Holiday Bingo is Back!

And so are we, just in time to share some holiday cheer and inspiration!  I hope you'll join us for a fun month of playing bingo, winning prizes, and trying your hand at some new holiday projects.  Kiran and I have lots in store for you, so check your mailbox--all the bingo cards have gone out and should be in your hands this week.

Of course, the Bingo cards themselves are a Stampin' Up! project, and so much fun for holiday parties and/or children--that includes the young at heart!  You can make these by hand stamping, or with My Digital Studio.  The cards above (all unique, mind you) are a hybrid of the two--I printed off the Bingo card from My Digital Studio, then did all the stamping by hand with Jolly Bingo Bits and an assortment of bright and cheery colors.  After all, what are the holidays if not bright and cheery?

Tune in tomorrow for the official kick-off, and be sure to keep coming back for more.  It's my favorite time of year!!

Cheers!
~Melanie

Stamps: Jolly Bingo Bits
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Daffodil Delight, Perfect Plum, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Soft Suede, Pear Pizzazz, Tangerine Tango, Garden Green, Melon Mambo
Paper: White Naturals
Extras: My Digital Studio

If I didn't make Bingo cards...

Drumroll please...I just drew the wreath as today's bingo piece.  Mark your cards!

So, If I didn't make Bingo cards, what would I do with the Jolly Bingo Bits stamp set?  Oh, so many things!  First up is this simple holiday card, which is quick and easy to make.  Using grid paper, I lined up the stamps I wanted to use (cardinal, Santa, poinsettia) so that they were even and evenly spaced, then  pressed the clear mount block onto the stamps, so I knew they'd be just right when I put stamp to paper.  Next, I inked all three up with Cherry Cobbler (this is why I chose three symbols that could be red) and stamped them onto a 4x5.25" piece of Whisper White.  I added the Happy Holidays sentiment from Four the Holidays in Wild Wasabi, and was almost done.

Then I decided that it would be too plain this way, so I jazzed it up by adding two rows of paper piercing using the Mat Pack and Paper Piercer tool.  I also got out the Scallop Trim Corner punch to add a little interest before adhering the white to a card base of Cherry Cobbler.  Quick and simple!  That's another thing I love about the Jolly Bingo Bits, and the cards can all be different because there are 24 to choose from.

What combination would you use?  Let me know in the comments.  And don't forget to shout out if you get BINGO!

Cheers!

~Melanie

Stamps: Jolly Bingo Bits, Four the Holidays

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Wild Wasabi

Paper: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler

Extras: Mat Pack, Paper Piercer, Scallop Trim Corner punch

Holiday Bingo is Coming!

It's hard to believe that it's already the end of November!  But 'tis true...I've had lots of turkey and stuffing and now it's time to get ready for the holidays.  This is my favorite time of year because there are so many great things--parties and family and friends.  But it's also incredibly busy, and so many of the people I want to see are far away and hard to get to.  So this year, I decided to do something new and fun, so I can share the holiday excitement with everyone regardless of where they are.  

I used some of my initial favorites from the Holiday Mini to put this plan in action.  I made Holiday Bingo cards using Jolly Bingo Bits and the Bingo Card stamp.  However, there are some modifications here, and the most important is that this is a hybrid card--which means it's part My Digital Studio, and part hand stamping.

While I normally love background stamps, the Bingo Card background stamp is just too big for a normal card front.  That put a serious crimp in my plans, because how would I mail cards that are too big for the envelopes?  I had my fingers crossed that Stampin' Up! would release the bingo card as a digital download...and SU came through for me.  :)  I bought the file, installed it into My Digital Studio, and I was all set.  After some resizing and test printing on scrap paper, I had a bingo card that was just big enough for the bingo bits to fit in the boxes, but still small enough to mount on a piece of 4.25" x 5.5" paper.

I stamped a stack of bingo cards over the break, and put them in the mail yesterday.  The cards are on their way to customers, friends and family.  Starting tomorrow, I'll be posting a bingo piece a day--in addition to our usual projects--and there will be prizes!  Stay tuned, and be sure to check out our December blog look starting tomorrow as well.

Cheers!

~Melanie

Stamps: Jolly Bingo Bits

Ink: Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi, Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Perfect Plum, Daffodil Delight

Paper: White Naturals, Ruby Red (retired)

Extras: My Digital Studio

Snowflakes Get Spoiled w/Aluminum Foil!

Gotta love a good rhyme, huh?  Happy Monday!

It's been one stressful weekend, jam-packed with things to do...namely, moving!  Ahh, the chaos, the stress and finally, the sense of completion when it's all done.  I'm almost there.

Good thing I made this card (and the next few) during our Spooky Saturday Stampin' Celebration over Halloween weekend.  I know it's hard to believe but Thanksgiving is almost here!!!  And that means, the holidays are right around the corner.  I like to get a head start on all things holidays by buying gifts early and getting my cards out early so my friends and family have more time to display them! =)  I hope this post gets you motivated to start your holiday cards.

You've already seen what I am sending out this year (if you missed it, search "Dasher") and though it's a beauty, I had fun playing with some other holiday stamp sets as well.  For this one, I tried to add shimmer with ordinary kitchen aluminum foil.  I think it's a quick & easy way to add some bling (without having to get out the embossing powder heat tool).  What do you think?

Hint: Use heavy duty aluminum foil.  I didn't have any on hand so I used the regular thin foil and it was hard to get the intricate cut-out of the die.  Plus, heavy duty foil is much easier to run the tape runner on (without tearing the snowflake) and much easier to handle when adhering to the card.

Happy Stamping!
~Kiran

Stamp Sets: Northern Hearts, Jolly Bingo Bits, Many Merry Messages
Ink: Pacific Point
Paper: Crumb Cake
Extras: Big Shot, Northern Frost Decorative Strip die, aluminum foil, white ribbon

Clean and Simple Christmas

Now that it's November, I'm beginning to anticipate the holidays.  Will I be ready?  It's hard to say...so I'm getting started now.  This week's sketch over at Clean&Simple Stamping, Fall-To-Layout 114 immediately made me think of my Bingo Bits stamp set--it's perfect for a simple card like this, and the combinations are endless.

I used Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso and Garden Green to stamp the images on Crumb Cake.  I was also using Pacific Point, but smudged my snowman.  No worries!  I stamped the snowman onto a scrap of White Naturals, and then punched it out with the 1/2" circle punch.  I did the same with the snowflake, just to keep it even, then attached both to the card with dimmensionals.  The final touch is my sentiment, from Four the Holidays, inked in Early Espresso.

This would be a very easy card to reproduce.  I have grander visions (of course!), but if those don't work out, this will certainly do the trick.

Cheers!
~Melanie

Stamps: Bingo Bits, Four the Holidays
Ink: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Pacific Point, Garden Green
Paper: Crumb Cake, White Naturals
Extras: dimmensionals, 1/2" Circle Punch