Saturday, December 29, 2012

Grand Finale

All year long, I collect Christmas cards, from swaps, convention trades, classes and my own crafting. Come December, I match up my mailing list with my stash and I'm usually all set. This year there were a dozen envelopes left and all the cards were used! Dang.

But the Bears vs The Packers game was ahead of me, and since I love the party but don't enjoy the game, I needed a project anyway. So I die-cut a bunch of ornaments, stamped a sentiment and packed up my ribbon, dimensionals, bone folder and rhinestones.

I had a great time chatting with the non-fans, kept my hands out of the snacks and finished up my Christmas cards!

This baby definitely falls into the "Clean and Simple" category, my favorite!

Happy Stamping!
Dee Tollaksen

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Stand out of the crowd

When you go to the trouble of making your Christmas cards by hand, I'm sure you want them to stand out from the crowd. Choosing an unusual color palette will do the trick.

I chose an all black card for the  Stamp Club December card.  We used VersaMark ink and silver embossing powder. Of course, a different sentiment could make this card work for anytime in the winter, but it was December, after all.

Stampin' Up! offers an awesome silver or gold marker in the current mini-catalog, which worked perfectly for signing the inside of the card. Or you could put a white panel inside, to use a regular pen.

Happy Stamping!
Dee Tollaksen

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Poinsettia topper

Poinsettia flowers are so easy to reproduce, you can use a leaf punch, a blossom builder punch, or as seen here, the Daydream Medallion stamp set with matching Framelits.

Just a few of my special gifts had toppers made with the Daydream Medallion. Even though it was fast and easy to make, it was a very special addition to a gift.

Hope you're enjoying your friends and family at this Christmas holiday!

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Box it up, baby

 I'm off to a vendor fair today, hoping to meet some new stampy friends.

I thought I'd share a few pictures of the Christmas Keepsake Box available from Stampin' Up!   For under $12, you get a kit that provides the box, the ribbons, fabric, glitter, buttons, pearls, DSP (designer series paper) and even the color pictures and instructions to assemble. I own the stamp set shown here, you can borrow, or use any Christmas stamps you own. The paper is already die-cut and ready to pop onto your box!  This is a beautiful decor item, and the box slides open where you can store love notes or special cards or use it to give a gift!
 If you would like some assistance or you can't wait to order from Stampin' Up!, I have a couple of these on my shelf, just waiting for you to come over and craft with me! There are lots of evenings and afternoons left before the big guy in red comes down the chimney, so pick a date and come craft with me!

Happy stamping,
Dee Tollaksen




Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Teamwork

Plenty of creativity, just 1/9 of it mine. At my recent Stampin' Up! group gathering, each of us brought the idea and supplies for one square on this collage. We had a theme and a size limit, but that's it. Each person designed their square and each of us got to make all the squares. Luckily, there were 9 of us attending, so it worked perfectly for a square collage. I happened tohave this frame on hand, something I found on sale at a craft store.

Can you guess which square I designed?

Happy stamping!
Dee Tollaksen

Saturday, December 1, 2012

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Crafty people unite! This is our time! You know it, I know it and our families know it! We love the holidays! Ribbons and lights and garlands and bling. Store away all the decor we love all year long, and bring out a whole new set of decorations! Hang banners and evergreens! Put a tree in the front room and dangle pretty ornaments all over it! Heck, put a tree in every room and light 'em up!

I have 3 of these kits on hand, and I can order more (or you can go to the clearance section of the Stampin' Up! website and order your own). I would love for you to come on over and make a holiday keep sake box. We'll make fabric flowers, ribbon flowers, bows, borders and spritz the whole thing with gold shimmer spray!

How's Sunday for you? Call me!

Happy stamping,
Dee Tollaksen