Pumpkin Patch

I've been seeing this technique used to make paper lanterns quite a bit but, have you seen them as pumpkins??? Well, Tracey Roy (Lakeshore Stamper) made some and they are beautiful. I finally had to try it. I used non Stampin' Up! paper for the big one and retired paper for the two others. All you need to do is decide how big you want your pumpkin, that's the height (mine are 12", 8" & 6"), then cut a 12" piece of paper/card stock into 1" strips. Stack your strips and use your Crop A Dile to punch a hole at the bottom and one at the top. Thread ribbon through the hole in the bottom pull it through the top and tie it off, after you have decided the shape you want your pumpkin to be. Spread out the strips and you have your pumpkin! You can add leaves and little tendrills too. I just cut some leaves freehand and then used some scraps for the tendrills and wrapped them around a paintbrush. Each one litterally only took me 5 minutes to make. I hope you get a chance to make some this Fall. Oh, the real pumpkin came from the pumpkin patch yesterday. My son's preschool class had a field trip to Perry Farms (Ardenwood) in Fremont but because it rained the night before we couldn't go into the patch. We did get to go on a hay ride and pick out a small pumpkin though. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. I hope your day is just as beautiful!We even saw a couple of Peacocks. I've never seen one in person. The blue on their necks was a color you could never imagine. It is the most beautiful, brilliant color I've ever seen.

Got Scraps!!

Ribbon scraps that is. I walked into my office last night after my SU! meeting and saw all the scraps of ribbon laying on my desk from the water bottle holder I had made earlier and thought...I can't throw these away. They're too pretty. I have to come up with something to do with these scraps. Here's what I did. I used my 1 1/4" Circle Punch and just punched a piece of Whisper White card stock (a scrap too). Covered the back withe SNAIL and arranged the ribbon scraps. I punched another circle, stamped dots from the Three For You set with Pink Passion and added white dots with the Uni Ball Signo White Pen and glued it to the top of the ribbon scraps. Pretty simple! I really liked how the flower turned out. I've got some others already made using more ribbon in other colors and some paper scrap flowers too. I'll post those after I create a card or something with them. I hope you like this little tip and just think, this is a great recycling idea. I used every piece of ribbon scrap I had and threw nothing away. Happy Stampin' or Scrappin'!! LOL!! Get it, Scrappin' - ribbon SCRAPS! HA HA HA HA HA I just crack myself up! Ok, I'm a dork, I can admit it! :0)

H2O to GO

Ok, here's something I made out of necessity. I am trying to walk every other day and yesterday I was just tired of carrying my water bottle. So, I came up with this water bottle holder. It's all ribbon and knots. There is no SU! ribbon this time. Instead, I just used some cute ribbon I had stashed away. It was so simple to make. I just pulled a piece of ribbon out and hung it around my neck to see how long I wanted it. Then I wrapped a piece of ribbon around the bottle and tied a knot. Then tied the neck piece to opposite sides of that the piece wrapped around the bottle. Ok, next I tied a piece to the one wrapped around the bottle and went under the bottle and back up to the other side and tied it off to the same piece. Did that 2 other times for a total of 3 pieces of ribbon tied from one side, under the bottle then tied to the other side. Then I didn't think that would hold so I wrapped another piece of ribbon around the bottom 3/4 of the bottle and used little scraps of ribbon to tie that piece to each of the 3 other pieces. Then I tied another scrap to the bottom of the bottle where all the ribbons crossed to keep them in place. I think that's it. I hope all this makes sense. If not, just let me know and I'll do my best to clarify. Anyway, now my hands are free when I'm walking...WOO HOO!! And the great thing is, I don't have to take it out of the holder to get a drink. It stays in the holder until I add another bottle. I hope you like this idea and that it inspires you to make your own or to just get out and walk.

Have a great day!!

Monthly SU! Upline Meeting

Last night was my Upline's monthly SU! Meeting. There were only 6 of us there but we made 9 projects. They were all amazing. I hope you like them. I'm only showing 6 here because the 3 I did are all on previous posts. The Photo Corner Punch Christmas Tree, The Tag Punch snowflake and the Pumpkin Trio. Enjoy the eye candy and have a great day. Thanks for stopping in.

This first card was designed by my Upline, Colleen Becker.

The next 2 cards were designed by Korrin Lucca.

This card was designed by Lori Owles.

This card was designed by Gina Cardera.

This card was designed by Valerie Cooke.

I didn't give you any recipes or instructions because I need to go fold some clothes :0) but, I'll try to add them later. Sorry about that. If you have any questions, just let me know. Thanks!

Tag Punch Starburst

This is a project that I just had to try. It was designed by Donna Moore. Here are her instructions and a link to her blog with pictures of what she did with it.

SU Tag Punches Starburst

She could only upload 3 photos, so she tried to pick the most important ones. Enjoy! Please let me know how it goes. Her card is posted at: Splitcoaststampers Gallery - WT106 Tag Punch Starburst Donna's sample also has glitter applied to each punch out.

SUPPLIES:

Large SU Tag punch

Small SU Tag punch

Circle punch for center

Paper snips

2-way glue pen

Dimensionals

Cardstock for frame

Desinger Series Paper, Vellum or other paper for inner parts of the starburst.

Embellishments for center of starburst

Step by Step Instructions:

Step 1: For a two-tiered star, punch out 16 small tags leaving about 1/4” between each one.

Step 2: Using the large tag punch, go back over the holes made by the small punch. Line up the punch so that you can see an evenly spaced frame around each hole. Punch out 16 frames.

Step 3: Each layer consists of 4 frames. Apply two-way glue evenly over the back of a few frames at a time. Put the sheet of lighter weight paper face-side up and carefully apply your frames in a cross-shaped pattern. Line up the inner diagonal sides of the frame.

Step 4: Follow the same process for attaching the next layer of 4 frames to the base layer. The second layer is attached to fill in the empty areas of the first cross-shaped layer.

Step 5: The points of the star will be visible when the second layer is attached. Use paper snips to trim away the excess.

Step 6: Repeat entire process to make another star, to mount on top of the first one. Use Dimensionals to separate the two stars.

Step 7: Embellish center of star and finish card.

Here is the star I made. It's only one layer and I used vellum stamped and embossed with the White Craft pad and Detail White embossing powder. I used the swirl stamp from the Season of Joy set found in our Holiday Mini Catalog. I also made mine like a sandwich. I glued the punches to the vellum then glued another piece of vellum over that, then cut it out. No glitter on mine but the next one will definitely have some! It was pretty simple and Donna's instructions are great! I could see a whole Christmas tree full of these!

Altered Tea Can

My DH is a tea drinker and for some reason he was saving these tins his tea came in. I was cleaning out the kitchen cabinets yesterday and found them and thought what a great project these would make. I was thinking they could be altered as new with the tea still inside and given as a little gift. Or, they're a good size for some cookies or candy or even a pencil holder for my son's teacher's desk. I'm sure there are a ton of ideas for this little can. So, I made one. There's no stamping on this one, just designer series paper from the Dashing collection and some ribbon. I didn't have a lot of time to make this one so I kept it pretty simple. I did get to use my Crop A Dile though. It went through the sides of the tin like butter!! I love that tool. Then I thought the top needed a little more so I found this button in my stash and cut off the shank and used a glue dot to stick it to the top. Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Friday is wonderful and that your weekend is even better.

Pumpkin Trio

This is a card I've been wanting to make for a while. Actually I've really been wanting to make pumpkins with my Large and Small Oval and Key Tag punches. The stems were made with the Horizontal Punch too. So, here it is. I did use the faux stitching stamp from the All In A Row set. (Thank you Beate for the obsession with this stamp :0) ) I also used the Hugs & Wishes set. Other than that it's all punches. Happy Fall!

Corner Punch Christmas Tree

I got this idea from Catherine Brown (click here to see her blog: Catherine Brown Blog) who got the idea from a card she saw at the SU! Regional Convention in Orlando Florida. As soon as I saw that card I had to try it. This just might be the Christmas card I send to all of my family and friends this year. HEY, if you want to come over and make your Christmas cards just email me or give me a call and we'll make it a date! Email: Ltrain26@aol.com Phone Number: 510/440-9053 Hope to see you soon!

Now, this is how I made the card: I used the Warm Words stamp set for the sentiment. I used the Photo Corner Punch for the branches of the tree (Did you realize the Photo Corner punch has 2 different sizes?? I didn't until I made this card. It's like 2 punches in one. What a deal!), the Word Window Punch for the tree base, the small and large Oval Punches and the 1/8" circle punch for the Fire Circle Rhinestone Brad at the top of the tree. The cardstock is Real Red, Wild Wasabi, River Rock, Confetti Cream and Chocolate Chip. The tree is punched from the Dashing Designer Series Paper and the ribbon is our 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon in Real Red. I popped up the Wild Wasabi base and the sentiment with Dimensionals and used our SAIL adhesive to stick everything else together.

Birthday Circle

I made two more of the flower circle cards. One for my friend Melony for sending her retired Bubble Queen set to one of my customers (Hi Mel and Jen!) and one as a birthday card for my friend Special K (Katja Pastor, Hey Special K, sorry this card is a bit late but I wanted it to be as perfect as possible. I'll never be as good as you but I do try). I hope you like this one. Here's a big hug for you all, now pass it on and have a great day!

I used the Three for You set polka dot stamp and the Vases in Vogue Hostess set (you only need a workshop of $500 to earn this set for FREE) for the sentiment. I used Real Red, Green Galore, Only Orange, Summer Sun and Whisper White Cardstock. Real Red and Only Orange Classic Stamp Pads. White Craft Pad. The 5 Petal Flower punch, Looks Like Spring Flower Punch, Small Oval and Large Oval Punches. I used the Coluzzle kit for the base circle and Dimensionals to pop up the flowers. I also used our SNAIL adhesive to stick everything together.

Welcome to Pink for October

Web sites will Go Pink during the month of October to bring attention to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, get people talking about breast cancer, and raise money for research.
But to be clear, raising money isn’t the primary purpose of this web event.
The hope is that you turn your site pink (in whatever way works for your site), go out to that World Wide Web thing (in fact you’re on it right now! :) ) and educate yourself about the multiple issues related to Breast Cancer, then take that newfound knowledge and tell someone else what you’ve learned.

Birthday Blog Winner

I finally decided on a birthday set to order from my upline Colleen Becker. I ordered Dots are Hot! The winner didn't post to my website but sent me an email. Lisa McGevna suggested this set. I got quite a few emails and some comments on the blog. Thank you ALL for your great suggestions. I'm going to have to place an order myself for all the awesome sets you suggested!! :0) Lisa will receive, 1 package of the Designer Series paper Darling Doodles (one of my favorites), Groovy Guava Double Stitched ribbon and a pack of the Rich Regals brads. Thank you all again for sending me your suggestions!

Circle of Friendship

Have you seen the movie Meet the Faulkers? It's one of my favorite movies and in the movie Dustin Hoffman tells his son in law (Ben Stiller) about his "circle of friends" and how he has to earn being in his circle. It's too funny. You'll have to see the movie to get that one. Sorry. Anyway, that's what I thought of when I titled this post. This card is for a friend you want to send flowers to but you don't want the flowers to die. These flowers are perfectly preserved forever. The Pink Passion base was cut out using the Coluzzle. I used our new 5 Petal Flower punch and our Spring Flower Bouquet punch to create all these flowers. Then I used the polka dot stamp from the Three For You punch box with Craft White and Classic Pink Passion ink for some of the flowers. I stamped the saying from the Garden Whimsy set and punched that out with the Large Oval punch. The cardstock colors are Whisper White (of course), Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Only Orange and Apricot Appeal. I used our Circle Rhinestone Brads in Fire and our regular brads in Earth Elements, Rich Regals, and Soft Subtles. All of the flowers and the saying are on dimensionals. Here's a quick tip: I accidentally got some Pink Passion ink on the white background, after it was all assembled. AAAGGGHHH!!! So, I just dabbed my finger into the White Craft Pad and rubbed it over the mistake and it was all gone!! WOO HOO!! It seemed to cover it up pretty well. Can you see it?? I hope not. WOW, that was a long winded post. Sorry. :0) Big hugs to you all!

Another "Priceless" Card

Here's another card I made using the same template as the porevious card. It's more of a Christmas theme. I don't usually like red's and green's for Christmas cards but I love the new Designer Series Paper- Dashing so I had to use it. It only took about 10 minutes to make. It's so nice that we have two circle punches that nest to make it so much easier. I also used the In Colors River Rock cardstock and pad which I have had for a month now and never used. I just wasn't sure I liked this color but it's really growing on me. Now that it's officially Fall, I think I need to start making some Fall/Christmas cards. So, I'll try. I'm not much into Fall cards but I've seen some really cute ones so I figure I need to go out of my comfort zone and keep up with the seasons. I can't promise a lot of Fall cards but I'll do my best. HAPPY FALL!!

Priceless CASED

Here's a card I cased from Nancy Riley who cased from Kristina Werner. You can see Kristina's blog here-kwernerdesign blog. To see the original card click HERE. Go to Nancy's blog to see her original card-iSTAMP. I love both cards! Both of these stampers are incredible!! How lucky I am to be able to get such wonderful inspiration from these stampers! I hope you like my version. Have a great week and don't forget to take some time to stamp!

Faux Bow Birthday

Well, I was checking out some of my favorite blogs tonight and came across a technique by Nicole Heady. Her Faux Bow Technique. Check it out: Nicole Heady-Faux Bow I had to try it! First of all, it's so awesome that Stampin' Up! has everything you need to make a card but most importantly EVERYTHING MATCHES!! The cardstock, the ink, the buttons, brads, even the rhinestone brads!! The only thing I was missing was some polk a dot ribbon. Oh, yes, we have ribbon to match too, just not polka dot ribbon. SO, I decided to make my own and use Nicole's technique. I am in love with polk a dots lately and now I can make any color I want in any width ribbon I want. I couldn't stop with the ribbon, I had to stamp my flower too. (From the Stampin' Up! Pretties Kit) What a FUN card to make and it was so simple!! Isn't this the coolest technique ever??!! Ok, now go and make some of these Faux Bows and send me pictures. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Stamp Camp XX

Well, if you missed Stamp Camp XX last Sunday, you're in luck. Here are some pictures of the projects we made. If you like these projects, I suggest you sign up early for our next Stamp Camp. We will have more awesome projects for you to make. Meanwhile, if you didn't make it to this stamp camp, let me know and we can set up a time for you to come to my home and make them. Our next stamp camp should be in January or February. Happy Stampin!

The first two cards were created by Katja Pastor. Isn't that the cutest Frankenstein you've ever seen?? I love glitter! You can use this card to hold gum, candy or a gift card. Cool huh??

Look closely at that little tag. Is it metal?? NOPE! It's embossed in silver and stamped. Doesn't it look just like metal! Katja is so creative. What a great idea for dog tags on an Armed Services card or scarpbook page.
These next two cards were created by Gina Cardera. The yellow one was a card she learned how to make at Stampin' Up! Convention this year. It's one of my favorites! I really like the new size and we have envelopes for this card to fit in perfectly!

These next two projects were created by Debbie Colbacchini. Just look at that chipboard flower! It's so cute!! Polka dots are so hot right now. Oh, and that "Altoid" tin below. How cut is that?? Deb sure went out of the box on that one!! LOLOk well, here are mine. You've seen both of these before but I did them a little differently this time. I hope you like them.

14th Anniversary

My DH and I celebrated our 14th Anniversary yesterday!! WOO HOO!! 14 years and I'm still in love. Here's the card I made him. I used a Hambly's Transparency sheet and layered Basic Black behind it. I stamped Happy Anniversary with Black Staz On on the front. Then when you open the card there's another full card inside. I know that sounds wierd but check out the picture, you'll understand. I know I could have just used the card inside but I wanted to use that Transparency sheet really bad. I just love them! Anyway, I hope you like it. Thanks for checking things out and I hope you're day is wonderful! PS Sorry for the finger in the second photo. I couldn't keep it open to take the picture. :0)

3 More Surprise Pop Up Cards

Ok, these cards are using the same colors as the previous pop up card I did. I had some pre-cut cards left over after my upline meeting so I thought I'd use them. The stamp sets are all different though. On the first one I used the Season of Joy stamp set from the Holiday Mini Catalog. Let me tell you...I LOVE THE SETS IN THE HOLIDAY MINI!!! The rubber is ALL pre-cut for you. All you have to do is peel off the back and stick it on the wood. Then peel off the stickers and stick them on the wood and you're DONE and ready to start stampin'!! How easy is that??!!

The cardstock colors are Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Bordering Blue and Whisper White. The ink colors are, White Craft Pad (for embossing), Blue Bayou Classic Pad, and Soft Sky Classic Pad. I heat embossed the white with Detail White embossing powder. There is also a Rhinestone Brad from the Ice Squares collection and some Soft Sky stitched ribbon. The brad is from the Soft Subtles collection. The tag pull is made using the large Oval Punch, the 1/2" circle punch and the 1/16" circle punch.

This next card uses all the same cardstock and Classic Ink Pad colors. I added some coloring with the Stamp n' Write Markers. I used Real Red, Green Galore, Only Orange, YoYo Yellow, Pixie Pink, Lovely Lilac, Bliss Blue and Ballet Blue. The tag is punched with the Horizontal Punch to hold the ribbon which is Only Orange, Real Red and Whisper White. I also used some white floss through the button which is from the Fresh Favorites I collection. The stamp sets used are Dare to be Darling, All In A Row (faux stitching) and Outlined for Fun. I also popped up the image on the front with Stampin' Dimensionals.

The last card uses the Priceless stamp set. All the colors of the cardstock and ink are the same as above. I added some Blue Bayou and Soft Sky double stitched grosgrain ribbon and some white floss. The brads are from the Soft Subtles collection. The button is also from the Soft Subtles collection. I did add some Dazzling Diamonds glitter using the all around glue pen. I punched the flower out with the 5 Petal Punch and the tag uses the 1/2" circle punch and the 1/8" circle punch. I curled the flower petals up a little bit to show dimension and to keep the sliding part of the card smooth. I also used Stampin' Dimensionals under the flower but put them only on the bottom two petals underneath.