Winter Thank You with Purple Onion Designs

  I recently stumbled upon an adorable online store! Purple Onion Designs offers unmounted rubber stamps at amazing prices, and when I found these adorable designs from Stacy Yacula, I just had to dive in and try them!

  I was a little worried about using unmounted stamps, but it turned out to be easy as pie! I just attached the stamps to my stamp press with a little repositionable adhesive and started stamping. I may take the plunge one day and add some EZ Mount one day, but they seem to work just fine as they are.

  Our family always has a lot of thank you cards to send after the holidays, so I thought I would try these sweet designs on some wintery thank you cards.

 

I colored Cedar the fox with Copic markers and layered him over papers from Stampin' Up's new Fresh Prints DSP stack from the 2014 Occasions Mini Catalog. The banners (matching punch and stamp set) are a sneak peek from Stampin' Up's Sale-a-Bration products for 2014. So fun!

 

 

Icicle the polar bear is just ADORABLE!

 

 

Birch the bunny is so sweet! All the images were layered over Stacy's Snowy View background stamp.

 

I just LOVE these images, and I'm sure I'll be visiting Purple Onion Designs again and again. 

The Twelve Posts of Christmas ... Post 12

  The shopping is done, the gifts are wrapped, and the turkey is thawing! Today is cookie and gingerbread house making day, and tomorrow our family will enjoy our community's annual Messiah sing. Holiday traditions make everything so special!

 

 

 My last holiday project this year is a scrapbook page featuring my daughter with the fifth member of our family, our cat Neo. Neo is a super naughty (but fun) Devon Rex, who is our constant foot and lap warmer in the winter.

 

I made this page with papers from Authentique, some vintage music paper from my stash, and gold waffle paper from Stampin' Up.

 

I thought this little mouse image from the Winter Frolic Cricut Cartridge would be perfect for a kitty-themed page.

 

 

I embellished the page with an Echo Park chipboard sticker, a Prima flower, a Petaloo velvet poinsettia, and some rolled felt roses.

 

I hope your holidays are full of wonderful memories, time with loved ones, and lots of love!

 

Merry Christmas!

The Twelve Posts of Christmas ... Post 11

  Hi, friends! Christmas is right around the corner, and we spent Saturday afternoon putting up the tree and decorating the house. The girls had their holiday program this week as well, and music always makes it feel like the holidays!

  My crafting buddies did an ornament exchange this year, which was a lot of fun! My ornament was Pinterest-inspired, and I think it turned out so cool!

 

To make this ornament you'll need:

 

Large clear glass ornament

White Glitter

Craft Snow

Bottle brush Christmas tree (make sure base is small enough to fit through opening of ornament)

Beacon or other strong liquid glue

Red seam binding ribbon

David Tutera Crystal

Glittered Snowflake Ornament

Twine

 

The process:

 

  Remove the metal hanger on top of the ornament. Apply glue to the base of the tree and insert into ornament with tweezers. (Check from all angles to make sure the tree stands up straight.) Use a funnel or folded piece of paper to pour a mixture of craft snow and glitter into the ornament. Cover any gaps in the metal hanger with card stock and a little glue to make sure the snow won't leak out, and glue the metal hanger into place. Embellish with ribbon, a crystal, and the snowflake.

 

  The ornament makes a fun and unique gift. Have a wonderful week, my friends!

The Twelve Posts of Christmas ... Post 10

  Hi, friends! Today I want to share a scrapbook page that I love because it represents so many lovely Christmas moments over the years.

 

  I'm so blessed to have my mom close by, and she has a wonderful relationship with my girls. I used the last of my Graphic 45 Nutcracker Sweet collection for this layout. What sweet memories!

 

  I love how easy Graphic 45 makes it to embellish projects in a way that isn't too bulky or hard to store. I added a few chipboard tags and embellished my cut outs with Stickles for a little pop of shine.

 

  This photo represents what Christmas is all about ... making memories with the people we love. Wishing you all a very, very Merry Christmas!

The Twelve Posts of Christmas ... Post 9

  Hi, friends! I spent yesterday afternoon having a lot of fun with my Cricut creating tags for teacher gifts. These images from Simply Charmed are so adorable, and I knew they would be irresistable cut with some patterned paper with googly eyes!!

 

 

 

Aren't these just too much? These sweet treat boxes are from Stampin' Up, and they have just enough room for small treats or gift cards. I hope our amazing teachers love them!

The Twelve Posts of Christmas ... Post 8

  Hello again! I was looking through my Christmas stash this week, and I stumbled upon a sticker sheet from Authentique that came in my Christmas kit last year from My Creative Scrapbook. The sheet had some beautiful card sentiments, and since I rarely use stickers in scrapbooking or card making, I decided to break out of my comfort zone a little and try to put them to use.

 

I layered my sticker over black card stock and turned it into the focal point for my project. I added some glitter paper stars, tied on some tule ribbon and a button, and hooray! Quick and easy card!

The Twelve Posts of Christmas ... Post 7

  Hi, friends! Today I want to share a card that showcases my newfound love of digital stamps. This particular image is from Birdie Brown, and think this little Santa is the cutest thing I've ever seen!

 

  Digital stamps are so versatile, easy to resize, and easy to use! (Not to mention they tend to be quite inexpensive, which is also a big plus!) I colored this image with Copics in shades of pink and added him to a pastel card using papers from My Mind's Eye. I recently ordered these Window Frame dies from Stampin' Up, and I love them! I know I'll be using them for lots of projects.

 

 I'll be back in a flash to share another Christmas project! Have a lovely weekend!

The Twelve Posts of Christmas ... Post 6

  Hi, friends! Today I'd like to share a fun interactive card inspired by catherinestamps on YouTube. I thought this card looked so fun I just had to try it!

 

I used the gingerbread man from the Scentsational Season stamp and die set from Stampin' Up layered over a doily die as my focal point. I decorated the "frosting" on my gingerbread man with liquid applique. The papers are from a fun 6x6 pad from My Mind's Eye that I picked up last Christmas at Michael's.

 

The coolest part about this card is the spinning mechanism underneath made with a penny!

 

 

 

I stamped the inside of the card with markers and my Fiskars Season's Greetings stamp set. I can't wait to try this technique with other cards as well. Wouldn't this be a cute way to use Cricut cuts?

 

Here's a link to Catherine's tutorial so you can try your own spinner card:

 

 

 

 

 

See you next time, my friends!

The Twelve Posts of Christmas ... Post 5

   I'm back today to share my #1 favorite project of 2013! I got the collection of Nutcracker Sweet papers and chipboard pieces from Graphic 45 for my birthday last year, and I've been saving them for an extra special Christmas album. I'll be sharing lots of pictures in this post ... just because I'm SOOO excited! This is by far the thickest "mini" album I've ever made ... so thick I had to create my own wire binding.

 

The characters on the cover are popped up for a 3-D effect and covered with glossy accents. Candy pieces embellish the chipboard title. I made a fun charm to accent the wire binding, and used the chipboard key and keyhole as accents.

 

Here are some photos of the inside pages:

 

 

Each page features a difference character from the ballet. Page one had to be the Nutcracker!

 

 

Mother Ginger lives on page two.

 

 

Page three is all about Clara.

 

 

Love these beautiful ballerinas!

 

 

Page five is all about the Sugar Plum Fairy.

 

 

Then the Mouse King ...

 

 

... the Land of Sweets

 

 

Another Nutcracker page ...

 

 

And a last page with all the characters.

 

I can't wait to fill this album with special memories of the holidays. Graphic 45 makes it so easy to create fun and interactive albums. Their collections are always amazing.

 

Wishing you holiday joy, my friends!