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! :)

THE Christmas Ornament....

The 3-D Christmas ornament on the front of the SU Holiday catalog, was a "must try" for me.  I had grand plans of making one for each and every one of my crafty friends, BUT..... they are really, really time consuming and I think I managed to create 6 of them.....  It features the Ornament Keepsakes stamp set with it's matching framelits, a LOT of time, a significant amount of glue, and even MORE significant amount of glitter, and several sticks of glue for your hot glue gun! :)  As much work as they are, the final result is stunning!  Well worth trying, all though you might want to start in July rather than November...  For a step by step tutorial, visit any number of You-tube videos out there right now -- such as this one. :)  Maybe someday when both of my kids are in school and I have endless amounts of time on my hands :), and I'm not working :), I'll do You-tube videos, too! LOL

I tried several different color combinations, including Baja Breeze with Navy, Pink Pir with Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green and Cherry Cobbler, and some Rich Razzleberry and Certainly Celery ones, which haven't been completed yet. :)  The one featured here is Pink Pirrouette and Cherry Cobbler -- made for my Seattle friend who has a fun display of pink ornaments from her late grandma.  I thought this ornament would go perfectly with her collection -- AND it's a nice change from the traditional red and green... 

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Belated Christmas inspiration!

Wow!  My last blog post was in October....  Guess that says just a little bit about how busy my life has been in recent months.  Barely time to catch my breath, let alone post to my blog.  However, today is the day to share some Christmas cards we did at my Christmas card Stamp-a-stack.  I tried to incorporate some new colors into the mix, like Soft Suede and the Champagne glitter paper.  This turned out to be one of the favorite cards we created.  It features the Snowflake Soiree stamp set from the Holiday catalog -- a MUST have snow flake set!

A friend inspired me to try a "white-on-white" Christmas card.  Of course, I couldn't resist adding just a little sparkle with the silver glitter paper!  LOVE that stuff!  So incredibly sparkly and THE SPARKLES DON'T FALL OFF EVERYWHERE! :)  This card also features the Snow Flurry Bigz die.  I love that it is a Bigz die so it can cut other fun stuff -- like felt, and glitter paper, and... and...  The sentiment is embossed in silver.

This card features the Scensational Season stamp set and matching framelits -- also from the Holiday catalog.  The designer paper is from the Candlelight Christmas pack -- GORGEOUS Christmas papers!

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a reindeer card, right?  Here is the little guy from the Joyous Celebrations stamp set.  We punched an oval out of a sticky note, centered the oval over the stamped reindeer, and sponged crumb cake ink into the oval to give him a "spotlight".  The designer paper here is also from the Candlelight Christmas pack.

The Ornament Keepsakes stamp set and matching framelits are super fun to make a tri-fold card with, using the ornament as the focal point on the front of the card.  AND, more dsp from the Candlelight Christmas pack.

Another idea I wanted to incorporate this year, was a folded Christmas tree.  The tree is made with a half of a circle cut from designer paper and folded into a "tree".  Here is a link to how to create it.

So, here is the holiday line up!

And here are some of the final creations!  Quite an impressive display of twinkles! Some guests created 20 cards each, and some created 10.

A very Merry Christmas to each of you!  I hope you've had at least a little time to do some holiday crafting...

Ribbit!

When my son was little, he ADORED frogs AND his orange crocs -- what a combo! One day, we were at the Ballard Seafest in Seattle, and I found this little hand-knit frog hat.  Of course, I bought it, and he wore it for several years.  These photos were of the first debut... and I've been dieing to make them into a layout that I could "see" in my head, using the grasses from the retired Inspired by Nature set, and the old slot punch to make cat tails. I embossed the grasses with clear embossing powder and Artichoke craft ink, so they're shiny in real life. Then, of course, a punch art frog -- which uses multiple SU punches -- some of which have retired.  The lilly pads are ovals punched from Always Artichoke card stock, with a little pie wedge cut out of one corner, and the leaf details drawn in.

I'd love to hear what you think! :)

Happy Srapping Thursday to you!

To My Club Members!

This weekend, I'm celebrating some incredibly special stampers and scrappers in my life -- my hostess club members for the past year.  They have encouraged me, inspired me, and most of all, become my friends!  A sincere thanks to each of them! 

Here is what we're making: a tote from an 8 1//2 x 11" sheet of the 2012-2114 In Color card stock, and a set of 4 cards to go inside.  Take a look!

To make the tote, stamp your desired design on your full sheet of 8 1/2 x 11" card stock.  (Here I used images from the Lacy and Lovely stamp set.)  Next, score the 8 1/2" side at 1 1/4" in from each long side.  Rotate card stock 180 degrees and score at 4 1/2" and 6 1/2" using the Simply Scoring board.  On the 11" sides, cut on the score lines right to the 1 1/4" score lines on each sidef -- this part will be the bottom of your tote.  Fold the "bottom tabs" to the inside, and attach the sides with some sticky strip.

The handles are a 1 x 12" strip of the coordinating In color DSP.  To make the decorative ends, slide just the end of your handle into one side of the Decorative Label punch, while holding the punch upside down.  I then attached the handles with some basic gold brads.

To make this flower, use the Blossom Petals punch, and punch out 16 petals using the long skinny leaf.  Curl the petals around a pencil or piercing tool.  Punch a circle out of a coordinating pc of card stock for the flower's base -- put a healthy amount of Mono Multi glue (the stuff with the green lid) on your circle.  Add four petals at right angles to each other, then add a petal in between each of those, so you now have eight petals as your base.  Let dry a little, then add more glue and attach 8 more petals, spacing them in between your base petals.  Stamp and punch out your center and use that to hide the multitude of sins. :)

The cards are quick and easy -- using the Summer Sillhouettes stamp set.  I used the coordinating inks -- Gumball Green, Razzberry Ripple, Primrose Petals, Summer Starfruit, and Midnight Muse.  I also incorporated my (new to me) Pappillion Potporie stamp set, and the coordinating butterfly punch. And, of course, nothing is complete without some bling!!!.....

Happy Monday to all of you!

"BOO!" to you and you!

I saw this super cute Halloween card on Dawn Olchefske's blog, and immediately thought of using my brand new, completely adorable, Owl Occasions stamp set.  I am generally not a "cutesy" stamp image type person, but for some reason, this little owl just speaks to me.  I can see using it for tons of different things -- from Halloween to Christmas cards to birthday invites for my little Sabina... So, I added this card as a bonus project at my last techniques club.  It's a simple masking technique using a sticky note, white glossy paper, and sponges.

Start with a glossy white card stock panel -- 4 x 5 1/4".  Take a strip of Basic Gray card stock, about 2" wide, and score on your simply scoring board at every 1/2" (or simply use your rossettes die if you have it).  Then lightly fold the fence on each score line and sponge the fold area with black ink.  Accordian fold your fence into a stack, and snip the end into a point to make the top of the fence -- you will have to do just a few layers at a time.  Unfold, and there is your fence.  Lay your fence on your white glossy panel to give you a guide where to stamp your branch and owl.  Stamp your branch in black stayzon ink, so the tip of the branch is right by where the top of the fence will be.  Next, stamp the owl.  Let dry a little, then punch out a sticky note with the 2 1/2" circle punch, getting as much of the sticky part of the note as possible.  Stick your circle over your owl where you want your "moon" to be.  Use Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, and Cajun Crazy inks to sponge around the circle creating the night sky look.  Start with Sponging the Daffodil Delight -- working from the sticky note circle out.  Next add pumpkin pie ink -- working from the outside in to keep from getting stark color lines.  Last, add Cajun Craze ink around the outside edges, moving your sponge in a circular motion to give you a smooth result.  The reason you use glossy paper for this technique, is because it absorbs the ink differently than plain Whisper White.  Now, remove your sticky note and you have a perfect moon.  Attach your fence, tie a length of the polka dotted black scalloped ribbon around the bottom, add the little "Boo!" tag -- made with the Tiny Tags set and the jewelry tag punch and some linen thread, and you have a darling Halloween card! 

Oh my!  I almost forgot!  The little googly eyes are a new product from the Holiday catalog -- get 50 adhesive backed googly eyes for $2.50.  Just peel and stick.  They just make the little owl SO much cuter.  AND they will be perfect for YOUR Halloween treats this year.