Bunch O' Banners Thank You - HSS 181

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This card features an abundance of banner pieces, from several different sources. 

The focal point is a burlap banner piece from the Sale-A-Bration FREEbie, Heartfelt Banner Designer Kit. So many pieces in this kit can be used on a card or scrapbook layout!  

Then we have the strip of banners across the top from Banner Blast (Sale-A-Bration 2014 also).  They're zig-zag stitched together to give them a little cohesion. 

Finally, the sentiment is from the Bitty Banners Bundle, these are a snap to die cut with this coordinating Framelits. 

And I finally have found an opportunity to ink up my new Dictionary stamp. I love this because you can have a vintage book page look, but it will match anything when you change out the color!

The colors were inspired by our latest color challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments:

-Midnight Muse

- So Saffron

- Tangerine Tango

An unusual combo, if I may say, but I like they way it turned out!

Thanks for stopping by!

SUPPLIES:

Stamps:  Banner Blast, Itty Bitty Banners, Dictionary, circle stamps from My Paper Pumpkin kit Feb 2014

Ink: Midnight Muse, So Saffron, Tangerine Tango, Crumb Cake

Paper:  Midnight Muse, Gold Glimmer, Whisper White

Embellishments:  Gold Sequins, Banner Piece from Heartfelt Banner kit, Basic Metal button, Midnight Muse Stitched Satin ribbon 

Big Shot: Bitty Banner Framelits Die

Mini Coffee Cup Valentines & Birthday Favors

Pin It Now! By now you've probably seen these adorable mini coffee cups! They are too, too sweet!

I wanted to share a couple of projects I've made with them this week.

The first is a set of Valentine's Day treat cups I made for my card swap ladies. Inside each one is a big ol' Rafaello Coconut Truffle.  Mmm, luscious! 

Here's a little secret-the stir sticks are from Krispy Kreme.  Shhhhh! Cut them in half, they're the perfect size. 

Here are some little birthday favors for twin sisters!  

The Valentine cups are decorated using the Sweet Valentine Sacks kit available for a limited time. I got the idea from fellow demo Deseree Krumm. 

Also, there are some easy templates available to print, cut, and trace onto your choice of papers here.  

Thanks to these ladies for the inspiration!  

Have a blessed and creative day ~ Erika

Ruffled Flowerfull Heart Valentine's Day Cards

Pin It Now! I sat down to make a handful of Valentines using Freshly Made Sketches #120,  a great clean & simple sketch. I loved the elements of this card, and decided to make each one just a little different.

They all use the same elements - Strawberry Slush Stretch ruffled ribbon, polka dot paper, embossing, and that pretty Flowerfull Heart that SU has introduced for Valentine's Day 2014.   But I don't like to repeat myself too many times, so to keep the creativity flowing in the snowed in craft room, I simply shifted things around on each card.  

I think this next one is my personal favorite!

No, maybe this one is...I think my mom will get this pretty one!

This one was made with hearts that were laying on my desk from this valentine card from last week.  

Here's a look at the sketch.  You should pay a visit to Freshly Made Sketches, and get ahead on your Valentine card making, too!  

Banner Blast Valentine's Day Cards

Pin It Now! Hey crafty friend!  Are you keeping warm?  It's minus 5 degrees outside as I'm writing!  But I'm cozied up in my craft room with a hot chai latte'.  Warm puppy at my feet.  Ahhhh.

My first Valentine of the season!  Boy, am I glad to see fresh, bright colors like these.  Have a little peek at some upcoming Sale-A-Bration items.

The cute little banners are made with the SAB Banner Blast stamp set (the center banner) and coordinating banner punch.  No more worrying over crooked banner ends!  Just punch, punch, punch. 

The center stamp, "Love", is covered with Iridescent Ice heat embossing powder to give a little oomph. 

Patterned paper is Fresh Prints Designer Paper Stack.  These 4.5 x 6.5 papers are just the right size and easy to store!

I think I like this red background  best.

Be My Valentine is from Delightful Dozen (#122652 $24.95). It's just right with a red Glimmer heart!

I'm playing with the Monday Lunchtime Sketch TSSC296. Nice sketch, I love clean sketches, you can literally go anywhere with them!  Love the inspiration from the designers, too!  Heck, who doesn't love a banner?!

Have a blessed & creative day!  Stay cozy ~ Erika

Merry Monday Sketch - Jolly Jingles & Banners

Pin It Now! This week's Merry Monday challenge is a simple sketch, and I've used it as a break between cleaning my RV and making 16 more pints of mmmmm...strawberry jam!

The ornament on the wheel stamp is embellished with a button, jumbo rhinestone, and basic rhinestones.

I used the Jolly Jingles jumbo wheel stamp to roll out an array of sentiments, and for the banner portion, I took the liberty of making a cluster of small banners against a piece of silver glimmer paper trim.

What I like most about this sketch is the shortened banner portion. If not for that prompt, I would naturally take the banners all the way across the card, and this way offers a little something different!

Check out the Merry Monday challenge and get a little Christmas inspiration!

SUPPLY LIST:
STAMPS: Jolly Jingles jumbo wheel, Chock Full of Cheer
INK: Cherry Cobbler
PAPER: Festival of Prints (2012-13 Holiday Mini Retired), Cherry Cobbler, Lucky Limeade, Very Vanilla, Silver Glimmer
EMBELLISHMENTS: Lucky Limeade Button (?), Basic Rhinestones, Scallop punch, Jumbo Rhinestones

Inside - from Chock Full of Cheer

Have a blessed and creative day! ~Erika

Happy National Scrapbook Day! {Glassine Sack Tag Album, 50th Birthday Party Decor}

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Hi friends, and Happy (inter)National Scrapbook Day to you!  Today I'm sharing with you a good reason to scrapbook - to honor someone you love.  I put together this mini album for my husband's recent HUGE milestone birthday!  It was really easy and the result was worth a million bucks.

 Simply gather a bunch of glassine bags or whatever bags you have on hand.  Need some?  Check here in my Etsy shop.
Staple them together at the bottom.
Wrap the stapled end with a piece of cardstock.  Mine is Marina Mist, embossed, and embellished with an Antique Brad & circle punch of Champagne Glimmer paper.
Wrap each bag with coordinating pattern papers.  Mine is Nautical Expedition (retired SU).  This gives the album a little body and color.
Add a little stamped embellishment to the front.  I used The Open Sea.
Now your base is done, time to fill it with memories!
I used the Two Tags die, measured the usable space, and typed up the replies on the computer. Then I cut them out and die cut each with the Big Shot.

Since it was my hubby's big giant birthday (I happen to be a LOT younger than him LOL, but I'm catching up fast), I wanted to fill it with messages of appreciation from people all throughout his life.  FACEBOOK, here I came!  I sent a group message to everyone that I thought has been touched in some way by his being around.  Childhood best friend, coworkers from 25 years ago, family, neighbors, church friends.  It was really easy once I got started.  Then the messages started rolling in, by Facebook message, text, and phone.  And it was WONDERFUL!   I was so blessed by the memories I received on his behalf.  It was very sweet to read what others had to share, and I was surprised by the heartfelt responses, especially from the guys in our lives.  But the real impact was when he read the messages.  I gave him the book the night before his birthday, and he took it to bed to read.  He laughed.  He got quiet.  And he smiled.

And this is why you have to scrapbook.

I also threw him a surprise party, and I wanted to share some of the decorations with you.  I scoured the web and Pinterest when planning his party and ended up coming up with all the ideas on my own.  First up was the banner for the cake table...

It's made of hand cut banner pieces, and LOTS of squares of Silver Glimmer Paper.  I scanned snapshots of many of the big moments in his life - childhood, grandparents, high school, our wedding, our first son, second son, and our business grand opening were some of the big ones.

Here's the hall, all gussied up!  I didn't want to do all black, I'm just very much not into the over the hill stuff :)

C. is a collector of antique clocks, so I started swiping clocks from the house earlier in the week. I set one as a centerpiece on each table, added confetti & balloons, and glue dotted a "time" quote to the face of each clock.  Lines like, "time flies when you're having fun",  "everything is better with time", etc.  It was so very HIM, and he loved it too.

  

Finally, some quickie decorations for the food table.  Jars of candy with coffee stirrers embellished with banners, pinwheels, and big fat rhinestones.  

I hope you enjoyed my birthday ideas, and hopefully you'll be able to bless somebody's life with a scrapbook, or honor them in some way with your crafty skills.  I'm going to try to pop back in later with a layout for NSD :)  Till then, have a blessed and creative day!  ~ Erika

Mini Envelopes Valentine's Banner

Pin It Now! I love Valentine's Day, now that I have a sweet husband and two lovely sons, who think I'm number 1!  Not so much stress involved, I like it that way :)

I set out to make a sort of countdown to Valentine's Day this year, and came up with this little trio of banners made with SU's mini envelope Bigz die.

I cut envelopes from alternating white and two patterns from the super pretty Tea Time DSP. Added lots of embellishments from the Artisan Embellishments kit and a couple of the little tiny Pop Top embellishments.  Also some of the delicate Flower Trim (oh, how I love that stuff).

 I strung them onto the new Natural ribbon from the spring mini, it's very much like burlap, but nice and neat.

I plan to fill them with tiny candy treats and "Love You Because" type of notes.  I think it's especially important to let people know not only that you love them, but specifically why you love them as individuals.  Now I have more than one day to get my points across :)

Have a lovely day, my crafty friend!  ~Erika

Count Down to New Years Banner {My Digital Studio hybrid project}

Pin It Now! Here's a quick banner, that's fully customizable, to grace your home with on New Year's Eve. A hybrid project - that is to say, half digital, half hands-on product.




















It goes together really quickly with the My Digital Studio suite.  I colored the banners in Basic Black, Primrose Petals, and Pool Party.  Sized them just the way I wanted - about 3-1/2" x 4" each. Printed them onto Whisper White and Pool Party CS.

The borders of the banner are exactly the same size as the tip of the Two-Way Glue Pen - so they were begging for lots of festive silver glitter!  I added rhinestones to all of the starbursts, too.

A standard hole punch makes just the right size opening for a nice wide satin ribbon, and they're strung together, ready to count down with friends and family!

I love the fonts used for the numbers, they're so fun and on trend!

Here's the finished product, hung in my kitchen. We're ready to celebrate!

Here's the set, you can get it all as an instant download - no shipping, no waiting!  Click here to see it in my Stampin' Up! 24 hour store.

Download includes:
* Double-sided postcard designer template (3-1/2" x 5")
* 4-page décor designer template (8-1/2" x 11") 
* Tag designer template (3-1/4" x 3-1/4" )
* 46-piece SVG stamp brush set*
* 3 embellishments

Features:
* Digital-exclusive
* Designer templates include: invite, framable, bottle tag, table tents, name tags, banner
* Elegant décor for your New Year’s party that’s perfect for ringing in the new year

Colors:
Basic Gray, Midnight Muse, Sahara Sand, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White

* Note: SVG stamps won’t work with the original My Digital Studio software

Have a blessed and prosperous New Year!  Be safe~

Erika

Reversible Twitterpated Easter Banner HSSIC111

Pin It Now! Happy Palm Sunday!  Only one week left til Easter, can you believe it?


I've had a burlap Easter banner rolling around in my head for a few days now, and like I often do, I let it simmer until I'm ready and then go to work when I have a burst of time.  Great getting half the work done before I even sit down!

My original plan was to keep the banner Springy and generic, I couldn't decided on the word to put on the banner. Spring? Easter? ...then Rejoice? ...finally I decided to get right to the point...He Lives!  Rolling those letters out of my Big Shot actually felt therapeutic and satisfying.  Yes, that's exactly what I wanted on my wall.


The best part is that it's completely reversible!  So when Easter is over, I can enjoy it as a Springtime decoration.  Or I can hang it in a window and both sides are pretty!

It goes together in a snap, below are the basics...




The fabric side is Twitterpated Designer Fabric, die cut with Perfect Pennants.




Layer and attach with a dab of Tombo Multi.
Cut a long (about 2 yards) piece of Pretty In Pink 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon.  Iron in half lengthwise, except for the ends which you'll tie off in a bow.
Find the center and stick a pin in it, so you know where to start placing banner pieces.




Tuck all the banner pieces into the folded edge of ribbon.  Hold with pins, and run a straight stitch all the way down. Iron nice and flat.  These below haven't been ironed yet...



The pink rhinestones are from the Blossom Builders designer die cuts in the Spring Occasions Mini.  You NEED this just for the bling.  The blossoms are awesome too, so nothing to lose!

I attached the large bling two per pennant back-to-back.  So no matter which side you're looking at, you have bling at the bottom!


The lettered side uses the Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer Punch, and Timeless Type Alpa Jr. Sizzlits.  Embossed the pink circles with Square Lattice embossing folder. I think it resembles the burlap.

I was inspired to make this project thanks to Hand Stamped Sentiments' weekly challenge HSSIC111, anything Easter!  How easy can this be?  I know you have some awesome ideas brewing too, go play along!

I can't believe my pretty tea roses are blooming already! Cutting a few for my craft room <3.

Have a blessed & creative day! Erika.