Making Wrapping Paper

Oh yes, I do love making my own wrapping paper.  A few years ago I bought a roll of freezer paper from Costco.  It's a bit thin, so you either have to wrap it around a few times or else you can first wrap white tissue around your gift.  I layered it a few times here...that's why you can see the lighter hearts.  The heart is from Punch Potpourri, a Level 1 Hostess Stamp Set and the branch swirl is from Sweet Summer, a Sale-A-Bration set that I happen to LOVE.  We gave this gift to the boys for Valentine's Day.  They were quite surprised that they were getting a Blu-Ray Toy Story 3 movie.  Yay!  And then it was movie night...a fun way to spend Valentine's Day.

I hope you had fun on Valentine's Day, whether it was with loved ones or serving others.

Blessings,
Julie

Three Amigas...Three Challenges!

I love my stamping friends!  I've met such wonderful people since I began demonstrating for Stampin' Up!  I really didn't expect new friendships, but I've been richly blessed by them.  My friends Sharon, Joanne and I haven't been able to get together recently for a stamping playdate, so we decided to do a virtual playdate.  :-)  Isn't that hilarious?  Anyway, we were all to come up with a challenge and we needed to post our projects by tonight, midnight.  Oh yes, if you happen to be attending Ashley's workshop this Saturday, you'll be making these fun projects!

This sweet treat is for Joanne's challenge....to stamp something sweet.  I'd also planned something like this as a project for this Saturday's workshop, so double-bonus on this one.  :-)  This project uses the Designer Paper from Sale-A-Bration, ribbon from SAB, three hearts punch, half pearls colored with a sharpie, and the stamp set Eat Chocolate.  Oh yeah, I'm loving that stamp set!  The idea for this candy holder came from my dear blogging buddy Janet.  Thanks for sharing your wonderful idea, Janet!

This card is for my challenge.  My challenge was a color combo...Elegant Eggplant, Pear Pizzazz, Baja Breeze, and Peach Parfait.  I didn't get the extra points for using pearls.  :(  The layout for this is from SC317.   I used the Designer In Color Pack, which is a hostess level 1 set from Stampin' Up.  How sweet is that?!  And did you know that the Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain would match so nicely with the Peach Parfait DP?

The last challenge was from Sharon.  We were to use a "found" item, ie. something from around the house, like a jar lid.  I saved my netting yesterday that the mini watermelons came in.  How fortuitous!  I used the cardboard that is the backing of each DP pack, punched a 2 1/2" circle out of it, used packing tape to attach the netting to the edges of the cardboard and sponged over it.  After that, I punched the circle out, attached it to a scallop made with my Scallop Circles #2 Bigz Die and went from there.  This sketch is from SASC80 and the color combo is from SACC79.  I think one of the beatiful things of papercrafting is that you can find inspiration from so many sources.

And this is what my sponging template looks like.  Packing tape holds the netting on very well.  I didn't try to pull it evenly, because I wanted the "natural" look. 

So, blogging friends, what can you do with these challenges?  I'd love to see them!  Please post them somewhere online and leave a link at one of our blogs so that we can find them and leave a love for you.  There's no time restrictions for you.  We'd love to see how creative you all can be.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie