Rubber Stamping & Card Making with Yapha

What? Could it possibly true? No more stocking punch? Yes, I regret to inform you that it is. Sigh. Stampin’ Up has announced that the stocking punch is only available while supplies last. It will not be available after the Holiday mini catalog ends. It will not be available in the new big catalog in July. I know, we are used to most punches being around for awhile. Thank goodness they gave us fair warning on this! So if you love this punch, go get it now! And make sure you pick up the matching stamp set, too. And hey, while you are there, take a look at the amazing deals still available on the Clearance Rack. (Be sure to click “Show All” from the drop down menu or you will miss some stuff.) Clicking on the pictures will take you right to my store to buy these before it is too late.

124095 Stocking Builder Punch $16.95

123784 Stitched Stockings Clear Mount Stamp Set $19.95

The Pennant Parade stamp set and matching Petite Pennants punch are so fabulous and versatile! I had seen many of these 3-D Christmas cards made with them, and I kept meaning to make one. I realized that time was running out, and I had better make one if I wanted to do it before Christmas! I punched out three of the pennants, folded them in half, and glued them together to make the tree. I love how it just pops of the page! I used Cherry Cobbler embossing powder on the Sentiment so it would show up on the Designer Series Paper. It’s really easy to read in real life.

Stamps: Pennant Parade, Four the Holidays
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, VersaMark
Paper: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Brights Patterns Designer Series Pack,  Regals Patterns Designer Series Pack
Other: Cherry Cobbler Embossing Powder,Old Olive Satin Ribbon, Petite Pennants Punch

Whatever holiday(s) you are celebrating this week, I hope you enjoy them!

Cindy had these absolutely adorable boxes of tea light candles posted on her blog, and she was kind enough to include the directions to make them! I decided to make a box for my fabulous library assistant as part of her Christmas gift.

Since both her first and last name start with A, I put that on the candles themselves in matching colors.

Stamps: Lovely Letters
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive
Other: Holiday Windows Mover & Shapers Dies, Old Olive Satin Ribbon, Simply Scored, 1 3/8″ Circle Punch, tissue paper (for the candles)

I’m really pleasd with how easy this was to put together, and how fabulously they came out!

When I showed Eve the Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamps, she was super excited about making cookies for her teachers. So we came home from school on Tuesday and got to work! The Cookie Stamps come with two recipes, but we used the Trader Joe’s Sugar Cookie Mix that we happened to have on hand. After mixing the dough, we rolled them into 1 1/2 inch balls, placed them on the cookie sheet, and then pressed down with the stamp.

Eve loved doing this, and rolled them all and then stamped them all herself. (She’s not actually that tall, she’s standing on a step stool…)

Here are the finished cookies. They came out not only yummy but cute!

Next on the list was packaging. I put a half dozen cookies into one of our large cello bags, and tied the top with Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding. I’m really pleased though, with how the tags turned out!

Stamps: Perfect Punches
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive
Paper: Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Silver Glimmer Paper
Other: 1 1/4″ Circle Punch, 1 3/4″ Scallop Circle Punch, Snowflake #2 Die, Big Shot, Large Cello Bag, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamp

In addition to the snowflake, this pack of the cookie stamps has a heart and a Jack-o-lantern face. Good news, there will be another set in the Occasions Mini catalog with a bunny, a flower, and a shamrock.

Pals Paper Arts Challenge today is “putting on the Ritz,” and boy do I have card for that! It’s a triple wow of sparkles — Silver Glimmer Paper, Rhinestones, and silver embossing powder! Oh wait, make that a quadruple wow — I also spritzed it with White Shimmer Mist! As you can tell, it was hard to get a good picture of all that sparkle. I wish you could see it in real life.

Stamps: Delightful Dozen
Ink: Versamark
Paper: Night of Navy, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer Paper
Other: Silver Embossing Powder, White Shimmer Paint, Northern Flurry Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Basic Rhinestones

Here’s a conservation tip — I punched a bunch of scalloped circles out of the Silver Glimmer Paper before I layered it in the card. Now I have those to use and no one is the wiser!

On of the things that really bums me out about being so sick is missing stamping with my after-school class! I had so many fun Christmas and Hanukkah cards planned for the kids. When I saw this fabulous Christmas card by Megan, I knew that the kids would absolutely LOVE to run a soda can through the Big Shot. I mean, really, who wouldn’t? So this is the card that I had hoped to make with them today. Steve’s even been saving all of his Coke cans for me and everything. As you can see, I changed up Megan’s colors, and used the red side of the can instead of the silver.

Stamps: Word Play
Ink: Real Red, Old Olive
Paper: Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White
Other: Old Olive Glimmer Brad, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Snowflake #2 Die, Big Shot, empty Coke can

I’m hoping to make it back to school next week, so the kids will have a chance to make this before break.

Our Service Learning coordinator was told by the VA Hospital here in Los Angeles that they have a great need for Holiday cards for the veterans to send out. Since we work together on cards for the Jewish Home, Lisa came to me to see if it was something I was interested in doing. Of course it was! We decided that this would be a great project for the Fifth Graders to take on. I need to come up with a card design that would be easy enough for the kids to make, but wouldn’t actually  look like a 5th grader made it. This is one of the cards I decided to use.

Stamps: Four the Holidays
Ink: Night of Navy
Paper: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Whisper White
Other: Northern Flurry Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Basic Rhinestones

The other card I chose for them to make is this gorgeous Gold Christmas card.

What a great sketch from clean&simple this week!

The question, of course, is what to put in the circle… I’ve been having a lot of fun lately with my Snowflake #2 die, so I decided to go with a snowflake instead of a circle at all. And I went so clean and simple that I didn’t even use an extra layer of card stock! I just ran my card base through the Big Shot in an embossing folder.

Stamps: Four the Holidays
Ink: Pool Party
Paper: Pool Party, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer Paper
Other: Snowflake #2 Die, Snow Burst Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Big Shot, 1″ Square Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Don’t forget! Stampin’ Up’s Online Extravaganza starts tomorrow (Monday)! Stop back here for all of the details!

Today is the last day to get your four free digital downloads from Stampin’ Up! Head on over to MyDigitalStudio.net and complete a quick survey. You can use them either with the My Digital Studio software or with any other software that accepts graphics. The choice is yours when you download.

One of the downloads is this super cute Home for the Holidays Ensemble. It comes with:

• 7-piece stamp brush set
• 19 embellishments
• 5″ x 3-1/2″ postcard invitation
• 7″ x 5″ thank you greeting card
• 8-1/2″ x 11″ labels & flags template (2 pages)
• 8-1/2″ x 11″ décor template

Below is the décor template. You can use it as is, print it, frame it, and voila! Fun holiday decorations.

Or you can change it up. I started with the template, and turned it into a scrapbook page. I moved the tree to the left and made it a touch smaller. Then I got rid of a couple of the background trees and moved the snowman to the right. I added my pictures, the satin ribbon, and the headline. It literally took me about 10 minutes to put together, after I decided what pictures to use.

I set the opacity of the Old Olive Satin Ribbon to 80% in order to make sure the title showed up. The added benefit of this is that it makes look more like organdy ribbon, I think. So what are you waiting for? Go get your free downloads! They will be gone tomorrow!

Have you seen this gorgeous box? This exclusive Christmas Keepsake Box kit from Stampin’ Up! is available from now until December 31, 2011 (or while supplies last). The completed box is perfect packaging for a gift that will never be forgotten, and the kit itself can be the perfect gift for your favorite crafter! The kit comes with almost everything you need precut for just $19.95, and includes instructions to help you make it. (Please see below for a list of items that are not included.)

Christmas Keepsake Box kit contents:

• Keepsake box
• Scallop borders (cut using Tasteful Trim Bigz XL Die. Includes First Edition Designer Series Paper (3) and Holly Berry Designer Series Paper (6))
• First Edition Specialty Designer Series Paper strip (2)
• Holly Berry Designer Series Paper piece
• Real Red Top Note (cut using Top Note Bigz Die)
• Real Red Decorative Label (cut using Matchbook Bigz XL Die)
• Wild Wasabi Card Stock strips (3)
• Naturals Ivory Card Stock piece
• Holly Berry Bouquet Designer Fabric (cut to length)
• Real Red 1-1/4″ Striped Grosgrain Ribbon (cut to length)
• Real Red 5/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon  (cut to length)
• Victoria 5/8″ Crochet Trim (cut to length)
• Linen Thread (cut to length)
• Champagne Fine Galaxy Stampin’ Glitter
• Vanilla Pearl 1/2″ Simply Adorned Bauble
• Pearl Basic Jewels (1 pkg.)
• Holly Berry Boquet Designer Buttons (1 Large Wild Wasabi and 1 Small Real Red)
• Mini Vintage Tag

The Christmas Keepsake Box includes written instructions, but the following supplies are not included:

• Pines & Poinsettias stamp set
• Early Espresso Stampin’ Write Marker
• Real Red  Stampin’ Write Marker
• Wild Wasabi Stampin’ Write Marker
• Adhesives
• 3/16″ Corner Punch
• Paper Cutter
• Paper Snips
• Needle
• Glue gun