Sesame Street Lollipops

Ha, figured out what I was going to use these cute baskets for! I'd had these lollipops that I wanted to decorate as a cute stocking stuffer to sell at my upcoming craft table and I think these baskets will be great for displaying them. I only made four of each of the types of lollipops but I don't want to take any home!
I'd seen variations of the Sesame Street characters using a variety of punches all over the place and thought they'd appeal to a younger market. They're so cute and every kid (well most kids) know what Sesame Street is, right? I'm not listing supplies, but if you have any questions, I will most certainly answer them!

Hope you like them! Thanks for visiting my blog today!

all Stampin' Up! supplies available 24/7 through my demonstrator website!

Stampin' Up! has launched a new feature to the online shopping experience! The Clearance Rack includes items that are retired or discontinued and most clearance rack products are marked at substantially reduced prices. This is not a short term promotion but rather a regular Stampin' Up! feature. Items will change continuously and sell out quickly so it's always a great place to check out when you are ordering on-line.

CLICK HERE and click on the "Shop Now" button (top right). Look for CLEARANCE RACK on the left side bar of the on-line store :) Happy Shopping!!!

Stamp Club: JBIW

Stamps: Autumn Harvest, Sincere Salutations
Paper: Confetti White, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Old Olive Patterns DSP, Watercolour Paper
Ink: Stazon™, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Leaves #2 Originals Die, Top Note Bigz Die, Aquapainter™, Chocolate Grosgrain, Dimensionals®, Clear Embossing Powder

It's stamp club time again and this is one of the three projects we are doing this week. It's my "JBIW" card! If you don't know what that means, it's the card I make Just Because I Wanna :) I used Kazan's sketch this week to jump start my creativity (love sketches for that!) and I found it really fun and clean. The theme this month is all about thankfulness and the fall season. So, with that in mind, I pulled out my "Autumn Harvest" stamp set and set to work! I also used the inspiration photo challenge by Pals Paper Arts for my colour choices. The pumpkin is embossed with clear embossing powder as I find that really enhances the colours of a watercoloured image. Hope you like it!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

all Stampin' Up! supplies available 24/7 through my demonstrator website!

Pillow Box Die Basket

Before I get into this project, I want to share my excitement!! The card I'd made for the most recent Inkspirations challenge was chosen for the Fab 5 over at 2 Sketches 4 You!! Whoo hoo!! I really do love Laura and Kazan's sketches as they totally push me to try different things.

Stamps: Christmas Punch, Serene Snowflakes
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Merry Moments DSP, Whisper White
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive
Accessories: Pillow Box Bigz die, Large Tag Punch, Crop-a-Dile, Silver Eyelet, Linen Thread, Binder Clip, Silver Brads, Olive Grosgrain, Word Window Punch

So, now onto today's project. The most recent Weekly Inkling from SCS included the tutorial by Lynn Put for these Pillow Box Buckets. Super easy to put together and super fun! I rarely use my pillow box die and I needed an excuse to pull it out again. I kept it fairly simple and I have no idea what I'm going to put in them ... something light and something cute, I'm sure! I'd used the colour challenge from Keesh again for this one as I absolutely adore these colours together :)

Hope you like what you see :) Thanks for visiting my blog!

all Stampin' Up! supplies available 24/7 through my demonstrator website!

Card Patterns Sketch 34

Stamps: Extreme Elements, Extreme Dirt Bike, Certified
Paper: Kraft, Sage Shadow, Dusty Durango, Very Vanilla
Ink: Dusty Durango, Sage Shadow, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip (Craft and Classic)
Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder, Dimensionals®, Modern Label Punch, Vintage Brads, Scallop Edge Punch, Chocolate Grosgrain, Mat Pack & Piercer

A new sketch from Card Patterns comes today! I was very inspired to use these colours from a card I'd seen done recently by Julee Tilman. She'd used these exact colours and I fell in love with the combination. Totally eye catching, eh? This was the second card we'd made at my "Men"tally Challenged? class last night. Again, I used the Extreme stamps along with Certified but this time I used the Dirt Bike. I think it's the first time I've inked it up!

I hope you like my card! If you're interested in taking any classes with me or having one of my classes by mail, just contact me!

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

all Stampin' Up! supplies available 24/7 through my demonstrator website!

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #13

Stamps: Extreme Elements, Extreme Skateboard, Certified
Paper: Kraft, Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip
Ink: Not Quite Navy (Craft and Classic), Old Olive, Chocolate Chip (Craft and Classic)
Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder, Dimensionals®, Curly Label Punch, Mini Library Clip

It's time for a new Inkspirations challenge, this time a colour challenge! These are great colours together and I had fun working with them. You will too! Just remember to link up your creation on Keesh's blog so we can see what you've done :)

Onto my creation this week! I have a "Men"tally Challenged? class tonight and this will be one of the two cards we'll create. The main theme is all about the guys in our lives and creating that perfect card for them! I find these colours are perfect for any guy, don't you? I pulled out the Extreme stamps because they are fab for guys too and used the sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You. Do you see that neat border effect on the lower edge of the Old Olive card stock? I created that using the top of the Curly Label punch! Super easy to do: just line up the top of the punch with the edge of the paper. For easy straight cutting, I used the lowest curve point as my guide along the edge of the card stock. Let me know if you try this! I embossed both the skater dude and the sentiment with clear embossing powder after having stamped them in craft ink (the really wet kind).

Hope you like my card this week! Please check out my fellow Inkspirations DT to see what they've made!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!!

all Stampin' Up! supplies available 24/7 through my demonstrator website!

On a totally different topic, my husband and I heard an amazing speaker last night. His name is Brett Ullman and he speaks about things that are hard, things that are not easy to hear. Things like what is affecting our youth like divorce, premarital sex, cutting, suicide, etc. Man ... it's not that I'm drastically affected personally by those particular issues but I am affected by how I as a parent am influential on the actions of my children. He speaks from a Christian worldview and I encourage you to check his website and ministry out.

Punched Character Matchboxes

Aren't these cute?!!! I'd seen them on Angie Juda's blog a looooooooooong time ago and when I was invited to the craft fair I thought these would be perfect little gift boxes for any kind of treasure!! My mom and I made 4 of each kind in about 2 hours --> not bad for gabbing and crafting don't you think?

OK, so what did I use to make these ... hmmm ... let me think (I didn't write it down, so I'm gonna guess!). First of all, take your Matchbox Bigz XL die, and die cut the matchboxes for each shape. I used Basic Gray for the Hippo and Creamy Caramel for the Lion and sponged the edges with the same colours.

For the hippo:

• Punch 3 Large Oval shapes out of Basic Gray. One is for the nose, the other two are for the ears.
• Punch two 1-3/8" circles out of Basic Gray. Both are for the face --> one only shows slightly below the nose.
• EARS: Punch two Small Oval Shapes out of Basic Black. Mat them with the two large ovals and adhere behind one circle.
• NOSE: Punch two 1/4" circles out of Basic Black and adhere on the nose. Add detail with a white gel pen. Adhere nose to face.
• EYES: Punch two 1/4" circles out of Whisper White and attach the newly punched eyes to the face. Punch two 1/8" circles (using handheld punch or Crop-a-Dile) out of Basic Black and attach to the eye centres. Add eyelash detail with a Basic Black Stampin' Write marker.
• TEETH: Punch one Word Window shape out of Whisper White. Cut in half and attach side by side under the nose. Attach remaining circle under the teeth.

For the lion:

• FACE: Punch one Scallop Circle punch out of Chocolate Chip. To achieve the more "pinked" edge rather than lovely scallops, simply re-punch the scallop by turning it in the punch making sure the curved top of the punched scallop will be punched (does that make any sense?). Punch one 1" Circle, two 1/2" Circles, and two 1/4" Circles out of Creamy Caramel card stock. Punch one 1/4" Circle out of Chocolate Chip card stock (nose). Adhere together like pictured. I did the dots on the cheeks and the eyes with a Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write marker.
• BODY: Punch one 1-3/4" Circle punch out of Creamy Caramel card stock. Attach under face.
  
• LEGS: Punch one Small Oval punch out of Creamy Caramel card stock and cut in half. Attach on the body.
• TAIL: Using the Large Oval punch and a piece of scrap Creamy Caramel, punch a thin sliver of card stock by punching the oval twice moving the punch back 1/8". Punch one blossom from the Boho Blossoms punch out of Chocolate Chip card stock. Attach to body.
  

Now, hopefully that makes sense. I'm a pretty garbled speaker that tends to use sound effects so describing my thoughts in text is not easy, hee hee!!

Thanks for visiting my blog!! oh, and don't forget to check out my November Christmas Crop retreat!!

all Stampin' Up! supplies available 24/7 through my demonstrator website!

Colouring Books

Well, by now all of you should know that I'm participating in a craft fair in November!! So, needless to say here's yet another item to sell :) I saw this idea online but neglected to bookmark it. I thought the idea was soooooo sweet and just had to make some. I got the colouring books and crayons at the dollar store in town and set to making these with my Mum. Yes, my mum loves to craft!

Soooo, anyways, it's a simple little box to hold the crayons that is a doorhanger type.

Thanks for stopping in today!

all Stampin' Up! supplies available 24/7 through my demonstrator website!

Stamp Club 3D card

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Trendy Trees
Paper: Tall Tales DSP, Old Olive, Rose Red, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Whisper White
Ink: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, 1-3/8" & 1-1/4" Circle Punches, Saffron Grosgrain, Dimensionals®

This was our 3D project for last month's stamp club. I tried out a wiper card! They are so fun to pull out, I could just keep playing with it!! LOL :) Directions can be found on Splitcoast Stampers in the Resources section or you can just click right HERE.

Thanks for visiting!

all Stampin' Up! supplies available 24/7 through my demonstrator website!

Christmas Crop Retreat!

Wow, it's that time of year again as many of you who follow my blog know! I've been making Christmas projects for a little while already but now I'm holding an "official" Christmas event! Together with two others, we are going to be holding the most best event ever!!

Save November 27th and 28th for this fabulous event that will be held at YKCS! There will be fabulous classes (including a Christmas scrap class, a Christmas cards class, and a Scrap Calendar Class), general crop time, and more! Whether you would like to scrap, make Christmas gifts, work on Christmas cards or all three, this event will be perfect for you! As a wonderful bonus, we will be raising funds for our local Christian school, enabling an educational ministry to continue to serve the children of our community.

Just click on the graphic to read all about it or you can click right HERE. Sign up details are included in the flyer but just remember that if you want to come, sign up soon!! I know some spots have already been taken and we just sent the flyer out yesterday!

all Stampin' Up! supplies available 24/7 through my demonstrator website!

Card Patterns Sketch 33

*click on any photo to see a larger image*

Stamps: Nursery Necessities, Totally Tabs, Rough Edges Alphabet
Paper: Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette Textured, Whisper White, SAB '09 retired DSP, Certainly Celery
Ink: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette, So Saffron, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Billboard Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die, Punches (Large Star, Eyelet Border, Corner Rounder, Decorative Label), So Saffron Grosgrain (SAB09;retired), Dimensionals®

It's Card Patterns sketch day and so I tied that in with the second version of these CD Accordion albums, this time for a girl! The sketch this week is interesting with the triangular panels on the front. Directions to make these can be found on the previous post (right HERE). Hope you like my albums! Please visit the Card Patterns blog to see what the rest of the DT did with this sketch!!

Thanks for visiting! I really appreciate all your visits and comments :)

all Stampin' Up! supplies available 24/7 through my demonstrator website!

Inkspirations Sketch 13 :)

** click on the images to see a larger view **

Stamps: Nursery Necessities, Totally Tabs
Paper: Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, retired SAB '09 DSP
Ink: Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Bigz Die (Stampin' Up! Alphabet Simple Letters), Billboard Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die, Punches (Large Star, Scallop Edge, Corner Rounder, Decorative Label, Scallop Square, 1-1/4" Square, Horizontal Slot), Certainly Celery Twill Ribbon (retired), Linen Thread, Playground Designer Buttons, Dimensionals®

It's time for another sketch from Keesh! I'm sure the Inkspirations DT has lots to wow you with. This was a really fun sketch. I turned it sideways for this project.

Ever since I saw versions of this project, I'd been dying to make one of these CD accordion albums and have had these CD Literature folders forever :) In my goals to eliminate clutter and make stuff for a craft fair in November, I pulled them out to make, finally, LOL! They took a little while to make but I'm so happy with them that it was worth every minute!! I've made two of this particular one and you'll see the other version tomorrow :)

I hope you like what I've made and will come back tomorrow to see the other version! Thanks for visiting!!!

all Stampin' Up! supplies available 24/7 through my demonstrator website!

Q&A
Where do I get the CD Literature Folders?
I purchased them in a bulk buy a couple of years ago, so I don't honestly know exactly where I got them. They are available through office supply places such as ULine. It's a type of CD holder that is hardboard and white; it has a pocket on the left (covered in my project) and a tab on the right (the diagonal piece). I used two for this album.

How do I make this?

It took me a little while to make, but I generally went out and looked at many many many different samples of this exact type of album online. I didn't find any tutorials however. Well, here's a short tutorial on how to make this one!

Supplies:
2 CD Literature Folders
matching card stock & patterned paper & embellishments

Step-by-Step

For each folder, you will need to cut card stock and Designer Series Paper in these measurements:

• 3-7/8" x 5-1/16" (Designer Series Paper - one piece to cover angled pocket)

To make the angle, measure and mark the top of your pocket (mine was 1-3/16") and the side of your pocket (mine was 1-1/4"). Cut a diagonal line from one mark to the other mark.
If your piece is too small, you can put a small mat under the pocket edge and trim with your hobby knife.

• 5" x 8-1/2" (card stock - one piece)

Score at 5", 5-1/4", 5-1/2", 5-3/4", 6", 6-1/4", 6-1/2".
Crease score lines and mountain/valley fold it (so you have 3 mini-flaps to adhere your envelopes/tags to). Adhere under the angled pocket so the accordion is in the middle of the folder. There is a little piece that is extended into the other side (this will get covered)

• 5" x 5" (Designer Series Paper - one piece)

Adhere over the flap pocket and over the small piece of card stock from the accordion piece.

Now, you need to attach the two folders (or as many as you want) together. Cut a piece of card stock 5" x 10" and score it at 5". Crease your score line. Attach the card stock to the CD folders to hold them together.

Cover the album with card stock. I used a piece of card stock that was 5" x 11-1/4" to wrap around. Then, I wrapped and attached ribbon around and made my front cover to go over top. The ribbon goes through a slot punch so that it doesn't inadvertently pull off the front cover.

Decorating- The Fun Part -- it's all up to you :)
One tip, though: You'll need to either make or purchase three 3x3 envelopes (I made mine) as well as 3 tags. They get attached to the accordions in each CD folder. The rest is yours to figure out!

Stamp Club Technique Project

Stamps: Trendy Trees, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Whisper White, Brocade Blue, Ruby Red, Crushed Curry Patterns DSP
Ink: Crushed Curry, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder, Dimensionals®

I meant to post this yesterday but time ran away on me as my parents arrived for a few days! Perhaps I'll have time to stamp this week, perhaps not, we'll see :) Anyways, this was my stamp clubs technique project. I actually showed two different techniques, one of which I'm not sure they'd all do ever again, hee hee! The main technique was the Faux Alligator technique -- a really easy, really neat technique! The second technique was in creating what I'll call the "faux-bon" LOL! It's a simple technique to create a paper ribbon that has texture. I was creating this card using a colour challenge from the Pals Paper Arts blog (from a little bit ago) and I didn't have a ribbon that matched so I made my own.

To make a "Faux-Bon", take a 1/2" strip of Ruby Red card stock, stamp it with the leafy tree top from the Trendy Trees stamp set, and then score it twice 1/8" apart every 1/2". Then, just "z" fold it back and forth and put Sticky Tape on the backside to hold it together.

So, I hope you like this card! All Stampin' Up supplies are available through my online store 24/7!

Stamp Club Projects!

Stamps: Greenhouse Garden, Sincere Salutations, Cornelli Lace jumbo wheel
Paper: Very Vanilla, Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink: Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Corduroy Buttons, 5/8" Neutrals Brads, Dimensionals®, Eyelet Border Punch, Chocolate Taffeta

Wow, I cannot believe how fast the summer flew by ... we took a summer break with the stamp club and it came up sooooooooooooo quick again! This was our "JBIW" project, the project where I just make whatever I feel like ;) I used Diana's colour challenge as well as the sketch from Pals Paper Arts. I've meant to participate in the challenges from both for a little bit now, but hadn't had the time ... I'll make it now though! I think Diana's challenges are fairly new, this being the third challenge and the PPA challenges are also quite new. Love that they are both SU focused! (not that they require you to use SUO).

Anyways, I digress ... simple card, not too much in the way of details. Love this stamp set though. Greenhouse Garden is a strikingly beautiful stamp set that is very versatile. It could easily be both masculine and feminine, depending on how you stamp it! Thanks for visiting today! Hope you have a fabulous day!

Card Patterns Sketch

Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly, Inspired by Nature
Paper: Soft Suede, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Holiday Lounge DSP
Ink: Old Olive, Bermuda Bay, Chocolate Chip, Versa Mark®
Accessories: Eyelet Border Punch, Chocolate Chip Grosgrain, Dimensionals®, Iridescent Ice Embossing powder

There's a new sketch at Card Patterns today! It's already sketch #32, wow, time flies! So, I started out with this card and I used it at a recent class. I love these colours together, I find it so calming yet jarring all at the same time, if that makes any sense?! Notice the patterned paper? Well, its from the Holiday Lounge DSP in the Stampin' Up! catalogue which is really retro in colours and definitely not typical for Christmas cards. Anyhow, I think it's also really multi-purpose and certainly not limited to Christmas only!!

and here's a second card I made for the challenge!! Check out all the deets on the Card Patterns blog!

Thanks for visiting today! I hope you have a fab weekend!