Wine and Cheese Ensemble

This wine set would make a lovely hostess gift for the holiday season.  

A tag tied around the neck of the bottle slips through the cutout on the front of the wine cover.  The wine cover is tied at the top to hold it closed.  There are matching wine charms and a triangle box for crackers made with the Petite Pocket die.  The round box is a decorated box of cheese.  

The tutorial for this is available on the Heatin' Up the Holiday session of UStamp.  It has projects for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Get a jump on your holiday crafting!  Click on the blinkie below to join.

Ghoulish Googlies Mini Album

Here is a fun mini album set I created using parts of the Ghoulish Googlies Designer Kit available in the 2012 Holiday Stampin' Up catalog.

The kit has supplies for making little treat bags like the one in the center above.  I used the glassine bags to make pull out pages in the album. There are additional non-pull out pages attached to the flaps of the bags as well.  The stick-on googlie eyes are such a cute little touch!

The complete tutorial for this is available on the Heatin' Up the Holidays session of UStamp.  Click on blinkie below for info!

Holiday Blog Hop Details

Today I have the details of one of the projects from the weekend blog hop.  To see all of the projects made with the Frightening Feline stamp please see yesterday's post.  (From there you can still do the hop at anytime as we have permanent links.)

To make the Witch's Cauldron card I first inked up just the tail of the kitty cat with a marker and stamped it on Whisper White.  Next I created the cauldron.  To do that I used one of the Ornament Keepsake Framelits and cut it as shown below.

Then I used the word window punch to make the rim of the cauldron.  The flames are the wing from the Bird Builder punch.

The little cup of candy corn is decorated with one of the stamps from the My Digital Studio Toxic Framable Digital Designer Template download.

Likewise these stamps are from that download as well.

I really like the Designer templates as they look great in the original grouped design but also all the stamps can be used separately.   For the frame below I used the original template for a quick framed project.  The center portion is the template which I printed on my home computer and mounted it on DSP from the Howlstooth and Scaringbone pack.

Holiday Catalog Blog Hop- Frightening Feline

Time for a Blog Hop!!  Fellow Stampin' Up demonstrators at Stampin' Addicts have been planning, stamping, photographing and blogging and are ready to share their favorites from the 2012 Holiday Catalog.  And what a catalog it is!  Great stamps.  Great big shot dies. Great kits.  Great everything!!

It is no secret that I love kitties.  So... I was naturally drawn to the Frightening Feline stamp.  I have to say after using it though that it has been misnamed.  It is just too cute to be frightening!  So how about if I show you the Not-So-Frightening Feline stamp?!

My first project is oh-so-simple.  I heat embossed the Not-So-Scary kitty with Tangerine Tango embossing powder and framed it with a piece Howlstooth and Scaringbone DSP that I cut on the zig-zags.   I popped it in a frame with a precut mat and added just a touch of ribbon at the sides.    Nothing to be scared of here!

Well, these cats are trying to be more frightening by jumping out to shout "BOO!" but even so I think the cuteness factor is out weighing the scariness.

The scariest thing I could come up with was to use just the kitty-cat tail for the steam rising from a witch's cauldron.

I used stamps from the Toxic Framable Digital Designer Template to create the extra items in front.  The template is a fantastic value as there are 34 individual stamps that make up the template.  Tons of possibilities!

The cauldron is made with another new item from the Holiday Mini-- the Ornament Keepsakes Framelits.  On Monday I will have pictures of how easy it is to make this!

Well, that is it for this "terrifying and hair raising" stamp:)  Time to hop to the next blog.  If you have followed the hop from the beginning you will have already seen Cindy's yummy and fun Monster Munchies projects. (Isn't the Frankenstein card a hoot?)  If not, you can hop back to her blog by clicking on this button:

If you are hopping in order, next up is Paula's blog and her great Googly Ghouls projects.  Just click on the button below.

Thanks so much for stopping by the hop!!

Hybrid Wedding Card

We attended a wedding this past weekend and I made a card with My Digital Studio that I had professionally printed through Stampin' Up. Once it arrived I added a spray of punched hearts.  

I knew the colors for the wedding were navy and orange so that was my starting point.  First I added the frame from the Eclectic Overlays stamp set and sized it to fit the card.  The Mr & Mrs image and the birds are from the "Meant to Be" stamp set.  I personalized it with the couple's name.

I like to coordinate the writing space with the front so I put just the frame on the inside.

Harvest Blessing Birthday

As soon as I saw this tractor stamp in the new catalog I knew I wanted to use it for my Dad's birthday card.  Dad logged many many hours on our "400".

I kept this card very simple.  I stamped the tractor with Early Espresso ink on Red Riding Hood cardstock and layered it on another Early Espresso layer.  The background paper from the Storytime DSP collection ties the base color with the focal image.   The sentiment is heat embossed with Cherry Cobbler embossing powder and punched with the Ticket Duo Builder punch.  A few strands of bakers twine at the side add a bit of texture.

Retro Straws and Fondant Flowers

A friend of ours has opened a wonderful shop in downtown Mason, MI called Ballyhoo that has all sorts of vintage and retro things.  One of the unique items she carries are old fashioned striped paper straws.  Leah and I both have been waiting for an excuse to buy some so when she and her best friend started to plan a party we zipped into to town to buy a package.

We spent the morning decorating the straws and making desserts for the party.

We used the Decorative Label punch and added two slits with an Exacto knife so they would slide onto the straws.  The names of the guests will be written on the back to identify them.

For the front we added Pumpkin Pie flowers punched with the Blossom Punch.  The centers are the retired color Taken with Teal to match the straws.  

Here they are all done!

We also made fondant flowers for dessert.  First we rolled the fondant into balls.

And then shaped them into petals.

Pretty and yummy!!