Nichol Spohr LLC

KBS | Christmas Magic layout

Like many of you, I spent last weekend decorating for the Christmas holiday season. I had thought I might dread it as I did last year but once I got started it was very enjoyable. Everyone at my house was in good spirits and helpful (no honey, that wasn't directed at you the biggest scrooge I know) plus I've been doing a few things here and there all week. I think it helps that our game plan this year was more organized and I wouldn't allow any boxes to be brought up from the storage room unless I knew I had time to unpack them and get stuff put where it needed to go. I should be able to put the finishing touches on our home this weekend. 

It feels good to know that part is almost all finished.

Now... to the holiday shopping. I sure hope Santa comes this year because Mom is not doing so good in the gift-giving department! eek!

I've done nada, zero, zilch.

No, that's not true. I bought one child 1 thing online 2 days ago.

I didn't partake in Black Friday (I never do) or Cyber Monday (I was busy and didn't want to hunt down the good sales). 

I did get wish lists from my kids yesterday and I have it on my to-do list to ask my sister-in-laws what their kids want/need. 

That's a start, right?

To help get me motivated I put together this holiday layout featuring some favorite Christmas photos from a few years ago + fabulous die cut shapes from Kerri Bradford. I love reliving these memories as I scrapbook.

I wanted the page to have a more "rustic look and feel and chose to die cut Kerri's diagonal background from a 12x12 sheet of woodgrain paper and layered that over a sheet of burlap printed patterned paper for contrast.

A cute title created from word die cuts and a decorative die cut doily with embellishments add color and texture to the page.

I gave my photos a bit of a vintage feel with photo actions and dropped them into one of Kerri's templates for an eye-pleasing arrangement.

This page was completely inspired by the homemade Christmas trees I've seen where people create a "tree" to top a spool. I think they are just adorable and thought that the die cut trees and die cut spool shapes from Kerri's kits would make a cute page embellishment.

I added Glossy Accents to some of the stickers and the die cut word, "magic" to give them that glossy looking finish.

Kits/Shapes Used for this layout (all linked below in the supplies):

• December Twenty-Five ("magic")
• Picture That Go Long (photo collage)
• Christmas Countdown (tree)
• Here Comes Santa Claus ("christmas")
• This & That Family (spool)
• XOXO (doily)
• Background Basics (diagonal background)

SUPPLIES (click on product photos for links):

InLinkz.com

OTHER SUPPLIES:

• Jillibean Soup Christmas Eve Chowder Soup Label Stickers

Looking for some great new supplies to record all those upcoming Christmas season memories?

Here are some of my favorite holiday collections (that I own and love and use) at:

 

City Sidewalks Collection by Collage Press is available at Two Peas in a Bucket.

City Sidewalks Parcel Tags City Sidewalks 8x8 Paper Pack City Sidewalks Ephemera City Sidewalks Candy Shoppe 12x12 Paper City Sidewalks Special Delivery 12x12 Paper City Sidewalks Santa's Workshop 12x12 Paper

InLinkz.com

Make it Merry Collection by October Afternoon is available at Two Peas in a Bucket.

 

Make It Merry Make A Garland 12x12 Paper Make It Merry Make a Figgy Pudding Make It Merry Make a Snow Angel 12x12 Paper Make It Merry Make A Bow 12x12 Paper Make It Merry Make a Stocking 12x12 Paper Make It Merry Shape Stickers Make It Merry Make a Star 12x12 Paper Make It Merry Make a Wreath 12x12 Paper Make It Merry Make a Song 12x12 Paper Make It Merry Make a Countdown 12x12 Paper Make It Merry Make a List 12x12 Paper Make It Merry Make a Gift 12x12 Paper Make It Merry Make A Card 12x12 Paper Make It Merry Mini Flyers Make It Merry Word Stickers Make It Merry Label Stickers Make It Merry Tidbits Make It Merry Doo-dads Make It Merry Postcards Make It Merry Miscellany Make It Merry Sew Fun Banners Make It Merry To/From Washi Tape Make It Merry Brads Make it Merry Wintertime Stamps Make It Merry Greeting Cards Stamps Make It Merry Snowflakes Stamp

InLinkz.com

Handmade Holiday Collection by Simple Stories is available at Two Peas in a Bucket.

Handmade Holiday Collection Pack Handmade Holiday Simple Basics 12x12 Paper Collection Handmade Holiday 6x6 Handmade Holiday Stickers

InLinkz.com

Very Merry Christmas Collection by Echo Park Paper Co. is available at Two Peas in a Bucket.

Very Merry Large Ornaments Paper Very Merry Poinsettia Paper Very Merry Brown Cream 12x12 Paper Very Merry Quartrefoil 12x12 Paper Very Merry Ornament 12x12 Paper Very Merry Journaling Cards 12x12 Paper Very Merry Snowman 12x12 Paper Very Merry Christmas Argyle 12x12 Paper Very Merry Green Damask 12x12 Paper Very Merry Subway Art 12x12 Paper Very Merry Large Ornaments 12x12 Paper Very Merry Poinsetta 12x12 Paper Very Merry Music Notes 12x12 Paper Very Merry Diagonal Stripe 12x12 Paper Very Merry 6x6

InLinkz.com

This & That Christmas Collection by Echo Park Paper Co. is available at Two Peas in a Bucket.

This & That Christmas Collection This & That Christmas Stripes Paper This & That Christmas Brown/Lt. Green 12x12 Paper This & That Christmas Green/Cream 12x12 Paper This & That Christmas Red/Slate 12x12 Paper This & That Christmas Journaling Card 12x12 Paper This & That Christmas Ornaments 12x12 Paper This & That Christmas Holly Berries 12x12 Paper This & That Christmas Countdown 12x12 Paper This & That Christmas Wooden Nickels 12x12 Paper This & That Christmas Poinsettias 12x12 Paper This & That Christmas Memories 12x12 Paper This & That Christmas Receipts 12x12 Paper This & That Christmas Plaid & Dots 12x12 Paper This & That Christmas Borders 12x12 Paper This & That Christmas 6x6 Christmas Element Stickers

InLinkz.com

We have another busy weekend with 2 basketball games tomorrow back to back but then I hope to get my holiday decorating groove on!

Have a great weekend!

Gratitude Blog Week GIVEAWAY Winners Announced

Happy Monday crafting friends!

Here are the winners from last week's Gratitude Week on my blog.

Please note that Wednesday's GIVEAWAY, part of Simon Says Stamp Gratitude Blog Hop, is still on-going until Noveber 28th (Wednesday of this week). Be sure to check it out HERE.

The winner of the Simon Says Stamp Lots of Thanks Handwritten Sentiments Stamp Set is Debbie who said, "Pretty card and a Great Giveaway!!!".

The winner of the Simon Says Stamp Holiday Labels Stamp Set is Benessi who said, " The cards look beautiful! I decided the same thing, no DD for me this year, Project Life is enough. I've got plenty to do during holidays season and I would most likely end up doing the same things for both projects."

The winner of the above lot of stamps and paper pad is Paige who said, "I'd live this under my tree! Thanks for the chance to win!".

The winner of the Simon Says Stamp Small Folded Banners Stamp Set is mommamikki who said, "Love watching your process on building a page. You do it so well. Thanks for having a whole weeks worth of projects to share with us. I've missed seeing your regular blog posted. I know life is busy for you and so thankful you took some of it to hang out with your followers!".

 

 

Simon Says Stamp December Card Kit (layout + video)

So, even though the Simon Says Stamp monthly card kits have the word, "card" in the product title, don't let that deter you scrapbookers from using pieces of the kit to create layouts!!!

I was so inspired by the product/color choices in the December Card Kit that I decided to create a layout for you today:

Using mostly components from the card kit along with a background paper and a few extra goodies and stamps from my stash I created this layout showcasing my brother and I when we were little!

I am really loving all the polaroid theme background patterned papers lately and love being able to use these "frames" as mini canvases for adding bits and pieces to my pages.

I added some October Afternoon Holiday Style chipboard banners to one of my frames along with some stamping using the Ali Edwards December Daily stamp set for 2012.

I used the stamp set below from this month's exclusive SSS stamp set inluded with the kit (or available individually) to stamp on the included Jenni Bowlin label. I used pop dots to adhere it over the ribbon (also from the kit) and the pattered paper (from the kit).

I die cut the snowflakes from the included cardstock using an exlusive SSS die. These dies are amazing, just look at that detail! I embellished with a label sticker behind and a chipboard button on top, finishing with some gemstones.

Lots of stamping and using stamps from different collections together to create a unique custom stamped design.

And those holly sprigs....I'm going to have to pick up a few more of these! I used both that came in this month's kit on my page!

A little journaling adhered and adorned with washi tape and a wax seal (included in the kit) and my page is complete!

VIDEO TUTORIAL

SUPPLIES (click on product photos for links):

InLinkz.com

Don't forget the "Black Friday Sale" going on November 23-26 at Simon Says Stamp! Select products 35%...

Click here to see the items that are included in the sale.

Enter SIMONBF35 in the Promotion Code box (be sure to use all CAPS) and you will get 35% off of those items. 

And check out these deals and new products at Two Peas in a Bucket:

   

Keri Bradford Studio is having a sale through Monday as well....

You guys know that I am a photo template kind of girl! 90% of my layouts feature one of Kerri's photo collages. Click HERE to check out Kerri's blog post on the sale.

To see all the templates available–with their sale price–click HERE.

Happy Shopping!  

Today, I have another brand new, exclusive Simon Says Stamp set for you! This one is the Small Folded Banners Stamp Set, another favorite! If you want to see how I've used it, check out one of my card shares from Wednesday HERE.

For a chance to win the Simon Says Stamp Small Folded Banners Holiday stamp set, leave a comment on this blog post by Monday, November 26, 2012, 11:59 a.m.

p.s. I'll announce all the winners from my gratitude week on Monday.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

37 Things (a layout)

With the Thanksgiving festivities here in the USA yesterday, I completely forgot to put up this post so I'm just adjusting the project/giveaway schedule a bit and we will go through tomorrow instead of ending my gratitude week today. ;)

Several years ago I bookmarked a layout made by my friend, Kelly Purkey, documenting the 27 things or goals she wanted to do in her 27th year of life. I loved the concept and I've had it on my "to-do" list for, well, years. And I love that Kelly kept track of how she did with her goals and posted updates a couple of times along the way. One of the things I want to do a better job of, and Project Life definitely does help me with that, is to include myself in my scrapbooking. I love recording all those memories that I don't want to forget that involve my kids and our family's travels and our day to day life but I don't want to forget to include myself and what's important to me and document who I am in the here and now. After all, it's my voice that is telling all these stories. The narrator has a story too! I think this layout is one that could make an appearance every year. And, yes, I plan to update once or twice throughout my 37th year and when we hit my 38th year, I'll show you how I did!

When I saw this awesome paper from the new Pebbles Seen & Noted collection I knew that I wanted to do some sort of a layout featuring journaling + stamping in the word bubbles. This paper was perfect for this page!

I started by grabbing a bunch of instagram photos I've taken of myself fairly recently (even one on my 37th birthday) and dropped them into this Kerri Bradford photo template (linked below). Once I had my photo collage positioned where I wanted it on my page, I grabbed some pre-made journaling pages, journaling cards and a couple of sickers and created the title above the collage, tucking the journaling card elements behind the collage and leaving just a small portion sticking out.

I stamped the title using one of Kelly Purkey's awesome new alpha stamp sets exclusive to Simon Says Stamp (linked below) and added brads, sticker phrases and a Tim Holtz decorative pin with a date sticker to the title/border.

I grabbed some of my favorite stamp sets and stamped a few phrases that would support my journaling in the word bubbles on the background paper. I purposely used a similar shade of ink to my backgorund as to not make one stamped phrase stand out from the title, journaling, etc. I wanted it to blend in with the design and not overpower my journaling. The Hero Arts Wet Cement Mid-Tone ink was perfect.

Then I typed up my 37 things on some cream/natural cardstock and punched the shapes out or cut them into strips depending on the size of the journaling and added them to the preprinted word bubbles on the patterned paper. This step took a bit of plannning and I only did a few at a time, so that I wouldn't forget which ones went where. The journaling I didn't have a word bubble for was printed out and then punched out with the EK Success Circle Caption punch (which I believe has been discontinued). I've had this punch for years. So nice to get the chance to use it again!

I finished the page by added some wood veneer hearts, gemstones and a badge randomly about the page.

 

SUPPLIES (click on product photos for links):

InLinkz.com

OTHER SUPPLIES:

• Studio Calico Foodie Stamp Set (menu plan banner)
• Studio Calico Adventure Stamp Set (camera)
• Studio Calico "Bobby Socks" Add On Kit ("this is where I want to be..." stamp)
• Studio Calico Sock Hop Kit ("happy" badge)
• EK Success Circle Caption Punch
• Stampin' Up Large Oval Punch
• Red Gemstones from my stash

Today's giveaway includes a Hero Arts Retailer Teaching Kit (kit with stamps from several of the Studio Calico original releases) which I already own the stamps featured in this kit, a Jillibean Soup 6x6 paper pad that I have a duplicate of and a couple of Studio Calico Stamps from past kits that I've never inked up! 

For a chance to win this collection of goodies, leave a comment on this blog post by Saturday, November 24, 2012, 11:59 a.m.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for another layout + video share and the last giveaway for my week of gratitude! See you then!

p.s. I'll announce all the winners from my gratitude week on Monday.

 

Simon Says Stamp Gratitude Blog Hop and Charity Donation

Hello friends! I am so excited to be taking part in the Simon Says Stamp Gratitude Blog Hop today! What a great way to share what we are grateful for and share some creative ideas for expressing gratitude. I am so grateful to be able to share projects with you all year long. I'm thankful for the wonderful friends I've made through this amazing hobby and how it brings people from all over the world together with a common interest in all things paper + stamps + ink! 

To share my gratititude for each and every one of you, I created not one, but three projects to share with you today plus a little video tutorial on how to make this first card!

This card was inspired by THIS card share from a few days ago.

Instead of "hanging" hearts, I created a more winter/holiday themed card using a snowflake stamp from one of Simon Says Stamp's Exclusive Stamp Sets by Kelly Purkey!

I went with a more fun and funky color scheme rather than traditional holiday red and green.

 

The greeting is from the December Simon Says Stamp Card Kit exclusive stamp set. 

VIDEO TUTORIAL

SUPPLIES for Holiday Cheer Card:

InLinkz.com

This next card features one of my most favorite color combinations for holiday projects: kraft + red + white.

I stamped the background with hexies from Simon Says Stamp's Exclusive Holiday Labels Stamp Set. I started in the center of the card and worked my way out from there, completely covering the front of the card.

Next, I die cut 3 hexies from kraft cardstock using the coordinating die and stamped a hexagon design again in each and adhered them to the card with foam adhesive.

The greeting was die cut and stamped using stamps and dies from Simon's Small Holiday Folded Banners Stamp Set with coordinating small banner dies. I used foam adhesive with it as well.

Finally I die cut the tall tree and felt hearts/stars (Simon Exclusive Dies) and adhered them to the card as shown. I tied ribbon around the tree and embellished with wood veneer and gems.

SUPPLIES for Merry & Bright Card:

InLinkz.com

This last project is for my Project Life album. I mostly used images from Simon's Exclusive Kelly Purkey stamp sets and incorporated a few phrases/images from other SSS stamp sets. I can say enough how much I love stamping my own journaling cards!

SUPPLIES for Project Life Journaling Cards:

InLinkz.com

I think you can tell after looking at all these projects that I am a big, big fan of Simon's Exclusive Stamps + Dies! The quality is amazing and the images/phrases are so fresh and right on trend. I highly recommend picking up a set (or two or three!) and trying them for yourself if you haven't already. You won't regret it!

Now here's an opportunity to share your gratitude with others. I will be giving away a $50 donation to the charity of a commenter's choice. 

Just leave a comment sharing what you are most grateful for and you will be entered in the drawing.  After the winner is chosen Simon Says Stamp will be in touch with you to find out the charity you have chosen. 

We will draw winners on Wednesday, November 28, 2012. 

[the winner will also be receiving the following 2 Hero Arts stamp sets from me. I had duplicates of these sets and want to share!]

 

[Hero Arts Untitled Word Shadows & Hero Arts Border Messages]

This Friday Simon Says Stamp will offer a Black Friday discount code to its customers for 35% off selected items in the store. But blog hoppers get the code early for stopping by my blog! 

Click here to see the items that are included in the sale.

Enter SIMONBF35 in the Promotion Code box (be sure to use all CAPS) and you will get 35% off of those items. 

Happy Shopping!  

The next stop in the Simon Says Stamp Gratitude Blog Hop is my dear friend:

the amazing, talented and generous, Jennifer McGuire. 

If while hopping, you encounter a broken link, you can go back to the beginning for links to everyone who is participating in the hop.

Thanks for visiting and we will see you tomorrow!

 

Project Life | December 2012 Stamped Journaling Cards

I've been stockpiling information, memorabilia, photos and more to get my Project Life album up to date and I'll be sharing a lot of pages and more about that next week but in the meantime I thought I'd share some December journaling cards I stamped up a few weeks ago showcasing the October Studio AE Stamp Set as well as Ali's December Daily stamp set for this year and one of her holiday stamp sets. I always love just how well her different stamp sets work together.

I used all Hero Arts inks for my journaling cards and I absolutely love how they turned out.

If you are stamping with the shadow and mid-tone inks and don't like how the wet ink looks right after stamping, give it a few minutes because as the ink dries you get the most beautiful, rich color.

These mid-tone inks are definitely my fav's:

InLinkz.com

I am not doing a dedicated Decmeber Daily album this year.

And I'm okay with that.

I thougth long and hard about it and decided that Project Life is enough for me right now. And I can include a lot of that "December Daily" info right in my Project Life album. Stamping up my journaling cards each day should provide that DD creative outlet that I enjoy so much! ;)

If you want to check out how I have scrapped December Daily in the past, check out these past year's blog posts:

• December Daily 2011
• December Daily 2010

By the way, the journaling card featuring the hanging bell may well be my favorite of the bunch. It was the last one stamped, too. The string and bow the stamped bell is hanging from was hand drawn by me. Easy peasy but it makes the design.

SUPPLIES (click on product photos for links):

InLinkz.com

Other stamped journaling cards I've created for my Project Life album:

• (even more) Stamped Journaling Cards
• Custom Stamped Journaling Cards
• Simple Joy Studio SE Stamped Journaling Cards
• Hello Routine Studio AE Stamped Journaling Cards
• Beauty of Spring Studio AE Stamped Journaling Cards

I can't get enough of Simon Says Stamp's Exclusive Stamp Sets. Not only are the designs fresh but the stamps are of the best quality and stamp perfectly every time. Everything about them is top notch! I ended up with 2 of this stamp set and want to share this one with one lucky blog reader:

For a chance to win the Simon Says Stamp Exclusive Holiday Labels stamp set, leave a comment on this blog post by Wednesday, November 21, 2012, 11:59 a.m.

Don't forget to leave a comment on THIS post by 11:59 a.m. CST TODAY for a chance to win another stamp set.

I'll be back tomorrow with a blog hop project! See you then.

 

Simon Says Stamp November Card Kit | Hello Card

 

Today begins a week of gratitude to all my loyal blog readers and followers. Thank you all for your kind comments (or just your stalking if leaving comments isn't your thing!), your support of my online classes, events and projects and most of all for our shared love of this hobby called paper crafting/scrapbooking/stamping/etc.

I have new projects shares for you all week, including a super fun blog hop that I'm super excited about taking place on Wednesday, a scrapbook page how-to video and more. :)

Oh, and you may want to check in all week because I may just be giving away some awesome stuff. 

Every.

Single.

Day.

I love how versatile the Simon Says Stamp Card Kits are. Yesterday's card used pieces from the same kit but is a completely different color scheme. [You can see it HERE.] 

I went with a more neutral/distressed feel for this floral card. I was inspired by the patterned papers in the kit and the vintage book pages.

I started out the card by creating the background from one of the 6x6 papers in the kit. I used the coffee stain stamp in one of Studio Calico's new stamp sets (based on one of my all time favorites of theirs from a montly kit ages ago), then distressed the edges and spritzed it lightly with Copper mist.

I created my own tag using a Tim Holtz die. I layered strips of 6x6 patterned paper, machine stitched them in place and stamped a greeting along the bottom from a Simon Exclusive Stamp Set.

I used one of the exclusive Simon Says Stamp dies [flower] to create the floral accent by die cutting it several times from the text paper and layering the florals for full flowers. I sewed buttons (included in this month's kit) to the center of each flower.

I curled the edges of the floral a bit for dimension using my fingers.

I machine stitched around the edge of the background before adding all the goodies and before adhering to the card base.

The leaves for my flower was created by stamping the large heart from this month's kit, cutting it in half to create the 2 leaves, distressing with Distress Inks using the ink blending tool and spritzing with Copper mist.

I added an additional greeting inside the card to finish it off.

SUPPLIES (click on product photos for links):

InLinkz.com

Links to other projects created with the November Simon Says Stamp Card Kit:

• Congratulations Card

This is one of my favorite greeting stamp sets right now and I have an extra that I want to share with a lucky blog reader!

For a chance to win the Simon Says Stamp Lots of Thanks Handwritten Sentiments stamp set, leave a comment on this blog post by Tuesday, November 20, 2012, 11:59 a.m.

I'll be back tomorrow with another new project! See you then.

Simon Says Stamp November Card Kit | Congratulations Card

I'm a bit behind with my Simon Says Stamp November Card Kit Shares this month. They've been sitting here needing photographed for a week now....

Today I'm going to be sharing my favorite card I made with this month's kit:

I think one of the things I love most about this card is that just like yesterday's card share [click HERE for yesterday's post] this card is mostly flat and can easily be sent through the mail.

All of the stamping was done right on the Neenah white cardstock base using Tim Holtz Distress Inks.

[side note here: How great are the fun, bright colors of Distress Inks and Distress Stains that Tim has added to his collection of fabulous distress inks? I am a color-loving girl and I can't get enough of these happy colors!]

Here are my favorite and most often used colorful Distress Ink colors (and yes, I have a bit of an addiction with all things in the aqua/teal color family):

InLinkz.com

I used the heart and the border stamp from this month's stamp set included in the kit to create these "hanging" hearts. I stamped the hearts on each side off the edge. This helps draw the eye across the card plus it doesn't squish all those colorful hearts too close together. It provides much better balance like this.

I used a greeting from one of the exclusive Simon Says Stamp Stamp Sets and stamped it in black along the bottom edge of the card. I think the black greeting gives a nice balance to the white background and colorful stamping.

To give my card a bit of dimension I added simple pearl gemstones and some tiny ribbon bows I made from thin silk ribbon.

SUPPLIES (click on photos for product links):

InLinkz.com

And if you just love the stamps (like I do!) and don't want to commit to the whole kit every month, you can buy the stamp set individually HERE. Love that!

Copics + Saturated Canary Digi Stamp

My hairdresser opened up her own salon with one other hairdresser this past Monday and I'm so super happy for her! It's closer to home (and to her girls) and I don't mind having to drive a bit because she is a fabulous stylist and a friend. It's a great feeling to be comfortable with the woman coloring/cutting my hair and know that she is always on top of trends and takes great care of me and the kids' hair. 

I wanted to send her a little note letting her know how happy I am for her in her new endeavor but I just wasn't finding the right image...

... at least not until I remembered that my daughter and I had downloaded several, er, okay a lot, of images from Saturated Canary a few weeks ago, not just THIS one that I shared recently. What can I say? We love to color and these images are amazing to color and to practice coloring!

I opened up THIS image [Becki] in Photoshop and cropped and resized her to fit about a 4 x 5.25" piece of Neenah white cardstock. 

What I love about a lot of the Saturated Canary images is that she has an assortment of images and lots that work well for older girls, tweens and women as well as young girls/children. So many stamp images out there are of small children, which I also love by the way, but sometimes those images just don't work, kwim?

I really like how this digi stamp isn't a young girl. And the hip hair and outfit made me think of my hairdresser. And since she's the one receiving the card, I thought it was perfect!

I also chose to keep the image bigger and only use the upper part of her body for my card. 

I love embellishments. Don't we all?

But the post office sure doesn't love them. Anymore, when I know I am going to be mailing a card in a standard envelope, I take it as a personal challenge to find ways to create depth, dimension and/or interest without all the stuff. 

Except for the scattering of gemstones and the bit of ribbon and button this card is 2 layers: the card base (purple) + the white cardstock layer with the colored digi stamp. 

p.s. Don't look at my hangnail or the paint job that needs removed. It's been a long, long week and let's leave it at that. ha.

These are the Copic Markers I used to color this Saturated Canary image:

I think that one of the best things about these digi images is:

the eyes.

Not all digi stamps or physical stamps for that matter, have really good eyes to color. Often, the faces are so small that that small detail is overlooked or left out because there simply isn't enough room. The eyes here really help make the face. And I like adding a bit of glitz to the eyelashes (I do love my makeup so it just seems fair that I add it to my colored images as well) with a Copic Spica glitter marker. I used black here.

And Glossy Accents make the eyes really pop. Once I'm all done coloring I add Glossy Accents to the eyes and let it sit for a couple hours until good and dry. I just love the shine it gives the eyes.

Another shot of the eyes. And the lips. The lips on this particular image were super fun to color too. And the hair.... I love feathering hair with Copics....

Okay, so I love the whole image. Enough said.

I am totally in love with all the exclusive stamp sets from Simon Says Stamp. In love.

I used Stampin' Up and Ranger Distress Markers to color in this greeting, misted it with the Ranger Mini Mister ONCE and then stamped it right next to the digi image. 

I also took a stitched border stamp from a Technique Tuesday stamp set and created this fun faux double stitched border effect. I simply masked off the ends so my stamping wouldn't overlap and stamped each side. I filled in any missing "stitch" lines with the coordinating Ranger Distress Marker.

Ugh. Who forgot to crop that finger out of the shot. Again?

Oh. Yeah. That would be me. Oops.

I added this tiny bit of thin silk ribbon secured with a Stampin' Up flower button....

... and some Doodlebug gemstones to finish off my card.

I did stamp an extra greeting inside the card from the Simon Says Stamp Handwritten Sentiments Stamp Set. But I forgot to photograph it before I dropped my card in the mail. 

SUPPLIES (click on images for product links):

InLinkz.com

OTHER Supplies:

• Doodlebug Lilac Gemstones
• Silk Ribbon from my stash
• Purple Cardstock from my stash

CONGRATULATIONS TO...

Trisha said...

Wow, love your pillows. So darned cute that I wish I was still doing sewing and quilting. Thanks for sharing and the chance to win.

ReplyNovember 13, 2012 at 06:23 AM

Trisha is the winner of the $25 KBS spending spree!

 

 

KBS | Incredibly Grateful Holiday Celebration (a sewing project using the Silhouette) + a GIVEAWAY!

Hello my friends!

November is literally flying by.

My baby turns 7 this week. Seven years old. He's my baby, though. Isn't he? I think I blinked and those baby days were gone. :(

Seven + 30 years is the age I will be the day after his birthday. That doesn't seem right does it? It's amazing how the years fly by!

I have so much fun stuff in store this week and also next. I'll be sharing more about that tomorrow but how about a new Kerri Bradford Studio Share this lovely Monday?!!

And what's even better?

Kerri is offering a great discount this week on orders over $20 just by using the code listed in the banner below!

I pounced on the sewable interfacing when Heidi got it in at Simon Says Stamp. I picked up the sewing cutting blade too, not realizing that I really didn't need it. More about that in a minute. And I also picked up the 24" long cutting mat. Because, I am forever wanting to cut things that are BIG for home decor projects! And also, Simon has the lovely canvas dust covers to protect our Silhouette Cameo investments from dust (I mean, I know you guys are all like me and never have dust in your house, right? ;) But still, it's a great (and pretty!) way to make sure our die cutters stay nice for a long, long time!

So... the project:

The reindeer head in Kerri's Here Comes Santa Claus is one of my most favorite holiday shapes she's designed! I love the whimsical feel of it and because of the simplicity of the design (nice, clean lines) I new it would be a great shape to tackle for my first sewing/quilting/applique project!

To begin my pillow, I cut the center fabric to 14.5" square and set it aside.

Knowing that I wanted an 18" square finished pillow I opened the shapes I was using (reindeer & holly) and resized them in the Silhouette Software so that proportionally they would be the right size for the middle part of my pillow. This step required math...not my strongest subject. It also required a sketch or 2. To make it easier for those of you who are like me and are visual learners, I made this little diagram to show you the pieces of my pillow and the sizes I cut my fabric and patchwork border: 

I forgot to note the size of the reindeer before I closed out my program. (One of those slap myself in the forehead moments!) I believe I sized him at about 13.75" tall. You can see that he almost reaches the top of that center part of the pillow.

For the reindeer applique:

I took some tan fabric, a couple of greens, a floral and a red and trimmed them down a bit larger than the shape I was cutting. 

I cut the sewable interfacing slightly smaller than the fabric but large enough for the shape and ironed the interfacing to the wrong side of the fabrics. You want the interfacing to be a bit smaller than your fabric so that you don't end up with sticky residue on your ironing board cover (or your iron). I also used the sewable interfacing as opposed to the clean cut interfacing because I was reinforcing the bond with machine stitching and this pillow cover will require periodical washing. If you are making a project that doesn't need sewn or washed, go for the Clean Cut Interfacing instead!

Then, peel off the backing paper and place the fabric on a cutting mat, interfacing side down, fabric up and cut the shapes for the applique.

Now, here's my note about the Cameo Fabric Blade. Do you need the blade? NO. In fact, it is the same blade as the regular Cameo blade, the only difference being that it's blue. In fact, I forgot I had it and cut my shapes using a regular blade that's been in my machine for awhile. No problems cutting at all.However, if you foresee a lot of fabric projects in your future, you might pick a blue blade up simply to keep as your "fabric cutting blade". Just like with scissors or other cutting tools, paper dulls blades faster than fabric, thus maybe not giving you as nice of a cut. The blue makes it easy to remember, "this is my fabric cutting blade" and you can swap it out easy peasy for just fabric cutting. I have scissors and a rotary blade that are ONLY used for fabric and the blue blade falls into the same category in my craft room. But if you think you will only cut fabric once in awhile... don't worry about getting a specific blade. The regular one will work just fine!

Once all the shapes were cut, I ironed them onto my pillow and then machine stitched around each. I just straight stitched because I don't mind the slightly frayed edges for this particular project. :)

I opted to not die cut the eyes and replaced them with black buttons instead!

Now, I did applique first and quilt second. Dumb. This was a learning project for me. When I do this again, I will be piecing and quilting my pillow front first, then ironing and sewing the applique in place. It doesn't affect the finished project, it simply made the quilting a bit more difficult since I didn't want to quilt through my applique. Again, a slap myself in the forehead moment!

I pieced the border using scrap fabric from my scrap bin and also from cutting down the fabric for my die cut appliques. The binding is Bonnie & Camille's Marmalade Leaf Stripe for Moda and the back of the pillow is the red/white polkadot print from Bonnie & Camille's Vintage Modern fabric collection for Moda.

SUPPLIES used (and mentioned) in my post above:

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Fabrics Used (links if possible):

• Vintage Modern by Bonnie & Camille for Moda (Red/White Polkadot on back)
• Bonnie & Camille's Marmalade Leaf Stripe for Moda (green/white stripe)
• Fig Tree Quilts for Moda: random collections (red/white floral pillow center, green/red/cream, tan)
• Ruby by Bonnie & Camille for Moda (red/white scallop, tiny green/white polkadot)
• Bliss by Bonnie & Camille for Moda (red/cream polkadot)
• Lucy's Crab Shack by Sweetwater for Moda (white on white numbers)
• American Jane for Moda (Red with white pin dot, green with white pin dot)
• green plaid (I have no idea, it was in the scrap bin!)
• Michael Miller (tan plaid)

* * * G I V E A W A Y * * *

Please leave 1 comment on this blog post by Friday, November 16th, 2012, 11:59 a.m. CST for a chance to win a $25 spending spree!

I will pick 1 lucky name from the comments left and contact the winner on Friday afternoon! 

You could fill your shopping cart with fun new KBS kits like these! Good luck!

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