December Stamp Club: No Peeking Gift Bag

Is it Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas?  For me, it's Merry Christmas, but I do not like Christmas getting lumped together with Thanksgiving.  I want to celebrate two separate and distinct holidays!!! I'm always so sad when I see people take down their decorations and put the Christmas tree at the curb on December 26th!!  I want to savor the Christmas holiday just a little longer!

December's Club project was this darling little gift bag.  I like to keep plain white and kraft gift bags on hand.  They're neutral for any occasion, and are just begging for decorating!

The DSP is from the Trim the Tree Stack.  No need for cutting.  Just tear a sheet from the stack and attach to the front and back of your gift bag.  

Supplies used:  

Christmas Taggables (check the Clearance Rack section)

Cherry Cobbler Sheer Linen Ribbon, Ink

Whisper White Cardstock, Garden Green Cardstock, Trim the Tree DSP Stack

Label Bracket Punch

Big Shot with Chalk Talk Framelits

Regardless of how you celebrate the holidays this time of year, I want to wish you the merriest of merry for this holiday season and best wishes for 2015!  Bye for now, Maria

September Stamp Club: For All Things Bookmark

Isn't this little bookmark darling?!  When I saw this in Stampin' Success, the demo only bi-monthly magazine, I knew it had to be our project for stamp club!  The For All Things stamps have a "linen" look to them--instant texture and dimension with adding bulk.  

The leaf that dangles is die cut from Coaster Board, and then inked up with Rose Red and .  The Marina Mist base has been fussy cut with Paper Snips around the Very Vanilla cardstock that was die cut with Apothecary Accents   

Supplies:

For All Things Stamp Set

Rose Red, Crushed Curry, Marina Mist, Soft Suede Ink Pads

Marina Mist, Very Vanilla Cardstock

Antique Brads

Linen Thread

Coaster Board (die cut leaf)

Apothecary Accents, Autumn Accents Big Shot Dies

Sponges

Happy Fall!  Happy Stamping!  Bye for now, Maria

August Stamp Club: Choose Happiness Box

During Salabration, SU! had a live stream video where they demoed this box.  It's a box made out of 2 sheets of DSP.  If you a demonstrator reading this, a video for this has been posted on Stampin' Connection under "Events."  Stampin' Connection is an online community only for demos--being a demo does have its perks!  

To create the box you will need two sheets of DSP.

For the Lid:
One sheet of 12 x 12 DSP, score 2" on ALL FOUR SIDES

For the Bottom:
One sheet of DSP, cut to 11 7/8 x 11 7/8
This piece will also be scored at 2" on ALL FOUR SIDES

For the Liner:
Cut a piece of cardstock at 7 7/8 x 7 7/8 (no scoring necessary, ha!)

After you're done cutting and scoring, you will need to cut slits on two opposite ends of your DSP.  DO NOT CUT YOUR CORNERS OFF, OR YOU WILL NOT HAVE A BOX!

Adhere your corners to make box shape.  Add a cardstock liner for added stability. 

Stamps used:  Choose Happiness
Supplies:  Lullaby DSP
Tea Lace Paper Doilies
Whisper White Baker's Twine
Whisper White CS
Ink:  Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar, Crisp Cantaloupe

Happy Stamping!  Until next time, Maria

Happy Valentine's Day with the Flower Spiral

Happy Valentine's Day!  Here's a bouquet for you that will never wilt!  I showed it to my hubby, and he said, "Good.  Now, I don't need to get you flowers for Valentine's Day!"  He didn't really mean it though.  He always remembers to bring flowers for special occasions and just because too--he's good like that!

This bouquet was made with the new Spiral Flower Originals Die and the Big Shot.  Oh my gosh!!!  I love it!!!!  It is super cool and super easy!!!  All you need is cardstock, floral stems from the craft store, and a container for display.  My container is a sugar shaker from the dollar store.  Happy Creating!  Bye for now, Maria

November Stamp Club: Gift Bow Angel

Don't you love when you buy something, and it has more than one purpose?  Like the Gift Bow die!  Trolling Pinterest the other day, I saw the most adorable angel, and upon closer view it was made with the Gift Bow Bigz L Die.  ADORABLE!!!

The Gift Bow Angel was our project for November.  These are so easy to make!  Here's what you need....

To create the halo, punch Gold Foil Sheet with the 1 1/4 Circle first.  Then, punch that circle out with the 1 3/4 circle.  You will have a circle punched within a circle.

I left the angel's face blank, because I am not gifted in drawing--that's why I stamp!

Supplies used:
Mixed Bunch Stamp Set (Annual Catalog)
Gift Bow Bigz L Die
Gold Foil Sheets
Very Vanilla and Blushing Bride CS
Cherry Cobbler Ink
Linen Thread
Stampin' Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Tombo Liquid Glue

Punches:  7/8" Scallop, 1" Circle, 1 3/8" Circle, 1 1/4" Circle, and 1 3/4" Circle

These would be the cutest gift tags EVER!!!  And, they would like so pretty hanging on a Christmas tree.  Happy Stamping!  Bye for now, Maria

Inspiration Journal

As a rubber stamper and demonstrator, I always get asked, "where do you come up with your ideas?"  This is the one question I get asked the most.  Most of my ideas come from Stampin' Up!'s annual convention--being able to attend is a demonstrator perk.  Between the swaps and displays, I see more than enough to carry me through the entire year.  I must take at least 1000 pictures when I'm there--so glad they invented digital cameras!  Our demonstrator magazine and online community have soooooo many ideas, pics, tutorials (yes, another perk, wanna sign up?).  So many ideas, so little time! 

Paper-crafting magazines (there are still a few of them around), blogs, websites, Pinterest, and even google, are great places to get ideas. The Stampin' Up! catalogs have tons of samples.  Feel free to CASE--that's copy and share everything!   When something flashes across our screen, we "pin it!"  What did we ever do before Pinterest?!  But, what do you do with a magazine clipping, or an old post card that inspires you?  How about placing these items in an Inspiration Journal? 

Inspiration and ideas can come from lots of places--think outside of the crafting/stamping world.  Think about your favorite things, places and stores.  What is about it that you love so much ?  Is it the color, textures, graphics, color combos?  Jot those down in your journal.  When you're stuck for an idea, pull out your journal.  Those ideas can be a spring board in your card-making and scrapbooking. 

Where do you look for inspiration?  Bye for now, Maria

Flower Pins & Bottlecaps

Saw these flower bases at the craft store made of fabric and burlap.  They're just begging to be decorated and made into pins!  

So, I got out the bottle caps from an earlier catalog.  One bottle cap I flatten with the Big Shot, and the other is left the way it comes in the package.  Stamps from Collage Curio fit perfectly inside the bottle caps.  I stamped on Very Vanilla in Basic Black ink.  Added Crystal Effects and a rhinestone for extra dimension and sparkle.  The square charm is something I found in the jewelry aisle of the craft store. 

Once the Crystal Effects is dry attach to your flower base with hot glue.  The only thing left to do is to attach the pin back with hot glue as well. 

Convention 2013 3D Swap: Satin Fun Flowers

3D swaps are cool. They are anything besides a card or a scrapbook page. Think pins, tags, boxes, candy holders, notebooks, etc.

I love making these layered satin flowers with the Fun Flowers Die.  You shrink the fabric with your heat tool, glue several layers together, and use to make pins, etc. or to embellish stuff.   They're extremely versatile--great for the front of a card, magnet, pin or bag tag.  You'll see a lot of these on my convention swaps. 

Making a spritz is easy. Add 70 percent isopropyl alcohol  to a Spritzer bottle. Drop in Ink from a refill bottle. The more drops, the darker the intensity. Lighter colors will take more ink. I probably spritzed the Pistachio Pudding flowers  3 or 4 times to get the color the way I wanted it.

The centers of the satin flowers were flowers made from the Simply Pressed Clay and the silicone molds.  They were so easy to make.  I got about 140 flowers from one pack.  Half of my clay flowers have glitter on them--just sprinkle Dazzling Diamonds glitter inside the mold before adding the clay.

Supplies:

Satin Fabric (the cheap stuff), Heat Tool, Hot Glue

Fun Flowers Bigz L Die

Buttons & Blossoms Simply Pressed Molds and Clay

Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding Ink Refills

Stampin' Spritzers, Isopropyl Alcohol (70%)

Pin backs, pin tacks, magnets, key chains etc.

I made ALOT of flowers for my convention swaps. My Big Shot really got a workout.  How do you know when you need new cutting plates?  When you crack the plates!!!!  How many passes can one set of plates take?  I don't know, but these were my original plates, and I'm sure it was hundreds if not thousands of passes through the Big Shot!  It was loud, and I thought I broke my machine.  Bye for now, Maria

July Stamp Club: Adorable Folded Box

Isn't this little thing adorable?  I don't know what its called, or where it originated, but I received it in a swap at Baltimore's Regional event this past April.  It will fit two Hershey Kisses or one Nugget candy. 

Here's our July Club version...

Start with a 4 x 4 piece of DSP

Score at 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 on one edge

Score lines are enhanced with a red sharpie so you can see them

Score at 1" and 3" on the other edge

And, you need to score the corners like shown in red

Fold up on score lines

Add two punch outs with an oval punch and clip together

Here's the grown-up version...

This one will hold a whole lot of chocolate, a handful of tags or even a few notecards.

Start with 12 x 12 piece of DSP

Score at 3" and 9" on one edge

Score at 5" and 7" on the other edge

Score in the corners as shown

(Ignore the score lines that are NOT in red--those were boo-boo's)

Crease and fold up

To close your box, create a topper that is 4 x 6 folded in half

Add ribbon and stamping as you wish 

Supplies:

Label Love, Petite Pairs Stamp Sets

Gumball Green, Early Espresso Ink

Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Summer Starfruit Cardstock

Soho Subway, Epic Day DSP

Extra Large Oval, Artisan Label Punch

Summer Starfruit, Natural Trim Ribbons

Origami Heart

Valentine's Day might be over, but hearts are always in style--and butterflies too! (No butterflies here today.) Isn't this origami heart cute?! All our creative efforts are adorable, right? I like how the origami folds show off both sides of the DSP. Happy paper folding! Bye for now, Maria

Altoid Tin Gift Card Holder

What's better than getting a gift card to spend on whatever your heart desires?  How about a gift card in an adorable holder upcycled from an old Altoid tin. 

After your done with your mints, clean up your tin and wash out the "minty" dust.

Paint the outside to cover up the words on bottom.  It took me about 4-5 very thin coats to cover it up entirely.  I left the top unpainted because I wanted to use the red trim.

To decorate, cut Candlelight Christmas DSP for the top to 3 1/4 x 2.  Round corners.  For the inside, cut cardstock to 3 3/8 x 2 1/8.  Round corners.  Stamp "to & from" and "reindeer" from No Peeking stamp set.  Fill as desired with candies and gift card.

For the belly band going around the outside, cut DSP to 8 x 1 1/4.

Happy Stamping!  Bye for now, Maria