fresh & fun

Today’s Holiday Blitz tutorial is written by AJ Otto. She created the tutorial based on Taylor Van Bruggen’s idea from a few years back. This project is fun, but definitely not a fast one. At least it wasn’t for me.

It took me a while to decide on what paper to use. I finally settled on My Mind’s Eye Just Dreamy paper, thinking it would great to make a Friend folder for Rebecca. With us moving every two to three years, she now has friends in three States and is always asking me for their addresses. After I finished the folder I showed it to her and she said I could keep it (OUCH!). She wouldn’t know what to write in it. Oh well…I have a new address folder! LOL

The title was stamped with JustRite stampers Times New Roman Upper and Lower Case letters. I don’t have a rectangle wood stamper, but the letters fit perfectly in my oval one. I love how everything mixes and matches with Just Rite. And now that you don’t have to condition the stamps before using them….I love them even more.

After folding my File Folder, I sponged the edges with Frayed Burlap Distress ink, then added the paper. Next I machine stitched around the paper and zigzagged a line between my chocolate strip and paper on the lower part of the file folder.

The Chocolate Chip base for the pages measures 3 3/8″ x 5 3/4″. I rounded the edges with a large corner rounder (retired Stampin’ Up!) and layered a 1/8″ smaller piece of Vanilla cardstock over it. That piece had been stamped with Unity’s gorgeous Solid Posy stamp with either second generation Shabby Shutter or Scattered Straw Distress ink. I alternated those inks. The green file folder slots got yellow flower pages, the red and yellow slots got green flowers on their  pages.

 A 1 1/4″ x 3 1/4″ strip of patterned paper was adhered to the lower part of the page. Then I stitched all the pages as well. To hide the stitches I added a backing to each page. The backing was cut as the front Vanilla layer and stamped with the Floral Edge stamp from Unity.

The first page in each folder slot was embellished either with Daisy Doodles Prima Flowers or Basic Grey buttons. I created two pages for each folder slot.

I cut another piece of Manila file folder matching my front. I decorated it similar to the inside pages. Before taping that front on with Scor-Tape, I tied 1″ wide May Arts Chocolate Satin Ribbon around the folder as my closure.

I hope you have a wonderful day! My oldest is turning 15 today. He will be able to get his learner’s permit in 1/2 year. YIKES!

Hugs and smiles

Today’s Holiday Blitz tutorial is for a double ball ornament. It was written by Carol Dunstan. It’s an easy, fast and fun project that I plan on repeating with Rebecca. I think she will enjoy making some of these ornaments.

That hatpin, pearl and glass bead are all from Stampin’ Up!’s Pretties kit. The paper is from My Mind’s Eye The Merry Days of Christmas Pack. The ribbon is White Taffeta ribbon.

Here is a quick video for the visual learner:

I love Gina K’s Holiday Cheer set. So when I needed to come up with a variation picture for the Luminaria tutorial, I grabbed that set.

The Riding Hood cardstock base was stamped with the snowflakes from the set in Cranberry ink from Adirondack and sponged with the same color. I added a chocolate Chip cardstock strip on the top that had been punched with an EK Success border punch (sorry….forgot the name).

The windows and the Chocolate chip frames were cut with Label Four Nestabilities. The frame was sponged with Expresso ink before I adhered them to the window with Mono Multi liquid glue.

The bird was stamped in Expresso ink on Vellum. I used my heat gun to dry it, turned it over and sponged Butterscotch and Cranberry over the back. 

To finish it off, I created another snowflake medallion. It was sponged with Cranberry ink in the center and with Antique Linen Distress ink on the edges. Shard Glitter and a button from my Mom’s stash finished it off. It was adhered to the Luminaria front with dimensionals.

Make sure to check out today’s Holiday Blitz Tutorial. Julie Buhler shows us how to make a Window Treat box.

Have a great day! Hugs and smiles

Today’s tutorial is for a simple Luminaria. They can be created lots of different ways, but I thought I start showing an easy one, all out of one piece of cardstock. The images and the background were printed out with the new Flower Soft CD-Rom. It contains some super cute images and helps to make some quick cards and projects.

The ovals were cut with Oval Nestabilities (of course….I seem to not be able to create one project without Spellbinders products. I am truly hooked on those!). Vellum Paper was taped behind the window.

The images were cut out and taped to my box with Scor-Tape and dimensionals. Polar White Flower Soft was added to the trees and ground.

Here is a video for the visual learner:

Our annually Tutorial Holiday Blitz week is going on at SCS right now. I already missed alerting you about the first two wonderful tutorials, a scrapbook wallet tutorial written by Makeesha Byl and a Matchbook Candy holder by Theresa Momber. I am sorry about that. I was crazy busy packing up sold Stampin’ Up! products and shipping them out. Thank you all for helping me make room in my craft room for new stamps from other companies!

Today’s tutorial is written by Libby Hickson and is for a Snowglobe card. She had posted one last winter and I had asked her right there and then if she would write this for us for this year’s Holiday Blitz. How fun to see one of those on the back of the Winter Mini catalog from Stampin’ Up! earlier this year.

My card is pretty simple. The cute little polar bear and the background are from Flower Soft. Flower Soft has some cute new products coming out. Make sure you come back tomorrow to learn more about them. The sentiment is from Verve. I received it as a thank you with an order last fall. Julee is so sweet to always include a little thank you stamp with each order. It was stamped with Tuxedo Black ink on Gina K’s Pure Luxury Cardstock. It was punched out with the large oval punch from Stampin’ Up! and layered on a Black Scallop Oval Punch-out.

The patterned paper is My Mind’s Eye Merry Days of Christmas. I tied 1″ celery Satin ribbon around the snow globe bottom. I can’t help by make more of those adorable snowflakes, Sherry Cheever showed us how to make. I made a smaller version that I sponged with Faded Jeans Distress ink and sprinkled with Shard Vintage Glass Glitter. The button is from Basic Grey and was tied on with waxed linen.

I hope you have time to check out the new tutorials, let the authors know how wonderful their projects are and try them out.

Have a wonderful day! Hugs and smiles

Yesterday was the birthday of an acquaintance of mine. She is the Mom of Lucas and Rebecca’s friends and I see her almost every day. I drive the kids to school, she picks them up. So when her daughter told me in the morning that it was her Mom’s birthday and that she likes Twix, I knew I had to create something. I bought a candle holder and filled it up with Snack size Twix.

I tied red May Arts Silk ribbon around the candle holder and cut cardstock with Nestabilities Label 1 to create a tag. The image is from this month KOM stamp set from Unity. It was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Gina K.’s Pure Luxury Cardstock, cut out with Label 1 Nestabilities and was colored with Copic Markers (YR21, YR23, YR24, R14, R24, R29).  I tried to get close to the Twix colors with my copic marker choices.

After I adhered it to the tag base, I added Stardust Stickles over the Dragonflies and Crystal Effect over the rest of the colored part. Tiny Twinkles were adhered all around the image with Quickie Glue.

For the inside of the tag I stamped the image again on a Label 1 cutout, this time with Adirondack Butterscotch Dye ink. The sentiment is from Verve’s Circular Sayings and was stamped in Tuxedo Black ink.

I hope you have a happy and safe Halloween! Hugs and smiles!

For yesterday’s Product Focus, I thought it would be perfect to create an updated tutorial for the Shaker card. It was one of my first tutorials and needed a new look. Why didn’t anyone tell me that flash photography and tutorials don’t mix well, especially when using Acetate. LOL

We had a lot of questions about the Spellbinder image in the SCS gallery with the Pumpkin frame. I thought it would be great to use that in the tutorial to show how it’s done.

I cut my Pumpkin Frame with Pumpkin Nestabilities out of Dusty Durango textured cardstock. I also cut a Pumpkin out of Acetate and Grandma’s kitchen patterned paper. My shaker was filled with Crafty Sparkles - Chunky Crystal.

My card base is Chocolate Chip cardstock cut with the Clear Scallop Square Big Shot die from Stampin’ Up! I love to use that die to create card bases. What’s not to love about a square scallop card, right? LOL

A 3 3/4″ square of Whisper White cardstock was layered with a 3 9/16″ square of All Fall Fancy Pants Patterned Paper. The Patterned Paper was stamped with a the leaf swirl stamp from Simple Blessings in Vintage Photo Distress ink and sewn to the White layer. The horizontal strip measures 1 5/8″ x 3 1/2″ and from the Grandma’s Kitchen paper collection. It was stamped with Unity’s Giving it all meaning in Vintage Photo. The edges were distressed and sponged. I used a triple stitch to sew the strip to the square layeres and tied 5/8″ wide Organdy ribbon around it. The bow as topped off with a Recollections Brad (Michaels).

The Pumpkin Frame was sponged with Really Rust and Chocolate chip ink. I small bow was made out of SU Mistletoe ribbon with the help of my BowEasy. The sentiment is from Verve’s Hello Pumpkin set. It was stamped in Vintage Photo on White Cardstock, cut out with the small oval punch and sponged with Old Paper Distress ink. One of the leaves from Simple Blessings was stamped over it in second generation Old Paper ink for added texture.

Here is a video for the visual learner:

Helen Orr posted a cute Watering can a while back. I asked her if she could write a tutorial for SCS and she did! For the video, I created this sample.

I printed the template on Kiwi Kiss cardstock, cut it out and scored all the score lines. Next I stamped the bottom of each watering can side with a stamp from Unity’s “Growing In Unity” stamp set. I added some highlights with a white gel pen and taped the sides together with Scor-Tape, forming the watering can. The edges were sponged. Handle and spout were added.

I added 1″ white May Arts Satin Ribbon to the top of one of  the sides. A sentiment from SU’s Teeny Tiny Wishes was stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink, punched out with the small oval punch and sponged with Pumpkin Pie. Butterflies were punched out of Summer Sun cardstock, sponged with Pumpkin Pie and adhered to the watering can. A few tiny Twinkles were added.

Here is a video for the visual learner:

Here is another tutorial published this Wednesday. This one is about altering spiral notepads. I wrote it to show off Creatopia’s permanent adhesive and laminating cartridge, but you can alter bought spiral notepads without the machine as well.

It’s pretty self explanatory, so I will just add the supply list:

Stamps: Unity February 09 Kit of the Month stamp set

Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento Ink

Paper: Paper Salon Patterned Paper, Black cardstock

Acc.: Button Late, retired SU’s Sage ribbon

On the inside I stamped each notepad page in second generation Soft Suede ink with another stamp from Unity’s February KOM set.

Here is a video for the visual learner:

In yesterday’s SCS  newsletter we highlighted the Glass Etching tutorial from Vickie Maduzia. Whenever we highlight older tutorials I try to get a video added for that technique.

For this sample I used stamps from Unity’s August Kit of the Month. The flower was stamped in Versamark on the glass bottle and embossed it. Next I created a round negative stencil out of Contact Paper with my Circle Nestabilities. I taped the contact paper stencil around the image and added Etching Cream. After five minutes wash the etching cream off and scrap off your embossed image. Easy Peasy….just a little smelly (I am so not kidding….that cream stinks…not strong, just bad!).

For the tag I stamped the Unity sentiment in Chocolate chip on Very Vanilla cardstock. It was cut out with the medium  size tag from  Spellbinders Double Ended Tags (one end was cut off)

I inked up the flower in Pumpkin Pie, added Real Red highlights with my marker, stamped it off once and then stamped it over the left hand side of the tag. Next the edges were sponged first in Pumpkin Pie, then in Real Red ink.

It was layered on a Chocolate Chip tag and attached to the bottle with retired Stampin’ Up! fibers. To finish it off I added a bow with Brown Satin Ribbon from May Arts. I am planning of adding brown, red and orange M&M’s to the bottle before giving it away.

Here is a video for the visual learner: