And I thought I was done~

 However, Jay always takes a gift card to a local restaurant for the ladies in his office, as well as gift cards for the guys in his department.  And I have been making the cards, boxes, etc. for years, so I had to ignore my last project until after the new year comment from down below and get these done today!

Box is 2-3/4" x 4" x1" and made using my Scor-Pal and has an insert like the one from this previous post from November 20, 2010.  

Instructions to make any size box you'd like may be found here: Making Boxes November 21, 2010 

Card is a traditional A2 size, 4.25" x 5.5" 

Stamps: Jolly Ornaments by OCL, Holiday Wishes by PTI

Ink: Vivid! Brick, Olive, Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Desert Sand

Paper: Pre-made Robins' Eggs card base by Memory Box, GKD Lipstick Red, Ivory

Patterned paper: Echo Park

Other; Nestabilites Labels 10 and Ribbon Banners,  Aqua Surf mini brads by StarlitStudio, last of my Riding Hood Red ribbon by SU!, Corner rounder, Dauber, Dimensional foam

No reinventing the wheel here, just a slightly different take on the layout down below.  There are gift card sleeves inside that the gift cards slide into.  Nice and compact, the guys don't ooh and ahh like the ladies do over the cute boxes, LOL!

Stamps: Many Merry Messages by SU!

Ink: Vivid! Brick, Memento Desert Sand

Paper: Kraft, Green Apple and Ivory by GKD

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey

Other: Nestabilites Labels 10, Striped Grosgrain, Tim Holts Mini Clip, Vintage Gold mini brads, Dauber, Corner Rounder, Dimensional foam

Happiest of Holidays to you!

V.~

Christmas Fudge~

Making Fantasy Fudge, 15 minutes.

Creating 5 presentation boxes and tags, just under 2 hours.

 Boxes made using my Scor-Pal and measure 3.5" x 4.5" finished, with 1.25" sides.

This is the last of the crafting until after the new year.....I am paying for it a little bit and don't want to over do things and set myself back in getting better.  

Happiest of Holidays and a Wonderful New Year to all!

Supplies:

Stamps: Holiday Wishes by Papertrey Ink, The Giving Tree by Gina K Designs

Ink: Ranger Distress Ink Vintage Photo, Vivid! Brick

Paper: Lipstick Red and Green Apple by GKD, Prefabricated tags from Joann's (trimmed down), Old Olive by SU!

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey

Other: Aqua ribbon (Michaels), Green/white check ribbon, Linen thread, Red button, Antique brad, Snowflake punch (SU! retired), Circle punch (for finger notches on lids) , clothespin, White, Black and Orange craft paint, Glossy accents

V.~

This, That and the Other~

A few of the things I've done in the past week~

 

Another card set, same flowers, different patterned papers, for Jay's Aunt Jane.

They were packaged up in a cello box and packed into a Priority Mail Box yesterday.

 Stamps: Hero Arts

Paper: Gina K Designs Green Apple and Ivory, Pre-made cards by Memory Box,

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey

Other: Nestabilities Labels 14,  Memento Markers, Water bottle, Spritzer tool, Corner rounder, Distressing tool, Sanding block, Dauber, Linen thread, Dimensionals

 Re-purposed old strands of unusable glass garland that my mother in law was discarding. I unstrung and kept the whole ones, mixed them all together and put them into a decorative glass jar with a bow and stamped tag attached.

I could tell by her reaction that she had an emotional attachment to them - turns out they hold 50 years of Christmas decorating memories in them, from her kids to mine.  We gave them to her on Sunday so she could enjoy them this holiday season.

Stamps: Happy Holly Days by OCL, Simple Serif alpha by SU!, retired

Ink: Vivid! Brick, Coffee Bean, SU! Garden Gree, Memento Desert Sand

Paper: GKD Ivory, Lipstick red, SU! Brushed gold

Other: Nestabilities Petite Scallop Circle and Circle dies, wired ribbon, glass jar

 

 I ran out of the 25 cards I made earlier and needed a few more, so using the same set as the jar above I created a few of these.

Stamps: Happy Holly Days by OCL, peace from Everyday Flexible Phrases (retired) bu SU!

Ink: Vivid! Brick and Olive (discontinued), Memento Desert Sand

Paper: Gina K Designs Kraft, Green Apple and Ivory

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey

Other: Nestabilities Labels 14, Clip by Tim Holtz, red ribbon by SU!, Dauber, Sanding block, Distressing tool, Corner rounder, Dimensionals

And finally, this morning, being a last minute lucy for teachers' gifts, I ran to Subway after I dropped Brett off at school and picked up gift cards.  Using a kit of sorts that was given as a thank you for an Etsy purchase (thank you thank you thank you, you saved me today!) , I quickly put together these little glassine holders for the cards.  I did copy the clothespin snowmen from my dear friend, Anna (although hers were the smaller clothespin, much cuter and probably not done on the fly in just a few minutes!).  I coffee dyed (versus tea dyed as I already had coffee made) the doilies and little tags first and hit them with the heat tool to speed things up.  A little ink distressing on the tags, doilies and trees (pretty sure I want that die!) with Ranger Vintage Photo, an old SU! greeting and they were finished in a very short time.  Brett will take them to school tomorrow on the last day before break.

Enjoy today!

V.~

eta: the results of the white elephant were not wild and crazy.  My friend got them and hid the bag behind a couch cushion so they would be forgotten about.  :)  And they were, the most popular trade item for some reason (I couldn't wait for someone to take them from me as I got it first) was a Harley Davidson mug and coasters...blech, sorry, Harley fans.

White Elephant~

Jay and I are going to a holiday party tonight with a few of his co-workers and friends.  Part of the festivities is a white elephant or "real" gift exchange.  One of the gals said to him, "Val's cards would be loved by the women".....well, I couldn't very well bring anything else, could I?  He's bringing a white elephant gift to even things out. ;)

I still had the flowers out on my counter so I put them to use again and made a set of 6 blank cards that may be used for any occasion.  They are all markered and spritzed with water before stamping onto ivory cardstock. A few spatters and edge distressing combined with 3 different ribbon (one with a clip, the other through an eyelet) or linen thread treatments completed the image panel. A smudge of Star Dust Stickles on the flower heads provide a little sparkle.

Image panels were die cut before stamping and layered onto a green apple die cut before adhering to the card base.  Base is a Memory Box premade card in Robin's Egg Blue.  Patterned paper by Basic Grey.

When finished they are simply put into a clear box and tied off with a ribbon and knot before putting into an anonymous Christmas bag.  I may add a tag to the knot before the end of the day, we'll see.

  

And the rules are unlimited trading....wonder what we will come home with before the exchange is over?

V.~

Supplies: 

Flowers by Hero Arts

Ink: Memento Desert Sand for edge distressing

Paper: Robins Egg Blue premade card base by Memory Box, Ivory and Green Apple by Gina K Designs

Other: Nestabilites Labels 14, Assorted Memento markers, water bottle, Star Dust Stickles, Linen thread by Normandy Linen and available at StarlitStudio, Seam binding ribbon, Dauber, Dimensional foam, Distressing tool, Clear Box

Company Cards~

Every year I make a handful of cards for Jay to hand out to a few of his clients.  They need to be generic holiday themed and be more masculine in appearance.  Stripes and metal, yep that works! :)

 V.~

Stamp: Season's Greeting from Many Merry Messages by SU!

Premade cards are Peapod by Memory Box

Ink: Vivid! Olive, Memento Desert Sand

Paper: Lipstick Red and Ivory by Gina K Designs

Patterned Paper: Season's Greetings by Echo Park

Other: Nestabilities Labels 14, Tim Holtz clip, Artichoke Grosgrain, Tim Holtz Piercing Ruler, Metal mini brads, Dauber, Dimensionals

Peace~ Love ~ Joy

I was determined to make our holiday cards this year, in a limited supply (just 25 this year), and did so over a 3 week period in early November.  The first time my cards have been ready so early!  Although doing them so slowly was good for my shoulders it was havoc on my need to be finished syndrome! 

At the time, scoring was very difficult for me so I decided to try out Memory Box premade cards, well, they are delightful! And to have a white interior, well, that just made things so much easier!  I did trim them 1/2" to make the finished size 3-3/4" x 5-1/2" instead of a traditional A2 size.  After trimming, the top right was corner rounded.

After choosing the card base, I was on the hunt for patterned paper and found a non-Christmas paper that reminded me of the Nordic trend that I have seen around and it was a perfect color match. Strips were cut, the top edge folded over and stitched, the bottom banner cut and they were adhered to the base.

Then I hunted for the perfect stamp at various stores, unsuccessfully.  In the end, I dug out an old SU! set and found the greeting.  Another non-traditional stamp is the little red bird from a Gina K Designs set - Branching Out - who perches on the "J" of Joy.   The image was die cut with a Nestabilities Circle die and adhered to the base with dimensional foam.

Finally a seam binding ribbon bow attached with a Tim Holtz paperclip and now the envelopes are ready to be addressed.

I only have 6 more cards to make for this year and that is Jay's client cards that accompany the gift he delivers to just a handful of customers.  But, I have a week or so before they need to be done, guess I'd better figure out the design! 

Happy December 1st!

V.~

Stamps: All Holidays by SU!, Branching Out by Gina K Designs

Ink: Vivid! coffee Bean and Brick (discontinued)

Paper: Memory Box Thistle, Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Ivory

Patterned Paper: Cloth Feed Sacks from the Piccadilly Collection by Basic Grey

Other: Nestabilities circle die, Tim Holtz clip, Seam binding, Dimensional foam