Get Inspired With This Great Video

February 17, 2011 under 3D projects, Cards

So, today was going to be a post sharing a project I did recently; but then Stampin’ Up! released a video by Shelli Gardner talking about creativity and Stampin’ Up! and almost the entire video is the camera panning around some AMAZING sample rooms.  Yes, rooms! 

See, in the home office, they have this area that is kind of like a museum where they have set up different spaces like rooms in a house.  Then, they have decorated the walls, the furniture, the surfaces, etc with décor and projects made using Stampin’ Up! materials.  So, there will be Décor Elements (vinyl) on the walls and cards on the desk.  Wall hangings and organization containers…you name it, they probably have it and have it looking like the showroom in a Pottery Barn type catalog.

When I was in town for convention a couple years ago, I got to wander through and it was awesome!  Here is are a couple pictures of what it looked like at the time:

023032

As you can see, lots of inspiration to be found!  So, after watching this video from Shelli, I found even more inspiration and I knew I had to share it with you.

  I’m going to watch it again and write down more things to try.  First up is the pinwheel card that I really want to make.  So, check it out and let me know what projects and ideas caught your eye. 

 

comments: 1 » tags: , , ,

A Pretty Card Purse Hostess Gift

February 8, 2011 under 3D projects

This last friday I had a fun workshop with some ladies I met recently.  I wanted to make something nice for the hostess who organized the evening and so I decided to make her a purse with a variety of cards inside.  I knew she loved purple and I remembered the awesome purples in the Lap of Luxury Designer Paper.  I swear, the first time I saw this pattern I said,”it looks like velvet!”.  It really does look luxurious in person!

hostess luxury purse front view

So, to go with the luxury theme, I used black (more posh, don’t you think?) and made the handles out of Black Satin ribbon (I love this stuff!!).  The inside opens up and I put in four cards with envelopes, oh, and some yummy chocolates, but it could hold a ton more. 

hostess luxury purse open

This purse is actually remarkably easy to make and only uses 1 sheet of designer paper and 1/2 a sheet of cardstock!  I may have to make a few more for extra gifts. Smile 

hostess luxury purse side view

Thanks for visiting! 

Luxury Card Purse Recipe:
Paper:  Lap of Luxury DSP, Basic Black CS
Accessories:  Basic Black satin ribbon, Round Tab punch, Kraft corduroy buttons (clearance rack item), Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, Crop-a-Dile, Sticky Strip, Velcro circles, Corner Rounder punch

Want to make your own purse?  Get the supplies now in my Online Store!

comments: 3 » tags: , , , , , , ,

Ice Cream Parlor Quick Accents Card and Card Purse

January 26, 2011 under 3D projects, Cards, Sale-a-Bration

In a flurry of excitement, Sale-a-Bration has officially begun!  Of course you can earn free stamps, but I love that you get options for other items like the Ice Cream Parlor Designer Paper and Quick Accents.  I had gotten this paper pack during the preorder and the more I use it, the more I’ve now decided that I NEED the matching Ice Cream Parlor buttons and ribbon pack!

In the meantime, I thought I’d share a couple projects I’ve made using this paper and cardstock stickers.  First up, a super quick birthday card:

For this card, the striped designer paper, the Daffodil Delight scalloped border cardstock sticker, and the Peach Parfeit designer paper – all come as part of the Ice Cream Parlor DSP And Quick Accents Sale-a-Bration pack.  I just added some Early Espresso taffeta ribbon, cardstock, and a staple to finish out the card.  Seriously, this is a 5 minute card!

Next, I created a purse sized to hold a set of standard 4.25” x 5.5” cards and matching envelopes:

If you are on my mailing list, you should have received the full tutorial for this purse in your inbox yesterday.  If you didn’t, let me know!

Not on my mailing list yet? Sign up here.  I’ll even resend the copy of my email with this tutorial in it to folks who sign up in the next couple of days.

Over the next week I’ll be sharing more Sale-a-Bration creations, so I hope you stop by again and check them out!  Until then, happy stamping!

Make a Wish card recipe:
Stamps: Birthday Bliss
Ink: Early Espresso Classic Ink, Marina Mist Classic Ink, Daffodil Delight Classic Ink
Paper: Pacific Point CS, Whisper White CS, Daffodil Delight CS, Ice Cream Parlor DSP
Accessories: Ice Cream Parlor Quick Accents, Early Espresso 1/8” taffeta ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Small Tag punch, Large Tag punch, Blender Pen, Crystal Effects, stapler

Wonderful Friend card purse recipe:
Stamps: Wonderful Favorites
Ink: Marina Mist Classic Ink, Early Espresso Classic Ink
Paper: Marina Mist CS, Melon Mambo CS, Whisper White CS, Daffodil Delight CS, Ice Cream Parlor DSP
Accessories: Ice Cream Parlor DSP, Ticket Corner Punch, Subtles Family brads, Round Tab punch, Paper Piercing tool, Mat Pack, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Sticky Strip, Bone Folder

comments: 3 » tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Cute New My Digital Studio Downloads and Projects

December 10, 2010 under 3D projects, My Digital Studio, scrapbooking

It seems like Stampin’ Up! has started rolling out My Digital Studio downloads like crazy!  But I have to say, I love all the new stuff coming out because I keep seeing so many cute things to do with My Digital Studio.  Here are some pictures of the latest downloads that have come out – some new photo cards and a calendar kit.

The calendar kit is what really caught my eye as its filled with TONS of brand new papers, predesigned layouts, and brush sets.  Plus, I didn’t realize you could get these calendars that come on an easel like in the picture above.  Its too cute!  Plus at only $19.95 to print one of those calendars, I think that is way better than those calendars of kittens or beaches that you get at Target or Office Depot right now!

Did you Know?
You can not only print cards, calendars, photo books, and scrapbook pages through the professional printing service, but you can do custom JOURNALS!  Like I said, so much has been coming out I totally missed this option!  I’ve altered journal books before, but I like the idea of the custom covers, especially for gifts.  Guess I have some playing to do with My Digital Studio now!

Check out all the latest downloads for My Digital Studio here.

Curious about professional printing services?
Well, if you own My Digital Studio, you have the option right from the program.

image

You can select the type of printing format you want, select how many pages of your project you want to print, how many copies you want, and then send them off to the printer!  You don’t have to worry about saving the file in the right format, getting uploaded onto another website or taking it in to the store.  However, you can do that too! 

One nice thing of the professional printing, aside from the ease of printing, is that they have worked with Stampin’ Up! to ensure the colors on the printers exactly match Stampin’ Up’s colors.  So, if you are going to add paper, ribbon, buttons, etc to your project, you will be sure that the colors will match wonderfully!

Want to see all the different printing options and pricing?  Check them all out here.

Ready to get started on your own project?
Shop my Online Store to get your copy of My Digital Studio and/or your favorite digital downloads to make a project that is just your style!

comments: 0 » tags: , , , , ,

Holiday Gift Tags and Gift Card Holders

December 7, 2010 under 3D projects, classes

Last friday I held a holiday class around gift tags and gift card holders.  I have to admit, while trying to get project ideas, I got so inspired that I had way to many projects I wanted to do with the class.  I managed to reign it in some, but I still ended up with a ton of little projects for everyone to do.  Thankfully no one was in a rush to get in and out and so we had a great time socializing and crafting. 

So, if you are looking for some ideas for some fun ways to gift a gift card or easily make a ton of gift tags, here are what we made and hopefully they will give you ideas for your own creations. Smile

Gift Card Holders

Gift Tag TinOk, so the first thing we did was decorate one of the skinny tins currently found in the Clearance Rack.  This was intended as a container to hold the gift tags we were going to be making, but it also works well as a gift container to use during the holidays.  I did use some retired paper from last year’s holiday mini, but I just love how it looks on the front of the tin.

We also added a piece of designer series paper to the inside of the tin to give it a little more finished of a look.

Tip: when adhering your embellishments to the front of the tin, use Sticky Strip to ensure your decorations stay put long term.

Next we created two different gift card holders.  The first one was a simple folded pouch with a belly band for decoration.  The base paper is 3.5” x 9.75” and is scored at 3” and 7”.  I used the 3/4” circle punch to punch a half circle out of one end and then used sticky strip to adhere that flap down to the middle section of the base.  Wrap a piece of DSP around the folded up gift card holder and adhere the ends of the DSP together using Snail adhesive.  We decorated this holder using the Tags Til Christmas stamp set and the Decorative Label punch (currently on sale as a Handmade Holiday bundle for 20% off) and some adhesive back pearls.

Tip:  Did you realized that you can use the “Dec 25th” stamp from Tags Til Christmas and then cover up the date with the Modern Label punch?  In this case, we still used a Christmas sentiment, but you could make it into anything!  Got to love versatility!

For our last gift card holder, we made what I call the “booklet gift card holder”.  This pattern has been seen all over the internet and you’ll probably see a few different measurements out there.  I found that I liked the following measurements the best:
- Cut your base paper to be 4 1/4” x 11.  
- Score at 3”, 5.5”, and 8”

Once you have your paper scored, fold it into a ‘W’ shape so that there is a shorter peak on the inside of your booklet.  Use your word window punch to cut out two “half-ovals” across the top of that shorter peak and then use the 3/4” circle punch to punch out a half circle in the middle.  Then, embellish the front, back, and insides to your hearts content using ribbon or fabric to tie your booklet closed.  For this project, we used the Candy Cane DSP and A Cute Christmas stamp set, stamping both on the outside and inside of the holder.  I also used a white gel pen to add the little white dots to the Bashful Blue scalloped circle on the front of the booklet.

Finally, after all that, we made some gift tags as well.  These were made almost entirely with the Tags Til Christmas stamp set with one tag using the Sweet Season set just for fun. 
Some things you may not be able to see well in the picture:

  -  The ornament tag is actually a tag that flips open.  We folded over a piece of cardstock before stamping our ornament image. Then we punched out the ornament image making sure to have the crease of the folded paper showing in the opening of the punch (so that we were keeping the crease intact). 

  -  We also used a two-way glue pen to add Dazzling Diamonds to the front of the ornament.

  -  The “do not open until christmas” tag was created by first stamping the image on a piece of paper and then punching it out using the 1 1/4” square punch.  You want to make sure the text is aligned at the bottom of your square punch.  Then we punched out a scallop square piece using scrap designer series paper and folded that scalloped square in half.  Finally adhere that folded scallop square to the top of your 1 1/4” square punch out and add some hemp thread to make it a hanger.

Well, I hope that gave you at least one new idea.  I’d love to have you join me at one of my classes in person, but if you are too far away, please come visit me at my blog again as I’ll be sharing the future projects here as well.  Until next time… Happy Stamping!

comments: 0 » tags: , , , , ,

Making the Northern Hearts Gift Box

November 9, 2010 under 3D projects

Wow, what a weekend that was with lots of great projects shared in the Royal Blog Tour!  I appreciate all the visits and comments folks let for my projects.  Its a lot of fun to hear from people who stop by.  As promised, I’ll be sharing the details for the Northern Hearts gift box today.

If you are a member of my mailing list, you will receive a link to a pdf tutorial for this box will full step-by-step instructions tomorrow when I send out the November newsletter.  Not a member of my mailing list?  There is still time to sign up and receive the full tutorial as well.

Making the Gift Box

To create this box, you need two pieces of cardstock:
- one 9 3/4” x 9 3/4” piece of  bashful blue cardstock for the base of the box
- one 5 3/8” x 5 3/8” piece of bashful blue cardstock for the lid of the box

IMG_1707Stamp the 9 3/4” square piece of cardstock with the snowflakes from the Northern Hearts stamp set in a random pattern.  I stamped using bashful blue ink and chose not to stamp the lid.

Score the large square at 3 1/4” from each side.  Score the small square 1” from each side.  Crease your score lines using a bone folder.  Then, using the score lines as a guide, cut along the score lines to allow you to fold each square into a box.  Specifically, you want to cut from the top edge of the paper to the first horizontal score line in the middle of the page, repeat that only cutting from the bottom of the paper to the first horizontal score line you come to.

You will want to use sticky strip to adhere the flaps you just cut to form the box.  Because this is a 3D project, most tape runners and glue sticks don’t give you a strong enough hold to support being picked up and used to hold weight.  Here is a photo showing where I cut my paper and placed the sticky strip pieces:

IMG_1708

Remove the backing of the sticky strip and fold the sides in to create your box and lid.  Now to embellish!

I first used the Northern Trim letterpress die to create two strips of colored debossing.  One cool thing about the dimensions of this box, is that you can use one debossed strip for two sides of the lid.  So, I used Confetti White paper with Always Artichoke and Rose Red craft ink to create my two strips.  I trimmed the strips down to make four 3/4” x 3 3/8” strips.  Adhere these strips to each side of the box lid; they should fit exactly as long as each side of the lid and be centered vertically so that you see some Bashful Blue above and below the trim.

IMG_1709

Next I stamped the birds image from the Northern Hearts stamp set and matted that with some Always Artichoke paper (the Whisper White paper is popped up on dimensionals).  Adhere to your “front” of your box.  Then, I decided to add a little bling, and so I placed some of the adhesive-backed Rhinestones to the center flower on each side of the lid and in the upper corners of the bird stamped image.

IMG_1715

Finally, to create the handle, I used my Crop-a-dile to punch a hole on the sides adjacent to the “front” of the box.  Because I used jumbo eyelets, you will want to use the bigger of the two hole punches (3/16″) with the Crop-a-dile set to let you punch as deep as possible.  Once you’ve punched the hole, use the Crop-a-dile to set a jumbo pewter eyelet to finish it off.  Thread some Whisper White Organza ribbon through the eyelet and knot on the inside of the box to create your handle (I had to knot the ribbon twice on each side to ensure the know was big enough to not slip through the hole in the eyelet.

Overall, this is a very easy project to complete and can be completed fairly quickly.

As I mentioned before, mailing list subscribers will get the full PDF tutorial for this project which include step-by-step instructions with more photos, so if you are not a subscriber, I invite you to join now and I’ll be sure you get a copy..

If you have any questions about this project, please feel free to leave me a comment or send me an email and I’d be happy to help you out!

Also, if you need any supplies for this project, contact me or shop the online store now.

If you entered my Blog Candy for a chance to win this box full of goodies, check back later today when I will be announcing the winner!  Until then, happy stamping!

comments: 3 » tags: , , , , , , , ,

Royal Blog Tour – Sharing Northern Hearts and Blog Candy!

November 4, 2010 under 3D projects, Cards

Welcome to my little stop here on the Royal Blog Tour!  I hope you’ve been enjoying all the amazing and creative projects the princesses have been sharing along your journey.  For my stop, I wanted to share with you some simple yet fun ways to use the Northern Hearts stamp set.

This stamp set is a hostess set available in the 2010 Holiday Mini.  I originally thought it was just a nice simple set, but the more I started playing with it, the more I saw how it coordinates with some other new and super cute items.  I guess the fact that they are all named “Northern something” should have tipped me off, but I can be a bit slow sometimes.

Northern stuff thumb

Anyway, first I noticed that the large snowflake from the stamp set was the same as the large snowflake in the embossing folder.  So, I tried combining the two.  I added some shimmer paint to the stamp before I stamped to give it a bit of shine like snow when I stamped it on the Whisper White base.  I also sponged some of the shimmer paint onto the embossed image to sparkle up the Baja Breeze paper.

Next, I started playing with the wreath stamp from this set.  I had some fun with different color markers to give it a more mottled, natural look.  Then I started playing with punches but didn’t like how it was turning out so I ended up hand cutting out the wreath.  It was cute but a little bare, so I added in on of the birds from the love birds stamp.  Finally, what is a wreath without somewhere to hang it from, so I used the branches from that same bird set and after coloring with markers, stamped a few times to make it look like tree branches.  Add some DSP and fun ribbon, and you have another fun little card.

Finally, I decided I wanted to make one more project and so I went for a 3D gift box that you could decorate for the holidays or really for anytime.  I used the Snowflakes and the Love Birds stamps from this set to decorate this 3 1/4” x 3 1/4” box.  This is perfect for a stash of 3×3 cards or to fill with treats for your favorite someone.

I will be posting the instructions for this box on my blog when the tour is over.  So come back on November 9th to see more details!

Well, I hope you enjoyed viewing these projects since I sure had fun making them.

Blog Candy Time!

Leave me a comment letting me know what you think and you’ll be entered into a drawing for some BLOG CANDY (you must include your email address so I can contact you if you win).

What’s up for grabs?  You will get this box filled with some cards, some card candy (embellishments for you to use on your own cards), and some actual yummy candy!

comments: 102 » tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Embellished Pocket Calendar

October 10, 2010 under 3D projects, Big Shot

This summer, I discovered at one of those big box fabric stores, some pocket calendars at a rediculously low price.  So, I just had to pick some up (I’m such a sucker for a good sale).  The calendars ran August 2010-July 2011 and so I thought they would be perfect for me to keep in my craft tote for scheduling Stampin’ Up! events while I was out at workshops and classes. 

But a storebought calendar just wouldn’t do.  So what do we do?  We embellish!!

I grabbed some of my scraps, punches, and the BigShot and went to town:

I printed out some of my favorite photos of Nicholas so that they would fit being matted by the 1 1/4” square punch.  They make me smile everytime I pull this out.  Smile And of course, I couldn’t leave the back empty, so I put a photo I love of our family from a vacation this summer. 

This project is so fast and easy that I made one each for my mom and dad as well.  All you have to do is
- pull the plastic cover off the calendar and measure the cover
- cut a piece of DSP that is slightly wider than the cover dimensions
  (you want it slightly longer so that it doesn’t pull away from the ends when you adhere it to the cover and fold it around the spine of the calendar). 
-I printed off photos and then punched 4 squares out of Basic Gray to use as mattes for my photos using the 1 1/4” square punch. 
-Then I used the BigShot to cut out the numbers for the year using the Simple Numbers Bigz die. 

The biggest thing to watch out for is to not add too thick of embellishments and layers so that you can fit your calendar back into the plastic.

These are a fun, inexpensive gift.  Hmm..,I think I may have to see if I can grab a few more.

comments: 1 » tags: , , , ,

An altered notebook gift for my upline

August 18, 2010 under 3D projects

One of the fun traditions of going to the Stampin’ Up convention is often uplines and downlines make little gifts for each other.  My way-upline, Julie Gunhus gave everyone personalized notepads and decorated pen.  My direct upline gave me a bag tag, some custom labels, and a cute box made using the new petal punch.  This is what I made to give to my upline:

I found some Spongebob spiral bound notebooks with hard covers in the dollar bin at Target.  I wish I had bought more because they were great for altering.  I picked cardstock that was similar in color to the covers since i was going the quick and easy route of only covering to the spiral binding.  I measured my cardstock to be about a 1/2″ longer on three sides so I could wrap the paper around the cover.  I used the Tombow liquid glue to coat the paper and then glued to the cover.  When folding the paper around to the inside of the cover, I folded the parallel sides over first and then finished by wrapping the side opposite the binding.  I then glued down a piece of white cardstock to the inside to finish off the inside.  Once the covers were wrapped, then I started stamping and embellishing.  I assembled the center image including the ribbon and then adheared the whole piece to my cover with sticky strip.  I waited until the cover was wrapped so I could make sure I had everything centered.  I then stamped the phrase “notes” so it was centered under the image.  I think that was the most stressful step because I was nervous it would get messed up but the stamps worked great and I love how it turned out!

I used the Rough Type Alpha and the Bouquet Bunch stamp sets for the covers.  These ended up being the perfect size for taking in our bag for convention and so I’ll be keeping my eye out to get more for future gifts.

If there is interest in more step by step instructions for making these, let me know and I’ll put something together.

Altered Notebook recipe:
Stamps:  Rough Type Alphabet, Bouquet Bunch
Ink: Basic black, Old Olive
Paper:  Melon Mambo CS, Basic Black CS, Whisper White CS
Accessories:  Melon Mambo marker, Black Satin ribbon, Watercolor pen, Tombow liquid glue

comments: 1 » tags: , , , ,

More baby gifts – thank you card set and a frame

August 16, 2010 under 3D projects, Cards

It seems like I know a lot of people having babies right now.  I reconnected with a friend recently on Facebook and learned she was due at the end of August with her first child.  I was so excited for her, I decided to make her a few things to send in addition to a gift card – what i call the light weight version of baby wipes. :)

First I created this photo layout for her using a 5×7 frame.  I started with the baby feet wheel and built the layout from there.  I found the DSP in my scrap pile and started layering pieces together.  After I had it assembled, I wanted to give the stamped image a little kick, so I inked up the wheel in Rose Red and wheeled out some more feet so I could cut them out and glue on top of part of the Chocolate Chip image.  Finally, I added one of the Sherbet designer buttons from last catalog.

Then I created a set of simple thank you notes so she has something fun Io send folks who give her little girl baby gifts.  I love the Fox and Friends stamp set for baby stuff and so had to use a variety of critters from the set for these cards.

I also stamped the envelopes to match the cards.  It was a good reminder about how the quality of paper you stamp on affects your image.  I was out of Stampin’ Up! envelopes so I used some of the value pack envelopes that I got from Michaels a while back.  Definitely doesn’t grab the ink nearly as well as Whisper White paper, but it works ok.

Baby Thank You Cards recipe:
Stamps:  Fox and Friends, Thank You Kindly
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Whisper White CS, Melon Mambo CS
Accessories:  Stampin’ Write Markers, Delicate Dots embossing folder, 1 3/8” circle punch, Scallop Circle punch

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , ,
« Previous Next »