Angel Ornament

This angel is made using the Gift Bow die. I'm busy making about 100 of these for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services at our churches. They'll be given to the children during the children's message. And then any family that didn't get one can pick them up at the door. This is our third Christmas here serving the two churches and each year I've made a little ornament to go along with the children's message or should I say I've made an ornament and then Pastor Brian tells a children's message that goes along with it.
Can you guess what stamp set I used for the embossing on the angel's garment?

It's the largest star from the Bright and Beautiful stamp set. The halo is made using the gold foil sheets and 1-3/4 and 1-1/4 inch circle punches. The little poinsettia is made using the the Boho Blossoms punch and the little center is punched from the halo scrap using a retired punch but you could use the little flower from the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack. 

CASE:  Dawn Olchefske

I won't be posting again until next week. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and weekend everyone!

Holiday Home Votive

This cute little votive candle holder is made using a strip of vellum Staz-On ink and the Blendabilities (you have to stamp the image on one side of the vellum and then color with the markers on the opposite side) and the Holiday Home stamp set. I found this idea on Vicky Hayes' blog. I used her directions but she didn't have the instructions for making the base so, I had to figure that out on my own. It was hard to get a picture that would come close to doing it justice. It's so pretty with the little flickering battery votive.

Snowman

The coaster calendars were a big hit at the holiday fair on Saturday. So, I've been busy making a few more of those for friends. I finally got my Gift Box Punch Board out of the box and made this cute snowman. I've seen several of these posted on the web. I pretty much followed the pattern on Dawn Olchefske's blog. The differences being the googly eyes on mine and the added scarf using chevron ribbon. I also pulled out a retired embosslit for the buttons (but you could use the new Little Pieces embosslit).

Isn't he cute!

Coaster Calendar - September, October, November and December

 September's bus comes from the retired Every Little Bit stamp set and fussy cut and adhered to a 1" punched circle.

October's Frankenstein comes from the retired Googly Ghouls stamp set, fussy cut and adorned with some googly eyes.

November's pie is from retired Every Little Bit stamp set, fussy cut and adhered to a punched 1-7/8" circle.

December's tree comes from the Festival of Trees stamp set and punched with the Tree Punch.

Coaster Calendar - May, June, July and August

May's flower is punched card stock using the Boho Blossoms punch and topped with a button from a retired assortment. 

June's butterflies are cut using the Big Shot Beautiful Wings embosslit.

July's stars are punched and topped with a rhinestone.

August's ice cream cone was stamped using the retired Sock Monkey Accessories stamp set and colored with Blendabilities markers.

This Year's Coaster Calendar

Here's the cover and first four months for this year's "Coaster" calendar. Instead of coasters I use the white tag board backing the comes in the packs of Designer Series Paper. Yes, I save those, too. I have a small space on one of my studio shelves where I store them.
I use that tag board cut to 4"x4" to make the cover and back of the calendar. The month pages are just a piece of 4"x4" card stock.
When I'm making these calendars I pick a pack of DSP that has at least 6 different colors in it and then pull card stock in those six colors. Each monthly page has a small piece (1.5"x4") of DSP glued to the bottom of the cardstock. I usually think about what ribbon I have to trim the pages, too. This calendar is made using the retired Sycamore Street DSP. Then I decide what little stamp, punch or embellishment I can use that goes with that month.
Once you have those things decided the work goes pretty quickly. Since I was making a couple of these for the church's Holiday Fair I stamped and cut everything multiple times and then got busy putting the pages together.
I used my Crop-a-Dile to cut the holes for the rings.

 The numbers were cut using a Big Shot die The back is made the same as the front except I just overlap the ribbon on the inside so it lays flat.

 Snowflakes are from a retired Big Shot die.

 The heart is from two Big Shot dies layered together.Hearts a Flutter and a retired heart Embosslit.

 I fussy cut this shamrock from the retired Got Treats stamp set.

The umbrella comes from the retired Every Little Bit stamp set and is mounted on a punched 1-1/4" scalloped circle that I ran through the Big Shot using the retired Cloudy Day embossing folder.

Notebooks and Pens

These cute little notebooks and pens are some of the items I've made to donate to the church's Holiday Fair. I used the Confetti Celebration Designer Series Paper from Stampin' Up! and some of the washi tape I had in my stash. You take the Pentel pens apart and roll a little piece of DSP and stuff it into the barrel before putting the pen back together. The little composition notebooks were found at Walgreen's. I'm hoping people will think they make great stocking stuffers or little gifts for office mates. I tied them up with ribbon from my stash... I'm trying to get rid of all my non- Stampin' Up! ribbon. We like to use it to tie up all our gifts and packages.
The little cello bags are recycled. When I get new stamping accessories they usually come in cello bags. So I carefully remove the product and have a bag hanging in my studio closet where I store them. When I make a gift or these type of items I can usually find a cello bag that is the right size. My family will be saying it's a "Aunt Nina" thing!

All Occasion Card from Work of Art

Here's one of the calendar pages I made and then decided not to use. So, I turned it into a card. The flourish comes from the Everything Eleanor stamp set. I added a few rhinestones when I decided to make it into a card. The interior is left blank. We use a lot of all occasion/blank cards in our house, There always seems to be some occasion that we need to acknowledge or someone who needs a little encouragement.

Work of Art Calendar-October, November December

And the final three months!

For October I just hand drew the ghost and pumpkin faces with a black marker. November's leaf comes from the French Foliage stamp set (retired). The bow loops on December's wreath were made by inking just the edges of the Work of Art heart stamp. Then I hand drew the bow tails and the holy berries. It's hard to tell here that I used two shades of green to make the wreath. I used Pear Pizzazz and Wild Wasabi. I think next time I will pick a darker green than the Wild Wasabi. And yes, I need to make another one. This one went to one of our churches Fall Festival Silent Auction.  The other church has a Holiday Festival later this month. So, it's back to the stamping table!

Have a great weekend, see you on Monday.

Work of Art-July, August & September

July's page was lots of happy accidents. I saw a similar design with punched stars but since I wanted my calenar to stay flat I was restricted from adding any layers. So, I heat embossed some stars with white embossing powder. My star image came from the Perfect Pennants stamp set. Then I stamped the red and blue images using the stamps from Work of Art. I didn't think about needing to wait for the blue to dry completely before wiping it off the stars. So I got a smudged blue background, which I decided I liked. Happy accidents. Then when I put the calendar together I realized the image would be turned 45 degrees from my original thinking. Luckily I like it this way!
Can you tell August is Popsicles? This was the one image I wasn't real sure about. I did create another image but decided it wasn't as whimsical as I wanted, so it is being turned into a card (maybe you'll see it next week).
September's red apple is made using several of the different shapes from the Work of Art stamp set. It's much easier than you'd think. The face on the caterpillar is hand drawn. The body is just stamping off with the little circle stamp in the Work of Art set.
Come back tomorrow for the final three pages!

Work of Art Calendar-April, May & June

Yellow tulips for April, a sailboat for May and a slice of watermelon for June. The flag on the sailboat comes from the Itty Bitty Banners stamp set. I just drew the seeds on the watermelon using a black marker, otherwise all the images were created using the Work of Art stamps. It's a fun, fun set!

2015 Work of Art Calendar-January, February & March

For the rest of the week I'll be sharing a fun calendar I made using the Work of Art stamp set. There are so many great ideas out there using this set. I had fun exploring and then creating a page for each month.
Here's the finished calendar hanging on my wall with January.

 I used the same calendar document I created for the CD calendar, then layered that photo paper sheet on cardstock in a color that coordinated with the stamped image. The 4-1/4" x 5- 1/2" cardstock backing was also a color that coordinated with the stamped image. The images were stamped on a piece of 4"x 5-1/4" white cardstock. I punched two holes in the top of the backing cardstock using my Crop-A-Dile to punch through six sheets of cardstock at a time. Then I just ran a ribbon through the holes and tied it off to make the hanger.
The trees on January page are from the Lovely as a Tree stamp set, Febrruary's "love" comes from Best of Love stamp set (retired). All other images were created using the stamps in Work of Art Stamp set. Come back tomorrow to see the April, May and June pages!

Turkey Time!

When I saw this Turkey punch art that Linda Heller did I had to make one! It is so cute and just 3 punches needed to make the turkey and tray (Bird Builder, Modern Label and Owl Builder). The rest of the card is made using the Circle Card Thinlit, Stylish Stripes Embossing Folder, 2-1/2" circle punch and 2-3/8 scallop circle punch. Thanksgiving cards are all done at my house!

Christmas Designs

These are the remaining cards from the shoebox party; all with a Christmas theme. The top three were designed by nieces, three sisters. One niece designed the two middle cards so the youngest sister could come and create with us. I love the hexagon punch tree on top and the Gorgeous Grunge tree below. Creative ways to use non-holiday supplies.
The third card had a similar layout to mine. Sometimes it is eerie how alike we can all be!
The bottom card was made at our hostess' station. She's not even related to us but we have come to just treat her like one of the family. She had lots of paper and shapes and stamped images and stamp sets out for us to make a card. She was a great hostess, inviting us to come early for soup and sandwiches. She had lots of liquid refreshments, too and pumpkin gooey butter cake. A new twist on a St. Louis favorite! I hope we keep planning these parties. We always come up with some memorable expressions and plot ways to drive each other crazy!

Fall Cards

These two cards are the ones I made as designed by my sister (top) and a niece (bottom). It's always fun to use their supplies and stamps and try a new technique or be reminded of one I haven't used for awhile. The top card is all about layering and tearing with the retired stamping up tearing tool. Punches make the top card a quick and easy.
The bottom card uses heat embossing with white powder on white cardstock, then sponging or daubing ink onto the embossed image. After you've sponged/daubed you wipe the white embossing with a tissue to clean it up. I made mine into a pretty fall birthday card!

Hobo's Design

This is my version of the card designed by my great niece, who we used to call Hobo. She's very creative and I always enjoy seeing what she does with her cards and spending time with her. I decided to make mine a Thank You card and had to change where the expression went because I got a little carried away when tearing the paper! LOL Doing too much talking and laughing.

Shoebox Party

I got back home yesterday after spending the weekend with my stamping relatives. We got together for a shoebox party. Each of us made a card, then cut the paper and put the other supplies needed to make the card (except adhesive-everybody supplies their own) in the shoebox. At the party you pass around the shoeboxes and each person makes the cards designed by the others. It is great fun. We discovered this time that it is easier just to set up a station for each "shoebox" and then rotate people.

This is the card I made. CASE: Linda Heller. It uses the tree punch and Festival of Trees stamp set. The Designer Series Paper is from the All is Calm pack. 

Scraps!

Last week I made Banner Thanksgiving cards that used the Oval framelits and Autumn Accents Die. So I had scraps of ovals and acorns and leaves on my table and challenged myself to use them to design some Thanksgiving cards. The expression I used is from a retired set but could easily substitute the Thanksgiving expressions from this year's  Merry Everything or Mingle All the Way stamp sets.