HSS Bring on the Bling Challenge #48

Good Morning Stampers! I felt so comfortable with this weeks Hand Stamped Sentiments Challenge...BRING ON THE BLING!!! I LOVE using all types of shiny things on my projects. For this challenge I made this seasonal fame that I can use for Christmas, yep one last seasonal project. I love this paper and made this with just a frame from the $1 store. Lets take a closer look...

I stamped these trees using white craft ink on old olive paper and then added red glitter to highlight the ornaments for the tree. I scored it down the center and attached it to the piece- this way they were more 3-D and I didn't need to use the glass front for the frame.

I LOVE these hodgepodge hardware pieces and finished the embellishment off with two rhinestone brads and a simple "Very Merry" sentiment in the frame.

Using my Ornament punch I punched out a few of the shapes using different patterns of this retired Christmas designer paper from last year. Then I layered them on the solid pieces of Real Red, Certainly Celery, and Old Olive- then I hand cut the entire pieces leaving a small border around the outside. I of course added LOTS of glitter!!!!

I attached those thin silver strings to the back of the ornaments and ran them up and over the back of the framed piece. Can you believe that this silver thread was one of my very first purchases as a demo and I JUST used the last of it 8 days ago... I have been a demo since 2006!

I used this sentiment die cut with my Big Shot and some Real Red card stock, then I separated the phrase at its center in order to fit it on this frame. I embellished the "&'s" with- you guessed it- GLITTER!!! The Sentiment says "Peace & Joy & Love & Cheer."

The last tid-bit on this project is that I made an overlay of vellum on top of the base designer paper. When I was making it I thought the background paper competed too much with the other elements on the piece and so I decided to mute them somewhat and cloud them by placing a piece of vellum over top. I think it worked perfectly.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this weeks challenge project, and I hope that you take part and play along with us over at HSS this week. We LOVE to see your creations- I can wait to see how you use SPARKLE and BLING for your project. Until next time~ TTFN

HSS Sketch Chellange #47

Good Morning Stampers!! Christmas is ALMOST here and to set the countdown off we have a new challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments, it is a Sketch Challenge! We are using the sketch from this months Stampin' Success.

Here is my version of this template... I (as you know) NEVER make an exact replica, and this week I thought I would bust out my MDS on ya. :)

I used an adorable template that was prepared in MDS (My Digital Studio) and tweaked it to adhere to the sketch in an abstract way. I loved the background that the designer template had, and the center design I fell in LOVE with immediately. I added some ribbon and bows, and if you have noticed one of the other HSS designers (Genevieve Valdez) did a bow like this a few challenges back. I loved the look so much thought I would use it on my project today. If you haven't taken the plunge and gotten MDS for yourself, what are you waiting for?! You will LOVE it!!!!

I hope you enjoyed this weeks project and visit us over at HSS this week to take part in the challenge. We would LOVE to see what you create and submit. I wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and hope you all enjoy your time with your family and friends and remember all your blessings, I know I do! I am thankful for all of you and definitely for my amazing family and wonderful friends!

HSS Snowflake Theme Challenge #46

Good Morning Stampers! This weeks HSS Theme Challenge #46- I was SUPER stoked about, which is SNOWFLAKES! I love making these SNOWMAN SOUPS for the season, and thought it would be great to make a ton of these for my kids teachers and administration of my kids school... and thought to embellish them with snowflake's would just make them THAT much better! So I did... I love these little kits and inside the adorable boxes is: 1 package of chocolate mix, a small bag of 2 Nestles Mini candy bars and marshmallows, and then to finish it off a candy cane.

The poem displayed on the front says:

When the weather outside is frightful

Snowman Soup can be delightful

May it warm your spirit & your soul

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

When you feel a chill or burrrrrr

Use the peppermint stick to stir

Add hot water & sip it slow

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

You can see that I added a topper strip of card stock that I had punched out using the scallop edge punch to give it a nice soft edge to the box. I found this box template on the Stampin' Up's! Website for Demonstrators. Once I cut and scored the boxes I then ran it through my... you guessed it... Big Shot using my embossing folder. This was a folder I bought prior to SU offering these products and so this patter is from another company, but I couldn't part with it cause I love it so!

I thought the snowflakes went great with my snowman project. I think that next year I might decide to make these with more of a light blue and light green colors, although I kept them more traditional in color to Christmas this year as a silent protest of sorts. I think that unfortunately the Holiday of Christmas is slowly being snuffed out. Ok- here is my rant here.... I don't know a single Jew or Christian who are offended when you say Happy Chanukah or Merry Christmas. But to force others to ignore their beliefs and take the core "spirit" out of these holidays for the LOUD protesters just gets my panties in a wad. So that is my 2 cents. Which is why I did totally traditional Christmas Colors, in case you were wondering.

I hope that you enjoyed my project for this weeks challenge. I hope you decide to come on over to Hand Stamped Sentiments and play along with us and share your project that incorporates your Snowflake Theme. Remember that it DOESN'T have to be a card. It can be ANYTHING- a 3-D item, altered item, scrap page, gift item, MDS project- literally ANYTHING! I hope you have a great day and thanks for stopping by, until next time~ TTFN

HSS Color Splash Challenge #45

Good Morning Stampers!!

I made these cards for part of my Christmas Card Class and I just loved how they turned out, although I will admit that the prep for that class took WAY more time then I had anticipated. I thought theses would be great for this weeks HSS Color Splash Challenge. The colors that you need to incorporate into your project (which can be anything, it is not limited to cards only) Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, and Early Espresso. I just have to say my NEW favorite red is Cherry Cobbler- LOVE IT!!!

Ok, so I know that these are probably the WORST pictures I have ever taken for my blog... well some of the worst, but my photo cube is disassembled for now and its a long story as to why, but I had to take the pics for these cards on my office floor- just not the same...

I love the texture I gave the bases of these cards using my Big Shot and texture plates, can you tell I just LOVE these tools! I think they are so easy to use and add such a touch of elegance to any project. I also used some of the Deck the Halls designer paper for these and some tags that I created with my MDS (My Digital Studio) and coordinated some of the tags with my punches. I really like how they turned out.

I hope that you enjoyed this weeks projects and I hope that you play with us over at Hand Stamped Sentiments, we love to share our creativity with each other and I LOVE to see what you all come up with. I hope you enjoy your day and until next time~ TTFN