There was a great sketch that I saw here and I could see immediately how to use it – and this isn’t quite it. But it’s close. My imagination saw a card a bit lighter than this – does this ever happen to you? I made it up twice – one with the white square and one without. 
The Mica flakes are so much fun. Above I used my Two way glue pen to adhere them and below I used Crystal Effects. 
Supplies
Stamp Sets – Christmas Lodge
Card stock – Soft Suede, Whisper White, Neutral Paper Pack, Early Espresso
Ink – Soft Suede
Etc – Petals O Plenty embossing folder, Modern Label punch, 2 1/2 circle punch, circle scissors, Quilted Early Espresso ribbon
Enjoy! Hugs, Fran
Category: Mini Catalogs
Casing the Mini
On the front of the Holiday Mini is a beautiful card using the Christmas Lodge stamp set. At first glance it looked to me that the pinecones and gorgeouse Quilted ribbon appeared to be tied to the card. Now I realize it’s the wrapping for the package – not the card. So here’s my take on the card. 
The card base is textured Sot Suede – a beautiful, beautiful card stock. 
I stitched around the image and added jewels – which kind of look like brads in the photos. Then I realized that the Holiday Mini used Confetti or Natural card stock – so I spritzed the Very Vanilla with Cherry Cobler! That’s one way to fudge around a design! 
I love this sentiment – it’s from Snow Swirled. It goes perfectly with Christmas Lodge.
Supplies
Stamp Sets – Christmas Lodge, Snow Swirled
card stock – Textured Soft Suede, Very Vanilla
Ink – Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso
Stampin Write Markers – Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler
Etc – Quilted Early Espresso ribbon, jewels, spritzer, sewing Machine
Enjoy! Hugs, Fran
Stocking Case
This little card is based on one shown in the Holiday Mini. We did this for a make and take at my Open House this week. 
Instead of the Flirtatious Doilies used in the Holiday Mini – I used one of the scalloped circle from the Perfect Pennant die. The base is a 3 x 6 Cherry Cobbler textured card stock – the textured card stock is so beautiful.
Supplies
Stamp sets – Stitched Stocking, Tiny Tags
card stock – Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive DSP, Whisper White, Silver glitter paper (goreous!!)
Ink- Cherry Cobbler
Etc – Perfect Pennant die, Stocking punch, Bakers Twine, 1 3/4 circle punch, Tiny Tag punch
We lost our power this morning for about 1 1/2 hours – no idea why. But my sister lives in DC and they are experiencing incredible flooding, so no complaints about power outages. But it is amazing how much I depend on power! Enjoy! Hugs, Fran
Spooky Candy
We had fun stamping with some of the Holiday Mini stamps last night – and using some of the new products. Here is one of the make and takes using the 1 x 8 cello bags and the Holiday Mini hostess set Warmest Wishes
The design for the circle was cased from Mary Fish. She did a candy bar holder – cute! This one is “belly-banded” onto the cello bag – but I’ve found they do better when attached at the top. So last night we used the Curly Label punch to create a topper (stapled) and then attached the circle to that.
Supplies
Stamp set – Warmest of Wishes, Wicked Cool
card stock – Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White
Ink – Jet Black Stazon
Etc – 2 1/2 and 1 circle punches, 1 x 8 cello bag, Owl punch
Enjoy! Hugs, Fran
Open House Time
Tonight is my Holiday Mini Open House and we have fun decorating! My classroom is now decorated for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas – it’s wild looking! Take a peek – 
It’s snowing at my house!
But my favorite is this – (Samantha’s idea!)
There’s still a few spaces if you want to join us tonight! Just email me and I’ll scoot a chair over for you. Too much fun! Enjoy! Hugs, Fran
She’s Flying
I hope you’re enjoying the long weekend and finding some creative time! I’ve been trying to figure out a way to make this little witch fly across a candy wrapper without it being more work than a candy wrapper is worth! She’s from the Holiday Mini set Out on a Limb. I finally put her on a window sheet so she can fly across the sky when the candy is pulled up. 
This candy wrapper is made with a 6 x 5 3/4 piece of Basic Gray card stock. Score it at 1/4, 2 3/4, 3 and 5 1/2. This creates your “box.” I used the 4″ circle die to make the moon and wheeled a 2 x 2 1/2 piece of Basic Gray with the Haunting Hill jumbo wheel to make a false front. Attach a 1/2″ strip of window sheet to the ribbon pull using a brad. The cute little witch is attached to the window sheet with Dimensionals. 
Supplies
Stamp sets – Out on a Limb, Wicked Cool, Haunting Hill jumbo wheel
card stock – Basic Gray, Whisper White
ink – Jet Black Stazon, Bashful Blue, Basic Gray
Stampin Write Markers – Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron. Blush Blossom, Lucky Limeade
Etc – 4″ circle die, window sheet, Basic Black grosgrain, Crop a Dile, 1/2 circle punch, Black brad, Dimensionals
Enjoy Labor Day – hope you’re not working too hard! We’ve gone from hot, humid weather to cold rain. No complaints. I know some of you are having horrific weather. Samantha and I are decorating for my Open House tomorrow. I’ll get my camera out today and show you what we’ve been up to 
Enjoy! Hugs, Fran
Little Boo
It’s Holiday Mini time! (My favorite!) There is a die in the mini called Peekaboo Frames (124587 – page 36) that is shown on the advent calendar. It’s darling – but we need to be able to use it for more than one project. One idea is to make cute tags. Here is Little Boo –
This is the front – the ghost is the Owl punch. Here it is open – 
Supplies
Big Shot die – Peekaboo Frames, Naturally Serif alphabet
card stock – Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black, Whisper White
Etc – Owl punch, googlie eyes, 1/2 circle punch, Black polka dot ribbon
The inspiration for the little ghost came from a card that a friend showed me – that looked something like this – 
Do you know who designed this card? I wrote it down and then tossed the note – sigh! (ETA – the original design is from Mega Stampin Studio) When will I learn not to leave notes on my stampin desk? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve written a note and then used that paper to scoop embossing powder or catch glitter – then tossed the paper without thinking! The hazzards of Dazzling Diamonds! Enjoy – Hugs, Fran
Bewitched
I cased this card from the Holiday Mini – which starts tomorrow! Since I didn’t have the Lucky Limeade ribbon, I did the card in Pear Pizzazz. This little gal reminds me of Samantha from Bewitched! Check out the mustached pumpkins in this set – how funny!
Supplies
Stamp set – Out on a Limb, Wicked Cool
card stock – Pear Pizzazz, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, More Mustard
Ink – Jet Black Stazon, Pear Pizzazz
Stampin Write Markers – Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzazz, More Mustard, So Saffron, Blush Blossom
Etc – Pear Pizzazz ribbon, Scallop oval punch, jewels, Scallop Border edge punch
So while I had this set out, I made a little wrapper for the new 1 x 8 cello bags. Instead of attaching it to the top, I made a card stock band and wrapped it around the middle. I think it works better to attached it to the top – some of the cello bags have opened a little handling. Still cute 
Maybe I’ll just move it up to the top to help secure the flap.
Today is the last day of the Summer Mini and the Buy 3 Get One Free promotion! Check your Designer Series Paper stash before it’s too late – you’ll be sad if you miss out! I always want more paper! Enjoy the day – Hugs, Fran
Haunted Forrest Treat Box
Here’s another A La Carte stamp from the Holiday Mini – are you counting the days before you can order from it? This is the Fancy Favor die (my favorite!) in Basic Black with a piece of Rich Razzleberryon the top – the image is stamped in Versamark with white pastel (chalk) rubbed over it to “resist” the design. (Poppin Pastels) Leave it kind of messy so it looks spooky!
After I did the box design, I punched out the center with the 1 3/4 circle punch. Then I stamped the image on a window sheet in Jet Black Stazon – 
Can you see it? It’s so hard to photograph window sheets! The sentiment was done with Stampin Write markers – Lucky Limeade on the top and Rich Razzleberry on the bottom – 
Supplies
Stamp sets – Haunted Forrest
card stock – Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry, window sheet, Whisper White
Ink – Versamark, Jet Black Stazon
Stampin Write markers – Lucky Limeade, Rich Razzleberry
Etc – Fancy Favor Big Shot die, pastels, Wide striped ribbon
I didn’t get called for jury duty today – and my biggest fear is that I will forget to check every night to see if it’s my turn! I’m taping notes all over the place to remind me. So now I can search through my messy stamp room to try to find my missing Spice Cake fabric. I hate when my room is a mess! Enjoy! Hugs, Fran
Goodbye to the Open Sea
I’m so sorry to see this set go. It’s such a wonderful set for masculine cards – and you just can’t find too many of those! I love the combo of the Open Sea and Word Play! Here’s one more – 
Supplies
Stamp Sets – The Open Sea (Summer Mini), Word Play
card stock – Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White, Nautical Expedition DSP
Ink – Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Not Quite Navy
Stampin Write Marker – Bashful Blue
Etc – Square Lattice embossing folder, Cherry Cobbler Bakers Twine, Crop a dile or hand held punch
Enjoy! Hugs, Fran