ornament punch angels

Sorry, I haven't posted much. It's year end at my real job and I have been working a lot. I also might not be posting as much the next few days as I'm going to try and move some of my items upstairs to start working on stuff up there. I'm getting older now and my knees just aren't the same to keep running up and down. Plus all my classes and events are upstairs, so it makes sense. It will just take time to move all my addiction...er.. I mean stash up. :)
So I'll try and keep up, but can't guarantee it.

So on to the project.
Aren't these the cutest things. I cased this idea from demo Sandi McIver and thought these were just great.
They are made with various punches. Mainly circle punches and then the ornament punch which is available until Jan 4th. I'm hoping it comes out in the new catalog as I've seen really cool stuff made with its shape. The blue angels went through the Big Shot and the petals a plenty folder. The wings I just ran the 2 way glue pen over and sprinkled Dazzling Diamond glitter over it. Their halos are just the gold cardstock punched with 2 sizes of circle punches. The hair is just a snipped circle. Everything is glued together and then hung with the cording also from the mini.
I also made the little red one without the Big Shot as some of my customers don't have that yet and wanted them to see an alternative way to make her pretty too. Here I used the background stamp in versa mark and then clear embossed it on the red. The wings are embossed in silver. Otherwise they are the same. Except that I just realized that the red angel lost her ribbon in traveling up the stairs. I was bringing up so much that it must have got caught on something. At least you can see a little better how it goes together that way. I also added another punch (the color of the hair) to make things look nicer in the back.
Anyways, I did think these were very cute and it was so nice of her to share her idea. I ended up making these for all my club members for Christmas. So fun.

different snowflakes

Aren't these fun? I had seen some other demos try this and I had to try it too.
We are clutter bugs and keep everything it seems. We always think, we might could use this some day.
Now I don't typically keep cans, but we do recycle them, so we had several of them. I even took an empty one from work as it had snowflakes on it if that says anything. :)
The Big Shot can go through a lot of different sizes and types of materials and this is one of them.
We may have to break down and buy some different drinks to try some different color cans. :) I've heard the green cans like 7up and such make for some pretty snowflakes, maybe an orange drink...hmmm.
It was cool though. The top one is a Coke Santa can. The middle one is a Diet coke with snowflakes and the last one is the coke can again, next to a snowflake punched out of the leftovers of the diet coke can cut out with the snowflake punch. It worked too. It just curled it some, but it worked.
I thought these would be fun on a package, card, on the tree, maybe hung outside as they might hold up (I don't think they rust readily). So fun.
You do have to watch cutting it out and a little afterwards as the edges can be sharp during that process. This isn't a kid friendly project, but still fun. It helps show the versatility of the Big Shot too. Speaking of which, several of it's dies are on sale right now as well as raw vinyl, so if you are interested go to my site and check that out http://detailmama.stampinup.net
Go to Shop now (upper right hand corner) and then click on 12 days.

I'm also working on some card gift ideas, club projects and all the other Christmas stuff we have to do. So I have more to show you, just slower getting to it all, so please bear with me. Hope you have a great day today.

pillow box santa

This is a little ornament that demonstrator Jackie Topa shared on her site. I just had to try it out. It's really cool and you could even fill it up with some money, a small gift, candy, etc. It's base is the pillow box die and then a scallop circle die cut piece, then punches on top. Since it's a box, it's closed up except at the top and that's why you can add a little gift. I love trying new things and finding different ways to use something, so I thought this a great project using the pillow box die. The only thing non SU here is the cotton ball. I love Christmas and especially ornaments, so I thought this a fun one to copy. Thanks to her for sharing her creative ability. That's one thing about demonstrators, there are so many really nice ones and also ones that share so much. It's great. Christmas is coming too and I can't wait.
I hope you guys are keeping up with all your Christmas stuff this year. Time seems to be going fast. Have a great day and don't forget to take time and enjoy the season. We just got our tree today and I'm enjoying the fresh pine smell as I type. Blessings.

window sheet snowflakes

I went to a craft store recently and they sold something like this and we decorated it similar to this, so I wondered if I could make something using SU items. I thought it turned out pretty cool and the pictures don't do it near the justice of what it looks like in real life. This is a snowflake cut out using the Big Shot and then embossed with the Petal's a Plenty embossing folder. I used one of the thick window sheets so it's really sturdy. It also didn't appear to hurt my folder either. I then sprayed the snowflake with shimmer spray made with the platinum shimmer paint and alcohol, so it has a silvery, glittery look to it. It's also really textured giving it a cool appearance. For the tag I stamped the To/from from the Christmas punch set using platinum shimmer paint, then punched it out with the circle punch and then punched out a mat using brushed silver cardstock. I then punched a hole and threaded silver cording through it all.
Wouldn't this look really cool on a package? If you take the tag off you could make an ornament for the tree too. Not a bad little project for just playing around. This was a cased idea though, but fun. I tried to take a close up with the first photo, but it kept glarring off the shimmer. I need to figure out a way to get clearer pictures of shiny items. I might have to play around some with the camera. So for now, this will have to do. I hope you get the idea though.
Have a great day today.

table setting tree

I was playing around the other day and I had this swirly olive piece that was cut out using the Table setting die. It was leftover from my flowers I made back in November. I picked it up and it and was playing with it. I thought how when it stretched out it looked like a tree. It need something, so I picked up some scraps and started punching circles and stars out. Then I thought they needed some bling so I added some glitter. I punched a hole in the middle and threaded some gold cording to let it hang and I glue dotted the star on (it has glitter too). I thought it a fun easy project. I think my kids would have fun doing these too. I hope you enjoy and get inspired to make some ornaments or other Christmas projects too. Have a great day.

Sparkly ornaments

Okay, I've been talking about the ornaments I've been making that were sparkly - well here they are. I didn't want to show them until I got most of the colors done. They turned out really pretty don't you think? The weren't that hard to make, just a little messy is all. These are clear ball ornaments, which have been colored with re-inker and dazzling diamond glitter. I only could make so manydifferent ones, because it's all the colors I had. There are 48 colors out there, plus the In-colors so there are a lot of options.

So how do you make them you ask. Well for the bigger ones you add about 30 drops of reinker (you can try less if you want, you can always add more.) I used classic ink by the way. I tried the white craft ink and it was thick and didn't move much. I added a touch of water, but it thinned a little too much, so I poured out some and then added some regular reinker to it and it kind of made a marbelish type of color which was sort of cool. It did take more patience though. So after you add the reinker you slowly revolve the ornament around and get a good even coating around the whole ball. Don't shake the ornament at this step or the reinker it causes air bubbles which are a pain to get out. When you get to the lip I suggest holding over a plastic cup or something you can throw away that holds liquid to let it drain some. I then dabbed it some with a paper towel while holding it upside down to get any excess at the lip (it will go through the towel, so don't set it on anything important - don't ask how I know that :) ). Then you immediately pour in some dazzling diamond glitter in. You can use a small funnel or I had a small spoon and a cheap Glad type container which I store mine in (or powder tray works) and poured in what I could. You need enough to coat it but not too much, because depending on the color you use it will color the glitter, so it's not as reusable. You can always add some more if you need to until it's dry. By the way, I used gloves and I would recommend you do that if you don't want colored fingers. Once the glitter is in there, take a cloth - paper towel works and cover the hole and shake really well in all directions. (If you don't use a paper towel or gloves, glitter will fly so I've heard). Then empty out any glitter that's extra (I don't recommend putting it back in the original container - unless you want different colored dazzling diamonds) and then let dry. Pop the top back in and you are done. To start with I'd use a lighter color that you can see through - it makes it easier to move around that way at least until you get use to it. The colors in the close up balls are real red, pacific point and old olive. I hope you enjoy this. If you have any questions just ask. My daughter also helped me make little ones for her teachers and she enjoyed it too. We put in about 11 drops for those. So have fun experimenting. I didn't try different colors, but that might be cool too - a swirl type of effect. Hmmm, sounds like an interesting prospect to try. Maybe one day soon. Anyways, I hope you have a great day.

circle ornament?

Hey everyone,
It's been pretty busy around here getting ready for the holidays. I haven't had much time to play it seems. I did finish a couple of projects that I am using as gifts that I need to mail out soon. Most of them you have seen if you have come to my classes - calendars and such. I need to make some more gift card holders still and I am still getting ready for my club on Monday. I have 3 different projects to make, so I hope they enjoy them. I'll share those next week.
We've been busy trying to get ready for the extra Christmas stuff. We just got our tree up and decorated last night and have repaired it at least 3 times - the cats see it as a new challenge. Hopefully it will be old news in a couple of days and they will leave it alone. :) We got our angel tree items in too, which is a relief. I had my DD help me with the shopping this time. She seemed to like that. We have a weekend full of activities and our first taste of Christmas as we get together with my husband's parents to celebrate early. I have had a little time to play between all that. I got to make this ornament, more sparkly ornaments, which I'll show soon, a countdown to Christmas box and a set of cards made with the simply sent Christmas card elements and the To You and Yours stamp set. I'll show them in the next few days as well.
Anyways, back to this ornament. This is a circle globe ornament, kind of like the big ball with less circles. I used 10 here instead of 20. The difference is I turned the flaps inward and not out. I'm now wondering what 20 would look like. This turned out pretty cool I think and they come out into different shapes. The last one was long and pointy this one is 5 sided and more flatter (looks the same on both sides). I used the Frosty Days DSP and my Big Shot and circle ornament die to make this. I also used the small hole punch and silver cording to put a hanger on it. It's all held together with SU glue stick. You ought to try some they are fun. I hope you all are having a great day. Try not to stress too much getting ready for the holidays. Remember one step, one day at a time - and don't forget to breathe.

Different ornaments

Here are some different ornaments I made. They took a lot more time then I expected, but thought I'd share.
This first one was an idea I saw from another demo. She had used wrapping paper, which I think would work better because it's thinner. I think that makes the gaps less. This took me forever to figure out. I told my sister I need an engineer to help. lol.
I did finally get it, but I had to sleep and try again. It was a challenge though which I love. It did come out cool though. For it I used some of my leftover Holiday treasures paper and chocolate grosgrain. Since it took so much time I had to show it.


This next ornament I made with my Big shot snowflake die. I cut out a bunch and glue dotted them together to make this 3d ornament. Fairly easy, except trying to decide how many I needed to complete it. I think it has something like 14 snowflakes in it. I also used baja blue paper and silver cording.






This next ornament is a different spin on the ball ornaments. Instead of putting the lips of the round ornament together I folded them in. On this ornament I put 8 together which gave it sort of diamond type of appearance. I haven't tried 20. I wonder what that would look like. hmm... I may need to try that. I also saw one recently with one lip in and one out. I may have to try that too. I hope you all aren't getting tired of ornaments. lol. These are circles from the ornament kit in the mini, but you can use any colors with the big Shot and circle ornament die.
Well this is most of the paper ornaments - or at least the better ones, that we have made. I hope you got inspired to make some too. There is one more type, but it's not paper and it's super shiny hope you like glitter. you'll have to come back soon and see those. I'm really loving those and I am trying different colors, thus why I haven't shown them yet. Hope to hear from you soon. Have a great day.

ornments similar to mini

Here are ornaments that were similar to the ones in the mini, except I used the ski slope dsp paper found in the mini. Aren't these pretty. We made these at my sisters. I had already made the mini ones, so we needed new ones, so we did these to have different ones.
The strip ornament is 8 - 1x6" strips braded together.
The circle one is made with 20 circles scored (I used the Big Shot die - so easy). I think this paper made some really pretty decorations. I also decorated a countdown box with the same paper and it's pretty too. I'll try and remember to take a picture of that soon. My kids are loving that.
So are you getting into a Christmas mood yet. I can't wait to get our tree. We are hoping to get it next week. I love the smell of a fresh tree and love decorating it and pulling out all the ornaments we've made through the years and seeing all the memories. So much fun.

Remember if you'd like to order items from SU for Christmas do so quickly to get it in time. Several items are already on back order, so it's best to decide soon. Also the new retirement list comes out Dec. 9th for those of you who like to see that, keep an eye out.

This first little ornament isn't very elaborate, but my son loved it. He grabbed it so many times he bent the corner of the star a little bit. This ornament will actually hold a small present or candy, etc. It has a flap that folds in and will keep it closed. The star is just 3 large star punches glued together at the tips. The ribbon is sticky stripped to the inside of the box. It's just stamped with the snowflake from Winter post stamp set and then decorated with red flowers punched from with the Boho Blossoms punch. It isn't the fanciest, but it's how my son liked it, which is all that matters. I used Old Olive, summer sun and real red paper; real red ribbon and sticky strip.



This next little tree I've seen done on a flat card. It's an orgami folded tree. I thought it might look cute as an ornament, so I made two of them and stuck them back to back with sticky strip. It looks much cuter in real life. It has a 3d effect to it, which can't be seen well in the photo. I used the bella dsp to make it and silver cording for the hanger. In real life it's one of my favorites. I should have taken a picture from the side you might could have caught the 3d effect better. You ought to try it. I think it's fun making new ornaments. Do you have any ideas to share? I'd love to see some.

my daughter's ornaments

These are two of the ornaments my daughter put together using the supplies in the ornament kits found in the mini. The only added part was the silver cording and the dimensionals. Aren't these cute? She did a good job decorating them up. What do you think? I'd love to see some ideas you put together.
Hope you are having a great day.

punch ornaments

Over the next several posts you will be shown several ornaments. Hopefully you like ornaments. We got together over the holiday weekend and made several. Even my kids got involved and made some, which I'll show some of them too. We had a lot of fun playing. I hope you are getting into the Christmas spirit. Here are a couple quick and easy ones to inspire you. The pictures don't do them justice, they are really small and very cute ornament additions. The round one is made with the scallop circle punch and they are punched out and folded in half and glued back to back. I used some of my leftover Holiday Treasure paper from my bags and tags class and some silver cording to hang it with, which you can't see here but got eaten off the next night by my cats, so now it's just a nub. Okay, don't laugh. It's funny and sad at the same time. The same thing happened to my little blue one, now we have to pay attention to where the strings go until we get the tree.
This one is made with the scallop square punch. You just fold in all 4 sides (just the corner 3 scallops) and glue the tips together. I punched a hole in the center of one side and fed through the cording before I glued on the final side. I stamped the baja with the Winter Post stamp set before I put it together. Really quick and easy idea and looks good with the dsp.
So I hope you are getting into the ho-ho holiday spirit. lol. Remember to take time and enjoy. Have a great day.

Holy Triptych Christmas ornament

The Christmas bug has already been hitting me. I've done several cards, a few scrapbook pages, a treasure book for holiday memories. I enjoy making fun things for the holidays. How about you? One thing we use to do as kids is make crafts for the holiday, especially ornaments. Besides having fun with the Christmas kits, I've also been experimenting with other techniques as well. This one is done with acetate and Black Staz-on. I colored this in with a blue and yellow sharpie and my white Staz-on. I then added dazzling diamond glitter to the white wing. I added in some iridescent filler to the inside to give it more of a surreal feel to it, but it was really quick and easy. Here is what I used to make this ornament.
Stamps: Holy Triptych
ink: Black & white Staz-on, Sharpie markers (non SU)
paper: acetate
accessories: coluzzle, dazzling diamond glitter, silver cording, cropodile, aqua painter

I hope you get the bug to to have fun and enjoy some holiday craft making too. Have a great day and remember to tell those you love how much you appreciate and love them.

christmas ornament with vinyl

After the bowl, I took another section of the vinyl and put it on an ornament. Then stuffed the ornament with paper strips. I thought it made a cute ornament.
I used the Big Shot and the Join in the Cheer Decorative strip die with the white vinyl.
I can't wait for Christmas.

ornaments from the mini - coming soon

The new mini is coming soon and has some really cool stuff in it. Sales for it begin October 1st. For my normal customers you should be getting your mini in the mail very soon. There are new papers, ribbons, stamp sets (from Halloween to Valentines), 2 ornaments kits and a calendar kit to name a few. I was playing around with some of the ornaments coming out. Here are 2 of the 3 items you can make from the one kit (the third is a star). These are just a couple of the paper samples. It has several colors of double sided dsp included, so you can mix and match if you want. The kits come pre-cut, just punch it out. You just glue, fold, or brad it together. It's pretty easy and fun. My kids liked it too, but I haven't taken a picture of theirs yet.

This picture is some of the ornaments in the second kit you can buy. I did add some to this one though. Except for the big hope saying all the other sayings are Big Shot dies. The peace/dove ornament is also Big shot, but the rest of the chipboard and paper is from the ornament kit. Again you just punch out and adhere together. a fun effect that's really easy.
If you have any questions about the upcoming mini or if you are my customer and you don't get yours fairly soon, let me know.

big shot projects

I've been liking my new big shot. I just wish I had more time to play with it. My club meeting this week will be using the big shot and a couple of dies and the new Halloween papers and sets. I'll post those after club is over. In the mean time. Here is an envelope pouch I made using the Snowflake #2 die. I also punched out extras for an ornament and some extra snowflakes to decorate a bag with. It's just a quick and easy idea.
Stamps: Snow swirled
ink: bashful blue
accessories: big shot & Snowflake die, silver brad, glue dots, white envelope reg, large tag punch.



Here is an ornament I also made with the big shot. The bird and flower one is from the same sizzlet set. The peace is from a long die that has the words Peace, joy, love & cheer. I just cut out the peace part. These are part of the new series that SU is offering for sale.
Papers: baja blue, old olive, vv, riding hood red, ww
accessories: big shot, dies, silver cording (coming back in the mini), hole punch.