Love to Die

The Holiday Catalog started this month!! Pictured above is the Howl-O-Ween Treat Bundle. So CUTE! I always take advantage of the 15% savings when I want coordinating stamps and dies. The stamp set is also available in wood mount so there are two bundle options.

Since this is the Holiday catalog naturally there are many Christmas stamps sets, and another bundle to die for is the Embellished Ornaments Bundle.

Love it!! The ornament dies are very detailed and the go-to trick for them as well as the "Boo" die in the Howl-O-Ween Treat Bundle was always a layer of wax paper between the die and your paper to ensure it will pop out without tearing. But hold onto your hat...

One of my favorite new items in the Holiday Catalog is the Precision Base Plate. It's a steel plate that gives you extra-fine cuts with minimal effort. For the best results it's suggested you use it with the Multipurpose Platform instead of the Magnetic Platform. Another tip for success is to flip your cutting pad after each run through also avoiding the same spot you've placed your die...especially when using the same die repeatedly. =)

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Here's a few links. Download a .pdf copy of the full catalog where you can browse page by page and see all the cute projects featured in this publication. Or just pop into my store and check out all the Bundle options as well as all the new Holiday stuff!!

Holiday Catalog

Holiday Store

Holiday Bundles








And with that I leave you with...

Weekly Deals!! 

Good through 9/21/2015 (new offerings every Tuesday)

http://tinyurl.com/SUweeklyDeal

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Happy stampin'

Sally

Valentine Castle

When I was a kid I always had to go over the top decorating my "shoebox" for Valentine's Day. I don't remember ever winning any contests, but I always had a lot of fun making my creations! Being a mom I have always been very involved whenever one of my girls needed to decorate a poster board, or any kind of school project involving paper and creativity! In 2012 I helped my daughter Sydney make a Valentine Village and sadly her sister didn't "need" a box that year since the teacher made them for the class.  

Last year we didn't get started early enough, and opted for just simple ones made with cereal boxes. I even had a fantastic idea that I was super excited about doing in the future, sadly I forgot what it was!!! Whoops, back to brainstorming we go, and a castle it is! It was a bit of a group effort too. Since Sydney doesn't need a box this year, she pitched in to help make her little sisters castle awesome!

I had a few containers set aside and we began the process last Sunday...

Step One - Materials

We used a cracker box, 2 stackable chips containers, and an oatmeal container;
Paper bags to cover the exterior of the castle;

102482 - $6.95

Real Red card stock for the trim flags, and hearts;
Decorative Dots Embossing Folder - to give the paper bags texture;
Woodgrain Embossing Folder - for the drawbridge;
Baked Brown Sugar Classic Ink, to dab on the paper and make the texture pop;

119883 - $16.95

A couple of heart punches for decorations;
Metal wire for the flag hanger...I had this laying around;
And white glue and tape to put it all together.

Step Two - Putting it Together

I had to cut the paper in strips the width of the embossing folder, but left them twice the length. After running them through my Big Shot I just flipped them around and ran them back through. The dot pattern is random enough that you couldn't tell.

The embossed paper was inked to really show the texture

The chip canisters are upside down so the tops are metal, we put hearts on them! =)

The cracker box was cut so we could inset the oatmeal container. Once I had all the parts assembled we began gluing the paper on. It is totally pieced together.

The lid to the oatmeal container was removed and replaced with a cone we made. I stuffed it with leftover pieces of crumpled paper bag to make it more durable since kids will be lifting it off to put the valentines inside.

 Natalie put the lid in her backpack so she can close it up for the walk home after the Valentine party.

My husband helped her find some nice courtyard pictures to choose from and printed one for her to glue on. We considered connecting the drawbridge to a little "rope" or "chain" but since we wanted to leave it open Natalie decided she liked it fine like this. 

Here's a closer look at the little flags. We also used a little piece of Red Glimmer Paper and attached the flags with glue dots.

A couple more details...just little windows cut from the leftover border of the courtyard printout!

 Hope you enjoyed this, we certainly had a lot of fun putting it together!!

Not Just for Thanksgiving

I really LOVE this stamp set, Harvest of Thanks! It has 4 stamps with a distressed look...which I adore!! Since 2 of the images are simply "thanks" and "gratitude" it has some versatility. I made the card below back in September when I first got the set from the Holiday Catalog, and also incorporated the single stamp Magnificent Maple so I could add some Fall color with leaves.

Colors: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Always Artichoke

Today I wanted to experiment with a different color scheme, something that could be masculine, and not necessarily Fall or Thanksgiving related. Here's what I came up with...

Stampin Supplies:
Stamps - Harvest of Thanks
Ink - Island Indigo, Calypso Coral
Paper - Island Indigo, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Quatrefancy Speciality Designer Series Paper
Other - Apothecary Accents Framelits, Island Indigo Bakers Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals, Paper Snips 

And let me also say how much I am in love with my Magnetic Platform! I didn't have one yet when I made the Fall card, but I ordered one last month and have used it many times already (stay tuned for Christmas Card Overload). It makes using the Framelits, Thinlits, and Edgelits so easy!!