Oct 22, 2009 | Big Shot, Scrapbook Pages |
Stephanie wanted to work on scrapbook pages while I was visiting. Some of the pictures that she had printed were from our family reunion this summer. Every summer at 4th of July Greg’s family gathers at his uncle’s farm i
n south Georgia for a Saturday of playing, eating and talking. Stephanie wanted to use a retired stamp set that she had called Independence Day.
She stuck with traditional Red (Real Red), White, and Blue (Night of Navy) and used the star punches to create her accents.
The swirls are stamped in Whisper White Craft ink. The title is cut using the Big Shot and the GoGo Boots Alphabet Dies.
The pictures are in a collage toward the center of the 2-page layout with the same pattern on each side – just flipped. She had them printed as both wallet sized and 4×6 size.
I thought the layout turned out great!
Tomorrow I am off to the Stampin’ Up! Half-Day Chattanooga Regional Seminar. Sue and Danette (two of my downline) are coming with me. We are looking forward to a fun day. We will hear business tips, see stamping demonstrations from both the corporate team and local demonstrators and get to do our own Make-N-Takes while we are there. And we will do some swapping too – I need to get up stairs and see what I have already and maybe make a few more tonight.
Thanks for stopping by today!
Oct 20, 2009 | Big Shot, Holiday Mini Catalog 2009, In Colors |
While I was visiting Stephanie (my sister-in-law) last week in Virginia we did a lot of stamping. This idea came from one of the blogs we were looking at while I was up there – now that I am home I can’t find it and I don’t remember whose blog it was. I have searched google for all the key words in the project and found many other ideas but not the original that we saw. So time to move on and just share it with you. This is a little treat holder for Halloween – it hold a mini hershey bar on the inside.
The original idea we saw used the Pumpkin Patch stamp set from the new mini catalog. I didn’t have that one so instead I used Autumn Harvest for the pumpkin on the front. The tag is made using the Stampin’ Up! Two Tags die for the Big Shot. When you use the die to cut the tag it scores it for you and adds the notch to tuck in the bottom of the tag. In order to hold the candy I added a second score 1/2″ away from the first. 
That gives you room for the candy but now the tag won’t shut – so you need the decoration on the front to be large enough to make up the gap.
Since the pumpkin I used was short and wide a circle punch didn’t work so well but the Wide Oval punch did so that was what I used – the pumpkin is stamped in Black StazOn ink and watercolored with Classic Inks. I’m pretty sure I used Whisper White card stock but it looks like Very Vanilla in this picture – I did sponge the edges so that tones down the white.
I also punch two Large Ovals in Chocolate Chip that I layered behind the top and bottom of the wide oval. Then I punched two Round Tabs out of Pumpkin Pie – if you layer then together they form a perfect 2″ circle. Which I used here as a layer behind the wide oval. This tucks into the slot.
The white gel pen stitching is on the inside and outside of the tag. I added ribbon through the top.
After making the pumpkin one I decided I wanted to make more – knowing I didn’t have another class for Halloween projects I thought I would try snowmen – and ended up with this one.
This one uses the In-Colors – Bermuda Bay and Melon Mambo and all the markers to color the snowmen from the Holiday Lineup stamp set. They were punched with the 1-3/4″ Circle punch and then the two Round Tabs layered behind them. Now I have to find candy to match.
So then I started thinking about Thanksgiving and we like to have a little treat on the table for everyone – so I tried a Thanksgiving one.
I used More Mustard for the tag and the Gobble, Gobble turkey from the Mini Catalog – didn’t he turn out cute! To color the turkey I used Stampin’ Write Markers – from lightest to darkest it is More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust and Chocolate Chip. He is punched with the Scallop Circle and another Scallop Circle is layered behind and off set between the petals. Again the two Round Tab Punches are behind. If you didn’t want to use those you could cut 2″ (or larger) circles using the Circle Scissor Plus and the Glass Mat.
We counted up how many of us we expected to gather for Thanksgiving and decided that might be too much chocolate. And maybe we needed a smaller place card for everyone.
I came up with the idea to use the other tag on the Two Tags die and the turkey that I just made and this is what I ended up with.
This one we decided would fit a small mint like an andes mint on the inside. I scored the tag at 2″ and 1-1/2″ to create the base. I cut 30 tags before I left, scored them all and began working on the Turkey’s. Stephanie will finish them all before Thanksgiving when all the family will gather at her house this year.
Someone emailed me about Thanksgiving ideas – here are a couple and I’m pretty sure I posted the Big Shot Turkey box last month. I’ll see what else I have. And share more of our girl’s week creations later.
And one more thought – I think I want to reorganize the categories on my blog – I thought I wanted to list them by stamp set but I think the list is so long now it is hard to go through and that more general categories might be better. Like have the holidays individually, birthday ideas, treat holders, etc. I’ll keep the technique section but get rid of the individual stamp sets that I have listed. What do you think?
Have a wonderful day – thanks for stopping by!
Oct 17, 2009 | Big Shot, Circle Scissor Plus, Designer Series Paper, Season of Friendship, Stamper's Club |
At the Stamper’s Club meeting last Friday we made another gift project. This time it was a Seasonal Decorative Plate. This idea was presented at convention I think 2 years ago as a monthly idea. Using a glass plate the presenter made a circle that fit in the center of the plate for each month of the year. Since that time I have seen many variations on this idea some with the decorated circles behind the plate and others on the front. A few months ago Stampin’ Up! had one of their stamping challenges and a plate project was submitted by Mary Beth Brown – it didn’t win the challenge but it was shown on the demonstrator website. It was a seasonal plate using the Season of Friendship stamp set which is one of my favorites. So I put together this project for my club using Mary Beth’s idea with current Designer Series Papers. I loved how it turned out.
Today I’ll share the fall and winter inserts and when I get home I’ll share the others. It is such a dreary day here – raining and COLD. The news said tonight there could be snow flurries mixed with the rain. I’m in VA and I think the weather in Georgia is very similar.
The fall plate insert uses the Autumn Meadows Designer Series Paper. The colors are Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Really Rust, Taken with Teal and Very Vanilla. This paper is so much prettier in person than it is in the mini catalog.
The Winter plate uses the Merry Moments Designer Series Paper – the piece with the Chocolate Chip snowflakes. The other colors I used are Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Ruby Red, and Very Vanilla.
I will say though that my feet are nice and warm since we just got back from getting a pedicure. Girl time sure is fun!
Tonight is Homecoming at Etowah where my boys go to school and Tyler is going to the dance – with a girl – and I’m not there… I think he is glad about that so I can’t fuss over him. I had most things taken care of before I left – got a new jacket, had it altered, had a new shirt, got it dry-cleaned, got a new tie, had the shoes and pants, ordered the corsage. Today Greg had to take care of picking up the flowers, and being the chauffeur and taking pictures – I hope he takes pictures! And I hope he calls me with all the scoop…
Stay dry and warm – thanks for stopping by today.
Oct 15, 2009 | Big Shot, Circle Scissor Plus, Designer Series Paper, Holiday Mini Catalog 2009, Lovely as a Tree, Scrapbook Pages |
Today I wanted to share a scrapbook layout from last month’s class. This was actually a layout I made at least a year or more ago – but I updated it to use the new Autumn Meadows Designer Series paper and colors and changed the accent pieces, stamp sets, etc. So it looks completely different.
The left page has the pockets with the tags that pull out for hidden journaling or extra photos. You could add more if you needed.
I doodled around the edges with a chocolate chip marker and did alot of sponging. The stamp set is Lovely as a Tree – it is good for so many things. I plan to add my hiking pictures from our fall break mini vacation to Red Top Mtn.
It looks like the rain followed me from Georgia to Virginia. But it is cold here and I didn’t bring that along – it was at least warm at home. Time to go to the craft room and start stamping!
Have a great day!
Oct 13, 2009 | Big Shot, Decor Elements |
Last week I had a workshop featuring the Definitely Decorative catalog and Decor Elements – I did not showcase any stamping for this one. As I prepared for my workshop I decided to create a sample book using pictures that I had taken of the samples at convention/leadership, pictures shared by other demos, pictures from the demo website and pictures from my own home. I was just going to print them and put them in an album but I decided to do it more creatively so that the guests could see some other Stampin’ Up! items in use.
So I pulled out my Big Shot Die Cut machine and the Top Note die – what did we ever do without them. I cut a bunch of Chocolate Chip card stock (it is quickly disappearing again). I also cut up an old Decor Elements brochure to make the cover.
On each page is a photo example of the Decor Elements being used. The guests at the workshop found it helpful to flip through this little book and see other examples besides the ones in the catalog itself. 
I also cut out the “step by step” instructions that are shown in the catalog – there are 3 little photos for applying the Decor Elements and also 3 little photos on using thestencils. I added these to the front and back of my sample book.
I used my Crop-A-Dile to add a hole so that I could put them all on a ring. Then tied a piece of our Double-Stitched Chocolate Grosgrain ribbon on it.
It seemed to be a helpful little tool and I have it stored in my box to use for next time.
Thanks for stopping by today. I’m off by myself to Virginia for some girl time. I plan to post from there throughout the week.
Oct 12, 2009 | Big Shot, Designer Series Paper, Stamper's Club |
It’s a Halloween Test Tube Project!
This idea is floating around all over the stamping blogs and yahoo groups right now. When I was out shopping the other day I found these Halloween Test Tubes in the seasonal candy aisle – they have gummy eyes, finger or brains in them and they come in green, orange and purple- which made them the perfect match to the Cast-a-Spell Designer Series Paper. After seeing so many other people make test tube holders I thought I would try my hand at it too.
Now I wanted something quick – I didn’t want to cut and measure a box – so I pulled out my Big Shot Die-Cut machine and the Box #2 Bigz XL die and thought I would adapt that to this project. I turned the box up on its end and punched a hole in one side with the 1″ circle punch – which just fit my test tube inside – a tight fit so it holds it secure. The box is folded up and then wrapped with a piece of the Cast-a-Spell Designer Series Paper.
On the back I added a piece of Basic Black card stock to give it some support (and that’s what everyone else seems to be doing too!). A little piece of DSP to dress it up.
I stamped the Trick or Treat image from the hostess set – Holiday Best – the pumpkin is the same as the one in the paper. That was punched with the Wide Oval Punch and then layered on the largest label from the Matchbox Die that was cut out in Black. The wide oval by itself didn’t look right to me so I added that label behind it and it seemed to do the trick.
This was one our projects at the Stamper’s Club meeting Friday night. It was pretty quick and easy since we used the Big Shot to cut our box for us.
Sorry I didn’t post over the weekend – it was another busy one and I’ll tell you more about it later.
It is raining again here and there is another flash flood warning…
Have a great day and stay dry!
