Friday, September 30, 2011

It's a Pennant Christmas

These little pennant Christmas trees are all over right now.  They're so cute, they're so easy and one of the best things they fold flat for mailing.  I don't know if you've noticed but it seems lately that even the slightest little bump in the envelope will get the card sent back to you for 'extra postage', it's very frustrating.  Especially with the holiday around the corner you don't want to have your cards returned to you for a couple cents.  Having said that, this card would require extra postage, not because of the pop up tree but because of the button.  But let's get down to the tree shall we.  I know for me, it's important to buy, or get free, stamp sets that you can use for more than one occasion.  So imagine my delight when I saw this little tree made from the pennant punch and set.  So cute!!! 


The tree is super simple.  You need to punch 3 of the scalloped pennants out and fold them in half vertically.  Adhere them together, attach to your card and your done!  It doesn't get any easier than that.  Plus this is an excellent way to use up all those scraps you have lying around, and you know you have them :)   Our demonstrator meeting was last night.  I'll have highlights for you next week as well as my 3 minute demo.  Until then have a great weekend!!!
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Thinking of You

I had quite a productive day yesterday.  In spite of Megan's attempts to sabotage my work with her playing, I was able to get my swaps done for our demo meeting tonight, get my 3 minute demo done, got every card for my November 12 Christmas Card Stamp a Stack planned, and made my order for it, just need to submit it now, AND I got 90% of my prep work done for my Big Shot Class on Saturday.  Whew!  And my stamp desk is pretty clean!  So it was a good day!  But I suppose you're here to see a card right?  Isn't this one cute!?

The card is simple but has some definite WOW factors.  First I stamped the truck twice, once on some Baja Breeze DSP and the other on the vanilla piece.  I cut out the truck, in Baja Breeze and watercolored the bumper, dog, and shadow.  I used a black marker for the wheels.  I sponged some Not Quite Navy ink on the truck before attaching it to the card.  The tag is from the ever popular Two Tags Die.  Everything else is pretty simple.  I just love how the little dog is driving the truck, so cute!!! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Wisteria and Chocolate

I have the cutest little project for you today.  I saw it somewhere, I think on a blog.  But I can't find it now.  If it's your project please let me know so I can give you credit.  The idea of using the Two Tags die for a little box or treat holder isn't new, but I loved how the Pennant Punch was used for a little tag, so that's what I copied.  So cute!  I used the Berry Blossoms DSP.  There's really not much to tell about this project.  It's so simple, you could make a ton in no time, and you can customize it to ANY occasion!

The tag couldn't be easier.  I stamped the scalloped Pennant stamp twice, once on Wisteria Wonder CS then on White CS.  Punched it out, using both the scalloped pennant and the straight one.  I layered them and added a little flower from the Bitty Punch set.  A pearl to finish it and it's done.  It really couldn't be easier.  :)



Inside the box are 2 Ghirardelli Chocolate squares. Is there a better chocolate out there, I don't think so.  They're my favorite anyway, but only the dark chocolate, I'm not a milk chocolate fan.  The box is made with 2 of the rectangle tags from the Two Tags die.  There's a score line on the tags, you simply fold along that score line and adhere the bottom of the tags to each other.  I hope that all makes sense.  The Two Tags Die is one of my favorite dies.  I love it!  Time to work on my swaps for our monthly meeting tomorrow night. 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Ornate Blossom Birthday

I've been crafting like a mad woman, my messy house is proof that I've neglected every other chore in my life.  But I've had a really good time, I've made some really amazing projects, all of which I'll be showing you soon!  Today though I have a really cute card too!  I actually love this card, it's simple, pretty and so quick to make.  This card is pretty self explanatory but I'll go over a few things.  My challenge for this card was to use a stamp set that hasn't been used recently.  I think the last time I used this set was in May!  So it was due for some ink time.  I stamped the blossom twice, once in Crumb Cake and once in Pink Pirouette.  I cut out the pink one and used dimensionals to pop it up.  The DSP is from the Beau Chateau pack.  It's one of the patterns that I stocked up on during the buy 3 get one free sale last month.   







The greeting is from the Best Dad Ever set. I used  Crumb Cake to sponge around the edges.  And I finished it off with an embossed layer with the Perfect Polka Dots folder.  I do think this is my all time favorite folder.  If you go back over my work, you'll see that I use it all the time :)  It's a simple card, I'm so pleased with it, hope you enjoy it too!!!
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Hot Cocoa For 2

Good Monday morning to you!  Can you believe we're already on our last week of September?  I'm telling you Christmas is right around the corner!  I have a sweet (literally) gift idea for you today.  With Megan eating solids for a couple months now, I've been saving all these baby food jars, I have tons!  I knew I would do something with them, there were so many possibilities so I couldn't just throw them away, or recycle them.  I had to give them a new purpose in life!  This is one of the things I've been doing with them.  I think this is such a cute idea, too!!!!  I filled the jar about half full, well a little more than half, but not quite three quarters full, with some hot chocolate mix.  Then on top of that is marshmallows.  I plan to make a bunch of these and sell them at some craft shows later this year.  Aren't they cute.  I did measure it out, and there's enough mix in there for 2 mugs of hot cocoa.  So find someone to cuddle with, turn on a movie and mix up some hot cocoa for 2!!!
To cover the lid, I cut out a scallop circle from the spice cake fabric, laid it over the jar and tied it tight with some Early Espresso Quilted Ribbon.  The tag is so super simple!  I stamped the to/from stamp from the Sweet Season Set.  Punched it out with the Designer Label Punch and then sponged the edges with More Mustard and Pool Party.  It doesn't get any easier than that!  Now if you don't have access to baby food jars you can buy jars of similar size at craft stores or even your run of the mill, big box stores.  These little jars would be so cute for teachers, coworkers, neighbors, etc. Plus they're so affordable to make!  I love it, and now I think I'll go whip up some hot cocoa for me!
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Logan's Pictures

I have a fun My Digital Studio Page to show you, but there's a funny story behind it.  The other day, I couldn't find my camera.  Of course I looked in all the likely places, it was no where to be found.  I did eventually find it in Logan's play corner.  When I turned on the camera, there was a whole bunch of pictures on there that I didn't take, so Logan must have.  He walked around the house while I was making dinner one day snapping pictures of the most random stuff.  He took a couple of Megan, so she knew what was going on :)  I had to put them in an MDS page, they were too cute not to share.  Even though we've had the 'Don't take Mommy's camera without asking next time' discussion.  Well that's it for me today, short and sweet! 
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

I Must Love This Set!

Do you think I love this set?  Ummm YES!!!!  I really didn't think I was going to like it, but I've found, and if you follow my blog, I've used it a LOT lately :)  I really love it and I keep seeing these fantastic cards done with it.  This is the same color combo from yesterday's post.  I love the look of Pool Party, More Mustard and Soft Suede.  By the way if anyone is keeping track, Soft Suede is my new favorite brown :)  This card was partly inspired by this card by Heather Summers.  I have lots, and LOTS of blogs that I like to check out, one that I never, ever miss is Heather Summers.  She's amazing and I love her style and all that she does!  If you haven't yet, and you have a minute. Check out her blog, you won't be disappointed. 

So I said this card was partly inspired by Heather's card.  I love her layout and how she folded over the DSP.  So I took some aspects of Heather's card and made it my own.  I LOVE this card.  I'm not entirely sure why I put the 'to my husband' greeting on this card.  I just thought it went well.  I'm sure I can come up with some reason to give Dan a card ;) To get the look of the leaves, I inked my leaves in Pool Party, rolled the edges in More Mustard, then stamped the outline image over it in Early Espresso.  I hope you have a great day.  I'm so busy working on some secret projects!  Well not really, but I can't show them to you just yet!
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Thanksgiving Treat

So for some reason, perhaps because I truly enjoy this years selection of fall themed products, I seem to be crafting for Thanksgiving more than usual.  Usually I save my fall crafting for early Christmas projects.  I don't really craft tooo much for Halloween either.  But this year I've been doing lots of Thanksgiving themed treats.  Today's project being one of them.  In last month's Stampin' Success (a demonstrator only magazine), they had an article on these little treat boxes.  When I first started as a demo over 8 years ago, I remember making these at workshops.  They're so easy and so fast and sooooo cute!

This one turned out especially cute!  I filled it with candy corn and because I used vellum cardstock you can almost see them through the vellum, but it gives the illusion that the box is 'glowing' so fun!  Because it's filled with candy corn, it's also a little difficult to see the leaves and their colors stamped on the vellum.  For the leaves I stamped them in Pool Party, then rolled them in More Mustard, then stamped the line image in Soft Suede.  It makes a beautiful 3 toned leaf color.  Don't worry if you can't see the colors too well, I'll be making a card soon enough with it.  I loved the look of it so much :)

Finally, a little tag to finish it off.  I stamped the oval image from the Perfect Punches set and then added a Happy Thanksgiving greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes over it.  So cute!!!  I tied it with some Pool Party ribbon.  Remember I'm totally, completely, head over heels, crazy about that ruffled ribbon.  I NEED IT in ALL the colors!!!!  That's it for me today.  Dan had yesterday off and so he was 'around' all day yesterday, so I got nothing done! Oh well, it was fun to have him home and Megan had a fun playing with him.  But today I'll be playing catch-up :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Logan's Boat

One of the dozens, upon dozens of reasons I LOVE being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator is getting a monthly magazine, made just for demonstrators.  It is always packed full of tips, ideas, techniques and more!  This sweet little boat was one of the creations in the October issue.  Theirs is a little different but the idea's the same.  It's so cute!  I could see these all lined up on the Thanksgiving table with every ones name.  And you could fill the boat with special yummy treats instead of crumpled up cardstock.  But do we really need MORE treats on Thanksgiving???? 
I added a tiny little scalloped border along the bottom there, I was hoping it would look a little like water, and I think it does, a little.  The sail on the boat is none other than my all time favorite DSP Spice Cake.  I just used my Soft Suede marker to write Logan's name.  I sponged around it and roughed it up a little.  As for the pole that the sail is on, in the magazine they used a dowel rod.  Well that's all fine and good, but I didn't have any on hand.  So mine is just some cardstock rolled up into a tube.  Super quick and simple.  What about you, will you have a fleet of boats on your thanksgiving table? 

Monday, September 19, 2011

A Very Merry Pink Christmas!

And pink it is!  I think I used every shade of pink that Stampin' Up! offers :)  Isn't this card the sweetest!?!  I'm loving this card!  Do you recognize that stamp set?  No, well it's in the Holiday Mini, it's the It's a Wrap Holidays set.  I just used my markers to color the center of the Very Merry one.  But let's back up a little and start with the beginning of this card.  As I was looking at my tower of stamp sets (the ones that aren't put away), some unused, never had the chance to kiss the ink, I thought today I'm going to use one of my new sets!  So out this one came.  Now I had a completely different vision here, but as I started to work on that vision, it didn't look good, it happens sometimes, so then I started this card.  I grabbed every pink marker I had, lined them up and started coloring.  The great thing with using your markers to color your stamps is that you can omit whatever you don't want stamped, which came in handy for this card. 
When I got to the bottom, I noticed I was going to have lots of room left over at the bottom of my cardstock.  What on earth do I do?  :) Well it didn't take long for me to break out my favorite (at least for today) border punch, The Scalloped Ribbon Border, I think that's the name of it.  But I do LOVE this punch :)  I used the same colors of cardstock that I used in ink and layered them in the same order.  After that, I realized I had to add that whole border to my card base, making sure to line everything up just perfectly. 

Now of course you could do this with any color.  Lots of blues would be really pretty for Christmas, or a stack of greens.  So pretty!  But for me, I love the pinks!  The colors used, in order, are: Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Melon Mambo and Rose Red.  Accessories are pretty minimal on this card.  I didn't think it needed to much, an embossing folders, (of course the dots, you know they're my favorite!), and some Rose Red ribbon is all I added.  One last tip I'll add, make sure you use your Stamp a ma Jig, for perfect spacing and to line up your greetings perfectly :) 

Thanks for looking see you soon!!!

Friday, September 16, 2011

C'mon Christmas!

Perhaps we should get through other holidays before Christmas 'really' gets here, BUT there's no reason why we can't start on our Christmas cards.  With this card, again, I'm showing you my brilliant copying skills.  I saw this card on Split coast stampers, gotta love splitcoast :)  But don't get me wrong I LOVE Stampin' Connection (a demonstrator only site), BUT my only concern with it is that the samples aren't organized well.  I would love it if it were organized by stamp set like splitcoast.  Then it would be PERFECT!!!  But back to this card.  I changed a couple things.  I wanted the look to be classy and elegant, when I'm going for that look, I pull out my black.  ANYTHING paired with black gives such a clean, beautiful look.  Then I stared at my ink pads, ribbon and cardstock trying to decide what color to use.  I went for one I haven't used in a while and have ribbon to match-Marina Mist.  So once the hard decisions were made I could stamp.   

The star is stamped off on scratch paper then on the white cardstock.  I thought the full strength Marina Mist was just a little too much for this card.  The lighter stamped color looked much better.  I then embossed in black the 'Let Earth Receive Her King' stamp.  So pretty.  I used the new Snow Burst Embossing Folder from the mini and sponged around the edges slightly.  I added a little scallop border at the top and to finish it some lace ribbon and the Marina Mist Scalloped ribbon.  So so pretty!!!

Have a fantastic weekend!
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Swinging Friend

I'm so excited to you show you this card.  One because I got this stamp set, Forever Young, for FREE (more on that another day {smile}).  And two because it's so pretty, and it incorporates 2 of my most favorite things right now, Calypso Coral and sewing on cards.  If you didn't get a chance to see yesterdays card make sure you check it out. It's where my sewing on cards obsession began :)  This stamp set typically isn't my style but after I saw a few cards made with it, this one by Catherine Pooler specifically, I really wanted it.  I LOVE the card that Catherine made, so of course for the first card made with this set I had to copy her idea.  So CUTE! 

For the sewing, I stitched around all the sides of the cardstock with the tree on it.  I also stitched the ribbon onto the card.  So pretty!!  I can't wait to do more like that.  I have one card specifically in my head right now that as soon as I get a spare minute I'm gonna do it!!!  The rest of the card is pretty simple, the tree image was stamped twice, once on white then again on Calypso Coral.  I used my Full Heart punch to punch out the Calypso Coral image and then distressed the cardstock.  The greeting is from the stamp set Family Reunion.  I just love this card :)  It makes me happy!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Sew Pretty!

Before we get to the card I wanted to update on Monday's post.  I've gotten a lot of questions on the ornament.  I'm so glad you all like it and want to create them yourself.  The DSP is 1 1/2 x 12 scored every 1/4 inch, for more details or to see it you can check out Monday's post.  This card is soo beautiful!  I'm going to sew on my cards more often now!!!  Before we get into too many details of the card, let me say that I copied this card-again!  I'm an expert copier. For those of you out there that say "I'm not creative enough to do what you do."  Look at me!  I get inspiration all around me, there's so many tools for you to use.  But I do believe that if you're going to copy a card, make sure to mention where you got your inspiration.  So for this card, I saw this card and LOVED it!  I had to make it!!  I have this little craft sewing machine, that was made for projects just like this.  So I whipped it out and ta da!  My card was born!

Other than the sewing on this card the card is pretty easy to do.  I used my Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive markers to color my stamp.  I stamped it on my cardstock then lifted it and moved it slightly to the left and stamped it again.  You get a fantastic shadow image.  It looks so pretty!  I added some pearls to the flowers.  And a greeting from Friendly Phrases and it's done!  Simple as that!  It's 'sew' pretty!  I will be sewing more, I have lot's of ideas floating around this head of mine, stay tuned!  :)
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Celebrating Halloween and Thanksgiving

Here are the final 2 cards from my class on Saturday.  I love this little Halloween card.  This set, Out On A Limb, is sooo cute, and big thanks to my friend Carmelita for letting me borrow it!  There are so many cute pieces in this set and I wanted to show as many as I could for this card.  So we used the spiders, cloud, witch, and the branch.  So cute!!  The only thing missing in this set is a Halloween greeting.  I used my greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes. 

For the main image itself.  We stamped the branch then the witch and used markers to color her hair, tights, etc.  Stamped the spider and used the new Dazzling Details on him.  I love the new Dazzling Details in the summer mini.  It's such a cool easy way to add glitter and sparkle to your project!  We sponged the whole thing in Pear Pizzazz ink.  The Elegant Eggplant piece was embossed with the spider web embossing folder.  So cute and goes so well with all the little spiders. 

Since I can't make anything Halloween themed without adding a treat to it.  I had a little treat on the inside of this card.  Who doesn't love a card with candy in it?!

The last card that my guests got to make was a Thanksgiving card.  I have to apologize for not having a link to the inspiration for this card.  I know I saw a card similar to this somewhere but unfortunately for the life of me I can't find it.  But know this wasn't my original idea, though I'd certainly like to take credit for it :)  The leaves were rocked and rolled in Certainly Celery and Old Olive.  Then the outline of the leaf was stamped on top with Chocolate Chip.  They were cut out and attached to the card. 

The scalloped border behind the DSP layer isn't cardstock, nope, it's our scalloped ribbon!  Isn't that sweet and the cutest little idea EVER!  I LOVE IT!!!  Now I just need more of this ribbon in more colors!!!  That's all there is on this card.  It's simple but pretty and it would be really easy to make coordinating Thanksgiving decor (place cards, table decorations) to match this card. 
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Monday, September 12, 2011

It's Monday? Really?

I'm telling you I loose track every single weekend. All the sudden it's Monday and I wonder, where on earth did the weekend go?  If we could just add a couple hours to Saturday and Sunday that would be perfect.  I think I just need a couple hours then I'd be good.  But I did have a very nice weekend.  My Welcome Holiday's Class was Saturday, my guests got to make 4 projects using products from the Holiday Mini Catalog.  I'm showing 2 today and the other 2 tomorrow.  The 2 that I'm showing today were I think the most popular with my guests there.  I think everyone commented on this little ornament.  It was simple to make but looks so complicated!  I know I love this little ornament!  I want to make a bunch of them!  They're so cute!!!
Updated 9/13-I've been getting lots of questions on this so I thought update here. The paper for the ornament is a strip of DSP cut 1 1/2 x 12, score at every 1/4 inch.
This Christmas card was I think the 2nd most popular card.  And it's so simple!!!  I got the inspiration for this card from Splitcoast stampers and this card.  I saw that card and I thought, that is just beautiful I need to make that card.  So thanks to my friend Kim, I was able to borrow her set and use it for my class.  The card couldn't be easier.  The tree is embossed in white, with a little pearl in the center.  The card is embossed with the Tulip Border embossing folder.  It's so simple and so pretty! 


The cardstock that the tree is stamped on is also sponged around the edges in Elegant Eggplant to give it more dimension.  And of course I have to put on that ruffled ribbon.  PLEASE SU MAKE THAT RIBBON IN EVERY COLOR!!!  Tomorrow I'll show the other 2 projects, which were also very cute and a hit, but I think based on feedback these 2 were the most popular. 
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Friday, September 9, 2011

I Vote For Trouble!

I thought we'd end the week with some MDS!  It has been a while since I've shown some :)  I thought I'd highlight my little trouble maker in today's page.  She's full of trouble and is into everything.  She started crawling forward a few weeks ago and boy is she fast.  This is a completely different experience for me.  With Logan, he would crawl, never at warp speed like Megan, and usually when you said "no, no, leave that alone" he would!  Megan looks at you, laughs and keeps going.  She knows what she's doing, she's going to keep doing it and there's no stopping her!  These pictures were taken a few days ago.  Now normally I don't mind that she plays in the toy kitchen.  But as soon as I was done snapping the pictures, food started flying!  She started throwing the food everywhere, then she took off to the real kitchen to destroy it!  Fortunately the only cabinet she can get into in there is the plastic container one.  :)  I thought with Logan in school I'd have all this free time to 'catch up' on things (let's face it I just wanted stamp time, but we don't tell Dan that).  But instead I spend my days chasing her.  Now don't get me wrong, she's a joy to have and we're very blessed, but I just want her to slow down a little.  She's wearing me out :)  It's a good thing she's cute!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

It's So Simple.....

....it's scary!  Today's project is one that I literally made in under 5 minutes, it's that fast.  And it's sooo cute!  And it's the perfect size treat for anyone!  First of all, the inspiration for this project came from many places.  First though was Meg Loven's blog.  I saw this post on her blog yesterday and I just LOVED how she highlighted the spider and the most prominent "EEK!" with a circle punch.  Of course when I see things I love I copy them.  This one was so cute and so simple and so easy to mass produce them.  So I ran with her idea and made a little tag.  I used the It's A Wrap Holiday's from the Holiday Mini.  So cute!  Inspiration number two, I've wanted to use these adorable little mini cello bags ever since I got them a month ago, but could never find the right project.  I saw many posts with the cello bags with tags so that's what I did. 
For the tag itself, I embossed white on black and black on white.  I layered everything on Concord Crush Cardstock.  For the ribbon (shhhh it's retired) I used Elegant Eggplant.  I love that the purples match, but are just slightly different.  I LOVE using purple for Halloween projects.  Purples and greens are my most used Halloween colors :)  I filled the bag with candy corn, a favorite of my Dad and son.  So cute.  There's just enough candy corn for a nice treat but not enough that you get sick of them.  I don't know about you but 3 or 4 pieces is usually my limit on candy corn, they're just sooooo sweet.  I'm more of a chocolate kind of girl anyway.  But this is a nice treat for Logan or my Dad :)


Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Make Up Bag, Made Better!

A couple weeks ago I was shopping with my Mom and we were at Bath and Body Works. They were giving this cute make up bag away with your purchase.  Well it's cute and pretty and all, but it's a little plain.  Enter Stampin' Up!  The Flirtatious Fabric matches almost perfectly to this bag.  So I just HAD to make a little fabric flower to go it.  This flower was made so quickly and randomly that if you asked me to make it again, I probably couldn't do it. 

I was rummaging through my supplies trying to find little embellishments for it.  I couldn't find my package of Neutral Buttons, I could have sworn I had a package but maybe I used them.  I did find some cute Pretty in Pink buttons, and the cute trinket Keys.  I had NO idea I had those :)  But for the flower.  I used my Big Shot and cut out 5 of each of the flowers from the Island Floral Die.  Then I folded them all in quarters and sewed them on top of each other.  Then I sewed the button on and lastly the little key.  It's pretty cute and I just love it! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Thanks Leaf Trio

I hope you all weren't waiting too long for this post.  The weekend kind of got away from me, isn't that always the case with a 3 day weekend.  I had every intention to have a project ready for this morning but it just didn't happen.  I knew I wouldn't get a chance to do it until late Tuesday afternoon, so here I am.  I was gone all day at our church.  We have an art gallery that changes shows every 3 months, or is it every 4 months.  I really don't know.  Either way I was down there all morning helping them take in the new pieces and take down the old ones.  Tomorrow I'll be down there again most of the day, this time hanging all the new pieces.  I have a class on Saturday that I really must prepare for :)  Not to worry I'm so excited for this class and I LOVE the projects.  There's still room if you'd like to come, just let me know by Thursday or early Friday. 

As far as the card today goes, it's pretty self explanatory, no mind blowing techniques used on it, but I do love the way it turned out and I LOVE the colors!  I had to take this picture at night, so I had to use the flash.  Dan needed it to mail in the morning.  So the colors are a little off in the picture but in real life they're beautiful.  They're More Mustard, Not Quite Navy and Cherry Cobbler.  It's a very simple card, no ribbon, no big embellishments, but then again, it doesn't need it! 

Thanks for hanging in there and checking back for today's post.  I'll be on time tomorrow :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Ummm, I'll be back...

Hi!  So while I'd love to have a spectacular stamped piece to show you, I don't.  Yesterday was my birthday and other than a little shopping, I did nothing.  No stamping, nothing.  If time is on my side I hope to be back later with a project.  Check back and thanks for stopping by!

Monday, September 5, 2011

The Same But Larger...

Thank you so much everyone for all your kind comments on the ornament from Friday.  I got a ton of compliments on it here and on Stampin' Connection (a website for SU Demos only).  I have a fairly long post today but I hope you read until the end.  But back to today's project, I had sooo much fun making that ornament that I wanted to make a larger one, more of a wreath to use this fall on our front door.  The Spice Cake DSP is so fabulous I kept going with that. Plus these colors match our house so well, hmmm maybe that's why I love this DSP so much!  This wreath was made the same way as the ornament, but just larger, MUCH larger!  It's about 12 inches in diameter.  The perfect size for a door.  I love it.  The layers are so pretty!!

For the cones I used 4x4 squares.  I apologize because I don't know the dimensions on anything else.  The scalloped Lolli, under the button, was done with 2 of the larger scallop circles from the scallop circles #2 die.  I saw how to do that on Heather Summer's blog.  She's awesome, and has sooo many fantastic ideas.  I love checking her blog! 

The wreath is very similar to the ornament, just larger and with a couple more layers.  I used lots of tombow multi adhesive on this and a glue gun to stick down each layer.  I generally don't like glue guns.  You have to work kinda fast and they leave the little glue gun trails, you know what I mean.  But for this project you really have to. So I dusted off my glue gun and finished it up.  I'm currently making a bunch of smaller ones that I'll be hopefully selling at craft shows this fall, I'll make sure and post them when I get more done.

So I asked you to stick around to the end of my post, why on earth would I have you do that?  Well I'm pretty excited.  So many things happened in just the past week I want to share a few of them with you.  Last Tuesday... I think it was Tuesday....I got this beautiful card in the mail from SU, yes it's a hybrid MDS card.  Why did SU send me this card.  Well today is my birthday, the big 3-0, and SU gives demos an extra 15% off any product they choose for their birthday.  So of course I placed that order right away.  But I wanted to celebrate with all of you too!!!  So for this month, I'm going to give away a $30 shopping spree!  WOW!!!  Everyone that places an order of at least $30 or more in the month of September will be entered. It's as simple as that!  Place 2 orders, you're entered 2 times, etc.  You have until September 30 to get those orders to me.  Orders can be place at classes, workshops, my website or you can just email me or call me with your order!  Good Luck!!!  I had a couple more exciting things happen over the weekend, but I'll share those with you later!    

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Trim The Tree

Let's start decorating the Christmas tree!  I'm so stinkin' excited about today's project.  There's a big story behind it too, so lets get to that.  My awesome friend Joanna sent me a picture from the Holiday Mini catalog, (page 28 for those of you that have the catalog in hand).  She asked if I knew how to make those ornaments.  I knew I had seen them done somewhere.  So I told her, when life settled a little (who was I kidding) I'd try them out.  So after we got the first day of school out of the way, Logan's birthday party done and were in a routine, I sat down and stared at the picture and tried and tried and tried.  Nothing I did looked like the ornament.  At this time I was convinced that the cones were made from triangle pieces of DSP.  There's my B- in geometry showing it's ugly head, I hated geometry.  Ironically I was always much better at algebra, I loved algebra-still do!  Now, with card making I use geometry all the time.  Go figure!  But I'm getting off track.  So after trying and trying and trying and getting no where with the triangles.  I sat down to email Joanna back to tell her I was sorry and I didn't know how to do it after all. 
Literally about 1 minute after the email was sent, I knew exactly how it was done!  All this time I was working with triangles and the key was squares!!  DUH!!!!  So I got busy again.  This time it was coming together-Yay!!!  I did it!  I figured it out!  Dan and Logan were off at Lowes or somewhere, Megan was sleeping and I was doing a happy dance!  So after I got a couple cones done I kept going!  This ornament took 15 cones all together. The squares were 2x2 and the completed ornament is about 6 inches wide. 



Once I got the cones complete I glued them all down to a 1 3/4 inch circle.  I finished decorating it with some of our new buttons from the Holiday Mini and a DSP Lolli under that.  The DSP I used is our new Spice Cake DSP from the Holiday Mini.  I just bought more of this DSP, it's so awesome, I think it's some of my favorite DSP of all time!!!  It's that good!!!!  I used some linen thread in the center of the button.  I added a ribbon to hang it on the tree with our Soft Suede Taffeta.  So pretty!
So how did I make it?  Well you DO need a square, as I finally figured out.  You take your square and roll it into a cone.  DSP works well for this because it's flexible and not as thick as cardstock. 

Once you have it rolled glue it together to hold it's shape.  I used Tombow multi glue on my ornament, it worked well.  I did consider using sticky strip, but the advantage to Tombow over Sticky Strip is that if you make a mistake or don't get it rolled right, you can readjust it (if you work quickly before the glue dries).  With sticky strip, once it's stuck, it's stuck. 
Have a great weekend!  For my USA friends, be safe for the holiday weekend!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!