Thanksgiving Treats

I made a couple of things for my parents that I thought they might enjoy. Being hard to buy and do for, I try to make little things along the way I think they might like...fingers crossed here! This is for Thanksgiving.

I decorated an SU box that I recently got. These boxes are real good quality and hold a good bit. This is the first time I've tried the cracked glass technique and really liked it. I will be doing more and hopefully they will get better each time I do it. This is my first time to do the Cracked Glass technique.


Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Graceful Words (SU ret.)
Paper: Naturals Ivory, Close to Cocoa
Ink: Close to Cocoa and More Mustard, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie for sponging on tree, White Craft for distressing the tag, Ranger Walnut Stain for "cracking", Versamark, Gold Encore
Accessories: Suze Weinberg's UTEE, Gold EP, Oval and Scallop Nestabilities, MS Butterfly and Leaf Punch, Basic Grey Copper Opaline Pearls, foam tape, heat gun
Technique: Cracked Glass

After stamping the main image in Close to Cocoa, I used fall colors (listed above) to sponge the tree. I then took Old Olive and lightly sponged around the image. Cut out using the Oval Nestabilities.

TIP: I always do my stamping before I cut them with the Nestabilities. I find if I emboss the edges first (which I do most of the time) that my image has a complete impression and doesn't show a "hiccup" at the border. There's no correct way, it's just the way I do it.

I pressed my Versamark onto the main panel real good then sprinkled the UTEE over it.

ANOTHER TIP: Use a tray or something with edges when using UTEE before applying the heat gun. This is where it can get out of hand if you don't. Trust me, I know...don't ask!! (Let's just say I'm still finding UTEE all over my workspace.) Insert a blushy grin here.

Slowly...and I do say slowly...heat the EP until it melts. Do not rush the melting NOR put your heat gun too close to the powder until it begins to melt. While it is still wet, pour more UTEE over it and repeat the process. I don't know if there is a magical number of times to do this, but I stopped at this point. Then I placed it into the freezer for 15 minutes. While it is still cold, start bending the panel until you get as many "cracks" as you want in it. This is the fun part of the technique! Now take the Walnut Stain and run all over the panel. It will sink down into the cracks and resist the "glass" part.

The Banner: Emboss "blessings" in gold using gold EP on a piece of Naturals Ivory scrap. Sponge some Close to Cocoa all over it. This can be done first or after embossing. Rub the White Craft ink over this piece to give it a more aged appearance. Take scrap pieces of Chocolate Chip and Close to Cocoa cardstock and punch out the butterflies and leaves. Place them on the banner. Add the pearls for a dressy but not girly touch. Add foam tape in three places on the back; place it in such a way to make it appear as though it has a little movement to the top of the box.

Wah-lah!! You're done. I placed some mixed nuts in the box. I mean, what man doesn't love nuts, huh? It's kinda like chocolate and women. Okay, we both have our vices...

For the next little gift, I made a cone of chocolate kisses with a cute little tag. It is simple and I think you can follow it okay. I'm not as pleased with this as I'd like to be. My recipient loves Kisses and you can't find fall colored kisses where I live, except for Halloween, which has all been cleared off the shelf. So I elected to go ahead with these and use Christmas Kisses. I used PTI's Fall Elegance stamps for the tag and my scalloped rectangle Nesties.


And lastly, here are the little placecards I made for our small family. I thought it would be good to have words describing this "thankful" season instead of names. I used PTI's beautiful Fall Elegance set which fit perfectly inside the Spellbinders Fancy Tags. I saw this basic idea here. (Thanks Kimberly!) These are real easy but a little time consuming...at least more than I anticipated but I love the end result. I only decorated the front of the clip so it would stand up at an angle.



Stamps: PTI Fall Elegance
Ink: Always Artichoke ink and marker
Paper: Pumpkin Spice, Naturals Ivory, Old Olive scrap piece
Accessories: Oval Nestabilities and Spellbinders Fancy Tags Die, MS Leaf Punch, Copper Stickles, Pumpkin Ribbon (Hobby Lobby), Large Dimensional Glue Dot, Medium Binder Clip, double sided tape, adhesive

Cut a Fancy Tag from the NI cardstock. Stamp the words in the center of them. Place a dot of the Copper Stickles at the points and set aside to dry. Cut 5 ovals from PP cardstock. Go around the edges with the AA marker and fold them in half. Place a piece of DS tape on each side and lay one on top of the other. When finished you will have a circle that will make the "pumpkin". Punch out 3 leaves from OO cardstock. Cut an 8" piece of ribbon. Now you're ready to assemble.

I found it better to go ahead and tie the ribbon on the clip first. Apply a little glue to the leaves and add to the back of the pumpkin. Place the large dimensional glue dot on the front of the clip then press the pumpkin into it and hold just a second. Be sure that it doesn't fall below the bottom of the clip or it will not stand properly. You want it to be at a small angle so you can read it without picking it up. Add the tag to the top of the clip. If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know.

More Stamp Camp Pics

Here are a few more pictures from the Stamp Camp outlined in the post below.






Hope you enjoy looking at these great projects today and yesterday, even half as much as I did making them! What do you think?

Projects at Stamp Camp

Here are some of the projects that we did at Faith's Stamp Camp last month. It was a barrel of fun and totally non-stop!! I'd have never believed that I could have stamped from 7:00 in the morning until after midnight both nights with very little stopping. It was soooo much fun. Sweet Faith had tons of projects for us to do...2 at a table, mind you. Then there was our frenzy on the last day. I didn't get around to doing all of them so they are not shown. I plan to do them later. I quit counting at 55!!! Thanks, everyone, for very nice projects! I learned several new techniques and tried some I've not ventured out to do. I'll always treasure our newfound friendship.






Does this look like fun or what??

Pleased with the Elegance

These cards are for a couple of challenges. One for CC243 and the other for Stamping B's Christmas card challenge. Though the sketch was not a challenge, I used the same layout for both cards: one in white and the other in ivory. The poinsettia was cut out using Spellbinders Poinsettia Nesties on vellum. After embossing each layer, I turned the die over and stenciled Ruby Red on it using a sponge. This gave it a soft color yet still delicate. The first one uses Clear Dew Drops, Silver HPH, and delicate tiny Kaiser pearls. A glue dot was used to adhere the top layer of the poinsettia to the second (underneath the Dew Drops so it wouldn't show) and foam tape was used to connect that piece to the bottom layer. It doesn't show at all.


Stamps: SU Fancy Flexible Phrases (ret.)
Paper: White, Vellum
Ink: Ruby Red
Accessories: Silver cord, Silver HPH with silver brads, Poinsettia Nesties, Textile EF, Clear Dew Drops, mini glue dots and foam tape.

The second one was a little more vintage looking using ivory cardstock. Small rectangle Nesties were used to cut out the sentiment. Basic Grey Opaline Copper pearls were used in the center of the flower and top corner of the sentiment piece.


Stamps: SU Fancy Flexible Phrases (ret.)
Paper: Ivory, Vellum
Ink: Ruby Red
Accessories: Poinsettia and Rectangle Nesties, Basic Grey Opaline Pearls, Dark Chocolate Satin Ribbon (unk.), mini glue dots and foam tape

Which do you like??

New MS Punch

I ran across this Martha Stewart Thanksgiving punch the other day at Mike's at 66% off with the Halloween stuff. Don't know why it would be on sale, this holiday hasn't got here yet. But to my advantage, I still needed a couple more cards to complete my Thanksgiving mailouts! So, I grabbed that baby up and flew to the checkout before they realized they made a mistake. I think I probably need to use it with solid paper/cardstock instead of designer paper, but I'm happy with the way it turned out.


Stamps: PTI Fall Elegance
Paper: Cameo Coral, Mellow Moss, Black, Basic Grey Porcelain Papers
Ink: Memento Black
Accessories: MS Thanksgiving punch, Dotted Swiss EF, Grosgrain ribbon, foam tape

Let me know what you think?

FTL66

When doing this sketch challenge, I had to do something Thanksgiving-y. I could just see leaves falling all around. So I pulled out my PTI Fall Elegance set and begin to put it all together. I stamped the background leaves then overstamped it with the SU Linen stamp (one of my all time fave's). I turned the sketch to the side.


Stamps: PTI Fall Elegance, SU Linen (ret.)
Paper: Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Black
Ink: Ruby Red, Mellow Moss, Memento Black
Accessories: Scissors for distressing the edges, Olive Green Organdy (SU ret.), foam tape

What do you think?

Fun, Frenzy, and Friends=Stamping Retreat

What a great weekend! Last weekend I attended Faith's Stamping Retreat at Stehpen Foster FCC State Park (that's a mouthful to say the least). Once that thing got kicked off it didn't stop until breakfast 2 days later. Friday and Saturday nights we stayed until midnight or after having the most stamping fun you could have. I stopped counting projects at 60! Yep, there were a few more. I don't know how in the world Faith had time to pull so many together. Having two projects to each table to do (with the exception of only a couple of 'em), we were loaded with new ideas and pretty cards and projects to take away. Not only that, we got a very pretty tote when we signed in. I LOVE it! It has a true bottom and pockets on both sides.

I now have friends from many states having shared fun stamping times together. Here are some pictures taken of the retreat. I tried to get everyone and hopefully did. (If for some reason someone is left out, I apologize greatly!!! It was not intentional.) More individual pictures will be posted on SCS, too.

For pictures of the park, go to our other blog to see the write up and slide.