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Sunday, October 30, 2016

WARMTH & CHEER CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

It’s hard to believe, but it’s time to start making your Christmas projects for this year! This tutorial shows how to make four, festive Christmas ornaments for your Christmas tree. The ornaments feature the Pretty Pines Thinlits, Starlight Thinlits, and the Warmth & Cheer Designer Series Paper Pack. These ornaments would also be perfect for decorating the outside of your Christmas gifts. This would make a great Christmas class, too.


This fantastic project, which was designed by Christy Fulk, is the October bonus project at Craft Project Central.  Qualifying for the bonus project tutorial is easy . . . just subscribe to two or more months in a row, put the Craft Project Central badge on your blog, or refer a friend to the site.  When your friend subscribes, just let us know!

Friday, October 28, 2016

TWIST & POP-UP CARD FOR LILY

When my sister and I were little, we had the pleasure of a really fun babysitter . . . my mother's cousin, Rita.  She was a really sweet, soft-spoken person who was easy to be around.  When I was a child, I looked up to her as if she was a lot older than me, but she was really just a few years older.  When she was our babysitter, I can remember having a lot of fun with her!  There was one house between our house and a cemetery, and I used to LOVE riding my bike on the narrow roads that looked much more like wide pathways, and Rita would go with us there.  I was never ready to head back home, but she knew exactly how to encourage us to leave--and leave quickly.  She would pretend to be overtaken by an evil spirit and would walk like a person possessed while speaking out loud ("Yes, Master.  I hear and obey.") to a command that only she could hear.  She would tell scary stories and teach us fun songs, such as "The Hearse Song".
 

 
Sadly, Rita passed away a year ago on October 7th and, when I saw on Facebook that today was her daughter's 16th birthday, I was more than happy to make a card for her.  Rita mentioned a few times that Lily enjoyed seeing the handmade cards that I sent and, as I was making this birthday card, it was nice to remember Rita.  I felt that somehow she was watching me work and happy to know that Lily would be receiving such a fun card.  The front of the card is cheery . . .
 
 
But the inside is WOW . . .
 

I can't take credit for the mechanics of this card as it was designed by Melody Lane to be cut with my Cricut Explore.  Isn't it fantastic???  I have made other Twist & Pop-Up cards, but having the machine do the cutting and scoring is a dream.  Besides, there's less chance for error when the machine does the work.  I like that anyone receiving one of these cards will know that there's something inside, but I doubt that anyone would guess that the pop-up is as large as it is.  It seems unbelievable that the pop-up could easily fold and twist to fit inside when the card is closed, but it does.  This is what that looks like:
 

Pretty sweet, huh?

Lily, this card will arrive after your big day, but I hope you know that a lot of precious and positive thoughts of you and your mom kept me company as I worked on it. 
 
 


Thursday, October 27, 2016

STAR ALBUM WITH COORDINATING CARD & TAG

This set of projects is a gift set, photo album and home décor piece for the holidays, all in one. The Star Album has seven unique decorated panels and seven spots for photos. The wide variety of stamps, materials and techniques used make it an extra special gift or home décor item. Some of the panels are simple and others have a lot of detail, but they are all finely crafted to pair with your treasured holiday pictures. The coordinating tag and card can be given separately or the whole ensemble can be given as a gift to one special recipient.
 
 
The tutorial for this holiday ensemble, which was designed by Melissa Kerman, can be found at Craft Project Central.

Monday, October 24, 2016

"BUTTERFLY BASICS" PAINTED TOTE SET

Learn how to get a double dose out of your photopolymer stamps by getting both a background and a detailed image from the same photopolymer stamp!  This Painted Tote Set includes a paint-stamped canvas tote, a set of matching tote notepapers and a beautiful tag for gift giving.  What a fun project to keep small hands stamping!  You can add additional gifts to the totes such as stamps, stamping or scrapbooking treats!  These totes make great gifts for the holidays and any special occasion!
 
 
The tutorial for this creative project, which was designed by Michelle Wecksler, can be found at Craft Project Central.

Saturday, October 22, 2016

PAISLEYS & POSIES CARD SET & PURSE

Paisleys are all the rage right now, and this card set will be perfect for all paisley-lovers! This set includes two different card designs, and three need to be made of each to fill the cute purse-box that goes with it. This project features the beautiful Petals & Paisleys Suite of products. Make one as a gift, and make another one for yourself. This would also make a great product-based class.
 
 
The tutorial for this awesome ensemble, which was designed by Christy Fulk, can be found at Craft Project Central.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

MERRIEST WISHES TAGS & GIFT BOX SET

Gift packaging is something we need throughout the year, especially during the holidays!  This gift box is designed to include four individual compartments, just perfect for the Merriest Wishes gift tags.  The tutorial also includes four gift tag designs. The tags can be easily customized to your favorite colors, images, or greetings, from the Merriest Wishes/Merry Tags Bundle.  Just make four of each design and you will have sixteen beautiful tags to give to that special person this year.  Or, you can leave off the divider and fill the Gift Box with candies!  The Gift Box containing the candy uses Candy Cane Christmas and Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper.
 
 
The tutorial for this handy set of tags, which were designed by Jari Francis, can be found at Craft Project Central.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

BOXES OF THOUGHTS

It’s time to start thinking about decorating for the holidays and here is a great project to help you get a jump start for your Thanksgiving and Christmas Décor.  This project will make the fun mantel piece for both as it is double sided.  Just turn it around after Thanksgiving is over and you are ready for Christmas!


The tutorial for this project, which was designed by Twila Davis, can be found at Craft Project Central.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

KIDS' DIY CHRISTMAS

Children love to give gifts that they’ve made. How many of us have proudly worn a macaroni necklace created by one of our favorite children? This project will show you how to help your child create a gift that is useful and lasting. Best of all, children will learn a little about science and gardening. Fun and cheerful tags using the Here’s to Cheers bundle from the Stampin’ Up! 2016 Holiday Catalog complete the gifts, and they’re packaged in the 6” x 12” Gusseted Cellophane Bags. Use the leftover bags to create a cute wreath to hang on your front door. Children will be proud that they helped with décor and gift giving this season. This would make a fun class for older elementary or middle school children, or for children and parents.
 
 
The tutorial for this DIY fun, which was designed by Buffy Cooper, can be found at Craft Project Central.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

AND THE WINNER IS . . .

In a previous blog post (HERE), I shared the sneak peek photo of the "Basket of Wishes" Scrapling ensemble that I designed for Craft Project Central this month.  In that blog post, I promised to give a FREE one-month Craft Project Central subscription to a lucky winner today.  Getting entered in the drawing was really easy.  The only requirement was to leave a short, sweet, and simple comment HERE.  Thank you so much to everyone who took a few minutes to leave a comment and get entered in the drawing!  Congratulations, Debbie Michael!!!!  You are the winner and, if you'll email me at randari at Hotmail dot com, we'll get your FREE subscription started!

A BIRTHDAY FIESTA

Let’s have a Fiesta! In this tutorial, you will find six cards designed with the Birthday Fiesta Suite of stamps, framelits, Designer Series Paper, and Festive Embossing Folder- one of them is even a Christmas card! They are all tucked in a card box to give as a gift, too.  This tutorial would be great for demonstrators to use for a Product Class since it includes two fun fold cards.
 
 
The tutorial for this fantastic project, designed by Cindy Brumbaugh, can be found at Craft Project Central.

Saturday, October 8, 2016

THANKFUL GIFT ENSEMBLE

This project provides a plethora of ways to give thanks for the coming Thanksgiving Holiday, or for anytime you want to just be thankful! In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to quickly transform a Spiral Memo Pad into a Personal Thankful Journal. The Gift Bag Punch Board makes the coordinating Note Card Holder a snap to create, and just the right size to hold a plentiful stack of Note Cards to write all your thoughts and memories on. You’ll also make a simple, but trendy Tagged Mason Jar to hold all your thankful Note Cards. Be sure to include a Project Life Journaling Pen to write on the Note Cards that will fill the Jar. And, of course, the Thinking of You Card is the perfect partner to any or all of these projects for gift giving! 


The tutorial for this pretty ensemble, which was designed by Julie Beltramo, can be found at Craft Project Central.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

"BASKET OF WISHES" SCRAPLINGS

The project that I designed for Craft Project Central is featured today, and I'm excited to share the sneak peek photo!  But first . . . following is the introduction that I wrote for it:

There are several interpretations of “scraplings”, and in this tutorial a scrapling is a card (or tag or any other creation) that gets its start from a scrap of cardstock or paper . . . or both!  Although the cards in this tutorial get their start from full sizes of cardstock and are presented with exact measurements, the intention is that you will feel inspired to create cards and tags of all shapes and sizes from your stash of scraps.  When you need to create a quick card but the scraps all seem too small, think outside the box and use them to create a non-standard sized card.  The good news is that scraplings should fit any size (mailable) envelope that you have on hand, and the recipient will enjoy the odd size/shape of the card!  This tutorial includes instructions for making a pocket holder that has been custom-designed to perfectly hold the set of “scraplings”.  Another thing to love about this tutorial is that it features one set of designer paper and (mostly) one stamp set.
 
 
One of my favorite things about designing projects for Craft Project Central is that I have the opportunity to give a FREE one-month subscription to one lucky person.  Getting entered in the drawing for the FREE subscription is really easy . . . just leave a comment where you see the sneak peek photo of my project by clicking this link http://craftprojectcentral.com/basket-of-wishes-scraplings.  On Tuesday, October 11th, I will use random.org to select the winning name and will announce it right here on my blog.  Be sure to visit on the 11th to see if you've won!

Sunday, October 2, 2016

EASY SKETCH CHALLENGE

There's a brand new Creating Pretty Cards - Card Challenge at Craft Project Central, and it is so easy that you'll probably want to join the fun. 
 
Fun Fact:  For every 10 cards that are submitted HERE for the challenge, a winner will be selected to receive a FREE one-month subscription to the awesome tutorials at Craft Project Central.  It sounds too good to be true, but it's really that easy!  There's a FREE tutorial for the sketch HERE.
 
Monika Davis designed Sketch Challenge #64, and this is what it looks like:
 
 
And this is the card that I created for the challenge:
 
 
I've been working on Christmas cards, so I created a Christmas design.  My card features the following Stampin' Up! products:
 
Stamp Sets:  Christmas Pines, Merriest Wishes
Cardstock:  Emerald Envy, Whisper White, Real Red
DSP:  Presents & Pinecones
Ink:  Real Red, Emerald Envy
Sizzix:  Merry Tags Framelits
Accessories:  Emerald Envy ribbon (3/8" Silky Taffeta Ribbon Combo Pack), Real Red Baker's Twine (Candy Cane Lane Baker's Twine), Stampin' Dimensionals
 
Are you ready to play along now????



Saturday, October 1, 2016

FABULOUS FALL CENTERPIECE

Welcome autumn into your home with this Fabulous Fall Centerpiece! First you will learn how to create a glimmering pumpkin that is the perfect focal point for your table or mantle. Next you will make two coordinating candles that accent the pumpkin beautifully. A sprinkling of autumn leaves and 3-D acorns add just the right touch to your fall décor. And to top it off, there is a darling card that can be framed, given away or adapted to make name markers for your Thanksgiving table. This ensemble is simple to make and will add something special to your home this season!


The tutorial for this gorgeous ensemble, which was designed by Julie, can be found at Craft Project Central.