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Do you have the Sizzix Pillow Box Bigz Die? Godby With Us Stamper Melissa Welch does. Look at the adorable gift packages she made for her daughters!
Melissa die-cut the gift packaging by running the Sizzix Pillow Box Bigz Die through her Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine. The Big Shot makes paper crafting fun and easy. You can make great die-cut boxes, shapes and emboss with ease.
Didn't Melissa do a great job? Melissa picked up the Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper from the Clearance Rack Blitz and made the adorable pillow box gift packages. Not just crafty, but a smart shopper! Have you checked out the Clearance Rack yet? You will find discontinued Stampin' Up! products up to 80% off their original price!
I love how Melissa dressed up the pillowbox with a band of coordinating Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper around the center.
Did you notice she also added a layer to the band? One of the nice added touches I often write about that take your handmade projects up a notch.
I love matchy matchy. Melissa used three different of the patterned papers that still coordinate. You just got to love that about the Stampin' Up! Designer Series Papers. All different yet coordinating.
One of the different Jolly Holiday background papers Melissa used was on the gift tag. Melissa used the Large Tag and Extra Large Tag Punches for a perfectly layered gift tag.
Take a gander at that beautiful handwriting! I wish I could write like that.
Melissa's finishing touch was the ribbon tied around the length of her pretty pillow boxes. The ribbon also perfectly coordinates because the ribbon is also from Stampin' Up! Stampin' Up! products - card stock, background paper, brads, buttons, ribbon and more - all come in their exclusive, coordinating colors. Stampin' Up! makes it easy to have beautiful, color coordinated handmade projects.
It looks to me Melissa tucked the gift tags under the ribbon. It looks like it is tied in without needing to punch a hole, thread the ribbon through the hole and tie a know. That's what this stamper would do.
A big inky hug to Melissa for sharing her handmade gift packaging with us!
Want to be able to make adorable gift packaging too? Order the Sizzix Pillow Box Bigz Die in my online store!
When you order online from Shelly, you enter into the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis! After only 3 orders of $25 or more, you earn FREE shipping on the fourth order! It is that easy. No punch cards. You don't have to wait until you spend hundreds of $$$ to earn your FREE shipping reward. Just place your 4th order within one year of the first.
Life is complicated enough, ordering the best stamping and scrapbooking supplies available should not be. It isn't with the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis rewards program. Enter into the oasis now with your first order on www.stampinsmiles.stampinup.net!
Christmas is over, but I had to make another Christmas card with the Stampin' Up! Stocking Builder Punch and Stitched Stockings stamp set before the 2011 Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog ends on January 3, 2012.
Last week Stampin' Up! announced the Stocking Builder Punch will not be in the 2012-2013 Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog. A punch from a mini catalog not making into the next Idea Book & Catalog is a first. So, I wanted to be sure to let you all know that in case you had put off ordering it because there so many other great stamp sets and accessories in the 2011 Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog.
Not just give you the heads up, but tempt you to purchase it with another handmade card idea.
Is it working? Am I doing my job well? The two together, the Stocking Builder Punch and Stitched Stockings stamp set, are a lot of fun to use to create cards, tags or scrapbook pages. I love the punch because you have not just the stocking you can punch out, but also the top, heel and toe of the stocking. You'll see on my card I did just that, alternating between the colors Pear Pizzazz and Cherry Cobbler.
Add a loop of White Bakers Twine to hang your stockings. My stockings are hanging from a Gold Brad. I used my Paper Piercing Tool and sponge mat from the Mat Pack to make my holes precisely where I wanted them.
My Gold Brads inspired me to layer my Cherry Cobbler Card Stock piece behind the stockings with Brushed Gold Card Stock. Doesn't that look rich?
I must tell you it was an accident that I layered the stockings onto the Cherry Cobbler Card Stock card base embossed with the Framed Tulip Embossing Folder. (It was embossed with the Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine). The card base was with my scraps, put aside from a project that had changed courses. I was just tickled when the gold card stock covered the tulips and all you could see was the scallop embossed border.
What a happy accident! Sometimes I get tunnel vision. When I think of the Framed Tulips Embossing Folder, I think flowers. Silly me.
If I have done my job well, you have fallen for the Stocking Builder Punch. If you do not already own the Stocking Builder Punch, order it now in my online store!
When you order online from Shelly, you enter into the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis! After only 3 orders of $25 or more, you earn FREE shipping on the fourth order! It is that easy. No punch cards. You don't have to wait until you spend hundreds of $$$ to earn your FREE shipping reward. Just place your 4th order within one year of the first.
Life is complicated enough, ordering the best stamping and scrapbooking supplies available should not be. It isn't with the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis rewards program. Enter into the oasis now with your first order on www.stampinsmiles.stampinup.net!
My handmade Christmas greeting card rings out "Let the Earth Receive Her King", the second line in the Christmas carole "Joy to the World". The Christmas greeting is nestled in with the pretty birds on the pine bough from the Stampin' Up! Christmas Lodge stamp set.
Do you know the difference between a Christmas carole and a Christmas song? Until recently, I never gave it any thought and assumed they were the same thing. If my resource, Jay Leno on the Tonight Show, is correct, a Christmas carole is about the birth of Christ, such as "Joy to the World". As I'm writing this post, "Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas" is playing. That would be a Christmas song. I'm glad to now know the difference. Makes sense given a bit of thought.
The pretty background paper is another limited-edition item from the 2011 Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog. It s the Holly Berry Bouquet Specialty Designer Series Paper. There are 12 double-sided sheets with a total of 12 different patterns. The cool thing about the double-sided background paper is that if you don't particularly care for one side, you will most likely like the other. Like The Sounding Joy and Christmas Lodge, the Holly Berry Bouquet Specialty Paper is only available until January 3, 2012.
When you order online from Shelly, you enter into the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis! After only 3 orders of $25 or more, you earn FREE shipping on the fourth order! It is that easy. No punch cards. You don't have to wait until you spend hundreds of $$$ to earn your FREE shipping reward. Just place your 4th order within one year of the first.
Life is complicated enough, ordering the best stamping and scrapbooking supplies available should not be. It isn't with the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis rewards program. Enter into the oasis now with your first order on www.stampinsmiles.stampinup.net!
A couple of days ago Stampin' Up! announced it will not be carrying over the Stocking Builder Punch into the next Idea Book & Catalog. That means we only have until January 3, 2012 to order the exclusive stocking punch!
This is a first. Just last week I was telling a customer who has to pick between a couple of different Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog products that she could safely put off the Stocking Builder Punch because the punches always make the next Idea Book & Catalog.
Rewind the tape, the punches from mini catalogs may or not make the next Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog. Thank goodness there is time to correct my misspoken advice. We have until January 3, 2012 to order the Stampin' Up! Stocking Builder Punch.
While they did not address the coordinating Stitched Stockings stamp set, I now fully expect it to not be offered again either. Being able to punch out all the different stockings, the top, heel and toe make the set so much fun to play with.
Sadly, I didn't begin to play with my Stitched Stockings stamp set nearly enough. Expecting two other 2011 Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog stamp sets to never been seen again, Christmas Lodge and The Sounding Joy, I made several different Christmas cards with both. Had a ball. I thought I had more time for my Stitched Stockings and Stocking Builder Punch to share with you. Sniff.
I believe I made three different projects with it, but two were exclusive for those on my mailing list when they were treated to my 12 Weeks of Christmas emails. So, because a promise is a promise, I cannot show those projects here. But, I did you use the Stitched Stockings and Stocking Builder Punch for one of my Fast & Fabulous Christmas Cards VIDEO Class. Click on Stitched Stockings to see that card.
If you, too, thought you could put off purchasing the Stocking Builder Punch until a later date, order it in my online store before it is gone forever!
When you order online from Shelly, you enter into the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis! After only 3 orders of $25 or more, you earn FREE shipping on the fourth order! It is that easy. No punch cards. You don't have to wait until you spend hundreds of $$$ to earn your FREE shipping reward. Just place your 4th order within one year of the first.
Life is complicated enough, ordering the best stamping and scrapbooking supplies available should not be. It isn't with the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis rewards program. Enter into the oasis now with your first order on www.stampinsmiles.stampinup.net!
The Stocking Builder Punch will not be in the next Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog. Order now!
Aren't the birds just beautiful from the Stampin' Up! Christmas Lodge stamp set? I stamped quite a few on some Sizzix die-cut ovals to make to-be-designed cards at a later date. My last post showed a card made with the birds too.
To cover my blunt edge of the background paper, I used an one inch piece of Garden Green Card Stock embossed with the Stripes Embossing Folder (little secret: the Stripes Embossing Folder is one of FREE Sale-a-bration choices starting January 24, 2012).
For whatever reason, I just do not care for the blunt, or naked, edge of a layered piece of background paper. The embossed card stock strip gives the card a finished look.
The die-cut oval I mentioned above was die-cut with the Sizzix Ovals Originals Die with a Sizzix Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine. The smallest die-cut oval is Very Vanilla Card Stock. The larger die-cut oval the Very Vanilla oval is layered onto is from the same die in Real Red Card Stock. There are three different size ovals on the one Ovals Originals Die. If you click on the name of the die, you will see be able to see a picture of the die.
The Sizzix Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine simply makes paper crafting more fun and saves a lot of time. I was able to die-cut several ovals at one time, saving a lot of time. And, the touch of the embossed trim piece added a lot to my handmade greeting card.
If you do not already own a Sizzix Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, you will most definitely want to purchase one and take your paper crafting to another dimension. Order a Sizzix Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine in my online store now and join the millions using and loving their Big Shots!
When you order online from Shelly, you enter into the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis! After only 3 orders of $25 or more, you earn FREE shipping on the fourth order! It is that easy. No punch cards. You don't have to wait until you spend hundreds of $$$ to earn your FREE shipping reward. Just place your 4th order within one year of the first.
Life is complicated enough, ordering the best stamping and scrapbooking supplies available should not be. It isn't with the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis rewards program. Enter into the oasis now with your first order on www.stampinsmiles.stampinup.net!
Make your handmade Christmas cards with the Christmas Lodge stamp set!
Are you sending any Christmas greetings using the Christmas Lodge stamp set from the 2011 Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog? If you love this set but did not use it to make your handmade Christmas cards this year, you still have time to order it for next year's Christmas cards. The limited-edition stamp set will be available to purchase only until January 3, 2012.
The Holly Berry Bouquet Specialty Designer Series Paper uses Wild Wasabi for the green. Doesn't it coordinate nicely with the Garden Green Card Stock I used for the base of the card? The Wild Wasabi / Garden Green color combination offers a beautiful blend of contrast and coordination.
The Wild Wasabi / Garden Green combination allows the Real Red to stand out and be the focus of the greeting card.
I used the AquaPainter to watercolor. Garden Green for the pine needles, Real Red and Crumb Cake for the birds, and Chocolate Chip for the pine branches. If you look carefully, in this photo the light is reflecting off some of the Dazzling Details on the snow. So pretty in person. That little touch makes the card!
If you would like to make this card for next year's Christmas cards (we're pretty much out of time to order the supplies and be able to make and send them this year), order the limited-edition products I do not expect to see offered again in my online store now!
When you order online from Shelly, you enter into the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis! After only 3 orders of $25 or more, you earn FREE shipping on the fourth order! It is that easy. No punch cards. You don't have to wait until you spend hundreds of $$$ to earn your FREE shipping reward. Just place your 4th order within one year of the first.
Life is complicated enough, ordering the best stamping and scrapbooking supplies available should not be. It isn't with the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis rewards program. Enter into the oasis now with your first order on www.stampinsmiles.stampinup.net!
Make your handmade Christmas cards with the Christmas Lodge stamp set!
Does this Santa look familiar? He is from the Jolly Old Saint Nick stamp set is last year's (2010) Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog. He is the picture that comes to mind when you think of Santa Claus.
Godby with Us Stamper Carole Carr made this adorable handmade Christmas greeting card. Look at the beautiful job she did cutting out the Santa. I'm sure she said she embossed him first with black embossing powder.
Carole and I are in agreement: heat embossing is like magic. You first stamp with a pigment ink pad, my choice VersaMark Ink Pad, sprinkle on the embossing powder, shake off any excess and then melt the embossing powder with the Heat Tool. It is always exciting to see the embossing powder cling to the stamped image and then do its melting magic. You just can't help but do a little happy dance inside each and every time.
Did you know if you missed embossing an area you can go back later and finish the job? I've noticed an area that wasn't melted the following day and was able to still use the Heat Tool and melt it.
One of the most common questions I get is "Can I use a hairdryer to melt the embossing powder?" The short answer is "No." There are two reasons:
A hairdryer will blow off the embossing powder (rut-ro)
A hairdryer does not get hot enough. The heat generated from the Heat Tool is intense.
You will be able to find embossing heat tools for less than the one Stampin' Up! carries. Is there a difference? Short answer: YES!
Once upon a time I didn't know there difference. I also didn't know I could order Stampin' Up! products outside a workshop. So, I picked one up at a local discount store for a few dollars less. It worked.
Then one day I was stamping with a new stamping friend and fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and used her Heat Tool from Stampin' Up! I could not believe how fast my embossing was done. How could this be? Asked just that question of my engineer husband. His answer was my embossing heat tool just wasn't the same high quality of a machine of the Stampin' Up! Heat Tool.
Well, I ordered the Stampin' Up! Heat Tool right away and have been using it happily ever since. Of course, by then I knew I could place an order anytime from myself.
In case no one ever said you can place an order for Stampin' Up! products outside a workshop, I'm telling you. For that matter, you can place online orders with me anytime day or night, on holidays, in your pajamas, on vacation . . . in my online store!
When you order online from Shelly, you enter into the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis! After only 3 orders of $25 or more, you earn FREE shipping on the fourth order! It is that easy. No punch cards. You don't have to wait until you spend hundreds of $$$ to earn your FREE shipping reward. Just place your 4th order within one year of the first.
Life is complicated enough, ordering the best stamping and scrapbooking supplies available should not be. It isn't with the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis rewards program. Enter into the oasis now with your first order on www.stampinsmiles.stampinup.net!
Create some magic of your own by ordering some embossing powder now!