Convention Swap- Secret of Life

So, this year I did not got to convention. Next year I am totally going though! This year, I had a wonderful lady agree to do some swaps for me so I made them up and sent them to her hotel. Little snag along the way, I had planned to work on my swaps the week before convention when I had a couple days off, then ship them that Friday to be waiting for her at her hotel. BUT, my fingertips all swelled up with some kind of hive like thing and they really hurt! No stamping for SEVERAL days... I ended up working hard on stuff Monday and Tuesday morning, then shipping Express mail, but they still didn't get there until a day after the official swap because I got the post office too late in the day to get it there by Wednesday at noon, UGH!
Hopefully this did not turn into a horrible pain for my convention buddy. If I get them all back in a box, it will be what I deserved! Oh well, I tried.

This card was for the As Many As You Want swap and I made 20 of them. Considering my time restraints (I designed and made these Tuesday morning), I think they turned out ok. I had to resist the urge to ink the edges as that adds up when you are making 20! I am still on the fence about the polka dots....
And I bet you didn't know this sentiment would fit in that framelit!
I used markers to color the stamp for a multicolor image. That part I am very happy with. Even though I did it 20 times...when I was in a hurry!

I used lots of dimensionals to pop op the focal image. I love dimensionals. I probably use them too much :) There are little rhinestones on the sentiment ends to accent the die cut.

For my prototype, and incidentally my copy, I always make a full card. This is the inside of the card. My white gel pen line got a little crooked so I had to get creative to make it look right, lol.

• Stamps: From My  Heart, Distressed Dots BG
• Ink: Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Baja Breeze, Early Espresso
• Paper: Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Baja Breeze, Whisper White
• Other: Big Shot with Chevron EF and Apothecary Accents framelits, Rhinestones, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Signo white gel pen, dimensionals

So, what do you think I should give a lady who went the extra mile for me at convention?

USWDAF Keep Calm and Stamp On

I have the honor of being a Guest Designer again with the latest UStampWithDawnAndFriends event. It is a bit of a free for all this time with the challenge being anything in the new catalog. I love to look for more crafty ideas on the web as much as the next girl and I have been looking for a good organization tool for my craft area. I have seen a lot of different ideas using a Rolodex, and I couldn't find one in town, so I decided there had to be a way I could make one myself!

And I found a way to do it! There is a tutorial available through the event and many more amazing project suites! I happen to have a die that cuts rolodex cards, but you can buy them very inexpensively also. You can change and add to this system with ease and it will hold A LOT of rolodex cards.

Come check us out and find all kinds of amazing inspiration :)

Christmas Deer

I know, Christmas in June is a little early, but if you are really planning to send a pile of homemade Christmas cards, you may already be behind! This card was made for a New Catty swap that I hope everyone has in their hot little hands before this is posted :)

I found out this weekend that I am not the only one that loves Crumb Cake as a base for Christmas cards! When I started this card, I reached for the Crumb Cake without conscious thought, that is home much I love it for Christmas cards :)
As for the stamp set I chose to use, as soon as I saw it in the new catty, I knew that it had to be mine. I love the swirls of the antlers and the little images you can add to it. And I discovered that I could lay the ornaments on the image where I wanted them and then just lay the acrylic block over the the top. Voila! Instead of inking and stamping 3 times for each card, I could do it once with the same placement on every card!
To start the card off was a little tricky though. I took a piece of Crumb Cake 4¼"x11" and scored at 5½".
Then I took a piece of Cherry Cobbler 1¼"x5½" and embossed with one of the Delicate Designs embossing folders. Adhered Choc Chip Scallop Dots ribbon to the 2 long edges, the adhered this strip to the center of the card front. Then it could finally be cut with the Oval Accent Bigz die with the folded edge just inside the die cutting edge and the strip centered properly. It took a couple trial and error runs, but I got it :)

The deer image here is inked with the new firm foam inkpad, stamped off, then stamped in the center. Then the sentiment is stamped in Chocolate Chip. Those firm foam pads are AWESOME! Especially with the solid image stamps, I ♥ firm foam :)

• Stamps: Christmas Deer, Petite Pairs
• Ink: Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake
• Paper: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
• Other: Big Shot with Oval Accent  and 3½" Circle dies and Delicate Designs EF, ½" Chocolate Chip Scallop Dots ribbon, 1" Square punch, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Sticky Strip, Stampin' Dimensionals

Birds and Branches

This is the last of the Blog Hop projects, and it is the one I chose to use for a swap I participated in recently. I am hoping that everyone has their swaps by the time this is posted :) And boy-howdy, did my Big Shot get a workout with this card!

This card has many layers and lots of sponging. I made 12 of these, and I should have thought about this a little more as it took me 5 hours to make them and I started at 7pm the night before they had to be mailed! I was a little short on sleep the next day at work, but the cards were done and in the mailbox by 1am, lol!
The card base is Naturals White, then there is a layer of Very Vanilla type-print DSP from the Neutrals DSP pack. I sponged the edges and corners with River Rock ink and stamped the birds and branches image in River rock in the lower left corner. I also distressed the edges and inked them with the River Rock inkpad. Of course, I outlined with white gel pen :)
All of the other layers of this card were sponged with River Rock and edges inked with a Soft Suede marker.
For the banner, I used a ½" strip of River Rock and stamped the sentiment in Early Espresso. I also took a ¾" of Naturals White and die cut it with the Finishing Touches edglelit, then glued this to the bottom edge of the River Rock strip. Next I used a 1" Square punch to make the dovetails.  Then I paper piercer faux stitches and added white gel pen thread.

I could go on with all the steps, but I don't think there were any tips or techniques that would be helpful to list :) I hope everyone who gets one of these is at least half as pleased with it as I am!

Inside is more sponging and the birds and branches again. Can't forget the white gel pen outline, which shows up nicely with the River Rock sponging :)

• Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, Apothecary Art, Petite Pairs
• Ink: River Rock, Soft Suede, Early Espresso
• Paper: Naturals White, River Rock, Neutrals DSP pack
• Other: Big Shot with Apothecary Accents framelits and Finishing Touches edgelits, Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack with Paper Piercer and Piercing Mat, Sponge, Signo white gel pen, Pearls Basic Jewels, Vintage Faceted buttons, Naturals designer buttons, Stampin' Dimensionals, White Baker's Twine, Glue Dots

Sweet Thanks Mini Milk Cartons

These milk cartons come together so easily they are a natural quick little project for a last minute need.
I had found a cute holder for these by Becky Roberts last year and made some Easter gifts with the idea. I did tweak the tutorial a bit though to save some steps.

Take two 3¾" squares and score at 1" all four sides, then cut on score line to the 1" line on 2 sides to create four flaps. Then trim off half of each flap at a diagonal.
Then take a 1-5/8"x8" strip and score at 4" and fold in half. Then punch a Medium Oval handle.

 Assemble like so! I just used Tombow liquid glue to assemble this whole thing.

I couldn't decide which sway I liked the images stamped better so I used both the Summer Starfruit and Crumb Cake on the left, and the Whisper White with Crumb Cake shadows on the right. And on the holder I did some bold full-strength inking, and some stamped off images.

I also used the new mini punches from the Little Labels pack with the Lovely Little Labels set to make the tags. I will be stapling the cartons closed after I fill them with a tasty little treat, but they look pretty cute with the mini clothes pins for now :)

• Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, Lovely Little Labels
• Ink: Summer Starfruit, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
• Paper: Summer Starfruit, Naturals White
• Other: Big Shot with Mini Milk Carton die, Simply Scored, Medium Oval punch, Little Labels punch pack, White Baker's Twine, large-eyed needle and piercing mat

Love and Sympathy

I think this is the hardest kind of card for me to make, so I have been trying to make more of them. Unfortunately, they don't last very long before I, or someone I know, needs to send one of these. The layout and images of this card could be used for many different occasions too.

I was having way too much fun with the Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack last week, lol! I have always loved the look of faux stitching so this is fast becoming one of my favorite new tools. The pack has a lot of fantastic guides. I hope you give them a try. I did find that using some pins to hold the guide in place to the mat worked great for keeping everything together while doing the piercing.
And did you notice how well the Extra Large Oval punch is framed by the square Apothecary Accent die? Love it!

Inside I used the coordinating sentiment from the Love & Sympathy set. More trees, and white gel pen to give it a nice finished touch.

• Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, Love & Sympathy
• Ink: River Rock, Early Espresso
• Paper: River Rock, Early Espresso, Naturals White, Neutrals DSP pack-Very Vanilla type sheet
• Other: Big Shot with Apothecary Accents framelits, Extra-Large Oval punch, Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack with paper piercer and piercing mat, sponge, Signo white gel pen, Stampin's Dimensionals, Mini Silver Brads

Butterfly Silhouette Birthday

This week I will be showing you my blog hop projects in a little more detail. I really had a lot of fun making these projects, and I hope the details will be useful to everyone, or someone at least!

For this card, I chose the same layout as a Father's Day card I had made the week before and changed it up just a little bit.  I knew I wanted to used a soft neutral and Crumb Cake is my usual go-to color for that, then River Rock, neither of them seemed to work. Then I remembered poor neglected Sahara Sand! I really love that color, I just keep forgetting about it. Funny how we get stuck in color ruts, isn't it.

I also used the new Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack here. It is so much easier to make the faux stitching with the larger guide. The straight line of stitching is a full 5½" long on the 6" guide!

The Apothecary Accents framelits set has such wonderful shapes, I just can't stop using them! The shape I used is the only one that does not have a piercing guide. I would love one for it, and one for ovals.... maybe that will come in the future :) A girl can dream.

• Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, Curly Cute, Woodgrain
• Ink: Primrose Petals, Summer Starfruit, Pool Party, Sahara Sand
• Paper: Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Primrose Petals, Summer Starfruit, Pool Party
• Other: Big Shot with Apothecary Accents framelits, 1¾" Circle punch, 1" Square punch, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, Essentials Paper-Piercing pack with Paper Piercer and Piercing Mat, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Signo white gel pen, Stampin' Dimensionals