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 26, 2009 | Big Shot, Graduation, Occasions Mini 2009 |
I came up with a new idea over the weekend – probably someone else already thought of this too but I have not seen this anywhere yet. What I did have was a tiny graduation cap that someone made to hold a very small piece of candy – like one small mint would fit inside and it was designed like a small jewelry box where you lift off the lid.
Well I thought what if I took the new Matchbox Die and used that to create a graduation cap – but the Matchbox is a rectangle but I cut the top to be a square. 
You need a 12″ x 12″ piece of Basic Black card stock to cut your matchbox die and the a 3″ x 3″ piece of Basic Black card stock for the top. You will need some sticky strip and a black brad from the Vintage set. Then a tassel for the top. Slide a check or some cash inside the drawer part. Add a tag. This was super quick.
UPDATE: Several people have asked about the tassel – this one I already had. I found them online at www.craftsetc.com (this is the Hobby Lobby online craft store) but they are currently out of stock (at least the black ones are other colors may not be). They are Tiny Tassels and are 1-1/4″. I also have black crochet thread to make my own in the meantime.
And there is a trick to cutting the 12×12 cardstock so that you can get two sets of pieces for the Matchbox die from one sheet. This idea was shared with me by a friend at the retreat and she found it on the internet on another demonstrators website. I don’t know who originally came up with the idea but it is a brilliant one. UPDATE: The person that came up with the cutting template is Lisa Freeman.
Use a piece of the cardboard backer from a package of Designer Series Paper – it is 12″ x 12″. Create a template by measuring 5-1/2″ from each side and drawing a line to the center. Once you have all four sides marked you end up with a small square in the middle – cut this out and throw it away. Now on your card stock lay down your template and trace out the small square – this will help you cut your card stock. Line up each side a 5-1/2″ and cut down to the square. Turn and repeat for all four sides – you end up with four pieces that are 5-1/2″ x 6-1/2″. Use two of these pieces on your Matchbox die to cut the base of the box and the cover plus the three tags. Here is a picture of the template:
The Matchbox Die is longer than 12″ so if you just cut a 6″ x 12″ piece to cover the whole thing – it won’t fit!
It is raining – again – it has rained almost every day for a long time – so much that we are no longer in our drought – that has lasted for several years. Lake Lanier where my parents live was at an all time low last year and I can’t remember exactly but something like 14 feet low with boat ramps and docks out of the water and on dry land – it was bad. And now – as of this weekend it was only 5 feet below full summer pool! And with all the rain we had the last couple of days it is probably less than that now. If you live on the lake that is big.
Anyway have a great week – it is FINALS week, the LAST week of school for us.
May 25, 2009 | Occasions Mini 2009, SU Ribbon |
About a month ago I joined the Late Night Stampers Yahoo Group and every week they have a card challenge. This past week was challenge #20 which was a color challenge – you had to create a card using these colors – Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive and Ruby Red. These are colors from the Earth Elements and some that I really like to use so I wanted to make sure I made a card for the challenge. It just took me until 10 o’clock Sunday night until I started – and the entries are due by midnight. I do feel that I am literally a Late Night Stamper – my creative juices flow at night and even while I sleep I really do come up with ideas – no joke. The picture of this card isn’t the best since I took about 11 last night and it was of course dark and no sunshine to help me with lighting. It is really pretty and 3-D in person.
Supplies:
- Kraft card stock
- Ruby Red card stock and classic ink
- Chocolate Chip card stock and classic ink
- Old Olive card stock and classic ink
- Black Stazon ink
- Watercolor paper
- Wagon Full of Fun stamp set
- Stampin’ Sponges
- Chocolate Chip Grosgrain ribbon
- Paper Piercer and Mat pack
- Water Color Wonder Crayons – Earth Elements
- Aqua Painter
- Stampin’ Dimensionals
Instructions:
- Cut Kraft card stock to 11″ x 4-1/4″ and score at 5-1/2″. Sponge the front edges with Chocolate Chip ink.
- Cut Ruby Red card stock to 5-1/4″ x 4″. Sponge the edges with Ruby Red ink.
- Cut Chocolate Chip card stock to 2″ x 2″. Sponge the edges with Chocolate Chip ink.
- Cut Old Olive card stock to 1-3/4″ x 1-3/4″. Sponge the edges with Old Olive ink.
- Adhere Old Olive piece to Chocolate Chip piece. Adhere Chocolate Chip piece to the Ruby Red piece allowing space for the greeting underneath and the ribbon to the left.
- Use the Paper Piercer and mat pack to pierce a box around the Chocolate Chip square.
- Adhere the Ruby Red piece to the front of the Kraft card.
- Tie the Chocolate Chip Ribbon around the front of the card on the left side and tie in a knot. Trim ends.
- Stamp greeting in Chocolate Chip ink on the bottom of the card front.
- Stamp the flower pot image on Watercolor Paper twice with Black StazOn Ink. Watercolor both images using the Aqua Painter and Water Color Wonder Crayons and Classic Ink. I first used the WWC to add a light layer of each color then went over with the Classic ink to darken areas.
- Cut out both images. On one I cut out the flower head by itself and the front portion of the pot by itself.
- Adhere the full image to the Old Olive square with Stampin’ Dimensionals. Add the cut portions on top of the full image using Stampin’ Dimensionals. This gives it a real 3-D look – because the flower stem and back of the pot end up in the back ground. It doesn’t show that well in the photograph but looks real good in person.
I think I’ll make some more cards to match using the other images in the Wagon Full of Fun stamp set.
I hope you like it. Have a happy Memorial Day!
