The Valentines Day 6 for $6 Grab Bag is here!

It's here!  After much tribulation and wrestling with my mouse, I've managed to come up with a little Valentine's Day treat for you!  I collected up six of my newest Valentine's Day designs and bundled them up into a Grab Bag for you.  Just $6 for 6 awesome cutting files!

The Grab Bag includes a Love Memory Book, a Love Word Book, two Card Shapers, a new set of Valentine's Cupcake Wrappers, and a new set of pretty heart motif Rosettes!

AND, I've got a little extra bonus for you!  Buy it now and get my Lollipop Lips & Staches design for free!

I'm going to use these for my kids valentine's this year.  Won't it look cute to have a whole class of Kindergartners wearing lips and mustaches while they eat their lollipops!  Love it!

I hope to get creative again soon.  I've got to replace my Wacom pen so I don't have to use the mouse on my computer.  I have carpal tunnel syndrome in both of my hands and the mouse just aggravates it so much!  Once I get that, I should be able to blog regularly again, too.  I'm seeing a TON of cool stuff coming out of this years CHA Winter Trade Show!!!

Time to get crafty, people!

Cards to have in your stash

Does this ever happen to you?  You are going about your life, humming along a mile-a-minute as usual and then... BANG!  An occasion arises that requires a card.  You don't have time to make one. There's no time to stop at the store for one.  What do you do?

This happened to me today as I realized it was my turn to post a card over on the Card-A-Day blog!  What do I do?  I run to my stash, pull out a blank card, put a sentiment on it and GO!  

I came up with a simple card.  It may not be flashy, but it's not boring either. And in just a couple of minutes I was ready to post it.  I'd already done the work of cutting and assembling the card a long time ago.  The hardest part was picking which sentiment to put on it!

I started out with one of the cards from my Flip-Flop cards cutting file set.  I used a masculine color scheme for the ones in my stash.  It's nice to have a few masculine cards ready to go, don't you think?  

 I added a rub-on and a bit of ribbon to dress it up on the front.

Another rub-on on the inside.  I like that when this card is unfolded, whatever was on the sides of the card on the front is still visible!  Plus there is lots of room to write a little something.

If you throw a few basics in your stash like these, you can quickly dress them up for any occasion!

Looking for this cutting file?  Here's a link:

Here are a few suggestions for more fun cards to put in your stash:

Time to get crafty, people!

Happy New Year!

It's a new year alright.  I checked to be sure.  We are back from visiting the Grandparents.  The kids are back in school.  I'm still in my jammies at 11:00.  Yup, things are business as usual here at Sam & Hailey Designs.

Our Christmas was so nice.  It wasn't too crazy, just family, a few friends, and some fun. We decided to throw a last minute trip in to see the folks one last time this year. As usual, we played games until our hands were to sore to shuffle cards one more time.  The girls enjoyed playing with their cousins and even met some second cousins they didn't know before. Lots of fun. Sure hoping we left my parents without any cold germs.  I'm thinking we probably won't be able to visit again until cold and flu season is over.

I know there are a few of you out there who got new digi cutters this year for Christmas.  The hot new models being the Silhouette Cameo and the KNK Zing.  A big old "Welcome" to you if this is your first time visiting us.  Next week we will be back to posting our normal routine.  That means I have to get busy and come up with a new batch of stuff to write about.

Before I go, I wanted to let you know about this month's product specials!  Everything Itty Bitty is 25% off.  These are big collections of little designs especially for cutting out small for cards, tags, ATCs or other tiny projects.  Fun fun fun!

~STOCK UP SALE!~STOCK UP SALE!~STOCK UP SALE!~

Get 25% off everything Itty Bitty 

from Sam & Hailey Designs

through the end of January!

Click to shop!

~STOCK UP SALE!~STOCK UP SALE!~STOCK UP SALE!~

Time to get crafty, people!

On the 12th Day of Christmas Creativity...

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!!!! It's Chris's turn to host the very last day of the 12 Days of Christmas Creativity!

Hailey asked me if we were going to open presents tomorrow morning.  She  was so bummed she would have to wait another day.  I fear this will finally be the year that my kidlets will have a hard time sleeping.  They are sooooo ridiculously excited!

I still have tons to do, so I'm attempting to keep this short.  I've had all kinds of preparations for this blog post this morning and I'm hoping to go have lunch with hubby!

First up!  The 12 Days of Christmas Tags Collection is up in the store!  Before you run off to buy it, make sure you check to see if you won it, below!

I've got something special for you if you do want to purchase the set.  It's a fantastically special price!  

First, the regular price of the whole giant set is over 30% off the individual file price.  I know, you already got 4 of the twelve, so you don't want to buy the whole set.  Let's see, you have 1/3 of the set, so I should give you 1/3 off, right?  I think you need more though, how about 50% off the set! That's a massive savings over the individual file price!  

And really, it wouldn't be Christmas without presents, right?  So, I have another present for you! Buy the set, and get my newest card design, Super Quick Card - Peace Dove absolutely FREE! Just in time to make some for you last minute Christmas letters!

Here's what you'll need to do.  First put both items in your cart.  You'll notice that the card design will show up for free!  Yippee!  Then scroll down and put this coupon code JB12DAYS in the coupon code box (you need to be logged into the store for this to work).  You'll see a discount of $12.50 just above your total!  Sweet!

This special deal is good through December 31st.  Party on!

Here are some quick links for you:

Buy this:



Get this free:



Coupon Code: JB12DAYS for 50% savings!

The Winners!

Okay, are you ready for some drawing winners???

Prize: the 12 Days of Christmas Tag Set

Winners: Kelly S, Denise Foor, Esther W-B

Prize: $10 Sam & Hailey Designs Gift Code

Winner: Sandra from NC

Prize: $10 Michaels Gift Card

Winner: Anna Dowdy

Prize: the December VDBC Grab Bag

Pam in SD

I don't have the coupon codes quite ready for you all yet, but I will this afternoon.  Anna, I'll need your mailing address. Congratulations to all the winners!

I hope you all have a very very Merry Christmas and a Happy and especially Prosperous New Year!!!!  Thanks for joining us on this fun 12 Days of Christmas Creativity blog-fest!

Time to get crafty, people!

On the 11th Day of Christmas Creativity...

Phew!!!  Are we almost there yet?  It's been a fun two weeks counting down the 12 Days of Christmas Creativity with you.  Today is Ileana's turn to host, so be sure to head over there and give her some love!

Today I'm thinking about stockings.  When I was a kid I had this cute felt stocking my Aunt Shelba made for me.  It had santa on it and my name.  I still have it!  We always got an orange in the toe of our stocking, then it was filled part way up with nuts, then some candy.  I recall we always had that hard ribbon candy.  I wonder if you can even get that anymore?  I haven't looked because it wasn't really my favorite.  I doubt that it was in our stockings... too sticky!  When I got married, I picked up my hubby's family stocking traditions.  Among those are to always get a new toothbrush in your stocking.  That still strikes me as a little funny, but I go with it!  Gotta have the marshmallow santa in there, too.  As long as there are Reese's Peanut Butter Trees in there, hubby will be happy, so we're always good.

Speaking of stockings, this year I had this great idea {usually words that cause hubby alarm}.  I wanted to make new stockings for my girls.  My idea was to use my KNK Maxx to cut fabric for appliques.  Sounds great, right?  It actually was great!

They aren't quite done, but I have high hopes for getting them completed by Christmas Eve.  It's the hand stitching that's taking me so long.  Once I get that completed, I can sew them up!

The girls are excited about their new stockings.  I had a hard time deciding what to put on them.  They both wanted something like a princess on it.  Christmas Princesses? What is this, A Very Disney Christmas?  I was trying to convince them that they wanted birds instead of princesses. After all, there are a lot of bird related themes... think 12 Days of Christmas!  Tons of birds there! So, we were looking through my new 12 Days of Christmas Tags and of course, they both wanted the Nine Ladies Dancing design.  I decided that nine  was a lot of ladies to be trouping around on a stocking and settled on three.  I think they have turned out very cute so far.  Here's what I did to cut the fabric.

Cutting Fabric Appliques on the KNK Maxx with the Fabric Blade

Materials:
Cotton quilting weight fabric
Wonder Under
Very sticky cutting mat
Fabric Blade

1. Iron your fabric nice and smooth.
2. Iron Wonder Under or other transfer material to the back side of your fabric.  Do not peel off the paper backing.
3. Place fabric, paper side down, on a very sticky mat.  {I used a brand new Cricut Mat}
4. Cut on a slow speed {100-200} with a pressure of 110-120.
5. Peel paper backing off and iron according to manufacturers instructions.

If you are cutting quite a few different materials, as you go along, your mat will begin to get less sticky.  I found I was able to successfully cut with the fabric side down and mirrored my image. I'm really impressed with the fine details I was able to cut!

Only one more day to enter my drawings!!!!!  Here are all the details:

Here are the prizes:

1) Three Prizes: The whole set of 12 Days of Christmas Tags
2) $10 gift code to Sam & Hailey Designs
3) $10 Michaels Gift Card
4) The December VDBC Grab Bag (or a $7 gift code to Sam & Hailey Designs if you have already purchased it)

How can you win them? On the 12th Day (that will be the 23rd for our little blog-fest) I'll hold a drawing for each one of the prizes (that's four six drawings in one day... I think I can handle it!). All you have to do to enter is comment on my blog to enter. You can comment on my blog on each of the 12 days so you'll have up to 12 entries in the drawings! Each day I'll have a new thing I'll ask you to include in your comment so keep an eye out for that. It's as simple as that!

Today's comment requirement:

Leave a comment with your family stocking traditions!  What goes in them, where do you hang them, etc.?

Be sure to include some way to contact you in case you win the drawing (for example, your VDBC forum name, your email address, etc.). If you don't, I might not be able to get your prize to you!

Oh, before you go, here are the last two 12 Days of Christmas Tags!  They'll be up in the store later today, and I'll have a great deal on them for you this weekend!!!

And here's the whole collection together!

Time to get crafty, people!

On the 10th Day of Christmas Creativity...

Yay!  It's time for me to host the 10th Day of Christmas Creativity!  Woo Hoo!

This has been so much fun!  I'm glad I still have two more days to post, even if it's not hosting. Don't forget to read about the giveaways at the bottom of this post.

It's just a few days away from Christmas.  I'm feeling a little bit sad that some of our family is so far away.  Okay, not just a little bit.  I'm really hoping that one day we'll be able to spend Christmas with everyone together.  Thank goodness for Skype and Facetime or we would feel really disconnected from our son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter in Connecticut.  We will hopefully be able to do some visiting with our own parents over the holidays, though, so at least we will see some of our extended family.  I'm looking for some ideas to draw us together over the long distances. If you have any, keep them in mind, I'll be asking you about them later on in this post!

Today I've got my last freebie for you!  It's tag #10 in the 12 Days of Christmas Tags series. Hopefully you've picked up the other three I've given away so far.  If you want the whole set, be sure to enter the drawings. I'll also be offering these for sale for a super good price at the end of the week, too.  I might even come up with a challenge or two to go along with them.

It was a challenge to figure out how to fit ten lords leaping around on one little tag.  This is my solution! The concept works on a lot of the other bigger number tags, too.  Can't have you cutting a billing tiny lords and accessories out and then trying to figure out how to assemble them!

Boring but Important Legal Stuff: My terms of use are included in each zipped download. If you have any questions about how you may use this file, please read it. By clicking to download the file, you are agreeing to abide by the terms. If you'd like to share it, please don't. Rather, send your friends a link to this blog post. Once it's no longer available as a freebie, you might be tempted to share it with someone. Please don't! 'Nuf said!

SORRY!  This download has expired.  Please look for it in the Sam & Hailey Designs Store!

Okay, remember those drawings I mentioned?  Here's how to enter!

Here are the prizes:

1) Three Prizes: The whole set of 12 Days of Christmas Tags
2) $10 gift code to Sam & Hailey Designs
3) $10 Michaels Gift Card
4) The December VDBC Grab Bag (or a $7 gift code to Sam & Hailey Designs if you have already purchased it)

How can you win them? On the 12th Day (that will be the 23rd for our little blog-fest) I'll hold a drawing for each one of the prizes (that's four six drawings in one day... I think I can handle it!). All you have to do to enter is comment on my blog to enter. You can comment on my blog on each of the 12 days so you'll have up to 12 entries in the drawings! Each day I'll have a new thing I'll ask you to include in your comment so keep an eye out for that. It's as simple as that!

Today's comment requirement:

Leave a comment with an idea for connecting extended families who are far away at the holidays.  This could be any idea for grandparents, grandchildren, deployed military family members, college students, missionaries, etc.

Be sure to include some way to contact you in case you win the drawing (for example, your VDBC forum name, your email address, etc.). If you don't, I might not be able to get your prize to you!

Oh, if you want a sneek peak at the tags included in the whole 12 Days of Christmas Tags set, here are a few more!

Time to get crafty, people!

On the 9th Day of Christmas Creativity...

It's the 9th Day of Christmas Creativity, and that means it's Chris's turn to host.  It's also the 2nd Day of Christmas Vacation, an that means I'm slowly losing my sanity.  Just kidding!  I love having my kids home, when they aren't fighting or demanding to be entertained.  On the positive side, they got their own lunch today.  On the negative side, it was grapes, goldfish and rice krispie treats. Grapes are good for lunch, right?

I'm trying to get all my Christmas projects done and I have another one to share with you today. This one is surprisingly quick and easy, even though it involves spray paint.  Come to think of it, it involves three of my favorite things, spray paint, pretty paper, and Mod Podge.  I thought you might enjoy this one, too.

Shhh... don't tell, but I'm attempting to make sets of these to give as gifts.  If you get a set, please act surprised.

Today's project is... Clothes Pin Gift Tags

Materials:
Wooden Clothes Pins
Spray Paint
Patterned Paper
Mod Podge
Permanent Marker

Directions:

1. Spray paint the wooden clothes pins.  I recommend using a quick drying paint.  I used a Krylon metallic silver.  Allow to dry completely, then turn over and spary the other side.

2. Cut strips of paper to fit the tops of the clothes pins.  Mod Podge them onto the clothes pins.  Allow to dry.  This step is optional!  You could just paint and write the names on them.

3. With the permanent marker, write To and From and names on the paper.  See one I left without paper.  I think it looks cool, too.

 4. Clip them onto the ribbon around a gift.

I hope you've enjoyed my little tutorial!  Here's another portable version for you.  Click it to open it large and then save it.

Be sure to check back tomorrow!  It's my last day to host the 12 Days of Christmas Creativity!

Oh and don't forget about my giveaways!. Be sure and enter by commenting on each day!

Here are the prizes:

1) Three Prizes: The whole set of 12 Days of Christmas Tags
2) $10 gift code to Sam & Hailey Designs
3) $10 Michaels Gift Card
4) The December VDBC Grab Bag (or a $7 gift code to Sam & Hailey Designs if you have already purchased it)

How can you win them? On the 12th Day (that will be the 23rd for our little blog-fest) I'll hold a drawing for each one of the prizes (that's four six drawings in one day... I think I can handle it!). All you have to do to enter is comment on my blog to enter. You can comment on my blog on each of the 12 days so you'll have up to 12 entries in the drawings! Each day I'll have a new thing I'll ask you to include in your comment so keep an eye out for that. It's as simple as that!

Today's comment requirement:

Leave a comment with your favorite Christmas-time activity to do with kids.  I need some ideas of what to do with these munchkins all week!

Be sure to include some way to contact you in case you win the drawing (for example, your VDBC forum name, your email address, etc.). If you don't, I might not be able to get your prize to you!

Time to get crafty, people!