Since the cause of “death” was undetermined, an inquiry was set up.

It took quite a bit of work to uncover the cause: a broken bearing. The handle no longer turned as a result. I suspect that the sqeaking of the Weasel was actually an early indicator of the eventual break. Even if it was possible to get a new part, an essential screw got stripped during the investigation.

So, although the Big Shot is rather sturdy, this one failed part made the whole thing non-functional. (This reminds me of our printer that died a little over a year ago … of a small plastic part that normally holds the print belt in place. It broke off, making the whole thing un-usable. But, I digress.)

So, RIP, Weasel.

It’s funny how the loss of one tool makes me realize how much I used it on my cards. I think I liked to die cut or emboss at least one item for each card. I just have to rely on my punches until I get a replacement …

It’s too bad, too! I never got to use some of my pre-order items for the Occasions Mini Catalog. I wanted to try out the wiz-bang Big Shot stuff. Oh well!

Stamp set: Creative Elements

Ink: Poppy Parade, Soft Suede

Paper: Naturals Ivory, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White, Soft Suede, Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB)

Accessories: Scallop edge border punch, Decorative Label punch, 1-1/4″ circle punch, Modern Label punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Itty Bitty Buttons, Baker’s Twine in Pool Party (Occasions Mini), Sanding block

I stamped the border twice, so that it went all the way across the edge of my card. On the opposite side, I used a scallop edge. This felt like it “contained” my project to my card front. In between, I combined the multi-color floral paper with a bit of the multi-color stripe paper.

The borders and papers were arranged to be slightly to the right hand side of the card front. So, when it was time to add my embellishments, I placed them more to the left and bottom. I also went across the boundary of one border. This seemed to balance the right-sided arrangement of the papers. It also broke up the straight lines a bit. Just a bit to be interesting, but not so much that there was disorder.

For the embellishments, I layered different punch shapes along with an Itty Bitty button. For visibility (and interest), I sanded the button before adding a knot of baker’s twine.

I added a butterfly, because they belong in the garden!

I think this card needs a little bit of sparkle, although I haven’t figured out which yet. (The picture doesn’t have either.) I thought a spritz of Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz might be the finishing touch, or maybe add Dazzling Details to random parts of the floral DSP. What do you think?

I wanted to show something from the new Occasions Mini Catalog that just went live, as well as something from  Sale-a-Bration, which starts on January 24.

Stamp set: You’re My Type (Occasions Mini)

Ink: Early Espresso, Soft Suede

Paper: Naturals Ivory, Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Beau Chateau DSP, Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB)

Accessories: Everyday Enchantment Brad (SAB), Scallop edge border punch, Corner Rounder punch, Sponge daubers, Stampin’ dimensionals

I like the combination of papers. The Sale-a-Bration papers are a nice, but vibrant, vintage and the Beau Chateau paper helps tie into the office/typewriter theme. Because the Everyday Enchantment papers are vintage, with “built-in” distressing around the edges, I added my own ink distressing on the cut edges. Can you tell where I made the cuts?

I cut out the typewriter after stamping, and attached with dimensionals. It didn’t seem right to just put it on flat, you know?

I like the different patterns available in the Everyday Enchantment DSP. I’m sure you’ll see more cards from me soon. I am also trying to combine them with other papers, mostly because I think they look good.

Do you like it?

Tomorrow (January 3) is the last day to order from the Holiday Mini Catalog. While some items will be available (see flyer here), most are going away. In fact, the Early Espresso quilted satin ribbon has already sold out. So, if you’ve been thinking about the Cherry Cobbler version, now is the time! I used it on some Christmas cards (sorry, no pictures), and it ties nicely.

I also mentioned earlier that the Stocking Builder punch will NOT be carried over. Tomorrow is the last day to order this cute punch. It’s super easy to use; my husband used it a few times to add random decorations to our house!

Other items of note from the Holiday Mini are the cute felt pieces and the large designer buttons. The buttons come in Pool Party, More Mustard, Soft Suede, and Pear Pizzazz, so they will also work well with other seasons. Plus, did you know a 1-1/4″ circle fits perfectly inside? Makes for a cool little accent.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the Clearance Rack Blitz. The items added over the past two weeks will go away after January 4 (if they haven’t already sold out). So, head over to my online store (Clearance rack items can only be purchased through my online store).

What does this mean? If you’ve been thinking about it, now is the time to get it! Once supply of the punch is depleted, it will no longer be available. It’s not clear whether the supply is expected to at least carry until the end of the Holiday Mini Catalog (January 3, 2012) or not.

The punch and the matching stamp set is cute, so I’m rather sad that it is going away… The stockings are not just for Christmas, either. You can make socks for Father’s Day and baby-related items. A demonstrator somewhere (I don’t remember where I saw it) even made a toy horse out of it. So, it’s too bad, although Stampin’ Up! said they have something different in store for next year’s holidays. We’ll see.

Contact me if you have any questions!

Due to lead times, and to allow for shipping, here are the cutoff dates to receive your print items by Christmas. Note that if you want to print Christmas cards and then mail them out, you probably need to get them into the printer ASAP! (Oh, does that mean I’m not going to make the deadline???) Christmas falls on a Sunday, so these dates were probably calculated so that your items get to you by December 23.

• For normal shipping, order by December 7.
• For 2-day shipping, order by December 9.
• For overnight shipping, order by December 12.

Expedited shipping does NOT expedite printing/processing. Hence, the long lead times to consider.

I’m currently planning the Thanksgiving office treats… gonna use the 1″ x 8″ cellophane bags. I realized that Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK, so I’d better get moving!

I wanted to use the downloads that are being offered through the Digital Scrapbooking Day promotion over at the My Digital Studio web site (check it OUT!). They are FREE, as long as you claim them by November 7. (After that, they will be available as purchase-able items.)

There are four downloads:

• So Typefelt Stamp brush set
• Neutral Delightful Digital tape
• Home for the Holidays emsemble
• Delight in the Day Photobook template

I only used one part, the Home for the Holidays set. And here it is. I do have to admit, this came together rather quickly, so if it looks a bit unpolished, well, there it is!

Digital stamps: Season of Cheer (included)

Digital ink: Cherry Cobbler

Digital paper: Crumb Cake textured (download)

Digital accessories: Home for the Holidays embellishments (from the FREE downloads)

I started with a blank slate of Crumb Cake textured cardstock. I thought it was a nice neutral without being too holiday-ish one way or the other (plus, I like this color!)

I added the snow as the next part of the background. It’s really an overlay of some sort. Depending upon which section you place on your project, and the size of your project, you’ll get just snow flurries or you’ll get part of the hill. There’s still more hill off my project; I don’t know how far it extends down either (I didn’t check!).

I then added the words in the shape of a tree. Isn’t that pretty? You could even make it bigger and hang it off to the left more. I wanted a more definite tree shape and for most of it to be visible. I had to shrink it down quite a bit; I’m sure it’s sized for a bigger (12×12?) project.

I then sprinkled different trees around. They come in two sizes, and one of the smaller ones has its own snowdrift, which may be hard to see. Stick ‘em down where it looks good to you (bigger ones are probably in the front, though, unless you mean for the tree to be REALLY big!).

The final touch was the banner. It actually has points on both sides, but I wanted the asymmetrical look. I added the stamp “happy holidays” on the banner and colored it Cherry Cobbler.

That’s it! See, easy! Now, all you have to do is create the inside. I usually don’t show those, so I didn’t create one, hah! I would probably have more snow, a tree, and probably the house that comes with this set. Isn’t it cute?

I’m so happy to get more colors of the digital tape as part of the download. It’s like masking tape, only digital (of course!) and in Stampin’ Up! colors. Too fun! (especially if someone in your house likes painters tape. Just sayin’…)

My husband had the (bad) idea of sending her a Hallmark card. Really!

Of course, I had to jump in and make one. I had a few ideas in mind… it had to be somewhat frilly and vintage-y, since that’s what she likes. Also happens to be what I like to make sometimes (I like to play with a lot of things!) I couldn’t post it until I knew it was delivered… I found out it was done on Tuesday or Wednesday of last week, so now it’s safe! (It was supposed to be a surprise, after all.)

Stamp set: Perfectly Penned, Netting background, Creative Elements (inside and envelope)

Ink: Wisteria Wonder (ink pad and reinker), Concord Crush, Basic Gray craft spot

Paper: Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush, Whisper White

Accessories: Fancy Fan letterpress plate, Very Vanilla seam binding, Beautiful Butterflies Bigz, Antique Brads, Vintage Wallpaper textured impressions folder, Stampin’ dimensionals, Pearls

Frilly, right?!?

For the ribbon, I dunked it in (mostly) straight Wisteria Wonder reinker. I usually water the reinker down, but in this case, the seam binding wasn’t holding onto the color as well. Either that, or it was too light when watered down. (Diluting is recommended when dyeing the paper flowers, by the way. It also works well to dye the baker’s twine.) I like how the ink migrates a bit and tends to stay along the edges. I managed to get some to stay in big spots, too.

I loosely wrapped some of the seam binding where I wanted it. THEN, I made a faux bow (look for the how-to technique with the link to the right) and attached it to the card front over the strip of seam binding. This way, it looks like the seam binding and bow are all one piece. Plus, with the brad going through the card front over the seam binding (did I mention that part?), it helps keep the strip of seam binding in place.

I attached the greeting (after I cut it out), over the seam binding using dimensionals. The dimensionals stick to the card front, not the seam binding. The greeting should also hold the seam binding in place a bit.

I cut  the smallest butterfly from the Beautiful Butterflies die, then added texture using the Fancy Fan letterpress plate. If you haven’t tried this letterpress plate, it’s fun. It adds a bit of texture for a fun background. I find it’s more to my taste than the other plates… Added some pearls to the center for definition and to add more to the theme.

Finally… did you notice the embossed card front? Did you notice that there’s stamping in the recessed area? This is a variation of brayering your embossing folder before embossing cardstock. Instead, you STAMP your embossing folder first. Pretty nifty, huh? Here’s a closeup for you:

The trick to this technique? There are a couple

1. Matching a stamp to an embossed design. Where you get embossing, you won’t have a stamped image. The trick is to find an image that won’t look weird. I thought this particular combo was awesome, because now it looks like lace.
2. Be careful of text images. Remember, any stamped images will actually get reversed. So… if you stamp with a (normal) text stamp, you will get mirror-image text!!! It’s funny, because i saw some product by a famous (male) craft designer a few weeks ago. I thought his stamps were defective. Turns out it was deliberate!

Just in case you were thinking that I’m brilliant (well, I am, but that’s beside the point) and came up with this all by myself, I didn’t. I was watching some crafting videos by the aforementioned craft guru, and he showed this technique with his products. I hope it’s okay to share the link to this video. (It’s the second part of this video.) You can also find it if you search for “Tim Holtz” and “texture fades and distress – tag 6″. I suppose if you’re crafty, you can find the whole tag he makes with this technique (I think it’s part of the 2010 Twelve tags of Christmas…)

Here’s the card I made. You’ll see that it’s a variation on the card I made for the October newsletter. It’s a pretty easy template to use; I’m sure I’ll use it more later!

Stamp set: Build a Blossom

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake

Paper: Riding Hood Red, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla textured and smooth, Frostwood Lodge DSP (Holiday Mini)

Accessories: Victoria crochet trim, Designer Frames textured impressions folder set, Perfect Polka Dots textured impressions folder, Distressing essentials kit, Blossom Petals Builder punch, Fire Circle brads, 1″ circle punch

The frame was cut closely to the embossing, and then the dots were inked in Crumb Cake using the solid stamp from the Distressing essentials kit.

I stamped and punched 12 petals for each card to make the poinsettia focal image. I glued down the first layer of 6 to a 1″ circle, and then glued the next layer offset from the bottom layer. Once the glue was dry, I inserted a yellow rhinestone brad from the Fire Circle set. The poinsettia is attached to the card using dimensionals.

The inside of the card has some of the same DSP, and I stamped the poinsettia image, from the Bells & Boughs set, in Crumb Cake.