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

Decor for the Holidays

One of my top priorities for the weekend was to make the apartment festive--decorations were in order.  So I thought I'd share a snapshot of my tree--with its cute snowman ornaments.  As requested, I promise some snowmen projects soon.

In the meantime, today's bingo piece is...the tree.  How fitting!

After the tree, I put up some decor elements.  I took down the fall wreath and replaced it with the leftover snowflakes from Jackie's decor party.  Remember the holiday plate I made earlier?  Well, I used some of the other GIANT snowflakes to decorate our door for the holidays.  A quick and easy way to spruce things up for the holidays.

I also put up these ornaments (on the left), which are now retired.  It was very quick and easy, and now that corner feels just as festive as the one with the (3 foot) tree.  Decor Elements are just great--easy to put up, and just as easy to take down when the time comes.  They adhere directly to the wall, but won't hurt wallpaper, paint, or wood.  If you'd like to see more about how to use Decor Elements, see this great post by Kiran--it's full of useful tips!

I wonder if it will snow soon?

Cheers!
~Melanie

Gift Tag Set

Today's bingo piece is...the snowman!  I must admit, he's my favorite, but I'm partial to snowmen.

The project I'm sharing today is another quick and easy project, thanks to Stampin' Up!'s Simply Scrappin' kits.  Each year, the Idea Book and Catalog has a holiday-themed kit, which includes everything you need to make nicely coordinated scrapbook pages of the holidays: four patterns of designer series paper, coordinating cardstock, and six sheets of self-adhesive die cuts.  I love these things...though I've yet to make a scrapbook with them!  For me, these are a perfect little kit of cardmaking essentials.

Of course, I hadn't actually used my Simply Scrappin' kits from the last two years, so these cards were made from the retired Christmas Jingle kit.  These four cards measure 3x3, and are perfect for gift tags, a quick note with baked goods for your neighbors, or to stick in lunch sacks and book bags for some extra holiday cheer.

I didn't even do any stamping for these!  The images on each card are from the die cut sheets, which essentially made this a sticker project.  Who doesn't like stickers, especially when they look this nice?

For the Dec. 25 box, I used my Big Shot and the Scallop Envelope die.  I cut two of the envelopes, then trimmed the long flap on each down to 1/2".  This way, they fit together perfectly to form a thin box that four cards and four envelopes fit into.  It's a quick and simple gift for a friend, a co-worker, a party hostess, a teacher.  I'm making up a number of these card boxes, both for the holidays and beyond, because these are also the perfect size for stocking stuffers.

In case you're close on Bingo, I'll give a set of these, along with some gift card holders and other gift giving essentials, to the winner of the first round.  Good luck!

Cheers!
~Melanie

Simply Scrappin' Christmas Jingle (retired), Big Shot, Scallop Envelope die, Crease Pad

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

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

Sparkly Snowflakes

Today's bingo piece is...the stocking!  Mark your cards.

The card I'm sharing today is definitely not the traditional holiday colors...and that works for me!  It's actually the same colors as this card from Kathy's party, but the combination looks so different when there's so much white space.  I used my Big Shot and the Northern Flurry decorative strip die to cut out these great snowflakes from Rose Red, Elegant Eggplant, and Baja Breeze.  Then I put a few snowflakes into the Color Catcher (an absolute must!  Unless you want a glittery table, that is) and sprayed these with the Smooch Spritz.  I used both Silver Foil and Vanilla Shimmer, and decided that I like the Vanilla Shimmer slightly more than the Silver Foil--it gives the snowflakes a subtle shimmer.  So subtle, in fact, that you might not be able to catch it in the picture.  But trust me, it's there and it's pretty!

The final touch for this card is the sentiment, from Four the Holidays and inked in Rose Red to match the snowflakes.  I just might send this one to a friend who moved South, and probably won't be seeing any snow for Hanukkah this year.

Cheers!
~Melanie

Stamps: Four the Holidays
Ink: Rose Red
Paper: Whisper White, Rose Red, Elegant Eggplant, Baja Breeze
Extras: Big Shot, Northern Flurry die, Color Catcher, Vanilla Shimmer & Silver Foil Smooch Spritz

The Game is On!

Welcome to Holiday Bingo!  I hope you have your cards in hand, and that you'll check daily to see what bingo piece to mark off next.  Since everything kicks off today, I thought we should begin with some ground rules or guide lines for how this will work.

• 5 in a row, in any direction (horizontal, vertical, diagonal) counts as BINGO!  When you get 5 in a row, leave us a comment to shout out BINGO and we'll send you an email so you can claim your prize.
• There are prizes!  You'll see these interspersed with other holiday projects, so it's another great reason to check in daily.
• Bingo is continuous until Dec 25, which means we'll start a new round as soon as one ends.  When we have a bingo winner, I'll announce at the top of the post and tell everyone to "reset your cards."  This means you should find a way to keep track of your bingo squares without crossing the whole thing off--maybe hash marks in the corner.  I recommend using different colors of ink for each round, just to make things easier.

If you have questions, just let us know.  The main goal is to have fun, and share some holiday warm-up excitement with each other.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Drumroll please...today's bingo piece is...the penguin!

Today's featured project is our blog's new look for December.  I whipped this up last night in My Digital Studio, using a combination of the newest downloads available and stamps that come with the software program.  I love the ornaments of the Tree Trimmings set, which you see on the sides of the blog (and saw on my holiday cards last year), and thought it was the perfect match for the tree decorating silhouette from Welcome Christmas, one of Stampin' Up!'s new stamp sets and digital downloads.  Trust me, I'll be doing more with that stamp!  The snowflakes blowing across our blog header also were included with My Digital Studio...and they're my wishful thinking on this gray, rainy day for some prettier winter weather.

Cheers!
~Melanie

My Digital Studio: Tree Trimmings, Welcome Christmas, Snow Burst, Old Saint Nick