12 Days of Christmas--Day 4--Deck the Tree

Can you believe it's already December 15th?  Are you ready for your holiday celebrations yet?  I'm definitely still working on getting ready for mine! 

So I have to confess that this is a card I actually made a couple years ago. . . but I found it in my files and thought it went along with the Stampin' Celebration theme this month.  So this is your reminder to play along with us at Stampin' Celebration this month.  Link your creation to the Stampin' Celebration so we can see your project.

This card is was fun to make because you make the tree out of a literally a scrap of fabric.  All you need is a little square of fabric--2" by 2"--and a slightly smaller piece of Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet (MAS).  Here I used the Deck the Halls Designer Fabric.  Peel off one side of the MAS and stick it to the back of the fabric.  Run that through the Big Shot with the Scallop Squares Due Bigz die (the smaller square).  The you cut your scallop square into 4 triangle, peel off the second backing of the MAS and stick the fabric to your card creating your tree.  It's like a fabric sticker.  :-) 

And, if you don't already have some of the Deck the Halls Designer Fabric, you can actually find it on the Clearance Rack right now for 99 cents!  While you are there, check out all the new items--over 300--that have been added as part of a Clearance Rack Blitz.  For the first time ever, there are stamp sets on the Clearance Rack!  Don't already have a demonstrator to shop with?  You can go to http://allison.stampinup.net and click on "shop now" in the top right corner. 

See you tomorrow for Day 5 of my '12 Days of Christmas' series! 

Stamps: Four the Holidays 
Ink:  Always Artichoke
Paper:  River Rock, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake
Accessories:  Deck the Halls Designer Fabric, Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets, Scallop Squares Duo Bigz Die, Big Shot, Glimmer Brads, Silver Glass Stampin' Glitter, Always Artichoke Seam Binding Ribbon
 

Gratitude Container

I have another 'fall' themed project to share with you today.  :-)  This is also a project that I actually made awhile ago but never posted on my blog.  It's a simple sour cream container style pouch.  If you aren't familiar with how to make these, you can check out THIS tutorial over on Splitcoaststampers.  They really are quick and easy to make! 

Although you can vary the size of the container, I did start with a 4 1/4" by 5 1/2" piece of card stock  because it is the perfect size to get 4 containers per one sheet of 8 1/2" by 11.  :-)  I started by running the Soft Suede card stock through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder. 

The tag was made by using the Day of Gratitude stamp set.  The leaf is hand-cut and the sentiment was punched out using (part) of the Word Window punch.  I used the Color Spritzer Tool and a Soft Suede marker to add the 'splatter' look to the tag. 

The tag was added to the container with Linen Thread and a piece of Spice Cake Designer Fabric.  The Fabric also provided the color inspiration for the entire project.  Last year I used these as little gifts to send with my kids to their school and church teachers and various other 'little gifts'.  I think they could also make fun party favors or add a nice touch to a table setting. 

Stamps:  Day of Gratitude
Ink:  More Mustard, Soft Suede (and marker)
Paper:  Pool Party, Soft Suede, Whisper White
Accessories:  Square Lattice EF, Big Shot, Tag punch, Word Window punch, Linen Thread, Spice Cake Designer Fabric, candy

Fabric District

Happy Tuesday!  Tomorrow Stampin' Up!'s annual convention starts, and I get to go this year!  Yay!  I can hardly wait.  I've missed several conventions and leaderships, so I'm excited to be going again.  I'm not planning to do live updates, but I will definitely have some pictures when I'm (eventually) back in town.  

Anyway, this is another card from my Stamp-A-Stack class.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but it actually uses the Floral District Fabric.  Isn't it cute?  I specifically wanted to use fabric on a card, and I've also been wanting to use this particular sentiment stamp from the Delightful Dozen stamp set.  It seemed like a good combo to me! 

To add the fabric to the card, I used Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets (MAS).  I started by adhering a 4" by 4 1/2" peice of the MAS to a same size piece of Whisper White card stock and then peeling off the second side of the MAS.  Then I stuck the back side of the fabric to the sticky side of the card stock.  Make sense?  The last step is to run everything (fabric side down) through the Big Shot with the new Oval Accent Die. 

It's pretty easy and adds a nice soft texture to the card to have fabric.  For the sentiment, I stamped, ran it through the Big Shot with the Apothecary Accents Framelits, and then added the paper piercing with the coordinating Essentials Paper-Peircing Pack. 

Stamps:  Delightful Dozen
Ink:  Tangerine Tango
Paper:  Soft Suede, Whisper White
Accessories:  Floral District Fabric, Naturals Designer Buttons, Linen Thread, Oval Accent Bigz Die, Apothecary Accents Framelits die, Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack, Big Shot, Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets, Daffodil Delight 1/8" Taffeta ribbon, dimensionals

Fabric Flower Magnets

 

Awhile back I ran across the idea for these cute flower magnets over at Becky's blog Inking Idaho.  You can see her magnets HERE.  You'll notice that I copied her adorable Not Quite Navy/Springtime Vintage fabric magnet idea, and then I had fun with some of the other Stampin Up fabrics as well.  I made up a bunch of these and used these as 'thank yous' for customer orders. 

These magnets are made using the Fun Flowers Bigz Die.  I ran the card stock and fabric through the Big Shot with the die.  I sponged the edges of the flowers and then adhered everything together.  I used dimensionals between the bottom layer and the fabric layer, and then snail and glue dots between the fabric and top layer.  The centers are the Ribbon Rosettes or the Designer Big Buttons (both now discontinued).  

The 'dream' sentiment comes from the Fabulous Phrases stamp set.  To turn these into magnets, I used my 1 3/8" Circle punch to punch a circle magnet from the Magnet Sheets that you can find on page 216 of the catalog.  (Yes, you really can use your punches with the Magnet Sheets!)  The Magnet Sheets already come with adhesive on one side so it was easy to add them to the back of the flowers.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Take time to stamp something fun.  :-)  

Stamps:  Fabulous Phrases

Ink:  Bashful Blue, Always Artichoke, Not Quite Navy

Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla, Whisper White

Accessories:  Candy Cane Christmas Designer Fabric, Springtime Vintage Designer Fabric, Big Shot, Fun Flowers Bigz die, Ribbon Rosettes, Designer Big Buttons, 1 3/8" Circle punch, Magnet Sheets

More Fabric--Towels

As promised I'm back with another project featuring some of the Stampin' Up fabric.   A few months back one of my club hostesses requested a fabric project.  I didn't necessarily want to make a project that involved sewing, (not my area of expertise!) so I decided to have everyone make a towel.  It was fun because each person got to choose their own fabric and Big Shot die that they used to make a customized towel.  Some of the dies that are fun for this project are flowers, circles, or alphabets (for monograms). 

For this towel I used the Sweet Stitches Designer Fabric and the Tasteful Trim Big Shot Die.  I cut a strip of fabric as long as the towel and then ironed on some of the Fabric Adhesive (found in the Occasions Mini Catalog on page 39).  At that point I put the fabric on the die folding it a couple times so that it would come out as a continuous piece of fabric.  After running it through the Big Shot, I ironed the fabric onto the towel.  Very easy!  Of course you can also add some machine stitching or use some of the coordinating Big Designer Buttons to further embellishment if desired.  A fun gift idea! 

Accessories:  Sweet Stitches Designer Fabric, Towel, Fabric Adhesive Roll, Tasteful Trim Die, Big Shot

Vintage Stitches Fabric

Hi all! As you probably know, last year Stampin' Up introduced fabric into their line of products. Even though I don't really sew myself, I've really enjoyed having this line of products available!  

These are some 3X3 cards that I made up as thank yous for customer orders. I had fun using both the Springtime Vintage and the Sweet Stitches Designer Fabric.  I like how the fabric gives a soft feel to the card, and it was easy to incorporate since the colors in the fabric coordinate with the other Stampin Up prodcuts--card stock, ink, ribbon, etc.  

Here's a closer look at one of the cards:  

Hint:  After I frayed the edges of the fabric a bit, I used the Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets to adhere the fabric to the card stock.  Works great!  

To add the 'buttons' to the card, I used the Sweet Buttons Embosslit with my Big Shot.  The embosslit has 6 different buttons and can be found on page 36 of the Occasions Mini Catalog.  Unfortunately I don't think my pictures really show how cute these little buttons are!  I love this little embosslit, because it allows you to add buttons (in any color) without the added weight and dimension of  a real button--which is nice if you mail a lot of cards! 

And one more closer look:  

Thanks for stopping by!  Check back soon to see another project using fabric.  

Stamps:  Thank You Kindly, Sock Monkey (sentiments)

Ink:  Always Artichoke, Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip

Paper:  Always Artichoke, Not Quite Navy, Tangerine Tango, Rose Red, Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla, Whisper White

Accessories:  Springtime Vintage and Sweet Stitches Designer Fabric, Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets, Sweet Buttons Embosslit, Big Shot, dimensionals

Time to be WICKED

Today I have some more fun news to share. . . . A little bit ago Jana (know as indyemmert on Spiltcoaststampers) contacted me to ask if I would be the October WICKED stamper and challenge hostess!  Of course I said yes.  ;-)  These challenges are specifically meant for Stampin' Up demonstrators, so you will have to be a demo registered with SCS to see the challenges and threads (see HERE), but even if you aren't a demo, you can be inspired and play along with me!  

One of the challenges I picked was Going Soft.  I'm loving the addition of fabric to the Stampin' Up, line, so I wanted to create a project using the fun new Designer Fabric.  Here I used the Deck the Halls Designer Fabric, from the Holiday Mini Catalog but of course despite the name it's not only for Christmas.  :-)  I actually had Valentine's day in mind when I made this card. 

The finished card size is 4 1/4" by 4 1/4". Going from the bottom up, the Very Vanilla layer was distressed around the edges using the Cutter Kit and the Distressing Essentials Kit--the Tea Stain ink.

The Cherry Cobbler (non-card base) layer was crumpled and then flattened to give more texture. I frayed the edges of the fabric a bit and used Snail adhesive to put a layer of Very Vanilla card stock under it. 

For the hearts, I punched them and then layed them on top of a Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet, peeled off, and then poured Dazzling Diamonds over the top. The adhesive keeps the glitter in place so that you have lots of sparkle!

I hope you like this card--it's a little more vintage than I usually make, but it was fun to try to step out of my comfort zone a bit!  Check back later to see what I created for the other two challenges! 

Stamps:  Tiny Tags

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler

Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla

Accessories:  Deck the Halls Designer Fabric, Distressing Essentials Kit, Victoria Crochet Trim ribbon, Antique Brad, Full Heart punch, Heart to Heart punch, Jewelry Tag Medium punch, linen thread, dimensionals

Fort Worth Regional Conference

So one post would be way too long to show and tell everything about the Fort Worth Regional that happened this past Saturday, so I'll be breaking it up into a few posts. But first, I wanted to thank everyone for their kind comments and good luck wishes--it really means a lot to me! 

Overall though, how fun!!  I had a wonderful day, and very much enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of the activities, meet demonstrator friends and several Stampin Up employees from the home office (including Shelli of course!), and last but not least present on stage.  I ended up being the second to last Workshop Wow presenter, so that means I had to be nervous most of the day, :-)  but once I was on stage I really did have fun.  Now, that I've done this once, I'd definitely be excited to present again should the opportunity ever present itself. 

So what "WOW" did I share?  I showed how to add a decorative edge to your ribbon.   It's really a very simple technique, but with tons of potential.  All you need to do is run your ribbon through the Big Shot--seriously that's it! 

I found it best to use the Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets (from the Holiday Mini Catalog) to back the ribbon, and then run it through the Big Shot.  Then you peel away the backing and you have a ribbon sticker ready to adhere directly to your project.  How cool is that? 

So here is the first sample I demonstrated.  I showed how I ran the Whisper White Grosgrain ribbon through the Big Shot with the Tasteful Trim die (also new in the Holiday Mini Catalog).  After I ran the ribbon through I added Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink directly to the ribbon (allow time to dry) as well as the pearls.  A simple card with a lot of wow. 

Here's a closer view of the ornament:

A few hints:  I did pre-treat all the ribbon I used on stage with Fray Check.  I also added one shim to my Big Shot sandwich when I ran the ribbon through (to get a cleaner cut on the ribbon). 

During my presentation I also showed that you can use this technique for your fabric projects as well.  Instead of using the Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets, you'll just want to use the Fabric Adhesive Roll.

So after I ironed the Fabric Adhesive to my ribbon, I ran my Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon through the Big Shot with the Tasteful Trim die to get some fun custom Grosgrain Ric Rack.  And here's what I created with it--a baby onsie and coordinating headband.   

And a close up of the flower and ribbon:

This baby onsie also features the Candy Cane Christmas Designer Fabric and the coordinating Big Designer Buttons from the Holiday Mini Catalog.  I love this project because I didn't need a sewing machine, only a needle and thread to add the button. 

Well, I'll be back later with the other two projects I showed on stage as well as with some pictures of the event!