3 x 3 Note cards

I am still adding to my stash :-). This week I decided to add some 3x3 note cards with little envelopes and I left the inside unstamped so I can add what I need when I need it. Let me tell ya', I have needed a few cards from my stash already and it is sooooo great to have one all ready to go when needed! Yep, building up the stash is a good idea ;-). Why didn't I do this sooner?!!

I made my note cards with Almost Amethyst as the base and used Lavender Lace and YoYo Yellow for my other colors. I used the Ex Large Fancy Flower punch and the Scallop Trim Corner punch. One of the flowers is punched in Whisper White, stamped in YoYo Yellow and then sponged around the edges with the main flower color- in the card below- Lavender Lace.

For some reason, these flowers remind me of a pansies. Maybe because pansies often have white centers with yellow in the very middle. Speaking of yellow, here is the YoYo Yellow note card...

The Scallop Trim Corner punch paired with the Perfect Polka Dots Textured embossing folder and the Ex Large Fancy Flowers, make me think of the hankies that my grandmother used to have when I was growing up. Some of them had Swiss Dots, they all had pretty crocheted borders, much like the Scallop Trim punches :-), and they all had pretty flowers embroidered on them. Do they even make hankies like that anymore? Fortunately for me, I have some of my great grandmother's hankies and they are the same. So tell me, do these little note cards remind you of the hankies that your grandmother owned :-D ?

Here is the whole lot of them, all together. I think they look kind of pretty in a group :-). That's my post for today. Hope you have a wonderful, wonderful day and that the sun is shining brightly where you live. It's going to be 78 degrees here today- oh yeah! See ya' tomorrow- thanks for stopping by!

Oh, just a reminder- today is the LAST day of Sale-a-bration. You can get free stuff for every $50.00 order you place, so if there is anything you want from the Sale-a-bration brochure, please be sure to follow the link in the upper right hand column to my online Stampin' Up! store and get your order in.

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: With All My Heart- 118623 (wood mount- 118134)
Paper: Almost Amethyst- 102158, YoYo Yellow- 107108, Lavender Lace- 101614, Whisper White- 100730
Classic Stampin' Ink: Lavender Lace- 101305, YoYo Yellow- 102717
Punches: Ex Large Fancy Flower- 118073, Trio Flower- 109183, Scallop Trim Corner- 118870
Other: Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions embossing folder- 117335

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

Fancy Flower Punch

Good Morning! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Today, my cards use the Extra Large Fancy Flower punch. To give you an idea of the size of this flower, my cards are A2 size (4.25" x 5.5"). For the first card, I borrowed my good friend Donna's Pinking Hearts Corner punch :-). Thanks so much Donna!!! I also used the Scallop Trim Border punch on both of these cards.

I did just the corners of my cards as I kind of like that look :-), but you can use the matching border punches and punch the design all the way around. As you can see in my photos, I layered the Fancy Flower, by first stamping the flower image from With All My Heart in YoYo Yellow, sponging around the edges of the punch out in Apricot Appeal, and then punching out another flower from Apricot Appeal card stock. I also sponged the edges of the solid card stock flowers. I finished off the flower centers with a Trio Flower punch flower and also inked the edges. I did two cards, pretty much the same, but changed out the corner punches and the colors that I used. The card above is on the bold side and the card below is much softer due to the use of pastel colors.

For the tags on my flowers, I stamped one of the sentiments from Teeny Tiny Wishes, punched it out near one side of the sentiment instead of centering, then simply trimmed off the end and poked a hole with my piercing tool for the crochet thread. So there ya' have it! One basic layout, but two slightly different looks by using different color combos and different corner punches :-). I have to pick up one of my daughters and take her to work this morning so I have to run. I hope you all have the best day! Thanks for visiting my blog today- I appreciate that you take the time to do so.

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes- 115370, Sweetheart- 120780, With All My Heart- 118623 (wood mount- 118134)
Paper: Apricot Appeal- 05124, Pumpkin Pie- 105117, Whisper White- 100730, Old Olive- 100702, Pretty in Pink- 100459, Bashful Blue- 105120
Classic Stampin' Ink: YoYo Yellow- 102717, Pretty in Pink- 101301, Apricot Appeal- 105218, Old Olive- 102277
Punches: X Lrg Fancy Flower- 118073, Word Window- 105090, Scallop Trim Corner- 118870, Scallop Trim Border- 118402, Pinking Heart Corner- 118072, Trio Flower- 109183
Other: Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder- 117335, Pumpkin Pie 1/4" grosgrain ribbon- 109030, Pretty in Pink 1/4" grosgrain ribbon- 109032, pearl gems

Jan Tink's Teeny Tiny Scrapbook

I LOVE little scrapbooks! I think they are so cute! So, yesterday when I found Jan Tink's Teeny Tiny Scrapbook tutorial, I absolutely had to make one of my own. I've linked to the instructions (and a video too) for Jan's tutorial. Just click on the blue link in the sentence above to get there. I used Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper and Rich Razzleberry Designer Series Paper, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, and Pale Plum card stocks to make my little book. I'll add a list of a few of the supplies I used at the end of my post, but most of the supplies are already listed in Jan's tutorial.

I knew I wanted to make my Jan Tink Teeny Tiny Scrapbook to match the notepad book that I posted yesterday. I also made a designer ;-) pen to go with the set. Here is my book...

Is this not the cutest of the cutest little scrapbooks you have ever seen?!!! I love it! Jan Tink is a genius, in my humble opinion, to have come up with this. The little tags above slip into each of the coin envelopes for adding journaling or more little photos. You will notice when you see Jan's tutorial that I made my own coin envelopes. I did post instructions for making your own coin envelopes in the post below this one. I'm not done decorating my teeny tiny book yet, but it sure is going to be fun to finish!

Here is a photo of my completed set. The teeny tiny scrapbook, the designer pen, and the notepad that was posted yesterday. Don't they look great together?

The pen was really easy to make. Usually you see these pens made with the clear barrel pens made by Pentel. Our Walmart doesn't sell the Pentel pens anymore (boo!), but I found some clear barrel pens by Bic. They are called Bic Cristal pens and you get 10 pens for a dollar. To make your own designer pen with the Bic Cristal pens, cut a piece of Designer Series Paper
4 9/16" x 3/4". I used a chop stick to help mold the paper by rolling the paper around the chop stick . Pull the ink pen from the bottom of the clear barrel with pliers and wrap the paper tightly around the ink pen shaft. You will leave the plastic bottom of the ink barrel unwrapped. Just wrap it around the part where you can see the ink. Slide the wrapped ink pen shaft back into the clear barrel as far as it will go. That's all there is to it!

Thanks for visiting- Have a great day!

Blessings!
Barb

For a complete list of supplies, please see Jan Tink's tutorial, but for a shortened list of the supplies that I personally used see below:
Stamps: Vintage Vogue- 118598, Best Yet (retired Hostess set)
Paper: Cottage Wall- 115671, Rich Razzleberry- 115685 Designer Series Paper, Old Olive- 100702, Rich Razzleberry- 115316, Pale Plum- 101658 card stock
Classic Stampin' Ink: Rich Razzleberry- 115658, Pale Plum- 102732, Old Olive- 102277
Dies: Little Leaves:114511
Other: Clear Rhinestone brads- 113144, Coin Envelopes- please see my tutorial below.

Coin Envelope Tutorial

Necessity is indeed the mother of invention, lol! I wanted to make Jan Tink's Teeny Tiny Scrapbook, but there were no stores in my town that sold coin envelopes. I didn't want to wait for an order of them to come in and I sure didn't need 500 of them! Sooooo, I made my own coin envelopes from Designer Series Paper for my Teeny Tiny Scrapbook :-). Below you will find instructions to make your own coin envelopes.....

1. Cut Designer Series Paper 4.75" x 5"

2. With the 5" side at the top, score 1" from the right edge and 1/2" from the left edge.

3. Flip the paper so that the 4.75" side is at the top. Score 2.25" from the right edge. Move the paper to the right and score 2.25" from the first score line. This will leave a 1/4" on the left edge.

4. Fold on all score lines and crease each fold with a bone folder so the score lines are nice and crisp.

5. With the 4.75" side at the top, cut the corners off the top and bottom right edge and the top and bottom left edge as shown in the photo. You will have a 2.25" flap on the right, a 1/4" flap on the left, a 1" flap in the center top, and a 1/2" flap in the center bottom.

6. Fold in the 1/4" flap to the inside of the envelope and put some Two Way glue on the outer edge of the 1/4" flap. Bring the 2.25" flap over to line up with the outer edge of the 1/4" flap and press to adhere.

7. You will now have an envelope with a 1" flap at the top and a 1/2" flap at the bottom. Corner round both sides of each flap as in the photo above. Put some Two Way glue on the edges of the 1/2" bottom flap and fold up to adhere to the envelope. The 1" flap that remains is not glued. You will use this 1" flap to adhere the coin envelopes to the little book in Jan Tink's Teeny Tiny Scrapbook. Now we can have coin envelopes in any color we need :-). I hope you have fun making your own coin envelopes! See ya' tomorrow!

Blessings!
Barb

Friends Notepad

Some time ago I bought some notepads and I had planned on making a cover for it. I finally got around to it :-D! I used three different Designer Series Paper packs- Cottage Wall, Rich Razzleberry, and Old Olive. I really like the Vintage Vogue stamp set and wanted to use it for this project. I used a card map from Mojo Monday (Week #88) for the cover. The 'Friends' mat is popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals and the flower and leaves are stamped and cut out, with only the flower popped up on another Stampin' Dimensional. I used a clear rhinestone brad for the center of the flower and curled the petals to give it more dimension.

On the inside, I added a 2010 bookmark calendar matted on Rich Razzleberry Designer Series Paper. I may add some small flowers from the Vintage Vogue stamp set to the inside left cover, but for now I am leaving it as is. If you want to make one of these, please see instructions below:

Cut Rich Razzleberry card stock 8 1/8" x 10.5". With the 10.5" side running across the top, score 5 1/8" from each side. Cut Old Olive card stock 4.75" x 7.75" for the front mat. Cut top part of Designer Series Paper 4.50" x 4.25". Cut bottom part of Designer Series Paper 4.50" x 3.25". Adhere to the Old Olive card stock mat. Cut Old Olive card stock 4.75" x 2" and punch with the Scalloped Trim border punch. Trim straight edge so the border piece is 7/16" wide. Adhere to the front between the two Designer Series Papers. Cut two mats from Old Olive 1.25" x 4" and two Designer Series Paper 1" x 3.75". Adhere the Designer Series Paper to the Old Olive mats. Add a brad to the two outer corners of the mats and adhere. Stamp the Friends image onto 1.75" x 2.25" Whisper White card stock in Rich Razzleberry. Mat onto Rich Razzleberry Textured card stock cut at 2" x 2.50". Add Stampin' Dimensionals to the back and center on the two Old Olive mats with brads. Stamp the small flower from Vintage Vogue in Rich Razzleberry, cut out, curl the petals a little, add a clear rhinestone brad to the center, a Stampin' Dimensional on the back and place on the lower right corner. Stamp two leaves from Vintage Vogue in Old Olive and adhere underneath the flower.

For the inside, cut Designer Series Paper 4.75" x 7.75" and adhere. You can add a calendar if you would like, add some flowers from Vintage Vogue, or just leave it plain.

For the top of the notepad, cut Designer Series Paper 2.75" x 5". Line it up at the top, bringing it around to the back and adhere. Use four to five strips of Sticky Strip on the back of the notepad to make sure it stays put and line up the left edge of the notepad with the right scoreline, press down to secure the Sticky Strip.

Hope you will try one of these. It would be great to give with a set of matching 3" x 3" note cards and/or a designer pen made with one of the papers used for the Notepad. Have a great day everyone!!! See ya' tomorrow!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Vintage Vogue- 118598 (wood mount- 117690)
Paper: Rich Razzleberry- 115316, Rich Razzleberry Textured- 115719, Old Olive- 100702, Whisper White- 100730, Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper- 115671, Rich Razzleberry Designer Series Paper- 115685, Old Olive Designer Series Paper- 112160
Classic Stampin' Ink: Rich Razzleberry- 115658, Old Olive- 102277
Punches: Scallop Trim- 118402
Other: Clear Rhinestone brads- 113144, Gold brads- 104337, Stampin' Dimensionals-104430, Sticky Strip-104294, 5" x 8" notepad

Happy Bearthday Boy

I've been working on building up my stash of cards this year and decided I should add some children's cards. Little boys seem to like bright colors, so I chose Tempting Turquoise and YoYo Yellow. When using very bright colors, it's always a good idea to break them up with a place for the eye to rest. To that end, I used Whisper White as a mat between my colors. I don't make many male cards so I really need to work on more of those :-).

The Build a Bear Workshop line of products, exclusive to Stampin' Up!, includes some adorable stamps, along with dies for making cute, cute bears. I thought these two stamp sets would be perfect for a little boy card.

I stamped this cute little bear with Black Staz-on and colored him in with my Watercolor Wonder Crayons and a blender pen on watercolor paper. If I am going to color with my Watercolor Crayons directly on my card stock, I will normally use Whisper White or Very Vanilla. Both of these card stocks have a coating on them, making them perfect for coloring. Simply outline only the edges of your image with the Watercolor Wonder Crayon, and in a tight, tiny circular motion, pull the color into the center with the blender pen. Use gentle pressure so as not to pill your card stock. If I am going to color in my image by picking up the color directly from the crayons, I use watercolor paper. Watercolor paper is much more sturdy so it doesn't pill very easily. With picking color up directly from the crayon, you would use the same method of pulling in color into the center of the image, by starting your coloring on the outside edges of your image. To finish off my image, I used Bashful Blue chalk to color in the sky around the bear. I added just a bit of texture on the YoYo Yellow with the Perfect Polka Dots Impressions folder. Easy peasy card :-)
Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by- see ya' tomorrow!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Beary Nice Wishes- 118050, Beary Best Friends- 118052
Paper: Tempting Turquoise- 102067, YoYo Yellow- 102824, Real Red- 102482, Whisper White- 100730, Watercolor paper- 105019
Classic Stampin' Ink: Real Red- 103133. Black Staz-on-101406. Blender pens- 102845
Watercolor Wonder Crayons: Bold Brights- 106695 (Brilliant Blue, YoYo Yellow, Glorious Green)
Earth Elements- 106696 (Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Old Olive)
Neutrals- 106746 ( Sahara Sand, Going Gray, Basic Black)
Dies: Stars #2- 113461
Other: Bashful Blue Stampin' Pastels- 105542, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions embossing folder- 117335