'Twas the night before Christmas...

Merry Christmas Eve!

Okay, I'm on a roll, and I've got one more post to share!

Santa is coming tonight!!!

Are you excited? 

Perhaps for those followers living on the other end of the world, 

maybe the Santa already did come by?

I know that for those of you that follow Elf on a Shelf Santa update,
he's had some problems...
like forgot an extra bag presents, oh, OH!
But he has already managed to deliver 900,000 presents!
WOW, now that's amazing! :)

Anyway, I've got a lot to do, so I'm going to keep this real short!

I made a house from one of the latest SVG Cuts kits, but made two additions:

1. I added a chimney! (I handcut one out)

2. and I added a Santa's sleigh on a wire!

Thought that it would be a perfect project to share on such day as this!

I used papers from Carta Bella Christmas Day collection. 

These papers are very beautiful and has a 'mature' feel to it!

A view a bit from the side... 

As you can see, I went a little crazy with Martha Stewart snow glitters! 

It was messy, but so fun to add texture!

Anyway, that's it!

I hope that I've been good this year... 

I guess I'll find out tonight!

Merry Christmas everyone - 

wishing you a very special moment filled with love and happiness.

(and much laughter.)

May your HOME be filled with LOVE...

Hello All!!!

WHOA!

I have so much to share!

I thought that it would be so cool to create a Fireplace gift bag using SVG Cuts files!

There's one from the store (and it is a bag!), 

but I thought that it would be so cool to actually have a 3D effect to it 

by making the burner part indent a bit into the bag!

 It's one of those ideas that was lingering around in my head for the longest time, 

and finally decided to make it!

I actually did do the write up for this 

(including full diagrams to help you out on SCAL/eCAL, file sizes, and instructions)

 so you can make one exactly like mine! 

(That's only if ya want!)

So, wanna see?

I was really excited to share this one! 

(like any of my other projects! HA!)

So so cool, right? 

Those 'stones' are actually separate pieces! 

I cut them out and inked them all! 

Craziness, you may say, but it wasn't so bad! 

I'll share a technique that I did below! 

and yep - those stones are actually from SVG Cuts files... 

you may wonder where??? 

 It's from Moonlight Garden Party SVG Collection. 

 HOWEVER - you will need to do something 'special' with it, for you to cut like that! 

(which will be all explained in my instructions!) 

Okay, hope that you're not giving up here... it's really not that bad! 

OR, you can simply use a brick or stone patterned paper, 

and OMIT this whole 'stone-work' step!

I just LOVE this sentiment stamp - 

of course, this stamp coming from my favorite stamps company - Unity!

With these stockings, I cut two of them out and stitched it together. 

It was just the right size to stick in mini candy canes :)

The main part of my project was made using just the AC plain colored cardstock,
but used Echo Park This and That Christmas to accent my project.

...and here's the fireplace! 

I inked a bit on the inside with grey to add to the 'worn' look of the fireplace. 

The logs are actual twigs all held together by hot glue. 

It just adds to the 'coziness' by using some natural elements.

So, that's it!

Here are the collections needed to make this:

Acorn Autumn SVG Kit

3D Letters SVG Kit

The above two is what you'll need to make the 'base' of the bag.

Christmas Gift Bags SVG Kit (flame SVG)

Caramel ApplePie SVG Kit (mantle SVG)

Christmas Cookie Party SVG Kit (wreath SVG)

Moonlight Garden Party SVG Kit (the stones and the 'fence' SVG)

Merry and Bright SVG Kit (stocking SVG)

I hope that you liked my project and will give it a try! 

You can download the chart explaining files needed and the sizes here.

You can download the instructions here.

You can download the digrams here.

For the inking the stones, I found it useful to 'ink' them before taking them off the mat.

(While the paper is covering the 'rest' of the mat,
 I inked it with brown, black, grey and distressed ink to get the look I wanted :)

I know it's kinda late into this season, but I hope that you keep it mind for next year!

I really enjoyed making it, and any gift given in this bag would be extra special!

Alright, that's it for today!
Have a great Christmas Eve EVE!

Oh, and I just reached 900 fans!
I'm so excited! 
Thanks for being with me throughout my crafting journey!
It means a lot to me :)

May your Holidays be stuffed with JOY! From our house to yours.

HO HO HO!

Merry Christmas!

I'm SO excited to share this year's Christmas card with you all!

We've been working on this for the past couple of weeks,

pulling super late nights,

and sacrificing my fun crafty time.

(now, that's some dedication!)

For the past 10 years, my husband and I have been getting creative

and have been making handmade cards.

These cards are not just 'handmade' -

we also try to pick a theme or some sort of original idea to present it.

This year, I decided to go with a 'mailbox' theme,

and our letters would be written on several 'letters' that would be stuffed into the mailbox.

Of course, coming up with the idea on what to do is the hardest part,

but the second challenge is how I would execute my idea.

Should I print them all? 

Do print and cut? 

Are there some SVGs that would work perfectly for this?

... and I was so thrilled when I realized that SVG Cuts had the PERFECT file - a mail box Valentine!

I can just use Christmas papers and it would totally work!

Believe me,  this is A LOT OF WORK.

You need commitment to do this.

You need sacrifice whatever you like doing for a couple of weeks.

However, the satisfaction that I get out from making them is IMMENSE,

and it's even better, when I hear back from the recipients to let me know how much they enjoyed the card.

Well, here goes!

Here's Santa holding our card!

Yes, that's just ONE card.

And here's a pic showing you a glimpse of just how many I had to make!
That sentiment that I found (it's a stamp from Unity Stamp Company) was PERFECT for my mailbox!
I stamped it on a cotton muslin fabric and FRAYED EACH ONE!

I found the perfect kraft Christmas papers from DCWV,
and that made me HAPPY!
It just wouldn't be the same to use other papers...

You can see that all the 'envelopes' that are stuffed into each of the mailbox are Christmas envelopes. 

It even had our return address on them!

Inside these envelopes, was our family letter :)

So, for those of you that 'care' enough about our family, I thought that I'd share our letter, too! 

My husband (in my opinion) has a knack for writing and I think that it needs to be shared! :)

Not too bad, huh? 

I hope that it kept you entertained!

Oh, and lastly but not least, I'll share our family photo! 

(which was printed on a back of a tiny postcard where we wrote personal messages :)

So... that's our card.

I hope that you appreciate our work that goes behind this all, 

and I thank you for stopping by my blog!

May you have the best Christmas EVER filled with lots of love and joy.

Cherish each moment for we never know what will bring us tomorrow.

I'm sending you much happiness to all YOUR homes :)

Thanks for being my friend! 

As the clock strikes 12...

Hello all!

It's late Friday night over here...

I should be partying away with my friends

(or at least be spending some quality time with my hubby!)

...and what am I doing?

Yes, I'm working away on my blog post.

Wow, how dedicated am I? lol...

No, seriously, I'm just so excited that I was able to play with the latest SVG Cuts kit right away,

I just wanted to share!

It's simple - nothing out of the box or anything,

but love classy look to this

(kinda reminded me of the graduation project that I did a while back!)

Anyway - here it is!

I used a regular black cardstock, but wanted to add some shimmer,

so I sprayed it with Mister Huey's Calico Shine spray!

Love the look that it gave!

I just clumped all the elements of NEW YEAR'S EVE together in this one top hat!

Glitter, sparkles, clock (from Tim Holtz), feathers, black and silver, stars... and of course, photo props!

I just kinda clumped all the things together into a 'corner' - it all adds to the fun!

Don't you just love the stamps, too?

Aren't they perfect?

It's from November 2012 Kit of the Month (So into you) from Unity Stamp Company!

I enlarged this hat

(I believe I did it at 13.65" wide - I broke the elements into separate pieces in order for it to fit on paper) and decreased the sizes of the photo props to use as an embellishment.

Thank goodness I had all the glittery, shimmery embellishments and papers!

These are the times when I'm so thankful I have this shopping addiction problem

and love to stock every supply up! lol.

Anyway, this is super easy with this kit! and it's a free kit this week with purchase of $9.98 or more!

And.... they are having an amazing 12 days of Christmas and giving some Tim Holtz Stamp 2 cut sets away!
Go and enter!
Hurry, hurry!
(oh, and good luck!)

Alright everyone!

I'm off to grocery shop tomorrow and start prepping for Christmas Eve!

I'm hosting the dinner with families from both sides, so that should be fun!

I'll be back to share our this year's Christmas letter with you tomorrow!

Have a beautiful, magical day everyone!

Hip Hoppin' Thursday!!

Hey all!

I'm on a roll!

I've been absent for a while, so it's time to now make up!

(In case you missed my yesterday's Unity card - go check it out! I was so proud of it!)

Now, onto today's hop...

You should be arriving here from Shemaine's blog...

and I'm the last stop! :)

Here's the whole list in case you arrived here first!

Andrea Murdock - http://www.mystampingheaven.blogspot.com/

Jen Erickson - http://shut-up-its-true.blogspot.com/

Jimmi Mayo - http://www.stampingwithjimmi.blogspot.com/

Karen Maldonado - http://reallifeinpictures.blogspot.com/

Lisa Henke - http://www.mylittlecreativeescape.blogspot.com/

Shemaine Smith - http://shemainesmith.blogspot.com/

Thienly Azim - YOU ARE HERE! :)

For my project today, I thought that I would stay away from Christmas and do a birthday project!

I recently got the Spotted Owl Soup (jillibean soup) stamp set, and been staring at me...

wanting to be played with!

So, I grabbed my fave birthday party papers - October Afternoon's Cakewalk,

and decided to make a little gift bag!

Instead of the usual gift bag, I decided to use the present shaped gift bag from SVG Cuts,

and embellished with these stamps.

Although the stamps and the papers are from different company,

I think that they both went well together!

I cut off the handle that was part of the file, and replaced it looped wires :) 

I accented the handle by adhering some epoxy stars that I made using Epiphany Crafts tool :)

Isn't this bow so cute? 

It's one of the SVG Cuts' free files! 

It was a perfect place to tuck in those ticket stamps. 

The middle candle stamp was so cute with the large epoxy shapes.

Don't you love this music notes stamp? 

It's part of this Spotted Owl Soup stamp set!

I accented the bottom gift with a ribbon from SVG Cuts as well.

That's it!

Everything else was embellishments that came as a part of the Cakewalk paper collection,

but wanted to show you how fun it is to mix and match stamps and already made embellishments!

Thanks for coming by - 

remember to leave some love here for your chance to win 

one of three $20 Gift Certificates! 

Oooh, and don't forget to get all those itty bittys that you've always wanted with this sale!

Have a beautiful day!

Inspired by... Crib mattress spring!?!?

Happy Inspiration Wednesday!
Actually, it's Friday today (I know!), but I thought that I'd link this up to FWF...
'cause I so was happy with the way this turned out, 
and wanted to to share it as I'm sure many of you missed it :)

So, happy FWF friends!
So glad to have you here!

 I am up on the Unity blog today, and I'm totally excited to share my project today!
(It's been awhile since I've posted -
feels SO strange!)

When I craft, I usually am inspired by looking at the beautiful Unity stamps,

or the pretty papers that are surrounding me.

Often, something that I see in my house

or at the store sparks an idea for a project.

For this one, I went online and browsed and browsed...

 until I had an A-HA moment.

Took me awhile...

so many ideas have been done,

and I wanted to do something different.

So... this is what I found.

Loving this kinda look these days...

Vintage office.

What inspired my project?

It's the CRIB MATTRESS SPRING! :)

This crafter is brilliant - I loved what she did with it.

See her post here.

I decided to make my own 'spring' card by weaving wires.

I'm pretty excited by the way it turned out.

I think that it's got that similar look!

Yay!

I used Echo Park This and That Christmas papers, 

along with stamps from November 2012 {so into you} KOM, 

Snowflake Kisses,

 and Ticket to Christmas.

You can see that the wires are uneven... 

but I think that it adds to the 'handmade' look :)

I had A LOT of fun with this challenge - 

... and I had NO idea what project I was going to end up doing!

If you're ever in need of inspiration,

look online - there's SO MUCH out there!

Well, I hope that I inspired YOU today! :)

Have a beautiful day!

(Oh, and join me tomorrow for a Unity hop! :) )

 

Hip Hoppin' Thursday and NEW Unity Sale info!

Welcome to another edition of Hip Hop Thursday!

You should be arriving from Shemaine's blog, but if you're lost - here's the whole list!

Andrea Murdock - http://www.mystampingheaven.blogspot.com/

Eryn Hagen - http://vintageglamdesigns.blogspot.com/

Jen Erickson - http://shut-up-its-true.blogspot.com/

Jimmi Mayo - http://www.stampingwithjimmi.blogspot.com/

Karen Maldonado - http://reallifeinpictures.blogspot.com/

Lisa Henke - http://www.mylittlecreativeescape.blogspot.com/

Shemaine Smith - http://shemainesmith.blogspot.com/

Thienly Azim - YOU ARE HERE 

Oooh, and stay tuned for promo info and NEW stamps! Yay!

(All to be explained later!)

For now - onto my projects!

I'm keeping it short this week, as I hadn't had too much time yet to craft - 

busy with the major clean up from the party last weekend, 

and working away on my Christmas cards :)

There's been a few stamps I've been dying to play with, so that's what I did!

The first is the last KOTM - So Into You!

It's so pretty, but I hadn't had a chance to ink any of them yet!

I know it's FAR FAR away until Valentine's,
but couldn't resist playing with these pretty stamps in this kit.

I took 4 stamps from this, and incorporated into my little Valentine birdcage ornament :)

I used the birdcage ornament from this SVG Cuts kit 

and instead of keeping it Christmas-y like it was made - 

I made it all lovey dovey  <3 nbsp="nbsp">

Such cute bird perched on a swing!
The feathers that came in this kit was just perfect for this project!

The flowers are from here -

it's so simple to make and pretty much turns out perfect every time! 

Excuse me for the poorly focused pic here, but I used this little cute stamp on the top!
... and I coiled the wires to make a handle.

The second one is a card which I created from the latest Authentique releases -
{numbers & inches} and You Really Measure Up.

The stamps are just way too cute and it speaks for themselves,
so I just added buttons, spools, wooden chipboard to embellish it a bit.

I think it's a super cute card!

Anyway, onto the SALE INFO!

We're having a sale on the ITTY BITTYS!!!

...and I know it's hard to keep it under $20 (for me, more like $50!)...
 and Unity knows that all so well...
SO...
they are so generous enough to add in some incentives for your shopping habits!

See these awesome stamps?
They are new, and aren't they darling?
(I just LOVE the three lace strips!)

Once again, these work cumulatively - so, if you spend $60 - you get all three releases!

That's it!
Make sure you leave a comment on each and every one of the blogs!
You could be one of the 3 winners of a $20 Unity gift certificate!

Feel free to go back to the Unity blog and let Angela know how much you enjoy these hops,
and then here's a link to the store, if ya wanna shop!

Have a beautiful day!

Stamp of the Week - Biggest Fan!

Happy Sunday!

I've been SUPER CRAZY BUSY this week, 

and I'm proud to announce that (I think) my life is back in order..

My hubby's Christmas party for his staff was held at our home last night, and it was a success!

 He dressed up as Santa and gave out presents to the kids! 

Anyway, my mom and I did all the decorating and the cooking, so yeah, I was stressed a bit last week :)

Anyway, I'm so excited to share this new stamp of the week, because it is just SOOO my style!

Again, despite my 'mod' in my blog name, I've been loving everything and anything vintage, 

and this was no exception.

As soon as I saw this... EEEEEK! 

So excited - I couldn't wait to play with it!

So, here's the stamp!

Isn`t it amazing?

I just LOVE everything Unity makes!

For this, I went with something simple, because the image itself is just so beautiful - 

I didn't want to take it away from it.

I was inspired by the Bluebells papers from MME, 

and tried to find every single washi tape that would match this look.

I adhered them onto the card, 

layered them randomly at the sides and paper-pierced the fan, 

and this is what came about!

I just love the way this image worked with this simple style card!

That's it!

Hope you liked my card today, 

and if you're interested in signing up for the Stamp of the Week - click here.

SO FUN to receive new stamps weekly!

I'm off to relax now, before coming back in here to work on my Christmas cards!

Have a beautiful day everyone!