Holiday Extravaganza Sale!!!!

It's amazing... click on the image below to see the details and remember that this is only WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!!

Big Sale Coming! Check back tomorrow...

I had to take a minute to post about a most extraordinary, never before seen, fantastic promotion that Stampin' Up! will be announcing on November 26th. This sale will be different than any we have seen before from Stampin' Up! and one of those differences is that I still don't know any details about what will be on sale! It's going to be a big surprise for all of us.

Here's what we have been told...

It will begin on November 26th and run through to December 1st but only while supplies last so be sure to check as soon as you can tomorrow and place your order quickly!

It will involve products that come in a bundle at a greatly reduced price - there might be some great Christmas presents for you or your stamping friends!

It will be the best sale that Stampin' Up! has ever offered!

It will be announced on Wednesday, November 26th on my website at www.bevennis.stampinup.net and you can order online through my online store - just click on the "Shop Now" button in the top right hand corner. This might be the safest way to order as they are expecting a huge response and it's only while supplies last. Orders placed online through my website will ship directly to you - shipping charges are the same as when you order through me, but there is a $9.95 minimum shipping charge per order.

You can also order by sending me an email at bevennis@shaw.ca. I will be sending in orders each evening of the sale but remember that this may delay your order submission and you might be better to order online so that items don't sell out before my order is sent.

Check back tomorrow and until then, happy stampin'!

Bev.

Christmas Chocolates

Here's my version of giving chocolate at Christmas... The only problem is that it would take a dedicated chocoholic to ruin this cute little package to get at the chocolate! Good news though... the chocolate bar will slide out of the stamped wrapper.

The chocolate bar I used for this project worked really well - it's called "Brockmann's Truffini" and it comes in lots of different flavours. I found mine at The Market on Millstream where they are 2 for $3. I also saw them at London Drugs so I'm sure they are also available elsewhere.

The Whisper White card stock is cut at 4 1/4" x 5". It's easy to score for this chocolate bar - score at 1", 1 1/2", 2 3/4" and 3 1/4". Just be sure you are scoring the right way - the chocolate bar is 5" tall...

Santa uses a few different punches: 1 3/8" Circle, Boho Blossoms, Word Window, Scallop Square, and 1/4" Circle.

On the Snowman, I've used these punches: Large Tag, Word Window, Trio Flower, 1/4" Circle and Ticket Corner (for his nose). I sponged a little bit of Pretty in Pink ink for his cheeks using a Sponge Dauber. The ribbon for the scarf is 9" long.

You could use these same ideas on other chocolate bars by changing the measurements... Hope you have fun decorating chocolate for Christmas!

Oh, if you are wondering how my Thai Chicken Panang turned out last week, it was yummy! And, it took first place in the "Ethnic" category in our cook-off so that was exciting... there was some pretty tough competition!

Have a great week, and happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!)

Busy, busy week!

Wow, I've had a busy week... which has meant that I'm later than expected in getting some new cards here, but I'm hoping that posting a couple today will help make up for it! : )

So, why so busy? Well, last night I had a Partylite party with my friend, Hollie, who some of you have met at stamping classes. It was her first party as a new consultant and I have to say that she was great!! Thanks for such a fun evening, Hollie!

And, I've also been busy cooking... You see, every year at work we have a "cook-off". It's a fun event to raise money for the United Way. Everyone is on a team and we have 8 different categories that we enter a dish into. The dishes are judged and we all compete for the glory of winning in each category. So, the cook-off is tomorrow and I'm entering a dish in the "ethnic" category. I'm trying a new recipe - Thai Chicken Panang. I've eaten the dish many times at my favourite Thai restaurant, but I'm making it for the first time. So, on Tuesday night, I made the Panang Curry paste from scratch... Now I'm nervous because it's super hot (which I love) so I'm testing it tonight before I serve it to all my co-workers tomorrow! I'll let you know how it goes. Oh, and if you are wondering how this raises money... we all pay $5 to eat the food after it has been judged. It's a fun and delicious fundraiser!

Okay, onto stamping. I've had this card in my sample basket for the last couple of weeks and it has had lots of great comments from everyone who has seen it. It's stamped with the Season of Friendship set from the Holiday Mini Catalogue. This is actually a copy of a card that was posted on my upline's blog... you can check out other cards that Alison posted using this set here. The tree is embossed in silver on Brushed Silver card stock... very nice! The snowflakes are also embossed, on Whisper White card stock, and punched using the 3/4" circle punch. The greeting comes from the set called From the Heart. And, the main card is Night of Navy with Night of Navy grosgrain. It's really striking in person.

This card is stamped with the Snow Swirled stamp set... It's a super simple card that would be so easy to duplicate if you need to make lots of Christmas cards. The greeting is actually stamped in Creamy Caramel ink so it stands out a bit and the snowflakes are stamped in Bravo Burgundy and Garden Green. I like the little touch of ribbon on the top corner - just a little bit but it adds so much!

There are still seats open for Santa's Workshop this Saturday morning. Let me know if you'd like to join in... we'd love to have you!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!)

A Cardinal Christmas

I've just finished my downline meeting and have some great new cards that I will share with you over the next few days from our swap and make and takes. This was one of the cards that I had for a make and take. It's a beautiful card using the stamp set called "A Cardinal Christmas" from the Holiday Mini Catalogue. The card stock colours are Naturals White, Garden Green and Riding Hood Red. I coloured the cardinal using Blender Pens and ink.

Now, I have to tell you about the Kenny Rogers concert last night. We had such a fun evening and get this... my hubby and I sang on Kenny's stage!! You can ask anyone who knows us and they will tell you that they don't believe it. First, I'm a horrible singer. And, the thought of my husband singing in front of hundreds of people is just not something that anyone who knows him would imagine happening. Okay, I have to admit, it's not quite the way it sounds... No, we didn't meet Kenny. Here's what happened...

We were standing in the lobby before the show visiting with another couple we know. We were approached by a couple guys, one with a video camera. They asked if we would sing a couple lines from a favourite Christmas song. No one in our group was very enthusiastic but these fellows were persistent. They said they were looking for a few "younger fans" to sing for Kenny... LOL! So, finally, we gave in and sang the first few lines of "Twelve Days of Christmas". It was painless until we were sitting during the intermission and realized that the big, huge screen on stage was likely going to be where that video would be aired... And, that's exactly what happened! We opened the second half of the show! Well, not just us - there were a few other fans who shared in the event with their own clips. It was pretty funny and I'm glad we did it! So, now I'm just saying that I sang on Kenny Rogers' stage - I was singing and it was shown on his stage. I think that counts, doesn't it?

Oh, I should mention that I have had a couple seats come open for Friday night's Santa's Workshop and I still have a few available for Saturday morning... just email if you are interested!

I'll be back tomorrow with a new card or two... see you then!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!)

Happy Sunday...

I've had a pretty relaxing weekend so far and am enjoying it! Yesterday, I went to the craft fair at the Commonwealth Pool and enjoyed wandering around as a "customer". I found a few goodies. Then I decided to go to Matticks Farm... I haven't been there in a while so it was fun just to look around. And, I found some adorable Christmas ornaments so added a few little things to my collection! Now, I'm looking forward to getting all of our Christmas stuff out...

I had some time to play in my craft room last night so worked on swap cards for my downline meeting that is coming up tomorrow night. You probably know how much I love using punches to create things... isn't this little snowman adorable? The snowman's body is punched using the 1 3/4", 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" Circle punches. His eyes and mouth are punched using the Double Circle punch and his carrot nose is the Horizontal Slot punch which I cut in half diagonally. The two buttons are punched with the 1/4" Circle punch. For his hat, there wasn't a square punch that gave me the right size, so I cut a 7/8" square and then attached a second piece for the brim that was cut approximately 1/4" x 1 1/8". For his scarf, I cut a 5 1/2" piece of Red Gingham ribbon and tied a knot then slid one side of the knot in behind the top circle (his head). The card stock colours are Kraft, Real Red and Baha Breeze. You can't see it too much in the scan, but I sponged around all the pieces of his body with Baha Breeze ink - it just gives a bit of definition.

Well, today is cleaning day at my house... and tonight, my hubby is taking me to see Kenny Rogers! I'm excited about that... I've loved Kenny Rogers for as long as I can remember and this will be the first time I see him in concert. So, dinner and a concert tonight with my sweetheart will be lots of fun!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!)

Unconventional Christmas colours...

Last year, my friend Sonia stamped a Christmas card with Basic Grey card stock and ink... I really thought it was a novel idea and so last night when I was working on designing a card using the Mr. Twigster stamp set, I thought I'd give Basic Grey a try. Here's the outcome! I had been trying to use Basic Black but it just looked too dark for Christmas so I was much happier with this combination. It's a cute card and certainly not colours that I would have normally picked... This little snowman makes me smile with his little stick legs! The greeting is from the hostess stamp set called Best Yet and the snowflakes in the background are from the Merry & Bright set. I designed this card for Rhonda's class tomorrow night which I'm really looking forward to...

The Santa's Workshop on November 21st is now full... There are still a few seats available for Saturday, November 22nd so email soon if you'd like to come!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!)

One last Santa's Workshop date...

Sorry that I am being a little scattered and last minute with my class dates over the past couple of months. We just have so much going on in our lives right now that I can't commit too far in advance to dates. I know that there are a few of you out there who still want to come to a Santa's Workshop this year and aren't available for the November 21st date (there are only 2 seats still available, by the way) so I am going to add one more date...

Saturday, November 22nd starting at 9:30 am

That will likely be the last one for this year! Hope everyone who wants to come will be able to make one of the two remaining dates. There are 15 fantastic Christmas cards waiting to be stamped! : )

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

Craft fairs are finished

Well, another season of craft fairs are done for us. We did two fairs, one last weekend and one this weekend. They were both great and it was fantastic to see lots of you out at one or the other! Thanks for stopping by.

I'm very proud of my Mom for all of her hard work in getting ready for the craft fairs. She works on her creations all year long... I enjoy being able to go along to help her sell at the fairs, but the hard work is all hers. I forgot to take the camera along to Strawberry Vale last weekend but did get a picture before the Calico Christmas fair opened up this past Friday night. Quite the selection of cards, hey?!!

So, I was telling you that I did help Mom a little last week with making hot chocolate packages. She came up with a new design this year, using a retired favourite, Frosty. These were quite popular and have been for the past several years. They are great little gifts - there is a package of Carnation hot chocolate inside. Lots of people bought these to give as gifts to teachers, coworkers, neighbours or to use as stocking stuffers.

These are really easy to make and you could fill them with all sorts of things. The ribbon that you see at the top actually goes all the way on the inside of the package, underneath the hot chocolate to hold it in and then ties in a bow at the top.

Mom also tried something new this year with these little chocolate packages which are super simple to make... The chocolates are little Hershey's individual chocolate bars wrapped with Designer Series Paper. We happened to have lots of a retired style of paper so she used that for her packages. Then she used the Bigz Top Note die to cut the tops and decorated them with a Poinsettia that she had punched with the 5-Petal Flower punch. Oh, by the way, she stapled to topper on, and covered the staples with the greeting and flower that she added. And, those are the medium cello bags that she used for these.

Well, I hope you enjoyed these peeks at Mom's craft fair creations!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!)

Wishing You Cheer

Whew... it's been a busy week! I've been helping Mom get things ready for her craft fair this weekend. We decided to make some hot chocolate packages this week for the fair and Mom designed the cutest new package using the retired Frosty set. I'll take a picture of it and share it with you over the weekend.

If you want to drop by and see us, we'll be at Pacific Christian School on Friday night (6:00-9:30) and Saturday (9:00-5:00) for the Calico Christmas Arts and Crafts Show. It's one of my favourite shows... I can never resist adding something to my Christmas decoration collection!

I thought I better get on here and post a card though before you all stop coming by! This is a card that I designed for Jennifer's class last week. Jennifer had a few girls joining their Mom's for the class so I wanted to have something fun for them. They seemed to like this card and some of them got quite creative with it! It's stamped using the Wishing You Cheer stamp set.

Remember, I do have one more Santa's Workshop scheduled for Friday, November 21st. Seats are starting to fill so be sure to register soon if you'd like to come!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!)

One more Santa's Workshop date...

I've had a few more people interested in coming to this year's Santa's Workshop so I am scheduling one more date... It will be on Friday, November 21st at 7:00 pm. The cards will be the same as in the previous Santa's Workshops this year... there are 15 in total to pick from! Please email me at bevennis@shaw.ca to register.

This card was very popular at the Santa's Workshop as well as at this past weekend's craft fair. I think it's beautiful and it's such a simple card to make. It would be great if you need to make lots of holiday cards.

I've been feeling bad for not blogging more lately, especially for not posting new cards or projects. I've had lots on the go, and my stamping time has been a bit limited so I just don't have anything new to share. But, I will be doing some stamping this week for an upcoming class and will be happy to share some of my creations with you! Be sure to check back...

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!)