A Mess and a Very Clean Ornament

Some people seem to have the mistaken impression that my craft area is all, like, you know, CLEAN all the time. Here's what it looked like yesterday afternoon:

Still think I'm hopelessly AR/OCD? Of course not. I tell you in all honesty that I'm only a LITTLE BIT AR/OCD. Years of living with my DH, aka "Pig Pen" have had their effect. Here's the proof.

The details of this mess would take a year to explain, so I'll just point out that what looks like harvest candy corn in the foreground (near the purple marvy punch) is, indeed, candy corn. Sugar-flavored wax is one of my many bad habits, but I don't like the fake chocolate flavored ones in the mix. That's why those are still sitting on my desk this morning, along with the rest of this mess.

Out of all this chaos and sugar rush came this shadowbox ornament:



Be still, my heart! Wouldn't a set of these make the perfect accompaniment for the Ode to Holly card? Of course it would! I'll just make sure to use the same textured CS for the ornaments and curl up the edges of the holly. Happy sigh.

I'm going to post a tutorial on these later this week, after I manage to buy some decent straight square punches. My stash contains the Creative Memories punches for 3/4", 1", 1 1/4", and 1 1/2". Until now, I've been happy with them, but they don't punch deeply enough into the paper to work for this technique, so I had to cut this square by hand with a quilt ruler and craft knife.

You can imagine how this irritated me.

Must. Make. It. Easier!

And then I'll share. Isn't it just so CAS?!?

CAS39 Sketch Challenge

I FINALLY got to make a card for the CAS39 Sketch Challenge. Took all week...it's been a weird one. Really weird.

This card is super simple and fun, with Green Galore instead of the usual Christmas green. I simply don't like Glorious Green and usually substitute Garden Green for Glorious. Green Galore, however, makes me happier, especially with Real Red.

Penny Black's holly is so fun, and the ticket punch gives subtle (or perhaps not so subtle!) reinforcement of the signature holly shape.

Hope you like it!

Supplies
stamps: Penny Black, PTI Signature Christmas
ink: real red, Palette Noir, Bic Mark-It markers
paper: PTI white, SU green galore
accessories: ticket punch, ribbon, dimensionals, red gemstones

Christmas Ornament Gift Set

Here is a very simple gift set of ornaments and a card made primarily with punches. I love the ease with which this whole project went together. (Please note: the colors here are bashful blue and white...the blue just looks darker in the photos.)



The simple layering of the circles and snowflakes is kicked up a notch by the Swarovski crystals in the center of each flake. These are beautiful, flat-back crystals...so much clearer and nicer than the self-adhesive cheap ones from Hobby Lobby. (Though I did use the cheap ones on the bag toppers since they'll likely end up in the trash!)

I made five each of two sizes of these ornaments using the following punches:



The snowflake punches are by Martha Stewart. Assembly is easy. One trick for getting the floss loops attached neatly is to put a short strip from a tape runner on the back of the blue circle, stick the ends of the floss down to make the loop, then glue the blue piece to the white scalloped circle. I only glued the center of the flakes to the blue circles, leaving the ends of the flakes loose for a bit of dimension.

Here's a close-up of the large ornament. I hope you can see how clear and pretty the crystal is!



The toppers were super easy, using PTI's Snowflake Serenade and Signature Christmas. I added a strip of grosgrain to the card, and popped up the scalloped focal point.

What a great gift idea for a lovely--and inexpensive--gift! You could scale it down or up, depending on the size of your punches, change up the colors, use specialty papers (glittery or shimmer papers, for instance). Easy, flexible, and quick. You gotta love it!

Supplies
stamps: Snowflake Serenade, Signature Christmas
ink: bashful blue, Palette Noir
paper: bashful blue, PTI white
accessories: Swarovski crystals, assorted punches, ribbon, dimensionals

One Step Too Far...Not for the Easily Offended

Can you guess what I don't like about this card? Hmmm. Keep in mind I'm a dirty-minded English literature dweeb who sees Christ figures and phallic symbols everywhere. There are, obviously, no Christ figures on this card.

Why, oh why, did I round the corners on the sentiment panel?!?!?

Otherwise, I totally love this card and think it's really very festive and pretty. The little row of gemstones is perfect, don't you think? And embossing snowflakes in white on red sings to my color-loving soul. But I just can't get past the, um, erectile nature of the sentiment panel.

This is, of course, easy to fix in future manifestations of this card, but I wanted to share it with you AS IS so you can see that CAS is about knowing when to STOP messing with a design. Sometimes, it's easy to take it one step too far. Once you round the corners, you can't unround them.

Sheesh, I might as well have used a pear on this card and been done with it!

Supplies
stamps: Snow Swirled
paper: real red, PTI white
ink: SU craft white, classic real red
accessories: white EP, dimensionals, gemstones, the unfortunate corner rounder

Girly Birthday Card

While playing around with PTI's Sign Language, I came up with this very traditional CAS layout.



Those little squares are so versatile! I see myself making lots and lots of this layout in different colors and themes. The popping of the main matted image and the dots on the scallops (made with a Sakura Stardust pen) give this very simple, easy to duplicate card a bit of flair with a few basic supplies.

Supplies
stamps: PTI Sign Language
ink: Versacolor magenta, Palette noir
paper: SU pretty in pink, PTI white
accessories: square punches, scalloped square punch, dimensionals, Stardust pen

My Aunt's Birthday Card

Edited to correct stamp set name.


Yes! It's got a colored base!

This card was sort of an accident. I had pulled out the SU set Echoes of Kindness to play with the In Color markers. You'll notice the amazing lack of In Colors on this card, I'm sure. Somehow, I ended up with bashful blue and olive and lots of glorious white.

Sometimes it pays to go with the flow.

As soon as I finished, I knew this would be my aunt's birthday card. She's another of the many November birthdays in my family, and this suits her elegant style.

I hope you like it!

Supplies
stamps: SU Echoes of Kindness, PTI Text Style, Faux Ribbon
ink: SU bashful blue, old olive; Palette Noir
paper: PTI white, SU bashful blue, old olive
accessories: dimensionals, ribbon

Birthday Presents

I was messing around this weekend trying to make some cards with the SU In Color markers and paper. THAT was an exercise in frustration. So I put them all away and pulled out PTI's Sign Language.

After a bit, I decided that the actual sign in Sign Language is sort of awkward for me so I abandoned it for the time being. Since my mojo wasn't flowing, I decided to fall back on a nice, safe grid layout.


Ahhhhh. Peace, love, and happiness!

I chose the colors thinking it was a fun and happy combo for a child's card and knowing I had rhinestones in both colors. These squares punch perfectly with a 3/4" punch, and I glued them down rather than pop them up because the rhinestones would add bulk, too, and I wanted it mailable.

The sentiment is part of a Hero Arts stamp that says Happy Birthday to you. I wanted it to be smaller than the width of the grid, though, so I only inked Happy Birthday. As for why I wanted it shorter than the grid, I have no really good reason other than then there would be four rows all the same, and four isn't odd. I like ODD. This way, three identically sized rows and one short row keeps the card oddly balanced. That's my theory, anyway.

To me, it just looks better. So there. (*wink*)

About the photo: You can see the play of light through the sheers on this card, but at least it doesn't look blue on my monitor. Except where it IS blue, of course. The white is a bit gray, but when I brightened the highlights too much, the blue and orange glowed nuclear. It was a no-win situation, so I went with something in-between.

Supplies
stamps: PTI Sign Language, Hero Arts
ink: Versacolor lagoon blue, orange
paper: PTI white
accessories: 3/4" square punch, rhinestones (Hero Arts)