And the Winner Is...

Good morning, stampers.  As I promised I am announcing the winner of my blog candy today (which is my birthday).  I caught DD1 as she was getting dressed for school and asked her to pull a paper from a bowl.  She looked at me in utter confusion, but did it for me.  I then explained it was for blog candy and she said "oooohhhh...." like girls her age do.  At any rate, the winner is:

sharon said...


I love the crimper idea! I shall have to give it a try, thanks

Sharon L


I have emailed her for her info.  Thanks to each and everyone of you who stopped by, and especially to those of you that left comments.  Come back and visit soon.  My goal is a new project every week.  And remember, if I can stamp, you can, too!

Tory

Valentines

Hi, stampers!  Sorry I missed last week.  I ended up at the dentist's office for a root canal.  Trust me, I'd have much rather been making a fun project to show you!

You might remember the cute Cocoa Packet I showed you in this post.  It's the second project, so you have to scroll down a bit.  Anyhow---I'm going to show you another great project using Stampin' Up! envelopes.  This one is a Valentine treat and uses the 3 1/8" square envelopes.

How cute is that?!?  These are DD 's Valentines for her classmates at school.  They are so easy to make, too.  Just take a 3 1/8" square envelope and seal it.  That's right.  Seal it.  Then cut off one end.  Set the end aside for now.  I used Real Red ink and rolled the large "body" of the envelope with the I {Love} Love jumbo wheel.  Next I cut strips of cardstock about 3/4" and punched them with the Pinking Hearts Border punch.  I attached that to the end that I cut off.  I ran the envelope through my crimper (side to side as you look at the words), popped a candy treat inside, put the end back on and tied some yummy Real Red Taffeta ribbon around it. 

The secret to these is the crimper.  When you put the envelope through the crimper, it shrinks it down just enough to slide the cut off end over it.  Hope you enjoy making some of these yourself!

Now a treat for you.  In honor of my birthday, I'm giving away blog candy!!!!  That's right!  It's my birthday and YOU get the gift.  How about the "Best of the Bunch" mini note kit and a couple of yards of Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon?  Leave me a comment on this post by midnight Sunday and on Monday, January 31, 2011 I will draw and announce a winner.  Please leave me your email address so I can contact you if you win.  I don't mind if you spell it out like this  (tabray at sbcglobal dot net)  because I don't like spammers either.  :)

Until next time!  Remember, if I can stamp, you can, too!

Teeny Tiny Paper Bag Scrapbook

Hello Stampers.  I have a fun little project to show you today.  I have become intrigued with the notion of scrapbooking, but am still a little gun shy.  for this reason, I am starting out with SMALL projects.  I wanted to do something a little different this weekend and found instructions online for a paper bag scrapbook.  My bags are much smaller than the one used in the instructions, but it turned out really cute (in my opinion).

My MIL wasn't here at Christmas, so I thought I'd send her some pictures of our Christmas morning.  This little book seemed just the right way to do that.

 It's made out of 3 paper bags folded in half and tied together with ribbon.  The front, back and pages are covered in DSP.  I used the Holly Jolly paper from the IBC.  I decorated the front with stamps that showed the occasion and added a few pearls. 

The pages inside have room for pictures, pockets for tags and flaps for hidden journaling.

I thought it turned out really cute.  I'm sure she will love it.  Now I have to make one for my mom!  It was so much fun that I don't mind doing that a bit!

Until next time, remember, if I can stamp, you can, too!

Altered Notebook

Hello, Stampers!  First I want to thank each of you that stopped by last week and looked at my tutorial.  I would LOVE to see your flowers!  They are a lot of fun to make.

Today I'm showing you a different flower.  Sorry, but it's a stamped flower, though it is punched out.  I have a notebook where I keep all my Stampin' Up! information.  Well who wants a plain old boring notebook?  I jazzed mine up with some pretty paper, ribbon and stamping/punches.

 Isn't it pretty?  I used Baja Breeze and the new Vintage Springtime DSP available in the Occasions Mini catalog.  I just love this designer paper!  It has the most beautiful flowers and some of my favorite colors!  I stamped a flower from the Build A Blossom  stamp set and punched out the petals with the coordinating punch.  Both of these are also available in the Occasions Mini.  I also added some Crochet trim ribbon across the front.  I wanted it to be more opaque so I used some vanilla satin ribbon under it.  To finish it off, I tied some of each ribbon around the ring binding.  I'm really pleased with the results. 

 

While I started this project a while ago, I realized that it also fits the Stampin 411 challange this week.  Hop on over to their blog to see the sketch and see all the great projects!  Enter one yourself.  You'll be glad you did!  And remember, if I can stamp, you can, too!

Vellum Flower Book Mark Revisited (and a tutorial)

Hello, Stampers!  I hope you all enjoyed celebrating the new year!  We did at our house.  Today I have a little gift for you.  I belong to several yahoo groups and on one of them we were saying which of our creations from 2010 we liked the best.  I decided it was my vellum flower bookmarks from last spring.  You can see the original post here.  I was again asked for instructions for these.  I meant to do a tutorial for it last spring, but it never happened.  Well, today it is happening!  This is my first tutorial on my blog, so if it is a bit quirky, please bear with me.  :)



I started with an 8 1/2" X 11" piece of vellum paper folded into fourths along the 11" side.  I folded in half and then in half again.



I punched twice with my Scallop Circle Punch to make 8 pieces





I also punched 4 Old Olive scallop circles which I glued together with the Go Anywhere Glue Stick.  Be sure to put glue on BOTH pieces before you press them together!



Stamp all your vellum pieces.  I used the Fine Flourish stamp and Riding Hood Red Classic ink.

Wad all the scallop circles into little balls

Flatten them back out and stack them on top of each other.  They don't have to line up perfectly.

Punch a hole in the center of your stack with the Paper Piercing Tool and add a brad to hold all the layers together.

Wad each layer again, separately, toward the center and around the brad.

It will look like this after the second wadding.



Fluff from the center with your fingers.  It will start to look like a flower.  When you are satisfied with the look of it, set it aside for now.











Take your Super Sized paper clip and wrap a Pop Up Glue Dot around the sides at the top as shown. Press firmly to the scallop that will be the back of your bookmark.



Attach your flower to the scallop that will be the front of your bookmark with either mini glue dots or a dimensional. Attach over the glue dots on the paperclip.







Tie a piece of green ribbon around one side of the paper clip for leave and you have a beautiful gift.







The paperclips  I used in this project today were some I got in a bulk buy through a group I belong to.  They are bigger than the ones I have found in the local office supply stores and I found that they are also thicker.  Because of this I needed to use a dimensional to hold the top of the Old Olive scallops together.



I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial.  I'd love to see your completed projects using these instructions!  Remember, if I can stamp, you can, too!