Hand Stamped Sentiments #97 - An Old Fashioned Christmas

This week at Hand Stamped Sentiments we are challenging you to create any project with an Old Fashioned Christmas theme. Have any of you seen "White Christmas" starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen? The soundtrack is now playing in surround sound in my head, haha! I'mmmm dreaming...of a white Christmasss.... (okay I won't keep hurting your ear drums, wink wink)

HSS#97

When I think of an old fashioned Christmas, I think of reds and gold, books being read while sitting near the warm fire, music being played on an old upright and carolers singing door to door. 

I did a bit of sponging on my card...okay, every single layer, to create more of an old fashioned feel. A crinkled up page from an old book (or in this case a pack of SU! DSP). I stamped the tree in Versa Mark and then heat embossed it in Gold adding a touch of bling with the little red rhinestones (which I colored with two shades of red markers). 

The ladies on the design team have created some beautiful Old Fashioned creations to use as inspiration for this week, we'd love to see what you cook up in your craft kitchen, along with some cookies of course! 

SU! products used:

Stamps - Snow Swirled

Ink - Versa Mark, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake

Paper - Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, First Edition Specialty DSP

Ribbon - Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding

Other - Gold Embossing Powder, Basic Rhinestones 

Candy Stripe Soap Box

Crankin' out these soap boxes for an upcoming craft fair...this one is candy striped with 1/2" strips of red and white paper with a glittered bottom. A cool blue NOEL, embossed in white adorns the front of this little gift!

I'm entering this into this weeks Wee Memories challenge #79

"Holiday"

Would love to see your little soap box creations as well, leave a link in the comments! 

SU! products used:

Stamps - hostess Warmest of Wishes

Ink - craft White

Paper - Real Red, Whisper White, Bashful Blue

Punches - Scallop Oval, Decorative Label 

Other - Red glitter, sticky strip

Manger Soap Boxes

 These little boxes are making quite the grand entrance on my dining room table as of late, I've got more whipped up and ready to post but for now, here are these two sweet manger scenes!

The little manger scene stamp was heat embossed in black and then colored with various markers. Some blue glitter inside the little shaker cup adds a bit of fun to this tiny anti bacterial soap holder. Some sticky back velcro keeps the top flap in place and this box can either be set on a shelf as a bit of paper Christmas cheer or hung on a tree by looping a piece of ribbon through the top of the closed box. 

Merry Christmas y'all!

I'm entering these little boxes into the following two challenges...

 ColourQ #114

OCCC

SU! products used:

Stamps - Come to Bethlehem

Ink - Poppy Parade, Crumb Cake, Versa Mark

Paper - Crumb Cake, Poppy Parade, Whisper White, Certainly Celery

Punches - Scallop Oval, 1-3/4" Circle, 2-3/8" Scallop Circle, Modern Label

EF - Square Lattice

Other - retired blue chunky glitter, Circle Treat Cups

Snowmen Soap Box

Saw THIS fab tutorial by the very talented Erica Cerwin at Pink Buckaroo Designs and just had to give it a try...I just LOVE these little hand sanitizers from Bath and Body Works and thought this was such a fun and festive way to give one to a friend, teacher or even your postal carrier this Christmas!

I did modify* Erica's measurements just a tad on the small piece and used a different punch for the place where the soap sits but other wise, everything was perfect! Thanks Erica!!

I attached a piece of sticky back velcro to the base and lid, so the flap stays shut. I tried a few different punches but in the end the Oval Scallop won, it's a perfect fit for the little bottle of yummy smellin' clean fun! The little snowmen have been heat embossed in Melon Mambo and the Melon Mambo background square was placed in a snowflake EF for a bit of texture.

*note modifications : on the smaller piece of cardstock, cut it to 6" X 1-3/4" (instead of 6" X 1-1/2") and score the short side at 3/8" and 1-3/8" (instead of 1/4" and 1-1/4")

I'm entering this into the following challenges

Just Add Ink #97

and 

Freshly Made Sketches #14

SU! products used:
Stamps - Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink - Versa Mark, Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade
Paper - Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade, Poppy Parade, Pool Party DSP
Punches - Word Window, 1-1/4" Square, 1-3/8" Square
Other - Melon Mambo Embossing Powder

Advent Trees

This year I made up these sweet little boxes for a new twist on our advent calendar. We had two bare trees sitting in front of our dining room window, so I just punched holes in the tops, tied a bit of hemp twine and viola, out of the babies reach and they double as holiday decoration!

My 6 and 4 year olds are very sweetly taking turns every other day and the boxes are filled with a little treat plus a note of something they get to do that day...

A few of the notes say....

Sing "Jingle Bells" while jumping up and down

Wrap a present by yourself

Make cookies with your Mom

Give away Christmas hugs today

Have someone tell you their favorite Christmas story and draw a picture of it

Color a Christmas picture and hang it on the fridge

the very last note...which is just a flat ornament #25, says this...

Sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, open presents, tell everyone thank you and know that God Loves You!

So far the candy of course is a bit hit but I'm also glad my kids are excited to see what their notes say!  

I'm entering this in this weeks Wee Memories Challenge #78

SU! products used:

Ink - Real Red

Paper - Whisper White

Punches - all seen are SU!

Bigz Dies - Candy Wrapper and retired small bag

Shabby Winter Tree

Another shabby holiday dual...with the Paper Players sketch and the Shabby Tea Room inspiration photo and color palette (I liked it so much, thought I'd give it another go).

 PP#74

The Shabby Tea Room #90

I had planned to add a sentiment but must've gotten side tracked by one of my munchkins or two...thought this would make a lovely winter wedding congratulations card though. 

My tree is heat embossed in Silver and for the extra sparkle, I ran a strip of Sticky Strip across the tree before sprinkling on the Dazzling Diamond Glitter. The little poinsettias also got a bit of bling with three little drops of Dazzling Details on the centers of the flowers. I edged the circle and poinsettia cardstock with a bit of Crumb Cake to help define the lines. The white scrap of tulle was a fab find in my ribbon jar.

SU! products used:

Stamps - Snow Swirled

Ink - Versa Mark, Crumb Cake

Paper - Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

Other - Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Dazzling Details

Merry Medallion Christmas

This week's Sweet Sunday Sketch is the PERFECT sketch to use the Medallion background stamp...which I'm falling in love with all over again! 

 SSSC145

Isn't my little felt tree sweet? I found a small bag of them at a Christmas market in Germany back in 2004, so as you can see, I've been hoarding them! 

SU! products used:

Stamps - Medallion, Come to Bethlehem 

Ink - Real Red

Paper - Red Glimmer, Very Vanilla, retired Christmas striped paper
Punch - 1-3/4" Circle
Other - retired Silver Cord, Real Red ribbon, Red Button

A Shabby Feathered Christmas

Sweet Stop Sketches has a rather sweet sketch to work with this week, hehe...get it, sweet?! 

SSS136

which I paired with this inspirational photo and color scheme from The Shabby Tea Room

Shabby Tea Room #90

Brrrrrr.....doesn't that photo make you want to cozy up with mittens, a fur blanket and a picnic basket filled with yummy winter goodies and a thermos filled with hot chocolate and hop aboard a sleigh ride deep in the mountains?! 

I heat embossed my silver peacock feathers first before running the paper through the Big Shot with a snowflake EF. The Very Vanilla got kissed with some Frost White Shimmer Paint to add more sparkle as did my little snowflakes. Every layer was edged with a sponge and Crumb Cake, which gives the card a fun shabby feel. The sentiment is a portion of a stamp from Winter Post. To add a little bit more bling, I used Dazzling Details on the eyes of the feathers.

SU! products used:

Stamps - Winter Post

Paper - Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Very Vanilla

Ink - Versa Mark, Crumb Cake

Punches - 1" and 1-1/4" Circle, Snowflake

Other - Silver Embossing Powder, Dazzling Details

HSS #95 - Anything BUT a card, ORNAMENTS

This week at Hand Stamped Sentiments...it's all about decking the halls, trees, mantels, door ways, pretty much anything you can get your sparkly paws on! Create anything BUT a card and use a festive ORNAMENT theme! 

HSS#95

I started off cutting the same width of stripes I used for my Bargello card and after layering them in a patterned stack, I cut a hole in one end with my Crop A Dile. I threaded a piece of Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon through and tied a knot at one end. After punching another hole through the opposite side of the strips and threading through the ribbon, I squished the top papers down to bit to create more of a rounded look, you can play with yours, if you want it more elongated or round.

I've made these ornaments in the past and didn't like how my pieces would fan apart, so this time I used a mini glue dot towards the top of each piece as I fanned them out in order.  A loop of my ribbon, a knot and then I added a bit of pearly bling with some baubles from my old Pretties kit.

Check out what the Design Team has whipped up this week HERE. We can't wait to see what you create with this fun challenge, the sky's the limit! You have until Monday, December 5th at Noon to link up your creation, now go get some sparkle on! (don't forget the Christmas music)

 SU! products used:

Paper - Red glimmer, Holly Berry Bouquet

Ribbon - Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, retired Silver Cord

Other - mini glue dots, Pretties Kit retired

Merry Monkey

This is my first go at trying out a sketch over at Stampin' On Tuesdays and I've been itching to ink up my cute little monkey, so I decided to give it a whirl.

Stampin' On Tuesdays #42

OCC

I paired this sketch with the challenge over at Our Creative Corner and monkey see, monkey do, here's my bit of Christmas warmth and cheer!

The sunshine was playing tag with my sparkles, so I snapped a pic then stuck my card on my Christmas tree for the rest of the photos, before hanging the decorations.

My background trees were already so beautiful on the Frost Wood DSP, so I just cut them out and layered them on this fun flannel looking red and green DSP from the same pack. I stamped the sentiment in black and then just the Merry in Versa Mark, hitting it up with a fun Cherry Cobbler embossed shine. The little monkey has bits of Crystal Effects on all his furry white accessories to add a bit of shine since I already had quite a bit of sparkle.

SU! products used:

Ink - VersaMark, Basic Black

Paper - Whisper White, Frostwood Lodge

Other - Cherry Cobbler Embossing Powder, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Crystal Effects