Dec 1, 2010 | Big Shot, Bingo, Christmas, Demonstrator, Holiday Mini Catalog 2010 |
ABCs of the Perfect Handmade Holiday – Oct. 19 – Dec. 16th – CLICK HERE.
Scrapbook Class – Dec. 3rd and Dec. 4th – RSVP by Dec. 1st. – CLICK HERE.
Yes I still have more cookie swap ideas! There was quite a little crowd of us at the meeting – I wonder if it was the cookies that made everyone come…. so here are the rest of the gals at the meeting.
Sue, Linda M., Dannette, Cindy G., Marie, Linda B.
And I’ll put up half of their swaps today and the rest tomorrow.
Sue recycled some candy tins for her swap and decorated them with the Deck the Halls Designer Series paper, different ribbons, and punched pieces. 
All of them were a little bit different.
Linda M. also used the Deck the Halls Designer Series paper and the seam binding from the Mini Catalog. She created little boxes using the Top Note die. The front was stamped from the Tags til Christmas stamp set. A lot of us used that set for our swaps.
Danette made these giant cookies – I think they are called stained-glass cookies – the center is cut out with a small cookie cutter and filled with chopped hard candy which melts in the opening and then cools to fill the space.
It looks like stained glass. She made one giant cookie and packaged it in a large cello bag and added a tag using the ornament punch and the Delightful Decorations stamp set. She finished the tag with a Rhinestone brad.
And she had them all inside a cute reindeer basket. So festive and fun.
I’ll share the rest of the swaps tomorrow and then I think I’ll be done with those.
Did you see that Bingo has started again? If you are in group 7 look for an email from the first of this week with your Bingo card – print it out and keep track every day as I call the pieces.
Here we go with Monika’s Blog Bingo. This is Round 7! The group is full and all the cards were emailed out Monday 11/29. I am going to take a break from Bingo after this group is done so I am not taking any more names at this time. I may play again in the future so I hope you will continue to visit my blog and leave comments. See this POST for more details on how to play and the previous winners and the players for this round.
And now for today’s piece – Here is piece #2–the word CREATE from the Charming stamp set (stamped in Peach Parfait).
Nov 26, 2010 | Big Shot, Christmas, Demonstrator, Holiday Mini Catalog 2010 |
Online Spectacular – Nov. 22 – Nov. 30th – CLICK HERE.
50% Off Starter Kit – Nov. 15 – Nov. 30th – CLICK HERE.
ABCs of the Perfect Handmade Holiday – Oct. 19 – Dec. 16th – CLICK HERE.
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday with your family. We spent Thanksgiving with Greg’s family – we all met in Virginia for a big Turkey and Ham meal with all the sides. Everyone has their own favorite item from our Thanksgiving meal. And for some it is the desert!
So speaking of desert here are some more cookie swaps from my demonstrator meeting. Well first let me share a pictures of some more of the girls.
Lisa B., Christine and Cindy S.
Lisa B., Christine, and Cindy S. are working on the make&takes from the meeting. We had three tables with different projects – including a hybrid MDS card that Cindy S. shared with us after talking to the group about My Digital Studio and sharing some of the 12×12 pages she had printed.
Christine was a soon to be demonstrator – Cindy recruited her and she was signing up with the half price special that is going on now.
Christine and Cindy got together to make their swaps. And here is Christine’s – a green and red bag filled with Green and Red sugar cookies. Then a topper in green and red. Stamp set is Sweet Season.
Cindy S. made a cute Santa Hat box for her cookies. I do have to confess though – now that I took them all out I don’t remember what cookies were in which box. The Santa Hat box is a triangle box like one I made a year or so ago for Valentine’s – I think it is here on my blog in the archives somewhere.
Cindy used the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder to decorate the Santa hat – it gives such a neat texture to the hat. The tag is from the Tags til Christmas stamp set in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday mini catalog. The cording at the top is actually retired but it sure is perfect for this hat.
The last one I wanted to share today is from Lisa B. I do remember her cookies – mostly because I ate them all – chocolate oatmeal no bake cookies – and they were yummy!
I did get the picture made before I ate them all. Lisa had them packaged in a cello bag with a cute topper.
Her topper is the Top Note die with the Holly Jolly Designer Series paper. The squares of designer paper are attached to the top note giving it a quilted look. A tag from the Tags til Christmas set along with some ribbon finishes this cute package!
And she brought the whole bunch in a nice little basket.
I hope you are enjoying all of these cute ideas on how to package up cookies and treats for the holidays. These would be easy to adapt for Valentine’s, Easter, birthday, Halloween or anything else that you need little treats for.
I think I’m about half way through all the ideas so be sure to check back for more they are still coming over the next few days.
Have a great rest of the holiday weekend! I hope you got some great shopping deals if you have been out.
A bingo winner was found right before Thanksgiving – I’ll have the new group ready to go with an update on Sunday – that’s my plan.
Nov 24, 2010 | Big Shot, Bingo, Christmas |
Online Spectacular – Nov. 22 – Nov. 30th – CLICK HERE.
50% Off Starter Kit – Nov. 15 – Nov. 30th – CLICK HERE.
ABCs of the Perfect Handmade Holiday – Oct. 19 – Dec. 16th – CLICK HERE.
I told you I would have lots of these Cookie Swaps to share with you – they were all such great ideas. I’m trying to make sure I don’t miss anyone so I’m sharing based upon my pictures that I took of everyone.
Susie and Lisa S.
I got a picture of Susie and Lisa working with the Letterpress Plates and the Big Shot. Susie is my newest demonstrator on my PAWS team and I was very excited to have her join. Susie signed up with the Digital+ Starter kit and you can too – if you do it before Nov. 30th you can join Stampin’ Up! for half price – $87.50 – what a deal! If I wasn’t already a demo I would not even hesitate to think about this one.
With Suzie being so new she didn’t have any Stampin’ Up! designer paper so she did use some of her stash of non-su paper and ribbon for her swap. But she pulled out the Stampin’ Up! Snowflake punch to finish off the front of these cute bags. Inside she had snowflake candies – made with white chocolate and the back was tinted blue. I do confess that I took this little bag apart because I wanted to trace the pattern and see how she made it – I still need to get out the ruler and measure it.
Lisa S. used a Cello Bag for her cookies – thumbprint cookies and then made a topper. The topper looks to be the size of a card – 5-1/2 x 4-1/4 – but I didn’t actually get out the ruler to measure it.
She used the Top Note die cut from Very Vanilla card stock to decorate the front. The stamp set is Snow Swirled. The colors are Old Olive, Real Red and Very Vanilla. A little bit of ribbon adds a perfect touch.
The center strips are also cut with the top note die but they are just a strip from the center layered on top of the full cut piece – one is Old Olive and the other has the greeting on it.
I brought all the swaps and cookies with me for Thanksgiving and a couple of days ago I emptied them all out into a container – the kids and all the family have been sampling these awesome cookie creations every day!
Have a great Thanksgiving with your family! I have decided not to put up a new post on Thursday – Thanksgiving day – I’ll catch back up with you on Friday. I’m still waiting on someone to claim Bingo….until then we will keep going with the game that never ends – who will it be? Are you checking your card carefully? Everybody here keeps asking me if I have a winner yet.
It’s BINGO TIME! We are playing Round 6 of Monika’s Blog Bingo. I have now filled group 7 and won’t be taking any more names right now – I”ll be taking a Bingo break after group 7 plays – I may play again in the future so I hope you will continue to visit my blog. See this POST for more details on how to play and the previous winners.
And now for today’s piece – Here is piece #21 –the woman from Loads of Love Accessories stamp set (stamped in Chocolate Chip).
Make sure you send me an email when you get your 5 in a row Bingo. If there is more than one winner – I will choose based on who sent me the email first.
Nov 20, 2010 | Big Shot, Bingo, Fabric, Holiday Mini Catalog 2010 |
Earlier this month I held a Holiday Gift making class. It was a lot of fun and everyone that came left with finished gifts! Some were teacher or friend gifts, some were mom or grandma gifts, and some were just for themselves. One of the projects was a set of Fabric Ornaments using the new Stampin’ Up! Fabric that is in the Holiday Mini Catalog. There are two different packages to choose from and both have matching button assortments to coordinate. They also coordinate with Designer Paper packs and Stampin’ Up! stamp sets. It is so easy to make a whole set of matching projects including the packaging and cards!
Stampin' Up! Deck the Halls Big Designer Buttons
Stampin' Up! Deck the Halls Designer Fabric
My samples today use the Candy Cane collection. The colors in this collection are Garden Green, Real Red, Baja Breeze and Blushing Bride.
Stampin' Up! Candy Cane Big Designer Buttons
- Stampin’ Up! Candy Cane Designer Fabric
We made Fabric Ornaments by cutting the fabric with the Big Shot – I used the Scallop Circles #2 Die and two layers of each pattern. The great thing about the Big Shot is you can cut all six layers at the same time – so it is just one pass through the Big Shot for all the fabric for all three ornaments. I did cut the batting one layer at a time because it is thick.
To make the ornaments layer two small scallops of fabric with a small scallop batting in between and put a stitch in each scallop with some thread and a needle.
Then add a button on the top and one of the large scallop fabric pieces on the back. Choose a different fabric for the large scallop than what you used for the small one. Sew the button through the small layered scallop and the large scallop.
Next layer the large scallop batting and some ribbon for a hanger – I used Real Red Grosgrain for these – and then the last large fabric scallop. Again put a stitch in each scallop with some needle and thread all the way around. You may want to go twice over the part where the handle is to make it secure.
That’s it. I did them in sets of three mixing the three fabric patterns from the package. I also made a set using the Deck the Halls fabric and buttons.
I actually gave this set away as a prize for my Pokeeno group so I decided to create a coordinating box to hold them. I used Real Red card stock and the Candy Candy Christmas Specialty Designer Series Paper that matches with the fabric.
The panels are stamped with snow flakes and then the paper is punched with the Ornament punch and I added one on each side.
I measured the box to be just the right size to fit the ornaments inside. I use my Grid paper when I create a box. I lay the item I want to fit in side on my paper and draw a box around it. Then figure how high I want the sides to be and draw those lines on the paper.
Then I make a lid which is slightly bigger just a fraction so the lid will slide over the base.
I hope you like the project and you should try the fabric – I’m not much of a sewer but I do like the fabric and have used it several times on non-sewing projects.
No Bingo winner yet – so here we go again…
It’s BINGO TIME! We are playing Round 6 of Monika’s Blog Bingo. I have now filled group 7 and won’t be taking any more names right now – I”ll be taking a Bingo break after group 7 plays – I may play again in the future so I hope you will continue to visit my blog. See this POST for more details on how to play and the previous winners.
And now for today’s piece – Here is piece #17 –the furniture from Loads of Love Accessories stamp set (stamped in Chocolate Chip).
Make sure you send me an email when you get your 5 in a row.
Nov 18, 2010 | Big Shot, Bingo, Cards, Christmas, Holiday Mini Catalog 2010, In Colors, Valentine's Day |
In the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini Catalog Stampin’ Up! introduced a new crafting option with the Big Shot machine. They are called Letterpress Plates and let you create an inked debossed impression. I demonstrated these at my meeting Saturday night and had three cards for everyone to make. Here are a few of my notes:
There are four Letterpress Plates
#120980 Trick or Treat
#120983 Lots of Love
#120981 Joyful Season
#120982 Northern Trim
What you need to use your Letterpress Plates:
- Letterpress plate
- Craft ink – pad or spot
- Brayer – optional
- Paper – watercolor paper is best – porous, card stock and textured card stock also work
- One cutting pad – newer is better, no lines
- Multipurpose platform on Tab 1
- Baby wipes
Build sandwich on a flat surface like this – Multipurpose Platform on Tab 1, a shim if needed, LetterPress Plate, Card stock (it works better to use dotto and secure to the bottom of the cutting pad), cutting pad. I tried some other combination’s but this one worked the best. I also think that the bigger plates are thicker – or seem to be than the smaller ones.
Use dotto to adhere paper to cutting pad so it doesn’t slide or move. There are several ways to ink your Letterpress Plate.
- Use a full size Craft Ink pad and apply directly to the plate.
- Use a brayer and apply ink from either the ink pad or an ink palette create with a refill.
- Use a Craft Ink spot
- Ink areas with mulitple colors using the ink spots
- Ink only portions of the plate using ink spots – the uninked portion still debosses
- Use VersaMark ink on all or portions of the plate
I found that for my Big Shot it worked well for me to use a cardboard shim underneath – I used the thin card board that comes in the package of Designer Series paper.
Here are the cards that I created:
This first one used the Northern Trim Letterpress Plate.
I used Watercolor paper and a full sized Craft Ink pad. I filled an uninked pad with Wild Wasabi Craft ink and we used it directly on the pad to get it inked up. 
To finish the card the watercolor paper was layered on a piece of Bashful Blue card stock and adhered to the front of a Wild Wasabi card base. The base was stamped with the Northern Hearts hostess stamp set which matches this Letterpress plate.
The card was finished with pearls in the center of the flowers, a Bashful Blue punched snowflake and “merry” in the center on Whisper White card stock.
You can’t see it in this picture but I finished the card by spraying the whole thing with a mixture of Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint mixed with Rubbing Alcohol – it adds a fine shimmer to the whole card – you just can’t see it in the picture.
For this next card I used the Joyful Season Letterpress Plate.
I used Confetti White card stock and Craft Ink spots in Real Red and Old Olive to ink the plate.
The card is very simple – just layered the piece on a Real Red card base. You could dress it up more with ribbon/buttons/etc. But we had a lot to do at the meeting so I kept this one very basic.
The third card used the Lots of Love Letterpress Plate. This one turned out to be my favorite.
The card stock is Blushing Bride and I inked the plate first with a VersaMark pad and then used a Craft Ink spot in Chocolate Chip to ink only the large LOVE. I saw this technique on a video that another demonstrator had created – I think I saw it on Stampin’ Connection. The plate is much larger than the card it is about 8″ x 6″ – so you can position your paper to where you want it on the plate.
To finish the card I tied a piece of the Blushing Bride ribbon around the card stock and then layered it on a Chocolate Chip card base. I punched some hearts using the Heart to Heart punch out of the Blushing Bride Designer Series paper (it is in the In Color stack). I sponged these a little bit on the edges and popped them up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.
From what I heard this was everyone’s favorite of the three. I do like how the VersaMark makes the debossed words pop.
I hope you learned something about using the Letterpress Plates.
I have heard several people are close – needing only one more piece in multiple rows – maybe today will be the day we have a winner.
It’s BINGO TIME! We are playing Round 6 of Monika’s Blog Bingo. I have now filled group 7 and won’t be taking any more names right now – I”ll be taking a Bingo break after group 7 plays – I may play again in the future so I hope you will continue to visit my blog. See this POST for more details on how to play and the previous winners.
And now for today’s piece – Here is piece #15 –the cat from All in the Family stamp set (stamped in Peach Parfait). 
Anybody have Bingo? Make sure you send me an email when you get your 5 in a row.
Nov 16, 2010 | Big Shot, Bingo, Christmas, Holiday Mini Catalog 2010, UDI Color Challenge |
Today is Tuesday and it is time for another Utah Diva’s Color Challenge. Here is our inspiration for this week:
These colors were easy for me to work with – in fact I had already a made a project on Saturday that used three of these four colors for my swap at the demonstrator meeting I had at my house Saturday. I had the best time Saturday night – there were 17 demonstrators at my house (well one isn’t official yet but will be signing up with the new promotion that started on Monday – see more about it by clicking the special on my right hand side bar – an Amazing Offer from Stampin’ Up!). Since I basically had something already created with these colors I just made a slight modification to add the missing color for the challenge. And wah-lah (is that how you would spell that?)…..
For the meeting we had a Cookie Swap – and the cookies had to be packaged in a Stampin’ Up! style container – bag, box, or whatever creative idea everyone could come up with. And let me tell you the ideas that everyone brought were awesome and the cookies look good – I’ve tried a couple already – Yum! Yum! I’ll be sharing all the ideas with you so check back.
But to start with here was my idea (well slightly modified). It is the new little paper sacks from the Holiday Mini – I ran the bags through the Big Shot with the Northern Flurry Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. It you don’t want the impression to be too deep (as in you don’t want it to tear your bag) then open the Multi-Purpose Platform so there are no tabs – just the platform – it still leaves the embossed impression but not quite as deep. Then I used a sponge dauber and the Frost White Shimmer Paint to add some shimmer to the snowflakes.
At the bottom of the bag I added a piece of the Candy Cane Christmas Specialty Designer Series paper. I used the Baja Breeze print with the snow flakes. Then I stamped the snowman tag from Tags til Christmas stamp set – I used Soft Suede ink on Very Vanilla card stock. It is punched out with the 1-3/4″ Circle punch and sponged on the edges with Soft Suede ink. I used the Baja Breeze Stampin’ Write marker to color in his scarf and hat. For the UDI Color Challenge I added the large Scallop Circle punched out of Not Quite Navy card stock to the back of the snowman circle. I didn’t have that on my original bags for the Cookie swap.
At the top of the bag I punched two holes with my Crop-A-Dile and tied some Very Vanilla Seam Binding through it to hold the bag shut. I added a tag from the Tags til Christmas stamp set. I inked the whole thing with Baja Breeze ink and then used Stampin’ Write Markers in Soft Suede and Not Quite Navy to color in some of the words. It is stamped on Very Vanilla card stock – punched out with the Scallop Square punch and the edges are lightly sponged. Add a hole in the corner with the 1/16″ circle punch and some crochet thread to tie the tag to the bag.
Here are my original bags for the Cookie Swap – just slightly different. These bags are similar to the one I made for the Royal Blog Tour – I just used a different stamp set for these.
Oh – do you want to know what I had in my bags for the cookie exchange?
They are called Homemade Heath Bars – here is the recipe:
Line a cookie sheet with foil. Cover bottom with saltine crackers. Melt 2 sticks real butter and 1 cup brown sugar. Boil for 5 minutes. Pour over crackers. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Cover top with milk chocolate morsels (about 12 oz). When softened, spread with knife and allow to cool and harden; break into pieces. A Note: soak butter/sugar pot immediately (or suffer the consequences!)
Now it is your turn to play with these colors – then go to the UDI blog and add your creation to the linky section. These are perfect winter colors or spa colors!
Stampin’ Up! Supplies:
- Card stock: Very Vanilla, Not Quite Navy
- Ink: Baja Breeze, Soft Suede, Not Quite Navy
- Stamp sets: Tags til Christmas
- Accessories: Mini Lunch Sacks, Very Vanilla Seam Binding, Crop-A-Dile, 1/16″ Circle punch, 2-3/8″ Scallop Circle punch, 1-3/4″ circle punch, Scallop Square punch, Stampin’ Sponge, Big Shot Die-Cut Machine, Northern Flurry Embossing Folder, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Frost White Shimmer Paint
To order Stampin’ Up! Supplies to make this project click here.
It’s BINGO TIME! We are playing Round 6 of Monika’s Blog Bingo. I have now filled group 7 and won’t be taking any more names right now – I”ll be taking a Bingo break after group 7 plays – I may play again in the future so I hope you will continue to visit my blog. See this POST for more details on how to play and the previous winners.
And now for today’s piece – Here is piece #13 –the cupcake block from Cute by the Inch stamp set (stamped in Chocolate Chip). 
Anybody have Bingo? Make sure you send me an email when you get your 5 in a row.
Sue recycled some candy tins for her swap and decorated them with the Deck the Halls Designer Series paper, different ribbons, and punched pieces. 
Linda M. also used the Deck the Halls Designer Series paper and the seam binding from the Mini Catalog. She created little boxes using the Top Note die. The front was stamped from the Tags til Christmas stamp set. A lot of us used that set for our swaps.
Danette made these giant cookies – I think they are called stained-glass cookies – the center is cut out with a small cookie cutter and filled with chopped hard candy which melts in the opening and then cools to fill the space.
And she had them all inside a cute reindeer basket. So festive and fun.
Here we go with Monika’s Blog Bingo. This is Round 7! The group is full and all the cards were emailed out Monday 11/29. I am going to take a break from Bingo after this group is done so I am not taking any more names at this time. I may play again in the future so I hope you will continue to visit my blog and leave comments. See this POST for more details on how to play and the previous winners and the players for this round.
