Sunday, December 15, 2024

10 Days to Go!

It has been a while! My husband and I spent Thanksgiving in New York City with our daughter, came back to Buffalo and at the end of the week were on a plane to Cancun for the destination wedding of our 'other Chinese daughter'!  It was a whirlwind couple of weeks and we're just getting settled back in chilly Buffalo and preparing for Christmas. I managed to see most of Sharon's videos on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. I'll share my screen shots and try and update you on sales and holiday hours. 

I'll start with Sharon's last Wednesday night video.  Sharon illustrated how you can use a package of die cuts to create cards. Sharon combined doily dies, distressing and inking the edges of the die cuts along with tabs and banner dies to build and accent layers on the card fronts.








In this next card Sharon used laser cut wood accents, colored with Distress Ink.





Next I have this past Wednesday video. Luckily for Sharon, the major snow the south towns got this past week arrived on her day off.  Eden got all 4.5 feet of snow!
Wednesday's video turned into Thursday afternoon's video as Sharon wanted to debut the new Lawn Fawn release. Don't look now but the release is all about Valentine's Day! Hearts, strawberries, love letters and adorable pandas are the subject of the release. First up is this heart trimmed doily die.
Love and X's and O's with shadows.

Washi tape rolls and twine.

Thee panda add on. I'll have the rest of the panda release in a bit.
A new treat box die. Cut out two.



A new rectangle nested scallop edged die set.
I love this one. This die set gives you an envelope, sheet of paper and a pen! Check out the samples at the end.


There is also a new trend in Lawn Fawn of adding stencils to their stamp and die sets. This is great news for those of you who do not like to color, break out those brushes!
Here's Quick Look at some of the samples, more to come!
Mona joined in with samples she made. She's being very industrious and releasing a card every day this month! Here are a few of her samples. First, there is a new add-on to the small box die. It makes a bear that you can customize to be a brown bear, a black bear or a polar bear and even a panda bear.
This next card is an interactive one. When you open it the Grinch's hand comes out and places the star on top of the tree!

These next ones are from Simon Hurley's latest die release.

Pretty Pink Posh loves stencils! This Holly Jolly snowman card is theirs.
This may also be PPP, honestly, don't know.
Using Waffle Flower's postage die and stencils.
These mini slim-line cards are made using a 6X6 pad. We ran a class showing you how. 
Back to Sharon on Saturday. Here are the panda portion of the release. They have a background die in both portrait and landscape.
Here is the main panda set along with the add-on and of course, the matching stencil.


The chocolate covered strawberry is a mini set with matching die and stencil.
More samples.




Sharon also showed these new stamps from Whimsy Stamps. They have a funny bent to them and Sharon shopped ahead as you can see below as they had St.Patrick's Day stamps and if she didn't get them now, she wouldn't remember who had them when March rolled around!





Don't like free-handing those accent lines on your cards? Whimsy will do it for you!



Last up were some ideas for Christmas shopping. Take notes and slip them to your family. 
First is the Waffle Flower Grip Mat that fits in your Misti stamp positioner.
I consider this a must in my class kit, the Score-Buddy. Small enough to fit in your travel class kit and large enough to perfectly score your cards.
Another great addition to your craft area. Sizzix makes this die magnet that can sit on your work surface and hold those little dies before you're ready to put them away. 
Crafter's Companion basic tool kit.

Avery Elle plastic envelopes that are great for storing dies in combination with magnetic sheets (which we also carry).
Lastly, Pink and Main's large brush. This is great for backgrounds. Sharon uses hers to add blue for the sky (me too).
That's it for new stuff and some great ideas for gift giving. We also have our coupon book for sale, gift certificates and we're running a sale on Christmas stamps, dies and papers. They must be Christmas specific though, snowflakes alone don't cut it.

UPDATED HOURS: We will be closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the day AFTER Christmas. Sharon will be hosting a very, very full house. Jess, Scott, the girls and the dogs are coming up from Mobile, Kaitlyn, Dave, Manny and two more dogs are coming. Mark's sisters and families from Vermont are coming too! It will be a very, very merry house!

The store will be open regular hours Friday and Saturday after Christmas. Here's my funny for the post. Sharon surely had the snow for this one!
I thought I'd share a photo from the wedding. Ruby and Charles asked my husband to officiate. It made a very special day even more so.
I finally got my Christmas cards done. The house is next and I still have shopping to do! I hope your list isn't as long as mine. Until next week, take care, get some crafty time in and above all, stay safe.