Big SHot

Cute DVD Case Notepad Holder

Wow, I can't believe it has been over a week since I have posted. I have been super busy getting ready for Christmas as I am sure many of you have been too. THere is always so much to do during the month of December and never enough time to do it. Plus my laptop crashed and I spent a week pouting about that since stupid idiot that I am didn't back it up so I lost everything! You just never think it is going to happen to you and then POOF! all of your hard work is gone in a split second. Well. after much thought, I have decided to try an online backup service from Carbonite. It comes highly recommended and you know that once you actually do back up all of your stuff, then your computer is much less likely to break…just Murphy's Law….Oh well…life goes on so I will start putting things back on my newly remodeled computer today. More hours of time that I don't have……why can't we just add about 6 more hours to each day so we can do all of the things that need to be done and also throw in a couple extra hours of sleep in there too! Well, I guess I should stop babbling about myself and actually talk about this project.

My friend Cindy Petersen showed me these cute notepad holders when we were at Founder's Circle a couple of months ago so I decided to make them for CHristmas gifts and also do them at my recent Stamp camp. The cases are the empty Stampin Up DVD cases that come in a pack of 4 for only $4.95! (pg 192). Then I made the front and back covers and slid those in the clear outside covers so you can actually change them out for each season if you want. The notepads do have to be cut down to 7 1/4 inches. They come 5×8 at any office supply store. You can actually get them cut right at the store too. THen I wrapped a ribbon around through the inside and tied on the outside.THe paper is from Deck the Halls and the letter is from our Big Shot alphabet set.

Here is a view of the inside. These are not fancy at all but you could add a clear envelope on the left side to put receipts or coupons in. I am keeping mine in my car because that is always the place I need to write something down and never seem to have any paper.

Cute Holiday Gift Bag

Here is an adorable Christmas gift bag idea that I recently did with my stamp clubs. I used the scalloped mini lunch  sacks from the Stampin Up holiday mini catalog on pg 13. You get 10 of these in a pack for only $4.95! They are so much nicer than a regular lunch bag you would get from the store. They are thicker, come lined on the bottom and also come with that scalloped top.   For this one, I decorated it using the Deck the Halls designer paper, plus I used the tasteful trim big shot die and the ribbon border punch. The ribbon is the artichoke seam binding ribbon.

Here is a close of the tag and the button. I used a button from the Deck the Halls button collection also found in the Stampin Up holiday mini and then put a little bow in there using linen thread. These are so much fun to make and a really nice way to give someone a nice gift.

Another Gorgeous French Foliage Card

This gorgeous French Foliage card was actually a birthday card I received last month from my good friend Terri Mongeon. I loved it so much I decided to use it as one of my stamp club cards this month (thanks Terri!). This is definitely one of my favorite stamp sets.  I sure hope it makes it into the big catalog in July. I am so bummed I can't demo with it after next month.  The colors used are espresso, cherry cobbler, and old olive. The back cherry cobbler piece is embossed with the square lattice die. This striped ribbon is so gorgeous. It just makes the cards look so elegant.

Gifts of Christmas with a Little Gold Smooch

This is one of the cards I did in my stamp clubs this month. I stamped the Dove from Gifts of Christmas in night of navy on vanilla cardstock. Then I added a little gold smooch to the center of the flowers. After I took the picture, I decided to also add it to all of the berries too. It came out really pretty. The gold smooch accent adds a great little touch to your cards. The background is our petals a plenty embossing folder found in the back of the Stampin Up catalog. It is one of my favorites. You could also add some of that gold smooch to the center of the embossed flowers to give it an extra pop!

Cute Little Gifts….

These cute little treats are so easy to make. You can whip out a ton of them in no time. I used the Candy Wrapper Die (from the Stampin Up Holiday Mini) in the Big Shot to cut them all out for me. Then I just added a little bit of Deck the Halls Designer paper  (also in the holiday mini) and the label on the front (from Winter Post) . I showed both versions of this treat box. You can have it open on both ends or glue one end shut to give it a totally different look. I did these with my stamp clubs last month and my customers loved them.

Quilted Christmas Ornament

Here is a Quilted Christmas Ornament that I made using the Deck the Halls fabric from the Holiday mini. I posted a how to video of this a few weeks ago here and I have been dying to make one using Stampin Up fabric. I can't take credit for the video since I got it from you tube. It really isn't that hard, but it does take a little while. The great thing is you can use the big shot to cut your squares out (use the 3 inch scallop square). I make them while I watch TV now so they don't take much concentration. I am doing a couple of classes on these at the end of the month and you get a whole pack of the fabric included in your class fee.

Another version of that Christmas card from the last post…..

Here is another version of that Christmas card I posted the other day.  For this one, I used the Deck the Halls fabric again for the ribbon, but I also attached one of the matching buttons to it. I think it really makes the card look more old fashioned. I used a rhinestone in the center of the snowflake too. This is one of my club cards for the next couple of weeks.

Here is a close up of the button and the linen thread. I LOVE these buttons! The fabric is so nice and it matches our colors perfectly.

Christmas is coming!

I was at Target yesterday and they were putting out the Christmas stuff already and it isn't even Halloween yet! What the heck?? Well, it is never too soon to get started on those Christmas cards and here is a great one. My upline Melissa Ellis shared a similar card with me a few weeks ago and I changed it a little bit and did it for a swap with a group of friends. It is super easy and uses the new Northern Flurry embossing folder, the Candy Cane Christmas fabric, and the Tags til Christmas set. All of these items can be found in the Stampin Up Holiday mini catalog.

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More Founder’s Circle Friends!

 I meant to post these pics a while ago but somehow they got lost in the shuffle. This was a really fun night out at the Pizza Factory in St. George with a bunch of awesome friends. In this first picture is Susan Adams, Tami White and me.

Here are Kimberly Van Diepen and Joyce Feraco.

This is me and Kimberly in our favorite pose.

Here are Christie Daugherty, me and Cindy Petersen.

This one is Christie, Cindy and Lisa Fast.  I think my favorite part of any Stampin Up event is spending time with my friends. I miss them so much! At least I will get to see most of them in January at Leadership in Nashville!

Ok, so I had to throw a card in here too. This cute card was made by one of my talented downline, Rachelle Escalanti.

To place your Stampin’ Up order online  24-7, click here

Cards for the Troops Day!

Yesterday I held my first ever Cards for the Troops Day at my church. I had a great turnout….26 ladies came and worked like crazy stamping over 500 cards in less than 2 hours! It was truly amazing! At this table we have Paulette, Nicole, Holly and Wendy. They were the super fast table and whipped out the cards in no time flat.

This table was all beginners and girls from my church who had never stamped before and they did an awesome job making a ton of Christmas cards!

Here are Sheila, Deb, Bonnie and Niccole. Niccole is in my downline and Sheila, Deb and Bonnie are my customers. They also did a fabulous job!

This is Donna Cunningham (in red) who is another fellow demo in our area and she had all beginner stampers at her table too!

Here are just a few of the many cards we made today.  As you can tell from the picture, it is a great way to use up lots of retired papers!

There were about 15 or so different cards and we made between 20-50 of each one. I have to give a big THANK YOU to one of my downline (Melissa Carr) who couldn't come but sent in 5 different projects for the girls to make today. Also thanks to Niccole Marshall, Donna Cunningham, Susan Tenczar, and Lynn Wyndham for helping out today. I could not have done it without you!

When I got home, I went through all the cards and bagged them tightly into the biggest box Stampin' Up has and it was filled up to the very top! These will be sent to http://www.fromourhearts.info/ and then they ship them to several different groups of service men and women stationed overseas.

Here is a side view of the box so you can see how big it is.  I can barely lift it! I bet it weighs about 40 pounds.