Scraps of Life

Well I have had a productive morning this morning! I woke up inspired to create a card for this week’s Pals Paper Arts challenge, since I’ve been to0 busy to participate lately.  Their latest challenge is a sketch challenge (PPA17). My sweet online friend Margaret Moody designed the sketch for this challenge, and I had tons of fun with it, as usual. This comes a day later than I usually do the PPA challenges, but here is my creation!

I recently purchased some window sheets and have been dying to use them for a card. The PPA sketch practically screamed at me to use a window sheet, so I went for it. And the results were fantastic! I again kept in mind that I needed to make a thank you card for my parents to give to a friend, so I used the versatile Upsy Daisy silhouette image which I cut into four tiles. I did a little layering, added a nice thick ribbon, and voila! Even my parents were impressed with how this card turned out.

A Few Tips

• When using window sheets, keep in mind that any adhesive you use will be visible on the back side. So try to cover up areas where adhesive might be visible by simply keeping the window sheet between your layers.
• If you want to stamp an image directly on to a window sheet, you’ll want to use StazOn ink so that it won’t smear. I didn’t have any on hand so I just stamped my sentiment with my Classic Stampin’ Pad. This ink will smear, but I just wanted to show you what it would look like with something stamped right on the window sheet.

And since I finished this card fairly quickly, I get to go shopping with Mom and Dad! Yay!

Would you like more information on how I created this card? Then simply leave a comment and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have!

Don’t Forget…
You can still get the Dasher and Delightful Decorations sets for FREE! Just place an online order with me of $50 or more! See my promotions page for details!

Shop Stampin’ Up! 24/7!

Project Recipe:
Stamp Sets: Upsy Daisy, Charming
Paper: Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Rich Razzleberry
Tools: Sticky Strip
That Little Something Extra: Basic Black 5/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon, Window Sheets

I know I have been a tad absent the past couple of weeks. And for that I do apologize. My schedule has been far from predictable since my parents arrived from the Philippines, here to visit their grandson, and my nephew. So with their wanting to go places, and our being in San Jose, meaning my having limited crafting supplies, I have had little time to craft, and blog. But I’m making an effort. Really!

Anyways, it is the time for giving thanks. And I have been assigned by my mother to create some thank you cards for all of our church friends that have been uber hospitable while my parents are out visiting. Here is my first creation:

I’ve been dying to try out one of the many unique card designs on Splitcoast Stampers and I figured these thank you cards would be a good opportunity for some experimentation. So I checked out the Swing (Flip-Flop) Card Tutorial and whipped out this lovely creation.

Here is an image of the card when pulled open. I left it blank so my parents could write a nice little note to the recipient.

Well, I’m gonna keep this post short tonight. It’s late. And I’m in the process of deciding how I want to change up the format of my posts (so if you have any input on that, please let me know!). If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

Project Recipe:
Stamp Sets: God’s Blessings, Refuge and Strength, Charming
Paper: Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke, So Saffron
Ink: VersaMark, Always Artichoke, Bordering Blue, Night of Navy
That Little Something Extra: Basic Black 5/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon

I have had a great response to my Delightful Decorations gift tag set that I posted during last week’s Webbie Workshop. People just love them and my blog has never had more hits! It’s exciting, and it makes me glad to know that people enjoy my creations and want to learn how to make some of them themselves.

So for today, I decided to post another set of gift tags that I created. These tags are the cutest things that I have ever made (seriously!), and they’re completely stamp-free! That’s right, I didn’t use a single stamp in creating this adorable set (at least not on the front).

Sorry for the fuzzy picture. The window sheet I used for the box top kinda messed with my camera. Here’s another shot of the tags without the box:

Anyways, like I said earlier, the front of these babies are completely stamp free. This is a great project where you can use as many of your paper scraps as you can. Pretty much every bit of these tags were created using pieces of cardstock that I had left over from previous projects, making sure that no cardstock goes to waste!

A Few Tips:

• The Christmas Cocoa Specialty Designer Series Paper makes a great background and adds some nice design to each tag.
• Circles, thin strips, and triangles are the shapes of paper that I used to make these fun tags. It’s all about how you put them together and add those little details. Using my hobby blade to cut some “fringe” on the end of the snowmen’s scarves really adds character!
• Dazzling Diamonds Stampin’ Glitter adds a lot to these tags! The shimmer and shine keeps things from looking flat and boring. It was a simple touch, but it made a world of difference.
• The snowmen’s eyes are just two little dots added on with a Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker. I considered adding a cute dotted smile to them as well, but they just looked cuter to me without a mouth.
• I used my Mat Pack’s Paper Piercing Template and Piercing Pad to pierce a nice border around the square tags. I thought it gave them a little more of a traditional look.
• Using gold and silver eyelets from my personal stash to line the holes for the elastic chord adds another nice touch to these guys.
• To keep these tags completely stamp free, leave the backs blank. I decided to use the “to/from” stamp from the Delightful Decorations set to add the words on the backs.

These tags took me a little while to complete since there are a lot of little parts and plenty of careful cutting with my hobby blade, but it was definitely well worth the effort. They came out so cute! And I am so excited to finally share them with you! I actually plan on making a few more of these sets to give as gifts or to maybe sell on my Etsy shop. I hope you like them as much as I do!

If you have any questions about these gift tags, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment and ask! I’ll be more than happy to answer you!

Update 11/15/09: Turns out that the Pals Paper Arts Challenge for this week (PPA16) was a Christmas theme! So of course I just had to submit these cuties for the challenge! I hope all you PPA participants enjoy these!

Don’t Forget…
You can still get the Dasher and Delightful Decorations sets for FREE! Just place an online order with me of $50 or more! See my promotions page for details!

Shop Stampin’ Up! 24/7!

Project Recipe:
Stamps: Delightful Decorations
Paper: Real Red, Garden Green, Soft Suede, Whisper White, Basic Black, Dusty Durango, Christmas Cocoa Specialty Designer Series Paper
Ink: Basic Black
Tools: Square Scallop Punch, Circle Cutter, Crop-a-dile, Gold and Silver Elastic Chord, Mat Pack, Hobby Blade, Glue Stick, Stampin’ Dimensionals
That Little Something Extra: Dazzling Diamonds Stampin’ Glitter, Gold and Silver Eyelets

Welcome to Day 5, and our final day, of Webbie Workshop Week! I’ve had fun sharing with you how to make some fabulous and simple Christmas projects. And I hope you enjoyed them as well!

Now we are on to our final, and I think the best, project of the week: a boxed set of Delightful Decorations gift tags! These make a great gift for the holiday season! Here it is!

For this project, you will need:
Stamp Set: Delightful Decorations
Paper: Whisper White Cardstock – at least one full 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet plus 4 pieces cut into 2″ x 4″ rectangles and scored and folded at 2″, One 1 7/8″ square each of Real Red, Old Olive, Garden Green and Chocolate Chip Cardstock, Merry Moments Designer Series Paper
Ink: Real Red, Old Olive, Garden Green, Chocolate Chip, Basic Black
Tools & Accessories: Ornament Punch, Gold Elastic Chord, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Glue Stick, Crop-a-Dile

I won’t have step-by-step photos to go along with the instructions today, mainly because these are actually super easy to make. I hope you are able to follow along. If you get confused about anything, just ask and I’ll be more than happy to clear things up!

Step 1
On Whisper White card stock, stamp each ornament image once in each color Real Red, Old Olive, Garden Green, and Chocolate Chip. For the ornament image that has the “to/from” wording on it, stamp that three times in each of the four colors.

Step 2
Punch out each ornament image using the ornament punch. TIP: Flip the punch upside down so that you can line up the image before punching it out. You may need to crop down your card stock sheet in order for your punch to be able to punch out the images properly.

Step 3
With a glue stick, adhere each front image to a matching color “to/from” image to create the front and back of a gift tag.

Step 4
For the square tags, adhere the colored card stock squares to one of the Whisper White folded squares.

Step 5
Use the ornament punch to punch out pieces of Merry Moments Designer Series Paper.

Step 6
Stamp the Merry Christmas sentiment from the Delightful Decorations set in the center of each DSP ornament you punched out. You can use a Stamp-a-ma-jig for placement if you’d like. Alternatively, you can leave the DSP ornaments plain as well.

Step 7
Adhere the DSP ornaments to the Whisper White mini cards using Stampin’ Dimensionals

Step 8
Using the 1/8″ hole punch on a Crop-a-dile, punch a hole in each of the gift tags. For the square tags, punch the hole in the upper left corner. For the shaped tags, punch the hole in the top of the tag. Add gold elastic chord (about 6″ for each tag) to create a tie for each tag.

Step 9
To create the cute little box to hold these tags, I will turn you to Carrie Fitch’s awesome blog post and tutorial on how to create it! It was through her post that I learned how to make the box, and she deserves the credit for it! You’ll need two 6″ x 6″ sheets of card stock and two 4″ x 6″ sheets of card stock to create the box. So head on over to her Box Tutorial and make one yourself!

I hope you all enjoyed my very first Webbie Workshop Week! If you have any questions or ideas on how I can improve on the next Webbie Workshop Week, please leave me a comment and let me know! This is for you guys so let me know how I can make it even better! And if you have tried your hand at making any of this week’s projects, please share it with me by leaving a link to your creation in a comment! I’d love to see it!

Don’t Forget…
You can still get the Dasher and Delightful Decorations sets for FREE! Just place an online order with me of $50 or more! See my promotions page for details!

Shop Stampin’ Up! 24/7!

Project Recipe:
Stamp Set: Delightful Decorations (116517)
Paper: Whisper White (100730), Real Red (102482), Old Olive (100702), Garden Green (102584), Chocolate Chip (102128), Merry Moments Designer Series Paper (115672)
Ink: Real Red (103133), Old Olive (102277), Garden Green (102272), Chocolate Chip (100908), Basic Black (101179)
Tools: Ornament Punch (116794), Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), Crop-a-dile (108362), Gold Elastic Chord (109867)

Sorry for being a little late with my post this morning (or afternoon for any of my east coast readers)! I got a little caught up in a conversation on Facebook *smiles guiltily*.

Anyways, let’s get to today’s project! This project is going to be a little different today. I won’t be guiding you with step-by-step instructions since I created this project using the new My Digital Studio, and trying to give detailed instructions would just be a little confusing. But I will do my best to highlight a few things here and there, kind of like I do with my regular posts. So here goes…

A Few Tips:

• If you’re short on time and want to make a scrapbook in a jiffy, then use a Designer Template. My Digital Studio comes with pre-designed templates, designed by the creative team at Stampin’ Up!, so all you have to do is add your photos and any captions you’d like, and you instantly have a beautiful scrapbook!
• If you have a little more time on your hands and want to be more creative with your scrapbook, then start a project from a blank template. This allows you to build up your pages from scratch. But you can still choose from various photo layouts to help you arrange your photos. That’s what I did with this project so that I could quickly add photos without worrying where to place them and how to align them. Then I was able to focus on the other details.
• Adding photos to your projects is a snap. My Digital Studio lets you access all the photos on your computer straight from the program. Then all you have to do is click and drag the photos you want to use right into your project!
• Embellishing your projects is a snap, too! My Digital Studio comes with many of Stampin’ Up!’s designs and images for you to add to your project, including stamps, Designer Series Paper, and even the rub ons and embellishments!

You can learn more about My Digital Studio by checking out the new My Digital Studio information pages that I’ll be adding to my blog shortly! So keep your eyes peeled! If you have any questions about My Digital Studio, please just let me know!

Well, that’s it for today. I know it wasn’t much, but I hope you gained a little more knowledge about how wonderful the new My Digital Studio program is!

For tomorrow, we’re finally going to make that cute set of gift tags! Yessss!