Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hi everyone! Remember Me? Can you guess what my first New Year resolution is? Yep to start blogging again! hooray! I wanted to kick off the year by showing you a few cards I made for Christmas.
The first card (above) is one of my favorites. I love the "2 Step Bird Punch" (#117191). Here I punched the bird body in Riding Hood Red and then the tree branch and leaves in Chocolate Chip and Old Olive. I then used my 2Way Glue Pen and glitter to bling up the wing a bit. When I pieced the bird together I also used a Stampin' Dimensional dot to pop up the wing. The floral designs are from the stamp set Season of Joy (#110384). I have to admit the "Joy" stamp is not Stampin' Up!

I was really loving the "Season of Joy" stamp set and the swirl design on this card is also from that set. The Christmas tree and sentiment are from the set "Jolliest Time of the Year " (#116584). I used Stampin' Write markers to color in the tree and added glitter with my 2Way glue pen. I have a bling addiction so get used to this theme as you look on!

Okay so this stamp set cracks me up and lends itself too one of my favorite coloring techniques. I use this design element a lot. Stamp the image in black ink and only color in certain aspects of the design. This technique also works great with Stampin' Round wheels and their images. On this card I used a MUST HAVE stampin' up product...GLITTER GLASS! It is basically old fashioned, chunky glitter. Watch my site here for the new color being introduced in a few weeks.

At the request of one of my stamping buddies I made these snowman tags for a swap this holiday season. The snowman body is made out of "White Circle Aluminum Edge Metal Tags" from the Clearance Rack on my Stampin' Up! site. They are on sale for only $1.49 a package and you get both sizes! For the top hat I used the "Round Tab Extra Large" punch (#119864). It works perfectly when you fold it in half. I have also seen really cute purses made with this punch. Then I used the "1 3/4 scallop circle" punch in Pumpkin Pie cardstock to make the noses. I simply cut triangles like cake slices out of the scalloped circle. I used silver cord to hook the head to the body and grosgrain ribbon to make the bow tie and tag holder. I had some little jingle bells which I thought were a perfect addition. The sentiment on the snow man is from a Paper Source stamp.

Gear up all you stampers because SALE-A-BRATION 2011 is coming soon! You can always find great techniques and project ideas on my Stampin' Up! site, not to mention shop directly from the site and have products on your doorstep in a matter of days!

Stampin' Up! Color Combos.

Are you color-combo challenged? When making cards, do you have trouble finding new color combos? Want an easy way to make color decisions? Check out this website http://www.scraptitude.com/colorcombo/

On this site you just enter in the colors and the site tells you all of the possible color combinations that contain your color choices. Give it a try, it so easy!

Simplistic can still be beautiful!

I can't tell you how many times I have met people who say, "I could never do that. I'm not crafty. That's too hard!" I can not stress enough that there is a way to make cards look great without spending two hours on it!

Here are my top five ways to make a card look
great without the agony of hours in creation!

Make a card or scrapbook page and email it in. I'll post it on the blog!

5. Always use at least 2 to 3 colors. For example, one color for the card background, another color to frame the stamped image and finally, a third color to color the stamped image. For example, the card below uses green, two shades of purple and even a little blue.
4. TILT! Whether it is the stamped image in the middle of the card or just a word (like below) tilt it. Not everything has to be perfectly straight and it also saves time when you're not trying to line up each piece.
3. Use an embellishment. It can be stickers, ribbon, cording, brads, eyelets, glitter, lace...should I keep going...it adds a little something special!
2.Tear. Yep, like the card below, tearing the edge of one side or all sides can add a lot of interest. Also curling up the torn edge is a great way to add some dimension.
1.And my number one trick that I use on almost every card is "dimensionals"! These are little pieces of foam with double stick sides. When used they add a 3-D effect.

I cannot take credit. This card is a sample from the Stampin' Up!
regional conference that was held in Salt Lake City last May.