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

I worked ahead this week and already made this card on Monday as my entry for the Technique Challenge, which was to create a Wiper card.

I haven’t made a square one before, so it was perfect to use the sketch with the challenge. As my main image I chose this cute stamp from JustRite’s Old Fashioned Christmas set. Frosty was stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink on Gina K’s Pure Luxury White cardstock, cut out with Circle Nestabilities and colored with Copic Markers (RV13, RV14, RV17, YG01, YG03, YG05, W1, YR04, YR07) and airbrushed with Copic Marker B000. White Flower Soft was added the to the pompom on the hat.

My card base consists of two 4 1/2″ x 7 1/2″ pieces of Textured Whisper White cardstock scored at 1 1/2″ and 3″. A 3 3/4″ square of Fancy Pants Happy Holidays Patterned paper was sewn to a 4″ Black square. The three smaller patterned paper squares measure 2 5/16″ and are from the same paper pack. They two outer ones were layered on a 2 7/16″ black cardstock square, the one in the middle on a scalloped black square that had been cut with Square Nestabilities.

Melon Mambo dotted ribbon was tied around the big square layers before the smaller square were adhered. A retired felt snowflake from Stampin’ Up! with a My Mind’s Eye Brad in it’s center was added to the top right corner of the main image. Three little pink rhinestones filled the left top corner.

For the sentiment I chose another JustRite stamp from the Merry Little Christmas set. It was stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento ink directly on Fancy Pants patterned paper, punched out with a 1 1/4″ circle punch. It was layered on a 1 3/8″ black circle and adhered to the bottom left of the main image.

My wiper pop up image was a little Santa hat cut out with Spellbinders Holiday Cheer die. It was cut out twice, once out if White cardstock, once out of red/pinkish patterned paper from the Happy Holidays Paper pack. I cut the red center out, sanded it a bit and taped it to the white layer. White Flower Soft was added to the rim and pompom of that hat.

You can find the step by step tutorial for wiper cards on Splitcoast. Here is the video for the visual learner:

This weekend was bad. Lucas, Rebecca, Rick and I all had the flu. Austin already had it last weekend. Fever, achiness and nasty dry cough is not good. The kids are better, but Rick and I are still trying to recover. I couldn’t help myself though….I needed to make a sample for my challenge.

My image is from JustRite’s Autumn Blessings. It was stamped in Tuxedo Black on Gina K.’ Pure Luxury White cardstock and colored with Copic Markers (leaves: YG23, YG25, G94, Pumpkin: YR02, YR04, YR14, E15, Sky: YR31, bottom: E31). It was cut with Circle Nestabilities and ground and sky were airbrushed.

The Chocolate Chip card base measures 6 1/2″ x 8″ and was folded in half. A 3 1/2″ x 5 7/8″ piece of Basic Grey paper was stitched to a slightly bigger piece of Whisper White cardstock. A 5 7/8″ wide Chocolate Chip cardstock strip was cut, embossed and stenciled with Spellbinders Harvest Border and stitched to the middle of my Basic Grey paper. Champaigne Satin Ribbon was tied over the layers.

The smaller patterned paper rectangle measures 2″ x 4 3/8″ and is from the Basic Grey Pad Offbeat. It was stitched to a  1/4″ bigger piece of Whisper White. The focal point was first layered on a slightly smaller Creamy Caramel, then on a Chocolate Chip Scallop circle before adhered with dimensionals to the smaller rectangle. The sentiment is also from JustRite’s Autumn Blessings. It was stamped in Tuxedo Black on Whisper White cardstock punched out with the large oval punch and then layered on a sponged Chocolate Chip Scallop oval. The edges were paper pierced and the entire layer was airbrushed with YR31. The little pumpkin was cut with the Harvest Border out of a scrap of Basic Grey Offbeat paper.

To finish it off I added clear Dew drops with Crystal Effect to the top left and bottom right of the card. Since I already had the Crystal Effect out, I added some over my colored and cut out pumpkins.

Have a wonderful day! Hugs and smiles

I created the triangle box out of a 4″ x 8″ piece of Holiday Lounge Designer Paper. For my sentiment I mixed the 2″ wood stamper and font with the 2″ Holiday Demi Phrases and an image from the Merry Little Christmas set. I stamped the image with Black Memento ink three times. Once on white cardstock, once on Ruby Red and once on Sahara Sand. The images were cut out with Circle Nestabilities and colored with Copic Markers  (BG45, BG05, YG25, YG17, Y18, Y000, W00, W2). To tie the box shut I used Stampin’ Up!’s Bermuda Bay dotted ribbon.

Here is a quick video for the visual learner:

Make sure to check out the other blogs partipating in today’s blog hop. I am can’t wait to see their stunning creatings made with JustRite stamps.

Michelle Wooderson

Sankari Wegman 

 Heidi Blankenship 

Eva Dobilas

Beate Johns 

Sharon Harnist

Barbara Anders

 Sharon Johnson

Deb Saaranen   

Becca Feeken  

Kazan Clark Lauren Meader

 Tammy Hershberger

Linda Beeson

 Jenny Gropp Lori Craig

Tanis Giesbrecht

Jenn Balcer

Lisa Somerville Karen Maldonado

Pamela Smerker

Karen Taylor Latisha Yoast 

  Julie Overby

 Mary Pfaff

I created a quick tutorial on how to create a personalized stamp with JustRite products for this weeks Product Review on SCS. As a sample, I created a tag for my Christmas cookies.

And of course, I did have to bake those cookies. I usually NEVER bake those cookies before the beginning of December. They are crack cookies. I have no control over myself whatsoever. The kids were happy, my scale wasn’t so much! LOL

The assembled stamp was stamped in Chocolate Chip craft ink on Shimmery Cream cardstock as well as Ruby Red cardstock and embossed with clear embossing powder. I cut it with Circle Nestabilities, sponged the edges and layered them on top of each other. I added Stardust Stickles to the snowflake and topped it of with Kaiser Rhinestones. The ribbon is May Arts Silk Ribbon.

Here is a video for the visual learner:

Today’s tutorial is for a Tent Topper Card. Michelle Wooderson came up with it a few years ago. These cards are so adorable. The main image is taped so it stands over the top edge of the card.

We are also posting a new Product Review on SCS today. This time we checked out JustRite Stampers new Christmas stamps. Go on over and check it out. I have to tell you that I LOVE the new JustRite products. No more conditioning!!! How sweet is that. AND….the new 2″ wood stamp has room for a double border.

For this sample though I used one of their new bigger sets called Old Fashioned Christmas.

I stamped the image in Memento Black ink on Shimmery White cardstock and cut and embossed it with two circle Nestabilities. I left the circle Nestabilities over the cardstock and used my Air Brush and Copic Marker EE00 to add the shading. Then I colored the rest of the image with these Copic Markers: E25, E97, YYR07, R21, YR 24, B21, B23, BG96, G85, W1, R22, R27, R29. The outer rim was taped to a slightly larger Chocolate Chip scallop circle with adhesive, the image with dimensionals. I added a bit of Stardust stickles to my snowman to finish them off.

The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Chocolate chip cardstock folded in half, followed by a 3 15/16″ square of Whisper White. Both patterned paper strips are from BasicGrey’s Periphery Collection.

The ribbon, oh the ribbon….it’s gorgeous, beautiful silk ribbon from MayArts. You can email Starlitstudio to order it by the roll, or you can order it from Sharon Johnson. I am hooked….wait until you feel it.

One good thing about living up North where it’s cold…..I can use snowman images without feeling silly about it. And yes, the I went outside the lines a bit on the sleeve of one snowman. I still like them anyway…

Have a wonderful day! Hugs and smiles

Here is a video for the visual learner.

I am sorry I was so quiet over the weekend. Saturday I received the first Season of Eli Stone. I love that show and am sad it won’t come back this year. Austin and I watched the entire first season on Saturday. Sunday we had a cold front come in and with it came a nasty migraine. Yesterday was the first day of school for my smaller two and a BIG cleaning day for me.

I was excited to have all morning to play and checked out the Color challenge  right after my (super fast) walk. Kraft, Chocolate and Real Red sounded like another Christmas Color combo to me, especially since I had just received JustRite’s Old Fashioned Christmas the day before.

I started by stamping the image in Black Memento Ink on Shimmery White cardstock. It was cut with Circle Nestabilities, Air Brushedwith W1 Copic Marker and then colored with Copic Markers (Browns: E43, E44, Yellows: Y18, Y26, Green: YG06, G07, Red: R22, R27, R29). Next it was layered on a slightly bigger Chocolate chip circle, then on a ruffled base made with Eyelet Shapeabilities. Check the bottom of this post if you are interested in how I created the ruffled base.

My card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Chocolate chip. I was scored and folded at 2 1/8″ and 6 3/8″ to create a Gate Fold Card. The Kraft cardstock measures 1 15/16″ x 4 1/16″ and the Christmas Cocoa Specialty Paper measures 1 3/4″ x 2 7/8″. The ribbon is from last years Holiday Mini catalog. I love that Satin ribbon.

The inside of the card matches the outside. I layered the Specialty paper on Kraft cardstock layers.

Here is a video for visual learners:

Check the next page if you want to see how I created the Ruffled base for my image.

» Read the rest of this entry …

Today my mailman brought the new JustRite “A Merry Little Christmas Set“. I had to use it right away. The colors for today’s color challenge on Splitcoaststampers was Taken with Teal, Very Vanilla and Close to Cocoa. I thought I could make that work for a Christmas card.

Ever since I shot the video for the Recessed Window tutorial, I was itching to try it as a Photo Christmas card. I didn’t have a good professionally printed tutorial, so I decided to just printed one out from my computer. It’s not really a good print, but I thought it would work until I get one printed out from a store.

The card base is a 5 1/4″ x 10 3/4″ piece of Taken with Teal cardstock scored at 5 1/4″ and 5 1/2″.  My window frame consists of a 5″ square of Very Vanilla and a 4 13/16″ square of Close to Cocoa Prints Designer Paper.

The photo was cut out with Square Nestabilitiesand layered on a slightly bigger Very Vanilla Scallop Square, cut with Nestabilities as well.

The medallion was created by stamping the sentiment from A Merry Little Christmas set in Close to Cocoa on Very Vanilla cardstock. It was punched out with the 1 1/4″ circle punch and layered on a 1 3/8″ Taken with Teal Circle Punch-out. the bottom layer was cut, embossed and stencilled with the Kaleidoscope Pendant Shapeabilities. Last I added cream pearls from the Pretties Kit and covered the Vanilla sentiment layer in Crystal Effect.

On the inside I covered the back or the recessed window first with the same size Very Vanilla cardstock scallop square that I used on the front. Then I added a Close to Cocoa cardstock piece that had been cut with the Kaleidoscope Pendant die. The edges were sponged and more pearls from the Pretties Kit were added. The sentiment is another stamp from the Christmas Stamp Ensemble. It had been stamped in Close to Cocoa, cut out with Classic Circle Nestabilities and layered on the next size up Circle cutout in Taken with Teal.

(I think before I sent it away, I will create another frame like the one on the card front to add around the center piece here.)

The first layer is a 5″ square of Close to Cocoa cardstock followed by a 4 13/16″ square of Very Vanilla cardstock. The top right corner was paper pierced. On the lower part I added a 1 1/4″ x 5″ piece of Close to Cocoa Print Designer Paper.  The image is another stamp from A Merry Little Christmas set. It was stamped in Basic Brown ink and colored with Copic Markers. It was cut with a 1 1/4″ circle punch, then layered on a 1 3/8″ Close to Cocoa Circle. The last layer is a Taken with Teal piece of cardstock that had been cut with Kaleidoscope Pendant Shapeabilities from Spellbinders. I added Crystal Effects over the bow and the flames in the image.

Today is JustRite Christmas Blog Hop day. Most of the artists listed below created a samples with new JustRite Christmas stamps that just came out. Unfortunately mine didn’t get here in time, so I used stamps from the Christmas Stamp Ensemble.  I decided to make a cover for my favorite kind of Chocolate: Milka. Hm, hm, hmmmmm

The wrapper base is Whisper White cardstock, layered with Christmas Cocoa Specialty Paper from the upcoming Holiday Mini catalog. Underneath the patterned paper I added Real Red cardstock cut with Eyelet Borderabilities. Chocolate striped ribbon as tied around the wrapper and underneath I placed my layered sentiment.

I stamped the sentiment in Chocolate Chip craft ink on Whisper White cardstock. It was embossed with Iridescent Ice Embossing powder and was cut and embossed with Circle Nestabilities.  Then I stamped the snowflake border from the same set in Chocolate Chip and embossed it with Iridescent Embossing powder as well. I cut that out with a larger Circle Nestabilities.Under the sentiment layer I added a slightly bigger Real Red Circle cut and embossed with Nestabilities as well. For the base layer I cut and embossed a medallion with my Eyelet Shapeabilities. On the bottom right I added Felt Snowflakes from last years Holiday Mini catalog. They were attached to the sentiment layers with a 5/16″ Chocolate Jumbo Brad. The sentiment layer was attached to the wrapper with dimensionals.

Make sure to check the blogs or these amazing artists for more JustRite Christmas samples:

JustRite Stampers-Blog
Becca Feeken
Sankari Wegman
Sharon Johnson
Kazan Clark
Sharon Harnist
Laura Davis
Debbie Olson
Michelle Woerner
Taylor Van Bruggen
Jenn Balcer
Michelle Wooderson
Lori Craig
Lauren Meader
Barb Schram
Kimberly Crawford
Michele Kovack
Jami Bova
Kellie Fortin
Jennifer Buck
Heidi Blankenship
Angela Barkhouse
Lisa Somerville
Gerrie Johnnic
Kathy Jones
Debbie Seyer
Kim Sonksen
Terre Fry
Sheryl Dickinson
Bonnie Sharp
Mary Pfaff
Holly Simoni
Angela Robledo

I wrote a quick tutorial on how to put the Chocolate Wrapper together: 

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