Happy Thanksgiving!

The year has turned its circle,
The seasons come and go.
The harvest is all gathered in
And chilly north winds blow.
Orchards have shared their treasures,
The fields, their yellow grain.
So open wide the doorway-
Thanksgiving comes again!

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving from the Conner Family!

Holiday Deals, up to 60% off, & My Bonus!

SAVE 20 to 60% on Stampin' Up! products! The Stampin' Up! Online Extravaganza Sale is here!!  Please Click Here or use my above shop with me buttons and look for "Online Extravaganza" on the left side of my shopping page. The Online Extravaganza Sale ends Nov. 30.

• Here's a PDF link to everything on sale and it is A LOT, during the Online Extravaganza.
• There is no minimum purchase required to participate in this promotion.
• For product bundles, you must use the bundle item numbers provided.
• Bundle discounts will not be applied if individual item numbers are used.
• Additional products from current catalogs may be purchased on the same order.
• Discounts range between 20 and 60 percent.

24 HOUR SALE TODAY ONLY!!! For the next 24 hours, take advantage of a 20% discount on two of Stampin' Up!'s hottest new products, Simply Scored Scoring Tool and Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamps. The 24 hour sale ends at midnight MST today!

I would like to also offer a personal promotion for all of my loyal customers. When you purchase $30 worth of merchandise at my online store (I have to be demonstrator of record) or through an email to me, I will ship to you, a package of the new Mini Jingle Bells with a handmade Thank You card. This special bonus is available only when you shop with me, and is good from November 21st, through November 30th. Contact me if you have any questions!  I must receive an email from you with your order number with me as demo of record and your address on where you would like your jingle bells sent, and that's it, easy peasy!

I Hope you enjoy your shopping!  I know that I am going to!

Naughty or Nice?

Welcome Stampin Pretty readers, I am glad you could join me today, it is always so cool to be one of Mary Fish's guest stampers.  Please join me and my Pretty Provisions readers for two very fun projects to share with you using the Letters to Santa DSP.  I have a pictorial prepared for the top note box for you at the end of the post.

This is a big 4 x 9 card which is perfect for the large images from the DSP packs that you would normally use for scrapbooking. I simply trimmed Santa down, added some dazzling details to his beard and cuffs and matted him on some different bits of punches and embossed card stock. The sentiment also came from the same piece of DSP, just trimmed down to fit. The great thing about this size card is that it can fit in a standard size #10 envelope. You will need just about a whole sheet of card stock to make the base of the card, but it packs a great punch!

I came up with this little top note die box many years ago, before I was blogging, for Mackie's friends for Valentines Day.  I have always loved how it turned out, so I thought it would be great for some Christmas treats.

Here is how you make the little box.  Cut two top note pieces, one card stock and one DSP, trim the DSP at the preforations and glue to the card stock base, cut in half at the points.  I put some dazzling diamonds glitter glue on the top of each ornament.

Next, cut a piece of card stock for the box at 4 1/2 x 5 3/4, score the short side at 1 1/2 and 3, turn to the long side and score at 1/ 1/2 and 4 1/4

Cut the two middle lines on the short side to the middle score line, fold all score lines.

Assemble you sides with tombo or other strong hold glue.

Attach your ribbon handle to the box with sticky strip.  If you put your handle on the outside of the box, when attached to the top note die you will not see the ends of the ribbon.

Put tombo or sticky strip on you box and attach a piece of the top note die to each side making sure to line up the top note in the center from side to side, but align the bottom to the bottom of the box.

Now, decorate however you wish, I made a rosette using the red DSP that was punched with the scallop edge border punch.

The little Deck the Halls sentiment is from the Seasons of Joy stamp set, I isolated the image with markers and was able to heat emboss it with clear embossing powder.  The early espresso ribbon was tied in a bow and the ends were curled.  Two mini jingle bells on a bakers twine bow finish it off.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, If you have any questions, please email me.  Don't forget to stop back on Monday to find out all of the wonderful details for the Online Extravaganza.  I myself cannot wait to see what the special are going to be!  Hope you were inspired, enjoy!

Card details:

Stamps: Snow Swirled

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Letters to Santa DSP, Early Espresso, Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, & Pink Pirouette CS
Tools: Big Shot, stripes embossing folder, oval designer frames embossing folder, top note die, scallop oval punch, dazzling details glitter glue, mini jingle bells, basic rhinestones, itty bitty circle punch, small oval punch, square lattice embossing folder, crystal effects, corner rounder.


Top Note box details:
Stamps:  Seasons of Joy
Ink:  early espresso
Paper:  Letters to Santa DSP, early espresso, and pink pirouette CS
Tools:  big shot, top note die, scalloped border punch, circle punch, early espresso ribbon, bakers twine, mini jingle bells, clear embossing powder, heat tool, dazzling details glitter glue

Online Sale with Bonus from Me!

Online Extravaganza, our annual sale to kick off the holiday shopping season, will begin Monday, November 21, 2011, and run through Wednesday, November 30, 2011. While this promotion is perfect for online orders during an especially busy time of year, sale prices will be available on all order types.

Make sure that you check online at my Stampin' Up! store on Monday, November 21st, to take advantage of great savings, like FREE digital downloads valued at $40 when you buy My Digital Studio Express, 60 percent off select Designer Fabrics, and 30 percent off an exclusive ribbon bundle!

In addition, there will be two items on sale for 24 hours only November 21, 12:01 AM - 11:59 PM [MT] so make sure you don't miss the first 24 hours of Online Extravaganza!  Watch for more detailed information to post on my blog on November 21.

I would like to also offer a personal promotion for all of my loyal customers.  When you purchase $30 worth of merchandise at my online store (I have to be demonstrator of record) or through an email to me, I will ship to you, a package of the new Mini Jingle Bells with a handmade Thank You card.  This special bonus is available only when you shop with me, and is good from November 21st, through November 30th.  Contact me if you have any questions!  Happy Shopping!

Season's Greetings

Today's card is a mix of two challenges, the colors are from The Paper Player's challenge #72, the layout is the Mojo Monday 215 challenge.  Two of the hardest parts of coming up with a card are already done for you, so grab your provisions and play along with both of these great blog challenges.

I will start out with my beautiful background and the fabulous paper that is unfortunately retired SU DSP.  The Christmas paper had both of my challenge colors, river rock and always artichoke, I added Love Letter DSP for my riding hood red color choice.  The sentiment was stamped with Curly Cute stamp set and backed with the dotted scallop ribbon border.  An itty bitty punch flower caps off the ends.  Beautiful pearls add some much needed pop to the scallop border.  The background DSP was embossed with the tulip frame EF.

The ribbon flower was made using the new very vanilla velvet stitched ribbon. I ran a stitch along one side and gathered the ribbon and bundled it all together. Two mini jingle bells were added to the center. The riding hood red ribbon was made the same way, but was loosely gathered for the base of my flower. It is pretty big, so this card will not fit in a regular envelope. This card will be wrapped in tissue and will accompany a gift.

There you have it another Christmas card.  I usually make two related "WOW" cards for my personal mailed cards, but maybe this year, I will make a bunch of different single cards.  I now have a few in my stash, so it is a good start.  I hope you were inspired today, enjoy!

Ink:  Always artichoke
Paper:  retired SU Christmas DSP, Love Letter DSP, riding hood red, very vanilla
Stamps:  Curly Cute
Tools:  big shot, ribbon, pearls, scallop border punch, dotted scallop ribbon border punch, itty bitty punch pack, mini jingle bells, tulip EF

Pretty Provisions for the Home; Topiary

Hello, welcome to my latest edition of  Pretty Provisions for the Home.  Today's project I started a while ago, and worked on it bit by bit.  It is a simple project, but just takes some time.

This could be called all different things, but I am going to call it a topiary ball.  The Spice Cake DSP and matching colors provide you with a sure thing when it comes to fall decorating.  Do you want to know how I did it?  Of course you do, so here is the tutorial:

Start with a styrofoam ball, this one is about the size of a cantaloupe.

Punch out a bunch of DSP using the large scallop punch.  I also picked out four additional colors of card stock, soft suede, pool party, more mustard, and pear pizazz to break up the Spice Cake DSP.

Crimp, crumple and separate the card stock scallops that way you will end up with two for each punch.  You can do this to the DSP, but the inside will be white, so unless that is the look you are going with, just crumple the DSP to give it a flower shape.

A itty bitty circle punch was used in the center of the scallop just to make sure the pin did not pull through the paper, it also give a cute finished look to the center.  After you put your pin through the center, crumple your scallop circle upwards to create a flower/petal, and just randomly stick into the ball.  Put them fairly close together making sure to alternate the colors and different sides of the separated scallop circles.

As long as you keep the scallops folded pretty much the same and in the center, your paper flowers should follow the ball and stay ball shaped.  I found a vase that is a close match to soft suede at the craft store.  I did buy a stick and colored it using my more mustard stamp pad, but I decided that I liked it better without the stick, of course it is up to you.  A soft suede striped 1 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon is simply tied around the neck of the vase.  Pool Party ribbon here I think would also be nice.

Here it is with my pumpkins that I made from the Spice Cake fabric, and its final resting place on my Thanksgiving mantle, until I rearrange it again that is!  LOL!  If you have any questions, I am just an email away, so just ask!

On a personal note, most of you know that my husband Chris is on the Nascar Stewart-Haas Racing team and our driver Tony Stewart is one out of two drivers that can win what is the Super Bowl equivalent for racing, the Sprint Cup.  It is a huge accomplishment for our team, and it will come down to this Sunday's race at Homestead.  We are three points down, but I know we can do it, we can win it!  Congrats to the whole team for a long season of hard work and determination.  Please keep us in your thoughts for a real good finish on Sunday, and hopefully the win!

I really hope you were inspired today to use your card making supplies for a different purpose.  Look around you and see what inspires you, and just make it.  Enjoy!

Paper:  spice cake DSP, more mustard, pool party cs, soft suede, and pear pizazz card stock

Tools:  large scallop circle punch, itty bitty circle punch, pins, styrofoam ball, ribbon, vase

Happy 40th Birthday Ian!

My cousin Ian is turning 40 in a few days, so here is a peek at his birthday card.  Masculine cards are a bit challenging since you have to nix the ribbons and flowers.  I got a lot of help this week from two great challenges, the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches #10, and the color challenge at Create with Connie and Mary, CCMC175.

 

I wanted to make my own background paper, so I pulled out every Happy Birthday or Birthday related stamp that I have, and some little bitty numbers and started to stamp in versamark, after a few stamps, I decided that it would look much better if I heat embossed it, so out came the clear embossing powder.  This was done for both the more mustard panel and the cherry cobbler panel.

The middle panel was done with basic black that was run through the big shot with the houndstooth EF.  A silver glitter circle just gave the card a little sparkle.  Who says you cannot use sparkle on a man card?  The birthday sentiment was popped up on a skinny banner.

The main panel was layered upon a piece of the First Edition SDSP, all in all a very easy card, it probably took me longer to get the pictures taken and edited since we are having a rainy day here today.  Out this goes into the mailbox so that it arrives in time.  Most of these supplies are current and can be found at my ONLINE STORE that you can shop any time you would like.  I hope you were inspired today, enjoy!


Stamps:  Birthday stamps
ink:  versamark
paper:  first edition SDSP, basic black, more mustard, cherry cobbler, silver glimmer paper
tools:  heat gun, clear embossing powder, houndstooth EF, big shot, circle punch

November PALS Hop

Welcome to the November Pals Hop! This month, we're featuring Winter, Christmas, and Hanukkah inspired cards and projects! Enjoy the hop and the amazing creations that the Pals have come up with.  You've likely hopped over from Linda Fisher at http://lindas-stampinloft.blogspot.com I'm stop number 15 on the Pals Hop and I'm glad you hopped in! I'll help you "hop along" from blog to blog where you'll find great ideas for Winter, Christmas, and Hanukkah paper projects from the Stampin' Pretty Pals! Should you hop off course, simply click on any of the links in the Pals Hop Line-up below and you'll be back on track!

Today's card is this week's Mojo Monday inspired layout.  I got a little behind because Monday was my little boy Tate's 2nd birthday and we had a lot of festivities planned for him.  Layout challenges are great for fast card making.  I am also going to enter this card in the Hand Stamped Sentiments weekly challenge for "over the top" Christmas cards, which I think applies to this card!

Most of these supplies were left over from my Christmas Keepsake box 129024.  I thought it would be great to make a card inspired by the beautiful Christmas box.  The real red background was heat embossed with wild wasabi embossing powder.

Leftover Holly Berry Bouquet fabric was zipped through the big shot for a scallop circle.  An early espresso circle makes a perfect background.

A real red poinsettia was made using the build a blossom punch.  A pretty real red glitter paper circle gave the center some bling.  Baker's twine and some mini jingle bells are the perfect touch.

The sentiment was made out of the oval from the designer frames EF pack.  A pine cone was stamped from the Pines and Poinsettias stamp set as well as a the Christmas banner.  The merry came from the Pennant Parade stamp set and has a glitter red accent flower and a wild wasabi flower all blinged out with a basic rhinestone.

There you have it, two great Christmas projects.  If you would like more info on the Christmas Keepsake box, click HERE for my post, they are still available so act quickly!  I hope you were inspired today, enjoy!  All of these supplies can be found here at my ONLINE SHOP.  Hop along for more inspiring ideas from Cindy Hall at www.prettyimpact.com stop number 16 on the November Pals Hop! Thanks for "hopping" by!

1. Nina Dee at Deesigns by Nina Dee
2. Julie Trevett-Smith at The Stampin' Affair!
3. Maxine Conrad at Stamp to the MAX!
4. Jessica Ying at YoYoStamping Studio
5. Mike Funke at Stampin-Style
6. Jennifer Takacs at My Stampin Blog
7. Nancy Gleason at My Stampin' Space
8. Nicole Watt at Impressions By Nicole
9. Mikki Sarkisyan at Mikki's Creative Corner
10. Kylie Nicolosi at Kylie's Crafty Corner
11. Mary Fish at Stampin' Pretty
12. Barb Furlong at The Love of Stamping
13. Ann Schach at The Stampin' Schach
14. Linda Fisher at Linda's Stamin Loft
15. Sandie Conner at Pretty Provisions
16. Cindy Hall at Pretty Impact
17. Rae Harper at Wild West Paper Arts
18. Angie Blake at Angie's Musings
19. Kris Kilcoyne at Kween Bee Kreations
20. Camila McManus at OBX Scrapbook
21. Leah O'Brien at Leah's Stampin' Corner