Hello Kitty Gift Card Holder

My son just told me that his girlfriend is crazy about Hello Kitty and she loves to shop at TJ Maxx so I just had to run out and get her a TJ Maxx gift card. I also felt like I needed to make a Hello Kitty gift card holder. This is what I made. Hope she likes it! (I also hope she doesn't look at my blog until after Christmas :-)

This gift card holder is an adaptation of the one I made earlier this week.

Merry Christmas,

Vickie

Presentation is Everything!

I made some peanut brittle for our church janitor but didn't have a cute holiday tin to package it in. I decided to use a sturdy silver box that I saved from a few years back (Can you believe that store bought Christmas cards came in this box?)I lined the box with pretty tissue paper, packed the candy in a heavy duty zip top bag, and tucked a nice card inside. But my package just seemed too plain. I added a bow but still felt like it needed a little more bling. I decided to make an ornament card to match the red and silver.

I used Versa Mark to stamp the snowflake all over a scrap of paper. I heat embossed the design using silver embossing powder. next I folded the scrap in half and used my SU ornament punch to make a little card. (Just make sure the fold is below the punch line at the top of the ornament!) I attached the card with a little piece of silver cording and this is what I came up with. Not bad for a 15 minute project! Microwave peanut brittle took 10 minutes and the tag too about 5 minutes. What's not to love about that? :-)

Merry Christmas,

Vickie

Gift Card Holder

This gift card holder was made with the sizzix Two Tags Die by Stampin Up.

To make the sleeve, cut cardstock 4 inches x 5 1/2 inches and score at 2 1/2 inches and 5 inches. Fold all score lines.

Adhere decorative paper 2 1/4 inches x 3 3/4 inches to front of holder. Use 1 1/4 circle punch to punch a half circle out of right side of sleeve (center carefully!)

Use sticky strip along 1/2 wide section to seal long edge of sleeve closed. The short sides are open.

For the insert (this is the part that holds the actual card), cut a 3 x 11 inch piece of cardstock and score at 5 1/2 inches. Fold at score line. Place the cardstock over the Two Tags Die with the folded edge just inside of the cutting line and ran it through the Sizzix Big Shot. Staple the scalloped end closed (aprox 1/4 inch from end)

Decorate as desired. I used a SU scalloped circle punch, 1 3/8 inch circle punch, and 1 1/4 circle punch and some stamps. I secured the scalloped circle in place with dimensionals (foam tape)

but added it only to the far end. The sleeve actually slides between the tag and the raised embellishement.

Happy Crafting,

Vickie

12 Days of Christmas Challenge

I am still playing with my friend Sharon's Cricut cartridge, Joys of the Season. I just love the simplicity of this little angel and since I am running out of time, I need to make some Christmas cards FAST. This morning I made two different cards using the angel. I plan to enter them in the

Pink Stamper's 12 days of Christmas challenge. Check it out at www.mypinkstamper.com

Merry Christmas,

Vickie

Snowman Card

What's not to love about snowmen? I stamped this cute little snowman and tree and colored in some of the details with my markers. Then I added a little glitter and some ribbon.

For the snowflake embellishment, I simply puched through the card front. I punched another snowflake from white cardstock and glittered it up. It is actually attaced to the inside of the card but shows through.

Hope you are having a fabulous holiday season!

Vickie

Another card made with Joys of the Season

This is another card made with Sharon's Cricut cartridge, Joys of the Season (I ordered my very own copy this morning!) I cut the holly on the lighter colored card at 3 inches and inked all of the edges. The holly on the polka dot card is cut at 2 1/2 inches.This cards were so much fun to make, but a little time consuming. Glad I don't plan to make this one in bulk.

Merry Christmas,

Vickie

Card made with Joys of the Season Cartridge

I made a few more Christmas cards today. I used my friend Sharon's Cricut cartridge Joys of the Season to cut the ornament at 3 1/2 inches. I also used up a pile of beautiful scraps. Each card is slightly different so I can't decide which one I like best.

Merry Christmas,

Vickie

Easy Embossed Christmas Card

I made a few more heat embossed Christmas cards this evening. I would love to use only hand made cards this year but if I run short on time I may resort to using a few "store bought." Each time I design a new card, I make about a dozen. That way I don't get bored and I have a wide variety of cards to work with.

Merry Christmas,

Vickie

Simple Cards Made With Brenda Walton Papers

My husband and I spent the whole day Christmas shopping. By the time we got home, I just felt like I needed to think about something other than Christmas for a while so I went to my craft room. I made a few cards with some beautiful paper designed by Brenda Walton - from a K and Company stack called The Best of Brenda Walton.

I just trimmed the paper to showcase one of the lovely flowers and lightly embellished using my punches, sentiment stamps, border punch and some ribbon. I didn't really have a plan. I just played with the tools that were scattered on my desk until I found a combination that looked good to me. I like the simplicty of these cards. Sometimes less is more. (Perhaps I should have thought about that while I was out shopping today!)

Happy Stamping,

Vickie

I made this card for a young friend who is feeling down. I used my Cricut Imagine machine and the Better Together cartridge to print and cut the main image. I used a sizzix folder (I think it's called Hearts and Vines) and Big Shot to emboss the base layer. It was really quick, easy, and fun to make this little card.

Happy Stamping,

Vickie

Gingeerbread Cookie Scrapbook Page

I absolutely love the new gingerbread man punch from EK success! I was already planning to make a scrapbook about holiday baking so I knew this punch would be perfect.

I used a Sizzix die to make the cookie sheet and spatula. The journaling block was stamped and cut out free hand and the photo mats are for a 4x6 inch photo and a 2 x3 inch photo.

Did you notice that two of the gingerbread men are baked and decorated and one is still uncooked? That was my attempt at humor.

Merry Christmas,

Vickie

Christmas Ornament Scrapbook Page

I found a scrap of ornament paper tht I love and was inspired to do something with the colors, shapes, and textures in the paper. The border punch I used is from Martha Stewart (sorry I don't know the name). the ornament shape was created using a Stampin Up Ornament Punch and the Scalloped Envelope was made with a SU Sizzix Die. I just love the little "jingle" stamp on the journaling tag and the bold bright colors. Now I just need to add my photograph and a few words about the memory I am preserving.

Merry Christmas,

Vickie

Nativity Scrapbook Pages

This weekend a group of my scrapbooking friends got together for a Christmas page swap. Each of us designed a two page layout (or two single pages) and then made packages that included all the items that someone would need to recreate them. We spent the day admiring each others work, swapping kits, and creating the beautiful pages using our "kits." Each of us left with 14 amazing, complete scarpbook pages. All we have to do now is add pictures!

I have posted pictures of my pages. The characters were cut at 3 1/2 inches on my Cricut machine using the Winter Frolic cartridge. The title was cut at 4 inches. Two of the photo mats are designed to display a standard 4x6 photo and one is for a 5x7. The shaped tag at the bottom is for journaling.

Hope you are having fun crafting this holiday season ;-)

Merry Christmas,

Vickie