holiday gift tag

Happy Christmas Eve Monday!  Are you wrapping a few last minute presents?  We are sharing some Christmas gift tags you can whip up to dress up your package or gift bag!  Mine is super quick and simple-a basic tag from Plaintain Schoolbook with a cute snowflake to pretty it up.  I made the whole thing in just a couple of minutes.  You can see the rest of the team's projects over at BBTB2 and link up your tag.

I am getting to spend some time with extended family before Christmas, which I am looking forward to, but it will be the first Christmas without all the boys home.  Son#1 is flying to London on Christmas Eve to see his girlfriend, who is studying at Oxford this year.  It's going to be a little quieter around here without him.  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and get a chance to celebrate with some of the special people in your life!

Cricut:
Plaintain Schoolbook-tag
Joys of the Season-snowflake
stamps-unknown set
twine/ribbon-My Mind's Eye
Ink-brown chalk ink for edging, Stampin Up cherry cobbler for sentiment

Sparkly ornament Christmas card

Happy Monday!  I'm sharing another one of the very sparkly Christmas cards I made using the SU Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  The ornament is from an SU stamp set my mom owns, so I can't remember the name of it.  I used SU coastal cabana ink and the lighter color is just the imaged stamped off a second time.  I'll link to my post describing the glitter application process.  The banner is cut with my cricut and stamped.  This card is so pretty and sparkly in person!  Truly a WOW card to send.

Hope you are keeping up with all the demands of December with your sanity intact!  Santa's elves have been busy delivering all my Amazon packages, so I've got some wrapping to do.  (Thank goodness for being able to shop at 2:00 AM over lunch at work at the hospital with Amazon!)

Cricut:
Artistry-banner
Stamp set: Stampin Up ornament, CTMH sentiment
Ink-SU Coastal Cabana
Paper-CTMH
SU Dazzling Diamonds glitter

Christmas card with holly accent

Happy Monday!  Are you getting the Christmas spirit yet?  Or feeling a little overwhelmed with all the stuff to do?  Maybe both?  This is the time of year there are SO many evening events to attend....while I enjoy them all, I find myself craving a little more downtime to relax in comfy clothes with a book and some hot chocolate.  One of my favorite parts of December is getting to correspond with all the friends and family that I don't see all the time.  And our BBTB2 challenge for this next two weeks is here to help you get going on the Christmas cards!

So, moving on to the actual project.  I got the Stampin Up cable knit embossing folder (featured below) as a Christmas gift last year and have used it on several of my Christmas card designs.  I cut a sprig of holly from the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge as my bright and cheerful accent piece to go with my stamped sentiment. Sort of like wearing a pin on a big chunky sweater!  The designers over at BBTB2 have some gorgeous cards up to get you inspired and we hope you'll link up a project!

Cricut:
CM Cheerful Seasons-holly
Stamps-Stamping Up Heard from the Heart front sentiment
Embossing folder-Stamping Up cable knit
ribbon-American Crafts
Ink-Stampin Up Cherry Cobbler
Paper-CTMH solids

Very sparkly Christmas cards with Stampin Up Dazzling Diamonds

Happy Monday!  December is here and Christmas is on the horizon, so I wanted to make some Christmas cards for some of the special people in my life.  My mom and I spent a wonderful day together last week making our Christmas cards.  There was a lot of laughter and I think both of us AND the cards ended up covered in Stampin Up Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  Let's just say it is the sparkliest glitter I've ever used!  My photos do not do it justice-it looks AMAZING in person!

So here's the process I followed to make these:

Step 1:  Stamp images.  I also used some of the SU Stampin Blend alcohol markers on Frosty.

Step 2:  Use Versamark ink pad all over stamped cardstock piece.

Step 3:  Cover with SU Heat and Stick powder and heat up just until color change where it gets sticky.

Step 4:  Shake SU Dazzling Diamonds (or whatever glitter you're using) all over and briefly heat again to set the glitter.  Also, do not point heat gun at tray full of glitter.  Don't ask me how I know not to do that.  LOL!

Step 5:  Assemble card.  Admire sparkle.  Attempt to get glitter off self after heat gun/glitter mishap.

Seriously, all the cards we did with this method looked SO pretty with a big sparkly WOW factor!  I'll post some more that we did later in the week.  My family picked out our Christmas tree and got it decorated this weekend, so it's starting to feel a lot like Christmas around my house!  I hope you all have a wonderful week, getting to enjoy some Christmas spirit!

Stamps-Stamping Up Frosty and Stampin Up Snowflakes sets
SU Stampin Blends alcohol markers
SU oval and scalloped oval punches

Deck the Halls layout

Happy Monday!  It's a very cold, snowy Monday here in Kansas City after a blizzard yesterday.  I feel like winter has arrived with a bang, as we have a lot of snow!  It was a lovely Thanksgiving day near 60 degrees and I got to enjoy having all the kids and my parents over for our Thanksgiving feast.  A turkey and a half was consumed, but at least there was enough for some leftovers this year (Jeff smoked two turkeys this year)!  Teen boys can really put away the food.  And then I got online in my comfy socks and stretchy pants after a post feast nap to do some online shopping.  Cuz that's how I roll!  No Black Friday shopping in person with crowds for me.  Plus I had to work Black Friday night, although I was surprised how many of my coworkers shopped anyway and then came to work all night.  So on to crafty things...

Our BBTB2 challenge this week starts us moving into the Christmas season with a Christmas ornament challenge.  I made a layout to hold six pics, as I take many many pictures at Christmas, between school events and all our extended family gatherings.  This Christmas ornament, tree, and title are from the Family Album cartridge.  You have two weeks to link up a project for this challenge and you can see all the wonderful design team projects over at BBTB2.

Cricut:
Family Album-all cuts
Paper-DCWV Holiday Collection stack prints, CTMH solids
brown chalk ink for edging
square punch for photo corners

Happy Monday!  I'm hoping for some sunshine after a weekend of very cold, cloudy weather.  I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving though, even though I have to work for quite a bit of the weekend.  Happily, I have Thanksgiving day off and we are hosting some of our family for dinner.  My husband is smoking two turkeys (because one is just not enough with teenage boy appetites, lol)!  

So on to crafty matters!  My card below has the big balloon from the Stampin Up Lift Me Up stamp set and Up and Away framelits.  I'm loving the set and after doing the big balloon with the framelits, I stamped and colored in the other balloons with my new Stampin Up blend markers.  This set is pretty versatile with several great sentiments and I've made several cards with it already!  

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving this week and get to spend some time with people you love!  So many are going through difficult times right now (thinking of all the Californians who have lost their homes in the fires) and it reminds me that the important things are not things, but the people in our lives.  

Stamps-Stamping Up Lift me Up set

Framelits-Stampin Up Up and Away set

Stampin Up blends markers

Paper-CTMH solids

Happy Birthday layout

Happy Monday!  Our BBTB2 challenge this week features projects about birthdays.  We all need birthday cards, party favors, and scrapbook layouts for those special birthdays in our lives, right?  I've got a birthday card to share with you.  My card is simple and cute with the giraffe and balloon from the Create a Critter cartridge.  I stamped my birthday sentiment below on a handmade little banner.  Done!  I actually used this card yesterday, as we celebrated all the October and November birthdays in my extended family this weekend.  Go see all the great design team birthday projects over at BBTB2 and link one up with us!

Cricut:
Create A Critter-giraffe and balloon
Stamp-Paper Smooches