SFTW - Anything But a Card

It's Friday, WOOHOO!  The weekend's here so it's Stampin' for the Weekend time, and if the weather hasn't changed you might as well get your stamps out because it's miserable outside.  Even here in beautiful sunny Florida it's cold, but as we like to say, at least it's not snowing. 

In the states this is a particularly big weekend.  It's Superbowl weekend, so you may be involved in a party or like me, uninvolved with football and sitting in your craft room enjoying some inky time.  In that case why don't you play along in our challenge at Stampin' for the Weekend to make anything but a card.  

For my project I've covered a mini legal pad and put a little pocket inside the cover for coupons.  I picked up a package of these pads at an office supply store a while ago.  The pads are inexpensive so with a little bit of work and what's already in your stash you've got a great little present.  I've made a couple of these and I described how I made the cover in this post.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Teddy Bo "Shopping Daze"
ink - printer; Ranger Antique Linen
paper -Stampin' Up "Garden Green" card stock; "Delicate Dots" dsp
miscellaneous - copics; Spellbinder's "Labels 22" and "Decorative Labels 22" dies; Heidi Grace rub on alphabets; Martha Stewart border; My Favorite Things Fancy Flourish die-namics; Jolee's Boutique Leatherettes shoe stickers; EK Success Scalloped Scallops punch; embroidery floss; credit card charm; bling

Here's the challenges:
Stampin' for the Weekend - Anything but a Card
Whoopsie Daisy - Bring on the Bling and Sparkle
Craft Your Passion #198 - Spots and Stripes
The Squirrel and the Fox #62 - Use embellishments
Come and Get It - Let's Go Shopping

Thanks for stopping by, come back again.

Sew What's New

It's time for the April MFT Guest Designer  challenge.  The theme is "Do the Bunny Hop".  Well that worked out perfectly for me.  I've been itching to use the "Funny Bunny" stamp so now is the perfect time.

I wanted to do something different and this challenge coincided with a class that was running at the sewing machine store.  That class was about appliqueing on towels.  We transferred some seasonal Easter images onto "Color Plus Fabrics".  While I was doing this the light bulb switched on - I realized how I could do this with a stamped image.  And Voila!  doesn't my bathroom look so sweet.  Of course you can sew the image onto other things besides towels and the cutest thing I could think of was  little girl's clothes.

Doesn't this outfit make you wish had a little girl to dress?   With the right image and colors you can do this on just about any kind of clothes for anyone.  If you picked up a pack of onesies you could turn them into something really special with a little work. 

If you're interested in how to do this, I'm going to give some basic directions to you but I have to tell you that if you've never sewn more than a straight stitch on your cards this may seem a bit daunting but it's really not.  

First of all you need an image.

I stamped the "Funny Bunny" on card stock and did it up as if I was going to make a card.

Sorry for the poor quality photo here.  I just wanted you to see that I started with an image the same way I would have started any project.  I paper pieced the bunny suit with a scrap of pink gingham and colored his face, ear insides and carrot with copics. 

Next I took this photo, uploaded it and cropped it.  I imported it to Word where I could fool around with sizing it and positioning it on the paper.  You can probably do this in other programs but this is the one I know.


I made a couple sheets of the bunny in different sizes then printed them on an ink jet printer.  The paper is "Color Plus Fabrics".  I picked it up in the sewing machine store but I think you can pick this up in craft stores, quilt stores or fabric stores.  If you don't see it ask a clerk.  If you can't find it there here's a website from the instruction sheet www.Colortextiles.com maybe they can direct you to a local store.  I'm pretty sure there are other brands of this type of paper because I've seen it around for years.  At one time it was popular to print photos of your kids and/or pets onto fabric and include them in a family quilts and pillows.

here's a close up of one of the bunnies on the towel

After printing, the images were cut out and the paper backing is removed.  I ironed the pieces to set the ink.  Next "Steam and Seam" was applied to the back.  This product  is an adhesive that attaches to your fabric by ironing (first you iron it to your image, peel off the paper backing and then you iron your image onto your towel (or whatever fabric you're using). This is usually available in fabric stores.  I'm not sure if you can get it in craft stores but it might be available in Wal-Mart. 

Before appliqueing the pieces I put a water soluble stabilizer on the back of the towel.  For the towels I used a clear mono filament thread.  The stitch is a blanket stitch but with a clear thread you could use any applique stitch.  On the shorts a satin stitch in pink thread was used.

One of the things that makes this "easy" is that you only need to stamp and color the image once and then you can use it over and over.  Of course you do have to cut and sew each one.   Even though the "Steam and Seam" acts as an adhesive, unless the item you are making is purely for show, you need to stitch the image down.  Personally I think even the "for show" items would be better off being sewn, otherwise it'll probably start to peel off.

you know I've gotta add a charm

Then when you've finished all that sewing you've still got the original stamped bunny for card making. 

It's time to cross my fingers.  This is the toughest challenge, and probably the most coveted prize, at least for the MFT junkies it is.  The price is always a big one but the "cache" of being the month's guest designer is even better.  And as the song says "Maybe this time I'll be lucky".

Here's the deets:
stamp - My Favorite Things "Funny Bunny"
ink - memento "Tuxedo Black"
paper - white card stock; My Mind's Eye "Lost and Found blush"; Bazzill "Blossom" card stock
miscellaneous - copics; towels; tee shirt and shorts; Steam and Seam; Color Plus Fabrics; linen thread, bunny charm; paper flowers; flower brads; sewing machine


Here's the challenges:
My Favorite Things MFTGUESTDT0412 - April Guest Designer
Just Us Girls JUGS#130 - Wildcard
Daring Cardmakers - Material Girl
Simply Create Too #10 - Eggs/Bunnies
Card Makin' Mamas - Easter
Craft Your Days Away #42 - Easter
One Stop Craft #176 - Easter
Just Add Ink JAI #111 - Just Add Easter
Totally Papercrafts #110 - Easter
Charisma #12 - Easter
DYSU #65 - Easter
Moving Along With the Times #142 -Cute and Cuddly 
Paper Play week 13 - Easter
Sisterhood of Crafters- Easter
Just Keep On Creating #1 - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.  Your comments make my days light and breezy.

ABC

ABC means Anything But a Card.  I spotted one of these little bags somewhere in blogland and thought they were just adorable. I figured they would be a great place to put a gift card for a Mother's Day present.   I know my aunt and sister-in-law are going to go crazy when they see them. 
I'm not sure where I saw them but there was a link to a tutorial on how to make them, now that I know and am going to share it with you. 
These little bags are also as easy as ABC.  As I watched the tutorial I noted the paper sizes and where the score lines are.  The tutorial was so easy to follow that I watched it once and was able to make these several days later without going back to view it again.  I just needed to know where to put the score lines. 
Here's the link. 


Here's the deets:
no stamping on this one
no ink on this one
paper - K & Co TC Cottage Garden dp; Stampin' Up Kiwi Kiss and Pacific Point cs
miscellaneous - Recollections rhinestones; SU ribbon; butterfly brads; MFT die-namics butterfly die; Stampin' Up tab punch; velcro closure

Here's the challenges:
Paper Cutz #90 - Mother's Day
I Heart Ribbon - green
Charisma #18 - no cards allowed
Craft Us Crazy - Mother's Day and/or Flowers
Nadia's - Mother's Day 3D
Party Time - Mother's Day

I'm telling you, these things are so easy you're gonna smack yourself in the forehead for waiting so long to make one.  If you make them as a party favor you can put a piece of chocolate in them.  So very easy, you're gonna love it.

Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll come back.  And thanks to Frenchie's Freaky Friday.

Hoppin' and Shoppin'

It's time for the MFT December release blog hop, wohoo!  If you're following the hop and arrived here from Julie's blog then you are in the right place.  If you just happened upon this post welcome aboard, you're very close to the beginning of the hop, why don't you stop by Kim's blog and follow along for some My Favorite Things yummieness.   While you're hopping take the time to leave some love on all the blogs because there will be a prize for some lucky person but you gotta leave a comment to be in the pool.  When you finish hopping go shopping.  

The hop is the icing on the cake for me and rest of temporary Design Team.  I know they feel the same way cause I've been reading all their posts this week.  What a blast this has been!  I can't thank Kim enough for the opportunity to be part of the team.

 

Onto my project.  It's an altered pop top can.  To make one of these all you need is a can with a pop top and one of those new fangled can openers that slice under the edge.  This is a Progresso soup can, I wanted something large enough to hold a scarf or a pair of socks and large enough so that I could use the "Heartfelt" stamp for decoration.  I stamped the image onto Blending Card by X-press, this is great paper if you're going to be working with copics. It was easy to cut the image out and wrap around the can.   I think the MFT Perfect Panels is the best paper for working with copics but it is thick and will be a bit more difficult to work with for this project.

You can use smaller or larger cans, you check that it'll be big enough for your gift and of course large enough for your stamped image.  A small can would be great with the sentiment stamps.  Your kids would love it with cash inside but if you have a crafty friend (like me hint, hint) you could put MFT ribbons, or baby brads, or buttons, or hot fix crystals inside, basically any Adornments works.

Once you've decorated the can all you need to do is apply some good strong clear glue to the edge of the lid and put it back in place. You've got a gift container that will knock the socks off your non-crafty friends. 

This post isn't intended to be a tutorial on how to make one of these.  There is a tutorial on Splitcoast in the Resources section. 

Thanks for stopping by, it's been a pleasure sharing my project with you.  It's time for me to pass you along to Sherrie.  I'm dying to see what she's got tonight.  She always has wicked good stuff to show off and she gives great directions for making your own.  

Since it's the holidays, why not ask your honey to go the MFT store and buy a gift voucher, or you could make a wish list with the website at the top and leave it on your honey's pillow. 

Don't forget to leave some love on all the blogs.  We love to read your comments and someone will be a winner of a gift voucher.

Here's the deets:
stamp - My Favorite Things "Heartfelt" image and sentiment
ink - Memento Tuxedo black
paper - SU Bella Rosa
miscellaneous - copics, baby braddies, Prima flowers, bling, nesties,

BOO!

If you're like me and you just  love Halloween then you must be having a lot of fun walking through the stores.  I cannot believe how much is available for decorating, wearing and eating.  Used to be, you needed a lot of imagination and crafting abilities to have a big Halloween.  Now you can buy everything, but for crafty people it's still fun to make stuff.  I took a stroll through the big blue box this morning and just loved all the stuff I saw.  There were jars with marshmallow heads in them, they were a riot, trays of body parts, and plenty of creepy stuff. 

While I was browsing I was looking for something with a circle element for my Shirley's 2 Girls project.  What caught my eye was the Gummy Bear jar.  The lid is the perfect spot for the Masked Dog image (available here).  Since the image is digital I could make the image the correct size.  I also made a smaller version to hang as a gift tag (I just happen to know someone who just happens to love gummy bears).  The twist for this week's challenge is to use "boo".  One of my favorite punches is an EK Success "Boo" punch.  I used that to replace the brown ribbon around the lid.  Of course if you make one of these you can just put a matching ribbon on the jar.  All I had to do was print out the images, color them, and cut them out.  I used a variety of different colored stickles for the dots on the wreaths.  Put a purple eyelet on the small tag,and strung it with twine.  Punched out the boo border glued it to a small strip of card stock and glued that to the lid's edge. 
It's a quick and easy project and the jar looks so much better now that's it's been altered.
So that's my project for this week's Shirley's 2 Girls challenge, what will you make?  If you need a Halloween image you can pick one up at the S2G store, if you need some more inspiration then visit the site and see what the other design team members have made.  I got a preview and I can tell you, it's worth checking out.  Once you've finished it don't forget to link it up, you could win a fun digi image. 

Here's the deets:
Stamp - S2G "Masked dog" digi
Ink - HP printer
Paper - Georgia Pacific cs for image; Warsau cs for border
Miscellaneous - copics; stickles; the Cat's Pajama's twine; eyelet

Here's the challenges:
Shirley's 2 Girls - use "Boo"
City Crafter week #25 - Hooray for the Holidays!
Paper Sundaes #38 - Something from Your Stash (the eyelet on the tag is ancient)
Fab 'n' Funky #43 - Use a digi image
Sweet Stampin' #46 - Punch It Out
Simon Says - Halloween

Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll come back again. By the way, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, so it would be a good thing if you click on the pink ribbon on my sidebar.

Lovin' from the Oven

It's time for the Guest Designer challenge at My Favorite Things. This month it's a color challenge to use Raspberry, Lime Green, Aqua and Yellow is optional.  For my entry I decided to make a recipe card holder. It's a pink acrylic clothes pin which I picked up in the dollar section at Target. You can use to hold other things like samples at card swaps, make a bunch and use them as place cards on a table. It would be a nice hostess gift at a pot luck if you included the recipe for the dish you bring.

For this image there is a lot of paper piecing using Cosmo Cricket "DeLovely" paper.  The only parts that are colored with copics are the background, flesh and wooden spoon.  And even though the flesh is colored the arms are paper pieced too.  The inside of the bowl is covered with glossy accents.  There Liquid Pearls around her neck and an applique flower to dress it up a little. 

All the deets and the challenge are already covered so for now I'll just remind you that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Click the pink ribbon, it's free, fast and easy and will do some good for your karma.  If you have a blog why not add the ribbon to it. 

Halloween Lights

These  are the cutest  little Halloween decorations.  I can say that for sure because they are sitting on my dining room table looking absolutely adorable.  I'm using them as luminaria but you could use them as goodie bags for your favorite trick or treaters.  One of the best things about them is that you can make them for next to nothing and you can make them any size you want. You probably have a sandwich bag and you can pick up this image in the Shirley's 2 Girls store for next to nothing.  It's digital so you don't have to wait long to get it and when you get it you can make it as big as your printer will allow.   Imagine how cool it would be to use a bag from the food store with a huge image.

It's still Crittertime at Shirley's 2 Girls challenges.  This week the twist is "SPOOKY".    I was  asked to use the" Hallow Scream" digi image.  This is right up my alley.  The minute I saw that kitty I cracked up.  He's looking for trouble, I have seen this look on my cats and it is inevitably followed by a crash and some form of clean up.    It's such a cute and easy to work with image.  It would be great on a card or invitation.  It would also be nice as a pin, you can find directions to make the pin in the post below.

Take a good look at the photo, can you notice that the one on the right is colored slightly differently.  I did that on purpose.  Every now and then someone asks me about copic markers, which I happen to like.  But they are a bit of an investment because you can't have just one, and in the case of copics it's not about obsessiveness, in order to work with them you need a good selection of colors and that can get pricey. Tthe image on the bag on the right is colored with Prismacolor pencils.  I don't use OMS or Gamsol.  I just color with the pencils.  I think the bag with pencil coloring looks as good as the bags done with copics. Here you can see that you can get similar effects with both mediums.  So if you're like me you will be going out to get whichever you don't have.  Don't be surprised if you see me post something made with crayons.  I just like to slap down color.

Now go pick up your favorite coloring medium, get a digi image from S2G and make something spooky.  Need more inspiration, well go check out what the rest of the design team has done.  Don't forget to enter your creation for a chance to win a digi image.

Don't forget to join us over on SNR for some digi fun.

A Happy Birthday pin

At  Shirley's 2 Girls  it's Twisted Thursday again.

birthday card with pin

This week the twist is birthday.   I'm sure you can use a birthday card for someone so why not make one and enter it in the challenge by linking it up on the Shirley's 2 Girls challenge blog.  You could win a couple digi images. 

The girls asked me to make something with the Domino's gift image.  It's such a cute image I was happy to oblige.

 Say hello to Domino, isn't she a good doggie!  If you love her as much as I do you can get the digital image here. 



inside of card with pin attached to cardstock popped up on dimensionals



So let's say you're strapped for cash  or you're just cheap and you  need a birthday card and present for your bestie best friend.  She knows you make cards, she probably loves everything you make and will be thrilled if you make her a present.  So how about a pin, you know costume jewelry.  Isn't that a dumb name, it's not a costume, that's for halloween.  This pin is something she can wear all year.  Of course you could make a pin for halloween,  just choose the appropriate image and follow the general idea of the instructions

So here's a lesson on how to make a pin using the S2G digi image "Domino's Gift".  You can click on any of the pictures and be able to see an enlarged image, but I didn't do a very good job of focusing. 

What you need

An image – If you choose to use a digital image you have the added benefit of making the pin in the size of your choice. Print out a few. You will use two images to make the pin and it’s always nice to have an extra image ready in case you are unhappy with something as you go along, such as a color choice (I’m sure you never make mistakes…) Sometimes I just make several of an image at the same time, especially at the holidays because they make great grab bag presents.

A small piece of black (or any color you like) card stock for the backing, this adds some stability and strength to the pin.

A jewelry pin, you can pick these up in most craft stores.  They come in different sizes and finishes.  I pick them up in small sizes because I usually make small pins.  The finish doesn't matter to me.
Coloring and decorative mediums. You can use pencils or markers. I’ve made these with copics as well as Stampin’ Up markers. Colored pencils will work. You may like to put sparkles on the pin which gives a nice effect (be careful a little goes a long way). Today I am going to use some stickles on the wreath/border aroud this image. (This image would be really cute for a Christmas present).   These directions include the numbers of the markers I used for this particular pin, but you can use any colors for yours.  If you're not sure how to substitute  colors,  pick colors that you like or pull colors from the designer papers you will be using to make the card.  Have a light and dard shade of each color, use the light color as the base color and shade with the darker one.

Glossy Accents (Ranger product) or Crystal Effects (from Stampin’ Up). I’ve used both products and they work exactly the same. I’ve never used UTEE but I’m told it works too

A plastic work mat or a piece of waxed paper is helpful – especially if you like the finish on your work table.

Time - Parts of the card require drying time, you can't rush this.  So don't wait to the last minute.  You can make this in a night, but you will need a few hours.  

Let’s get started.

When coloring it’s best to start with your lightest colors. For this pin the background is B000 Pale Porcelain Blue. Then color around the dog’s edges with B00 Frost Blue. I’ve gone over that edge a couple times to give it some definition. 

Color Domino with Y21 Buttercup Yellow, shade his left side with a thin line of Y26 Mustard. Go over the area where the colors meet this will provide a shaded look and eliminate the look of an outline. To make it look like a curly haired dog use a fine pointed marker to make some squiggley lines on his fur. For this doggie I used Stampin’ Up Mustard. Repeat this color scheme on a second face – this is the one that will show. The second face will be placed over the base one and will give it a little extra dimension.

Color the present with B01 Mint Blue and shade the lines with B02 Robin’s Egg Blue. Repeat this on the second image, again this is the one that will show.



affix the image to a slightly larger piece of cardstock

 Rough cut the image and glue it to a piece of black card stock and then cut it out. You don’t have to go crazy cutting out the uneven edge you can cut it out with a circle punch or some other cutting tool. Of course if you do cut out the uneven edge, it doesn’t have to be perfect. No one will know what it’s supposed to look like ‘cept me, and my lips are sealed. Iin my case I do have to cut out the uneven edge the way it was designed as perfectly as possible (I recognize my illness, and if you have to do it perfectly I understand)  Cut out the second face and present.  PUT THEM WHERE YOU WILL FIND THEM.  They are little and will disappear on your desk if you don't make them stay in a special spot. 

If you like to sign your work, now would be a good time to do it. Flip over the base image, keep in mind that you will be adding a pin to the back and sign it in a place that won't be covered by the pin.

Place stickles on the large white dots on the wreath. I used turquoise stickles, I like the way they look put they don’t stand out a lot so think about that when picking the color you will use. Now put this on the side and let it dry. Stickles WILL make a mess if they get a chance, so let it dry. Use the time to make the card you’re going to give with the pin.  

Once the stickles are dry you are ready to put on the second face and gift bag. This is when you will want to be using a plastic work surface or waxed paper.  Go find the face and bag (did you put them where you could find them or did you let them take a walk, if they're walking now would be a time those extra prints would come in handy)  Starting with the face and gift bag spaces cover the image with a thin coat of Glossy Accents. Put the cut out pieces on top of their base images and cover the second image with Glossy Accents.  There will be a just a little space and even though it's very thin, that little space does add something positive to the overall appearance.  Use the tip of the bottle to spread the liquid around.  Continue covering with the Glossy Accents until the entire surface is covered.  This would be the time to put on the clear sparkle, remember if you do use them, use them sparingly.   If the Glossy Accents went over the edges when it is dry you’ll be able to gently pop it off of the waxed paper or plastic sheet  without damage to the pin or your table. Again you will need to let it dry, it takes at least an hour, depending on how thick you put on the Glossy Accents.   If you already made the card, now you could make a little box for it, or a gift bag. 

When the front is dry flip it over and coat the back with Glossy Accents. Place the pin on top of the Glossy Accents, in the center about an inch from the top. Allow to dry.  In this photo the Glossy Accents have just been applied, they'll even out a little as it sits and they will dry clear.

Once it's dry your pin is ready to wear or give away.

I hope these directions were clear, please let me know if something didn't make sense.

Here's the deets:
Image - Shirley's 2 Girls "Domino's Gift" digi image
Ink - HP printer
Paper - for the card base SU kraft; scrap of black card stock; Georgia Pacific for the image; dp DCWV the Pet's Stack
Miscellaneous - Copics; jewelry pin; Crystal Effects; stickles; May's ribbon; TCP twine; charm; Michael's rhinestone stickers

Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll come back again.

Woof!

Ruff-ly (pun intended) translated "Woof!" means "nice hat!"  This little poochie image is "Domino Amused" and if you'd like to bring him home, you can find him  here at Shirley's 2 Girls.  He reminds me of Riley.  A very friendly Airedale (how the heck do you spell that breed?) doggie who I used to run into from time to time.  He was just as cute as Domino but he didn't have the hat. 

This month the theme for the S2G challenges is going to be all about our furry friends, 4 legged critters.  The girls have created some wonderful new images for us.  Were you one of the people who made a suggestion for a stamp?  Then you should see if your idea is there.  Do you love a furbaby, then you should go look, you will definitely relate.

This week the twist is to use flock or feathers.   I used some green flock to make his hat look like felt.  There are lots of other ways you can use flock.  At last year's CKC me and my crafting buddies (I miss you guys!) took a class on flock and they did a few things I never would have come up with, the one thing that comes to mind is they put glue on a  brad and covered it with yellow flock and used it as a flower center, the flock made the once metal brad look nice and velvety (is that a word?).  If you haven't worked with flock before may I recommend that you take it out of the bottle, put it in a larger container and fluff it up before you glue it down. 

For my project I altered a tea tin.  I was given this tin by someone who didn't want to toss it out and knew I'd make it into something.  You probably got a tin of tea or coffee or candy ( or something unspeakable) as a holiday gift from someone.  If you haven't eaten whatever's in it by now you probably won't so toss the stuff out and get cracking on making one of these.  Then you can regift without feeling guilty, I hear that's a new "green" cool thing to do.  In my day it was considered gauche and tacky to regift but I knew these people who were purposefully gauche and tacky, in a hysterical way.  Someone was always  regifting the same thrashy present to another one of them and that was pretty funny because no one knew when they were going to receive the plaster of paris wall ornaments from hell.  They had rules about how it could be done.  Fortunately I wasn't part of the inner circle, they were all school chums, I knew a couple of them, so I could never be the recipient, but I was fortunate enough to see how lovely they didn't look in a couple apartments.  Oh, they were fish, (ICK - fish, get it , fish - ICK- didn't you ever have tropical fish?) probably made in the sixties or fifties and they didn't go with any decor evah!  Maybe now they'd be fun in a kitchy kind of way, nah, who am I kidding, they'll always be butt ugly.  I'm sure these guys all still live in dread of receiving them - cause one of the rules was they had to be displayed for some period of time before they could be sent to someone else, and believe me, these guys checked to make sure they were up. 

I started to peel off the label off the tin and this is what it looked like after several painstaking minutes and then the light came on.  Besides I got a manicure today and there was no way I was going to ruin it when the label would get covered anyway, DUH.  Just cut out a piece of dp, slap the glue on it and wrap it around the tin,  easy peasy if you don't over think it like some idiot who shall remain nameless.  After you put your dp on it, you can put this cute poochie or which ever critter you like on it.  I put a piece of ribbon between the image and the mat and tied it around the tin so that I could hang the paw charm. 

I think you could fill this up with some doggie treats and give it to anyone doggie owner.

Need some more inspiration?  Head over to the Shirley's 2 Girls challenge blog and see what the rest of the design team has created.  They always have something worth seeing.  After you've made a card or project link it up on the challenge blog for your chance to win a digital image from S2G. 

Here's the deets:

Stamp - "Domino Amused" digi image from Shirley's 2 Girls

Ink - printed on my HP

Paper -  dp DCWV "Pet Stack" and a scrap of maroon card stock DCWV neutrals

Miscellaneous - green flock; ribbon, twine, charm; copics; white craft glue for flock

Here's the Challenges:

Shirley's Two Girls - theme is four legged critters, the twist is use flock or feathers.

Crafty Ho's - Use your school supplies (I used my trusty ruler and white craft glue - and no I didn't cover my hand with it and peel it off - at least not tonight - just got that manicure you know)
Cupcake Craft Challenge #106 - Let's Get Digital (does anyone else hear that little Aussie girl Olivia Newton John singing "Let's get digital, digital, I wanna get digital..." Oh that was "physical, physical", never mind - I really am old!)
ABC Challenge - C is for charms -  paw charm
Fab 'n Funky Challenges - Living in a Material World (love that song - cause I am a material girl) the ribbon

Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll come back again.  Before you leave, take the time to click on the pink ribbon - it's such a little thing to do, but if we all do it everyday, it'll be a great big thing.

Directionally Challenged

Have you ever been lost following the directions your GPS gives you? Do you get lost every time you go someplace new? Do you have the same group of friends who are always with you when you get lost? Do you add a half of time to your estimated travel time just because you know you will get lost? Do you laugh hysterically at the phrase "Didn't we just pass this?" Do you take it for granted that you will probably be calling your destination at least three times within an hour for directions? When the person you're going to see says"but you've been here, like 5 times already" do you just shrug? If you've answered yes to these questions you must be Eileen, Edna or Maddy.

Yesterday we bravely took off for parts unknown and got there with only a minimum of getting lost, mostly missing exits and having to turn around. Ramona, our GPS buddy, made us make one whacky U-turn (a legal one, with Ro, you gotta listen real good or you'll be making an illegal turn). Anyway, we got to Poughkeepsie, that's right Poughkeepsie and met up with some stampers we met in the fall and some new ones and had a really good day. There are some serious, die-hard travellers in that group. They love to go to swaps and they are much fun to play with. This was a shoe box swap with 21 participants. There a couple make and takes, great door prizes, super food and fun people. I participated in another swap called 3D WOW. This pin and box were what I made, picture the pin nestles in a bed of paper grass inside the box and then the box nestled on top of a bed of grass inside a clear bag, tied off with a ribbon with a tag. There's a picture of it on my other camera but I can't find the cable to download it.

I'm going to take some pictures of cards we made and card fronts we swapped and hopefully I'll get some of them posted during the week.

And my door prize was the "Chemistry" clear stamp set from There She Goes. You can see some samples of cards made with the set on Michele's blog the Enchanted Stamper. Michelle teaches chemistry and her hubby is a chemist too, can't remember if he's a teacher or working in the field. They helped create this set. It's very cute and you don't have to be a chemist to love it.

So here's the deets on the pin and box:

The bunny and sentiment are from a retired SU stamp set "Funny Bunny" which I picked up on E-Bay a couple years ago. It was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black on Georgia Pacific card stock and colored with Copics. The head was stamped again and glued on top, to give it a little dimension. The tail is covered with pink Glitzy Flock which unfortunately has disappeared into the black hole which has taken up residence in my craft room. I hope the glitzy fluff is living happily with the Pure Innocence stamp set that went into the hole a couple weeks ago. The dots were covered with stickles. It's glued to a piece of black card stock and then cut out and covered with Crystal Effects. At some point I ran out of them and picked up some Ranger Glossy Accents and finished the project with that. When the front dries you flip it over, coat the back with the gooey stuff and stick a pin in it and "Voila" you've got yourself a cute little piece of jewelry.

The box was made with Stampin' Up "Delicate Dots" dp which is also retired but I had two packages of that paper which I hoped meant I wouldn't have enough of the same papers to make them all the same. I got the directions off of Splitcoast Stampers resources.

There were tons of Easter and Spring challenges out there The challenges:

Pile It On Challenge #12 Animal-rific

Charisma Cardz #12 - Spring has Sprung

CCEE - Inspiration Challenge - photo of cookies (the spring colors are used in this project)

Simon Says - Easter or Spring and some glimmer

Rosie Dee's - Green, Yellow and White

Stamp With Fun - Easter

Some of these challenges may have expired. There were so many Easter and Spring challenges but I didn't want to post this project till after the event.

Thank you for visiting, I hope you'll come back again. Before you go, don't forget to click on the pink ribbon.

Stop Here for the MFT Blog Hop

Can you see me jumping up and down with excitement, flagging you down to stop here for the MFT Blog Hop. Let me tell you that this is just the most fun I've had in years. Thank you Kim, for asking me to be a Guest Designer for December. This is the best Christmas present ever.
If you got here from Christina's blog you're in the right place. If you just happened upon my post then you should go to Kim's Blog to start the hop and follow the links to every stop. There's blog candy hidden somewhere along the hop. All you have to do to win it is leave a comment on the blog where it's hidden, so leave a comment at each stop, that way you're sure to be in the drawing. The winner will be receive a $1o gift voucher for My Favorite Things.

I forgot to post this card made with the "Love Machine" stamp set, so I'm sharing that with you now. The cute Cosmo Cricket "Cogsmo Mr. Roboto" double sided paper is so perfect for this card. He's stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black on a MFT Perfect Panel paper and he's colored with copics. The red mat is card stock from MFT. That little heart on his chest is a Hero Arts Pearl and there are Dew Drops in the corners. The layout is MFT sketch #73 (Cindy, Bonnie, Frances - are you taking note!?). There were 100 sketch challenges at My Favorite Things and you can find all the sketches HERE.

Hop, Hop, Hop. Here's my Truffles Flopsey project. It was really simple to make. I found these Oreo cookie sticks at the store (no, not the dollar store this time) and thought they would be a good present for my darling daughter. She's dying to get her hands on them, she may have to fight me for them.

I used one full sheet of the Bubblegum card stock from MFT to make the box. Four cookie packages are a perfect fit to a box made out of the one sheet, no trimming it down, just a couple snips to make corner folds, and a little bit of red tape to hold it together, if you want directions leave me a comment and I'll measure it up and write something up for you.

Using a piece of Reminisce "Be Mine Hearts" paper I made a belly band to hold the box closed. The band has white card stock trim made with the Martha Stewart "Lacey Hearts" border punch. Then a Truffles Flopsey is popped up on the band with dimensionals. He was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with copics. The oval and scalloped oval were punched with Spellbinder's Nestibilities. Remember this Flopsey piece because you can re-use him on my next project. After you open the box and eat the cookies you can pop him off the belly band and recycle him.

My last project is a cover for a tissue box. I saw these done up in Christmas paper and thought wow, that looks cool and I bet I can do something like that. I sat down with a ruler and a sheet of red MFT card stock and played around for awhile. I measured the top of the box (it was about 4-1/2") and added two inches for the drop. I made two of them, one for the top (cut an oval out of that) and one for the bottom. I measured the middle pieces and taped together two pieces to go around the box. For the top and bottom I used the SU scalloped eyelet punch on white card stock for trim and then ran ribbon around to cover the edge. In the front I put a bow to hang a decorative panel. I chose the Pure Innocence "Presents for You" stamp for this panel. She's stamped in Memento Tuxedo balck on an MFT Perfect Panel and colored with copics. The mat is MFT Bubblegun card stock. In this close up photo you can see that I pierced the oval twice so that some floss could be threaded through it. The floss is run through the bow on the box and tied on top of a heart button. You can use any color cardstock to go with any holiday or color scheme, you can use any stamp. You can use paper with a design or you can stamp on it to make your own design. The love machine would be adorable in a little boy's room, and you can recycle the Flopsey from the belly band and put it on the box. The possibities are limitless. And best of all, it's quick, easy and inexpensive to make and give as a gift.

I've kept you here long enough. I really don't want to let you go, I love having you visit, so stop by whenever you have time. Don't forget to leave some love before you go.

From here you are going to the uber talented Cindy Haffner's blog. She's always got something spectacular to show you.

Thanks everyone, especially Kim for making this happen, and all my MFT junkie friends for all your love and support. I love you all.

Another Dollar Well Spent

Here's another sneakie peek for all you MFT junkies. This time I am showcasing another of the Pure Innocence stamps "Fairy Girl" as well as the much anticpated "Alpha Dots" set that was designed by my favorite stamp company owner, Kim, from My Favorite Things. Job well done Kim!

I swear I spend more than a buck on stuff, really, I really do. I just don't have any reason to show any of that stuff to you guys. So here's one of my recent favorite purchases from the $1 bin at the big old craft store. It's a recipe box and because it has strawberries on it, it's actually something I could use for my "berry special friend", Aguas, (all our gifts to each other are strawberry related) but I had something else in mind for this box.

I decided to make a new home for all my MFT Pure Innocence stamps. Since the lid is attached I especially liked that it was made with a nice paper that didn't need to be covered which made this a pretty simple project. Just a few simple measurements, cut and fold, lay down some red tape and voila, the bottom portion of the box is transformed.


The paper was picked for two reasons. I was looking for something that went with the stripes on top and something that could also be used for paper piecing PI's dress. The other side of this paper, "Twitterpated" by Imaginisce has a cute little mushroom pattern which would work well with the "Fairly Girl" stamp.

So here's the rest of the deets. PI is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black, the dress is paper pieced and colored with copics, the wings, dots on the mushrooms, hearts and pompoms on the shoes are highlighted with stickles. Abig 'ole bling which is no longer identifiable was used for the wand. The name was stamped with VersaMagic "Aloe Vera" and the edge of the oval was inked with it. The image is popped up on dimensionals. Because the name is so long it was necessary to overlap the letters. It's matted with some green cs and popped up on dimensionals. I have plans to make another box like this for a little girl for a Christmas present and since her name will fit the letters will be punched and then mounted on the lid. For the Christmas present I am going to use the polar bear from the "Cool Yule" set and I found some adorable Arctic animals to put inside it. Oh, and by the way, the Arctic animals cost more than a buck.

This sort of box could be used for a gift for anyone, there are so many things that will fit inside it.

For some more inspiration and sneak peeks visit Kim's blog. At 11 AM she'll post the links to all the people who have something to show you.

Will Work for Stamps

I will work for stamps, oh yes I will, and I am supery dupery excited to work for My Favorite Things this week as a December Guest Design Team Member. If you've been following my blog you know that I love, love, love My Favorite Things so being asked if I would like to do this is the equivalent of being asked if I want to keep breathing this month. Hmmm...let me think on this for one billionith of a second. YES, YES, YES, I wanted to be on the team, so for the next few days you are going to be treated to cards and projects that I've made with the FABULOUS, stamp sets that are going to be released next Wednesday by My Favorite Things.

The first set that's being sneaked is "Love at First Sight". In my head I keep calling it "Love at First Bite" because there's a couple stamps that are of open boxes of candy and then one big yummy truffle. I like to make pins with stamped images. It's so simple to do. All you need is a stamp you love, a pin for the back, some markers, some strong cardstock and Crystal Effects (from Stampin' Up) or Ranger's Glossy Effects. Others have used UTEE but I haven't tried that yet. Point is you want something to seal them up, hold a pin on the back and make the image nice and shiney. So I made pins of the small candy box and the truffle. They are stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black on white card stock and colored with copics. Before I cut it out I adhered it to a piece of black card stock, so that the two layers were cut at the same time and would be exactly the same. Then the front is coated with the glossy accents, usually I put some glitter on it at this point but for this pin in order to get more control of where the glitter went I put it on a couple of the candy pieces before the glossy accents went on it. You need to put it aside for a couple hours (overnight is even better) to dry and then you flip it over and apply the glossy accents to the back and put the pin on. For the pin I made of the big truffle I put a pearl heart on it. You can see the heart in the picture it just doesn't look like a heart in the pic. These pins are going to be presents so I made little tin holders for them. The tins came from a craft supply store, I think they were made by Wilton, and they are in section for supplies to make party favors. The ones I got come in a pack of about 25 and I'm already on my second container, did I mention that I like to make pins? For the container lids I just stamped the image again, punched it and a scalloped mat out with SU punches. The images are colored like the pins and then adhered to the tin tops. A little MFT Spring collection ribbon was tied around the top rim. On the inside some paper slivers make a little nest for the pin. They are a darling present, easy to make, inexpensive and they look great.


My second project with this set of stamps is a photo frame. This is another inexpensive project. To start with I picked up a magnetic frame in the $1 bin at a craft store. I do love to find cheap stuff that can be altered. I almost forgot to take a photo of it before I covered it, so in the photo you can see some of the red tape I used to adhere my designer paper "Be Mine" by Reminisce. I stamped the sentiment "Puppy Love" in Memento Lady Bug, a yummy red ink that Kim gave me with one of my orders. Lots of times there's a gift for the first 50 orders at a release so you might want to get over there quick as a bunny on Wednesday night, but I digress...The sentiment and mat were punched with SU oval and scalloped oval punches. The doggies were stamped with Memento tuxedo black and colored with copics and some stickles on the hearts. The ovals were punched with Nestibilities. Lastly the buttony bow was made with ribbon from the $1 bin. That buttony bow is a neat little trick I learned from the MFT design team. They have brilliant ideas and they share them. You all probably know I have cats so if you're wondering, that whacky doggie in the picture is Tommy, a very active Jack Russell Terrier, he belongs to my buddy Rosie and this is going to be a present for her - I'm sure she has some better pictures of Tommy and her other baby Mickalah to put in the frame but I didn't have any other funny doggie pics.


This stamp set also has a girl stamp in it and some other sentiments. It will be great for Valentine's Day cards, scrap book pages and projects but you don't have to limit yourself to just that holiday. Personally I like candy all year long, and I love doggies all year long too.


If you didn't come here by way of Kim's blog you should know that some of my favorite stampers have also been asked to be on the team this month and you just have to go visit their blogs to see what they have made. They may not have a sneak peek post for every day but they have fab blogs just the same, well worth checking out. First of all there's Megan Lock. I have sent you to see her work before. She is just fabulous AND she just won the My Favorite Things "So You Think You Can Stamp" contest and she's been asked to be the newest member of the MFT design team. Then there's Kelli Jo. She was one of the finalists so she's no slack either, she had one heck of a final project with coffee as a theme. She's also one of the funniest people in blogland. Kerry J was also a finalist and no slouch in the talent department. For her project she made a scrapbook of the WTG (Who's That Girl) on tour as a winner of the "So You Think You Can Dance" contest. She used WTG stamps as photos and used towns that the tour actually visit. Another fabulous stamper and finalist in the contest is Julie. She made an outrageous box that I would love to copy but it requires lots of work and attention to detail. So I will just admire how cool it looks. Then there's Bonnie, Lisa and Erin, they may not have made it to the finals (but then neither did I) they are all terrific stampers with great ideas. I follow all their blogs and can guarantee you'll like what you see. You should probably favorite all these sites too cause over the next couple days they are gonna have sneaks to show off and you aren't going to want to miss any of them.

Everything Old Is New Again

Back in the 1960's there was the first Earth Day and it was all about conservation. Eventually it became recycling and now we're going green so even that's been recycled. No cynicism here, just saying...I'm all for finding new uses for things instead of tossing them in the garbage. I've got an aunt who's close to 90 and she worked with pre-school kids for years, I gotta tell ya, she found uses for stuff that I would never have thought of. One time she made a wreath out of the plastic that holds six packs of soda cans together. It looked really good. That's my aunt Josephine and she's till crafting.
This week's CCEE Stampers' challenge is to alter something and coincidentally my boss gave me a tin. She knows I like to make stuff so she gives me nice boxes and tins instead of throwing them out. So I decided to make something for her with it. I didn't know what to do with it so I checked out some other challenges and picked my color scheme from the the Color Dare #41 challenge to use Very Vanilla, Bermuda Bay and Soft Suede. That's a color combo I like a lot. One of my newest toys is a set of Just Right monogram stamps and fonts and I wanted to play with it so that's what I did. I made the monogram of her last initial to use on the lid. It's stamped with Versamark on white cs and embossed with gold powder and punched out with a SU circle punch. After that I used Blossom Nestibilities to punch out cs in the Color Dare colors with the bottom layer punched with a circle die. Each layer is mounted on dimensionals. A strip of Soft Suede ribbon is attached to the lid's rim. The bottom of the tin is covered with dp from the Crate Paper Prudence Collection. It wasn't wide enough to go entirely around the tin but amazingly the pattern matched up when the small piece was cut to fit the remaining section. Whoa, was that cool. I don't where I got the idea to make the bookmarks, but I made three out of large paper clips I had on hand. The backing scalloped circle is made with a SU scalloped circle punch.

This worked up pretty quickly and easily. I think just about anyone would like the tin and you can fill it with anything, the clips are a nice inexpensive filler. You can change the stamped image to something cutesy and put hair clips and ribbons for a little girl. How about a fish stamp and put some fishing flies in it for a guy. If you put your mind to it you can make a gift for just about anyone with this size tin. How about something for one of your stamping buddies? You can fit a stamp in it, or brads or both. Now that's a gift I'd like to receive.

Thanks for visiting, I hope you come back again.

Don't forget to click on the pink ribbon, it's a simple thing to do and it's a good thing. Get some good karma going, just click on it.