Christmas is in the Air

I warned you I would be gearing up for Christmas and here's my first project. It's a little gift box just the right size for some jewelry or a gift card and some candies, perhaps. We do secret Santa's at work and this would be great for a little treat for my secret Santa, but as soon as I put this in the workroom, everyone will know who it's from, lol. If I want to remain a secret, I have to go with store bought, but that's no fun!
You can find the tutorial for creating the box here. You need the top note die if you want this particular cover, but once you create the box, you can probably come up with all kinds of ways to cover it. I love this new paper I found by My Mind's Eye. You will be seeing a lot in the future from this paper pack called Organic Glitter Papers. You see the sweet little Santa in the circle? He's an adorable digital stamp from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff called Christmas Cupcake Wrappers and these stamps aren't just for cupcakes! I printed Santa out on some PTI Vintage Cream Cardstock, colored his hat and cheeks with  copics, and then used Liquid Applique and some glittery embossing powder on his hair, beard, and hat. Once the Liquid Applique dried, I heated it up and "puffed it" with a heat gun. He's a cutie patootie!
I cut out the swirl using my cuttlebug and a sizzix die, put a Kaisercraft flower on top of the swirls, and "popped" Santa on top of the flower. These little digital stamps make this type of project fast and easy! This will be so simple to mass produce.
Be sure to check out Lindsay's Shop today. She has a new set perfect for creating recipe cards. Also, don't forget to stop by her blog. It's Thursday and that usually means freebies! She's also got the complete list of design team members and you will want to stop by their blogs for more holiday and crafting inspiration!
I'm in Houston right now, so it may be a few days before I can get back in the craft room, but I've got a cool holiday ornament to show you next week so stay tuned!

Fall Fest

This is it! My last fall project. I'm heading full force into Christmas after this! I have to if I plan to finish everything I have planned (like that is ever going to happen). But I did want to put together a couple of hostess gifts and it is, afterall, Autumn (though you'd hardly know it with the temperatures we're getting).

First up is a candle I made using a digital image. There are lots of tutorials out there for traditional stamping on candles. I referenced this one but modified the instructions for using a digital stamp.
To begin, you need to print out your digital stamp onto tissue paper. I used the Maple Leaf Digital Stamp from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. I inserted the image twice into Microsoft Word and sized the images appropriately. I like to do a test print on regular paper to make sure everything is going to fit and look how I want it. Once I have the image adjusted the way I want, I take a piece of white tissue paper and tape it to matte photo paper, but you can use cardstock.

Smooth out your tissue paper and tape it down all the way around. I use a printer that feeds from the back so I have fewer issues with printing on non-standard papers, but if you make sure everything is smooth and well-secured, you shouldn't have any problems. I do suggest you use a paper that is a little thicker than plain copy paper, though. If you are using a printer with a front feeder, you should should do a test run to see what will run through your printer without ripping or getting jammed.
Once the image was printed, I waited a few minutes to make sure the ink was really dry. Then, I colored the image in with my copics. I've really darkened the image in the picture above so you could see the tape. You'll get a better look at the leaves in the finished product below.
Next, I cut out the image in a tight rectangle, but you can crop the image closer if you prefer.

Now, take a piece of wax paper and wrap it around the tissue paper and the candle. Use your heat embossing tool to heat up the wax on the candle until it "absorbs" the tissue paper. Be careful not to overheat. You don't want the candle to completely melt, but the tissue paper should look like it is disappearing. Take the wax paper off, let the candle cool a little, and you're done! I can't wait to do some more with Christmas images!

Isn't this pretty? I added a flower that I colored with copics to match and put the candle inside an acorn candle ring.
I also wanted to create a paper "acorn" that I could put a few little treats in. I used Kelleigh Ratzlaff's pumpkin template to create an acorn. (See this post for a look at how I used the template to create a pumpkin.)

I printed out the bottom portion of the acorn using some digital paper designed by the LSS design team's very own Shannon of Desert Designs. And guess what? The paper is part of a FREE set you can get at her blog today. The top portion is printed on brown cardstock with a ribbon added for a stem. I ran the top through my cuttlebug with an embossing folder. The little acorn tag is a digital stamp from LSS called Three Acorns. Yes, I cropped out two of the acorns so I could use just the one. Don't ya love the versatility of digi stamps!
Be sure to check out Lindsay's Stamp Stuff for all your Fall and Holiday crafting needs. Also, be sure to visit Lindsay's blog today. She always has lots of eye candy and a sweet free treat or two! Also, if you're just lovin digi stamps, send Lindsay some samples of your stuff. She has a design team call going on until Saturday! I know she'd love to see what you've been doing! Don't forget to check out what the rest of the LSS Design Team is up to today! There's lots of ideas for the holidays and gift giving! It's that time of year, afterall!
Project Recipe
Papers: Desert Designs Fall Gradient Digi Papers, PTI Dark Chocolate CS, SU More Mustard CS, scrap tissue paper
Stamps: Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Three Acorns and Maple Leaf
Accessories: candle, sheer green ribbon (Walmart), PTI Dark Chocolate satin ribbon, Prima white flower, copic markers and airbrush kit, cuttlebug, Tiny Bubbles embossing folder, Kelleigh Ratzlaff Pumpkin Template, sponge and brown ink

Friends Who Make a Difference

I have to confess that SU's Sage Shadow is about my all-time favorite color. And because I love it so much, I force myself NOT to use it. Is that crazy or what? Well, I could hold out no longer! Verve holds a weekly Viva la Verve sketch challenge with a twist, and this week's challenge only allowed us one type of embellishment. I chose brads. Then, I paired brown and my favorite Sage Shadow. There are three different stamps on here (also part of the challenge). All three are from Verve's Fairy Tales set...so very pretty!
I just love the sentiments in this set (well, in all the Verve sets). This is going to be a pick-me-up for a dear friend who's going through a rough time right now. She can expect this card and a Verve-a-licious treat in the mail next week! Go here for more info on Verve's challenges.
Project Recipe
Paper: PTI Dark Chocolate, PTI Kraft, SU Sage Shadow, K&Co. Classic K Baily PP
Stamps: Verve Fairly Tales
Accessories: cuttlebug, Victorian embossing folder, brown brads (unknown), Paper Studio blue pearl brad, Fiskars Effervesence border punch, embossing powder, heat toold, Paper Shaper 1.5 scalloped circle punch, SU 1 3/8 scalloped circle punch, Nestabilities Classic Scalloped circle die, SU Boho Blossoms punch

Purple Goodness

I wanted to play with this digital image from the moment I saw it! I love dragonflies and this one is just perfection. It is part of a new digital stamp set called Doodle Flowers from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. There are several other beautiful stamps in the set, and I'm sure I will get to them, but I so wanted to use my copics and my spica glitter pens on this one. But the rest of the set has great sentiments and floral images you are going to just love to use again and again. I always seem to do dragonflies in purples and green, but that just works for me. Besides this was a great switch from all the fall colors I've been using lately.
Be sure to check out Lindsay's blog for more crafting goodness and if you haven't seen all the new stuff in the store, be sure you drop in there, too. As always, spend $5 and get a free single stamp! From here, be sure to check out the rest of the design team. I've seen some sneak peeks and heard some talk about some great projects. You are sure to get plenty of inspiration!
Project Recipe
Paper: DejaViews PP, SU Old Olive CS, DCWV Latte CS
Stamps: LSS Doodled Flowers Digital Stamp Set, PTI Handwritten Notes (sentiment)
Accessories: cuttlebug, Spellbinders Oval Nestabilities dies, ProvoCraft Divine Swirls embossing folder, PTI Perfect Plum Satin ribbon, SU So Saffron ink and sponge, copics, Spica Glitter Pens

Pixie Cottage Challenge

Aren't these little fellows just the sweetest?  I love those sleeping mice! It looks like these guys really partied hard last night and they're all just hanging out resting up. This is a new stamp from a new stamp company called the Pixie Cottage. The stamp is appropriately called Cuddly Cute by Alisa Ramirez.
The Pixie Cottage has a challenge blog and once my stamp came in, I just had to ink it up and try it out with the Challenge blog sketch. Of course, I waited to the very last day to get this in, but in all fairness, the stamp only came in on Friday and I had a crop on Saturday that I co-organized, so this is really my first chance to really work with it. Be sure to check out the Pixie Cottage blog to see what the design team has done with all the stamping goodies and visit Michelle's Scapbooking and More store to find Pixie Cottage stamps.
In other news...Saturday's crop was just a load of fun! My two best buddies were there and we actually got some work done--can you believe it! Of course, this morning we're a little hoarse from all the gabbing we did, but we had A LOT of catching up to do! Although I usually don't get much accomplished during a crop, I always learn so much from everybody there. I missed my mom who couldn't make it to this one, but everyone that could make it were so fantastic to work with! I think Jana and I are not even going to think about planning another crop until March or something. We are definitely ready for some personal crafting time.
Project Recipe
Paper: PTI Lemon Tart, PTI, SU Basic Black CS, GinaK White Pure Luxury CS, PTI Bitty Box BasicsPTI Black and White Basics PP
Stamps: The Pixie Cottage Cuddly Cute, CTMH Boutique Borders
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Classic Ovals Nestabilities, PTI black twill ribbon, copic markers, Sandylion Essentials Yellow & White flower stickers

Holidays Digi Style

It's a digital holiday parade. Be prepared to do lots of scrolling because I covered some holidays today using digital stamps from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. Before I get this parade going though, let me let you know about some great stuff going on at LSS. First, be sure to check out Lindsay's Blog. She's got a design team call going on for her My Grafico store front. Also, she's looking for guest designers. Be sure to check out the store this week. There's lots of new stuff in there and if you're ready to tackle some Christmas cards, she's got some really cute new images to help you out with that. Also, check out Shannon's blog for a great tutorial on changing the color of digital line images in PhotoShop Elements. And while you're checking things out, don't forget to see what all the rest of the LSS Design Team is up to!
It's getting really close to Halloween, so I squeezed in a couple more projects for that holiday. The two projects below look kinda like cards in the picture, but they are actually little treat bags of M&Ms.

Lindsay's really been rockin the circle stamps these days. I found the circle stamps over at My Grafico for free and I filled the centers with my LSS Halloween stamps. Color these little cuties in with markers, punch them with a 1 3/8 circle punch, mat using the SU scalloped circle punch and attach to project. Cute, simple, and quick! Gotta love that!
Through with Halloween? How about a Thanksgiving project sure to please any Thanksgiving hostess?

The little pumpkin is a template by Kelleigh Ratzlaff that you can find at The DigiChick. The beautiful leaves are a digital stamp called Leaf Montage from LSS. I colored them with copics (oh, so fun!), cut them out with nestabilities, and sponged the edges. The lid lifts off the "pumpkin" so it can house a little treat like these candy corns.
Want to get a jump start on Christmas cards? How about a clean, simple card design that can be quickly mass-produced?

The circle stamps are from a new set over at Lindsay's Stamp Stuff called Christmas Cupcake Wrappers. Be sure to check out Lindsay's blog and some of the design team blogs. I think some of the team used the wrappers. I printed out the circle stamps, colored them in with my copics, and again used SU punches. With these stamps and a few scraps of paper, you can have a great set of cards in no time at all. Might even have enough time to make some cupcakes!
Busy, busy, busy! As you read this, I'll be taking my GRE. Wish me luck. I don't have to get a really high score, but I gotta prove I'm college material again!

Verve Does Winter

Here's a couple more for the Verve Release Week Challenge. I don't have many Verve stamp sets, but this set Ornamental Christmas was a must-have. I like how I can custom color the ornaments with copics or paper piecing. I stamped this one with craft ink, added embossing powder and then, heat embossed it. After that, I added my color with an R59 copic marker.
Here's another winter card using the Verve Winter Mittens Digital Image set:

I broke out the Polar White Flower Soft for the mitten cuffs. I printed the mitten image out on some shimmery white cardstock and then printed it out again on black and white paper. I punched out a couple of snowflakes from some glittery DCWV paper which I also used for some matting to provide a pretty contrast to the black and white. The sentiment was printed out several times on shimmery white cardstock to create a strip of patterned paper.
Now, cross your fingers that I win some Verve stamps this week!
Project Recipe
(Top Picture)
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream CS, SU Bravo Burgundy CS, Me & My Big Ideas Our Holiday Traditions PP
Stamps: Verve Ornamental Christmas
Accessories: button (unknown), cuttlebug, Spellbinders Classic Squares dies, PTI Scarlet Jewel ribbon, PTI Vintage Cream satin ribbon, craft ink, Zing embossing powder, heat tool, R59 copic marker
(2nd Picture)

Paper: PTI Shimmery White CS, SU Basic Black CS, DCWV Spring Glitter Mat Stack, PTI Black & White Basics PP
Stamps: Verve Winter Mittens Digital Image Set
Accessories: Sheer white ribbon (unknown), Polar White Flower Soft, Paper Studio brads, Marvy Uchida snowflake punch, Martha Stewart Arched Lattice border punch