Ahoy Matey!

My grandson is turning eight years old on Friday (where did that time go? I swear, he was just a baby a few days ago!) and he is having a pirate party this year. Grandma (aka me) is baking him a pirate ship cake with some pirate cupcakes to go with it. You know I had to make him a pirate card ;-) ! To make the pirate, I turned to the Build a Bear Workshop dies. They are great dies to have on hand because you can make more than just bears with them. I used the Ornament punch for the pirate's head and head scarf. The little tie on his head scarf is the little heart from the Heart to Heart punch. The white polka dots were done with my gel pen.

His pirate clothes are indeed the little bear clothes die, but I cut his clothes on the sleeves and the pant's legs to make them raggedy and more like a pirate. His little neck scarf was once upon a time little bear shoes and a little bear shirt cuff :-). His ship is also made with the Ornament punch and the Small Oval punch. And you thought you could just make ornaments with the Ornament punch :-D.

Awwww! He even has a pirate earring and an eye patch! The earring was made by punching an 1/8" circle punch into a scrap of Crushed Curry and then I used a 1/4" circle punch to punch around the first hole. I cut a little slit near the top of the earring so I could layer it front and back, creating his little ear. Highlights on his eye patch and his eye were done with a white gel pen. This cute little pirate was so much fun to make and my daughter (mommy to grandson) assures me that he will love it ;-). I hope he does! I will be making him a pirate birthday banner with my Pennant die that I got for Christmas from one of my other daughters and I haven't even used it yet. This is a great time to use it- can't wait to make that banner!

If you don't own the Build a Bear dies yet, you really do need them!!! They are not 'just' for bears, lol! Wishing you a wonderful week and hope you are having pretty Spring weather where you live. Thanks for stopping by! See you tomorrow!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Paper: Blush Blossom- 103318, Real Red- 102482, Close to Cocoa- 101341, Chocolate Chip- 102128, Soft Suede- 115318, Apricot Appeal- 105124, Barely Banana- 102701, Crushed Curry- 115319, Old Olive- 100702, Whisper White- 100730, Very Vanilla- 101650, Basic Black- 102851, Ballet Blue- 100613
Classic Stampin' Ink: Apricot Appeal- 105218, Creamy Caramel- 103220, Bashful Blue- 105209, Barely Banana- 101170, Chocolate Chip- 100908
Stampin' Pastels: Cameo Coral (color on pirate's cheeks)
Punches: 1" Circle- 109046, 1/4" Circle, 1/8" Circle, Ornament- 116794, 1" Square, Heart to Heart- 113694, Scallop Circle- 109043 (to make clouds), Small Oval- 107304
Dies: Build a Bear Workshop Bear- 117977, Beary Essentials- 117978 (bear clothes), Birds & Blooms Sizzlits- 113485
Other: Black Journal Marker- 105394, White gel pen- 105021

Happy Retirement Dear Friend!!

My good friend Donna officially retired last Friday, so I made her a card to congratulate her on her upcoming days of rest and relaxation and doing whatever she wants whenever she wants. Try to say that five times fast, lol! I chose the 'Good Neighbor' stamp set for my card because I think the little houses are so home-y (is that even a word?) and cozy looking. This stamp set can be earned, by the way, as a free set during Sale-a-bration until March 31st when Sale-a-bration ends- in case you'd like your own set ;-). I wanted to create a restful and happy, relaxed little scene with some stamping and a little DSP because Donna gets to hang out at home now :-). Yippee! The crowds cheer for Donna!

I used Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper on this card front. It's one of my favorite DSP's! So pretty! The sun is punched out with a circle punch from Barely Banana and sponged around the edges with Apricot Appeal ink. I used a sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes. If you don't have Teeny Tiny Wishes yet, it's a great set! It covers all the holidays and other occasions- like retirement :-D.

On the inside, I used two different stamp sets and two colors of ink- Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry inks. I hope that Donna liked my card and that you do too ;-) ! And hopefully she got it in the mail already- if not.... Surprise Donna!!! This is your card!!! Have a great weekend everyone!!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Good Neighbor- 119116, Well Scripted- 118601, Teeny Tiny Wishes- 115370, Best Yet- retired Hostess set
Paper: Rich Razzleberry- 115316, Rich Razzleberry textured- 115719, Old Olive- 100702, Very Vanilla- 101650, Barely Banana- 102701, Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper- 115671
Classic Stampin' Ink: Rich Razzleberry- 115658, Old Olive- 102277, Bordering Blue- 102265, Apricot Appeal- 105218
Markers: Barely Banana- 100039, Chocolate Chip- 100071
Punches: 1/2" circle- 104390, Modern Label- 116630, Word Window- 105090
Other: Old Olive 1/4" grosgrain ribbon- 111368

Razzleberry Post- it Note Holder

You may want to grab your sunglasses before you continue on with this post, lol! It is BRIGHT! I guess I really want Spring to hurry up and get here because I've been playing with bright colors this week- not my norm. There is barely any color in the winter, so by the time winter comes to a close, I am longing for bright and pastel colors!

I found the tutorial for this post- it note holder on SCS here. It doesn't take much time to make and they are handy to carry around in a purse or keep by the phone. I die cut two large Birds & Blooms flowers- one from Melon Mambo and one from Crushed Curry and layered them. Then I die cut the smaller flowers, adhered them together and popped them up on the larger part of the flower with dimensionals. Before I assembled the flower, I sponged the very edges of the Crushed Curry flower petals with Melon Mambo ink just to give them a slight blush.

And this is the inside with a loop to hold a pen or pencil. I just need to find a little pencil or a shorter gel pen to put into the loop on the left hand side to finish it up. The post-it notes match the Melon Mambo papers that I chose much better than it looks in the photo- just so ya' know ;-). I have a cute card on the schedule for tomorrow, so hope you will come back by. I used the 'Good Neighbor' stamp set for tomorrow's post, which you can get free during Sale-a-bration. Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes- 115371, Darling Dots- 113708 ( retired Hostess set ), but you could use the leaves from the Birds & Blooms dies
Paper: Melon Mambo- 115320, Rich Razzleberry textured- 115719, Crushed Curry- 115319, Whisper White- 100730, Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Series Paper- 115675
Classic Stampin' Ink: Melon Mambo- 115656, Rich Razzleberry- 115658
Punches: Modern Label- 116630, Word Window- 105090
Dies: Birds & Blooms Sizzlits- 113485
Other: Crushed Curry 1/2" ribbon- 115614, Stampin' Dimensionals- 104430, Sticky Strip- 104294, post- it notes, Fray Check (for the ends of the ribbon so they don't fray)

Easter Egg Display

One of the things that my daughter looks forward to every year is decorating Easter Eggs. She makes decorating the eggs an artistic project :-). I was looking at the egg holders that come with egg die kits and well, they just aren't very cute. So, I decided that I could make my own egg holders to display my daughter's egg art work this year. You will see two of them in the photos below.

These are really quick to make! Just cut a strip of Whisper White card stock 5.75" long by at least 1.50" in height so you have room to punch your edge. Adhere the Designer Series Paper of your choice to the Whisper White strip, leaving enough space for your punched border to show. To finish them up, I run my completed strip over the edge of a counter to help round it out. Overlap the strip 1/4" and glue. You have an egg holder! You can make your egg holders as plain or fancy as you like. You can stamp them, add flowers, use any border punches that you have. I am going to use the Chocolate Bunny stamp and glue him to the front of some of my egg holders with a little bow around his neck. I will be adding some little flowers and leaves to the Bashful Blue egg holder in my photo. You can make your egg holders varying heights for displaying your Easter Eggs for more interest in your arrangement. No more boring or cheesy looking egg holders!! Have a great day everyone!

Blessings!
Barb

PS- as soon as I am done creating all the egg holders for my daughter, I'll post a photo of the completed holders.

Supplies:
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes- 115370
Classic Stampin Ink: Old Olive- 102277
Paper: Whisper White- 100730, Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper- 115671, Bashful Blue Designer Series Paper- 112151
Punches: Modern Label-116630, Word Window- 105090, Trio Flower- 109183, Eyelet Border- 113692, Pinking Hearts Border- 117649

Fold Up Scrapbook for Spring Part 1

I have seen these fold up mini scrapbooks around on different blogs and have always loved them. Of course, I have always wanted to make one, but didn't want to spend a ton of cash on a tutorial. I found a blogger that had instructions for making these on her blog for only $3.97! What a deal! I jumped on that 'Buy Now' button, lol! This post is going to be in two parts because I have a ton of photos for this book so you can see all the parts. It is such a cool book- all the little pages that open up are like going on a treasure hunt. I did use a retired Sale-a-Bration 2009 Designer Series Paper for this 6x6 scrapbook. I love this DSP and wish they had added it to the 2009/2010 Idea Book and Catalog. Since it didn't make it to the big catalog, I use it only for special projects ;-). I just put together the book- there are no photos or embellishments in it yet. I am pretty sure I am going to use this one for Spring photos, so will get to the finishing touches later :-). OK, let's look at this cool little scrapbook...

This is the cover. As you can see it ties closed and has a little bit of an overlap on the front cover. The ribbon is added at the beginning of making this book, so no worries about it coming out.

When you open up the cover, you will see the front right flap, the first page in the middle, and the inside of the front cover. All great places to add journaling, stamped images, and other embellishments of your choice. The center section is where I plan to add my title.

The photo above is the middle section with the right flap opened up.

The middle page opens up to the left and this is the next middle page. You can still see the right flap from the previous page and then a peek of the new flap to the left. This book is just so fun! Please go to post number two to see the rest of the book and for the supplies list :-).

Barb

Fold Up Scrapbook for Spring Part 2

The photo above is the middle striped second section with another page and a flap to the left of the striped middle section.

Opening up the narrow left flap on the left reveals the page underneath with a photo mat. I double matted my photo mats with Certainly Celery and So Saffron.

Next the second striped middle section opens up to the right to reveal a twin page to the one you see on the very left side. You can see the twin pages in the photo below.

In the center of the twin pages, is a gate fold that leads to the very middle of the book. There are two flaps on either side that open to reveal the last page.

And here it is- the very center of the scrapbook. When fully opened, this book measures 24" wide from end to end, but folds up into a sweet little 6x6 book. I love this fun folded scrapbook so much that I plan to make several for gifts and to have on hand for personal use :-). I can hardly wait to get some photos together so I can finish up my little book and embellish it! If you would like to make one of your own, you can purchase the tutorial for it from Jenny at Stamping Moments. Just scroll down on the right hand side of the page until you find the "I Wish Flip Album Stamp Class Instructions". She is in the UK, but when you pay by PayPal, the cost comes out to $3.97 U.S. dollars. Her tutorial is very well written with lots of photos! Very easy to follow!
I hope that you enjoyed my scrapbook because I sure had a ton of fun making it, lol! Hope you all have a wonderful week and I will be back tomorrow with another project.

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Paper: Certainly Celery textured 12x12- 108695, Almost Amethyst 12x12- 107080, Lavendar Lace 12x12- 107077, So Saffron- 105118, Bashful Blue- 105120
Punches: Scallop edge- 112091
Other: Whisper White 1/4" grosgrain ribbon- 109025

Easter Blossoms

I have some Easter cards to make, so decided to work on one over the weekend. I used 'Cottage Wall' Designer Series paper- one of my favorite DSP's! For the flowers on this card, the top right flower is flat on the card. The second flower to the left is popped up on 'one' layer of dimensionals, while the third flower on the lower right is popped up on 'two' layers of dimensionals. I inked the blossoms first with Pale Plum, although you really can't tell in the photo. Ah, it is not good to take photos at night :-). After I inked the flowers with Pale Plum, I inked the very edges with Perfect Plum. The Barely Banana flower centers have been inked on the edges with Apricot Appeal. The inking gives the flowers more depth on the card.

The butterfly is Barely Banana, inked with Apricot Appeal, and is actually two layers of butterfly. The large wings have dimensionals under them.

For the inside of my card, I stamped the cross in Pale Plum and the sentiment in Rich Razzleberry. I added a photo corner punched from Rich Razzleberry textured card stock to help balance out the weight of the cross. I have a little scrapbook that I made over the weekend and I will be posting that tomorrow :-). Hope to see you then! Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes- 115370, God's Blessings- 114972, Special Blessings- 113411
Paper: Rich Razzleberry- 115316, Rich Razzleberry textured-115719, Old Olive- 100702, Pale Plum- 101658, Barely Banana- 102701, Whisper White- 100730, Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper- 115671
Classic Stampin' Ink: Pale Plum,- 102732, Perfect Plum- 101437, Apricot Appeal- 105218, Old Olive- 102277, Rich Razzleberry- 115658
Dies: Little Leaves- 114511, Cherry Blossom- 114516, Beautiful Wings- 118138
Punches: Trio Flower- 109183, Modern Label- 116630, Word Window- 105090, Photo Corners- 109042
Other: Stampin' Dimensionals- 104430, Sponge daubers- 102892, lavender gems