Feb 5, 2011 | Big Shot, Birthday, Cards, Pierced Circle, Sale-A-Bration 2011, SU Buttons, SU Ribbon |
Good morning everyone! I think our rain has stopped – we had a little bit of snow/sleet on Thursday but it stopped and I was able to head out to a class at Tammy’s house that night. The rain is not helping the work that is going on at our house. We are having our old screened porch/deck converted to a large sunroom/small deck. The construction has been going on the days in between the bad weather – I’m hoping for nice weather all week so they can get it done. And hopefully all the construction isn’t keeping my birds away. I’m would expect to see them already shopping for bird houses to nest in but I haven’t seen much activity. It might be because the weather has been colder than normal or a combination of the two. This year I have added the woodpecker house and I have one more house to add but I haven’t put that one out yet. I’ll keep you posted as soon as the action starts.
On to my project for today. These are some cute cards featuring Sale-A-Bration stamps and accessories. I have been using these cards in some of my classes/workshops the last couple of weeks and everybody loves them.
The idea for this card came from the Stampin’ Success magazine that Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators receive each month. It is packed with ideas and articles for us to read. I decided to use the layout and then make more than just the one card that they showed but create more cards using the other stamps in the Punch Bunch stamp set. I gave everyone at my classes the choice of what they wanted to make. Each card was unique as every person used a different stamp and selection of the die cuts from the Ice Cream Parlor pack.
The card base is Old Olive. At the bottom is a die-cut strip, then above that is a piece of the double-sided Designer Series paper – some people chose to show the dotted side and others the pink side. Above that is a piece of the Ice Cream parlor ribbon – this ribbon has flowers printed on one side so when you tie it in a knot make sure you twist the end so the printed side shows. Stamp the image and punch out with the coordinating punch and add it to the front with Stampin’ Dimensionals. See below for the instructions on creating the pierced circle and do that before you add all the die-cuts and the buttons. One trick that you might want to know about the die-cuts – if you want to pop them up with Stampin’ Dimensionals – stick them to your jeans first to remove some of the adhesive on the back and then add the dimensionals to pop them up.
Do you see the pierced circle in the background? I love that idea but I thought there is no way I can make an even circle like that. I remembered that Stampin’ Up! used to have the brass embossing templates and many of those had piercing patterns on them too. We don’t sell those anymore so I wanted to come up with a way to do the same thing with what we do have. It just so happened I had one of the large die-cut scallop circles lying on my craft table and that gave me this idea. So here are the instructions on how to create a pierced circle:
Step 1: cut a die-cut scalloped circle using the Big Shot machine and one of the dies – you can vary the size of your circle by using a different sized scallop circle for your template.
Step 2: Place a piercing mat underneath your card stock and the scallop circle on top. Use a paper piercer and pierce in between each pair of scallops to create a circle – using the scallop keeps the holes evenly spaced.
Step 3: If you want the holes closer together add another hole in between each pair that you punched.
Ta-da! A pierced circle!
How easy was that? I’m going to use this idea on some other cards not that I figured it out and I’m going to take a look at my other dies to see if I can create some other piercing patterns. To save the templates cut them out of the cardboard backer from the Designer Series paper and it will last longer than using a piece of card stock.
Have a fun weekend!
Stamping Together at Monika’s Place – February 2011 Newsletter – CLICK HERE.
February 2011 Ribbon Share – CLICK HERE.
Feb 3, 2011 | Blog Candy, Cards, Occasions Mini 2011, SU Ribbon, Thank You Kindly |
Today is my Stampin’ Up! Anniversary! I was officially a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator on Feb. 3rd, 2006. I have completed 5 years and I have loved every minute. I also just passed my blog-a-versary (is there such a word?) – I started my blog Jan. 20th, 2009 – two years of blogging! I had a couple of things planned for my Stampin’ Up! Anniversary but I think I need something for my blog-a-versary too – don’t you? What should it be? Let me think on that while I tell you about what else I have planned this month.
Oh but first here is the card that I used as my Make&Take project for my first ever workshop!
images copyright Stampin' Up!
I can’t believe I found the pictures but I actually had a folder called February 2006 and there it was. Along with two or three other projects. Now lets move on to February 2011 – here is what I have going on…..
First I am planning a SAMPLE SALE all month long. I’ll be cleaning out all my samples that I have made and collected for the last five years. So when you come to my house this month you can shop the sample sale – there will be cards, card fronts, 3-Ds and gifts. I may even have some class kits – with all the consumables cut and you can finish how you want.
Second – how about some Bingo? For the month of February you will earn a Bingo card for every $50 your order from me and in March we will play Bingo to win prizes. You’ll want to check my blog (or sign up for daily updates) so that you can see the Bingo pieces that get called. I’ll send out more details and instructions at the end of February along with your earned Bingo cards.
Check out my February Ribbon Share – that includes Free ribbon and buttons from the Sale-A-Bration Ice Cream Parlor pack.
February 2011 Ribbon Share
Here are the details for this month’s ribbon share.
1/2” Seam Binding Ribbon from the Occasions Mini Catalog
You will receive approximately 2 yards each of Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke,
Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz, and Rose Red 1/2″ Seam Binding Ribbon.
Plus three Vanilla Rosettes – one in each size.
And since it is Sale-A-Bration you will also get for FREE –
3 yards of Ice Cream Parlor Ribbon and 3 Ice Cream Parlor buttons – one in each color.
How Much? $13
Prepay by February 15th.
Orders will be placed after this date and it will all be ready for you by the end of the month.
If you need the ribbon share mailed to you there will be an additional cost for that.
Email me today if you would like to participate – [email protected].
Well let’s get back to my Blog-a-versary – I think it would be appropriate to give away some Blog Candy. I’ll be giving away the stamp set Thank You Kindly to one lucky blog visitor – my way to say Thank You for supporting my blog. To enter into the drawing for my Blog-a-versary Blog Candy please leave a comment on this post between now and Wednesday, February 9th – midnight EST. I will draw a winner and post it on my blog after the 10th.
Thanks so much for visiting!
Dec 20, 2010 | Christmas, SU Ribbon |
When Stampin’ Up! sends a box they fill it with brown paper after all the product is inside. I always hate to throw away the paper. I have taken some to the Ronald McDonald House for them to use to cover the tables when the kids craft or for drawing on or whatever they might need it for. But I came up with another idea for this year. I decided not to buy any Christmas Wrapping paper and instead use all the brown paper from Stampin’ Up!
So far all my Christmas presents are wrapped in the plain brown paper. I considered stamping on them or rolling them with Stampin’ Around Wheels but ultimately decided just to use Ribbon – for these in the front it is the Wide Striped Grosgrain ribbon. The ones around the back is non-SU Ribbon. I plan to add tags to all of them – but haven’t done that yet – I did write on the back of each one who it was for though.
But here is my idea – I don’t know about everyone else but we seem to have several times that we open Christmas gifts. First here at home with just our family, then we will go to my parent’s house and open with my parents and brother, and then a third time we will go to Greg’s mother’s house and open presents with his family. These are on three different days and in three different locations so this year I came up with an idea that I thought might make things easier. First all the gifts are wrapped in the brown paper and tied just with ribbon and no puffy bows – so they actually stack up nicely for taking in the car. Second I used three different colors/types of Ribbon. So for each of the three events I have a different Ribbon and we just need to grab everything with the correct ribbon on it from under the tree on that particular day. I hope that makes things quicker instead of having to go through everything and read all the tags. What do you think?
We are off to mail the Christmas cards and do some last minute shopping!
Nov 13, 2010 | Bingo, Blog Tour, Christmas, SU Ribbon |
Here is another look at the JOY Banner that I created for the Royal Blog Tour. I decided to make this after I finished my BOO banner for Halloween. I was happy with the way that one turned out and I remembered that I had purchased these wooden letters one year and never used them. It was a good thing I had two sets of them because my first try on a couple of them did not produce the results I wanted. I started with one of the letters being red and it didn’t look as good as these do with just the brown, green and vanilla.
These are store bought wood letters but you could make a similar project using Chipboard letters or cut them with the Big Shot – they would be smaller. Basically I used Craft Ink to “paint” the wood. And what I learned with the BOO banner was that the craft ink took a long time to dry on the wood. So my solution was to cover the whole letter after I finished stamping on it with Clear Embossing Powder and heat set it with my Heat Tool. Then I decorated them.
Here are some more details on each letter.
The letter ‘J’ was covered with Chocolate Chit Craft ink and then Clear Embossed. Then I used the Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz to spray the whole thing with a fine mist so it looked like a starry night sky. I stamped eight of the Reindeer from the Winter Post stamp set on Very Vanilla card stock with Chocolate Chip ink and cut each one out. Then I used Linen Thread to tie them together like they would be on the front of Santa’s Sleigh. So these are the Reindeer flying through the night sky. I used Stampin’ Dimensionals to attach them to the wood letter so they would have air behind them like they were flying. To finish the ‘J’ I used some Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon tied around the neck of the letter, a punched Snowflake and a little button tied with Linen Thread finish it off. The hanger is a piece of Very Vanilla Seam Binding tied at the base with a Very Vanilla button and Linen Thread.
The ‘O’ is covered with Old Olive Craft Ink and then stamped with the images from the Winter Post stamp set in Chocolate Chip Craft Ink. Then I covered the whole thing with Clear Embossing Powder and heat set it.
I stamped the snowflake image in Old Olive and punched it out with the Ornament Punch – it fits just perfectly. I sponged the edges and then tied Linen Thread around the top and added a pearl in the center. The Wide Striped Old Olive ribbon was cut in half which causes the edges to fray and adds a distressed look. I tied a piece around the ‘O’ and into a bow and then added the stamped ornament to it.
For the hanger – by the way the letters already had holes in them for hanging – I pulled some Vanilla ribbon through and then tied an Old Olive button around it. There is a punched snowflake behind the button.
The ‘Y’ is covered with Chocolate Chip Craft ink. Then I stamped the snowflake in Whisper White Craft ink. Then the whole thing was covered with Clear Embossing Powder and heat set. I added the basic pearls to the center of each snowflake.
I stamped the Ice Skaters on Very Vanilla card stock and water-colored the skaters. Then I punched them out with the 2-1/2″ Circle punch. I sponged the edges of the circle and then punched a hole in each side with the Crop-a-Dile. I used Old Olive Satin Ribbon and pulled it through each of the holes and tied it around the ‘Y’ and in a bow on the side.
The hanger at the top is the same as the ‘O’ – except the ribbon was pulled through the two holes that were in the ‘Y’.
Here are a few more pictures.
That’s it. I hope it all made sense to you. It looks really pretty in person. I think I may add some shimmer to the ‘O’ – it looks a little plain still.
I know we have some people that are close to a Bingo. Is it you? Will there be a winner today?
It’s BINGO TIME! We are playing Round 6 of Monika’s Blog Bingo. I have now filled group 7 and won’t be taking any more names right now – I”ll be taking a Bingo break after group 7 plays – I may play again in the future so I hope you will continue to visit my blog. See this POST for more details on how to play and the previous winners.
And now for today’s piece – Here is piece #11 –the dog bone from Friends Fur-ever stamp set (stamped in Chocolate Chip). 
If you have Bingo – 5 in a row – make sure to email me.
Oct 24, 2010 | Bingo, class, Embossing, Halloween, SU Ribbon |
This is a fun project that I created for my Halloween class (it was last month). It is a BOO wall hanging. The letters are wood cut outs that came from a craft store. You could do the same thing with chipboard – if you use the dies from the Big Shot – it would be smaller though.
Each of the letters was covered with Craft Ink using a Sponge Dauber in the base color – Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black and Old Olive. Then I stamped with Craft Ink on each letter using the Wicked Cool stamp set. Surprisingly the ink did not dry like I thought. I started by making just one letter and when it wasn’t dry the next day I decided I needed to try something else. My solution – cover the whole letter with Clear Embossing Powder and heat with the Heat Tool. Problem solved and now they had a glaze look to them.
Then I decorated each letter with some punched pieces and ribbon. The ‘B’ uses the Decorative Label Punch, the Bat Punch, the Wide Oval Punch, and the Black Lace Raven ribbon. The witch boots are stamped and cut out and then I added the Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink to them.
For the first ‘O’ had the Basic Black Wide Grosgrain Striped Ribbon – torn in half so that it frays. Then for the tag I used the Bat Punch, the Jewelry Tag punch and the Small Oval punch. All are tied together with Linen Thread and tied to the bow. 
Also on the Black ‘O’ I stamped the candelabra’s from the Wicked Cool stamp set and then used the Moonlight Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink on each of the candle flames. It looks good in person – it gives them a spooky glow.
For the last ‘O’ I used the Decorative Label Punch, the Modern Label punch, the 1″ Circle punch (or it may be the 3/4″ inch – I’m looking at the picture and don’t want to walk upstairs to look at the real thing). The hat is stamped and cut out. 
There are actually two of the decorative label punches – one goes around the back of the letter and then the two are held together with the brads.
My goal was to attach everything to the letters so they couldn’t fall off. The tag on the ‘B’ is tied on with the lace ribbon, and the first ‘O’ is of course the ribbon tied around. So for this one I used the punched pieces with the brads.
At the very top I added a bunch of ribbon tied in a knot around the hanger. It turned out to be a fun Halloween decoration – I have mine hanging in my kitchen.
So how about Bingo – I’m looking for a new winner – is today going to be the day????
Let’s play for today ….
It’s BINGO TIME! We are playing Round 5 of Monika’s Blog Bingo. I’m currently taking names for Round 7. See this POST for more details on how to join, how to play and the previous winners.
Here is piece #13 –the 
cupcake from Cute by the Inch stamp set (stamped in Chocolate Chip).
Oct 13, 2010 | Big Shot, Bingo, Designer Series Paper, Halloween, Stamper's Club, SU Ribbon |
Look at these cute Halloween boxes!
I have been struggling with what to do with the paper in the Wicked Cool Specialty Designer Series paper that has the large patterns on only part of the page. Besides using the full sheet on a scrapbook page you lose the look of the large pattern if you cut it into small pieces. I didn’t want to do that so I hadn’t used this fun paper. The bats are flocked so you can feel them!
Sandy Hancock shared this tall box idea and when I was preparing for my Stamper’s Club last week I decided to make these tall boxes. Originally I was going to use one of the floral papers because that was what was on the sample I saw – but then I decided I wanted to make a Halloween project – it is October you know.
Then I had a light bulb moment – the large prints could “wrap” around the box so that you could see it all the way around. And look how good it turned out!
Everyone had a different piece of paper out of the pack – another design that wrapped around is the one that says SPOOKY and also the Spider web. I took a picture after everyone got theirs finished so you could see the variety in the boxes.
The lids are made from the Scallop Square die for the Big Shot. First we cut the square and then we embossed it with the Spider Web embossing folder. It turned out to be a fun lid for the box.
The ribbon is the wide striped ribbon – actually cut in half so it frays which adds to the spookiness – I saw that idea on another blog and have been using it for lots of my Halloween projects.
So what do you do with this tall box – well it will hold a bottle of tall soap from Bath & Body Works. And they have Halloween soap – so now you have the perfect hostess gift for a Halloween Party! How fun would that be?
Or you could package up some cookies in a tall stack – wrap them up and slide them inside the box. Or just fill it with candy!
Just change the colors and the papers for any other occasion or party. I hope you like these as much as I did!
NOTES ADDED: I have had lots of requests for the measurements – they came from Sandy who got them from another demonstrator. You could adjust the size to your needs though. The card stock is 10-1/2″ x 10″. Then score at 2-1/2″, 5″, 7-1/2″, and 10″. Score across the bottom at 2-1/4″ – cut to make your flaps and glue the bottom.
A new round of Monika’s Blog Bingo started yesterday.
It’s BINGO TIME! We are playing Round 5 of Monika’s Blog Bingo. I’m currently taking names for Round 7. See this POST for more details on how to join, how to play and the previous winners.
Here is piece #2 –the bird on a branch “thinking of you” image from Cute By the Inch stamp set (stamped in Pear Pizzazz).
The idea for this card came from the Stampin’ Success magazine that Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators receive each month. It is packed with ideas and articles for us to read. I decided to use the layout and then make more than just the one card that they showed but create more cards using the other stamps in the Punch Bunch stamp set. I gave everyone at my classes the choice of what they wanted to make. Each card was unique as every person used a different stamp and selection of the die cuts from the Ice Cream Parlor pack.
The card base is Old Olive. At the bottom is a die-cut strip, then above that is a piece of the double-sided Designer Series paper – some people chose to show the dotted side and others the pink side. Above that is a piece of the Ice Cream parlor ribbon – this ribbon has flowers printed on one side so when you tie it in a knot make sure you twist the end so the printed side shows. Stamp the image and punch out with the coordinating punch and add it to the front with Stampin’ Dimensionals. See below for the instructions on creating the pierced circle and do that before you add all the die-cuts and the buttons. One trick that you might want to know about the die-cuts – if you want to pop them up with Stampin’ Dimensionals – stick them to your jeans first to remove some of the adhesive on the back and then add the dimensionals to pop them up.
Ta-da! A pierced circle!
