One more Paper Bow!

I cannot remember the name of this retired paper, but it's beautiful. It made a great bow! I will try to get back to cards, and off these bows ASAP ☺

Happy Stampin'

My January Club Projects....

Hey, friends! It's great to be back in the blogging loop! The holidays were wonderful, and I enjoyed them immensely, but am glad to be back to the routine of everyday life! My Jan hostess club theme was 'Be My Valentine'. I generally focus on a Holiday coming up the next month so my club members have time to plan and order for it. This card is our 'Man' card for Valentine's Day! I used the NEW set from the Occasions Mini, called I (Heart) Hearts. I am the proud new owner of ALL the SU Clear Blocks and am blown away by their beauty and quality! So, I have this set in the Clear Mount. This is a wonderful heart set! The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.

CS--Real Red, Soft Suede, Whisper White
Ink -- Read Red, Soft Suede
Punches -- Modern Label, Word Window, 1/4" Circle, 1 1/4" Square
Stamps -- I (Heart) Hearts, Teeny Tiny Wishes

I like including a 3D item, gift, or package idea at each meeting. This month we did paper bows made of out Designer Series Paper. They were a huge hit! They are easy to make, and seeing how you can make 24 large ones out of a $9.95 pack of DSP, you can't even buy NICE bows for that price at the store! This tutorial is on SCS. However, it is only for the large size. I created the small size by switching from 6x12 paper to 3x6, and making my cuts at 1/2" instead of 1". It worked well, but is a little harder to hold together before using the brads. I cannot wait to make more of these! This particular DSP is retired, it is called Bella Rose.

And this little one was lots of fun! These are the NEW Hugs Notes from the Occasions Mini. The Whisper White CS is already cut into the scalloped rectangle! They sell in packs of 20 for $4.95! What a deal! I think I will buy extra packs to use as focal points on card fronts when I am too lazy to pull out my Big Shot ☺ The vase is the Ornament Punch, with the bottom point cut off.

CS -- Real Red, Hug Notes, DSP from a retired Hostess Pack, Whisper White

Ink -- Read Red, Garden Green (marker)

Stamps -- I (Heart) Hearts

Punches -- Ornament, Heart to Heart

-- Dimensional -- under the checkered heart

I hope you all enjoy these! I loved making them, and my club seemed to really enjoy these projects! I love Valentine's Day!

My Christmas Girls...

I keep meaning to get this up and share a pic of my girls with all my blogging friends. Tara, 3, on left, Chloe, 5, on right, dressed for a Preshool Christmas party. We had a great holiday season and hope that each of you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Washer Pendant Necklaces...

These AMAZING necklaces were a Technique featured on Splitcoaststampers. These are made with Steel washers from the hardware store. I have made several different sizes and find that larger ones are more eye catching and elegant, whereas the smaller sizes are great for casual. This one is made with a 2" washer, it is just under 2" in diameter. I LOVE making these. This one was made for my SIL for Christmas, I loved it so much, I made 4 just like it for other gifts, and of course, one for me! The B/W paper is from my stash, no idea the origin or brand. Sorry! The red gemstones are from Hero Arts. I started by tracing the washer shape and center hole onto the backside of the paper, then cut it with paper snips. I used Aleens tacky glue to adhere the paper to the washer. That set almost instantly. Then I set the gemstones, and sanded all of the edges for a finished look. The entire front of the washer is covered in a very thick coat of Crystal Effects, which I had to force myself to patiently wait almost a day for it to dry well. I created the necklace with black leather cording and a jewelry clasp. This is definitely my favorite!

As much as I love the first one, I love this one, too! This one is much smaller, it's about 1 3/8" in diameter. I didn't have to cut this one at all! The outside circle is the 1 3/8" circle punch, and the inside is 1/2" punch! Needless to say, this size is much easier and quicker to make. I searched through my DSP stash and found this pattern in the Fall Flowers pack a couple catalogs back. I prefer sweat suits and jeans/long t's in the winter, so I wanted a casual necklace for my favorite grey sweats! My green leather cording matches the paper perfectly! This one you could wear all the time, I really like it! This one is MINE!

Unfortunately, most of my other pendants got boxed and wrapped before I took pictures. I made over 10 for Christmas, but no worries, more will be made soon, and I promise to take pictures! I plan to make keychains, and ceiling fan pulls for the girls rooms as well!

Torn Paper Frame and a Gift Box...

Every year I throw a Christmas Party for my Hostess Club. We do a drawing in Oct to get our Secret Sister, and we have to make them a homemade gift AND buy them a certain amount of SU items from their wish list and package them with SU products. This is by far my favorite event of the year! This year, I made a frame for my Secret Sister, Amy. I took a plain, unfinished wood $1 frame from a craft store, painted it front and back with white acrylic paint. I then tore several different patterns from the Ski Slope DSP pack. I used Mod Podge to adhere those all over the frame. I then applied another layer of Mod Podge over the top to seal it. I used Baja Breeze textured CS for the insert. I ran Old Olive and Real Red CS through my Big Shot with the Petals A Plenty folder, then punched them with the Ornament punch, as well as a Chocolate Chip piece with a Merry & Bright rub-on. Red and green are stuck on with Glue Dots, Chocolate is popped up on dimensionals. Silver cording finishes these off. I cannot stand empty frames and always fill them before giving. This can be a decoration, or you can put a holiday photo in it.

Amy had 3 ink pads on her Wish List, and those were within our 'budget', so I created a box for them. I started by stacking the 3 ink pads on top of each other, then measuring height, width and length. I added 1/4" all the way around for a nice lip on the box, then scored along the box measurements to make the bottom. I then used the same dimensions for the lid, altering slightly for the edges. I punched the top with the Scallop Edge border punch all the way around and stamped it with the Medallion background stamp before folding. CS is Kiwi Kiss and RidingHood Red (trying to use up retired colors!). I tied some RHR Tafetta Ribbon around the box, then punched the flower with the 5Petal Flower after running it through the Bis Shot with a CB folder. Brad is Making Memories, all other supplies are SU. I tied on a Scallop Oval with Red Twine to put her name on it, so she can easily remove it and reuse the box.

She seemed very happy with her gifts, and I really enjoyed making them!

Medallion Christmas...

I have said it before (many times ☺) and I will say it again, the Medallion background is my most favorite stamp set of all time! I sat down with my printed sketches from Mojo Monday (link in the sidebar) and really liked the sketch from Feb 23 of 09. I knew I wanted to make a card with many layers, and continue to try to use up the many unopened packs of Ski Slope DSP I bought last year before it retired. I am very happy with this one, it's my favorite card this year (at least mass produced cards, immediate family gets one of a kind).

Here is a pic of several of them all together. I love using just a portion of the Medallion image. I find it much easier to use when I am not using the entire image.

Supplies:

Kraft, and Whisper White Cardstock

Old Olive and Real Red ink

Ski Slope DSP

Sleigh Bells Ribbon

Ornament Punch

Sentiment is from All Holidays

Silver Cording

This card is SUO.

Punch Templates!!!

I made 10 of these for my hostess club for our Christmas Party gifts!!! It is a punch of EVERY SU punch currently available, except for corners, slits, etc. I still need to do those, but feel they are irrelevant as far as needed them for sizing, etc. I cut a sheet of white cardstock into quarters, leaving them 8.5 inches long, and they ended up being 2.75 inches wide. It took 6 strips for each one. I saw many templates online for printing them punching, but wasn't happy with placement, etc. So, I did sit down and write them out by hand. I had them laminated professionally for a good heat seal and heavy laminating paper as these would be handled often. I punched each one with the Crop O Dile in the top corner (all 6 sheets laminated at ONCE!), and put them on a book ring! I LOVE these! They are sturdy and you can lay them right over the stamp itself or the catalog picture to see what you need! They took a few nights to get done, but for sanity sake, I didn't want to marathon these, so I did them slowly. I am really happy with the finished product, and the ladies seemed to like them!