Even though I love bright bold colors for Christmas and holiday cards, sometimes I really love the magical look of soft colors. Especially with glitter. Tonight's cards are exactly that--soft and sparkly. :)

Some things to note: The ribbon used is in fact Sage Shadow wide grosgrain. It's found in Sherbet Ribbon Originals. :) I love Sage Shadow so I can't believe I I hadn't used this ribbon until now. You might recall me trying to use it in my last video, but it didn't match well enough.

I created the embossed outline on the Blush Blossom card by cutting a piece of card stock that was slightly larger than the Very Vanilla piece, temporarily adhered it to the front of the card, turned it over, and then embossed using a light table. :)

Anyhow, enjoy!

Sparkle Ornaments - All supplies from Stampin' Up! Hung Up on the Holidays stamp set; Sage Shadow, Soft Sky, and Very Vanilla card stock; Soft Sky, Close to Cocoa, and Sage Shadow ink; VersaMark; Heat & Stick powder; Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Sherbet Ribbon Originals.

Sparkle Trees - All supplies from Stampin' Up! Merry & Birght stamp set; Blush Blossom and Very Vanilla card stock; Close to Cocoa and Sage Shadow ink; Close to Cocoa Stampin' Write Marer; blender pen; VersaMarker; Heat & Stick powder; Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Sherbet Ribbon Originals; embossing stylus.

Hi all!

So I'm going to try something new: Make a Card Monday! Feel free to join me, or you can just tune in here to see what I'm doing. :)

After I completed this card, it occurred to me that the sentiment might not be complete! "Have a fun & merry..." what? Where's the rest of it? I totally didn't finish the card! I suppose I'll have to put "holiday!" on the inside of the card to complete it. Hee hee... I'm a dork. Forgive me. :)

You'll also notice in the video that I had no idea what I wanted the card to say! This truly is how I work. I just jump in feet first and try to figure it out as I go. My process is very organic like that. Not much planning outside of picking colors, and even then sometimes I don't know (like when I chose the ribbon in the video).

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy Make a Card Monday! Actual time making the card: 17 minutes.

OH! And before you all start asking, the music is by Diana Krall. :)

Merry - Patterned paper: Basic Grey; alpha stickers: American Crafts; Basic Black, Always Artichoke, and Natural White card stock, Whisper White taffeta ribbon, Simple Serif Mini Alphabet, and Cranberry Crisp ink: Stampin' Up!

November and December is such a crazy, busy time, isn't it? That's why my monthly stamp club only meets once during those two months. On the first Thursday of December, we get together and have a fun night to make a project that is a bit more time and resource consuming. It's my Merry Christmas to them! :)

This year, we're making recipe boxes complete with recipes inside from each member of our stamp club. :)

The tin I chose for the project is the Maya Road Coffee Break tin. I needed 15 of them, so I completely wiped out the 13 that TwoPeas had, and then I bought 2 on Ebay. I'm not sure of any other stores that have them available, but I bought them a few weeks ago, so maybe some stores have re-stocked. :)

Tip on covering the tin... A 1" circle punch is the perfect size to punch out an opening for the latch on the front of the box. Just find the center of the strip of patterned paper, and then punch a half circle. :)

Each recipe card is 6" x 2-5/8", so I formatted the recipes on my computer, printed out the cards, and then trimmed them to the correct size. Not too hard.

Anyhow, on to the pictures...

Great Recipes Box - Tin: Maya Road; Simple Serifs Mini Alphabet stamp set, Apple Cider Designer Series Paper, Close to Cocoa and Naturals White card stock, Chocolate Chip ink, Really Rust marker, and Chocolate chip wide grosgrain: Stampin' Up!

Hi all! I hope your Thanksgiving holiday was wonderful! Currently, I'm still enjoying the rest of the weekend since I don't have to work until Monday. I {heart} four day weekends!

Today I've been working on my club projects for the month, but unfortunately I left my camera bag (which had all of my cameras in it) at my brother's house yesterday. I could use my phone to take a pictures, but I'm sure it wouldn't look too good. So, until I have a chance to take a picture of the project (recipe box), here's some things to keep you busy.

First of all, here's a layout I made a couple days ago and didn't have a chance to photograph. I took pictures with my phone for these since it was pretty straight forward and simple. Since it was with a phone (yikes!), you may not be able to read the journaling, so I've typed it out below.

Anyway, this is another page for my scrapbook journal (heavy on the journal). Just a page to get out some thought about Christmas music:

"It usually starts in July--something about that month, I guess. One morning, I wake up & I just have to listen to Christmas music. Ella, Céline, Josh... I have to hear all the holiday songs. This obsession carries on far longer than is healthy, I'm sure. But who cares! That's what earphones are for. Admit it. You listen to it on Halloween, too."

What about you? When do you started listening to holiday music?

Some other tidbits: Check out some new and not-so-new projects over at Two Peas:

Rebecca Trump's scrap cubes
Cute thankful layout from Amy Grendell
Jennifer Johner's button trees
Holiday Countdown Calendar from Carrie Owens
Flower Card Set from Jennifer McGuire

Seriously - Kraft card stock, Simple Serif Mini Alphabet, Cranberry Crisp ink: Stampin' Up!; chipboard letters, felt shapes: American Crafts; button: craft supply.

Hi all! Here's just a catch up for all the cards I had in the October issue of Cards Magazine. Enjoy! :)

Thank You - Card stock: Bazzill and Stampin' Up!; rubons: American Crafts; pen: American Crafts; chipboard: Scenic Route; glitter: Stampin' Up!; stamping ink: craft ink by Stampin' Up! (used to "paint" chipboard).

Fun Halloween - Card stock: Stampin' Up!; stamps: Stampin' Up!; stamping Ink: Stampin' Up!; piercing template: Stampin' Up!; pen: Uni-ball Signo Gel Pen; flower: Bazzill; brad: American Crafts; rubons: American Crafts.

Happy Birthday - Card stock: Stampin' Up!; patterned paper: American Crafts; rubons: American Crafts; felt flower: American Crafts; brad: American Crafts; ribbon: Autumn Leaves.

>

Thanks a Bunch - Card stock: Stampin' Up!; rubons: American Crafts; chipboard: Fancy Pants Designs; glitter: Stampin' Up!; stamping ink: Craft ink by Stampin' Up! (used to "paint" chipboard); ribbon: SEI.

Thinking of You - Card stock: Stampin' Up!; patterned paper: SEI; rubons: American Crafts; ribbon: Stampin' Up!

Hi, Friend - Card stock, patterned paper: American Crafts; ribbon: American Crafts; stickers: American Crafts; chipboard: Stampin' Up! and Technique Tuesday; glitter: Stampin' Up!; stamping ink: Craft ink by Stampin' Up! (used to "paint" chipboard).

Idea borrowed from Derek & Lauren at Design Sponge (go here for instructions). I found the pocket to be a bit to small to comfortably fit all three books. I ended up only putting two in, instead of three. But the pocket could easily be altered to be a bit larger. :)

BTW, thanks to everyone who answered my question about using a VersaMarker in the Color Spritzer. You can use it! Thanks again! My readers are the best!

List Books - Patterned paper (Basic Gray); Kraft card stock (Stampin' Up!); plain white computer paper.

Don't you love the holidays?! I've been listening to Christmas music all day! Love it!

This morning's card and tutorial was a request from a few weeks back. How do you use the Color Spritzer? Well, here's a quick how to on just that!

I mostly use the spritzer to just get a soft texture to the card stock. I generally do not use the spritzer as a means to create a focal point on a card. The tool has been around for a quite a while, so if it's over-used it can easy make your card look dated. By careful with it--less is more!

I've also wondered if you could use the Color Spritzer with a Versamarker. Does anyone know? It would be awesome to use it to add little speckles of glitter! If you know if this works (or doesn't work), leave a comment and let the rest of us know. :)

Thanks all! And have a wonderful day!

Holiday Card - Block Party stamp set, kraft card stock, Whisper White taffeta ribbon, and glitter (Stampin' Up!); patterned paper (Basic Grey); glue pen (Martha Stewart Crafts); ink (ColorBox).

Hi kids!

I took a calligraphy class many years ago and, as one of the projects, we learned how to create custom monograms for embossing. It was a cool technique and every once in a while, I want to try it out again.

Anyway, here is how you make a custom monogram for embossing. The second video is how to use the same monogram, but with traditional heat embossing.

Some things to note:

- You want to choose a font or lettering with wide openings. This prevents little pieces from breaking off.

- Because you're cutting over all the edges, there's a slight problem with some letters. Letters with enclosed areas such as an 'o' and uppercase 'R' do not work with this technique. There is a way to remedy this problem with a quick fix, but I'll leave that for another video if ya'll are interested. :)

- You do NOT have to have a light table to dry emboss. Try holding up your card stock and monogram to a well-lit window!

Okay, when you're driving and the car behind you follows extremely close, do you want to just slow down to a crawl until they change lanes? Maybe it's just me. ;)

This card came about because I was wondering what glitter would look like on acetate (transparency sheets). Hmm, I thought, will a heat tool melt the plastic? My preferred method of using glue is with Heat & Stick powder (Stampin' Up!), so a heat tool would have to be used. Especially since I wanted to stamp the image that would be glittered.

Well, it works! The acetate does not melt as long as you don't heat it too long.

For those who don't know how Heat & Stick powder works, you stamp your image in either craft ink or VersaMark, then sprinkle on the Heat & Stick powder, shake off excess powder, and then heat it with a heat tool until the powder melts (but not any longer than that!). Make sure you don't heat it too long, or it will lose it's tackiness that you'll need for the glitter. Then you'll sprinkle your glitter on, shake off the excess, and heat set it one more time. Voila! Glitter!

The other thing I did on this card, was I pulled out the white stitched in the Purely Pomegranate double stitched ribbon. It left behind a faint pierced pattern which I think is so cool!

Hi all! I had a few questions on where to buy American Crafts Thickers (since some local craft stores don't carry them).

I've shopped at all three of these online stores, and they all sell Thickers as well:

twopeasinabucket.com
scrapbook.com
amillionlittlethings.com

I would try those online stores first. :)

Hi kids!

Today's card is all about the punched flowers from the Three For You Punch Box (Stampin' Up!). Don't you just love those little flowers?! They're adorable, I tell you, adorable!

I haven't broken out this punch in a while, so I thought it needed a little attention. Does anyone else out there feel bad when something hasn't been used in a while? I feel like my neglected supplies are just crying out to create something!

Anyway, this card is for my wonderful boss Paula. She really is just the best and I want her to know that. :)

The pierced lines were first penciled in, pierced with the paper piercer and mat, and then the pencil lines were erased. I love these free lines. :)

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Okay, now for some girlie stuff. ;)

Some you were asking about my hair in the Handmade Card - Start to Finish and Thickers & Rubons videos. I totally just curled my hair with a curling iron! I used the technique in the video below. I even found a curling iron from Amazon.com like the one in the video. I bought a smaller one (click here!) than the one they use because my hair is shorter and I wanted to see how it would turn out.

My SU! upline, Erica, bought the same size they used in the video. She curled her hair last week and it was so SO cute! All of you ladies out there with longer hair, you have to try this out!

Anyhow, enjoy! Oh, and if the sound is a bit out of sync, it was like that for me too.

Paula - Three For You punch box; Certainly Celery, Kraft, Tempting Turquoise, and Chocolate Chip card stock; Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise, and Chocolate Chip ink; silver brads; paper piercer and mat (Stampin' Up!); alpha stickers (Thickers from American Crafts).

I'm still totally obsessed with American Crafts fleece. It's the softest, cutest stuff you've ever seen. Seriously.

I went to dinner this week with some friends from high school, including my childhood best friend. Anyhow, I'm at the age now when all my married friends are having babies and the other two girls at dinner were both pregnant! Can't you believe that? :)

Anyway, Elizabeth (childhood best friend) is pregnant with her second baby and I just heard at the dinner. So fun! So this card is going in the mail for her. :)

So a tip about using the fleece. Adhere it with a dry adhesive. Otherwise, it shows through. I used Tombow Mono Adhesive on this card (and the card in my last entry). I also drew the legs on the birds. :)

The cleaning of the craft room is still in full swing. I decided to spring clean (though it's far from spring here in Utah) my bedroom, so I'm slowly making my way into the craft room. Hopefully I can wrap that up soon.

Anyhow, I hope ya'll are having a wonderful weekend. I don't know about you, but I'm on my way to take a nap. What's a nice relaxing weekend without a nap?

Congrats! - Three for You (Punch Box) and Absolutely Fabulous stamp sets, Blue Bayou and Very Vanilla card stock, River Rock double stitched grosgrain, Vanilla embossing powder: Stampin' Up!; VersaMark ink; Jet Black Stazon ink; fleece birds: American Crafts.

Hi all!

Do you ever just feel overwhelmed and don't know where to start when it comes to creating something? Well, I'm feeling it right now. I think it's because my craft room is just overflowing with new and exciting product that I can't wait to use. But none of it's put away!

Ahhh!!! I'm going to go crazy if I don't clean my craft room soon! That is the project for tomorrow morning. But in the meantime, here's a little something I whipped up last night when I was attempting to put away some of the new American Crafts goodies but got distracted. ;)

When I saw these little fleece hearts, I had to stop and make something with it! The fleece is just so soft and pliable. I just love it!

i {heart} u - Textured card stock: Bazzill; fleece heart and felt letters: American Crafts; patterned paper: Amy Butler for K&Company; Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon: Stampin' Up!; thread: craft supply.