Time for Christmas!

We "crafters" have to start early with all the creating we do to have our cards, projects, and gifts ready in time to give out to those lucky recipients. So without further ado, here is one of my first cards of the season.
This is one of the cards we will be creating in my October Hostess Clubs/Classes.

If you are not a club member, you can still attend as a class member. What's the difference? Well, as a hostess club member, one of the benefits is that you take turns with other club members to earn free goodies from the catalog. As a class member, you attend without making the same commitment that hostess club members are required to make. Class members come and go as they will, but they don't earn the freebies.

If interested or have questions, send me an email or call me to discuss. I would love for you to attend as a class member or join as a club member. My current clubs meet monthly on the:

• 1st Sunday - my studio Highland Park - 4:00pm (time possibly changing to !:00pm)
• 3rd Sunday - Stampin' From the Heart, LA (Culver City area) - 5:30pm
• 3rd Monday - Stampin' From the Heart, LA (Culver City area) - 6:30pm

I'm also available for private clubs and classes. Gather your girlfriends and family members and let's get the dates on the calender!! Call or email me!!

Thanks for stopping by. Come visit again soon!

Christmas Ornament

The Cat's Pajamas now has dies for the Big Shot!!! If you remember, at one time I was on their design team. I stepped down to pursue other interest, BUT, I still have, and will always have, love for Alma and the team.

So back to the dies, aren't they delicate looking? I used the Snowflake and Apron Border dies on this ornament. Added some bling, Ritz Glitter, and Stampin' Up! Silver Glass Glitter. The ornament base is Marina Mist card stock cut with the Clear Circle Bigz Die. Quick, easy, but oh so elegant.

Hope you are having fun with your Christmas stamping and creating.
Thanks for stopping by!

Jolliest Time of the Year

Quick share today. One of our November club cards. This card uses one of my favorite sets in the catalog. It's called Jolliest Time of the Year. It's been in the catalog for a couple of years now, so I call it my oldie but goody go to set.
Supply List:
stamps - Jolliest Time of the Year
paper - Candy Cane Christmas (sold out!), Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Real Red
Ink - Basic Black Classic Ink Pad, Stampin' Write Markers Real Red and Basic Black
Misc - Candy Cane Big Buttons, Clear Tinsel Trim, Dazzling Diamonds, Tombow Mono Adhesive Glue

Any of these supplies can be purchased on my website. Just click the SHOP NOW button on my left side bar.

Gotta go, so busy today doing last minute preps for my Potpourri of Gifts class tomorrow. There's still room if you want to attend. See the details by clicking My Events in the left sidebar.

Get busy at your stamp table! Have a good day, and as ALWAYS, thanks for stopping by.

Two Shares

Okay, I know, it's been awhile. So sorry. Just been swamped with prepping for my stamp-a-stacks. I had one already and will have three more this weekend. Plus the thing we call LIFE has poked itself into my stamping world. So you have to deal with life while fitting stamping around it.

I'm bringing you two shares today to make up for my absence! Does that make you happy??? I hope so. The first share is my last for Halloween. My Sweethearts' daughter's birthday in on Oct 30.  Each year her party revolves around Halloween activities. We had a party here with about 7 girls ranging in age from 5-9. Our project was an 8x8 scrap page, which included a picture of each girl with the birthday girl. So, as they worked on their pages, each girl posed for the pic. We printed them right on the spot. By the time their pages were done, the pic was ready to be put on the page. It was a big hit. Amazingly, the 5 year old did the best stamping!!! She absolutely blew me away.

The page the kids did was a simplistic adaptation from this page, which I believe I have previously posted......

 Here is the kids page....the two cuties are my granddaughter, Alorah, on the left and my Sweeties' daughter, Hannah, the birthday girl, on the right. They are also in costume, hence the reasoning for all the lipstick and grownup makeup. This is Alorah's page so she did all the stamping and decorating on her page.

For the second card, it is one we did in Big Shot class this past Sunday.

Tried to go for somewhat of a shabby chic look. We used the new Joyful Season letterpress plate found on page 42 in the Holiday Mini. It is paired with the also new Tasteful Trim die on page 17 in the Holiday Mini. I will come back later and post the full list of supplies used. I've got to run out for my appointment now.

Thanks for stopping by. Go create something wonderful today!

Snowflake Tea Light Candle

Hello My Friends!!

Thank you for stopping by my blog today. I have a treat for you. It's a project that has been very popular out there on the 'net. It's been done by soooo many people, that I have no idea who was the actual creator.

But anyway, I had to do one myself. So several of us got together on Saturday and "played" all day. Even Richard got involved! He was working the Big Shot, both the manual and the electric, trying out all sorts of sandwiches to determine which is the best for each machine. I honestly can't tell you the sandwich other than you need shims - sometimes one, sometimes 2. You have to play with your own machine.

So here is the snowflake tea light.

How do you like it? It's made using aluminum flashing from the siding department at Home Depot. It comes in a roll 6" x 25'. We took the time to cut it into 6"x6" squares using the red Tim Holtz scissors. (proper name escapes me at the moment.) There's two snowflakes, glued together with a hot glue gun. The candle is also adhered with the hot glue. Stampin' Up!'s chunky silver glitter is added to the tips using Tombow mono adhesive glue. Now, I see I should add glitter around the base of the tea light. I will definitely go back and add some. Don't you love glitter?!! Just gets me all excited. LOL!!

What I CAN tell you is that....

• sandwich - cutting plate, snowflake bigz die, aluminum, possible shim, cutting plate, possible 2nd shim - depends on your machine
• run through big shot 2-3 times for best results for easy removal
• you need to dedicate a die if making a lot for gifts or sell items at a fair. - metal gets caught in the die and also can tear foam

One of my friends, Pat, also made tea lights using the dies Daisy #2 and Flower Folds. They turned out beautifully. Sorry, didn't think to take pictures. I will try to get together with her and take some pics to post later. Just a note - if using the xl bigz die like Flower Folds, cut your aluminum at 6"x12" to fit the full size of the die.

Take the time to play with your Big Shot with different materials. Have fun!!!

Just a Little Switch Up

Hello,

Thanks for stopping by...thought you might be tired of Halloween - the Halloween that I don't normally do, but still have a few more to share! Had my last Halloween class this evening. Will share some of those cards in the days t come.

Today I have my first Christmas card of the season to share with you.

This will be one of the card we will do on October 3rd at Stampin' From The Heart. You will have 5-6 cards, all Christmas and all embossing folders. Sounds like fun? Call the store to sign up - 310.391.0466.

Keeping it short and sweet today, it's late, very late, time for bed.
Hugs,

Winter Post Stair Step Card

This is one of the holiday cards done at my monthly Hostess Club. It uses the Winter Post stamp set. The card stock colors are Soft Suede, Bashful Blue, Naturals Ivory, and Real Red. Most of the images are stamped in second and third generation. The scallop square is from the Big Shot bigz die.

Tattered Christmas Cards

Hello Stampers,
Just wanted to log on to show you a couple of cards done with the Cuttlebug and Tattered Angels.

Tattered Angels in the Cuttlebug?

Isn't Tattered Angels a liquid?

Isn't that messy?

Yes, Yes, and Yes...oh, but soooo much fun!!! I've gone a bit crazy with "acquiring" all those beautiful bottles of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. I absolutely L O V E them. I also love the Cuttlebug, so I decided to combine the two. The technique is simple. You need to have plenty of card stock panels and some paper towels on hand.



Simply spritz your card stock with your background color. ( I usually do my spritzing in a pizza box as not to spray everything else on my desk.) Next you want to spritz your Cuttlebug embossing folder with your accent color. About 8-10 spritz should do it. Take your finger and spread the glimmer mist around. Let it pool inside the recessed areas on the folder. Lay your previously spritz card stock in the folder and run through the Cuttlebug. Remove and set aside. Use your extra card stock panels to" wipe up" the glimmer mist that oozes out and what is remaining in the Cuttlebug folder. Can't let even a little bit of that paint to go to waste!!

Have fun sprirtzin' and sprayin'!
Gayle