Jun 2, 2009 | Big Shot, Chipboard, Designer Series Paper |
The Late Night Stampers group had an Owl contest during May – you had to create something using the chipboard owl from the On Board So Tweet Chipboard (not retiring – yeah!). The owl is also the “mascot” for the Late Night Stampers group – that makes sense to me…..
Since I am new to the group I decided to make a bag tag to add to my convention bag so when I’m walking around other people in the group will know that I am part of the group too. So if you are in the Late Night Stampers group make sure you look for me at convention and say “Hi!”. So here is my Owl Bag Tag:
Aren’t the eyes the cutest! This idea came from my friend (and downline) Michele – it was on a card that she made and showed me a few months ago. Just use the 3/4″ circle punch to punch from the Good Morning Sunshine paper. Use the Anywhere glue stick to attach to the little chipboard circles.
Several people asked about the “texture” on the owl’s body – there isn’t really any texture at all – first I used Chocolate Chip Craft ink to “paint” my owl – I use a sponge dauber for this – and let it dry. Then I took the leaf image from the Great Friends stamp set (Occasions Mini catalog) and stamped all over it with Chocolate Chip classic ink. I tought it would give a faint hint of feathers….
The branch and leaves are covered with Old Olive craft ink, the flowers with Ruby Red craft ink and the center is a pencil eraser dipped in Chocoalte Chip craft ink, the beak is Pumpkin Pie craft ink. The branch was cut apart and the extra leaf section is actually underneath the upper portion of the owl to help support him on the tag since his lower portion is attached on top of the branch I needed it to all be level.
The base piece is cut from the On Board Long Board chipboard using the Top Note die. Then I cut two pieces of the Summer Sun print from Good Morning Sunshine Designer Series Paper – used the Anywhere glue stick to attach one to each side. I decided to glue all the chipboard piece on with Crystal Effects – so it wouldn’t come off with the wear and tear of hanging it on my bag.
I used the Crop-A-Dile to punch a hole in the corner and added a book ring and a piece of ribbon. The “LNS” letters are cut from the Billboard sizzlets strip.
I can’t wait to get to convention, get my bag an attach my tag. Then I’ll also know which bag is mine since everyone will have the exact same bag once we get there!
Have a great day!
Jun 1, 2009 | Catalogs, Decor Elements, Designer Series Paper, Retired List, Stamps, SU Ribbon |
going, going . . .
A new Stampin’ Up! Catalog is right around the corner, which means it’s time to say farewell to dozens of stamp sets and accessories in the Spring Summer 2009 Idea Book & Catalog and Decor’ Elements. Don’t miss this opportunity to get the last chance products! Check the list to see if any of your favorites are there – then buy them now, before they are going, going … gone.
Stamp sets and Decor Elements will be available until June 30, 2009.
Click here to see the Last Chance list of Stamp Sets.
Click here to see the Last Chance list of Decor Elements. Decor Elements are 25% OFF.
Accessories (including Stampin’ Around wheels) will be available while supplies last (and some are already gone!). Some accessories are discounted – see the list on my Last Chance page – click here. Stampin’ Up! will update each day – and I plan to update this page at the end of each day also. SOLD OUT ITEMS – will be crossed out like this
The current In-Colors will be retiring and along with that everything that has an In-Color in it. Those 6 colors are Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette and Tangerine Tango. All Hostess sets will also retire – you can earn a Level 1 set with $150 order (workshop), Level 2 at $300 and Level 3 at $500.
There is a Summer Fun Hostess Bonus Promotion:
- Hostesses who hold a $250-$399.99 workshop will receive an additional $20 in hostess free merchandise dollars.
- Hostesses who hold a $400 or more workshop will receive an additional $40 in hostess free merchandise dollars.
If you have any questions please ask me!
May 29, 2009 | Big Shot, Designer Series Paper, Occasions Mini 2009, SU Ribbon |
I did get teacher gifts made yesterday/last night. I made 6 for Ryan’s teachers for this school year. Since Ryan has several male teachers this year I needed something that would work for both men and women. While looking at blogs I found a project that I thought would make a great teacher gift. I also remembered another friend of mine making a similar project. I finally found through several links a template for what I wanted to make – a Scratch Pad Holder. The template is from Connie Stewart. I made a boy version and a girl version and while playing around I also came up with this cool thing to do with the Jumbo Grommets.
Girl version supply list:
- Old Olive card stock
- Maine Blueberry Designer Series Paper (retired)
- Not Quite Navy card stock
- Bashful Blue card stock
- Big Shot Die Cut Machine
- Daisy #2 die
- Jumbo Grommets – silver
- Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon
- sticky strip
- RSVP pen
- Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, Bashful Blue classic inks
- Sweet Little Sentiments stamp set
- Darling Dot stamp set
- Bone Folder
- copy/printer paper
Notes on this project – the Maine Blueberry paper is the same patterns as our current Washington Apple paper – I just really like the colors in the other one and had enough to make the three scratch pad holders. I cut four of the medium sized daisy flower – 2 in Not Quite Navy, 1 in Old Olive and 1 in Bashful Blue. They are layered like this – Not Quite 
Navy, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Not Qutie Navy. Then insert a Jumbo Silver Grommet through the hole in the center and push back the prongs with a bone folder – it is a tight fit with 4 layers. The two ends of the ribbon are pulled up through the center of the grommet and tied in a knot in the front – see I can do knots just fine. The printer paper is cut in half both ways to get 4 pieces per sheet – 5-1/2″ x 4-1/4″. On about half of the stack I stamped “a note for you” and then the flower from Darling Dots. That was the longest part of the whole project. The matching patterned paper is just rolled and stuck inside the barrel of the RSVP pen. I cut my piece to be 3-1/4″ x 1″ – I used the bone folder to soften up the paper and help it curl.
Boy version supply list: 
- Kraft card stock
- Manchester Designer Series Paper
- Twill Tape (medium width)
- Jumbo Grommets – Vanilla
- Clear Embossing Powder
- Heat Tool
- Powder Pal
- craft tweezers
- Always Artichoke Stampin’ Write marker
- Always Artichoke Classic ink
- RSVP pen
- copy/printer paper
- Sweet Little Sentiments stamp set
- Seeing Spots stamp set
- Old Olive Craft ink
Notes on this project: Pen and printer paper are done like the girls project. I decided to use the twill tape for this one because I didn’t have any other ribbon that I liked with the Manchester Designer Series paper. But then the Jumbo Vanilla Grommet didn’t stand out much against it because they were nearly the same color. So I decided I wanted to try to color my Grommet. I tried coloring the grommet with the Always Artichoke Stampin’ Write marker and dipping it in clear embossing powder and heat set it – due to the nature of the metal grommet most of the ink pooled up and “disappeared” so it didn’t add much color. I tried another layer and again it didn’t add much color. I decided to try 
using craft ink – but I didn’t have the Always Artichoke in craft ink so I had to use Old Olive. I dipped the whole front of the grommet in the ink until it was completely covered (this time the ink didn’t puddle up much) and then dipped in clear embossing powder and heat set it. It gave it a really crackled kind of look to it and was enough to make the grommet stand out from the twill tape. By the way I pushed back the prongs on the grommet first except for one I only pushed part way and used that for my craft tweezers as a holder. When you heat the metal it will get hot so you need to use the craft tweezers for holding – it also makes it easier to dip in the ink and the embossing powder.
On my second one I tried to skip the step with the Always Artichoke marker and use only the Old Olive craft ink – while this would have been great wit the Always Artichoke craft ink (if I had it) my second attempt gave me a very Old Olive colored grommet which was not the exact color I wanted for this project. I have a picture of each – can you tell the difference? For the third one I went back to adding color with the marker first and got more the result I had the first time which was a more artichoke color.
I took them all to school when I went to get Ryan after his exams were done. We handed them out to all the teachers and we are all home – school is done – another year complete – a our summer has begun!
Have a great weekend!
May 28, 2009 | Big Shot, Designer Series Paper, Occasions Mini 2009, SU Ribbon |
The May Ribbon Share is ready and here is the cute little container I made to hold everyone’s ribbon.
I’ve seen this little holder idea in many places. It uses the Big Shot Box #2 die cut – you need two boxes. Don’t fold down the lids instead glue them together back to back. I cut off the little tabs from either side of the box – other people have glued them down inside – but I didn’t want to waste the adhesive since it wasn’t a necessary piece of the project. The lids then become a handle – I punched a large oval – first in one then glued them together with sticky strip and then through the other. Tie ribbon through the handle. (That is the part that took me the longest – I’m great with the knots but trying to tie a bow is just not easy for me – I think I took 4 or 5 tries at each one before it looked decent – and some I still didn’t really like). It ends up looking like a small drink holder. I wrapped the two boxes with a 1-1/2″ piece of Designer Series Paper. Added a little accent using the Oval All stamp set and scallop oval punch. All the ribbon is tucked in to the two sides of the holder – tied with hemp and a tag identifying the ribbon.
I’m hoping to get some teacher gifts made this afternoon – considering it is the last day of school tomorrow – I’m kind of down to the wire on that one – I found an easy project (I hope) and I’ll share that with you tomorrow assuming I get them done.
Have a great day and Happy Stampin’!
May 27, 2009 | Big Shot, Celebrate Everything, class, Designer Series Paper, Sporting, Stamps, SU Buttons |
I thought I posted this card already – but couldn’t find it on my blog – but I finally figured it out – I posted the information for this one on my Stampin’ Up! website. This was the other card that we made at my class this month. So if you want the details for it go visit my website – www.monika.stampinup.net – I really like this card but it was not my original idea, it was an idea I had saved while searching around on various blogs and websites or it might have been in a magazine. I added the textured panel and if I remember I used different colors than the original card that I saw. I think the actual layout could be great for many things – birthday, teens, boys – just change the colors as needed and the words to match the occasion. How about a graduation card in the school colors and replace a button element with one that looks like a cap.
I have several ideas for Father’s Day cards ready to go and I’ll have to decide which one to use for my Father and then the boys can pick what they want to give to Greg for Father’s Day. I guess it will be here soon as June is right around the corner.
I’m excited for June to get here because we (Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators) get to see the new Stampin’ Up! catalog! I’ll be ordering mine on June 1st and waiting patiently (well maybe not so patiently) for it to get here. And if you want to know what is in it – well you will have to come see me in June because I can’t post any information about it until July 1st. I’ll also be taking pre-orders for the new catalog – I’ll have more information about that in my customer newsletter for June. So if you want a peek in June when I have my catalog make sure you come to a class!
Two more days of school left – well really 1 and a half – since they are all done by 10:30 am on Friday.
I should make that card into a Celebrate Summer card – then I could send it in for the Late Night Stampers challenge for this week.
I have been working last night and part of tonight on the ribbon share. I’ll have it all done tomorrow. It is taking me longer to put the little packages together than I expected but they sure are cute. I’ll post that tomorrow.
Good Night!
May 24, 2009 | Card Games, Designer Series Paper, Game Night, Stamps, SU Ribbon |
Today I have been working on invitations for a game night that some friends and I have coming up in about 2 weeks. We are 12 ladies that get together once a month to play a game called Pokeno. We have alot of fun – some of us have been part of this group for more than 12 years – when we started we played Bunko but switched many years ago to Pokeno because it didn’t matter how many people played. About once a year we like to include our husbands so we have a Couples Night. Well the time is here for our Couples Pokeno party and I wanted to make invitations using the Card Games and Game Night stamp sets. Pokeno is played with a deck of cards and a card like a bingo card. I think this would make a great invitation for a birthday party – teens, boys, adults, or just a get together with friends.
The invitation is a pocket card – I love using this style of card for an invitation. 
The photos aren’t the best. I like to take them when the sun is shining – well it happens to be pouring down rain!
So this is how I made it:
- Cut So Saffron card stock 11″ x 4-1/4″. Then score at 5-1/2″ and at 1-1/4″. Fold in half and then fold the small flap toward the front of the card. I used a corner rounder on the top corners of the back of the card.
- Cut Real Red card stock to 4″ x 4″. Cut a piece of Jackpot Designer Series paper to 3-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ (I used the black piece with the poker chips) and adhere to the center of the Real Red. Adhere these to the front of the card underneath the flap. Cut a piece of Jackpot Designer Series paper to 1″ x 4″ (I used the red diamond design) and adhere this to the front of the flap. Use a stapler to staple the flap on each side to the back of the card. The staples will get covered.
On the back of the card I also added a piece of Jackpot Designer Series paper which was cut 4″ x 5-1/4″ and the top two corners were corner rounded. Adhere this to the back. This wasn’t necessary but I thought it made it look like an actual card.- Now tie a piece of ribbon around the flap and cover all the staples and tie in a knot on the front of the card. Trim the ends of the ribbon. I used the So Saffron ribbon that we had during the Sale-A-Bration promotion. There is also a 1/2″ striped So Saffron ribbon that you could use or the Real Red 1/2″ striped or 5/8″ grosgrain.
- To create the decoration on the front I stamped the card images on Very Vanilla card stock with VersaMark ink and covered with Black Embossing Powder and then heat set it with the heat tool. Then I colored in some sections with the So Saffron and Real Red Stampin’ Write markers. I trimmed around each card with my paper snips. Punch out a Round Tab punch from Basic Black card stock. Fold in half and tuck the corners of the card inside. I used my Crop-A-Dile to punch a small hole, then insert a Red Eyelet and set with the Crop-A-Dile. I added it to the front of the card with Stampin’ Dimensionals.
- To create
the insert for the pocket I set up a Word document to print my information on 1/4 sheet of card stock – and then printed it on a sheet 4 times – I turned my card stock each time so it would print in a different corner. I’m sure there are other ways to do this more efficiently but this is how I did it. Then I cut the full sheet into quarters – 5-1/2″ x 4-1/4″. Then I took each printed quarter and trimmed 1/2″ off the top – so it was 5″ tall. And 3/8″ off of each side – so it is 3-1/2″ wide and my text stayed centered in the middle. I corner rounded the top corners. - To finish the insert I stamped the bottom edge with the 4 card symbols all the way across. Then stamp two images on each side at the top. I cut a 2 inch piece of ribbon folded it in half and used a bit of snail to hold it in place on the back while I added a Red eyelet. Then put the insert into the card.
- Stamp a matching envelope. I could have used the wheel on the envelope – but honestly I forgot I had it and already had the stamping done by that time.
I hope you like the invitation and I hope the ladies in my Pokeno group like them too. I’ll get them all delivered tomorrow.
Have a great rest of the Holiday Weekend!
