Two Tags Easter Basket

I shared over the weekend the beveled windowpane pendant I made for those at our last team meeting.  Today I'm going to share what they were packaged inside of - a cute little Easter basket using the Two Tags die and, of course, my favorite DSP right now, Springtime Vintage.  I got the tutorial for this cute project from Julie Davison's blog, here.  I wrapped the pendants inside some pink tissue paper and placed them inside the baskets, which were the actual swap item I'd made for our Easter-themed swap.

I'm currently working on this month's swap for Sunday's meeting.  The theme this time is Mother's Day.  Once again, I chose to do something other than a card.  I need to put the finishing touches on my swaps today so I can relax, knowing they're ready for Sunday's meeting.  Then perhaps I can make a dent on my craft room.  There's so much stuff in there right now, it's hard to even walk around in!  There must be a foot of supplies out on my desk, needing to be put away.  My problem is that I just have too much stuff - where am I going to put it all?  I share the room with my DH and he's got a lot in there, too.  I need to seriously use up some of what I have before I buy anything new, but SU! keeps coming out with catalogs with things inside them that scream 'Buy me!' and I cave and get more new stuff!

Fun Valentine's Couple Card

I saw this cute card idea on Lorri's blog, and she was inspired by Valita's post and great video how-to.  I created the heart couple last night with a white scallop envelope, but this morning changed it to a black scallop envelope so the guy's shirt would stand out better.  I brought my stampin' stuff with me this morning to the coffee shop to hang out with my DH while his listened to Leo Laporte's Tech Guy show, and ran across this card design by Denise while looking for ways to finish my card.  When I came home from the coffee shop, I grabbed my Big Shot and the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder so I could emboss the white panel behind the envelope.  I just finished putting it all together.  Looky:

 

Viola, it's done - and I now have three card choices for my stampers on Friday, along with the brag books I shared in a previous post.  YAY!  Now I can get to work on my Sale-A-Bration blog hop projects.  I think I'm going to go simple on those to make my live easier - I love the Clean and Simple Stamping blog card designs and I'm sure I can find four to use for the Thank You Kindly sentiment stamp set that I'll be featuring on my stop of the SAB Blog Hop.  Be sure to stop back by the weekend of January 28 - 30 to see what I came up with.  As always, thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to visit my blog.

Stamp Set:  A Happy Heart
Card Stock:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Real Red, Blush Blossom
Inks:  Basic Black (marker & pad), Real Red, Craft White
Accessories:  Night & Day Specialty DSP, Red Polkadot Grosgrain, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Heart Punch, 1 inch Circle Punch, Scallop Envelope Die, Big Shot, Silver Brads, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals, Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, Basic Pearls, 1/4 inch Real Red Grosgrain.

 

November Sparkles Team Meeting Swap

I've been trying to think of what I wanted to do for my swap for our upcoming team meeting.  Our theme this time around is 3D Christmas.  I did some surfing on the web earlier today, looking for ideas, and kept going back to this post as well as this one from Connie Collins.  She used the 5-Point 3D star die to create her gorgeous projects.  I don't have the die (ok, not yet - I just ordered it), so while I continued searching the web for ideas, I came across this post on Splitcoast by Cindy Cade.  Cindy has a great tutorial showing how she made her 'pop stars', and what's even better, when I checked the gallery there on Splitcoast for more 'pop stars', Cindy had uploaded a template for those of us without the die.  I gave it a try tonight and I'm really happy how mine turned out. 

Since I don't (yet) have the die, I used Cindy's template, using a little bit of snail to help hold it onto the can while I cut out the star points.  Cindy's stars have a different embossing for each point, but I personally didn't like that, so I used the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, placing the cut out aluminum shape in the same place for each star point to have a more uniform look to my star.  To emboss the aluminum, I used the multiplatform with tab 1, one cutting pad, then the embossing folder, with the premium crease pad on top.  I think I'll try it without any tabs next time as the embossing punched all the way through in some places.  I have a really old hand-held stapler that staples very close to the edge, which worked great to hold my star points together.  Since all of my points were hand cut, there were some slight differences in how they fit together, so I needed to hide the center where they all met.  The medallion, also inspired by Connie Collins, uses the Perfect Punches stamp set, stamped on Very Vanilla in Cherry Cobbler ink (I stamped two).  I punched out the center of one with a 1 1/4 inch circle punch, mounted that on an Always Artichoke 1 3/8 inch circle punchout, and then punched out the second image with the scallop circle punch, The two are adhered together with stampin' dimensionals.  I used a 1 1/4 inch strip of DSP from the Deck the Halls pack, scoring every 1/4 inch, folding back and forth to create the accordion circle for the rest of the medallion.  Large glue dots help hold it together as well as hold it onto the aluminum star.

To finish off my project, I mounted antique brads through Artichoke Deck the Halls big buttons, pushed the brad ends through the Cherry Cobbler seam binding, and pushed the brad ends through the two small holes I'd punched along the crease in the aluminum to adhere the button/brad combo.  Here's how it turned out:

I think I'll wait until the die arrives to make the rest for my swap since I'll likely need to make four or five more of these, but I'm thrilled I was able to make one without the die.  I hope the gals like my 3D swap - it was fun to make!

Fun with the Candy Wrapper Die

For my stamp camp this past Friday, one project was a Halloween treat using the Candy Wrapper Die.  I showed my stampers Barb Mullikin's great video on how to assemble the die, and then they got to work.  I decided I'd make some for my girls to give to their teachers, so I made 15 myself.  Here are a few of them.  Can you believe it?  I am actually ready for something ahead of time - they're all done, filled with candy, ready to be handed out, and it's only the beginning of October!  That almost never happens!  See you next time!

Quick Birthday Card

Ok, so maybe it wasn't so quick (took me about an hour), but I think it's cute!  My youngest is headed over to a classmate's birthday party in about an hour, and I wanted a homemade card as my DD's friends have come to expect them.  My DD helped me pick out the colors (which ended up matching the new cute AMEX gift card inside that has pink cupcakes on it - didn't actually plan that!) and I got busy with my SU! cupcake Sizzlets dies, my SU! butterflies Embosslits die, my Cuttlebug and the Cuttlebug birthday embossing folder and got to work making Delaney's card.  I used Whisper White, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip (plus Summer Sun for the flames).  I crimped the bottom of the cupcake as it just didn't look right otherwise.  The cupcake is popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals, and the cute little butterfly is also popped up.  I sure hope Delaney likes it:

If I had it to do over again, I would have added a layer of Chocolate Chip behind the Regal Rose to make it pop just a little more - but it 's stuck down, and I don't have time to change it!  Have a great rest of your weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

November Stamp Camp Buffett

This month I repeated three projects for my stampers and added two new ones.  I think everyone liked being able to pick and choose what they wanted to make and to make as many as they wanted.  From last month, I had the Big Shot Owl Treat bag, the cute Sweet Treats Turkey from Connie Collins, and the three-drawer Matchbox Die Dresser.  New this month was the Christmas Card I redesigned based on Dawn Olchefske's original card, and an oldie but goody - Snowman Soup.

Isn't this turkey just the cutest?  I saw him on Connie's stop on a blog hop about two months ago.  I ended up participating in her Big Fat Ribbon Share, and much to my surprise, she included that cute turkey in my ribbon envelope!  I knew my stampers would get a kick out of him, and I finally got to make a few myself this time around.  I couldn't find the Jelly Belly Autumn Mix that Connie used in hers, so we ended up with another Jelly Belly mix that had some browns and reds in it (Soda Shop, I think it's called).  Darla made 8, Laura 5, and 6 for me.

Maddie and Holly each made the Christmas Card and both made several packets of Snowman Soup.  I forgot to take a picture of the back, but I used My Digital Studio to type out my poem and used some of the graphics from Christmas Jingle on MDS to decorate it.  I found these cute tree and star marshmallows at Walgreens early this month and thought they'd be cuter than normal marshmallows (although I did give the gals the option of using regular mini marshmallows - they both chose to use the special ones).

I always love it when I can get together with the ladies at work to spend some stamping time together, and it was great to have four of them join me yesterday, even though it was the Friday afternoon before our week off for Thanksgiving!!

Matchbox Die Chests

I had fun making these cute matchbox die chests for my next team swap.  We were supposed to meet today, but two of us weren't feeling well today, so we had to postpone.  I hadn't used my matchbox die yet, and it's SO EASY!

This was also one of my stamp camp projects this past Thursday.  I used a clear rhinestone brad and the small filigree brad piece for the drawer pull (although it's more decorative than functional).  I used retired Parisian Breeze specialty paper, and I'm so sad it's gone!  I bought three packs of it, and it's quickly dwindling.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a GREAT week!

A Card CASE and a Pop Up Cake!

At a recent stamp camp, my upline shared with we stampers a very cute card that she received from Mary Pickett as a swap during convention.  Using the circle scallop punch, Mary had created these cute ice cream scoops.  She also created her own DSP by using one of the texture plates on the Big Shot, but lightly brayered on some Pretty in Pink ink onto the plate before running the Whisper White through the BS.  Soooo creative!  Jeanne didn't have many of the half-backed pearls from the pretties kit that Mary used on her swap, so Jeanne used the 5/16" white jumbo brads instead.  I love this card and will be making it with my own stamp campers in the coming months.  Not the best view of it as I photographed it at night under my desk lamp, but you get the idea of how cute this card is!

We made two at Jeanne's stamp camp, so the extra one is going to my neice who celebrates her birthday later this week.  I wanted to make it an even more special card, so I grabbed my new Pop Up Cake Sizzix die and made a cake inside the card.  I know it opens sideways compared to the direction the candle would normally be facing, but I still think it's cute, and what's better, it still fits inside a standard-sized greeting card!  I used some old DSP to decorate the layers.  I hope she likes it!

Something I Can Share...

This weekend, I finished my fourth and final project for the upcoming Stampin' Addicts Holiday Mini Blog Hop (August 29 - 31). I feel a sense of relief knowing that they're done before I head back to work tomorrow. The only thing left to do now is to photograph them, which I'll do when I've got some good lighting to work with.

Tonight I finished a project I started last night. I was inspired by Jenny's beautiful wreath, and wanted to make one of my own. I didn't want to flat out copy hers, so I did change a few things. I used the small and medium daisies from the SU! Daisies Big Shot die, using So Saffron card stock. I assembled the daisies and then sponged some So Saffron ink on the petals. The centers are Chocolate Chip courderoy buttons/brads. I was having a tough time keeping the buttons/brads in the center of the daisy, so I punched a circle punch that was a little larger than the circle in the daisy die cut (1/2 inch circle for the small, 3/4 inch circle for the medium size) and adhered that to the back of the daisy. After punching a hole in the middle, it was much easier to keep the button/brad centered. I adhered the daisies to the wreath with dimensionals. The wreath was made using a compass. It measures approximately 8 inches in diameter. I took two of the backing sheets that you get in a pack of designer series paper and glued them together as Jenny did (I always keep these - they've come in handy many times in the past). I then covered it with a piece of Chocolate Chip Patterns DSP. The leaves were made with the SU! Leaves #2 die, punching out from some retired Old Olive Patterns DSP I had on hand, as well as from some textured Pumpkin Pie card stock. I used a piece of the So Saffron ribbon for the bow (the So Saffron ribbon came as part of the Ribbon Bundle back from Sale-A-Bration earlier this year). I left the center part blank. You could put anything there that would fit with chipboard letters. I'm putting our last name on mine, but the ink is still wet. Thank you, Jenny, for the inspiration! I should reshoot this during daytime (it's a little before midnight as I post this), but I couldn't wait to share! Hope you have a great rest of your week!

Make it Sparkle - Another Butterfly Card

Our team meeting is coming up on Sunday and the theme for our swap is "Make it Sparkle". I thought this would be an easy swap, as it could be a card or 3D project that sparkles. Well, it ended up not being so easy afterall! I was looking at my tri-shutter card earlier today, and wondered how it would look if I made it as a standard card size and added some Iridescent Ice embossing powder to the DSP strips and on the butterfly. Tonight I got a chance to sit down and try it. I used my VersaMark pad to ink up the top and bottom strips, added the Iridescent Ice EP, and heat set it. You have to be careful doing this because you can over-do it easily if you aren't watching what you are doing. I debated about putting the EP on the middle strip, but I like the kind of vellum over DSP look of this piece, so I decided to leave it alone. The other decision was the blue DSP behind the butterfly. Still not sure if I should have added the EP instead of leaving it plain like I did. I used my Big Shot to cut out the butterfly parts, and then added EP to the DSP part of the butterfly. I used clear rhinestones for the body of the butterfly, and some silver wire to create the antennae. The butterfly and rectangle it is attached to is popped up with four dimensionals. The sentiment comes from the new Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set, available for purchase starting July 1. I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of the middle strip, using Chocolate Chip, and used the small and large oval punches to frame it (and popped up with two dimensionals). It still didn't feel finished, so I added the two jumbo Chocolate Chip brads on the top strip. I'm pretty happy with it, and it really sparkles in real life! Unless I come up with something different, it looks like this is my swap for Sunday. I scanned the card, but I think I'll go back and photograph it tomorrow so you see the butterfly wings actually coming up off the card. Have a great rest of your week!