Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Feeling Patriotic

Hello!  It's almost Canada Day.  The kids are looking forward to going to the fireworks and I'm looking forward to a day off!  *wink*  When Taylor was little he asked what Canada Day was and we told him that it's the day we celbrate Canada's birthday.  Ever since then, he sings Happy Birthday to Canada every year on Canada Day...and he has taught his brothers this too, so they all sing.  It's cute!

Anyway, today I'm going to share the latest Mantle Message I did.


I can't believe how many designs I tried before I settled on this one!  It's pretty simple, but perfect for Canada Day.  Like the rest of my Mante Messages, it's done on square coasters.  I alternated stamped white and plain red squares, and all of them have been sponged with Real Red ink on the edges.  The letters were done with Basic Black and cut with my beloved Big Shot.  The squares are joined together with Double Stitched Real Red Ribbon...get it while you can people.  As of July 1, there will be no more Double Stitched Ribbon in the catalogue!  Here's a closer look at the letters.


That's all for today! Happy Stampin' and have an inspired day!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Potted Plant Gift Box Tutorial

As promised, here is the Potted Plant Gift Box Tutorial!

To complete this project you will need 3 sheets of 12x12 cardstock.  Cut one of the sheets in half so you have 2 6x12 pieces.  Score these two pieces at 2 1/2 inches from the top (so that you have a section along the top of each piece that is 2 1/2 x 6).

Cut one of the 12x12 pieces down to 11 7/8 x 11 7/8.  Score the 12x12 piece and the 11 7/8 x 11 7/8 piece at 3 inches on all four sides.


Make sure you keep track of which piece is which!  Next you'll want to make an X in the middle of the 11 7/8 x 11 7/8 piece.  The X in the picture below is really, really faint, but it's there...click on the picture to make it larger and you'll be able to see the X!


The X is important so you know where the center is, because the next step is to cut a 4 inch circle out of the middle of it.  I chose to cut a 4 inch circle, becuase the plant I had was 4 1/4 inches in diameter.


Get out your scissors, becuase you need to make a few small cuts.  You want to cut along the score lines, from the edge of the cardstock to where the horizontal and vertical score lines intersect.  You want to do this on two sides...two opposite sides!


Lets make this look like a box now!  Crease all the score lines with a bone folder so you have a nice square box when you're done.  Then put glue on the square portions, fold up the sides and stick the glue to the rectangles bewteen the squares (on the sides where you made the cuts).  Hmmm, that totally made sense in my head, but didn't really translate into words very well...here's a picture to help with that explanation!


You want to do this step with both the piece with the circle cut out and the one without the circle.  Now that they're both boxes, one will fit into the other like this...


And, now it's time to bring back those two 6x12 pieces!  You want to put glue on one of the sides of the box and attach one of the 6x12 pieces to it (so that the scored area is at the top).  Do this for both pieces, attaching them to oppostie sides of the box.


Punch a handle (I used the Wide Oval punch in my original design) in each of the scored sections.  Bring them together and tie with a ribbon.  This is what it should look like when you bring the tops together.



That's it!  These are super easy and you can embellish to fit any occasion.  You could also omit the box with the hole and just fill the bottom with baking, candy or some other fabulous gift.  Check out the embellished ones I did here.

Let me know if you have any questions and if you make one be sure to link to it in the comments so I can see!

Have an inspired day!


Thursday, June 24, 2010

Teacher Thank Yous

Good morning!  I had some of those scratch paper holders from this post all ready to go for my kids' teachers, but they informed me that they wanted to give their teachers flowers.  Seriously?  I was all excited because I had things ready to go early...but they looked so cute saying they wanted to give flowers and they obviously had put some thought into what they wanted to give, so  I caved!  And, we went shopping for flowers last night.  I'll save the scratch paper holders for next year and maybe give them at the beginning of the year just becuase!  Thankfully I didn't get around to making personalized paper for the holders yet!!!

So, after we got back from shopping, and the kids were tucked into their beds, I set out out to make a fabulous box/bag/thing to hold the flowers.  Here's what I came up with (sorry about glare in the pictures...there's too much sun first thing in the morning for pictures and not enough late at night!!!).




Aren't they fabulous?!?  I think the teachers were more excited about the box than the plant, and I made it so they can reuse the box for another gift if they want.  You probably want the details, right?  I'll make another one tonight and take pictures as I go, then post the tutorial tomorrow.

Here's how the plant fit into the box.


Each of the teachers got an African Violet, and the boys had quite a process for deciding which teacher got each color!  I wrapped the pots in a little plastic wrap so the wouldn't wreck the boxes if they leaked a bit.  I finished them off with a matching tag which Carter signed.  Taylor's last day is next week, so his aren't done yet!


Of course, I couldn't give the gift without a card!  I was inspired by the flowers Julie over at Paper Pleasing Ideas has been making, so I incorporated her flowers into my project.


I used the Square Lattice Embossing Folder for the background and the Island Floral die in the Summer Mini for the flower. The flower was cut from So Safron cardstock and sponged with Pumpkin Pie ink.  The leaves are done with the Large Oval punch and Old Olive cardstock, and the center is the biggest flower from the Boho Blossoms punch.  It's finished off with a Build-A-Brad and a half back pearl.  The ribbon I used is the Apricot Appeal Narrow Grosgrain.  I'm sad this one is retiring becuase it goes so well with So Saffron!  The flower and leaves are punched and scrunched and then rubbed with ink to create dimension.  My sentiment was stamped with So Saffron craft ink.


Well, that's all for today!  I'll be back tomorrow with a tutorial for the box for you.  Have an inspired day!


Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Family

Usually my scrapbook club completes a double page spread each month, but this month I decided to switch it up a bit and do a fun project with them.


What a fun little project it was!  It's a little mini album in a mini CD case.  I decided to go with a familiy theme so everyone in the group would be able to use it!  I used some retiring DSP (I think it's the Pink Flamingo one) for the cover.  I just love the Summer Sun floral print in this pack!   I accented with Real Red, Old Olive and a lot of Chocolate Chip.

My flower accent was done with the Jumbo Flower punch that was in the Occasions mini (you can still order this punch and it will be available in the new catalogue).  I used the small oval punch for the leaves and the center of the flower was done with Summer Sun and one of the flowers from the Boho Blossoms punch.  I finished it off with a Build-A-Brad (in Antique Brass...retiring), but I didn't put anything on my Build-A-Brad...you could say it's a naked Build-A-Brad!!!!  *wink*  Maybe I should fuzz it out so it wont' be embarrassed by being naked on my blog...hee, hee!  *grin*


Ohhhheeee, check out the texture on that flower!  To achieve this, you want to "punch and scrunch", then sponge!

The inside pulls out like an accordion.  Here's a closer look at how I finished off the inside.


From left to right this is what I did...Real Red narrow grosgrain, a heart Bitty Button with a Bitty circle behind it, Bitty Flowers with a Real Red brad, chipboard flower inked with Summer Sun Craft ink.

It's perfect to hold a picture of all my boys...Kevin included!  I think I will fill it with some fun pictures and take it to Convention with me so I can see my family every day that I'm gone!

Happy stampin' and have an inspired day!



Friday, June 18, 2010

Water, water everywhere!

Wow!  With all the rain, parts of our city are pretty flooded.  Kevin said last night the river rose really fast and they had to evacuate the campground.  They expect it to rise another few feet...he's not looking forward to tonight's shift!  Here's a look at the pond by our house.


There's actually a path down there under all that water!  Our pond is a storm water collector pond, so it's made to fill up like this...I guess it's doing it's job!  I hope the water doesn't take too long to go down so we can walk through there again.  The kids are going to miss our almost daily walks by the pond.  And, all this water means that next week we will have a serious increase in the mosquito population!!!

So, last night I sat and made some gorgeous cards for a One Layer Card swap I joined.  We had to make a one layer card (embellishments like ribbon didn't count as a layer) and use some of the preorder product that us demos could start ordering June 1 (preordering new product is a fabulous perk of being a demonstrator...contact me today to see how you can get sneek peeks at new products and have the opportunity to order them early!).  The stamp set I chose to use was one of the new hostess sets, "Becuase I Care".  Stampin' Up! sent me this set free (actually the sent all demos who preordered the new color kit this set for free...becuase they care about us!!).  When I first saw the set I thought it was absolutely gorgeous and couldn't wait to ink it up.  But, when it came I found myself seriously lacking some mojo with it.  Take a look at what I did with it...I think I found my mojo!


I know...it's stunning!  It looks even better in real life because when I was done, I smooched it with the Vanilla Smooch Spray.  I can't get a good picture of the shimmer from the smooch though...you'll just have to trust me!  Let me share a few more pictures and tell you how I made it.

I used the masking technique on this card.  The most time consuming part of this card was cutting out my mask!


The first step is to stamp the image on a sticky note and cut it out.  Once you have this done, you're good for a long time...just remember to put your mask into your stamp case when you're done with it and you can use it over and over again.  After the mask is cut out, you stamp your image on your card (I used very vanilla cardstock) and stick your mask over the image you stamped (I stamped mine in Black StazOn).   Then you stamp another image over top (I stamped the En Francais background stamp with Crumb Cake classic ink).


When you remove the mask, you get this...


I then watercolored my hydrangea image with Pink Pirouette, Pretty In Pink & Old Olive classic inks using an Aqua Painter.


I finished off my card by tying a piece of Pretty In Pink Satin Ribbon around it (I made a slit in the crease with my Hobby knife so the ribbon could go all the way around) and then stamped a thank you (from the Because I Care set).  Take a look at the thank you.


It was a happy accident that it turned out like this!  First I was going to stamp the thank you with Crumb Cake, but it just didn't pop enough.  It actually kind of blended in with the card.  I wasn't pleased with it, but didn't want to remake the whole card, so since it was just my prototype, I decied to just stamp over the original thank you with black ink.  I was trying to get it lined up perfectly without having to go find my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig (I should know better...that never works!!!) and ended up with the shadow effect.  I love it!

Happy stampin' and have an inspired day!





Thursday, June 17, 2010

Need a Note?

My friend Connie (hello Oklahoma!) gave me a pattern for these great little scratch paper holders.  They're so easy to make and they hold 200 1/4 sheets of copy paper (50 whole sheets cut into 4 1/2 x 5 1/2).  I decided to give my clubs a little sneak peek of some of the new products available in the new catalogue and they made these...


So do you wanna know what the new products are?  The holder itself is made from Pear Pizzazz cardstock.  Pear Pizzazz is one of the new In Colors.  The DSP is called Greenhouse Gala and it's so fun!  The dark strip along the top is Early Espresso, which is one of the new core colors, and the ribbon is the new 1/8 taffeta in Marina Mist.  So fun!  These are great gifts too...in fact, I'm going to make a few more to give to the kids' teachers next week.

Happy stampin' and have an inspired day!




Wednesday, June 16, 2010

A Little Home Decor

Welcome to the second stop on my Decor Elements adventure.  This will be the last stop for a while, because I have to paint an area for my next project...and I'm not feeling that adventurous yet!!!  And, I need it to stop raining for a while so I can have the window open while I paint.  Maybe next week...cross your fingers and do a little dance to the sun gods for me, will ya!

So, I bought this plain glass rectangle vase at Ikea about a year ago (maybe more...it's been so long that I can't remember!).  Then I bought this Decor Element with a plan to marry the two and make a fabulous project, but then I never got around to it...until now!


I *heart* this project!  I had it on display at the Coaldale Ladies Night on the weekend and go so many comments on it.  I have to get a dresser for our spare room and then this little beauty is going to sit on the dresser.  Here's another angle.



The decor element is applied directly to the front of the vase.  I had to trim it a little so it would fit!  After I applied it, I even sprayed it with window cleaner and cleaned all my fingerprints off...the window cleaner did not affect the decor element at all.

I was having a hard time deciding what to put in my vase...until my friend Sherri called!  She suggested that I put some pearl barley or rice in the bottom and then put a candle in it.  JACKPOT!!!!  That's just what I did (I chose pearl barley...like I use for this recipe) and it turned out perfectly!  Thanks Sherri!

I still want to tie some ribbon around it to finish it off, but I will wait until July becuase I think the Marina Mist ribbon will match perfectly and finish it off just right.

Happy stampin' and have an inspired day!


Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Welcome

My new laptop has arrived and I have promised Kevin that I will not drop it!  But, just in case I do...he got extra warranty!!!!  Now I'm super excited for the new Definitely Decorative Catalogue so I can order some new laptop decor!

So, I've been cleaning up in my craft room the last few days and came across some decor elements that I ordered a while back and hadn't put up yet.  See, you're not the only one who does this!!!  I decided that since I ordered them, I MUST use them...so I've set off on a Decor Element adventure!  Here's the first stop...


The bench at my front door!  Please ignore the white marks on my walls...we just did our 12 month walk through with our builder and they're fixing all the dings in our walls (I think they regret saying they would fix all of them when they got to the boys' rooms!!!).  Anyway, I ordered this Decor Element for a different spot (but didn't measure before I ordered it), and it was too big for the spot I had in mind.  With a little trimming, it fit perfectly on the seat of this bench.  Here's another view.


I love the way this turned out!  And, I even got a "cool" from Kevin when I texted him a picture this afternoon!

Tomorrow I will take you on the second stop of my Decor Elements adventure.  Happy Stampin' and have an inspired day!

Friday, June 11, 2010

Teaching a New Dog New Tricks

I've been trying really hard to teach my little chocolate wonder some manners!  He has a super short attention span...we're talking an attention span the size of a flea...so it's been a challenge.  But, I'm always up for a good challenge!

I'm pleased to say that he's mastered "sit" and "stay" consistently for me, but not for anyone else in the family!!!  Hee, hee!!!  I wish he would listen to the rest of my family members, but secretly I like that he only listens to me...he likes me best.  Shhhh!  It's a secret!!!  We're still working on "come", "heel", "lay down", and "give".  We're also working on "stop eating my flowers" and "stop stealing socks from the laundry basket"...these two aren't going well!  Slowly but surely, and I know he will calm a bit when he goes in for a little surgery in a couple months.

So would you like to learn a new trick too?  Well, your wish is my command!  I learned how to do this technique at a Stampin' Up! Regional Seminar this year.  It's super easy, but I love the result and I love that it looks different each time you do it.

I can't remember what it was called, so I'm going to call it the "Water Splash" technique.  You need a solid, bold image stamp for this technique.  First ink up your stamp in your desired color.  Here's where it gets technical...are you ready?  Place your inked stamp rubber side up on your work surface (or hold it...it really doesn't matter) and then dip your fingers into some water and flick the water off your fingers at your inked stamp.  I know...I warned you I was going to get technical!


Then, you stamp it on your cardstock and voila...


Cool, eh?

So, here's the finished project.  I love the way this card turned out...not exactly how I pictured it, but still great!  I used my favorite Embossing Folder of the moment, Square Lattice, and inked it up before puting my cardstock in in and running it through my Big Shot to get the look on the Sahara Sand cardstock.  On the Soft Suede, the embossing folder is not inked and I used the other side of my cardstock (so the "crosses" are debossed...indented...on the Sahara Sand piece the crosses are embossed...raised).  I love how you can flip your cardstock over after it's been embossed with this folder and get a totally different look.


 
Gotta run.  I probably won't be posting tomorrow, but hopefully I will find some time to post on Sunday.  Have an inspired day!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Treats

Good morning!  Wow!  What a busy weekend we had.  Taylor's baseball team had a tournment...they won both their games and are undefeated for the season!  Check out this action shot...just after he hit the ball and a split second before he started running.


Kevin and I worked on finishing our shed on Sunday.  It's been in the works since fall and now that his back is better hopefully we can get it done...if it would stop raining!  We got the doors done and about a third of the roof shingled on Sunday before the rain started.  I'm pleased to report I've suffered NO INJURIES with this round of construction...it's been much better than the fort building experience last fall!  Hopefully we can get it finished this weekend and move onto the next project! :)

With all that's been going on, I haven't had a lot of time in my stamp room.  I know...sad!  But, I did come up with this project a while back.  It's one of the projects that the girls coming to my To Die For class on Friday night will do.  I'm featuring the SU Two Tags Die and the SU Square Lattice Embossing Folder on Friday night.  The class is free if you have a Big Shot and if you don't it's $5.  We usually do 2 projects, but because I'm featuring two dies (because I had to cancel last month's class) we're going to do 3 projects this time.  Wahoo!


The class is at my house and starts at 7:30.  I still have some space left, so if you would like to join us, let me know and I will prep some fabulous projects for you!  The other two projects we're going to do will be a surprise...some of my girls get upset when I show al the projects they're going to do...I think they like the surprise!!!! (hi Kim :) !)




That's all for today!  Have an inspired day!

Friday, June 4, 2010

Beautiful Bouquet

Good morning!  I've been super busy the last couple days making some special treats for the Coaldale Ladies Night on June 12.  The event runs from 4-9pm and is at the Coaldale Community Hall.  I'm super excited to have a booth that night with lots of great ideas and a fun little make & take.  So make sure you come on out and visit me!

Wanna see what I've been making?  Well, I turned this...


Into this...


Inside each one is a Double Lolly...I love Double Lollies!!!  I originlaly got the idea for these from a swap I received at Convention a few years ago.  I don't have that original anymore...so I don't know who to give the credit to, but if you swapped with me at that Convention thanks!

I made 142 of them attached to my business card to be put in bags for people who come to Ladies Night.  And, on the back of my business card, I put a speical fun coupon!  You're not gonna want to miss this event ladies!!!  Here they are all ready to go in the box...


I used Green Galore (retiring) for the base and the flowers are Aprocit Appeal (retiring) sponged with Tangerine Tango, Cameo Coral (retiring) sponged with Ruby Red (retiring) and Almost Amethyst (retiring) sponged with Lovely Lilac (retiring).  The brads are from the Vintage Brad collection, which is also retiring, and the stamped flower in the middles of the flowers is  from the Fresh Cuts set.  All the flowers were punched with the 5-Petal Flower punch (which is being reconfigured to the new style of our punches).

You probably want to know how to make these, right?  The green part is 5 1/2 x 1 and is scored at 1/2, 2 1/4, 3 1/4 & 5.  The middle section is where the flower goes.  I punched a little hole with my 1/16 circle punch and stuck the flower on with a brad.  The sections at either end get punched with the small punch in the Crop-A-Dile so the sucker stick can go through.  Then you wrap the green part around the sucker with the stick going through the bottom.  You'll have to kind of do this with your sucker at an angle and then push it into place once the stick is through the two holes...you'll see what I mean when you make one!  There's absolutely NO adhesive in this project! 

You can have lots of fun with putting a ribbon around the stick to look like leaves or to double up the flowers on the top.  Here's a fun flower pot full of these I made a couple years ago.


Isn't this just the cutest thing ever!  What a great centerpiece!  The fun part is...all the colors I used for this pot of fun flowers, except Kiwi Kiss, are coming back and you can order them again starting July 1!!!

Have an inspiring day!