Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi all
I hope that everyone is enjoying a pleasant and peaceful Thanksgiving with family and friends.  Although my own family is rather small, we always enjoy getting together on special occasions for a meal.  My sister graciously allows me to take over holiday occasions so that we can bring my family (my sister) together with Dave's parents and his uncle.  Sometimes on Thanksgiving, we also celebrate my son's birthday, which always falls near or on Thanksgiving. We have big plans for his birthday this year...I'll tell you about that after the big event.
I have a cute Thanksgiving project to share with you but I haven't snapped photos of it yet so hopefully I can show that to you later this weekend.  In the meantime, here is the alternate Thanksgiving treat I made for my co-workers when I ran out of the candies I had used in the baggies I showed you yesterday.

These treats are made using the "It's a Wrap Holidays" set.  The stamped image is meant to wrap Hershey Nuggets but I wasn't able to get those, so I used the Hershey Miniature bars instead.  Did you know that Hershey does not allow you to use adhesives that might alter the flavor of their chocolate?  And that you are not allowed to attach the stamped wrapper to the wrapper of the candy?  You have to attach the stamped wrapper to itself so you can slide the stamped wrapper off the candy like a sleeve.  Seems a bit retentive to me but that is their copyright rule.  Luckily their chocolate is delish!  These treats are smaller than the skinny bags I showed you yesterday, but heck! .. they have chocolate inside so I know no one was disappointed. 
As I was leaving work today, one of the new teachers at my school came up to me with a piece of notebook paper in her hand, which she gave to me.  Imagine my surprise when I opened it up to find a note from her daughter, thanking me for the skinny bag candy.   Apparently Christina gave the candy to her daughter. (good mom!)  I love that the good vibe went from me to Christina and from Christina to her daughter!  How sweet of her daughter to send me a thank you note!!!!  Funny thing is, I recently "entertained" a young adult all day because she is considering going into occupational therapy.  She did not come to volunteer, but simply to watch.  I tried to explain the various aspects of OT to her and answered her questions.  I did not get all of my usual work tasks done (such as writing detailed progress notes) because I didn't want to bore her.  This girl did not send me so much as an email to say thanks but this little kid wrote a "bread and butter" note to me for a little treat!   I applaud Christina, who obviously is raising her daughter to have lovely manners. 
I am thankful for all my stampin friends, for having a good job in rough economic times, for being able to reach out to all of you, but  especially for my husband and sons.  They are truely my joy.
Happy Thanksgiving
Peggy

Lil' thanksgiving treat!!

Hi all
Today I want to share some pics of the little treats I made for my co-workers for Thanksgiving.

Here is a closer look.......

I simply stamped the turkey from the Gift Givers (123774 clear) stamp set on a piece of cardstock and punched it out using the curly label punch  (119851).  Of course the handy little cello bags are from the current mini catalog  (124134).
Tomorrow I'll show you the other treats I made when I ran out of these candies.
Peggy

Christmas stamp a stack, part 3, Project 5

Hi Stampers
Today I am sharing the last card from my last class.  Several of my stampers chose this as their favorite card of the class, even though it was a bit more involved than most of the other cards.

Can you tell that it is a shaker card?  The shaker "stuff" inside the ornament is little cupcake decorations - red and green Christmas trees.  Punches are featured in this card - the white trim border and the ornament were punched.  Here's a secret about the opening in the ornament.  I made a template from blue quilting template plastic.  The gals traced the opening onto the backs of the ornaments and then....get ready for it...we used the jewelry tag punch to make the hole.  The punch was positioned with the round part in the center of the window and the squared off end was placed at the end of the tracing.  Funny thing is, I always try to avoid having the ladies use craft knives to cut out small parts because I don't want anyone to get hurt but one of the ladies had a tussle with her scissors and ended up cutting herself anyway!!  It is hard to craft with a wrapped up finger but she is such a trooper that she hung in there til all her cards were complete.  Way to hang in there, Donna!
The bow above the ornament is simply a ribbon folded into thirds with a large office  brad bridged over the center, then poked through the red card stock behind.  We added a rhinestone to give it a little bling.  Are you wondering about the edge of the word piece?  We used a curly label punch but only punched the ends of the white card stock because the overall size of the piece is too big to punch or die cut.
Stampin' Up is offering an extra $35 in free product  if you hostess a $350 party from now until  Dec 15th.  Wouldn't you enjoy getting your friends together at your home or mine to do some Christmas shopping?  You could earn an extra $35 in product to celebrate your holiday!!
Peggy

Christmas stamp a stack, part 3, Project 4

Hi Stampers
At this time of year, don't you just love having so many holidays to stamp for?  Fall is such a great time for stampin!!  Today I am showing you a popular card from my last class.

What I really enjoyed about this project is that it started out going in a totally different direction but once I got moving, I had to go with where it was headed!!  The base of this card is 1/4 of a sheet of card stock which means more cards from a single sheet of cardstock.  It only uses a small piece of DSP so again you can get several pieces from a single sheet of DSP - you could even use scraps left over from previous projects as MANY different patterns would work well.
I used the triple layer doily punch to make the bling! from shimmer paper, and there are rhinestones on Dasher to add a bit o bling as well.
It is not too late to make your holiday cards!!!
I would just like to take a moment to wish my husband happy anniversary .......28 years!!!  Were my parents still alive they too would be celebrating their anniversary.  All of my love........ 
Peggy

Christmas stamp a stack, part 3, Project 3

Hi all
This card looks simple but some of the ladies found it a real challenge. 

I had pre-scored the Designer Series paper every 1/4" using my Simply Scored tool - wow is that a wonderful tool!  Then I cut perpendicular to the scored lines every 1" - that gave me 12 - 1" wide pieces of scored DSP - If you make the mistake of cutting the strips first, you will have to do all that scoring on each individual sheet - yawn!!  Anyway, then fold accordian style on each scored mark. You glue one end of the strip to the other to form a continuous loop.  Next, you flatten it out to form the medallion.  If you lay the circle down with the side you want to show face down, you can attach a circle to the back to hold the design in place.  Then we layered the medallion onto another scalloped circle.  The button has baker's twine through the holes and then the button was stuck to the medallion using glue dots.  Again, this is the kind of card you can work on in various stages and settings, getting ready for the final assembly. 
I think it has a fun and fresh look - and just think of how great it would be to use up you leftover strips of DSP in such a fun way!!
Peggy

Christmas stamp a stack, part 3, Project 2

Hi all
My next project really evolved nicely.  Lots of texture - the ribbon, the trim border, the bumps on the oval frame and the texture of the leaves. 

My big shot really got a work out for this class.....the petals a plenty textured impression background, the die cut holly and berries, the beaded oval frame.  I also used the trim border punch and a non-SU scalloped oval punch.  So wonder my hands have been numb!! That's what happens when you prepare materials for 32 cards!!
Peggy

Christmas stamp a stack, part 3, Project 1

Hi all
Uh Oh!   My blog is acting a bit peculiar tonight...hope my posts show up for you!
My first stamp a stack, part three card has classic features....the background DSP of seasonal word, the metal bells with the holly and bow, and a greeting with an old fashioned feel.

Some of my ladies groan when they see the gold pen I  used to make the label and the bells pop off the page a bit but I really like the effect.
Peggy

A little treat

Hi all
I was looking at the pictures from Sunday's stampin session and there was a picture on the camera of the last quickie little treat that  I took to my book club meeting.  This was a nice treat be cause it held reception sticks - a more grown up candy treat than the usual Halloween fare.  I used the new petite pocket die cut - but left off the flap.

Tomorrow I will begin to share the cards from the "Stamp a stack part 3".  Pop back to see what we made!
Peggy

Christmas ornaments and decorations, project 6, part 9

Hi Stampers!!
Well, you have stayed with me through each of the windows of my shadow box and here we are at the last window. 

This punch is such a great one...I hope to show you another cool project with this punch in the next week or so.  In the meantime, I hope you have enjoyed this shadow box project.
Peggy

Christmas ornaments and decorations, project 6, part 8

Hi Stampers



Check out my stampin up website (peggyouten.stampinup.net) for info on how to get FREE digital downloads - they work with My Digital Studio and other programs as well!  If you choose to purchase My Digital Studio, you can also get that through my website!

This window is such fun!!!

The head is from the pennant punch and the antlers are 1/3 of the snowflake punch. Some googly eyes and a red pom and viola!   ....adorable!
Peggy

Christmas ornaments and decorations, project 6, part 7

Hi all
This window is such a nice - and easy - scene.

This a simply from a SU punch.  We added a small black bead for the eye - it is attached with crystal effects.

Have you been enjoying seeing this project day after day ...and wished you could have made one yourself?   Well you are in luck!!  Yesterday I did this project with the staff at one of my schools.  21 people signed up but as sometimes happens, five people were too stressed about progress report writing to attend.  I am selling those "ready to go" kits for $12 plus postage and handling.   I do accept paypal.  Contact me at david.outen@verizon.net or at 410-256-6772 to get your Shadow Box kit. note:there are some slight variations of patterns/papers due to a supply issue.   The kits include glue and dimensionals.
Peggy

Christmas ornaments and decorations, project 6, part 6

Hi all
The sixth window in my shadow box project is a three dimensional tree.  Cute!

I punched three pennants from DSP, scored down the center and then attached one side of one pennant to the side of another, forming a chain of three.  The glimmer paper was perfect for the star on top.
Peggy

Christmas ornaments and decorations, project 6, part 5

Hi all
Today I am showing you the center window of my shadow box.  This window could easily have had another holiday image but I wanted to put a greeting on the box - the center seemed the logical place.

Obviously this tag could easily have said "from the Jones's" or another appropriate greeting. Someone pointed out to me that some folks might not like it to say "Christmas" if they are not religious but it seems to me that there are plenty of folks celebrating Christmas who don't see it as a religious holiday.
Come back tomorrow for another window.
Peggy

Christmas ornaments and decorations, project 6, part 4

Hi all
Well, I couldn't stand the embarrasment of my  horrible photography (even though I am a known novice at photography!) so I went back and retook my already-posted photos of the shadow box project.  If you have been checking in to see each component, be sure to go back and see the nicer photos of the first three windows.
window 4....

This window is one I am particularly proud of because it took some figurin' to make this house. I folded the designer series paper in a particular way (about 1/2" in on each side of a center portion just slightly narrower than the tag punch) and punched two for each house.  I scored a small piece of DSP several times then it was folded to form the chimney.  The door is a jewel and the wreath over the door is a flower punch with a hole in the center.
Peggy