Wednesday 31 August 2011

Emergency Chocolate Wrappers

Here is one of the projects I got finished for our Christmas Craft Sale.  I have 15 of these to put in the sale.  :-)


The ribbon loop is attached to the chocolate bar with two sided tape, then slipped into the sparkly Christmas paper wrapper. I used my crimper on the end - it always good to pull that tool out as it usually sits in a drawer.


I did the label on my computer, and printed them on glossy photo paper instead of regular card stock. These will be fun little gifts for co-workers, or even stocking stuffers!

EDITED ... the third photo seemed to have disappeared, so I have just added it:


Thanks for stopping by today.

Tuesday 30 August 2011

Clean And Simple "Rosette" card


I made a bunch of little rosette's one evening last month. I figured if the glue-gun was plugged in anyhow, I might as well make it worthwhile.  :-)   The pretty paper pack was on clearance at Michaels. I needed another pad of 12x12 paper like a hole in my head, yet - it still made it into my cart.  The felt/gems in the center were also on clearance.  A couple of packages of those also made it into my cart.  The rosette die is by Tim Holtz.

I used a Sizzix die to cut the sweet scalloped border, and also a leaf sprig from the same paper pack. The inside is blank, and I will add a verse or words when I decide what I need the card for.



Last night I got a second wind around 9:30pm and went down to the studio. I got a couple of things ready for the craft sale! Hopefully I can get them finished up and will share photos soon.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Monday 29 August 2011

Covered Post-It Note gift

Man, I don't think there is enough coffee to keep me awake today. I'm whipped!  :-)  We had a very busy (and fun) weekend so it's OK that I pay the price today. 

Today's share uses older photos ... I never did get the pictures posted on my old blog.  Last January I had special ordered some personalized post-it notes for my friends Debbie & Jane for their birthdays, then added chipboard covers and a coil binding. This is the one I made for Debbie:






 I stamped the words (Verve) in black and the flower silhouette is Cricut cut. Sorry, I don't remember the cartridge, but it could be 'Home Decor'. I even tied ribbons on the coils - it was the first time I'd done something like that. Usually I leave the coils (Bind It All) naked.
 I used a UHU glue stick to attach the patterned paper to the chipboard covers, then inked the edges before punching.  Below is a peek at the post-it note pad and you can see why I chose a silhouette image to decorate the front.

These were so much fun to make ... and I love giving a gift that can be 'used and used UP'.  :-)


Thanks for stopping by today!


Saturday 27 August 2011

Fun with Felt

First, I am sorry about the delay in answering questions and emails ... we have out of town guests who have an 8 month old baby. It's busy! The day starts early. Really early. 5:30 am early.  :-}

I didn't get into my studio all week, so by Friday I knew I needed to just MAKE SOMETHING. I took some time out of my day and got to try cutting felt.  It worked like a charm!  I cut three (yes, three) leaves from a lovely burgundy felt with a Tim Holtz Die.  I used my 2x4" and 4x4" formula to cut a piece of kraft card stock and patterned paper. I cut three sets.  When I went to assemble them though, one leaf has completely disappeared!  So ... here are two of the cards I made.  Sheesh.

My first discovery was that the die cut pieces are 'wussy'. They are limp and I figured they would be hard to glue down without the glue showing on the right side of the felt. My solution is to use my Xyron to attach a piece of paper or cardstock to the back of the felt and cut it. It worked like a charm!!!
I used patterned paper from K&Co, twine from Michaels, and the ribbon, button and embossing folder are by Stampin' Up.

I was on a roll so also cut a felt snowman, several deer, snowflakes and a Christmas stocking ... all with a paper backing. Fun  fun FUN!!

It is going to be another busy day tomorrow, with getting everyone packed up and out of here and then booting it back to the city for dinner guests.  I likely won't be able to post or answer questions/emails until at least Monday.

Thanks for stopping by today

Thursday 25 August 2011

Sparkly Christmas Cards

Rather than just leave the die cut ornaments from yesterday's post in my 'Odds & Sods' pile ... I made Christmas cards for the sale.  :-)   I had a scrap of red sparkly patterned paper left so cut another red one too.


They look way better in real life, with all the shimmer and shine.



The stickers were on clearance at Michaels, and I attached them to a punched label (Stampin' Up). The snowflake is from a Sizzix die, and it was also sitting in my 'Odds & Sods' pile.  Easy Peasy!

Thanks for stopping by today

Mini Composition Book #2, 3 and 4

Here are two more of the altered mini composition books I did for the Christmas Craft Sale ... but I didn't remember to take the picture until after they were all packaged!


The front and backs were covered with sparkly Christmas papers, and I cut the little bookmarks out of the same paper but backed them with white card stock.



I die cut 3 Christmas ornaments (Tim Holtz die) from paper that I thought matched nicely when I held it against the covers, but after I cut them ... they didn't look good at all. So, they went into my 'Odds & Sods' pile and I cut two more out of a red tone on tone sparkly print with a kraft topper & ribbon bit and I liked them much better.  The little 3-d decorations are by K&Co.


The chipboard sticker for this final notebook was in a package from our Dollar Store ... I liked the glittered circles with the sparkly striped paper.

Some pretty fibres tied onto the bookmarks and ... done!  3 more items for the sale.  :-)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Black and Cream Silhouette card

I still have some photos of cards that I didn't get posted on my last blog, so thought I'd share one of those cards today. I haven't been in the studio in 2 days, so I don't have anything new to show.  :-(   I do have some knitting projects almost finished ('cause I've been in a vehicle a fair bit) but ... I haven't taken any pics of those. So ... here you go:


I used one of my very favourite Cricut cartridges ... 'A Child's Year' to cut the silhouette out of cream with a black shadow. The patterned papers are by K&Co and everything is mounted onto a side fold A2 card. The silhouette is popped up with foam tape. Ignore the watermark, which shows my old blog name.


I had done a whole stack of these 'black and cream cards, using various silhouettes from different cartridges. So fun ... I just love the detail in some of these Cricut cuts.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Tuesday 23 August 2011

Christmas Cards - August 2011


Following the 4x4" and 2x4" piece formula**, I was able to quickly make my 6 August cards for the Christmas Card challenge at Splitcoast. The patterned paper by MME is coordinated and sparkly and I added a 1/2" strip of glittery red paper across the seam. 

I used a Stampin' Up digital file for the words, adding colour in Photoshop. They were sized to fit the Stampin' Up punch (also a digital file I purchased) and printed on a sheet of white card stock. Then I simply punched them out and attached them to the card fronts with foam tape.

** see THIS blog post



Thanks for stopping by today!

Monday 22 August 2011

Tim Holtz Tag for Sue #2

Here is the 2nd tag I sent to Sue for our 'First Of The Month Exchange' in August. I wanted something pretty and not necessarily all altered and inked and grunged up ...

K&Co double sided patterned paper, with some subtle stamping. The background stamps were from the bargain bit at Michaels.  :-)  The swirls are actually from the top of a tree stamp that I bought last year for Fall and Halloween!  The bookplate is on the same die (I LOVE this bookplate) and the butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch.

I inked the bookplate with purple metallic ink (Colorbox), stamped the words (Hero Arts) with the same ink on a scrap of off white card stock. That was attached behind the bookplate opening before attaching the purple gems.

The butterfly was punched twice, layered with foam tape, and a little glitter glue spread just on the body. It was attached to the bookplate before I adhered the bookplate to the bottom of the tag with foam tape. Because all the butterfly layers are attached at the body only, the wings lift up which gives it such a nice, airy look.

Fibres from my stash ...

Thanks for stopping by today!

Sunday 21 August 2011

Masculine Star Birthday cards


I am so excited about these cards! Not the cards themselves, but the formula for cutting the papers is what has me so happy. I wish I'd had THIS brainstorm years ago!

I cut a 2" strip from the dark patterned  12 x 12" paper, which gave me a 2 x 12" strip. That was cut into 3 pieces 4" long, so I had three 2 x 4" strips.  Each of those three strips were attached to the bottom of A2 kraft card stock cards, leaving an equal distance between each side and the bottom.

From the lighter patterned paper, I cut a 4" strip from the 12 x 12" piece, then cut that in 3 ... so I had three 4" square pieces of patterned paper. Each of those was attached to the top of the kraft card stock bases, leaving equal distance between each side and the top.

Ta Da ... a perfectly layered panel with NO LITTLE PAPER PIECES LEFTOVER!!!   I think that's the best part, ha ha.

Now for the details ... the patterned paper is by Stampin' UP, as is the textured embossing folder I used on the bottom stars and the star brads themselves. Also by Stampin' Up are the words (Teeny Tiny Greetings) and the Word Window Punch.  The plaid embossing folder on the top stars, and the star die are by Sizzix. 

Once I had everything attached, I decided I wanted to add twine. So I notched the spine and the front flap of the cards slightly with a hole punch, and threaded the twine through to tie on. Worked like a charm.  Whew!  The star brads (from the clearance rack) are silver, so I used a Copic marker to colour them in. The top stars are attached with foam tape. Edges of the patterned paper and the stars were inked with brown before attaching.

I cut a panel of tan card stock for the inside of the cards, embossed the top inch or so with the SU textile embossing folder, added the birthday verse (Hero Arts) and attached it inside the card. Two of these are going for my Christmas Craft Sale stock as people are always looking for masculine cards.



This paper cutting formula worked so well, I pulled out two coordinating sheets of Christmas paper and repeated my cuts. Very quickly I had 6 Christmas cards put together. I'll take pictures of those and share them next week.



Thanks so much for stopping by today!



Saturday 20 August 2011

Clean and Simple Anniversary Card

There is a new challenge at CASual Friday's ... and it is:  CFC16:  Create a Clean And Simple project that features embossing--dry embossing, embossing folders, or heat set embossing.

This is the A2 card I came up with, using a heavy pearlized card stock (StarDream). I love using this stuff - but of course the shimmer doesn't show up in a low res web photo.



This is all one embossing folder (Sizzix) ... talk about Easy Peasy! Plus, with this heavy card stock you get a really nice deep impression.  I used my iRock to adhere 3 heart gems to the card which keeps it mail friendly. 

Here is a peek at the inside:





This nice big stamp is by Stampendous ... I added it to a panel of white card stock, rounded the corners and attached it inside the card.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Friday 19 August 2011

Silhouette Sympathy Card


A sympathy card for my stash ... made with the Lyrical Letters Cricut cartridge (I think ... I lost my notes for this one and I made it awhile ago).  I cut the silhouette image out of black, sized as close to an A2 card as I could. That was glued to a blue patterned paper (Hot Off The Press), then to a white A2 card. Then, I swiped over it with a gold and a purple pigment metallic ink pad.
The butterfly punch is by Martha Stewart, and the sweet label/oval dies are by Verve.  The words are by Hero Arts and the little black gems were attached with my iRock tool.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Thursday 18 August 2011

Tim Holtz Tag for Sue

For my new Blog followers, I have a friend in another town (Sue) and the first of each month we pop something we've made into the mail for each other.  Since she just bought the Tim Holtz Tag die, I thought for August first I'd send her a couple of tags that I'd made with it. This is the first one:


I embossed the tag with the swirl embossing folder, and it was rubbed with a purple mettallic ink (ColorBox) and spritzed with glimmer spray (Tattered Angels). I did the same with the die-cut butterfly (Cricut cut)  which was sitting in my 'Odds & Sods' pile. 


A Spellbinders die forms the butterfly body, and I attached a sweet metal butterfly that I found at Michaels. I just can't resist butterflies!  The gems are from M's as well.





As a final little touch, I added this little tab from Tim's "Tiny Tabs and Tags" die with the reinforcement from the Tag die.  Tim's Tiny Attacher provided the tiny staples that holds the tab onto the tag.  :-)

Thanks for stopping by today!
EDITED to add that I'm popping this into the challenge at "Flutterby Wednesday #167" this week!

Wednesday 17 August 2011

LIM Week 28 One Layer Card



The challenge at the 'Less Is More' blog is to create a "One Layer Card" using ink in a new or favourite way. I had SO much fun making this card, because I am really enjoying my new Stampin' Up pennant stamp set. I have always loved using a crisp white card stock with bright coloured ink, so that is what I went for.

I hand drew the little bows, and the celebrate stamp is one of the $1.50 stamps from Michaels.  Easy Peasy!  The colours look better in real life -- the green is brighter, and the butterscotch pennants on the ends aren't as dark.  

Thanks for stopping by today!

Tuesday 16 August 2011

FTL 153 Fall Sketch Card

There is a new sketch up at the Clean And Simple Stamping Blog ... and they are joining up with 'CASual Friday'  this week!! I knew what I wanted to do as soon as I saw the sketch, but of course things look different in my head than they do when completed so I had to 'adjust' the sketch at tad at the end. Here is my card:


I used a kraft card base, and die cut a felt 'ric rac' strip with a Sizzix die. It didn't cut as easily as I thought it would so I had to end up hand trimming it. I glued this to the left side of the card.


The tree (Stampscapes) was stamped on an off-white confetti card stock panel with inked edges, and that was then attached over the felt border with foam tape.

I used a Marvy punch to punch out the tiny leaf from a scrap of orange and glued that right to one of the tree branches.


The word stamp is by Verve, and I used  Stampin' Up punches and scraps of kraft and off-white confetti card stock.  I cut a panel of the off-white confetti card stock for the inside of the card, stamped the trees once on scrap paper and then onto the panel. This gave me a lighter impression, and I can stamp a verse or inspirational words in black or dark brown and it will show up over the tree image.



Thanks for stopping by today!

Monday 15 August 2011

Baby Rattle Card w/ Gift Bag and Knit Baby Hat

Well I have a photo heavy post for you today! A friend of our daughters had a baby girl last week. J has been friends with H since kindergarten so of course I wanted to celebrate Abigail's arrival with a hand made gift.





I chose a really soft yarn, and knitted (!!) a newborn size beanie. Then I crochet the sweet loopy flower to add and was so pleased with how it turned out.
I found a sparkly pink button in my stash and added that to the flower center for a bit more sparkle.

The down side, is that I have turned into a "knitted hat mad woman". It's just CRAZINESS! I have several hats almost finished for our Christmas craft sale ... just have to figure out how to make some pom poms.  Haven't done those in years either, ha ha. I have also finished 2 hats for our little Granddaughter - who is now 3 months old.  !!

Now the gift needed to be wrapped ... and my last Stampin' Up Clearance Rack order had arrived with these cute little brown/tan glossy card stock gift bags. It was the perfect size for this hat and the pink tissue paper. But it needed to be dressed up a bit ...

Sorry for the bad photo ... it looks like there is a crease in the dotted flap, but it is just a shadow. I was in a big hurry to take the photo before I brought the gift to my daughters.  I used a Sizzix die to cut the flower layers from pink card stock, inked the edges and adhered them all together with foam tape. The Boho Flower punch was also in my Stampin' Up order ... so I used it as well. I have wanted that punch for a long time, so am going to be able to put it to good use.  Here, it is the flower center.



 I added a sweet paper pink rose (Michaels) to the flower center.

Of course I wanted to make a special card ... and chose the rattle from the "Sugar and Spice" Cricut cartridge.

  
I cut the base layer twice, as I knew I wanted to use lots of foam tape on this card. I ran the top base through my Big Shot with a Sizzix plaid embossing folder for a bit of texture. The little duck seemed to need something - so I painted it with Twinkling H20's for some yellow shimmer. When it was dry, I added a tiny pink gem with my iRock tool. 
I wanted a pink card base, so used the "Elegant Edges" cartridge for the scalloped heart panel.A pink satin bow ties it all together.  :-)







Here is a peek at the inside:  I actually ended up outlining the little bird (a leftover piece from the rattle) with a Sakura gel pen and added a sparkle eye after I took this photo.  The stamp is one I have had for years, by PrintWorks.  Oh, and the little 'Welcome' stamp on the front is by Hero Arts.
Just for fun, I ran the envelope through with the same Sizzix plaid embossing folder, and added some punches to the front and back. (Punches by Stampin' Up, as is the 'Sweet One' stamp).


Whew! That's it for today - thanks for stopping by.