Christmas cards for church

Each year I make 50 cards for our church's alternative Christmas charity card sale, and 15-20 other members do too. They are sold for $5 a card (with the required SU! copyright stamp on the back) and the local/outside charities benefit from the full price.


This year, I found some cards I liked on SCS to CASE. (Copy And Share Everything) I loved the simplicity and ease of replication for these two designs. I changed them just a tiny bit (color on the card on the right and the main image on the card on the left), but they are pretty close to the original creations by stampinjules951 and jaymerz. Thanks for sharing ladies!


A little tip: The Ridinghood Red scalloped layer on the white card is just four of SU!'s scallop square punches adhered together under a 2-1/4 inch square of white cardstock. Easy and cute!

Season of Simple Grace Criss Cross Card

I'm happy to have finally made a layout I like with this set. The long flowing robes of the wise men have kept me from fitting the entire display on one layer, so this works for me. This is a prototype-it needs some embellishing and detail before becoming a batch of swaps I need to get in the mail asap. I used the simplified Criss Cross design for which you make a regular card and cut it diagonally, flip the piece that is cut off and attach the sides with sticky strip. This method (as opposed to the 2 layered 4-1/4 X 11 inch sheets for a criss cross card) saves paper and weight for postage.

Transparency Snowflake Christmas Card

Last year when transparent cards were so popular, I didn't need another Christmas technique idea. This year I needed an idea and remembered these. :) I also needed a different color combination. The red is just to show off the snowflakes, and the card is only Pink Pirouette, White and Kiwi Kiss.

October's Birthday Promotion

Stampin' Up! is offering eight sets at 20% off in October to celebrate the company's 20th Birthday! I made an example (for each of the two I currently own which are on sale) for a Demo Challenge on SCS. I'll be adding a couple more new sale sets to my collection soon!

First is a 12X12 scrapbook page using the Crab & Company set with the Maine Blueberry Designer Series Paper. Stampin' Up! punches and a simple layout made for a quick and easy page.

This is a pocket card CASE'd with changes from a demonstrator friend's swap card. Here is a link to Amy's blog although I couldn't find her swap card on it: http://amysings.blogspot.com/

For a separate (Wicked) demo challenge on SCS, we were to create a tiny milk carton using these instructions by the original creator, Rochelle W.: http://impressionsbyrochelle.blogspot.com/2008/01/teeny-tiny-milk-cartons.html

I couldn't resist a comment on Santa's great idea of setting up the cookies and milk treat for himself at each house! It is a pretty small container (designed to hold 4 Starburst candies), so I will probably hang it on the Christmas tree.

Bleaching Technique Very Merry Snowman

I created this card for my November Christmas Technique class. It was quick and fun. I used Baja Breeze with black craft ink and clear embossing powder. I markered-over the bleached hat and scarf after bleaching out the snowman with an aquapainter. I also stamped the snowflakes with bleach, and then finished the card with punches and the new Ski Slope designer series paper. The sentiment is from the Level 1 hostess set Best Yet.

Cammie's Blog Candy benefit for the Alzheimer's Association

Visit Cammie's Blog here: http://myblogbycammie.blogspot.com/ to see her story and blog candy contest as well as her stamp set that benefits the Alzheimer's Association.


For the contest, we were to create a card for a caregiver of Alzheimer's patients. My first card is for a friend's mother. This may not be what Cammie had in mind (so I did two), but I wanted to support an Alzheimer's patient's wife who is certainly a caregiver as well. I used the Organic Grace Hostess Set, Sanded Background and my current favorite sketch by JanTInk (blog linked on the side bar).

My second card I will give to my friend and ask her to ask her mom to give it to the staff or a particular caregiver as she feels led. This card uses the Organic Grace fern, the Inspired by Nature coneflowers and sentiment and the Top Note SU! exclusive Big Shot die.

Bookmark for TLC187

For the technique challenge from Monday on SCS, I made this bookmark using the Haiku paper and Eastern Blooms set....and then since I had an extra bit of Tangerine cardstock, I made an OSU bookmark for my daughter using the Wanted set to create "Bullet" on the front. With football season starting, she is very aware of cheering for a team :).

All about the Shoes.....

This card (layout brought to light by SCS user ID justcrazy -Thanks so much for sharing!) was created for the Sketch Challenge on SCS (SC194). It uses several "techniques" including using Crystal Effects and a drop of reinker for a shiny melted surface, mixing Crystal Effects with Dazzling Diamonds for a glitter layer, and making a broom from a bamboo skewer and SU!'s hemp twine. If you join me at my technique class on October 2nd, we'll make this card :)

Below are the two views of this treat basket box which was one of the make and takes at my last club meeting. I saw it in this small size (6 inch square) coming home from convention in a saffron color made by SU! demo Cheryl Kruger, and when I realized the 5 pieces from Eat Drink and Be Scary would fit perfectly I had to try it. The Ghostly Greetings paper and striped Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon finish it nicely I think.(A tutorial for the 12 inch size is available on SCS here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ee/index.php/resources/tutorials/treat_box/ )

Season of Simple Grace

I used Reinker drops on a baby wipe for an inkpad for this card. I used it on the new Bella Toile Background and for the Christmas stamp from the Punches Three Hostess set. Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus look better in the solid to me though. :) I took this color combination from one of my favorite convention swaps which I received from Connie Ingram of Littleton, Colorado. Thanks for sharing Connie!

Beate's latest challenge

I made this card for Beate's Inspiration Challenge shown on her blog here: http://beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2008/09/09/be-inspired-challenge-22/

It was too pretty of a picture to pass up being inspired by :). I came up with this using the new hostess sets Punches Three and Organic Grace. After using the white gel pen to highlight the flower petals, I decided to use the cracked glass technique obviously inspired by all the glass bottles :).

Masculine Swap Card

I finally finished these cards for a swap just minutes before the post office closed. Whew! This card was made using the Happiness Is a Journey set and the Top Note Bigz Die. I sponged all the edges in Close to Cocoa and used Clear Embossing powder over Not Quite Navy craft in on Kraft cardstock. The green hue is Old Olive, and I sponged the ribbon a bit to tone it down and provide a more masculine look.

Halloween and.....

Here's a silly Halloween card that uses the Eat, Drink and Be Scary set which will be available October 1st. It is a fun set, and since I volunteered to make the gallery index for SCS, this card shows all the pieces in the set. (The bats are background paper from the Ghostly Greetings Designer Series Paper.)
Since I'm rushing Halloween, I might as well rush Christmas.....:).... This masked A Cardinal Christmas card in Ridinghood Red and Whisper White uses the Bella Toile Background as the filler.....My husband preferred this card to the plain version below so I used the masked version for a swap. I still like the plain version :).

For another swap, we were required to use one of the sketch challenges on Splitcoast. I chose SC66 for my card, and again used A Cardinal Christmas-this time with the new Wide striped grosgrain and Very Vanilla and Mellow Moss. I used a sentiment from To You and Yours in artichoke as well. These cards are likely parts of my class or Stamp a Stack offerings coming in October.

Faux Dry Embossed Snow-Swirled

Faux Dry Embossing was the Technique Lover's Challenge for Monday on SCS (search TLC183 to see more samples). First you stamp in White Craft Ink and then you stamp in your base color. It creates the look of having been dry embossed. I like the look, and I hope you do too.

I used the star brad from the Styled-Silver Hodgepodge Hardware as a tree-topper and the new large oval punch for the sentiment. The colors are Certainly Celery and Ridinghood Red. The Snow Swirled Snowflakes in the background are just stamped in White Craft Ink.

Big Shot Ornaments

These little ornaments were so simple to make using the Big Shot machine that SU! has now. I simply used the Birds and Blooms Sizzlits dies and the Join in the Cheer Decorative Strip die to create them......not amazing I guess, but a ton of fun for someone like me who is new to die-cutting! I punched an extra flower and center for the back of the bird so it would look nicer. (I used the 1/8 inch punch for the flower centers, and Boho Blossoms punch for the Old Olive leaves.)

The ornaments are so nice and light that they'd be perfect for when you need a lightweight ornament to fill a space when the branch isn't quite sturdy enough for other ornaments on a real tree.

Acetate box and new Sizzix dies

For this little box for the Technique Lover's Challenge on SCS, I used the Humor in High Heels set as well as my new BIG SHOT with the Birds and Blooms "Flower Pieces" and "Scallop Circles" dies. I think it really helped coordinate the new Maine Blueberry paper with my project.

The light blue bling brad is perfect with it, but we're having a strangely rainy August here, so it doesn't show well in the photograph.

Inspired by Nature

This great new set makes a lovely Rudbekia (brown-eyed Susan), Daisy or Purple Coneflower. The possibilities are many, and I had felt a little deprived of this style by SU! lately, so I am thrilled with it! I used the butterflies and LOVE from Dreams du Jour as well. For my first try I chose Lavendar Lace to make Purple Coneflowers since I grow them in my flower beds....I also grow white ones, and the lady down the street has a coral-like orange :). So many cards to make! :)

Convention Highlights!

Ladies, I am so excited about the new catalog and new products Stampin' Up! is offering this fall!We will have phase two of the new decor elements line which adds more colors and designs, a catalog for which my wish list is huge, and starting in September, the BigShot diecut machine by Sizzix! SU! will have several exclusive dies as well as providing a variety of Sizzix dies for purchase through SU!

Here is just a sampling of the fun things they had for us in Salt Lake City:

The views were lovely and so different....mountains all around, and Salt Lake City had delicious restaurants. My friend Brooke from church in Edmond now lives there and took us to a great local restaurant called Ruth's out in Emigration Canyon and then on a great tour of the city. This picture looks toward the Great Salt Lake:

Jessika (my upline) and I toured the Stampin' Up! headquarters in Riverton, UT with all the other demonstrators. This is in the entry/eating/break area of Stampin' Up!.

Here's a quick picture of the distribution area within the building:

We also saw lovely staging areas where products are showcased called the Legacy Rooms. The things shown here are not in the catalog, but are likely in the holiday mini catalog:

The presentations and classes were helpful and great fun. Here is a bookmark and also a picture of the new colors of decor elements:

There are also limitless displays of items and cards made by fellow demonstrators. I think this cookie sheet calendar would make a great Advent calendar.

Here's a picture of the Artisan Award winning submission by Mary Jo Albright. I was amazed by her fabulous creations, and her scrapbook page has already been featured on Shelli Gardner's blog here: http://www.soshelli.com/ (Shelli is the owner and co-founder of Stampin' Up!):

Here are some online friends I was finally able to meet in real life....They are challenge chasers....we like to do the Splitcoaststampers challenges as often as we can. I also had a great time at the SCS (splitcoaststampers) dinner and enjoyed meeting the girls posting to the Swapppers Anonymous threads. I'll have great swaps to show you all at the New Catalog Open House on the 28th!

Final day of swaps....Saturday August 2nd

I hope to see lots of new technique ideas for you all when I swap this Cracked Glass Bird from Spring Song and this Serigraph technique Pretty Amazing set card!

What I'm swapping today....Friday August 1st

Today I will be swapping in two WOW swaps and my own Ten Minutes to Terrific Swap as well as with the SCS Challenge Chasers....I haven't had time to chase challenges lately--too many swaps!

This is the 10 minute card...so simple and quick!

The gingerbread men were cut from the Deer Friends set after embossing them with spiced embossing powder for a bit of a scratch and sniff effect with a cute texture. I added faux red hot candy dots, a licorice mouth and raisin eyes as well as white icing trim. Then, I popped them (with dimensionals) onto a silver sheet pan with silver embossed edges on a checked table cloth. I like the Ridinghood Red with Moss and Not Quite Navy much as I liked Cranberry Crisp with those colors year before last. The Merry Christmas from Load of Love seems to fit this style nicely too. This was sketch challenge 70 (SC70) on SCS as well.

What I'm swapping today.....Thursday July 31st

Today is the first day of classes and meetings, and my schedule is packed with great swapping opportunities!

First at lunchtime, I will be swapping these little Hostess Gift idea buckets....It is just a little Dollar Store bucket punched with the CropADile and threaded with Very Vanilla ribbon dyed with Kiwi Kiss Reinker.

Next, I will be swapping for mini 3-D items with these black embossed and pastel/chalk embellished Tea Bag Holders that use the Always Set as well as the sentiment from the new for fall Sock Monkey set.

After classes end for the day, I'm in a swap for fun 3D items in which I will be swapping the Mini Book I sent in email last week. It is large enough to hold 4X6 pictures and uses our new Bella Rose designer series paper and the new Dreams du Jour stamp set.

At the same time, and in the same general location, I will be swapping the 6X6 2 page scrapbook layout that I also sent in my email last week with another group. I hope to get some great ideas for you all!