HOME FOR CHRISTMAS 3D FRAMED PROJECT

THIS PROJECT MADE ME CRY
IT IS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PROJECTS
I HAVE EVER SEEN

This framed project is made using the Home for Christmas stamp set 111756 for only $18.95

When you look at the doorway in the Home for Christmas stamp set, you can't help but feel that inside that door a warm fire crackles and an easy chair awaits your arrival. As you lean your skis against the solid home and lift the latch, the smell of hot chocolate wafts through the air welcoming you home for Christmas.

To do this project justice...I had to take it out of the beautiful frame and photograph it without the glass. It is gorgeous!
This project is yet another CAROL HARTLINE creation. She really did a wonderful job. I know this project took some time but when you really need to make something like this for someone special, you know it is made with a lot of love and care. The details are amazing. I actually enlarged sections of the project so that you get a better idea.


Carol needed to stamp this set several times so that she could cut different portions out. Some of the images are stamped on kraft card stock 107070 and some are stamped on garden green card stock 107096 and some on very vanilla ultra smooth card stock 106530 and some on Not Quite Navy card stock 107095 and some on real red card stock 106545. Carol used basic black ink to stamp the images and hand water colored as well using her SU! watercolor crayons. Did you know they come in neutral colors 106746 as well as all of our 48 main colors? After you stamp the images and color them, take care cutting out the parts you want to highlight. It is best to use SU! paper snips for cutting 103579. As they cut with the greatest detail. Adhere them to the project in 3D fashion using SU! DIMENSIONALS 104430.
Carol added chunky glitter in white 108797 and crystal iris 111343 using SU! tombow multipurpose adhesive 110755 - which is the best way to adhere the chunky glitter. Carol's attention to detail is impeccable. The glitter truly looks like fresh fallen snow.

If you would like to make this project you can order any and all of the supplies listed above through my online store.

SU! GLITTER REINKER GLASS ORNAMENTS

THESE ORNAMENTS ARE DA BOMB!
SO EASY TO MAKE FOR YOUR
HOLIDAY TREE AND CHRISTMAS PROJECTS

I was the lucky recipient of these WONDERFUL glass ornaments. We did a home made gift exchange at our annual SU! Holiday Party and I chose the package with these inside. My dear friend Carol Hartline, who made the wreath on my door (see post below) made these.
Carol said that she got some clear glass ornaments and added SU! re-inker and SU! fine glitter to the inside. You swirl the contents around and it sticks to the inside of the glass balls. How easy is that?The rub ons are from the Merry and Bright collection in the SU! Holiday Mini Catalog. They are perfect for this craft.
Carol told us that she got the idea from Jill Hilliard. Jill happens to be a sideline and friend of mine and a great crafter. It is no wonder Carol CASED the idea and I loved it!

The presentation of the ornaments is so professional as well. Carol fit each ornament into it's own package. Just gorgeous!These are the Merry and Bright Rub ons 116801 priced at only $10.95 if you order via my website (0r click on this). They come in silver and white. When you apply the silver, it looks like you professionally embossed your card or project.
I HIGHLY recommend these rub ons!

This close up of one of the glitter re-inker ornaments shows just how nicely the ornament dries quickly and colorfully.
The glitter is in the Main Idea book or online at my website store and is the Fine Cosmo Glitter pack 108796 for $13.95 Alternatively, you can use Dazzling Diamonds by SU! for $4.50 #102023Re-inkers come in so many colors. SU! has 48 exclusive colors, 6 neutral colors and black, as well as 6 IN COLORS that change with each year. Re-inkers are a great investment and go a long way. I try to teach my customers that when they buy a color pad, add the re-inker as well, so you will have it on hand to coordinate with your projects and to reink your pads as necessary. Re-inkers come in classic ink and craft ink. They are sold individually by color for only $2.95 or in color groups for the 4 major color groups - Bold Brights, Rich Regals, Earth Elements, and Soft Subtles.

HOLIDAY PARTY AND BUILD A BEAR

SU! AND BUILD A BEAR IS A HIT
AMONGST ALL AGES

Friday night my stamping group had their annual holiday party where we exchanged home made cards and gifts. While we were waiting for dinner to finish cooking we all were able to view the Holiday Tale of Hal and Holly Moose the ever popular Build a Bears. SU! has a partnership with Build a Bear and so I was able to obtain this adorable video to share with my group. I also had these gift certificates for them for a purchase and online bear points. Also, everyone got a kit to make these Santa Build a Bears that were die cut with the Big Shot. SU! has some exclusive Build a Bear dies and Stamps that are not available other than through a SU! demonstrator. I put my Build a Bear on a stand and I'm having him hold the certificates.


The movie was so cute. We gathered in Pat's downstairs family room for the show. We even ate our hoers d' oeuvres while watching.The ladies seemed to all enjoy the show. Did you know that this show was produced for tv? It aired right around Thanksgiving.
The characters are really adorable.
This was really a great video for the holidays.
This is a copy of the video with product offers inside.
One of the guests was a lucky recipient of the video.
and this is the book telling the tale - which was also a giveaway.
And of course the actual Build a Bear Hal and Holly Moose that you can go into the store to make. I really want these - so I'm going to have to get over to Build a Bear very soon!
I gave each person these gift certificates and we are going to consider going as a group to make our own bears in the New Year. In addition, they each will make their own Build a Bear Santa die cuts. Next mini catalog I have word that there are some new dies coming out for the Build a Bear - again, exclusive to SU!

FIRST SNOW OF THE SEASON

JP AND LUIGI TAKE TO THE SNOWY HILLS
IN LUTHERVILLE, MD

OK, according to Linda K, I have to eat my words. She and Pat Nuckels told me it was supposed to snow today and I said "sure, like it is going to amount to anything!" Boy, little did I know. It snowed all day. If this is a small picture of what is to come, we are in for a lot of snow this year. I don't think we have had this much snow in awhile. Too bad it wasn't on a Monday or other school day, as JP would have loved to get a day off of school. However...it was still a great day to get out the sled and go sleigh riding and even build snowmen or snow dogs. JP and Bill built a snow dog in the back yard. Even Luigi got in on the action. Since it was still snowing pretty hard and the snow was a wet cold snow, I did put Luigi's new coat on. This was the perfect snow man snow. Wish we could always get this kind of snow - pretty to look at, not bitter cold, fun to play in, but doesn't stick to the streets well. I think it was just not the right temp to stick on the street for too long. So...I guess as the song goes..."it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go!"

FRAMED DASHER

LINDA MURPHY TAKES HOME A WINNER - ON DASHER!

We had our Stamping and Crafting Holiday Party on Friday night. Each of us made 20 home made cards to swap at the party and we also each made one gift that had to use SU! product. I chose to use this Exclusive Decor Element (this is a hostess gift when you place a SU! order of at least $300 and probably has a value of $20 or more) of DASHER. I think he is just the most handsome and adorable decor element out there. I applied him to the front of the glass of a 16 by 20 frame. This size frame gives you an idea of just how large this element is. I totally CASED this project from fellow Remarkable Stamper Ruth Murphy because I just loved it. Behind the glass is iridescent wrapping paper that really shines with the light. It even has a mirrored effect to it. I made my own bow with holiday wired ribbon and put a hanger of SU! rope on the back so Linda can hang this project. Just so you know how Linda got my gift...she chose the number that was attached to this present. We numbered all of the gifts that were brought and then we gave everyone a number. Linda Murphy drew the number of this project and I'm so glad. Linda has 2 little boys and they will probably be in awe when they wake up and find this Dasher on their wall.

Stay tuned this week as I present more homemade gifts and also cards that were made specifically for the holiday party. There are lots of things for me to show you each day and also coming up very soon, we have the SU! 12 days of Christmas sale. I can't wait!!!

STAMPERS DELIGHT - FOOD OF STAMP CAMP

THE FOOD ALONE MAKES STAMP CAMP WORTH IT
Stamp Camp is mostly about the projects and about the people, but wouldn't I be totally remiss, if I didn't talk about the food? The meal we share is one of the best parts of stamp camp.
These snowmen cakes are adorable. Amanda and Alannah made these and they were so rich! Alannah is going to chef school, so in the next couple of years we are going to get really lucky at some of our events with her fabulous foods.
This French Toast bake by Linda was so yummy, I think I ate several pieces myself. Hsiao-hui makes the best dumplings. I could eat the whole batch, but then I'd be in big trouble by the rest of the campers.

Paulette went to Panera's - our favorite bagel place for camp! The bagels were all sorts and my favorite is the one with the crunchy cinammon topping on it.
This salad was certainly a hit. Rita made these greens with a dressing that was out of this world!
This pasta salad was my favorite part of the meal. Kim and Cathy brought this and I think I could have eaten all of it if I was not on a diet.
I think Lori brought this vegetable tray with dip. It is such a delight to have fresh veggies at one of our events. At least we get the healthy tray that I know I look forward to.Cathy W. brought the Chocolate! Yes, can't forget the 5th food group now, can I? She brought regular m and m's and peanut ones. The peanut ones are my favorite. They aren't going to be pictured here, because they were almost all gone (I'm guilty!) by the time I went to take pictures.
Diana's hubby Ron grills for us every Fall. It is like a little piece of summer heaven remains. Grilled food just has a wonderful flavor.

There were so many other wonderful foods. I thought I captured them all on film, so I'll need to go through the photos again. Everyone brought something to share and that is what makes stamp camp great!

SNEAK PEEK HOLIDAY CARDS

MY CARDS FOR THE HOLIDAY PARTY TONIGHT ARE FINISHED

OK, I'm only showing you the inside of the card for now. I love these stamp sets and I used some slightly non-traditional colors for mine. However, I knew right away once I saw this Santa on the sleigh stamp that it would be part of something I would make for Christmas. It actually is from a set in the SU! holiday mini that is called wandering words that comes with some leaves of appreciation and some hearts flowing from a mailbox that will be great for valentine's day. The trees are from the all time best selling stamp set from SU! called Lovely as a Tree. I have never actually used this set as part of my main Christmas card until now. I've had this set since I became a demonstrator over 7 years ago. Tonight is our holiday party with home made card and gift exchange. So over the next few days or so, I'll be posting different ones, including the front of mine and the envelope.

GORGEOUS SNOWMAN WREATH

CAROL HARTLINE'S SNOWMAN WREATH
ADORNS THE ENTRANCE TO MY HOME

I knew if I asked Carol to make me a wreath for my front door for the Holiday Season, she would know what kind of wreath would make the most splendid entry to my home. This is the wreath that she made and it is done in Christmas colors with snowmen and balls and metal snowflakes and gorgeous ribbon and accents. Carol is so talented that I am honored that she would even consider making me a wreath.
I made Carol stand at the front door so she could be photographed with her gorgeous creation. She pointed out to me that I had a snowman rug at the door, and wouldn't you know not only did I have one there, I also had 2 snowmen rugs for the inside of the doorway as well.

If you are local and interested in having Carol design a wreath for you, please email me
(brown link above - see header) and I'll put you in touch with her. She has fabulous prices and the wreaths are worth it and more. But hurry....as we are getting closer to Christmas. Only 22 more days.

Thanks Carol for decorating my home with this awesome Snowman Holiday Wreath!

DAYS TIL CHRISTMAS PROJECT

DAYS TIL CHRISTMAS DECOR ELEMENT BLOCKS
STAMP CAMP PROJECT

This Days Til Christmas project was the highlight of our Holiday Stamp Camp. It is an heirloom project that I totally CASED from my upline Janet Wakeland. The only difference is that I decorated my Big Shot Tree. I knew the moment I saw this project at Janet's that my stampin group would love it! This project is great because it can be used year after year and my son is really excited each morning to count the days before Santa's big trip.
This project takes work to prep, but once you get everything ready to go (i.e. all the papers cut
and the card stock die cut) it goes rather quickly. Alannah is putting the finishing touches on hers.
Rita is adhering the timeless type (exclusive SU! Big shot alphabet) numbers to the chocolate chip circles also die cut with the Big Shot. The numbers were die cut in ultrasmooth ivory which coordinates the best with the merry moments dsp.
Cathy S. and her daughter Kim are working on their days til Christmas project. I must say this project did call for quite a bit of SU! sticky strip but you could have alternatively used crystal effects...and if you were Linda Kincaid doing the project, you would have used all crystal effects.
At the time we were making this project, I demonstrated 30 days til Christmas. As of this posting there are only 23 days. Where is the time going? Do you have all of your Christmas crafting done yet? And just a note....the tree is die cut with the Big Shot also. This was another die that Janet showed me how to use and believe me ... it is incredibly easy once you see it done once. There is a video on it if you google YouTube and it shows how simple this is. I should know...I made 16 of these Christmas trees in 2.5 hours watching the DVR of some Oprah shows.
Cathy W. is preparing her circles and alphabet. The blocks are natural colored decor elements blocks that are currently in the holiday mini catalog.

One of the first steps to prepare the blocks is to brush the edges with chocolate chip using a dauber. Amanda does this really nicely. You don't need to do the entire block, just the edges. This is a tip that Janet Wakeland taught me so that the blocks look more finished.
Cathy S. is lining up her SU! Billboard alphabet letters that were just die cut with the Big Shot. They are a decorative strip of alphabet letters that are so cool. Cathy seems to be really pleased that she has these lined up and ready for the blocks. These letters are best adhered to the blocks with a 2 way glue pen.
Now, talk about getting the letters just so. Diana H. has hers already on her block in perfect position.

Watch for more photos of the ladies and their blocks coming in just about a week when we start the countdown of the 12 Days of Christmas and we have a huge 12 days of Christmas SU! event to mark this as well.

USTAMP YEAR END BLOW OUT STARTS TODAY

I'M A GUEST DESIGNER THIS MONTH FOR USTAMP WITH DAWN

Ustamp with Dawn Year End Blowout starts today. Lots of great ideas for projects, decorating, party ideas, 3D items, cards, and more. I am so excited to be a part of this. Make sure you sign up if you have not done so already. There is a link on the right that will take you right there.

Already signed up? Dawn will email you your invite so when you get it, you must click on the link. If you are one of the winners from my site you will also get a link. I hope to see you all there.