Sunflower Stamping!

Peaceful Wishes Again This Year

Here is a sweet card I CASEd for my "Quick Cards" Class this month. I found it here, and just love its simplicity, colors, and the splashy red bow.

 

Don't ya just love it?! I used Always Artichoke for the base cardstock, with Confetti Cream as the card front. All I did was to stamp the pine needles multiple times on the side of the card front, making sure one of them stuck out far enough to "hang" the pinecone on. Then I stamped the pinecone in Chocolate Chip, and the sentiment in Real Red. Next, tie a bow in Red Gingham ribbon, and attach it to the top of the pinecone with a mini glue dot. That's it! A very simple and very quick card that can easily be mass-produced!

Hope you enjoy and that it solves your "how do I make a bunch of Christmas cards that actually look good" dilemma!

Four Projects Using Frosty Day DSP: Days 3 & 4 Together!!

Well, with turkey day getting in the middle of my week of projects, I'll just give you both days 3 & 4 today! But first let me say that I hope you had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving, and that today you're not as stuffed as you felt yesterday! My sister and her family brought the most delicious cakes and pies from a local restaurant in High Point NC that were to die for!!

OK - on to my last 2 projects:

 

Don't they look great all grouped together?! I think they're just adorable! (Am I allowed to say that about my own creations? I hope so, because I just did!)

I took the leftover scraps of DSP and used them on the last 2 items: a cello bag and topper, and a gift card holder. They were both so simple to make, and yet still look great. I think the biggest piece of DSP used on these is 4-1/4 x 1", which is the strip across the outside of the gift card holder.

   

As you can see, the gift card holder is as simple as a piece of cardstock with 2 folds! Mine is a 4-1/4 x 6" piece of Close To Cocoa scored at 2-1/2" and again at 5". Fold the little 1" strip up and adhere it with 2 brads. This will hold your gift card in place. I then adhered the larger strip of DSP to the outside, and another 1" x 4-1/4" piece to the inside flap (BEFORE inserting the brads, by the way!) Next, I just stamped the 'Enjoy' stamp from the Country Living Holiday Collection stamp set in Kiwi Kiss, tied the holder closed with Kiwi Kiss ribbon, and stuck the tag on with a dimensional. Couldn't be any simpler than that!

As for the cello bag, I simply took a 4x6" cellophane bag and cut a piece of 4x3" Tangerine Tango cardstock for the topper. Score it in half lengthwise and adhere a 3-1/2" x 1" strip of remaining DSP to the front. On top of that I layered another 'Enjoy' label stamped in Tangerine Tango and punched out with the 1-3/4" round punch. I adhered it with a dimensional so that I could loop the tag string around it easily. The tag uses one of the last bits of DSP: two 1/4" x 2" wide strips. The tag itself is cut from Bashful Blue, and measures 2-1/4 x 3-1/2", then is punched with the ticket punch on the top 2 corners. The stamp I used is from last year's 'Tags For All', which I just love, and can't believe it was retired! I stamped it in Bashful Blue, then cut it out and stuck it on the tag. After adding the DSP strips, I punched a 1/16" circle, then punched a 1/2" circle around that for the Tangerine Tango circle at the top where the metallic thread is threaded through.

 

As you can see, I STILL had some DSP remaining. I used one piece to wrap around a few sticks of chocolate stirring sticks (and stuck a few more candies in there just for the picture!), then cut the rest into tiny strips. I then ran the strips through my crimper, and voila! You've got instant "stuffing"!

Well, that's it - a whole set of matching gift holders! Hope this inspires you for the big Christmas wrapping and packaging season!

There's a Stampin' Up! SALE that just started, which I'll post tomorrow - see you then!

Four Projects Using One Sheet of Frosty Day DSP: Day 2!

Alright - it's day 2, and I've got a cute gift box and bow to match the cute snowman bag from yesterday. Let's just dive right in!

 

Here they are together - don't they look cute! The box is an origami box, about 4-1/2" square, and about 2" high. Plenty big enough to hold all kinds of things on MY wish list! :-) It's a good thing I found a tutorial to help you make one of these, because a friend in Houston showed me how to make them, and I'd never be able to tell you without showing you. The tutorial is a bit different from the way I make mine, but very close. I will try to tell you how I change up their instructions, but click here to get to the tutorial. Now, once you're there, follow along for my few differences: First, I use 2 sheets of 12 x 12" cardstock - I do not cut either the top or the bottom smaller, I simply fold one smaller to fit into the other. So, the next difference is under Step 1: I do NOT make the initial folds - they serve no purpose in the end, but are merely place markers. So, instead, I take a ruler and mark a small cross in pencil in the very center of the 12 x 12 piece of cardstock. Now follow the rest of the steps exactly as they are for ONE piece of the cardstock. This will be the smaller piece, or the bottom.

To make the box top, make the same changes as above: start with a 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock, and mark the centerin pencil instead of making the folds in Step 1. Now, complete Steps 1-3. In Step 4, however, you will make a smaller fold. To do this, you will not bring your fold to the center in Step 4. Where it says, "Fold the top of the square to middle of box, and the bottom of the square to the middle of the box", you will instead fold to within 1/4" of the middle with both the top and the bottom folds. Notice the photo in Step 5: you see a gap, but if you pressed the paper down in the photo, the gap would disappear, right? Well, when you fold it MY way, the gap will not disappear - it is supposed to remain because the top and bottom can't reach. Now complete the rest of the steps as written. I hope that makes sense! If not, just use their directions, and your box will simply be a bit smaller.

If you're keeping track of the sheet of DSP, then this is the project to start with, because the bow consumes most of the paper. So, if you decide to make all the projects from one 12x12" sheet of DSP, start with today's box, bow, and gift tag. The bow uses one half of the sheet of DSP. I'll tell you how to cut the cardstock as we go, but the main thing to keep in mind is to follow the directions to a "T" when cutting your paper for the bow. Those directions can be found here.  

The bow's simple to make - you just cut the half sheet into strips of a certain size, loop one end of each strip over the other, adhere the ends together, then assemble. Seriously, if you follow the directions in the link above, it really is easy - you'll be making all your own bows from now on!

 

After making the bow, I cut an 8-1/2 x 2-1/2" piece of the remaining half-sheet of DSP. I used it as you would ribbon, and wrapped it around the top and two sides of the box. I also adhered 1-3/4 x 4" "panels" of DSP to the other two sides just to brighten it up a bit.

  

The last thing I added was a cute little gift tag, made from a base of Close To Cocoa to match the box. After punching the top corners with the ticket punch, I adhered a 2-1/2 x 2-1/2" piece of DSP, folded in half. On the inside, I put a stamped tag with matching Tangerine Tango ink. Next, I punched the top with the slot punch, and threaded some Tangerine Tango striped ribbon through, fastening it with a brad.

Altogether, I think it's an adorable little gift box and I'd love to receive it as much as I'm going to love giving it!

Meet me back here tomorrow for the goodie bag!! See you then!

A Whole Week's Worth of Projects Using Frosty Day DSP: Day 1!

Yep - that's what I'm going to give you this week: one project each day from my upcoming "Bags, Tags, and Bows" gift packaging class. The whole class is based on the use of one full sheet of Frosty Day Designer Series Paper, and each is a gift package, not a gift in itself. There are 4 projects in all, including a gift box with matching tag and handmade bow, a cello bag with topper and tag for holding edible goodies, a simple-to-make gift card holder, and today's project, a gift bag with matching stamped tissue paper insert.

   

This cute bag is a CASE of an idea my upline made last Christmas with the great Christmas DSP, although the name escapes me at the moment!

 Isn't the snowman just adorable?!! He is a CASE from Charlene Monroe's website here. Charlene's snowman holds a peppermint pattie, which makes hers better! Not to mention the fact that she's far more clever than I because the snowman is her idea! Thanks, Charlene! I especially like the way she used the White Signo Pen to make the dots look like buttons on his... what would that be... his belly?!

I guessed at the punch sizes used, so if you want to know the sizes I used for my snowman, please email me. I mounted him on a tag and added a smal piece of Bashful Blue doulbe-striped grosgrain ribbon.

For this project, the only part of the sheet of DSP I used is the 1x8" strip across the center, behind the snowman. Remember, all of this week's projects are made from one 12x12" piece of Frosty Day DSP. I used Bashful Blue and Kiwi Kiss cardstock to match the DSP, and I think the colors are great for snow and snowmen!

To make this bag, the first thing I did was wheel across the bottom section of the bag. While I had the wheels out, I also wheeled the tissue paper. Next, I cut a couple pieces of cardstock the width of the gift bag, and layered them with the strip of DSP.

The bottom of the plain white gift bag is wheeted with 2 different (retired) wheels, in Bashful Blue and Kiwi Kiss. To match, I wheeled some white tissue paper the same.   

Hope you like it! I'll be back tomorrow with another of the pieces listed above, so stay tuned! See you then!

Snowflake Holiday Centerpiece Using the Holiday Collection Stamp Set

Happy Monday to everyone! I spent most of my weekend stamping furiously, trying to complete all my holiday class projects so that I can photograph them and get them going. (Better late than never, right?!)

Here's one I make for each holiday and seaon. It's a mini garden flag that I change out by cutting some cardboard to size, then embellishing it for the season or holiday. If you've followed my posts, I just did a Thanksgiving flag this past week, and one for Halloween in October. Instead of making a Christmas flag this time, I went with snowflakes because I'd gotten some white buckets with snowflakes on them at the Target Dollar Spot.

 

I just love the Cuttlebug Snowflake embossing folder, so I decided to use it on my flag. Behind it is Baja Breeze cardstock adhered to a piece of 3x5-1/2" cardboard. I used the corner rounder on the bottom corners, and used jumbo eyelets on top to use to hang it. The greeting is from the Country Living Holiday Kit, as are the large and small blue snowflakes. The white snowflake with the blue background is from the retired set 'Perfect Presentation'. After that's all put together with SNAIL and Dimensionals, it was hung on the flag post with the striped Baja Breeze grosgrain ribbon, and a piece of the 1" double-stitched ribbon was tied to the corner as decoration.

"Yeah, that's great Melinda, but where do I get a mini garden flag to start with?!" Well, I can't help you there. I got mine at the end of the summer at Dollar General, when they were on sale for fifty cents! You might try asking if they have any left in the back, or maybe just check around on the shelves!

Hope you're inspired - meet you back here tomorrow!

Punch Art Christmas Tags

Happy Friday! Personally, I can't believe it's Friday already, but the rest of you out there are probably thinking it would never get here! I didn't have much time to stamp today, and I didn't want to just throw something together, so I'm going to give you a sneak peek of my upcoming punch art Christmas tags class project. These are so cute, and completely CASEd from the Stampin' Up! Demonstrator website, created by Mercedes Weber. I like her already; we share the same initials. Maybe some of her creativity will wear off on me...

 

Aren't they just the cutest?!! Very clever ideas. These are totally made with Stampin' Up! punches, with the exception of Rudolph's antlers. They are a bit time consuming, simply because the pieces are so tiny to work with, and adhering them to the tag itself is tricky.

      

Season of Thanks Decor Elements Holiday Project!

Have you seen this fabulous Stampin' Up! project yet?

 

Although it's difficult to photograph because of the glass front, it's beautiful in person!

This Decor Elements shadowbox was shown at Stampin' Up!'s annual convention a few months ago, and I finally got to make mine! I'm so excited about it, not only because I now have a beautiful multi-season decoration for my home, but also because it's the first I've worked with the Decor Elements, and I LOVE THEM! (I have to admit that I have not been a big fan of the Decor Elements, but with the addition of the holiday themes, I started getting more interested. And now that I've used them, I am thrilled with them!)

My version is made with a 12x12" shadowbox from Michael's that I got for 40% off this week. I chose brown to go with the brown Decor Elements, and I'd selected brown for the Decor Elements in keeping with a Fall color scheme. Note that this is a shadowbox, however, and the Fall elements can be traded out for other seasons: picture brown wording with pink Valentine hearts, or red Christmas items, etc. All you do is place the Decor Elements on the outside of the glass, then fill the inside of the shadowbox with whatever suits you! The size I used is the SMALL Season of Thanks.

The background of the shadowbox is cream colored fabric, which makes the lettering and the bright leaves stand out. Most of these that I've seen contain a section of a Fall garland, but I chose to cut off a few leaves and just include a few. I must say that I have not seen a single one on others' websites that I have not fallen in love with! This is so easy, you don't even have to be creative to make one that's stunning!

One thing I will point out to you is that the leaves and swirl to the left of the wording originally came on the bottom edge of the Season Of Thanks. Since my shadowbox was only 12x12, there wasn't enough room to include it on the bottom, so I cut it off and added it to the side instead. Just adapt yours to the size shadowbox you end up getting, and it'll look great no matter how you do it!

If you haven't already, I strongly suggest you try out the Decor Elements - especially the new line of holiday items - and you'll be impressed! I hope you're inspired to try them out!

Recipe -

Small (12" x 7-5/8"), Chocolate Season of Thanks Decor Elements $14.95 + S&H
12x12 Shadowbox from Michael's on sale for $18
Fall leaves garland from Michael's on sale for $2.99

So, depending on the price of your shadowbox, you can make a beautiful year-round decoration for your home for around $30! I'm thinking Christmas gifts...!

Season of Friendship Cards and Magazine Holder

Boy, I'm in the doghouse for posting this so late, aren't I?!! Well, hopefully it won't disappoint!

Here's my magazine holder and cards made with my new Season of Friendship set:

 

Cute, huh? I adapted a mini magazine holder to regular 4-1/4 x 5-1/2" cards. I made a couple of cards to go inside, CASEing a few from online... sorry, I can't remember from where at the moment. (I'm in such a hurry to get this thing posted finally!) The magazine holder would look really cute with the bottom covered in DSP, then more on the cards to match. However, I was trying to keep these cards and the holder simple and with fewer supplies because it's for one of my Christmas classes.

 

I stamped the envelopes to make this more "gifty" (!) and because they will be seen while in the holder. I'll probably offer my stampers the option to make this quick-and-easy version, or one with two of each cards. They are pretty stamping-intensive, simply because you have to ink, cleanup, then re-ink with other colors quite frequently, due to all the leaves on the cards, holder and the envelopes.

I think it's  a reallly neat, colorful - and simple - project. Once I figured out the dimensions of the holder, it was really simple to put everything together. I'll come back and add the dimensions and instructions for the holder tomorrow; first, I've got to make some adjustments to this one, as it was the first try, and therefore not perfect! I'll also add instructions for the cards (which, by the way, are landscape, which doesn't seem to show up in the picture.)

Hope you like!

OK - here we go with the particulars I promised:

Recipe -

Stamp sets: Season of Friendship, Level I hostess set Best Yet

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun

Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Whisper White

Accessories: Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Riding Hood Red, & Baja Breeze striped grosgrain ribbon, hemp twine, Whisper White medium envelopes, Circle punches: 3/4", 1", 1- 1-3/8", 1-3/4"; magazine holder template

You know what? I'll never get through a how-to without visual aids.It would be like trying to teach someone how to tie their shoes without being able to show them.

For a tutorial with pictures, click here.

More Halloween Projects Using Autumn Harvest, Eat, Drink & Be Scary (SNEAK PEAK!), and Ghostly Greetings DSP, AND THE CUTEST LITTLE MUMMY TREAT BAG EVER!!!

Here are my second Halloween class projects:

 

Cute, huh?! I fell in love with the box-in-bags when I made some with the Bella Rose DSP, so of course I had to make some with 'Ghostly Greetings' DSP. I used the 2 pumpkins from 'Autumn Harvest' a lot because they are just SO CUTE and SO HAPPY! I gave them the witch's hat from 'Eat, Drink & Be Scary' because I think I saw it on someone's website, but I honestly can't remember now. I know I got the green hatband idea from the picture in the mini catalog! Which reminds me: you'll be able to order this and many more CUTE, CUTE, C-U-T-E sets NEXT WEDNESDAY, OCT 1st!!!!

The stamps I used that are from the new set 'Eat, Drink, & Be Scary' include the tag of the same name on the black skull bag, the witch's hat, the tiny little spider whose web says "happy fright night to you", and also the definition of Halloween on the green card. You can't really tell, but the paper on the cards is a black and grey pinstriped Halloween DSP. It's really cool looking. I sponged the pumpkins on the envelopes just as a finishing touch. As you can see, they're wider than the cards. That's because I made the cards 4x4, but you can still use regular envelopes; they're just a bit wider, but work just fine. I was going to cut them down and use  the Ghostly Greetings DSP as lining, but didn't want my class to be too long. :-)

Now let's talk about my FAVORITE: My MUMMY!!!!!

   

Is he the cutest little guy, OR WHAT??!!! He's out on a few websites, but when I went to trace him back to where I originally found him, I couldn't find him again! I'll look more and edit this post to thank his clever creator. All he is, is a few strips of Whisper White cardstock, distressed with the distressing tool, then sponged with Creamy Caramel ink. Did I say how cute I think he is?? Unbelieveably cute. He'd be adorable as a candy treat holder or a notecard holder. Man, I just love him!

OK - gotta get some sleep! Keep stamping, and let me know if you want directions for my MUMMY!

Halloween Projects Using Stampin' Up!'s 'Chills & Thrills' Rub-ons: Spooky Witch's Cauldron, Happy Halloween Mini Flag & Bucket Centerpiece, Coffin Candy Box, & Decorated Picture Frame!

I thought I'd do a class using the cute new Halloween rub-ons, 'Chills & Thrills'. I love the way they turned out!

 

There are only THREE stamps used in these projects: the "Happy Halloween" on top of the mini flag in the bucket, the spider hanging from the handle of the cauldron, and the bat on the front of the mini bucket. The rest are rub-ons and"Ghostly Greetings" Designer Series Paper!

 

The first rub-on I tried was the word "boo", and since I wasn't very practiced, I got a little careless and scraped off the bottom of the b, so I had to improvise, and covered it with a little ghost!

 

I took a mini bucket from Target's Dollar Spot, and covered it in bats. Then I'd gotten these little garden flags at a dollar store, which gave me the idea to make a Halloween "flag" of sorts for a tabletop decoration. I covered a section of cardboard with DSP, stamped the phrase, covered it in a stack of pumpkins, and added a few ribbons. The pumpkins are made from textured  Tangerine Tango cardstock, punched with the circle punch. I sponged the edges of each circle with more Tangerine Tango so they would look like the curves of a real pumpkin, then stuck them together with mini glue dots from behind. Their stems are made with the horizontal slot punch. Their faces are the cute pumpkin faces from the Chills & Thrills Rub-ons. Cute!!

 

This little coffin-shaped candy box is strictly rub-ons. After punching some different colors of cardstock and layering them, then anchoring them with brads, I added the "Danger: keep out" and the other rub-ons.

 

I got this frame at a dollar store and just added some rub-ons. So simple, and doesn't it look neat?

 

...another closeup of the cute little pumpkin flag!

Tomorrow I'll have more Halloween projects for my second Halloween class, including the CUTEST, most adorable mummy treat bag you've ever seen!

Hope I've inspired you! Keep stamping!

Bella Rose Designer Series Paper & "Mini Beach Bags"

I'm sure you've seen all the mini beach bags floating around on the internet. Well, my September Cards & Gifts Class was a Bella Rose Beach Bag festival! Everybody made two different beach bags with 8 3x3 gift cards to match. That way, they could put 4 cards in each bag and give them away as gifts!

Here are the finished products:

 

Will post more details later today!

Enjoy!

July Cards & Gifts Class!

Northeast Georgia Rubber Stamping Cards & Gifts Class - if you're in the Athens, Statham, Bogart, Winder, or Watkinsville, Georgia area, come stamp with beautiful Stampin' Up! products!

Join me Sunday, July 20th at 2:00 pm to make this cute card holder and matching cards! Class fee is $25.00. Please RSVP by Friday, July 18th so that I can have your supplies ready. We'll learn how to watercolor in a couple of different ways on watercolor paper. It's the last time these colors will be available, as they are retiring next month!

This class is for beginning stampers and experienced stampers alike!

 

 

 

 

Call me at the number above or email me to reserve your spot in class! Cash, credit cards, or Paypal through my monthly eNewsletter are all payment options!

Can't wait to see you!