Mish Mash

Trim the Tree Challenge

2009-11-30T22:59:00.000-06:00

Back by popular demand, Nichole has issued the Papertrey Senior Design Team the challenge of creating homemade ornaments. Oh what fun it is!

Homemade ornaments are a great gift to make and give. You can package them up in pretty little boxes, tie them to gifts, or do what I've done and tie one to a pretty, decorated envelope. The envelope can hold a Christmas card or can be used for gift cards. And my favorite way to present a homemade ornament? I like to tuck the envelopes into the Christmas tree and let the recipient search for envelope with their name on it.

What I've created for my ornament is a button wreath with a pretty tied bow. Pretty enough by itself but even better tied to a beautifully stamped Kraft envelope. And oh so simple to make. Easy peasy.
For my button wreath, I used the ever so popular Vintage Buttons in Dark Chocolate. I chose medium sized buttons and arranged them to create the size of circle I wanted. My button wreath measures about 2" in diameter and I used 12 buttons. Using black craft wire, I then threaded my buttons onto the wire. Leave about a 2" tail at the beginning and ending of the wire ends. When all the buttons are threaded onto the wire, twist the wire ends like a bread wrapper about 5-6 times to secure the button wreath. Tie on a length of Rustic Twine to make the ornament hanger. Then for the finishing touch, tie on a length of ribbon. I used Luxe Satin ribbon in Fresh Snow. To tie the wreath to an envelope, wrap more Rustic Twine around the envelope, tying the strands around a part of the wreath.

For my decorated envelope, I used a square Kraft envelope stamped with images from Snowflake Serenade. Beautiful sentiments and intricate snowflakes were stamped in Dark Chocolate and Fresh Snow. As a finishing touch, I added some brown sequins and White Gold Martha Stewart glitter(available at Michael's or Walmart) to the envelope edges.

Simple but super duper cute! The kids would love this too.

Other ideas for button wreath ornaments: Tie around the neck of a bottle of wine....wrap twine around a fresh loaf of bread and tie on an ornament.......use tiny buttons to create a smaller button wreath to tie onto individual wine glasses........tie to a handle of a coffee mug....tie to a box full of stamping goodies (like a mishie mini kit)......pin to a lapel of a jacket.....hang from a holiday kitchen/bath towel.....use as the main accent of a card......place a magnet on the back for fridge magnets.....hang from your rear view mirror in the car.....tie to the handle of your favorite Longaberger basket lined with a coordinating napkin liner......use red and white buttons to create a peppermint button wreath and tied around a bundle of candy canes......

........what other ideas can you think of????

And be sure to get even more holiday inspiration from the other Papertrey Senior girls:

Nichole Heady
Becky Oehlers
Heather Nichols
Lisa Johnson
Betsy Veldman

Annabelle O'Malley (guest designer)

With Sympathy Bird Cage Card

2009-11-28T06:00:00.000-06:00

This month ends my guest designer spot at My Cute Stamps. Thanks to Holly for having me, it's been a pleasure! Be sure to check out the site, it's been totally revamped and looks great! Fun blog too!!

I've been working in my stamp room, trying to fill a few empty spots in my card stash basket. I just love these serene images from the set called Ashley's Blossoms.
The branch with blossoms is so nicely illustrated. It makes the perfect backdrop for the bird cage. For the focal image, I stamped the bird cage onto some K & Company patterned paper. I then stamped the butterfly and glittered it. I adhere this to my card front using pop dots. The sympathy image was stamped in black ink. A little more patterned paper and machine stitching finish off the card.

Well, it's a busy day for me so I need to head out the door. Have a great day everyone, hope you get to relax this weekend. I've been working on lots and lots of projects just for me. Feels good!

Cream Cheese Potato Soup Recipe Card

2009-11-27T06:00:00.003-06:00

Becky Higgins font can be found at her website. The link is on the right hand side: http://www.beckyhiggins.com/blog/

While finishing up this post Thanksgiving evening, I know that soup is about the last thing on our minds right now. But here goes! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I haven't posted a recipe card forever, have I? I came across this recipe in a cookbook that I recently purchased at my scrapbooking retreat. The proceeds went to charity so I couldn't pass it up. I recalled my brother talking about a recipe that he raved over that had cream cheese and ham in it. I found the recipe in this cookbook so I had to try it. It's a keeper! We all loved the soup, especially now that the weather is getting colder outside. To create my 4" x 6" recipe card, I typed my recipe and printed it off onto cardstock. See left side bar for fonts, please, just scroll down. For my main *soups and stews* label, I used JustRite's Recipes Borders and Centers stamp set. I cut out the small circle using a Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities die template. I layered that onto a Spellbinders Pinking Circle Nestabilities die template in brown.

I then used patterns from October Afternoon to punch 1" squares of various papers. I adhered them to my recipe card then stitched around three sides of the card. I pinked the edges of the snippets of patterned paper that peek off the top of the recipe card.

To finish my recipe card, I used more October Afternoon paper and sticker strip of flowers. Machine stitching is along the sides and under the recipe title for some graphic line detailing.

I really love making these recipe cards. Hope you enjoy them too! Oh, and try the soup! If you want a cheesy taste, add a big chunk of Velveeta. At our house, it's real cheese. ;)

Edit: I forgot to paste in the recipe for you. Here ya go:

Cream Cheese Potato Soup
6 cups water
7 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules
2 pkgs (8ox) cream cheese, cubed
1 pkg (30 oz) cubed hash browns, thawed
1-1/2 cups cubed fully cooked ham
½ cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon dill weed
In a Dutch oven, combine water & bouillon. Add cream cheese; cook & stir til cheese is melted. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 18-20 minutes til veggies are tender. Nov 09

Big sale, check out this Just Rite announcement: It's a Black Friday 5 Day Sale...Take 20% off all JustRite Products (excluding November Releases). Sale starts November 26th- (Thanksgiving Day) and goes November 30th.

Come for Tea?

2009-11-26T06:00:00.001-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Blessings to you and safe travels if you're out and about this holiday.

How about a little lovin' for the tea drinkers out there? Today I have a super sweet card with all of you in mind. I used Karen Lockhart's Teapot stamp which features a fat little teapot and teacup, some lemons and a few sweet treats. I paper pieced the teapot and teacup using October Afternoon patterned paper. For the rest of the image, I used Copic Sketch markers. I added a little glitter to the background for some shimmer.

For the main card, I used more October Afternoon paper, Papertrey Vintage Cream Cardstock, Aqua Mist cardstock, Aqua Mist ribbon, a Vintage Button,Rustic Cream Twine and a sentiment from Time for Tea.

Hope the tea lovers enjoy! Have a great day.

Basketball Bookmarks

2009-11-25T06:00:00.002-06:00

Before I start my post for today, be sure to stop by on December 2! JustRite will be sponsoring a blog hop featuring last minute gift ideas. It's sure to be a fun time!
Now for my post. I thought I would start out by showing you some of the scrapbook pages I worked on at the scrapbooking retreat I went to recently. I worked on the girls' albums and did mostly their sports pages. Sports are huge to our family. I am so thankful to have two, over the top talented little sports nuts for daughters too.

So needless to say, I take a ton of photo at the games, always trying to get that perfect shot.

Then when it comes time to scrapbook, I am in photo heaven......and photo overload too! :) Lots and lots of photos but we LOVE to look at the albums.

While I was still in sports mode, I wanted to create something for my girls. I decided to make them some book marks with their school colors and some basketball embellishments.

I found this great sentiment *Dream Big* by Just Rite that worked perfect for what I wanted to create. I used the new set called Just A Note Borders and Corners which fits into the new 2" Square Stamper. I also like the fun curly swirly border of the new 2" Frames set. I colored the little butterflies in with an orange Copic Sketch marker and then used Glossy Accents and some glitter to add a little bling.

I made my bookmark by cutting out a Classic Long Megabilities rectangle and Long Scalloped Megabilities rectangle using Spellbinders die templates. The longer shape is perfect for bookmarks. I finished off the bookmarks with Papertrey patterned paper and some basketball themed stickers.

For the back of the bookmarks, I added a white rectangle to match the size on the front. I wrote this note on the back to my girls: "Aim for the net but always keep reaching for the stars. You can do anything in life you want to do. Always keep reaching. Dream Big. Love Mom."

Before I go check out this Just Rite Announcement: It's a Black Friday 5 Day Sale...Take 20% off all JustRite Products (excluding November Releases). Sale starts November 26th- (Thanksgiving Day) and goes November 30th.

Christmas Goody Box

2009-11-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

Today I'm using one of Karen Lockhart's new holiday stamps called Cookies for the Neighbors. It's a fun little image to color because it's full of Christmas cookies.....my favorites are frosted sugar cookies of the soft variety with fluffy frosting and sugar sprinkles. I colored the main image with Copic Sketch markers and then used a glitter pen to add shimmer to some of the cookies. To the main image, I added the Lockhart *celebrate the season* sentiment and a Papertrey sentiment from Peaceful Poinsettia. I stamped around the main image with Papertrey's Vintage Label in Pure Poppy. The image was cut with a Spellbinders Labels 1 die template. I love how the image is front and center on this card. So cute! On the inside of my card, I lined it with more Vintage Cream paper that I used for the main image. When my base card is a dark color, I sometimes like to line the inside with a lighter color so that writing shows up better. I stamped more Lockhart images on the inside and colored them with Copic Sketch markers. Using the green marker, I made some dots along the curly border. Shimmery pen was added for some holiday glitz.

Below are the Copic Sketch colors I used to color my image:

Hope you're ready for the holidays cuz here they come!! Have a great week everyone! Thanksgiving vacation starts tomorrow for us, woohoo!!

Coffee Notes

2009-11-23T10:00:00.000-06:00

How about a little coffee break this Monday morning? I have to say that after having my DH(deer hunter/dear husband) home for five days I'm happy to have the house to myself this morning. I would drive him to his hunting spot, read his texts that he sent out of boredom, pick him up from his hunting spot......repeat, repeat, repeat. And still no deer, poor fella.

So now, I'm settling in with a nice cup of coffee and some stamping projects. Wouldn't you like to see this inviting basket when you show up at work or when you visit a friend? I put together this ensemble speedy quick thanks to some Just Rite stamps. I sewed these coffee themed fabric napkins (the blue material) this last summer and can't wait to have an actual visitor so I can use them for real. :) Along with the coffee ensemble, I thought it would be cute to tuck in a few coffee themed stamped goodies. I used Papertrey's lined recipe cards to make some super duper simple lists. Have you ever heard Paula Deen say *it's so easy it's almost stupid easy*? That is this project!

Using JustRite Stampers set called Just A Little Caffeine Borders and Centers, I stamped some fun sentiments onto patterned paper. I stamped the border sentiments right onto the lined notecards. I then punched out my center sentiments and adhered them to the inside of my circle sentiments. Notice how the circle on one card hangs off the edge...that just adds a little quirky-ness, I love it. A little office paperclip was added....because if you're like me, one list just doesn't cut it. I always seem to add another list, and another, and another.......

So if you've got some good friends at the office or maybe you're having a friend over for coffee....try out these little notecards. You could stamp oodles in a matter of minutes. Keep it stylish, keep it simple!!

If you like the fabric I used, it's from Studio E......at www.studioefabrics.com . The brown paper napkins were in my stash from some time ago.

Oh, and remember when I gave a clue that my next big Etsy kit has lots of brown? Well your guess of a chocolate theme were not correct. Any other guesses?

Snail Mail Gift Boxes

2009-11-22T10:48:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite gifts to give to my mom, mother-in-law and Eric's grandma is a stash of homemade cards. They look forward to it each year too! Usually I package them up in a clear cello bag with a bow but this year I decided to make something different. Let me show you what I've created.

I started out by stamping some cute snails from My Cute Stamps set called Little Forest Friends. I colored the snail body and added a shadow using the Copic Sketch colors shown below. I then stamped the snail shell onto some new October Afternoon paper I scored at my local scrapbook store.

I cut out those images and adhered them to the colored snail images. I then punched out circles to make the snail images into tags.

I then took some office tags I had in my stash and stamped them with Papertrey's Polka Dot Basics II in Spring Moss and Background Basics: Text Style II in True Black.

I layered my tags onto scalloped punched circles in PTI's Spring Moss and Ripe Avocado cardstock. Images were adhered to tags with pop dots and then I added some clear sequins to the tags for a little bling.

Next up, I created the packaging. I used Papertrey's clear boxes and inserted a 4-1/4" x 5-3/4" piece of Everyday Blessings patterned paper. The box is tied with olive ribbon and the tag ties to the box with Papertrey Rustic Cream Twine.

I think it's always the packaging that makes the first impression of a great gift, don't you?

Here's a few ideas for you for the snail mail boxes:

Package up some cards from your stash....I know you have a stash.......and add in some postage stamps. Place them all in the box for a much appreciated gift. Tip: Create cards that are fairly flat (no puffy ribbons) and you'll fit more into the clear boxes.

Or add a few hand stamped tags of your own along with some small envelopes and twine for a small card crafting kit. This would be great for the kids!!

I'm definitely planning on keeping a few of these on hand at all times. Hope you are inspired! I made my list today of all the teacher gifts, etc that I want to stamp. It sure helps to have it all in list form when you start creating those goodies. I'm hoping to accomplish a lot over the Thanksgiving holiday!

Etsy update: I'm adding a few of these kits to my Etsy shop in just a bit.

Hello there...

2009-11-21T08:00:00.000-06:00

Today I have some fun and fresh cards that I made using My Cute Stamps set called Hello Doodle. This is my last month as their guest designer and I'm having fun using their cute stamps. I stamped a flower image onto Basic Grey Nook and Pantry patterned paper and cut them out with fine tip scissors. I then added a tied button to each flower center. These became the main images for my cards. I made a whole stack of cutie pie cards, I just love having a few like this on hand for those *just because* moments when you want to send someone a card.

I love the little details on cards. That's what keeps me excited about paper crafting. The fun little accents that make a card so cute. I added green and yellow ribbon from Papertrey and used my messy stitches to adhere it. My messy stitches are three back and forth zig zags done with the sewing machine.

I also did something fun with the hello sentiment. I colored the letters with green and yellow Copic Sketch markers,blending the colors together by going back over both colors with the yellow marker. I then added Ranger Glossy Accents to the letters for a 3-D shine. Love that look!

For a final touch, I added a Papertrey sentiment from Dawn's Signature Greetings stamp set. It fits in perfectly with my hello sentiment.

Hope you enjoy! I'll be adding a few of these to the Etsy shop in a bit. :)

Masculine Get Well Slippers

2009-11-20T10:40:00.000-06:00

I needed a masculine get well card for my Uncle Bob so I decided to make a few extra for my stash. It seems that male cards are always a challenge for us card makers, right? There's an abundance of pretty girly papers and floral stamps, but when it comes to the fellas our choices are a little more limited.

Karen Lockhart has a nice line of get well stamps that I like to pull out of my stash when making masculine cards. The slippers and the get comfy sentiment are some of my favorites. And the slippers are very versatile, they can be used for male or female cards. Below you can see my finished focal image pieces that will be attached to card fronts. I stamped the slippers onto Little Yellow Bicycle patterned paper and then paper pieced them, using fine tip scissors. I shaded the slippers using a Copic E43 marker and a colorless blender. I stamped my sentiment in black and stamped some leaf images from Papertrey's Turning A New Leaf set using Versamark ink. I added two snippets of Ripe Avocado and Terracotta Tile ribbon to the main image pieces using my messy stitches.....3 lines of back and forth stitching using my sewing machine.
For the card fronts, I used a leafy patterned paper from Little Yellow Bicycle(from a local scrapbook store). And here's a tip for you: If the paper is double sided, cut the paper to fit the card front and then trim 1" of the paper off. Turn it over and use that paper as a coordinating pattern. I like to use tiny strips of patterned paper to seal the two edges.

A nice little pile of cards....makes me a happy camper. :)

And I did it.....I made some masculine cards. Hope you are inspired!

And don't forget.....you can use ribbon on manly cards. I usually don't tie a bow but if you use the ribbon flat or sewn on like I did, it's totally man worthy!

Office Supply Kit Samples

2009-11-19T06:00:00.007-06:00

Update on the hot cocoa recipe: I haven't made it yet. :) I'll be sure to keep you posted whenever I get around to making it though.

Hey there. If you ordered one of my office supply kits, you should have it by now. I thought I'd give you a little inspiration using some of the supplies from the kit. Below is a notepad using a Papertrey lined notepad, a giant clothespin to hold notes, and a libary card with slip in note. For the notepad and giant paperclip, these stamped images were included in your kit contents. Both are sentiments from my Papertrey Take Note set that Nichole and I worked on together. Don't you just love that little pencil? These sentiments look great paired up with grid patterned paper. I also used the alphabet paper from the Chocolate Remix patterned paper collection. Tied Sweet Blush Vintage Buttons sit on top of brown twill ribbon. To adhere the chipboard pieces to the giant paper clip, I like to use my hot glue gun or E6000 glue.

The pink floral fabric pieces were also included in the kit. Here's the library card paired up with a little file folder accent and some twill ribbon.

Hope you're having fun with your goodies! I have another kit in the works that I've been collecting supplies for. Lots of brown in this kit....any guesses to the theme?

Gingerbread Treat Sacks

2009-11-18T08:11:00.006-06:00

One of my favorite things to do at Christmas time is to give out little gifts......just a little something that doesn't cost much but shows that I thought of someone. Homemade candies or paper crafted goodies usually do the trick.

Today I have some cute treat sacks to show you that would be perfect for the candy varieties. I used Papertrey sacks and Nichole's Holiday Button Bits to fancy up some goodies. The closure for the sacks is a 1" wide strip of Mary Engelbreit fabric from Moda, that is tied around the sack. I notched the ends with sharp scissors. I then stamped strips of cardstock with the *sweetest holiday wishes* sentiment from Holiday Button Bits. I tied this to my fabric strip using Martha Stewart striped twine. A red, glittery piece of holly leaf and a small jingle bell finish off the wrapping.

For the gingerbread image, I stamped him with Fresh Snow ink onto a Kraft punched scalloped square. Pure Poppy buttons finish him off. The squares attach to the sack with pop dots on both sides of the ribbon.

I went to work assembly line fashion and baked up lots of gingerbread images in the crafty kitchen.

And stamped lots of the sentiments onto Kraft cardstock.....notching the ends and punching holes with my Crop-A-Dile.

And used my rotary cutter and cutting board to make quick work of the red fabric strips.

I can't wait to package up some of my goodies in these bags. Do you have a favorite candy you give out this year? I haven't made that decision yet, too many goodies to choose from. :)

If you like my little treat sacks, I've made up some extras for my Etsy shop as kits of 3. Enjoy! I know sometimes, we all need a little help in getting all the packaging and wrapping done during the holidays. Have a great day!

JustRite November Release

2009-11-17T07:00:00.000-06:00

This month, JustRite Stampers has a new release of products. To celebrate, JustRite is doing a little blog hop to showcase some of the new products. And be sure to check the JustRite website for some big sales on Christmas themed stamps.

Today I'm using the Just A Note Centers and Borders stamp set to make some simple notecards. I started out by stamping my *just a note* and *just because* sentiments and circle borders onto cardstock. I really like these types of generic sentiments for notecards. They can be used for thank you notes, birthday cards, get well cards, etc. I then cut out the sentiments with a Spellbinder's Circle Nestabilities die template. I used a scallop punch to cut the bottom layer circles.
My paper that I used today is Nook and Pantry from Basic Grey. I love the fresh colors. I paired the yellow up with Papertrey Lemon Tart ribbon and the green is complimented by Papertrey New Leaf ribbon. For the *just because* notecards, I colored the tiny flowers in with Copic markers. Here's my green versions...

I love the scripty fonts on these stamps, so fresh and fun! Lots of different combinations you can make with the sentiments and circle border stamps.

And if you love the butterflies, here's what I did: Using my new Martha Stewart butterfly punch(I found mine at Michael's), I punched butterflies from Papertrey Spring Moss cardstock. Then I used scraps from the Basic Grey Nook and Pantry paper collection to punch more butterflies. I adhered two butterflies together just in the center. Then I flipped up the butterfly wings a little to make them 3-D. Green sequins finish off the butterfly bodies. Sooooooo pretty, don't you think?

Okay, be sure to do a little flitting around of your own and visit the other designers' blogs. I'm sure you'll be inspired:

JustRite Blog

Barb Schram

Debbie Olson

Heidi Blankenship

Kathy Jones

Kellie Fortin

Angela Barkhouse

Lauren Meader

Lisa Somerville

Michele Kovack

Sharon Harnist

Sharon Johnson

Copic Winner Announced!

2009-11-16T08:06:00.003-06:00

Good morning everyone. I'm a little late announcing the winner of the Copic prize drawing. I was at a scrapbook retreat all weekend....but without further delay, the winner of the Copic prize is:

Stefanie Staniak said...
I've been hooked on Copic's since my 2009 retreat where I had the opportunity to try all the colors and just play. I took a certification class and haven't looked back since. Marianne's blog has taught me so much that now I too feel like an artist!

Congratulations Stefanie!! Please contact me at stamplady@satelephone.com and I will let Marianne know which prize you prefer....the set of markers or the airbrush system!

Home Made

2009-11-12T22:59:00.003-06:00

This month's Timeless Template was so special that Nichole asked the entire Papertrey Design Team to join in on the fun. The template is called Home Made and is just the most adorable little house ever. The roof comes off to turn this into a box to use as gift wrap, a special place for treasures, treats and more. Jordan helped me assemble my little Christmas box and we're going to use it as our advent countdown box this year. The template will available with the regular Papertrey release on November 15th.

For my box, I used Ripe Avocado cardstock for the roof and Kraft cardstock for the house base. Pine's Rustic Snowflake patterned paper was used for the sides of the house and to stamp all the little doors and windows from the Home Made stamp set. Ribbon striped with an R29 Copic red marker ties up the rooftop, along with a glittery chipboard tag from K and Company that reads *Santa's on his way*. Just adorable and I can't wait to display this for the girls this holiday season.

The Home Made stamp set can also be useful when creating cards. I paired the door image with a sentiment from the Home for the Holidays stamp set to create a whimsical holiday greeting card. I used a new paper from Basic Grey to tie in the *homey* feel of the card.

Sweet Blush Luxe Satin ribbon and pink sequins finish off the card, along with some shimmery Stickles to create frosty door panels.

If you're looking to do some Christmas crafting this holiday season, the Home Made Timeless Template and accompanying Home Made stamp set is just the ticket! Have fun!!

For even more inspiration, check out the other Papertrey Designers' creations:
Nichole Heady
Becky Oehlers
Heather Nichols
Lauren Meader
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Debbie Olson
Geny Cassady
Betsy Veldman
Melissa Phillips
Niki Estes

Communique Curves Inspiration

2009-11-11T22:59:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! It's group post time again for the Papertrey team and today we're working with a new set by Alli Miles called Communique Curves. This set will be released on November 15th.

While mass production is my usual style for holiday cards, sometimes I need a few extra cards here and there during these hustle and bustle months. By using sets like Communique Curves & Sentiments you can easily double up and produce holiday cards as well as general greeting cards. Just keep your cards simple and repeat the design elements.

As you can see with my two cards below, I kept the design of the cards the same.....I used patterned paper (Rustic Snowflakes) that can easily work for holiday cards and non holiday cards......I kept my ink colors to just two.....and switched out embellishment colors like the ribbons and buttons.
This first card is a Christmas card that features one the very pretty sentiments from Communique Curves. I love the combination of fonts. I also took a little polka dot border stamp from the set and repeated that to make a polka dot line underneath the patterned paper. This repeats the dots in the patterned paper and the dots in the sentiment. I did the same thing on my second card.
For this card, I switched things up and did a birthday card using the additional sentiment set that coordinates with Communique Curves. Both cards feature the leafy wreath stamp image also, I just switched up the ink colors and the buttons that are inside.

So if you're looking to make both Christmas cards and keep up with your regular greeting cards, try stamping with papers and stamps that help you keep it versatile, simple yet very unique.

For even more inspiration, visit the other Papertrey Designers' blogs below. Enjoy!

Nichole Heady
Becky Oehlers
Heather Nichols
Lauren Meader
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Debbie Olson
Geny Cassady
Betsy Veldman
Melissa Phillips
Niki Estes

Copic Fun!!

2009-11-11T14:10:00.000-06:00

How about a little Copic fun today? First I have a fun new card to show you, then I have some Copic prizes to talk about. Let's get to the card first. Today I've used Karen Lockhart's new Candy Wreath stamp to create a whimsical holiday card. This image is chock full of wrapped peppermint candies. I colored the candy stripes with a Copic Sketch R29 red color and then finished up the twisted wrappers with a Copic Sketch BG11 color. To make the candies shiney, I added Ranger Glossy Accents. My image is cut and layered with Spellbinders Square and Scalloped Square Nesties die templates.

For some fun finishing touches, I cut Papertrey Rustic Snowflake patterned paper into strips and adhered them to my card front at a diagonal....keeping with my peppermint stripes theme. Finally, I took my same R29 Sketch marker and drew a red line down a long strip of white satin ribbon. It looks just like peppermint candy, don't you think? Love that look!

Now for the prizes. Copic has added some new regional certification instructors and is celebrating by giving away prizes on each of the blogs listed below!

Winner gets their choice of either an ABS-1 or any 12 Sketch Colors.

Please leave us a comment letting us know either how you use Copics/which Copic products you use/why you love them or why you wish you had Copics. One winner will be chosen randomly from each blog. In addition, Copic will be reading through the comments as well. From those comments, a few other winners will be selected based on a testimonial that we really like. That person will be contacted to use their story for our CHA booth and they would then be given an equal prize to the random winners. Make your comments good! There will probably be 2 or 3 winners chosen total. These will not be announced right away. The drawing begins on Wednesday, November 11, and ends on Saturday, November 14 at 9pm, CST. Good luck!

You can enter for the prizes by visiting and leaving comments at the following blogs:

Marianne Walker http://www.ilikemarkers.blogspot.com/
Debbie Olson http://debbiedesigns.typepad.com/muse_and_amuse/
Sherrie Siemens http://sherrie-cardcreme.blogspot.com/
Sally Lynn MacDonald http://www.inkyheart.typepad.com/
Sharon Harnist http://paperfections.typepad.com/paperfections/
Lori Craig http://loricraig.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Colleen Schaan http://www.distinctivetouches.com/

me......right here :)

Note: If you left comments on my previous Candy Bar Wrapper post, I will make sure that those get to Marianne also. :)

Chocolate Bar Wrappers

2009-11-10T06:00:00.001-06:00

Need something quick and easy to give as little gifts this holiday season? Then try out my chocolate bar wrappers. Homemade fudge is wayyyyyyy over rated......Hershey bars are easy peasy! :) I've used Pine's adorably sweet Rustic Snowflakes patterned paper and Scor-Tape to wrap up the chocolate bar. For the little fancies, I used Papertrey Pure Poppy Luxe Satin ribbon, an Aqua Mist punched snowflake (the yellow punch, Extra Jumbo), Aqua Mist button, Rustic Twine and a stamped and punched tag from the 2008 Holiday Tags Collection. It doesn't get much easier than this!

I've put together a few kits for you try out in my Etsy shop too. The papers have adhesive on them, so all you need for this little project is 4 Hershey chocolate bars and a pair of scissors to trim the ribbon and twine.

Hope you're getting a head start on the holiday gift giving. I think these and notepads are going to be my little gifties for the holidays, how about you?

Vintage Ornaments

2009-11-09T08:28:00.000-06:00

Cath Edvalson is celebrating the one year anniversary of her Moxie Fab blog today. She has teamed up with the Papertrey girls to showcase some fabulous stamp sets and samples......and some fabulous prizes too. Be sure to visit Cath's blog for all the details. Here's my sample that is showcased on Cath's blog today:I used Dawn's Vintage Ornaments paired up with Pine's fabulous new Rustic Snowflakes patterned paper. The ornament is all decked out with shiny sequins and a silver ribbon. Image is cut out with Spellbinder's Labels 1 die templates. I first stamped the label image from Vintage Labels in Pure Poppy ink.

The card is finished off with a pretty bow in Aqua Mist.

Congratulations to Cath on her fabulous first Moxie Fab year!!!

Holly Gift Card Envelopes

2009-11-08T13:00:00.001-06:00

A box full of pretties........ Stamped 4 x 4 envelopes, using a Hero Arts background stamp.

Tied up with wide vintage lace, a glittery holly leaf, Christmas tag, button, leaf ribbon and twine.......perfect little envies for gift cards or cash this holiday season.

Just uploaded to my Etsy shop, see link at the left. Hope you're having a great Sunday afternoon! Off to visit with my company more. :)

Believe Gift Card Envelopes

2009-11-08T08:58:00.001-06:00

Recently, I scored this entire giant spool of wide, vintage lace. I looooove to find treasures like this on my junking ventures. I created some beautiful gift card envelopes using the pretty lace and some Papertrey goodies.

I used Stocking Prints to create a sentiment tag and a paper pieced stocking. This is such a fun little set, I can't wait to ink it up again.

I created my tags by stamping my sentiment in Dark Chocolate ink onto creamy cardstock. I then cut my tags using Spellbinders Nestabilities ovals. The stocking was paper pieced with some pretty holiday paper. I tied my wide lace ribbon around some medium square envelopes that were covered with snowman patterned paper from my stash. The tags were tied to the lace with Martha Stewart red and white striped twin, with the addition of a little silver jingle bell.

Perfect for gift cards or money cards this holiday season. I always like to fancy up the gift cards since they come in such a small package. It's fun for the recipient to open a pretty little package.

Warm wishes mug cards..

2009-11-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

I love my friend Pine's (Heather Nichols) set called Warm Happiness. Her sets are so simple to use which makes for some quick and easy stamped images.Actually this mug image is so easy to cut out that I stamped it with Scarlet Jewel ink onto scraps of the Basic Grey background paper and paper pieced the images by cutting them out with fine tip scissors.

Before I adhered my mugs to my punched squares stamped with Borders and Corners Squares, I stamped the oval image from Warm Happiness with Aqua Mist ink. I love how this creates a little shadow for the mug. Aqua Mist Vintage Buttons with linen string finish off the mugs. A little Aqua Mist ribbon and a sentiment from an old SU! set finish off the cards.

These cards would be great to give along with a packet of hot cocoa, perfect for this time of year. I found a new hot cocoa recipe mix that I'm so anxious to try. I have searched and searched for the perfect homemade cocoa mix and hopefully this one will be the one. I'll be sure to share the recipe if it's a keeper.

The Office Christmas Party Kit

2009-11-05T23:00:00.002-06:00

THE KITS ARE NOW SOLD OUT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ORDERS! DON'T WORRY, I'LL MORE FUN GOODIES IN THE SHOP SOON!! HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!!

Update: The Office Christmas Party Kits are now up in my Etsy shop. It's always open, just click on the link below the Etsy photos where it says mwooderson. Enjoy!!

Hi everyone, I found some more of those cute Really Useful Boxes so I decided to whip up a few more kits for my Etsy shop. The Office Christmas Party Kit is chock full of goodies to create Christmas cards, gift tags, post it notes, etc. Imagine the night of your Christmas office party. You dread going but don't mind the free meal and drinks. You'll only stay for a little while you tell yourself. You walk in and these goodies are all lined up as party favors. Now that would be my kind of Christmas party! That and a big fat bonus check. ;
There's Post It Notes for everyone along with fun colored clips, metal tags, a clothespin to embellish and more....
Snippets of pretty ribbon, buttons, felt snowflakes, and glittered stars.....

......and lots of hand made embellishments, my favorite part. Let's get this party started! Somebody pass me a margarita!!

A few goody sacks, lined papers and envelope......

......and the ever popular Really Useful Box in green or red. It's going to be a fun time! I can hear the chatter at the water cooler now.:)

Here's a photo of the kit contents below.

Close up of 4 x 4 assorted Christmas papers to use on cards, bags or tags...glittered star, punched label, glittered chipboard piece, Elle's Studio tag, Crafty Secrets vintage Christmas image sheet...

Two sizes of Post It Notes, metal tag, small and jumbo paper clip, flowers, buttons, clips, giant brads, clothespin....

Assorted ribbons, ric rac and lace in greens and reds.... And my personal favorites.......the DooDads....little handmade tags, lovingly pieced together with buttons, punches, flowers and string........circle tags to add to cards or gift bags...stamped and punched sentiments.......a snowflake with button........just add a pop dot to the back and adhere to desired surface.

I'll be showing a few items here on the blogaroonie for a few sample ideas so stay tuned. A perfect little kit for an afternoon or two of Christmas crafting....fun for the kids while the count down to Santa's arrival is on.......use in Christmas countdown journals......add a special embellishment to a gift sack or card....lots and lots of fun uses. Hope you enjoy!!

Details: The kit contents will be packaged in a glassine bag and the Really Useful Box....all tied up just like a little present to yourself......or to give as a gift. I'll be listing the kits in my Etsy shop(see left side bar on my blog for the link) tomorrow morning (Friday) between 7:30 and 8:00am Central Time. Kits will ship out on Monday or Tuesday of next week. Once these kits are gone, I probably won't have anymore this year. Thanks for visiting.......and as always, thank you for your wonderfully sweet comments. I so appreciate you guys!

Just a note on my shop policies:

1. I only accept PayPal for payment of purchased items. Please have your PayPal account established before placing an order. I will only hold orders for 24 hours before I relist an item.

2. I'm sorry but I cannot hold orders or accept pre-payment for orders. I'll try as much as I can to give notice here on the blog as to when big items will be listed in the shop.

TFIG.......have a great weekend everyone. P.S.....also coming soon: more Christmas notepads, gift card holders, treat wrappers, cards and more. It's going to be a fun month!

Happiest of holidays...

2009-11-04T07:50:00.000-06:00

Tis the season to be making Christmas cards. If you like to add colored images to your cards but also want to mass produce a bunch of cards, then Karen Lockhart's Itty Bitty images are just the ticket for you. The Itty Bitty images are usually around 1" tall but are still full of details that can be colored. For my Itty Bitty Wreath, I used traditional colors of Copic reds and greens to color my image. I stamped a Papertrey Christmas sentiment right beside the wreath and then cut both images out with a Spellbinder's Mega Deckled Rectangle Nesties die template. The embossed detail and the deckle edges really add a lot to the focal image. I made a few little snips on a strip of patterned paper to make an accent banner behind the main image.

For the base of my card, I used some holly printed patterned paper, dotted with clear EK Success sticker dots. A pretty ribbon in Aqua Mist finishes off the card.

So have you started your holiday card making for this season? I love it when a little stash of cards starts to pile up. I typically make a couple cards.....one for me and one to share in the shop. I think it's time to break out the Christmas music soon, whaddya think?

2009 Photo Finish Holiday Cards

2009-10-31T22:59:00.001-05:00

We all love to send photos with our holiday cards. And I love to receive holiday cards that have a photo tucked inside too. Nichole has challenged the Papertrey gang to go one step further and incorporate the photo within the design of the card.

For my card, I used a copy of an old photo that I found while taking an Ali Edwards online scrapbooking class. The photo is of my siblings, me and my cousins. We always got lined up from shortest to tallest just as the photo shows. I'm going to make cards for all my siblings this year like this...I know they'll love to reminesce. I drew my color inspiration from the red, blue and green colors in the old photo. For the base card, I used Kraft cardstock and three strips of patterned paper. The green and blue papers are from the Friends Til The End collection and the red paper is from the Green Tea Leaves collection. I stamped the tree from Pine's Holiday Tree in Ripe Avocado ink then stamped on polka dots in Pure Poppy and Enchanted Evening. I added clear sequins to add some sparkle.

Because I stitched around my top layer of the card, I wanted to cover up the stitch lines on the inside. I cut a piece of Pure Poppy cardstock to fit and then punched a scallop edge along one short side, using a Fiskars border punch.

It gives a nice finished edge to my card...and on the inside, it leaves a place for me to attach this year's family photo. I can stamp or write my holiday message on the right side.

I hope you give this fun idea a try! For more inspiration, check out the other Papertrey girls' blogs:

Nichole Heady
Becky Oehlers
Heather Nichols
Lauren Meader
Lisa Johnson

Annabelle O'Malley