Final Christmas ideas

Here are some final Christmas projects that I made for several last minute events and gifts.
The first one is the treat bag we made at my work's cookie exchange.  Very simple to case from here!  Then next picture is the ornament that I cased from my friends Monika and Wendy.  You can see Monika's here: dasher-treat-cup-ornament  I also made 5 of these with snowmen from Snow buddies stamp set for my "snowman" tree.
Third is the ornament wish lists that I made for my nephews.  I got this from UStamp Holidays last year.  It is so simple to make!  I added some more white pages in the book so that SIL Reen could put a picture of them with Santa and their wish list for the next 6 years. I love the pop of Brillant Blue on it with traditional Real Red and Old Olive.  I used the snowflake from the hostess set called Patterned Pines. Email me at nutmeg1197@aol.com if you would like more details.
Last is some hot cocoa bags that I made for Megan's teachers. I took a large envelope and sealed it closed then cutting 1" off one end of it.  I stamped snowflakes in Bermuda Bay all over it.  I stamped the snowmen from Snow Buddies in Soft Suede and colored them in with the in color markers.  I punched out the snowflake in Bermuda Bay cardstock.  I did use diamensional to pop the center scene out off the bag.  I used the dotted grosgrain ribbon in soft suede to tie off the top opening.
Have a magical day!
Cindy

Here are the family photos from Christmas 2009! Homier family with sweetie pie Abigail and Schuster family with the nephews getting bigger! Such a wonderful Christmas this year! :o)

Moose for you!

I saw this on Heather's blog here:  Heather's moose! (thank u!) and immediately went into my studio to create my own version! My neighbor Ana is from Canada and loves a moose!  So I have always thought of them every time I see a moose. I made this frame for them with a big jar of homemade spiral soup as their gift.  The moose is cased closer to the blog that Heather cased from.  I like the face shape.  I used a Simply Scrappin Kit from last year for the sign and moose outline.  I stamped Serene Snowflakes in Versamark on the Real Red background. You can see how I added the ribbon to the frame by the pictures.  I got this frame from Walmart and love the bronze brown color.
We took care of their home while they were in Canada for Christmas, so I left it on their kitchen counter to greet them when they got home last night!  Ana called the next morning to let me know that she loved it! 
Have a magical day!
Cindy

Christmas Recap

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  I sure did!  Later Christmas Eve was filled with rejoice and joy in celebration of the birth of Jesus!  Then Christmas morning, MIL came over with bagels and we opened our presents from Santa.  The girls were surprised and pleased with all their gifts.  Around 2pm, we headed over to Santa Papa and Santa Nana's for the final round of presents and sweet family time!  They love to spoil us!  I finally got a Cricut!  My mom surprised me big time!  I can not wait to use it when I find the time to get to my craft room to create.  We got so many wonderful presents this year and as I was putting them away over the weekend, I could not help but think how blessed we are this Christmas!  After a really rough year, we finally got a perfect ending. 

My hubby asked me to place a Stampin Order for myself and order two things that I really wanted.  I have been debating whether to get the color caddy or not for some time.  So it was definitely on my list.  See pic and how well it works on my desk.  It fills 60 and I have 61 ink pads. OY! The next was My Digital Studio.  I can not wait to get it set up! Heather is having a MDS online class and now I will be ready for it!  Waiting til the first of the year when I have time to download it and play with it.  I will be able to show my scrapbook pages on my blog too!

Have a magical day!
Cindy

A Wonderful Christmas Eve...

Today is Day One of Christmas Celebration with our families!  We head over to the Schusters this morning to spend the day eating and opening presents! 

Over the weekend, we had our nephews spend the night and a special visitor came to our house!  It was the best surprise ever!  The boys were in shock to see him at the door!  One was jumping up and down yelling "It's Santa! It's Santa!", one was stamming back in disbelief and the other went right up to him for a hug.  Here are all the Schuster cousins with Santa!

So today's card is in honor of the big guy visiting tonight!  The top note die cut in Real Red was put on a regular size white card. Then I took a 1 1/4" x 5" strip of textured black and added it to the middle.  Cutting the excess off the ends to match the top note. Then Basic Gray square cut  2 x 2 and another black textured 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" square for the buckle.  Stamped in Real Red marker the sentiment from Christmas Punch hostess set and punched out 1 1/4" circle with a 1 3/8" black circle.

Wishing you all a magical Christmas Eve!

Cindy

1 Day til Christmas!

I have to give credit to my friend Monika Davis who helped me make this beautiful countdown advent calendar box!  She posted her version on her blog here:   Monika's advent box # 1 and here: Monika's advent box # 2  I wonder how her last one came out for her other son. 
I went over to her house to die cut all the matchboxes that make up the drawers since I do not have that die cut yet!  I used the Simply Scrappin Kit from Christmas last year.  I used some gingham ribbon, retired ribbon and regular 1/4" grosgrain ribbon.  The snowflakes are felt flurries from last year's mini catalog. The colors are Old Olive, Real Red and Chocolate Chip.  I love the red rhinestone for my top drawer closer.  You can see below how each of the four sides are decorated. You can click on each picture to enlarge the picture to see the details.  Monika explains on her blog how to make them so I will not go into more details on how to make it.  She is a pro at giving instructions!  Thanks Monika!  I love mine and so does my daughter Allison! 

Have a magical day!
Cindy

2 Days til Christmas!

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE  DAYS TIL CHRISTMAS?!  WOW!

I wanted to share with you some the the Christmas Organizers that my just some of my ladies made back in November at our class.  These are some very talented women!  I did miss taking a picture of two ladies that had left already.  Here are four of them completed.  I hope they put them to good use this holiday season!  I know I used mine and get all kinds of compliments when people come over and see it displayed on my cookbook easel near the kitchen. You can see mine here: Our Wish List Scrapbook Page

I can not wait to see all of them again in January and my next class!  We will be making something amazing and I can not wait to show you! More later...

Have a magical day!

Cindy

3 Days til Christmas!

So I have been shopping with hubby all today and was just checking my blog when I realized that I put 11pm instead of 11am on the scheduling part of today's post! Oops!

This card is done in Old Olive, Real Red and White.  Simple traditional holiday colors! I used Baroque Motifs and Delightful Decorations stamp sets on the front of the card.  I used Christmas Greetings on the inside of the card which I just love and so glad that they made a greeting for the front of a card and inside a card.  But I used both for the inside of the card.  I have used this set the most this holiday season on most of my cards. The Old Olive in a standard card sized 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". The white cardstock measures 2 3/4" x 3 3/4" for both.  Then the Real Red measures 3 x 4.  I used retired silver cording around the ornament punch that is popped up on a dimensional.

Tomorrow post will be posted a little later in the day because I goofed.  Come back cause it will be worth it!

Have a magical day!

Cindy

4 Days til Christmas!

If you want to know two things about me, then one:  I LOVE SNOWMEN and two:  I LOVE SNOWGLOBES!  I have a collection of 30 snowglobes displayed for the holidays.  I love getting unusual ones and snowmen ones!  Hubby got me not one but THREE when he was in New York.  He said that he could not decide so he just got all of them.  One of them in New York at Christmas which is my fav!

This card is a 4.25x4.25 which is a cute card size to work with.  I used Bermuda Bay, Soft Suede and Kraft cardstock.  The Christmas Punch snowflakes stamp done on the background in versamark.  I sponged with Soft Suede on the Kraft and used the ticket corner punch.  The snowmen are from the The More the Merrier Hostess Set stamped in Soft Suede on punched out 1 3/4" circle and colored in using the ink markers.  Merry Christmas is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set and punched out with the Word Window and Modern Label Punches. 

Have a magical day!

Cindy

5 Days til Christmas!

This card was inspired by a similar card pattern out of the Papercraft Magazine for November.  I just got the snowflake die cut and wanted to make something with them.  I started with a basic 4.25x5.5 card in white.  Then stamped snowflakes from Christmas Punch in white craft ink on a 2 x 4.25 piece of Real Red.  Then Allison helped me used chucky silver glitter on the two edges.  I added the die cut snowflake in white with a large rhinestone in the middle.  The "Merry Christmas" is from Christmas Greetings stamp set.  First time using the chucky glitter on cards.  You have to use the Tomboy Glue with it to get the glitter to stick good on it.  Always wanted to try it!

Have a magical day!

I am shopping this morning for final presents and then we pick up our 3 nephews for a sleepover and more Christmas fun on Sunday!

Cindy

6 Days til Christmas!

Here is the invitation that I made for my office Cookie Exchange that was to be on Saturday which now has moved to Tuesday due to scheduling conflicts. When I saw the stamp set Sweet Season in the catalog, I knew it would be perfect for the invitation.  However, I was not sure what I was going to do.  Then I found this blogger's sample here:  Nat's sweet-season set  So I love how she made this pocket card and I was off to make with my version of it.  I used Real Red, Soft Suede, Merry Moments DS paper and of course the Sweet Season stamp set. The ribbon is vanilla satin 1/4" ribbon that I have had forever.  I think it was in a bunch of ribbon from my mom that she used 25 years ago.  The card pulls out and there is where I handwrote the details of the party with the Soft Suede and Real Red Markers.

Have a magical day!

Back tomorrow on the weekend with much more holiday cards and more!

Cindy

7 Days til Christmas!

We made these at my scrap night in November.  Wendy, my super upline, showed me how to make this at our downline meeting and I just had to share with my ladies!  This is my version in my favorite Old Olive cardstock.  You can see hers here: Wendy's card box  I made mine to be a notepaper holder instead of holding cards.  I got some vanilla copy paper and cut it into 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.  We filled 100 sheets in the box. 

I used the retired Brocade Background designer paper for the bottom of the box.  The eyelet border punch was used on the box as well. The ribbon is the superb 1 1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon in Old Olive and Very Vanilla.  The tag is made from the Ornament punch and the stamp is from the hostess set call Holiday Best.  The bird is done in Real Red Marker and the other in Old Olive Marker.  To make the tag you score a 4 x 4 at 2". Then stamp your set close to the folded edge.  Then place punch up to the folded area.  It takes a good amount of press to get through two pieces of cardstock at once. Then I put a hole punch and Hemp Twine to finish off the tag.  We put the stamp To: and From: on the inside of the tag. Wish I could fine that blogger that showed me how to make it but I can not find it at this moment.

This was a big hit with the ladies and several of them made more of them for teacher gifts.  The box has lots of score lines and cuts so Wendy shared a template with us which we used.  This is all made by one sheet of cardstock scored and folded to assemble together. Email me if you would like a copy of template.

Have a magical day!

Cindy

8 Days til Christmas!

This Christmas card was cased from a case!  LOL  Heather posted this card on her blog here:  Its a case!  I used some old retired designer paper and cardstock to make my version.  I used River Rock, an old fav of mine and retired paper called Brocade Background.  Heather did a super job posting the details on the measurements which makes it so easy to reproduce.  I used Old Olive and Bravo Burgundy markers to color the stamp set from the hostess set called Holiday Best.  I punched it out with a 1 3/4" circle punch.  The ribbon is a yummy satin in brown.  I made some of these and put them together as a gift for a dear friend.

Have a magical day!

Cindy

9 Days til Christmas!

This idea came from my upline Wendy on her blog here: Wendy's tag book

I used the Simply Scrappin Christmas kit from last year to complete my version.  Now I just have to take fun family photos in front of our house to finish this off.  Hubby was in NY last week and we have had so much going on during the weekend and this week so far, that we have not found time to do our family fun photo together with day light. I really like the idea that it is shaped like a house roof and the photo Wendy used on hers inspired me to make and create my own.  Follow Wendy's description to make this very simple "tag book".

Have a magical day!

Cindy

10 Days til Christmas!

The countdown is on!  Can you believe that we have only 10 days til Christmas!  Wait! Oh doody! Have tons to get done! Sorry, mental awakening into the reality of numbered days left!

These two cards were made using the stamp set called Wandering Words from the Holiday Mini Catalog. Both of these are cased and changed slightly to my liking.  The top card is Real Red and Soft Suede.  I used the scallop square punch to make the two corner pieces, the snowflake punch with glue stick and glitter.  I love the swiping of craft white ink that was done on the Soft Suede.  Like snow! Which brings me to the next card...Brocade Blue, Bashful Blue and Basic Gray are colors used here.  I punched a 1 3/8" circle and dotto it to the paper and sponged on the background. Once you remove the circle, you get the moon.  Lovely as a Tree stamp set has the grouping of trees to put in this "picture".  I added a torn piece of white cardstock with glitter on the torn edge to the bottom.  Then added the two snowflake punches with a silver brad.  Two totally different cards using the same stamp! Which one do you like?

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Festive Friday

Well, everyday from now til the end of the year is festive!  I will be posting all the Christmas cards and projects that I have made so far.  So get ready for some holiday wows!
This stamp called Dasher was the biggest hit of the year!  At just 8.95, he was a steal! And then you saw him everywhere on Splitcoaststampers and Stampin Up blogs! Here is the first of many cards that I made with him.  I used Old Olive, Real Red and Chocolate Chip for the colors.  The snowflakes on the background stamped in VersaMark are Serene Snowflakes stamp set from the holiday mini.  I added a mini red rhinestone to Dasher's nose to turn him into Rudolph.  The sentiment Merry Christmas from Christmas Greetings stamp set is stamped in Craft White Ink.  Very simple and clean card which is my style I guess.

Very busy weekend ahead as we have our Church's Senior Youth Christmas Celebration and Advent Rehearsal.  Hope to fit in some Christmas shopping to check off some the my list!  Oh yeah, some friends coming over Sunday to scrap and create! Can not wait!
Have a magical day!
Cindy

Holiday Season in full swing!

Sorry about not posting the past few days but I have been busy with making lots of items for customers, myself and for gifts.  I took pictures of all of it and finally downloaded them all today! 
Here is the scrapbook pages I made for the Scrap Night in November.  Mine is all ready for Christmas morning pictures!  I love how it turned out and it is just how I pictured it at my 2:00am ah-ha moment!  The Santa is a punch art character made on Simply Holiday Punches but I changed his head and hat.  Colors used are Garden Green, Old Olive and Real Red.  You can click on the picture to enlarge to see the details.

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Festive Friday

So did I use the lattice die cut or some retired paper for the center of this card?  Maybe this paper inspired Stampin Up to make the Lattice die cut!  Which means this is using the retired Designer Paper!
I used Old Olive and Real Red with Very Vanilla.  The "merry christmas" is again from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set.  This card measures 4.25" x 4.25".  I was able to cut the paper just so that I could get this shape of the lattice work the same on each of the 9 cards I made.  Punches used were Modern Label and Word Window.  They go together so nicely to complete the card! 

Have a magical day!
Cindy

Made for Megan

Here is the card I made for Megan's 12th birthday.  I cased it from Amy's Addiction I love the fun poppy colors of this card!  I used Green Galore, Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Summer Sun and Lovely Lilac.  The Stamp set is Circle Circus.  I am slowly loving this versatile set.  I saw another idea with it and want to try it soon.  I used the 1 3/4", 1 1/4", 3/4" and scallop circle punches as well.  Perfectly fitted for this stamp set too! The "happy birthday" is from the new Teeny Tiny Wishes that is a must have stamp set! I love the new dotted Melon Mambo ribbon used on this.  Megan actually saw this one day while I was blogging and said "I love that card, Mom!"  And so it was to be her birthday card!
Have a magical day!
Cindy

Celebration Weekend it was!

What a great celebration weekend we had here at the Schusters!  I want to share just some pictures of our fun-filled dual birthday celebration! 

My daughter Megan turned 12 on Sunday!  We had taken her and some of her friends to Dave and Buster's for lunch and games earlier in the week.  Then I took her shopping on Saturday for clothes and dinner out later.  On her birthday, I made a big breakfast and gave her the Justin Bieber CD that she was dying to get!  I can not believe she is offically 12!  It goes by too fast!
One year away from the "teen" years! :o(

On Sunday, we also celebrated my Mother-in-law, Sylvia's big birthday.  Yes, they were born on the same day!  My BIL, SIL, Hubby and I took her to The Melting Pot in Midtown Atlanta for a lovely dinner with just adults.  We ate and ate til we could eat no more.  The chocolate fondue was the best!

The big surprise for her was when hubby and I took her to Centennial Park in downtown Atlanta to see the Christmas lights.  The weather was cool but perfect for walking around and then by surprise we ended up taking a horse carriage ride around Atlanta!  What a great ending for a perfect celebration!

Back tomorrow with a creation!
Have a magical day!
Cindy

Thankful Thursday

No creations today as I am watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade with my girls and having pull apart Monkey bread. Yumm-O!  Later, we head over to my parents for the BIG traditional dinner.  Doing laundry today as I got my new washer and dryer yesterday and LOVE THEM!  Thankful for that! I am also thankful this year to have family, faith, friends, a home, jobs, our health and love! 
Enjoy your turkey day however you celebrate it!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Cindy

Wacky Wednesday

I made this on Heather's online punch class.  I changed him a little.  I cut the tree in half and placed him off to the side of the card.  I used the cuttlebug and snowflake emboss to create the hills of snow.  Love the gingham red ribbon on this and the simple sentiment.  I saved the another half of the tree and made another card with him of the other side.  This was one of my favorite punch art character that she created.

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Let it Snow Tuesday

I made this sweet snowman for a co-worker and fellow snowman lover for her birthday.  I used Bashful Blue DSP stamped with Bashful Blue ink of snowflakes.  It is on the hard backing from the DSP packaging cut 5.5" x 10" and rounded edges.  Added circles using my Coluzze cutter in black and white.  Using the Key Tab punch and Modern Label punch for the hat in Black.  The eyes, smile and buttons are 1/4" circle punch.  The nose is Pumpkin pie hand cut. Then horizontal punch x 2 on one side to add red and white ribbons.  You can put a circle photo in the bottom circle as well!

I love how he turned out!
How can I not love a snowman?
Have a magical day!
Cindy

Made for Monday

So thankful for some really great friends and NEW friends today!  I had a blast on Friday night!  Everyone loved the projects and many wanted to make more of one for teacher's gifts.  I will show that later this week.  Several of them commented on my thankful display on my mantle and told them about this one.  I made these last year for the craft shows.  Wishing now that I had saved one for myself!  The squares are 4 x 4 and just tied with different colored matching ribbon onto the floral sway or whatever you call it.  Another way is to put two holes on each side top and bottom and tie with ribbon to make it hinge. You can use any combo of fall colored paper to make this.

Have a magical day!
Cindy
Special thanks to Kelly for making my day!  

Getting Ready for Christmas Friday

So I do not know what happened to Wednesday and Thursday so let's move on to FRIDAY!  Tonight is my scrap night with my friends and we are going to make this Christmas Planner created by Heather Summers.  It uses four sheets of Designer Paper and the 12 x 12 cardboard backing that comes with the paper.  It is designed to create pouches to hold the 8-10 envelopes with tag punch for you to place wish lists, events, recipes, and more.  Now you can put the year on it and scrapbook it at the end of the holidays, but I decided to make mine to keep out each Christmas and just replace the envelopes each year.I used the retired Simply Scrappin kit from last year.  My ladies will be using the Merry Moments DSP in the currant catalog.  The embellishments will vary as well.  I hope to take some pictures of the finished projects to show you here. 

I am looking forward to tonight as we are wearing holiday pjs, listening to holiday music and eating yummy holiday treats while we stamp and scrap all night long! Really getting ready for the holiday season!
Have a magical day!
Cindy