Red Alert: Easy gift card holder

I needed a couple of gift card holders for Christmas gifts, and I pulled out my Doodlebug Santa Express papers.  The red polka dot paper caught my eye (I love red and I love polka dots!)

Double-sided papers make creating a holder like this super easy.  Thanks to Shopping Our Stash for inspiring me with their "Red Alert" challenge.  I hope this counts as using red as the primary color in my project.

Happy Thursday!  I hope you get to do something fun amidst the hustle and bustle of the season :)

Buttons and Die Cut Challenge

It's time to Cut It Up again, this fortnight for holiday cards with buttons  (and don't forget a die cut; punches are ineligible to count as a die cut.)  My die was fun to play with and I have the coordinationg sentiments to fill in the spaces.  The holly branches are a punch, not a die.  I used mini buttons for my berries.

I hope you will join in the fun for our challenge:

Enter to win!

This challenge is sponsored by

As Cute as a Button; there is a prize for a $20 coupon code!

Supplies:

die and coordinating sentiment stamps:  PTI

paper:  My Mind'e Eye "Be Merry" 6x6; red linen and navy linen card stock (XPEDX); white card stock SU whisper white

corner ticket punch:  Stampin' Up!

holly branch punch:  Martha Stewart

mini buttons:  Michael's

ink:  Impress Indigo Blue

I made eighteen of these cards, using up a variety of papers in my MME 6x6 pad; all my thank you notes are now made before Christmas for once!  Get out your buttons and dies and join in the holiday fun at Cut It Up.  See you there!

Happy Friday!

Life of the Party - SRM Stickers!

These sweet cupcakes and "Happy Birthday!" sentiment come from just one sheet of SRM Birthday Stickers by the Dozen.  And I've only used six here.  Believe me, I would have used all twelve if I had more of that yummy green/kraft polka dot paper.

I am so happy to be able to craft again these past two weeks!  I was too ill to do much of anything since early September.  I crafted like crazy last summer and I had set my auto-posts through early November, but then my auto-posts ran out.  Bummer.

My goal earlier this year was to work on my daughters' scrapbook.  Last summer I finally finished scrapbooking 2005 and I am nearly finished with 2006!  I would love to finish up 2006 this month, but I have a few gifts yet to make for Christmas presents.  My card stash is also very low, so I am adding another crafty goal:  use it up.

I have a lot of stash.  A lot.  I save pretty papers; e.g. these two BasicGrey "Life of the Party" 12x12 sheets I purchased  few years ago.  The back side of the green polka dot is a polka dot chevron paper that I just had to have.  I have never been able to make it work on a card, but I loved it.  Two days ago I desperately needed two birthday cards.  The cute cupcake sticker looked best with the green polka dot side of the BasicGrey chevron paper.  I was going to just make what I needed, but then told myself I need to just use it up!  The one sheet of 12x12 (green polka dot/chevron) was enough to make six cards, so I made six.

I plan to make USE IT UP my personal goal for 2015.  I am not sure of the details of this goal yet, and I am open to suggestions.  I would like to add "how long can I make it without buying new product"; purchasing adhesive or a new Cricut blade does not count nor any other "necessity" to keep on crafting.  Anyone care to join me in my Use It Up self-challenge?

Happy Thursday!

Autumn/Thanksgiving Teacher Treats

I hope you all enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving with your friends and family.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because I associate it with being with my maternal grandparents.  I still have my grandma, who is now 92 and as pretty as ever.

I made these Cricut cut tags for teacher gifts last week.  I delivered them all the Monday before Thanksgiving; it is technically still autumn even if the temperatures are saying it is time for winter fun.  (Cricut "Create a Critter 2" p.63 cut at 6".  Actual size is 3.5" tall.)

(This is the back of the tag.  I stamped with a Neat and Tangled sentiment from the "Just For You" set; on sale this weekend at $6 off!)

Here are all of the treats, ready to go:

 Supplies:  Doodlebug Designs "Friendly Forest" papers, Doodle twine, and Doodlebug Sprinkles.

I filled each with "acorns":  Nutter Butter minis, Hershey kisses, and Nestle mini chocolate chips held together with edible adhesive:

I hope you had a happy November!

Non-Traditional Holiday card CHALLENGE

It's time to Cut It Up again and this fortnight we challenge you to create a non-traditional holiday card:

No RED, No GREEN, No RECTANGLES, nor SQUARES!

This challenge is sponsored by

As Cute as a Button; there is a prize for a $20 coupon code!

Please include a die cut somewhere on your card; my die cut is my scalloped circle card base (Cricut "Wild Card" cartridge cut @ 5.5") and the purple base (Cricut "Plantin Schoolbook" cut @ 4.5").

Supplies:
card stock:  DCWV
designer papers:  Doodlebug Design "Frosty Friends"
silver doily and sentiment:  SRM Stickers "Happy Holidays"
large flower:  Bazzill Basics
glazed brad:  My Mind's Eye "All Is Bright"

I hope you will join in the fun at Cut It Up for our non-traditional card challenge.  See you there!

Happy Friday!

SRM Stickers sentiments/ Kraft Happy

I am extremely low on my card stash, 

so I decided to return to my roots:

making cards from paper scraps and

a little stamping too.

These first three cards are each made from

scraps in my Echo Park "For the Record" collection:

 (Below) I stamped a crazy background on 

the red linen card stock.

Too busy?

 This last card is simply stamped with

two Denami Design leaf stamps

using Impress Bottle Green and Chartreuse inks

with the last of my blue and green flowers from

an old Artful Delight kit.  I sure miss those kits!

I still need to make a few more thank you cards, then write out and send, so I will continue to peruse my old stash to create some flat cards for easy mailing.  All of the cards used sticker sentiments by SRM Stickers "Thinking of You" sheet.

Happy Wednesday!

Friends Are Life's Nicest Perks

I need several thank you cards, so I perused my SRM Stickers stash and found several of this terrific "Thank You!"  I was able to create four cards like this one in just one hour.  Quick and easy; I like that.  I also had a chance to practice shading with my Copic markers, which have been neglected for a few years.

Supplies:
SRM Stickers:  Stickers By The Dozen/Thank You
tea/coffee cups stamp:  Great Impressions
paper:  Fancy Pants "Time for Spring"
Copic markers:  Y38, YR07; R20, R24

Happy Saturday!