Reindeer Joy

How cute is this?!? This project started with the guy with the snowflake on his nose. I had been experimenting with punches, figuring out how to make a reindeer face with the tag punches, and then how to make convincing antlers without hand-cutting them. He turned out so well that I had to make the others to keep him company. And then I discovered that as a trio, they took up a lot of space. Not to mention the fact that they took a lot of detail time to make. So a card, even a big card, seemed a bit too...disposable...for the amount of work--and the CUTENESS factor!!--that these guys entail.

INGREDIENTS
Cardstock: Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, Creamy Caramel, Basic Black, Baja Breeze
Paper: Ski Slope
Punches: Tag, Small Tag, Five-Petal Flower, Round Tab, 1/2" Circle, 1/4" Circle, Word Window, Scallop Square
Other: White gel pen, Cricut, frame

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Pocket Card of Goodness

That's what I'm calling it, since Hot Pocket was already taken. This groovy little 'card' has two pockets on the inside to hold a packet of soup and a packet of hot cocoa. I have several set aside for teacher gifts. Here's a pic of the (potentially) warm num-yummy goodness contained in one little card:


I made two prototypes for this thing, one with separate pockets that you glue on, the other all one piece where you glue down a couple of flaps. While gluing the pockets was a lot easier on the one-piece design, cutting it out and scoring it was a royal pain in the rumpus. So I stuck with the three-separate-rectangles design. Gluing the pockets is a little fiddly, but overall it took a lot less time. Here's the cut and score measurements for each piece:


Snowflake stamp is from Season of Friendship. 'For You' stamp is from One of a Kind. D'Vine Swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder by ProvoCraft. Snowflake border punch is by EK Success (same company that makes SU's punches).

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Snowman Cocoa pouch

This is a super-easy project, so much so that our PTA might make these for our 85 teachers and staff. You can get two pouches out of a single sheet of cardstock (and if you're making more than one, it's better to score first, then cut it in half). Here's some measurements for you:

Once you've got your cardstock stamped and folded, you'll only need a stapler, a cocoa packet (or a soup packet), and a scrap of colored cardstock run through your crimper:

Here's some how-to pics on the creation of that paper bow:


Snowman stamp is from the long-retired SU set Let It Snow ('arms' hand drawn). He's colored with a combination of markers and aquapainter watercoloring.

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Countdown to Christmas

This turned out SO CUTE! I don't even LIKE Santa, but I was still tickled with how this turned out. I have a hard time calling this an Advent calendar, because the bearded dude has zilch to do with Advent. So it's just a Countdown-to-Christmas calendar.

And I can't take credit for the idea. I was inspired by Amy Sheffer's countdown calendar here: http://pickledpaperdesigns.blogspot.com/2008/10/here-i-come-wassailing.html

Mine consists of two four-inch coasters (from StampOnThis.com) covered with SU! Ski Slope paper, stamped with Baroque Motifs in acrylic paint, and bound with the numbers 1-24 in a Bind-It-All coil.

I made only three, and it took me about ten hours from start to finish, including dry time for paint and short breaks to stretch my back or pick kids up from school. I sold one at each of my craft fairs, and still have this one left.

Paper and the punches are SU! Number stamps are from The Paper Studio. 'Christmas' stamp is from Stampabilities.

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Reindeer Gift Bag and Tag

I totally snagged the look of the reindeer from some gift-wrap in the Current® catalog. He's made with punches except for his legs, which are just skinny strips of paper. Made with SU punches, this guy is too big for a card, unfortunately, so his uses are pretty limited, but he is danged cute, I think. (FIVE commas in that sentence! *grin*)

The tag is a head (minus the antlers) with another wide oval scored and glued to the back at the top. "To:" and "From:" is/are (?) stamped on the inside.

The snowflake paper is not SU, mostly because I tend to be kind of stingy with my beautiful SU papers and didn't want to 'waste' it on something that in all likelihood will be thrown away. The bag is from my LSS. Inside is a big piece of red tissue paper, folded nicely.

Ingredients:
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Ruby Red, Basic Black
Punches: Wide Oval, Five-Petal Flower, Tag, Small Tag, 1/2" Circle, 1/4" Circle handheld, Ticket Corner
Other: Handled bag, snowflake paper (The Paper Studio), hemp twine, white gel pen, red ribbon, red tissue paper

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Craft fair goodness

I just got home from another craft fair and I'm really happy with how the day went! I shared a booth with my friend Stephanie, who is a Gold Canyon Candle rep (see link in the left column! FABULOUS candles!), and our spot was the first booth you got to when you walked in the front door. TOTALLY made up for the crappy spot I had two weeks ago. We both did really well.

I've got one more craft fair this season, three weeks from today. I sold out of quite a few things, so I've got some stamping and sewing to do! Stay tuned this week, though. I'll be posting pics and details on a bunch of the stuff I've been selling. (Yes, I've been holding out on you!)

Here's a front view of today's setup (before I rearranged it six more times!)


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Digital Page: Spring Has Sprung

I'm a graphic designer, so you knew it was only a matter of time before I started seriously dabbling in digital scrapbooking. I actually started this page about six months ago (when it was actually spring!), but re-visited it this morning and decided to share it.

Recently when albums were on sale at Hobby Lobby, I picked up five 8x8s. My intent is to make at least three duplicate albums--One for me, one for my mom, and one for DH's mom. I chose 8x8 because I can easily print that from my home printer (after I get the print head replaced) on high-rez paper.

While I do use purchased digital page elements sometimes, I usually prefer to make my own. Everything on the page above is 100% original, either photographed by me, or created by me in Photoshop or Illustrator.

Here's a sketch for you, derived from this page:


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Craft Fair Fare

I am knee-deep in craft fairs right about now. I had one this past weekend for which I was pitifully unprepared (though I sold more than I thought I would--Yay!). It was held at a church which hosts this craft fair every year, and it's a HUGE fair, filling two gymnasiums, hallways, classrooms, even sidewalks. My friend Carole and I shared a spot, and we were tucked away in one of those classrooms (the Monkey, classroom, actually, with a tiny table and toddler toys). We didn't get a whole lot of traffic (lots of people poked their head through the door, but only about half of those actually set foot in the room). By far my best-sellers were items priced $1.50 and under (stocking-stuffer things), with only a handful of higher priced items purchased.

Here's the scary thing: I only have nine and a half days of craft time left to prepare for the next one! (Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!)

One of the applications required a picture to be submitted, so I hauled out some of what I have left and photographed it. Would you like to see some of the stuff I had with me? Wouldja? Huh? Wouldja? Yeah, I thought so... Here ya go: