Embossed Ribbon

  Happy Friday everyone!  I hope you have something fun planned for the weekend....I'm trying to come up with some fun ideas to do with my boys...any suggestions?

  The card I'm sharing today was one of my club projects that we made just a few days ago.  I wanted to teach them how to emboss ribbon.  It is a super easy technique to do with an embossing folder and your Big Shot.  It gives you just that many more options for embellishing with ribbon and you all know how much I love to put ribbon on all of my cards!

   All you need to do is to adhere your seam binding ribbon to your cardstock.  I would suggest using SNAIL adhesive so you can cover it with the ribbon ends and it won't stick to the inside of your embossing folder.  Then simply place your cardstock into the embossing folder making sure to put your ribbon face up on the raised side of the folder.  Run it through the Big Shot just like normal.  Voila!  You have embossed ribbon!  If you would like make embossed ribbon without having to emboss the whole panel all you need to do is cut a strip of cardstock the same width as your ribbon and whatever length you need.  Adhere the ribbon to the cardstock and put it through the Big Shot as I described above.  And now you have a nice embossed strip of ribbon to place wherever you'd like on your project.

  See how the design just pops out? Pretty slick isn't it?

  For the rest of the card I used Pretty in Pink for the base.  The Field Flowers set is so pretty I just had to use it again for this project!  First the stem is stamped in Certainly Celery and then flowers are stamped and then re-inked and stamped again and cut out from scrap paper.  I used Pretty in Pink as the base for the flowers and then the 2 step stamping for the detail is Regal Rose.  The sentiment is stamped and punched with the oval punch. 

  After the flowers were cut out I popped them up with dimensionals!  For the fun stuff I added the new Dazzling Details to the center of the flower and the bud.  I also added a button that has a little bit of baker's twine tied through the center.  The button is adhered with a glue dot.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?


Stamps: Field Flowers

Ink: Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Rose Red


Paper: Pretty in Pink, Whisper White


Accessories: Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, seam binding ribbon, oval punch, button, Baker's Twine, glue dots, dimensionals, Circles #2 die

Fifth Avenue Meet Poppy Parade

  Wow!  Where has the week gone??  I can't believe it's already Thursday.  I guess it's true that time flies when you're having fun.  Tuesday night and Wednesday morning I had my stamp club events and always have a great time with my stamping ladies.  On Wednesday afternoon the boys and I visited with our good friends and met their brand new baby girl!  And I think today I'm going to take a breather and I need to get back in the stamp room to 1) to clean up and put things away from club and 2) I need to make a lot of cards! 

  I'll be posting my club projects over the next few days but today I'm sharing a card that I made for my next door neighbor for her birthday last week.  She's also a friend and one of my stamping ladies so I can't just make any old card!  I got this color combination at church 2 weeks ago.  Someone was wearing a cute Poppy Parade skirt that had white flower outlines all over it.  She paired the skirt with an Early Espresso knit top and she looked awesome.  I, of course, wrote down the color combination on my bulletin so I wouldn't forget. 

  I dusted off my Fifth Avenue Floral set which hasn't seen much action lately and I fell in love with it all over again.  I embossed the flowers with white embossing powder on Poppy Parade cardstock and then cut around the petals with my Paper Snips (best $9.95 spent for a tool ever!) for a fun detail.  I did mask a little so the flowers would be closer together.

 

  I also embossed the birthday greeting from Petite Pairs in white. I made one of my beloved 

Fork Bows to go around the top panel and highlight the greeting.  I mounted this on a panel of Early Espresso and then a base of Poppy Parade.   And there you have it!

  I hope everyone has an awesome Thursday!  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

  Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Petite Pairs

  Ink: Versamark

  Paper: Poppy Parade, Early Espresso

  Accessories: white embossing powder, Whisper White satin ribbon

Not Stamping but still Crafty- What to do with all those seashells you collect at the beach!

  This isn't stamping related but I figured you would all humor me with showing this project today.  I don't know if I'm the only one that does this or not but maybe I can help some other shell collector out there.  When we go to the beach every year for vacation I always pick up a lot of shells.  Well a lot is probably an understatement; the first time we went I came home with a giant ziploc bag filled with all different colors of shells, some just pieces, some whole, no rhyme or reason to the collection at all.  What the heck to do with them once I was home??  The next year I had a plan.  I was going to collect enough of one type of shell to make a picture frame when I got home.  I ended up collecting enough purple shells to make a frame for me as well as our friends who went with us.

  Now it has become a tradition every year to collect one type of shell (or this year rocks!) and make a frame to put our annual beach family photo in.  The current year's photo is displayed downstairs in my TV room and the previous years get moved upstairs.  They are all hung in a group in the hallway.  It's fun to look at the different shells as well as the photos which shows our family grow from just the 2 of us, to having Ryan and then Alex.   We aren't much for going to those portrait studios every year for pictures so this more casual style works perfectly for us and I get to make great use of my shells and it gives me a bit more focus while I'm at the beach so I don't end up with a 5 gallon pail full of randomness. 

The Hallway

  This year I wanted to find enough little smooth black rocks to go all the way around the frame. I was glad I picked the easy-to-find rocks since our vacation got cut a few days short due to being evacuated for hurricane Irene.  I had plenty of rocks collected by the time we left partway through the week.  Here is the finished product...sorry about the horrible photo, I need to learn how to photograph glass apparently!

The Family- Aug. 2011

  To get started is really easy....collect what kind of shell you want to use.  The number you need will vary depending on how large the shells are so I always collect more than I think I will need just so I'm not caught short once I'm home.  I get a basic black 8x10 frame at Target.  You want to make sure the frame you choose has a flat front...once that has too much detail or ridges will make it hard for you to glue down the shells.  That and you'll be covering up any details anyway so you might as well not pay for it in the first place.  And lastly you'll need some craft glue that dries clear....I use Ailene's Tacky Glue but any brand will probably work.

See in the upper lefthand corner...that's my coveted sea glass from this last beach trip.  We have an unofficial contest to see who can find the first piece of sea glass, the biggest piece etc.  My mother in law won the biggest this year with 2 very large pieces from the bottom of a wine bottle I think.  Anyway, maybe some day I'll have enough sea glass to do a frame.

 
  I always do a dry run of my layout of shells/rocks before starting to glue.  Sometimes one shell will not look right next to another one...don't ask me why I guess it's just artistic license or something!  Anyway, laying them out first allows you to rearrange and adjust as needed. 

 Next start gluing.  This actually goes pretty fast...pick up shell/rock put glue on shell/rock put back into place on the frame....now repeat until they are glued down.  I don't suggest moving the frame for an hour or so to let the glue set up so your shells won't shift around.  And I always wait a day or so before adding the photo...better safe than sorry.  Just one tip for this part...don't let your shells hang too far off of the bottom edge of the frame.  If any shells stick over too far they will prevent the frame from standing up correctly.  This isn't a concern if you're going to hang it but if you're leaving it on a table top then you don't want it to come crashing down.

  And again with the finished frame.  I just get a 5x7 photo matte (or is it mat??) at a local craft store and hand write the beach we stayed at and the date.  I'd love to hear about or see other ideas of what you do with your shells to capture the memories of your vacations.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you go shelling today?

 

Pennant Christmas Tree

  Only 91 days until Christmas folks!!  It will be here before you know it.  I bet some stores are already putting their Halloween merchandise on sale and filling the shelves with Christmas goodies.  I am still on my quest of having all of my Christmas cards finished well before this year.  No last minute Mandy here!  Here is the design I did for the August Christmas card challenge at Splitcoaststampers.  I made 10 of these cute little pennant trees.

 

  This design comes together really quickly and is perfect for mass producing.  The base is Cherry Cobbler with a piece of Jolly Holiday (retired) DSP on the bottom.  There are so many great current Christmas DSP designs, just pick your favorite instead!  The tree panel is mounted on a piece of Early Espresso.  The Very Vanilla frame is from the new Designer Frames embossing folders.  You get 2 different shapes in this set, one is this rectangle the other is an oval.  

   I stamped the tree base in Early Espresso.  The tree is made from a scalloped pennant that was punched out of textured Old Olive.  The tree image was stamped in Old Olive and then punched out.  I colored in every other circle with my Cherry Cobbler marker to add some interest and contrast there.  The 2 tree pieces are adhered together and then adhered to the frame base with dimensionals.  

  For the embellishments on this card I added an adhesive rhinestone to the top of the tree for some sparkle.  A length of Very Vanilla satin ribbon finishes off the center of the card.

  80 cards down...I still need to design a card for September and I have an idea it's just a matter of making time to do it.  First I have to prepare for stamp club this week!  I hope everyone has a great weekend!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Pennant Parade

Ink: Old Olive, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler- marker

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive textured, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Jolly Holiday DSP (retired)

Accessories:  Designer frames embossing folder, satin ribbon, adhesive rhinestone, Pennant Punch

Lunch Box Dinosaurs

  My 5 year old told me last night before going to bed that he had been at school for 12 days and that tomorrow (today) it would be 13.  Apparently they are using straws to count the number of days they've been in school (and using it as a lesson to count by 1's, 10's etc.).  It seems like a lot more days  than that to me!  But so far so good....tonight is Back to School Night so we'll get more information about what they've been learning so far. 

  For the first week of school I made these 3x3 notes to tuck into Ryan's lunchbox, one for each day.  I couldn't tell if he liked them or even cared that I put them in the lunchbox.  Or maybe he was embarrassed??  Who knows; he's a kid of few words when it comes to stuff like that!  But I had fun making them and in the end you can't worry about what anyone else thinks (even a 5 year old!), as long as you had fun making something that's really what counts!  Anyway, I didn't get a chance to take a photo of these before putting them in the lunches so they are a little worse for the wear after being squashed against the ice pack, juice boxes, apples and ham sandwiches!  I'm sure you can imagine what they looked like in all their pristine glory before the lunch box trauma!

  I just love these little dinosaurs from the new set Dinoroar.  There is just something kind of loveable about them...see how they each have a little smile?  I kind of want to give them each a name....is that weird?  Nevermind, don't answer that!

  I colored them in using my ink pad and blender pen.  I don't know if it shows up well in the photo but to give each dinosaur some definition I colored an outline around them with Sahara Sand ink.  3 of the sentiments come from the long retired hostess set So Many Sayings the other sentiment is from the current Petite Pairs set. I used markers to color the sentiments and for the So Many Sayings ones I punched them out with the word window punch since there are so many on each stamp it can be hard to line up.

  I'm hoping to stamp a bunch of different 3x3 notes to continue to put in Ryan's lunchbox...maybe every Friday?  I better get going since tomorrow is Friday....Day 14 by the straw count!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Dinoroar, Petite Pairs, So Many Sayings (retired)

Ink: Black Stazon, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Sahara Sand

Paper: Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive

Accessories: blender pen, word window punch

Tea Bag Pocket Tutorial

  Here is the first project that I completed after having last Friday morning to myself....no errands, both boys at school, no service people scheduled....it was wonderful.  I made some of these tea bag sleeves a while ago as little treats to tuck into my customers orders.  Several people asked if I would put up the instructions on my blog and I said I would....well months later I've finally kept my word.  It's also a lot easier since I got my new Simply Scored tool from Stampin' Up.  It's so easy to adjust the line markers and score away without having to keep measuring for each piece of paper!  I love that it has the 1/8" marks; that makes it very easy for math challenged people like me! 

  When I first made these I followed another tutorial that used a larger piece of DSP for the inside.  I think I could only get one tea bag holder out of each 12X12 sheet of DSP using the measurements given in that tutorial.  Well I don't know about you but I'm way too cheap to buy 2 whole packs of DSP just to make these.  So I fiddled with the measurements and now I've got a design that allows me to make 4 sleeves out of 1 sheet!  Woo-Hoo!  You can get 3 of the outside covers from one piece of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock too so this is a pretty economical project if you're making a lot of them.

  To make a tea bag sleeve/holder/packet/pocket etc. you will need the following supplies:

1 piece of cardstock cut at 7 3/4" x 3 1/4"
1 piece of Designer Series Paper (DSP) cut at 7" x 4"
Sticky Strip
Scoring tool (I used the Simply Scored)
About 20" of ribbon of your choice (I used 1/4" Whisper White Grosgrain)
2 tea bags
circle punch
Stamps & embellishments of your choice for decorating the front cover (I used Morning Cup for this project.  See the very end of this post for specific supplies for my sample Tea Bag Sleeve)

Step 1: Score your cardstock at 3 1/2" & 4 1/4".  I set my Simply Scored markers and scored all of my cardstock at once and then set it aside.

Step 2:  Line your DSP up so it is up and down the long way (see photo).  Move your markers and score at 1/2" & 3 1/2".

Step 3:   Turn the DSP 90 degrees and score at 3 1/8" & 3 7/8"

Step 4:   Pre-fold all the score lines on both the cardstock and the DSP.

 

Step 5:  Fold the open ends of the DSP together so they line up.  Insert the open end part way into your circle punch and punch a half circle.  This will give you cute little openings to make it easier to pull the tea bags out of the pockets.

 

Step 6:  Adhere your Sticky Strip to the tabs on the back of the DSP. 

Step 7:  Take your red backing off of the Sticky Strip, turn it over so the Sticky Strip faces the inside of your cardstock cover.  Carefully line up the center score marks of both pieces of paper and adhere.  Be careful of your alignment...once the Sticky Strip touches the cardstock you can't change it!

 Step 8:  Slide your tea bags into the pockets and then add your ribbon tie.  I use a small amount of SNAIL directly on the ribbon to hold it in place.  It takes about 20 inches of ribbon and that gives you a fair amount to tie a nice bow, trim the ends and then still have enough to re-tie so it can be refilled and regifted.

 

Step 9:  Stamp and embellish the front however you wish.  Give it to someone and make their day!

 

 Here is one that I made for my mom to give the ladies that come to the church quilting group she organizes.  I made a bunch of these with the Sew Suite stamp set and coordinating DSP.  She said they always have tea when they sew so she thought they would be the perfect little item to tell her group thanks for all their hard work making the charity quilts.

And the inside view:

 

Here are the ones I made for my stamping ladies a while back:

 

And last but not least the "group" shot!

  I hope you find this tutorial useful.  If you have any questions be sure to leave a comment and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.  

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Morning Cup

Ink: Basic Black, markers - Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait

Paper: Peach Parfait, Pool Party, Whisper White, Pool Party In Color DSP


Accessories: Simply Scored, grosgrain ribbon, scallop circle punches, circle punch, sticky strip, dimensionals, word window punch, mini clothespins

Blog Milestone Giveaway Winner

  I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far!  I didn't get to do the blog candy giveaway last night so I just drew the winning comment.  I tried to figure out how to get the little number generator thing on my blog but alas I am not a computer genius. 

  So I used the random number generator at Random.org  I had 13 comments and the winning comment was number 7 which is Barb from The Country Rose stamping blog!

  This is what Barb said, "Congratulations on your blog hits! These are the cutest little elf shoes ever! Love the striped stockings!"

  Thanks Barb!  Just send me an e-mail with your address at mandysurovy "at" yahoo "dot" com and I'll get your stamp set and dimensionals in the mail Monday or Tuesday.

  Have a great weekend!  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Turtle Tilt Tag

  I need to get busy in the stamp room....I'm starting to run out of projects to show you!  Pesky kids and things like errands and preparing meals is getting in the way of stamping time!  The project for today is a cute little tag that I made using the Turtle & Co. set.  Are you tired of seeing this set yet?  Have you seen enough to make you want to order one of your own?  =)

  I made one for each of my ladies that signed up for my Turtle & Co. mini stamp-a-stack last month.  I tied the name tag to the bag that held their stamp set and door prize ticket.  The cool thing about this tag is that the turtle's shell tilts back and forth!  There is a nice tutorial HERE at Splitcoaststampers so I won't reinvent the wheel and do step by step instructions since it's exactly how I did my tag.

  For the tag base I used the lightweight cardboard that comes with Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper.  It's just the right thickness for a project like this.  I use the Big Shot and 2 Tags Die to cut the cardboard and a piece of First Edition Specialty DSP to layer on the top.

  The turtle is stamped on Naturals White in Stazon.  I stamped and cut out 2 turtle shells on Lucky Limeade In Color DSP to paper piece.  The turtle's head and feet were watercolored with Certainly Celery ink and a blender pen.

  I hand cut the little banner using a scrap of Naturals White, sponged the edges with Lucky Limeade and then wrote the names with my Basic Black marker.

  One tip....make sure to punch your hole for the ribbon tie BEFORE you adhere your scallop circle.  It's very hard to punch once the scallop circle is attached!  Just ask me how I know!  All in all it didn't take much time to make 6 of these but I would suggest starting with a practice one first so you can work out the kinks.  I ended up having to stack several dimensionals to make enough room for the pennies to move freely.  Check out the tutorial for Tilt Cards and it all becomes clear!

  Also, for my local stamping ladies....I need to know by tomorrow if you plan to attend September Stamp Club on either the 27th or the 28th.  If you're in the Richmond area and would like to attend as a guest just let me know!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?


Stamps: Turtle & Co.

Ink: Stazon, Certainly Celery, Lucky Limeade

Paper: Naturals White, In Color DSP, First Edition DSP, scrap cardboard

Accessories: Dimensionals, large scallop circle punch, 2 Tags die, blender pen, pennies, craft knife, grosgrain ribbon

Aviary Birthday

  I wanted to thank everyone for all the nice comments on my Top Note Elf Shoes card yesterday.  I really appreciate you taking the time to leave Did You Stamp Today? some love.  Or maybe you just want the freebies...Ha!  That's OK too; I'll take what I can get!  My Blog Milestone giveaway is still going on until Friday evening.  If you like to enter check out this post and become a follower and leave a comment.  If you're already a follower just leave a comment.  One entry per person please to keep it fair for all!

  On to the card for today.  This one combines 2 challenges that are over on Splitcoaststampers (SCS).  One is a color challenge that is posted on the Demo only side of SCS.  Every month a very talented group of demos called the Creative Crew come up challenges for that month.  They make great samples and inspire all the rest of us to show off our great Stampin' Up! products.  And don't worry, you don't have to be a demo to play along!   The other challenge that I used was Sketch Challenge 348.  How did I do??

  The colors for the challenge are the colors from the Timeless Portrait DSP from the Idea Book & Catalog.  These colors are Island Indigo, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Basic Black and River Rock.  We were to use at least 3 of those colors on our projects.  I crammed all 5 of them on mine...I couldn't help myself!

  The base of the card is Island Indigo.  On top of that is a panel of River Rock that I embossed with the Houndstooth embossing folder.  I stamped both birdcages in black on Very Vanilla cardstock and then mounted them on panels of Basic Black.  I added an Island Indigo bird and then a Cherry Cobbler bird to the cages.

  For the little strip that kind of looks like ribbon but isn't is just a scrap of Cherry Cobbler adhered to a scrap of Basic Black and then pierced with my paper piercing tool.  I thought these colors were kind of masculine so I wanted to keep the ribbon off so I could use this for a guy birthday when needed. 

The last piece of the puzzle is the sentiment.  I thought it kind of looked like the birds were talking to each other the way they are facing in the cages.  So I used part of a stamp in the new Delightful Dozen set kind of like one bird is asking the other the big question, "You're how old?".  The birthday stamp in this set is great...it's like a collage of different birthday greetings that you can ink up and stamp together or use your markers and pick and choose what you want to use.  I love stamps that have endless combinations and possibilities!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Aviary, Delightful Dozen

Ink: Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Island Indigo

Paper: Island Indigo, Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, River Rock

Accessories: 1 3/8" & 1 1/4" circle punches, paper piercer, Houndstooth embossing folder, dimensionals

A Blog Milestone & A Giveway to Celebrate!

  Happy Monday!  Sometime over the weekend my blog reached 50,000 hits!  I know that's peanuts compared to some other stamping blogs but I never thought anyone besides a few of my local stamping ladies would ever look at Did You Stamp Today?  I apparently (if you can believe the statistics!) have had people from all over the world view my projects.  I hope I can continue to come up with fun ideas that inspire you.  In honor of my blog milestone I'm giving away a pack of Stampin' Dimensionals (because you know I can't make a card without them!) and the wood mounted hostess stamp set Picture This.  To be entered in the contest simply become a follower and then leave a comment at the bottom of this post (unfortunately I will only be able to ship to addresses in the USA & Canada--sorry!).  If you are already a follower just leave a comment!  I'll draw a winner on Friday evening.  Easy right?

Blog Candy!!!

  And now on to the real reason you're here....a card!  I made this card the other night after seeing the Clean and Simple challenge on Splitcoaststampers---Shoes.  So I wanted to make a card with shoes....hmmmm....I have no stamps with shoes on them.  That could be a problem huh?  For those of you that know me you can attest to the fact that I am by no means a fashionista.  I don't even like shopping for clothes and shoes.  I had to dig deep for this card but I really like how it turned out.  I am not the originator of the Top Note die shoes as they have been around for a while but I thought putting the new little jingle bells on the tips was a fun way to make them Elf Shoes!

   So I know there isn't any stamping on the outside of this card but I did stamp a sentiment on the inside using the new Petite Pairs stamp set.  I wanted to keep the outside Clean and Simple in fitting with the challenge.  The base of the card is Wild Wasabi which is a great green to use for a little less traditional Christmas-y green.  For some texture I then ran a panel of Whisper White through the Big Shot with the Northern Flurry embossing folder.

  To make the shoes I cut out a Top Note with the Big Shot using the awesome red Glimmer Paper.  It also comes in silver now too...think of the Christmas possibilities!  Then I cut the Top Note in half.  Next, fold one of the halves in half and using a small circle punch punch half a circle out just to the side of the fold.  Then using a larger circle punch punch half of a circle next to your first half circle- this forms the tips of the shoes.  Open up the Top Note and you have shoes! 

  For the legs I simply used some narrow strips of Wild Wasabi and hand cut some strips out of Whisper White to become the stripes on the stockings.  I glued the stripes down with Tombow Multi.

  For the final touch I threaded some Cherry Cobbler baker's twine through the new mini jingle bells and tied a bow.  I used half of a glue dot behind each bow to adhere them to the shoe tips so the bells would still jingle. 

  I hope you got a smile out of this card!  Don't forget to leave a comment if you'd like to be entered into the drawing for the giveaway.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: None

Ink: None

Paper: Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, Red Glimmer paper

Accessories: Northern Flurry embossing folder, Top Note die, 3/4" & 1 3/8" circle punches, mini jingle bells, bakers twine

Thinking of You in Blue

  I made this card last weekend to send to a lady from church who had fallen and broken her arm.  I am on a church committee with her and she is just the sweetest lady.  I wanted to let her know I was thinking of her and to ask if I could help her out with anything while she was in a cast.  I've broken both of my arms (not at the same time but about a year and half apart) so I know how difficult it can be to do some things that you just take for granted when you have 2 arms!

  The inspiration for the colors for this card came from this apron from Pomegranate Inc.  This website was the Inspiration Challenge at Splitcoaststampers last weekend.  I don't have a sunflower stamp (though there is that big background sized one in the catalog that's pretty cool!) so I went with Field Flowers again.  I hope you aren't tired of seeing this stamp set yet!  I don't think you could make an ugly card with this set even if you tried!

 

  The base of the card is Marina Mist which I don't think I've used in a while.  I stamped the stems twice in Lucky Limeade so I could have 3 flowers.  The flower and buds are stamped in Marina Mist.  To get the light and dark color I simply stamped off once onto my scrap paper before stamping onto my cardstock.  For the second layer I didn't stamp off so it is darker.  I stamped the large flower again and cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals.  That whole panel is mounted on a piece of Lucky Limeade.

  Across the image panel I adhered a length of Marina Mist satin ribbon.  For the sentiment I used the stem stamp again and stamped it off once on my scrap paper and then again onto the cardstock.  That gave me a nice subtle leaf to stamp the sentiment on top of.  The "Thinking of You" is from the hostess set Silhouette Sentiments and is stamped in black.  I punched it out with the 1 1/4" circle punch and then mounted it on a Marina Mist circle punched with the 1 3/8" circle punch.  I added a few little adhesive pearls underneath the sentiment to finish this card off.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Field Flowers


Ink: Marina Mist, Lucky Limeade, Black

Paper: Marina Mist, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White

Accessories: dimensionals, adhesive pearls, Marina Mist satin ribbon, 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" circle punches

Turtle & Co. Christmas

  I bet you didn't look at the Turtle & Co. set in the catalog and think, "Wow, I can make Christmas cards using this set!".  But you can!  This is a fun sparkly card where it would be very easy to just change out the colors for a birthday (guy or girl) and keep the same layout.  This is the 3rd and final card my stamping ladies made last week at the Turtle & Co. mini stamp-a-stack.

  The base of the card is Soft Suede.  I have a thin strip of In Color DSP in Lucky Limeade and a strip of Riding Hood Red punched with the scallop edge punch.  I highlighted the scallops a bit by piercing each one with my paper piercer.  The stacks of presents are stamped in Stazon on watercolor paper and colored in with markers.  Watercolor paper works wonderfully for coloring as you don't get the marker lines, everything blends together nicely. 

  For the bling on this card I used sticky strip across the bottom of the image panel and then pressed glass glitter into it.  You won't get any stray flecks coming off if you use the sticky strip.  It's very hard to see in the photo but I sprayed a healthy amount of Shimmer Mist (made from mixing a bit of Shimmer Paint with rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle...shake well and spray!) all over the entire card.  The Shimmer Mist really makes the Soft Suede base sparkle!  Finally, I used the new Dazzling Details (in the Holiday Mini) to highlight some of the presents, the bows and polka dots got jazzed up.  You can't get much more sparkle than this on one card!  It really catches the light in real life!

  Finally I stamped the "Merry Christmas" from Four the Holidays in Soft Suede. 

  That's it for today, I've got to get my butt in gear and get Alex to his first day of school and then do boring stuff like getting the oil changed in my car....yuck!  I'd rather be stamping!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Turtle & Co., Four the Holidays

Ink: Stazon, Soft Suede, markers- Riding Hood Red, Lucky Limeade, More Mustard

Paper: Soft Suede, Riding Hood Red, watercolor paper, In Color DSP


Accessories: scallop border punch, Dazzling Details, Shimmer Mist, sticky strip, Glass Glitter

Back to School!

  I just walked my oldest to his first day of kindergarten!  It's a rainy nasty day here in Richmond but we walked to the bus stop and waited for a while.  They Ryan said, "Mommy, let's just walk".  The bus stop is in view of the school (yes, ridiculous I know but I don't make the bus routes...if I did they would probably make more sense!).  So we walked across the street, I gave him a hug and kiss at the door and off he went down the hallway.  I'm happy to report there were no tears, from Ryan or me!

Look at those skinny legs....I'm jealous!!

  So in honor of the first day of school for many today I made these cute little pencil gifts.  I love the new 1x8 Cello treat bags from Stampin' Up!  As you can see you can fit 2 pencils easily (and I can't wait to try out some other treats!).  It has a nice flap that you just peel of the little plastic bit and it's nice and sticky so you don't have to worry about sealing it with SNAIL or Sticky Strip.  You can find the cello bags in the Holiday Mini.

 

  I made a quick tag using the large scallop circle punch with Whisper White cardstock.  I stamped the School Lines mini background stamp on the Whisper White using Baja Breeze ink.  The owl is punched out in Soft Suede with First Edition DSP for his tummy.  I used the Good Grids mini background stamp with Crumb Cake ink on the tummy piece just to give it some texture (and to stay with the school theme!).  The feet are Pumpkin Pie and the eyes are Basic Black and Whisper White and the heart is Cherry Cobbler.  Everything was adhered with Tombow Multi...I love the fine tip on this glue for adhering small pieces; you get the glue just where you need it.

 I used my Crop-a-dile to punch the hole in the tag and set the eyelet.  I stamped the sentiment from Up, Up & Away in black and then tied the tag to the pencils with some Cherry Cobbler baker's twine.

  I hope your babies all got to school safely this morning.  I'm going to be on pins and needles all day just waiting for Ryan to get home and tell us all about the first day of kindergarten!

Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?


Stamps: School Lines, Good Grid, Up, Up & Away

Ink: Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Black


Paper: Whisper White, Soft Suede, Pumpkin Pie, Cherry Cobbler, Black, First Ed. Specialty DSP

Accessories: silver eyelet, large scallop circle punch, Owl punch, Baker's Twine, 1x8 cello bags, pencils (non-SU)

Cheerful Balloons CD Holder

  I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend so far.  We've gotten some stuff done around the house and took the boys to see Cars 2 finally.  Alex actually made it through the whole movie which surprised us.  I guess the constant stream of popcorn and then a lollipop helped!  I even saw one of my stamping ladies there with her daughter....Hi Jill!

  Today I'm sharing a project I made a few weeks back.  I made this CD holder to send to my cousin who visited with her kids about a month ago.  She had forgotten to pack her camera so I was in charge of taking pictures during our Richmond Fun Week.  I burned a CD with the photos but of course I wanted to make something cute to protect it.  This would be a great project to make using the new Simply Scored Scoring Tool that is in the Holiday Mini.  I didn't receive my Holiday Mini preorder in time to make mine though.  The Simply Scored is a really cool tool that helps you score perfectly every time.  It has neat little place markers that you move around depending on the measurements for your project.  This is a wonderful feature if you're making multiples of something; you don't need to keep measuring, just follow the place markers.  I hope to have a tutorial in the next week or two using the Simply Scored so you can see how easy it is to use.

 

 How cute is that?  The base of the holder is Crumb Cake and I put a piece of Pear Pizzazz DSP (from the hostess pack in the last catalog) at the bottom to represent the grass.  After I rounded the edges I stamped the clouds on the top flap with Whisper White craft ink.  They show up really nicely on the Crumb Cake cardstock don't they?  The balloons are stamped in Poppy Parade and Daffodil Delight, using ink pads and markers (for the striped balloon).  The baskets are also Crumb Cake.  I cut the balloons out and popped them up with dimensionals on the top flap making sure to not seal the flap down.

  The closure is simply a length of 1/8" taffeta ribbon threaded through a hole punched in the top flap and tied in a bow.  I did tie a little knot in each end of the ribbon just for an added detail.  Finally, the sentiment from Petite Pairs was stamped in Crumb Cake and then punched out with the 1 1/4" circle punch and mounted on a 1 3/8" Poppy Parade circle.  Here is the inside view (holding a My Digital Studio CD--- don't worry I didn't send that one to my cousin!), not the best photo but you get the idea.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Up, Up and Away, Petite Pairs

Ink: Crumb Cake, Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, White craft

Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz DSP (retired hostess pack)

Accessories: corner rounder, 1/8" taffeta ribbon, dimensionals, circle punches, small hole punch, sticky strip (for adhering the holder together)

Turtle & Co. Stack Up

  I don't know if it's just me but I'm ready for some structure and schedule again.  It was nice when the summer began and we didn't need to be anywhere but now I'm ready to plan my days around the school schedule's and to get my much needed mommy time when both boys are at school at the same time....9 whole hours a week this year!!  I hope to get some regular stamping in during these hours and I have lots of projects in mind to try as well as some around the house projects.  School starts on Tuesday for Ryan...Kindergarten!!  And Alex's first day of preschool is on Wednesday. 

  Any, enough rambling, on to the fun stuff....stamping!  Here is the second card we made at my Turtle & Co. mini stamp-a-stack.  I just love the Pool Party & Poppy Parade color combination.  I've seen a few really cute Christmas cards using this color combination and I think I might have to try my hand at it too!

  The base is Pool Party that we embossed with the new Stripes embossing folder (love it!!).  Then we cut a scallop square out of watercolor paper using the Big Shot and the scallop square die.  Since the ladies were making 2 of each card we simply used the paper trimmer to cut the scallop square in half to have one panel for each card.  We used watercolor paper for the images because it really does give the best results for watercoloring...it takes the color beautifully and there isn't any bleeding.  Also, make sure to use Stazon for the outlines.  Other inks will bleed and smudge and just make a mess of your images. 

  We used post it note masks to get our animals all stacked on top of each other.  Then we used Aquapainters and the ink pad lids to watercolor.  Simply squish the closed ink pad lid into the pad and open it up.  You'll see the ink on the inside of the lid and you just pick up that ink with the Aquapainter and start coloring.  You can also use reinkers the same way; squeeze a drop of ink on to a piece of plastic (the stamp-a-ma-jig image sheet works, the top of a stamp set case, the lid of an embellishment container etc.).  If you use Stampin' Spots just press the spot down onto one of those plastic items and you'll get the same little smears of ink to use.  Easy!

 

  The Poppy Parade banner was hand cut with the paper snips as well as the sentiment which was just stamped on scraps of watercolor paper.  You can make up any combo of sentiments just by stamping the different words and piecing them together however you'd like.  The banner is attached with a mini library clip (so cute!!!) that is embellished with a baker's twine bow.  The whole image panel is popped up with dimensionals of course because I can't not use dimensionals if you haven't noticed.

  Remember for each Turtle & Co. that is sold Stampin' Up! donates $3 to the Ronald McDonald House Charities.  RMHC provides wonderful services to families who have sick children.  What would you do if you had to be far from home for weeks or months at a time while your child was receiving treatment at a hospital?  The cost of a hotel room for that amount of time would be astronomical.  RMHC provides a place for families to stay so they can be close to their child who is in the hospital.  Check if there is a local RMHC near you and what you might be able to do to help.  In the meantime, put Turtle & Co. on your next Stampin' Up! order and start creating some cute cards for a great cause.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Turtle & Co.

Ink: Stazon, For watercoloring- Crumb Cake, Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz, Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, markers for coloring the hat- Poppy Parade, Pool Party

Paper: watercolor paper, Pool Party, Poppy Parade

Accessories: scallop square die, mini library clip, bakers twine, dimensionals, Stripes embossing folder, Aquapainter