Sip Sip Hooray!

Happy New Year! How can it be 2026?!! My celebratory shaker tag is for the January 2026 Gorgeous Gift Tags Instagram Hop with the optional theme of Icy. My daughter was getting together with friends recently and sent a photo of their drinks. The pink French martini has a frosty/icy look to it, no doubt from being prepared "shaken" for an icy cold beverage that won't be diluted by ice. So, I had my tag idea for this month!

And here is the inspiration for my tag.

What I used:

• Spellbinders Olive Martini dies, Cheers Sentiments
• Stampin' Up! Snowflake and Sequin shaker bits
• Picket Fence Diva Hearts embellishments
• Ranger Distress ink
• Silver cord

I created a see-through shaker and filled it with the snowflakes and sequins that can be seen from the front and back of the tag. I assembled the glass and added a few iridescent sequins for sparkle. The silver cord stretches easily right over the top of the bottle's neck.

There are more details about the hop on Instagram.You can start hopping with us on my Instagram @sawithadtomakeit. The ladies in our hop do great work, you don't want to miss it.

Happy New Year!

Carol

'Tis the season to be freezin'

Happy New Year! Can't believe it is 2026 already. It's officially winter and even down south we are getting a cold blast this week! Taking down Christmas decorations won't be bad since we will want to stay inside. I made a bunch of ski caps in bright colors as a cheerful accessory for those who might need a hat to do outdoor activities. At Just Us Girls #804 it is Die Week and our lovely hostess Elizabeth has added the requirement to Use a coverplate (die, letterpress or hot foil) to your card.

I used all Concord and 9th products for my card: Basket Weave Card Front die, Sweater Season stamp and die sets and Enamel Hearts. It was fun to choose colors then die cut to my heart's content. I used fuschia (not red like the photo looks), light pink, bright green, teal and aqua. Next, I got to pair up different color combinations to decorate them!

We look forward to seeing your cover dies and plates used on your cards this week. Hope you had a great holiday season and here's to a happy and healthy 2026!

Thanks for stopping in!

Carol

Holiday Checklist

Tags for gifts are my focus at this point in the season. I am missing the tag challenges there used to be as we counted down to Christmas. It was a great place to be inspired by others' ideas. A few days ago I got out my CZ Design Noted Holiday stamp and die set again to use more of the fun phrases.

What I used: 

• Simon Says Stamp CZ Design Noted Holiday stamp and die sets, Be of Good Cheer die set
• Sizzix Christmas Minis die set
• Hero Arts Infinity Tags die set
• Altenew Obsidian black ink pad
• Red glitter cardstock
• Silver cardstock

We can never have enough gift tags at Christmas. I needed a pink one for the pretty box in the photo. The red glitter paper is not dark like it photographed, but bright and cheerful. Now to check on wrapping paper supply, then make a few tags with any new or old papers I find.

Here's hoping the week ahead is a memorable one for everyone!

Carol

A Gift for You

Another gift card holder is complete and I am sharing this one over at Freshly Made Sketches #717. As soon as I saw the sketch I pictured these elements. This scene could depict someone hugging their gift or the gift exchange game where people pick a gift under the tree, then others can "steal it" three times before it stays with the last person who had it. Everybody wants that exceptional gift and this could be two people fighting over it.

What I used: 

• My Favorite Things Craft Hands die set, tag sentiment
• Stampin' Up! inside sentiment, ribbons, patterned paper outside
• Altenew Obsidian black ink pad
• Spellbinders silver gems
• Tear tape (to make the bow)
• Foam tape (to pop up the gift)

Just a couple of notes: I added tiny gems to the gift paper for festive fun and I made the miniature bow like ones we used to make years ago. I die cut the hands but didn't put the cutting plate all the way to the arm end of the die so that I could make the arms longer by using scissors to cut the forearms. The tutorial for the bag is here and Amanda Mertz made a very clear and concise way to make these inner bags. I sneaked in my sentiment as the gift tag on the box to go with the FMS sketch and the arms are the elements that come in from both sides like the cute Santa belt by DT Michelle Langley. Just love the DT cards for this challenge.

Merry Christmas to you and a Happy New Year! I'm so glad you visited here.

Carol

Sending a Dash of Gingerbread Magic

Are you doing some (or a lot of) baking these days? I just made some frosted sugar cookies for a neighborhood gathering the other night. We took our beach chairs and sat on the sidewalk across the street from an amazing house light display that one neighbor sets up each year, synched to music. We brought treats to share and BYOB beverages...and it just happened to be chilly here that evening. I made hot apple chai (spiced apple cider with chai syrup). Christmas in a cup!

Yesterday I saw that the Inspired By Challenge #IB367 was about Gingerbread. I immediately thought of this cute die set (Sizzix Christmas Minis) and sat down to make a card today that hopefully gives a decorated cookie feel. I love candy dots on cookies so I added Tim Holtz Idea-ology droplets to the card. The sentiment is Spellbinders Stay Snuggly Stamp and die sets using Altenew Obsidian black ink pad.

Here is the finished project after much die cutting! I do want to make some gingerbread cookies now but I'll wait until our daughter gets here so we can decorate them together.

Below is a photo from the light show the other night. The colors and songs changed over and over again with no repeated songs. There was mostly Christmas music but also pop and other genres. It is so well done!

Here's to a fun holiday season and lots of good food before the dieting starts in two weeks! 

Ha ha!

Thanks for stopping by,

Carol

You're on the Nice List

I made a masculine gift card holder today as a fun way to present a present. This is the third one of its kind this week! What's extra fun is that the gift-card-gift-bag pops up when the recipient opens the card. Then the actual gift card is inside this fun bag! The bag matches the pajamas too!

What I used:

• Spellbinders Cozy Toes die set, Betterpress sentiment
• MFT Jingle all the Way stamp set
• Altenew Obsidian black ink pad
• Patterned paper scraps and ribbon

The bag folds flat when the card is closed. That's the beauty of it. Here is the tutorial for it from my previous post created by Amanda Mertz.

I am playing along at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Simon Says Anything Christmas /Holidays as well as Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Wrap it Up! It's a great way to wrap a gift card right?

It's so nice to make things now that are not pressing for time. If only I could say that about my shopping. I'm very close.

Happy Holidays!

Carol

Tree of Ribbons

It is time again for the Instagram CASE It Hop! Once a month some cardmaking friends each choose a card they like on Instagram and CASE it...make a similar but not exact copy of it. I chose the @sammakescards beautiful version of this Alex Syberia Build a Bow Christmas Tree die set. See her card after these two photos of mine. Her colors are so bold and beautiful! It is such an elegant tree, isn't it? I actually ended up with two cards after I felt like my first one seemed too similar to hers. Here is my card for the hop.

I added this gift card holder (below) inside my card that I've seen for a while but never tried. I love it! Here's the link to Amanda Mertz' tutorial. It folds flat when you close the card.

This is Samantha's gorgeous card below. I love how she used black to contrast the bright colors of her gorgeous bows. The gold bows are just beautiful!

My card above Samantha's is the one I am using for the CASE It Instragram Hop. It is the "pinks and oranges" one on a silver tree. I doubled up some of the bows by using a smaller bow on top of a bigger one to add dimension. I added silver rhinestones to the center of the bows too to "fancy" it up. Our Christmas tree when I was a child was a silver one with a color wheel sitting nearby that rotated through the primary colors to shine on the tree. I loved that tree so much. I enjoyed helping put it up each year.

I am also playing along at Inspired by Challenge #IB366 Bright Christmas with my card. I love their graphic with the gorgeous colors!

The card below is the first one I made after getting the dies. It has an acetate window that peeks in at the pink tree inside. The bows are on top of the window. My daughter loves gold with pink so that was why I used my dies with those colors.

I die cut the tree opening on a white panel that is smaller than A2 size. Then I added the acetate behind the tree opening. I popped up this panel with foam tape on the front of the A2 card base. After die cutting lots of bows, I placed them on the tree. Last, I added the rhinestones for sparkle!

What I used for the two cards:

• Alex Syberia Build a Bow Christmas Tree die set
• Pink, gold, orange cardstock scraps
• Gold and silver glitter cardstock
• Spellbinders rhinestones
• Crate Paper patterned paper for the gift bag
• Stampin' Up! sentiment stamp (older)
• Ribbon

You can start the hop at my account: @sawithadtomakeit if you wish. This is a fun hop because you see two card ideas per person, their own card and the one they CASEd. Hope to see you there!

Happy Holidays!

Carol