Coaster-Rama

Is making homemade gifts one of your New Year's Resolutions? This Christmas, I made tile coasters for lots of people on our list. Here's a picture of some of the coasters we made. For more samples of Shiloh Stamps coasters, scroll down to my Very Coaster Christmas blog post.

On January 23 and 24, I will be hosting Coaster-Rama (see google calendar in the sidebar for times). Come make some coasters - the best-selling Shiloh Stamps holiday item. (I sold MANY of these coasters at the Circle of Hope Art Shop back in December.

$15 materials fee includes supplies to make 2 coasters and a $5 coupon towards stampin' supplies from Stampin' Up's new Spring-Summer Collection. Additional coaster supplies can be purchased for $1/coaster. RSVP to events@shilohstamps.com by January 16. Additionally, all Shiloh Stamps class attendees receive 10% off stampin' orders placed at classes. Remember to bring your Frequent Stamper Card!

Stay tuned for more details about Stamp and Scrap University on February 23! Shiloh Stamps Frequent Stampers will receive a stamp on their Frequent Stamper card for each session they attend.

Christmas Shopping

Have you started your holiday shopping yet? Are you distributing a wish list to your friends and family? I've been collecting wish list from my family, but I have to confess that I haven't bought any presents yet! Now I took the Buy Handmade Pledge, so I plan to give everyone on my list a handmade gift this year. I plan to do some shopping at Circle of Hope Art Show this weekend.

If you have crafters on your gift list, you may want to check out Stampin' Up's 5 Fantastic Gifts Under $25. I personally would love to have Paper Trimmer they feature in this lift of suggested gifts. If you would like to receive some Stampin' Up products this year, e-mail me at alison@shilohstamps.com for a Stampin' Wish List to pass on to the Santas in your life. In order to receive Stampin' gifts in time for Christmas, be sure to order no later than December 14.

Are you planning on special gift wrap and tags this year? Stampin' Up is Wrapping Up the Holidays with a special holiday promotion. The Satin ribbon from the Holiday Mini is Buy One, Get One free throught this promotion. I ordered a roll of Purely Pomegranate and a roll of Chocolate Chip. You can also buy empty Accents and Elements tins. People are enjoying making special gift card holders by 'altering' these tins. Click here for some ideas using the products in this promotion.

Also, don't forget that I'm offering 20% off all the retiring stamp sets. Now might be a good time to make sure you get those sets before they are no longer available.

Tree Trimming fun

On Friday afternoon, my new recruit Tiffany King led her first Stampin' party, a Tree Trimming for the staff at Eastern University's Campolo School for Social Change. (Tiffany's an alum of Eastern's MA in Community Development program; I went to Palmer Seminary, part of Eastern U.) Here's Tiffany and I with some of the ornaments we created. Each of the 15 party attendees received a bag of supplies that they used to make ornaments, cards, and gift tags. We especially enjoyed using the On Board Trimmings from the Holiday Mini, Designer Series paper, and embossing with the heat tool.



















Friday evening, I hosted another Trim-a-Tree class at my home. Participants received a craft keeper full of supplies to make 20 ornaments. They also used the On Board Trimmings set, Designer Series paper, dazzling diamonds glitter, and some grosgrain ribbon.


I will also be selling some of these ornaments at the Circle of Hope Art Shop this weekend. Stop by and do some holiday shopping!


Jon and I are finally going to get our tree this weekend, and I look forward to decorating a full-size, live tree together. For our first 3 Christmases together, we lived in a little 1BR apartment and our small fake tree took over our "dining room". It will be fun to have the smell of pine in our Living Room!

COH Art Shop 2007

Circle of Hope is having another Art Shop this year, and I have decided to participate! There will be 75+ artists selling ceramics, hip t-shirts, handbags, photography, soaps, chocolate, and all sorts of other great goodies. I'm going to have a card-making station, and I will be selling some handmade goods as well. Right now, my plans include cards (of course), coasters, Christmas ornaments, gift tags, and who knows what else. My bro-in-law Jeff may be selling some monsters at my booth, if he gets into mass production mode. I'm also thrilled to announce that I will be sharing my booth with photographer David Difuntorum. He'll be selling some of his fabulous prints. So is there anything you're interesting in buying at the Art Shop this year? Leave a comment to let me know what you're shopping for.

The Circle of Hope Art Shop would be a great place to buy some gifts this holiday, especially if you're into supporting local artisans and buying handmade stuff. I took the Buy Handmade pledge, and I plan to give everyone on my list at least 1 homemade gift this year. I'll keep you posted on how that turns out. Are you buying handmade this year?