Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas!

Oh boy, it's been a while again. I can't seem to do more than one thing at a time.... Either I'm working a lot (which I did last week & the week before), or I'm sick (last week), or I'm stamping. I can't do all things at once. Today I was happily given a day off (no sub calls), so I can get caught up on some stuff. I have been making my Christmas cards like crazy for the past 2 weeks.... finally almost done! (Now to write on them all............)

I decided to make 8 each of 7 different designs. That way I don't get too bored doing one same design. AND, I get to use lots of my stamps, which makes it the most fun! Anyway, thought I'd share my creations with you! I know which one is my favorite (I'll tell ya later). Which one is yours???

#1Frosty Day Merry Christmas
I love the color combo of orange and green for Christmas - so nontraditional! The Frosty Day paper is just too cute to pass up. And of course, I used scallops: my new favorite tool. I used this card from Amy's blog as design inspiration.

Stamp Sets: Deer Friends, Season of Joy
Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Close to Cocoa
Stamp Pads (Classic): Kiwi Kiss, Close to Cocoa
DSP: Frosty Day
Accessories/Tools: Scallop edge, scallop circle, dimensionals



#2 Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

Holly Jolly Christmas (by Burl Ives) is my FAVORITE Christmas song! I love the part "Kiss 'er once for me!" So, when I saw this set, I had to have it. This santa is so cute and cheery! I think this is an underappreciated set in the catalog this year.

Stamp Set: Holly Jolly Christmas
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Real Red
Stamp Pads (Classic): Real Red, Stazon Black
DSP: Real Red DSP (hostess set)
Accessories/Tools: Baja Breeze Ribbon, Stickles Diamonds

#3 Celebrate the Season
This set is leftover from last year's cards... and I always seem to have trouble figuring out what to do with it. But, when I saw this card on SCS, I knew I could use it as inspiration to make it my own. These colors are so cute together!

Stamp Set: Season of Joy
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Riding Hood Red
Stamp Pads (Classic):Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze
DSP: Ski Slope
Accessories/Tools: 3/4" circle punch, dimensionals, silver brads

#4 Season of Christmas
A new favorite set of mine! I could stamp these little trees all day long. I knew I wanted to do something with this set for Christmas, then I found this card on SCS, and its "mother" card on Michelle's blog. I took those two ideas and came up with this card. I love it. I hope this set sticks around a long time.

Stamp Set: Season of Friendship
Cardstock: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Craft
Stamp Pads (Classic): Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze
Accessories/Tools: 1/8" circle punch, wide oval punch, dimensionals, Chocolate Chip 1/4" grosgrain ribbon


#5 Merry & Bright
This card makes me smile. The little snowman from Merry & Bright is the cutest one around. I can't believe he's retiring! I borrowed this set from my upline, so I better order mine - and at 10% off. Yay! This design is totally cased from Jenn D. at Stamp Your Heart Out. While she used my favorite set (Season of Joy) I thought the layout was perfect for Merry & Bright.

Stamp Sets: Merry & Bright, Best Yet (hostess)
Cardstock: Old Olive, Whisper White, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip
DSP: Holiday Traditions
Stamp Pads (Classic): Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red
Accessories/Tools: Scallop edge punch, circle scallop punch, 1/16" (or is it 1/8"? I can't remember...) circle punch, corner rounder, white ribbon, blender pens

#6 Big on Holidays
I didn't want to totally case one of my own cards from my card class, but I had some materials from said class left over. So I made a new creation. I like it... scallops, ribbon, DSP, blender pens. What more could a girl want?

Stamp Set: Big on Christmas
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Whisper White
DSP: Holiday Traditions
Stamp Pads (Classic): Stazon Black, Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Old Olive, So Saffron
Accessories/Tools: Scallop edge punch, 1/4" Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, blender pens



Last, but not least, #7 Always Christmas
I made this card for a swap at SCS, but I liked it so much I decided to use it for my own Christmas cards! I love it when you can use a non-Christmas set and make it Christmasy. Versatility is good!

Stamp Sets: Always, Season of Joy
Cardstock: Whisper White, Real Red, Old Olive
Stamp Pads (Classic): Real Red, Old Olive, Basic Gray
Accessories/Tools: Sponge, antique brads


Whew! This post took an hour (I have a verrrrrrry slow computer). I hope you enjoy these cards. Please leave a comment of which one you like best! I will let you know my favorite soon. :)

Molly's Workshop/Party

The countdown for my first workshop is on! Friday I go to my friend Molly's for a workshop/party at her house. She is the person who introduced me to stamping 6 years ago.... so I am highly grateful that she's allowing me to come be the demonstrator! Since we are friends & this is my first workshop & she's quite experienced at stamping, I let her choose the stamp sets she wanted to see & a few techniques. I designed the cards around that. We both agreed that make and takes are way better than demos, so I'm doing 3 make and takes. I'll have the paper & ribbon cut for all the guests. They will just put together. Much more fun than watching me! (and will hopefully increase sales, right???)

Card #1 Pocket Silhouettes

I used:
Pocket Silhouettes & Sincere Salutations stamp sets
Pink Pirouette & Whisper White cardstock
Sweet Always DSP
Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, & Pink Pirouette Classic Stampin' Pads
Chocolate Chip ribbon
Large Oval punch & Scallop Edge punch (note: I know this isn't an SU punch on my sample.... my SU punch is arriving via UPS today!)

Anyone recognize my favorite layout again??

I wanted to highlight the punches with this card. I hope they are a good upsell. I love them, so I should be able to show my enthusiasm for them. :)

Card #2 Pun Fun
I used:
Pun Fun stamp set
Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Riding Hood Red & Whisper White cardstock
Washington Apple DSP
Stazon pad,
So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Riding Hood Red, & Bashful Blue Classic Stampin' Pads (for Blender Pen coloring)
Pewter brads

At my class this weekend, everyone LOVED the Blender Pens, so I wanted to make sure I included a demo/use of those. This card is kinda plain for me, but it is an easy make-and-take since it will be just gluing the paper down & inserting the brads. I would think most of the work will be put into using the Blender Pens ---- and I hope they all fall in love with the BP and have to buy a set. :)

Gift Card Holder
I used:
Season of Friendship, Deer Friend & Best Yet stamp sets
Baja Breeze, Real Red & Whisper White cardstock
SkiSlope DSP
Baja Breeze & Real Red Classic Stampin' Pads
Scallop Circle punch
1 1/2" Circle Punch (eep! Not SU!)
will use: rub-ons

I got this design from Dawn's blog. It's fun to watch her tutorials as the background music (especially in this one) make me smile! So funny.

Anyway, this is my "in case" demo. I am only going to do it "in case" she has 9 or more people at her party. The count is teetering at 8-9 right now. I figure with 9, 3 at each of 3 stations will be nice & easy to manage... but 4-5 at each of 2 stations would be harder. However, if only 6 show up, I will not demo this one. Though I love it! I am getting my rubons delivered via UPS today, so I am going to put some of those babies on here, too. You know, since they are on sale and all. :)

I also hope to borrow a roller wheel from my upline to highlight on this... think it would go nicely to do the background. However, my only Christmas roller wheel is retired. So I need to borrow one.

Top photo is the outside, bottom is the inside. Obviously. I didn't realize until I was done that Best Yet has a Christmas stamp... so I think I'll encourage the use of that one instead. :)

Thanks for looking!

Christmas card class = success!

My first class turned out to be a tremendous success! I had 2 sessions... one Friday night with 4 people and one Saturday morning with 10 people. I found it much easier to manage the group of 4 than the group of 10.... which is true when I'm teaching, too. It's easier to manage 20 kids than 30 kids. :) But I think both groups were extremely productive (some people even finished all 30 cards in 2 1/2 hours or so!) and the creative juices were just flowing in my house! I love how many of the ladies took my sample designs and created something of their own. The best part of the class was showing off my new blender pens, letting guests use them, and seeing how excited they were about them! I sold one set immediately that night, and I'd be betting many of the ladies buy a set in the next month or so (some are thinking about orders to place soon, probably including blender pens!)

I got 2 bookings from the class, which I'm so excited about. They aren't until the new year, but that's expected this time of year. One wants to do a class/workshop at her house... where it's set up like I did my class in my home. People order the set ahead of time, the hostess gets the paper needed, then I come over and teach them how to make cards. Sounds way fun to me! They want to use Pun Fun, which is one of my favorite sets. So, I will post about that workshop/class when I know more.

I was so excited to get to meet new people, too! Two of the ladies on Friday night were brand-new friends to me! I had never met them before! I placed a classified ad in the neighborhood newspaper & they found me there. Great future customers, too. One placed an online order the very next day! And the other bought a catalog that night.

Anyway, I made the cutest doorprize for the Saturday event. It's a little spice jar from Ikea (4 for $2.99). I cut out a circle of Holiday Treasures DSP and affixed it on the lid, then stamped in Ruby Red one of the cute stamps in Deer Friends & punched out with 1 1/2" circle. Since I don't have a bigger cirlce punch, I had to improvise and do two 1 1/2" cirlces with the back of the Holiday Treasures paper to make a mat. Along the edge of the lid I put Holiday Treasures paper & Chocolate Chip 1/4" ribbon. Filled it with Kisses & cute!! The picture is so dark, sorry. I was ready to give it away when I realized I needed a picture! So, I didn't think about how to get the BEST picture. :)




I have more to post about the weekend, but I think I'll do a separate post, as to keep posts from becoming novels. :)