Merry Christmas!

In amongst all of my pre-Christmas cooking and cleaning, I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with lots of time for crafting! This is the Christmas card I sent out this year. I had lots of fun getting my fingers multiple shades of blue and green in the process! It's all shimmery in real life, thanks to Shimmery White cardstock.

I also just realised that I hadn't shown you the Christmas decor pieces that I made using the Hello December Project Life Cards and Accessories. A fun countdown flip-frame (Frame is from IKEA):

And a Christmas Box Frame:

So simple to put together, and these can be used year after year. Merry Christmas!


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Quick Christmas Gift Bag

Need to dress up a Christmas Gift? Just grab some of your favourite Designer Series Paper, a Gift Bag and a Designer Paper Clip. Voila! You are done!
These little bags make an iTunes gift card look a bit more special!

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Home for Christmas Tag and Box Set

I thought the Hearth and Home Thinlits would make a cute "window" in the lid of a box....and was I right?? My little box holds this set of 6 tags and it also holds 6 Ferrero Rocher Chocolates.
Here are my dimensions (some are in inches and some are in cm, hopefully that's not too confusing!)

You can make the box and 6 tags using one 12” x 12” piece of cardstock.
Box: 7” x 5-½” Kraft Cardstock, score 1-¼” from all 4 sides
Lid: 5-½” x 4-½” Kraft Cardstock. In landscape orientation, score 1-¼” from each end
Window Sheet: 11 x 7.5cm
Tags (6): 10 x 4.9cm, punch one end using Ornate Tag Punch
Gold foil: 4.9 x 5.5cm
DSP: 4.9 x 4.9cm
Tips: Use ¾” Circle to punch a ‘notch’ in the side of the box to make it easier to open Cut an extra window frame for the inside of the lid, to cover your adhesive


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Christmas Chocolate Holder

If you need a cute little Christmas gift, then these might fit the bill! Little mini Chocolate holders. I copied these from some gorgeous ones I found HERE.
The chocolates are from Aldi, and I've used the Merry Moments Designer Series Paper and Peaceful Pines stamp set to decorate the holder.

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Home for Christmas Lumiere

I love making Home Décor items, especially at Christmas time. I've seen a few of these tea-light lanterns around, and decided to make my own version. Of course you need to use a battery-operated tealight in one of these!
I've the Home for Christmas Designer Series Paper to decorate my lumiere. There's a different (fussy-cut) design on each side. It looks so pretty at night when the light shines softly through the vellum.

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Little Christmas Mouse

Since my team is called Stampers Anony-mouse, I always like to make my team some mouse-themed Christmas gifts. We had our Christmas party last Friday night and these were the little gifts I made everyone. I used the Fry Box Die, the Delicate Ornaments Thinlits (for his head), and lots of punches! I decided to give them reindeer antlers instead of Santa Hats this year.
Inside are some homemade cranberry and white chocolate cookies.
Here's a close-up:

The colours I've used are Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride and Chocolate Chip.

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Clean and Simple Christmas

If you haven't made your Christmas cards yet, it's not too late! You can keep it clean and simple, and whip up a batch of these in no time at all.
Here's another design that is also very quick and easy:

If you're going for the clean and simple look, I always like to add a touch of sparkle or texture, just to stop it from being too plain.

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Christmas Display

Does this look familiar? My clever hubby copied the cover of our Holiday Catalogue to make me a display piece. It's been gracing my card classroom for the last few months, and has received many admiring comments. He did a good job, don't you think? Here's the original:

....and then I copied all of the cards, tags and decorations to put on it!
There's only a couple of weeks left to order from this Catalogue. You can view the Retiring List HERE. Some items have sold out already!

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Rip Flip for Christmas

You may remember the "Rip Flip" technique that I demonstrated in Hawaii. If not, you can read about it HERE
I decided that this technique would make some quick and easy Christmas cards. It's a great way to use all that beautiful Christmas DSP that we all like to collect!!
I've used Merry Moments here, and kept the rest of the design quite simple....very easy to mass-produce if you still haven't made your Christmas cards!

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Lots of Joy Stamp-a-stack

I love pairing traditional Christmas images with non-traditional colours. Here I've used Island Indigo, Cucumber Crush, Night of Navy and a dash of Silver with the Lots of Joy stamp set.
It was fun playing with all the different elements and laying them out in different ways. During the Stamp-a-Stack Class, all of the ladies came up with even more different layouts. That would have to be my favourite thing about stamping - the infinite number of possibilities using just ink, stamps and cardstock :)

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Reason for the Season Stamp-a-Stack

I don't know about you guys, but my November has been soooo busy! Christmas craziness seems to start earlier every year.
These cards were from my Christmas Stamp-a-Stack class a little while ago. The "Reason for the Season" poinsettia works equally well as a feature image or as a background design. The 2-step images have so much dimension, and look beautiful cut out, or just stamped straight on to the banner pieces.
I've added silver and gold doilies and ribbon for a touch of sparkle, and Flowering Flourishes stamped on the base card.

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LAST DAY - 20% off Select Stamps!

Woo hoo! Get excited! It doesn't happen very often -- Stampin' Up! has 17 stamp sets on sale at 20% off, but it's just for a few days. Check them out HERE.

You can place your order in my store or by email.

You can check out some gorgeous Pinterest Inspiration using these stamp sets by the Artisan Design Team HERE


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Vintage Leaves meets Gorgeous Grunge

I made these cards a while ago, but I'm showing them on my blog again because they feature 2 of the stamp sets that are 20% off at the moment - Gorgeous Grunge and Vintage Leaves. These just happen to be 2 of my all-time favourite sets.
Check out the full list of discounted stamps HERE.
But hurry - this offer is only available until Friday 20th November!

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Holiday Catalogue Retiring List

I can't believe it's that time already...we are coming to the end of the Sales Period for the Holiday Catalogue, and Stampin' Up! have released the Retiring List.

See the list HERE

Some of my all-time favourites are on there. I'll be especially sad to lose the Lighthearted Leaves Stamp set, the Woodland Embossing folder, the gold and silver cording trim and the Black Glimmer Paper *sob*

If you have some favourites that you don't want to miss out on, place your order today!



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Celebrate Today - 20% off!

Everyone loves discounted stamps, and there's some great ones on the list. Today I'm highlighting Celebrate Today. Usually $45, but for this week only, it's 20% off - just $36. Bargain! But only until this Friday 20th November.
Here's another one I made a while ago:

Check out the whole list HERE - all 20% off! This promotion ends Friday 20th November.

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Christmas Specialty Class

This week I am running my last official class for the year. It's earlier than usual, as I am trying to fit so many other things in - 2 team training days, our Team Christmas Party, several family birthdays, a trip to Melbourne for the OnStage Stampin' Up! event, and a week away with Amy to celebrate the end of her school years. Add to that all the general pre-Christmas goings-on and I'm exhausted just thinking about it!! It's all good fun though.
For our last class we are making some Special Christmas Gifts - a Shaker Card, Gift Voucher Holder and little 'tent' box. The Gift Voucher was inspired by one that the talented Claire Daly made.
I've used the 'Season of Cheer' Designer Series Paper on all 3 of these projects, along with the Cozy Christmas stamp set. I've also used the Lots of Labels framelits on all 3 projects too....can you spot it as the base of the snowglobe?

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Christmas Cardinals

Does it look like I've spent hours watercolouring these little cardinals? Well, I didn't even touch an aquapainter....they are just stamped, plain and simple. The stamp is shaded, to give a watercolour effect, so all the hard work is done for you.
I can see myself using this little guy throughout the year as well, and I'll definitely be using the branch for all sorts of things...blossoms, leaves, ornaments would all look cute on a branch.
It's a bit hard to tell in the pic, but my little bird is set behind the embossed area, not on top of it, to create a 'shadow box' effect. If you're going for this look, cut your circle framelit out first, and then emboss your cardstock. Otherwise you will squash your embossing flat!
I've used gold buttons and ribbon to embellish these cards

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Embellished Ornaments

I can't believe it's time for my last Christmas Stamp-a-Stack of the year. Usually I run another one in November, but we've got so much family stuff going on that I can't fit it in! I swear, the Silly Season starts earlier every year.
I always try and do a purple Christmas design. Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive is a great Christmas combination, if you're looking to step away from the traditional red and green.
I've used the Embellished Ornament stamp set on these cards. The ornaments are gorgeous, but my favourite part of this set is the holly sprig and the sentiments.
I love how just a dash of silver sparkle on the holly berries and ornament collars steps these cards up.

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Watercolour Words Stamp-a-Stack

The Watercolour Words stamp set is the set I most often recommend for beginner stampers. It covers all occasions, you can use it to make cards for people of any age or gender, and it is very user-friendly to stamp. The flowing script and watercolour effect look good even when not stamped perfectly straight or even... Let's face it, that suits all stampers, not just beginners!
For these cards I used 2 shades of grey (Smoky Slate and Basic Grey) and just a splash of one strong colour - Calypso Coral, Real Red, Crushed Curry, Wisteria Wonder (and a wee bit of Mint Macaron for the leaves).
I've stamped on the Project Life grid cards (at $6.25 for 50 cards, these are such a bargain).
This set of cards would be a really simple set to replicate. I think I'll be making a few extra sets to give as gifts for teachers, friends and family.

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Lighthearted Leaves Stamp-a-Stack

It's only been a few weeks, but it feels like forever since I held my last class. I had some time off due to Amy's Highschool Graduation, school holidays and then studying for and sitting for her HSC exams. She's still in the middle of it all (4 exams down, 3 to go!) but they are a little more spread out now, so I'm able to fit some classes around them! I'm so grateful at times like these that I have such a flexible job.
I have to confess that I'm a little bit in love with the Lighthearted Leaves stamp set. It wasn't on my initial wishlist (now that I've used it, I can't fathom why!). This month, I decided to challenge myself to use a colour that I haven't used for a while. I chose Tempting Turquoise. I've paired it with Soft Sky, Hello Honey, and a dash of gold. I love how fresh and summery it looks.
The Hello You thinlits are bold enough to make a statement, yet thin enough not to block too much of the design. They look pretty special in gold foil!


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Lovely as a Christmas Tree

Lovely as a Tree is our longest-running stamp set...8 years and still going strong. It's been in every Australian Annual Catalogue since 2007! I think I pull it out every Christmas (and plenty of times throughout the year too).
I've used a very earthy, natural colour scheme here - Crumb Cake, Mossy Meadow and Cherry Cobbler. I've also used Whisper White ink to sponge some of the layers, and to stamp some Gorgeous Grunge 'snow'.
I love the Shadow Box look, where the image is set behind the mat, rather than on top of it.

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Layered Letters for Christmas

I always enjoy the challenge of making Christmas cards using non-Christmas stamp sets. For these cards I used an alphabet stamp set to spell out some Christmassy words. This alphabet comes with 'layers', which really anchors the letters.
I've used one of my favourite colour combinations - Pear Pizzazz, Pool Party and Lost Lagoon.
A touch of silver ribbon and some star dangles add a bit of bling. To make the star dangles, just use a glue dot to adhere a Silver Glimmer star to the end of a piece of white Baker's Twine. Press another star onto the back to make it double-sided. Do the same on the other end. I attach my 'dangles' by laying them across the Silver ribbon as I am tying the knot. I think they look really cute, are very cost-effective and they don't add a lot of weight or bulk for mailing either.

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