Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone, and to my American friends, Happy Thanksgiving! It is my sincere hope that you are enjoying your day with family and friends, and that you have a moment to count your blessings and give thanks.  I know that I'm counting mine and saying my thankful prayers.  

We are celebrating the day just the three of us, although I will be cooking enough for an army!  It's kinda hard to scale down these recipes, and we love the leftovers anyway.  (I love preparing this meal and would not miss doing it for the world, but one of the things I am thankful for is that Christmas dinner is not such a production!  😂)

I wanted today's Stamp Simply project to be something for Thanksgiving that would be easily adaptable for Christmas or any other holiday, and when I saw this Youtube tutorial on Pinterest it was just right!  Although the project looks complicated it really isn't.  It comes together quite easily and fairly quickly.  I love that the original poster included various sizes...mine is the 8 x 8 size.

We have added quite a few Fall sets to our repertoire in the last year or two, but this one is still a favorite!

These alpha-beads have been in my stash for ages and they're fun to add to a little box like this.  It really dresses up a place setting. If you don't have any little alphabet beads, you could use small alpha stamps or even a typewriter or printer to make a name tag to include.

We're grateful for you, so we're sharing another way for you to celebrate the Season of Gratitude!  

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Give Thanks Bundle
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Fishtail Sentiment Banners
• Carta Bella Welcome Autumn 6x6
• Memento Full Size Dye Ink Pad - Tuxedo Black
• May Arts 5/8" Twill - 30 Yard Spool - Orange
• May Arts Burlap String - 400 Yard Spool - Natural
• Copic markers
• scor tool
• glue
• dimensional adhesives

Favorite Things!

This week is "tags" week for our Stamp Simply team because really, one cannot have too many tags for Christmas!  

I bought this Christmas basket and these little jars a while back knowing that eventually I'd have an idea of something fun to do with it.  

There are lots of things you could put into these little jars!  Fill them with the recipient's favorite things!  Here are some ideas:

• jams and jellies, pickles and peppers
• coffee and creamer, tea and honey, or hot chocolate mix and marshmallows
• herbs and spices for a cook or baker
• sewing implements (threads, needles, tape measure, small snips, etc) for a quilter or seamstress
• needlepoint or cross stitch (thread cards, needles, small snips)
• knitting or crochet (stitch markers of various styles, tapestry needles, wraps per inch tool, etc)
• beads and jewelry findings for the jewelry enthusiast
• fishing lures, monofilament line, and a package of hooks for the fisherman

This would be really cute as a little bird feeder kit for a birdlover (or for anyone who's a kid at heart)!  With a jar of peanut butter and one of bird seed, the only other things you'd need are a few pinecones and some string for hanging the finished feeders. Wouldn't it be nice to also give our little feathered friends a gift in the heart of Winter?!

I had a few scraps of Studio Light Sending Joy designer paper tucked into the top of the pad from the last time I used it, so those were the first papers I grabbed for this project.  I used one of our new background minis to "skippy stamp" the Joy to the World background after stamping the music score.  The branches and bird were stamped, colored with Copics and die cut to fill in around the opposite corners.

I used scraps of the white wood print to die cut accents for the lids, stamping them in a similar fashion.  Finally, everything got a "snowing" of diluted white acrylic paint.  

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - God Will Take Care of You Bundle
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Scripty Background Minis Set 2
• Studio Light Sending Joy 6x6
• Spellbinders Nestabilities - Standard Circles SM
• Spellbinders Nestabilities - Standard Circles LG
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Fishtail Sentiment Banners
• Memento Full Size Dye Ink Pad - Tuxedo Black
• Kaisercraft Self-Adhesive Round Pearls - Red
• May Arts Burlap String - 400 Yard Spool - Red
• Copic markers
• distress oxides/inks
• white acrylic paint

Rise & Shine, Gather Together!

 

I know a lot of you are done with Autumn and are already into Winter, but here in Florida we just had our first few chilly days, so I just had to make a Fall card for this week's Stamp Simply project.  I sat in my studio and shuffled through my stamps and papers and the inspiration led me to combine several sets with this fun G45 designer paper.  It looks like they were all made to go together!

I used die-cut copy paper masks to stamp a seasonal decor box full of farm fresh produce!  I love the look of that cute chicken...this reminds me so much of the shabby chic crates, boxes and shelves I've seen at our local flea market.  

The inside has a die-cut pitcher filled with a bouquet of wheat.  I had a jar of cute Fall buttons (?! Michaels or Joann?!) so decided to use a few to add some extra interest.

Supplies:

Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - All Season Decor Bundle
Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Seasonal Wreaths, Fall/Winter Bundle 
Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Autumn Blessings
Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Farmhouse Signage
Spellbinders Nestabilities - Standard Ovals LG
Graphic 45 Farmhouse - 8x8
Memento Full Size Dye Ink Pad - Tuxedo Black
May Arts Burlap String - 400 Yard Spool - Natural
Copic markers
Distress inks and oxides
buttons from stash

Thinking Outside the Box

Hello friends!  I'm back today with another new stamp set from Stamp Simply!  This is our new All Seasons Decor bundle!  It is such a fun stamp set that can be used in lots of different ways.  

This set is designed with a box for displaying a variety of decor items, but the box reminded me so much of one of the cute Christmas signs that I put out when I decorate every year that I decided to color and embellish it as a wall-hanging.  

The  sign I've modeled my card design from is a small plaque with routed letters and a narrow wood border nailed on as a frame. Stars, hearts, and snowflakes embellish the edges.  Here I used a small wooden heart along with stamped and die cut greenery and rhinestone berries.

There are lots of interchangeable stamps, sentiments, and dies in this bundle and some of our other seasonal sets work well with it too, so the ideas and combinations are endless!

I love getting extra mileage from my stamps and supplies, so I decided to continue to think out of the box (pardon the pun!) for this set, and used the die for the olive oil bottle to make a tall pillar candle for the candle stick.  I outlined the edges with a multi-liner and colored it in with Copic markers, adding sparkle with a gold gel pen.  The flame is actually one of the leaves from the little floral fruit/flower cluster.  You could actually use the jelly jar die upside down to make a smaller pillar candle in a similar fashion.  

If you follow me on Instagram or if you've read much of my blog, you might know that I spin my own yarn and usually spin with either a spindle or wheel every single day, so of course I *had* to use the ball of yarn from this new set on my card!  There is almost always a spindle or a ball of yarn on our table!  

On the inside of my card I stamped a sentiment from another one of our Christmas stamp sets that has the same lovely font.  I love using shimmering gold ink and usually stamp off with some brown ink first so that the gold ink shows up a little more clearly.  

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - All Season Decor Bundle
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Christmas Peace
• Spellbinders Nestabilities - Standard Ovals SM
• Echo Park The First Noel 6x6
• Memento Full Size Dye Ink Pad - Tuxedo Black
• Delicata Non-Tarnishing Ink Pad - Golden Glitz
• VersaFine Clair Full Size Ink Pad - Acorn (stamped off under Golden Glitz)
• Zig Wink of Stella Brush - Clear Glitter Marker
• May Arts Burlap String - 400 Yard Spool - Natural
• Kaisercraft Self-Adhesive Round Rhinestones - Lippy Red
• Copic markers
• gold gel pen
• white acrylic paint
• wooden heart
• tiny gold bells
• small holly leaves are an old Tim Holtz Sizzix border die

Be sure to visit the Stamp Simply blog for more ideas on how to use this fun new set!