A Little Happy Spring Gift

I made this tiny tote with a shower gel and lotion inside and shower mist tag for an online SCS friend and ended up making them for a couple of other friends for Mother's day. I like that they aren't so big they make anyone feel like I've overdone it!

The shape of the tiny tote came from Stampin' Up! I altered their instructions just a bit since they just said wrap a certain box. My base is 4-3/4 inches by 11 inches. I scored at 3-1/2, 4-7/8, 8-1/2 and 9-7/8 inches and then at 3-1/2 the short way :). My Certainly Celery layer is 3-3/8 X 3-1/4, smaller Soft Sky is 3-1/8 X 3 and the Whisper White layer is 2-7/8 X 2-3/4. The Wide Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon is adhered inside with sticky strip for a quick and sweet little tote for tiny gifts.

Today's SCS Sketch Challenge plus

This card is for today's SCS sketch challenge.....it was a lot of fun to use the Rocket stamp from Pun fun and to use lots of embellishments......Below it is a simpler card that I made to give to the neighbors with a pack of diapers. They adopted 2 little boys that are toddlers so it needed to be a "Congratulations everyone!" sort of thing :) The "Have a Blast" sentiment was just printed on the computer.

Tone on Tone Embossing

Today's Inspiration Challenge on SCS was to be inspired by a cow from this site: http://www.toniscollectibles.com/products//Cow_Parade;All_Cow_Parade,_A-M/70

I chose the Hershey bar chocolate cow and made the card below....I think it is both rich and masculine.

While the embossing powders and gun were on my kitchen island, I decided to go ahead and try Vanilla tone on tone for an upcoming class. (Now I've decided to give the ladies a choice between the two I think.) The cards could also be gift card holders.

Vanilla Lime

I made this card for today's Inspiration Challenge on SCS. We were to be inspired by something in our home. I chose this yummy smelling tart burner. I wanted to try some muted colors with the Tart and Tangy set too-I've used the bold brights with it almost each time. I think it gives it a slightly different look and the Wild Wasabi is almost the perfect lime zest color in my opinion. I used Beate's lovely Weekend Sketch Challenge (WSC41) for my layout to create an easy but fun thank you card!

Bloomin' Easy

This card made with the Bloomin' Beautiful set in the Spring and Summer Mini simplifies watercoloring. The stem is stamped in Old Olive on the main image cardstock, and the flower is stamped in Rose Red on a scrap. Simply use the aquapainter to smear the colors. Since, you then cut out the flower portion and attach it to the stem, there is no need to stay in the lines. Add a bit of So Saffron to the center and you are finished coloring. This card also showcases the new Styled Silver HodgePodge Hardware and the new Chocolate Chip polytwill ribbon.

The Inspiration Challenge for today

The Inspiration Challenge item for today was a lovely sea-inspired bracelet. It was fun to use my favorite color and dress it up a bit. This was also for the SCS Dirty Dozen Sketch challenge so it was easy to just plug in the elements.

Cute Card Storage

I covered this lunch tin using the SCS tutorial and Stampin' Up!'s new Summer Picnic Designer Series Paper. It will be available, along with the cute matching Cherry stamp (which I used as a detail on the front of the tin) from the Tart and Tangy Stamp set, on March 1st. I love the fun and peppy colors!

One Floral "Vase" -Two views

I admit the rub-ons are a challenge for me, but this little old bottle will make a nice vase in my retro kitchen once I cover it with a sealer that will allow me to hand wash it. This was originally an eye treatment bottle, but if you can find an old glass Milk of Magnesia bottle, they are a deep blue color as well. My dad found the bottles for me in my grandparent's garage as he was finally cleaning it out. (A tornado destroyed their house itself in 1984.) I wonder what Grandma had planned for these? Probably something fairly similar because she was pretty crafty!

This bottle uses the Sale-A-Bration Rub-Ons that may be chosen as a free gift with a $50 purchase during SAB. The rub-on vine is wrapped all the way around the bottle-you might be able to see that in the picture on the left. Since I made it for myself, I didn't use any of the fun Friend sentiments on it.

Busy Day

I made two of my projects for my next technique class in March today (To see the inside of the criss cross, click on my events blog page.)

This little mini basket will make a quick and cute Easter project and will allow quick and easy paper-piecing work.

This criss-cross card was made using the paper-saving criss cross design, and the little red-breasted nuthatch makes a perfectly small image for watercoloring and cracked glass techniques. It was also for the WT151 to incorporate staples into your design. I didn't want to use brads on this, but a staple was perfect to underline the tiny sentiment.

One of a Kind

This card uses all the stamps in this set....The So Saffron flower image looks so much better embossed. Glad it was the Ways to Use it challenge to use embossing powder today! I used sticky strip to connect the ends of the One of a Kind sentiment into a rounded shape over the ribbon and dangled the For You sentiment using linen thread...I adhered it to the cardstock so that it would stay in the right spot to be a giant leaf too :)

Thoughts of Father

This will be for my dad for his birthday on the 26th....I've been busy this week making quick-ish cards for my upcoming Birthday Bash Stamp A Stack, so I thought I'd post my favorite so far from the new Spring and Summer Catalog.

One of a Kind and SAB Birthday Whimsy card

The One of A Kind Set seems like it will be a versatile set, and I love the Berry Bliss papers! I couldn't even resist using a piece for the large oval on this card even if it may be a bit busy! The BoHo Blossoms punch was used for the little flowers in the center of the main image. Purely Pomegranate on Pretty in Pink layered on a Cocoa on Pink that just peeks out.

This card is an option for my Birthday Bash Stamp A Stack that will be on Thursday, February 7th at 6:30 p.m, and it was designed for LSC150 on Splitcoast. The challenge was to use only two colors that are in the same family, and it was suggested we use our least used family. Mine is Bold Brights most definitely. I was trying for boyish or gender neutral.

Mystery Hostess Night Make and Take

In addition to the little pink Qbee box (created by user ID Qbee on SCS) with the choice of image for the top shown on the events page, my guests will also make this Wiper Card. I used the tutorial on JanTInk's blog shown here: http://stampspaperscissors.typepad.com/wipercard.pdf

This little box was popular in Stampin' Up!'s Sale-A-Bration brochure as well as the new Catalog Preview brochure, so when I saw a post on how to make one on SCS I had to try. It will round out my display table with a 3-D item.

Another Card with the A Beautiful Thing Stamp Set

I decide for the Limited Supply Challenge on Splitcoast (to use no white or vanilla cardstock) to go with my favorite color Soft Sky. I had planned to use Blue Bayou with it, but it wasn't dark enough., so I went with Not Quite Navy for better contrast. I love the way the half-back ivory pearl from the Pretties Kit and the Ivory Taffeta ribbon lighten it up.

New Sets/New Catalog/New Year!

I just placed my order for the new spring Stampin' Up! catalog today, so I am excited to show a few of the items we were able to preorder from Stampin' Up!

New to this spring's catalog are Rub-Ons....available in black and white (as well as Old Olive and Chocolate Chip during Sale-A-Bration) This set of Rub-Ons coordinates with the A Beautiful Thing stamp set that my upline and friend Jessika gave me for Christmas. In the samples below, I used the set and rubons with the Cutie Pie designer paper.

In this example, the Rub-Ons are the white center of the So Saffron flower and the white starburst on the Round Tab punch.

In this example, the black Rub-Ons are used for the center of the flower and the "Make a Wish" sentiment.

Finally, in this example I used a Rub-On as an accent strip where I might normally put ribbon across the center of the card. They really allow you to coordinate your projects because you can put them on glass and non-porous surfaces as well! I'll have a bottle or vase on display at my Mystery Hostess night :)

This little mouse makes cute Valentine's and has a companion elephant friend in the set....here's hoping I have time to display an elephant card tomorrow :)

Time Well Spent

Our demo gift this year is the Time Well Spent set. It will be a Level 3 Hostess Set in the New Spring and Summer 2008 Stampin' Up! catalog. It is a very large set (12 stamps) and is nicely versatile I think.

Here are the first three cards I've made with it. The first one was for a Featured Stamper Challenge on SCS. The designer of the card I CASE'd (while changing the stamp set and some small details)was Shelly Kuck/papermoon04 on SCS. The second card was for the Stalker/Challenge Chasers Sketch Challenge on SCS (sketch by SCS ID debdeb), and the third was for Sherry and JeanneS's blog challenge and the Saturday Inspiration Challenge. Not sure I can make a card without a challenge again! Now I need to make a Thank You card to send to Stampin' Up!

This is a cracked glass square card for the Technique Challenge today (TLC140). I masked a little and did some sponging on the edges, but I'm basically posting this to show off the colors which I hope you can actually see well enough to appreciate. Soft Sky, Certainly Celery and So Saffron....I really like them together for spring.

New SCSC01 and Jami's Blog Challenge

This is for the new stalker/challenge chaser sketch challenge on Splitcoast shown here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7538938#post7538938

I punched the scallop circle out of the Dashing paper and layered a 1-3/8 inch Old Olive circle and the Poinsettia from Perfect Presentation stamped on Olive in a 1 inch circle. The Joy image is layered on a large oval punch in Real Red.

It is also for Jami's blog challenge (use Dashing paper and other restrictions-One was no hardware or brads, but punches and ribbon are okay....that's why I have circle punches in my corners.) shown here: http://jami.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2007/10/22/a-dashing-challenge/

Such fun challenges!

QBee Box TLC139

This great little box design was created by Brenda/QBee on SCS. This is my version created for the TLC139 shown here http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=295073 -Her originals were super-cute Halloween designs.

What fun it was to make! It holds treats and is easy to open and reclose without disturbing the box, but you can see the treat through the transparency sheet too. They would be great in any color scheme and for many occasions! (I could use a bit of work on neatness though :) )

Popcorn slider

I was lucky to get to make a shoebox swap card similar to this in Allen, Texas at Milette's Shoebox Swap and Class Fest on Saturday, but mine uses the Sketch Challenge from SCS's Fan Club Forum and Perfect Presentation and Baroque Motifs instead of Season of Joy as well as different Dashing papers. (The inspiration was also red instead of Olive.) I really like this medallion from Baroque Motifs as a background.