Announcement and Blog Candy

I am delighted to have been asked to design for UStamp for a third session. With Valentin's Day approaching, there will be lots of lovely projects to make for sharing with friends and family. As designers, we get little sneak peeks of upcoming projects and there are some great things in store! The creativity is amazing. I have had the best time getting to know other stampers around the world.

You can win a free pass to the With Love ... 2010 UStamp by leaving a comment on this post. I will randomly pick a winner on Jan 4. You can read all about UStamp by clicking on the blinkie.

Many S'Mores

The grin on this bears face is so mischievous! I made this card for a world-wide swap through UStamp. What fun to receive cards from stampers in Austraila, New Zeeland and Germany as well as across the US.

The bear was stamped first, then masked. Trees were stamped overtop. The s'mores were stamped, colored, cut and popped up on dimensionals. The idea for the saying stamp came from lorilk at Splitcoaststampers. Her blog can be found here.

Merry Christmas

We were worried what Hagrid , our newest kitten addition, would do to the Christmas tree. When he is outside he is quite a climber and loves hiding under the pine trees. We put our most special Christmas ornaments on top of a high cupboard as a precaution. He has not, however, tried to climb the Christmas tree. It is very dense so that has been a help. Now the nativity set on the mantel has been another story. We have found sheep knocked over and him chewing on the buildings!

Chester made himself comfortable by the fire. All very cosy. Have a very Merry Christmas!

Two more ornament punch techniques

Over the last several days I have shared some of the techiques I discovered as I experimented with the ornament punch. Once I started it was hard to stop! These ideas make this a great punch for any time of the year. I made the notched strip on the card below by punching just the hanger portion of the punch at one inch intervals. The notches on the opposite side are off-set by half an inch.

This shows the spacing I used. Make small pencil marks at each of the indicated measurements.

Insert the cardstock strip as shown into the top of the punch, centering each pencil mark. Perfect notches!

Another little trick is to notch the corners of a card with the top of the punch. I was able to easily punch through both layers of this little gift tag so the notches line up exactly.

Insert the corner into the top of the punch as shown and punch. A simple way to add interest to the corner of a card or cardstock layer!

Pinwheel ornament and UStamp

The final ornament of the boxed set is a fun pinwheel. Punch four pieces of double-sided patterned paper using the ornament punch. Carefully cut each piece down the center. Flip over every other piece and adhere to a 1-3/8" circle. Bend each piece slightly to give dimension. I added a 1 inch circle of cardstock painted with Silver Shimmer Paint to the center. I repeated this for the back to make it double-sided.

This is a side view, showing the dimension when the pieces are curved.

I have had the privilege of being a guest designer for the last two sessions of UStamp! The Year End session is going on right now. One of the fun things about UStamp is each day new projects are posted; it is a surprise for the designers as well. I check every morning for the days project. It is like Christmas everyday! My project has not yet been posted but I will give you a hint - set out your pretty tea cups as you will need them! You can learn more about UStamp at www.ustampwithdawn.blogspot.com It is a ton of fun.

More ornaments

These ornaments also use the Ornament Punch. To make the first ornament, punch 11 identical pieces from designer paper. Roll each around your finger and secure with strong adhesive. Arrange on a 1-3/4" circle of cardstock. Decorate center as desired. I stamped the design with silver shimmer paint and added a silver brad to the center.

The next ornament uses 8 ornament punched pieces. The sides of each piece were folded to meet in the center then adhered to a 2-1/2" circle of cardstock abutting the edges. I painted a ribbon slide from the HogdePodge Hardware Kit with Silver Shimmer Paint and added a Fire Rhinestone Brad to the center and mounted both on a 3/4" circle of cardstock. I repeated the design on the back, sandwiching a cord hanger between to make it reversible.

TIP: It is important to make sure each punched piece has an identical pattern. Turn the punch over and carefully align the patterned paper each time you punch to give consistency to each piece.

Welcome to Kitty Stamp

I am finally taking the plunge into the blogging world. I have lots of projects lined up to share and even a few give-aways. With Christmas just a few days away I thought I would share some Christmas ornaments over the next few days. This is a set I created for a Stampin' Up! Demo Challenge. Imagine my delight when it was chosen a winner!

This first ornament uses eight ornament punched pieces run through a crimper, then shaped and mounted on a four inch cardstock circle. The center consists of four ornament punched pieces mounted on a smaller red circle. For each of the four pieces, fold the bottom up half way, flip over and fold sides to meet in the middle. Add a rhinestone brad to the center and silver elastic cord for a hanger.

More goodies to share tomorrow....