Christmas Cards

More Christmas Cards

I love making Christmas cards and the paper, ink and rubber have been very busy. Here are more cards that I made this year. Can you tell I like blue?

Christmas Came Early

I have never known anyone who has been in the audience for Oprah's Favorite Things...until now. And it was my husband!! Yes, he is the lucky recipient of over 20 gifts from Oprah's Favorite Things Part Two that aired the Monday before Thanksgiving. So, Christmas came early for us. The big prize is the new 2012 VW Beetle, which he won't receive until next September. However, there are many other wonderful gifts, and since Oprah is a girly girl, I made out by association. : ) The total value of the gifts is nearly $30,000. You can see a list of the gifts on Oprah's website at Oprah.com. If you scroll down the page you'll see a picture titled "Unforgettable Reactions". Russ is in the middle and his sister in the orange next to him. Oprah's website lists all of the gifts from both give-away shows, but we received half of them...from the I-pod to the car. I am still pinching myself!

Cards for the Troops

Several of us gathered together on November 19 to make cards for the troops. My friend Sylvia was sending packages to her hubby's unit in Afghanistan and we made cards to go along with our gifts. Thanks, Sylvia, for your inspiration for this project.

A busy Fall..and here we are in the Christmas Season

Needless to say, I've been busy crafting for Christmas. My favorites were made in a class held on November 16. My daughter loved the gate fold card so much that she has made them her Christmas card for this year. I will be making a number of the votives to decorate tables at a group Christmas party. Aren't they cute?

My Favorite Card

I love the Elements of Style stamp set and especially love this card, which was CASEd from a card done by Margaret Raburn that can be found here. I sprayed the background pieces with the new Log Cabin Smooth Spritz to give it an aged look. I also inked the edges of the ribbon and used the heat gun to age it. The frame on the happy Birthday was torn and split and sponged with Close to Cocoa ink.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

Can you believe that it's only 106 days 'til Christmas! And you know, the closer it gets, the busier we'll be. So now is the time to get a jump start on the Christmas cards. I will be having a Christmas Stamp-A-Stack on Friday, Sept. 17, where there will be a chance to make 12 cards (3 of each design) for $12. All cards are mailable at the standard rate of 44 cents. I don't think the scans of these cards does justice to them. Each card has either embossing or glitter and are quick and easy to do. I hope you can join me on the 17th. For more information you can e-mail me at kathystamps@gmail.com.

Banana Paper

My friend Deb and I brought back some banana paper from Costa Rica. It is a very interesting paper with little bits of stuff in it (note the little leaf). It's soft and smooth on one side and rough on the other. There is wonderful texture to this paper. I made this card using some of the new colors. The base is Early Espresso that I embossed with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder from the Stampin' Up! Summer Mini Catalog. The stamped image is from the Pocket Silhouettes stamp set and I framed it in Tangerine Tango and Crumb Cake. The sentiment is stamped on 3/4" twill tape (retired) and I finished it with a jumbo brad.

BUSY SUMMER

Wow, this is turning out to be a very busy summer. Spent a week in Costa Rica in June doing mission work along with 25 other folks from our church. What a great experience! This past week Russ and I spent a week with our daughter, Lori, helping her get settled in her new home...lots of cleaning to do! Russ built a really cool desk for our grandson, Blake. Later this month we will be heading up to Chicago to visit with family and I plan to attend the CHA Super Show with my sister, since I missed it when it was in Orlando last year. In August I'll be back at Lori's to watch the grand kids, since she returns to her teaching job before they start school.

In between the traveling I managed to have a masculine card class. We never seem to have enough cards for the guys in our lives. I had wanted to do this class before Father's Day, but couldn't manage it until the end of June. The monochromatic green card can work for guys or gals and the "tree" card uses Lovely as a Tree, one of my favorite sets and one that always works well for a masculine card. The "stars" card was made using the Felted Cardstock technique. Splitcoast Stampers has a tutorial that can be found HERE

Clean or Stamp...That is the Question

I really need to clean my craft room...there is ink, paper, stamps and who knows what all over the place! The only problem is, whenever I go into that room to clean I end up stamping instead. I keep looking over my shoulder for fear that people from the TV show, "Hoarders," might be lurking around the corner. With all the new Stampin' Up! products soon to appear, and so many colors and stamps retiring, I really need to do a clean sweep and purge my stash of stampin' stuff. The plan is to have a BIG sale in July.

So today I planned on cleaning but ended up doing a Splitcoast Stampers challenge instead. Today is an inspiration challenge from the Layla Grayce website. I loved this picture:
http://www.laylagrayce.com/Departments/Home-Store/Bedding/Bella-Notte.aspx
and was inspired to create this card. So now I'm going to get off the computer and CLEAN.

Special Techniques for Mother's Day

April has been a busy month. I hope everyone had a good Easter. We had "Grandma Camp" with two of our grand kids during spring break and really enjoyed our time together.

So now it is time to look towards May and Mother's Day. I chose to do a class teaching the paper tole technique on a Mother's Day card. I love the 3-D flower on this card, although the dimension doesn't really show in the picture. We will also be making an Altoid tin accordion fold mini album, decorated in designer paper and embellished with a flower made from satin ribbon. I am really looking forward to this class on Wednesday, April 28 at 9 am.

Also, this will be the last chance to order from the Occasions Mini Catalog. This has been a popular mini with so many neat products. The most popular item was the Stampin' Up! Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die on page 34. Also popular was the Scallop Trim Corner punch which coordinates with the Scallop Trim Border punch that was available during Sale-A-Bration. Well Scripted was also popular. This beautifully scripted set on page 19 was used on our Easter cards and will be used on our Mother's Day card as well. Vintage Vogue and the coordinating wheel, Very Vintage, on pages 26 and 27 have been selling well and also Sweet Pea Stitched Felt on page 32. The Occasions Mini also introduced the clear-mount stamp sets and the flatter design on the new punches. These features will be available on all upcoming stamp sets and punches. So take another look at your Occasions mini catalog before it goes away. If you don't have the catalog you can view it on-line at www.stampinup.com.

If you'd like to attend my class on the 28th, please RSVP to kathystamps@gmail.com no later than April 26.

Beautiful Backgrounds

On Wednesday, March 24 at 10 AM, I will be teaching several background techniques in a class at my home. Participants will learn how to create cards using the faux silk technique and the shaving cream technique. Shown here are 3 designs using the faux silk technique and one using the shaving cream technique. If time permits I'll demonstrate other background techniques as well. Also, since we didn't get a chance to do the Easter candy card at the last class, we'll try and get it done at this class. If you are interested in this class, e-mail me at kathystamps@gmail.com.

WELCOME SPRING

We've finally hit 70 degrees here in north Florida and have enjoyed some beautiful springy days...although the weatherman has reminded us that winter is not yet over and chilly weather will be back later in the week. Nevertheless, I've been inspired to create some Spring cards. With St. Patrick's Day only a few weeks away, I thought this would be a good subject for one of the cards in my next class. Since I don't have any shamrock stamps, I decided to create one using the large heart punch and the heart Embosslit from the Stampin' Up! Occasions Mini Catalog. A bit of designer series paper and gingham ribbon add interest to this card. And of course a Spring class wouldn't be Spring without Easter projects, so I've created a card using the Abundant Hope stamp set from the SU Occasions Mini catalog. This is a great set for coloring so I thought I would take this opportunity to teach 4 applications for coloring using pastels, watercolor pencils, markers or ink pads. Participants will also have an opportunity to make a little candy card with a piece of Easter chocolate candy (YUM). The class for these projects will be Friday, February 26 at 10 am. If you are interested in participating in the class, e-mail me at kathystamps@gmail.com no later than Wednesday, February 24.
Happy Stampin'!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

........As my thoughts turn to flowers and chocolate, I've been inspired to make Valentine cards. I just love making holiday cards and Valentine's is especially fun with hearts and flowers, red and pink. Stampin' Up! has some fantastic Valentine stamps, punches and designer papers. I also love the heart in the Always set, which actually is a wedding set and one that my sister got me for Christmas. (Love you Dot!) I hope you like these cards and feel inspired by them. Love to all my stampin' friends!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I love this time of year...it's SALE-A-BRATION with Stampin' Up! This means FREE 'stuff'. With every $50 purchase Stampin' Up! will give us a free stamp set, paper pack or punch. Wooo Hooo! We always love FREE stuff!! SU has expanded the program this year to include 77 stamp sets from the *big* catalog.

Also, starting today, Jan. 5, the Occasions Mini Catalog goes into effect. Wow! Lots of really cool new stuff...my wish list is huge! So many awesome stamp sets and accessories for spring!

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, it's time to bring out the red and pink! I've planned a class for Jan. 13. Since there have been requests for the mini purse, I will include it in this class along with a Valentine's card. Oh how I love the new glittery Specialty Designer Series Paper in the Occasions Mini! Too bad the glitter doesn't show up in the photo. If you'd like information on this class, just e-mail me at kathystamps@gmail.com. Hope to see you there!