Saturday Sketch Challenge #235

Just a quickie post tonight... catching up on a few last minute Christmas cards for my last gatherings of the season, and the deadline for this sketch challenge at Stamping 411 is looming, so I'm just doing a pre-bedtime post. (PS. Since this is a Stampin' Up! only challenge, I just want to reassure you that, although this Santa stamp is from 2004, it is indeed SU :)

Merry Christmas all!

'Tis the season for... candy?

It would seem that all of the confectionary companies decided long ago that EVERY holiday needed to be drowned in sugar, and kids need to get enough candy to last them to the next holiday... Well, although I'm not a fan of too many treats (especially for the kiddos), I am a HUGE fun of adorable candy themed "stuff", and I am LOVING this Sweet Shoppe suite in the new Occasions Mini, and this SQSC18 sketch (flipped upside down), at Stampin' Queens was a perfect opportunity to take a break from Christmas cards and projects, and make some lollipops... and remember in my cupcake post last week, I said I'd unveil another scented embossing powder? These ones smell like Melon, and I SO wish I could send some Smell-O-Vision through the internet, because this one is AMAZING... smells exactly like some of my favorite candies and lipbalms when I was a kid! Also, if you take a close look at the Soft Suede at the edges, I used the Heart Pressed plate, without ink, to get a subtle imprint similar to the Textured Impressions.

Vanilla Cupcake... no REALLY!! Smell it ;)

I am SO glad my nephew had his birthday in December, so I had a reason to play with my favorite suite from the new Occasions Mini 2012. This cupcake card was the first of many yummy cards I'll be making with this Sweet Shop line, and also my first chance to try the SMELLY clear embossing powder... you heard me! The icing on this cupcake smells like vanilla... and you don't even have to scratch to sniff. Yum!!! And there are two other scents available, starting January 4th, but you'll have to wait till I make another card using one of them ;)

For this card I used the sketch over at Craft Project Central, for their Creating Pretty Cards Challenge #6.

Everyday Enchantment Advent Calendar

I got this advent kit a couple months ago, but since I wasn't head over heels for any of our current Christmas DSPs, and I didn't have enough of my favorite from last year, (Jolly Holiday, which is currently part of the Clearance Rack Blitz!), I decided to hold off until next year. That is, until I saw the upcoming Sale-a-Bration!!!! The Everyday Enchantment suite has my favorite DSP EVER (I may have mentioned that before ;), and although it's not technically a Christmas paper, the colors and the vintage feel were perfect for the look I wanted, so I went for it...

The advent calendar we'd been using in years past is a wooden one with each box having an ornament to hang on the tree. I really liked the way it worked, and I particularly love that there weren't treats involved. But the ornaments were starting to fall apart, and it was time to move on. So I brainstormed about how to recreate the ornament/tree idea, without having to screw knobs on or anything, and figured out that if I put a thin sheet of tin behind the tree, I could use magnets on the ornaments! So using Antique Brads, and Everyday Enchantment brads, I cut off the bendy things and used Mini-Dots to stick them to strong button magnets from the dollar store. Each day has one ornament in the box, and the star for the top sits in box 25 until Christmas morning. Here are some closeups...

Clearance Rack Blitz!!! Limited time, up to 80% off

Today Stampin' Up! added nearly 200 items to the Clearance Rack, and until January 5th, has dropped some of the prices even lower, to 80% off! To order online, click the button on the top right, and have it delivered directly to your door. Or, if I have enough orders to total $100+, I'll put in an order on the 5th... but don't forget, there are limited supplies, and what you want could be gone by then!

Sale-A-Bration and New Occasions Mini SNEAK PEEKS!!!!

I have seen the future, and it is BEAUTIFUL! The upcoming Occasions Mini is my favorite EVER, jam-packed with fabulous and FUN goodies, and the Sale-A-Bration 2012 has the most fabulous DSP I've ever seen, along with 2 gorgeous stamp sets and an embellishment pack that coordinate perfectly (among other great stuff, of course).

So without further ado, here is a sneak peek at Sale-a-Bration, along with a few things from the new mini. And I promise, more sneak peeks will be coming throughout the next week, so make sure you check back frequently :)

I used Mojo Monday's sketch for the card, and added the bookmarks for colourQ's "anything but a card" challenge, to make it a gift set, and to show you more sides of the DSP ;)

Isn't this stuff just incredible??? Anyway, here are the challenges I used...

Christmas tag night, and a comeback

The last weeks have had me prepping for a craft fair (which was unfortunately very low traffic), a Women's Group craft night at my friend's church (which was a big success... had so much fun!), and some personal calendar events... now I finally have time to sit down and breathe, (after I clean up the disaster zone I call home), and get started on Christmas for myself, and creating just for fun again. So expect to see more frequent posts from me, starting now. Especially after my Occasions Mini and Sale-a-Bration pre-orders come in next week ;) We aren't allowed to show you the catalogues or the products before the official release date, BUT we ARE allowed to show you creations MADE with those products... prepare to drool :)

Anyways, to get the blogging back on a roll, here's a picture of the birthday card I made for my Father-in-Law's 70th birthday. He's a very handy man, and loves spending time in his woodshop, so I thought this was perfect for him. I used last week's Stampin 411 sketch for it, but I missed the deadline for posting.

And the tags and stocking stuffers I made for the women's group.