Dot & Whimsy

It's time for Christmas card making!

I have two cards up on the 

using the nostalgic "Christmas Wonderland" Collection

From the simplest of cards to the more ornate, you can add as much dimension 

as you’d like with the various embellishments included in the Carta Bella collections!

  Have fun making your own one-of-a-kind Christmas cards this season!

See more photos, how I put the cards together and learn a few tips and tricks over

at the Carta Bella blog post by clicking HERE

I love to add a new piece to my holiday decorating collection and this year I have a

 beautifully altered 3D star that I created with “The Story of Christmas” line by

 I’ve taken a wooden star that I purchased from Michael’s craft store.  It measures just 

about 11” and has an inset where I thought a 3D paper star would fit nicely.

 First, I traced around the back of the star onto the “Icons” paper and then cut the 

shape out.  Next, I scored the star from point to valley, as shown in the photo.

 The score lines were fan-folded so that the points of the star were raised and the valleys 

of the star were folded in.  Even if your star doesn’t have an inset, you can still use this

 method to add dimension to a flat wooden star.  I did make a few adjustments by

 trimming the star down a bit before gluing it to the inside with a glue glue. 

I added a bead of fabric glue around the edge of the 3D star and applied a trim 

of braided cording.  This helped to hide any of the areas where the 3D star didn’t

 quite meet the edges.

 The chipboard Santa was layered onto the Bingo Ephemera card and embellished 

with enamel dots and accented with a holly sticker and dimensional brad.

 A strand of baker’s twine was attached to the tops of the chipboard “Christmas” letters. 

 The sticky backing was peeled from the letters, or you could use baby powder

 to hide the adhesive. 

I used a couple of different pieces of May Arts ribbon to create a boutique style bow for the top of the star.  Now it’s ready for sitting on a shelf or even adding to a wreath!

I also have this FREE Project PDF available now at Echo Park as well:

Here is the link to the download...and be sure to check out all of the fun

inspiration projects...they're FREE too!

The Fall harvest season is upon us and I’m sharing an adorable 

 mini book that I plan on using to highlight some of our favorite autumn memories! 

I've incorporated the "Story of Fall" Collection from

and the house die and enhancement dies from Top Dog Dies.

  Using prompts from the various stickers and die-cuts (such as pumpkin patch, falling

 leaves, etc.) I’ll be encouraged to take certain photos throughout the fall months.

 For the front cover, I die-cut the sweet fox and pumpkins from papers found in the

 6X6 Paper Pad.  I used a little pink chalk to blush up his cheeks and a burnt orange ink 

to add some shading to the pumpkins.  After assembling all of the pieces, I added 

them to the front with foam adhesive. 

Between a few of the pages, I also added 3X4 journal cards so I’ll have 

some extra room for journaling! 

And while preparing my pages, I precut mats for each page to measure 3”X4.5”.  

To some of them, I adhered a strip of various washi tapes for extra color and pattern.  

The mats were machine-stitched into place before gluing onto the chipboard base.

 Mix and match ephemera pieces with chipboard and stickers!  Adding enamel dots or

 small brads is like icing on the cake, so an embellishment never goes without one!

Sometimes adding a brad is an after-thought, such as to the center of the chipboard
 flower to the left.  I used a pair of steel snips to remove the prongs from the brads
 and then attached the brad to the center of the flower with a dimensional glue dot.





Enamel dots give the appearance of nail heads along the side of a label sticker or
chipboard sentiment…it’s the perfect touch!  And don’t forget to layer on smaller
stickers to your larger chipboard or die-cut accents.  The blue ticket heart added
just the right amount of POP to the hedgehog’s backside!
Thanks for letting me share my little mini with you today!


PRODUCTS:
The Story of Fall
Fall Small Floral Paper
Dots Paper
Icons Paper
Pumpkins Paper
Rulers Paper3X4 Journaling Cards Paper
Element Sticker
Alpha Sticker
Decorative Brads6x12 Chipboard
6x6 Paper PadEphemera
Decorative Tape – Plaid
Decorative Tape - Acorns & Leaves
Enamel Dots
Fox Designer Die Set
Pumpkin Set Designer Die Set

Hello! Today I'm sharing my version of the "Claus & Co." Planner 

 featuring many of the goodies from the

collection, as well as several of the great adhesive products from Tombow!

  Because the Holiday SN@P! Album is nice and large, it will work double-duty as

 a holiday planner and as a December-daily-style album...I cannot wait to fill it up! 

 To get a jump-start, I decided to have all of the cute pre-planned pages in place

 and then added a few embellishments that I'll share today.

To begin, I cut the "Oh Joy" (side B) paper down so that it covered the chipboard portion of the album front.  I used the Tombow Xtreme for attachment.  When you want something to really stay PUT, the Xtreme adhesive is what to reach for!

I wanted to create a fun 'bridge' between the fabric binding of the album and the patterned paper, so I used various sized circle dies to cut the motifs from the "I Believe" paper.  The circle sizes ranged from 1.5" to 2". 

After deciding placement for the circles and other embellishments, I used the 3D Foam Tabs, Multi and Aqua Mono Liquid Glue and Stamp Runner to adhere the different pieces.  The Mono Glue was perfect for adding the Wood Veneer pieces and small sequins (from my stash).

Here is a look at the completed album front:

As I said earlier, I did go ahead and add all of the inner workings to the album: the Claus & Co. SN@P! Journal Pages, Holiday Planning Inserts and the clear pocket pages that come with the album.  I mixed in some fun embellishments to some of the pages:

The introductory page to the album is the "Holiday Planner" tabbed page from the "Holiday Planning Inserts" packet.  I decorated it with some of the leftover circles that I didn't use on the cover.  Notice the two half-circles at the top and bottom...I just cut one of the 2" circles in half and glued it in place with the Stamp Runner!  The holly berry die-cuts were attached with 3D Foam Tabs.

Here I dressed up the banner insert page with one of the 4X4 Elements.  Again, I used the Mono Liquid Glue for attaching the sequins.

3D Foam Tabs were used when adding stickers and die-cut pieces.  I found the the Multi or Aqua Mono Liquid Glues worked best for the veneers.

The decorative insert pages are great places to add a splash of personality!  I tried to leave the pages, where a lot of writing would be done, without too much bulk so writing would be easier when the time came.

One last peek at the album cover.  I'm so in love with how this turned out...what fun! 

And one last thing before I go...YOU have the chance to WIN, WIN, WIN

a "Claus & Co." Collection PACK!

Just visit the Simple Stories Blog this week:

and also, visit:

to see more ideas from this week's inspiration between the two design teams!