Boo!

No doubt this is not the first you've seen the owl punch used for a super simple and adorable ghost!  But, it's the first you've seen it here.   For the eyes, I punched out two 1/8" holes then put a scrap of black cardstock underneath.

I enjoyed using the Stamping 411 sketch for this card today.  It came together pretty quickly.  The colors (all In Colors) were all together in my In Colors bag of scraps and I immediately thought of Halloween.  I don't send many Halloween cards, but if I have one close by this week I'll be sure to send it! 

I used the Lattice Bigz die in Concord Crush on the dotted Peach Parfait card base.  The "BOO!" was cut with the Billboard alpha Sizzlit die and the Big Shot. 

Hope you like it.  I'll be back again tomorrow with an entirely different card with this same sketch! 

Thanks for stopping by!
~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: none

Colors: Peach Parfait, Concord Crush, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White

Accessories: Big Shot, Dotted embossing folder, Lattice Bigz die, Two-Step Owl punch, scallop border punch, Concord Crush twill ribbon

Cottage Wall Lattice Birthday

I'm back at ya with another Diva sketch today! Be sure to play along- and don't worry, you can flip it, stretch it, rotate it... just use it as your guide. We won't kick you out, I promise! At least I hope not because I've turned the main square in the sketch to make a more interesting lattice die diamond instead.

Today I just HAD to use this new set Vintage Labels- I've been meaning to but hadn't managed to use it yet. The color challenge on SCS this week is Rich Razzleberry, Orchid Opulance, Old Olive and neutrals of your choice. This is close- I think there's some Orchid in that striped paper somewhere.

Stampin' Tips:

• Did you notice the Organdy ribbon is woven through the lattice die cut? There are so many things to do with that die- I highly recommend it if you don't have it already! Want some other ideas for this die?? See my list of labels on the right and scroll down until you see "lattice". There will be 7 other posts with ideas not including this one.

Gotta run, have a super great day!
~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Vintage Labels (still available for FREE until the end of this month with any $50 order!!)

Accessories: Lattice Die, Big Shot, Wide Oval Punch, Scallop Trim punch, White Organdy ribbon, Cottage Wall DSP

Lattice Ornaments

I've got a few more gift ideas for you today. Both of these ornaments put the Lattice Die and the Big Shot to use. This first one is just two Lattice pieces staggered together. I used the Brushed Gold and Copper cardstock for these along with some gold cord and a copper brad. Tied a little bell to the bottom for fun!
This one actually uses 5 Lattice pieces folded in half and glued together. I used the Brushed Silver cardstock for this one, plus some silver elastic cord. There are also some dew drops and silver ribbon tails, neither of which are Stampin' Up! products.

Yesterday I said I might have a recipe for this tasty easy treat we like to make. Last night was our weekly Family Game Night so we started out making these treats to add to teacher gifts today. I don't have pictures so use your imagination.

These directions are tough so pay attention:

1- Lay out a layer of either small knot or waffle pretzels on a baking sheet.

2- Place an unwrapped Rolo on each pretzel.

3- Put tray in oven at 250 degrees for about 4 minutes.

4- Remove from oven and shove a whole pecan on top of the melted Rolo.

5- This is important: EAT!

Seriously, that easy and so good. We love them either warm right off the tray, or we like to freeze them and eat them frozen!

One week until Christmas! Hope you are getting everything done. My shopping is officially 100% complete so I'm off to the couch to work on Christmas cards... then wrapping this weekend. Sounds like some sledding might be in order tomorrow if the snow comes tonight that is predicted.

Thanks for visiting!

~Kristin

Lattice Votive

I am so excited to share this with you today! Yesterday while trying to come up with some teacher type gifts I made this. The lattice is cut with chipboard sheets that come in paper packs etc. It went through the Big Shot with this die just fine- although to make punching them out easiest I did go back and forth 2-3 times through the machine. Worked like a charm! I used three Lattice pieces for each votive holder- tying them together at the corners with the Riding Hood Red Taffeta ribbon. Rolled up a piece of vellum cardstock (about 3.25x6 inches I believe it was- will have to double check), taped it shut on one end and slid it in. Put one of those little battery powered tea lights inside and voila! Oh boy, I love it when I can make things that are pretty and useful.

Here is a picture of the three I've made so far. They are actually very fast to make too. You could make this with various shades of cardstock too and change up the ribbon to any color. Can you imagine these in black? I think they'd look like wrought iron. Ooh, I'm gonna try that next!

Anyway, I've made a few ornaments and some little boxes too. I'll post those in the coming days.

Hope your holiday preparations are going smoothly!

Stampin' Hugs,

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Lattice Die, Big Shot, Chipboard remnants, Riding Hood Red Taffeta ribbon, Vellum Carstock

Red, White & Blue Anniversary

Here's another card I made for my WICKED challenge on Splitcoast to use Red, White and Blue. In case you can't tell, I'm am fully enjoying the Lattice Die and finding new ways to use it. This time it is holding this center fold card closed! The little center piece that is Night of Navy is actually one of the parts that gets cut out when using this die- can you tell?

Here's the inside of my card, again using parts of the Lattice Die to make that border at the bottom. I've also used the Medallion background stamp on the front and inside of this card- have you tried that Medallion stamp yet?? It is so awesome for making all kinds of different styles of cards and embellishments! The sentiment here is from one of the Sell-a-bration stamp sets this year called Congrats.

Thanks for visiting me today!

~Kristin

PS- Leave me a comment today to let me know what you like best about my blog (or what you'd like to see change is fine too!) and I'll put your name in a drawing. This Friday I'll draw a name and mail at least two of you a card I've made recently!

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Medallion background, Congrats

Colors: Ballet Blue, Real Red, Whisper White, Night of Navy

Accessories: Big Shot, Lattice Die, Styled Silver Hodgepodge

September: A Wicked Good Month!

Well, it's finally here... the day I can spill my beans about being asked to hostess this month's WICKED challenges on Splitcoast! If you aren't familiar with them, WICKED stands for: Wonderfully Inspiring Challenges Keep Educating Demos! And they asked ME to be the featured demo this week- can you believe it?!?

Anyway, I need to first apologize to those of you visiting if you aren't an SU demo because you won't be able to open the link to these challenges. However, you can still play along with me right here on my blog- I'd love to see how you are inspired by the three challenges I came up with! OR you could sign up to be on my Stampin' Up! team and always be able to access the informative side of Splitcoast for demonstrators only. :)

So here are my challenges and my example for each one. I'll list directions and supplies at the very end by card order if you have any questions.

Color Challenge: Use any combination of Red, White and Blue on your project! Keep an open mind- these don’t have to be the typical patriotic or nautical cards (but those are OK too). Red, White and Blue shades look amazing together for any type of card.

Back to School Challenge: It’s back to school time but this challenge is NOT what you think. This doesn’t have to be a school theme or anything related to school. I’m challenging you to pull out your CHALK, dust it off and use it again! If you’re like me, it’s probably been a while. I’m not talking about chalk ink; I’m talking good-old-fashioned Stampin’ Pastels! There are several techniques out there that you can try like Poppin’ Pastels and the Chalkboard Technique, or make up your own for BONUS points. Can’t wait to see what you do!
Birthday Boy & Birthday Girl: The back-to-school time of year also means an increase in birthday party invitations (we’ve gotten one already)! This time of year I like to stock up on youthful birthday cards to have handy at a moments notice. This challenge goes like this: choose any sketch you like then make a “Birthday Boy” card and a “Birthday Girl” card with that same sketch (you could design birthday party invitations for this challenge as well). Make them as similar or as different as you’d like, but use the same sketch. If you don’t have school age children or would prefer to make more grown-up cards, that’s OK too! Just use the same sketch to make a more masculine and a more feminine birthday card. Using the same sketch to make a variety of cards is an efficient and effective tip that is helpful in designing for workshops and will be useful to our customers.

Card 1: For the background on this card I used the Lattice Die- just layed it on the cardstock and sponged white ink over it, that's all! It is so simple and gives a neat look. The navy and red flower was also made with different parts of a lattice die cut out... nothing goes to waste!

SUO Supplies: Stamps- Define Your Life, Medallion Background; Colors- Ballet Blue, Night of Navy, Whisper White, Real Red; Accessories: Silver brad, Lattice Die, Big Shot, Sponge.

Card 2: This is actually a 6x6 scrapbook page. The title is made by stamping the letters in Versamark then rubbing white chalk from our Stampin' Pastels over them. This is the Poppin' Pastels technique I linked above. I used an old makeup sponge, but you could use a sponge dauber (mine all have ink on them so I couldn't) or maybe even a cue tip. The check marks were done with the Versamarker- you know, that thing you ordered but don't seem to know what to do with! The writing is all done with a white gel pen.

The apple is copied from my pal Mercedes Webber (one of my GSG buddies) who was featured in a recent Stampin' Success magazine that all demonstrators get (yet another perk of being a demo *wink*). It was done with the Round tab punch and some free-hand cutting for seeds and stem. The chalkboard itself is just a piece of creamy caramel cardstock cut to 6x6 then edged with the crimper on all 4 sides. Then I measured the center and cut the black to fit. My little piece of chalk is simply a piece of white cardstock punched with the Word Windo punch then trimmed and sponged slightly with creamy caramel, then rolled over a pencil to add some dimension. It is added with a Stampin' Dimensional, of course.

SUO Supplies: Stamps- Any alphabet will do, but this is an OLDY called Newsprint; Colors- Creamy Caramel, Basic Black, Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Real Red; Accessories: Stampin' Pastels chalk, Versamarker, Round Tab punch, Crimper, sponge, Library clip, Red gingham ribbon.

Cards 3 & 4: These two are pretty self-explanatory I think.

Card 3 SUO Supplies: Stamps- Good Friend, Wow Flowers (sentiment); Colors- Going Gray, Basic Gray, Cameo Coral, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White; Accessories- Wide Oval punch, Eyelet border punch, Rich Razzleberry dotted grosgrain, Paper Piercing tools.

Card 4 SUO Supplies: Stamps- Choo Choo, It's Your Birthday; Colors- Certainly Celery, Bermuda Bay, Brilliant Blue, Chocolate Chip; Accessories- Right on Track wheel, Spiral punch, Bermuda Bay dotted grosgrain

Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoy my challenges! See you tomorrow!

~Kristin

Clean & Simple Makeover X 2!

This card never really worked for me when I made it, so I decided to try and spruce it up. I changed the DSP to Cottage Wall and used a metal edge vellum tag to stamp on. The sentiment, from Teeny Tiny Wishes, is embossed in silver to coordinate with the tag and to show up a little better. Much better, I think!

I liked this card to begin with but always intended to do it again in different colors. Like above I've used the Cottage Wall DSP again- aren't the colors and patterns in this set lovely?!? The lattice die was cut on Whisper White paper so Icould easily mix and match patterns behind it using the large 1 3/4" circle punch. Again I used Teeny Tiny Wishes set for the sentiment...(are you noticing a pattern with this fabulous new sentiment set?!) I changed up the placement of the sentiment so I could use one of my corduroy buttons in the center. Hope you like!

Be sure to stop by tomorrow for my fun surprise announcement, lots of samples, and be ready to PLAY!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes (avail. 9/1/09), Of the Earth (current level 1 hostess set)

Colors: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Rich Razzleberry, Pale Plum, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke

Accessories: Big Shot, Lattice Die, 1 3/4" circle punch, Basic Gray Corduroy button, Modern Label punch, Silver EP, Metal edge tag (retired)

Hanging Lattice Ornament

Was working on something else today when I noticed the remains of the Lattice die once I'd cut it out. I also played around with cutting the lattice apart and putting it together in various ways when it dawned on me that two red pieces overlapped resemble a Christmas ornament or poinsetta. The center is a large green rhinestone brad, and it is hanging from silver elastic cord.

The ornament hangs freely in the cutout which shows the kraft cardstock layered inside the card. I struggled a bit wondering if this was going to turn out in a way that I liked but it did. Finished with some wide chocolate stitched ribbon, a strip of scalloped kraft cardstock and some dotting using the chocolate chip marker, then a very simple sentiment. TFL!

So glad you decided to stop by today! If you've done something with the Lattice Die I'd love to see it, please post a link so I can come visit you!
~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Real Red, Kraft, Chocolate Chip
Ink: Real Red
Accessories: Big Shot, Lattice Die, Ice Rhinestone Brad, wide chocolate chip stitched grosgrain, silver elastic cord, scallop edge punch, Word Window punch, Modern Labe punch

Fun & Fabulous Color Combo!

If you know me at all you know I adore fabulous color combinations and experimenting to come up with them! Well, the new In Colors Rich Razzleberry and Soft Suede are turning out to be great for this experimenting!

First up, this card using the awesome new Sizzix Bigz die called Lattice. Ooh, this is the first time I've played with it and man did ideas start swirling! Wish I had time to do them all at once.

For this card I used the largest of SU's circle punches, the 1 3/4" which fits nicely under the lattice with an edge showing. I just chose some fun colors I'd be eyeing together and put it together so quickly. These colors are: Soft Suede, Bermuda Bay, Soft Sky (old In Color) and Kraft. Just added some vintage brads, used the new Modern Label punch and a phrase from my new favorite sentiment set Teeny Tiny Wishes. Popped it up on some dimensionals and it was done- so quick! Imagine this very same layout in YOUR favorite colors!!
This card uses this week's Splitcoast sketch... and some fun new things. The DSP is from the new pack called Autumn Traditions. Also used a new set called Paradise with some fabulous tropical leaves great on their own or for combining with so many other sets. THe background is textured with SU's Texturz Plates and the Big Shot. Again used the Modern Label die with my Teeny Tiny Wishes sentiment and added a corduroy button in Kraft with a tiny sliver of Rich Razzleberry paper tied on.

So glad you decided to stop by today!

Up tomorrow: A remake on a recent card. Have you ever finished a card and just kept coming back to it thinking something just wasn't right? Well I do that all the time, and often I opt to just tear 'em apart and move things around (rather than starting over- that's no fun). I'll show you what I mean tomorrow.

Have a great day!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes, Paradise

Colors: Rich Razzleberry, Bermuda Bay, Soft Suede, Soft Sky, Kraft, Very Vanilla and Whisper White

Accessories: Big Shot, Texturz Plates, Lattice Bigz Die, Kraft Corduroy button, Vintage Brads, 1 3/4" circle punch, Modern Label punch