What a great week!

Hello again everyone! I disappeared there for a week, but I promise I have a good excuse. ;-) Last week my husband and I went house hunting in Houston, TX. We were very fortunate to find a lovely house that we are so excited about! We are moving out of our apartment here in Los Angeles in just a couple weeks--and I'm sure the time will fly by!

And if that wasn't exciting enough for one week, I also came back and found out that my butterfly bag had been the Featured Upload project of the week over on Splitcoaststampers! It is such an honor to have my work chosen again! I've been featured previously over on Splitcoaststampers for my Hawaii Papaya stationary box (scroll down) and my Valentine card. Seriously, how lucky can a girl be? :-)

Anyway, enough about me! Next post will be a project!

Polka Dot Elegance

Today I have another Sale-A-Bration card to show you! Just a reminder that Sale-A-Bration ends March 31, so if you want to take advantage of earning free product with a $50 order, now is the time! You can see the brochure HERE.

Anyway, I don't often copy ideas exactly from other people, but this card was just so pretty that didn't want to change a thing! I first saw this card on the idea boards at the Stampin Up Leadership conference, and later found the creator. Dawn over at DOstamping with Dawn made this card for the leadership boards. You can see her card HERE.

You'll notice that I didn't change very much. The only minor modifications were that I used the new Taste of Textiles paper (the white pin stripe paper on the left) and the new Organza Ribbon on top of the Brushed Silver strip of paper.

Another quick note: I actually used Basic Black craft ink, and then embossed with the Silver Embossing Powder. As long as you work fairly quickly, the silver embossing powder does cover the Basic Black craft ink. I used the black ink because when I was stamping the hearts for the panel along the right side, I started using Versamark ink, and was having a hard time seeing where to stamp! I didn't have that problem with the black ink. :-)


I also made up a coordinating acetate box. This could be used as a wedding favor, bridal shower favor, or as part of a wedding gift. The box shows off how pretty the Organza Ribbon is! For directions on how to make the acetate box, THIS POST (Halloween acetate box) has a link and the modifications I made.

Stamps: Polka Dot Punches, Fundamental Phrases
Ink: Basic Black Craft Ink
Paper: Brushed Silver, Taste of Textiles, Whisper White, acetate
Accessories: Full Heart Punch, Pretties Kit (hat pin and beads), Whisper White taffeta ribbon, Organza Ribbon, embossing buddy, silver Stampin' Emboss powder, heat tool, sticky strip, dimensionals

And the winner is. . . . .

Thank you to everyone who participated in my first Blog Candy give away! It was so much fun to read your ideas and kind comments. :-) Here's the the original post.

So, the first prize was a random drawing (I used random.org to pick), and that prize goes to lucky #13 Cindy! If you have a minute, go check out Cindy's Creative Blog! She's made some cute envelope scrapbooks you won't want to miss.

Here was her comment:

Congrats on your great blog I just recently found yours and am really impressed by the work you create. As for the UPS man the idea of a gift card is great, maybe also a travel mug that he can use in his truck. They always look so cold in those shorts in the winter!! So maybe a coffe shop and donuts for when he is in a hurry!
Good luck on your move, hopefully you will be on a lower floor this time!!


The second prize goes to my favorite idea for the UPS man. . . . . I really appreciated all the ideas, but since I could only choose one, I had to go with #10 Joni's. I loved the idea as to how to package everything. Here it is:

Here is my idea for the UPS guy. I would deliver him his own UPS box. (you could even make a fake postage stamp and address it to him) Inside you could put lots of snacks, candy and drinks for him to eat throughout the day.

Thanks for the cute idea! I already have the box ;-), so now I just need to fill it.


And, I have a third prize! For this prize I used random.org again to pick a number, and the number was #61. So if I counted right, the 61st comment ever posted on my blog was by Christine! Her comment was posted on THIS card.

So, Cindy, Joni, and Christine--email me to claim your prize and include your address so that I can get your prizes in the mail!

Butterfly Bag

This is a project that we made last month at Technique Club. I've seen several people use the Top Note die to decorate little bags, and I just had to try it myself! The first bag I saw in person was a leadership swap I received from Amy Caraluzzi. I didn't see a picture of her bag on her blog, (it used Bella Rose Designer paper and the stamp set Love You Much) but go anyway to check out her cute blog Partners in Crimp.

So here is my version of these cute little bags. . . . I ran the So Saffron paper through the Big Shot with the Top Note die and then sponged around the edges. I used a marker to ink just the swirls (from the stamp set Yummy) and then stamped, cleaned my stamp, inked the words and then stamped again. The reason that I did this was that I wanted to change the orientation of the stamp. The stamp has a horizontal layout, and I wanted a vertical layout.

I added a little linen thread to the button and then adhered with a glue dot. I was then ready to adhere the So Saffron Top Notes to the bag. Next I used a 1/8" circle punch to punch holes and pull the ribbon through to make the handles.

To make the butterflies, I ran the paper through my Big Shot using the new Stampin Up Beautiful Butterflies die. The largest butterfly used the Bella Birds Designer Paper, and the two smaller butterflies are Delicate Dots Designer paper and vellum paper.

After stacking the butterflies together, I put a glue dot on the back and started wrapping the linen thread. (Note: I colored the linen thread with the Chocolate Chip marker before wrapping it.) I wrapped it a couple times and then used another glue dot to keep the linen thread in place. I used dimensionals to adhere the butterfly to the bag.

Now you have a cute little bag to fill with chocolates or other little goodies!

Stamps: Yummy

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip marker

Paper: So Saffron, vellum paper, Bella Birds DP, Delicate Dots DP

Accessories: Big Shot, Top Note die, Beautiful Butterflies die, 1/4" Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, button from Latte Designer Button collection, 1/8" circle punch, linen thread, dimensionals, glue dots, sponge, small paper bag (from Target)

Blog Candy!

It's time for some blog candy! Can you believe that I've already passed 12,000 hits? It's about time that I say thank you to everyone who has visited my blog. :-) I have appreciated so much the support that I have received from everyone who has visited, left comments, and sent kind emails. I have enjoyed my blog and look forward to continuing!

So here it is, just leave a comment on this post (one entry per person) and you will be entered in a drawing to receive everything in the picture above--the stamp set Starstruck (now retired), a roll of Alpine Originals ribbon, and the sampler bag. I will randomly choose the winner on March 16th--so make sure you enter before then!

And, there is a second way you can win! I have another roll of ribbon, another sampler bag, and a jar of white Chunky Glitter to give away as well. To win this set of goodies, I need your help. I'm going to be moving soon, and I definitely need to give some sort of thank you to my UPS man. Over the past 3 and a half years he has carried a lot of packages up to our 3rd floor apartment! And, he is always pleasant--never complains about the 20lb+ packages from Stampin Up. *blush*

Anyway, I'm at a loss as to how to thank him. . . . Something stamped would be nice, but do guys appreciate that sort of thing? Anyway, I'm not sure so that's why I'm asking your help! In your comment, leave your best idea for me! I'll choose my favorite idea on March 16th, and the person with that idea will receive the second set of goodies as a thank you. Thanks in advance for you help!

I thought I'd show a close up of the sampler bag. This is another one of those quick little projects. I used the Top Note die and ran it through the Big Shot. I filled a small cello bag with the coordinating accessories, added the folded Top Note to the top, and tied the ribbon around. The tag uses one of the new SINGLE stamps called Elegant Thank You and then was punched out with the Square Scallop punch. If you haven't noticed it yet, Stampin Up now has a small selection of single stamps! They are found on page 208 of the catalog and are perfect if you need a particular saying.

Stamps: Elegant Thank You

Ink: Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip Marker

Paper: Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Top Note die, Big Shot, small cellophane bag, Alpine Orininals ribbon, linen thread, square scallop punch, 1/16" circle punch

Yummy Scrapbooking

Those of you who know me well know that I "don't scrapbook". Although it is one of my eventual goals to have cute scrapbooks of all my kids pictures, family trips, etc. for now it just isn't happening. . . . For me I think part of the problem is how to start a page? Since I am used to cards and small 3-D projects, a 12x12 piece of paper is a little scary--it's so BIG. :-)

Anyway, a long time ago I was introduced to the idea of progressive scrapbooking. I don't remember where I first saw the idea, but I was intrigued. The idea is that you start with a 6x6 page and then work your way up to a 12x12 page--perfect for some one like me who is scared of big open paper spaces. LOL

Anyway, so here is my attempt at scrapbooking. This 6x6 page is one of the projects my guests made at a workshop that I did recently. Then I showed them how they could take that 6x6 page and incorporate it into an 8 1/2 by 11 layout or a 12x12 layout.

So here is the 8 1/2 by 11 page with the 6x6 page added.

And here is the 12x12 page with the 8 1/2 by 11 added.

This project shows off 3 of the Sale-A-Bration products that you can earn for FREE through the end of March: the Ribbon Bundle, Paper Bundle, and the Yummy stamp set. The Certainly Celery poly-twill ribbon and the So Saffron grosgrain ribbon featured here come in the Ribbon Bundle. The Delicate Dots Designer Series Paper is one of 4 designs in the Paper Bundle (bundle includes 16 sheets of double sided paper--4 sheets each of 4 designs).

And last but not least I used the stamp set Yummy. The stamp I used actually has both words and the swirl design, but since I wanted only the swirls (for the 6x6 page and the tag) I used my VersaMarker pen to ink just the swirl and then stamped.

So another thing that scares me about scrapbooking is the fact that I don't like my hand writing! I know I should want to let my grandchildren see my hand writing and all that, but oh the pain. :-) So as you can see here I cheated and used my Big Shot (Stampin Up Billboard die) to cut out letters. The die is $21.95 includes both the uppercase and lowercase letters which is very convenient.

And one last part to this project. . . Just in case there was anyone at the workshop who was like me and was wondering "what am I going to do with this page?". . . . I know horrible! :-) I showed them how they could take the same supplies that we used for the 6x6 page and turn it into a cute but simple baby card. The sentiment on this card is from the set Congrats--another one of the Sale-A-Bration sets. You may also notice that I used the same layout for this card as I did for the card in the post below (or see HERE). It's amazing how changing the colors of a project can completely change the look!

Stamps: Yummy, Congrats

Ink: VersaMarker, Sahara Sand

Paper: Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Sahara Sand, Delicate Dots Designer Series Paper

Accessories: 5/8" Certainly Celery poly-twill ribbon, 5/8" So Saffron grosgrain ribbon, scallop edge punch, corner rounder punch, horizontal slot punch, Big Shot, Stampin Up Billboard die--alphabet, dimensionals

Textured Congrats

Today I have another simple Sale-A-Bration project to show. This card uses a stamp from the set Congrats--which is one of the sets you can earn for free during Sale-A-Bration. This is also a project we made last week at Technique Club.

I started by inking the 'congratulations' stamp with Kiwi Kiss ink, and then before I stamped I took my Basic Black marker and colored the dots along the bottom. Then I stamped on Whisper White card stock. I used my new texturz plates for the Big Shot to get the dry embossed texture on the Kiwi Kiss layer. Very fun! I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more projects with the texturz plates. :-)

Finished card size is 3" by 6".

Stamps: Congrats

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black marker

Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black, Whisper White

Accessories: 1/4" Basic Black grosgrain ribbon, Stampin Up Background texturz plates (diamonds), Big Shot

Samplers

Would you like an affordable way to try lots of new paper and accessories? Here is your chance! I am offering a Paper Sampler and an Accessory Sampler.

Accessory Sampler

3 Fleurettes (one of each style)
3 library clips 1/2" size
6 randomly selected Designer Buttons (Latte collection--at least one of each color)
6 Corduroy Buttons (2 Kiwi Kiss, 2 Summer Sun, 2 Chocolate Chip)
4 Designer Brads (Flower assortment--one of each color)
8 Jumbo Brads (5/8" size--2 of each color)
1 1/2 yards Organza Ribbon
1 1/2 yards So Saffron 1/2" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon

Total: 30 accessories and 3 yards of ribbon
Cost: $14.00

Paper Sampler

You will receive one double-sided 6x6 sheet of Designer Paper of each design from the following paper assortments.

Parisian Breeze Specialty Paper
Rockability Specialty Paper
Raspberry Tart DP
Rainbow Sherbet DP
Urban Oasis DP
Good Morning Sunshine DP
Bella Birds DP
Tea Party DP

Total: 48 sheets of double-sided 6x6 Designer Paper
Cost: $12.00

Want both? Cost for two (one of each) samplers is $25.

These samplers allow you to try lots of new accessories and styles of paper at cost (without having to buy whole packages of anything!) and find out which are your favorite. If you need a Sampler shipped directly to your house, please add $2 to the total. Shipping to US only. If multiple samplers are going to the same address, I will of course combine shipping.

To order, email me at allison.ohran@gmail.com.

***If you order by March 6th, for each sampler you purchase your name will go into a drawing for one of two FREE Sale-a-Bration sets.***


Front Side of Designer Paper


Back Side of Designer Paper