Christmas Cards....

Hi all - here are the two Chrissy cards that I made to give out....

The first one is a Snow Globe design. There are a lot of these ideas floating around on the net and when I first saw them I really wanted to give it a go. They are a bit fiddly but fun still to make, as well as being a nice 'WOW' card to give out. The instructions for a Snow Globe card can be found here.

I made 9 or 10 of these cards and gave them out to the girls I work with.

I went to an all day scrapbooking/cardmaking get-together with some friends (one where you take our own stuff and do your own thing) and made 28 of this next card (two of each colour) and gave these out to my customers and a couple of other people.... I got the idea from here. I really loved the simplicity of the design......

12 Days of Christmas Part 2....

Hi again - Here are the last two photos I managed to find....

The box with the magnolia flower was for '5 Golden Rings' which I changed to Golden Balls and put 5 Ferrero Roches inside. For me, this was the 'prize' prize LOL as I LOVE these flowers!!!

And I FINALLY found a template on the net to make the birds in the latest SU catalogue and made four of them for '4 Calling Birds' which I changed to '4 Curly Birds'. Except for the beak/mouth area they were quite easy.... but that area was another story!!! LOL

12 Days of Christmas....

Hi all - How are you are going and "Happy New Year" to you all - Hoping this year brings you all much love, happiness and prosperity!!!!

Just this last year past (I can say that now LOL) I pa

rticipated in our annual 'Secret Santa two weeks of fun' at work. We were given our SS and then for the last two weeks before the holidays we could chose to give them small gifts with clues for them to try and guess whose theirs was b

efore the big pressy giving day on the last day. Mine I knew was into all sorts of crafts (lucky me) so I decides to do a modified '12

Days of Christmas' for her. With help from my hubby and anoth

er friend we came up with some different things - but didn't get photos of all the things :(

The first thing I gave her was '12 Chicken Drummies' and I made a little box and put in 12 (yes only 12) of the little mini cracker biscuits that a

re shaped like chicken legs.

Next day I gave her this over-sized Christmas cracker w

ith 11 Chocolate wafer pipes. (on the tin they are called wafer sticks)

I printed the tags on the computer and cut them out with my Big Shot - I put the same tag on every one with whatever it was supposed to be, crossed out, with the new item written above it like in the picture.

For 10 Lords a Leaping, I changed Lords to frogs and filled this Santa box with 10 Freddo frogs. I got the idea for this box from here.
This is what I made for '9 Ladies Dancing' and this is where I realized maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew LOL... (I was making each item the night before) Anyway I decided I would make 9 dollies dancing but none of my friends who owned a Cri-cut had a dolls pattern (one friend could get it the next day for me but that was too late) ....... Soooo since I had my heart set on this idea (and I couldn't think of anything else that would go)....... I sat up till all hours making these from scratch!!! I found a picture and cut out each doll, each hair, each legs, each, leotard, each skirt... (don't you think that the vellum skirt was a nice touch) and then I glittered along the edge of each skirt and waist and hair bun.

I'm sure I took photos of all but the first and last but I only have the ones here plus two others which I have since found but am struggling to get them to go where I want them to go on here so will do them as a seperate post. AARGH!!!! - frustrating!!!!

Also..... since posting again I am having no end of trouble with my post, eg: half the writing one size and half another size and no amount of highlighting and clicking will change it!!!! AAAARGH!!!!!

I had my Christmas wish post all in different sizes and colours and really pretty on the posting screen and then I posted it and it was just small normal writing. I tried re-doing it from scratch and nope.... no changes :( don't cope when things don't work like they should....

I'm to the point of not blogging because I really can't cope with things like that!! LOL

Anyone with suggestions would be greatly appreciated... :)

Christmas S-a-S Prizes...

Hi all - Just trying to get all my Chrissy photos in before Christmas LOL....

At the annual S-A-S I give out prizes to everyone. This year I was a little bit slack and wrapped the magoritoty of them just as normal pressies. But I did manage to do one or two fancy items as the main attractions....

This Magnolia uses the SU Ornament Punch and instructions can be found here. I JUST had to have a go at it when I saw it as it is SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! And it is a lot easier than it looks.... Trust me on that LOL... The longest part is sponging around the edges of each piece! Then I made a cute little box to put it on. There is also instructions on YouTube to make this flower into a tea light and that is just as gorgeous!!! I have also made one of those and will post at a later date... if I can find the photo :(

These lillies are made using the SU large oval punch. I came across these first before the Magnolia flower. These were going to be placed on my thank you gifts for the girls but since I had to make 18 of them (and they were quite fiddly) I didn't... sorry girls :)

I haven't made mine completely the same as in the instructions but I still think they are beautiful.
And these I made because I was just searching for another flower but a very different one... Instructions here. These use 5 x 3"inch squares for each flower. One folds then up then glues them together, holds them altogether with paper-clips, and then waits till they dry and hope they don't let go LOL.... But they are cute aren't they? People are just so clever!!!
Anyway hope you are enjoying seeing my works again......

November Christmas Stamp-a-Stack...

Hi all - Mid November saw us all attending our final workshop for the year and our annual Christmas Stamp-a-Stack.

The girls all made 6 each of the two designs shown below. The first card is one that you all probably have seen a version of. There are many different, yet similar designs everywhere. And I really wanted that particular tree so just had to buy the stamp set 'Lovely as a Tree'... am hoping to get a bit of use out of it now though as it has never been a set that has interested me before LOL.

I have since made another card using said set so will post photo of it at a later date (famous last words... LOL)

The second card was a cased design from here - all I've done is change the colours....

We all had a fantastic time and, as always, there was prizes and gifts galore!!! I have taken a couple of photos but not as many as I would have like.... so forgetful these days LOL

October's Christmas Workshop....

Hi all - trying to get in as many as I can before I get slack again LOL....

Here are the cards from our October workshops which were fancy Christmas cards. The first one is of a Spring/Jump card and the instructions for it can be found on Splitcoast Stampers (where else LOL) I did find instructions on the Scor-pal website also and one of the instructions said to cut off the top triangles and the other said to fold them down. We found that the card worked better if one cut them off....

Our next card was an Acetate card. I have wanted to try one of these for a VERY long time!!! And to think I thought they would be hard.... I found it to be one of the easiest, most effective cards I have ever made. If you are looking for a really quick card and you would like a WOW factor also then you can't go past one of these!....
And then we finished off making a Christmas lumminerie complete with a battery operated tealight inside.... wasn't as effective as I thought they would be but still fun making them.

And onwards into another year...

Hi all - And my New Year's resolution is..... to be a better blogger!!! LOL One can only hope 'eh.

So to start with here is the very last Chrissy card I made. It was for a friend who likes frangapanis..... But sadly I failed miserably and they don't look anything like them LOL.

I did like the card in the end though. My train of thought was a 'frangapani wreath' but I missed with both..... but as I mentioned, I did actually like the final card even if I didn't get the intended look :)

Ps: I have used Crystal Effects on the flowers and also to make 'brads' on the bottom. I have done the CE brads before but this time they didn't dry clear. Can someone tell me what I did that they didn't dry clear this time as I am stumped......

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all,

my very valued cyber friends,
a wonderful and joyous Christmas!!!

I hope that you and your family get all that you wish for and don't forget about the true meaning of Christmas and the reasons we celebrate it!!!

A wish for us: Love, Hope, Peace and Joy to all

and for the kids: Everything that they asked Santa for! LOL

Merry Christmas

Everyone!

Christmas Cards...

Hi all - These are the cards I made for my 'girls'. I made 23 in total and BOY was I SICK of tying ribbons!!! LOL - They will enjoy knowing that! As they complain every time I put ribbon on one of the workshop cards (which is often! LOL)

I got the inspiration for this wonderful idea from here. From the lovely and talented Debbie P. Thank you Debbie, for your wonderful inspiration. Debbie made hers quite a while ago and I have had the link saved ever since knowing that that was the card I was going to make.

I've really quite surprised myself this year (and with working...) as I am more organised at this stage of Christmas than I have been for many Christmases. It is such a good feeling LOL. Hope it stays this way (for a little while at least...)

My Very First Chrissy Card...

Hi all - here is the very first Chrissy card that I have received this year. It was made by a good friend who comes to my workshops each month. It always gives me such pride and joy when I see their creations. And I think she has done a wonderful job. (Same friend who made the super cute invites in the previous post)

November Workshop & Stamp-a-Stack

This weekend just past saw us doing our annual Christmas Stamp-a-Stack - Something that I find all the girls really look forward to all year. It is also my last workshop for the year and therefore I use it as my thank you to all the girls for their wonderful support, encouragement and friendship throughout the year (lets face it - most of us wouldn't be able to do it without a great group of friends/customers) And I really do have a great bunch of girls!!!!

So these are the two cards that they made (6 of each design) and the one that I thought would take the longest, was the shortest one!! The Baja Breeze one was a 'breeze' {giggle} except for all the cutting. (Had to give them something to do) Where as the other one............... does anyone else have trouble with the 'string'???? I know I did! But the girls ended up working it out.

They all did an amazing job including the two newbies - talk about being thrown in the deep end!

Anyway I had a great day! :D

October Workshop

Hi all - I am so sorry and I promised also :(

But here I am (FINALLY) with my workshop cards from the October workshop. As you can see we did fancy Christmas cards and we will finish of the year with a Christmas Stamp-a-Stack in November.

This card is taken from the SCS tutorial for a Criss-Cross card. I have cased it from the picture there, just using different papers and stamps. I have used the Snow Swirled set and I am LOVING it!!!

Here it is with the insert out....
Then we made this reindeer.... I found this picture here months ago when a couple of us had a punch art afternoon. And BOY!... When I decided to use it for my workshop, did I have fun finding that picture again! But thankfully I did find it again. He is so cute don't you think...
Then we made this super, super easy sour cream container. Tutorial here. It is one of those things that looks so impressive and it is amazing how quick and simple they are to make.
Anyway if you are wanting to know anything about any of the above creations, please don't hesitate to email me. :)

And still more Chrissy cards :-))

And I was still receiving Chrissy cards in the new year LOL (thanks to our wonderful postal system - card was post-stamped 16th Dec - definitely got lost somewhere?????).

I received this lovely card from Kim - thanks so much Kim. :-))

Received Chrissy Cards....

Hi all - I know, I know, Christmas is over, time to move on to bigger and better things LOL, but I thought you might all like to see the beautiful cards I received for Christmas....

From back left:
Melissa M (Fam), Judy (Demo), Karen T (Demo), Rose (Fam), Kerri (Friend),
Kylie (Demo), Karen G (Friend), Melissa H (Demo),
Melissa M (Fam), Judy (Fam), Melissa M (Fam).

The two bottom outer ones (Melissa M) were gift card holders for my DH and myself.


And then I received this beautiful card from:
Leigh (Demo)

To you all, my family and I thank you for the beautiful cards and Christmas wishes.


Ps: And on the note of moving on, I see I still have cards saved in draft from mid November..... LOL

Step Chrissy Cards....

Hi all again - here is my 'pride and joy' Chrissy card. I made a couple of these to send to some card making/demonstrator friends. A little adventurous for making more than one and at this time of year but I was very happy with how they turned out. I really wanted something special for these girls as I always get apprehensive when making cards for seasoned card makers.. Yeah, yeah I know, I shouldn't, but I do.... But as I said I was very pleased with how it turned out.

Here is a close up to show the glitter detail (just for fun LOL)

And here is another idea that I got half way through making the other ones. I needed one more card for someone else who loves making things for other people so I thought she would love one of these also.

Ps: All Stampin' Up products
Pss: I got the idea for a step card from Splitcoast Stampers.

Christmas Cards....

Hi all - hope you all had a great Chrissy and that 'Santa' bought you all that you wished for....

This was the first lot of bulk cards I made (after my stamp-a-stack cards). I first saw the idea for these on my upline, Karen's blog long ago so will give the credit there. Hers were a little fancier that mine but I was very pleased with how mine turned out. And don't they look pretty in all the different colours (if I do say so myself... YILM). I was guided by the coloured ribbons I had and made the base card and sentiment etc in the same colour for each one. I so loved how they turned out that I made another batch of 12 for another group. But with those ones I added another layer of card stock and cut out the corners of the white card stock with a small circle punch. I was very please with those also but chose not to take a photo at the time thinking that they were too close to these.... but now i wish I had... (As my DH loves to tell me, "hindsight is a wonderful thing" LOL)

All supplies used were Stampin' Up.

And still more......

I think this is the last of them LOL - These note books were gifts for the Christmas Stamp-a-Stack workshop also. Again I got the idea off SCS and these are cased almost identically to the ones there. They are 'wish lists' but I have made mine just note books. Very cute.....

And I had a small tree which I had covered in candy canes for the girls to take some home for their family members. One of my sister-in-laws came over and helped me make these. (Actually I think she made then all LOL - while I was making other things. I had the tree set up on display with all the presents wrapped underneath and during the course of the afternoon, would draw out a name to come and choose a gift. I had made enough girts so that everyone got one from under the tree. Then at the end of the afternoon I had a final draw for the lucky door prize of a stamp set and a couple of cards. (but that's for another post LOL)

And still more gifts.....

Here are some more gifts that I made up for the girls for our Chrissy Stamp-a-Stack Workshop. I absolutely adored these. And I think the receivers did also. :-))

I have seen many different ideas floating around the net for these and templates also. There is a template or two on Splitcoast Stampers. But the template I have used is a mini pizza box design by Jen del Muro. I have then added the little curved opening tab which I saw somewhere while surfing once and thought that's a cute idea. Then I made a slider closure to go around it.

Materials used inclusive for both:

All Stampin' Up of course! :-))
Stamp Sets: Occasionally,

Cardstock: Real Red, Old Olive, Purely Pomegranate, Always Artichoke, DS papers from Holiday Harmony and Dashing
Inks: Real Red, Old Olive, Purely Pomegranate, Always Artichoke
Extras: Real Red and Purely Pomegranate ribbons

Gorgeous Gift Boxes...

Here are some more things from my November workshop - These were a couple of the gifts for the girls. I am box mad at the moment, so all my gifts of late are 'gift boxed'. I just LOOOVE making boxes!!!! And then the other day my youngest son came up to me and asked if he could show me how to make a box he had thought of.... And he did and I was SOOOO proud! He had worked it all out by himself, measuring in the same from each side and all, and where to cut and where to fold and where to stick it together....as I said, I was very proud and more importantly very impressed!!!!

Anyway back on track... I made two of these little boxes (above) with 6 small Cherry Ripes inside each, and I made two of these (below) with a block of chocolate in each. I just love sitting and working it all out so that the item fits in nicely and neatly.

Anyone for 'Cake'????

I know I'm way behind with my blogging, especially with the things from my last workshop, but I promise I will get there. Here is my crowning glory from the day!!!!

I was SOOOOO very proud of myself. These were the thank you gifts for my girls and inside each 'slice' there was two little incentive stamps, a piece of red ribbon and a chocolate. At first I didn't think that I would get it done, then I also considered doing something entirely different ('cause I was WAY running out of time!)but I am and was, so glad I decided to go ahead with it.(even if I started and finished at an ungodly hour!)

I have wanted to try one of these ever since my good friend Jacqui (and one of my wonderful regulars - Hi Jacqui!!!!) showed me some gorgeous 'slices' that she had made plus a picture off the net of a whole cake. The template I have used is from Victorine Originals and it all went together just perfectly! I also placed a piece of artificial holly in the centre to cover the hole but forgot to take another photo.

I must say it was certainly well worth it with the reactions that I got from the girls. I'm so very glad that they liked them considering that I have done them to say thank you for their wonderful and continued support.

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Season of Joy.
Inks: Old Olive.
Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Real Red, DS paper from Dashing.
Extras: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Sticky Strip, Ribbon.