Is Santa Headed Your Way?

Tonight's the night!  Just a quick post with one of my favorite stamp sets from last year...I love this big guy.  And today's bingo piece is the mittens.  Good luck, and wishing you all visions of sugar plums!

Happy Holidays!
~Melanie

Stamps: Jolly Old Saint Nick
Ink: cherry Cobbler
Paper: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist, Whisper White
Extras: Big Shot, Top Note die, Basic Rhinestones

Snowman Mojo

As I mentioned, I love snowmen.  I also prefer snow, especially if it's going to be this cold, but no luck yet.  The good news is that I head North for Christmas, and you can always count on a white blanket in the snow belt.  Whew!

This card uses the same sketch as yesterday's winking Santa--can you tell?  I used the Mojo Monday sketch 168, and my interpretation is a bit more literal this time...though it's still not an exact match.  But that's ok; sketches are for inspiration and this one has my creative juices flowing!  I stamped the snowman from Jolly Old Saint Nick in Pacific Point (my favorite shade of blue) on White Naturals, then inked the snowflakes from the same set in Bashful Blue for the background base of the card.  My sentiment is from Snow Swirled, a long time favorite, and the fun finishing pieces are the Bashful Blue ribbon (retired, sorry), Whisper White snowflakes cut out using the Big Shot and Northern Flurry decorative strip, and five Basic Rhinestones that I lined up with the Mat Pack guide.

A quick note about adhesives--you might have overlooked it, but there's a fantastic new addition to Stampin' Up!'s line-up on page 17 of the Holiday Mini.  Big Shot Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets are just the thing for adhering oddly shaped pieces to your cards and scrapbook pages.  You can either adhere the entire sheet to your paper before running it through the Big Shot, or press a cut piece (as I did with these snowflakes) between the backing paper and the glue to get them nice and sticky.  This is the perfect alternative to snail for die cuts and paper strips that are too thin.  It makes things much easier, and really cuts down on the use of the adhesive eraser!  Be sure to give these a try; you're bound to love them!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for.  Today's bingo piece is...the ornament.  Good luck!

Cheers!
~Melanie

Stamps: Jolly Old Saint Nick, Snow Swirled
Ink: Pacific Point, Bashful Blue
Paper: Pacific Point, White Naturals, Whisper White
Extras: Big Shot, Northern Flurry decorative strip die, Basic Rhinestones, Mat Pack, Bashful Blue Double Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon (retired)

We Have a Winner!

Actually, we have two!!  Congratulations to Kristi and Rosie, who both got bingo yesterday.  Their prizes are going in the mail this morning, and bingo starts again.  This means it's time to reset your cards: clear off all the marks, change your ink color, make a new copy or whatever you're doing to keep track.  We're starting fresh today.

Today's card is a very traditional Christmas card, but also very fun.  I can't stamp this Santa enough!  And since I was using this week's sketch from Mojo Monday, I also had to use some of my favorite new things: Glimmer Brads for a sparkly pop of red and green, and the Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding for that nice strip of red.

Since I was using new favorites, I also got out some old favorites--the retired hostess set Best Yet, and my large oval punch.  I also used dimensionals to lift Santa and the sentiment off the page.

I hope you like the card, and that you're ready for today's Bingo piece.  It's the reindeer.  This should now be the only space marked on your card...along with the free space, of course.  Good luck!

Cheers!
~Melanie

Stamps: Jolly Old Saint Nick, Best Yet
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Paper: White Naturals, Cherry Cobbler, Wild Wasabi
Extras: In Color Glimmer Brads, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Large Oval Punch, dimensionals

Jolly Santa

Today's bingo piece is...Christmas tree light.  Mark your cards!  Anyone getting close?  :)

I absolutely love this Santa image.  Not only is he jolly, but I swear that this is the same winking Santa face that was in the copy of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas that my Grandfather used to teach me to read.  It's possible that I didn't learn how to read with this book, that maybe I just memorized the poem and "read" it back to Grandpa using the pictures, but let's not be too picky, ok?

For this card, which measures 5x5, I used my Big Shot and Top Note die to make the fun, quasi-star background for Santa.  The trick to getting this funky square is to rote your Top Note 90 degrees after cutting, then cut it again.  I did this with Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, and White Naturals, then trimmed the perforated edge off the white piece with my Paper Snips.  I inked Santa in Riding Hood Red, and that was pretty much it.

But I wasn't satisfied.  So the final touch on this card is a little bit of bling--I used Basic Rhinestones for each of the corners of the Riding Hood Red square.  Now it's a festive card!

Cheers!

~Melanie

Stamps: Jolly Old Saint Nick

Ink: Riding Hood Red

Paper: White Naturals, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Crumb Cake

Extras: Big Shot, Top Note die, Paper Snips, Basic Rhinestones

Luminous Boxes

To follow up on my last post (sorry to leave you hanging for so long!), how about luminaries for gift boxes?  These are super easy to make...so easy, in fact, that I whipped up the fall one before work this morning...and using one of these for a gift box means that the box is also a decor piece for your home.  How lovely!

I first saw this project at the Regional Seminar in Baltimore, and immediately it went into my "to do" file.  All you need is cardstock, a paper trimmer, and some vellum, and then you can decorate it as desired.  For the fall luminary above, I used Early Espresso paper, which I cut into pieces 4" by 8-1/2" long, then scored at 1/2" and 4-1/2".  I used my Circle Scissors Plus (which I love, by the way) to cut circles out of each 4x4 square, and then cut my vellum just shy of 4x4" to fit.  I stamped the images from Day of Gratitude (available in the Holiday Mini) using More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Wild Wasabi, and Riding Hood Red.  TIP: Ink takes longer to dry on vellum, so let your pieces "rest" before adhering them.  Then I just adhered the vellum to my circle frames, and used the 1/2" flaps to glue the luminary together into a cube.

Since we'll be using Flurry Decor Elements at Jackie's party tomorrow, I wanted something that would coordinate with our project, so I came up with this winter/holiday themed luminary.  It's the first one I ever made, and I'm really happy with how it turned out!  I used a number of holiday sets, including Snow Swirled (tree and snowflakes), Northern Hearts (lovebirds and wreath) and Jolly Old Saint Nick (snowman).  My frame is Marina Mist, currently my favorite shade of blue, and my inks are Wild Wasabi, Cherry Cobbler, and Marina Mist.

I could use these for sleeves around holiday treats, or put bottoms in them so that they become actual boxes.  All I need now are candles--I'll be using the electric tealights that are popular now, so this project doesn't become a fire hazard--and they'll give a lovely glow.  This is a great project for any season, any table, and any light.  Wouldn't they make great centerpieces at a wedding?  It's all about the colors and stamps you choose.

Have fun, and make some luminous boxes of your own.

Cheers!

~Melanie

Fall Luminary

Stamps: Day of Gratitude

Ink: More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Riding Hood Red, Wild Wasabi

Paper: Vellum, Early Espresso

Extras: Circle Scissors Plus

Holiday Luminary

Stamps: Northern Hearts, Jolly Old Saint Nick, Snow Swirled

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi

Paper: Vellum, Marina Mist

Extras: Rhinestones