Lots of Baby

Yes, it really is me again! Thanks for sticking with me even though it's been awhile. It's been a very crazy few months here at our house. The 'highlights' include computer problems, H1N1 for the whole family, 2 rooms in our house flooding, and two visits to the ER--one for my husband's ankle and most recently for me. . . . My visit came after I was mopping my kitchen floor and woke up to find myself flat on my back with my almost 2 year old daughter running over to try to put my glasses on. After a scan it was confirmed that I 'only' had a concussion. So if you've ever wondered if housework is dangerous. . . . Now you know! ;-) Despite everything that has happened, I am happy to say that everyone (and our house) is now feeling much better!

On to the crafting. . . . Last week I was able to fill a special order for a lady who wanted to make a baby shower she was throwing for her friend really special. Here are pictures of most of the items that I made for her. You can see the master list below of all the supplies I used.

My inspiration came from the Delicate Dots Designer Series Paper (now discontinued). The gender of the baby is unknown, and I like this paper because I thought it was gender-neutral and had a delicate feel that was perfect for a baby.

This project series is also a good example of why I love Stampin Up. . . It is so easy to make coordinated projects! I started by choosing the Designer Series paper, which gave me my color pallet. Next I added the matching inks and accessories. Then it was easy to create coordinated projects that give a cohesive feeling to the party decorations.

The picture at the very top shows the nugget boxes that were the favors for each guest to take home. I used the Stampin' Up! Matchbox Big Shot die and the stamp set Matchbox Messages to make these.

This is a tin that I decorated to be part of the main table. The star is a piece of chipboard covered with Certainly Celery card stock. You can purchase these TINS from the Clearance Rack over at Stampin Up for only 99 cents each!

Inside the tin, there is an accordion 'book' that has different pockets. The accordion sits on the main table with the tags. Each of the guests can write some baby advice, a note to the mom, or anything they like. They put the tag in one of the pockets, and then after the party the accordion book with all the personalized tags goes back into the tin and makes a nice gift for the mother.

This Top Note die box was a gift for the grandmother. How thoughtful of the hostess to include a gift for her! The box holds 8 Hershey Nuggets individually wrapped with coordinating papers. The 'charm' is just two stars punched from Brushed Silver card stock and then embossed with Silver Stampin' Emboss powder three times. After embossing, I glued the stars back to back and used my paper piercing tool to poke a hole and thread the linen thread through.

Here is the frame that was also part of the main table. I left the right and left sides open for the mother to fill. She could include the shower invitation, a baby announcement, and/or baby pictures. The words are actually custom Decor Elements that are on top of the glass. I used part of a Decor Elements Sheet, spray painted it shiny silver (despite what it looks like in the picture!), and then ran it through the Big Shot using the Billboard decorative strip.

And here is a close-up. The white star is a rub-on. This could also be adapted to make a cute card layout too!

And last, here are the Food Name Cards. The flowers were made using the Trio Flower punch.

Since the length of this post is already so long, I didn't include all the creative details. If you do have questions about any of these projects, please contact me.

Stamps: Matchbox Messages

Ink: Certainly Celery and Pretty in Pink markers

Paper: Delicate Dots DSP, So Saffron Patterns DSP, Brushed Silver, Window Sheets Medium, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Whisper White

Accessories: Whisper White 5/8" satin ribbon, linen thread, Bashful Blue 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Certainly Celery 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Very Vanilla 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Certainly Celery twill ribbon, So Saffron grosgrain ribbon, 1/4" Circle punch, 1" circle punch, Trio Flower punch, Star punch, Tag Corner punch, Corner Rounder punch, Sizzix Big Shot, Matchbox die, Top Note die, Billboard die, Decor Elements Sheets, paper piercing tool, dimensionals

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

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)

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

Breezy Polka Dots

Do you like free stamps? :-) The stamp set (Polka Dot Punches) featured in the card above is one of the products you can earn for FREE during Stampin Up's Sale-A-Bration promotion. The promotion is already underway, but you still have until the end of March to take advantage. You can earn a free Sale-A-Bration product with each $50 purchase! Click HERE to see the brochure.

This is a card that we made at a workshop last night. I saw THIS adorable card by Kylie over on Splitcoaststampers and knew that I wanted to do my own version.

I stamped the flower image on Cameo Coral and then again on Kiwi Kiss card stock and punched both out with the 5-petal Flower Punch. The Kiwi Kiss flower I cut into pieces so that it could become the leaves. The Chocolate Chip brad is one of the new 5/16" jumbo brads. The edge of the Cameo Coral layer was distressed using the Cutter Kit. The flower and the Cameo Coral layer are up on dimensionals.

Stamps: Polka Dot Punches, Thank You Kindly

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Paper: Baja Breeze, Cameo Coral, Kiwi Kiss, Very Vanilla

Accessories: 5/16" Chocolate Chip Jumbo Brad, 5-Petal Flower Punch, 1/8" circle punch, Cutter Kit, dimensionals