Wedding Card

I'm back to post the wedding card :). I was up all night :(. Just one of those nights when you can't sleep. I'm going to have to come back later and add the stamp set I used. I have it written down on a piece of paper, but the paper is at home (sigh). I used Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, Whisper White, and retired Designer Series Paper. The bride is wearing light blue with her white gown, which is why I chose this color combination.

As you can imagine, I'm pretty tired right now, so not really chatty today :). Wishing you all a great weekend! Stay warm!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Paper: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, retired DSP
Stamps: Occasional Quotes (hostess, retired)
Classic Stampin' Ink: Marina Mist
Punches: Heart
Other: Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder

Life Moments

I stamped an 8.5 x 11 sheet of vellum a couple of weeks ago with the Flower Fancy two step stamp set. You have to let the vellum dry after stamping it. I found it best to let it dry overnight because vellum takes a long time to dry! I knew that I wanted to use that stamped vellum for a background of some sort, but when I pulled it out this morning, I didn't like any paper that I placed behind it, soooo, I embossed Whisper White with the new Square Lattice embossing folder and sponged over it with So Saffron ink. I thought the embossed background worked out much better :-).

I stamped one butterfly die cut with the En Francais background stamp and sponged the edges with Regal Rose ink. I distressed the edges of the smaller butterfly die cut, sponged the edges with Regal Rose, crunched it up, inked over the wrinkles with Regal Rose and Baja Breeze inks. My sentiment and the small background flowers are stamped with Baja Breeze- a returning In Color that will become a core color in the new color palette coming in July. I gotta run- have a great day!!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Flower Fancy- 111578, En Francais- 109521, Elements of Style- 120045 (wood mount- 118611)- Elements of Style coming in the Summer Mini 2010 on May 1st
Paper: Rose Red- 102544, Whisper White- 100730, So Saffron- 105118, vellum
Classic Stampin' Ink: Regal Rose- 105211, Old Olive- 102277, So Saffron- 105213, Baja Breeze- coming in the 2010/2011 Idea Book and Catalog on July 1st
Other: Square Lattice Textured Impressions embossing folder- 119976 (Summer Mini 2010), Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die- 114507, Brads- 109109, Stampin' Dimensionals- 104430

Two Tags Die

I'm late posting this morning, but I have a really good reason :-). I had to get up early this morning to take my daughter to a special skate camp today with her coaches, fellow team mates, and with John Peck. In the world of roller figure skating, John Peck is a World Class coach, so this is a wonderful opportunity for her today. She will put in about seven hours of skating today, with lunch in between. I'll bet she is going to be tired when I pick her up late this afternoon, lol! But like any athlete, she is completely dedicated to her sport and she LOVES it- another very important factor. She takes classes three to four times a week, works even through the bruises that come from falling when learning and practicing new skills (one week she earned 8 bruises), and would literally live at the rink if that was possible :-). I am amazed at her. She just wore skates for the first time in her life in October. Poor thing, she couldn't stay up if she was paid to do it that first time. But the owner of the rink noticed how she was struggling that first night and told my husband and I about the classes they have available teaching kids and adults alike how to skate. She breezed through Level One, then through Level Two, and then she was asked to join the Jr. Artistic Team. She has come a long, long way in such a short time.

I made some tags with the Two Tags die and the Daisies #2 die. I LOVE the Two Tags die! It's such a great tag. It folds up into its own little slot and has a hole at the top for adding ribbon to tie it on a package. For these tags, which I made in no time flat, I used the Perfect Polka Dots Impressions embossing folder to emboss just the bottom half of the tags. I added the smallest of the daisies on the Daisies #2 die and two leaves cut from the 5 Petal Flower punch. A little sponging around the 1/2" circle punch out for the center of the daisy gives the daisy die cut a little more depth. Here is one tag in Rich Razzleberry...

And the inside of the tag is done by punching the corners of Whisper White with the Tag Corner punch. You can leave the inside blank so you can use it for any occasion as needed, or you can stamp a little sentiment inside ahead of time. I used some of my tags to attach to customer's order bags.

You can make these in any colors that you need to match wrapping paper, gift bags, or hand stamped cards. You can make them as fancy or as plain as you like. Emboss them, stamp them, embellish with die cuts- there are lots of things you can do with this tag :-).

Bashful Blue Tag

Lavender Lace Tag

Did I mention that you can also sponge ink around the edges of the tags too? Make a set of tags and put them in a cello bag for a cute little gift that would be appreciated by anyone who gives gifts :-). It took me a while to purchase the Two Tags die, but I am so happy to have it now. It is one of my favorite dies and it also comes with a second tag which makes a great bookmark and coordinates with the Scallop Circle punch. The Two Tags die is a must have die ;-) ! I wish you all a wonderful day today! We are looking at a 75 degrees day here today- whoo hoo!!! I love Spring (sigh). Oh, by the way, my daffodils lived through the icy layer that was thrust upon them by a recent snowstorm and they have bloomed. My daughter brings me in bouquets of daffodils and they smell so good, filling the inside of our home with the scents of Spring. Can't beat that!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Thank You Kindly- 111700, Hello Again- 113780
Paper: Rich Razzleberry- 115316, Whisper White- 100730, Old Olive- 100702, YoYo Yellow- 102824
Classic Stampin' Ink: Apricot Appeal- 105218, Rich Razzleberry- 115658, YoYo Yellow- 102717
Punches: 5 Petal Flower- 109041, 1/2" Circle- 104390, Tag Corner- 107215
Dies: Two Tags- 115954, Daisies #2 114520
Other: Perfect Polka Dots Impressions embossing folder- 111735, Sponge Daubers- 102892, white 1/8" grosgrain ribbon

A Tisket, A Tasket

A Barely Banana Basket! ;-)

I must work on projects in my sleep sometimes because I woke up with this basket in mind, lol! I headed to my stamping room and got started with all the details already worked out. I wish it was that easy everyday! I chose to use Barely Banana and Lavender Lace for my basket, with a touch of Whisper White.

Materials:
ScallopEnvelope die
4 pieces of Barely Banana card stock 4.25" x 5.25"- die cut one envelope from each
1 strip of Lavender Lace card stock 2" x 11"
1 scrap of Lavender Lace card stock 2"x 3"
1 strip of Whisper White card stock 1.75" x 11"
1 strip of Barely Banana card stock 1/2" x 11"
Eyelet Border Punch
Trio Flower punch
Stamps and inks of choice
2 brads

To create this basket, die cut four Scallop Envelopes from Barely Banana. You will notice on your envelope die cut that you have two narrow side flaps where the envelope bottom will fold up and attach to the sides to create the envelope. You have a right narrow flap and a left narrow flap. Along the score line impression on the right side of each envelope die cut, you will cut the right narrow flap off of each of the envelopes. Use your bone folder and fold the remaining left side flap and bottom flap in toward the score lines. The top of the envelope that has the scalloped edge will be folded toward the opposite side. After you have creased your folds, adhere the remaining left side flap to the inside of the right side of the next envelope- where you cut off the flap. Make sure your edges are lined up. You will want all of your flaps on the inside of the basket. Adhere all the sides together to form a square box and then fold in and adhere the bottom flaps to form a square box. Cut a square 3 1/8" to adhere to the inside bottom of your basket. You will have a tiny opening in the bottom after adhering the bottom flaps, so the 3 1/8" square will cover that nicely.

For the handle of the basket, cut Whisper White card stock into a 1.75" x 11" strip. With the Eyelet Border punch, punch each side of the strip. Center and adhere a 1/2" x 11" strip of Barely Banana to the Whisper White Eyelet border strip. To attach the handle, find the center of two opposite sides of your basket and pierce a hole in each of the two sides about a 1/2" from the top edge of the fold where the scalloped edge flap of the envelope would fold down. Do not pierce the scalloped edge flap of the envelope. Attach the handle with brads from the inside of the basket so the prongs are on the outside, making sure the scalloped edge flaps are up and that you do not put the brads through them. The prongs will be covered in the next step.

I stamped Lavender Lace with one of my Razzle Dazzle stamps in Lavender Lace ink to create the stripes on my basket. Cut the Lavendar Lace in a 2" x 11" strip and stamp the entire strip. You will need to stamp another strip 2" x 3" for the last side of the basket. From your 2" x 11" stamped strip, cut three pieces 2" x 3", center and adhere to your basket sides, scalloped edge flaps up so you can fold them down later. Adhere your last stamped 2" x 3" Lavender Lace strip to the last side of the basket. Punch out seven little flowers with the Trio Flower punch and shape them with a stylus (see instructions for the flowers below). Die cut leaves from Old Olive with the Little Leaves die and cut the leaves apart. Adhere the leaves to the centers of the scalloped edge flaps and then adhere a prepared flower in the center of the leaves. I chose to adhere my flaps down over my Lavender Lace striped card stock, but you could leave them loose if you want to. Repeat with each flap.

Adhere three flowers and leaves to the center of the basket handle. I added some gems in the centers of my flowers before I adhered them to my basket, but you could also use brads for the centers. Cut very thin strips of Lavender Lace card stock, about 1/16" - 1/8" x 11" for each strip, and crumple the strips in your hands for the filling in your basket. I learned this trick from another Stampin' Up demo :-). Cool, huh? OK, one last view of the side of the basket.

To create the flowers: Punch out the flowers with the Trio Flower punch. Place the flowers on the thick foam mat from the Mat Pack. If you don't have the Mat Pack, thick Fun Foam will work. Using the large ball end of your stylus press gently while at the same time moving the ball in a circular motion in the center of each flower petal until you have formed a nice rounded indentation in 'each' petal. After you have done all the petals, flip the flower over on the foam pad and press down into the center of the flower with your stylus. Not too hard though- you just want to shape the flower, you don't want to put a hole through the center. At this point you can add a gem or a tiny brad in the center of your flower. And that's it- you have created a 3D flower!

Fill your basket with small Easter candies, a plastic egg filled with little treats or a small gift, or a real Easter Egg! Of course, these little baskets are great for other uses too, not just for Easter baskets ;-). Just picture a cute little flower girl basket for a wedding shower table, in pink or blue for a baby shower... these would pretty much work for a lot of holidays and themes. I hope you have fun making your basket!! Please let me know if you have any questions. Have a wonderful day today!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Razzle Dazzle- 116714
Paper: Barely Banana- 102701, Lavender Lace- 101614, Old Olive- 100702,
Whisper White- 100730
Classic Stampin' Ink: Lavender Lace- 101305
Dies: Scallop Envelope- 113462, Little Leaves- 114511
Punches: Trio Flower- 109783, Eyelet Border- 113692
Other: Lavender gems

'Sending Love' Little Scrapbook

Yesterday I posted my little Christmas scrapbook that I made with my 'Clear Scalloped Square' Bigz die. Just to show you that you can use this great die year round, I started work on another little scrapbook using the GORGEOUS 'Sending Love' Designer Series Paper. Even though you can't tell in my photo, the cover paper has glitter on it so it's super pretty. I haven't added anything yet to the cover embellishment wise because I am not completely sure what theme I am going to use it for. It would be a wonderful Valentine book, great for a baby girl, birthday, teen, moms.... lots of different possibilities.

The inside covers are also covered with a paper from the 'Sending Love' DSP. Isn't it pretty?

My inside pages are die cut from Very Vanilla and I used my Real Red Stampin' Write marker to make the lines on my journaling blocks. I used the same format as my Christmas book, but I left the square space on the journaling block blank for now until I figure out my theme for this book.

So there ya' have it. This is a die that everyone needs in their stamping supplies ;-). I hope you have a great day today!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Pretty in Pink
Paper: Sending Love Specialty DSP
Stampin' Write Markers: Real Red
Dies: Clear Scalloped Square Bigz die
Other: Bind it All machine

Wedding Samples

My friend Patty is getting married in January! Congrats Patty! Her colors will be red and white. Aren't those great colors for a January wedding? I will be adding some samples for her to see on my blog- I hope you don't mind :D. This first sample is a wedding invitation. It opens at the top, measures 4.25" x 5.50". Card base is Real Red, mat is gold (I used what I had on hand, but if she likes this one I will use Brushed Gold), and the embossed card front is Whisper White. The poinsettia flower is punched with the 5 Petal Flower punch and layered on the Little Leaves Sizzlit die- die cut from Old Olive.

Next I have some samples of wedding favors, all done in Real Red and Whisper White...

Pillow Box die with Tag, Small Tag, and Heart to Heart punches, Real Red 1/4" grograin ribbon.

Some Matchbox samples:

The tags are left blank in the samples, but will contain the happy couple's names and their wedding date :). Let me know what you think Patty and Angela :D. Hugs to you both! Have a great day everyone!!!

Blessings!
Barb