Christmas in May

This is an idea you can use in traditional as well as digital scrapping.  If you have a page with LOTS of photos (this is a sketch from Alesha Walls again) - make a matching page and put your journaling for each photo in the corresponding spot.  This way you have the "purty" page and also you have all the info you want to share.  Like THIS:
Purty page...

Journaling page...

Snoozin' Santa

I borrowed HEAVILY from last year's Checkin' His List Santa to create this year's Snoozzzzzzin' Santa.

This is what he is doing today, since tomorrow he has a full schedule of deliveries.

I'm guessing he will look like this again on Christmas Day.

Hope you are wide awake on Christmas and having a marvelous time unless of course you are like me and think takin' a midday nap IS a having a marvelous time in which case I wish you merry zzzzzzzzzz's!

I'll be with family the next few days so no posting for a bit. See you some time next week.

Merry Christmas!  and/or Happy Whatever You Celebrate!

Biker Santa

At our house we are NOT "bike" people -------BUT

I realize that many many MANY people get great joy from their bikes and for them I share today's BIKER SANTA

Greg M. - this one's for you!

Switch the color of the pants and the beard and you have any old big belly biker you'd like to make. (Yes, Greg - that would be for you too, hee hee hee)

Here is some how to for Biker Santa:

Head and bandanna - 1.25 circle

Bandanna tails - wing from two step bird near a circle hole

Eyes - standard hole punch white and black - adhered offset - add gel pen highlight

Nose - small circle trimmed on each side

Beard - scallop oval repunched with "end" of wide oval (could use a circle)

Mustache - small heart cut in half

Eyebrows - small circle near an oval hole

Belly - 2.5 circle - trimmed at back and bottom so you are using approx 3/4 of the punch - cut notch with scissors

Belt - strip from trimmer - (word window wasn't long enough)

Pants - large ovals - thin strip of grey from word window on edge of paper

Boots - full heart - trimmed at "base" of boot and "heel side" - rounded at leg opening

Gloves - modern label - repunched with 1/2 inch circle

Helmet  - 1 3/8 circle (use that again to make striped part)

Goggles - scrap into the small holes of the owl punch - toss the circle put the "hole" scrap into the word window (use the sticky of a post it note so you can hold on to it) - repunch again with word window to get the round ends - strap is just a strip

Buckles - tiny tiny scraps (good luck)

Gift Bearing Bear

with or without hat, he is still a gift bearing bear...

Inspired by wrapping paper

Head - owl with ears and feet cut off
Body - 1.75 inch circle
Arms - medium oval
Legs - small oval
Feet - medium oval flattened on bottom
You can figure out the rest cause I'm bored typing this

I don't know why...

This is another one of those punch art things where I don't really know why the Inspiration Fairy led me down this path.

Remember the polar bear idea I got from Mary's gift tag?  Well, she had another tag with a cute reindeer face and the antlers reminded me of hearts, so I had to copy that.  THEN "we" decided to add a body and I couldn't decide on the legs and before I knew it... I had a skating reindeer.

And if you should need something a little wilder you can rearrange the legs like this:

And this reminds me of a family story.

Oldest was 7.  Youngest was 2.  Youngest decided to do an "impression" of her sister skating.  Dead serious and with NO malice in her heart, she stood on one leg throwing her arms and legs in a crazy windmill fashion.  Honestly, it was a perfect imitation of her sister skating down our front sidewalk. 

Oldest didn't think this was funny (Hubby and I were rolling on the floor) so she decided to to an impression of her sister.  But what do 2 year-olds do that would embarrass them?  Well, lets just leave it with the info that youngest wasn't potty trained and we ALWAYS knew when she did number two.  And oldest did a perfect imitation of that.  (More rolling on the floor)

Children are entertaining.  I love them.

Head - owl punch with feet and ears cut off
Antlers - small heart put on post it and repunched with a smallish circle
Ears - small heart cut in half
Nose - 3/4 circle put on post it and repunched with same
Body - 1 3/8 inch circle
Legs - word window cut in half lengthwise
Tail - wide heart to heart cut in half
Skates - small heart to heart rounded on one hump with some small circle
Wheels - small circle from owl punch, tiny circle from owl punch for center
Scarf - circle near circle hole and long scraps

Eskimo Kisses

I like the one with just the nose peeking out - but I thought I'd show you both looks for your kissers.

Hood - 1.75 circle repunched with small oval at "top"
Face - small oval
Nose - circle from itty bitty punch pack
Fur trims - large oval near small oval hole
Body - wide oval
Arm - wide heart to heart
Mitten - small heart trimmed with scissors
Leg - small oval - adjust your "height" by how much leg you show
Boot - Full heart - trimmed bottom, back, punched at top with medium oval (or some circle if you like)

Time to Chill

Honestly, my friend Pam does NOT have a thing for polar bears and I KNOW that.  So why is this the second polar bear birthday card in a row?  She is the victim of timing - I'm thinking holiday characters but I don't want to do anything too "christmasy" for her birthday card so it winds up being polar bears...  Last year she got the Coke Bear and this year she gets Chill Bear.

When I gave her the card, she said we could make the polar bears a birthday tradition.

Inspiration came from a tiny gift tag another friend, Mary, had on a package she was about to mail.  Spied it and quickly pulled out my camera and snapped a photo just so I could copy it. 

Head - wide oval
Body - wide oval turned the other way - seam of the two ovals hidden by scarf
Arms - wide heart to heart
Legs - small oval
Feet - medium oval (is that what they are calling it? - the new one)
Soles of feet - 3/4 inch circle put on a post it note so I could repunch and get kinda an oval
Scarf - wide oval punched next to wide oval hole (3 times to get pieces of scarf)
Nose - like soles of feet - add white gel pen highlight
Ears - word window ends

Draw on eyes and ear markings.

Elf

Something to entertain you while I'm gone...

Not too hard Christmas Card

OK, most of my friends and relations should have their card by now, so I'll show you what I made for this year.

No punch art.

I made 80 so they had to be easy to mass produce.
Stamped the tree from Season of Friendship
THEN embossed using the Big Shot and an embossing folder I borrowed from Eileen the Glitter Queen.
Then inked the edges, added the ribbon and bird, layered on cherry cobbler paper and the card base.

Wrote some witty banter about next year's migration to various locations by the girls and an empty nest for us.  And I enclosed this photo

Of course I wished them all a Happy Holiday and I wish the same for each of you!

Now I'm heading out of town for a few days to see a girlfriend I've known since I was 17.  Want to guess how many hours we can talk without a break?

Pier I Penguin

I know, I've punched a bunch of penguins, and you've seen them from other punchers too but I saw the CUTEST penguin in a Pier I advertisement peeking around a clock - well, I had to try him in punches.

The unique part of this one is the feet.  Punch the scallop circle - toss the circle keep the hole - insert your 1/2 inch circle punch from the "open circle" and punch so that the POINT is almost at the inner edge of the punch.  Sounds so weird to type but TRY IT and you'll see what I mean.

Other thing to note on this project is the eyes.  Punch the two small (not tiny) circles of the owl punch - using the "remains" as a template, DRAW the glasses with a thin black maker - shift template slightly to draw nose bridge piece.

Other thing to note is I had 3 glasses of wine while decorating a friend's Christmas tree tonight and have had to type each sentence 3 times - so follow my directions at your own risk.

Not a rear view...

NOT a rear view of a snowman (that would be kinda dull) but rather a top down view.

NOT my original idea (wish it was).  I first saw this done by Lynda Fraiser HERE.  But I hear that Sharon Field was the first to do it.  And I seriously copied the face from a card by Doris Denman that I saw on a Stampin' Up Demonstrator site.

So, since so many ladies have done these, you have probably already seen one - but this is one from me.  I used it on a tag for a swap with my upline/sideline/downline.

Base - 1.75 circle
Mid-section - 1 3/8 circle
Head  - 1 inch circle
Arms - snowflake punch - with twigs trimmed
Nose - freehand triangle using "deckle" edge scissors (remember all those fancy scissors from the late 90's scrapbooking?)
Hat - half  of a one inch circle in green - small oval near small oval hole in blue - 1/2 inch circle in blue

Face drawn on - cheeks are my finger print in pink ink.

Santa 2010 Version

By this time last year I had shown y'all about 12 different Santas and this year - not even one! 

Well something had to be done to correct that.

So...since this year has been the year for Rear View Characters....

I give you....

Santa - Buns of Steel

But before he did his workout tapes he was Santa - Buns of Blubber.

Hee hee - we had great fun as a family arguing the superiority of the two versions.  There was a third version that hubby said looked like he was wearing a diaper.  And while that does happen to some men as old as Santa, I won't show it out of my deep respect for the Magical Man of Christmas.

Head - 1 inch circle
Hair - scallop oval repunched
Shirt - 1.75 circle
Suspenders - word window
Buns - 3/4 or 1 inch circles
Thigh and Upper Arms - small oval
Calves - word window
Boots - modern label and 3/4 circle

Here is the pictorial "how to"

Ebenezer

Someone (can't remember who) did a great Scrooge last year but since I can't remember who - I also can't link you to it (amazing how that works).  But this is my Scrooge using tag punches which I rarely grab (need to work on that).

EDIT:  Thanks to Ruby (who is evidently WAY more organized than I can imagine) - THIS is the link to the "other" Scrooge which was created by Carrie Gaskin.

Here's the details in case you NEED to make this Ebenezer

Hat – 1.25 circle trimmed on each side, modern label on edge of paper so you just get one bump width

Face – small oval

Chin – circle itty bitty punch pack

Nose – wing from two step bird

Eye white – small heart

Eye black – tiny owl or marker

Hair – large oval – cut in like grass

Coat – small tag, tag, ½ small oval for pocket, modern label trimmed for sleeve

Pants – modern label stamped with solid stripes stamp – trim flat at bottom

Shoes – narrow heart to heart cut in half to get 2 shoes

Draw on mouth and cleft in chin

Add ribbon for scarf

What is it with me and old men lately?

Ice Skater Boy

I guess the penguin got me on a winter theme - or maybe it is wishful thinking for cooler weather. 

Either way, today you get Ice Skater Boy (as opposed to just Skater Boy)

Yeah, I know his nose is a little funny - too much glue dot and then some overlapping of the eyes.  You can fix that when you make him.  OK?

I wanted him to be part of the BIG FOOT series but the big feet I came up with were TOO big.  Here's the proof.

Made the right decision, didn't I?

In this second picture you can see that his pants are a little odd - I use the breast from the owl punch - cut in half and overlapped them at the top so his legs could be separated to show him skating.

The smaller skate is the wide Heart to Heart for the boot and a small oval and word window for the blade.

And here is how you do that:

Punch the word window.  Punch the oval hole at the end so that you only have a blade's width of paper showing above the tip of the word window.  Then trim on each side with your scissors.

Old Craft Project Inspiration

A million years ago, (or maybe a dozen) I did "other than paper" crafts.  Shocking, I know.

Here is one I did

It is made from the finger of a garden glove (painted), a bit of felt and ribbon, and 2 wood hearts.  Originally it was a pin, but I switched it (by putting a magnet on the back) and now he goes on my fridge at Christmas time.

I was rummaging around the other day and spotted it and of course thought - PUNCHES! 

Check it out

Or

 SO Simple - SO Easy!

I LOVE the smile drawn on his beak!

All you need to know:
Body - wide oval
White - large oval stuck into the small heart to get indention (NOT the small Heart to Heart)
Beak - small heart  (NOT the small Heart to Heart)
Flippers - small oval (whole or cut in half)
Feet - wide heart to heart or full heart (I wish we had a size in between)

Christmas in July

For last nights meeting with my upline and sidelines and downline, our theme was Christmas in July.  We were to bring a Christmas Card OR 2 tags for a shoe box swap.

I was soooooooooooooooooo not in a Christmas mood but managed to come up with these two tags.

Colors are Sahara Sand, Real Red and Basic Black

Punch art tree is the word window - reinserted to get all the different sizes.
Punch art check is the small oval next to a small oval hole.

Naughty and Nice was computer generated.

Bling on the tree is not SU but my order has shipped so my next item with bling will have the NEW BLING that SU has in our new catalog.

Christmas Camel

Ardis emailed me on Tuesday,  "My BFF is a camel person at Christmas time. Have you ever made a camel from punches?"

Well actually, the only camel I have made was from felt.  My first Christmas, in my first solo apartment in the early 80s, found me wanting a tree but I had NO budget for ornaments.  I had to make all my ornaments  I made three from felt - a red walrus with holly in his mouth,  a purple hippo holding a book of carols and a camel with a Santa hat.

So I pulled the camel off the tree and rebuilt him from punches.

Here you go Ardis, hope it is in time to use for your friend.

Body wide oval snipped in with wide oval at bottom

Legs word window

Feet 3/4 circle

Neck wide oval next to previous wide oval hole

Face large oval

Saddle wide oval folded, scallop oval snipped for fringe, word window

Tail - snipped from scissors

Hat - piece of large oval, piece of word window, 1/2 circle

Gingerbread Man

I was sitting here at my desk half listening while the girls watched a movie and started looking around for inspiration for something to punch.  Grabbed the basket with our Christmas Cards and saw one that had a tiny gingerbread man on it with a big polka-dot bow.  So I started with the bow thinking that might come in handy sometime and before I was finished I had the gingerbread man too.

Here is a little pictorial "how to" on the bow

two Large Ovals

1 inch Circle - cut flat on the sides

two Full Heart

two Wide Oval trimmed in on end

Sponged edges and start assembly

and here it is on the gingerbread man

Gingerbread man is all wide ovals except the head is approx 2 inch circle with Circle Scissor Plus

Icing is Scalloped Square - re-punched offsetting the scallops to get rick-rack effect

Cheeks are the new Small Heart (available Jan 5)

Dancing Penguin

Hubby fusses at how much time I spend at my craft desk but occasionally I see a glimmer of interest in what I do.  Yesterday he pointed out a darling penguin on some wrapping paper in an ad from the "bull's eye" store.  My immediate response "Oh!  I can do that from punches!"  (a frequent refrain)

Since I hadn't shared a penguin this year here he it...

Wide Ovals, small heart from Heart to Heart (trimmed for top feathers) wings are pieces of 1 inch punch, feet are circle cut in half.  He is very easy and very happy.  And he'd be happy to dance on a gift tag - if you are needing ideas to finish up your wrapping!

Max

Since so many of you loved the Grinch, I thought you might like to make his dog, Max.  I threw this together quickly - I didn't even get out a sponge or ink (horrors!) - so fancy it up to your heart's content....

Small oval and 1 inch circle for head

Large oval body

1/2 circle cut in half for paws

word window cut in half lengthwise for legs

Small oval ear - trimmed - and the piece trimmed off became the tail

Punched a 1 inch circle then punched a wide oval around the hole - then trimmed in the curved 'point' with scissors for antlers - tied with linen thread

heart to heart for eye white

standard hole punch for eyes and nose

Don't get excited about putting Max WITH the Grinch - they are not "to scale".  This dog is a bit too large for the Grinch that I showed earlier this month.