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

 Take a look at the Spooky Spider Decor Element released in time for Halloween this year.  It is the first of what is yet to come shortly.  You may download the pdf file here, so you can see the sizes and other details.

I’ve purchased the largest image for my treat jar which hopefully will be displayed at my Open House on Saturday, October 4th and 1pm. Or you could adhere it above your door or on a nearby window to scare off the trick-or-treaters! The exclusive Spooky Spider comes in three sizes and two colors and is designed to coordinate with our Ghostly Greetings Designer Series paper and our Chills & Thrills Rub-Ons from the Fall-Winter 2008 Idea Book & Catalog.

A new phase of Decor Elements will be released soon, and a new brochure will be available to include the previously released Phase 1 and the newly released Phase 2 images.  Wow!  Wait until you see the colors that they will be manufactured in!  Almost makes me want to get pregnant to shoot for a baby girl, so I can decorate her room with these beautiful images.  Ok, NO!  Just trying to see if you were paying attention!    There are so many areas of  your home where you could easily apply these beautiful additions.  The decor elements have been designed not only to coordinate with our current stamps sets and embellishments, but also to easily be incorporated with your current decor.  Not to mention  that there are other images specifically designed with holiday decorating in mind.  You’ll see what I mean soon.  hehehhee, I just love surprises!  Check back soon because you definitely don’t want to miss seeing the soon to be released phase 2!

In the meantime, if you’d like to add this SPOOKY SPIDER to your Halloween Decor Collection, please give me a call or go online to shop!  Remember, it’s only here until October 31st!

Technorati Tags: Chills and Thrills Rub-ons, Decor Elements, Ghostly Greetings dsp, Halloween, Home Decor, Spooky Spider Decor Elements

This is a treat bag I made using the Batty For You stamp set.  It’s called a bag in a box, cleverly designed by Ann Fitton, I just love this set, but I don’t own it, so I had to borrow it twice from some friends. This bag is really cute, and of course, could easily be adapted with other stamp sets for other holidays and seasons.

It’s made with pumpkin pie designer series paper, and olive green, pumpkin pie, and black cardstock.  You start by making the bottom into a box with 4.5" x 4.5" olive green cardstock, scored on all sides at 1". In each corner, I snipped in to the scoreline, creating tabs to fold in, and adhered with sticky strip, creating a box.  I then ran a long piece of sticky strip along the entire inside bottom edge of the pumpkin pie dsp, and wrapped this around the edge of the box. I used the scalloped edge punch on the black cardstock  1.5×11".   I also punched the black cardstock piece with the scalloped circle punch.  Frankenstein was stamped twice, first in black and punched with 1 3/8" circle punch.  I stamped him again in old olive and popped up with dimensionals.  I also used the round label punch to make two black cardstock labels.  I  cut 10" pieces of both pumpkin pie striped ribbon and 1/4" black grosgrain ribbon.  I punched holes in the center of the round label punched after it was folded in half, and applied snail adhesive to each side of the top of the bag.  I then used the crop-a-dile to adhere the antiqued brass jumbo eyelets to the center of each round label.  I tied knots in the ribbon ends, and ran it through each of the jumbo eyelets and tied in bow.

Technorati Tags: Bag in a Box, Batty For You stamp set, Pumpkin Pie dsp, Pumpkin Pie striped ribbon, round label punch, scalloped circle tag, scalloped edge punch