Celebrate!

Hello everyone!  It's almost the end of the year so I thought I'd share a card with one of my favorite stamps that were released this year. I used Party Dots for my card and made it with a soft colour palette.

I chose a soft blue pattern paper for the side and stamped the dots in on the white panel.  The banner was stamped and cut out easily, popped up on the panel using foam tape.  Rhinestones were used to finish the card off.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas holidays and see you in 2014!

-- pamela

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Bumble bee love...

Hey there! It's Suzanne here today with a fun card that I made using You + Me. I used the filled oval shape to make the body and wings of the bee - they were stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with clear and black embossing powders after masking off some stripes on the bee's body. I later added some white dots using some acrylic paint to make the trail...leading to the fun sentiment!

Can you tell that I am thinking of Spring already? Have a great weekend!

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A Black Tie Wine Bottle Tag

Hello Neat and Tangles Lovelies!

As 2013 is winding down, thoughts turn from Christmas to New Year's. Are you planning to attend any super swanky shindigs?  Katie here today to share a super simple gift idea for that special host or hostess.

A bottle of wine almost always makes for a thoughtful host gift for holiday celebrations.  Using the Just for You set, I dressed up the bottle to make it suitable for even a fancy black-tie event.

First, I created the wine tag by cutting a piece of black cardstock to 2.25 x 5.5"  I punched a hole in the cardstock with a 1.75" circle punch and scored the tag at 2.25"  Next, I die cut a triangle from white cardstock and trimmed the edges to create a gem shape. I stamped the bow and added three black pearls to act as buttons.

I adhered the white cardstock to the tag.  Finally, I stamped "Celebrate" in versamark and heat embossed the sentiment with gold embossing powder.

All dressed up and ready to go! 

Well that's all for me today.  Thanks so much for stopping by and Best Wishes for an AMAZING 2014!

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Last minute Christmas Tree decorations

Hello everyone, Yana is here and today I have a last minute Christmas Tree decoration idea to share with you. 

I'm a huge fan of the chalkboard trend and I've been trying to incorporate some of it into my holiday decor. I painted a few ornaments using black chalkboard paint and doodled some stuff using white chalk on them but that wasn't quite enough. So I decided to make little paper decorations using stamps.

Here's what I ended up with - a miniature door/gift card holder to hang on a tree:

This is actually a little pocket/envelope with a chipboard door and a Merry & Bright chalkboard wreath. The pocket can be used to hold some flat candy, a gift card or even cash. Or alternatively you can put a little note inside for a loved one or use it for an advent calendar. 

Here's how you can make these: 

Start by creating a wreath - die cut a scalloped circle and heat emboss the sentiment from the Merry & Bright set using white embossing powder. Add some "chalk dust" using white pigment ink. Adhere it to the chipboard door and add a little twine bow. Adhere that to a piece of pattern paper (add a few drops of red spray ink) and finally place on top of a black cardstock envelope/pocket. Finally - enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

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A Special Delivery Layout.

 Hi friends!

I'm here with a layout to share today, using stamps from the recently released Santa's Tags. But for an interesting twist on them, the layout isn't anything to do with Christmas.

I love that, although Danielle is primarily a card-maker, her stamp designs work BEAUTIFULLY for layouts and other projects too!

Here's my layout

I used Gelatos and water for the background 'rainbow'. Neat and Tangled stamps for ALL the stamping (except the little date :))

Here are a few close-ups.

 The little banner is a wood veneer, I coloured in with a yellow Gelato, then stamped on :)

 
 The tags were so easy and fun to stamp! I used PITT artist pens to 'colour' these.

That's it for me! If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments!

I think a layout like this would make a great gift, so there's always time to whip something up for a loved one this Christmas!

Well, I'm signing off now--wishing you and your loved ones a very safe, and happy Christmas!

See you in the new year!

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North Pole Elf Frame

Happy Friday! Danielle here with a fun holiday inspired home decor item!  I actually made this last year just after Christmas, and have been hanging on to it until now to share.

I used Elves at Work to create this scene. It was super easy. I hand cut some snow drifts and added some Stickles to the edges for some glistening now. Then I stamped the elf and North Pole sign, colored and cut them out, and arranged it all on a piece of patterned paper cut to fit my frame.

Here is a little close up so you can see the coloring and sparkles :)

Hope you have a great weekend!

Danielle

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Merry and Bright Bokeh Tree

Good morning! Heather here to share a Christmas card using my Neat and Tangled stamps a little creatively - I really like the "bokeh" style cards, and it occurred to me that it would work perfectly to make a Christmas tree! 

 I used the solid and outline circle from Merry and Bright to build my tree, stamping each in a different shade of green ink, then stamping off 2 or 3 times to make it look like even more colors. The sentiment also came from this set. I added the star on top, and throughout the tree from Sparkle and Shine. I also used some Raspberry Red Satin Sequins, with a touch of black bling in the center.

Pattern paper is from October Afternoon, and the stitched rectangle is a Lawn Fawn die. The tiny clothespin was in a pack I found at Michael's and just HAD to have - full of cute and fun colors! I tied some jute twine and added some tiny jingle bells to my card to finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day!

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Hey Cookie and Sweet Home Sale!

Hello friends!

Do you love Christmas cookies? I really, really, really do :)

To help celebrate my love of cookies I thought it would be fun to have a little holiday sale!

From now thru December 25th Hey Cookie and Sweet Home will both be 50% off!

HEY COOKIE

SWEET HOME

See you back tomorrow with a fun decor piece for the holidays!

xo
Danielle

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Happy Birthday To You!

Hello fellow Neat & Tangled friends! Chari here today with clean and simple birthday card for you.  I know I should have probably made a Christmas card but to be honest I have not played with the Everyday Label set and wanted to put this idea down on paper. And let's be honest people have birthdays in December too, have you ever tried finding a birthday themed gift card in December…that can be a challenge. Anyway on to the card!

I used various colors of Hero Arts Shadow ink to stamp out my message, cut the pieces out and assembled them using different thicknesses of foam adhesive. I used a border stamp from On the Strip to create the bottom border. I embellished with clear sequins and a little twine to make the heart label into a tiny present.

Have you gotten all your Christmas projects done? I have not, my ideas were bigger than my free time so unfortunately it looks like some ideas will have to wait until next year. Happy Stamping!

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Freaking Fantastic

Hey there, it's Mary Dawn here. I'm bringing you a card I created for November Release Week. Unfortunately, I was unable to get my projects to Danielle because of an emergency. But that means I'm off the hook for my December post...sort of. 

I made this fun card with Miriam's genius On The Corner set. I stamped the street sign in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored it in with my Spectrum Noir Alcohol Pens. When my coloring was done, I stamped Freaking & Fantastic in Versamark ink and embossed with white embossing powder.

This set is so fun and different. I love all of the fun word combinations you can make. 

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Merry & Bright

 

Hi everyone!  Amy K. here today during this cold, cold holiday time.  Serious folks.....I'm cold and I can't wait for warmer temps! 

 

I'm here with a festive holiday card that really didn't take any time at all!!!  I'm excited to see the chalkboard trend continuing and here I've paired it with vellum!  If you've visited my blog lately......I've been using vellum a LOT and I LOVE it!!!  I think it's just a gorgeous paper and it gives so much more depth to a project.  For instance.....Look at this striped paper.  I love how the vellum "muted" the striped paper and let the sentiment circle take center stage!  A few sequins and some red glitter tape was added for the bling factor!

 

The sentiment is from Merry & Bright and was heat embossed with white Filigree embossing powder as was the circular scroll frame from Swirly Twirly Tags.

 

Thanks for sharing a part of your day with me!
 



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Still Loving Gold!

Hello friends! Danielle here. The current Little Tangles challenge is one of my favorites. It is the color combo of white and gold, and I am a big fan!

And here is my card! Now I know, there is a lot of kraft going on too, but I did use white and gold!  I needed a quick card to mail with a package, so I stamped the Hello from Everyday Circles and added a few accents with a white gel pen. 

Easy to mass produce! And you could easily use any of the stamps from Everyday Circles!

Hope you have a great Monday!

Danielle

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Naughty or Nice Card

Hi friends!

Danielle here with a fun card for the holidays! I used one of my personal favorite sets, Santa's Notes. This one came together very quickly. I layered some fun patterned paper in different sizes, and did a little stitching. I stamped the "Naughty/Nice/Undecided" stamp and cut it out to a rounded rectangle shape. Then to finish it off I added some wood veneers and red rhinestones!

1 down, 74 to go! Haha! How are you're holiday cards coming along? :)

xo
Danielle

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Holiday Memories Album Project

Happy December! It’s Jean sharing a Holiday Memories Album project. Whether you plan to document the December holidays on a daily basis or only the month’s key events, there are lots of Neat &Tangled stamp sets with which you can create original 3” x 4” filler cards. I’m sharing cards I created, along with a bit about my Holiday Album.

Approach to project: I’m focusing on time-honored traditions with my Holiday pocket-page album, rather than documenting December on a daily basis. While my sons are now “grown,” we still have traditional events that I photograph and journal about during the holidays. With those traditions in mind, which include watching a local parade, decorating our tree, visiting a local nursery to see their poinsettia “tree,” and sitting down to our Christmas dinner, I created album insert cards using sentiments and images from several Neat &Tangled stamp sets.

Album Foundation: I wanted to keep this album simple, which for me means limiting the number of embellishments I use and picking a color scheme that’s easy for me to mix and match. I’m using the Simple Stories SN@P! binder with their photo protector inserts, along with patterned papers from Echo Park’s ’Tis the Season.

Creating the Cards: I cut my 3” x 4” cards with the Lawn Fawn Stitched Journaling card die from Stampin’ Up cardstock, which I already owned in shades of green and red that matched the Echo Park papers. I heat-embossed the Neat &Tangled sentiments and images with Hero Arts white embossing powder. I really like the look of the white embossing on the solid cardstock. For the journaling cards, I heat-embossed the tops of lined Project Life cards with Hero Arts silver embossing powder and Stampin’ Up powder.

Here’s a look at a few of my page spreads. I'm using photos from last year’s December album for illustrative purposes. The Neat &Tangled stamp set(s) used to create the filler card(s) are listed below each spread.

Neat &Tangled Merry and Bright

Neat &Tangled On the Strip 2 and Fresh Blooms

Neat &Tangled Santa’s Tags

Neat &Tangled Merry and Bright

Neat &Tangled Merry and Bright

Neat &Tangled On the Strip 2 and Sweet Home

ADDITIONAL EMBELLISHMENTS: It’s easy to add embellishments to the filler cards, such as sequins, die cuts, washi tape and wood veneer pieces.

The idea is to make your project work for you and your family. Because I tend to overthink things, I appreciate having certain decisions made ahead of time. That way I can focus on capturing the memories through my photos and journaling, rather than worry about details that ultimately won’t be memorable. The absolute last thing I worry about is the cover. In fact, I might not even embellish the cover, as the interior pages matter the most to me. But that’s me.

Have you made a December Holidays album before? What’s your strategy? Have you created your own filler cards?

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Awesome Together

Hi everyone! Yana is here sharing a not so holiday Awesome Together card. To be honest with you - I'm in love with the new You + Me stamp set! Its got a perfect mix of words and sentiments and works for so many different cards! I've been using it like crazy lately.

Here's a card I'd like to share with you today:

I paired the sentiment with a banner from the Party Dots set and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. 

Here are a few details:

Thank you for stopping by today!

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Shopping for inspiration- the holiday edition

Hello Neat and Tangled lovelies!

Katie Gehring here.  It's no secret that I love shopping for inspiration when I am out and about, and I am popping in today to share a card I made inspired by holiday decorations at (my favorite store, like, ever) Target!

Last weekend, I was picking up the items on my Target list and somewhere between the kids clothes and shoes departments I looked up and saw this.

Those colors, the circles, the shine!  I was inspired!  I snapped a picture with my iphone trying not to look too conspicuous.  When I returned home, I pulled out some of my Neat & Tangled stamps to make a card based on this Target decor, and here's what I created... 

I stamped Sunburst with green ink on green cardstock and punched out the center of the image with my circle punch.  Party Dots was stamped with gold ink, and I punched a couple of small circles from the larger stamped image.



The stars from Merry and Bright accent the red circles and the sentiment is from Simple Christmas. A few circles punched from bronze shimmer cardstock added some depth and shine.

I think this card is pretty on Target with the inspiration (pun intended), and it's flat for easy mailing!  Next time you are out and about in all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, don't forget to look around. Your next spark of inspiration could be hanging from the ceiling!

Thanks for stopping by!

Katie :)

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello Neat & Tangled friends! I know many of our US friends are getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving. What a wonderful time it is to just reflect on what we are so grateful for! Included among all the things I am so thankful for this year, I must include all of you, my Neat and Tangled family.   You're continual excitement and support warm my heart, and I wish I could find some way to let you know how much I appreciate all the joy you bring to Neat and Tangled.  It doesn't even begin to express my gratitude, but please enjoy this sale beginning Thursday, November 28 at 8am EST! It will run through Sunday, December 1st. No need to enter a coupon code. Usual free shipping rates also still apply! 

And Mary Dawn created a sweet card for you all :) 

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Neat & Tangled! 

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YOU + ME

Hi everyone!  Amy K here today........What did you think of the November release last week?  We hope you liked it! 

I have one more card to share using You + Me.  LOVE this set.  Today, I've used it as Danielle used in her VIDEO during release.  You can view the video HERE.  I loved hearing where her inspiration for this stamp set came from!!!  Great idea=fabulous stamp set!

I went with a sweet design and pale colors.  I created my little scallops using the heart stamp included in this set......another use for your stamps! 
 

Thanks for stopping by today!!



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thank U

Hi there! It's Suzanne here today with a manly thank you card using Everyday Labels. I thought it would be funky and fun to stamp the sentiment across a word bubble diecut, and then use some shaped dies to create the large letter U on my own. Everything was layered over some black and gray papers, with matching enamel dots to match...and I was done!

Thanks for looking!

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Uncommon Goods: Aquafarm Review

Hello friends!

Here today with a post that is a little different! I'm here to do a fun review of a product called Aquafarm from an amazing company called Uncommon Goods.  If you've never heard of Uncommon Goods stop what you are doing and head over there NOW!

Uncommon Goods not only has some of the most amazing products but they are just a good company. They focus on featuring unique designs and hand crafted gifts that are created in harmony with the environment and without harm to animals  or people.  They also support several awesome non-profits including RAINN, American Forests, Women for Women International, and City Harvest.  See, just good people doing good things!

Now for the Aquafarm...here is the "professional" photo of the Aquafarm

And the official description: 

The double-decker combination of garden and fish bowl creates a symbiotic ecosystem. In the top tray, basil, mint, spinach, baby greens, and other edible or decorative plants thrive as nutrient-rich water is circulated past their roots. That process purifies the water, which is then sent back to the 3-gallon tank below, creating a happy, healthy habitat for a beta or goldfish. 

So, let me tell you a little about my Aquafarm experience. First of all, I was super excited to try this. Our family is very into health and wellness. We love growing our own food and using the freshest produce. Plus, my son has been BEGGING for a fish for month now. Win win! The Aquafarm seemed like a perfect fit for our little family!

When it arrived it came in some cool packaging

And they had everything you needed neatly packed inside with very clear directions

Okay, I lied. There was no fish, BUT they did give you a coupon for Petco!

Picking out the fish was probably the most time consuming part of the set-up. Grayson couldn't decide what color betta fish to get. We settled on this cool red/blue one, quickly named Nemo by my 2 year old.

All in all it took me about 30 minutes to set this up, 10 of which was letting the fish sit in the water in it's bag to get used to the temperature.

At this point I was just hoping to keep the fish alive for my son's sake. Forget actually growing anything! But, lo and behold about 2 weeks later...

We had wheat grass! Now, mine does not look as lush as the professional photo. Pretty sure this was my own fault because I used the seeds really sparingly. So, I trimmed some off for my juice!

Here it is after it's cut!

After I clipped it, it grew back pretty quickly.  It's been about 6 weeks now and my grass finally died. Had to happen eventually with all the clipping I guess. Luckily they give lots of seeds so I'm just going to clean out the cups and replant!

I'd say the only negative was that the motor can be loud. As long as you have it in the right spot it's just a quiet hum, but if it gets knocked loose it makes a loud vibrating sound. Easily fixed by popping it back in place.

I have to say it has been a success. Not only did I actually keep the fish alive and get the wheat grass to grow, it has been a great educational tool for the kids and a fun topic of conversation when we have company over!  I think I might plant the basil next just to see how that grows (I actually hate basil!).

Aside from the Aquafarm, Uncommon Goods has a ton of really fun, unique, personalized gifts. A few other cool items they have are the Pick Punch (for the musicians in your life), and Kinetic Sand (which would be great for kids). You definitely should check it out while you do your holiday shopping! 

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