Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Pizza, Anyone?

I am just smitten with these adorable little pizza boxes! Being from Chicago, there's nothing like a great Chicago pizza, but these little cuties come in a close second. Here's our project for December.

This pizza box holds several 3 x 3 cards with envelopes; there's 4 cards with envelopes in my design. I used the Quilted Christmas designer paper, along with the Stitched Embellishments to decorate some of the cards. Just look at all this cuteness. The stitching on these felt embellishments is perfect and they make a great add on to just about anything.  Use them for gift packaging too.

My December "class" is really a Customer Appreciation Open House.  As a thank you to all my class attendees for supporting me all year,. December projects are free, and I treat everyone to a nice Christmas lunch. We then take a peek at the new Occasions and Sale-a-bration catalogs that start January 2, 2018.  Everyone goes home with at least one gift from my grab bag bin.  It's a fun time!

So, if you're local here in Gilbert, AZ, please consider joining me for my classes that will start up again in January. I hold them every month, and I welcome "newbies" who have never stamped before too. You'll have a great time, and go home with some nice cards, and meet some great people. Hope you can join me soon!  Until next time, have a great Christmas.

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Gourd Goodness meets Painted Harvest, to give Good Tidings.....

Hello friends! I am sorry that I have been MIA for the last few months.  As happens frequently around here, time seems to sneak by me, and before I know it, it's Thanksgiving. How does that happen?  Well, I'm catching up now, and wanted to share some cards we made at my September and October workshops.

 The holiday catalog has a lot of favorites for me, and Gourd Goodness is at the top of the list. I mean, look at that detail. This is a 2 step stamp set. Colors used (and in order of stamping): Peekaboo Peach with Tangerine Tango; Lemon Lime Twist with Wild Wasabi and Daffodil Delight with Cajun Craze. The leaves were So Saffron with Soft Suede.  A little dusting of Chocolate Chip around the main panel, gives just enough dimension.
 Another favorite is the Painted Harvest stamp set, also a 2 step process.  This sunflower is so pretty close up; very detailed and depending on what colors you use, you will get completely different results. Here I used Daffodil Delight and Crushed Curry. The center is Early Espresso and the dots are in Archival Black.  Leaves are Pear Pizzaz and Old Olive.  That paper?  Painted Autumn.
 In October, we started on Christmas cards. Good Tidings is yet another 2 step process and I used only Garden Green on the holly leaves. I stamped off once the first go round, to get a lighter shade. Real Red makes those holly leaves just pop. The designer paper is Merry Music Specialty paper. I love the black and white designs; so different than traditional Christmas colors.
 Another October card was this delightful tree card.  Another 2 step stamp called Season Like Christmas, it features 3 "layers" of trees (I used only two), as well as some "ground" and some really nice sentiments.  You could use this as a Christmas card, but you don't have to.  Think about the possibilities here; masculine, sympathy, thinking of you, or one that I would do..."so sorry it's snowing by you" (I live in Arizona)  😁  The designer paper is another favorite called Merry Little Christmas. It has a lot of Old Olive and black and a really wonderful plaid design. Very different for Christmas, but will go way beyond the holidays.
Our last card for October was a technique called the "baby wipe" technique.  You take 2 layers of baby wipes, fold then in half, and drop several drops of re-inkers, in different colors. Then you use the baby wipe as your ink pad, and just stamp away. I do not clean my stamp for this technique. The more colors you have, the better, especially if you're stamping leaves and want to show fall colors.  I used the Colorful Seasons stamp set for this one.  The best thing about this technique is that not one single card, was the same.  Everyone at the table had done "their own thing", and each one was a beautiful version.  I love when that happens.

Well, that's it for today.  I will be posting our November projects soon. And my annual Customer Appreciate Open House and Christmas party is just around the corner.  I hope you liked my projects today.  Until next time, have a beautiful Thanksgiving with family and friends.  Happy stamping!