Halloween Treat Box

I saw several blogs today making these really cute Treat Boxes. They are so fun and simple to make. One really cute box made as a witches hat was made by Carrie Rhoades http://www.carriestamps.com/ Check out her site as she has a tutorial showing how it's put together. My box is a different size than hers, which for me was easier as I decided to make these special treats for my Stamping Class tomorrow night. My measurements are 4" X 8" and then the rest was the same as Carrie's instructions. By using the size I chose, you can get 4 boxes from one sheet of 12" X 12" cardstock or designer series paper. I think they turned out cute; I hope my girls like them tomorrow!!!!

Now I'm thinking about making some of these for the people in my office; they should get a kick out of them.

I decorated mine with the Frog Stamp from "Halloween Hoot" (111582). I colored in the frog with an Old Olive Marker and colored in the star on his hit with a Summer Sun marker. I stamped the "Free Kisses" next to the Frog which is also from the Halloween Hoot Stamp Set. I punched out the frog using my 1 1/4" Circle Punch, then I layered it on an Old Olive Scallop Circle. When I tied the ribbon at the top of the box, I stamped out the words "Trick or Treat, Scary & Sweet" and punched it out using the Scallop Square Punch. The Stamp is from the new Grateful Greeting stamp set (116511) in the Holiday Mini Catalog. I love this set; it's so versatile for all the holidays as there are greetings for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentines Day. I know this set is going to get a lot of use from me.

Halloween Hoot

I really loved this layout..... I copied it from somewhere where the card was pretty elegent; but I put my witch on instead. I used the "Cast A Spell" Designer Series Paper and a couple of the new sets from the Mini Catalog "Halloween Hoot and Grateful Greetings " to complete this card. Even though it's a Christmas "designed" ribbon, I used the Mistletoe satin ribbon on this card. The Witch was stamped in Basic Black and her face was colored in with Old Olive using a blender pen. I also used the Crushed Curry Stampin' Write marker to color in the broom.

The square scalloped punch was used to cut out the saying from the Grateful Greeting stamp set.

We made this card in my Stamp Club and they loved it!!

Sweet Centers Cards

I absolutely LOVE the Sweet Centers stamp set and the little Sweet Treat Cups used with it. One of the cards I'm going to show you I found on another blog; I wish I had paid attention so I could link it back to her.

I would NEVER thought of using water in these cups, and when I tried it I had some issues getting it full enough. What you do is put some Dazzling Diamonds in the cup and fill it with water; then take off the adhesive back from the cup and attach it to a Window sheet. When you "think" it's full, it isn't. I had to do this several times, but the last time I decided to poke a little hole in the window sheet (after it was attached to the cup with water in it) and held it under the faucet to fill it. I didn't want to put two holes in it which would probably have filled faster so it actuqlly took a while to fill totally. Then I used a piece of sticky strip to put over the hole I had punched to seal it. The picture you are looking at is using the ornament piece from the Sweet Centers Stamp Set, which I versamarked, embossed with Gold Embossing Powder, cut out and attached to the top of the cup after I adhered it to the card. I also punched a hole at the top where the hook would go and attached some gold cord and hid the edges behind the cardstock. This picture is after I shook up the card... like a show globe. The second photo is shown after the Dazzling Diamonds settled down at the bottom. Isn't this the coolist thing ever??????

We made this second card at our club night last night and we put Jelly Bellys in the cup. I wish I had thought in time to get only black and orange ones, but I didn't......... The circle attached with the hemp is the piece we cut out of the center using the 1 3/4" Circle punch. We just punched a hole at the top of the circle and attached to the Old Olive grosgrain ribbon with a piece of hemp tied into a bow.

This third card is the Hot Air Balloon stamp and for fun I put Fruit Loops in the cup. Didn't it turn out cute? I made a card like this for my grandson and used the Fish Crackers in the cup. He thought that was really fun.

Have you ever thought of all the things you can put in the cups???? At our club night someone mentioned they thought a silver dollar would fit and don't you know one of the girls had one and lo and behold, it did fit. I think it would probably hold 3 silver dollars comfortably.... a little heavy maybe, but the recipient wouldn't care :) You can use any kind of small candy. I thought for Valentines day you can put in the Conversation Hearts or Red Hots. Someone at work said you could put in a flower from a wedding using the colors of the wedding as a keepsake, you can put in "confetti" type items... and a small Peppermint Patty fits perfectly. There is just no end.... AND you don't HAVE to use the cups. You can leave the centers in or even add some other stamp or accessory to decorate where the cups would go. I REALLY hope this is one of the stamp sets that come out in the next Annual Catalog; it's just too cute to let go.

Great Cards by Club Stampers

I had my first stamp club night of this fall session and I had asked that the girls bring me a "beautiful" card and I would have a special gift for them. What I gave them was a little packet of 3X3 notecards using the Things I Love stamp set that we got at convention; it was the same sample we made there as well. I forget to take a picture to show you, maybe later.... anyway two of the girls brought me really gorgeous cards.....This first one was made by Lisa Harp from a past hostess stamp set. I really love how she did the butterfly. She stamped the butterfly in the blue color, cut it out, then stamped again in the pink color and cut out the wings smaller than the original image, then attached the wings with dimensionals so you can see both colors. the little flowers on the greeting are also stamped in the pink color, cut out and attached with dimensionals.

This second card is equally gorgeous and stamped by Linda Hutchison. She used little rhinestones to add bling and appeal around the stamped flower. Did you happen to notice that she also provided me with an envelope decorated as well?

I'm so lucky to have such creative stampers in my group... I can't tell you how much fun we have and even how much we learn (including me) from each other. My clubbers should be demonstrators as they are so imaginative; but like lots of you they deny having the time to do it... and just want to come and play for a night out.......lol.

I hope you enjoy the cards as much as I did.

Autumn Days

Isn't this so cool? I have been thinking about this project for a long time. We have several River Birch trees in our back yard and the bark peels off. For several weeks, well maybe a month, I have been peeling off some of the large pieces of bark that are just hanging on... you know the ones that look large enough to stamp on.
I've been looking for fun things for my stamp club and thought maybe this is the time to try the bark stamping. I found I had a nice piece that would be big enough for the pheasant in the Autumn Days stamp set.
I stamped the pheasant in Soft Suede onto the bark, then colored in the blank spots with Dusty Durango. When I tore around the edges of the bark, I discovered the bark as several layers, so then I peeled the pieces up a bit and tore them separately to give dimension to the stamped image. When I tried to use my snail on the back of the bark it just peeled off, so I used my Tombow glue to attach the bark to the black cardstock. then I cut a piece of Soft Suede cardstock to fit around the bark and stamped one of the images in the Autumn Days stamp set around the edges and attached the bark and black cardstock to that. Then I attached that to a little larger piece of Dusty Durango cardstock and then that onto the basic card base of basic black. I cut a small slit at the top of the fold and inserted the new 1/2" polka dot Dusty Durango ribbon through and tied in a knot.
I thought the card needed a sentiment, so I found the Thanks So Much sentiment from the Pocket Silhouettes and stamped onto Very Vanilla using the Dusty Durango classic ink pad. I punched it out using the word window punch and then "tried" to cut a piece of bark using the Modern Label Punch, as you can see I had trouble pulling it into the punch, but I got most of it. Actually I like that not all of it was in the punch. I used snail on the back of the word window piece to attach to the bark, then used dimensionals to attach to the card.
SO.......WHAT DO YOU THINK?
I like it so well, I'm thinking I'm going to have to find enough bark to pull off my trees for my stamp club next week. I think the ladies will have fun with it... do you???

Holiday Mini Catalog is UNVEILED

WOH, can you believe it's been a month since I've blogged???? Now I have lots of things I want to share, clear back to Convention!!!! We all had such a blast and I had such great roomies... three of us shared a room so I shared a bed with one of the other girls. It was so hot in the room on the first night (well I thought it was), so I slept outside the covers most of the night, but in the morning I got cold; I'm sure lots of you know what I'm talking about, so I reached over for the covers and my gosh, I had a really hard time getting them unstuck...... but FINALLY I had them under control and started to warm up again. Well, in the morning my roomie said I reached clear across her and was pulling the covers off of her. She said she hung on to them the best she could but decided that if I wanted them that badly, she was going to let me have them!!!! Of course that's when I got warm. We laughed about that the whole time we were at convention and I'm sure she was worried every night after that I would do it again. I don't think I did; anyway she didn't say I did.

One of the first things I want to share with you is that the new HOLIDAY MINI CATALOG is out and I'm sure most of you have received your copy by now, but if you didn't I put it at the top of my blog and you can click on the catalog to open it up. Oh my gosh, you will be so excited

about all the new fun things unveiled..... The Sweet Centers Stamp set is so much fun and the Sweet Treat Cups to use with the set is so fun. I have already made several birthday cards with the Hot Air Balloon stamp and it has been a hit!! My club is going to get to make a fun Halloween card with this set next week. Stampin' Up! is also selling the Sweet Treat Padded Envelopes to send these cards in the mail. You need to also check out the gorgeous Designer Series Papers; the Christmas Cocoa Specialty paper on page 21 has several pages that are flocked (the top 2 shown on page), they are so gorgeous and feel so soft and exotic. The really cute Delightful Decorations stamp set matches the "NEW" Ornament punch. You don't need to cut them out, just punch them - Yay! Also, you can punch out the shape and put on the special rub-ons, shown on pagef 25, for a different look or saying. For those of you with Big Shots or if you don't have them yet, you will want to get one because not only is the new Christmas Tree die fun, but Stampin' Up! has partnered with BUILD A BEAR and there are dies for the bear and clothes... You can see all of these dies on pages 35 & 37. Your kids and grandkids will think you are the best if you present them with a card or scrapbook page designed with these bears; aren't they cute???? Of course the stamp sets shown on pages 34 and 36 are also really cute and fun to color. One of the BIGGEST new products is the "MY DIGITAL STUDIO" presented on pages 38 and 39. Even though these are shown in the new catalog, they won't be available for purchase until 10-1-09. The really exciting thing about this is that you can download Stampin' Up! stamps, accessories, papers, etc. to put on your scrapbook pages and cards. We watched the demonstrators at convention present this product and it's so exciting. The other really good thing is that after you purchase this product there updates available as they are presented to the rest of us in "stamps". There were a number of demonstrators sitting around me at convention that commented they have digital software for cards and scrapbooking, but they are difficult to manage and use; but they said after watching the demonstration that this product was so easy to get around in compared to what they already had. If you have any questions about this product, let me know.

Would you like to see a couple of the swap cards I made to share with others at convention? It's more fun that reading, huh?

This card is made from the KIND AND CARING THOUGHTS which is a Level 3 Hostess Set and I also used the CIRCLE CIRCUS stamp set for the background on the Rich Razzleberry cardstock. I used the Soft Suede and the Rich Razzleberry cardstock; the rich Razzleberry ink and the Rich Razzleberry 1/2" polka dot grograin ribbon. This is actually the first card I made. The ones I took to Convention, I dry embossed the Soft Suede cardstock with one of the Texture Plates and my Big Shot.

This next card was really fun to make. The stamp set is the new LOTS OF BOTS. On this card, I used the new Crushed Curry Cardstock, some 1/2" Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon and some Designer Series Paper from the Razzleberry Lemonade set. I used my new Scallop Square punch and new Modern Label Punch as well as the Scallop Edge and Word Window Punches..

I have lots more to share with you so keep checking my blog ..........

Convention Specials........

I guess you've noticed I haven't been posting for a while? I'm not very good about being regular anyway, but since convention is next week I've been a little pre-occupied making swaps so I can show you lots of new fun ideas from other demonstrators all over the country using the new stamp sets, papers, accessories and ideas from the NEW CATALOG. (If you haven't received your new catalog yet, contact me!!!!)
I leave for convention on Wednesday morning 8-5-09 and come back late Saturday 8-8-09..... so, during the time I'm away, from 8-5-09 through 8-8-09, I will give you 15% off any merchandise order; BUT YOU HAVE TO EMAIL your orders because the special is from ME not Stampin' Up. The discount is before tax and shipping; which will pretty much take care of those additional charges. There is no limit on the amount of your order to achieve this discount!! Don't forget the Decor Elements catalog; it has it own special HOSTESS PRODUCTS... you can access this catalog from my website at www.janetelam.stampinup.net. The Decor Elements catalog not only has vinyl , but also has really neat stencils that you can use not only on your walls but on other products like scrapbooks, tiles, etc. If you have questions about them, please contact me.
Have fun ordering while I'm away and when I get back I will show you lots of new fun things, techniques, etc. for you to use in your own stamping projects.