THE cutest Easter Bunny on the planet!

For my last scrap booking class, I wanted to do an Easter layout -- so I searched the web for some cute new Easter ideas and ran across this adorable Easter Bunny and the little "hatching chicks" on Pinterest.  Just too cute not to share, so here they are!

The bunny is made with a huge pile of punches and Basic Grey, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, and Very Vanilla cardstock.  Here is the list of punches: the head is the ornament punch, the body is the 1 3/4" round punch, ears -- large oval punch and retired small oval punch, feet -- large oval punch, hands -- large petal from the petals builder punch, cheeks -- current small oval punch, eyes -- current small oval and the owl punch, nose -- owl punch.  The little chicks are the 1 1/4" scallop punch with the owl punch used for the eyes, and the beaks a folded triangle of pumpkin pie card stock punched with a petal tip from the petals punch.  For their little tufts of fluff on their heads, I took a little piece of Daffodil Delight seam binding and attached it to the back, then unraveled the end to look fluffy and trimmed it to the look I wanted.  The egg shells -- punch some wide ovals out of Melon Mambo, Wisteria Wonder, and Bashful blue card stock that has been pre-embossed with the square lattice folder.  Cut them free hand in a zig zag pattern and stick the little chick inside one of the halves. 

For those amazingly sparkly Easter eggs, I used one of my favorite Glitter Magic techniques -- simply apply the Big Shot multipurpose adhesive sheets to your favorite designer paper -- here I used the Tea for Two pack from the Spring catalog -- punch out your eggs using the wide oval punch and current small oval punch, burnish the egg a little with a bone folder so your adhesive sticks really well, peel off the adhesive backing and dump dazzling diamonds glitter to the sticky surface, shake off the excess and you have a lovely sparkly Easter egg.

The title is made with the Lovely Letters alphabet and postage stamp punch.  Easy peesy.

Enjoy your Saturday, and if you haven't seen all the fun specials going on right now, be sure to check them out on my website -- just click the link below. :)

Sunburst Technique and a NEW stamp!

I have one more lovely project to share with you today.  I have been fascinated with the "sunburst technique" lately, and just had to try it for my last Hostess club class.

For the card, I started with a 4 x 5 1/4" piece of card stock -- any color is fine as you are going to cover it up with the designer paper.  Next, cut some designer paper of your choice into pie shaped wedges -- I found it easiest to start with a 6x6" piece of designer paper and then cut it in wedges with my paper cutter.  You can use a bunch of scraps, too -- just cut them into wedges.  Here I used designer paper from the Tea for Two designer paper pack from the spring catalog.  Apply adhesive all over your 4 x 5 1/4" piece of card stock -- then add your paper strips.  I started by putting the diagonal strip across the center of the card first and then built the rest of the way around from there.  Don't worry about pieces hanging off, as you will just trim the edges when you are done putting your pieces on.  The central image, is also a new single stamp called Botique Blossom and is only available through March 31st -- visit my website for more details.  I stamped the flower in So Saffron ink, then colored the stem green with an old Olive marker, and then dipped a sponge dauber in Calypso Coral ink and added coral ink to the center of the flower and the tips of the petals.  Next, huff on the stamp to re-moisten the ink and stamp on some white card stock.  I then cut it out with the window frames framelits.  Adhere the paper strip background to a folded So Saffron card base.  Add your stamped flower image and it's frame to the front right corner and trim off the excess that hangs off the edges.  That's all there is to it!  A perfect way to use up a bunch of scraps of DSP.

I also did this technique for a scrap book class I recently did -- for this one, I used the free Sale-a-bration designer paper available for free right now with a $50 order.  For this technique, I left some space between the paper strips to let the background paper show.

So, dig out those dozens of scraps of designer paper that are taking over your craft space, and give this sunburst technique a try!  You'll be surprised at how easy it is and how lovely the final result!

Spring/Easter stamped candle

Happy Thursday!  Today I'm sharing a simple, yet awesome, project that you can adapt for any holiday or occasion -- a stamped candle!  This is one of the projects we made in our recent stampers' hostess club.  It was, by far! the most popular project.  So, without further ado, here is what we were creating!

Those little bunnies on the candle on the right, are a new little single stamp called "Ears to You" that is available only through March 31st -- check out my website to see how you can aquire this adorable little stamp!  On the stamp, there is the words "Ears to You" under the bunnies, but I separated the words from the stamp so I could make it a little more versatile.  For the candle on the left, I used stamps from the new set -- Secret Garden -- available in the new Spring catalog.  It also has a set of matching framelits that you can use to die cut all of the images.  Lovely set with many possibilities!

To make the candle, start with a sheet of white gift tissue.  Ink up the image of your choice -- for the bunnies here, I colored the different bunnies with markers to create a triage of color.  For the flowers, I used several different ink colors -- Primrose Petals, Pool Party, Wild Wasabi, and Real Red -- and stamped the images in a line on the sheet of tissue paper.  Now, cut fairly closely around the margins of your stamped tissue images.  Lay your stamped tissue pieces over you candle in the location you want them to be.  Drape a sheet of waxed paper over your images/candle and wrap the ends of the waxed paper to the back of the candle and hold the ends together tightly with your hand -- try to be sure there are no wrinkles in the waxed paper covering your stamped images.  Now, take a heat gun and gently heat the images through the waxed paper -- you will start to see your stamped tissue images melting into the side of the candle.  Heat just enough to melt the images in.  When finished, gently peel off your waxed paper -- if a couple spots weren't all the way melted in, replace the waxed paper and re-heat a little.  That's all there is to it!  So simple, but so versatile!  Think Christmas gifts for co-workers, decor pieces for a themed party, holiday decor, etc.

For the base of the candle, I used a strip of Pool Party or Primrose Petals card stock -- 11 x 1 1/2" and a coordinating 1" strip of designer paper from the More Amore dsp pack from the Spring catalog.  I punched the top edges of the card stock with the scallop trim border punch, and attached the strip of DSP over top.  I then adhered the entire piece to my candle using sticky Strip.  Some ruffled Pool Party ribbon and Primrose Petals stitched satin ribbon completes the look.

Hope this inspires you to create your own lovely Easter centerpiece!  I put my candles on a long narrow tray with sparkly Easter egg filler around them.  They look stunning, if I must say so myself.:)

Sale-a-bration is almost over -- ends on March 22nd -- so if you haven't gotten your Sale-a-bration FREEbies yet, be sure to hop on over to my website and see what you can get for free this year -- a free item with every $50 purchase -- AND, in addition, a free pack of silver glimmer paper with a $150 or more purchase.  Whoo Hoo!  LOVE that silver paper.

Have a wonderful crafty day!

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. :)

Sale-a-brate in style!

It's Sale-a-bration time!  Get a FREE stamp set, embossing folder, designer paper pack, ribbon/button pack, or punch with every $50 order.  The Madison Avenue stamp set is one of my favorites this year.  Simple, spunky, and modern!  The coordinating Sykamore Street designer paper and ribbon/button pack make for a complete, coordinated look. 
I used the coordinating colors, Pool Party, Tangerine Tango, Summer Starfruit, and Rich Razzleberry in inks/papers along with the new Oval Framelits from the new Spring catalog.  This is a super simple card -- 10 min or less, but packs some spunky punch.

Summer Starfruit has to be one of my least favorite new In Colors, so I challenged myself to make a card using it for my recent Birthday Bash card class.  Here is what I came up with.  This is a simple trifold card -- cut your card stock in half like you always would, and score it at 2 1/8" and 6 3/8".  Cut your designer paper strips -- here from the Sale-a-bration Sykamore Street designer paper pack -- at 2x5 1/4" for your front panels.  I then stamped a sentiment from the Vintage Verses Sale-a-bration stamp set, in Rich Razzleberry ink on some Whisper White card stock and cut it out with my Labels Framelits.  A little snippet of Summer Starfruit stitched satin ribbon and some basic rhinestones pack some punch into the design.  Another super simple, elegant card.

A final Sale-a-bration card to share with you, is this masculine Thanks or birthday card also featuring the Vintage Verses set.  This is one of the cards we made at my last stampers' club.  I love the new hexagon embossing folder from the spring catalog. Makes such a nice "boy card" look, which I often struggle to make. :)  I embossed the Espresso coordination card stock with the folder and then sanded it to achieve the distressed look.  I then embossed some embossing paper scraps with the same folder, and cut out a few hexagons to enhance the design.  The designer paper is from the Poet Prints designer paper stack also from the spring catalog.  It is such a versatile little pack of paper, and just the right size for card making.  The sentiment is stamped on a die cut shape using the Apothecary framelits.  Love those framelits.  I reach for them all the time.

Hop on my website and get some Sale-a-bration freebies for yourself!  Another perk with this year's Sale-a-bration, you get a FREE pack of the Silver Glimmer paper with a $150 order, in addition to the 3 free Sale-a-bration items you would earn.  Whoo Hoo!  Gotta love free, and I LOVE that paper -- so incredibly sparkly and lovely -- perfect for Christmas designs, anniversary designs, etc


Happy Crafty Wednesday to each of you!

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!

First Steps

In honor of a goal to accomplish dozens of gorgeous scrap book pages in 2013, :) I'll start with this one I created today!  And, I thought the title was particularly fitting to a new year and new beginnings...

Sabina had this darling little black dress with white daisies on it, and it happened to be the one she was wearing the day she really started walking.  The dress seemed like the perfect theme for a scrap layout using the retired SU flower Bigz die -- which I purchased just to make these pages!  Yep, crazy, I know...but doesn't it look so darn cute with the dress in these photos???!!! To make the page just a little sweeter, my crafty friend had a little flower punch that was the perfect smaller twin to my Bigz die.  Perfect!

Not too much on these layouts is current SU product, except for the card stock, but it turned out so HAPPY that I just had to share!

I hope you have a great crafty start to 2013 -- and get out each and every one of those products you purchased for a project long ago, and USE them! :)