenex box to make my own "klipboard". I die cut the red "merry" words and then used the die and cut out the words from the kleenex box tab:

Using TomBow glue I used a small paint brush and brushed glue over my card board die cut letters. Did one "merry" at a time - once the card board word was covered with glue I put the red word on that to set up. With those all done I set them aside to dry. Here is a photo to show the kleenex card board on the back of the letters:

This thin layer of card board not only makes the letters more sturdy but it also gives the front of the bag some dimension without being too heavy like a wooden word or decoration could be. Once the words were on the bag fronts I used a red Stickles and put Stickles on some of the the berries in the printed circles in the center of the doilies. Set them aside to dry.

With the bows on the bags I decided they needed some sparkle and shine and I had picked up red gems from the dollar store and put one in the center of each bow using a large glue dot. With the Stickles dried I used micro mini glue dots and put the "merry" on each doily piece. Cut a piece of white card stock to set inside the bag on the bottom to make it more sturdy. Will add paper shred to the bags and treats next week. Here are a couple of photos of some decorated bags:

Now I have to make the tags and tie on some jingle bells for some festivity. Then fill them up and that will be another finished holiday project.   TFL

Christmas Card - ACC020

For this card I had seen a video on YouTube by LeeAnn Greff using the Stampin Up Christmas Quilt bundle. Here is a link to her video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5rsJG-aH54&t=55s

This card is for a friend of mine that is an avid quilter and her favorite colour is red:

My card base is on #110 weight card stock from Mikes that is cut and scored at the top. I used one of the quilt dies in the bundle, as suggested in the video, and cut out the "window" on the card front. With that done I cut a piece of red and white dotted card stock from my stash to put across the bottom of the card front. Used a holiday greeting from the Stampin Up Christmas Pines stamp set for the card front. I stamped that with Real Red ink onto scrap white card stock and I used the banner punch for both ends of the greeting piece. Put that on the card front using pop dots.

Here is a photo to show this card standing up so you can see the quilt "window" cut out:

For the center of the quilt die cut "window" piece I used a small flower punch and punched out a flower from the red dotted card stock. Put that onto the center of the die cut quilt piece using a mini glue dot. Here is a photo of the inside of this card showing the quilted piece:

Below this pieced quilt piece I stamped a stamp again from the Stampin Up Christmas Pines stamp set in Real Red. Using the smaller floral die in the quilt bundle I cut out a piece of red card stock and put that in the center of the quilt piece using a glue dot.

This is an easy card to put together once you see the video. I put my pieced quilted piece for the inside of my card onto a piece of red card stock using the ATG. Then I put adhesive on the back of this piece but did not adhere it to the inside of the card. Instead to line the front of the card with my pieced quilted piece I used removable adhesive on the front of my pieced quilt piece. I opened the card and held it up putting the red pieced quilted piece behind the quilt "window" front of the card. I used my fingers to press the card front and quilted piece together. Then carefully closed the card flat so that the adhesive on the back of the pieced quilted piece would stick to the inside of the card. With that done I removed my removable adhesive from the front of the pieced quilted piece. This is a cute card IRL and the die cut "window" gives this card a lot of dimension when you stand the card up on the table. Thanks to LeeAnn for sharing her many ideas using this quilt bundle from Stampin Up!

Christmas Card - ACC019

This is another eclipse card. Had seen the video on YouTube by Stampin Up Jill Olsen for the how-to's of the eclipse card technique and here is the link to that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUJZv5bx2zk&t=340s

I do not have the Stampin Up stamp set she used for her card (how did that happen?) so for my card I used the old stand by Lovely As A Tree stamp set. Here is my card:

My card stock base is white #110 weight card stock from Mikes. Cut and scored that. Stampin Up Night of Navy was trimmed to the size I needed for the card front. For the stamped white card front again I used the #110 weight white card stock. Trimmed that to the size I needed.

Using the Night of Navy ink from Stampin Up I stamped a tree stamp from the stamp set across the bottom of the card in various heights. Once that was stamped I covered the trees as Jill did with clear Wink of Stella. With that dried I die cut the NOEL letters using the Stampin Up large alphabet dies. With the letters cut out I then put the stamped card front, with the center to the letter "O", in the Stampin Up Softly Falling embossing folder and embossed that. Set this aside.

Using the ATG and a glue pen I covered the back of the embossed card front with adhesive and put this onto the Night of Navy card stock piece. Put these two pieces onto the white card stock base using the ATG.  Using foam tape I put the letters onto the card front  Tied silver twine at the top of the card. Here is a photo to show the shimmer of the Wink of Stella but it is hard to capture with the camera:

This photo shows the height of the letters showing the Night of Navy:

Thanks to Jill for her video and showing all the different cards she used this technique on. Here are the two cards I made using the Eclipse Techique and they look totally different due to how they are stamped and colours:

Christmas Card - ACC018

First off - I had never made a card using the Eclipse technique but recently saw this video by Jan Brown from the UK and that inspired my card:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vsx5uhPsgwU&t=221s

Jan had lots of tips and she walks you through the whole technique. Here is my version of her card:

My card stock base is #110 weight white from Mikes. Cut and scored that.  The red card stock is Stampin Up Real Red and I cut that to the size I needed for the card.  For the stamped front white piece again I used the #110 weight card stock from Mikes trimmed to the size I needed for the card front. Using a greeting stamp from a new-to-me stamp set from Ebay, "Forever Evergreen" from Stamping Up which I stamped in the lower center of the card front piece using Stampin Up Real Red ink. For the holly/berries on this card I used the Stampin Up Holly Berry Happiness stamp set as Jan did, using Wild Wasabi ink from Stampin Up. With the card front stamped I cut out my four letters for NOEL using the large alpha die set from Stampin Up.

As Jan did I used the Stampin Up Gently Falling embossing folder for the stamped/die cut card front piece, also embossing the center of the "O" in NOEL, but not embossing the die cut letters. Removed the embossed pieces from the folder. Used the ATG and put the Real Red card stock onto the white card stock base. Used the ATG and a glue pen and put the stamped/die cut/embossed white card front on the Real Red. Set this aside.

To have my die cut letters raised for the eclipse technique I used Scotch foam tape and put the letters onto the card front. Decided it was a little too plain so I used a bow punch from M Stewart and I punched out a bow from light green foil card stock. Put the bow at the bottom of the "O" in NOEL with a glue dot and added a clear crystal to the center of that. Here is a photo to show the red card stock behind the letters:

In the video Jan used a red marker and added her holly berries. In the stamp set there is a berries stamp but this stamp is meant as a filler and not to line up with the other stamps for the berries by the leaves - here is a photo of a scrap piece of card stock I had stamped to show this berry stamp fills in between the leaves rather than stamp berries on top of the leaves:

Also another great video by Jill Olsen for the eclipse technique --

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUJZv5bx2zk&t=339s

In her video she shows a few different cards and also a detailed card that is too much for the eclipse technique to stand out on. Thanks to both Jan and Jill for sharing this technique on their great videos. Another fun holiday card and it is much easier than it looks. On my card my letters are not embossed and I think that helps the embossed design to be more noticeable but it is a personal preference whether to emboss the letters or not. TFL

Christmas Card - ACC017

Used the Picture Book Santa die by Simon Says Stamp for this tag card:

Cut and scored at the top red card stock for the card base. Used a piece of white/GP for the card front. For the two prints for the card front I used scraps from the stash and trimmed them to the sizes I needed for the card front. I put them together and taped them on the back. Used the ATG and put them onto the white/GP piece and then put them onto the red card stock base.

For the tag I used kraft card stock from Taylored Expression and cut out a tag die by MFTstamps. Added white snowflakes using a stamp from the Stampin Up stamp set Christmas Punch and their white ink. Stamped that snowflakes stamp randomly on the tag:

Used a piece of red printed washi tape to put across the tag front. Used scrap red card stock and punched out a 1/4" circle and over that I punched out a 1/2" circle for the ring at the top of the tag. For the greeting "Ho, ho, ho!" I used a stamp from a Christmas stamp set by PaperSweeties.com. Stamped it onto white/GP card stock and used the Bitty Banners from Stampin Up. Used the 1/2" circle punch and punched off one end of the banner piece so it would fit nicely around the red ring on the tag top. Used double sided tape to put the greeting piece on the tag.

For Santa I used the Picture Book Santa die from Simon Says Stamp an cut him our of scrap card stocks. Put him together using the Stick It sheets from Ken Oliver. Using a Qtip I added cheeks and a rosy nose using Stampin Up Pink Pirouette ink:

 Put Santa on the tag using the ATG. Added three white glittered card stock snowflakes to the tag using a border snowflake punch from M Stewart. Put a piece of red plaid ribbon at the top of the tag. Using pop dots I put the tag onto the card front. Added a red crystal to the snowflake on Santa's hat. This Santa is a cute die but I wish it came with a base die so you could assemble him easier since he is all pieces -- I assembled him on a scrap piece of white/GP and fussy cut around him when he was all assembled. TFL

Christmas Card - ACC016

For this card I used the Sunny Studios stamp set Holiday Style and I bought the matching dies for it:

This card is on a card stock base of Stampin Up Real Red card stock. Black piece for the card front is Mikes and the white is GP. I used Lawn Fawn inks for the bell with Stampin Up and Gina K Designs red inks for the bow. The ornament hanger for the bell is metallic silver ink from Delicata. IRL it adds some shimmer on the branch but the camera did not really capture that. The greeting from the stamp set was stamped using Gina K red ink.

To begin with I cut and scored the red card base. Cut the black piece for the card front. Set these aside. I trimmed the white/GP piece to the size I needed and I used the MISTI and stamped the branch stamp using Stampin Up Old Olive ink. Used the MISTI for the greeting stamp and stamped that with red ink. Using scrap white/GP I stamped the bell stamps using two gray and one black inks from Lawn Fawn. Using the matching bell die I cut out the bell. Stamped the red bow onto scrap white/GP and cut that out using the bow die.

Using the ATG I put the stamped white/GP piece onto the black card front piece and then put these onto the red card stock base. With my bell and bow pieces die cut I put them on the card front. I wanted the bell to have some dimension on the card front but my pop dots made it too high. So instead I used large glue dots behind the bell and the bow and I double stacked the glue dots so the bell has some dimension but is not too high. Decided the card front needed some sparkle and shine so I added three of the sparkly sequins from Simon Says Stamp that I recently bought.  Here is a photo to try to show that:

Before this card I had never used Lawn Fawn inks -- I will say I heard they do stamp "splotchy" which I found to be true but once the ink 'set' or dried it looked nice. Very simple card but the bell is very realistic with the metal shine look the stamping of the layers gives it. TFL

Christmas Card - ACC015

Mr. Brown -- love that guy!! But this time of year he stops at the house later and later... :0(  But late yesterday Mr. Brown stopped at my driveway and dropped off my two new Stampin Up stamp sets that I did not know I NEEDED.... Don't think he was back in his truck before I was in the craft room planning this card......

To begin with I used Stampin Up Real Red card stock for this card and it is a rich red colour but the camera shows it as almost a cherry red:

Hard to photograph foil cards tho..... Card stock base is Real Red card stock cut and scored. Cut a piece of white/GP for the card front and put that onto the card base using the ATG. Wanted the front of the card to have an embossed pattern so I used the Candy Canes embossing folder from Craft Concepts. Usually when I emboss card stock I emboss two pieces at a time - this prevents the card stock from ripping/tearing and it gives it a softer embossed pattern. (The second emboss piece I put with the embossing folder so in the future if I need to make a quick card I already have an embossed piece ready). But for this card front I used silver foil card stock from Mikes and it is thicker so I only embossed one piece for my card front. I had cut the silver foil card stock larger than what I would need for my card front so once it was embossed I trimmed it to the size I needed for the card front. Put it on the white/GP card front using the ATG. The design on this embossing folder has a directional pattern so I was mindful of that when I put it onto the card front.

The greeting is a stamp from the Stampin Up Every Good Wish stamp set. The stamps are designed to stamp and have a watercolour look to them so even tho my greeting looks "splotchy" the stamps are designed to stamp like that. Cut a piece of white/GP larger than what I needed and I stamped it in the MISTI using the Real Red ink. Used a rectangle frame die from the stash and cut out a Real Red frame to go over my greeting piece. Laid the frame over that and used a pencil to trace around the red frame onto the white/GP piece so I would know how much to trim off. With that trimmed I used the ATG to put the frame over the greeting. Used double sided Scotch tape and put a piece of white craft foam behind the greeting and put this onto the card stock base.

Wanted to add just a little pop of colour so I used the Impression Obsession Holly Leaf Cluster die set and cut out two green foil card stock leaves and a red berries piece from red foil card stock. Put the berry piece on the leaves using micro mini glue dots and used glue dots to put this on the frame around the greeting:

Always hard to photograph foil cards but IRL this is a rich red and it looks nice with the silver embossed background. Easy card to put together!  And as for Mr. Brown ?? LOVE that guy!  TFL

Christmas Card - ACC014

This card is nothing I had planned but am happy my mistake happened!! Haha... usually that is a reason to embellish but that would not have worked with this card -- here it is:

Card stock is on a Real Red card stock base from Stampin Up. Again the gold foil for the card front is from the dollar store. The cream card front is Very Vanilla from Stampin Up. A very light stamping on a separate piece of Very Vanilla card stock in Crumb Cake ink is a sheet music stamp from Gina K Designs.

Cut and scored the red card stock base with the scored line at the top. Cut a piece of the gold foil paper from the dollar store to the size I needed for the card front. Cut a piece of Very Vanilla for the card front. Lightly stamped the music sheet stamp from Gina K onto a second piece of Very Vanilla card stock and just as I was closing the door on the MISTI -- BAM! A sneeze and I dropped the door so the image is slightly crooked... hummmmmmm... what to do? Plan in action -- took the stamped image to the work table and using a ruler I marked the center of the stamped image as if it was straight and made a light pencil mark. Using the ruler I went from corner to that mark at the top and the bottom and marked it with lines for a triangle. Took it to the trimmer and trimmed it off and now I have a triangle that is stamped straight. Problem resolved..... Used the ATG and put the triangle on the Very Vanilla piece for the card front. Then put the Very Vanilla piece on the card stock base. Set it aside.

Using the Memory Box Cabrini Ornament die I cut out the ornament from gold foil card stock, then gold shimmer card stock, green foil card stock, and for the berries red flocked card stock. I used the Stick It sheets behind my pieces before I cut them out so it was easy to put this all together once I had the ornament ring in place on the card front. With that assembled I cut out "merry" from gold foil card stock from Hobby Lobby (again with the Stick It sheet on the back). I put the "merry" at the bottom of the ornament and going across the music sheet triangle. Added two small red crystals to the berries at the top of the ornament. 

Here is a photo to show the different colours and textures of the ornament:

Simple card but it has the holiday sparkle and shine. TFL

Christmas Card - ACC013

This card was simple to make but has plenty of sparkle and shine for the holiday season:

White card stock base is #110 weight card stock from Mikes. Again I used silver foil thin poster sheets from the dollar store for the silver piece on the card front. The white card stock front piece is GP from Walmart. Used a stamp from a Gina K. Designs stamp set and stamped that at the bottom using Delicata silver ink. Set this aside. Once the ink was dried I put this piece onto the silver foil piece on the card front using the ATG.

Cut and scored the card stock base. Cut a piece of the silver foil thin poster sheet to the size I needed for the card front. Put the silver onto the white card stock base using the ATG. Used the Die D-Lites Shining Star die set for the bow banner. I cut that out of silver foil card stock from Hobby Lobby with Stick It sheet on the back. Peeled off the backing and put this piece onto the card front piece. Using a mini ornament punch from Stampin Up I punched out 5 ornaments from foil card stocks from my stash. Put the ornaments on the card front using a glue dot and lined them up under the bow banners. I used a small star punch and punched out my stars using silver glittered card stock from Hobby Lobby. Put the stars at the tops of the ornament pieces using micro mini glue dots. With those in place this card was complete --

Always hard to photograph foiled card stocks but IRL this is a shiny card. Simple to put together but enough of the bling for holiday time! TFL

Christmas Card - ACC012

Had seen this video by Bibi C called Pretty Pines using the Stampin Up Pines die set:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5ox6MucXnM

So I kinda, sorta, maybe.... made a card similar to hers and added a few things.... First here is a photo of my card:

For my card I used Sahara Sand card stock for my card stock base. For the card front I used Very Vanilla from SU. I had a holly embossing folder in my stash and I embossed the Very Vanilla piece. I used a LINEN Sahara Sand ink pad, (not the new foam pad), and in a light circle motion I ran the ink pad over the top of the embossed piece to give the embossed pattern colour. With that done I used the ATG and put the embossed piece onto the card stock base.

Cut a smaller piece of Very Vanilla card stock for the card front. Used a stamp from Gina K Designs and stamped the greeting at the bottom of this piece. Put this on top of the embossed holly card front using the ATG. Used the SU Pines die set and cut out branches, berry branches, and pine cones. For the pine cones I used Early Expresso ink and then put the pieces together using TomBow glue. When dried I used a dauber and put Delicata gold ink over those. Cut evergreen leaves using a die from the stash and I also used a bow die from my stash for the bow. Here is a closer photo of this cluster:

The gold ink on the pine cones adds a little shimmer for the holiday. Thanks to Bibi for sharing her card, tips and tricks, and video. TFL