More school projects.....

We're back in full swing with school now which reminded me I needed to share a few more projects I made using my 2 Squared School Kit. I used up all of my original kit making the projects I've shown here on the blog but I pulled a few extra papers from my stash to create a few more school themed projects.
I had all my goodies ready to go but realized I forgot a few people.
For the girls' English teacher, I created another bookmark using a library card, a medium glassine sack and papers from the kit.
The sticker letters are from October Afternoon and stamps are from Studio Calico. LOVE creating bookmarks from the library cards.
Next up I made 4 notebooks from a stash of notepads that I had. These will be for my four mom friends. A few of them are so nervous about having high schoolers now, I thought a fun notebook would be a nice gesture.
I used My Mind's Eye Kraft colored Everyday Fun papers from the 6 x6 Paper Pad for the notebook covers. (Edited: the papers were actually from the 12 x 12 sheets from this line). This particular style line is very thick so the papers make excellent notepad covers. For the patterned papers, I chose some of the 4 x 4 squares from the kit and trimmed them down and rounded the corners. The stamped starburst label is from the kit and they're also sold separately in my shop. Washi tape from my stash was adhered under the popped up circle. Small parcel tags from the 2 Squared School Kit were tucked under the patterned paper.
The inside notepad is just a simple lined pad from an office supply store.
And as a little extra for some other gifts I already had made, I typed on some additional starburst grid labels and stuck them on the packaging. And just like that, I was good to go.
And today Josey afforded me a great opportunity to take all the little gifts to the school. God forbid that she or Jordan would have to actually hand them out to the teachers and staff. But I am definitely needed at the school when Josey does stuff like forget her volleyball uniform. Good ol' Mom, right? It doesn't go without saying though....they get three strikes for forgotten stuff at home. After that they pay me $5 for each trip to the school. Mama needs Washi tape money. ;)

Coming up:

Project Life..

I have 3 weeks of completed layouts to show you. Plus I'll talk a little bit about how I'm going to approach the inserts I still to add.

More card kits..

These have been very well received and I'm having a blast finding just the right papers and embellishments to add into the kits. All with a little handmade flair. One of my favorite kits is coming up.

Other shop items....

It's time for the holidays to be creeping up on us. I have a few fun Halloween finds that I'll be adding into the shop. Plus I've been stocking up lots of orders for a fun shop update with lots of new items for card making and more.

Around the house...

With the new school year comes a renewed desire for me to get more organized around the house. I'll be sharing some menu planning and cooking ahead ideas. I also just had a huge garage sale. I'll tell you all about my new decorating plans for the house.

Okay, I'm off to the girls' first volleyball game of the season. Gotta run! Go Lady Cats!!

2 Squared Kit projects....

Hey everyone. I have a few projects to share with you that I made from my 2 Squared School Kit. I saved a kit for myself and set all of the contents out on a tray. Then I made a list of some school projects I might want to make.

A challenge I gave out with this kit is to use it all up so I'm gonna give it a go. I'm pulling out more of my shop items + a few supplies like twine and Washi tape to use on my projects. First up are some treat sacks for teachers. These took hardly any time at all to make so mass production would be very easy. I pulled one of the 4 x 4 pieces of patterned paper(all from Studio Calico's Elementary line) and cut it into four pieces. I grabbed some of the striped sacks from this assorted pack + some Washi tape + some Dove candies + some typed labels.

I hand cut notches into the four small squares then adhered them to my filled sacks (4 candies per sack) with various Washi tape. I stuck on the labels then finished up the sacks with machine stitching. Perfect little teacher treats.

Next up I wanted to use some of the sacks in the kit to make some confetti bags. In the kit there is a small glassine sack + a clear zipper sack + I used some smaller sacks from my Sack Assortment for Confetti. Using scrap paper, my confetti punch and my star punch, I went to work making confetti. To add some bulk I like to add Christmas snow filler + I found a few foam glitter stars to add in.
I just kept filling sacks so I could have plenty on hand. These will be fun to have on hand for future use.
Here are my creations using some of the confetti sacks + some additional items from the kit. I made a treat/card sack and a back to school card.
The sack uses a Large Kraft Sack, a piece of the 4 x 4 patterned paper and a Large White Tag from the kit. I also used a Dainty Doily, Washi tape, a piece of splattered cardstock + some word stickers and mini staples. I think I will use this sack to hold a treat or set of cards for the girls' art teacher. She is so awesome.
This is my first of the cards I'll make from the kit. The kit contents I used are the piece of patterned paper, the punched apple + the "best day ever" sentiment strip stamped from a Studio Calico stamp set. I also added Washi tape, a Dainty Doily, baker's twine and a typed label. This card will be perfect for our school secretary, Miss Becky. I always wish her a good school year & joke about how the first day of school is the best day ever. Maybe more so for me than her. :)
Finally for today's projects I made some bookmarks for my friend, the school librarian. From the kit I used a piece of 4 x 4 patterned paper cut in half, the 2 library cards, the blue label and one of the sticker selections from Studio Calico. I also dug a few pieces of the punched strips I used to make confetti from my trash can.
To hold the bookmarks I used a Medium Glassine Sack, a Small White Parcel Tag and a strip of the old book paper from the kit. I typed on the white tag with my old typewriter then tied it around the sack with baker's twine.
For the bookmarks I layered them with patterned papers, Washi tape, 2 halves of the labels which I stamped with Studio Calico stamps, a punched apple, stickers from the kit, a punched circle from the old book paper + a snippet of a Dainty Doily.
For this bookmark I stamped the word "READ" using Studio Calico's Stepping Stone Alphabet, first in the black outline and then in the solid grey. "The End" was stamped from this Studio Calico stamp set. Machine stitching keeps all the paper layers in place. You can see more of my bookmark creations at this link.
The back side of one of the papers has this adorable little boy reading a book. Since my librarian friend splits her time between the high and grade school, I thought this sweet bookmark would be fun to use for the books she reads to the little ones. I finished this one off with days of the week Washi tape, a sticker strip from the kit and then I stitched and stapled over the punched apple. Since I add a lot of stitching I like to adhere a piece of cardstock on the back of the library card so the bookmarks finish up nice and clean.
I had so much just creating and having fun. Next up I'll be making up some cards to give as little sets to the teachers. They love to get a little surprise now and then with a few chocolates thrown in. Stay tuned.

There are still some of the 2 Squared School Kits left in the shop. The first batch of kits went out this morning so if you ordered, be looking for your kit + other ordered items the first of next week. What kind of fun projects are you thinking of making with the kit, I'd love to hear?

Other news:

I just received some supply orders for some new kits coming to the shop soon. I can't wait to share with you once I get a little more organized. A new concept that I think you'll love. :)

Summer Bookmarks

Today I have a few bookmarks to show you that I created for Jordan and her friends. My girls aren't heavy readers so I try to coax them along with fun things like gift cards and bookmarks any time I can.

To create my bookmarks I used pieces from the Lemon, Lime & Aqua Embellishing Kit. It's packed full of paper goodies with hints of lime green, aqua, and yellow. From the kit I'm using library cards, metal rim tags, the small Ziploc bags with my homemade snow confetti, doilies and the carnival tickets. I started by punching holes in the bookmarks using my confetti punch. I adhered a strip of My Mind's Eye patterned paper to the bottom.

I then added a strip of striped Washi tape along the side. I filled the tiny Ziploc bags with snow confetti and snipped the tops off. I used double sided tape to adhere the sacks to the bookmarks.

I finished up the bookmarks with little layers of stamped carnival tickets, stamped Jenni Bowlin tab punches, more chevron My Mind's Eye paper, pieces of the paper doilies and a little more Metallic Silver Washi Tape. I love using the silver Washi along with the Metallic Gold & White Airmail Washi paired with any other colors. The slight metallic finish is very pretty. I've been using them with all my other Washi colors lately.

As a finishing touch I punched a circle of MME paper and added an initial sticker letter for each recipient. I stapled these to the bookmarks. The stamps I used are the retired Epic stamp set and the Adventure stamp (sold out right now, I believe) set from Studio Calico.

I'm thinking on our next road trip with all of Jordan's friends I'll hand out the book marks and perhaps we can make a stop at the bookstore. Hope you enjoy.

My online garage sale:

I'm clearing out a few things from my studio. I have these Copic Storage Wallets still left + a huge stack of 12 x 12 cardstock + a bunch of Stampin' Up ! stamps (recently reduced prices) + a few Lockhart stamp lots (also recently reduced in price). Would love to clear these out so I don't have to haul them to my real life garage sale coming up soon. :)

Project Life updates:

I'm getting caught up slowly which is huge for me! It was this time last year that I started getting behind. 17 weeks behind. I'm about 2 weeks behind right now so I'm very happy to get caught up. I'll be posting updates this week.

Traditional scrapbook pages:

I have lots of insert pages that I'd like to add to my Project Life albums. Creating some traditional scrapbooked pages is high on my list for this summer. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Other Summer projects:

We have a very busy June coming up but I'm hoping to get a lot more projects up here on the blog. I have some very neglected stamp sets sitting here that I'd love to make some cards with.

New in the shop:

Coming soon I'll have some brand new styles of Washi tape. I'm hoping to add a new line of product by mid-Summer also. And coming very soon I'll have a new mini album kit coming up. It's my favorite so far and will feature some of my favorite papers from Studio Calico. I'm just waiting on a few more items to arrive before it goes up in the shop. Also if you haven't seen the White Woodgrain Cardstock that's new in the shop, be sure to zoom in on the photos. The impression quality of the woodgrain is so detailed and beautiful. I have a tutorial coming up soon using it soon.

Okay, that's it for now. I'll be back soon. :)

Snow Confetti Tag & Bookmark...

Edit: Studio Calici set used was Epic. No longer available at the shop.

Hi everyone, are you back at it today? Last week I had a limited supply of Lemon-Lime Love kits available in my shop. The kits were jam packed full of fun paper crafting items to create fun tags, cards and/or gift wrap. This week I have a couple posts planned to share a few fun items I made from the kit, all using some glittery snow confetti that was included. If you weren't able to purchase a kit, many of the supply items are available in the shop. I'll link those up for you as I go.

Today's projects are a big tag and a fun bookmark. Very mixy matchy with lots of colors. The patterned papers I used on today's projects were not included in the kits so it's very easy to just select your own style of papers that can be added to the basic supplies.
First up is an embellished tag which would be perfect to tie to a gift sack, wrapped package, a book, etc. The bag tag is an XL Manila Tag which was splattered with Mister Huey's spray mist. I then stitched on a Dainty Doily using orange thread. I used a tiny plastic bag to hold a little of the snow confetti and adhered it under a border die cut strip.
Using a White Garment Tag as a base, I added a messy bundle of thread, a small punched shape and a Studio Calico wood veneer asterisk. This was stapled to my large tag using my Tiny Attacher. Yellow baker's twine was tied around the tag for extra dimension. I used Studio Calico Epic stamps on the base of my tag in bright colors.
Next up is a bookmark that is so perfect for all the book lovers on your list. Wrap a few books in simple Kraft paper or newspaper and tie on one of these bookmarks and you are a gift wrapping genius. All my book reading friends just go nuts over these. The base of the bookmark is a Library Card that was punched with a Swiss cheese punch then backed with patterned paper. I also have a some Bookmark Kits that come with some extra products if you want some extras.
I stitched on several fun patterned papers to the front of the Library card, tucking a snippet of a Dainty Doily under one layer. The papers I used today from Pink Paislee's Prairie Hill collection, a new fave! Another small bag of the snow confetti was adhered under the top patterned paper strip before stitching. I finished off the bookmark with a Jenni Bowlin tab punch & plastic flower + some more stamping from the Studio Calico Epic set.
These were SO MUCH FUN to make, I just had a ball adding all the little layers. And the snow confetti adds a fun shimmer to both projects. For some additional packaging ideas, add a tag or bookmark to a Kraft Sack or Vertical Stripe Sack. The tags and bookmarks will also fit into my Medium Glassine Sacks. You can easily slip in a candy bar or gift card, etc. I also have a Simple Sack Gift Packaging Kit or my Confetti Gift Sack Kits that you could use for fun packaging along with the tag or bookmark. I'm thinking both of these would be great additions for graduation gifts that Jordan will be giving out to her friends in May. Mother's Day is coming up too and I know our mothers will be getting a really dolled up tag with their gift. One more idea....package up a bunch of the supplies and gift them to a crafty friend. Have one sample made up and then let them know how they can create their own tags and bookmarks to have on hand for upcoming gift ideas. Have fun!

Stay tuned because I will be back this week with some fun gift sack ideas using the Lemon-Lime kit and more shop items + more snow confetti. Plus I'll have a Project Life update to share too.

Library Card Bookmarks

Hey everyone. Are you adjusting to Daylight Savings Time? I actually like it because it means it stays lighter longer...and that Spring is just ahead. Makes me all happy just thinking about my flowers and green grass.

If you noticed in my last post, I've added some new items to my shop. Lots of new staple, go to items that will be fun for cards, gift wrapping and my Project Life. I'll be using these products on upcoming projects here on the bloggo so that I'll get some sample ideas built up. First up today I have some fun bookmarks to show you using my new Library Cards. I also have some Bookmark Kits available which will make it very easy to recreate my projects today.
Here are 2 completed bookmarks that I created for my reds. We've started a new nine weeks at school which means a new reading goal must be reached as part of the girls' grade. Although my girls are straight "A" students, their love of reading is just not there. They would rather be playing sports, wrestling with Charlie or be playing out in timber, etc. But I have a great librarian friend who picks out THE best books for the girls. Once they actually get started on a good book they can't put it down. Spring Break will be here soon and I'm hoping the girls can get in some good reading time. I thought some cute bookmarks clipped to a coin envelope with some new Amazon/bookstore cash might prompt them along.
Teenagers love personalized items so I used my little Hero Arts mini alphabet stamps to stamp on the girls' names. I used scrap strips of patterned paper to line two sides of the bookmarks, stitching around the entire bookmark with my sewing machine.
Using stamps from Studio Calico, I stamped the "You Are Here" sentiment and big arrow creating a fun way to mark the page in the book.
A few little additional punches, snippets of a doily, part of a carnival ticket, small white tags, Jenni Bowlin's tab punch and some Studio Calico Mister Huey splatters finish off the bookmark fronts. All you need to remember is to keep the embellishments pretty flat so that the finished bookmarks don't cause any damage to books.

On the backs of the bookmarks I added some patterned paper that coordinates with the fronts + some of the corner rounded index cards that come with the Bookmark Kits. Here, the girls can write down their reading goals, new book suggestions, etc.
I think the girls will LOVE these bookmarks. I'm also thinking about making a few for my adult friends that love to read. Maybe even a few as alternative birthday cards for the girls' friends. Or if I get really crazy I might invite the girls' friends over for Spring Break to have a little crafting session. We'll see. ;)

Hope you enjoy!

Happy Trails

Hey guys. I had an email asking which stamp set contains some of the paint splatter images that are on my projects today. To clarify, some of the paint splatters are actual stamps contained in the Happy Trails stamp set. Other splatters were made by me using my Studio Calico Mister Huey's mist sprays. (many of the mists are sold out at this time). If you scroll through my post again, look for the orange type and I'll show you which are stamps and which are sprays. To achieve the splattered look with the sprays instead of an overall mist, simply unscrew the top of the bottle and use the nozzle hose to drip drops of ink....or flick the end of the nozzle hose to get a more splattered look. I use a large piece of cardboard to catch any overspray. You could also use an empty box. To see other projects where I've used the mist sprays click here & here on the strawberry card & here. Hope that helps and feel free to ask me anymore questions in the comment section. :)

Welcome to the second Group Post for the Papertrey Design Team + Nichole. Today we'll be showcasing a new set designed by Nichole called Happy Trails. Each main image can be paired up with a swirly trail stamp to create a whimsical focal point image. And the sentiments + font combinations in this set are fabulous...some of all time favorites. I'll also be using Nichole's new flower building set called Daydreamer. Another favorite of mine from Nichole with more great sentiments.

For my projects today I wanted to create a look of vintage wallpaper. I created my own using a piece of Rustic White cardstock, various PTI inks and the two stamp sets mentioned above. Zoom in for a look...I love how it turned out.

On my homemade patterned paper, all the splatters are from stamp images contained in the Happy Trails stamp set.
Next up I die cut and stamped images which coordinates with Happy Trails.
I then selected lots of patterned papers from Papertrey + other sources (many are Sassafras).
I die cut lots of strips using various Papertrey dies, including rick rack, scalloped borders, the ticket die, the eyelet lace border, the simple circles border and more.
For my first project I set out to create a notebook. One of my favorite things to make. I selected about 10 die cut strips and laid them out, layering them so that the patterned edge still showed.
I then cut these strips to the width of my notebook cover and attached them with a tiny bit of adhesive. I then stitched about the notebook front to secure all the layers. I ended up with a somewhat ruffly, mixy matchy look. Note: Many of you ask for the measurements of my notebook covers. I don't measure. I always mark with my fingernail where I want to cut and then trim with my paper trimmer.
To further embellish my notebook I just knew I had to use Nichole's nicely illustrated pencil with a squiggly line stamped in gray. You all surely know my love of all things office supply-ee, right? I adhered the pencil to my notebook with pop dots. I then used a scrap of my hand stamped patterned paper to punch out a circle. Then stamped it with a sentiment from Day Dreamer. A few Vintage Buttons tied with Rustic Cream Twine finish off the notebook front. Love.

At the top of my notepad, I used spray mists to splatter droplets of ink onto the base of the notepad.
Here you can see all the stitched on die cut pieces. Isn't it just fun looking?
Here's the open notebook. I used two Vintage Cream Notepads for this one notebook. I suggested that Nichole design these notebooks when she created the Take Note stamp set with me. Such a fun grouping of products with endless possibilities for notebooks.
Here's a card I created with more die cut strips. I especially love the simple circles die with the tied on buttons. A favorite accent of mine lately + I love the vintage wallpaper look I created. A few splatters of yellow mist ink adds a little color to the Rustic White background. If you'll notice, all of my projects today have a common theme of the stapled on hearts.

I've been using a lot of Rustic White for card bases lately. The ink splatters in yellow were created with spray mist. The orange splatters on the simple circles die cut piece are stamped from images in Happy Trails.
Here's a closeup of that fun simple circles border and the raised butterfly die which has been embellished with a tied Vintage Button.
Using more scraps I created a bookmark using the bookmark die. I tied it off with yarn I found at the thrift shop.

The yellow splatters on the bookmark are made with spray ink splatters. The green splatter on the rick rack border die cut are from a stamp.
And here's my finished ensemble complete with gift tag and sack. I love the soft colors and tiny little details scattered about.
I tucked all my goodies into a large glassine bag and used Washi tape to adhere my gift tag.

The yellow ink splatters on the tag are also from my spray ink misters.

A great little gift set for someone special. Hope you enjoy! And be sure to check out Nichole's + the rest of the Design Team blogs here for more Happy Trails inspiration.

• Nichole Heady
• Heather Nichols
• Dawn McVey
• Lisa Johnson
• Betsy Veldman
• Melissa Phillips
• Maile Belles
• Jessica Witty
• Erin Lincoln
• Danielle Flanders