ribbon wreath

I was so excited. I actually got to play in my craft room for a few hours yesterday. I made some ornaments, figured out club ideas and made a couple of other decorations. It was fun. I love making Christmas stuff, especially now before it gets too crazy. Growing up we'd all get together the day after Thanksgiving and make Christmas stuff, but we don't get to do that much anymore. I say stuff because it could have been a little bit of everything - an ornament(s), gifts, decorations, even goofy junk - it just had to deal with Christmas. So it was fun to take part of a day and do some creating this weekend. Reminded me of old times a little bit. If you can't tell Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love it all - from the true meaning and its significance to the secular side and all the fun entailed in giving. To me it's just great.

Anyways, I was inspired by the little ribbon wreath in the Holiday mini to make this little wreath. Mine has more ribbons that are closer together and I made a smaller layer on top to give it dimension, but it's a similar idea. I also chose little ribbon knots on mine verses buttons and I tied a bow on mine. I thought it a fun and easy project. My sister made one too. She is using hers as a ring around a candle - a very creative use for it I thought. I love it when others share ideas. We all learn from each other and it makes it way more fun.
So I hope you enjoy my little project and are inspired to make some fun Christmas stuff of your own. I'll share more in the next few days. Have a great day. Blessings.

Hey everyone, I hope you have had a good Thanksgiving and got to have a great meal with some good friends or family. It always makes it more fun spending the holidays with special people for sure. We have another meal planned tonight with my side of the family, so we get two days of fun and good food. :)

This is the last item we did for club. I first saw this idea presented by demonstrator Angie Kennedy Juda.
I took notepads that I bought at any office supply store. I've heard you need those verses the cheaper ones, but haven't tried it myself to check for sure. I then took them to have it cut into 3 sections. The nice clerk actually did mine for free. I was so excited. I took a huge pile and they cut the whole pile at once. It was super cool. I picked the super long notepad, but you could use smaller ones. I'm a list maker so I like long lists, so I decided to use the big pad.

Since these were so long, a strip of 12 x 12 paper barely fit down the back, so I cut one piece to fold over the top and then I backed the whole thing with a matching piece of 12 x 12 strip, so it looked all nice and neat. Now if you wanted to you could add magnets to the back, but I haven't done that yet. I took the shopping bag from the Things I Love set (a freebie from convention - yeah) and colored it in using old olive and chocolate chip markers. I thought that appropriate since I was making shopping lists :) . You could use anything really though - butterflies, flowers, etc. I then punched it out with the 1 1/4" circle punch, then cut a real red piece with the 1 3/8" circle and then a chocolate chip scallop circle. I then put that all on the top of the pad (don't hit the paper though or you won't be able to rip them off, with a dimensional for depth. Then you are done. I think these in a package with a beaded pen and some other items would make a cute little gift for just about anyone.
So I hope you enjoy the little gift idea. Sorry I haven't shown a lot of new items lately. I've been trying to spend some time with family the last few days, something we haven't done a lot of lately. I hope you get some time to create soon with all the holiday happenings though. If not, I hope you at least got to spend some great time with family. Have a great day.

punched pumpkin box

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We hope you have a great day and get to spend some time with friends or family. There is so much to be thankful for if you stop and think about it and I hope you get a chance to consider that thought some. I know it can be a busy day for some of you who have to prepare meals and such, so make sure you get some time to spend with others and just enjoy the moment. Those dishes can wait till later, right?

We personally get to have dinner with my in-laws tomorrow and then get to have dinner with my side of the family on Friday. Nothing like 2 good meals in a row with time to visit. We decided to do that years ago, so we could spend more time with each other and not be rushed.

Well, it seems like I've neglected poor thanksgiving this year and I've hardly posted any projects for it. This little box here is not my original creation and I've seen it on several sites so I'm not sure who originally created it. If you know let me know and I'll add it in. I've seen it made several different ways. I've seen pumpkins on both sides of it, with handles on it, with other attachments added to it, etc.
I made these for my club ladies and filled with little candies, so I only decorated one side as my hands couldn't punch and cut that many more. One of the side effects of too much ball playing as a kid I believe and of course age (but we won't go there) :) . It's hard to tell by the photo but it's a small box and it's decorated with wide oval punches made into a pumpkin. You punch 5 ovals per pumpkin. I inked my edges and glued them together. I used the Autumn Harvest stamp set to make the leaf and cut each out by hand. The stem is just a strip of Chocolate chip and I free hand cut the top edge. The little box is just folded pumpkin pie cardstock sealed with sticky strip. I thought it was a cute project and just had to make it for them. I'm thankful that there is such great talent out there that share their ideas. It is greatly appreciated and makes it fun to see so many great projects. I'm also grateful for my club ladies, my friends and family, as they help me faithfully research, try, and also create new items each month to make new and fun projects for them. It greatly helps me stretch my creativity. I'm also thankful to God for the talents and blessings He has bestowed on me and my family. We are truly blessed.
So Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Enjoy the day. God bless.

singing Rudolph

Here is another card we did at club. I cased this card from Amy Celona who cased the original reindeer idea from Jackie Topa. I thought it was so cute. I just had to copy it. It always brings a smile to my face when I see it. It was very creative and fun and it was so nice of them to share these ideas.
It's a little hard to see but the book is raised up on dimensionals, so it stands up off the page. I wrapped his little arms around so it really looks like it is being held. My last sample had the snow lower so you could see more of his body, but I gave it away, so this one has a little thicker snow. I just took a piece of white cardstock and tore downward at an angle. Then I flipped the torn piece around and added it to the back of the front piece. I then edged the tops of my papers with the two way glue pen and dipped in dazzling diamonds to make the snow sparkly. The book is the curly label punch folded in half and then trimmed into a v shape and then reopened. The rest is all punches, except for the antlers which is made with the Big Shot. The words are from Four the Holidays in the mini.
So I hope you enjoy the little singing reindeer and it brings a smile to your face too. Christmas is just around the corner and it's great to just enjoy the small things. Blessings

serene snowflakes meet soft suede

For my club members I try to teach new things or showcase a little different color pattern. Here we used soft suede, bashful blue and whisper white, and sahara sand. The bigger snowflake stamp is stamped in bashful blue, the little snowflakes are in sahara but I stamped off first once. The peace on earth is the suede. I also used the sahara sand on the bottom of the base cardstock too. Then we used the soft suede polka dot ribbon to tie a knot.



Besides this different color scheme the other thing we did to this card that the picture doesn't do justice too is that we sprayed the white with a shimmer spray. We mixed some frost white paint with a little alcohol and mixed together in a cheap spray bottle (or an old stampin mist bottle). It gave it a really shiny look. It almost reminds me of the shimmer paper we sell as it's that shiny. This bottom picture shows a little glimpse of the shiny effect. The members thought it cool to see another trick for an accessory. You can do this with the others too, but the silver was a little dark for this card. I haven't tried the gold colored one yet (champagne).
So I hope you have a peaceful day today and take some time to try something new too. It's fun to do that when you get a chance.

anniversary card

Here is an anniversary card that I made. I used the brayer to make the sky (it was whisper white before I started). I used barely banana, summer sun, apricot appeal, pumpkin pie and a little dusty durango for the brayered area. I start with the lightest color and keep moving down blending as I go. The flower silhouettes are embossed in black with black embossing powder. I did that part first then brayed the sky, although with black you could probably do either way. The stamp set is Kind and Caring thoughts and is a hostess set. The saying is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.
I think this is a very versatile set and has lots of sayings in it for a lot of occasions. It's one of my newer favorites. The saying is stamped in pumpkin and punched out with the word window and the mat is punched with the modern label in chocolate chip. The card is layered on pumpkin too and followed up with Chocolate chip (a little hard to see against the wood background).
I thought this turned out pretty good and could be used for other occassions just as well.
So I hope you enjoy the card today. I hope you get a chance to stop and enjoy the sunset. It's those little things that make a big difference and as it is getting darker, those beautiful moments in the light make a big difference. Blessings, Lisa

Christmas cardinal

I don't believe I've shown this card yet. This is the same set I used for my father's birthday card, but I made this one into a Christmas card. This is a set on the dormant list and is still available for purchase. I just really like this set as it reminds me of trees I used to see in the park growing up. Every winter we would have cardinal birds sitting on them in between getting food. It was always so peaceful to watch them. So I thought of this when I made this card. So I hope you have a peaceful day today and get a little chance just to enjoy today. I know many are starting to think about Christmas and the holidays, but take a moment and see and enjoy God's beauty. Look in the eyes of someone you love or care for and let them know you love them today. Enjoy the moment, enjoy the present, as tomorrow will come soon enough. Have a great day.

Here is what I used for this card.
stamps: branch out, teeny tiny wishes
ink: chocolate chip, bordering blue, real red
paper: real red, chocolate chip, whisper white
accessories: sponge, Chocolate chip grosgrain, Modern label and word window punches, dimensionals

Regional card - Berry Christmas

I didn't see where I shared this card with you guys. This is another card we made at regionals. Isn't it fun? It took the little flower/wreathe from the set and it was repeated to form a tree shape. I thought it was a cute use of the stamp. The colors that were used were celery, chocolate chip, bashful blue and real red. The red strip is actually the red polka dotted ribbon turned backwards. The button has twine through it and tied and the little flower has a brad and is popped up. The make merry is cut out and mounted on top.

I've seen some different looks this Christmas and I'm loving the variety.

I apologize for not posting as often lately. I haven't gotten a lot of time to create lately outside of what I have had to do. I'll have some club projects tomorrow, but I like them to see them first. I do have a couple of other projects as well, but I need better lighting to take some pictures. I do hope though that you all are getting time to create. I've heard some are working on gifts and Christmas projects. Now is definitely time to do that before the big Christmas push and everything gets crazy. If you get a chance to share some of your creations I'd love to see some. Send me an email or bring them over when you get a chance.
So I hope you are having an awesome day today.

scrapbooking your faith - fear

Here are our pages for October's scrapbooking your faith study.
I guess I should have taken a little better close up of the pages. The title says To fear or not to fear. Fear is in Basic gray and Not is in pumpkin pie. The little words are written using a Basic Gray marker. The alphabet is the new Jayne's type alphabet. I also stamped a bat in eggplant and a spider in black and cut them out and placed them at the top. On the pages in black are the big stamp from "From the Crypt" and spiders from the same set. I also added on each white piece a spider stamped in going gray, so you could write over it if you wanted to (you can probably see it better if you click on the picture).
I thought these were fun and easy pages. I also thought they had options.
Our study that night was about fear. How fear of God leads to wisdom, how when we rely on God he helps us overcome our fears and how our fears keep us from using our gifts and talents - which we discussed last month. I love it when studies work together.
When it comes to the pages, I also shared some ideas about what we could put on them. Since we are suppose to be scrapbooking about ourselves, I shared how it would be good if they only used pictures of other family, kids, church events, etc as a last resort. Basically only if they couldn't come up with anything else. I shared how it would be good to talk about and put pictures of things we were afraid of - hence the spiders and bats on the page, or they could talk about a time when they overcame their fears and was able to do something good. I think it's important to our families (especially younger generations) to realize that we had fears and struggles and how we got through them. I loved hearing the stories my grandmother shared both good and bad as those talked about her character. I wish now I had more. So that's what I'm trying to accomplish for my children. That way they can know me better and what my faith means to me and what I can do with God in my life. That I have struggles and celebrations. That I love them and through good or bad God loves them and can see them through anything.
So I hope you enjoy the pages and they help you think about things you can share with your family and friends. To me, it adds a great dimension. Have a great day.

rich razzleberry birthday card

Can you tell that Rich Razzleberry is one of my favorite IN colors? I use it a lot it seems. I'll be sorry when this one goes away for sure. I like this new variation of the purple series. It adds a lot to the color schemes and choices.
This is a card that I made for my step mother's birthday party. We celebrated her birthday last weekend. We went to another birthday event tonight and have at least 3 more planned this month alone, besides Thanksgiving. Lots of family and friend get togethers this month. Is it just me or does this year seem to be flying by? I can't believe it's already so close to Thanksgiving and then Christmas - yikes it will be here before we know it. I hope you guys have already started on your cards or gifts. I know it takes a while for some of you, so hopefully you at least have your stuff ordered.
Anyways, on to this card. I used two stamp sets: Eastern Blooms and Teeny Tiny Wishes.
I used Rich Razzleberry, old olive, whisper white and Crushed curry. I punched the saying using the Word Window and Modern Label punches and it is raised up on dimensionals. The flowers are also cut out and raised up on dimensionals. I curled the edges a little of the flowers but that is hard to see in this photo. The centers are just colored in with the marker. Besides the cutting out of the flowers which took a little time this was a pretty quick and easy card.
So I hope you enjoyed my cards. I thought it fun to show a couple non-Christmas ideas for a bit. Although I plan on working on some more Christmas this weekend. I need to get a jump on things or I won't get done.
I hope you guys have a great day today and I hope you get to take a moment to encourage someone today. God bless.

father's birthday card

I made this card for my father for his birthday. We celebrated his and my step mother's birthday this past weekend. I decided to make him this card as it reminded me of where we grew up. We grew up living right next to a park. Fall was always a great time to live next to there as you got to see all the beautiful leaves up close every day. The best part is that we didn't have to rake most of the leaves as they were in the park. Of course this time of the year we would really see the wild life preparing for winter. It also never failed that every time we would look out we would see a cardinal bird. So I made this card in rememberance of that.
This stamp set is still available but it's on the dormant list. I bought it and then like a month later it ended up on the dormant list, which is sad as I liked this set. There are several sets on the dormant list which are still available, so if you are interested in seeing that list let me know. The birthday sentiment is from a Little Birthday Cheer and is popped up on dimensionals.
So I hope you enjoy my little fall birthday card. I also hope you have a great day today.

another calendar idea

At Regionals they showed us this idea, so I had to take a picture of it. It's another way to display the little calendar in the mini. They put them on the blocks. Isn't that a fun way to display them? You could put out a month at a time or display all three if you put 3 months on a different block. Then when the years over you can just cover them up with whatever. I also liked the striped ribbon as a gift wrapping idea. I think it turned out really pretty, so I just had to share. I hope you enjoy it.

regional card

Here is another card we made at Convention. It's fairly simple. The hardest parts were cutting out the ornaments. The saying is stamped in Chocolate chip on kraft paper. This card is folded at the top so it's a 4 1/4 x 11 card folded in half. the strings are also in Chocolate chip. I just noticed I'm taking a picture looking up at the card, so you can see the edge of the string. If you were looking down on the card you wouldn't see the edge. I just love the polka dotted ribbon. It adds such a fun festive flair don't you think? There is also a little rhinestone brad added to the garden green ornament. Also, both ornaments are raised up with dimensionals. All in all it was a fairly simple card. If you didn't want to cut that much you could also use the Ornament punch and coordinating stamp set too. There are options. I love it when things have options. I just wish I had time to create everything I want to create.
So I hope you enjoy another Christmas card idea. Have a great day today.

bitty box and card

okay, I just had to show you a little card my son made.
To me it's really cute. Yes it's uneven, but he's 5. He played with some materials after one of my classes. He cut a small piece of paper and ran it through the Big Shot. He then sat down on his own and cut out the green background card base and colored in the petals and dots all by himself. No instructions or ideas from me. I haven't even made anything with the dots or petals colored in, so it's neat he created it on his own. The thing in the center is a heart that he drew. Isn't it sweet. I just had to brag and show off his design.
Next is a little box we made at Regionals. It is one using the bitty box and envelope die. I placed the image on the ribbon, so it just slides off that way and you can reuse it and not tear it open. Inside is several tags using the same images, but used with different colors and rearranged some. I just realized I didn't take a picture of the tags. It makes for a cute gift idea. Who wouldn't love a little box filled with tags for the holidays.
It used Real Red textured cardstock to make the box and we used the Real Red polka dot ribbon to tie around it for decoration. We also used the stamp set called Berry Christmas from the mini. I cut out the leaves and added them on for some dimentsion and I tied the ribbon with linen thread. It was a fun little box to make and I hope you enjoy seeing it.
So I hope you enjoy my shares today and have an awesome day.

Items used for the box
paper: real red textured, whisper white, bashful blue
ink: real red, bashful blue, chocolate chip, certainly celery
stamp: berry Christmas
accessories: real red polka dot ribbon, linen thread, snips, Big Shot, Bitty box die, sticky strip, dimensionals