Christmas Cardinal - November Make and Take 3

Here is the third card that we made at the November Make and Take. This one was cased from Rebekah Jensen's card.

Stamps: Tags Till Christmas, A Cardinal Christmas

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler

DSP: Deck the Halls DSP

Ink: Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Decorative Label Punch, Two Step Bird Punch, 1/8" Real Red Taffeta ribbon, Crochet Trim ribbon, Paper Snips, Two-Way Glue Pen, Stampin' Dimensionals, White Gel Pen, Markers: Basic Black, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip

The card base is Very Vanilla cardstock cut at 5" x 8 1/2" and scored at 4 1/4". A piece of Crumb Cake cardstock is cut at 2 3/4" x 5 1/2". A piece of Deck the Halls DSP is cut at 1 1/2" x 5 1/2" and the DSP was adhered to the top of the Crumb Cake cardstock. A piece of Crochet Trim ribbon was added around the cardstock covering the DSP edge. A piece of 1/8" Real Red Taffeta ribbon was added around the Crochet Trim and tied into a knot.

The crumb cake, DSP, and ribbon panels were adhered to the card front and the greeting from A Cardinal Christmas was stamped in Always Artichoke ink on the bottom right hand corner of the card.

On a scrap of Crumb Cake cardstock the tag with the pinecone and branches were colored in with Always Artichoke and Chocolate Chip markers. The To and From was omitted by carefully not coloring on those portions of the stamp. I then breathed on the stamp to re-moisten the ink and stamped on the Crumb Cake cardstock. This label was cut out with the Decorative Label punch.

The Decorative Label punch was also used to punch out two labels from scraps of Cherry Cobbler cardstock. One label was cut in half width-wise with the points that were in the middle of the side trimmed off. The two halves were adhered behind the label with the Two-Way Glue Pen to create a mat. The other label was trimmed in half length-wise with the points trimmed off and adhered behind the stamped label. This creates a complete mat around the label.

Next the Two Step Bird Punch was used to punch out one bird and two wings from Cherry Cobbler cardstock. The Basic Black marker and White Gel Pen were used to create the black portion of the head and the white eye. One wing is adhered behind the bird’s head with the Two-Way Glue pen to create the pointed head. The portion of the wing that sticks out around the birds face and beak was trimmed off with paper snips. The bird and the other wing were sponged with Chocolate Chip ink to give the bird more dimension. The wing was adhered to the side of the bird and the bird was adhered to the bottom right hand corner of the label. The label was adhered to the card front with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

That’s it! Have fun stampin!

My Very First Quilt!

My sister and her husband are also hosting a foreign exchange student this year. Her name is Sira and I decided to make a simple quilt for her back in September. She likes Navy Blue and Cream so that is the colors I went with. I ordered the fabric from a craft store online. I spent hours reading online to determine the best way to go about this monumental feat, for me anyway. Not to mention a pattern.

I saw a simple quilt on a beginners book that had squares with the patterns in diamonds growing outward. So that is what I did. I cut many, many, many 6" squares and spent hours at the sewing maching putting them into rows and the sewing the rows together. The thing I had the most trouble with was getting the layers of the top fabric with the squares, batting, and back fabric together neatly. The back doesn't look great but I am so proud of how the front looks. The finished blanket is Twin sized.

So those quilting experts out there please take it easy on this quilting rookie. I'm still pleased with it and Sira LOVED it!

Crochet Christmas Gift

Here is the most time consuming of all the Christmas gifts that I made. My parents hosted a foreign exchange student this year. Her name is Neila and she is very much a Girly Girl! I made mom a crochet bed doll a few years ago that she has sitting in her bedroom. Neila saw it and fell in love with it. So back in September I decided to make her a doll for Christmas in her favorite color...bright pink.

The ruffles and the underskirt took forever! I was working on it until the very early hours of Christmas morning. I shouldn't procrastinate so much and try to get things done sooner. But then I just came up with more ideas for handmade Christmas gifts.

Here is Neila opening the box. She was so very suprised and happy!

Come back soon to see what else I have to share with you!

Mosaic Vase

The first Christmas present I made was a mosaic vase for my sister Kelly who loves pink. I found this wonderful clear glass vase at an antique store and used some glass that I already had on hand. One of my other of many hobbies is stained glass and glass fusing. These pieces were just waiting to be used. I cut the glass into 1/2" strips then cleaned them with alcohol. Then I used on glass tile nippers from the home store to cut the strips into 1/2" squares. Well...approximately squares. They weren't perfect, but I didin't want it to be perfect either.

Then I used E600 glue to adhere all the glass pieces to the vase. This project used five different kinds of glass. A champagne colored opaque, a solid pink opaque, glue chip (which looks like frost on glass), a pink and yellow streaky glass, and a peachy colored mottled (textured) glass.

I'm really happy with how it turned out and Kelly loved it!

Come back later to see what else I have to share with you!

Pear Just Believe - November Make and Take 2

Today I have the second card from the November Make and Take to show you. Better late than never right? This card was inspired by Debbie Currier's card. Take a look:

Stamps: Just Believe
Cardstock: Pear Pizzaz, Whisper White, Basic Black, Elegant Eggplant
Ink: Early Espresso, Basic Black, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Die, Curly Label Punch, Paper Snips, Stampin' Dimensionals, Basic Pearl Jewel Accents, Old Olive marker, Elegant Eggplant marker.


The card base is 4 1/4" x 11" Pear Pizzaz cardstock scored at 5 1/2". The card front was run through the Big Shot with the Vintage Wallpaper Textured Imressions die. The flowers from Just Believe were inked up with the Old Olive and Elegant Eggplant markers. I then breathed on the stamp and stamped it on a piece of Whisper White cardstock. After adding some additional shadow lines to the leaves and the flowers with the fine points on the marker the stamped panel was adhered to a piece of Basic Black cardstock and then this was adhered to the card front.

The greeting was stamped in Elegant Eggplant ink on a scrap of Whisper White cardstock then punched out with the Curly Label punch. The edges were sponged with Basic Black ink. Another curly label was punched from a scrap of Elegant Eggplant cardstock. The label was cut in half length-wise with paper snips and the points that were in the middle of the sides were cut off. The two piece were adhered behind the stamped curly label to give it a mat. This was adhered to the card front with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Some Basic Pearl Jewel Accents were added to two of the flower centers to finish the card off. This was a simple yet pretty card that all the ladies loved! Come back tomorrow to see more Christmas Kreations and another card from the November Make and Take!

Valentine Sketch Card

Sorry for the long gap between posts during the holiday season. I've been soooo busy trying to finish up Christmas presents and Christmas cards and baking for various pot-lucks that I didn't even have time to create a card to show you. Or post the cards from the November make and take. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Now that Christmas is over not only can I get caught up on my posts from previous Make and Takes, but I can show you the things I was working so hard on that I couldn't post.

First though it is Monday and this week was my turn to create the sketch. So here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

Stamps: With All My Heart, I Heart Hearts

Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla

DSP: Sending Love Specialy DSP (retired)

Ink: Pretty in Pink, Cherry Cobbler

Accessories: Crochet Flourettes (retired), Paper Snips, Tombow Multi-Purpose Adhesive, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Glimmer Brad, Stampin' Dimensionals, Tasteful Trim die, Needle Tool, Mat Pack

I have been making soooooo many Christmas cards for the last several months with the Christmas card class and Make and Takes that I'm ready for something different. So today I decided to go with a Valentines card. The card base is Pretty in Pink cardstock that was cut at 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" and scored at 4 1/4". The Sending Love DSP (retired) was cut at 4" x 5 1/4" and adhered to the card front. Then I cut a 1 1/2" x approx. 7" strip of Very Vanilla cardstock and ran it through the Big Shot with the Tasteful Trim die to get the large scallops. The scallop trim was cut down to 5 1/2" and adhered on top of a 1 1/2" x 5" piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock. This was then adhered to the card front.

The reason for cutting the strip of Very Vanilla cardstock longer than what you need is so that you can cut out your scallops on the die, then trim it down so that the scallops on each end of the card match and so you are guaranteed to have straight edges on the ends.

The greeting from With All My Heart was stamped in Pretty in Pink ink on a scrap of Very Vanilla cardstock and then trimmed with paper snips into a strip with dove-tailed ends to look kind of like ribbon. This was adhered to the card front. I used the Needle Tool and Mat Pack to pierce a hole in the straight end of the greeting strip and added a red Glimmer Brad with a Crochet Flourette (retired) on it.

On a scrap of Pretty in Pink cardstock I stamped the dotted heart from I Heart Hearts in Cherry Cobbler ink. Then I stamped the other heart (not sure how to describe it) in Pretty in Pink ink. The heart was then cut out with Paper Snips. Tombow Multi-Purpose Adhesive was used to adhere the Dazzling Diamonds glitter around the edge of the heart. Then the heart was adhered to the card front with Stampin' Dimensionals.

This one was so quick and easy to make I think I whipped it out in 15 minutes. I will certainly have more to share with you but it will be a little while before I get back to the regular schedule. Make sure to stop by tomorrow to see what I have to share with you! It may be a card or it may be a Christmas present...who knows!

If you are a Stampin' Up Demonstrator you can find the sketch challenge here. If you are not a demonstrator I would still love to see your cards created with the sketch. Please post a link to your creation in the comments section of this post.

Bells and Boughs - Monday Sketch Challenge

It's Tuesday again! That means it was time for the weekly sketch challenge yesterday! Yes, I am still way behind in posting. Here is the sketch created by me! Take a look:

And here is my card:

Stamps: Bells and Boughs

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Old Olive

DSP: Jolly Holiday

Ink: Early Espresso, Black Stazon, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Northern Flurries Strip Die, 12"x12" Adhesive Sheet, Brights Glimmer Brad, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch, Gold Elastic Cord (retired)

Stampin' Dimensionals, Needle Tool, Mat Pack, Markers: Old Olive, Pear Pizzaz, Always Artichoke, Early Espresso, and Cherry Cobbler.

The card base is Crumb Cake cardstock cut at 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" and scored at 4 1/4". I stamped the background with the image from Bells and Boughs in Crumb Cake ink. Just to give the background a subtle pattern. Then I cut a piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock at 2 3/8" x 4 1/4" and punched one edge with the Scallop Trim Border punch. A piece of Jolly Holiday DSP was cut at 2" x 4 1/4" and adhered onto the scalloped Cherry Cobbler cardstock. A scrap of Old Olive cardstock was used in the Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch and trimmed to 4 1/4" long. This was adhered on top of the DSP with the Two-Way Glue Pen and some Gold Elastic Cord (retired). The greeting was stamped onto the DSP in Early Espresso ink and then this panel was adhered to the card front.

A piece of Very Vanilla cardstock was cut at 2" x 3" and the image from Bells and Boughs was stamped in Black Stazon onto the cardstock. The image was colored in with Pear Pizzaz, Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Early Espresso, and Cherry Cobbler markers. The edges of the cardstock were sponged with Early Espresso ink and then was adhered to a 2 1/8" x 3 1/8" Early Espresso panel.

Next I cut out a small piece of Very Vanilla cardstock (just large enough to fit over the Northern Flurries Strip Die to get the snowflake I want) and a equal-sized piece of 12" x 12" Adhesive sheets. I removed the liner from one side and adhered this to the cardstock. Then I ran the cardstock through the Big Shot with the Northern Flurries Strip Die with the liner side of the Adhesive Sheet up. The die will cut through the cardstock, but will not cut completely through the liner. I took the snowflake off the liner and sprinkled on Dazzling Diamonds glitter to sparkle up my snowflake.

Since the snowflake I used has a large hole in the center I adhered the snowflake to the Very Vanilla/Early Espresso panels with the Two-Way Glue Pen. The Needle Tool and Mat Pack were used to pierce a hole through the layers of cardstock and a Glimmer Brad from the Brights collection was added. The panel was adhered to the card front. With Stampin' Dimensionals. You can get a close up of my snowflake and Glimmer Brad here:

If you are a Stampin' Up Demonstrator you can find the challenge here. If you are not a Stampin' Up Demonstrator please post a link to your creation in the comments section of this post. I would LOVE to see what you create with this sketch!