Calendar Project, Day 3

Today's calendar panel is Summer!  The leaves are still stamped in Old Olive, but a few are stamped and cut out, and layered with Stampin' Dimensionals.  Then the sun flowers are stamped in Daffodil Delight, with a few also cut and layered.  The brown centers are touched with the Early Espresso Stampin' Write Marker, and the stems are hand-drawn using the paint-brush side of the Old Olive marker.  Don't you wish it were summer now?  The weather's been a little yucky!

Calendar Project, Side 2

Today's panel for our calendar project features a spring scene with Season of Friendship.  The winter panel had the snowflakes stamped all over, and today's panel has leaves stamped in Old Olive, and then flowers stamped in Rich Razzleberry.  A few of the flowers are stamped and cut out, and so are the birds.  This adds to the time factor, but makes a big difference in how it looks in the end!

Calendar Project!

This calendar is a gift that I received from Monika Davis, when we were at Leadership convention, last year in Nashville, TN.  I first met Monika at National Convention in Salt Lake City, 2010.  She needed a roommate to convention, and sent out an email within a group that we are both in, and so I answered, saying that I had always wanted to attend a convention.  So we met then, and hit it off, and have tried to room together when we are both attending the same conventions.
It is tradition to have a little gift for your roommates, and this is what she gave us.  It is a calendar that has 4 sides to it.  I will show you the other sides over the next few days.  This would be a great class project right now!  It features Season of Friendship stamp set.

When in Doubt, Give Jewelry!

Sorry about the reflections, but these Simply Adorned Charms are even more beautiful in person!  The Dasher stamp fits beautifully on the larger, 2 12 X 1 1/4 charm,  This fella is stamped in Early Espresso, then sponged all around.  The merry is from Tiny Tags, and punched out with the Jewelry Tag Punch, and also sponged.  A small scrap of Early Espresso 1/8" ribbon, and a bit of Linen Thread, finishes this off nicely.
The charm on the right is 1 X 1 1/2, and features the key from Vintage Vogue (I think...I'm away, and don't have a catalog, and am being lazy enough to not want to download it from the website!)  It is stamped in Crumb Cake, and then cut out.  It is layered over the other stamps, stamped off to make them lighter... To give it a little shimmer, I coated the key in Smooch, but it doesn't show up well in the picture... a little scrap of vintage lace ribbon, tied with Linen Thread, and you have a lovely charm to wear with just about anything!

Wedding Invitations

I haven't yet photographed all of the hand-made cards I received this year, but I haven't forgotten, and hope to get them posted, but it will have to wait, as we are visiting family and friends all week, and I won't be home to get to that... so I'm blogging post using photos that are saved onto my computer, or those that I take this week!

I created the diamond/squares on My Digital Studio.  I could offset the letters 45 degrees, so that I could cut the paper into perfect squares, and got these perfect diamonds.  I could fit at least 12 on a page.

A few months ago, my friend, Lissa, asked me to help her make the wedding invitations for a young friend of hers.  I know this beautiful young lady; in fact I taught her older sister.  It has been a while since I've been an 8th grade Science teacher, and I loved it.  But still, it makes me feel a bit old, making the wedding invitations for a former student's little sister!  But this is what we came up with!

The invitation is a folder, held closed with a belly band.  We took a blank sheet of Basic Black cardstock, stamped it all over with Serene Snowflakes, then wrapped it around the invitation.  Add your initialed square, and you've got simplicity and elegance!  The rhinestones added just the right touch of sparkle.  They were all a little different, with the sparkles landing on a snowflake somewhere along the border.

The invitations came together pretty easily, with only a few rookie mistakes.  We found a run-on sentence in the directions, and tried tbox o hand-write a comma, but other than that, I think they were beautiful.  I loved the colors that Amy and Jason chose.  Pacific Point, Basic Black, and Naturals White (it has tiny black flecks in it)  The wedding info is glued down, but the folder side holds the reception info, directions, and hotel info.  There's also an RSVP postcard tucked in there too.  This was Lissa's gift to Amy, so she paid me for all of the supplies.  And we discovered that Stampin' Up! supplies ended up costing less than using a big-box store!

Christmas Scrapbook in a Box

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 I hope you are having a wonderful day with your family.  Today my family is traveling to our parents' homes, on our way to a marathon of gift-exchanging, eating, and fun!  A few years ago, after going to our 4th home on Christmas day, we learned that our kids couldn't last that long.  So we started asking Santa to visit a day early...now my family exchanges gifts Christmas Eve morning, and the kids have all day to play with their new toys without having to put them away to travel for hours to do it all over again.  It has worked well for us over the years.

My mom also joined in on the compromise, and she now hosts Christmas on the 26th, so you see where the marathon comes in?  We are at Jason's mom's on the 25th so we don't have to hurry through the meal or the gift-giving, which is very nice.  We can sit back and relax and just enjoy the day.  But now, on to the stamping!

Today's project is another one from last year.  This is an Exploding Scrapbook in a Box.  I believe I got this idea from Monika Davis.  The top picture is the box closed with the lid on.  Then, when you open the box, the sides all cascade down and you have several layers and sides on which to scraopbook!  I think I cut out at least 40 of these last year for my customers to take home and assemble after our initial class where they first learned to make them.  I think I had to re-order Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive 12X12 3 or 4 times!  And I'm still using up the strips left over from making the layers...they reside in my scrap box.  Many of the layers and pieces on the panels are from the squares cut out of the corners.  After cutting the squares and layers, I added a few touches with the Tasteful Trim die, punches, and glass glitter.  We glued all of these pieces and parts onto the layers.  But now that we have the Sizzix Adhesive Sheets, we can save a ton of time in making these!  I still have one of these on my desk shelf, and I hope to finish adding pictures to give this to my grandparents...  

boxes of my own, but haven't finished putting pictures into it yet....I'd better finish it soon or

Christmas Collage Revisted

This card is gorgeous, isn't it?  I can't take the credit; my downline, Christine Egal, made this.  I received it last year.  This was a card she taught at her monthly card class.  Featuring the Christmas Collage, and Bells & Boughs, it has so much detail!  This is one of those cards you might make 4-6 of, but not 46 of!  I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!  Perhaps I'll post some of the beautiful hand-made cards I've received from my stamping friends...but I'd better get permission first!