November 29th 2017
Another Holiday Catalog Stamp set knocked out of the park! This one is four step photopolymer stamping, (if you want to do the fourth step: the scribbly balls…which I think could be interpreted as ornaments or snow…see the card just below and you’ll see what I’m talking about). Four steps meaning, there are four seperate stamps needed to complete the Christmas tree image. Two different stamps for two colors of green on the tree, one stamp for the tree trunk and branches that you can catch a glimpse of in the center of the image. The fourth stamp is the scribbled balls=Four step stamping.
The new designer series paper, (DSP), is so simple and beautiful. Although, some people aren’t crazy about the black for Christmas, personally I think the black makes the Old Olive really pop. Add the Fresh Fig or Berry Burst and you have a beautiful color combination! There’s nothing Halloween looking about the black on these cards!
If you would like to order any of these products, I would be happy to be your demonstrator, if you don’t already have one. Just click on the products you would like and it will take you to my store! All the products for each of these cards are posted below.
If you have a question about products, technique or just want to leave a comment or suggestion, please leave it in the comment box below all the products, and I will get back to you.
Please remember to use the Hostess Code at checkout!
Take some time for yourself to create and later you’ll have something special to give to someone you love!
November 27, 2017
Our last child, Lindsay, just got married, October 21st, 2017. Wow did those “raising the kids” years go by fast. Wedding’s are bitter-sweet for the parents. You’re so happy when your kid is a productive, contributing member of society and is in general joyful about their lives. That’s the way it’s supposed to be! But, it’s so hard to not have that everyday interaction with them.
I’m totally down with the practice of having 2-3 generations living in the same house…or, at least next door! My children all scoff at the idea…don’t get me wrong, we all love each other. We all have a blast when we are together…but the Deschaine’s are pretty independent and we have leader-type personalities…too many bosses! So, no-one but me wants to combine households. I still think it would work.
A couple weeks before the wedding, Sarah, one of Lindsay’s bridesmaids, thought it would be nice if each of the bridesmaids and Mom, (me) wrote Lindsay a letter and made a scrapbook page with a picture of us with Lindsay. Time was short, so I asked my husband to find some pictures I could use. I knew I couldn’t just do one picture, I’m a scrapbooker for Pete’s sake! These are the ones he came up with. It also holds the beautiful tear jerker toast…speech…that my husband wrote and spoke for our youngest daughter. I hope you like our effort! I forgot to take a picture of the envelope page I decorated to hold my letter and a page with a picture of Lindsay and Zach 
I remembered in time, to ask Lindsay’s new, second, Mom to write a letter. So we included that as well.
I thought you might like to see a couple of the photos my photograper and good friend, Andrea Fong posted on FaceBook.
If you would like to order any of these products, I would be happy to be your demonstrator, if you don’t already have one. Just click on the products you would like and it will take you to my store! All the products for each of these cards are posted below.
If you have a question about products, technique or just want to leave a comment or suggestion, please leave it in the comment box below all the products, and I will get back to you.
I hope you enjoyed this personal post, as scrapbooking always is, and that it will inspire you to make a mini-album to honor someone you love!
BE SURE AND USE THE HOSTESS CODE AT CHECK OUT!!
November 24th 2017
These are the winners for the random prize drawings for following my blog and sharing FaceBook posts. Thank you to all who participated!!
Prize #1: A Paper Pumpkin Shaker card and a pack of the foil snowflakes…Congratulations, Kristine Compton!!
Prize #2: Two packs of Designer Series Paper samples and a Pack of Very Vanilla Note Cards and Envelopes….Congratulations Marleen Hurst!!
Prize #3: Two handmade, by me, Coffee cards and a $20 Starbucks Gift card…Congratulations Carolyn Boban!!
Prize #4: The Merry Patterns Stamp set, Christmas Designer Series Paper and a roll of 7/8′ Striped Ribbon…Congratulations Terry West!!
The final prize…Prize #5: The Merry Mistletoe Stamp Set, Christmas Designer Series Paper Sample and a pack of Clear Faceted Gems…Congratulations, Colleen Herring!
Congratulations ladies, thank you for entering the drawing! Be sure and check back for the next giveaway in December!!
November 22, 2017
This lovely stamp set/thinlits bundle was made available to Demonstrators 2 months before the Holiday Catalog launch in September and a month early for customers. I’ve seen so many beautiful variations of this stamp set. I can’t get enough of the tree thinlits…they are so regal. They could be done with any Christmas Designer Series Paper and look fabulous.
This first card was made with one of the pre-printed card pieces from the Merry Little Christmas Memories and More Card Pack. The Memories and More card packs are intended for scrapbooking, however it is easy to make cards with them, as you can see here. I also use them to write a quick note and put it in a card so I don’t have to write on the card, then the person receiving the card can “re-use” the card and send it to somone else.
The Star-studded black trees are each a stack of 3 basic black die cut pieces with the designer series paper trees on top. It gives the trees a little more substantial 3D effect, rather than using stampin’ dimensionals.
If you would like to order any of these products, I would be happy to be your demonstrator, if you don’t already have one. Just click on the products you would like and it will take you to my store! All the products for each of these cards are posted below.
If you have a question about products, technique or just want to leave a comment or suggestion, please leave it in the comment box below all the products, and I will get back to you.
Please remember to use the Hostess Code at checkout!
Take some time for yourself to create and later you’ll have something special to give to someone you love!
11/20/2017
Snow Flurries…not something you hear about very often in California. Although, it did happen once, when I was pregnant with my first child…28 years ago. There was a complete layer of snow covering the streets and yards of everyone in Fairfield, California! I remember we had a little Dodge Colt that couldn’t make it up the hill leaving our neighborhood…well, the car slid a little and I decided, it was too dangerous to have my pregnant-self slipping and sliding on the snow-laden streets. So, I took a snow day off of work! If you live in snow country, feel free to mock us California drivers that can’t drive in the snow…it’s true for some of us!
I love snowflake stamps almost as much as flower stamps. They are so pretty and have such a wide variety of delicate lines. My collage below has stamped, heat embosed, glittered and die cut snowflakes on the cards and Mini-Pizza Boxes. They were lots of fun to make!
The Wisteria Wonder Card and Pizza Box were done with the Emboss-Resist method you see in the instructions below. Let me know if it’s not clear or if you have any questions or comments.
If you have never seen Dazzling Diamonds glitter in person before, it is a must see glitter. I have never seen a glitter that sparkles so brilliantly. If you stamp a color under it, it is even more spectacular! These are the instructions for the Dazzling Diamonds(glitter)/Noel card. This same technique can be done with the stamp-a-ma-jig, which is on my “to do” list of tutorials to make at some point for you.
If you would like to order any of these products, I would be happy to be your demonstrator, if you don’t already have one. Just click on the products below that you would like and it will take you to my store! All the products for each of these cards are posted below.
If you have a question about products, technique or just want to leave a comment or suggestion, please leave it in the comment box below all the products, and I will get back to you.
Please remember to use the Hostess Code at checkout!
I hope these note cards inspire you to take some time to nurture your creative side. Aren’t you worth spending a little time on yourself to re-charge?
November 15, 2017
It’s makes for a lot of Christmas cheer to give little gifts that bring smiles to the faces of friends, neighbors and coworkers! So, after my youngest daughters wedding just a month ago, we had some leftover wedding favors. I thought it would be fun to take the wedding decor off and decorate for Christmas! I have a few more to do still. I gave some of them to my Card Buffet ladies last night.
The favors were a hot chocolate mix and we added dehydrated marshmellows then we put them into 2″ x 8″ gusseted cello bags, from clearbags.com, (we had to trim a couple inches off the top of the bags). Then we rolled down the top and put one inch gold stickers on, (we found them on Amazon) to seal the bags. Then we popped the bags into the Clear Tiny Treat Boxes from Stampin’ Up! We added ribbon and a tag. As you can see, I used the new Pretty Label Punch.
The Favors re-decorated for Christmas!
A quick tip to hang your little stockings:
If you would like to order any of these products, I would be happy to be your demonstrator, if you don’t already have one. Just click on the products you would like and it will take you to my store! All the products for each of these cards are posted below.
If you have a question about products, technique or just want to leave a comment or suggestion, please leave it in the comment box below all the products, and I will get back to you.
All orders will receive at least one of my handmade cards, the more you order, the more goodies you get!
Please remember to use the Hostess Code at checkout!
Take some time for yourself to create and later you’ll have something special to give to someone you love!
November 13, 2017
The card to the right is almost the same as one of the samples in the 2017 Holiday Catalog. The catalog samples are always fun to make. They are fun partly because often times it’s the sample that caught your attention in the first place. Second, because they’re always better in person. Try it sometime and you’ll see! I keep my catalogs for awhile so I can look back at card samples.
I love stamping with the two-step photopolymer stamp sets. It’s a fun and easy way to get multiple colors into one stamped image. For most of them you don’t even have to get them lined up perfectly, close enough is good enough!
Here, I have the two step stamping laid out for you. I stamp extra images, in case of mess ups, or if I want to make more cards. If you look real close they are not perfectly lined up, but they still look fabulous!
It didn’t take long at all to fussy cut these. I thought it might be a little tedious but it wasn’t at all. Just remember to move your paper around more and the scissors less while fussy cutting.
The first card, in the first collage, we are making at our Card Buffet tomorrow night. It’s simple and full of warm Christmas appeal, don’t you think? I’ve included instructions below for cutting the DSP at an angle. If you have any questions, please leave it in the comment box below all the product info. I’ll get back to you asap.
November 8th
October Paper Pumpkin is so fun and pretty! I made my first shaker card a few weeks back and loved the look. So, it was really fun to be able to make a whole bunch of them! I added the Metallic Edged ribbon to some of them and Christmas tree lights from the Christmas Happiness stamp set in the Holiday Catalog.
You can learn more about Paper Pumpkin by clicking on the button to the right, just below the catalogs or by clicking HERE.
November 6th, 2017
One of my favorite things about Christmas is Stockings! I sewed some for my three kids when they were little. They are grown now, and married, no babies yet. I hang and fill their stockings every year still, including my in-law “kids” I have more fun filling their stockings than buying their gifts, I think, maybe because we have traditional stocking stuffers and traditions warm my heart. Every year…everyone gets a Terry’s Chocolate Orange, my husband always buys Jelly Bellies for the stockings, I put Swedish fish in his stocking. No one likes the peppermint candy canes, so I get fruit flavored ones. Other candy isn’t as etched in stone the way those ones are.
The warmest fuzziest socks I can find go in the girls stockings, sometimes cute little undergarments. The guys usually get some kind of little tool…mini screwdrivers and such. I used to buy those little remote control helicopters for the “boys” but they’re hard to find now. I did find some little hovercrafts last year, so that will probably be the new tradition. Every year, since our son was little, my husband and son play with their mini helicopters in the house, dive bombing the cats, or our heads. Then they take them outside to play with. Every single year they decide they want to see how high they will fly…And every single year they fly their helicopters out of remote control range and they come crashing to the ground! This is why I buy the cheap ones, lol!
So, of course, I had to have Stampin’ Up!’s Hang Your Stocking stamp set. It is simply adorable, with lots of options for making a myriad of stocking styles. This first card my stamping friends will get to do at my Card Buffet on November 14th.
Here’s some more fun with Hang Your Stocking. The fancy die cut stockings, (the middle far left card), are really beautiful. It’d be fun to make one in every color!
Here’s a quick “How to” on making a rectangle out of one of the Stitched Square framelits.
I hope these cards either inspire you to send someone you love and care about a Christmas Greeting, or to sit down and give yourself a little creating time…so you can later send someone a Christmas greeting.
If you would like to order any of these products, I would be happy to be your demonstrator, if you don’t already have one. Just click on the products you would like and it will take you to my store! All the products for each of these cards are posted below.
If you have a question about products, technique or just want to leave a comment or suggestion, please leave it in the comment box below, and I will get back to you.
All orders will receive at least one of my handmade cards, the more you order, the more goodies you get!
Please remember to use the Hostess Code at checkout!
Take some time for yourself to create and later you’ll have something special to give to someone you love!
Stamping Handmade Hugs 