Easy to Use! Hard to Lose!

Today is the Boston Marathon.   It is nasty out!  Rainy, windy, and cold.   I have never run a marathon (true story) and I know that “watching weather” and “running weather” are not often the same thing.   However, I can’t imagine this weather today is ideal for anyone!

That said, “nasty weather” is sort of ideal for crafters!   For some reason, I am most happy crafting on lousy days.   So if you are like minded, here is some inspiration for you:

I know you know that that the Retiring List of items from the Occasions and Annual Catalog came out last week.   If you don’t know, now you know (click here).   On this list is this fantastic little bundle.

My clubs this month will be using this set so I have had the chance to lots of creating using this bundle.   I LOVE this bundle.   First of all, it comes with PUNCHES—-“LAAAAAAAAAA” (the sound of craft angels singing!).  LOVE punches–easy to use and hard to lose! (That should be the tag line for punches!!  You are welcome, Tag Line Maker Uppers!)   AND–the punches (4 in total) are called Itty Bitty Fruit Punch Pack–You had me at “Itty Bitty”!!   SO cute!!!

Check out this video here:

I chose to punch out the pineapples but could have just stamped them on the cardstock and left them flat. I wanted dimension here though. Check this out:

Look at those adorable pineapples!!!   Get this—the new(ish) Mini Dimensionals fit on these pineapples -and strawberries, pears, and citrus slices-PERFECTLY!  Well done, Punch Designers!

There will be more posts coming with this little bundle. I don’t want anyone to miss out on getting it so act quickly.  The stamp set is available until May 25th but if these cute punches sell out, you are out of luck…..and you DON’T want to fussy cut tiny fruit…..Let’s face it: you don’t want to fussy cut ANYTHING–or is that just me?!

In any case, get yourself over to my website and order this bundle asap.
(If you order from my site using this code(9ARBTWBN) you will receive a set of handmade cards from me. Club members, please use the code provided in your emails.)

Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions or need any supplies.

Now go have a marathon crafting day!

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Color Revamp and what to do when your favorite retires!

Wow!  Wow! WOW!!!!

I have seen the future (catalog) and it is good!!!   I was at the Stampin’ Up! Onstage this weekend in Hartford, CT where the new annual catalog was unveiled.  The catalog will go live on June 1st.   I don’t want to tease you but it is GOOD!!   Probably the biggest news of the day was the Color Revamp.   Stampin’ Up! promised us years ago to stay current with color trends and as such, they would revise colors every few years.   This is the year!   They are adding some stunning and fun colors that will make creating that much better.   But to make room for the new, they are retiring some colors who have had their day in the sun but it is time to head off to Ink Pad Retirement Land.

We have all had that friend who was ready to retire but we weren’t ready for them to go. Well–I am here to tell you–to warn you, really–that if you have a friend retiring, you have to act quickly!   You MUST go to my website   immediately and order the ink REFILL and Paper Packs of your favorites.  They WILL sell out!   If  you are not a club member of mine, please use the hostess code:  9ARBTWBN.

All online orders using this code will receive a package of 5 hand stamped cards from me.  (If you are a club member, check your email for the hostess code that applies to your club).

Colors are not the only things retiring!   To see the list of everything retiring , check it out here Please note that stamp sets will be available until May 25th but everything else is “as supplies last” (read:   Git it ordered NOW!).

Donut Despair

Mother Nature is at it again!  Spring began yesterday and we here in New England are waiting for our 4th Nor’Easter in 3 weeks.   SOOOOOO done with this!   But apparently it is not done with us!

Ah well…

Donut Despair!   Haha!

I made this card a few weeks ago.   I was going for the look of a box of donuts….Sort of like the Krispy Kreme ones that you can see into and anticipate the treats inside!.

This is the inside of the card:

There are several reasons I love this card.

A.   The theme is “Celebrate the Good Stuff”!   Good stuff CAN be birthdays but is not limited to that.  There is “Good Stuff” every day.   Celebrate it! (Greeting can be found in this great stamp set  here.)

b.   Even those of you who might not like donuts, certainly like the IDEA of donuts.   Donuts=Happy!  ‘Specially these!  These are the no calorie kind found in the Picture Perfect Party Paper.  This is an actual photograph of some delicious looking donuts!

C.   You donut  have to write much at all on the inside of this card (See what I did there?!)  ….because there is no room– it is full of donuts.

One more fun thing about this card is that the rectangle cut out on the front of the card is from the Barn Door Framelits!  It is actually the door cut out.  Who knew?!

Notes:

*I decided to put the “frame” of the cut out on an angle but if you are not an angle type, no worries.   You can just as easily put that straight.

*You need to emboss the greeting on the velum paper.   I used Espresso ink and clear embossing powder.

Thanks for stopping by.   Let me know if I can help you out with any supplies you might need!

Check out my website here.

 

 

Pi Day Card!!

First of all, if you live in NE, congrats for surviving one more Nor’easter.   I have some inside info that tells me there MIGHT be 2 more coming before the end of the month.  Let’s put that right out of our minds and talk about good stuff:  CARDS!!

Today is National Pi Day.   It is a real thing.  Math Geeks Unite!   Actually, I am not a math geek….or even a math fan!  But I do like me some pie!

I have a nephew who LOVES pie.   He doesn’t like pie—He LOOOOOOOOVES Pie!  If pie is being served, he needs an entire one–not a piece!

Well, yesterday, during the storm (we shoveled a total of 6(!) times! #lastfamilyinnewenglandwithoutasnowblower  ), I realized that TODAY is Pi Day (3.14!).   I know this thought came to me about 2 weeks too late for you to take advantage of this info but I thought I would make a video for you today.   It is never too late to know some tricks for making a Pi(e) card!

(I apologize that my camera view wasn’t ideal.   I will do better next time.)

The video really explains the card but I wanted to give you this tip:  Spritz your cardstock before embossing!  This is not new news.   Stampin’ Up! recommended this to us when they first released Dynamic Embossing Folders.   But I am sometimes a lazy crafter and didn’t really see the need for it.   But let me tell you , after my research–I am a changed crafter!!   I will forever more spritz my cardstock.   Check out this difference:

Thanks for stopping by. I hope your day includes pie!
Visit my website for any supplies you might need!

Key Hole Fold Tutorial

I did it again!  I made another video.  This was a whim.  I had no intention of doing this when I woke up this morning so don’t judge me, please.

A few months ago, I got to attend the  Stampin’ Up! Onstage Local in Salt Lake City.   It was back in November and Sara Douglas was introducing some Valentine cards she had made.   One of them had this great pop out heart feature and I knew I was going to find a way to make my own.

The thing is, I didn’t necessarily want it for a Valentine card.  So I found a way to make this card work for a more generic card.  Sara’s original, I believe, was made using a notecard.

It is not that I am a perfectionist but I thought this card would work best if the focal  image was in the center of the card.  In order to do this with the punch I was using, I would need to adjust the size of the card.    I did a little math to figure out that if the  front of my card was 5 1/2 x 3 1/4″, the Classic Label Punch would work perfectly to  punch a hole in the center of the card.   So here is what I did:

This past month, the members of my card clubs have been making this very card.   By mistake (at least I think it was a mistake), one of my members punched the punch off center…..and it looked great!  In fact, if that had happened earlier in the month, I would have suggested that to everyone!  There is no need for a butterfly image to be centered when the entire card front is a floral pattern!   And because the hole can be punched off center, you would NOT need to have this odd sized card!  You could go with a standard 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ card front!

So while you CAN go with the measurements I give in the video, you don’t need to.   Give it a shot and see what kind of images you can find to work with for this fun fold!

Thanks for stopping by.   Visit my website for any supplies you might need.

Celebrating the Good Stuff!

This is a quick post today.   One of my favorite suites in the Occasions Catalog is the Picture Perfect Party suite.

It is so fresh.  And the stamp set Picture Perfect Birthday has the best greetings:

This year, I am all about “celebrate the good stuff”–not just birthdays.   There is good stuff all around us.   If we are looking to celebrate it, we are going to notice it more!

Also, who says confetti is saved for birthdays?   And noise makers!  Who says you can’t use them just because??   Not I!

Here is a here is a card to “celebrate the good stuff”–whatever your “good stuff” might be!  My favorite way to make anything on a card “pop” is to layer it on some black cardstock.   I think it worked here:

Those sequins you see there are the terrific new ADHESIVE BACKED sequins from the “Tutti Frutti” suite.   Who says you can’t mix suites?!

Thanks for stopping by.   Let me know if you need any supplies to celebrate your good stuff!

Little love from home

Well it is here—The week of love!   Apparently in other parts of the world, Valentine’s Day is really just for you and your significant other.   But we all know, from preschool on, in THIS country we share the love .   Parties in school are a BIG deal (Truth:  I sent my daughter to school sick when she was in 3rd grade because she couldn’t stand missing her “party”.   It may be too late but I do apologize to anyone she subsequently infected!).   You send valentines to everyone–whether you liked them or not!

It appears that the sweet treats that used to accompany those little cards have been replaced by sugar-free, gluten-free, fun-free pencils but we still insist on sharing the love on Valentine’s day.

I have 2 kiddies in college.   I am always looking for a reason to send some love from home.   What better reason than Valentine’s Day?  (Side note:  Both colleges contacted me to see if I would like to pay them to send my kiddie a package of love–Let me tell you–NEITHER school would have packaged up something this cute!)

So here is what they are getting (Spoiler alert if either are reading this):

(**The box is filled with sugar, gluten and fun)

The milk carton is pretty easy to make and I used the pattern from Pootles here.

As I said, I have 2 kids so I needed to make 2.   As I couldn’t decide which colors I wanted, I made them opposite:

Painted with Love Specialty DSP has this great gold foil accent in it (tough to see here but the “yellowish” hearts are actually gold.   So I cut out some gold foil paper for the “YOU” on the milk carton-y box and the stripe across the card.  

 

To make “YOU” stand out , be different than everyone else!  KIDDING!  To make “YOU” stand out, I cut out 2 images and layered them together.   I used those new A-DOOR-able mini dimensionals on the back.

By the way, the “YOU” is from a FREE Sale A Bration thinlits die set, Celebrate You!   You can get his set of thinlits FREE until the end of March when you place a qualifying order.    Check it out here.

The inside of the card is simple and I left lots of room to write my message.

There is NO reason to hold on to your designer paper–there WILL be more.  It really adds a nice touch to the inside of the card….and you don’t have to write as much!

Thanks for stopping by.   Please feel free to contact  me with any questions or supplies you might need for your own paper crafting.

 

Bloomin’ Love Video

It has been years–YEARS, people! since I made a video. Today, I took a leap and made a new one. Please, be kind….and enjoy:

This was one of the cards we made last night at An Unlikely Story.  By the way–If you are local, you NEED to check this great place out!  It is beautiful and they have some great classes/events….and coffee, beer and wine–‘Nuff said!

Not all Valentine cards need to be red and white. I like the softer look of Crumb Cake and Soft Sky on Vanilla.

Check out the Bloomin’ Love stamp set here along with the Bloomin’ Hearts Thinlits.

Thanks for stopping by. Visit my shop here to purchase any Stampin’ Up goods you need.

Super Bowl Hostess Gift

It is a big week here in New England.   Our Patriots are going to the Super Bowl (cough, again).   I will not get smug about this.  I know lots of people hate the Patriots.   BUT–regardless, I think you will  like this adorable project inspired by the talented flutterbyheidi.   I made  her original project and loved it so much I thought I would create a Superbowl 6-Pack as well.  Check it out here:

 

This is created with the adorable new bundle, Bubble Over .

If you haven’t yet checked out the bundle, let me tell you why you need it:

• It is a great set for kiddies.
• It is a great set for men.
• You can make beer bottles out of this.

There are very few stamp sets that can do all that!   This is a bundle you will be glad you have and use it for a long time to come!

You can order it here.

If you do have it already, why not make a little hostess gift for the Super Bowl  Party you will be attending this weekend…even if that hostess is YOU!

Thanks for stopping by.

Go Pats (cough-again).

 

My Rules that I Broke

This week, I held my first Stamp a Stack of the year.   If you are unfamiliar with that, it when you come make a bunch of cards so that you have them on hand when you need them….and when DON’T you need them?   Well the theme this month was Birthdays.   You would think as a card maker, I would always have birthday cards on hand and mailed right on time.  You would be wrong!

In any case, while I was creating the cards for the class, I challenged myself to make one of the cards a masculine card.   While they are not rocket science, making masculine cards is generally more difficult for me.

My go-tos for masculine card rules are:

• neutral colors
• texture
• no ribbon
• no glitter
• no sequins,
• no fun stuff!

So here is what I came up with:

So I broke 2 of my rules!

First rule I broke was No Ribbon.   Behind the tree layer, you can see the burlap ribbon.   Oops.  So I am changing up the rule:  No bows!

Rule number 2 that I broke was about the glitter!    It is difficult to see on line so let me try to show you with this:

After embossing the trees with the Woodland Embossing Folder, I quickly “painted” a little sparkle on the trees using Wink of Stella.  While this product is technically called a “glitter brush”, I think of it more as a “card enhancer”.   I think in the end, it added just the right amount ‘somethin’ somethin” I was looking for.  (Technically, this addition broke 2 rules as Wink of Stella is the definition of FUN STUFF!!–If you haven’t tried it yet, you must!)

I did stick to the neutrals rule as you can see.   The background is from the often overlooked Tree Rings background stamp.  (Truth be told, I originally planned on using the Wood Textures Designer Paper but didn’t have enough for all the cards so I substituted with this fun background stamp. )

So I challenge you to go make a card and break a couple of rules!

Thanks for stopping by.   Contact me should you have any questions or need any supplies!  Happy to help.