One Last Happy Holidays

Okay, so here's one last card I made...it's a really fancy card for an artsy-fartsy friend of mine! I stamped the large snowflake directly onto the Designer Paper to use as a template to cut the middle shape out. Then I place a large eyelet in the middle of that, and used Mini Glue Dots to adhered that piece over the center of the large snowflake.

To make the large eyelet shiny, I burnished it with a sanding block. To put the rhinestone in the center of the eyelet, I cut the posts off the brad. Then I used the Crop-a-Dile to punch out two 3/16" dots of Stampin' Dimensionals® and stacked those on top of each other in the center hole of the eyelet. After that, I put a few Mini Glue Dots on the back of the rhinestone brad and placed them over the hole I'd just filled in with Stampin' Dimensionals®.

I used the Snow Blossom punch for the smaller snowflake, and punched each round end of it with the 1/16" circle punch. Then I placed a rhinestone brad through the center, and put it on the front of the card with a Stampin' Dimensional®.

Stampin' Supplies: Snowfall stamp set, Soft Sky card stock and ink pad, Certainly Celery & Basic Black ink pads, Wintergreen Designer Series Paper (retired), Jumbo eyelets (antique brass), Ice Circle Rhinestone brads, Sanding blocks, Crop-a-Dile, 1/16" Circle punch, Snow Blossom punch, Vintage eyelets (gold), Stampin' Dimensionals®, Mini Glue Dots.

Merry Christmas!

I was informed by a good friend that I need to update my blog, because she wants to see what I've been stamping lately--so here's the deal:

I have been caught up in a frenzy since Thanksgiving, it seems. My mom got remarried (after being divorced like 25 years) at the end of last month, and she's been slowly moving out of her apartment throughout this month. My sweetie did some traveling for a couple of weeks back to back, and was home for part of a weekend in-between. My sweetie's kids have been coming over on a different weekend schedule, making it hectic between the business trips. My kids were supposed to be gone to NY visiting their dad from the 22nd to the 29th, but their dad canceled the plans at the last minute, so the kids are unexpectedly (but delightedly) hanging around the house with mom. In the meantime we had a Stampin' Up!® retiring list, a new catalog coming out, and these crazy things called the "holidays" kept buzzing in, demanding my attention! So, each time I kept thinking I'd sneak off and catch up with my stamping, picture-taking, and blogging, I got snagged!!

Because many of my holiday supplies are retiring, I wanted to focus on using them (one last time) to make my cards and creations. That's how the cards I'm sharing today have come about. The Wintergreen paper and the metallic elastic cording is already retired, and the Hostess stamp set will be gone with the arrival of the new catalog. Most of the other items I've managed to stamp recently have been given as gifts, and because of my procrastistampiness, I did them at the last minute and did not get pictures before they left the house. (Even my kids scolded me for that.) The only reason I was able to get a shot of my cards is that I haven't sent them out yet. Yes, I chose the saying "Happy Holidays" for a reason: it applies until the New Year arrives, and my cards should be mailed by then!

Of course, you have probably guessed that I have some major resolutions for 2008 centered around my stamping and blogging...but I'll leave you for now with glad tidings on this holiday. I'm supposed to be helping with the turkey lunch/dinner right now, but I just had to get this one blog entry posted today.

Thank you for giving me one of the greatest gifts I've enjoyed this year--the opportunity to share my passion for stamping, with you!

Stampin' Supplies: Perfect Presentation (Fall/Winter Catalog Hostess-Only stamp set); Snowfall stamp set ("Happy Holidays" saying); Soft Sky, Celery, and Always Artichoke card stock; Wintergreen Designer Series Paper (retired); Soft Sky, Basic Black and Always Artichoke ink pads; Sage Shadow eyelets (retired); Gold Elastic Cord (retired); Crop-a-Dile; 1/16" Circle Punch.

Retiring Stamp Sets & Accessories

Both the Retiring Stamp Sets and Retiring Accessories lists are now available from Stampin' Up!® The Retiring Accessories will only be available while supplies last, so email me right away if there is something you cannot live without!

• Retiring Stamp Sets Listed Alphabetically
• Retiring Stamp Sets Listed by Page Number
• Retiring Accessories List
• Dormant List

The Retiring Stamp Sets will be available for purchase from the 2007 Fall/Winter Collection through December 31st, 2007. The Dormant List sets will not be featured in the upcoming 2008 Spring/Summer Collection catalog, but may be ordered anytime from now through June 30th, 2008.

UPDATE: RETIRING SETS NO LONGER AVAILABLE, DORMANT SETS AVAILABLE THROUGH AUGUST 8TH, 2008.

More Ornamentation

This nifty Advent Garland is made from Designer Series Paper (DSP), folded into what's known as a sour cream container shape. I made mine from 3" x 4" swatches of DSP, and tucked a Hershey Nugget into each one. Then I used elastic cord to string the containers together--24 in all--to count down to Christmas. Remember, if you hang it from a wall, you will want #1 to be at the bottom, so you can take the containers off one by one from that end of the garland. I "cheated" a little bit and used my Cricut to die cut 1" numbers from the DSP, and ran them through a Xyron adhesive cartridge to make the assembly fast and easy!

First, crease your paper against the side of your table to break the fibers a little, and give it a curve.

Then, put adhesive across one of the shorter sides. On each of the longer sides, place adhesive from the center out to the opposite short end, as shown below by the grey lines.

After that, carefully roll your paper to overlap, and adhere only the two shorter sides together, to make a tube. I like to take a bone folder and press on this seam from the inside of the tube to strengthen it.

Then, check your adhesive on each end and pinch one side closed, with the tube seam in the middle, as shown below. Make sure the end you choose to close first has adhesive running across the entire length of it, or the ends will not stay closed when you pinch them shut!

Place your treat inside open end, which you can see in the photo below on the left. Then seal the open end, this time with the seam of the tube at one extreme side of where you pinch it closed, as shown below on the right.

You can see the shape you should end up with in the picture below on the left. Then, crimp each end of the container closed, as shown below on the right, to strengthen the hold.

Below is the sealed sour cream container, with the treat inside! To make your Advent Garland, just place numbers on each container and string them together. These make great party favors at each place setting, and cute stocking stuffer packaging, too.

TIP: When you are deciding what size to make your container to accommodate your treat, you will want to use scratch paper to figure out the dimensions by trial and error.

Stampin' Supplies: Holiday Harmony Designer Series Paper, SNAIL Adhesive, Bone Folder, 1/16" hole punch, Gold elastic cord, Crimper.

Ornamentation

I've had a good handful of technical difficulty the past week or so. It seems everything electronic I touched decided to abandon ship! I apologize for not being able to post sooner, but I think I have the bulk of things worked out for now.

These two ornaments are called Geodesic Ornaments. They are created by drawing an equilateral triangle in the center of any size circle, then scoring on the triangle lines, and glueing the scored "tabs" of the circles together in different configurations.

For example, the round ornament takes 20 circles--5 glued together to make a "crown", then 10 glued together in a straight line (which will wrap around and make the center of the ornament), then 5 more glued together to make yet another "crown" that is turned upside down and glued on to the bottom of the ornament to complete it. The oval shaped ornament was made using 16 circles, in a configuration of 4-8-4.

You can see how to assemble this ornament here, on an HGTV craft instruction site. However, I have created a pattern sheet you can use with a 1-3/8" Circle Punch, to avoid all the measuring and just get down to business. Click here to view, or right click to download, my template.

Stampin' Supplies: Wintergreen Designer Series Paper, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, Dotto® temporary adhesive, Bone Folder, 2-Way Glue Pen.