Festive Friday #48

This week at the Festive Friday Challenge the challenge is to use Punch Art!  While I used to do a lot of punch art (years before joining Stampin' Up!) and loved it, but since then the stamping inky side has taken over so it was nice to get the punches out and get creative.

I have always liked the little Owl Punch used to make reindeer faces but wasn't sure what I could use for antlers, so I put the project on hold.  My very next project (which I can show you soon) involved cutting out some snowflakes with the new Snow Flurry die, and for my project I only used the largest of the snowflakes.  Seeing the other two cut out just lying on my desk I realised that the middle sized one would be great for antlers!!!  And sparkly antlers at that and with sparkly antlers they just had to have sparkly noses too!  I had already adhered the noses before deciding to add sparkle so just used some of the new Dazzling Details to finish them off.

Wanting to add a few more punches to the project I stamped the sentiment onto Very Vanilla card stock and then punched out using the Word Window punch. I then punched a window out of the die cut DSP with the Modern Label punch and used Dimensionals to pop up the sentiment!  The DSP was cut with the Clear Oval Accents with just a smidge trimmed off the top and bottom.

A great way to line up your punch when punching a window is to first punch the shape from a Post-It note (including adhesive) and then position that onto your project.  Then flip your punch over and line up the Post-It note with the punch and you will get it perfect every time.  I didn't take photos as I went for this one but will do so next time!

Happy Stamping

Sunny Flowers

Sunny Challenges Blog has a sketch challenge this week, there were a few new toys I wanted to use making my card to play along.

 There are some new, roll over and retired products on this card, such a shame they are not all current products, but I am sure I will find alternatives.  New products include the Raspberry Ripple card stock, Daydream Medallions stamps and matching Floral Frames Framelits and Itty Bitty Framelits.  I used Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine because in such small amounts it matches the Raspberry Ripple well enough.  I framed the Itty Bitty Banners using the Word Window punch with the ends snipped off - I was really happy to see how well it fit the little banner.

I have arranged to have the remainder of the week off work, and have a new box of Stampin' Up! toys due to arrive any day now, so I am hoping to get some serious creating done over the next week.

Happy Stamping

Another SS Gift

I hope you liked the last lot of things my Secret Sister sent to me, I know I did :)  This time I want to share with you my October gift which completely blew me away.  Isn't she a clever lady! I want to show you each of them separately so you can see what work has gone into them.

 Firstly the little packet of thank you cards.  These are the ones I copied for my last workshop I was so taken by them.  My SS has used the Morning Mocha Speciality paper, why is it special? Because the black pattern is made from velvet, it feels amazing - I am quite tactile and just love the richness of these.  She has even stamped the bag topper with the matching stamp from Elements of Style set.

 The next part of the gift was a cute little soap in a tin, which my lovely SS has decorated with the same DSP. The soap is scented lightly with Grapefruit and Mandarin and smells so fresh, I think I will just take it out of the wrapper and leave it on my desk to add the soft citrus scent to the room.

Finally this is a beautiful 2012 diary which has been covered with the same amazing paper, it almost is too good to use ... almost!  But good news is I have been able to put my first workshop booking for 2012 in it already so the timing was great.  The ribbon on the front with the flower is actually a bookmark made from a length of ribbon, a hair elastic, and the beautiful flower.  I have been wanting to try one of these for a while (on my very very long to do list), they are so neat. The hair elastic allows some give in the book mark for when you are sliding it over the pages.

Here is a close up of the flower, you can see my SS has embossed it with the Petals-A-Plenty embossing folder, and cut the layers of the flower with the Fun Flowers Big Shot Die. You might not be able to see in the picture but she has actually cut them out of black leather, and then spritzed them to give that effect, they look so great in person, and the Antique Brad in the centre of the flower is a great finishing touch.

As you can imagine I feel pretty spoiled right now, I can't wait to find out who made these lovely gifts for me. We have the big reveal at the end of November so I don't have to wait too much longer.

Happy Stamping