Chicks & Chocolate Easter Projects

The past couple of years I've offered a few Chicks & Chocolate events. It's an evening that has the guests stamping 3 projects; a greeting card and two 3-D items. Of course, chocolate is always included!

These are the projects the girls made last night.

How cute is that little bunny???  I had precut and prepunched almost everything, so the girls last night just needed to assmble them.

His little box "body" is just the right size to hold an assortment of chocolate goodies!

 And what bunny would be complete without a cute little fuzzy tail!

While the bunnies we created last night were all grey, I also decided to try one in a crisp white!  Ack - just adorable, don't you think? :)

The second project was a little matchbox.  I love how quick these little boxes can go together.  They're easy to cut using the Matchbox die for my Big Shot. It cuts and scores everything in just one quick pass through the Big Shot.

 We dressed them up by adding a piece of designer paper to the top of the box wrap.  Before adhering, we embossed it with our Oval Designer Frame Mini Embossing Folder.  Once adhered, we punched out the center with our Extra Large Oval Punch and added a small piece of our clear window sheet to the underside to keep the candies from falling out.

To finish it off, we stamped a greeting on one of the tags (included on the Matchbook Bigz Die), added one of the small butterflies cut/embossed with the Beautiful Wings embosslit and tied it around the box with a piece of our new Daffodil Delight Seam Binding ribbon. 

Haven't seen this designer paper or seam binding ribbon yet?  That's because it's part of our April Summer Smooches Promotion!  These items are both a sneak peek from our upcoming new Idea Book & Catalogue.  You can order these (and a few other amazing sneak peek items) RIGHT NOW, but ONLY for the month of April!  After that,they won't be available again until June.

The third project we stamped was a greeting card.  Once again we used some of our Summer Smooches designer paper.  We stamped the bunny image from our Everybunny stamp set on watercolor paper and colored it in with some of our classic inks and our Aqua Painters.

The banner along the bottom is a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock that's been folded in a fan style and adhered in place.  The greeting was stamped on another piece of Very Vanilla cardstock, punched with our Large Oval punch and layered on an Island Indigo punched Scallop Oval.

 Oh, and don't miss the little mushrooms stamped in the bottom corner.  They're part of the stamp set and I just HAD to include them on the card. ;)

It sounds like the girls all had a great time last night and really enjoyed the projects. 

Happy Stamping!

It's All Elementary...

That would be Elementary Elegance! Have you seen the new set in our Sale-a-bration catalogue? That's right, it's one of our FREE items you can choose until the end of March with every $60 order!

I received this set back in December (one of the perks of being a demonstrator!) and hadn't had a chance to really try it out yet! Here's a quick card I made last night using a favorite layout I like.

I started by cutting and embossing the right front edge with our Adorning Accents dies and embossing folders (LOVE those things!)

I added a strip of Berry Blossom designer series paper for color, but before I adhered it, I added a "ruffle" to each side by punching a strip of Natural White cardstock with our Lace Ribbon Border punch.

The main stamped image is from our Elementary Elegance stamp set.

Our Curly Label punch coordinates perfectly with this set!  It makes adding a greeting SO easy!  I stamped, punched out and then popped it up with a Stampin' Dimensional.

The addition of some Lucky Limeade Ruffled Ribbon and Victoria Crochet Trim along with three of our smallest pearls finished it off.  Oops - almost forgot.  The cute brad in the center of the bow is also from our Sale-a-Bration catalogue!  It's part of a ribbon and brad combo pack!  Love them! :)

Hope you like it!

Happy Stamping!

A Valentine for my Hubby

Just a quick post to show you the Valentine card I made for my hubby.  Quick, simple with no extra frills.  Hope he likes it! :)

This is not my original design.  I saw the layout online, but when I clicked on the link, I kept getting an error message saying the page didn't exist!  So unfortunately, I don't know who originally designed this card.  :o/

I started by cutting out the letters with my Serif Essentials Big Shot dies which I layered on Whisper White, Basic Grey & Basic Black cardstock.  The only two "embellishments" are the little stamped tag with a little Early Espresso Bakers Twine and the little heart punched from our red Glitter paper using our Heart to Heart punch.  Both are "popped up" off the page with Stampin' Dimensionals.

The card measures 5x5.  While I don't make a lot of square cards, I really do like them. :)

Happy Stamping!

Move over mistletoe...

...It's Birthday time!!!

It's my mother-in-law's birthday on Christmas Eve and from what I've been told by many with birthday's so close to the holiday is their birthday's tend to be pushed aside or kind of just blend in with the rest of the festivities. That's so sad! SO, when I sat down to stamp her a birthday card, I wanted to make sure her card was definitely birthday-related with no Christmas in sight! ;)

Here's what I came up with!

I was absolutely thrilled with the way it turned out!  Now, you may spot a few things on this card you haven't seen before.  That's because I used some of the new products I was allowed to preorder from our upcoming Occasions Mini catalogue that starts in January!  Also, I can't take full credit for this design.  I actually copied the basic layout from the example on the front of the mini catalogue and just made a few minor changes. :)

The color combination started from the floral designer paper on the front.

That's a piece of our upcoming Twitterpated dsp.  LOVE!  From there I stamped the floral label image from our new Apothecary Art stamp set and then cut it out with our new Labels Collection Framelits die!  Oh my goodness...you won't want to miss out on those.  These wafer thin dies come in sets of 6 so they're perfect for instant layering.  While I am not allowed to post pictures of the actual product yet, I CAN show you examples of projects I've made with them. Take my word you'll want to see this catalogue ASAP! ;)

The beautiful cut and embossed edge on the right of the card and the scallop peeking out from under the designer paper?  Oh yes, more new products!

It's our new Adorning Accents Edgelits dies and embossing folders!  Easy to use and oh so gorgeous!!!

I finished the card with some sticky strip and Baja Breeze seam binding ribbon, a piece of our crochet trim and a large rhinestone brad.

OH, and that little stamped skeleton key on the tag?  That's one of the stamps in our Elementary Elegance stamp set you can receive FREE during Sale-a-Bration!  Um ya...you won't want to miss that! ;)

I love this card so much I plan to make a 2nd soon to keep!  I didn't want to part with this one! ;)

Happy Stamping!

And 3 more makes 5....

If you visited my blog over the past two weeks you would have seen my Snow Swirled and JOYful Ornament cards. They are actually 2 of 5 cards that I offered at a Christmas card class a friend had asked me to do for her. The class was last night and so I thought I should post the remaining three cards we stamped.

Each card uses some of our Letters to Santa designer series paper. I love the color combinations in this paper.

This is a fairly simple card with the images being stamped on a Whisper White Top Note I cut with my Big Shot.

 This card had the ornaments stamped first on scrap Whisper White cardstock, cut out and then popped up with dimensionals.

I think this is one of my favorites.  The large scallop circle was cut on the Big Shot and the large white circle I cut with my Circle Scissor Plus.  We also embossed the bottom Marina Mist cardstock with my Square Lattice embossing folder for some added texture.

Happy Stamping!

JOYful Ornaments

Here's another card I quickly put together the other day but never got around to posting it. I wouldn't say it falls into the "traditional" category, but nowadays it seems anything goes! ;)

Once again I used the "Letters to Santa" designer paper. This particular piece is actually printed off my home printer after I purchased the Letters to Santa My Digital Studio download. I just printed the design on a piece of Whisper White cardstock. I love this pattern and now I never have to worry about running out (well, unless my printer is out of ink!). ;)

 

After layering it on a piece of Early Espresso cardstock, I finished it off with a piece of Marina Mist Scallop Edge ribbon. I just love those little polka dots!  Then, I adhered it to a piece of Blushing Bride cardstock.

Once again I added a snowflake cut with my Northern Frost sizzlet die. I added one of our clear rhinestone brads to the center for a little sparkle and adhered it to the cardfront with a dimensional

The letters are stamped using my "Lovely Letters" stamp set, punched out with my 1-1/4" square punch and layered on a piece of Marina Mist cardstock I'd punched out with my 1-3/8" square punch. Each letter is adhered with a dimentional as well to give them a little height. 

I finished off the card by added three small pearls to the bottom left corner.

Quick, simple and I think it's cute! :)

Happy Stamping!

Autumn Banner

I think I just qualified for the worlds most boring blog post title.  Maybe I'm just tired this morning, but I couldn't come up with anything catchy!  ;)

When I attended a Stampin' Up! Regional event this past February, one of the projects we stamped was an adorable "Create" banner. It's the one pictured in my blog header. I had so much fun stamping it that I decided to stamp another one, but this time with a Fall theme.  (Click the pics for a closer peek)

Each of the flags are cut from our new Spice Cake designer paper using my Petal Cone Bigz die.  The flowers for each letter were cut using my Fun Flowers Bigz die and each letter is stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock and then punched out using our 1-3/4" circle punch.

Before adhering the letters on the flowers, I used our 2-way glue and went around the entire edge and added our Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  I love the look of glitter and our Dazzling Diamonds does not disappoint in the sparkle department!

The "ribbon" on each end is a piece of our Spice Cake fabric which I just ripped from the main piece so it's got that nice feathered edge.  I also used a few of our Vintage Trinkets - I just adore these little pins and mini buttons. 

The buttons are actually little brads, so they're super easy to add to a project.

The letters are stamped using our Broadsheet Alphabet set and I stamped the mini flags and some of the letter backgrounds with some of the outline images of our new stamp set Gently Falling.  The little More Mustard flower on the mini flag was punched out with a *ahem* retired punch and added one of our self-adhesive Basic Pearls to the center.  In place of the retired punch, I would have preferred to use the flower punch in our Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, but I don't own it....yet. ;)

I enjoyed stamping this banner as much as I did stamping my first.  The occasions are endless - Birthdays, Baby Showers, Holidays... I already have plans for a Christmas one.

If you have any questions, let me know.

Happy Stamping

Vintage French Country (or something like that)

After the kids went to bed last night, I spent my evening working on another card. I knew I wanted to combine my new Established Elegance stamp set with the new Beau Chateau designer series paper.

After playing around with various layouts, this is what I came up with:  (click the pics for a closer peek)

Isn't it pretty? I think it's so soft and feminine looking!  I ran a piece of our Vanilla Seam Binding ribbon through my sewing machine set to my basting stitch (which is just the longest straight stitch) which gave me a beautiful even gather.  I adhered it to the card with a small strip of double sided adhesive along the front and wrapped the edges around and adhered them to the back.

I cut out the flower using my Fun Flowers Bigz die.  That tiny silver center? That's one of our new silver Mini Brads! They are so petite which makes them absolutely adorable!!

The small leaves are cut out using my Little Leaves sizzlet.


Can you see the small embossed oval next to the flower?

I used one of our new Designer Frames Embossing Folders.   The oval frame is the exact size as our Extra Large Oval Punch so it makes it SO quick and simple to add a greeting or stamped image to the center.  To finish it off, I added three of our small Basic Pearls.

Hope you like it!  If you have any questions or would love to see any of these products in person, let me know!

Happy Stamping!

It's been awhile....

Wow - I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since I last posted anything. Unfortunately, our household was hit with a brutal cold/bug and I'd HOPED it would skip me, but no, I too got hit. A week and a half later and I'm still dealing with it.  Not much fun when I'm still trying to deal with three sick kids!  It looks like we're all finally on the mend though! :)

I did sneak into my craft room last night and sat down with a new stamp set that just arrived. It's called Established Elegance and I loved it as soon as I saw it in our new Idea Book & Catalogue!

I just love anything vintage right now, so I knew I had to add this set to my collection! 

Here's my card:

If you saw my pool party card post last month, you'll probably recognize the layout.  I pretty much copied the layout and colors (using Crumb Cake instead of Wild Wasabi) and used my new stamps.  I added a single rhinestone to the crown image for a little extra sparkle.  I also dusted off my Sincere Salutations stamp set.  I keep forgetting what a great little set that is and it covers a number of different occasions!

Hope you like it!

Happy Stamping!

Pool Party

Another sneak peek! I had an opportunity to sit down for a couple minutes this afternoon and decided to stamp a simple card using another one of our upcoming In Colors that will be available July 1st!

The color I used is "Pool Party" and with a name like that, it has to be exciting! when I first saw it, I thought it looked very similar to our Baja Breeze color, but when I compared the two, Pool Party is definitely a lot lighter and has more of a pale green undertone. Think beautiful Caribbean ocean!

Once again I picked a color combo from my Color Coach and this one was Pool Party, Wild Wasabi & Chocolate Chip and decided to use my "Simply Said" stamp set. This set is actually on the retirement list and is only available until the end of June!

With a stylus and my Frost White shimmer paint, I added some small shimmery dots to the flower centers on my card base as well as the petals on the main image. So pretty.  I also used my paper piercer and my Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write marker for the faux zig-zag stitching along the side.

I finished it off with some of our new scallop edge polka dot ribbon (available July 1st) and some of our Espresso/White Bakers Twine from our Summer Mini catalogue!

I absolutely love this card and put it together is less than 15 minutes.

Hope you like it.  

Happy Stamping!

DIY Buttons

Here it is - FINALLY! I know I said I'd post a DIY Button tutorial last week, but I wanted to show my stampers 6 clubs first (one of the many perks of joining a club!) and my 2nd club didn't end up meeting until last night, so I decided to wait.

BUT, here it is! A quick and simple way to make your own buttons that will coordinate perfectly with any card, scrapbook page or other project you're creating!

The products you'll need are:

Scrap cardstock or Designer Series Paper
Paper Punches of your choice (I'm using 3/4" & 1/2" circle punches)
Crop-o-Dile
Sanding Block
Post-it Note
Anywhere Glue stick (or other liquid-type adhesive)
Crystal Effects
Tweezers
Paint brush
Parchment Paper



Punch out five 3/4" circles and one 3/4" "donut".

To punch out my donut shape, I first punched out one 1/2" circle.

Then, I lined up my 3/4" circle punch around the punched 1/2" circle and punched again.

 
This gave me a perfect donut shape.

Line up four of the full circles and the donut on a post-it note.

 Apply an even amount of glue to cover the circles.

Starting with the non-glue covered circle, start layering the punches ending with the donut. Wipe away any excess glue and make sure your circles are perfectly lined up on top of each other.

With the pencil, mark button hole placement (with a larger button, 4 holes looks cute as well).

Punch holes with the crop-o-dile.  Punching through this many layers with a regular hand punch would be next to impossible, but the crop-o-dile is engineered in a way that it'll punch through SO easily.

Using your sanding block, lightly round the top edge/side of your button.

Pick up button with tweezers.

With the paint brush, brush on a layer of Crystal Effects around the outside edge to seal the paper layers together.

Place the button on the parchment paper and apply a thick even coat of Crystal Effects to the top.

Once dry, peel off the parchment paper and adhere with mini glue dots to your project!

There are so many different punches available, so don't limit yourself to just circles!

I hope you'll try your hand at making your own buttons.  I'd love to see what you come up with.

Happy Stamping!