Scraps of Life

Well, I’m sad to say that I somehow came down with a cold of some sort this week. Definitely not good for productivity, which is a big uh oh for me. Because of this cold and my desire to not get my sneezy germs all over everything, I have not been creating too much so far. So for today’s card, I am going to share with you something I created last week. It’s another example of what you can do with those awesome Paisley Patterns Decor Stencils from the Occasions Mini.

This card is super simple, but the bold pattern really makes it stand out. And you just have to love that color combo

Scraps of Advice:

• Use sponge daubers to apply ink to specific areas of the design. Apply the lightest color ink first so that you don’t have to worry about removing, cleaning, and then re-positioning the stencil before applying the second color.
• Use the stencil to create your own designer paper. It makes a great background!
• To keep my sentiment panel from getting lost amongst the pattern, I left a fair amount of white space around the wording (from Upsy Daisy) when I cropped the panel. This extra white space draws your attention to the sentiment, but doesn’t take away from the design.
• To keep the sentiment panel from looking too bare, I added three Rich Razzleberry “brad” punched out with my Crop-a-Dile. Those little touches can really add a lot to a card.

I’m keeping things short for today. Hopefully I’ll be able to make one or two new projects later today…fingers crossed!

Scraps of Info:

• Join the Sale-a-Bration! Earn FREE Sale-a-Bration products, including the Whimsical Words set, for every $50 of Stampin’ Up! product that you purchase! Don’t miss out!
• Help with the relief efforts in Haiti! For every purchase of the I {Heart} Hearts stamp set, Stampin’ Up! will donate $2 to the American Red Cross’ Haiti Relief and Development Fund. So show your heart and give aid to Haiti at the same time! You can purchase the I {Heart} Hearts set by visiting My Online Shop and clicking on the Shop Now button!
• Need a copy of the Occasions Mini or Sale-a-Bration catalogs? Just email me with your U.S. address and I’ll send you a FREE copy!

Shop Stampin’ Up! 24/7!

Project Recipe:
Stamp Set: Upsy Daisy
Decor Stencil: Paisley Patterns (Occasions Mini)
Paper: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Crushed Curry
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Crushed Curry
Tools: Sponge Daubers, Crop-a-Dile

Yay, Yay, Yay! It’s Monday! Wow…haha…I NEVER thought I’d be excited for a Monday. But I am today because I finally get to share with you my MOST AMAZING SWEET TREAT CUP CARD EVER! So let me stop wasting time and just show it to you!

Isn’t it beautiful? But wait, it gets better!

That’s right, this is a 3-dimensional sweet treat cup gumball machine! I don’t have the Something Sweet stamp set from the Occasions mini, but I love the gumball machine image that comes with that set. So I thought to myself, “Hey, I can make a 3D gumball machine!” And once I had that thought, I couldn’t help myself and I just HAD to figure out how to make it. And of course once I got started making this 3D gumball machine base, I got it into my head that I could figure out how to make this gumball machine work too! SO I DID! Yeah! Seriously! I figured out how to make a functional gumball machine out of cardstock! Don’t believe me? Watch this

Isn’t that…well…amazing? I was super stoked when I finally figured out how to get everything to work. It took many hours to get everything right, but it definitely paid off. This has to be one of my funnest ideas yet, and I’m glad I didn’t give up on it! I couldn’t be happier with it!

Now, if you’re wondering how I made this paper contraption, don’t worry.  I am currently in the process of creating a tutorial for the gumball machine which will hopefully be available for you all on Friday. But I’m so excited to share this with all of you that I decided to have a special BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY this week! My Sweet Treat Machine Tutorial will be available for $5.95, but starting today, you can enter for a chance to win my Sweet Treat Machine Tutorial for FREE! You will have until 3pm PST on Friday, February 12th to enter, and I will pick THREE winners to receive the free tutorial. Here is how you can enter:

• Simply leave me a comment telling me what you think about this card (1 entry)
• Blog about this card and my blog candy giveaway and leave me a link to your blog entry in a comment (3 entries – just copy and paste the same comment and link into three different comments for your entries)

So you have a total of FOUR chances to win a FREE Sweet Treat Machine Tutorial! Don’t miss out! The winners will be announced Friday afternoon, once they have been chosen, and I will email the tutorial to the winners. I will use the random number generator at random.org. to pick the winning comments. So make sure to leave me a comment, and blog about this card if you feel like it!

I hope you all love this card as much as I do! It just goes to show that you really CAN create anything if you put your mind to it Have a great week, everyone!

Project Recipe:
Stamp Set: Picture This (Occasions Mini Hostess Level 1, W-116928, C-118538)
Paper: Whisper White (100730), Bermuda Bay (115317), Melon Mambo (115320), Rich Razzleberry (115316), Crushed Curry (115319), Basic Black (102851)
Ink: Rich Razzleberry (115658)
Tools: 1″ Circle Punch (109046), 1 3/4″ Circle Punch (112004), Scallop Trim Border Punch (SAB 1184002), White Colored Pencil, Sticky Strip (104294)
That Little Something Extra: Sweet Treat Cups (116802), Silver 5/16″ Brad (112534)

Let me be honest with you. As a female crafter with other crafting friends, all of whom are also female, it is very difficult to create a…ahem…”manly” card. Now I’m not talking about a card that screams testosterone. I’m just talking about a card that you would feel 100% comfortable and confident in giving to a male without him kind of cringing, a card that he wouldn’t be embarrassed to open in public. Let’s face it ladies, we usually gear our cards towards other females. It’s just what we do. Because we LOVE giving cards and gifts to each other for no reason at all, while we usually require a holiday or birthday or some other special occasion to give a card to a man. Granted, this isn’t ALWAYS the case. But for the most part, that’s just how it is.

So lately I’ve been challenging myself to make more “masculine” cards, cards intended for a male recipient. Because, like I said, not all card receivers are women. And wow, making a masculine card is more of a challenge than I was expecting. But I think I did okay with this one.

What do you think? Is this masculine enough? Would you hand this card to your dad or uncle or boyfriend or husband for his birthday? This one took a lot of trial and error, and figuring out which of my stamp sets wouldn’t automatically make the card too feminine. But I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. And I got to use some DSP that’s just been sitting on my paper shelf for ages.

Scraps of Advice:

• Haha. Honestly, I don’t have any advice for making masculine cards :p All I can really say is to just go for it. Pick some non-pink colors and just start creating. Oh, and avoid anything that might be considered “froo froo” (that’s Jacqueline speak for “girly”…haha). Now that I think about it, though, I just might challenge myself to make a masculine card that DOES have pink in it. THAT would be awesome…lol.
• If you have more experience in making masculine cards (which I’m sure ALL of you do since this was like my first masculine card EVER), then please leave a comment and share your own advice with me! I can use it

Okay, I’m keeping this post super short tonight (it’s 12:30am right now, but this won’t post till later in the morning). I’m uber tired and I already see my weekend being crazy busy. Blah. But first, remember that MOST AMAZING SWEET TREAT CARD EVER that I mentioned yesterday? Well, I showed it to my upline this afternoon and she went crazy for it! So I’m hoping the rest of you will have the same reaction when I share it with you ON MONDAY!!! Please be excited, because I am and I don’t want to feel dumb for being excited when no one else is :p

Have a freaking awesome weekend everyone! I’ll be with you again on MONDAY! Yay!

Scraps of Info:

• Join the Sale-a-Bration! Earn FREE Sale-a-Bration products, including the Whimsical Words set, for every $50 of Stampin’ Up! product that you purchase! Don’t miss out!
• Help with the relief efforts in Haiti! For every purchase of the I {Heart} Hearts stamp set, Stampin’ Up! will donate $2 to the American Red Cross’ Haiti Relief and Development Fund. So show your heart and give aid to Haiti at the same time! You can purchase the I {Heart} Hearts set by visiting My Online Shop and clicking on the Shop Now button!
• Need a copy of the Occasions Mini or Sale-a-Bration catalogs? Just email me with your U.S. address and I’ll send you a FREE copy!

Shop Stampin’ Up! 24/7!

Project Recipe:
(due to my laziness, no item numbers this time…sorry kids. I promise I won’t be this lazy next week…PROMISE!)
Stamp Sets: Circle Circus, Well Scripted (Occasions Mini)
Paper: Whisper White, Soft Suede, Crushed Curry, Old Olive, Really Rust Patterns DSP (Patterns Pack DSP III, Hostess Level 1)
Ink: Old Olive
Tools: 1″ Circle Punch, Crop-a-Dile

Ok, seriously folks, I just spent a good 6 hours (at least) creating THE MOST AMAZING sweet treat cup card EVER! Of course, I may be biased, since I am the creator of the card, so of course I’m gonna think it’s the most amazing. But honestly, this card is pretty kickin’. It’s soooo kickin’, in fact, that I’m not gonna share it with you yet! Haha, yeah I know, I’m mean. But I think I’m going to save this card for next week. Sorry, but I want something cool to share with you next week since I’m still busy making craft fair cards.

Anyways, the card I’ll be sharing with you today is still pretty cool. Well…it’s pretty anyways…

This card features a stamp set that I definitely need to use more often, the Upsy Daisy set. If you don’t own this set, you need to! That silhouette image is just so beautiful, and you can use it for pretty much any occasion you can think of. Plus, you can pair the image with any sentiment from any stamp set your heart desires. It’s that versatile! And that’s why I love it so

Scraps of Advice:

• Don’t you just love those clouds in the background? And that’s so easy to create! To make your own cloud background, all you need is a strip of cardstock, a stampin’ sponge, and some ink (any color really, the sky isn’t always just blue after all). What I did was I took a strip of cardstock and tore the edge so that it somewhat resembled a cloud outline. Then, starting from the top of the panel, I placed my cloud “template” down and sponged Ballet Blue ink along the torn edge, going over the area a few times until it had the look and coloring that I wanted. Then I moved the strip down a little bit and sponged ink again. Just keep doing that, changing the position of the strip every now and then, until you’ve got clouds where you want them. It really isn’t that hard!
• The sentiment I used is from the Upsy Daisy set. I layered it over Basic Black 5/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon which I placed across the image panel.
• I opted to keep this 5″ Square card pretty basic, with just the one large image panel and the small sentiment panel. This card is all about the flowers and the sky, giving that feel that you’re daydreaming. It’s perfect for the sentiment!

Well, that’s it for today. Just something simple and sweet. I’m spending the rest of the day stamping with my upline, so I’m sure I’ll have something fun to share with you tomorrow

Scraps of Info:

• Join the Sale-a-Bration! Earn FREE Sale-a-Bration products, including the Whimsical Words set, for every $50 of Stampin’ Up! product that you purchase! Don’t miss out!
• Help with the relief efforts in Haiti! For every purchase of the I {Heart} Hearts stamp set, Stampin’ Up! will donate $2 to the American Red Cross’ Haiti Relief and Development Fund. So show your heart and give aid to Haiti at the same time! You can purchase the I {Heart} Hearts set by visiting My Online Shop and clicking on the Shop Now button!
• Need a copy of the Occasions Mini or Sale-a-Bration catalogs? Just email me with your U.S. address and I’ll send you a FREE copy!

Shop Stampin’ Up! 24/7!

Project Recipe:
Stamp Set: Upsy Daisy (111710)
Paper: Whisper White (100730), Night of Navy (100867)
Ink: Ballet Blue (100907), Night of Navy (102977)
Tools: Stampin’ Sponges (101610), Stamp-a-ma-jig (101049)
That Little Something Extra: Basic Black 5/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon (115605)

Who says that Stampin’ Up!’s Decor Stencils are only for decorating your walls? Because they are wrong!

When I saw the Paisley Patterns Decor Stencils in the Occasions Mini Catalog, I knew I just had to use them to create some wedding stationery with fun flair! Paisleys always create a fun design, and I just love how they look on this pocket wedding invitation!

Scraps of Advice:

• Be prepared to get sparkly when working with glitter! The stuff gets everywhere! To get that glitter effect, I sponged VersaMark ink using a sponge dauber to specific areas of the stencil. I then applied Heat and Stick powder (much like you would embossing powder). Once the heat and stick powder was heated using the heat tool, I applied Red Galaxy Fine Stampin’ Glitter over the area, then heat again to set the glitter. It’s a messy process, but the results are beautiful! TIP: Even with the use of an embossing buddy, stray glitter will still stick to areas where you don’t want it. Fellow demo Jackie Topa gave me a tip to help deal with this dilemma. Once you’ve applied the glitter to the heat and stick powder and have tapped off what excess you could, flip the panel over onto a paper towel and give it a nice rub down along the back. This will get rid of most of the stray glitter. Use a soft bristle paint brush to brush off any glitter that may still be sticking around. Then heat set the glitter. Thanks Jackie!
• To “paint” the design onto your cardstock, use a sponge dauber to apply ink to smaller or specific areas. If you’re coloring the whole image in one color, then use a Stampin’ Sponge to cover more area at once. If you have thicker cardstock, you can even actually use paint to create your design. Make sure to use a brush specifically for stenciling to get the crispest look.
• I repeated part of the paisley pattern on the invitation panel to create a unified look. (Sorry there’s no wording. My printer ran out of ink and I didn’t want to wait to get this design from my head onto card stock). I added a simple ribbon knot on the top to make it easy to pull the invitation from it’s pocket.
• I love paisleys because though the design may be the same, a simple change in color can bring a completely different vibe to the pattern! Here, the red, white and black color scheme create a formal and elegant feel. But change the colors to something brighter and you’ll find that the paisleys offer a more playful mood.

I seriously love these paisleys! You can be sure you’ll be seeing some more samples with paisleys in the near future Any color scheme requests? I’d be more than happy to create a sample for you in your wedding colors! I love experimenting!

You should experiment, too! Stampin’ Up! has a full line of Decor Stencils (part of their Definitely Decorative line), all of which you can use in some way to create your own unique stationery! To view more Decor Stencils, just click on either of the Definitely Decorative brochures in the right sidebar. Or you can view them on my Online Shop. Just click on “Shop Now” and look for Definitely Decorative!

For the Brides

• This invitation design is available for purchase. If you would like a sample of this wedding invitation, or more information on how to purchase invitations from me, please email me and I will send you the info!
• Are there any DIY projects that you would like to see featured on a Wedding Wednesday post? Email me or leave a comment and send me your requests or ideas. You just might see it here in a future Wedding Wednesday article!

Scraps of Info:

• Join the Sale-a-Bration! Earn FREE Sale-a-Bration products, including the Whimsical Words set, for every $50 of Stampin’ Up! product that you purchase! Don’t miss out!
• Help with the relief efforts in Haiti! For every purchase of the I {Heart} Hearts stamp set, Stampin’ Up! will donate $2 to the American Red Cross’ Haiti Relief and Development Fund. So show your heart and give aid to Haiti at the same time! You can purchase the I {Heart} Hearts set by visiting My Online Shop and clicking on the Shop Now button!
• Need a copy of the Occasions Mini (where you’ll find the Paisley Patterns Decor Stencils) or Sale-a-Bration catalogs? Just email me with your U.S. address and I’ll send you a FREE copy!

Shop Stampin’ Up! 24/7!

Project Recipe:
Stencil: Paisley Patterns Decor Stencils (117597, Occasions Mini)
Paper: Basic Black (102851), Whisper White (100730), Real Red (102482)
Ink: Real Red (103133), Basic Black (101179), VersaMark (102283)
Tools: Heat and Stick Powder (100625), Heat Tool (100005), Sponge Daubers (102892), Stampin’ Sponges (101610), 1″ Circle Punch (109046), Horizontal Slot Punch (105089)
That Little Something Extra: Fine Galaxy Stampin’ Glitter in Red (114286), Basic Black 5/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon (115605)