Happy New Year!

Wow, another year has come and gone. With a new year I thought it was time for a new layout. I have been searching and playing and FINALLY found this one. I love it! I love snowmen and for the most part winter is cool (no pun intended). Living in Alberta I have to put up with lots of cold and snow so this background is perfect. I am hoping to get back to some more regular posts this year. Things get so hectic that I rarely have time but I am hoping this year to MAKE time. I am planning to go down to part time with my regular job and there are some exciting opportunities for me on the horizon...only time will tell what I end up deciding to do. Anyway, I wish you all good health and much happiness in 2010. This picture was taken a couple days ago on my back deck. This is our beautiful view! We look onto a pond and a horse ranch is on the other side of the trees across the lake. I absolutely love it when it's all frosty like this.

Simple Gifts

These are 2 of the simple gifts I put together this year for some of the teachers at my kids' schools. Now that Parker is in middle school he has several teachers and Jenna has a music teacher, library teacher, gym teacher, and a teacher assistant that works in her classroom. These are great as little thank you's and also work well as hostess gifts. The Deer Friends ones are chocolate covered peppermint patties. The candles are so simple to make. Stamp a snowflake image on tissue paper, cut it out and punch a small hole in the middle. Place the image on the candle with the wick thru the hole. Use your heat tool to melt the image into the wax and when it's still liquid sprinkle some dazzling diamonds on top. I have tested these candles and you can burn them, but as always, do not leave burning candles unattended! Both are packaged in SU cello bags and I used the top note die for the bag toppers.

Three for Three!

We made this great little gift card holders on Sunday. I got the pattern from Angie Juda (Chic n Scratch). I made one small modification. Hers called for a piece of cardstock 11" by 4 1/2". I changed it to 4 1/4" so we could get 2 out of a single piece of cardstock. She has a tutorial on her blog. They are very quick and easy to make.

Club Card #2

Look at me go...posting 2 days in a row! LOL! This is the other card we made at my club workshop yesterday. I like to use non-traditional

colours for many of my Christmas cards. This is Tempting Turquoise with Orchid Opulance. I also have a small snowflake punched out with the 1" circle and an orchid layer (1 1/4" circle) on the inside of the card. And I LOVE snowmen! They are so much fun to colour.

Club Card

This is one of the cards we made at my club workshop today. I got the idea from Ann at http://www.stampinchic.com/ . I used dimensionals to pop the top 2 layers of snow as well as the middle tree. The stamp set is Pattern Pines (hostess set) as well as the sentiment from Short & Sweet. Trees are in Real Red. It's hard to see but the background has a bit of blue pastel for the sky. The torn paper also has dazzling diamonds along the edge. Hopefully I will post again soon! It has been such a busy fall and then we took a holiday to Maui which was amazing!

Crimp It

I made the heart card this summer after seeing it on Jill's blog (see my list) and used it at a Stamp-a-Stack. So cute and simple. (And a single layer..woohoo for less cutting!) Then this week when I was trying to come up with some Christmas cards for a stamp-a-stack I thought I could just change it up a little and turn it into a Christmas design! Loved the results.

Love this punch!

I cased this card out of the Holiday Mini catalogue. White base with Bashful Blue layer that I ran through the BigShot using the polkadot texturz plate. Ornaments are stamped in Old Olive, Real Red and So Saffron. Ribbon is Old Olive. One ornament (green) is on dimensionals. I also added texture to the flap of the envelope so they totally coordinate!

Double Flap Card

These cards are fun and simple yet look like you spend a lot of time on them. Got the idea from Dawn @ Dawns Stamping Thoughts. Here is a link to her video tutorial.

Love the Sparkles

I have seen a couple cards similar to this and knew that I had to try it. Love the results! These were made using the sticky pages from SU and the new ornament punch. The punch was a little tough to get thru the pages at times but it wasn't too hard. The sentiments are embossed with silver.

Instructions:

Punch ornament out of sticky paper

Cut ribbon or cord for the ornament to "hang" on and a tie around piece if you want one.

Remove the white backing from the ornament (sticky) and place on cardstock with the string pieces underneath

Using a cutting blade and a ruler cut strips through the orange/red sticky layer

Peel one stripe off and cover with glitter. Repeat for each strip.

You could also make this ornament using sticky strip. Just punch an ornament out of white cardstock and cut strips of sticky strip for it, trimming right at the edge of the ornament. SU has a thin sticky strip but it is also available at craft stores in a wide width.

Long Time No Post!

I can't believe it's been 2 months since my last post! Wow. Time sure flies. Just after my last one we went on a holiday and when we got home it was time for the kids to start school and I was back working full time. Needless to say I have hardly done any stamping except for a couple of workshops I have hosted. This card is from one I did in September. It is pretty much a case from one of the examples in the Holiday mini. I LOVE the new ornament punch! The background is embossed using the bigshot. We also embossed the flap of the envelope to match!