Pop Up Grad Card

If you need a graduation card, this is the card for you.  I made this for my cousin who's graduating from high school.  I don't know his school colors so I went with a classic black and silver.  You really can't go wrong.  Of course if you know the school colors go with those :)  This card ended up being bigger and more detailed than I thought, but it also ended up super cute so I think it's a win win. 

The front is pretty standard.  I used our Silver Foil Paper and the Arrows Embossing Folder.  I love the look of the embossed foil, even though you can't see much of it on this card.  I also used the Blue Ribbon Stamp set.  I think it's probably the only stamp set I own that specifically says 'congrats grad'.  So it worked out.  Really the front is not the 'wow' part of this card anyway.....

.....it's the inside that makes you say 'Wow!'  This card has two 'insides'.  I'll explain more in a minute.  First let's talk about this hat.  I thought it would be uber cute to have a pop up hat inside.  Well graduation hats are not normal.  If you've worn one you know.  I couldn't get it to look right, so after a couple tries I thought, "Why am I trying to reinvent this, surly someone has done it."  I searched Pintrest for a 'pop up graduation hat tutorial'.  Finally I found this one.  It was easy to understand and it worked perfectly!

Now because this hat takes up a good deal of space on the inside I decided I needed to add another layer to it.  You have to have somewhere to write a note, even if it's just a quick one.  So I trimmed this card down by half and inch and attached it to a sturdier card base of Smoky Slate. 

So now I have plenty of room to write, the hat stands alone anyway.  Of course if you wanted to add a pocket for a gift card or money that could be easily done on the Smoky Slate layer.  I'm so pleased with it!   

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Graduating Owls

Sometimes you never know where inspiration will be, like this card from Zulily.  I saw that card on Pintrest, it linked back to Zulily, who would've thought.  I changed it up a little, but I loved the idea of the owls on the tree.  So here's my version.  Of course keep it with school colors to make it all the more special.  The owls are made with the 1 /38 Inch Circle Punch.  I love these sweet owls!  They're so easy and fun!!  They're just circles!  The tummy is also the 1 3/8 Circle Punch, I punched a whole circle then glued it on.  Then when the glue is dry you can either trim the excess off, or stick it back into the punch and punch around your body so that you have a 'clean' line on the bottom. 

The hats are pretty easy too.  I just cut small diamonds, for the tops of their hats, then for the bottom, I used the 1 Inch Square punch and my 3/4 Inch Circle Punch.  I used the circle punch to 'notch' out the curved bottom for the hat.  To finish I used some black brad (retired) and some bakers twine.  Soooo cute!!!  The best part, their sparkly gold beaks!  LOVE!!    

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Mario

I thought this was my last punch art card from the scrapbook weekend, but I just remembered I have one more to share..sometime :)  This card was one of the cards Michelle requested I make her at the weekend.  She had a co worker that loves Mario, if you make him in green you have Luigi :)  After scanning Pintrest to see pictures of what he actually looks like we came up with this.  He's so stinkin' simple!  He is made up from ovals and circles, depending on the size of your ovals and circle you could make Mario any size.  I don't have him anymore so I'm not positive what circles and ovals I used.  So because of that I'm not going to list the punches.  I don't wan to guess and guess wrong.  If you want to know more about him, email me or leave a comment and I will get back to you. 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Baby And Its Mama

Now I'll be honest.  I like this card, I don't love it like I do the other punch art cards that I made at the scrapbooking weekend.  It's growing on me.  I think I begin to like it a little more and more each day.  This sweet little baby elephant is holding on tight to his mama's tail.  And he had floppy ears!  So cute!!

He's pretty simple to make, his head is the 1 1/4 circle punch, ears are from the Heart Framelits, one heart, however big you want your ears, cut in half.  Trunk is the XL Oval, just a sliver of it.  Eyes are the circle from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack and a 1/4 Inch Circle Punch.  Body is the 1 3/4 Inch Circle Punch.  His legs are the 1 Inch Square Punch cut into 4 pieces.  Just a scrap of paper for his tail.  For mama's tail, it's just a scrap of cardstock and the scallop circle from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack....how will I live without this punch pack :(  See how his ears are floppy.  I do love that about this card :) Don't forget to shop the retired list you still get free shipping, hurry today is the last day, and when you order online at my website with this hostess code to be entered to win one of 3 prizes!!! 73V9U4NU

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

This Duck

This duck is so cute!!  He's so much fun!!  He's one of the cards that I made at the scrapbook weekend that I attended last month.  I still have 2 more cards to share with you :)  This duck was one of my favorites!!  I saw this card on Pintrest and LOVED it immediately.  My duck is a little different but I still love him.  He's made with lots of ovals and circles.  Sometimes all you need is the basics!

I will list the punches I used, as best I can based on memory  :)  For his head I used the 1 3/8 Inch Circle Punch.  His beak is the Word Window Punch just notch a little triangle out.  Eyes are the circle from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack and a 1/4 Inch Circle Punch.  His neck is the 1 Inch Square punch, trimmed slightly to make it just shy of 1 inch.  His body is the XL Oval and wing and tail are the Large Oval Punch.  His feet are made from the largest flower in the Boho Blossom Punch.  To get the 'waves' on the vellum I used a circle punch and just punched out a border of them along the vellum.  He only used 5 colors of cardstock: Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Crumb Cake and Chocolate Chip.  Don't forget to shop the retired list you still get free shipping and when you order online at my website with this hostess code to be entered to win one of 3 prizes!!! 73V9U4NU

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Baroque Butterfly

Alright the retired list has been out a few days, let's talk about it.  The stamp sets are always painful. I have 42 sets that I'll have to say goodbye to later.  It always hurts.  I'm really sad to see alot of the sets on there.  Some I just bought weeks ago and haven't even had a chance to use.  That really hurts :(  But some of my favorite sets leaving are Delightful Dozen, Field Flowers, Gently Falling, Sweet Essentials and this one Beautifully Baroque.  We'll get to this card in a minute.  Remember stamps are only available while supplies last.  Don't wait, get yours today!  Now lets talk accessories (hangs head low).  There's 5 accessories that I'm not sure how I'll live without, Dazzling Diamonds, Large Pearls, Large Rhinestones, Silver Glimmer Paper and the Itty Bitty Punch Pack.  The last two really, really hurts.  I use my Itty Bitty Punch Pack ALL THE TIME, all the time!!  I have hopes that it will be replaces with a similar item, but I'm hanging onto my punch pack.  Now the Glimmer Paper, so sad.  I love the silver, so to not be without it, I placed an order for some packages on Monday.  I don't want to run out, ever!  So now that we've had a few days to process the list, I want to know what are you sad to see going?  What are your favorites?  Are you happy to see something going?  Comment and let me know.

Let's get to the card now, I think I've gone on long enough.  I made this card a couple weeks ago.  It's so pretty!  I love the Strawberry Slush and Island Indigo!!  I stamped the Beautifully Baroque and added a 1 1/4 inch circle punch over it.  I stamped and punched out the butterfly, sponged it and added a little flower from you guessed it, the Itty Bitty Punch Pack :( Finally finish it with some Bakers Twine and some splatter from the Gorgeous Grunge set.  I just love this card :)  Don't forget to comment about the retired list and make sure you order, you still get free shipping and when you order online at my website with this hostess code to be entered to win one of 3 prizes!!! 73V9U4NU

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Display Stamper Entry

I have a special post today.  Stampin' Up! is offering an opportunity to demonstrators to be a display stamper at convention this year. So here's my entry!  I have to submit 3 cards, 1 scrapbook page and 2 3-D items.  I have links back to all the original posts if you want to learn more about each project. 

 

First up is my scrapbook page.  I read, and re read the rules many times and it never clarified if the pages had to be 'traditional scrapbooking' or if MDS was ok.  I don't do much traditional scrapbooking, but I do LOTS in MDS :)  So I'm submitting an MDS page.  This page is my favorite page from our Disney World Album. 

On to the cards.  I'm putting 3 of my favorite cards.  The first one is the mirror card that we made at my last class.  I adore this card.  It's simple, but beautiful.  It's definitely one of my favorites!!

Here's another shot of it.  This one the glare off the mirror isn't so bad :)    

The next card is using a couple of this year Sale A Bration sets.  The bright colors on this card coordinate so beautifully together and they just make you happy looking at them.  I love this card!

My favorite part of this card is the layers, I love layering punches and framelits.  It adds so much more to the card. 

My third card is from way back in June.  But I couldn't not submit a punch art card.  It's what I love to do most of all!  So I went through lots of my punch art cards and decided to submit my all time favorite punch card.  Mickey and Minnie.  They're so sweet! 

This card was a labor of love, but I was so pleased with it!! 

Onto the 3D items.  The first is the beautiful door hanging I did for Valentine's Day.  I covered some cardboard letters and made it special. 

This was one of those projects that took a while but I love it!!  The roses are beautiful and the O is still my favorite letter.  I just love all that wrapped taffeta ribbon! 

I love the sparkle on the V and the scallops on the E.  It all works so well together! 

Finally my favorite 3D project.  I was literally giddy with excitement when I made these adorable ornaments with our Simply Pressed Clay. 

I had so much fun with these.  Those are my entries.  Wish me luck! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Look What's Retiring!

First, FREE SHIPPING!!!  Yay!!!  It doesn't get better than that but you have to act fast this deal is only good through April 25!!!  The retiring list is out!!  There's stamp sets, accessories and more on this list!!  Make sure you head to my website and check out all that's retiring!  If there's something on the list that you need, DON'T WAIT!!  EVERYTHING on the retiring list is only available while supplies last!  That means stamp sets too!!  Hurry, don't wait for your favorites to sell out!  Plus order by Friday and get free shipping!!  Shop online with this hostess code 73V9U4NU for a chance to win free stuff!  I'll choose 3 winners, who will receive a free gift from me!  Hurry, go now!!! 

Bunny Boxes

We have lots of Easter prep underway in our home.  Easter is at our house with a brand new dining table (assuming all goes well and we can pick it up today).  So we needed Easter decorations.  Logan and Megan wanted to help so we came up with these Bunny Boxes made from the Milk Carton Die. They were easy and the kids did alot of the work! 

They choose a different color for everyone.  I assembled all the boxes and added the whiskers.  The whiskers were so simple small pieces of Linen Thread and a small heart.  Glue dot the thread on the back of the heart, then use another glue dot to stick the whole thing down.  The kids did the eyes, ears and tails.  Every box was labeled with every one's name.  Logan wrote the names on one side, Megan wrote the 'names' on the other side.

The eyes are the 3/4 and 1/2 Inch Circle Punches.  The ears are the Large Oval and the retired Small Oval.  We put a couple chocolate treats in each one.  Though I'm not sure how they'll get them out of there without messing up the bunny, maybe open from the bottom :)  They're so cute and I'm sure they'll be the hit of the party on Easter Sunday :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Thinking Of Dahilas

This stamp set (Regarding Dahilas) and I have a love/hate relationship.  Sometimes I love the flower (as I do here) other times the flower and I just don't get along.  There's been many cards that 'didn't make it'.  Mostly I love it, especially on this card.  I used Melon Mambo Ink and Blender Pens to color in the flower.  I tried to make varying shades of Melon Mambo on the flower.  I do love the finished look :)

Are you using gold in your projects??  It's so super trendy right now.  I'm actually really liking it.  I didn't think I would like the gold but I've been turned!  Our Gold Sequin Trim in the Occasions Catalog is so fun.  I love that I can use it stitched together for a fun border under my greeting, or take them off and use only one at a time!  I've found Tombow is the best glue for the sequins.  I have one last Easter project tomorrow, and if you're coming to Easter dinner at my house (you know who you are), don't check my blog tomorrow :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

The Best Gift Card Holder

I've been making different versions of this specific gift card holder for years.  It's my go to gift card holder of choice.  I've shown it a couple times on my blog before here and here.  It's such a versatile gift card holder.  This one was made for Megan's teacher in her zoo class.  She took a class once a week for 12 weeks at the zoo/aquarium.  We learned about lots of animals, fish and plants.  It's a great program.  Logan did it for a couple years.  Megan did it in the fall now again in the Spring.  She'll be back for the fall session too.  If you're local and have toddlers it's such a fun class for them.  I used Coastal Cabana and yes you guessed it the Fresh Prints DSP stack.

Other times when I've made this gift card holder I've used velcro or magnets to hold it closed, this time I went with a tie close with some of our Candy Dots and Candy Dot Brad Bases.  The gift card is hidden inside.  This is a great gift for teachers, end of the school year is coming up quick!  It would make a beautiful gift card at a shower (baby or bridal).  It's the BEST gift card holder.  The design is from Heather Summers from one of her online classes years ago-probably pre Megan :) 

I've never shared the instructions.  Probably because it's not easy to describe, but I will try.  The complicated part is the folding.  I've tried to explain that as best I could.  Please let me know if you have questions.  I would recommend folding it and making sure it works before you add any glue.  I ALWAYS, even after making so many of them, I always fold it wrong and have to go back and refold it.  Just play with it and once you figure it out you'll be set forever :) 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Framelit Box For Eggs

Of course I'm talking chocolate eggs.  Is there another kind ;)  You might remember this post I did a few weeks ago.  Well I had a few extra eggs from that package, 5 to be exact and I wanted to package them beautifully for gifts.  As much as I LOVE that window sheet box I wasn't going to make 5 more of them.  They're lovely but window sheets are hard to work with, plus I didn't have enough window sheets.  So I started thinking of other boxes......

Then I remembered one that I adored that Sam from Pootles did.  So I went back and found it.  I loved the idea but it was quite a bit larger than I needed.  So I did some math-yes kids you will use math when you grow up.  Here's a funny story, I hated geometry.  HATED it!!  All the shapes, dimensions, blah, blah, blah.  Now algebra I loved geometry not so much.  After I finished my year of geometry in high school I was done with it.  Even said to my friends-"That's it no more geometry for the rest of my life, I'll never have a job that I'll need to use it!"..........well here I am.......geometry every day......15 year old me sure didn't know very much.

Ok, back to the project!  How quickly I can get off track. Anyway the box that Sam completed is about 3x3 when completed.  I needed one that was about 1.5x2.  So I started there, I figured out how big the box inside needed to be, finished 1.5x2.  Once that was done I could figure out which framelits to use.  I used the oval ones mostly because it's Easter and they look like eggs :)  Because this box is a rectangle I had to used 2 different sizes of framelits, one size for the shorter end and one size for the longer end.  Isn't the little chocolate egg so cute in there!!!

Make sure you watch Sam's video for how to assemble.  I'll give my dimensions, assembly is exactly the same.  Here comes the geometry.  The cardstock for the box inside is 4x3.5 score at 1 inch on all 4 sides.  The ovals are from the Oval Framelits, I used the 2nd and 3rd smallest ovals.  The smaller ones for the short ends of the box and the larger for the larger end of the box.  I scored each oval at .5 inches on one side to glue to the bottom. 

This box is small and fits right in your hand.  Isn't is so sweet!!!  I'm going to have a hard time giving these up.  I love the DSP that I used too.  I know I've said it, but since I'm halfway through my 3rd package and will need to order more AGAIN, I thought I'd say it again-the Fresh Prints DSP is my FAVORITE!!!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!  The tag is done with the Eggstra Spectacular Set.  I used markers to color the image then I punched it out with the XL Oval.  I hope you love this box as much as I do! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Hoppy Easter

Can you believe we're less than a week from Easter!!!  Time to make some Easter treats!  I saw these little Lindt chocolate bunnies in the store, they come in a 5 pack, they're tiny bunnies, the bunnies themselves are probably 1.5"x2".  They're not the GIANT chocolate rabbits that the Easter Bunny will bring this weekend.  But they're so cute!!!  The perfect size for a sweet treat.  I picked up a package and used my sideline Carmelita's idea that she demoed a couple months ago at our meeting, wrapping chocolate with the Tag Topper Punch.  My first one was cute, but you couldn't see the bunny, what's the point of the bunny????  So my second one I punched a hole with the 1 1/4" Circle Punch and added a window sheet.  Now you could see the bunny :)  I made 5 in the Wisteria Wonder, then gave away 3 (Logan's gifted teacher, Megan's zoo class teacher and a friend who works at the zoo).  Then Logan needed one for his general ed teacher, then Megan needed 3 for the teachers at her preschool, then Dan needed some for his co workers, well long story short (too late!) the bunnies multiplied!  This time in Pool Party and Pink Pirouette :)

I used a glue dot to hold the bunny in place in it's holder.  I used matching candy dots for the bunnies tails (I saw that somewhere, don't remember where, but it was toooooo cute!!!).  The tags are punched out with the XL oval.  I know you're dying to make you're own--they're sooooo easy!!!  All you need is the Tag Topper Punch (either one will do), ribbon to hold it closed and cardstock.  THAT'S IT!!  The cardstock measures 2x7 inches.  Score on the long side at 3 and 4 inches.  I told you it was EASY!!  Even with less than a week before Easter you could easily whip a bunch of these up in no time!!! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Finally Sharing Swaps

Our demonstrator meeting was last week.  I'm finally sharing the swaps from it.  I shared my swap here.  I still love that card :)  Our swap theme was "Out of Your Comfort Zone Technique".

 

Amber's card, she used the new photopolymer stamps for her card. 

Cassie's card.  She made the cutest little bird.  I was surprised that 2 people chose to do punch art as 'out of their comfort zone' :) 

Dana's card. She double embossed DSP.  FUN!

Carmelita's swap.  I thought that map was done in MDS but it's a photopolymer stamp. I like it!! 

Nichole did two swaps, here's her first she colored with markers. 

Here's her second card, the cutest bunny punch art!! 

 

It's been a long week, have a wonderful weekend I'll see you Monday!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Bunnies Everywhere

Do you compulsivly save button containers like me???  I have a whole bag of them...it's not a small bag......  So I've been trying to come up with ways to use them.  I saw these bunnies on facebook, somewhere, I'm sorry I don't remember who's page it was but I know I saw them somewhere.  At my classes I always try to give a little thank you gift for coming, they're taking time out of their busy schedule, plus it's fun for me :)

Since Easter is EEEEK 10 days away!!  I thought I'd do little bunnies.  They're filled with chocolate eggs :)  The bunnies are easy they're the largest circle punch 2 1/2" for the cover of the containers-it's the exact perfect size!!!!  The cheeks are the 1" circle, ears are the large oval, the nose, tonge and white's of the eyes are the 3/4" circle and the black of the eyes are the 1/2" circle. 

To get the stick into the container I punched a hole in the container with a crop a dial then used hot glue to hold a stick in.  I added Melon Mambo bows on the stick with a glue dot to finish.  I love them!!!  Careful when making these though, I only started with a couple and look how they multiplied...those darn bunnies!!  Sorry it's a bad joke I know but I have to entertain myself sometimes :) 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!