The Decor Elements line is SOOO cool!  I have a bunch of things to show you, but I gotta tell ya, they are way more in real life than I can produce in a flat, reduced for the web photo. My usual sassy self would say, "Well, you could have seen it in person if you had come to my open house!"  But, I’m not bitter mind you. 

You know when the holidays come, and you have that awkward conversation with your spouse about whose family you and your family are going to spend time with on Thanksgiving, and then you repeat the same process at Christmas?  You know, you can pick your friends but you can’t pick your relatives!  Well, they whoever coined that phrase must have known my family well.  Anyway, one good thing about having a dysfunctional family makes it a no brainer to determine the answer to that question.  Even if the nearest one is 8 hours away!   Ooops, getting off topic. 

So, I made this as a gift to my brother and sister in law that always have us for Thanksgiving and they make a superb feast every year, although we can’t make the trek to Atlanta every year.  Now I love to cook, and I consider myself a foodie, so for me to think it and say this, is a huge compliment to my husband’s brother Paul who cooks most of the meal with his wife, Patty.  Actually the two brothers from GA are both descent cooks, and why that didn’t rub off onto my husband, I can’t understand.  GO figure.  Ooops off topic again.

Well, I bought this amazing shadow box frame at Ikea, which comes in black or white.  I like the black because it’s a little more sophisticated.  This frame is a lot bigger than you probably can determine from the picture - it’s 20×20, so it’s a descent size piece of wall art!  See that cut out in the center of the mat?  That’s a full sheet (only a 1/4" margin adhered to the mat with sticky tape) of our 12×12 designer series paper from the Autumn Vine collection found in the Winter mini-catty.  The decor element I used is called Season of Thanks, in chocolate brown, size small.  BTW- They are so much bigger than you’d expect, and  you need to use the measurements in the catalog in front of you on a yardstick and really try to envision them at the size you’re thinking, and then order the next size down.  lol

I filled this shadow box frame with "naturals", which is a collection of real dried  leaves and some other silk stems and fall elements, which  I picked up at Michael’s with my 20%purchase coupon.

I know that they’re going to love it and I can’t wait to give it to them.  I can’t wait for Thanksgiving!  The boys can’t wait until Halloween.  Enough of that family mushy cherish stuff that you girls like (my youngest actually said that today).  lol   Actually, he made me smile super big when I made this gift; he told me that this was the nicest scrapbooking thing I’ve ever made!  Awwwhhhh.  That deserved a big hug and kiss.

Well, stay tuned, got lots more decor elements to show you when I get all the pics downloaded, cropped, resized and watermarked. 

Hugs!

Technorati Tags: Autumn Vine designer series paper, Decor Elements, Seasons of Thanks, Thanksgiving

Ok, so things didn’t work out exactly the way I had planned, with regard to all the projects I had thought I would have finished this weekend.  My little book took quite a lot longer than I anticipated, which has a lot to do with creating a book from scratch with the binding on the spine.  A slightly modified version of this book will be a class in November.  It will have the same contents inside and use the same designer series papers from the "I Wish" Simply Scrappin’ Kit.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to like brown in my Christmas papers, but I absolutely love the color combinations together.  They are very rich.  Ok, now for the magic!  Let’s peak inside, shall we?  These are the first two pages; page 2 has a large round photo frame.  Gosh I love that tree from Snow Swirled!

The next two pages become interactive.  At first glance you see the obvious two pages, but  each side are both pockets.  The left side has a pull out (see the red ribbon) and the right side has another mini-book with it’s pull tab, that flips open for more pictures and journaling inside.  It tucks neatly into the diagonal pocket.

This is what is inside of those pockets:

Don’t forget to check off the "naughty" or "nice" on the wish list!  I think I’m getting coal this year!  Apparently, the consensus is that I’m a MMIA (a mom missing in action).  The woman who used to run this tight ship vanishes every day to her scrapping room and doesn’t come out sometimes til dawn!   lol

Ok, two more interactive pages again. 

Oooh!  This one has a pull-out on one side for a photo and a beautiful ornament for the tree on the other! 

Lots of ornaments decorate these two pages  Another page to pull out with the tab on the left, and three tags express my wish for my holiday:

I just can’t wait to watch "It’s a Wonderful Life" for the gazillionth time!  It just never gets old for me, especially when he is falling apart and desperately tries to fix ZuZu’s petals.  But I digress….. 

Ok, the last two pages include another large frame, in the shape of a wreath.  Both of these pages have a lot of sparkle, but unfortunately, it’s not reflected in the pictures.  The wreath have both glitter and groups of our larger beads while the poinsettias have glitter on the leaves and the centers.

And finally the back; nothing too exciting here.  I didn’t photograph the spine, so you can’t see how I made the book itself.  I guess you’ll just have to come to the class if you want to learn how. 

This little book is packed with product!  Besides the SS kit, I used two patterns from the Holiday Treasures designer series to cover the book.  Again, the same color combinations, just different patterns, so they coordinate beautifully.  I used plenty of punches, ribbons, chipboard, beads, die cuts with the Big Shot, glitter, wheels, and at least 5 Christmas stamp sets, including my newest favorite, Snow Swirled.

It’s the cutest little book, just waiting for your holiday photos!  Or you could bless some loving relative or friend with this book as a gift!  With the next two months of holidays, I’ll be changing my class schedule around quite a bit to avoid conflicts with the holidays.  The class will take place on Saturday, November 22 (instead of Sizzix Saturday), and again on Tuesday, November 25.

Hope to see you then!

Technorati Tags: Holiday Treasures dsp, I Wish Simply Scrappin' Kit, mini-album, Punches, Snow Swirled stamp set

I’m working on a couple of samples for Christmas Cards to send as samples to an engineering firm that wants 100-125 Christmas cards!  yowser!  I have to start now if I’m going to finish, especially if there’s all this embossing.  Anyway, I really got the inspiration for this card from Amanda Coughlin, a fellow Stampin’ Up! team member friend from Oldsmar.  You can see her more sophisticated and GORGEOUS card here.  I really loved the non-traditional colors she used with this set.

I love embossing cards, especially during the holidays.  It always gives that extra special wow factor.  I know it’s sometimes time consuming, but once I have all the stuff out, at that point, I may as well do a hundred!   The stamp set I used for this card is called Snow Swirled.  The main image of this card is stamped in Baja Breeze on whisper white cardstock and the smaller snowflake images are stamped in Pacific Point.  The small snowflake on the top of the tree and the larger snowflake is stamped with Encore Silver, and then embossed with Silver embossing powder.  I used our snow blossom punch which coordinates with this stamp and popped it up with dimensionals.  Besides the tree, my favorite image in this set is the largest snowflake, which I didn’t use here because it’s too big, but it’s design is simply gorgeous!  Check it out online!

The main image is distressed on the edges with Pacific Point, matted in brushed silver cardstock, and then matted again on Pacific Point.  The sentiment outside and inside is stamped with Pacific Point and matted on Pacific Point cardstock.   I used our silver cording, which I’m so pleased to have back.  I use rolls of this at christmas time for ornaments and tags, and wrapping gifts, but it really works with this card too adding just another touch of silver!

This is what the inside looks like:

I hope you take a closer look at this set using the links above. It’s so pretty! 

Lots of posts coming this weekend, so stop by frequently.  Thank you for visiting.

Technorati Tags: Baja Breeze cardstock, Encore ink, heat embossing, Pacific Point cardstock, silver embossing powder, Snow Swirled stamp set

This will be the 2 page layout for the upcoming scrapbook class scheduled October 22nd and 25th.  This project is 12×12 sized 2 page spread, featuring Ghostly Greetings dsp, and Sizzix’ BIGZ ghost, pumpkin, and flourish die cuts, cut with the Big Shot.  The only stamped piece is on the front flap of the small flip open mini journaling/picture spot on page 2 in the upper left corner, using the  Batty For You stamp set.  All I did for the die cuts is glue the eyes and faces on, and sponge the ghosts with basic gray, and sponged the pumpkins with creamy caramel.

All cardstock pieces are the coordinating colors from the Designer Series Paper Pack, which are gray, pumpkin pie, black and old olive.  Eyelets are from the Earth Elements pack.  Ribbons are 1/4 " black, old olive, and black checked grosgrain.  Background is using the textured neutrals.  The titles are cut from the words sheet included in the Ghostly Greetings dsp pack, and matted on black.  I was disappointed that my shipment of Chills and Thrills rub-ons and Spooky decor elements hadn’t arrived on Friday as expected, because I intended to use the rub-ons for the title.

Well, thanks for looking! 

Technorati Tags: Batty For You stamp set, Big Shot, bigz dies, Ghostly Greetings dsp, sizzix