Fast Falling Leaves

The title isn't too far off here either. This card went together so fast I almost felt guilty! I don't recall making a card so quickly in a very long time and have it be a card I actually like too!

This card is very simple and clean looking. Something I like in a card. On and it has a layer to it to. And we ALL know how much I LOVE doing cards with layers!!! I would think, for me the greatest challenge in a card would be to make one that is square (those are just SO difficult) and to make one with no layers. I panic at the very thought!!! And my mind goes instantly blank for an idea or theme! LOL There was one time that the Wednesday SplitCoast sketch challenge was a square card and I wasn't going to participate. But as the day went on I decided to challenge myself. Now that was a tough day for me!!! LOL I do shy away from the non-traditional size cards.

Anyway, this one is not non-traditional but it is layer limited!!! And the main thing here is that even with limited layers, it worked!!

It's a sweet looking card. I do like how neat and clean it looks. And with the other assortment of leaves in this set you could easily change this into a masculine card. There are three other leaves in the Stampin' Up! "Falling Leaves" set that do not have words on the leaves, just other little designs. Oh and other than being a very quick card the other nice thing about this card is it won't cost you any extra postage to mail it!!!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Wednesday Sketch Challenge

I can not believe it's Wednesday already. The time is just flying lately! I didn't even get through all of the Halloween stuff I wanted to and now Thanksgiving is just a little over 2 weeks away! I can't believe that either.

Anyway, this is the card I made for the Wednesday Sketch Challenge at SplitCoastStampers. I bought this "Too Much Snow" stamp from Plum Purdy Stamps last year and I used it once. I ran across it when I was looking for a snowman to use on this sketch. I always thought he was cute.

For my card I actually cut out the hat, nose and scarf and layered them on using Dimensionals. I was a bit upset with myself for touching the branch under the bird. I smudged the ink. I suppose you didn't notice it until I pointed it out to you, right? LOL

This card was fun to do and not to bad to put together. I LOVE the background paper. It came in a BIG pack from Michael's called "Wonderful Winter." It's glitter paper and there are SO many beautiful papers in that pack. I'll be playing with more of them later this month!

I did use the Stampin' Up! "Simple Snowflake" stamp and the snowflake punch. And I stamped the snowflake image in Chocolate Chip. Such a traditional snowflake color, isn't it?

I had to laugh. As I was getting my card ready to post on here I thought the snowman looked odd. Something was missing but I just couldn't place it. Then I looked over at my worktable and there were these two stick arms sitting there. I forgot to add the arms to the poor guy!! The arms came from a snowman punch by Martha Stewart. It's SO darn cute. You get all the pieces to it too!! I'll make a snowman with it soon and show you how cute it really is!

This was a very fun sketch. There aren't too many I don't find fun. The square ones I find VERY challenging because the require me to step outside my box of traditional size cards.

I was so glad I got to play with this set again. Now back to work on the "things" I was working on before the email came in telling me the sketch was posted!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Christmas Greetings Simple Snowflake

I wanted to make some cards this week and I wanted to make them a bit simpler than the cards I had been making. The gals who come over to stamp like my cards but don't always want to do all those layers. And you know me, I LOVE layers!!!

So for this card I thought I would try to keep it a bit simpler. I used the Movers and Shapers Sizzix die and cut out my window and card at the same time. I like that die because it also scores your card for you!!! I also cut out just a window piece using Garden Green card stock. I used an x-acto knife and cut around the perforated area so I could get a little green frame. I glued it in place using the two way glue pen.

Then I found some fun decorative paper from the "Merry Moment's" pack and cut a strip of it to fit on the left side of the card. I added a piece of Real Red grosgrain ribbon and taped it on. Then I thought I would add a greeting. I first thought of the "Merry Christmas" in the "Teeny Tiny Wishes" set but I found the "Christmas Greetings" in the new "Grateful Greetings" set. I stamped the words in Real Red.

I got out my snowflake punch because I thought a snowflake would be cut eon the card. But it ended up being on cute on the inside of the card! I used the "Simple Snowflake" stamp and I stamped it in Real Red and then punched it out. I glued it on top of a 2-1/8" circle and then I took a piece of Brushed Silver card stock and cut out a piece for the top of the bulb. I taped it all in place and I thought the snowflake looked like it needed something so I added a rhinestone and that did it. A touch of bling can always brighten up a card, can't it?

To finish it off I tied a red bow and stuck it in place using a glue dot. And that was it. A pretty quick and pretty simple card. Well, except for the green around the frame. It was simple enough but it did take a few minutes to cut around it. I don't think I would like to cut out 100 of them for my Christmas cards though!

I do like quick and simple cards and hopefully I can get a few more of them done before the gals come to stamp this month!

Thanks SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Socks & Dots!

What a strange title for this post, isn't it? Well, the title explains it all!! There is a box of Dots and around that box is a sock! I got these adorable snowflake socks at Target's Dollar Spot. I put the box of theater size Dots in one of the socks and then I slid the other sock inside the first sock so they are together. Then I pinned the toe part to the back of the box. I thought it was a fun way to give boxed candy as a stocking stuffer this Christmas!

I wanted to dress up the stocking just a bit more so I got out some punches and punched 6 circles per body part! I used a 1-3/4" punch on the bottom, a 1-1/4" punch for the center and a 1" punch for the head. The hat was made by taking a strip of black card stock, scoring it and forming a hollow back box. I cut a 1-1/4" black circle and cut that in half. I taped the top part of the hat to it. Inside the hollow part I added several pieces of Pop Up glue dots and stuck it to the stocking. The body parts were stuck on with double sided tape. I wanted to affix the snowman with something that is removable but yet won't ruin the socks. Oh, I almost forgot the arms. They are made using one of my Sizzix dies. I'll be sharing what I make with that die with you later in the week.

These are very fun and quick to make too. After you punch out the circles you just fold them in half and glue them in place on a single circle. Isn't this a fun way to dress up the front of a gift. This would work well too on a wrapped gift. You know, one done with regular wrapping paper and not socks!!! But not as cute!!! LOL

You can also make your own box to fit inside the sock and add your own special gift instead of candy.

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

From Flowers to Shiny Snowflakes!

I am having such fun with my die cuts and the piece of aluminum I found in the garage. I laugh every time I make something with that aluminum. Last spring we were cleaning out the garage and I found a roll of aluminum and we decided to put it in the spring garage sale as a free item. No one took it. Shocking, I know. But meant to be! After all it was aluminum and it could be recycled for cash. I wasn't aware it was aluminum at the time, I just thought it was sheet metal but yet knew we didn't want it in the garage anymore. SO after the garage sale it was still there so we put it on a shelf in the garage and thought we'd find another way to get rid of it. And we didn't!!! Another "meant to be!"

When I was thinking of what to make with the aluminum, I thought of the snowflake die cut so I cut one out. Then I thought I would affix two together so I cut out another one. I used glue dots so stick them together but I thought I could do something more with it. You can read how to make that snowflake candle holder here. So after making the candle holder I went on to make a couple more things with the die cuts. Click here to see what can be made with die cuts, including the aluminum ones! But I wasn't done creating nor was I out of aluminum! LOL

SO I got out the Stampin' Up! "Flower Daisies" die cut and cut out two of each piece. I stuck them all together with glue dots and added a jumbo brad to each side. I added a hanging cord and then stuck the two sides together. It looks like a snow burst ornament.

This ornament can be covered with Dazzling Diamonds or micro beads. The edges could be sponged with blue StazOn and it can even be heat embossed or spray painted!!! Use your imagination on decorating this or just leave it as it is. The tree lights reflecting on it will be pretty too!

I've had several people ask me about selling kits for the snowflake candle holder. If you are interested please email me here.

These are great for Hostess Gifts, Customer Appreciation Gifts, Make N Takes, Craft Fairs and even a fun Stamp Camp Items.

Thank you SO much for visiting my blog today,
Wanda

Biscotti Gift Box/Tote! Weekend Project

I made this box for a friend of mine. I KNOW she LOVES coffee but I'm not sure about the Biscotti!! Not too many people don't like Biscotti so the odds are in my favor. Click on the photo for a closer view.

I made the box using the Stampin' Up! "Bags with Scallops" Sizzix die cut. I cut out two of them. Before I put them together I cut off 1-1/2" on the sides and front piece. When I folded the sides in to glue them I made sure the score marks were on the inside of the bag.

I cut the box from Rich Razzleberry card stock. The sides were decorated using the Rich Razzleberry Paper Patterns package. I taped a piece of Rich Razzleberry ribbon around the box and affixed the oval to it.

The oval was done using a Scalloped Oval Punch and a regular oval punch. I used the set "Oval All" for the flower part and the words came from the "All Holidays" set. I set these on top of the ribbon using Dimensionals.

The flowers near the handle were from the "Three Flowers" punch. I did cut a strip of card stock to fit in the center. It covered the scallops. My scallops got cut off at the top because I used 8-1/2" x 11" card stock and I didn't make sure it covered the die all the way. But that's ok, the scallops wouldn't show anyway because the Biscotti was too tall. SO I cut card stock to fit both sides. I punched them out with the oval punch before I glued them onto the scallop piece. I did have to trim the scallop a bit because it stuck out further than the piece I was inserting. Can't tell, can you?

I filled my little double box with Biscotti and wet wipes on one side and coffee, creamer and sugar on the other side. I need to add a napkin and it's all set to give!!

This was a fun little project to do and these little totes sure do come in handy!! Aren't they fun?


Thanks SO much for visiting today and be sure to stop back to see this cute tote!
Wanda

Apparently my issues with posting pictures on my blog was not the fault of Blogger. I needed to resize some pictures for my bracelet instructions and I tried to email them all to myself. The email program resizes the picture and they can be used in the software program I have. I guess you can't send them all at one time, even though it asks you if you want to resize them (I said yes) and it did it's thing. But in the process it got stuck along the way and bogged down my computer. I realized it very late last night when I went to shut down the computer and I'm getting messages telling me there is unsent emails and do I want to shut down anyway? Of course I said yes, it was 2 am and I was done with the computer. But would it shut down? NO, it was bogged down. I guess I just gave it too much to think about. But today it's working fine and the picture is now on here (obviously)!!! LOL Didn't I tell you it was a cute tote? Make one, they don't take long at all! Have a fun day and thanks for "listening" to me whine! I'm SO good at it, just ask my hubby!!! LOLL

Blog Candy

Here is the first of the Blog Candy I will be giving out to celebrate my Blogoversary and to ring in the New Year! Each week I will be adding a new item and on New Year's Day you can leave a comment and your name will be entered in a random drawing. I will use the Random Number selector to pick the winner.

This is the first item! Pay attention, there may be a quiz!! LOL



Have a great day!
Wanda

Baby's First Christmas Ornament! Weekend Project

It's never too early to start making Christmas gifts! A friend of mine became a grandma this year. I'm SO jealous! She brought over photos of her new grand-baby. He's SO cute. I want one of those!!! But first I'd like our son to propose to his girlfriend, then get married and then have a baby. And at the rate he's going with the proposal it could be years! Good thing he doesn't read my blog, huh??? LOL

Anyway, my wonderful friend has a grand baby so I thought I would make her an ornament for the baby. I used the Stampin' Up! "Train & Teddy" set. I just LOVE the teddy bear in that set. It's SO cute and sweet looking.

First I had to tape some tissue paper to a piece of copier paper. I only taped one end and both sides. The end that was taped was the one that feeds into the computer. I typed up the wording on the computer and printed it out on a laser printer. Printing it in a regular ink jet printer may cause the words to bleed when affixed to the bulb. I didn't even try it on the bubble jet printer, I think I did that one other time and learned the hard way it bled. SO I just thought I would print it out on the laser right away to save time and avoid any hassle.

I lined everything up to fit in the circle of the bulb. It took a couple of practice printings on copier paper to get it right and then I printed it out on the taped tissue paper. After that I stamped the image with Black StazOn and then colored it. After I got it all colored I began cutting around the image and words and realized I needed to cut them all off individually. Silly me. I could have just printed out all the words and not had to take into consideration placement!!! Oh well, silly me! SO, I cut everything out and set them on the bulb where I thought they would look good and fit nicely.

I took the pieces off the bulb and poured out some Crystal Effects directly onto the bulb. Aleen's makes a glaze that is just like the Crystal Effects except it's a bit more clear. It works exactly the same and it's available at Michael's and JoAnn's. These bulbs can be found at Michael's now in the Christmas area. I don't know if they carry them all year long, but I kind of doubt it.

Ok, once you have some of the glaze poured on the bulb take a paint brush and spread it around. Set your tissue pieces in place and gently go over them with the brush getting them "wet" and stuck to the bulb. Make sure the glaze is evenly distributed. It will dry the way you leave it.

I set mine aside to dry and then I added a bit more glaze to the edges and sprinkled the light blue glitter on it. I tied a ribbon to the top and a bow was tide onto that.

After the little glitch of making sure all was lined up on the copier paper the rest went very smoothly and quickly.

I did heat set the glaze but saw that it was starting to form little bubbles so I stopped. Perhaps I was too close to it. I had other things to tend to so I just set it aside and came back alter.

I think she's going to LOVE this! I just love that little teddy bear! For a closer view click on the photo.

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Blogoversary!

Today is my "Blogoversary!" I wasn't even paying attention to the counter! I began this blog on November 6, 2006. WOW it really doesn't seem like it's been that long. I am still loving every minute of it and still have LOTS more to share with you all!

Now for a what to do to celebrate. I gave this some thought and I'm going to post a stamp set tomorrow but this is going to be a "progressive" gift! In the past I have always added more "stuff" to the package before I send it out to the winner. But this year I'm going to post the new items every week until New Year's Day. Then on New Year's Day you can leave your comments there for the drawing! And of course I'll have some silly little question for you to comment on!!

So starting tomorrow and then every Friday after that I will post the items up for grabs including the new one I add on New Year's Day!! It will be fun and it will give me time to find a box for all this fun stuff someone is going to be starting the New Year off with!!! SO be sure to stay tuned!

Have a fun day! It's sunny and in the upper 50's right now in Minnesota. The wind is blowing but that's ok it's too beautiful out to complain about that! I have a few windows left to clean in my fall cleaning routine so it's a good day for that! SO I'm off to do that, not so fun but when I'm done I get to spend my afternoon in my workroom (I LOVE being in there)! I have been asked by many of you to see photos of my workroom. Well.... it's been such a mess lately that I don't like anyone seeing it. But I am in the process of organizing and cleaning up things. I got new counters for the cubes I ordered from Oriental Trading and it's WONDERFUL. It's nice to have solid work surfaces! They look fabulous too! Oh and they sure do hold a lot of junk. I dumped a lot of "stuff" in them that needs sorting too. SO much to do but I'd rather stamp. And thus you have the reason why the room is so disorganized!! I mean, be real. Which would you rather do? Clean or stamp? LOL

Have a wonderful day and stay tuned for the BIG Blog Candy!
Wanda

Button Button!

A friend of mine (Joann!) showed me a card she had made using the most adorable button punch by Martha Stewart. She told me she got it at Michael's. Well, after I left her house I headed for Michael's to purchase this adorable punch!

This punch not only punches out the button and button holes but it also embosses it so it's got raised and lowered parts. Click on the photo for a closer view to see what I'm talking about.

After I punched my buttons I took some linen thread and tied it on the buttons. I found some cute decorative paper in a pack I had gotten at Archiver's and I put it on the top of a piece of Apricot Appeal card stock. I stuck the buttons on over the area where the edge of the decorative paper is. It took 7 buttons to cover that area.

I needed a "thank you" card so I stamped the words on the bottom part of the card and it's ready to go! What is really great about these buttons is when they go through the mail they won't cost me any extra in postage!!! Gotta LOVE that!!! Aren't they adorable? They are SO quick to make too. As much as I LOVE die cuts I LOVE punches a bit more because they are quicker!

This card can be used for SO many different occasions too. I can see myself using this punch on a lot of cards!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Wednesday Sketch Challenge

Here is my card for this weeks Sketch Challenge over at SplitCoastStampers. This one was very different with those little triangles on the sides. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with those. They were the biggest challenge on the card for me. I first had them just white and empty but I sure could tell they needed something. I was just going to add a red brad on each one but they were too small. Then as I was walking by my counter I saw the branch punch and thought I'd give it a try. I punched out two for each side and liked it and then thought I'd try one more for each side. I liked that much better. But the triangles still needed a little something more. I was going to add 3 brads on each one like berries but the red was just not matching so I went with the buttons. Fortunately I had two of them left!!! Meant to be, huh?? LOL

I used the Stampin' Up! "Teeny Tiny Wishes" set for the "Merry Christmas." The "Modern Label" punch was used under the words.

The cardinal came from the "A Christmas Cardinal" set.

I colored the bird in with a marker. No blender pen was used on here at all! How unusual for me!

But the card did have LOTS of layers which is something that I REALLY love!!!

I actually like this card! Not too many times I can say that without hesitation. I think it's those branch things that are giving this card that "thing" I was looking for in it!

And the most amazing thing about this card is that it didn't take all that long to do. I think it had a lot to do with using decorative paper, an embossing folder and coloring directly from the marker! All of those help things to move along quicker!

If you have time give the sketch a try! I LOVE getting new layouts to play with! Another one for my album!!

Thank you SO much for visiting to day,
Wanda

Flaky Frames! Weekend Project

Here is a fun snowflake frame I made using the Sizzix Snowflake die cut and a couple of pieces of aluminum.

To make this ornament you will first need to put on some work gloves. Ones that are thick enough so you don't cut yourself on the aluminum.

Now cut a piece of aluminum to fit the die cut. Run it through the machine as you would for card stock. Make two snowflakes. Once they have gone through the Sizzix machine they are no longer sharp on the edges and you can handle them with bare hands.

To stick these together I used a few glue dots. They are sticky enough to hold these together. Be sure to get the snowflakes lined up and on straight. Once you put them together with the glue dots they are on there pretty tight. You can remove a snowflake to reposition it but it is not easy and the snowflakes do bend easy.

I punched out a circle the size I wanted for my photo and I punched out my photo and taped the two pieces together. Then I stuck the photo to the snowflake with glue dots too. The circle needed a bit more around the edges and as I was looking around my workroom to see what I could use I found the string of pearls. I stuck them around the photo using the small glue dots. I took the glue dot and rolled it up and then cut it in half. I stuck it on every two or three pearls until I made it all the way around the photo.

You can add glitter or the clear micro beads to the snowflake to give it some more sparkle and you can find other items to use around the circle to jazz up the center of the snowflake! You can add a string to it to hang it on the tree or use it on your gifts.

You can pick up aluminum at any hardware store. Mine came in a roll. It may come in sheets, I don't know you'd have to look. A roll of this stuff goes a LONG way!!!

These are fun to make and make great gifts. They would also make a fun Stamp Camp item and even a fun Make N Take too!! Have fun making these. The are quick to do, especially when you use glue dots. There's no waiting for anything to dry!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Here Comes the Bride!

I have been working on designing wedding invitations for a neighbor. This is what I came up with and she LOVED it. The wedding is next fall but the "Save the Date" cards needed to be done so she could get them out. Now I have several months to work on the invitations. It is nice to be able to work on them a little at a time at my leisure. Gotta LOVE working like that!!! It won't make it feel like a chore or a job at all. And in no time they will be done!

Aren't they just pretty and they have such a wonderful "fall" look to them. Exactly what the bride wanted!!! She had to show the sample to the neighbors!! A sign that she REALLY liked them!!!

I will take a week off from them and then start the computer printing part and go from there! It's all that sponging that is going to take the most time. But without it the card was not as pretty!!

Wow, one of the few times my photos exceeds the length of my writing!! LOL

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Sweet Treats Candy Cup Snowflake Weekend Project

Ok, SO I just had to play with Terri's Skittle Flower idea. I was thinking about a winter theme and this is what I came up with.

I used my Sizzix snowflake die cut and cut out two of them. You can cut the two out at one time but I don't like to do that. One of them has a more rounded edge to it and doesn't match the first one. It's just best to cut them out one at a time.

I punched out a 2" circle to cover the back of the Sweet Treats cup. I removed half of the tape on it and left the other half on. You do want to get to the candy somehow!!! I folded the circle in half so I knew where to tape the circle. I filled the cup with blue M & M's. I used a library clip with a bow attached to hold the circle to the top of the cup.

I taped the two snowflakes together and then I taped the candy cup circle on top of them. Behind the snowflake I taped a craft stick.

I got this adorable glass at the dollar store and I filled it with the remaining blue M & M's and put the snowflake in it.

I do need to tie a big ole bow to the bottom of the stem of the glass and it will be ready for gift giving! Isn't it cute? Wouldn't these make great centerpieces on your dining room table?

These would also make great Make N Takes, Hostess Gifts, Customer Appreciation Gifts, Stamp Camp items, Craft Fair items, a fun winter bouquet and even centerpieces!

Thank you Terri for the great inspiration!

Thank you all for visiting my blog today,
Wanda