Shaker Card

Today I made my first shaker card! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The nice thing is now that Stampin' Up! is die-cutting their new stamp sets I have the perfect frame already made for these cards. Here is my card:

Supplies: Deer Friends Stamp Set (hostess) Hugs & Wishes Stamp Set, Shimmery White, Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy Card Stock, Not Quite Navy Classic Ink, White Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Edge Punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, acetate, 2 way glue stick, White Singo Gel Pen.














Would you like to know how I did it?

First I stamped the snow man image from the Deer Friends stamp set onto shimmery white using Not Quite Navy. I then punch him out using the 1 3/8" circle punch.


I took a 2"x2" piece of Baja Breeze Card Stock and used a temporary adhesive and adhered the snow man to the center of the Baja Breeze.




I then inserted this piece into my 1 3/8" circle punch - lining the snowman image up with the hole in the punch. This ensured that when I punched the circle in the Baja Breeze it would be centered.

Next take some double sided tape or sticky strip and cover the back of the Baja Breeze, cut out a piece of acetate just slighty smaller than 2"x2" and adhere to Baja Breeze.



Now is the fun part! The Deer Friends stamp set, being die cut, has already made our frame for us! Just cut out one of the circles, remove the backing and attach to the 2"x2" acetate.





Carefully remove the rubber part, leaving just the foam in the middle.







Now, add your micro beads or other filling of choice to the center of the foam, ontop of the acetate. Be careful not to get any on the sticky part of the foam. Also, a little goes a very long way!





Next take 2"x2" piece of Not Quite Navy and using 2 way glue, adhere the punched out snowman image to the center. The reason I used the 2 way glue stick was to ensure that I get a complete seal around the punched out piece. If I didn't then the micro beads would find their way behind Mr. Snowman.

Carefully place the Not Quite Navy piece over the foam making sure that the snowman image is going to show through the window on the front. This doesn't have to be a perfect match for the Not Quite Navy. Once you have adhered it, take your Craft & Rubber Scissors and trim the Not Quite Navy piece so that none is showing when you look at your shaker box from the front.

You are done! Add shaker box to your card.

I would love to see what you do with a shaker box! Please leave a link in the comments of this post to your blog or online gallery.

I know, it's been awhile

OK, I have been a bad little blogger. I could go into all the excuses why I haven't kept my site updated, but they would really just be excuses!

We have officially started finishing our basement! The plumbers were here last week and now we just need the inspector to come out and look at the job they did. I can't wait until the basement is finished! That means that my son will move downstairs to a HUGE bedroom and I will finally get a stamping room of my own!

Here is my card for today:

I had some scraps laying on my kitchen table from another project I was working on. I really didn't feel like cleaning up, so I stamped instead! I really like how this one turned out. I used Stampin' Write markers to get the two different colors for the flower stamp. I also went a little crazy with the paper piercing, but I find it so relaxing to pierce the paper! Notice how the scallops on are also pierced on the "Thanks" tag?

Supplies: Live Your Dream stamp Set, Soft Sky, Rose Red, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla Card Stock, Afternoon Tea Designer Series Paper, Rose Red and Always Artichoke Stampin' Write Markers, Chocolate Chip Classic Ink, Rich Regals Brads, HodgePodge Hardware, Soft Sky Double Stitched Ribbon, Crafters Tool Kit




One final note, thanks to those ladies who tagged my blog. Please don't take offense that I have not yet participated! As you can tell, I have neglected this blog much too long.

Faux Silk

Sorry I have been MIA for a few days, I have been preparing for my Virtual Stamp Night Hostess debut! My challenge was posted last night. There is no time limit on the creation and you have until March 15 to play. Find out all about VSN here.

So my challenge was to make a card using the Faux Silk Technique. Basically what you do for this technique is stamp your image on tissue paper, crumple it up and smooth it out. You then adhear the tissue paper to some card stock, trim and use as part of your card. It is really a great technique. Click here for a tutorial of the technique, courtosey of Splitcoaststampers.

Here is the sample I made for the challenge:
Interesting color combo, huh? I just happened to order ribbon in these 3 colors and saw them sitting on my table to be put away - I knew that I wanted to create a card using these colors!

You can't tell from the picture, but the flowers around the sentiment are made using the faux silk technique as well.

Stamping Supplies: Elegant Eggplant, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie and Whipser White Card Stock; Elegant Eggplant, Real Red and Pumpkin Pie Classic Ink; Elegant Eggplant Grosgrain Ribbon, Black Brads, Red Eyelet, 1 3/8 circle punch, Designer Label punch, oval punch, crop-o-dile (for setting eyelet) tissue paper.

There were 3 other great challenges posted last night. I will try and feature them throughout the week for your enjoyment. Until next time - Happy Stamping!

Happy Heart Day...Part 2

I really don't like giving my husband cards that I make. Not because I don't want to give him the card, but I kidda feel like it is a waste of an envelope. The card sometimes will sit in it for about 5 minutes before he opens it. Well, life must go on...

The other day I was trying to clean up a pile of papers (we all have those piles sitting somewhere in our house) and I came across the envelope I had used for my husbands Valentine Card. I had not sealed the envelope when I gave it to him so I thought that I could re-use it! Here is what I made:

I sealed the envelope then cut off one of the ends. I then cut a 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 piece of card stock to fit inside it.

I used the Boho Friend wheel on the actual envelope it's self, but I still had the problem of my husband's name on the front...so I made the belly band!

For the large Purely Pomegranate circle I actually used the round tab punch. If you make 2 tabs with the punch and then layer one on top of the other at a 90 degree angle you will get a circle. I cut out the flower and used a Build a brad to make the middle of the flower.

Recipe:

Medium Envelope; Close to Cocoa, Purely Pomegranate, Very Vanilla Card Stock; One of a Kind stamp set and Boho Friend wheel; Berry Bliss Designer Series Paper, Close to Cocoa, Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink Classic ink; Build a Brad and Crafters Tool kit.

It's Wednesday....

And you know what that means! Yeap, half way through the work week.

It's been almost 2 weeks since I have posted! What am I thinking? Oh yeah, I am getting ready for the next VSN at SCS! There is a Mini coming up on March 8 and then the big event on April 4th and 5th.

Now you may ask yourself why I am getting ready for an event that is so far off in the future? That is because I have been selected to host one of the challenges! What day and what is the challenge you ask? Well, you will have to stay tuned, I can't say when I will be hosting the challenge quite yet...and you will have to wait for the day and time of my challenge to see what it is!

What is VSN you ask? Virtual Stamp Night is a series of challenges. You have usually have 45 minutes to complete the stamping challenge, then 15 minutes to clean up, take a picture of your project and upload your picture. Challenges are posted every hour! It is great fun...click here for more information. I hope you will be able to join me!

Happy Heart Day!

Boy, did I get a good surprise this afternoon when I got home from work! Let me start the story from the beginning so you can fully appreciate it.


Last night, when I was getting ready to go to bed I noticed a small bud vase on the table by the door (already filled with water) I picked it up and walked over to my husband and said "what is this for?" He just smiled told me I would find out. Well, this morning there was a single, long stem rose in it. I was happy with that, kissed him good-bye and left for work.

When I got home this afternoon, the vase had grown, and there were a dozen roses in it! What a sweet guy and a good surprise! He really is a sweet guy.


Today's Project - Sneak Peak!



I got my Occasions Mini catalog pre-order the other day. One of the sets I ordered was "For Father" Here is my first card with the set:

I got the inspiriation for the colors from a co-worker's sweater the other day. When I say the colors together I knew that I wanted to make this card.

I used blender pens and classic ink pads to color the picture. It is a technique that I have really enjoyed lately, so I thought I would share it with you.

What you want to do is take a closed Stampin' Up! Classic Ink pad and squeeze it right in the middle. You will feel the 2 sided pushing together. When you open up the case the bottom side will look like this:

You can now use your blender pen to pick up the color. Here are a few tips for blender pens and coloring:

• You can use the same tip with several different colors, just scribble on a scrap piece of paper until all the ink is out of the pen.
• There are many way to shade, my favorite way is to use the same color, but add or remove ink as needed. To remove the ink I just pick a clear spot on my lid and rub the blender pen on it until some, but not all of the ink is gone
• When you are coloring your picture, visualize where the sun or other light source is in your picture. The color will be lighter on the side where the light is hitting the picture, and darker on the side that is away from the light. You can see this in the apples on the picture above.
• Don't worry about cleaning the lid of your ink pad. You can just close it and store as usual. The ink on the lid will be there for next time you want to do some coloring with it.
• You can also try this technique with the Aqua Painters or a small watercolor paint brush and a small amount of water. Depending on how wet you get the ink on the lid, you may want to use a paper towel to blot up the excess water before closing the lid.
  

Pre-Challenge for April VSN

OK, I LOVE challenges! I love being given a little nugget of information and then allowed to do with it what I please. In January I particiapted in a VSN (Virtual Stamp Night) on SCS. Challenges are posted every hour, on the hour. You have 45 minutes to complete your project and then 15 minutes to clean up and up load your project. It is so much fun! The next one will be April 4th and 5th. There will be a mini VSN on March 8. Check out the link above to learn more.


The dates and theme for this next VSN were just announced over the weekend - and they gave us a pre-challenge - make a card using something a baby would wear. Here is my entry:

I used the new Berry Bliss Designer Series Paper for the background. I didn't mean for it, but it so happened that I was able to line up the eyelets with the circle pattern on the paper. I used my Crop-o-Dile to set the eyelets, I love that you are able to see where you are going to punch a hole.

As you can see I have found a photography solution that I am happy with at the moment. The only problem is that it has to be daylight out for me to take pictures. I took several today and will be posting more in the days to come.