Twelve Weeks of Christmas Week 7

How was your Black Friday?  Hope you didn't take part in any of these kinds of crazy scenarios!

When we start giving higher value to getting a good deal over a human life, we should all give our heads a shake!  Really???  I mean, these people didn't even skip a beat when they heard someone had been killed!  It sure made me wonder about where we've come.  We get all hot and bothered over someone saying, "Merry Christmas!" or professing to be a Christian, but we think nothing of trampling someone to death, just to get a bargain on some piece of inanimate junk!!?!  I know that's a huge generalization and not everyone is like that, but I see more and more evidence of twisted values these days.  I wish we could all see ourselves from a different perspective from time to time.

Sorry for the rant, but this article really threw me.  Let's get on to a more pleasant subject.  If you remember, I shared the Thankful Tablescape Simply Created Kit with you at Thanksgiving, but a little too late for you to do anything with it.  I told you then that I could see it being used, with a few modifications, for a lovely Christmas table setting as well.

So today, I got the kit out again and this time created a Christmas table scape, using the same kit, but adding some Christmas touches.  Here's how it looked:

Would you like to receive instructions for making all these elements for this festive table setting?   It's as easy as sending me an email, with your email address, and I will send you a copy of the tutorial.  It's all complete and ready to send out in two parts:  one, with the napkin holders and table tents; and the other with the candles.  Let me know if you would like me to add you to my mailing list for more projects like this one.

And if you would like to do some crafty Christmas shopping but want to avoid the zoos of the stores and malls at this time of year, why not sit back in the comfort of your own home and browse my On-Line Store.  There's huge sale going on now, but only until Monday night, so it's a great time to satisfy your stamping cravings and save up to 50% off.

Leave me a comment and tell me what you think of the incident I linked you to at the beginning of my post.

Thanksgiving Tablescape

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian Readers!  And I know my American followers have that holiday still to look forward to.  Today I wanted to focus on one of Stampin' Up's amazing Simply Created Kits and this is one of the best they've come up with!  The Thankful Tablescape!

The price is really reasonable and you can quickly put together a very classy table setting for all your Thanksgiving guests.  I'm sorry, Canadians, that I didn't get on this sooner, so you could order it, but I got two packages, thinking I would have more dinner guests than are actually coming, so I am so keeping the other package for Christmas!  That birch bark paper with red ribbons and trimmings, all the chalk board banners and even the napkin holders will make a great tablescape for the Christmas season as well.

My favourite part is that gorgeous birch paper ribbon.  You can do so many things with it.  It's a great background for cards.  You can wrap it around candles.  (Picture this with a Cherry Cobbler bow and an evergreen sprig, for Christmas.)  It makes a great table runner over top of a wider one.  You can stamp on it. Your imagination sets the limits!  I used the Lovely as a Tree stamp set and the Deco Labels Collection Framelits to create the label on this candle as well as some Always Artichoke ribbon. (retired)

Here's another candle wrapped with the birch paper ribbon, then with the Chocolate Chip paper ribbon (in a herringbone design) and tied with a piece of 7/16" Natural Trim.  Those die cut leaves were great on the napkin holder/name tag, but also look good strewn on the table top.

Here's a closer look at the napkin holder/Thankful list/place card!  They were quick and easy to put together - all cut and scored for you.  Those chalkboard place cards with the White Stampin' Chalk Marker are so cool!  You just need to write the names on.  So easy!  The kit even contains the linen thread to tie those cute bows!  I used the Truly Grateful stamp set for the sentiment on the list inside the napkin holder.

The table tents are fun and easy as well.  Again you use the White Stampin' Chalk Marker on them.  They could be place cards as well, if you wanted to be a bit different.  To take it from Thanksgiving to Christmas, just cut out some 4" x 6" pieces of Season of Style DSP, score it at 3" and fold it in half, then mount the tags on them.

Those dishes and plates are empty, but by tonight they will be heaped with the delicious feast!  I can hardly wait!  Hope you have a wonderful dinner either tonight or tomorrow night or in November, depending on when you celebrate!

Most of what you see here in this post is from the Thankful Tablescape Simply Created Kit (133463).  Here is a list of the extras I added:
Stamps:  Truly Grateful (w131730; c131733); Lovely as a Tree (w128655; c127793)
Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Cajun Craze (126965) and Chocolate Chip (126979)
Accessories:  1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon in Always Artichoke*(retired); 7/16" Natural Trim (129287)
Tools:  Deco Labels Collection Framelits (130102); 1 3/4" Circle Punch (119850)

Deco Labels Collection Framelits

Lovely as a Tree Stamp Set

Natural Trim

Thankful Tablescape Simply Created Kit

Truly Grateful stamp set

Vendor Fair Saturday

Just a quick post today, as I am off to this event:

It's a Vendor Fair in a suburb of Kelowna and it will be a busy and big one.

I wanted to share with you a couple of things I made for the fair, besides the 80 or so cards I have for sale.




I  donated an item for the Silent Auction - a pack of five hand stamped greeting cards and a gift certificate.

I remembered at the last minute that I needed a case for my cards and I was tempted to panic, but instead put my brain into logical gear and set out to find something quick, easy but very cute!  Almost immediately, I thought of the Thankful Tablescape Simply Created Kit (133463)!  The napkin holders and those cute place cards and chalkboard labels, not to mention the White Stampin' Chalk Marker!

Isn't this a great holder!  And it took all of 7 minutes to get together.  Below you can see the cards it contains!  Hopefully, it will be a hit for the auction!

And I wanted to make some business cards that wouldn't get lost in some one's purse or wallet, or worse! So I created these cute magnetic business cards for the fridge.  I used magnetic sheets from my local office supply store and punched out some 1 3/4" circles with the punch (119850) of the same size.  I added some Designer Series Paper Stack flowers, punched with the Blossom (125603) punch and the Fancy Flower (118073) punch, curled the petals with my Bone Folder and adhered them to the magnetic circle.  I printed some 1 3/8" circles with my info on them on some sticker paper and punched them out with the 1 3/8" Circle Punch (119860) and removed the backing and stuck them on.  I added a variety of embellishments, and we're done!

Cute, aren't they?  And if they go on the fridge, people will likely look at them and think about me and Stampin' Up and little longer than with a regular business card!

I'll let you know how it went, but just remember that if you want to enter the draw for the BLOG CANDY I'm giving away, you must write a comment on that post by 8 pm tonight, when I will do the draw!  Just follow the link.

If you are in my area, be sure to come out and shop!  40 + vendors so you can do all your shopping in one place!  See you there!

The First As You See It Challenge

This is so exciting!  The "As You See It" Challenge Blog is posting its very first challenge today!  It's such an honour to be on the Design Team with some pretty awesome card designers!  I hope you'll take the plunge and submit an entry, or at least try it out on your own.  Amanda has created a really amazing sketch challenge for us today.  Here it is:

I dug into my Holiday Mini stuff and brought out the Thankful Tablescape Simply Created Kit!  I'm excited to use if for my Thanksgiving table decor, but since I won't be having 10 dinner guests, I felt I could use a bit of the material on a card, specifically that GORGEOUS Birch Paper Ribbon!!  Here's what I came up with:

• This gives me a very masculine, monochromatic card, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  I love the combination of texture and  different shades of neutrals!
• The biggest problem with this sketch is actually getting all the flags lined up properly.  I started trying to do it on the back of the birch bark piece, but since the four small flags were on top I had to glue those to the back of the panel first.  This made it very difficult to judge where to place them without the Very Vanilla Core'dinations flags.
• I finally figured out that the best way was to glue all the flags to the card base first, then add the birch bark panel last.  DUH!  So much easier!

• I used the Magnificent Maple stamp from the Holiday Mini, for an accent behind the Naturals Designer Button, threaded and tied with some Linen Thread.
• The sentiment is from the Four You stamp set and is stamped in Early Espresso ink right onto the Birch Paper Ribbon (which is mounted on some Crumb Cake cardstock).  The bark colouring shows through the sentiment in places which adds a distressed look.
• The smaller flags are cut from some Sweater Weather DSP.

So there's the first one under my belt!  I can hardly wait to see the designs all of you come up with!  I'll be looking for yours!

Stamps:  Magnificent Maple (w131868); Four You (w130535; c130538)

Paper:  Birch Paper Ribbon (as part of the Thankful Tablescape Simply Created Kit (133463); Very Vanilla Core'dinations cardstock (as part of the Neutrals Collection Core'dinations) (129956); Sweater Weather Design Series Paper (132184); Early Espresso (119686), Crumb Cake (120953) and Very Vanilla (101650) cardstock

Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Chocolate Chip (126979) and Early Espresso (126974)

Accessories:  Linen Thread (104199); Naturals Designer Buttons (127554)

Magnificent Maple Stamp

Neutrals Collection Core'dinations cardstock

Stampin' Sanding Block

Sweater Weather DSP

Thankful Tablescape Simply Created Kit

Four You Stamp Set