Gift Card Holders

It is now down to crunch time to finish all my gifts. Personally, I really enjoy giving and receiving gift cards. Family lives far away so it saves us a lot on shipping but I also make a few gifts as well to personalize the gift giving. I like receiving gift cards as well because you can get exactly what you want (size and colour).

The first two gift holders are made using the big shot and two different dies (scallop square and top note). The third one is made using cardstock measuring 4.25 x 11. It is quite easy after doing it a few times.

Well, I am off to my stamp room to finish up making a few tag samples for tomorrow. Tania is away on holdiays so she won't be posting tomorrow.

Happy Stamping,

Danita

Where Have I Been?

Where have I been? Well....I have been busy making Christmas gifts and I promise that I will share them with you soon. One of the gifts that I am working on are Cowgirl Cookies in a jar. I will be decorating the jar before I pack it up but I wanted to show you the cookies before and after cooking. I must say that these are the yummiest cookies that I have eaten so far. I usually take pictures during the day since they look better but I had take this before the cookies were eaten up. If you are interested in making your very own Cowgirl Cookies, you can find the recipe at http://www.bakerella.com/mix-things-up/. That is all for today as I need to get back to my stamp room to decorate this jar and the other jarred gifts that I have made.

Happy Stamping,

Danita

Tag Time

I'm dreaming of a GREEN Christmas...sort of. I have been working on handmade gifts for sometime now. I have made it a goal to use as much of my materials on hand as possible. Fabric, papers, wooden items, glass, yarns.... I have a crafting problem. There were very few things I needed to purchase to complete my project list. So when Danita came up in the summer and did a workshop for me I picked those things up. That's where the 'sort of' came from. I knew I wanted to do tags this week as I am in the wrapping stage. It seemed a good challenge to 'use my stash' and make tags this week! I appologise if you are expecting all SU! products. I have a few patterned papers and embellishments that are other sources. It's about using what I had (and making it cute lol). The candy canes are make from a cookie cutter set my sweet husband had put in my stocking last year. Gotta love the multi-platform for the Big Shot! I used the Woodgrain Background stamp to make my striped cardstock. The lace trim edge I dragged in Whisper White craft ink and heat set. The jingle bells are cut from the same cookie cutter set in felt (LOVE doing that, yeah Big Shot again). I masked the wording stamp into that label stamp.

Danita may laugh at my use of the pom-pom trim she gave me. I like how these tags turned out. The old Cold Play set is still one of my favorites. The carrot nose is made from stickles. I plan on using a small alphabet set to stamp the recipients name on the snowman's belly in Basic Grey.

These tags are patterned paper glued to Garden Green cardstock and run through with the Top Note die. I masked the image in the label stamp as well. I am using chipboard letters to monogram these ones. I had added stickles to the 'B' to bling it up a bit. You can do the same with Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds!

Happy holiday preparing to you! I hope you will try to use what you can this Christmas to be a little greener. This generally means you get new treats if you are addicted to creating like me! Danita can help you order current comparable supplies if you want to recreate these tags and don't have the things you need in your stash. Handmade items may not be FULLY appreciated by all who recieve them but we crafters enjoy the process and can always MAKE giftcard holders for those we need to!

Gift Drawer

Where have I been? Well.....our family was quite sick with a cold. In fact, my four year old son had a middle ear infection with his ear leaking fluid like a leaky tap. Then, my seven year old daughter had such a sore throat and bad cough that her ear was hurting. She has ruptured her ear drum before so I took her to the doctor so it would not happen again. After that, it was my turn to get a cold and I felt completely exhausted so I was not creating. Now, we are all healthy and it is time to kick it in high gear to start making our Christmas gifts. We have try to have a handmade Christmas as much as possible so I am hoping to post some of my projects in the next few weeks.

Today, I am going to share with you a project that I might give as a teacher's gift. I am having a packaging class this Saturday and one of the projects is this cute gift drawer. You could fill it up with the person's favourite goodies. It could be give to a teacher as a Christmas gift that sits on the teacher's desk. Have you started on your teacher gifts yet?

Happy Stamping,

Danita

why cards?

I often make cards for birthdays and usually try to make our Christmas cards. I have made cards for Easter, Thankgiving, Valentines and even the occasional St. Patrick's Day. I was thinking tonight about what I wanted to make to post. I had this card design I made a few weeks ago and I really liked it but it needed tweaking. So I started to play with a new version. The original one had the greeting 'PEACE' on it and an acetate layer to enhance the snow. But this version unfolded with texture in the back ground and even more importantly, purpose.

I have a friend who has had a whopper of a 2009 and I am giving this to her to let her know that, i care. When everything seems pointless, or repetitive, or like it's actually moving towards something good...i care. Sometimes when we go through something that takes MUCH longer than we'd like it to, we can stop letting people in because WE are sick to the teeth of talking about it. But dear friends still care about our stuggles. They may not know what to say anymore either.

Sometimes very few words can fill an empty space. Sometimes a simple paper gesture is how you communicate a hug. Handmade often begins in the heart and moves outward to someone else. I challenge you to make a card for a friend who may need to hear that you care. That someone still cares. -tania

Pleated Ribbon Card

I know. I know that I said that I would post this card tomorrow but I could not wait to show you. My challenge to use ribbon all month has begun and if I have to use ribbon on every project that I complete then I have to figure different ways to use it. The ribbon on this card is pleated and I really like the way it looks. The picture does not show it but the flowers are coloured with bashful blue and pacific point. It looks like I need to work on my lighting when taking pictures.

The set that I used to stamp the sentiment was once a wheel that I cut apart and made 13 stamps from. The wheel is called Friendly Words. I have also cut the wheel, "Neighbourhood" apart as well and now I am eyeing the wheel "Bright Blessings" to cut apart as well. It would make a great new Thanksgiving and Christmas set. Hmmmm......the possibilities.

Happy Stamping,

Danita

Stenciled Christmas Card

Hello everyone. Wow....two consecutive days of posting. I am on a roll and plan to continue rolling out projects for all of you to see. Today I am busy working on a couple of stamping club projects but I thought that I would share another Christmas card with you. Stampin' Up sells stencils so I bought one for myself but it has not arrived yet so I improvised. I punched out the ornament punch which is found in the Holiday Mini Catty and used it as a template.

Well, I am off to play with ribbon to create a layout and a card to share with you tomorrow.

Happy Stamping,

Danita

Joy Christmas Card

Sorry for my long absence. I was crazy busy with a local fundraiser, classes, birthday parties and club nights. I was exhausted and had lost my stamping mojo. Well, I am back with a card that I did for my stamp-a-stack that I had this past weekend. It is an Andrea Walford inspired card. I used patterned paper under a clear button for the "0" instead of stamping it. You could also use a white grommet with the patterned paper as well. See you soon.

Happy Stamping,

Danita