Deck the Halls Blog Hop!

Phew! Despite some setbacks, I was able to finish my card and get it posted before the Deck the Halls Blog Hop from The Angel Company ends tonight!

After subbing at school all day, I came home and vaccumed the house, cleaned all the bathrooms and made a card! In the end, I ruined the focal point (I'll share that below so you can avoid this mistake!) and had to finish it up this morning.

For this card I clear embossed snowflakes from the Vintage Santa set on the background. I also colored my ornaments (Joyful Ornaments) with Tombow Markers and then embossed them with Transcendence powder. This stuff is amazing since it lets you emboss a dye ink (even Palette inks!)...it looks very elegant in real life.

Last night after I stamped the ornaments I thought they would look really neat covered with Tim Holtz's crackle glass...for a really vintage look. What I had forgotten was that the liquid made the markers run so the ornaments lost their crisp look. Unfortunately, everything was glued in place so this morning I just reinked up the ornaments, embossed them and glued them over the ugly ones! Lesson learned: always try a sample first of how a liquid or even embossing powder may change your ink colors.

The green part looks cool but the design in the red was totally lost and just made it ugly!

This other project I have is a blast from the past...I used to make these quite often as little gifts to give out. A tag pouch (using a 6x6 scrapbook album sleeve) filled with Christmas gift tags. I love making these because they are quick and you can really mix up your sets to make some cute little tags! I hope this inspires you...

All Wrapped Up! Blog Hop

Thanks for joining me on this gift wrapping extravaganza! I was so excited to participate in this blog hop that I ended up making 3 projects to share with you...

I've had this Homespun Holiday set for over a year and finally cut into it for this little gift bag - I bought the set just for the tree! I'm sure you can understand...tee hee. I used my Nestabilities to cut cardboard for the front and back panels of my gift bag...a simple lunch bag cut down with scallop scissors creates the bag. It came together quite easily!

Stamps: Ornamental Snowflakes, Homespun Holidays, Joyful Ornaments, Victorian Elements

My next project is a store bought gift bag from Michaels...but jazzed up a bit!

and a close up of my main image. I had wanted the frame to be crackled but I think my paint was too old (okay, I'll admit I had 7 years before I finally decided to try it!) and it just ended up shiny! I did some random gold embossing and painted on red stickles to make it look vintage.

Stamps: Vintage Santa

and now my last gift wrapped creation! I had the inside piece left from cutting the frame on my santa bag that I couldn't let go to waste! Perhaps you've seen the homemade bow tutorial on SCS? I was inspired by Pia to make this set...

Stamps: Victorian Elements

I used the same Victorian Elements stamp from the first project to stamp repeatedly on a lunch bag before I cut it apart and made a bow. Repeated the image on the tag...this is now proudly sitting under the tree, all wrapped up for me!

I hope you'll join the rest of these talented Angels on our hop!

Jen: http://jensinkspot.blogspot.com/
Shirley: http://glitteredpaws.blogspot.com/
Laine http://www.inkypawprints-laine.blogspot.com/
Diana http://www.dianasdesignsonline.blogspot.com/
Angela http://www.angelakelley.blogspot.com/
stacy: http://stacy.typepad.com/angel2389

Now get busy wrapping! tee hee...

Brrr...

It is SO cold outside today! Good day to stay in and stamp - once I finish my housecleaning (I will keep chanting that over and over!).

Last week I had a Christmas card class and wanted to share a few more cards we made that day...this card has a really Hero Arts feel to it and I used my Dazzle Versamark pad for the JOY and snowflakes - you can see the sparkle in real life.

Card Materials:

Stamps: Hostess free set (Build-A-Background), Ornamental Snowflakes, Joyful Ornaments

Accessories: TAC Kraft paper, fiskars border punch, MS Snowflake punch, twine, button, Versamark Dazzle, Brilliance White

and this one is featuring my new "favorite" border punch...see how I used the stars that were punched out on the top? To me this has such a european feel. I love those 6 pointed stars!

Card Materials:

Stamps: Vintage Santa, Reindeer Food (last chance to get him this month!)

Accessories: my old organ sheet music, retired TAC sparkle blue paper, ribbon, nestabilites, MS border punch, gold Brilliance ink and embossing powder

I hope you'll be back on Monday for a blog hop I'm participating in - Gift Wrapping! I've got 3 neat projects that I can't wait to share with you...and areminder that my blog candy closes at midnight on the 12th so you still have time to enter!

Have a super weekend!

A Joyful Note

Today I bravely cut into my organ music to make a card...I think it's okay though since I haven't taken organ lessons in about 30 plus years. My practice book was still sitting inside the bench and made a perfect background for my Joyful Ornaments. Looking at the notes, I'm sure I never mastered these anyways! tee hee...

This card is for the sketch challenge over at Our Creative Corner blog...I hope you like it! I think it would make a great card for mass production.

I layered the sheet music on a piece of cream cardstock before the black layer. And, the ornament is embossed before I stamped the "second" generation of it. The beautiful red cardstock is from The Angel Company and I love its deep hue.

All stamps and papers (other than my sheet music!) is from The Angel Company.

Scor Bug vs. Bow Easy

Now that sounds like a Wrestling Mania match up, eh?! Hey, sometimes titles are hard to come by!

So, in my last post I mentioned my new "toy", the Scor Bug. If you know me well, you know that I do not "push" my wares unless I think they are really, really great - and if you can't find it cheaper at Michaels with a coupon. tee hee. When Deb asked what it was, I thought this would be a good time to tell you more about it.

The Scor Bug is made by CutterBee and you may have seen their other tools that score and perforate (they look like little red ladybugs). This tool lines up with the groves on your Scor Pal and gives you a great embossed dotted line. Now I do have an old sewing gadget that you use to trace a pattern onto your fabric...it has a notched wheel. I wanted to compare the Scor Bug with this and no luck. The notched tracing wheel did not stay in my groves and ended up darting all over my paper. Honestly, I think the Scor Bug is the best bet for this look.

Lately I have seen a lot about the Bow Easy...and I went to investigate. I thought it looked pretty cool but I wanted to try it first before I bought it so, I thought I could try and make my own version with a blank coaster. I just snipped a little here and there and it worked great!

I used my home made Bow maker for this card...I have to say that the bows stayed nicer with the thicker grograin ribbon so I may have to use a dot of glue to hold things in place on sheer ribbon in the future. Still, it was fun to play around with it!

The colors were difficult to capture in this photo but that's a navy blue and kraft panel and the ornaments are Pink Grapefruit Versamagic ink that match the coral strip at the top perfectly.

All stamps and papers from The Angel Company.