Gifty Things

Good morning!

I am going to take a break from the tags today (..because I forgot to photograph the next ones, that's why!) and show you some other things I've been working on.

First off, some wine bottle scarves!

This uses the ginormous (purple - is that giga?) snowflake punch from Marvy, a simple tag, and a button.

This uses my favorite holly image from Sewing Box Christmas (which is out of stock in the store right now but on order - sorry!) and a big button for the berry.

I first saw these bottle scarves on Amy Rohl's blog and loved them. They were a snap to make!

Next are some gift card holders. I saw these on Jel Del Muro's blog with a link to the tutorial. These are also easy to make but really add something to your gift card presentation!

Using Very Vintage Christmas and a favorite cream, red and sand color combination.

And more holly! Love the woodgrain background on this one.

So here's what makes these so cool - untie the ribbon to reveal the inside..

Isn't that a great presentation? There is space inside for a sentiment or a little note. Very easy to make, too. The original tutorial came from Roxy's blog here. Instead of going through the whole Word Window punch business to create the opening for the gift card, I used one of the rectangle Nestabilities. Much easier!

Hope you have a great day, my dears! Have a very Merry Christmas if your holiday plans keep you away for a few days!

#Anya

Three More Tags

Hello, hello!

More tags for you today. These are just so fun to make. I am excited to share today's because #4 is my reigning favorite!

Day Four. Isn't this so me? The trees and moose are from a retired set from Stampin' Up! called Pines. This is one of my favorite Stampin' Up! sets ever. I started by stamping the trees and moose and then cut them out. And then I took the plaid stamp from Off Beat Backgrounds and stamped right over top. I love the effect. The background was stamped with a woodgrain and then I added some stitched snow. Love!

Day Five. Easy stuff here! The candy cane background was created using Faux Ribbon. The holly, gingerbread boy, and sentiment are from Oven Fresh - Gingerbread Joy. Little Ginger gets tucked into the front pocket on the tag. Some white Liquid Applique and glitter was added to give the look of icing.

Day Six. This tag was based on a sketch I saw on the Clean & Simple Stamping blog. I really like this color combination and love to add glitter to that ornament.

So that's it for today! I will be baking and stamping tonight (sound familiar?). I hope your night is productive, too!

Take care!

#Anya

11 Tags of Christmas

Hello friends! Here we are, the final days before Christmas.

I thought I'd start sharing the tags I've been making for our 11 Days of Christmas. My husband and I share a gift a day between our Anniversary (12/15) and Christmas - 11 days! Last year, inspired by Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas, I made a tag each day to go with my husband's gifts. We hung them on the tree and oohed and aahed - it was fun. I continued the tradition this year and thought you'd like to follow along.

For some of the tags that I made, I used a bunch of different products and things from my stash. I am going to skip giving recipes for each, but instead highlight the main products I used. If you have any specific questions, please don't hesitate to leave me a comment or send me an email! Ok - enough chit chat (you can click the pictures for an enlarged version)!

Day One (our Anniversary, hence the hearts). I stamped the text first and then clear embossed the hearts on top. Then I dipped the tag into ink I had spread on my craft mat.

Day Two. Stitched holly leaves and heart berries from Sewing Box - Christmas. I stitched around the outside and then stamped a row of polka dots from Off Beat Backgrounds.

Day Three. A collage of images from the Mini Holidays set, along with Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, and Broken China Distress Ink. I added a layer of Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint and the number three from Tim's Metal Numerals.

There you have it! Tomorrow I will share the next three! I hope you have a wonderful night!

#Anya

If you have any product questions, don't hesitate to ask! :)

Blue Ornament

Happy Friday!

I love it when the holiday season starts to permeate the office... lunches with co-workers and treats abound - I love it!

I put together a card last night for the latest Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge. I was in a Waltzingmouse mood!

I had an old card on my desk that I had made using some of these colors and I thought it would be fun to use them on this card. I stuck with the combination of Night of Navy, Baja Breeze, and White. The ornament stamp is from Sewing Box - Christmas and was stamped twice - once onto white and again onto Baja Breeze. The hearts are also from the same set (the little stripe in the back is from Sewing Box - Hugs). I matted the ornament with an oval I had cut from PTI Linen Vellum. The sentiment is from Very Vintage Christmas. Right before assembly, I gave all the pieces a healthy spray of Perfect Pearls - imagine that you can see the shimmer!

Well, we're headed into the home stretch! I have so many fun things I'd like to share with you in the coming days. Last year when my husband and I started our anniversary to Christmas gift-giving tradition, I was inspired by Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas and created a tag to go along with each one of his gifts. I carried that tradition on this year and have been making different tags for each day. I really love creating this way and would love to share them with you. So look for those coming soon!

Have a great night!

#Anya

Recipe:
Stamps: Sewing Box Christmas, Sewing Box Hugs, Very Vintage Christmas - Waltzingmouse Stamps
Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze - Stampin' Up!; Linen Vellum, White - Papertrey Ink
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze - Stampin' Up!
Other: Snowflake Cuttlebug Embossing folder - ProvoCraft; Classic and Scalloped Petite Oval Nestabilities - Spellbinders; Snowflake punch - Marvy Uchida; Silver elastic cord - Stampin' Up!; Silver Gelly Roll pen - Sakura; Perfect Pearl Perfect Pearls - Ranger; sewing machine

Merry Christmas Mouse

A cute little card for you this Thursday afternoon that came together in a snap.

The mouse and sentiment are both stamps from Stampendous. I used Copic markers to color the mouse and outline his little tree. I thought a few red crystal stickers would be a perfect addition to his tree.

I think this guy will be perfect for the Moxie Fab World Blog All Creatures Great and Small Challenge! I hope you are well today - have you made your list and checked it twice? I finally finished my shopping today during my lunch break, thank goodness. I can't handle those crowds!

Have a super night - here in the 'Burgh I'll be cozying up on the couch to watch the Pens play!

#Anya

Recipe:
Stamps: Max Tree, Merry Brackets - Stampendous; Woodgrain - All Night Media
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Real Red - Stampin' Up!; White - Papertrey Ink
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Wild Wasabi - Stampin' Up!; Tuxedo Black Memento - Tsukineko
Other: Assorted markers, Spica glitter pens - Copic; Red crystal stickers - Recollections; pinking shears

Completed By Your Love

Thank you all for the Anniversary wishes - it was a nice day.

I wanted to share some of the things I've been working on recently. Still so much to do, but staying busy keeps me out of trouble, right?

This is the card I made for my hubby (whose name is Bill, by the way, for easier future reference :) for our Anniversary.

I started by making a piece of patterned paper with the plaid stamp from Off Beat Backgrounds. I used Bravo Burgundy and Spring Moss. The sentiment is from Blessed By You and was exactly what I wanted to say.

We started our gift exchange too! With 11 days of gifts to give, it helps to be creative.

One thing I put together for Bill is this little notebook where we can keep track of our sushi adventures. We are both big fans of the cuisine and love to try different combinations and flavors. In passing conversation, we had talked about how it would be fun to keep track of different things we've tried and liked (or not liked) - and so the Yum Yum sushi notebook was born! The inside pages have places where we can keep track of the basics: when, where, what, etc. and an overall rating.

The black background was stamped with one of the stamps from Background Basics: Diamonds and clear embossed. The sushi pieces were all cut freehand from scraps of paper... I giggled the whole time! I used my Bind-It-All to put it all together. It was great fun, and Bill got a kick out of it. We even used it last night when we went for sushi dinner!

So glad you stopped by today, and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow! Have a great night!

#Anya

Recipe:
Completed By Your Love card:
Stamps: Off Beat Backgrounds, Very Vintage Christmas, Blessed By You - Waltzingmouse Stamps
Cardstock: Scarlet Jewel, Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink
Ink: Bravo Burgundy - Stampin' Up!; Spring Moss - Papertrey Ink
Other: Medium Heart punch - EK Success; Scarlet Jewel button - Papertrey Ink; Linen thread - Stampin' Up!; pinking shears; sewing machine

Yum Yum Sushi notebook:
Stamps: Taffy Alphabet - Stampin' Up; Background Basics: Diamonds - Papertrey Ink; Woodgrain - All Night Media
Cardstock: Basic Black, Sahara Sand, Wild Wasabi, Blush Blossom - Stampin' Up!; Spring Moss, White - Papertrey Ink
Ink: Sahara Sand - Stampin' Up!
Other: Filigree clear embossing powder - Stewart Superior; Sakura Stardust gelly roll pen - Tsukineko; Bind-It-All - Zutter; Assorted markers - Copic

Serendipity Stamps December Challenge

Good morning everyone!

Today I have two cards for you made for the Serendipity Stamps December Design Team Challenge. We were challenged to make a Valentine's Day and an Easter card. It was fun looking to the holidays ahead!

This card was made using the gorgeous Love Scroll stamp. I embossed mine in gold, cut it out and matted it with a Labels Four Nestabilities die cut. The patterned paper is from Bo Bunny - very romantic!

My Easter card was made using the image and sentiment stamps available in the Easter Flower Corner Cling Set. These stamps are also available separately as the Easter Flower Corner and This Is the Day. I colored the image with Copic markers and highlighted with Spica glitter pens. I love the detail in Serendipity's images, yet they are really easy to color (a great combination in my book!). The cardstock is Blush Blossom and Berry Sorbet - very springy!

Thank you for the stop today, now make sure you visit the other Design Team members!

Amy
Jennifer
Kathie
Lynda
Sue

And don't forget that Serendipity also sponsors a Reader Challenge in conjunction with the DT Challenge. Check out the Serendipity Stamps Blog and Gallery for more information - play along with us and you could win a $20 Serendipity gift certificate!

Have a great one!

#Anya

Recipe:
Love Card:
Stamps: Love Scroll (837G) - Serendipity Stamps
Cardstock: Vintage Cream, Scarlet Jewel - Papertrey Ink
Patterned Paper: Velvet Floral - Bo Bunny
Ink: Antique Linen, Vintage Photo Distress Ink - Ranger
Other: Red crystal stickers - Recollections; Scarlet Jewel Satin Ribbon - Papertrey Ink; Labels 4 Nestabilities - Spellbinders; Corner punch - Marvy Uchida; Gold embossing powder

This Is the Day Card:
Stamps: Easter Flower Corner Cling Set (842QCL) - Serendipity Stamps
Cardstock: White, Berry Sorbet - Papertrey Ink; Blush Blossom - Stampin' Up!
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento - Tsukineko
Other: Markers, Spica glitter pens - Copic; Scallop border punch - Stampin' Up!