Birthday part 2 - Moose anyone??

I think I may have mentioned before that we are very fond of Moose in our family. Our daughters are affectionately know as Princess Moosarella and Missy Moose. We have Moose calendars, books about Moose, Moose bath towels...... you get the idea. So, is it really any wonder that I am just a tiny bit addicted to Riley and Sophie Moose stamps? I just love these stamps from Hanna Stamps and there has got to be a Riley or a Sophie for just about any occasion.

I made this card today for Rhiannon to give Anwyn for her birthday next month. It was made with perfume Sophie, one of my favorite Moose stamps as it just fits my girls so perfectly.

Stamp sets - Perfume Sophie (Hanna Stamps), Short & Sweet (Stampin'Up!)

Cardstock & DP - Apricot Appeal, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Watercolor paper. Washington Apple and Riding Hood Red DP

Inks - Stazon Black, Riding Hood Red, Stampin'Up! markers (blended using aqua painter)

Accessories - Dimensionals, Circle and scallop circle punches (Marvy), Scalloped oval punch (SU!), Prima flowers, red self-adhesive gemstones (Michaels?).

I also got the first father's day card made but my camera batteries died and need to be recharged so I'll share that later.

Bits and Pieces

June and July are very busy months for me as we have lots of events to celebrate. Steve and I celebrate our wedding anniversary (14 years this time) on the 10th of June, then we have Father's day, Rhiannon graduates Kindergarten on June 19th, Anwyn turns 4 on June 24th and then Rhiannon turns 6 on July 22nd. Mixed in with this I have a set of swaps due June 10th, another due in July, we have numerous other birthdays and also end of year stuff for teachers. So, over the next month most of my time will be spent making things I need. I plan to start offering classes, workshops etc. in August when things are a little quieter for me and I have goodies from the new catalog to play with.

After all that blabbering, here are a few things I have worked on over the last few days.


This is a little card for Rhiannon's graduation. As it is for kindergarten, I wanted something cute and I have been itching to use this set. I have to say, I wanted to use the owl from the set too but it kind of overwhelmed the little tree so I stuck with the deer.




Stamp Sets - Forest Friends, Warm words

Cardstock & DP - Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla. Delicate Dots DP (SAB 2009)

Inks - Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss

Accessories - Dimensionals, Chocolate Chip corduroy brads

Next is the first card for Anwyn's birthday and I'm really not all that thrilled with it so, if anyone has any thoughts on how to improve it, please feel free to share ( I oopsed up on coloring the letters so would have to re-make it anyway). I know that she will love the image as she is a HUGE Snoopy fan (she currently owns 7 of them) but the rest is just not making me happy.

Stamps - Happy Birthday Snoopy (Peanuts collection by Stampabilities)

Cardstock & DP - Whisper White, Taken with Teal, Pumpkin Pie, Watercolor paper. Bali Breeze DP (retired)

Inks - Black Stazon, SU Markers

Accessories - Deckled rectangle nestie, Dimensionals, Yellow ribbon (non-SU!)

Lastly, this is the card I have made for Steve for our anniversary. Earth Elements will always be my favorite color family and, when i decided that the squirrel needed to be a red squirrel, the logical choice was for those colors!

Stamp sets - Animal Crackers

Cardstock & DP - Sahara Sand, Old Olive (textured) Really Rust, Whisper White. Fall Flowers DP

Inks - Black Stazon, Really Rust, SU! markers

Accessories - Dimensionals, Rust ribbon (non SU!)

I'm hoping to get started on Father's day cards tomorrow so that I know they are done (I am getting very forgetful these days.....)

Back in my box with Font of You

After the excitement of the Bold Brights, I decided to tone it down just a little today. I loved this set at first sight and included it my first order with the new catalog but , for some reason, it hadn't seen ink until today.

Stamp set - Font of You

Cardstock & DP - Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel textured

Inks - Close to Cocoa

Accessories - Word Window punch, Scallop square punch (Marvy), Ribbon (from a current SU! collection - can't remember the name), Antique brass brads.

Stamp Set - Font of You

Cardstock & DP - Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Haiku DP.

Inks - Tangerine Tango, Basic Black.

Accessories - Scallop Edge punch, Tangerine Tango ribbon, Dimensionals.


On a side note, I can't wait to see what the new Stampin' Up! In Colors will be! I really loved all of the current In Colors, particularly Baja Breeze and Riding Hood Red. Not too much longer to wait now for the big reveal......

Color overload!

I think I may have mentioned before that I am not all that keen on the Bold Brights colors. In fact, until I became a demo and received a package of the Bold Brights cardstock in my starter kit, the only BB color I owned was Real Red. So, today I decided to be brave and break out some new colors. So, hold on to your seats, here comes lots of color!!!


I have to say that this is the first time I have made a card with the Cheers to You set that I actually like. Hmmmm...... maybe I will have to become a BB convert.....

Stamp Sets - Cheers to You, Tart & Tangy

Cardstock & DP - Whisper White, Basic Black, YoYo Yellow, Only orange.

Inks - Black Stazon, YoYo Yellow, Real Red, SU! markers to color the main image

Accessories - Dimensionals, Scallop Square punch (Marvy), Crystal Effects on glass (can't tell in the photo...)

Stamp Sets - Darling Dots and Sweet Little Sentiments ( Both Hostess level 1 sets)

Cardstock & DP - Whisper White, Pixie Pink, Pink Passion

Inks - Pixie Pink, Tangerine Tango

Accessories - Tangerine Tango ribbon, Flower Brad, Dazzling Diamonds glitter

Stamp Sets - Darling Dots (Hostess level 1)

Cardstock & DP - Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red

Inks - Real Red, SU! black marker

Accessories - Eyelet Border punch, Flower Brad, Dimensionals, Circle punch (Marvy), Big Shot Texturz backgrounds plate

I have to say that I like them all and I think the Darling Dots set works very well with the bright colors as the images are so simple. Who knows, maybe I'll have to actually order some more!!

Tea Party Purse Birthday Invitations

I just need to say a huge Thank You to my fellow Stampin'Up demonstrator Buffy Cooper for sharing this idea. They are actually pretty simple and fun to make and I am sure they will be a huge hit with the little girls being invited to Rhiannon's party. I think they have a very girlie WOW factor.

The inside of the card (sorry about the vicious looking blurring of the personal details). The inserts were computer generated and printed onto Whisper White Cardstock.

I made 5 each of the 4 patterns shown. Of course, as always happens when I am in the middle of a project like this, I ran out of something. This time it was the filigree brads so I need to add those to an order soon.

For those that want them, here are some basic directions:

The Tea Party DP was folded and placed onto the Big Shot Top Note Die so that the bottom edge was inside the die. This means that the bottom edge is not cut and so can be opened up.

The top of the purse was made with the Big Shot Scallop Circle die which is the perfect size! Once cut, the circle was scored down the middle and folded.

The ribbon handle was made by cutting two small slits into the fold of the scallop circle using a craft knife and threading a 12 inch piece of ribbon through. The ribbon was knotted to hold it in place but you could stick it under the top note if you like that better.

Carstock & DP - Pretty in Pink, Almost Amethyst, Whisper White. Tea Party DP

Stamp sets - "Celebrate" from Matchbox Messages stamped onto matching matchbox die shape

Inks - Almost Amethyst, Pretty in Pink

Accessories - Big Shot Top Note, Scallop Circle and Matchbox dies, Certainly Celery and Pretty in Pink ribbon, Filigree brads (large), dimensionals.

Tea Party fun!

I think I may have mentioned before that the Tea Party DP may be one of my all time favorites. During the Stampin Up! May Scrapbooking "Buy 3 get 1 free" promotion I stocked up in anticipation of making lots of things for my oldest daughter's birthday. However, as I am a little birthdayed-out right now, I decided to play with some of the paper to see what else I could come up with.

As you would imagine, it looks great with the co-ordinating Sweet Stems stamp set but I think it works well with the Crazy for Cupcakes set and wheel too!



Stamp Set - Sweet Stems, Best Yet
Cardstock & DP - Certainly Celery, Almost Amethyst, Whisper White. Tea Party DP
Inks - Certainly Celery, Almost Amethyst. So Saffron and Pretty in Pink Markers
Accessories - Designer Label punch, Scallop edge punch, Flower brad, Dimensionals.


This was CASED from Nancy's demo meeting. It was a make and take that I didn't get round to making while I was there. I think she used Pretty in Pink instead of Certainly Celery.

Stamp Set - Sweet Stems, Best Yet
Cardstock & DP - Certainly Celery, Whisper White. Tea Party DP
Inks - Black Stazon, Certainly Celery. Pretty in Pink, Almost Amethyst, So Saffron, Certainly Celery markers.
Accessories - Circle punch, Scallop circle punch, Scallop edge punch, So Saffron ribbon




Stamp Set - Crazy for cupcakes and matching cupcake wheel
Cardstock & DP - Barely Banana, So Saffron, Very Vanilla. Tea party DP (the cupcake case was paper pieced with DP also)
Inks - Chocolate Chip (wheel cartridge), Brown Stazon, Pretty in pink. SU markers for coloring
Accessories - Ticket corner punch, Scallop oval punch, Eyelet border punch, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals

While enjoying some play time, I also broke out another couple of sets.

Stamp Set - Soft Summer (2009 mini)

Cardstock & DP - Very Vanilla, Bravo Burgundy. Parisian summer DP (retired)

Inks - Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Bravo Burgundy, So Saffron

Accessories - Bravo Burgundy ribbon, Antique brass brads, paper piercing (done with mat pack)

I love how this turned out and I think it would look good in many different colors.

Stamp Set - Warm Words, Bella's Border wheel

Cardstock & DP - Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White. Bella Rose DP

Accessories - Scallop Edge punch, Big Shot Flower layers #3 die, Big Shot Little Leaves sizzlit die, Chocolate Chip ribbon, Pretty in Pink ribbon, Chocolate Chip corduroy button brad

Tip - The stampin'around wheel guide is absolutely worth the money when using stamping wheels. Without it, I find it almost impossible to stay straight.

Crab invitations

I know I shared the rough copy a while ago but I finished up Anwyn's invitations last night. I ended up making 20 of them - that's a lot of crab legs. From the way she has been behaving today, I wish I had written "Crabby Anwyn's Birthday Bash" instead ;-)

Details:

The sand pail was based on the flower pot template but without the folded over rim at the top. The front was covered in Sweet Slumber DP and a strip of So Saffron ribbon (from SAB) was added around the top.

I ended up simplifying the insert so it is just a tapered rectangle as I thought it looked better than the previous attempt. I also decided to go with a computer generated message instead of the stamp I had planned to use as my handwriting is less than brilliant.

The crab was made using Ruby Red cardstock:

Body - 2.5 inch oval punch, two made (for front and back).

Eyes - stalks were made with the word window punch and then a 0.5 inch white circle was punched and stuck on top.

Legs - 6 of the smaller photo corners were punched out for the legs.

Claws - the bottoms are word window punch outs and the claws were made by punching a 1 inch circle, cutting in half, cutting a zig-zag pattern on one side and then sticking back together.

After everything was glued in place onto one oval, the second oval was glued on the back to hide all the bits.

The "You're invited" stamp is from Hugs and Wishes. The Oval scallop punch was used to make the oval on front and it was mounted on dimensionals.

On to the next project.......

Crazy week!

I have had one of those weeks where I just don't seem to be able to catch up with everything I need to do, hence no new things from me. I did finish up my beach swap cards and got those mailed out so I am on to Anwyn's crabby invitations. I got all my punching done last night (90 crab legs - uck) and will try and get them assembled over the next few days. My goal is to have them done and out to her friends early next week - wish me luck!!

Hopefully I will be back over the weekend with some new things to share. So many toys, so little time......

The straggler

I thought I was all done with the teacher gifts until yesterday evening when Rhiannon asked "Aren't we going to give one to Ms. McDougald?" Crud! Rhiannon goes to kindergarten at the local elementary school in the morning and then goes to kindergarten at the daycare we use for Anwyn for the rest of the day while I am work. I had remembered all the daycare teachers but not the elementary teacher.





So, off to my craft room to whip up another bag. I found a scrap of the Parisian Breeze DP and decided to go with that.









Stamps - Oval All

Cardstock & Paper - Baja Breeze, Parisian Breeze specialty DP.

Ink - Chocolate Chip

Accessories - Big Shot scallop top bag die, Big Shot flower layers #3 die, dimensionals, Oval scallop punch, Baja Breeze satin ribbon, Kraft corduroy button brad (love, love, love these!)

I need to work on my beach swap cards tomorrow and then get going on mass production of my crabby bucket invitations.

Teacher appreciation gifts

Can I just say before I start rambling that I LOVE my Big Shot?? How on earth did I survive all of the daycare events without it?

I needed to make little gifts for 4 teachers and so decided to go with the scallop top bag filled with chocolate pretzels from the local handmade candy store (who make the most delicious chocolate dipped fruit - but I digress).

As all the teachers are female I wanted something a little girlie and then I remembered that I hadn't broken in to my Raspberry Tart DP yet even though it was one of the first things I ordered when the new catty came out. The flowers on the scallop top were made by cutting out flowers from Raspberry Tart DP using the Big Shot and the Flower Layers #3 die. They were just so easy to make and I think they are really cute - I see many more coming in the future!

Stamps - Oval all (mini)

Cardstock & Paper - Rose Red, Kiwi Kiss and Raspberry Tart DP

Ink - Old Olive

Accessories - Big shot scallop top bag die, Big Shot flower layers 3 die, Oval Punch (mini), Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla satin ribbon, Dimensionals.

So excited!

OK - this is a work in progress but I was so excited that the idea worked that I had to share the rough prototype!! This is the invitation I want to make for my daughter's 4th birthday. It is based on the flower pot template that I made at Nancy's stamp camp but, the flower pot becomes a bucket and the flowers are replaced by a punch crab resting on the spade handle!!


I will add in all the details tomorrow for anyone interested, but here is mark 1!!

I need to shorten the spade handle as it is too high up and, obviously, move the time/place stamp down so that the crab legs don't cover it. I still can't believe that the crab looks like a crab (I know it's missing two legs but it was getting a little crowded up there) !!

I really hope she likes it!

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Details:

The sand pail was based on the flower pot template but without the folded over rim at the top. The front was covered in Sweet Slumber DP and a strip of So Saffron ribbon (from SAB) was added around the top.

The card inside is a rectangle (2.5 x3.5 inches) with a triangle on top (this needs to be shortened so I won't give dimensions).

The crab was made using Ruby Red cardstock:

Body - 2.5 inch oval punch, two made (for front and back).

Eyes - stalks were made with the word window punch and then a 0.5 inch white circle was punched and stuck on top.

Legs - 6 of the smaller photo corners were punched out for the legs.

Claws - the bottoms are word window punch outs and the claws were made by punching a 1 inch circle, cutting in half, cutting a zig-zag pattern on one side and then sticking back together.

After everything was glued in place onto one oval, the second oval was glued on the back to hide all the bits.

The "You're invited" and time/date stamps are from Hugs and Wishes. The Oval scallop punch was used to make the oval on front and it was mounted on dimensionals.

At long last - the Matchbox Die (and friends)

I finally managed to get some stamping time today and got to play with the new Matchbox Die. I love it but need a lot more practice with folding it so it doesn't look smooshed. So, my idea from the other day was finally translated into reality and I am quite pleased with how it turned out (if you ignore the smooshing). The Playful Petals flower was stamped onto the vellum with Versamark and then heat embossed using black embossing powder. It was then flipped over and the "underside" was colored with markers. When I folded the top together, the embossed image is on the outside and the colors are very subtle as they are mellowed by the vellum.




Big Shot Matchbox Die

Stamp set - Playful Petals

Cardstock - Almost Amethyst (textured and plain), Vellum for the lid


Ink - Versamark, black embossing powder (heat embossed) and assorted SU! markers

Here it is with the coordinating scallop bag

Close up of the scallop bag

Cardstock & DP - Almost Amethyst, Tea party DP, Pretty in Pink

Stamp sets - Oval All (Occasions Mini)

Ink - Regal Rose

Accessories - Pretty in Pink ribbon, Oval punch (Occasions Mini), gold eyelets (set with crop-a-dile), Butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), Circle punch

These last two cards are just experiments using the Just Beachy set (Occasions mini). I have signed up for a Beach theme swap and am playing around with some layouts. The second of the two is closest to what I want to achieve but I'm still not thrilled with it so I may need to play some more.