Box of Gift Tags

I made this little box of gift tags for our friends Steve and Julie. They hosted a party last week, after returning from several weeks in India. They had lots of people over to look at their pictures, sample some Chai and curry, and welcome them home. It was lots of fun hearing about their travels.

These tags use the frame from Holy Triptych, sentiments from Star-Studded Season, and Holiday Harmony designer series paper. I also used Purely Pomegranate and Chocolate Chip paper as backgrounds. The tags are tied with gold elastic cord. I love how the satin ribbon gives these tags an elegant touch. Although these stamp sets are no longer available, the ribbon is for sale Buy One Get One as part of the Wrapping Up the Holidays promotion, which has been extended until December 31.

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!

Christmas card ideas from my stack of samples

Here are a bunch of Christmas card samples, to get you thinking about how you can take advantage of the Shiloh Stamps Early Christmas Special. I want to help you make homemade Christmas cards early this year, so I've thought about what could be most helpful. If you order a stamp set, cardstock, adhesive, envelopes, and embellishments (everything you need to make your Christmas cards), then I will mount your stamps, cut your cardstock into cards, and make you a page of custom return address labels. The last day to place an order is August 29th. E-mail me at alison@shilohstamps.com for more information.

If you would like to try out some new stamp sets (including some from the new Holiday Mini) and work together to design your Christmas cards, sign up to attend my Christmas in August Stamp Camp. I have one spot open for Friday evening and a few spots open for Saturday afternoon. Let me know ASAP if you would like to participate.

This was our Christmas card last year. It opens in the middle and uses the tree from the Loads of Love stamp set. It also uses the stipple brush for some shading. I made this card at an in-home workshop the previous year, and loved it. My generous stamping friends loaned some of the supplies I needed for this card. I liked Loads of Love so much, I wound up ordering it for myself!

This was Claire's Christmas card last year. It uses the City of David stamp set. I love how she put the Luke 2:11 scripture on the back of the card. She used markers to color in the star and palm trees on the front.

I made this card at an in-home workshop I attended last year. I love this color combination - mellow moss, always artichoke, and whisper white. It uses The Snowflake Spot stamp set. Hemp twine is one of lowest-priced embellishments, so this is a more cost-effective card.

I made this card at a Stamp Camp I attended at Claire's house years ago. This may have been one of the first stamping events I tried. This card uses a cool technique with glossy cardstock and reinkers. I would be glad to show you this technique.

My husband loves the blue and chrome color combination, so this may be his favorite card I've ever made. These silver snowflakes are raised up using a technique called embossing. It's lots of fun, and it looks fabulous!

This card uses a beautiful stamp set that is now retired. It also uses the crimper, my new favorite tool. I love how artistic this card looks with the splotchy paint look in the background. It's a stamp set called Itty Bitty Backgrounds.

This card was made by another stamper - Yolanda Croucher. When I signed up to be a demonstrator, Claire let me pick some cards out of her stash of samples. This is one of the cards I chose. I'm guessing she got this card through a swap.

This may be the first Stampin' Up card I ever made. I attended a Stamp Camp at Claire's house, and she had a drawing to give away her hostess benefits that night. I won! I got to order all sorts of goodies for free, and I was hooked!