Hoppin’ Holiday Llamas

Welcome to our holiday blog hop!  If you’re following the hop in order, you arrived from April Alstadt’s blog.  April is very talented, and a terrific demonstrator who lives near my brother and his family in Pennsylvania.  She is also the mom of four little boys who are very excited to be welcoming their new little sister in a few months!  Each stop on the tour will have a link to the next stop, or you can return to the hop home page.

For this holiday hop, I’m focusing on Thanksgiving.  I love having the time to just stop and remind myself of all the blessings in my life.  One of the things that Dad & Mom drilled into us when we were kids was to be grateful – even for little things.  One of my favorite stamp sets is Day of Gratitude from last year’s holiday mini (and it’s now in the 2011-12 Idea Book & Catalog).  The sentiment is so true – every day can be Thanksgiving Day if you look for things to be grateful for.

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Stamp sets:  Gently Falling*, Day of Gratitude; Ink:  Early Espresso, More Mustard classic; Pool Party, More Mustard classic ink refills; Versamark; Paper:  Spice cake designer series paper*, Pool Party, Very Vanilla, More Mustard, Glossy White card stock; Other:  Big Shot, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, gold embossing powder, embossing buddy, heat tool, stampin’ dimensionals, punches – Scallop edge, decorative label, lace ribbon border  (*available in the 2011-12 Holiday mini catalog; all other products are available in the Stampin’ Up!® 2011-12 Idea Book & Catalog)

I had so much fun with those leaves!  I dotted some Glossy White card stock with Pool Party and More Mustard ink refills, then blew them around with a straw.  I know it looks like I used some Old Olive, but that’s where the two colors mixed together.  After it dried, I stamped the leaf outlines on the Glossy White with Versamark, then heat embossed with gold powder.

This next was one of the most fun projects ever!  One of my friends (Martha – who’ll you meet later in the hop) found a video showing how to create adorable accordion fruits and veggies.  I decided to create a whole cornucopia of them using the new Simply Scored scoring board.

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Stamp set: Gently Falling*; Ink:  Old Olive, Soft Suede, Cajun Craze, More mustard, Concord Crush classic; Whisper White craft; Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Concord Crush, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Tangerine Tango, Soft Suede, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, More Mustard card stock; Spice Cake designer series paper*; Other:  Scallop circle die, Big Shot, Simply Scored scoring board*, chipboard, adhesive sheets, silicone rubber, impressions pad, Perfect Details texture plate, multipurpose liquid glue; sponges, circle scissor plus, glass mat; punches: 1/2″ circle, full heart, small heart, large oval, 1-1/4″ square, corner rounder, bird builder (*available in the 2011-12 Holiday mini catalog; all other products available in the 2011-12 Stampin’ Up!® Idea Book & Catalog)

These are so simple!  I used punches for the basic shapes (apple – small heart, pumpkin – full heart, tall gourd – large oval, small gourd, grapes – 1/2″ circle punch, eggplant – 1-1/4″ square); I trimmed a little from the oval to make more of a gourd shape, and cut the eggplant squares into rectangles, then rounded the corners. I also trimmed a tiny bit off the bottoms the pumpkin, apple and gourds so they’d stand up.

Punch as many as you want; the more layers you have, the more full your veggies and fruits will be.  Then use your scoring board to score down the centers.  It goes so fast with the Simply Scored board!  Now, fold them each in half.  Leave the bottom one flat and open, then stack and glue the remaining shapes on top, matching the folds with the center score of the bottom layer.  Once you finish, simply pull them together (like the honeycomb decorations at the party store) and glue.  Easy!  The stems were cut or rolled from card stock.  Be sure to glue these in before you close up the “accordion.”

The platform for the decoration is designer paper and chipboard.  I used the Sizzix adhesive sheets to adhere the chipboard to the paper, then die cut it with the scallop circle die.  The cone was cut with the Circle Scissor Plus.  It’s a 6″ circle, cut along a radius (for you non-math wizards – that means from the side to the center), then rolled into a cone.  I used a texture plate for a design since it was a little large for an embossing folder.  Add some leaves and a sentiment, and you’re done!

Take a few minutes to reflect on all the good things in your life.  I’m always grateful for family and friends – many of whom you’ll meet on the hop this weekend!

Your next stop on the holiday tour is Christine Giuda, another super awesome demo who’s from New Hampshire.  (We’re starting the hop on the East coast, I see!)  Enjoy the fabulous projects you’ll see today, and may all your days be filled with gratitude, joy and love.