Welcome to Poinsettia Place

Over the years Stampin Up has had several Poinsettia stamp sets in the holiday catalogs.  But this year the Set, Poinsettia Petals is so amazing!  After seeing so many beautiful samples on Pinterest, I knew that I had to get it for my own holiday crafting.  :)

This pretty gold card is made using gold embossing powder with gold accents leaves.  I also added the Plush Poinsettia velvet flocked paper!  I added Misty Moonlight cardstock for the background, but you could put any color background cardstock on this card and it would be beautiful!  I got the idea from Jan Clothier.

Another beautiful card that I made to coordinate with the previous one is this fairly easy gold embossed card.  It features the In the Pines cut outs and the Evergreen Forest embossing folder.  I added a strip of the metallic cardstock to the front of the card and ran them both through the folder.  Then I added the front to some thick white cardstock for a white-on-white look to the card.  I embossed the saying from For Unto Us stamp set and cut it out with the stitched circle framelits.  Add some bling and welllah!  A beautiful card.  From Kerry McDonough.

Seemingly every time I take the camera out to photograph my cards, my kitty Ginger wants in on the action.  Here she is posing along with the two cards.  Actually, she was trying to eat the gold tree, but let's not talk about that.  :)

I made this card using the Poinsettia Petals.  This time I stamped the flower petals in Basic Brown and in Olive Green for the leaves.  I added some gold metallic sprigs to bring out the gold highlights in the papers.  I embossed the saying with gold powders.  You can also see the inside of the card.  This idea came from Christy Fulk.

Lastly I wanted to stamp the petals onto vellum cardstock for a more muted look to the poinsettia.  I colored them on the back side with Sweet Sugarplum ink and used the same color for the card base.  I got the idea from Mary Brown.

Altogether I loves the "golden" look of these poinsettia cards.  And today I found out that this set will be available past January.  I just might try using it in additional colors.  

 

Two Different Advent Calendar Looks

Last year I bought the holiday Advent Calendar kit from Stampin Up.  I put it together this year to give to my daughter, who loves them.  

I added some of my own stamps from various sets, ribbons and buttons for embellishments.  It was fun and easy to put together.  I hope that she uses it for a many years.  I put candies in the drawers and an idea every day to make Christmas special each year.  

Here you can see some some of the drawers a little closer up.  I loved adding the little dog and other holiday images from the set Ready for Christmas.  

There's even a little plate of cookies in it!

I had so much fun making the Advent calendar that I decided to make another one, this time for my craft room and not for Christmas!  I used the template in the kit to cut the drawer fronts from a package of designer paper that I had lying around called Share What You Love.  

I added buttons to each of the drawers and love how it turned out.  :)  I might add some trinkets to the drawers and maybe some candy to snack on when I am crafting in my room!  

What sort of calendar would you make?

 

Heartwarming Hugs

This week I worked on some cards and projects using the Heartwarming Hugs suite from the mini holiday catalog.  I love the warm red homespun look that it brings.

I started with the coffee mugs holder and made it into a hot cocoa gift set.  The cup has chocolates in it and the little " gift bag" has a hot cocoa mix.  I added some mini marshmallows and love how it all came together.  :)  

Here you can see a little better what I put in it the carrier.  It makes a sweet little gift to give to someone.  :)

For this card I used the set Christmas Cheer and added in a mini marshmallow stamp that I had from an old set.  I like the candy cane cut out and the little greenery in the cup.  I saw the idea for this from Anne Marie Hile on Pinterest.  

This card uses A Merry Hello hostess stamp set.  I got the idea to fold back the designer paper from someone on Facebook.  I can't find her name, but I do love the card idea.  (Let me know if this idea is from you and I will give you the credit.)

And lastly, I made a little gift card holder using an older Label die set.  This is so cute for putting in a gift card or tucking in some money.  I would love to make more of these and put them on the tree!  This idea is from Julie Gilson.  

How is your holiday crafting coming along?  I'd like to make these coffee cup sets in some blue snowflake papers and have them for after Christmas. :)

Beautiful Friendship

I'm not really much one for making cards and projects with flowers all of the time, and I'm actually surprised that I liked this stamp set - Beautiful Friendship.  I think Stampin Up gets carried away with their flower stamp sets, but I really like how these cards turned out.  

This card features the Stitched Lace die for the background and then I added some flowers from the Beautiful Friendship set.  I also used the gold hoops that are part of the Forever Fern suite.  The hoop really adds to the elegance of the card.  Seriously, I just love this card.  I got the idea for this from Facebook from another demonstrator, Mandy Patzold.

This pretty blue cards also uses the same stamp set, however I got the saying from another flower stamp set, All Things Fabulous. Two flower sets?  What has gotten in to me?   I got the idea from Cindee Wilkinson.  
 

I saw this card online and I thought it was so beautiful that I had to buy the All Things Fabulous set.  Some of the flowers are stamped onto the white cardstock, then embossed with the Tasteful Texture folder.  The flower and a couple of the leaves are added on at the end.  This card is elegant, and has texture and dimension.  Thank you to Mikaela Titheridge for this beautiful card.

I used the Birch background stamp for these two cards.  One has flowers from All Things Fabulous and the second one has flowers from Beautiful Friendship.  I got the idea for this card from Charlet Mallett.  

I had so much fun making these pretty cards.  Stampin Up might even be turning me into a "flower loving" girl after all these years!  

Deer in the Woods Wall Hanging

For my daughter's birthday this year, I wanted to make her something that symbolizes the outdoors.  She lives in the Adirondacks and loves all of the wildlife around her house.  I found an old McKenna Ryan pattern in my stash and changed up the colors to make this deer table runner for her.  It can also be used as a wall hanging, if she would like hang it up.  I wanted to use a lot of greens and some bright colors, so I decided to make it look like it was fall.

Here is a close up photo of the deer.  I cut them out of a brown batik fabric that had a large leaf pattern on it.  I think this gave them a muted animal look.  I like how they turned out.  

When it came to quilting the appliques, I didn't know what I wanted to do.  I stitched around each cut out using the free motion on my machine.  I was surprised at how well they turned out!  Then I did some stippling in the background.

I am happy with how this turned out.  I'd like to make more, next time adding in some moose or bear in the woods, maybe even a bit of all three. 

While I was taking photos outside of the project, my little kitty was watching from the door.  If you look at the reflection, you can see the deer's legs from the wall hanging in the photo.  After the photo session, I let her out on the deck to sit with me for a while.  We both enjoy a nice fall day.  :)

Way To Goat

 I finally got a chance to take out these really cute goat stamps, called Way to Goat.  They are so silly and make up some really nice whimsical cards.  I especially like the saying, "Happy Birthday you old goat!"  I'm not sure if I'd send this card to just anyone, but if you know someone with a good sense of humor, it's sure to be a hit.  I got the idea for this from Angie over at Chic-n-Scratch.

This card is so silly, too!  I love this one.  The saying says, I got you a cake... but I ate it!  The remainder of the saying is on the inside of the card.  I thought that this set really needed a cake, because of the saying.  I looked back in the "archives" for this little cake that I think matches it perfectly!  It's from an old set called Party Animals from 1999.  I got the idea for this from Jane Proffitt.  I changed up the colors and added the cake.

For this next card, I wanted to show my stampers that the goats can be feminine, as well as masculine.  So I added some flower paper and flowers to dress her up a bit.  I love the Bumblebee gingham ribbon on this, too.  I saw this idea from Diana Gibbs.

Which goat card do you like the best?  My stampers voted on the one with the little cake.  :)

Forever Ferns for Fall

 For this week's Fall stamp class, we used the Forever Ferns stamp set mixed with the Guilded Autumn designer papers.  I love how the Ferns can move from season to season.  I think it's the most versatile set in the whole catalog.  :)

For this first card, I used the Greenery embossing folder for the background.  For all of my cards today, I used Vanilla cardstock.  For the focal piece, I stamped some green leaves onto the background and added some speckles using in Crumb Cake ink.  Then I added a leaf stamp in Terra-Cotta Tile. The gold leaves and ribbon add a nice touch.  I also added some twine ribbon that I pulled apart for embellishment.  I got the idea for this card from Yvonne Neefjes.  

For this next card, I made a fancy fold card that folds over to one side.  I used one of the gold hoops that corrdinates with the Forever Ferns.  I love what it adds to the card.  This card also has some "wheat" shafts made from pulled apart ribbon, some gold accent leaves and some of the fern images stamped in Mint Macaron and Terra-Cotta.  I finished it off with a pretty gold-trimmed bow.  This idea is also from Yvonne Neefjes.  Thank you for these beautiful card ideas, Yvonne.

This next card is very sweet.  It uses the Free as a Bird stamp set, which is one of my favorites.  The little birdhouses are die cuts from the Coming Home Bundle in the mini catalog.  Don't they make adorable birdhouses?  I stamped some wheat from the Gather Together stamp set onto the background and then added some leaf die cuts.  The birds are colored in with Crumb Cake and Mint Macaron.  They are a bit washed out in this photo and look better in person. I got this idea from Jana Muller.  Cute, right?  

Last up is a simple fall card using cut out leaves from the Seasonal Layers die cuts.  I wanted to make a Thank You card and this is what I came up with.  

I had a great time making these cards.  The Guilded Autumn papers are so beautiful to work with and the Forever Fern set is amazing.  I can't wait to make more with these.

I love everything about fall.  I just wish that it lasted longer.  :)