Stampin' Up! Video - My Digital Studio: Home Decor

Crafting with Judy

Last week when I went over to Judy's we started out with lunch - a wonderful selection of little bites.  Very festive and tasty.

We then went to the craft room to make some cute little boxes that Judy had found while browsing on splitcoaststampers.com.  Each little box holds four of the Ghiradelli Chocolate Squares.  I had been hoping to make a bunch of them before Christmas and use them as table favours but time got away from me and I didn't get them done. 

Here are the two boxes I got done.

Supplies
Stamps - Tags Til Christmas
Ink - Cherry Cobbler
Card Stock - Pear Pizzazz; Very Vanilla; Jolly Holiday DSP
Other - Ornament Punch; Corner Rounder; Dimensionals; Sticky Strip; Basic Pearls

We ended up making one box each - so I would know how to do them at home.

We then moved on to the Faux Shadow Box Frame I showed you in THIS post.   Judy punched out all the little bits for hers but our afternoon came to an end before we completed the project.

Stampin' Uo! Video - My Digital Studio Hybrid Project

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Another Stampin' Up! Video - Fortune Teller Gift Basket

Here is another cute little project presented by Stampin' Up!

Quick Project - Stampin' Up! Video

I don't have anything of my own to share so thought you might like this quick little project.

Decor Blocks

Last year I purchased a few sets of four 3" blocks from Stampin' Up! fully intending to decorate and display them.  It didn't happen - for one reason or another the blocks and the Decor Elements vinyl I had bought never saw the light of day - until now!  I needed a little gift for a chinese auction I will be participating in on Boxing Day. 

I pulled out a set of blocks and the chocolate Holiday Mix Decor Elements (unfortunately this item is no longer available).  I decided to use some of the papers from the Deck the Halls DSP pack.

I have seen others decorate some of the panels with photos - I decided to leave all but the front panels plain.  I cut the bottom 3" from one of the sheets of DSP (I love the poinsettias) and used that for the front.  The other sides are covered with a more subtle pattern from the package.  I distressed all the edges and sponged them with Soft Suede ink.  I applied the vinyl Decor Elements and they were done!  I thought about spritzing them with a mixture of shimmer paint and rubbing alcohol but decided against it.  I may change my mind, but for now I really like them the way they are.  I have also decided to keep them for myself!

Supplies

Ink - Soft Suede
Card Stock - Deck the Halls Designer Series Paper
Other - Decor Blocks; Holiday Mix Decor Elements (retired)

"Skinny Bag" Treats

In addition to the snowflake tealight holders that have been featured on many craft blogs in recent months there have been a lot of posts displaying candies (mostly M&M's) packged in "skinny bags".  I purchased some of the bags a while ago (http://www.clearbags.ca/) and then a couple of weeks ago I found the Christmas M&M's that I wanted so I was ready to start.

Although initially I found it a bit of a challenge getting the candies into the bags (they measure 1" wide by 8" tall) I finally got some made.  So far I have only completely finished one of the bags, it shouldn`t take long to get the rest done.

I should have waited to take a photo of a bunch of them together, but here is my one lonely "Skinny Bag" treat.

My Digital Studio Downloads

I don't have anything new to post - I have not been feeling well so have not been doing much crafting.  I have been doing a bit of baking and trying to finish crocheting a baby blanket. 

These are a few of the recent My Digital Studio downloads.

Penguin Pyramid

Ever since Stampin' Up! introduced the Two Step Owl punch there have been many posts demonstrating the very cute owl and other characters made with the punch - ghosts, reindeer and penguins!  I have been experimenting making penguins and then one day I visited Connie Babbert's blog and saw THIS card.  I loved it!  My goodness who wouldn't.

I decided this would be on the list of cards to make with Judy.  Today was the day!  We made two changes - the first change we made was to the hat on the top penguin.  Connie had stamped the hat image from Jolly Bingo Bits which I don't have.  In any case we wouldn't have done that anyway - it involved cutting around a small image.  I am sure I have said before that is something neither Judy nor I enjoy.  I had seen somewhere that a hat could be made using the wing from the Two Step Bird punch so that is what we did.  We trimmed it with a scrap cut with the Scallop Oval punch and the pom pom is from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch pack.

The second change we made was to lightly stamp snowflakes on the Bashful Blue panel using Whisper White craft ink.

Stamps - Jolly Old Saint Nick; Serene Snowflakes
Ink - Bashful Blue; Basic Black; Whisper White craft
Card Stock - Real Red; Whisper White; Basic Black; Bashful Blue; Pumpkin Pie
Other - 1/8" Real Red Taffeta ribbon; Large Oval, Scallop Oval, Two Step Owl, Two Step Bird and Itty Bitty Shapes punches; Square Lattice embossing folder; wiggly eyes; Stampin' Dimensionals.

Another Patty Bennett CASE

I love Patty Bennett's work and thought THIS card would be a good one for Judy and I to make tomorrow.  I don't often select non standard size cards but this one really appealed to me.  The only change I made was to use two of the stamps from Delightful Decorations (Patty used an image from Tags til Christmas and one from Delightful Decorations) and I added a pearl embellishment.

The finished card is 3 x 6 so you can make four of the base cards from one 12 x 12 sheet of card stock

Supplies
Stamps - Delightful Decorations; Four the Holidays
Ink - Old Olive; Cherry Cobbler; Old Olive marker
Card Stock - Old Olive; Very Vanilla; Jolly Holiday DSP
Other - Basic Pearls; Stampin' Dimensionals; Ornament Punch

Dasher

As I said a couple of days ago, I had planned on making THIS card for my playdate with Judy last Monday but ran out of the Cherry Cobbler seam binding.  I had already planned next weeks projects so I "lifted" one of them for this week.

I had signed up for Dawn Olchefske's 12 Weeks of Christmas and when I received the week 1 newsletter I instantly knew I had to make at least one - it uses Dasher and the Northern Flurry embossing folder along with Shimmer Paint!  What more could you want!  You can visit Dawn's blog HERE.

It doesn't show up well in the photo, but we spritzed the image panel with a mixture of Shimmer Paint and rubbing alchohol.  We also left off the ribbon in the upper left corner - we actually prefer it without.

Supplies
Stamps - Dasher
Ink - Soft Suede
Card Stock - Soft Suede; Very Vanilla; Real Red
Other - Basic Rhinestones; Shimmer Paint and Rubbin Alcohol; 1/8" Real Red Taffeta Ribbon; Northern Flurry embossing folder

Peaceful Season and Deck the Halls

This is the second of four cards I did with my sister and my nieces on Sunday.  Sherida Giddings had given me one that she had made and knew it would be perfect for our get together.  It was really fun to see them working with the Designer Series Paper.  Although I used the same side of the paper as Sherida had on both of my cards, some of the others used the flip side and changed the orientation of the card to landscape.  I liked the card so much I added it to the "roster" for Judy and I to make last Monday.

Here is the card.  Unfortunately Sherida does not have a blog so I can't direct you to the original.

  

Supplies

Stamps - Peaceful Season (Level 2 Hostess Set)

Ink - Crumb Cake; Cherry Cobbler

Card Stock - Crumb Cake; Cherry Cobbler; Deck the Halls DSP

Other - Two Tags die for the Big Shot; Crop a dile; Jumbo Eyelets; Crumb Cake 3/8" Taffeta ribbon (retired);  Linen Thread; Sponge Daubers

We actually did five projects - four cards (2 of each design) and some of the Santa Punch art notepads.  Click HERE to see my previous post with the notepads.   In addition to the card today and the one I posted a few days ago we made THIS card that I had done with Judy last week.  The fourth card was the 3D Ornament card I had posted HERE that I had also planned on making with Judy this week - that has to go on the back burner for now - I lost track of how much of the Cherry Cobbler seam binding I had already used and I had just enough to complete our projects on Sunday. 

We had a great afternoon.  My sister and her girls made a great lunch; we did our crafts and had a lot of good laughs.  We all agreed that we needed to do it more often.

Faux Shadow Box

Anyone who follows Nancy Riley's blog (iStamp by Nancy Riley) will know that her creativity has had to take a back seat these past several months.  Yesterday she was back with a fantastic shadow box project.  You can see it HERE. 

I knew I wanted to make one, but was housebound and couldn't get out to buy a frame.  I wanted to do it right away so I searched around until I found a couple of artist canvases in my craft room.  Happily I set to work adapting Nancy's creation to the supplies on hand.  I decided to use the smaller canvas - about 8" x 10". 

I used the same papers as Nancy but had to reduce the number of squares to accommodate the smaller size canvas I was using.  Overall I am really pleased with my version and think it still maintains the "flavour" of the original.

Supplies
Card Stock - Basic Black; Blushing Bride; Naturals White; Garden Green, Real Red; Baja Breeze; Candy Cane Christmas Specialty DSP
Other - Candy Cane Buttons; Line Thread; Small Felt Flurries (retired); Brights Buttons; Two Step Bird Punch; 1/2" Circle Punch; Rhinestones; Rhinestone Brad - Circle Fire; Filigree Brad; Five Petal Punch; Boho Blossoms Punch; Stampin' Dimensionals; Real Red 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon; Real Red Polka Dot Ribbon (retired); Stickles (nonSU); Sticky Strip; Linen Thread

Season of Friendship

It has been quite a long time since I used the Season of Friendship stamp set so when I saw THIS card posted by Patty Bennett I kew it was time to dust it off.  I don't have the Seasonal Sentiments stamp set that Patty used, however I do have My Digital Studio and had recently purchased the download for that set.  It turned out great!  Initially when I selected the stamp, it was very large so I just resized it to the approximate dimensions of the "real" stamp.

My sister and I had planned a stamping afternoon with her two daughters on Sunday so I added this fun card to the "program".  The only change we made was to add some Stickles along the edges of the "snowbanks" and in the centres of the snowflakes.  My photo does not show that - I took a picture of the wrong one.  I didn't want to risk smudging the stickles when I packed up to go home.

So here is my version of Patty's card.  We each made two of the card and I have to say that when we all finished there was a chorus of OOH's and AAH's!

Supplies
Stamp Set - Season of Friendship; Seasonal Sentiments (MDS)
Ink - Cherry Cobbler; Early Espresso; Baja Breeze
Card Stock - Whisper White; Baja Breeze; Candy Cane Christmas DSP
Other - Stickles (nonSU); My Digital Studio

Roofing Materials in the Stamp Room?

Over the last several months I have seen a lot of crafters posting photos of tealight holders made using the Snowflake die for the Big Shot and roof flashing.  Initially, although I thought they were very pretty, I wasn't going to make any - I was pretty sure I would end up cutting myself.  I did get in touch with a couple of people and they assured me that the cut edges were not sharp so I headed out to one of the local building material stores and bought a roll of the flashing.

I made five sets for my parents - each tealight holder uses two of the snowflakes.  My sister cut out enough to make 10 sets.  I have a bunch cut out and just have to put them together.  Although the photo shows this set using battery operated tealights, they are safe to use with "real" candles.  They are just so pretty when lit!

Jolly Holiday

I saw this card when I was browsing the internet a few days ago - unfortunately I didn't mark down the source.  I will update my blog when I figure out where I saw it.   I added a few dots with my white signo gel pen but otherwise it is a very close copy of the original.

This is the second card that I have prepared for Judy and I to make today.  We ended up not getting to this card - we had a lot of catching up to do and only got to two of the planned cards.

Supplies

Stamps - A Cute Christmas; Short and Sweet

Ink - Cherry Cobbler; Cherry Cobbler, Pear Pizzazz and Old Olive Markers; Jet Black StazOn

Card Stock - Cherry Cobbler; Old Olive; Very Vanilla; Jolly Holiday DSP

Other - Old Olive 5/8" Satin Ribbon; Regals Button (Cherry Cobbler); Scallop Trim Border, 2 3/8" Scallop Circle and 1 3/4" circle punches; 1/2" corner rounder (non SU); dimensionals

I "Built" a House

One of the benefits of being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator is the opportunity to pre-order items from upcoming catalogues and promotions.  When the pre-order period for the Holiday Mini Catalogue opened on August 1 I ordered the Design-a-House.  The house pieces are in the kit (along with that little brass door knob).  The idea is to decorate and embellish as little or as much as you want.  My house arrived, I put it on a shelf, took it out a couple of times and then finally a couple of days ago I decided I was going to do it!  I have seen some that are much more elaborate and some that are a little simpler.  Overall I am really pleased with my little house and am thinking of buying more before the catalogue sales period ends on January 3.

I used one of the patterns from the Deck the Halls DSP pack for the walls and added a few accents of soft suede.  I knew I wanted a red door and roof.  I put vellum behind the windows and although it doesn't show up in the photo the battery operated tealights inside give a really nice warm glow.

I added a few trees cut with a Sizzix die (non SU) and a cotton ball in the chimney.  While looking through a cupboard I found the little Santa Claus and think he looks quite cute sliding down the roof!

3D Ornament Card

This is one of the cards Judy and I will be making on Monday.  I had seen it while browsing some of the posts on Stampin' Connection and knew that I wanted to make a few myself.  You can link to the original HERE.  The original had a layer of Crumb Cake card stock and one of the images had been stamped with Crumb Cake ink - I decided to stay with a red and white card.

I like the little bit of paper piercing in each of the corners and the three little pearls below the ornament. A fairly clean and simple card with a bit of a punch.  You can't really tell in the photo, but the white card stock is the Stampin' Up! Shimmery White.

Supplies

Stamps - Tags til Christmas; All Holidays

Card Stock - Cherry Cobbler; Shimmery White

Ink - Cherry Cobbler

Other - Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding; Dimensionals; Basic Pearls; Gold Elastic Cord (retired); Ornament Punch; paper piercer; Mat Pack

Another Frame

I really liked the frame I had made last month (HERE) and decided to make one using up some of the Sending Love Specialty papers from the 2010 Occasions Mini.  I think it turned out really well - I ended up making two the same and I might make a third.  They will make great gifts for parents of little girls.

Although the paper already has glitter accents, I also spritzed it with a solution of Frost White Shimmer paint and rubbing alcohol for some added shine.  It is amazing how quickly these go together - a few pieces of paper, some ribbon, a brad and  you are done.

Supplies
Paper - Sending Love Specialty Designer Series Paper (retired); Pink Pirouette (to cover the back)
Other - Crochet Lace trim; Sending Love Real Red Epoxy Brads (retired); Anywhere Glue Stick

Candy Cane Christmas

Last week Andrea Walford posted THIS card and although I do prefer more traditional colours for  Christmas cards I really liked it.  This was one of the cards Judy and I made on Monday afternoon when we got together.  

We did change a few things - instead of using Basic Black ink for the greeting we used Pear Pizzaz.  We also decided to have a bit more of the pink satin ribbon showing - you can hardly tell on Andrea's that there is any ribbon at all.  We used some of the little felt flurries (available on the clearance rack) and retired pink epoxy brads.

Supplies
Stamps - Bells & Boughs
Ink - Pear Pizzazz
Card Stock - Gina K Luxury White 120 lb; Pear Pizzazz; Pretty in Pink; Whisper White; Candy Cane Christmas DSP
Other - Little Felt Flurries; Northern Frost Decorative Strip Die; Pink Epoxy Brads (retired); Square Lattice Embossing Folder; Scallop Oval Punch; Dimensionals; Pretty in Pink 5/8" satin ribbon