Bloomin' Love is so elegant!

Another favorite product from the Occasions catalog, is the Bloomin' Love bundle.  That beautiful intricate heart die cut, is so beautiful in real life!  And there are two little flower dies that coordinate with the stamps in the stamp set, so you can die cut the little flowers to layer onto the heart die cut.  Here is a card we made at my last Stampers club class, as well as a scrap layout for my club this month.  LOVE this die set!  Perfect for wedding, Valentines, or even a family photo layout as I did here!

For this first card, I used a Crumb Cake card base, and embossed it with the Happy Heart embossing folder.  A 1" strip of the Blushing Bride glimmer paper, and a strip of DSP from the Love Blossoms DSP stack, makes a simple, yet striking base for the delicate heart.  I die cut the heart out of Whisper White, and stamped the flowers in Blushing Bride ink and die cut them to layer on top.  I also used my favorite new Clear Wink of Stella brush to add some sparkle to the heart. This stuff brushes on easily, dries quickly, and leaves behind a lovely little sparkly trail! 

 This layout is what we are making at our scrap club class next Friday.  I wanted to show case the Bloomin' Love bundle, since it is a February class, but also show how it can be used in a non-Valentine's way.  I kind of like the way it turned out, other than the fact that I glued the 'u' down backwards.  Oh well!
These were family photos that my friend, Gretchen Knuffke, took of our family last November.  I really loved how they turned out, and wanted to use them for this layout.  The base pages are Cherry Cobbler, with a strip of Basic Black at the bottom.  I used the border die from the new Botanical Blooms bundle to die cut that lovely vine border.  You could use the flower dies in the botanical die set, to do a flower/vine border and create a totally different look.  A little strip of DSP from the Timeless Elegance DSP across the bottom, with some croquet trim adds that little touch of vintage.  The photo mats are Sahara Sand, which for my layout, went nicely with the barn wood in the photos. Simple layout, really.  The hearts are die cut from Very Vanilla card stock, and I used the curvy corner trio punch to punch the corners of the photos.  This punch is a must have in my opinion.  It adds that special little touch to so many projects -- and you get three punching options in one punch!

Ok! that's it for today!  Off to watch my kiddo's basketball game!  If you haven't yet, check out the fun Sale-a-bration freebies, and remember, the ones at the back of the flyer are only available till Feb 16th, so get them while you can!  My personal fave of the ones that will be going away, is "The Sky is the Limit" set on page 16 with that darling plane in it.  This set is great for masculine cards, graduation, birthday, scrap titles, etc.  Super fun, versatile set.  See it on page 16 in the Sale-a-bration flyer

Crazy About You! Bundle

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!!!  I have an all time new favorite duo! -- Crazy About You Bundle. The options with this word stamp set and the word thinlets are endless.  Perfect for scrap titles, cards for almost any occasion, 3-D items.  LOVE this bundle!

Here, I wanted to showcase the Blendabilities markers, since they are a product you can get for free right now during Sale-a-bration.  I love the black, white and Cherry Cobbler combo, with a little touch of Champagne glimmer paper.  Classy and stunning at the same time.

The flower is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored with the Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities and punched out with the coordinating Fun Flower punch.  Other products used: Scalloped Tag Topper punch, Cherry Cobbler Chevron ribbon, Cherry Cobbler bakers twine, Gold Sequin trim, Beautifully Baroque embossing folder, Flowering Flourishes stamp set, 1/2" circle Punch, Rhinestones.

Hope each of you are getting some quality time in with those you love!  Happy Creating, and Happy Love Day!

Happy almost Heart Day!

If you haven't whipped out some Valentine's treats yet for your littles, here are a couple of easy peasy ideas using the brand new scalloped tag topper punch from the Occasions catalog.  Of course, this punch is designed to create tags with, but doesn't it make the cutest little Valentine's favors ever? This was not my original idea -- I saw several versions on Pinterest, I believe, but added my own twist to it here.  You simply take a strip of card stock slightly narrower than 2", punch each end with the tag topper punch, score it in two places to accommodate whatever treat you plan to put inside, embellish the front, and tie the top ends together with a ribbon and there is your super cute little Valentines favor!  So easy, but yet so super cute!

Just one more little favor to share -- featuring the purse die.  This one is more girly, of course, but quite easy to make and oh so sweet!  I used the largest SU scallop circle punch to create the little scalloped edge around the purse flap. Also featured here, is the new Petite Petals stamp set and punch from the Occasions catalog.  Quite a dainty little sweet flower -- perfect for a small accent, or for adding to the center of a larger stamped flower.

Happy almost Valentines day to you and yours!

A Sweet "Flip-it" Valentine!

I recently got the label card thinlits die and have been itching to make a cute little fun fold Valentine's card with it -- using a new FREE Sale-a-bration set, "See Ya Later", that will be available starting Jan 28th. I embossed the stamped images in black on Real Red or Cherry Cobbler card stock, and paired it with Vanilla card stock base and the Modern Medley DSP -- a super cool black and vanilla paper pack.  It s a simple, classic card -- that could be adapted for any occasion.  (Oh yes, and some of the red glitter paper as well!  You KNOW how I adore anything that sparkles. :) I was super excited to see that the word images from this stamp set fit perfectly into this thinlit set.
This is yet another card we will be making at my upcoming class on Sunday, Jan 26th at 1:00 pm.  You should come! :)  In case you are having trouble reading what these images say, one is "once in a lifetime you meet someone who changes everything" and the other is "you make me happy when skies are gray".  These would be really awesome stamps to use for scrap book pages as well.  Again, love the versatility.

To see how I made the "extra" flap with these cards, visit this link.  Super easy to alter the way this die cuts in order to create that little extra flap to write behind.

All the stamping best to each of you!

It's almost time to Sale-a-brate!

The biggest, bestest SU promotion of the year is almost here!  Sale-a-bration starts on Jan 28th and goes through Mar 31st.  Get a FREE Sale-a-bration product with every $50 purchase.  There's a fun selection of freebies this year -- including the adorable "Banner Blast" stamp set and it's coordinating punch.  How cool is that!  Stamp your banners and then punch them out.  So easy and a fun way to create for any occasion.  For this card, (which we will be making at my upcoming class on Jan 26th, by the way), I paired it with a  new little paper stack in the new Occasions catalog -- Fresh Prints paper stack.  Only $6.95 for a really sweet little paper stack.  LOVE the prints -- very versatile, yet fresh and fun at the same time -- and several that work great for Valentine's day, but not so "heart" oriented that they're hard to use for anything else.  Anyways, I digress!  Here are the cards:  Let me know what you think!

I drew the color combination for these cards from the designer paper -- Coastal Cabana, Real Red, and Crumb Cake.  Not colors I would have automatically put together, but I really like the way they look -- AND I love that you can easily make this card a birthday or friendship card rather than a Valentine's card, if you so desire.  Yeah for versatility!  The "Happy Heart Day" stamp is from the "Tags 4 You" stamp set with it's coordinating punch.  This was a set from the Holiday catalog that is still available for purchase, even though it's not featured in a catalog currently.  For the "friend" card, that stamp is from the "Fabulous Phrases stamp set.  Kind of a spend set, but I find myself reaching for it all the time.  Versatile little words that can be used for almost any occasion!

Okay!  That's it for today.  Happy creating to all of you, and may you come Sale-a-brate with me real soon!

Happy Almost Valentines Day!

Here's a little love card to share, that we made for my last stampers club.

The colors used are Pool Party, Primrose Petals, and Raspberry Ripple.  My color combo was inspired by the More Amore DSP from the spring catalog.  The scalloped heart on this card is part of that paper pack -- simply snip the heart out of the paper sheet and attach to your card!  The other little hearts are cut with the Scalloped Heart of Hearts and Fashionable Hearts embosslits.  I also embossed the bottom of the Pool Party panel with the Adorning Accents folder.  For the sentiment, I used a stamp from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set and cut it out with the Bitty Banners framelits.  I thought I wouldn't use these framelits as much as I do, but they are so versatile.

Ok!  that is it for today.  Hope your Valentine projects are coming along nicely. :)

Love Bandit

I recently saw this crazy adorable little raccoon Valentine's treat holder on Pinterest, and had to try it.  It is one of the projects we're making at my Stampers' Hostess Club that starts tomorrow.  There are a few spots still available in my hostess clubs -- check out all the details here.

The original designer of this adorable treat holder, also made a fox and wolf one -- incredibly cute!  She has a printable pdf with all the instructions of how to re-create this here.

My seven year old saw this and was convinced that I need to make 20 of them for his classmates....  Not sure I'm quite up to that.  They're quite a bit of work to cut out and assemble, but surely are the cutest little treat holders ever!

Happy crafty Saturday to each of you!  If you haven't seen the new Spring catalog yet, click on the pdf above to check it out.  Lots of fun new products to try out!

Whoooo Loves You?

You can never go wrong with these cute little owls made with the Owl Punch!  Add a Santa hat and use him for a Christmas project, turn him upside down and trim off the feet for a perfect little ghost, add a party hat for a birthday theme, or turn him into a darling pengquin! -- SO many ideas out there for this little fellow!  Here I punched two owl bodies out of Poppy Parade card stock -- and embossed them with the square lattice and Houndstooth embossing folders.  I punched the jackets out of scraps from the Everyday Enchantment Sale-a-bration paper pack.  Of course, that lovely paper along the bottom is also from the same designer paper stack.  I stamped the chocolate chip card base and the inside cream panel with the stamp from the Sale-a-bration set -- Fresh Vintage.  I love how the stamp coordinates with the paper -- always makes it easy to make a nicely coordinated project!  I punched a couple of hearts (using the owl punch) from the red glimmer paper to add a little love above the owl couple. 

The moon is the 2 1/2 " circle punch with the little "love" stamp from the Tiny Tags stamp set, stamped in the top left corner in Chocolate Chip ink.  Finally, I added a couple of branches for them to sit on using the Bird Punch -- such a versatile punch that I find myself reaching for all the time!

The owl punch DOES come with all the parts you could ever need for intricate eyes punched from card stock, but I find all those little pieces to be somewhat tedious, so I always just grab my googly eyes!  HOWEVER, should you feel inspired to make some tedious eyes, here is a tip to help: take your stylus (or any blunt tipped instrument -- even an "out-of-ink" ball point pen could work) -- add some of the multipurpose liquid glue (the stuff with the green lid) to the tip and let it dry overnight.  It dries tacky, so it works perfectly for picking up all those tedious little owl eye ball pieces and applying them to your project!

Happy Valentine's creating!

Milk Carton Die treat holder

Need a quick and CUTE little Valentine treat holder?  Try this little milk carton!  It's made with the Milk Carton Bigz Die.  I did find that using the premium crease pad with an extra shim of one piece of card stock, helped to make the score lines MUCH easier to fold.  (So, your Big Shot sandwich is: bottom cutting plate, die, card stock, premium crease pad, and card stock shim.) You do have to spend a bit of time with a bone folder, creasing all the score lines for your box to turn out the way you want it to...  I wanted to add a little window to the front, to see the cute little candy hearts inside, so I used the Postage Stamp Punch to punch a little window in the side panel -- two panels over from the "side flap" on the box.  I then attached a small piece of the clear acetate Window Sheets over the window, and finished assembling the box.  Such a cute little finishing touch!

To hold the top closed, I punched one hole with the 1/8" round punch through all the layers at the top, as well as through the little tag I made, and put a black glitter brad through to hold it all together.
For the little tag, I stamped the little birds (from the "Love You Much" stamp set) in Real Red on a Whisper White card stock scrap, and then punched it out with the decorative label punch.  I then stamped the birds again in black on some red designer paper from the Brights Designer series paper stack, and cut them out.  I popped the little birds up on dimensionals.  This technique is called "paper piecing" and is simple enough to do, and adds such a great little touch of flair.

Join me on Sat, Feb 4th at 6:30 pm and make yourself one of these adorable little milk carton boxes full of candy hearts!
AND,... don't forget!  It's Sale-a-bration time!  Get a FREE Sale-a-bration product with every $50 purchase!

Sparkling Hugs and Kisses

How cute is THIS idea!!!  You cut a 1 1/2" strip of the red glimmer paper, and the silver glimmer paper (from the Holiday mini -- BUT still available to order! #124005), and Early Espresso card stock.  Feed the strips into the Blossom Petals Builder Punch, lining up the edge of your strip with the pointed tip of the largest petal -- ta dah! you have a perfect kiss shape!  I learned this cool trick on Lisa Young's blog, and thought is was so brilliant, just had to share!  In the new set from the Occasions Mini -- "P.S. I love You", there is a stamp with "kiss you, miss you, love you" and I just cut them apart to make the strips coming out of the kisses.  This is another card we will be making at my upcoming Valentine's class on Feb 4th. 
Other fabulous products featured, are: the new Fashionable Hearts embosslit, the Adorning accents heart embossing folder, a strip of lovely black flocked paper from the Mocha Morning designer paper stack, and the Dotted Scalloped Ribbon Border punch for that little decorative strip of red.  The card base is Basic Gray. 

Are you getting into the Valentine's mood??? :)
Happy Creating!

Love is in the air!

I recently purchased the new stamp set from the Occasions Mini, "P.S I Love You", and I've been anxious to "play" a little, so here you go!  I wanted to make a masculine card, so I forced myself to leave the chocolate and pink alone, and reach for the cherry cobbler, black, and vanilla.  It really is a striking combo, and achieved the look I was hoping to.  I used a strip of Newsprint DSP along the bottom, sponged along the edges with cherry cobbler ink.  I used the Lace ribbon punch to punch the lovely black border and wove a piece of vanilla 1/8" ribbon through some of the holes.  Then, I added some rhinestones colored red with a Sharpie, for some bling.  The punched shape for the sentiment at the lower right, is made with the Decorative Label punch.  First, stamp the sentiment (from Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set) on a scrap of vanilla card stock.  Line up the sentiment toward the bottom of the punch and punch out.  See the posting on this blog that has photos. :) of how to do create the next step.  http://embellishedbybrenda.blogspot.com/2011/08/decorative-label-punch-alternate-use.html  Just another super fun thing you can do with this punch!
I stamped more hearts on the background with cherry cobbler ink, and punched out the large hearts with the heart punch, and the "Love you" with the heart to heart punch. Of course, I added some Dazzling Diamonds glitter around the borders of the hearts to make them just a tad more special....
This card is one of the projects we will be making at my "Won't you be mine?" Valentine's class on Sat, Feb 4th, at 6:30.  Please join us!  Here are all the other projects we'll be making, too!

Happy Hearts Day Class

I had put off buying the XL Bigz matchbox die, thinking it wouldn't be something I would use much, but I have definitely changed my mind!  There are hundreds of super cute project ideas using this die -- my favorite being an advent calendar shaped like a Christmas tree -- with all the little matchboxes stacked on top of each other to make the tree shape.  I really want to try this idea next year for Christmas.
But, since Christmas is over, I decided to see what I could come up with for Valentine's Day -- and ... ta dah! here it is.  I used the heavy weight window sheets for the outside sleeve, and Real Red card stock for the little box that pulls out.  Because the outside is clear, you can see the little treats inside without opening it. It is the perfect size for three of the little Ghirardelli chocolate squares.  I used some of the new red glimmer paper from the Occasions Mini and the Daiseys #2 die for the cute little flower on top.  The leaves are punched with the new Build a Blossom punch.
This is one of the projects we will be making at my upcoming class -- Happy Hearts Day Class on Jan 23rd, 2 pm.

Supplies:
Real Red, Whisper White, and Old Olive card stock, red glimmer paper, Heavy Weight window sheets
Real Red classic ink
Tiny Tags stamp set
Build a Blossom punch
Big Shot and Daiseys #2 die, square lattice embossing folder, and matchbox die
Vintage Brads
tiny tag punch