Stamp, Stitch & Swizzle Stix

Coffee Treats

Do you remember this gorgeous Designer Series Paper from last year's catalog? It's called Love Letter and it's beautiful. Vintage but not "farm-ish", classic black & red, distressed at the edges but, not worn out looking. You have one more chance to buy it from our Clearance Rack. Hop over there now.

 

 

I always need little treats to give out at Christmas to people that I interact with but, don't necesarrily want to spend a lot of money on. The receptionist at the orthodontist office or the 6 youth group leaders from church or the 10 teachers for one of my daughters. Love these people but can't afford to gift them ALL something. And I really hate to pick favorites, I never want to leave anyone out. Are you like that? That's why I love Stampin' Up!, all those fabulous bloggers and ALL the design inspirations I see in our catalogs, message boards, tweets, etc...

This was one sample I saw while blog surfing that I knew was easy to do and offered an inexpensive gift in adorable packaging. I wish I could remember where I saw it so I could give them credit.

This little treat bag is just big enough to hold 1 package of the instant Starbucks coffee, a chocolate treat and a gift card. I stamped the little paper sack with words,tied ribbon around the package, added a mini label to the ribbon and finished it off with a stack of coffee cups. All these images are from the Morning Cup Stamp Set, #120489(c) $16.95. In a way, I've bought everyone a cup of coffee. I only wish I had the time to visit with them as well. I'd like to get to know them better, over a cup of coffee!

My in-laws are coming today. This is always fun and I sincerely look forward to taking care of them in my house. I'm really blessed to have such good people in my life and even more so that they are my in-laws. One reason they are fun to have around is because they are old (83 & 84) and very set in their ways but, they know it and joke about it. They even tease us that we're not that far behind them and how we're showing our age already. An example, Happy Hour starts at 5:00 p.m. everyday, rain, hail or shine. 5:00 on the dot. Not 4:59, not 5:01. 5:00 p.m.  Since they arrive at 4:00 on Tuesday, I'll have their drinks ready for them at 5:00. They'll be very stressed out from the 1 1/2 hour plane ride and ready to relax. I'll be ready for them ;-)

Christmas Cookies

Have you shopped the Stampin' Up! Clearance Rack? You really should. There's lots of great stuff on there.

I'm not a baker. I love to cook but, I'm more of a 'main meal' kinda gal. I've been told that it's because "baking recipes" are very precise. They have to be followed exactly. Well, if you know me at all, you know that I don't do anything precisely. I tend to taste, sample and adjust. My youngest daughter, Noelle, is very good at baking. Maybe it's because she's young and learning to cook so she's very careful in following recipes. So, in recent years, I've let her be the "baker" in our house. You can imagine her excitement when she saw the new Cookie Press that Stampin' Up! has recently introduced.

The Cookie Press comes with three images, a snowflake, a heart and a jack-o-lantern and it also comes with it's own recipes to make perfectly imaged cookies. And the cookies were good too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

You have to roll the dough into little balls and then press them down with the stamp. The image part of the stamp is removable from the wooden handle and washable with warm soapy water.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As an F.Y.I., covering the dough with sprinkles doesn't let the snowflake design show. I had to coax her into not putting sprinkles on a few of the cookies so that I could put them on my blog. She loves it when I put her on my blog so she agreed right away. hehe...

 

 

The finished product is ready to be delivered to some of her teachers. We put 3 cookies in a clear treat bag with some red crinkled paper, tied it up with Real Red Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, 1/4" Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon #109034 $4.95 and a stamped tag from Delightful Decorations #116517, $21.95 stamped in Real Red Classic Ink, #103133, $5.95

Gift Card Holders

Time to get those gift cards in the mail! Let them know that yes, you did want to do more for them but, THEY insisted that just wanted a gift card. Perfect! You can make many of these with one Pomegranate Martini close at hand. And no, I didn't invent this design. It's an original "case & copy" ;-)

Start off with cardstock trimmed to 5 1/2" x 8 1/2". Score at 3" & 6". This is your holder so stamp it with any designs you want.  Next, seal a white envelope, fold it in half and trim off about 1/2" from the two loose ends, NOT THE FOLDED END. This envelope is what forms the little pocket to hold a note card and a gift card. Tape the two sides of the envelope together in the middle. Adhere the envelope to the inside of holder. Wrap a belly band (1" x 8") around the holder and embellish as desired. Presto! You're done and ready for another cocktail.

Origami Ornament Tag

This was a recent club project for my ladies. I love it when I demonstrate something and they oooohhh and aaahhhh over it. I think this reaction is in my top 3 reasons of why I love teaching the art of stamping and paper crafting. I should also throw out here that I did not think of this project by myself. Tami, at Stamp with Tami had it on her blog and I cased & copied it. I changed it up a bit because I didn't have the same stamp set as she used but, I did have some groovy DSP leftover from the Christmas Lane Simply Scrappin' Kit, #124007, $21.95.

Here's what you'll need:

• Designer Series Paper, I used the the Christmas Lane Simply Scrappin' Kit but, I also suggest a pretty Real Red print from the Brights Collection #117155, $21.95
• Cherry Cobbler Cardstock, #119685 $6.95
• Whisper White Cardstock, #100730 $8.50
• Cherry Cobbler Classic Ink, #119669 $5.95
• Basic Black Classic Ink, #101179 $5.95
• Small Oval Punch, #120908 $10.95
• 1-3/8" Square Punch, #119877 $16.95
• Postage Stamp Punch, #122344 $15.95
• Very Vanilla 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, #119960 $5.95  (2 pieces cut at 8" each)
• Random bead with a large opening from your junk drawer. I mean your "ephemera drawer of glitter and wonder".
• Merry & Type Stamp Set, #122550w $25.95 or #122552c $18.95 (I used the Christmas Punch stamp set but, it's been retired). 
• No cocktails required but if you're working on it in the morning, Mimosa's would be nice with a splash of peach nectar added to the orange juice. I'm just sayin....

 

Fun Downline Gift

I went to my upline's group meeting and one of my stampin "sisters" made this snazzy shadow box to show off. I fell in love with it and made one for my self and for each of my downline members who came to my December group meeting. Yep, you have to appear in person to collect gifts.

This project was super easy to make and very quick to come together. You can whip out as many as 14 in a short evening. I know because I did it.

Here's what you'll need:

5" x 7" white shadowbox frame. I found mine at Hobby Lobby after looking EVERYWHERE else! HL can also special order for you if you need more.

Silver Glimmer Paper DSP, #124005 $4.95.  You'll get 3  5" x 7" pieces from each sheet of paper

Jingle All the Way Decor Elements, #114707 $3.50

Decor Elements Applicator, #114285 $1.95

Small to mini sized tree ornaments/bells

Good Christmas Music, I suggest Pottery Barn or Starbucks compilations and a couple of good cocktails I suggest a New York Sour.

Cut your Glimmer Paper to 5" x 7". Fill the shadow box with mini ornaments. Back the frame with the Glimmer and frame backing. Adhere the Jingle All the Way Decor Element to the front of the frame glass following the enclosed instructions. Complete 4-5 frames in this manner and refill your cocktail!

Frostwood Lodge Christmas Trees

You know how you're looking at a magazine or catalog and see an adorable craft item for sale and immediately think, "I can do that!"? Well, that's what I thought when I saw Christmas Trees made with patterned paper. So, I set out to duplicate the project...

Here's what you'll need:

• 2 foam christmas tree shapes, mine are approx, 9" & 7"
• Frostwood Lodge DSP, #124002 $10.95
• Large Oval Punch, #119855 $15.95
• Glue Dots, #103683 $4.95
• Bone Folder, #102300, $6.95
• Glimmer paper, Red #121790 $4.95, Silver #124005 $4.95
• Scallop Circle Punch, 2-3/8"  #118874 $16.95, 1-3/4"  #119854 $16.95
• Ribbon for two bows on each tree. These are adhered with glue dots to the toothpick topper
• Toothpick to use for the topper
• Star punch
• Patience

Start by punching lots & lots of ovals with your punch from the DSP. My larger tree used approximately 2 1/2 sheets of the 12" x 12" paper and the smaller tree used 2 sheets. Then curl the paper with your bone folder

Starting at the bottom of the foam tree, start adhere the ovals with your glue dots. Each one of my "leaves" need at least two glue dots. Don't bother trying to use glue, it takes too long to dry and then you can't work quickly.

Just keep going around and around the foam tree with the leaves until you get one layer away from the top.

Before you adhere the last layer of leaves, punch out a Scallop Circle of matching DSP and adhere to the top. Cut a few slits in the scallop and press the edges down around the top. Kinda like draping a sheet over a table. (I'm sorry, I forgot to take a picture of this part.) Adhere the last layer of leaves to the tree all the way to the top edge.

For the topper, I made a two sided star and scotchtaped it to a wooden toothpick. I made two bow and adhered them right under the stars to the toothpick with glue dots. Viola! it's all done.

Send me pictures of yours! I'd love to see your creations!

 

 

 

 

ChristmasTag Camp

 

Christmas Tag Camp

December 8

Register by December 6

12 tags for $15

2 tags of each design. Includes all supplies and tools to complete the projects. Tag sizes are approximately 3 1/2" x 2 1/2"

Daytime camp 10:30 - 1:30, Evening Camp 6:30 - 9:30

Free Class!

Book a private stamp camp for you and 5 of your friends in January and get this tag camp for FREE!

 

Register here