Black Friday

How was Thanksgiving for everybody? We had a great day here. The best part of it was the movies at the end of the day. We went to see Old Dogs and all I can say is hilarious. It's one of those movies that you can just hear the entire theater laughing. It was a feel good movie and John Travolta & Robin Williams play nicely off of each other. So if you need a good laugh go see this movie. There is one part where you'll just keep laughing and laughing. But I'm not going to give it away. So who is going out early this morning for black friday? Not me that's for sure. If you go out, email me and tell me your war stories.
Oh yeah this is a blog about papercrafting not movies right and black friday right.
Today I have a sample of a quick easy way to wrap up maybe some homemade goodies or small gifts. I can see homemade cookies, fudge or biscotti in these cute food safe bags or maybe some homemade dog biscuits for your favorite poochies in your life. The bags are from Stampin Up. They are a great thick good quality bag. They ship to you flat and all you have to do is put them together. No glue or tape required. All I did was add our metal edge tag, punched out a piece or real red cardstock with my 13/4 circle punch, and taped it onto the cirlce tag. After that I added a rub on from our Merry & Bright rub on's from the holiday mini catalog. After that I used my crop-a-dile and punched a hole. I finished it up with some chocolate chip 5/8 in grosgrain ribbon.

These bags are very inexpensive and give a great look for those homemade goodies that everybody loves so much. Grab a package or 2 of these great gift bags to make your gift packaging that much easier.

Only 3 days left to take advantage of the Holiday Extravaganza sale. What a great way to get some holiday shopping done in your jammies. You don't even have to brave the lines and parking to get these great deals. Visit my online store and click on shop now to see all the limited time deals.

Angela's tips:
-Our 13/4 circle punch and our 11/4 circl punch make using our metal edge tags a snap.
-Rub on's are a great, fun way to add a little touch or personalization to a gift tag and they are super easy to use. Simply cut out the rub on you would like to use and use the enclosed wood stick and rub all over the rubon and carefully peel off the left over clear paper.
-Our ribbon is a great way to finish off those holiday projects without costing you an arm and a leg.

Have a fantastic day and happy stampin!
If you do brave black friday shopping good luck to you!
Angela

Happy Thanskgiving

Hi everybody, happy Thanksgiving. I hope that you have a fantastic day with family & friends. I will be spending the day with my parents and then I will be going to my sisters house for dessert later in the day. My sister is taking the girls overnight so we will finish the day at the movies. I want to see either Old Dogs it looks hilarious or Blind Side which looks like one of those feel good movies.
Today I have a super cute gift card holder for you. I found the pattern over on SCS. If you want to learn how to make these stocking gift card holders then join us at stamp club on December 14th at either 1:00pm or 7:00 pm. Please let me know by the 12th if you plan on joining us. There are a couple club spots open if anybody is interested in joining club and learning new techniques and getting free hostess benefits. Call me or email me for more information on how you can join stamp club.

Sorry the inside picture is a little blurry, the camera was acting up. You can see that I have my liscense in here ( as I did not have a gift card handy) but it's the same size as a gift card.  Wouldn't these be super cute on your tree as ornaments or how about hung in a row as garland over a doorway or you could hand a bunch of these on a Christmas wreath. The great thing about these fun projects is that you can customize them to go with your decor and colors. I love Stampin Up for that reason and many other reasons too!

Hope you like the idea.

Angela's tips:

-Sponging around the heel and toe help to give it a more aged, country or folk look. Here I used chocolate chip ink and a sponge.

-Faux stitching around the heel and toe is one way to give your stocking more detail. It's super easy and if you come to club you'll learn how it's done.

-A good sharp pair of scissors makes this project run a lot smoother.

-With over 54 colors to choose from Stampin UP is bound to have a color to match your decor.

Don't forget that there are only 4 days left to take advantage of the Holiday Extravaganza Sale with products up to 50% off.

To order call me at 413-863-3166 or email me at c_riddell@comcast.net or order right online at my online store http://www.angelariddell.stampinup.net/ click on shop now in the upper right hand corner.

That's it for today.

Have a fantastic Thanksgiving and happy stampin!

Angela

Also I just wanted to say thank you to everybody who emailed me yesterday with what you are thankful for, it made my day.

THANKFUL

Today's post is kind of personal, if you don't want to hear all of that then scroll right down to the picture.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I'm not quite sure how it arrived so quickly. Today I had a post all ready to go, but then yesterday when I checked my mail I had "HAPPY MAIL" (otherwise known as handmade cards). I thought that it was important to show these cards that I received, because I'm thankful for them and it reminds me to be thankful! I think sometimes we get caught up in our fast paced lives that we sometimes forget to take the time to be Thankful for everything that we have. So today I'm going to give you a list of things that I am Thankful and maybe you can take a minute and think about what your thankful for.

I'm Thankful for:
My wonderful beautiful family. I have 2 super cute, loving, well behaved daughters and I am very thankful for them.
I'm thankful for my husband, who supports me completely and pushes me to strive to be better, who makes me laugh on a daily basis and who by the way I am still madly in love with after 10 years of being together.
I'm thankful for my parents and sister. I have great parents who are there for me whenever I need them and love me unconditionally. I have a great sister who listens to me rant on for an hour at a time and gives me the right answer, not just the answer I want to hear.
I'm thankful for things as simple as having a roof over my head and backyard for my kids to play in, and the camper that allows us to spend time as a family.
I'm thankful for my small group of close friends who I could tell anything to and know that they would keep my matters private and support me to the best of their ability.
And here are some frivilous things that I'm super thankful for too.
I'm thankful for the tv show the office that makes me laugh every Thursday night at 9:00pm
I'm thankful that LOST starts in Feb, sad it's the last season.
I'm thankful for Stampin Up and all the great friends and customers that I've made along the way.
I'm thankful for these handmade cards that I received in the mail.

What are you thankful for?

That's it for today, sorry to be so preachy..
Have a great day and happy stampin!
Take some time to be thankful, I'd love to hear what your thankful for.
Angela

Also on a side note my spell checker has gone missing so please excuse the misspelled words. And if anybody finds it let me know where it is.

Christmas gift bag!

Happy Tuesday to you! If you receive my customer email newsletter, I have a section in my newsletter called "From the craft room" where I give step by step instructions on how to make an easy project. Well in my newsletter this month it was how to make a quick, easy, cost effective holiday tag. I shared in my newsletter that I would be posting a matching gift bag on my blog today. So here it is!

Remember that this is made with all scraps and was made to match the gift tag. What is the bag you might ask? Nothing more then a brown lunch bag. How cool is that! This is a very quick and easy project that will literally cost you pennies to make. This would also have looked good on a white gift bag, but I didn't have any at the moment. Just a few strips of paper, a couple stamped snowflakes, tie the tag on and your ready to go. Of course I could have made it much more elaborate, but the idea of this project was, quick, easy, inexpensive and made with scraps. Give it a try for yourself. If you send me a picture of your "scraps" tag or bag creation I'll post it here on my blog.

I also wanted to let you know that I am officially a My Digital Studio Certified demonstrator. What does that mean? That I'm here to answer your questions about MDS. Once you try it once you'll  be hooked I promise.

Angela's tips:
-The scallop edge punch makes quick work of adding an extra special touch on this bag & tag.
-These projects are a great way to use up those scraps of paper hanging around your crafting area.
-Use the supplies that you have on hand to make these projects and keep your holiday packaging expenses to a minimum.

Supplies used:
Ink: chocolate chip
Cardstock: real red scraps, desginer paper scraps, kraft cardstock
accessories: round tab punch, scallop edge punch, corner rounder, brown paper lunch bag, gold cording, hole puncher

That's it for today, have a great day and happy stampin!
Angela

Holiday Extravaganza is going on NOW!

Holiday Extravaganza is here!

Stampin Up is offering a huge sale just in time for holiday shopping. Today (Monday) through Nov 30th, get product bundles 30% - 50% off the retail price. What a great way to get some holiday shopping done without even leaving your house, or maybe a gift or two for your self.

Visit my SU website to see everything that is on sale, click on shop now in the upper right hand corner. It will bring you to all of our fabulous great products including our discounted products.

Orders can be placed by phone at 413-863-3166, by email at c_riddell@comcast.net or right on my online store.

To sweeten the pot even more I will be giving away some fantastic SU products. Anybody who makes a purchase of $50.00 or more from today until Nov 30th at 8:00 pm will get entered into a drawing. There will be 3 lucky winners. All will get to choose a gift from my prize basket. One will win a stamp set, one will win a pack of designer paper and the other will win a roll of ribbon.

Order $100.00 worth of products and get 2 tickets toward the drawing.

HAVE A GREAT DAY AND HAPPY STAMPIN!
ANGELA

True Friend scrapbook page

Sorry I haven't posted in a while I've been super busy working. I've had lots of workshops this month so I've been busy doing that and haven't had time to post here. Today I have a scrapbook page for you. I have a kids scrapbook birthday party coming up in Dec. and the mom and daughter looked at some of the sample pages on the Stampin Up website and then told me what colors they liked and told me to show them some samples. So here is a scrapbook page designed just for them. Some of the daughters favorite colors where brown, orange, green and turquouis so here are all those colors on one page.

There is a lot of cutting involved in this page, lots of it. There is also lots of coloring with a blender pen and ink as well.

Angela's tips:

-Keep all your scraps of paper, here I used lots of small scraps of white paper for all the flowers and butterfly on this page. Get as much of your monies worth as you can.

-If your stuck and don't know where to start on a project, there are plenty of samples on line on my SU website. That's always a great place to start!

-Stampin Dimensionals help to give this page lots of dimension on the flowers and butterfly.

Supplies used:

Simple friendship stamp set

Ink colors: Bermuda bay, chocolate chip, old olive, pumpkin pie

accessories: 13/4 circle punch, scallop die #2, big shot, scallop edge punch, earth elements brads, bermuda bay polka dot ribbon, scissors, stampin dimensionals, blender pens

cardstock: chocolate chip, bermuda bay, pumpkin pie, whisper white, old olive

To order any of these products, visit my website or call me at 413-863-3166 or email me at c_riddell@comcast.net

That's it for today.

Have a great day and happy stampin!

Angela

Deal(s) of the week #4

This week's deal is our super cute princess & pirate party kits! If you know anybody who has little kids, these make the perfect party ensemble. These kits have everything you'll need for your parties. Invitations, party favors and decorations are included. They are on sale for $9.99, wow what a deal!

Don't forget to add the coordinating stamp sets to your order if you order these kits!

These deals are only available until Saturday Oct 31st, so order these kits early so you don't miss out on such a fantastic deal!

Have a great day and happy stampin!

Angela

Thursday Challenge is back!

I've missed doing my Thursday challenges, if not for anybody else, but my self. The summer was so busy that I didn't get much chance to get on here and post, but I thought now would be a good time to bring back the challenge!
Ok so here is todays challenge, something really simple with not many guidelines.
Stamp something!
That's it, no rules just find 10 min. for your self and stamp something.
As always anybody who emails me a picture of their project will get it posted here on my blog.

Have a great day and happy stampin!
angela

Punch Class - Only a couple spots left

Just a quick update to let you know that I only have a couple spots left open for my punch class on November 5th at 6:30 pm
There are 3 different options for this class.

Option 1: Take the class for $20.00 (come make the fabulous projects)
Option 2: Take the class for $30.00 (which includes a $15.95 punch of your choice as well as the projects)
Option 3: Take the class for $45.00 (which includes a $15.95 punch of your choice as well as the Delightful Decorations stamp set and the projects).
Which means that you are getting the class for $.95. That's right less then a dollar for the class!
Please register and pay by October 26th. If not registered and paid by Oct 26th please add $5.00 to the Option # that you choose.

Have a great day and happy stampin!

Angela

Deal(s) of the week - week 2

Week # 2 is here in our Deal(s) of the week. This week it's all about the big shot!

Week 2 Deals of the Week

Item

Description

Special Price

115961

Perfect Setting Bigz XL die

$25.99

(reg $42.95)

114515

Flower Burst Embosslits die

$5.99

(reg $11.99)

116760

Pop-Up Three Tier Cake Bigz XL die

$25.49

(reg $39.95)

These deals are only available until Monday Oct 19th at 9:50 am!

You can order these items, on-line, by email or phone or at any party or class.



Have a great day and happy stampin!
Angela

My Digital Studio Informational Night

If you want to find out more about the new My Digital Studio Program then this Informational night is for you. To save you're spot for this event call or e-mail me by Oct 22nd. This is a must have product.

Upcoming Class

Look what I did with MDS today! I made out a registration form for my upcoming class. If you would like to take this class please register asap as this class will fill up quickly.

There are 3 different options for taking this class.

Option 1: Take the class for $20.00 ( come make the fun, fabulous projects)

Option 2: Take the class for $30.00 (which includes a $15.95 punc of choice)

Option 3: Take the class for $45.00 (which includes a $15.95 punch of choice as well as the Delightful Decorations stamp set) Which means you're getting the class for $0.95. That's right you're getting the class for less then a dollar!

For you're punch choice I recommend the Ornament punch out of the holiday mini catalog as this is the one we will be using most for this class. If you already have it then order any other $15.95 punch of you're choice.

Please bring you're own adhesive & dimensionals.

For every guest you register you get to pick a gift out of my goodie bag. Prizes change all the time so register you're friends early to get first pick at the gifts.

Have a fantastic day and happy stampin!
Angela

What I did during World Card Making Day

Good afternoon! I had a chance to do a little bit of stamping Saturday night. My father came over for dinner and then Craig and my dad started watching a "guy" movie. You know the type,  blood, guts, suspense, which gave me the perfect excuse to slip into my craft room. Yeah for me!
So I wanted to use a stamp set I had purchased about a month ago and haven't had the chance to use it yet. It's from the holiday mini it's called Charming and let me tell you how charming it really is.
I needed a thank you note to send to a very sweet, crazy talented lady who was nice enough to have a bunch of demonstrators over to her house for a great night of crafting, so I set off to work. This is what I came up with. What do you think? I used Not quite navy and really rust with dusty durango polka dotted ribbon and a little bit of very vanilla card stock as well. After I took pictures of the card, I decided it needed a little something extra, so I thought PRETTIES KIT! If you don't own the pretties kit yet, you really should. It comes with so many items it's totally worth every penny for those really special cards.
So after I added the 3 half back pearls I still thought it was missing something. I took one of the small flowers from the pretties kit and colored it in with my not quite navy marker and let it dry over night. I then stacked a bunch of beads on a hat pin with the flower in the center and added it to my polka dotted ribbon. Here is what the card looked like in the different steps.

This is the way the card started. Before I decided it needed something else.

Then I added the half back pearls to the bottom right of the card.

Lastly I added the hat pin full of beads and pearls with the flower that I colored with my marker.

Supplies used for this card.

Stamp sets: Charming, elegant thank you

card stock: Very vanilla, really rust, not quite navy

ink: really rust, not quite navy

Accessories: eyelet boarder punch, pretties kit, dusty durango polka dot ribbon, wide oval punch, big shot, labels die

Alright everybody, have a fantastic day and happy stampin!

Another great feature of MDS

I know 2 posts in 1 day can you stand it!


Another great feature of the My digital studio program is this..............

We went apple picking Thursday afternoon and it's Friday night and I already have the scrapbook page done. You don't have to wait to print the pictures. I really like this feature. Just upload the pictures to your computer and your ready to use them! Just a click of the button for an embellishment and a click for a designer paper and don't forget the words and you're good to go. I also love that I can change the size of my pictures that way if I have a great picture and I want it to dominate the page I can do that!

And here is a card sample for those of you not interested in MDS. This is a birthday card that I did for one of Kayla's classmates for his party last Saturday. We got him this great gift that he can make aliens with, by squirting all different color gooey stuff into these molds so I thought I would make him a card to match.

I used my aqua painter and my ink pads to color in my aliens. I really wanted them to have a bold, bright look to them. I think it worked. I also used some retired SU designer paper that I thought worked well with the look I was going for.

Alright that's it for today.

Have a great day and happy stampin!

Angela