Gratitude for Days Project

Kits can be a lot of fun when you want to be creative but are in a time crunch.  They can also be a way to jump start your creativity by thinking of new ways to use them.  That's what I have for you today... a new way to use our Gratitude for Days Simply Created Kit.  I made one of the 'pockets' into a little Christmas box.

For more ideas, check out this video by Sara Douglas.

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- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Dotty Angles, Card 2

It's a good thing today's card is quick and simple because I spent pretty much the entire day yesterday helping my daughter get more items for our Christmas Shoppe for this Saturday at our church.  The kids are going to have a lot of fun!  Today's card is a variation from the card in my previous post.

Same color story ... Real Red, Bermuda Bay ... same envelope with Washi Tape.

... different background ...  different text ... different embellishments ...

... and Card #1 ...

Today's plan:
..... Take Toby Joe to the vet (where my huge doggy will try to hide under the little bench and disappear) and then off to the grocery store and just maybe to find a replacement tree for our large (main) tree that died on Tuesday.  It just became a hopeless mess.  Aaron is quite worried about where we'll put our presents, so I must ease his sweet, little mind before he develops wrinkles at the age of 7.

Yesterday, in addition to shopping for the Christmas Shoppe, Jenn helped me redo my fireplace hearth.  I went a different direction from last year with the mantel and it looked like I had 2 different decor approaches going between the mantel and the hearth... both nice but not working together.  Before, I had more of a rustic look going and this year I went with an elegant champagne color story, with angels (large, beautiful, new angels) and lots of elegant sparkle.  We replaced the rustic vase with a beautiful, sparkly one and then found new, smaller decor items to place on each side with it.  I love it.  I'll post some photos once I've finished with the new tree I hope to find today.

My plan for once the tree is in place... more stamping and creative work.  It is my work, but it's almost impossible to call it that because it's so much fun!!!

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- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Dotty Angles, Card 1

I missed posting yesterday, with prep for a big PEO party last night.  We had so much fun.  The puppies, along with Toby Joe, had been at the groomers all day, so they were totally wiped out and barely made a sound the entire time.
I have a quick card for you today and I'll have a second version of it in my next post.  This card is bright and cheery, using Bermuda Bay and Real Red.

I used snowflakes and rhinestones for a little bling.  This is one of the cards we made recently at a class featuring backgrounds.  The large, photopolymer stamp makes a great background and it's easy to get it straight, using the grid lines on your stamping paper and this clear stamp.

I dressed up the envelope with a couple strips of Washi Tape.  The circle focal point is mounted with dimensionals, to make it stand out nicely from the background.  And there you have it ... quick, cute, fun, and so very easy.

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- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

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Christmas Layout in Blues

We had a wonderful time at my Christmas Open House yesterday.  I enjoyed it very much!  I have another Christmas layout for you today.  This is the one we'll be making at my next Scraps and Prayers class.  I love this color story!

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A Cherry Cobbler Layout with a Surprise

While we're waiting for the turkey to cook, here's a little Cherry Cobbler layout I made up for some fun.  Be sure to read my entire post to learn about the surprise with this layout.

It's the day before Thanksgiving and heavenly smells will be filling our home soon, as we cook our turkey the day before Thanksgiving.  My Bill usually cooks our turkey on the Weber.  It is amazing.  This year, with it being so cold, we're going to cook it inside, to be sure the heat stays even and the bird gets completely cooked.  It will be wonderful, I'm sure.  Now, for the layout. 

I've used our Festival of Trees and Wondrous Wreath stamp sets, our little Banner Punch and some of our gorgeous Cherry Cobbler ribbon. 

The papers are from our All is Calm DSP.  It looks nice with the Cherry Cobbler and totally changes the feel of the color story.

The snowflake is from our Snowflake Card Thinlits Dies.

Now, for the surprise.  
All the pieces for this layout were leftovers from other projects!

The turkey is now in the oven.  The fun is just around the corner!

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- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

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Christmas Boutique Open House Projects, Part 4

Today, I have a note card to share with you.  I actually made 3 versions, so my guests will have to choose the one they'd like to make at my party.  The difference is subtle.  It's just a change in the embellishments... or maybe a tree... 

After I made it and put it up on display, I decided that it needed a little 'joy' on it.  That tiny change really adds a lot to this card.  I love making an extra, top layer that is 1/2" smaller and bumping it up on dimensionals.  It adds so much elegance to a card. 

Which card do you like the best?  I have one remaining project to share with you, so be sure to come back and check it out.

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- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

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Christmas Boutique Open House Projects, Part 1

Every year, I have my Christmas Boutique Open House and we have a wonderful time.  Besides the inspirational displays, we have activities, shopping at my Christmas Boutique, refreshments...  and lots of fun, including several Make and Take projects.  Would you like to see what we're going to make?  Over my next few posts, I'll give you some of the fun details on each.

Today, I'll share 1 of the cards.  You get to choose if you'd like to make it with a Bermuda Bay base or a Whisper White base.  I'm using some of the materials from our Watercolor Winter Simply Created Card Kit, along with a tree from Festival of Trees and a text from Christmas Bliss.

Come back for more fun details.

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Triple Trees

How about some trees times 3 today... triple trees!  Once again, I've been playing with our Festival of Trees stamp set.  I've used Real Red layers for my card and the trees are overlapping, with one up on dimensionals.  The Mingle all the Way stamp set has a great stamp for the envelope.

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Fun Frames

We had some new embossing frames come out in our big catalog last summer and I'm just now getting around to playing with them.  I decided to use them for a Christmas card.  They're called Fun Frames and they are fun to use in creating a card.  I've used one of the two frames for this card.

The key elements for this card are lots of layers and lots of texture.  The coordinating envelope is dressed up with Washi Tape in double strips across one corner.

The little tree really pops against the crisp red and white background.

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Festival Of Trees Duo

Today, I'm starting a new series to share some ideas with you for table centerpieces... for the entire year!  I volunteered to make centerpieces for our church's Birthday Bash dinner last September, so this is what I designed.  I wanted them to have some uniformity, so I chose large canning jars for each table and filled them with seasonal decor for each month.  I made 3 for each table.  Each centerpiece has lots of sparkle and bling for the filler in the jars and I used lots of pretty ribbons wherever possible.  All the pieces are attached to tiny dowels, so they stand up in the jars.

It was really fun and I think everyone liked them a lot.  The best part, besides making people happy, is that I bought tubs to store them and we'll use them again next time:)

Let's start with January, February and March.

For January, I used left-over snowflakes from one of our kits last year.

For February, I used several hearts die cut from our glimmer paper, scored them down the middle, and attached several so they'd be 3-D. 

For March, I used die cut flowers cut from our filter papers and spritzed them until I got the shade I wanted.  After they dried, I spritzed them again with shimmer mist.

Come back soon to see the rest of my decor for each month.  Have a beautiful day.  I'm off to enjoy my Christmas Retreat today.  We're going to have fun!

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Card #4 for My Christmas Retreat

Here's a closer look at the 4th card for my October 25 Christmas Retreat.

Adding the narrow silver ribbon over the wider seam binding adds a lot of texture and interest.  The tiny rhinestones add some great bling.  I added Washi Tape to coordinate the envelope and a punched star to the top of the tree.  I like this one a lot!

Pear Pizzazz and Pool Party make a great color combo.

Here again are all the cards.  Which one do you like the best?

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.