A Christmas Jingle

Christmas countdown: only 4 days left!  This is another example of what My Digital Studio can do in a matter of....minutes.  Yup, took me all of 10 minutes to "make" this card.  All I have left to do is print this out.  Have holiday or Christmas cards yet to be made & mailed?  Why not try this?  Easy, breezy, beautiful, card-making.  =)

The base was the designer template from 'Christmas Jingle' and I just changed the background paper, added the white grosgrain ribbon and the chocolate chip stitching.  Done & done!

Today's bingo piece is the Christmas tree light.  Good luck!

Happy (digital) Stamping!
~Kiran

Celebrate Any Day...especially the holidays!

WOWZERS!  I know that's what you're thinking.  I'm on an MDS kick and this little beauty was fantastically easy thanks to one of the designer templates I mentioned getting during November's crazy good sale.  The 'Celebrate Any Day' download really caught my eye because of it's unique (and kind-of retro) color palette and combinations.  I played around with an existing design and tweaked a little here and there and voila!  

If this has inspired your inner digital designer check out all the fantastic designer templates for purchase here!  Only 5 more days till Christmas!!!!

Obviously we have a bit of a bingo backlog (are you suddenly feeling the holiday crunch as well?), so here's a double dose of fun.  Mark your cards for the wreath and the gingerbread man.

Happy (digital) Stamping,

~Kiran

Run, Don't Walk

And don't trip!  You are already at your computer, after all.  Stampin' Up! is having a Clearance Blitz for the holidays, and these fantastic deals are only available while supplies last, or until January 5th.

Oh, and today's bingo piece is the holly.

See you tomorrow,
Melanie

We Have a Winner!

Seriously, this time.  Congratulations Kiki--send us an email to collect your prize.

That means it's time for Round 3--so clear your cards, change your pencil color, whatever you have to do.  The first piece for this round is Santa.  Good luck!

Today's project is very quick--I want to give some customized recipe books this Christmas, so I made binder covers for them in My Digital Studio.  I love the fun and funky retro design of the pears, and the fact that I can just print this off at home...which is what I need since it feels last minute already.  I even went the extra mile to design the binder spine.

Happy Holidays!
~Melanie

My Digital Studio: Sunny Day, Now You're Cooking

BINGO update!

This special post is to help those of you following along on your bingo cards.  There were three false alarm bingo calls, which means that we are still playing Round 2, which started on December 7th.  This also means that I had to redraw today's piece--so mark off the reindeer for today and keep on playing.

Happy Holidays!
~Melanie & Kiran

A Little Holiday Sparkle

There's nothing like a bit of sparkle--or a lot of glitter--to say happy holidays.  This card goes out to all my friends who love a little bling, whether that's for the holidays or in general.  You know who you are.  ;)

I got the idea for this modern rendition of a Christmas tree from Judy May's fantastic holiday card, which caught my eye a few weeks ago when it was featured in Nancy Riley's iPicks #157--a weekly roundup of fantastic inspiration from around the web.  Why oh why didn't I buy any of the silver glimmer paper?  Then I realized that I can make glimmer paper in any color using heat & stick powder and dazzling diamonds (one of the best techniques I learned last year)

So I got to work, using punches to cut out different size circles from Red Glimmer Paper, Pear Pizzazz, and Baja Breeze.  I then inked my larger Pear Pizzazz and Baja Breeze circles in VersaMark--I just pressed the whole circle into the pad--and put them in my Powder Pals tray to catch the stray powder.  I dumped Heat & Stick powder over all of them, then moved the circles to a different spot on the table to apply some heat.  As soon as the powder started to flow, I moved the circles into a different Paper Pals tray where I dumped Dazzling Diamonds glitter all over them (and glitter went everywhere, like snow inside!  Pretty...and I vacuumed after card making.)  I applied some more heat, to make sure the Dazzling Diamonds were set in the Heat & Stick powder, and then I had glimmer paper in two new colors.  Success!

I laid out the circles to create my tree first, moving them back and forth before deciding I was ready to glue them down.  I used a combination of dimensionals, to hold the larger circles off the page, and mini glue dots for the littlest ones.  My finishing touch was the sentiment, inked in Baja Breeze from Four the Holidays.

BINGO ALERT!  We've had another winner, so it's time for round three.  Audrey, send us an email to collect your prize (and Jenny, we still haven't heard from you for your round 1 winnings--email us!).  Everyone else, reset your cards...but since the winner was on Sunday's post, you can keep yesterday's poinsettia for this round, and add the snowman as today's pick.  Good luck!

Happy Holidays!
~Melanie

Stamps: Four the Holidays
Ink: Baja Breeze, VersaMark
Paper: Whisper White, Red Glimmer, Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzazz
Extras: Heat & Stick powder, Dazzling Diamonds, 1" Circle punch, 3/4" Circle punch, Itty Bitty Punch Pack

A Holiday Favorite

"And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Niklaus soon would be there..."  I absolutely loved to recite 'Twas the Night Before Christmas as a child, and think I still remember most of the lines.  Stockings are a big part of my family's holiday traditions (read about that here), so the Stocking Builder punch and coordinating stamp set were obvious purchases for me when I got the holiday mini.  I just hadn't gotten around to using them until now...and I have no idea what I was waiting for!!

I'll try to spare you my ode to punches, one of my absolute favorite card making tools, but I'll remind you that there's nothing better, in my book, than punches that coordinate with a stamp set, because you can instantly and easily punch out your image.  No painstaking hand-trimming, because I certainly don't have time for that!  (Did you notice that today's post is going up late...the holidays are fast approaching!)

I was inspired to try out my punch and stamp set because of FTL170, the most recent card layout over at Clean & Simple Stamping.  I could easily see making lots of this cards, or more variations on the theme with snowflakes.  But for this card, I started with a base of Crumb Cake, to which I adhered the plaid from Frostwood Lodge DSP for an eye-catching background.  Next up, I cut a piece of Early Espresso and layered another piece of Crumb Cake on top of that, so I'd have a crisp and sharp border.  I stamped Happy Holidays (from Four the Holidays) in Old Olive, and mounted this piece on my card base.  I cut a strip of Cherry Cobbler ribbon, to "hang" my stockings on, and then got to work on the stockings themselves.

That part was really easy--I just chose my ink colors (Riding Hood Red, Old Olive and Island Indigo), stamped and punched.  Then I attached my super cute stockings to the card, and added mini jingle bells as my finishing touch, creating a card that announces its good cheer.  

Today's piece is the poinsettia.

Happy Holidays!

~Melanie

Stamps: Four the Holidays, Stitched Stockings

Ink: Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Island Indigo

Paper: Frostwood Lodge DSP, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso

Extras: Stocking Builder punch, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding ribbon, Mini Jingle Bells