Merry Christmas Mum
Are you like me? I make cards all the time for my class at Beachmere, three a week, one of which has been a Christmas card since the beginning of August. However, when it comes to my family, I always make them something I haven’t made before. Especially for my Mum and Dad, because Mum comes to the classes at Beachmere and she has the same cards as me!
So this is the card I made for my Mum and Dad. I embossed the bottom half of Whisper White card using the Softly Falling Embossing Folder. I stamped the greeting from the Reason for the Season stamp set onto the top right hand corner of the embossed card using Real Red ink.
I wrapped the embossed card with the Real Red 3/4″ Stitched Edge Ribbon and attached it to scored and folded Early Espresso card. I cut a circle from the Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper using the Layering Circles Framelits Dies and attached it to an Early Espresso scalloped circle cut using the same dies. I hand cut the little house from the Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper and attached it to the centre of the circle. The image panel is attached to the card front using dimensionals.
To decorate the inside I added a narrow strip of Early Espresso card behind one long edge of Candy Cane Lane Designer Series paper and attached it across the bottom of Whisper White card. I cut another of those cute houses from the designer series paper and attached it to the left hand side of the designer series paper.
I love this card, simple but it looks so cute. What do you think?
Bye for now,
Kris
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Happy Anniversary
My daughter Sarah and son-in-law Sean recently celebrated 16 years of marriage. Love and congratulations to you both.
Of course I had to make a card and admit I was running a little bit late with my creation so I cased one from the boards at Onstage this year created by Juana Ambida. This card uses some product that is available currently and some which will become available on the 4th January. I absolutely love the way Juana was able to co-ordinate these products.
I cut A4 Thick Whisper White down the right hand side using the heart border from the Love Notes Framelits Dies. After the card was cut I stamped the centre of the hearts using one of the images from the Sealed With Love stamp set using Real Red ink. 
The little stamp fits the die perfectly. I added a little dimension by bending the hearts upwards. I cut the large heart from Real Red card using the Bloomin’ Heart Thinlit Dies and attached it to the card front. I stamped three small hearts and two large hearts from the Bloomin’ Love stamp set onto Whisper White card using Real Red ink and cut them out using the matching Bloomin’ heart Thinlit Dies. I attached the flowers to the Real Red die cut heart and added a Basic Rhinestone to the centre of each of the flower. Lastly I stamped congratulations from the So in Love stamp set using Real Red ink. Inside the card I added a narrow strip of designer series paper from the Sending Love Designer Series Paper Stack. The papers helps to accentuate the heart border.
I love this card, don’t you? I love that it uses a blend of current product with some of the exciting new products in the 2017 Occasions Catalogue. It’s also kind of exciting that as a Demonstrator I get to see and use these products before the catalogue goes live for customers. Maybe you have been thinking about becoming a demonstrator then this is an excellent reason to join. If you need more information just contact me and we can have a chat about what you need and how Stampin’ Up! can meet this need.
Bye for now,
Kris
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Unfortunately I cannot link to the new product just yet.
Gift Card Holder
This is another project which we made at our All Day event at the Beachmere Retirement Resort. This type of Gift Card Holder have been around since Stampin’ Up! added the Envelope Punch Board to our catalogue. Today I will share with you my version and if you love it you can download the FREE PDF tutorial here or by visiting my Free Tutorial Page.
I have once more used the gorgeous Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper and the Cookie Cutter Christmas stamp set. 
I absolutely love these products and obviously everyone else does too because the Designer Series Paper is in the Low Inventory stage and will only be available while stocks last. The Christmas Banner comes from the Time of Year stamp set (Hostess). The Merry comes from the Holly Jolly Greetings stamp set.
What I particularly love about this Gift Card Holder is that when you open it the gift card slides up in the little pocket that is created on the inside. I also love that you don’t need adhesive on the bottom flap, it is held closed by the Real Red 3/8″ Stitched Ribbon. So you can’t put too much adhesive and have your gift card getting stuck!
I know most of you will be organised and have your Christmas projects already done, however, if you are like me you and leave everything until the last minute, I hope you find this tutorial useful.
Bye for now,
Kris
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Christmas Framed Art
Every year I hold an all day event with the ladies from my Beachmere class. We get together at 9am and craft until all the projects are completed. This year I tried something a little different and die cut all the pieces for the projects before the class, so the ladies could spend more time creating and less time lining up at the Big Shot. All of the ladies are experienced stampers and have used a Big Shot more than once! It made the day a lot more enjoyable for everyone.
The first and probably the most complicated project this year was our Framed Art piece. I love creating these decorator pieces to use anytime, but especially at Christmastime. The background card is Soft Sky which is sponged around the card to a depth of about 2″ using Soft Sky ink. The edges were sponged again using Night of Navy ink but this time to a depth of about 1/2″. The swirly star image from the Star of Light stamp set is stamped across the Soft Sky card using Night of Navy ink. There are two layers of Very Vanilla card across the bottom of the frame which have been embossed using the Seaside Embossing Folder. The top edge of each piece is cut to create a snow-drift look.
The large solid star at the top of the frame is cut from Night of Navy card with the detailed star over the top cut from Dazzling Details Glimmer Paper – both stars cut using the Starlight Thinlits Dies. There are a couple of small stars cut from the same Dazzling Details Glimmer Paper using dies from the same set. The trees from the Santa’s Sleigh stamp set are stamped on Wild Wasabi card using Wild Wasabi ink and cut using the matching Santa’s Sleigh Thinlits Dies. The sleigh is cut from Basic Black card with the detailed layer cut once more from Dazzling Details Glimmer Paper. 
These pieces are also cut using the dies in the Santa’s Sleigh Thinlits Dies. The reindeer from the Santa’s Sleigh stamp set are stamped onto Crumb Cake card using Soft Suede ink and cut out using the same matching die (Santa’s Sleigh Thinlits Dies). The bows for the reindeer are cut from Real Red card. The presents in the sleigh are hand cut after stamping onto Very Vanilla card using Night of Navy, Wild Wasabi and Real Red ink. Some of the decorative bows on the presents are stamped before die cutting and a couple are just die cut from Real Red and Night of Navy ink (Santa’s Sleigh Thinlits Dies). There is a sweet little teddy image in the Santa’s Sleigh stamp set and matching die so of course I needed to add one to the sleigh. The teddy is also stamped in Soft Suede ink on Crumb Cake card. The hardest part of creating one of these projects is placement. I attached the narrowest piece of Very Vanilla card to the bottom edge of the Soft Suede card and then played with the other images, placing some between the layers of Very Vanilla and some behind the back edge of the deepest piece. I liked the way this seemed to reinforce the snow drift effect. The pieces in both these stamp sets and matching thinlit dies lend themselves perfectly to this type of crafting. As a special bonus you can download the tutorial which we used in class to create this framed art piece. You can also find the tutorial on my Free Tutorials page.
I’d love to know what you think, so leave a comment please and if you create your own art piece, I’d love to see a photo.
Bye for now
Kris
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Chocolate Treats
I held my last class at the Beachmere Retirement Resort for this year yesterday. I like to give each of the ladies who attends a small chocolate treat to celebrate our year together.
This year I followed some instructions shared by Lynda Emerson. They are so cute and hold a Ferroro Roche chocolate perfectly.
I used Whisper White card and punched the long end using the Scallop Topper Tag Punch. I added a layer of Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper to the back also punched with the Scallop Topper Tag Punch. I punched a piece of Real Red card using the 1-3/8″ Circle Punch and then cut around the hole using one of the Layered Circle Framelits Dies to create the little frame for the place where the chocolate sits. I stamped the Gingerbreadman image from the Cookie Cutter Christmas stamp set onto Whisper White card using Early Espresso ink and punched him out using the Cookie Cutter Builder Punch. I attached the Gingerbreadman to the designer series paper using dimensionals. I cut the little banner using the framelit from Home Sweet Home Framelits Dies and stamped Merry from the Sweet Home stamp set using Real Red ink. I attached the banner over the Gingerbreadman.
Everyone thought they were so sweet. So thanks to Lynda for a wonderful idea.
Bye for now,
Kris
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Boxed Gift Tags
As promised here are the gift tags I created as part of the Secret Santa Gift for the Christmas Party I attended recently.
To create the tags I cut A4 Thick Whisper White card at 6″ x 3″ and scored along the 6″ length at 3″ to create a 3″ x 3″ card. I added a piece of the Candy Cane Lane Designer Series paper to the card front. I cut Whisper White card and Early Espresso Card using the Layering Circles Framelits Dies so that they would sit on the Designer Series Paper. 
I used the Gingerbreadman, Reindeer and Teddy Bear images from the Cookie Cutter Christmas stamp set to add to the front of the tags. Each image is punched using the Cookie Cutter Builder Punch.
I stamped inside the tags using the “to/from” image in the Candy Cane Christmas stamp set and Early Espresso ink.
I also created a gift box using the Envelope Punch Board to hold the gift cards. I used the Santa Clause image on the front and coloured him using Real Red, Basic Gray, Smokey Slate and Pink Pirouette Stampin’ Write Markers.
I am really happy with this little box and hope that whoever received it was happy too. What do you think?
Bye for now,
Kris
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Boxed Card Set
My husband and I attended a Christmas Party recently where we needed to give a gift and I thought why not put together some handmade cards. I have always loved Designer Series Paper but have found it hard to cut into. You know how it is you need one piece of beautiful paper for a card and you cut a strip the width you need and then you are left with pieces that you can’t use. I did some searches on Pinterest and found a 6″ x 6″ one sheet wonder which creates three cards by Sylvia Durocher. I thought this was a wonderful idea, three pieces of designer series paper which would create three cards with no wastage. I used this to create three Christmas cards using the Cookie Cutter Christmas stamp set.
They each use the Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper and the Cable Knit Embossing Folder with the addition of the Real Red 3/4″ Stitched Edge Ribbon. I used the Reindeer, Gingerbreadman and Teddy Bear images from the Cookie Cutter Christmas stamp set. You can download a free tutorial here to create your own set of card. I have also added this to my Free Tutorial Page.
I created a little box using the Envelope Punch Board to hold the three cards and decorated it in the same manner but using the Santa image as the feature. Santa is coloured in using Real Red, Basic Gray, Smokey Slate and Pink Pirouette Stampin’ Write Markers. I added a little Dazzling Diamonds Glitter to the image using a Two Way Glue Pen (retired) and a little bit of the Mini Pom Pom trim on his hat. I created the box using the backing sheet you get in the Designer Series Paper packages. I love to recycle!
I didn’t write a tutorial for the gift box, but they are relatively simple to work out. I find the size envelope to match the size of my card on the guide on the Envelope Punch Board. I decide how deep I want my box to be and add that depth to the width and length of the cardstock size suggested on the Board. I punch the first time at the point suggested on the Board and then add the depth to that number and punch again. For example if the first punch is at 3″ and I want a depth of 1″, I punch and score at 3″ and then again at 4″ and continue to rotate, punch and score as if I was making an envelope.
I’ll pop back soon and share the gift tags and the decorated chocolate holder I also included in the gift.
Bye for now,
Kris
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Hello December album
I said I would pop back in and show you how my Hello December album is progressing. As you know I followed the video instructions I shared with you earlier, and which you can watch below, to place all of my Hello December Project Life cards in my album and cut down some of the cards as recommended and added plain cardstock to fill some more of the pockets. You do need to have the Hello December Project Life Cards and Accessories to decorate your album following the video, hopefully you took advantage of Extravaganza to get yours at a discounted price. So all I had to do was sit down with my album and my photos for the first couple of days and add the pictures. I used MDS and my home photo printer to print my photos to 2″ x 2″ which made it very simple. 
Now, let me share with you the cover of my album, I added some of the gorgeous Real Red 3/4″ Stitched Edge Ribbon over the green binding on the Album and tied a knot. I added a row of the Mini Pom Pom Trim down the edge of the album binding using Tombow Multipurpose Glue. Then my decorating went slightly wrong. I used the star mask from the Hearts and Stars Decorative Mask and my Gold Wink of Stella – big mistake for me, the Wink of Stella ran under the mask and I got horrible blobs of colour on my album cover (total user error). So I added some Emerald Envy card to the Album cover and added Crumb Cake card on top which had been inked with Crumb Cake using the star mask. Yay Success! 
I also cut the numbers from Real Red card using the Large Numbers Framelits Dies.
The first and second pages inside the album are just like the ones in the video. I didn’t change a thing and it was simple to add the Hello December Project Life cards to Real Red card and pop them in the sleeves. The first page with photos is actually from the 30th November but we had to decorate our tree one day early as Abigail had a birthday party on the 1st December and the grandchildren like to decorate the tree altogether. I used the Project Life Date It stamp set to create the November banner. My tree has a rather haphazard collection of decorations, some hand made, some gifted from the family and some that I have had since my girls were little. 
It won’t win any prizes but the grandchildren love to have a free reign and put everything on. At least now they spread them round the tree and don’t just put them straight onto the front. After the decoration we took a couple of goofy photos and then they all had a swim to cool down. The second page of photos shows some of the decorations up close. An old Santa that lights up and was a gift from my grandmother to my girls when they were small. It is supposed to change colours but manages only a slight dimming now. However, I love that my grandchildren love to put this up and see it working. The Advent Calender was constructed by my dad and decorated by me a couple of years ago. The grandchildren love to fill the boxes and they love even more to empty them. The 1st of December also brought some great news as Ethan was chosen to become School Vice Captain next year. I am so delighted for him. His selection follows on from Abi having the same position this year. My journalling is handwritten and even holds a mistake or two but I know that in the years to come it will serve as a great reminder of the fun we had when the grandchildren were all small.
I did add a couple of extra bits of journalling and because I had a few cards left over, I cut some of them down to create the journalling spots. My Memory Keeping can be a bit haphazard over the year, but December is one month that I love giving the full treatment. It’s such a busy, happy time of year.
Here is the video for you to view once more, if you haven’t already started on your December Album.
Bye for now,
Kris
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Hello Baby
My upline Stephanie issued a challenge to her team members to find an online challenge and make a card. Soooo…. I found a great sketch on the Freshly Made Sketches blog and created a baby card. My hairdresser recently had a baby girl. I started by embossing Pink Pirouette card using the Happy Heart Embossing Folder and attached it to scored and folded Chocolate Chip card. I love this colour combo and have neglected my Chocolate Chip card for way too long. I stamped the first image from the Baby Bear stamp set onto Whisper White card using Crumb Cake ink. I stamped the next teddy image over the top using Chocolate Chip ink which I stamped off first. 
I stamped the third image over the top again using Chocolate Chip ink. I cut the teddy image out using the largest circle in the Stitched Framelit Dies and attached it to Chocolate Chip card using a matching scalloped Layering Circle Framelits Die (these dies are discounted during the End of Year closeout sale). The teddy is attached to the card front using dimensionals. 
I stamped the greeting from the Baby Bear stamp set onto Whisper White card using Chocolate Chip ink punched the ends using the Triple Banner Punch and attached it to Pink Pirouette card also with the ends punched using the same punch. The banner is attached over the teddy bear image with dimensionals under the ends only.
Inside the card I attached a narrow strip of Chocolate Chip card behind one long edge of Pink Pirouette card which is embossed using the Happy Hearts Embossing Folder before attaching to Whisper White card.
So thank you to Stephanie for issuing the challenge and thank you to Freshly Made Sketches for providing the sketch. My hairdresser loved the card.
Bye for now,
Kris
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Hello Summer
The first day of December and the first day to start using your Hello December Project Life cards. I will take some photos today and share them with you tomorrow.
I wanted to let you know that besides being the first day of summer it is also the beginning of the Close Out Sale at Stampin’ Up. There are heaps of exciting products in the sale, some reduced, some retiring and surprisingly I saw a few things that are already retired but available for purchase. Check it out by clicking on the image below.
It’s also the first day that demonstrators can pre-order from the 2017 Occasions Catalogue and earn Sale-A-Bration items. So exciting! So while I am happy shopping, I hope you are too.
Bye for now,
Kris
