Sissix Christmas Fun - New Debi Potter Dies!

Hello,
Here to share a few Christmas cards using some new Sissix products from Debi Potter!  I love Debi's sweet new Christmas die line for Christmas cards and tags! 

Here is what I have made so far....

 This card uses Debi's "Snowman 1" die.  Isn't this the cutest snowman!  It is a thinlet die and I am in love with it! So adorable!  I added eyelashes and a mouth with a black pen to make her look all girly! 
 This card is going out to my dear friend Alease who blogs at ""Pretties" Please! Crafty Corner"  for a card swap we are doing.  She makes some of the pretties cards around and has lots of awesome cards and goodies in her wonderful ETSY shop called "Pretties by Alease"! So fun to swap cards and a few goodies with a crafty friend! 

 This die is Debi's new thinlet "Christmas Stockings" die.  So sweet!

 It makes the cutest 4x4 cards! I think this card took me 3 minutes total!  Love that for Christmas crafting!

This one is called "From Our Home to Yours" and is approximately 5x5"....this is a 5x5 inch card I have it sitting against so you can get an idea of the size.  I cannot wait to play around with this die some more!

Thanks for taking a look at my projects!
: ) Jill 

Christmas In August....

Hello Friends,
Thought I would post a few, all right a LOT, of pictures from my "Christmas in July" tag making.  Summer is drawing to a close and often I forget to photograph my tags before packaging them up and putting them away.  I give each of my family members a set of Christmas tags each year on Thanksgiving to use for their Christmas gift giving.  I have a big family so this is a LOT of tags!  I like to get most of them made during the summer months when I have a little bit more free time.  Here are some of the tags I have made so far this summer:

First some candy canes:

This is probably my favorite tag die!  It is an old 4x4 die that was made by Lifestyle Crafts and cuts two candy canes - one is a solid back piece and the other is an overlay piece for the candy cane stripes.  After cutting and gluing the two pieces together I just add some embellishments and a string tie.  The tags are from two different stamp sets.  Friendship Jar Holiday Fillers from Papertrey Ink for the "candy canes 5 cents" tags.  And  a Christmas tag set from Lili of the Valley stamps in the UK for the "Christmas Hugs" sentiment.  These two stamp sets and their various sentiments and tags are used on almost every set of Christmas tags I make! 

Next come the gingers!  Gingerbread men on parade....

This is an old gingerbread man steel-ruled BIGZ die from Sissix.  It is definitely a favorite of mine and my family members for Christmas tags!  It gets a lot of use each year!  I get a lot of questions about where to purchase this die....I got mine on EBAY.  It is, very sadly, retired!  I wish Sissix would bring back this one! :)

 How about some smaller gingers:

These are some 2" gingerbread men using a die from Cottage Cutz.  They are all hanging out together in a little gingham box!  Too cute!

And here is one more:

This tag uses the sweet gingers in the "Ho Ho Ho" stamp set from Paper Sweeties!  The sentiment is also from Paper Sweeties.  It comes from the "Christmas Blessings" stamp set.  I love that their is both a boy and a girl ginger!  I colored these with some Prima colored pencils. 

Now onto some sweet little deer tags:

 This adorable set of "Oh Deer" stamps is from one of my favorite stamp companies - "Your Next Stamp"!  Karen the owner is as sweet as can be and has some really fun products!  This is one of my favorite sets for baby cards and Christmas tags and cards.  These deer are so darn cute!!!!

 This set uses the Minnie Pearl tag set from "A Jillian Vance Design"  I love the sweet scalloped edges on these tags.  And this deer is looking at the sweet butterfly that has landed on its tail!

 These tags use the Tag Sale #8 dies from Papertrey Ink.  And this deer is running and has a bow around its neck! (Sorry about the poor picture quality!)

 Minnie Pearl tags again....and this deer has one hoof up.  They are all so cute!

How about a pink version:

Perfect for a little girls gift this Holiday season!  Or....a new baby gift this winter?!

All right that is it for now!  I am still working on my stash of angel, mitten and stocking tags.  Hopefully I will squeeze in another post to show them off later but I wanted to at least get this post in as usually once school starts my crafting time is more limited!

Crafty Hugs!
Jill 

Have I told you how much I love to read?

This afternoon I spent some time in my craftroom playing around with the gorgeous inspiration in "The Shabby Tea Room":  HERE. 

Here is the creativity/inspiration photo from Lenet:





I love the picture of the old books, the soft neutrals, the white in the bedding, the cream and texture in the nubby blanket on the chair, and the touches of pale blues in the framed pictures.  Gee, I could move in to that photo and be perfectly happy!  LOL!

This is my first time actually linking up and playing with everyone at the Shabby Tea Room.  I have visited all of the gorgeous inspiration many, many times over the past couple of years but did not have much time to play due to the circumstances I was in with my husband's illness.   This week I saw my crafty friend Rebecca's lovely post on her blog (she is also this week's Guest Designer) and absolutely LOVED what she created!  After reading her post I visited the site and was determined
to join in this week-  which I was able to fulfill today. 

Here are some pictures of my project.

 I love this sentiment...."This is where I fell asleep"....as it is how I go to sleep most nights of the week.

 I sewed a lovely border of tissue paper scallops with some aqua thread and in the end covered most of it up...oh well.

I love how these old book page flowers turned out!  And some aqua felt leaves to go with them doesn't hurt!

 I made this card and matching bookmark for my son's school librarian who has been very supportive to me and my family over the past two years.  When school gets underway I find it hard to find enough time to make as many things as I would like to have to thank the teacher's and staff at school for all they do.  They are under-paid, over-worked and so dedicated to helping the future generation that I wish I could give them all a raise and a bonus!  I am glad that I can at least give them a handmade card and a treat with maybe a latte-card thrown in or a gift card to Barnes & Noble.  Our cousin Barbara is a teacher in California and she says - give them chocolate!!! Teachers love to receive chocolate!!!  I tend to give coffee cards because I think there are many days in rainy and cold Seattle where a cup of coffee is the perfect pick-me-up before school starts!  And a mocha latte is the best!!  What could be better than chocolate in our coffee?!?

That is it for me this evening!  Thanks for taking a look at my card and matching bookmark! I would love to hear what you think!  I wasn't too sure about my card's layout and the rules of three but I just went with it in the end....

:) Jill

Supplies:
Stamps: All Booked Up - Papertrey Ink
Papers:  Cardstock: Papertrey Ink; Old Book - from thrift store
Dies:  Cheery Lynn Designs: Doily Die; Papertrey Ink -Mat stack and Limitless Layers 1.5" set and sending you leaves; Stampin-UP/sissix - butterfly; MFT- border die medium scallop; flower dies
Impression Plates:  Papertrey Ink - lines/siding, Cheery Lynn Designs - burlap
Ink:  Papertrey Ink - Kraft, Aqua Mist,  Copics BG10
Sewing Machine: Janome Sew mini; Coats & Clark thread
Felt: Papertrey Ink - Aqua Mist
Other: scissors, fiskars paper trimmer, Vagabond, glue dots, ad tech adhesive, tombow mono multi glue