
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Ready for Something Besides Christmas Cards?

Wednesday, December 24, 2008
2-5-7-10 Gift Box

Here's a cute little gift bag under my tree. I used the Ski Slope Designer Series Paper for the main cardstock and a small strip of whisper white for the scalloped edge. The ribbon is retired silver narrow organdy. I stamped the mittens with the Scandinavian Season, tied them with crochet thread and hung them from the bow. The mittens serve the double purpose of decoration and gift tag. I love making these boxes - they're so easy. For those of you who came to my 3-D class, this is the 2-5-7-10 box. I've copied the instructions here so that you can easily recreate this.
Instructions:
Hold an 11 x 8 1/2” piece of cardstock in the landscape orientation and score at 2, 5, 7, & 10, Turn to the portrait orientation and score at 2 & 7. On the longer 2” side, cut all of the first row off except for the 2 x 3 section in between the 7 & 10 scores. On the opposite side which has the 1 1/2” scored section cut along the score lines to the first cross section to create flaps; cut the smallest square (1 1/2 x 1) at the end off. On the 1” wide section, cut the corners off at a diagonal to make the inside flap. Fold on all remaining score lines. Use Tombow or Sticky strip along the 1” flap and attach to other end of box. Glue the bottom flaps together after folding. Use your fingers in the sides of the top of the box to create a fold and then fold the top flap over. Secure with ribbon, Velcro dot, or magnetic snaps.
So let me know what you think. Have you tried this? Upload a pic and copy the link into your comment here. I'd love to see your creations too!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Love You Much Promotion from SU!
Say"Hello"
to
another
wonderful
special
from
Stamp-
in' Up! Starting today, you can buy the supplies to make some wonderful Valentine projects at a discount! And I have to say that it's so refreshing to be able to stamp something besides Christmas cards! After making 80+ cards, I'm totally welcoming Valentine's! Here are the details on the promotion:
Description Retail Value
Love You Much stamp set $25.95
Candy Lane Designer Series paper $9.95
Heart to Heart punch $15.95
Love You Much Bundle (20% off retail value of $51.85; item 115405) $41.48
Or go to see the flyer to see the products included in this special.
Here's the fun card that I made today with the bundle. I stamped the smaller hearts and punched them out with the coordinating triple heart punch. After punching out the hearts, I used the negative that they made to sponge the hearts on the background. The SU! markers are perfect for coloring the flowers inside the main heart image. A bit of glitter, faux stitching with my white gel pen and some vanilla grosgrain finish off the card.

And I had to break out this set, also. The stamp set is Something New to Love. The layout idea came from the XO heart - reminded me of tic tac toe. I also used my Orchid Opulence marker to draw in some faux stitching for the tic tac toe board. Vanilla grosgrain tied and mini glue dotted in the corners give a photo corner look. It was a fun and VERY quick card to make.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Are you a Designer Paper Junkie?? :-)
Are you like me - addicted to Designer Series Papers? I love them, because they make my projects easier, because I don't need to come up with a color combo and the fact that they look so beautiful that I don't have to do much to make the project look gorgeous. So for those of you who have some DSP sitting around, here's a tutorial for you. A sideline of mine in Idaho shared this link with our group. Scroll down to the end and click on the tutorial pic. It's super easy and fun. I've had this hanging on my tree the last two days, but I'm going to use this beautiful snowflake as a present topper. To all you family out there reading my post - who will be the lucky recipient? Thursday, December 18, 2008
Blog Candy For a Cause
I had to pass on this request for RAKs (Random Acts of Kindness). If you follow the link on the title of this post, you'll find an address that you can send a card to a couple who's newborn has been in NICU since her birth on Dec. 1. This is the card that I sent in today. I'll be praying for a complete recovery for this sweet baby and for peace and comfort for her parents. As a parent myself, I can only imagine the agony that they are going through right now. Thank you to Cami for making so many people aware of this opportunity through her blog. For this card, I used a current SU! set called Refuge and Strength and a PREVIEW STAMP SET called Sweet Stems. I was also able to use my PREVIEW EMBOSSLIT which coordinates with the Sweet Stems stamp set and is for use with the Big Shot. Yes, that is the latest and greatest "toy"/tool for me. I LOVE that thing! I stamped the flowers and sentiment on Vellum and stamped the cross underneath. I also used the cut out shape as a template to sponge inside of. Supplies: Mellow Moss, Regal Rose, Riding Hood Red, StazOn Black, vellum, Rich Regals brads, blender pens, sweet stems embosslit, sponges.
This is my youngest son, Zach. He turned 6 today. This morning he was quite anxious to open up this large present. (When he saw it, he pretended to literally be bowled over!) Inside, he found a track car racing set. I found it at Costco with a $15 discount and knew it was the perfect thing for him. Between this and the sledding outside on our steep hill, the kids have been busy all day! I so hope that the couple whose baby is in NICU will have these precious moments with their daughter in the future.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
And For My Next Challenge....A Birthday Card!!

Sorry for the dark picture. I took the photo at 11 pm. Ouch! Yes, it will be really hard to wake up tomorrow. I made this card for my youngest son Zach's birthday. He's going to be six on Thursday and loves trains. I used Sketch Challenge 207 for my layout and Color Challenge 197 for my color theme. They made for a great boy birthday card. The background of the train is the Baby Wipe technique on Glossy cardstock. See the end of this post for instructions on this technique. Here, I've used the "pick it up and daube" technique. Over the background, I stamped the train in Not Quite Navy. The small strips of Baja Breeze are stamped with the Canvas Background in Not Quite Navy. I sponged around the Kiwi with Basic Gray to give it that smoky look so common to the steam engines. I hope Zach will like this.
Baby Wipe Technique:
Fold a baby wipe in quarters. Using your ink refills, put dots of at least two different colors on the baby wipe, filling up as large a space as you want to stamp. You can use this as your ink pad to ink your stamp on, or pick it up (after you've donned a plastic glove) to daube on your glossy cardstock. It's really that easy, and another good excuse to buy the ink refills.
Supplies:
Happiness is a Journey, Canvas Background, Not Quite Navy, Kiwi Kiss, Basic Gray, Baja Breeze, Glossy Cardstock, Sponge, Baby Wipe.
There. Hope you've enjoyed this post. Let me know if you try this technique - I'd love to see the results. Oh, and if you're wondering where to buy the glossy cardstock from? Well, of COURSE it comes from Stampin' Up!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Starburst Flower Tutorial
Supplies needed:
4 1/2" x 4 1/2" vellum (x2 for a double layer starburst)
Designer Paper or colored cardstock
Small and Large Tag Punches
Scissors
Two-Way Glue Pen
Sorry for the blur on this photo. It's really hard to hold the punch, focus your image and hold the camera steady while you snap the picture! Make sure to notice that you first punch with the small tag punch and then punch with the large tag punch over the image. It's much easier to center over your small tag and punch evenly. You'll need 8 of these for one layer, 16 for a two layer starburst. Now don't throw away the small tags that you have leftover. They can be used for your Christmas gifts! Just stamp on them in VersaMark and then emboss with white embossing powder. You'll see how great it looks on the last photo, where I used my Starburst on a Christmas card.
Using your Two-Way Glue Pen, apply glue to the back side of your first tag outline. Line up the next three with the angled sides touching. The Two-Way Glue Pen is perfect for a project like this. The pen makes it very easy to draw small lines of adhesive and also works great for applying glitter to small or lined areas.
Glue your second layer of tag outlines over the first, keeping them lined up in between the first layer of tags. Try to keep everything even. You might want to lay your second layer of tags over the first before gluing, so that you can center the tags.
After gluing on all of the tag outlines, cut along the outsides of the tags, following the star pattern. If you would like to make a double-layered starburst, repeat from the beginning, so that you have two starbursts.I colored the center of the flower with a marker on the BACK side of the flower. After putting the two layers together with a pop-up glue dot, I mounted the flower on this gorgeous Ski Slope Designer paper. And since we crafters are so good at using our scraps, I used one of the tag centers for my greeting.
Supplies used:
Small and Large Tag Punches, Vellum, Riding Hood Red and Very Vanilla Cardstock, Gold Brads, Pop-Up Glue Dots, Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker, Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, Best Yet Hostess Stamp Set, Ski Slope & Bella Rose Designer Paper, Gold Elastic Cord.
So if you play along, post your card somewhere and leave a comment here with the link to your starburst card. I'd love to see them!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Lingerie Cards

Ok, don't tell my sister and brother-in-law that their birthday cards are here, because I just had to show you. Quite a while ago, I found this template online and had to try it. After making my sister's card, I decided to make a coordinating card for my BIL. I'll try to make a template for it, in case you'd like to try it. On my sister's card I used 1/4" red grosgrain for the straps and some retired fancy fibers for the edging. On my BIL's card, I flipped the Designer Series paper over for the waistband and fly. I also used metallic eyelets and crochet thread for the drawstring. So, do you think they'll like them?
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Baja Reflections

Discounts on the Retiring List and Free Shipping Offer



