LUCKY LEPRECHAUN TREAT ENSEMBLE

Kids will love these adorable treats made just for the lucky holiday of St. Patrick’s Day!  Included in the project are a cute Leprechaun Hat that you can add treats to, Leprechaun Treat Legs, a Rainbow Pot of Gold Treat Holder and a coordinating Lucky card!  Make one or make them all, and feel the luck coming your way!

Heidi King designed this adorable ensemble for Craft Project Central, and the detailed tutorial is available to subscribers.

"LEMONADE STAND" DELICIOUSNESS

Yesterday, as I was leaving to visit my grandmother, I sat at the stop light and watched the UPS truck turn into my neighborhood and knew that the driver was delivering my Stampin' Up! order . . . at an early "could-have-played-all-day-with-new-stuff" 11:00 a.m.  It was kind of disappointing knowing for sure that my order would have to sit in that taped up box all afternoon, but it was for a good cause.  I was expecting an order the day before and was ready to have a stampin' good time--had already declared it a fun day--but UPS didn't bring that order until after 4:00 p.m.  Doesn't it just figure????  Anyway . . . when I got home this evening, I started sorting the order and installed the "Lemonade Stand" digital content, which is one of the Sale-a-Bration products that I earned FREE.  Oh, my goodness . . . how fun!!!!!  I haven't even looked at all of the content from that disc but, with the exception of the Honeycomb embossing folder, all of the images used in this card's design are from that CD.  Indeed, you won't be disappointed with this SAB freebie.  All of the SAB products this year are really awesome!  Of course, I used Stampin' Up!'s MDS2 software to create the design, printed it, cut it to size, and then finished the card.  Soooooooooooooooo easy!!!!  Speaking of MDS2, Stampin' Up! has some digital content CDs in the Clearance Rack for $1.  Even if you already have some of the images that come on any of those CDs, it's worth spending ONE DOLLAR to get the other content that you don't have!  Check it out and, as usual, I will appreciate your business.

BRITISH CONGRATS ARE IN ORDER

Sentiment inside the card

A couple of years ago, my husband decided to go back to college to complete his Bachelor's degree and then looked forward to earning his Master's.  As you might imagine, it's not easy for an adult to return to school, particularly while working a full-time job that involves traveling.  I am really proud of his dedication to this goal because not only did he complete the courses of study, he maintained an A average all the while.  For a few days, he's been waiting for his degree to arrive and, shortly after he left for work today, it came.  My son and I decided to open the package and wrap it as a gift, and pictured here is the card that I made to also include in the box.  We often joke with my husband about his fascination with the BBC station and anything British, which is why I purchased the "British Invasion" stamp set a while ago.  I knew it would come in handy!  To create this card, I used a couple of strips of washi tape along the bottom, and the following Stampin' Up! products:  Whisper White and Basic Gray card stock, red brads (retired), 1/4" Real Red grosgrain ribbon (retired), and Word Window punch.  At the last graduation ceremony, I saw him looking at the impressive velvet panels on the robes worn by the PhD graduates, and I can't help but wonder if he's setting a new goal.  One thing is for certain . . . I know that he would be just as dedicated and do GREAT!

A "PERFECTLY PRESERVED" TREAT FOR "MAKE-IT-SNAPPY-MONDAY"

You know how it is when you need a project, you have an idea, and then you're even more thrilled with the result than you thought you'd be?  That's exactly what happened with this cute little dilly!  Actually, while this project was a mere vision in my head, it was going to be more of a bag/tall box than a box-bottom treat holder, but my head didn't see that the die-cut piece wouldn't have sides.  Ha!  Even though this treat holder is somewhat petite, I love the fact that the interior box is open so that it will accommodate a generous sized treat.  And now I'll show how to fold the designer paper so that you, too, can make this cute treat holder.

Fold your designer paper (mine was 4" x 8") in half as shown in the first photo.  The size can vary since you just want to make sure that the paper will cover the die.  The second step is to fold up the folded edge approximately 3/4" to 1" (as shown in the second photo).  Finally, place the die of your choice on the paper so that the folded edge is just inside the cutting part of the die and will NOT get cut (as shown in the third photo).  Once cut, all you need to do is flatten the folded portion of the paper and then create a box to fit that opening, being mindful that your box isn't too tall if you wish to close the top like I did.  I stapled the top of the "jar" to keep it closed and then covered the staple (front and back) with a die-cut jar topper. Stampin' Up! products used to complete this project include:

Stamp Set:  Lovely Little Labels

Card Stock:  Summer Starfruit, Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry

Sizzix:  Cannery Set Framelits

Punches:  Jewelry Tag, Petite Curly Label, Little Labels Punch Pack

Accessories:  Linen thread, Stampin' Dimensionals, Sycamore Street designer paper

JOURNAL & CANDLE SET

Turn any plain composition book or journal into a special keepsake that you will love or love to give as a gift!  This project incorporates beautiful designer fabric and gives your journal a wonderful soft texture that will make you love holding it in your hand.  And don’t worry if you don’t sew--this is a no-sew fabric project that is easy enough for anyone to do!

The tutorial for this project, which was designed by Niki, posted to Craft Project Central today.  Don't you just love all of the pretty embellishments?!?!

JULIE'S "FREESTYLE FRIDAYS" CREATION

It's Julie's turn to share a Freestyle Fridays project, and how cute is this????  I love the  glittery heart and pink color palette, but the "clothesline" is just too clever.  I have some of the clothespins that Stampin' Up! sold at one time, and Julie's project makes me wonder why I didn't do more with them.  I hope you'll join me in visiting Julie's blog to see a complete photo of her project and learn all about it.  Let's leave her some comment love, too, because she clearly outdid herself this week!

BIRTHDAY CHALKBOARD CARD

This card was one of the projects that I designed for my Inkerbelles' class last Friday.  The Chalkboard technique is quite a fun one!  I used VersaMark to ink all of the stamps that I used on this card, and then embossed them with white embossing powder.  My son said that the images looked too bright, so I used Stampin' Up!'s Stampin' Sanding Block to dirty them up.  A crumpled paper towel was used to add some white ink smears on the card stock, and then I used a white pencil to draw the lines.  The pinwheel was die-cut from "Sunshine & Sprinkles" designer paper and adhered to the card with a glimmer brad.  Other Stampin' Up! products used to create this card include Lucky Limeade card stock, Sizzix Pinwheel die, and the following stamp sets:  Carry On (hostess), You're Amazing, Word Play, and Confetti.

"OH, WHALE!" CARD & BOX SET

Start 2013 off with a cute and ‘punny’ card set featuring a brand new set in the Spring Catalog!  When you’re done you will have a Valentine’s Day card, a Thank You card, a Get Well card, and a Welcome Baby card as well as a reusable box to store them all in!  Tara designed this project for Craft Project Central, and you can access the tutorial with your January subscription!

"TEA FOR TWO" GIFT SET ON CRAFT PROJECT CENTRAL

This pretty Tea for Two gift set, designed by Julie Beltramo, is sure to make a good friend smile!  The wall decor piece can be hung or set in a frame holder.  The simple treat cone can be filled with any kind of yummy treat, and the Oh, Hello card will be sure to set the tone for it all!  Julie's tutorial was posted today at Craft Project Central.

HYBRID "MAKE-IT-SNAPPY-MONDAY" CARD

It was really late last night when I sat down to create today's MISM project, so I turned to MDS2 to design this card.  I first selected a Curly Label punch shape and filled it with one of the designer papers from "A Split Second" kit.  I added another Curly Label shape, colored it Cherry Cobbler, and layered several doily images from the digital "Delicate Doilies" stamp set.  I love the Mis-Stitched embellishments so, of course, I had to add some stitching to the left side of the Cherry Cobbler label and topped this off with a "Button Latte" button and a digital Baker's twine bow.  The sentiment is from "Bloomin' Marvelous" (one of the Sale-a-Bration products which is on the "One Big Sale-a-Bration 2013" digital disc), which I colored with Cherry Cobbler and Basic Gray before printing and punching.  My finishing touches to this quick card included using oval punches for the sentiment, adhering the sentiment with Stampin' Dimensionals, adding a rhinestone jewel to the center of the doily image, and adhering the completed  hybrid design onto a Basic Gray card.  Easy peasy, snap-I'm-done!