Happy Birthday Big C!

My nephew is turning 3 in July and I made this card to send to him.  The card base is an airplane I cut with the New Arrival Cricut cartridge.  I thought it'd be fun to have the airplane pulling a banner announcing his age.  I made the "3" by cutting strips of paper, then sticking them on a Whisper White card base before cutting it with the Alphabet Simple Numbers Die.  I'll be writing his birthday message on the back of the banner.

Happy Birthday Big C!

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

Stamps:  On Your Birthday
Ink:  Basic Black
Paper:  Bashful Blue, Going Gray, Vellum, Whisper White
Accesories:  Sherbet Designer Buttons, Sizzix Alphabet Simple Numbers Die, Linen Thread, 1/8" Circle Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

Chic Boutique Card Tote

My downline Amy came over on Saturday to craft.  One of the projects we worked on was this little tote bag filled with three A4 sized cards.  A lot of stamp sets will retire with the release of the new catalog in 3 short days and I'm glad to see Chic Boutique is a keeper!  This tote bag was inspired by a project I saw on the Stampin' School website run by Linda Heller.  Her version is bigger to accommodate A2 cards.  Since I have an abundance of chipboard that I've never used, I decided to size my tote to fit smaller cards.  Here is a picture showing the pieces and the sizes to create the smaller tote bag.

The 5 3/8 x 8" piece (A) is the interior of the tote bag and you'll need to score it at 3 1/2" (paper oriented lengthwise) and then turn it to score at 3 1/2" on the opposite side.  This will leave you a 1" wide space to hold cards.  Round the upper left and right corners for A. 

For the accordian sides, score B at 3/8" intervals (paper oriented heightwise).  Fold each score line alternating valley and mountain folds. 

Repeat for the 2nd accordian piece.

Next attach the accordian side to the tote's interior piece.

This is what the completed interior will look like.

You'll need to cut 2 pieces of C.  Round all four corners and then mount the paper to the chipboard.  The next step is to add the ribbon straps.  My ribbon is cut to 13 3/4" because I want my straps on the outside.  If you prefer the straps to be on the inside and covered by the patterned paper, you can cut it shorter.  Use lined grid paper to help you align the sticky strips for straightness and even spacing.

The next step is to attach the pieces covered with patterned paper to the interior.

Finally, cut a strip of cardstock with dimensions 1 1/4 x 3" for the tote closure.  Score at 1 1/2" and 2".  Attach the shorter end to the back of the tote.  For the front of the tote, punch a 1 3/4" circle monogrammed with the initial of your choice.  The monogram has been heat embossed with white embossing powder.

Here is a side view of the completed tote.

I used magnetic tape for the tote closure.  You can also use velcro.  If you don't have chipboard, you can substitute heavy duty cardboard.

Have fun trying this project!  If you have any questions, email me at bellaconfetti@gmail.com.

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Chic Boutique, Contempo Alphabet

Ink:  Versamark, Early Espresso, Pumpkin Pie

Paper:  Island Oasis Designer Series Paper, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Accessories:  1 3/4" and 1" Circle Punches, Early Espresso and Daffodil Delight Markers, Circle Fire Rhinestone Brad, White Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, 1" Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon

More Punch Art Animals

Here are a couple more punch animals I've come up with.  Happy punching!



Stampin' Up Supplies Used:
Stamps:  None
Ink:  None
Paper:  Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, YoYo Yellow, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Sahara Sand, Crushed Curry, Baja Breeze, Vellum

 Owl:  Extra Large Oval for Body, Extra Large Two Step Bird for Wings, Circle Punches:  1/2" and 1/8" for Eyes, 1/4" for Belly, Large Star (Retired) for Ears and Beak, Spring Flower Bouquet (Retired) for Feet
Bee:  Circle Punches:  1 3/8" for Body, 1/8" for Eyes, Heart to Heart for Wings, Horizontal Slot for Stinger
Panda: Circle Punches: 1 3/4" for Head, 1/2" and 1/8" for Eyes, 1/2" for Ears, 1/4" for Nose

Bunny:  Circle Punches:  1 3/4" for Body, 1/2" for Feet, 1/4" for Nose, 1/8" for Eyes, Word Window for Ears and Arms, Slot for Ears
Chick:  Circle Punches:  1 3/4" for Body and Eggshell and 1/8" for Eyes, Spring Flower Bouquet (Retired) for Wings and Tuft

Curry Up Now

Here's a sneak peak at a Level 1 Hostess Set which will be available on July 1st.  It's called Because I Care and features a lovely image of a hydrangea, one of my favorite flowers.  This set can be yours if you place an online order for $150 or host a workshop with sales totalling $150 after the new catalog goes live on July 1st.  If you're interested and live in the San Jose area, please contact me at bellaconfetti@gmail.com to schedule a workshop.  I'd love to show you more ideas using this gorgeous Hostess Set!

As for card details, it's a case based on this card from Joann Pullen:


For my card, I used watercolor paper and distressed the right side a bit for texture.  Then watercolored some So Saffron in the middle of each hydragenea.  This card almost made it as a one-layer card; I felt that the thank you made more of an impact if it was in a complementary color Crushed Curry and popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals.  Crushed Curry is a 2009-2010 In Color and will only be available until June 30th.  Curry Up Now!  It's not too late to place an order to stock up.  Just click on the Stampin' Up icon on the right hand side of my blog to take you to my online ordering website.

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Because I Care
Ink:  Basic Black, So Saffron
Paper:  Watercolor, Crushed Curry
Accessories:  Modern Label, Stampin' Dimensionals

Paper Tole Using Friends Never Fade

Here's another sneak peak at a new stamp set called Friends Never Fade that will be released in July.  I used the Paper Tole technique on the flower image.  Paper tole is an art technique in which part or all of an image is raised from the surface to give a 3D effect.  Each layer is popped up to give it lift from the layers underneath.  3D is so trendy these days!

8 more days until the new Stampin' Up Catalog release.  I'm so excited - it truly is the best looking catalog ever! 

***SPECIAL PROMO***

It's not too late to order from the 2009 - 2010 catalog.  Click on the Stampin' Up logo on the right hand side to place an online order.

Place a $75 order (merchandise total) with me from now thru June 30th and and I'll send you a complimentary copy of the new catalog when it's available!
 
 

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Friends Never Fade
Ink:  Early Espresso
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Greenhouse Gala Designer Series Paper, Early Espresso, Whisper White
Accessories:  Peach Parfait Marker, Stampin' Dimensionals, Scallop Trim Border Punch

Children's Calling Cards

Today's post requires no stamping!

Making children's calling cards serves two purposes:  it uses up all those scraps you can't bear to throw away and it saves you from having to make birthday cards for all the parties your children attend.  Just slip one of the cards inside the gift or use on the outside as a gift tag.  They're easy to make with your computer and literally takes no time.  I used an invitation software program called Printing Press Extreme from Mountaincow, but Microsoft Word will easily work too.  These calling cards are 2.5" x 3.5" and 6 fit comfortably on a standard sheet of paper.  I used a heavier weight cardstock so the cards wouldn't get bent.

Let's Be Clear

Today's post features cards made with clear transparency sheets.  Clear cards are unique and modern and very easy to make.  They are the perfect platform for rub-ons too.  I started these cards by painting the backside of the front of the cards with scrapbook paint.  I really wish Stampin' Up would offer paints in their exclusive colors; I sent in a product suggestion so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they eventually will.  In the meantime, your local craft store has lots of fun colors to play with.  Allow at least 10 minutes for the paint to dry before proceeding.

The first card is another Father's Day card.  I made this for my non-stamping sister to give to our dad.  Since the card I made for myself featured a polka-dotted D, I thought my sister's should feature a striped D.  I used the same technique by creating a small scrap of paper with stripes before running it thru the Big Shot.  This is another good use of scraps.  The inside of the card holds a small scrap of Whisper White cardstock to write your sentiment.  It's approximately the same size as the painted area and is adhered to the inside with mini glue dots.  I rubbed on "Happy Father's Day" from the Chit Chat collection (I love all the sayings!) and then popped up the D with Stampin' Dimensionals.

The second card is a birthday card featuring the Flowers, Daisies #2 Big Shot die.  The rubon is also from Chit Chat.  I used a button from the Sherbet Designer Buttons collection for the center of the flower to add a pop of color.  Both of these cards took less than 10 minutes to put together; add drying time for paint and you're only at 20 minutes for 2 cards.

I hope these two quick cards inspire you to create a clear card soon!

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

Stamps:  None
Ink:  None
Paper:  Whisper White, Marina Mist, Pear Pizzazz, Baja Blue
Accessories:  Flowers, Daisies #2 Big Shot Die, Chit Chat Rubons, Serif Essentials Alphabet, Sherbet Designer Buttons, Linen Thread, Mini Glue Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals, Transparency Sheet

Father's Day Card

Happy Saturday Everyone!  I spent this morning making my dad his Father's Day card.  I incorporated everything I had that was masculine in his card and I'm sad to say I don't have much.  In fact I don't think I own a single masculine stamp set, so I had to improvise by using my Woodgrain background stamp and my Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder to make the circle look like a golfball.  So without a male stamp set, I resorted to making my focal point a "D" for dad.  Spruced it up with some polka dots (sorry had to throw something feminine into the card) and finally the card was complete.  I made the "D" polka dotted by covering a small scrap of Peach Parfait cardstock with various sized circles, then ran it thru my Big Shot using the Serif Essentials Alphabet dies.  I originally wanted to print out "DAD" but the Serif letters were waaaaay too big to all comfortably fit on a 4.25" x 5.5" card.  Here's what the polka dotted piece looked like before going thru the Big Shot.

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Woodgrain Background

Paper:  Peach Parfait, Marina Mist, Soft Suede, Whisper White

Ink:  Soft Suded

Accessories:  Serif Essentials Alphabet, Circle Scissor Plus, Stampin' Dimensionals, Perfect Polka Dots, Circle Punches:  1/8", 1/4" and 1/4" 

Punch Art Animals

I belong to a stamp 'n chat group of local Bay Area Stampin' Up demonstrators and one month we made a bunch of animals using punches.  They were so fun to make and such a creative use of punches.  If you want to see previous animals my stamp 'n chat group and I've made, visit my gallery on Splitcoaststampers.

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1067232?&cat=500&ppuser=33619

Here are 3 more animals I just created.  One use for these animals is to turn them into magnets by attaching magnetic double-sided tape to the back.  Magnetic tape can be found in the craft section at Walmart.  Other uses are to make cards or tags.  I create these animals by looking at cartoon images, dissecting them shape by shape and then equating those shapes to punches. 

Have fun getting creative with punches!

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

Paper:  Baja Breeze, Marina Mist, Early Espresso, Creamy Caramel (soon to be retired), Peach Parfait, Whisper White, Basic Black

Accessories:  Various Punches
Giraffe:  Wide Oval and 1/2" Circle for the Neck; 1/8" and 1/4" Circles for Eyes; Small Oval for Snout, 1/8" Circle for Nostrils; Wide Oval for Head, Horizontal Slot and 1/4" Circle for Horns, Two-Step Bird Extra Large (wing portion) and Daisy (retired) for Ears

Monkey:  Key Tag and Word Window for Body, Word Window for Arms; 1 3/8" Circle for Head; 1: Circle for Snout (cut in half); 1/4" and 1/4" Circles for Ears; 1/8" Circle for Eyes; 1/2" and 3/4" Circles and Horizontal Slot for Tail

Cheetah:  1 3/8" Circle for Head; 1/2" Circle and Star (retired) for Snout, 1/8" Circle for Eyes and Spots; Daisy (retired) for Ears; Word Window for Neck

Grand Soiree Invitation

My best friend's daughter turned 13 last year and wanted her invitation to feature a chandelier.  She's got impeccable style for a young lady!  So I dusted off my Grand Soiree stamp set and utilized a "corset" design to connote a French theme.  The back of the invitation is "laced up" using silver cord.  I used Stampin' Up's exclusive Table Setting die to create the corset belly band.  It was originally released in last year's Holiday Mini and I'm glad to see it'll be part of the new 2010-2011 catalog that will be released July 1.


Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Grand Soiree (Retired)
Ink:  Basic Black
Paper:  Lavender Lace, Whisper White, Going Gray, Basic Black
Accessories:  Table Setting Sizzix Big Shot Die, 3/4" Circle Punch, Wide Oval Punch, Silver Cord

Auction Donation

I donated 25 invitations + 25 favors to an auction my friend Amy was holding last month and these were the samples I created for her to display.  I used an Accucut die to make the favor box to the far left and Sizzix Big Shot dies to make the boxes in the center and right.  The matchbox favor to the right uses a die that's exclusive to Stampin' Up only.  It's one of my favorite favor boxes to make.  I used heavy duty plastic sheets to make the clear slider portion of the matchbox.

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Everything Nice

Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Whisper White, Kiwi Kiss (retired)

Ink:  Chocolate Chip

Accessories:  Circle Punches - 1 3/4", 1 3/8", 1 1/4", 3/4", 1" Double-Stitched Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Thick Window Sheets, Stampin' Dimensionals

Masculine Birthday Card

This is the birthday card I made for my brother-in-law.  I have a hard time coming up with masculine designs and it took me a few tries mixing various colors and components.  There'll be plenty of other opportunities to perfect masculine designs with Father's Day next week and my other brother-in-law's birthday coming up next month.

I incorporated more new items that will be available from Stampin' Up in July.  The background paper is called Newsprint and the first thing I thought was I needed to make the paper look old and aged.  Something about newsprint, I guess.  I even went as far as contemplating burning the edges a bit, but with my luck I'd probably set the house on fire.  So I settled with just a touch of roughing up (or shabby chic'ing) around the edges of the background paper.  With the vintage feel of the newsprint, I gravitated towards a "vintage" set called Puns From the Past.  The Grateful For You stamp is very appropriate as my BIL has helped me around my place a LOT by playing Mr. Handyman.  Thanks for building all my bookshelves to hold my collection of cookbooks!

Supplies List

Stamps:  Puns From the Past

Paper:  Sahara Sand, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Newsprint DSP

Ink:  Basic Black

Accessories:  Corner Rounder Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

Children's Birthday Gift Tags

Last weekend I created a gift tag for my nephew Christopher's birthday present using Stampin' Up's Fox & Friends stamp set.  I was so happy with the result that I decided to create a whole set to have on hand whenever I needed them.  It gave me the perfect opportunity to use the new colors Stampin' Up will introduce in July.  The "happy birthday" was printed with my computer using Gotham Book and Amelie fonts.  The tags are 2 1/2" square.  Can I say I love the new 2 3/8" scallop punch?!?!?

 

My goal this year is to be more proactive and have a stash of cards and tags ready to use, rather than waiting until the last minute and then creating in a hurried fashion.  This blog will set me on course hopefully as I set a goal to post at least 4 or 5 times a week.

Stamps:  Fox & Friends

Paper:  Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White

Ink:  Early Espresso, So Saffron, Marina Mist

Accessories:  2 3/8" Scallop Punch, Markers:  Early Espresso, River Rock and Pear Pizzazz, Stampin' Dimensionals, Cropodile to punch out circle

First for me, first for Claire

My very first blog post! And appropriately it's a post of my niece Claire's 1st birthday party favor box. My sister Janet (my Stampin' Up downline too!) and I created these cupcake favor boxes to coordinate with the cupcakes served at Claire's birthday party. The boxes were created using the Sweet Treats Cricut cartridge and Stampin' Up cardstock.

Supplies List:
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Baja Breeze, Barely Banana
Ribbon: Pumpkin Pie and Kiwi Kiss (both retired)