Winter Guy, Santa and Ellen

I live in a large suburb of Dallas that still has quite a bit of "little town" atmosphere.  Our local arts group puts on great live productions at the Uptown Theater - the old movie house on Main Street that has been renovated and reopened.  Thursday night my friend Liz and I went to see one of our favorite kiddos, Michael, on the opening night production of Miracle on 34th Street.  Dang, he was good and his mama, Amy, had found him the best (most authentic) costume for his role as Jake - a speaking part as he sat on Santa's lap. 

Of course I couldn't take photos during the show, and Michael pulled the hat with the ear flaps off as soon as he possibly could, but I did get a photo of him autographing Liz's program.  He has been dancing publicly since age 3 where he could be seen  performing to Greased Lightening (music in his mind, moves from John Travolta) during lulls in the action of his soccer games.  His Mom is the coach and she eventually taught him to dance only on the sidelines not on the field during the game.  Oh this kid is CUTE!

This is my winter guy inspired by Michael and his costume...

This uses a couple of new things from the Occasions mini catalog that will be available January 5.  One is the heart punch for the whites of the eyes.  Regular readers are used to seeing me use the smallest heart in the heart to heart punch for this - but the new Small Heart punch is even better for this - it gives you just a little more white showing so you can put the black part of the eye in different places and get more 'expression'.

The other new item I used is the solid stripes stamp which will be sold as a single stamp (not in a set).  It is just what the name says - solid stripes.  For this jacket I wanted a subtle plaid effect so I stamped bravo burgundy onto red with this new stripe stamp but I stamped it again with the stripes running the opposite direction.  Ummmm,  I think you will be seeing me use this stamp and this punch a lot!

Here is a photo of the hat in progress so you can see how to make it...

Wide oval punched on the edge of the paper to get flat bottom - then I just snipped up both sides with scissors to get the angle you see here

Flaps are small ovals punched on the edge of the paper to get flat "inside" edge. 

Hat brim is small oval snipped with scissors (actually I just picked up a random scrap from my desk but you might not have the same mess I do)  I put the brim on a bit of dimensional to adhere it.

Sponging info - I am no artist so I can't tell you how to sponge and highlight your pieces the "right way".  My sponging is usually so you can distinguish one piece from another  - like seeing the sleeves against the plaid jacket.  I usually just go around the whole item - but on these sleeves I decided the inside of the elbow would be darker. I guess it works - but however you add sponging, it will give your punched characters more depth so play with it and when you figure out the "right" way please come back and teach me!

At the Miracle on 34th production you could have your picture taken with Santa so....here I am with one of my best punch characters in real life!

See my new bifocals? I like 'in your face' readers so I got 'in your face' glasses too. Not so sure I like how I look with them but I sure like how I SEE with them.

Tall Snowman

We don't get much snow in North Texas so it is a real treat when we get enough to make a snowman.  This is a photo of a photo I took in 2004 (the last few months before I went to a digital camera).

Notice there is no snow left in the yard - we had to use it all to make this tall guy!

I used this as my model for this silly snowman

So while snowmen (three circles) are one of the easiest punch art things you can make - don't be afraid to dress them up and change them up a little bit and make them unique.  These are the same glasses that the bookworm wore.

 

Since I am born and bred here in the "land of little snow" I'm all out of snowman experience so tomorrow I'll have to show you something else.

Kissing Snow-folk

Rather than just standing there as most snowmen do, when you "build" TWO snow-folk you can have them interact. 

The snow-boy here is the same character I make on my gift tag.  My snow-girl thinks he is kinda cute. (I personally agree with her)

I put this pair on a another gift tag...

and the pink mini tags are a sneak peek of the new Tiny Tags set and the new Medium Jewelry Tag punch.

The new tag punch doesn't have the hole in it.  I added that so I could string it on the linen thread.

Snowman by the Light of the Moon

Ever wonder what snowmen do to keep from being bored at night?  Well. if there is enough moonlight, they might look like this:

I realized that I had a couple of snowman posts this week so I thought I'd just make a series of them so this must be Number 3.   Pretty easy punching except the holly leaves. 

To get the holly I actually drew a holly leaf then pushed a circle punch into my paper just far enough to snip on the lines - of course I had to flip it over and use the back side so you couldn't see where I missed  and the pencil marks showed.  So it isn't an exact science but it works!

This snowman with his nose is a book (literally) goes on a gift tag as a hint to what the gift is.  It will be no surprise, we are all big readers in our family and come from reading families so lots of books have been given over the years at Christmas.  Just a little ribbon, the top note die and some dimensionals - and I'm done!

Chatter about punches now:

Thanks to those of you that participated in my silly poll this past week.  I feel so powerful knowing that I got 42 of you to purchase a punch!  bwaaaa haaa haaa  (evil laugh)

Now I need you two shy people to step on up and email me your requests.  I have several ahead of you that are waiting on the inspiration fairy to do her thing but you might as well ask in case she shows up with what you need.

And I got my first three punches in the new SU (EK Success) style.  I like them!  Of course even though they will stack nicely, I have NO ROOM for them so a punch reorganization is required.  Lots of potential in these babies.....   You can buy them starting January 5th. 

But dang I am going to miss the ornament punch!   I sure hope it winds up on some dormant list so you can still buy it during "off ornament" season.  Don't the powerful of SU read my blog?  Don't they know the versatility of  that punch?  DON'T TAKE IT FROM ME.  Oh, that is right, I bought it - they can't take it from me.  Have you bought yours?  January 4th is the last day of the Holiday Mini - and the last day to purchase it (that I know of).  Contact me or your demo - it may soon be gone forever...... OH NO!!!!!

Tag Swap Results

We did a tag swap at our meeting Monday night - and since we were planning on these being for personal use we didn't limit our supplies to SU only (although mine were all SU). 

I swapped the Snowman in the Moon tag and the Peppermint tag (with the ribbon choice corrected) and this tag:

I LOVE THIS SNOWMAN!  He is on our family cards this year too - simple and easy to mass produce but still just as cute as could be!

Here are the tags I received from the swap:

And here are the closeups:

first by Eileen Flannery (it opens)

Now 3 by Becky Adams

and 3 by Jenifer Lange

Aren't they all wonderful?  I'm sure you can glean an idea or two (or three) from these! 

UPS Santa Update

Just letting you know that I gave my Mr. Brown some pumpkin bread a few minutes ago and the tag on the bag had the UPS punch character - He had a second driver with him today and as they pulled away I heard him say "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night". 

No, not really.  What he said (with a chuckle) was,  "Oh look - it's a UPS Elf!"  and they drove away grinning. 

Mission complete!  He didn't recognize himself but at least he recognized the UPS factor - and that is pretty good for a non crafting man.  (grin)

Snowman in the Moon

An ornament from my tree is the inspiration for one of my gift tags for a swap.

All I have time for now.  Sorry, no clever chatter today.  

And don't go muttering that the chatter isn't ever very clever - that is not nice.

Santa Series Number 14 - UPS Man is Santa throughout the Year

Not really Santa, but if you are a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator this really is the one who delivers your TOYS!

Brenda Workman sent me an email Saturday night and she started it with a bunch of flattery which I dearly love and enjoy way too much!  I won't make you read that part, but she finished with this  "I am not sure if you’re interested in any more ideas, but I would love to see a UPS man. They help Santa this time of year you know…(and bring our Stampin Up supplies!)   I admit, I am biased….I work at UPS and love this time of year.   A few of my drivers have “brown” Santa hats they wear on Christmas Eve."

Well,...... you know I'm not going to pass up an awesome suggestion like that!  Brenda is absolutely correct.  Stampin' Up! sends all our goodies by UPS and it feels like Christmas when I tear into those boxes that my dear sweet UPS man brings.  I LOVE the brown Santa Hat idea - wish they would wear them the entire month of December!

This was modeled (kinda) after my own UPS man.  He is a blond and usually wears his shorts.  He calls our dog "Killer" since the foolish mutt barks like a maniac at the sound of UPS brakes.  My dog is very smart but I just can't get him convinced that the UPS man is our FAVORITE delivery man.

Do you need a tutorial?  Naw, surely you don't.  How about just giving you a list of punches?

Hat - wide oval and small oval in brown, word window and 1/2 inch circle in vanilla
Head - Ornament
Eyes - heart to heart (small one in white) standard hole punch in black
Nose - 1/2 inch circle
Ears - Word window (tips)
Hair - Piece of Ornament snipped in for bangs
Shirt - wide oval snipped with large start point to get open neck look
Collar - heart to heart (small hearts trimmed)
Sleeves - small oval - cut it half to get two
Shorts - rectangle scrap snipped with large star point at the crotch (ouch)
legs - word windows
shoes - butterfly - cut in half to get two
socks - slots
arms - heart to heart (wide one)
hands - flower trio (trimmed to 3 fingers)
box - rectangle scrap with lsticker (from an SU stampset) I hadn't stuck on the box yet. 

He has on a belt but you can't see it since I added the box.

Of course this will be on a card for my UPS man tomorrow as he brings yet another box to my door.  I may not see him again before Christmas (tear) so I have to get it done now!

Thanks Brenda for the idea.  I hope you enjoy this little guy!  Will you please hug a few UPS drivers for me today?  (But don't get in any sexual harassment trouble doing that, OK?)  They have to work so hard this time of year.

Peppermint Gift Tag

Well, my color choices could be improved upon (this has bravo burgundy ink and riding hood red ribbon, and I should have picked one OR the other) - but I wanted to go ahead and show you this idea.  Someone emailed me a day or two ago wanting to know if I knew any tricks to make peppermints from circle punches.  Poor dear, had to make 70 of them quickly.  I didn't have a solution.  (sad face here)

But since the problem had been input into my brain - I needed to find a solution.  My answer would be to make a mask, then sponge color onto your circle punch.  These peppermints were vanilla and burgundy - I think white and red would be more effective but that isn't the color scrap I grabbed.

Here is what my mask looked like after making a few of these...

And my fingers were just about as dark as this "vanilla" cardstock.  Oh well, the ink will wear off in a day or so...

Believe!

Remember my phase of sticking Santa hats on all those critters?  Well, you can stick them on letters too!

"Believe" was stamped with jumbo outline alphabet and then cut out. I thought about adding a BUNCH more to this layout but after fooling with it for awhile, I decided that any "fru fru" (spelling?) I might add would just distract. 

I'll just use all those punched Santas I made on gift tags.  Simple is OK - you have my permission to keep your layouts clean and simple - Of course you have my permission to cludge them up with lots of fancy stuff too - I just want you to scrapbook occasionally.

I believe that  in the 1960s Santa "grew" a really big beard.  (These photos were taken too early in the decade for him to have been influenced by the hippies)

I believe that fake windows were popular displays at the time.

I believe that I was about 4 and 7 in these pictures.

What I can't believe is that my very proper mother kept a photo with my slip showing!  (Hey, it is proof that once upon a time I wore them - can't remember the last time I touched one - they just don't go with my wardrobe of jeans.  Do stores still sell slips?)

I BELIEVE IN SANTA! 
Santa is what makes so many of us spend extra money (and sometimes not so extra money) for Toys for Tots, or Salvation Army Angel Trees or local toy drives.  Santa is what makes us dig a little deeper in our pockets so that children we don't know will have a happy holiday - one magical day in their year that may hold several very dark days.   May Santa live and thrive for another hundred years and more!

This Angel is Wicked Underneath

When I did the mouse bride last month, I mentioned that her veil reminded me of a halo.  Well, it has taken awhile but I finally got around to trying to make an angel.

First I made this head and put it on a blog babe/ wicked  style body with no feet and full heart wings. 

As you can see, that looked a little inappropriate for an 'angel', so I covered up her 'girls' with two scallop oval punches giving her the choir girl look.  Add a red ribbon and ta-dah!  So Angelic!

Can't you almost hear her singing carols?

Sailing away from Santa - filling a request

This blog has been consumed with Santa stuff for a couple of weeks so for today I am putting holiday stuff on hold and passing on info and filling a request.

INFO:  Way back in the early days of the blog I linked you to a puncher named Jill S when I copied her M&M idea but didn't have enough info to fully give her credit.  Now, I do!  She is Jill Shover and she is still creating.  She doesn't blog but she has updated her punch creations recently so go check out this link  Jill's fabulous stuff .  Each entry has more than one page so check it all out!

REQUEST: One of my VC_Rocks buddies, Brandy, emailed me requesting a "decent sailboat".  Well, I don't know if this boat is "decent" but I'm pretty sure it isn't indecent!

Can you believe this is from the Wide Oval punch and about three snips with scissors?  Well, it is! (with one thin black strip from the trimmer)  I honestly didn't know I could create something will less than 3 punches!

So Brandy - here  is a pictorial tutorial just for you, although we will let these other ladies see it too.  It is just  photos of the sail on scrap paper but I think it is all the help you will need.  Don't make Gail keep reminding you about my blog - I expect you to read regularly now! 

All WIDE OVAL punching here: 

1/2 an oval

match the top "corner" of the hole to the edge of the punch - push in "kinda diagonally"

This is what you get

Punch a "piece" of oval off the bottom

This shows all the punches you have made:

Now punch one more oval piece jutting top left from the "hole" you already have

take your scissors and trim down from the "corners"

You will toss the bits on the top right in the next  photo and place your "sails" as shown here

The rest of the boat should be easy to figure out!

Santa Series Number 13 - The Anti-Santa (Grinch Tutorial)

I think I am done with the Santa Series but since I have no control of the Inspiration Fairy, I guess a number 14 could show up one day...

This tutorial was a challenge because
1) I couldn't find my previous Grinch, so I'm working from the photo on the blog and,
2) when I'm creating I often just grab some leftover scrap from my messy paper strewn desk and don't always remember what combination of punches it came from and,
3) I have slept many nights since I made the Grinch so all memory is gone.

But while the "new" Grinch isn't EXACTLY like the old one - it is very close.  The eyebrows and dark green parts are slightly different.  I think both must have been cut by hand in the first version (don't laugh at my bad memory - I created the Grinch on a whim as a joke and had NO IDEA so many of you would want to make one)

From your lighter green:
two large ovals
one 1.25 inch circle
two small ovals
three oval rings**
one 5 petal flower
one word window

From darker green
one small oval
one word window (or similar size scrap)

From pale yellow
one small heart from heart to heart

from red
two standard hole punches

small word windowish size scrap of any color

** to make an oval ring-----> punch the small oval, toss the oval, keep the hole, punch the large oval around the hole giving you a thin oval shaped ring

Cut as shown below

Attach small oval to scrap (as handle) reinsert into small oval punch to make it just a little bit smaller

The pieces shown here are what you will use to form your basic Grinch:

He is taking form

Finishing Touches:

make cuts into dark green pieces using scissors (like making grass)

sponge edges of light green pieces if you want

punch from black

• slot punch (just a tip)
• heart to heart eyebrows like clown - trim down to desired size (see photo below)

punch from red

• punch small oval - keep the hole
• punch a large oval to the "side" of the hole (see photo below)
  
  
  
  
  

punch from white

• 1/2 inch circle
• square scallop punch re-punch edge to get rick rack type edge

toss the small oval and the leftover scallop square piece - you may have to trim (shorten) your rick rack piece to fit your hat

Santa Series Number 12 - Texas Santa

BIG thanks to those of you who commented that it is "Fine and Dandy" for me to chatter and blather.  My husband will tell you that "blather" is what I do best...

Today's Santa is the result of a suggestion from my upline when she saw all my Santas - "You need to make a Texas one".  Keep in mind that she is a very talented Red Neck who shot her first deer this past weekend (Creeps me out but I bravely looked at all her photos. She looked cute in her camouflage - I tried not to look at Bambi's mama.)

You could add a Christmas Badge

And here is a close up of the boots (from the 5 point flower punch)

This may reflect parts of Texas but we live in the Dallas Ft.Worth area which is pretty darn urban. A Santa that reflects my area would be in the 34th street suit or wearing a baseball gimme cap, jeans and a Cowboy (football team) jersey.


I realize that many of you will never have need of a Texas Santa but maybe you can alter him a bit and make him a sheriff or a cowboy for some scrapbook layout.  Or maybe you can just shake your head and hope for something better tomorrow.

I checked my email yesterday and there was one from the BEST NEIGHBOR I EVER HAD (who moved away to California) asking  Do you know how to make evaporated milk?   Now, she knows exactly what kind of cook I am, so either she sent this question to the wrong email address or it is the start of a joke.  The fact that she asked me that made me laugh hysterically so I really don't ever have to know the punch line!   I think I'll dedicate this Texas Santa to her.  Love ya Theresa!  Isn't it time for you to come HOME?

Now how would you adorn Santa to reflect your location?  I'd love to see your creations!