Artisan Facebook Friday!

I am excited to finally be sharing this little card folder with all y'all! I made this as my first "Facebook" project as a member of Stampin' Up's Artisan Design Team. We are being asked to create one project a month (in addition to other projects!) that will be showcased on Stampin' Up's Facebook page, and this is what I came up with.

Here is what it looks like on the inside ... I made a set of four cards (using the new In Colors!) to tuck inside the little pockets. The cards measure 3 3/4" by 4 3/4", so you will need pieces of cardstock that are 7 1/2" x 4 3/4" folded in half to create them ...

To make the pen holder, cut two pieces of cardstock to 3/4" x 2 1/4". Score at 3/4" and 1 1/2" and fold along score lines. These will be adhered to the finished folder approximately 1" from the top and bottom edges ... make sense? When I am typing instructions I always feel like I am trying to get English out of Italian translated via Japanese!!

This is a little template I created that shows where you cut and fold ... the red dashed lines are fold lines, and the black solid lines are for cutting ... click on the picture to enlarge it. You will probably hafta zoom in a bit as well (use your control or command key AND the "+" key). I have had a lot of issues with trying to attach downloadable files to Blogger ... it doesn't seem to like to do it!!

Stamps: Mixed Bunch, Itty Bitty Banners
Paper: Whisper White, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse, Gumball Green, Designer Series Paper Stacks 2012
Ink: Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse, Gumball Green
Accessories: Apothecary Accents Framelits,Bitty Banners Framelits, Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons, Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals, Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse and Gumball Green 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon, Fancy Fan Textured Impressions Folder, Whisper White Baker's Twine

Have a GREAT weekend!!

Springtime and Easter Baskets!

It seems like the weeks have gone whizzing by lately ... and y'all should SEE my craft room!! It is a DISASTER area!! I haven't really cleaned it up for nearly two months ... I haven't done a lot of crafting, either, so everything I have done in the past two months has remnants of itself piled in one place or the other ... sigh ... I need to find some time to clean this up ... but I'm gonna need a shovel to do so!!

On the good news front ... my mother in law came home from the rehab center on Thursday. She is doing incredibly well ... bones are all knitting nicely, and the thing that she is going to have to work on now is regaining strength and range of motion in her healing upper arm (where her humerus bone shattered). She is such an inspiration. My own sweet mom is going to be headed home from the rehab center on Wednesday. She is thrilled and scared ... she is still on the mend, but they say it may take up to six months for her to regain the strength she had before this episode (and she wasn't all that strong to begin with). But, she IS getting better, so that makes us happy!! My foot is making slow progress, but I am working on massaging/exercising it every day. Patience will win ...

And I am FINALLY posting the long-promised tutorial for the little basket I made for the Control Freaks Blog Tour way back in February ... like I said, no idea where the time went!!





First of all, you are going to need a 6"x6" piece of patterned/designer series paper. Score each side at 2" and 4", so that what you have resembles a tic-tac-toe board. Fold along score lines.









I used my Simply Scored board to help me with my cut lines. I scored a line at 5/8" and 1 3/8" from the top left edge to the first horizontal score line at 2". Flip your paper so that you can do this same thing in each corner of your "tic-tac-toe" board. Snip the score lines so that your paper looks like the image pictured here ...



Next, you will mark the top and bottom center pieces halfway across the top edge (since the section you are marking is 2" wide, mark it at 1"). Then, score a diagonal line from the mark you made to each of the lower corners of the 2" square (which would equate to the top center and bottom center of the "tic-tac-toe" board). Cut the lines so that you have triangle shapes, as shown.




You are now going to take the flaps you made in each corner and overlap them on each other so that the flap that ends up on top (the one on the outer edge of the "board") is parallel with the bottom of the basket. Do the same with the flaps in the other corner.








Once the flaps are secured (I used glue dots), It will look like this photo ... snip the little triangle piece that is sticking out at the top off ...









Punch two 1" circles from coordinating cardstock. Place the punched circles over the top center of the front and the back of the basket.







To create the handles, cut two 1/2" by 6" strips of cardstock or patterned paper. Secure the handles to the basket about 3/4" from the outside edge with a brad.

Embellish the circles with buttons and twine, if you wish!





Fill the basket with treats and adorn the bag with something fun (you knew a butterfly was gonna figure in here sooner or later, didn't ya??)!!

Ta-DA!!! That's it. Really quite easy ... I hope my instructions make sense. Sometimes it is so hard to get what is in your brain into words!!



Paper: Summer Smooches DSP, Whisper White, Lucky Limeage
Accessories: Simply Scored, 1" Circle Punch, Summer Smooches Brads, Bold Brights Button, Whisper White Baker's Twine, Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die, Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die, Rhinestone Basics, Cellophane Bag

Have a lovely Easter weekend! Eat some chocolate!!

Boo to YOU!!

Happy Halloween, Friends!! I soooo {{{heart}}} this crazy holiday!!! I'm not sure I'm EVER gonna outgrow it!!

First, I need to apologize for my absence ... the past week has been rather chaotic. Upon returning home from our Disneyland Adventure, I not only had to get back to the office to catch up on some things, but we also took my mom in for a pacemaker last Tuesday. She has been struggling with heart problems for nearly two years. We are very hopeful that this will solve most of her issues. Between running back and forth to the hospital, her place, work, school for the kids, AND our Annual Halloween Carnival (have been in charge of this with my friend, Holly for at LEAST 12 years ... maybe longer!), I didn't seem to have a spare second!! Hence, the delay in putting up the late-but-promised tutorial.

I posted this little treat box on my blog for the last Control Freaks Blog Tour. It is really quite easy and quick to make. Thanks to my BFF, Deb Felts, for her inspiration and permission to share this with you!



It uses one 6 x 6 inch piece of cardstock, scored in thirds tic-tac-toe style, at 2 and 4 inches, so its overall size is approximately two inches. This photo shows you where you need to score your paper. It actually works best with patterned paper, as it is not a s thick as cardstock, and folds much cleaner and easier.


All of the horizontal and vertical lines are folded peak-style, while the diagonal score lines are folded valley style, as in this photo...VERY easy! Add a 2"x4" piece of patterned paper, folded at 2" along the 4" side and adhere to back of box. I added the little tag from the Two Tags Bigz die and a Scalloped Circle Punch to the 2" x 4" patterned paper piece on this one. I used a Velcro dot to close the box.

I had planned to use some "current" SU patterned paper, but the only Halloween stuff I had this year was printed out on white cardstock using MDS ... which means the cardstock was a little too thick. Soooo ... I once again recycled some of my OLD SU patterned paper ... as well as the wonderful bat punch that was only current for ONE year, and the "Boo" sentiment from Best of Fiends (one of my bestest, most favoritist Halloween stamp sets EVER!!).

We celebrated Halloween a little early here ... had all my kids under one roof yesterday, so we had our traditional beef stew Halloween Dinner, as well as had the kids carve some pumpkins.







Devan's "Happy Face" ...

















Garrett during the creative process ...










Amelia and her "Totoro" pumpkin (she has a love for ALL things Animae!!)

Have a Spookalicious Day!!

Stamps: Best of Fiends
Paper: Basic Black, Creepy Crawly DSP (retired), Cajun Craze, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Simply Scored, Two Tags Bigz Die, 1 3/8" & 1 1/4" Circle Punches, Decorative Label Punch, Bitty Bat Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Rhinestone Basics, Chocolate Kisses

See??? I TOLD Ya!!

FINALLY!! SUCCESS!! TA-DA!! My darling daughter had a FEW brief minutes to help me get this tutorial filmed ... and I have to apologize for the funky lighting ... it was late, so we had to just do it with no natural light. AND the back of my head keeps creepin' its way into the video ... the price one pays for FREE labor (thanks, Amelia!!). It's really kind of a lame "trick" ... but it DID make cutting out nearly 50 of the balloons from "Up, Up & Away" a bit more bearable ... (good thing I had another balloon card in my arsenal to share with ya!!)



(I hope you are not all saying, "What??!!?? That's IT??)

Stamps: Up, Up and Away
Paper: Baja Breeeze, Sweet Slumber DSP, Basic Black, Whsiper White, Baja Breeze
Ink: Baja Breeze Riding Hood Red, Basic Black
Accessories: 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Circle Scissor, Black Polka Dot Scalloped Ribbon, Scallop Circle Punch, Scallop Border Punch, Dimensionals

A Case of the Sillies ...

I have been working on a HUGE batch of wedding announcements for almost two weeks ... what do I mean by HUGE?? Try 560 on for size ... I think I am going a little bit BONKERS ... but I'll get to that in a minute ...

I needed to make 8 cards for a swap I am doing with my upline/sideline and some of our friendies that we have been hanging out with at Stampin' Up Convention the past couple of years. Trying to squeeze that in between the wedding invites AND a book review I had to do last Thursday for my book group ("The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" - READ IT!!) ... not to mention the GAZILLION hours I had to spend at work this week getting stuff ready for our accountant so we could file corporate taxes ... but I digress .... AGAIN ....

So this is the card I came up with for the swap ... which was inspired by the LAST card I posted here on my blog ... similar, but different, I guess ... but, I am STILL getting off track ...

I was chatting with my Besties on the Dirty Dozen chat thread on Splitcoast this past week ... telling them that I had punched SOOO many dang belly bands for these wedding invites that my hand/wrist/arm had had it and I had reverted to punching the buggers out with my FOOT!!! Seriously!!! I was goaded with many comments along the lines of "Boy, would I like to see THAT!!" Hence, the Case of the Sillies took over and I made this dorky video ... which I HONESTLY can't believe I wasted 10 minutes of my life on ... but I guess I needed a break!!! Enjoy ...



Stamps: Christmas Lodge, , FrameIt, Petite Pairs
Paper: Island Indigo, Pool Party, Whisper White
Ink: Island Indigo, Early Espresso
Accessories: Word Window Punch, Scallop Trim Corner Punch, Snow Burst Textured Impressions Folder, Northern Frost Decorative Strip Die, Rhinestone Basics. Whisper White Satin/Organza Ribbon, Dimensionals

Dare to Get Dirty - Origami Diamond Fold

YAY!!! I am finally official enough to be a hostess for the "Dare to Get Dirty" Challenge over on SCS!! What fun!!

I chose to do a "funky fold" ... I LOVES me a good ol' funky fold!! I saw the cutest little card at Stampin' Up Convention with this same fun fold ... and I dissected it and made one of my own!!! LOVE-LOVE-LOVE-HEART-HEART-HEART this!! I wanted to share it with all y'all ... so I did my own little video tutorial for it (don't worry ... it's easy, quick AND fun!!). Check it out!!








Cool, right??? You really SHOULD try this!! Here is what it looks like with one flap open ...








And here it is TOTALLY open!!! I am DEFINITELY gonna be makin' me some more of these!!! Soooooooo fun! And it feels kinda "new" to me, so it will take me a while to get bored with it!

Stamps: Button Buddies, Precious Butterflies
Paper: Rich Regals Patterned Paper, Calypso Coral, Night of Navy, Whisper White
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Calypso Coral
Accessories: Scallop Trim Border and Corner Punches, Oval Punch, Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die, Scallop Circle Punch, Calypso Coral Ruffled Ribbon, Rich Regals Button, Whisper White Baker's Twine

Paper Punched Flowers Tutorial

FINALLY!! As promised ... I was able to get my production staff (aka one of my kids) to take a little bit of time out of their oh-so-busy lives to help me film this tutorial. I dare say my son did a pretty good job, but he learned a few things and will be even BETTER next time around!! I need to grow longer fingers ... and longer fingernails ... seems my hands match my feet ("Fred Flintstone-ish!" Yabba-Dabba-DOO!)!

These paper flowers are really fun to make. Not that difficult, and they add a LOT to whatever you are doing ... 'cept, maybe a "dude" card!



Stamps: Dream Gardens
Paper: Concord Crush, Pale Plum, Very Vanilla
Ink: Concord Crush
Accessories: 5-Petal Flower Punch, Fancy Flower Punch, Nestabilities Labels Four, 3/4" Circle Punch, EK Success Tulips Border Punch, Paper Crimper, Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, Pearl Stickers, Pop-Up Glue Dots

How'd You DO That??? Border Rounder!

After having posted my creations for the Control Freaks Tour the other night I have received multiple requests to show you HOW I made the border punch work in a circle ... so here goes nothin'!! I just recently learned how to do this myself, thanks to a Technique Lover's Challenge over on SCS. So I decided to pass it along to all you good people ...

First, punch a strip of paper using your favorite border punch. (I usually start with an 11" strip ... sometimes I need the whole thing, sometimes I only use part, and sometimes I need TWO strips ... it just depends on the size of your circle/oval).






Next, snip triangular-shaped notches from the bottom edge of your strip ...






Then, using a term I am borrowing from my many years of sewing, "ease" the strip into a more rounded shape (it's kinda like scrunching/"forcing" the straight piece to go all curvy!) ...



Add adhesive to the back edge of your circle, and attach your edge piece as shown. Take your time and let the paper have its way ... it'll eventually "bend" to your will (and the will of the adhesive!)!




Finally, add any additional punched strips, as needed, to complete the circle. Ta-DA!! That's it!! And, as you can see from my sample, I "double-dipped" ... couldn't resist adding a second Border Rounder (which is kind of a dumb name, but I think it pretty much describes what you are doing!!)

And you know how when you are vacuuming and you can't get the vacuum to pick up a little piece of whatever ... so you bend down, pick up the offending piece, examine it, then throw it back down on the carpet to give the vacuum cleaner another go at it??? Wouldn't it just be easier to pick the stinkin' thing up and throw it away (or at the very least stuff it in your pocket??)?? Same thing happened when I was making this card. Could NOT find the second butterfly I stamped for this card. Looked and looked and LOOKED for it!! Coulda soooo easily just diecut and stamped another one ... but NOoooooo! HAD to find it!! Guess where it was??? Stuck to the back of my stinkin' border-rounded oval!!! Sheesh!!

Stamps: Easter Blossoms, Well Scripted
Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzazz, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzazz, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: Bigz Beautiful Butterflies Die, Wide Oval Punch, Eyelet Border Punch, MS Double Loop Border Punch, Double Scallop Corner Punch (Marvy), Flower Garden Textured Impressions Folder, Rhinestone Jewels, Whisper White Satin/Organza Ribbon, Pop-Up Glue Dots

Oh ... and by the way ... I'm STILL making a video on how to do the roses I posted last week ... I just haven't had my film crew (aka one of my teenagers!) home long enough to hold the camera!! It's a-comin' ...

Slide, Baby, SLIDE!!

Okay ... so I have been messaged and emailed to BITS since last week's Freak's Blog Tour ... so many of ya wanted to know how I made my Valentine Slider Card, so here is a little step-by-step tutorial for ya. And because I like what I like, I am using a CHOCOLATE theme ...this is what the card looks like closed. The top layer measures approximately 3 3/4" x 5 1/2". The bottom layer (the one you see when the card slides open) is just a standard A2 size - 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".





Here is what the card looks like all opened up. If you decide to add a ribbon on the top layer (which is what I did on the Freaky card), then you will want to make sure to wrap the ribbon on the topmost layer of cardstock ... not all the way all the top layers. I learned the hard way that this makes the card catch when you open and close it ...




First of all, you are gonna want to stamp/punch and embellish both layers before you attach the assembly process ... (be sure to add a "ribbon loop" to the top center of the front layer of the card - this is what you use to pull the card front up to open it!)



Next, take the inside (or bottom) layer of the card and measure from the top-left edge and top-right edge ... 1/2" from each side, and place a little pencil mark 3/8" and 3 3/8" from the top edge. Ya with me still??




THEN, using the Word Window punch, line up the top pencil mark with one of the rounded ends and punch ... slide the punch along until you run into the other pencil mark that is closer to the bottom edge (the one at 3 3/8"). Punch and then repeat the process on the other edge of the card.





Here is what the bottom layer will look like once you have created both slider channels ...





Now, flip both layers over. Lay the top layer down on the table and lay the bottom layer on top of it so that the top rounded edges of the Word Window punchout are over the bottom edge of the card front (as shown in this photo).

Next, place a piece of dimensional or pop-dot on the back of the card front in between the edges of the Word Window punch toward the bottom of the card front as shown (what??? I hope I'm making sense, since I feel like I am translating from Japanese, via French, into English!!).

Make sure that the dimensional/pop-dot come as close to filling up the space from side to side as possible without actually touching the edges of the punched word window (kinda like the game "Operation", right??). That way, there will be very litle wiggle room for the card front to move freely within the word window ... I know this may be confusing, but it'll make sense once you put this together.





Next, place a 3/4" punched-out circle over the dimensional/pop-dot to hold everything in place.






VOILA!! There ya have it!!!

And to top it all off, I used the colors from yesterday's Color Challenge over on SCS (CC307). TA-DA!!!!

Stamps: Eat Chocolate, Bella Toile Background
Paper: Soft Suede, Elegant Eggplant, Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla, Whisper White
Ink: Soft Suede, Elegant Eggplant, Riding Hood Red
Accessories: Decorator Label Punch, Large Oval Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, Word Window Punch, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Full Heart Punch, Heart to Heart Punch, Perfect Polka Dots and Tulip Frame Textured Impressions Folders, Sweet Buttons Embosslits Die, Paper Piercing Tool/Mat, Very Vanilla Seam Binding, Linen Thread, Dimensionals