Stampin' Addicts Occasions Mini Blog Hop

Hello Everyone, Welcome to the Stampin' Addicts Blog Hop, which features amazing products from the upcoming Occasions mini catalog, starting January 4. Since the mini isn't available yet, this is an easy way to get a sneak peek! So let's hop along!

If you have been following the blog hop in order, you have just come from Betty's post featuring Sweet Stitches rub-ons. Betty has some beautiful projects! Didn't she do a great job with these cute little rub-ons? Today I will show you some projects using the set Plane & Simple, a perfect masculine set. First up, an aviator-themed birthday card.

So much fun to cut out the compass and goggles accessories, which match well with the map paper from Newsprint DSP. I created the sky by sponging around a scallop circle mask and also created a loop-de-loop path of the plane with the sewing machine. A brad and Crystal Effects add a bit of interest to the accessories. Amelia Earhart, have we found you?

When you think of an airplane, you think of travel, so along those lines I designed a suitcase box. The final size of this box is 3-3/8 x 5-1/2 x 1-3/8", large enough to hold a sweet treat or two.

I used Botantical Gazette DSP (what beautiful paper!) for the background. It was hard to decorate the suitcase without it looking like the stamp images were just slapped on there willy-nilly. I created a little compass accent and an airplane tag.

Edited to add: Tutorial is available here.

And for my favorite project, I thought a 3-dimensional scene would be fun, which led to a diorama card (or shadow box card?).

I brayered the background sky with Marina Mist ink. Grassy hills and trees were placed on the middle layer. In the foreground, I tried to stay with a vintage theme by using a Newsprint DSP outline.

Come back on Monday for more pictures, further descriptions, and supplies lists. If you aren't yet a member of Stampin' Addicts, you can sign up here. Make sure you check out the next stop to see what Deb at Heartfelt Inkspiration put together using Be My Valentine. She made some amazing projects with a single stamp.

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The complete blog hop listing:
1. Sarah (willsygirl) -- XOXO
2. Yapha -- Take a Spin
3. Cheryl (lovetostampandscrap) -- Build a Blossom and the Blossom Petals Punch
4. Allison (alliohran) -- Thanks for Caring
5. Rhonda (rhondag) -- Springtime Vintage DSP and Baby Blossoms
6. Holly P. (HollyLogic) -- Petal Cone Die
7. Joyce (bronocomom) -- Springtime Vintage fabric
8. Lisa (genesis) -- Easter Blossoms
9. Barbara (cre8tivestamper) -- Bring on the Cake Set & Build-a-cupcake punch
10. Carmen -- Create a Cupcake
11. Mary (MaryR) -- Botanical Gazette DSP and You're A Gem
12. Holly K. (Cat Rules) -- Nature Walk
13. Cindy (CindyE) -- Clearly For You
14. Jennifer (SunflowerStamper) -- Bold Blossom
15. Twila (tjdstampsalot) -- Eat Chocolate
16. Jennifer (jentimko) -- Say It Simply, Framed Tulips Impressions Folder, Beveled Windowpanes
17. Sara (lilyinkpad) -- In Stitches wheel & Sweet Stitches DSP
18. Kim (s1itcher46) -- Sew Suite
19. Kandi (kandicejo) -- Button, Button
20. Tanya (tanya27) -- Sew Suite Accessories
21. Betty (kittystamp) -- Sweet Stitches rub-ons
22. Heidi (hlw966) -- Plane & Simple
23. Debra (WebDeb) -- Be My Valentine
24. Krystal (skdeleeuw) -- Mother of Mine

Thanks for stopping by!

Design-A-House Catch-Up

I had great intentions of making ornaments with Little Missy this year, but I have just run out of steam. But I had bought several sets of the Design-a-House decor houses from the Holiday mini (#120911, $5.95, pg. 37), and I was determined to finish one. They are just adorable, and what an economical value! This one is a "winter house" with removable Christmas accents.

I added chunky glitter to the roof, and the holly accent on the door is removable. The holly berries were made by using a crop-o-dile to punch glittery circles out of the Candy Cane Christmas DSP paper. There is also cotton coming out of the chimney for smoke. The wreath, which I permanently attached, is created by scoring a 1/2 x 12" strip every 1/4".

Little Missy couldn't wait for me to add reindeer, so even though it's after Christmas, I wasn't going to get away with foregoing them.

I cut out, assembled, and attached the reindeer to a dormer-shaped strip of acetate, so it is see-through and removable.

And this is back to the basic winter house again, all lit up with a flameless candle.

Making these houses remind me of when I was a child. We had a plywood board with a railroad tracks nailed to it, and my dad would place the Christmas tree in the center. One year Mom bought plastic house kits, and we all created one to make a little village around our trains, complete with cotton for snow. It was so fun!

Don't forget to pick up yours by January 3, before they are gone! I have plans to make my second one with Deck the Halls DSP, and the third one? Well, that will be a surprise for the down the road. Perhaps a Spring/Easter theme? Love these things... perhaps I should get some more?? ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

You May Have Heard...

You may have heard something about a little bit of weather we've been having on the East Coast, and specifically how NYC has been shut down, basically, for the day. How rare that weather would stop the national morning programs!

It is perfect crafting weather, although I don't have much on the plate I can show you at this time. Design team, blog hop, and swap deadlines... I am feeling a little crafting fatigued, although I don't have time to stop. I took a break to try an idea - a felt rose. This week's challenge to use felt over at Our Creative Corner put this idea in my head.

I played along with last week's ColourQ challenge

and previous Mojo Monday sketch #145.

Mind you, I was sewing this rose in the family room, which has basically no lighting, so... in the dark. Don't be too critical on my first pass. The most difficult part was trying to cut felt with a Sizzlit die.

Stamps: Love You Much; Paper: Real Red, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Love Impressions DSP, Candy Lane DSP, Raspberry Tart DSP; Ink: Real Red; Accessories: MS punch, Coluzzle, Real Red grosgrain ribbon, Red felt, Birds & Blooms die, Little Leaves die, Square Lattice embossing folder, Scallop #2 die, Big Shot, Sewing machine, Needle, Thread.

And how about a few weather pics? This is the white-out out our front window on Sunday night.

Little Missy was very concerned that the reindeer, Dancer and Rudolph, would have a hard time making it through the night. We officially had 18", but the drifts were a few feet easily.

And the Decor Elements window with snow as the backdrop.

Thanks for stopping by!

SUOC9 Bring on the Bling!

Good Morning, Everyone! Today is time for another SU-Only Challenge, to use glitter or something shiny on a New Year's Eve card. What does everyone think of when thinking of New Year's Eve but the ball dropping in Times Square. Well, at least anyone who is within the same time zone as NYC. I could get to NYC by train in fairly short time, but stand out in that cold? No way! I'd much rather stay at home, eating snacks and sipping on punch, while watching the fun on TV.

So for my card, I tried to recreate the Times Square Ball.

I cut the skyline out of Basic Black cardstock and created the lit windows with the Daisy Dash wheel, inking only the dots with a Versamarker. The ball is created by using Sticky Pages on cardstock and punching a couple times with the Scallop Circle punch*. Then I applied the silver glass glitter. Doesn't it work great for a glittery crystal ball?

*I have to say use this method at your own risk. My punch survived but isn't too happy with me now.

Stamps: Holidays & Wishes, Daisy Dash wheel; Paper: Not Quite Navy, Brushed Silver, Very Vanilla, Basic Black; Ink: Versamark, Versamarker; Accessories: White embossing powder, Large Tag punch, Scallop Circle punch, Sticky pages, Silver glass glitter, Go Go Boots alphabet die, Big Shot.

Don't forget to come play along with us! Thanks for stopping by!

Sneak Peek: Flamingo Love

As I write this before Christmas, I would like to say to Holiday Preparations, "I am so over you!" :) Moving on... I've already started taking down my Christmas card displays and putting up Valentine's. A little confusing to Little Missy.

I started working on my Occasions mini swap. I may have gone a little overboard with this one, and I'll have to scale back for the multiples.

Stamps: Valentine Defined; Paper: Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette, Marina Mist, Real Red, Whisper White, Love Impressions DSP; Ink: Basic Gray, Real Red, Old Olive, Regal Rose, Marina Mist; Accessories: Bitty buttons, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, Scallop edge punch, Small Oval punch, Sponge, Linen thread, Circle Scissors Plus, Scallop Circle #2 die, Perfect Polka Dot embossing folder, Big Shot, Dimensionals, Sewing machine, Thread.

Thanks for stopping by!

Last Minute Details

I needed a last minute money holder idea for my sons. Nothing too ornate, as they are boys, after all. And I usually hang them in the tree, so stocking gift card template by Claire at Waltzing Mouse was perfect.

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip, Early Espresso, Jolly Holiday DSP, Deck the Halls DSP; Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede; Accessories: Sponges, Scallop Trim edge punch, Chocolate Chip ribbon.

And for my father, a Netfix subscription. I made a popcorn card last year, so I needed a new idea. How about a popcorn box-in-a-bag?

Stamps: Short Order Alphabet, Rough Texture wheel; Paper: Real Red, Regal Rose, Whisper White, Candy Cane Christmas DSP; Ink: Real Red, Regal Rose; Accessories: Scallop Edge punch, Ticket Corner punch.

On Christmas Eve, one of my favorite things is to go to church, during the candlelight service, holding hands with my family, and sing Silent Night. I hope that everyone has a peaceful and joyous holiday weekend!

It's A Christmas Miracle

Something I never thought I would see, and something my husband said he would NEVER do - STAMPING! Now, he was willing to run the Big Shot, glued a few Christmas cards in his day, but stamping? Never!

While we were making chocolate-covered pretzels I showed last week, he thought it would be funny to cover his insanely-hot peppers from his garden with chocolate and give them to a co-worker. He then informed me he would need a card. Well, I wasn't making it. So, he went into the stamping room and just picked out his stamp set choice and asked for paper and ink.

He refrained from letting me suggest how to dress up the card, but I think he did have fun coloring it. He kept asking for more and more marker colors.

Yes, a smudge. A rookie mistake... we'll let it slide this time.

How do you think he did?

Stamps: Tastes Like Chicken by There She Goes; Paper: Whisper White; Ink: Chocolate Chip, SU markers.

Thanks for stopping by!

My Digital Studio Christmas

I hope you got all your Holiday preparations nearly complete and take some well needed time and rest to enjoy your family and friends! Before I get into the details, just look at the image on this card. Don't forget the reason for the season! Praise God, Christ is born! Little Missy is learning all about the men following the star to find Baby Jesus, riding on candles! :)

This card is a CASE of Cindy Elam's, which is a CASE of Jan Tinklenberg's, so you may have seen this before. The neat thing about this card is that it uses My Digital Studio (MDS).

I downloaded the Come to Bethlehem stamp brush set for MDS, $1.95 (#123963). Compared to the stamp set cost, $14.95 clear-mount or $19.95 wood-mount, so economical!! I edited a bit in MDS so I could get the silhouette in Early Espresso, star in Daffodil Delight, sentiment in Marina Mist, imported a jpeg into Power Point so I could fiddle with the sizing and spacing, and printed four images per page of cardstock. This was one of my main Christmas cards this year. Although I knew I would use MDS for my cards, I thought I would be having them professionally printed. This was just so easy, and the turn-around time was great! ;)

So once the main panel was printed, I just cut it on my paper cutter, and turned it into a hybrid card by adding sponging, a rhinestone, ribbon, and a base. Just as easy as stamping!

Stamps: Come to Bethlehem (MDS); Paper: Marina Mist, Very Vanilla; Ink: Marina Mist; Accessories: Sponge, Circle template, Rhinestone jewels, Daffodil Delight ribbon.

And I created a MDS photo card for family and friends who don't get to see Little Missy on a regular basis. I CASE'd the layout from Jessica Bowhall on the My Digital Studio website. Do you have MDS? Have you tried that site? Lots of samples, chit-chat, and sharing!

Stamps: A Cute Christmas (MDS); Paper: Real Red, Candy Cane Lane DSP (MDS); Accessories: Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Something Different...

Taking a little break from Christmas stuff, I decorated a chipboard bird I had from the previous Occasions mini. I searched around for inspiration and found Lydia's beautiful bird. I'm starting to get into the Valentine's spirit, so this direction was perfect!

You can see from my pic this is a blustery, rainy day today. Great day to stay in and craft! I traced, cut out, glued, and sanded pieces of Sending Love DSP and Newsprint DSP onto the bird... Some vintaging and distressing with Regal Rose ink and the cutter kit. And Victoria lace and Vintage Trinkets were a perfect addition.

Paper: Regal Rose, Sending Love DSP, Newsprint DSP; Ink: Regal Rose; Accessories: Sponge, Cutter kit, Sanding block, Victoria lace, Pretty in Pink satin ribbon, Vintage trinkets.

Thanks for stopping by!

Whimsical ATC

This is a whimsical holiday ATC I created for a private swap.

I stamped the background with Music Notes wheel on Very Vanilla and hand tore the cardstock. I crumpled up the cardstock, flatten, and inked with Sahara Sand using direct-to-paper technique. Finally, I distressed the edges and sewed the margin. The Sahara Sand background was stamped tone-on-tone with Serene Snowflakes. For the lace fleurette, I sewed the edge of 5" of lace, gathered, and sewed the ends to secure. I also sewed the button onto the cardstock to help secure the lace fleurette.

The main image was stamped and watercolored. I cut it out and layered it, and also applied Smooch Top Coat for shimmer.

Stamps: Greeting Card Kids, Serene Snowflake, Music Notes wheel; Paper: Pink Pirouette, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede, Pink Pirouette, Always Artichoke; Accessories: Sponge, Neutrals Watercolor Crayons, Aquapainter, Chantilly Lace, Button, Linen thread, Smooch Top Coat, Sewing machine, Thread.

Thanks for stopping by!

Countdown To Christmas: Decor Items

One week to go... When things start slowing down a bit, and most of the work is done, I usually start making some Christmas decorations, either ornaments or decor. This year my daughter is old enough to help me.

One super quick way to spruce up a space is to use Decor Elements (DE). I have a jar of 3-D swaps, mostly candy holders. The candy has been removed and is long gone, but I keep the samples for display and examples. One side of this jar is decorated with the Spooky Brocade DE, and I thought I would add a Christmas DE on the other side. Here you can see the medium size Jingle All the Way DE (#114708, $9.95).

I would say it took 10-15 minutes, start to finish, to decorate this jar.

During the Online Spectacular, I purchased two sets of the Vintage Ornaments DE, Real Red and Chocolate Chip. I applied a mixture of the two sets this year, and I plan to do the same next year.

Can't wait to take a picture of it with snow in the backyard.

Hats off to Tanya Boser, who has made several of these wreaths. I was inspired by her, and super excited to get my Table Setting die from the Online Spectacular. This took me most of the day, couple of burned fingers from the glue gun, losing daylight for the final photos, and I started cutting corners at the end. So less excited now, but it is done. The good news is Little Missy and Papa got the tree up and decorated, as well as outside lit up with reindeer and candy canes, while I worked on this.

[Please ignore my scratched up front door that needs some painting.] You can see how my daughter helped me. There are a couple of rogue ribbons in the wreath, but I can't mess with her work!

I love the big buttons for this kind of project! I was tempted to just slap buttons all over the wreath, but I refrained.

And the rosettes, which I was most excited about, gave me much trouble. After three mess ups, I needed a time out! I think the next two were better. If you want to leave me any hints, feel free!

Stamps: Peaceful Season, Very Vintage wheel; Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, Misc DSP; Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke; Accessories: Gold waffle paper, Antique brad, Candy Cane big buttons, White cording, Cherry Cobbler seam binding, Riding Hood Red striped ribbon, Gold Glow Smooch Spritz, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, Sponge dauber, Silver glass glitter, Coluzzle, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Northern Flurry embossing folder, Leaves #2 die, Table Setting die, Big Shot, Glue gun, Tombo multipurpose glue.
Thanks for stopping by!

Gold-Foiled Tree

I don't have a lot of practice with embossing paste and gold foil, but I thought I would play a little with it. After creating the main panel, I thought the blue in the gold foil would go well with this week's ColourQ challenge.

I used a previous Mojo Monday sketch for the layout starting point.

This card was quite the challenge, with my bobbin running out while sewing and my gold foil not being as robust as I would like. Lack of practice is showing! Better take a picture of it before it implodes. :/

Well, at least the Bermuda Bay matches nicely, and I love the sentiment font from the Contempo Christmas set (this set is on sale in the Contempo bundle - last day is today!).

Stamps: Contempo Christmas; Paper: Chocolate Chip, Bermuda Bay, Kiwi Kiss, Ruby Red, Very Vanilla, Thoroughly Modern DSP; Ink: Bermuda Bay marker, Chocolate Chip marker; Accessories: Christmas tree stencil, Embossing paste, Gold foil, Glue pad, Bermuda Bay ribbon, Sewing machine, Thread.

Thanks for stopping by!

Club Project: Fabric Ornament Card

Hi Everyone, This is a card we made at club last week, perfect for the last minute person you might have forgotten. It is a direct CASE of Michele Reynolds's card. What a great way to use fabric on a card! And super quick to put together.

Stamps: Peaceful Wishes, All Holidays; Paper: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler; Ink: Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler; Accessories: Silver elastic cord, Cherry Cobbler seam binding, Ornament punch, Deck the Halls fabric, Cotton ball.

And here are some chocolate-covered pretzel favors I made for my club ladies, using the Tags Til Christmas set and coordinating punch. Thanks to Sue Wilgan (StampinHappyInCT) for the idea!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Different Folded Tree

Ok, I decided to make one more card for the Stampin' Celebration challenge, just under the wire. I combined the challenge with a card I had on my list of things to try.

The folded tree idea came from Kristin Moore's blog. The layout is based on the Mojo Monday sketch.

Paper: Brushed Gold, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Blushing Bride, Very Vanilla, Bride Specialty DSP, Blushing Bride DSP; Accessories: Scallop Edge punch, Circle punch, Crystal Effects, Coluzzle, Blushing Bride ribbon, Stars #2 die, Finial Press embossing folder, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by!