Thank you, thank you! {Vintage Romance}

Alas, Christmas is fading away, one box at a time.  I’ve packed away my Christmas cards and other paper projects for July (LOL, when I start Christmas all over again), so I’m on to my next favorite…romance!  Pink!  Ribbon!  Love!

The current challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments is the color combo: Primrose Petals, Pool Party, Basic Black.  Wow!  What a pleasant palette!

I made a pair of thank you cards with a stamp set I drooled over when the last catty came out…Postage Due.

The first is a Crumb Cake base, and I just rubbed the ink pad lightly over the bicycle collage image, so it wouldn’t saturate the cardstock and take over.  The Travel Journal wheel stamp is rolled onto the 7/8” Natural cotton ribbon, and layered over the postage stamps with a shredded length of Primrose Petals, Vintage Faceted Button, and basic pearl.  The top is embossed with the lacy Delicate Designs embossing folder.

Inside is the Thank You sentiment from From My Heart, and the heart is colored Primrose Petals and jazzed up with Crystal Effects.

The second card was an afterthought, quickie card, but I love it even more!  It’s a 4 x 4-¼”  card, finished at the bottom with Edgelits Adorning Accents.  The ribbon at the top is Very Vanilla seam binding ribbon, rubbed with a sponge and Primrose Petals ink, then sprayed with my home-mixed rubbing alcohol / Frost White Shimmer Paint in an empty Smooch Spritz bottle.  I scrunched it into a ball to shabby it up, and tied it around the front, and placed Always Artichoke “leaves” of seam binding ribbon and a vintage faceted button with a linen thread bow in the center.

The little heart in the center is colored with a Pool Party Stampin' Write Marker, then glittered with Dazzling Diamonds and covered with Crystal Effects.

Inside, From My Heart on Primrose Petals CS...

Hope you’ll play along with us at HSS!  Click here to visit the site.

SUPPLY LIST:
STAMPS:  Postage Due, From My Heart
INK:  Basic Black, Primrose Petals, Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Travel Journal #126937(wheel)
PAPER: Very Vanilla, Primrose Petals, Crumb Cake
EMBELLISHMENTS: Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon, 7/8” Natural Cotton Ribbon, Linen Thread, Primrose Petals Stitched Satin Ribbon, Always Artichoke Seam Binding Ribbon, Vintage Faceted Buttons, Basic Pearls, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
OTHER:  Crystal Effects, Edgelits Adorning Accents, Delicate Designs Embossing folder, sponges, Frost White Shimmer Paint/Rubbing alcohol mix, Sticky Tape, Snail, Tombo Multi Glue, Two-Way glue pen.

Count Down to New Years Banner {My Digital Studio hybrid project}

Here's a quick banner, that's fully customizable, to grace your home with on New Year's Eve. A hybrid project - that is to say, half digital, half hands-on product.




















It goes together really quickly with the My Digital Studio suite.  I colored the banners in Basic Black, Primrose Petals, and Pool Party.  Sized them just the way I wanted - about 3-1/2" x 4" each. Printed them onto Whisper White and Pool Party CS.

The borders of the banner are exactly the same size as the tip of the Two-Way Glue Pen - so they were begging for lots of festive silver glitter!  I added rhinestones to all of the starbursts, too.

A standard hole punch makes just the right size opening for a nice wide satin ribbon, and they're strung together, ready to count down with friends and family!

I love the fonts used for the numbers, they're so fun and on trend!

Here's the finished product, hung in my kitchen. We're ready to celebrate!

Here's the set, you can get it all as an instant download - no shipping, no waiting!  Click here to see it in my Stampin' Up! 24 hour store.

Download includes:
* Double-sided postcard designer template (3-1/2" x 5")
* 4-page décor designer template (8-1/2" x 11") 
* Tag designer template (3-1/4" x 3-1/4" )
* 46-piece SVG stamp brush set*
* 3 embellishments

Features:
* Digital-exclusive
* Designer templates include: invite, framable, bottle tag, table tents, name tags, banner
* Elegant décor for your New Year’s party that’s perfect for ringing in the new year

Colors:
Basic Gray, Midnight Muse, Sahara Sand, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White

* Note: SVG stamps won’t work with the original My Digital Studio software

Have a blessed and prosperous New Year!  Be safe~

Erika

Have Yourself A Geeky Little Christmas {CAS Card}

Here's a card that's fun for the kiddos.  My boys put together a bunch and have already handed them all out!

They're plastic perler bead Christmas trees hot glued to Wild Wasabi & Real Red cardstock.  if you have kids 10 and under, chances are you have a bin full of these in your craft bin.  Kids, especially boys, are very into pixellated graphics thanks to the Minecraft phenomenon.  So these graphic looking designs are much appreciated among their circuit.

When is the last time you've seen one of these Dymo Label Makers?!  Still works like a charm, and is still trendy on a scrapbook page.

You could easily swap out the plastic beads for buttons or small circle punches (like a hole punch size) to make these also.  I think it's important to keep the kids interested in our craft, so even the most simplistic card is a little work of art that puts a smile on everyone's face.

Hope you enjoyed our elementary school field trip of sorts!  Relax and have a wonderful day!

Vintage Chic Bottle Brush Tree Ornaments

Five more days til Christmas!  I want to share with you today a little ornament I made to give to friends.  It's a tiny bottle brush tree, all decked out with pearls, snow, and glitter, nestled inside a hanging salt shaker.  The entire thing is about 3-1/2" tall, very vintage, and very precious!  

Here's mine hanging in the tree...

They're easy to make, just take a little time.  The S&P shakers are purchased at Walmart for 97cents a set! The pearls also are from WM, a large pack for about $7.  Bottle brush trees are upwards of $1 apiece, and you'll probably need to bleach them white before you deck them out.  

They're trimmed out with Stampin' Up! supplies, including Pink Pirouette 3/8" taffeta ribbon, Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon, Linen Thread, and Baja Breeze and Silver Glass Glitter.  Also retired Stampin' Up! supplies, including Mica Flakes and Tinsel Trim.  I also used the Jewelry Tag Punch for the tag tied to it, and colored special words from More Merry Messages Stamp Set using a Soft Suede Stampin' Write Marker.

I've made five sets and have already given them all away.  I love the look on their faces when they see the tiny scene inside!

Here's the stamp set I used for the words on the tiny tags.   I stamped them onto very thin vintage book paper, much more delicate than cardstock or DSP. It's the top right image, I hand colored "Glory", "Wonder", and "Miracle".

#126402 $24.95

So glad you stopped by today!  Have a blessed and creative day!
Erika

Christmas Deer Gold & Vanilla {Baby Wipe Ink Pad Technique}

Today I'm sharing a card made with the Baby Wipe Ink Pad technique.  This is a rather simple process, done by dropping reinker droplets onto a baby wipe in whatever pattern or choice of colors you like, and using that as your inkpad.

I chose Old Olive and Pink Pirouette, and here's how it turned out with the Christmas Deer Stamp...

I like the soft, mottled look of the mixed colors.  The rest of the card is done in only gold and vanilla.  I added Champagne Glimmer Paper, snowflakes die cut from Snow Flurry Bigz, and the Lacy Brocade embossing folder.  Want to add panache?  Always consider sparkle or bling.  That's my advice!

Inside, simple layers of snowflakes to dress up the sentiment.

So, how techy are you feeling?  Make time for yourself this week to unwind with a little with us at Hand Stamped Sentiments.

I Don't Do Fruitcake {Stash Rewind Keepsake Ornaments}

Don't get me wrong, I actually like fruitcake.  It's gotten a bad rap as the kind of gift you curl your lip at, and let the kids toss around.  My GG's fruitcake was so, so good.  Really dark, sweetened with molasses, and lots of candied fruit in it.  But people don't appreciate it.

So, this year, many of my friends and family will get these handmade ornaments.  There are more than 55 pieces to each one, and is truly a labor of love.  (Like fruitcake, only different.)  

I made my ornaments entirely from patterned paper...at 40 ornament die cuts apiece, there was no way I was stamping and centering forty dozen times.  I also did a total stash raid...these are all retired DSP sets. It felt really good to use up so much paper that I loved.  Good to see them going to a good home!

Here are some individual pics...

Last year's Deck the Halls DSP

 Is this pattern from two years ago?  I have way too much retired paper!

This one is last year's Simply Scrappin' set.

Back side.  

 No matter what paper combinations I used, they all turned out pretty :)
I like how the stripes turned out on this one, it's retired BoBunny paper (non-SU)

So what do you do with all of your retired paper sets?  Use them just the same?  Put them away and swear you'll use them?  Sell?  Give away? Line the bird cage?  I say use them!  Banners, gift wrap, bows, whatever.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a blessed and creative day! 

Erika

Pinterest Party!

Recently a bunch of crafty friends and I got together for a Pinterest party!  You've heard of Pinterest, of course?  Well, the only rule was that each partier had to either make a craft or a reciped she'd pinned, and prep the supplies for each of us to make one if she chose a craft.

The result was really amazing and fun!  And what's uncanny is that every one that made a craft chose to make a Christmas ornament. Totally unplanned, like matching outfits!

Here are our creations, with links to the original pin if I could find it...

Mine is a vintage book page ornament.  It's a 1/8 scale of a wreath I found here.

 JoAnn did so much!  She hosted the party, and here is the project she prepped for each of us. A really cute paper loop ornament.  You could make this in various sizes and use up lots of that paper you're hoarding ;)  Here's the link to the pin.

Danyelle's fabulous over-the-top ornament!  She created this one on her own, but I plan to pin it as soon as she blogs about it.  Stampin' Up! Supplies.  She started with die cut chipboard, layered Core'dinations cardstock, sanded, and added a layer of die cut window and more layers of beautiful inked images.  I really enjoyed making this, it's a real WOW piece!

 Who hasn't seen these super cute clear ornaments stuffed with paper curls, and said, "I'm going to make that!"  Well, we finally did.  We made some with sheet music CS and some with vintagey Anna Griffin paper.

 Below is the Anna Griffin paper curl version.  We glittered the sides of each curl, as well as the ornament top.  Lush!

Check out these newspaper Christmas trees used as party decor!  The link to the pin is here.
JoAnn patiently glittered every edge, so they sparkled like snow.

I'm dying here!  This starlight mint party tray was SO gorgeous!  It's pretty easy to make, super cheap, and wow, is it a conversation piece!

Danyelle of Hangnailz N Papercutz blog made these Martha Stewart Mini Peach Pies, and they are to die for.  Truly a life altering experience!  Handmade crust, delicious thick crumble atop fresh peach filling.  And then she made these little stamped stakes that are mini forks for eating your pie right away.  As they say....Yes, Please!

And then Wendy's cute Bugles Santa Hats were an adorable and tasty little treat that are easy to eat by the handful. I have copycatted this recipe twice already, including for my mason jar Christmas gifts here, where you can find out how they're made.

Cheesy Mushroom Pull Apart Bread, from Darlene, JoAnn's mom.  How did I not get butter and cheese all over my projects?

My food contribution was Meatball Sub Casserole.  Don't look, just doing so will give you another chin.

Here are some of the gals, busy at work.  I treasure this time with my friends, we had a blast!  I drove 500 miles to be with them, and would do it again tomorrow :)   Hope you have gleaned some Pinspiration!  Please leave me a link in the comments if you try any of the projects, or if you have had a Pinterest party of your own!

Have a blessed and creative day!
Erika

Merry Mason Jar Makeover {Christmas thank -you gifts}

Are you having a Merry Crafty Christmas?  I'm in a fury of crafting this week, I generally have 4 projects going at once, and I am loving every minute of it!  There's glitter all over the house!  I love to see it shining across my husband's forehead at the dinner table.  Makes me smile inside :)

I am in need of a stash of quick Christmas thank you's and Thinking-Of-Yous for teachers, bible school teachers, neighbors, UPS man, etc.  So I whipped up a batch of Bugles Santa Hats and jarred them up, then decked them out with Candlelight Christmas fabric and die cut snowflakes.  They turned out pretty and I can't wait to hand them out!

 Very simply done, it's just a square of Candlelight Christmas fabric cut a little bigger than the jar ring/lid with pinking shears.  A few layered snowflakes from the Snow Flurry Bigz Die.  A little ribbon  and bow, and you're all set.  The tags are cut from the Two Tags die, and layered with DSP and more snowflakes.  I'll feature them in tomorrow's post.

Each jar is packed with Bugles Santa Hats.  They're super easy, I found this no-bake goodie on Pinterest (where else?!).

Here's the quick recipe ~

Get yourself some Christmas M&M's, white chocolate chips or almond bark, and Bugles. Melt the white choc in the microwave and set up your assembly line like so. Dunk a Bugle in the melted chocolate and stick an M&M on the end.  Lay on wax paper to dry.  That's all!  The salty/sweet is delicious!  They're not expensive, and they are a cute treat.

So how will you be thanking people this month?  Card, gift card holder, handmade decor? Come on over to Hand Stamped Sentiments and share your ideas!