SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN!

Yep, Santa comes to Peoria, Illinois is just 27 days. Unbelievable as THAT sounds, there are only 55 days left until Christmas - and 54 shopping days. That said, I am preparing for a showing of Christmas Gift and Home decor ideas as well as cards, tags, ornaments etc. next Sunday, November 7th at the Methodist North Building on Allen Road in Peoria from 1-4 p.m. There will be 5 other displays from other home-based sales companies (Dove Chocolate, Scentsy, 31, Mary Kay and Lia Sophia) setting up displays as well. We will be doing a simple make n take project at my table. There will also be door prize drawings from each consultant as well as treats n sweets to sample. We're calling it the "ONE STOP HOLIDAY SHOP" because as you can see with the variety of companies, any one attending is able to get quite a bit of Christmas shopping done in one place.

To date I have 4 major projects complete, several cards and several tags. I'd love to share them all here with you - but I don't want to spoil all the surprises for those of you planning on coming out to visit me. However, I didn't think it would hurt to share JUST ONE thing I made so I chose the smallest of the projects.

I love the way this turned out. It is beautiful in real life. They are so full of glimmer and sparkle that I plan to make several more for my Christmas tree as well as a few to use as tags or in place of bows on some of the wrapped presents for under the tree.

Thanks for visiting today and if you live near Peoria, why not come join us on the 7th?

Until Next Time,

Happy Stamping!

Jill

THE DESIRE OF YOUR HEART

My project today was inspired by the work of one of my favorite bloggers, Jerri Jimenez. If you haven't checked out her work - it's worth the visit. Jerri is a true artist and her work is amazing! Though not quite up to her standard, I was quite happy with the results of my autumn offering.

I had this box on my stamp shelf. It was naked wood with a clear plastic top. Don't know where it came from or what was in it when I got it - but it's most recent use was to hold all my Stampin'Around Ink cartridges. I soaked a sponge in Close to Cocoa reinker and "stained" the wood and my fingertips. (NOTE TO SELF: WEAR GLOVES THE NEXT TIME!!!!!) I didn't wait for it to dry before decorating because I found the box after I made the flowers and leaves and besides, the tips of my fingers were already brown - but if you ever use reinker as wood stain you really should wait for it to dry.

The mums were created using Spellbinders Daisy Head dies and Stampin'Up! Real Rust and So Saffron cardstock edge sponged in More Mustard and Chocolate Chip respectively. I also edged the rust colored mums in Gold Krylon ink. The leaves are cut using Spellbinders Assorted Leaves dies from Stampin'Up! River Rock cardstock, lightly sponged in Rose Red and Pumpkin Pie ink, moistedned with hairspray (yes, you read right) and then lightly dusted with SU! Irridescent Ice.

The eight loop bow was created using the Bow Easy.

The background is a piece of Early Espresso Cardstock, embossed with a Stampin'Up! embossing folder then lightly sponged with Basic Black ink. The verse is stamped in Chocolate Chip onto a piece of Very Vanilla, edge sponged in Chocolate Chip then die cut using a Spellbinders Label die.

That's the scoop.
Thanks for visiting with me today.

Until Next Time -
Happy Stamping.

Jill

HALLOWEEN SWEET TREAT

Six other Stampin'Up! demonstrators and I held a area wide stamp fest yesterday for World Card-making Day. The participants created 4 cards (2 Christmas, 1 Birthday, and 1 Autumn themed). We also had samples, treats, door prizes and treats. Each of us was to create a "treat" to include in our customer's supply bags so since our demonstration themes were Halloween and the use of Stampin'Up! punches, I created this little ghost/pumpkin candy bar holder. The pumpkin I had seen before - but the little ghost is an original.

Several years ago I came across this idea for a candy bar holder and thought it would be a perfect little surprise in the girl's bags. When you pull the ribbon, the candy bar slides out of the pocket! Very clever - because they can then just slip the candy bar out, eat it, and re-use the pouch later.


The one I had seen used a Hershey Bar, but the bars I wanted to use were smaller so I had to re-figure the dimensions. You add 1/8" to the length of the candy bar for the height and then measure the width and height of the bar, double that measurement and add 1/4" to the total for the width of your cardstock. Score, fold and place sticky strip based on the template shown below.


Punch a 1/8" hole in the center back close to the top. Lace a length of ribbon through the hole creating a "u" shape with the ribbon.

Place the bottom of the candy bar into the base of the "u" and push down into the holder until it is hidden.

The ribbon will keep the candy bar from slipping out the bottom. Tie a bow or knot to secure the top. I used wrapping paper ribbon to create the curly cues at the top of my treat holder.



To create the ghost, I used the following Stampin'Up! punches: Ornament punch for the head (cut off tab), 1 3/4" Circle punch (torso), Wide Oval Punch (tail), small oval punch (cut two for the arms). After cutting, I sponged the edges in creamy caramel. You can use other colors, but for my fall theme, the brown tone looked best. I did try Bashful Blue because shadows on white are typically shades of blue - but it just looked too much like a snow ghost for my liking.


The pumpkin is created using the medium oval punch. I simply punched out 5 in Pumpkin Pie, sponged the edges in Pumpkin Pie then glued them together. The stem is handcut so each one I make is different. The curly vine is a thin strip of Certainly Celery cardstock that was dampened then wrapped around the tip of my stylus until it dried. Then I used a bit of adhesive and glued it into place.

That's that. They go together very quickly. I made 16 ghosts and pumpkins in a couple of hours and made 16 pockets in about 2 hours as well. That averages out to about 15 minutes per treat. It might have gone even faster if I hadn't been watching NCIS and Biggest Loser!

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial
Until Next Time -
Happy Stamping!

Jill

FREEBIE FRIDAY - OCTOBER 1, 2010

Happy first day of the final quarter of 2010. Can you believe that???

I've been working, working, working in my studio - but I've been making cards with retired Stampin'Up! images and the cards were fairly basic so I haven't posted anything for a while. Today's card, however, uses the new Stampin'Up! set "Bells and Boughs". As soon as I saw this set in the Mini Catalog I new it was a "must have". The realistic detail is beautiful.

I wish you could see this card "in real life". It is beautiful. This photo doesn't do it justice.

To make this card, I started by folding a piece of 4.25" x 11"Whisper White cardstock in half. I used the largest circle from one of my Spellbinders sets and lightly traced around it on the center front of the card in pencil. Using the trailing poinsettia image from the stamp set, I stamped the image 4 times (using the pencil line as a guide) to create the rounded, wreath image. Then I used just the bottom tail of the stamp in each of the four corners of the card.

Next I stamped the center image on a seperate piece of Whisper White cardstock.

I colored both the card images and the seperate image using Stampin'Up! markers in Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Real Red, and So Saffron. After coloring, I cut out the poinsettia image and the middle of the wreath. I backed the opening of the wreath with vellum and backed the vellum with a piece of Real Red cardstock. The cutting took a little time, but in my opinion really adds to the elegance of the card. Not one I'd want to make for my complete Christmas card list though!

To finish I popped up the center image with Dimensionals, added the Blushing Bride ribbon and Stardust Stickles to the centers of the poinsettias.

I haven't done any drawings lately, but here's one that's been hanging around in my Jill's Jems digital files for a while. It's a freebie - so take it and use it as you will - just pleeeeeeeease don't sell it and please remember to link back here to my blog if you post it online.
Thanks so much for visiting.
Until Next Time -
Happy Stamping!

Jill