Ho Ho H2O?

We had a wonderful time with our family over Christmas but the return home has not been so fun. We came home to water in the basement. This is where my stamps and craft items are. Luckily, most of the things were on top of plastic totes so they weren't ruined. Half of the basement has the items that we haven't unpacked yet or didn't have room for in this house. Unfortunately there were a lot of cardboard boxes on that side. A total mess that is for sure! We are very fortunate that the damage wasn't worse than it was. On the positive side, this will give me the push to start getting rid of things that I no longer use, so that if something like this happens again we will have less to move around!

Eastern Blooms card

Stamp Set: Eastern Blooms

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red Designer Series paper(retired) and Real Red

Ink: Craft White and Basic Black

Accessories: Stampin' Pastels

Deer Friends Christmas tags

I was recently in a Secret Santa swap and one of the requirements was to stamp some Christmas tags for the person you were sending the package to.

Paper: Whisper White and Real Red

Ink: Stampin' Write markers: Real Read, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun, Glorious Green and Creamy Caramel

Stamps: Deer Friends(Hostess set) and Cute & Curly

Accessories: 1-3/8" circle punch, 1-1/4" circle punch, Curly Label Punch and Stampin' Dimensionals

Ho Ho Ho Banner

I made this banner out of felt. I used the Pennant Bigz Die and Serif Essentials Alphabet Dies for the letters.

Jingle All the Way Decor Elements

I found this cute little photo cube at Wal-Mart when I was looking for a larger frame to put my Countdown to Christmas decor elements on. This box was almost the perfect size for the small Jingle All the Way saying. I had to fold a little bit of the "L" and the dots on the "J" and "i" over to the top of the cube but since it is clear and you can still see them I think it works. The jingle bells and ribbon are from the craft department at Wal-Mart.

Snowman Glass Block Light

I have had a very dear friend for years that collects snowmen. Every year I try to come up with a craft to make her with a snowman theme. This is her gift this year. I used a glass block from the home improvement store and drilled a hole in the back (with a special diamond bit) I threaded a strand of 50 mini Christmas lights through the hole in the back. I just let them tangle up inside for a random look. I cleaned the front of the glass block off with some alcohol and let that dry. Next I mixed 1 part acrylic paint to 2 parts Mod Podge and painted that on the glass block. The snowman was painted just with acrylic paint. I sealed over the top with 2 coats of Mod Podge. I finished off the edges with some green plaid fabric..using the Mod Podge as glue.


This could easily be turned into a stamping project. Use Stazon ink or acrylic paint directly on the glass. You could also stamp on vellum and decoupage that to the glass block. The glass block comes in various sizes, so you could easily customize this to your project.

Christmas Countdown Decor Elements

This is my second attempt to create this Christmas decoration. This is the large decor elements and I think I would have been better off to go with the medium size. My first attempt failed because I did not get the image centered correctly on the acrylic that is in the frame. I tried to remove it and try it again, but it was really stuck down! I ordered another one and thought that I would try to put the acrylic piece down on the decor elements. I don't know if it was excessive static in the air or what, but the decor elements piece jumped off the table and stuck to the acrylic. I couldn't save the outside oval that was suppose to be around the image...it got too distorted. The image is not perfect but I am still pleased with how it turned out. I cut 4 x 4 inch pieces of acetate to adhere the numbers to. I just place them over a plain piece of white card stock in the clothespin to show them off a little more. This was another one of my stuck in my head projects. I just had to make it.


I did fix the tin tiles that were crooked in the picture. I didn't see them before I took the picture!

Diorama card

First, I would like to say that my water coloring does not look like a kindergartner did it in person. I don't know why this picture looks so splotchy. It is nice and even in person. Oh well, at least it looks handmade, right? I learned how to make this card from a tutorial done by Diana Gibbs on Splitcoaststampers. This type of card is really hard to photograph. The shadows made it hard to see the back layer.

Stamps: Boatloads of Love

Ink: Summer Sun, Pacific Point, Real Red, and Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' pads

Paper: Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White card stock

Accessories: Aquapainter, watercolor paper, 1- 3/8" circle punch, 1- 1/4" circle punch and Cuttlebug Embossing folder

My Secret Santa ROCKS!

I just received my package from the Creative Stamping Friends Secret Santa Swap. I took a picture of all the goodies before I started destroying the beautiful packaging! I will try to do some individual pictures of items that you can't really see in the overall picture. I am not sure yet who my Secret Santa is but as soon as I do I will post her name. All I know right now is that she rocks!!

My Secret Santa revealed herself and it is none other then the fabulous Jane Giggy! Thanks so much, Jane! You put so much work into my package and I appreciate it so much!!!!

An oldie but goodie

After one of the wives sent homemade fudge to the whole class, Scott came home and asked me what I would be doing. I was thinking nothing...but he really wanted something to take, so I thought these would be easy and fairly inexpensive to make for 20 people. I think the Top Note Die really updates the old baggie topper idea.

Stamps: Country Living Holiday Collection
Paper: Whisper White card stock, Bordering Blue card stock
Ink: Bordering Blue card stock
Accessories: Scallop punch and medium cello bags

Last minute card

Okay, this shouldn't have been a last minute card because I knew that Clay was invited to a birthday party tonight. But, with trying to finish my Secret Santa projects, a gift for a friend that just adopted a baby and attempting to finish off my Christmas cards it became last minute! I think it took me longer to find my Just Soccer stamp set than it did to actually stamp and assemble it. Definitely not my best work but at least I have a card to put up.

Stamp set: Just Soccer
Paper: Whisper White card stock and Basic Black card stock
Ink: Basic Black Classic Stampin' pad and White Craft Stampin' pad
Accessories: White embossing powder, white twill tape and Texturz embossing plate

Can't wait to post

I have 3 projects either done or almost done that I am so anxious to post! I can't post them until I know my Secret Santa has received her package so that I don't spoil her surprise. Two are done with the Pennant Bigz Die and one is done with a Decor Elements piece. I better get stamping so I can get that box in the mail!

Christmas Card....Kind of

This is the card that I wanted to make for Christmas, but I was not able to duplicate the snowflake from the Country Living Holiday Collection. I tried using the Snowflake #2 Sizzix Die but it didn't turn out the same. I really wanted to use chipboard but I found that the Snowflake die is not a good fit for chipboard! After digging many pieces of chipboard out of the snowflake die, I decided to go with good ol' Shimmery White paper. I just got the kids' pictures back from Snapfish, so I will start sending out our cards soon. Once I think everyone has received them I will post the actual card that I sent out this year. I can't totally spoil the surprise can I?


Stamp sets: Baroque Motifs and Holiday Collection
Paper: Whisper White card stock, Riding Hood Red card stock, and Old Olive card stock
Ink: White Stazon, Riding Hood Red textured card stock and Old Olive Classic Stampin' pads
Accessories: Top Note Bigz Sizzix Die, chipboard snowflake from the Country Living Holiday Collection, and White taffeta ribbon

Christmas Tag Swap

I participated in a Christmas tag swap for Creative Stamping Friends which is a Yahoo group that I belong to. As you can see I was the letter "T" this year. I used a regular shipping tag. I don't know if the scan shows it, but I stamped the large snowflake in vanilla craft ink to try to give the tag a little more personality. I then embossed the smaller snowflakes in gold embossing powder.

The tree was done with a really fun technique with vellum. I used three colors of dye ink pads: Certainly Celery, Glorious Green and Handsome Hunter. I swiped each ink pad on the vellum starting with the lightest color (Certainly Celery). I used this color to cover most of the vellum but I did leave some white. Next, was the Glorious Green which I applied less of. Finally, I used the Handsome Hunter in just a few spots. I let the vellum air dry. I stamped the tree in the Handsome Hunter, attached it to a piece of Whisper White card stock and then cut out. The colors showed up a lot more on the white background than it did on the tag alone.

I punched out the "T" on my Big Shot with the Lollipop Uppercase Die and covered it with gold glitter from Wal-Mart....sorry Stampin' Up! doesn't have gold! I believe I used the Script Sizzlet Dies for the rest of the letters in tree( I really should write this stuff down as I go!). I covered up the ugly reinforcement ring at the top of the tag with a tab punch in Brushed Gold.

I found the funky trim online at http://www.voguefabricsstore.com/ After a lot of price research they were one of the most affordable.

Sonobe Christmas Ornament Tutorial

Start with a 3" x 3" piece of paper and fold it in half. I used the hostess Designer Series paper. You may want to use a lighter weight paper. I like the heavier paper because I don't feel like I am going to rip it when I am working with it. The holes on my ornament will be larger because thicker paper doesn't fit as tightly as lighter weight paper does.

Fold each edge of the paper in to meet the center fold.

Take the top left corner of the paper and fold it down to meet the edge of the bottom.

Take the bottom right corner and fold it up to meet the upper edge of the paper. Your paper should look like this.

Open your folds back up and you will see 2 small triangles on the top right corner and the lower left corner.

Fold the triangles under.

Take the lower right corner and tuck it under the flap that you folded the little triangle under.

Take the upper left and tuck it under. Make sure that all the paper is laying flat and does not bunch up.

Flip the paper over. Fold the lower right corner up and the upper corner down to form a square.

Fold the square in half with the points on the outside.

This is a more 3D view of what you just made. This is called a sonobe. You will need to fold 30 of these. Yes, I said 30! Once you get the hang of it the folding will go quickly. Don't rush too much because you want them to be neat.

To make the top of the ornament you will need 5 single sonobes.

3 sonobes... 2 more to go!

4 sonobes....almost there!

All five sonobes. Tuck the point from first sonobe into the flap on the last to make a ring.

Double or triple knot a piece of ribbon and feed it through the hole in the top of the ornament.

To make a set of 3 sonobes you will start with 2 individual sonobes.

Tuck a point from one sonobe into the flap of another

Complete the 3D point by tucking the point from the last into the flap on the first. Make 7 of these set of 3 sonobes.

You will have 5 points on the top of the ornament that you will attach a set of 3 sonobes to. The set of 3 sonobes will also have a point that needs to be inserted back into a flap on the top of the ornament. You can see that the green point is from the set of 3 sonobes and it will insert into the More Mustard flap that is above it. This will create a 3D point with the More Mustard, Always Artichoke and Night of Navy papers. You can almost see the complete point already even though the Always Artichoke has not been tucked in yet. I attached all my set of 3 sonobes before I started tucking the points back into the top of the ornament so I wouldn't lose my place.
Once you get all five of the set of 3 sonobes on your ornament will look like this. You will have 5 points that you will attach two set of 3 sonobes and 3 single sonobes.

This shows the first set of 3 sonobes attached to the ornament and then a single sonobe on the next point. The third point will have the other set of 3 sonobes. The fourth and fifth points will have a single sonobe. There will be one single sonobe left that will complete the ornament. It does not get attached until there are no more flaps to insert a point.

You will start to see where the points need to be tucked into the flaps from the pieces that are already there. You want to form 3D points all around the ornament. This helped me figure out where to tuck. The last sonobe will go on the bottom of the ornament once you run out of flaps to tuck in to. Hopefully where I labeled the flaps and points will help.

I wrote this tutorial from the last step back to the first, so if there is something that is a little fuzzy please let me know so that I can edit it to make it better. Thanks!

Our First Professional Pictures in Years!

The college that Scott is attending right now is putting together a yearbook which required us to go get some professional pictures taken. Yeah! We have been meaning to do this for years and we just never seem to get around to it. The last one we had taken was while we were at Fort Drum. Paige was just a few weeks old. The pictures were awful! The boys looked really uncomfortable and it was really hot in the room where the pictures were done. Maybe it took us so many years to get one done again because last time was such a bad experience. This time was quite painless. We were in and out in less than a half hour. I was worried how Paige would do because our appointment was at 8:00pm....really close to bedtime. But, I think it all went quite well and we got some good pictures. I purchased enough photos that I got the copyright release so that I could post here. Scott wasn't too happy about that!