Scrapbook Showcase #31

How to eat cake....like a 1 year old! A collage of photos from Seth's 1st birthday. We bought him his own square baby cake, which was about the size of 4 very large pieces. He took a cautionary bite and his face lit up. It was like he was thinking "how come you've been keeping this from me all my life?"! Then he took a 2nd bite and he was a goner. Third time around, he picked up the entire cake and starting chowing on it. So cute! The rest of the photos are shots during present opening. The title consists of Stampin' Up! cardstock cut with a Sizzix machine. I used my computer to print the journaling on tempting turquoise cardstock.

Stamp set: short order numbers

Inks: brilliant blue

Cardstock: brilliant blue, tempting turquoise, green galore, whisper white, happy birthday simply scrappin' kit (can't recall the name of it and I'm not downstairs near my craft room!)

Embellishments: white gel pen, cardstock stickers (non-Stampin' Up!)

Altered Valentine Frappuccino Bottle

I finally got around to altering some Starbucks Frappuccino bottles that I had been saving. I included an extra lid near the base of the bottle so you could see how it looks from the top. Of course, I had to do a Valentine theme as Happy Heart Day is just around the corner. I think they turned out really cute for my first attempt. And my husband is happy that I'm getting more use out of the bottles. He is a money miser and though he really loves these drinks, it kills him to have to pay approx $1.25 a bottle for them (and these are WalMart prices!). It goes without saying that he doesn't buy them often.

I started by stamping the large & small flourish from Priceless on a strip of whisper white cardstock using chocolate chip and pink passion inks. I then mounted that on textured chocolate chip paper. If you didn't already know, I {heart} our textured cardstock. I stamped the word "love" from Everyday Flexible Phrases on the top of the chocolate cardstock using whisper white ink. Amazingly I didn't use a stamp-a-ma-jig and the spacing came out looking really nice. Woo hoo! (It's the little things in life that make me happy!). I then used my slit punch to creat a scallop edge on a 2" strip of pink passion cardstock, which I attached underneath the top edge of the chocolate cardstock. I used sticky strip to get the layered cardstock to stick to the bottle. I clear embossed the heart from Priceless on a piece of pink passion cardstock and used my paper snips to cut it out. I mounted this on the front of the bottle with dimensionals.

To decorate the lid, I punched a scallop circle from pink passion cardstock. Then I punched a 1-1/4" circle from textured chocolate chip cardstock to layer on top. In the center of the chocolate chip circle, I applied a white rub-on from our Eastern Elegance rub-on pack. I attached the finished piece to the top of the lid with sticky strip.

All in all, these bottles are so easy to alter. Simply empty a frappuccino bottle (preferably drinking the contents!). Soak the bottle in warm water for awhile and the label will peel off. Use a soft scrubbie to remove any remnant adhesive. Wash lid. Let bottle and lid dry. The bottle has some freshness and manufacturing dates printed on the side. Use our sanding block to lightly sand off the printed text and decorate as desired.

Stamp sets: priceless, everyday flexible phrases
Inks: chocolate chip, pink passion, whisper white, versamark
Cardstock: textured chocolate chip, pink passion, whisper white
Embellishments: eastern elegance rub-ons, clear embossing powder
Tools: scallop circle punch, 1-1/4" circle punch, slit punch, heat tool

Scrapbook Showcase #30

I was browsing through the 12x12 scrapbook section of the SplitCoastStampers gallery months back and came across a scrapbook layout that I modeled this page after. I created a faux manila folder by cutting the top of a piece of very vanilla cardstock to look like a tab top. I added 2 small pieces of cardstock to the side and applied numerical rub-ons to make it look like a medical file. Attaching the photos with paper clips completed the look. The chart (created on my computer) notes the approximate age the each of my kids met certain milestones (1st smile, rolls over, crawls, walks, etc.). This is probably one of my favorite pages because it brings back so many good memories. Plus, it is another means of illustrating how different my kids have been since birth. And most importantly, I have a terrible long-term memory so this will preserve those important dates in perpetuity.

Stamp sets: love it, simple type alphabet, warm words
Inks: vintage violet, certainly celery, whisper white, black stazOn, versamark
Cardstock: certainly celery, vintage violet, whisper white, very vanilla
Embellishments: vintage violet stitched ribbon; alphabet & number rub-ons, paper clips (non-Stampin' Up!)

Scrapbook Showcase #29

Halloween Fun, 2006. Mia dressed up as a purple fairy. She had a hard time deciding on a costume and we ended up heading to the local party store a few days before and found this. Wasn't necessarily my first pick but she loved it because it was purple and included wings. What more could a girl want, huh?!!!! Plus, she looked so cute. Seth went as a porcupine. I found his costume online and fell in love with it. He was the hit of the neighborhood. We had people calling other people to the door to check out his costume. I think he even got extra candy because he was so adorable!

Stamp sets: on the edge alphabet, warm words; date stamp (non-Stampin' Up!)

Inks: elegant eggplant, almost amethyst

Cardstock: pumpkin pie, elegant eggplant, naturals white; patterned paper (non-Stampin' Up!)

Embellishments: elegant eggplant grosgrain ribbon, white gel pen; chipboard, staples (non-Stampin' Up!)

Bee Mine

With Valentine's Day coming up, I wanted to post the card that I made last year for my husband. I like that it wasn't typical Heart Day colors. Most of the products used to make this card are now retired, which is sad because I really love the blossom from Big Blossom and the bee from In Full Bloom!

If you make a special Valentine for your significant other this year, email me (t.kieninger@insightbb.com) a photo and I'll select a few at random to post on my blog on February 14th!

Stamp sets: big blossom, in full bloom, fancy flexible phrases
Inks: marigold morning (retired In-Color), whisper white, black Staz-On
Cardstock: marigold morning, basic black, whisper white
Embellishments: white organdy ribbon, white gel pen
Tools: circle punch

Scrapbook Showcase #28

Sweet, sweet popsicles. A couple of summers ago, Mia and the neighbor girls were enjoying some popsicle treats from the ice cream man while sittting on our back patio. I swear they can hear the music coming from the ice cream truck when it's miles away. Immediately they all start screaming "ice cream man! ice cream man!" If we relent and say yes, then we begin the process of trying to hunt down the truck in the neighborhood. Then they spend what seems like hours trying to figure out which sugary treat they want. Unlike when I was a kid, there are alot more selections. The popsicles of today even come shaped like cartoon characters. On this particular day, the girls chose treats shaped like Kim Possible and the PowerPuff Girls.

The popsicle embellishment was created with a Cricut Expressions machine using several brands of cardstock. The ribbon was striped using Stampin' Up! markers. This layout was based on a template I found on PageMaps.com. If you haven't checked out this site yet, do so. It is an awesome resource for scrapbook page and card layouts.

Stamp sets: best friends lower alphabet
Inks: barely banana, lovely lilac, garden green
Cardstock: barely banana, whisper white, kraft, uptown designer series paper; purple glitter cardstock (non-Stampin' Up!)
Embellishments: whisper white grosgrain ribbon

Scrapbook Showcase #27

Posting this a day early as I'm in the mood and who knows what tomorrow will bring!

Brian loves to fish and he tries to get Mia involved when he can. These photos were taken of her while she was practicing her casting in the backyard a few years ago. She's using a Snoopy pole complete with Snoopy casting bobber. I just love the shot of her on the left page, looking like a model while she's engaged in a sport! Fortunately my friend Ann came through for me again and came up with a title "Glamour Girl at the Reel" and she gave me the Flowers For You designer paper! Love it! Though it is hard to believe I could complete a page without any stamping!

The embellishments were from a non-Stampin' Up! kit that I got for Christmas. The large purple felt flower is so pretty and I'm so glad that Stampin' Up! has felt flowers available now and in several sizes too! I actually thought I had ordered some, but I must have taken them off last minute. You can bet they'll be on my next order! The word "girl" in the title was cut with my friend's Cricut Expressions machine using Stampin' Up! cardstock.

Inks: tempting turquoise

Cardstock: tempting turquoise, tempting turquoise textured, tempting turquoise designer series paper, whisper white, lovely lilac, flowers for you designer series paper

Embellishments: certainly celery brad & white gel pen; paper cutouts, large brad, & felt flowers (non-Stampin' Up!)

Scrapbook Showcase #26

We had a holiday from work last Monday and so I went to my friend Ann's house for part of the day to scrapbook. When you have so many supplies, it's hard to pick up and go somewhere else to work, but I love having the company and someone to bounce ideas around.


This layout features photos of Seth when he was learning to crawl. I had it mostly together but was stumped on a title. Luckily Ann came up with this cute title for me. I quickly put together a stop sign to reiterate the theme and I think it works great. I wanted to do some additional stamping or use patterned paper, but there were so many patterns in the photo, I thought it would look a little busy. The turtle was made on Ann's Cricut Expressions machine (I gotta get one of these!) using Stampin' Up! cardstock. I added a 3-D googly eye to make it even cuter.


Stamp sets: in the loop alphabet, typeset lower alphabet
Inks: basic black, night of navy, green galore
Cardstock: basic black, real red, night of navy, yoyo yellow, green galore, whisper white
Embellishments: green galore & brilliant blue brads

CD Holder Tutorial

Here is the promised CD holder tutorial with photos. I had several of you ask for measurements and instructions on putting these together. The nice thing is that they are super easy and you can decorate them for any occasion. Why give someone a CD in a boring old case when you can give it to them in one of these beauties instead?!!!!

1. Start with a 5-1/2 x 10 inch piece of cardstock. If you're going to do some stamping on this piece, it's probably easiest to do it now before you put the holder together. NOTE: If you plan to put more than 1 CD in the holder, adjust the 5-1/2" inch side to a larger size to accomodate the number of CD's you'll be inserting.

2. Fold the cardstock in half on it's longest side so it looks like a book.

3. Score the cardstock at 1/4" on the longest sides.

4. You will then cut off this 1/4" strip on both sides of the same end of the cardstock (the area to be cut off is indicated with squiggly lines in photo below).


5. Apply a strip of sticky strip along the remaining 1/4" sides (see photo below).

6. Remove the backing on the sticky strip and fold the pieces of cardstock together at the fold, wrapping the 1/4" sides around the back of the holder. Press firmly to seal the sticky strip well. You should now have a little pouch as seen below.

7. Take a circle punch and punch out a half circle at the top (open end) of your holder.

8. View of the backside of the holder is shown below.

9. Decorate the front of the holder as desired and you're done!

I designed a belly band for this holder to jazz it up a little on both sides. I gave the band texture by inking it directly with my ink pad. I curled the edges of the flower and leaves to give it a little dimension. Let me know in the comments how you liked the tutorial (my first). ;-)

Stamp sets: stitched exotics

Inks: perfect plum, pale plum, mellow moss, whisper white

Cardstock: perfect plum pale plum, mellow moss, whisper white

Embellishments: green ice rhinestone circle brad

Scrapbook Showcase #25

This is probably one of the first layouts I did when I started scrapbooking in the fall of 2005. I got the idea for the paper carrots in a scrapbooking magazine that I glanced at on the rack at a craft store. Sometimes I shudder when I look at my first few scrapbook pages because I was just starting and didn't really know what I was doing, but this one I'm actually pretty happy with even several years later. This layout features photos from Easter 2005, Seth's first Easter. Mia was scared of the Easter bunny so Seth was the only one in the picture with him.

Stamp sets: circle stamp (non-Stampin' Up!)

Inks: only orange, gable green

Cardstock: apricot appeal, gable green, whisper white; patterned paper (non-Stampin' Up!)

Embellishments: green flower brads (non-Stampin' Up!)

Peppermint Patties & Box

Here's my version of the decorated peppermint patties and matching box that you've been seeing alot of on SplitCoastStampers.com. The box is decorated a little simpler than I would have liked but I was trying to get alot of them done in a short amount of time for a swap. The box will hold 3 peppermint patties comfortably.

Peppermint Patties
Stamp sets: tagger's dozen, best friend lower alphabet (heart stamp)
Inks: rose red, regal rose
Cardstock: regal rose, rose red designer series paper, whisper white
Tools: 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" circle punches, scallop circle punch

Peppermint Patty Box
Stamp sets: best friend lower alphabet (heart stamp)
Inks: rose red
Cardstock: regal rose
Embellishments: whisper white grosgrain ribbon
Tools: hole punch

Directions for Box: Take a 5x5 inch piece of stamped cardstock and score on all sides at 1-1/2 inches. Cut the top 2 and bottom 2 score lines leaving the center square intact. Fold & glue the cardstock into a box shape. Punch holes on 2 opposing sides and thread ribbon through for a handle. Fill with 2-3 decorated peppermint patties.

Scrapbook Showcase #24

At our Elementary School, the kindergarteners only attend for a few hours on the first day of school as part of Get Acquainted Day. On this day, the parents bring the kids to school, drop off the oodles of school supplies, meet their teacher, and check out the new classroom. This layout showcases a few photos from Mia's first day of kindergarten (fall 2006).

Stamp set: simple type alphabet
Inks: basic black, regal rose
Cardstock: whisper white; patterned paper (non-Stampin' Up!)
Embellishments: ribbon (non-Stampin' Up!)

P.S. I was able to get some additional scrapbook pages done this past Monday during our holiday. I hope to get those posted over the next few days as most of the pages you've been seeing this past month are pages I did quite awhile ago.

Scrapbook Showcase #23

This 2-page spread features my cherished photos of Mia's first day of Kindergarten (fall 2006). I think this is probably one of my favorite scrapbook layouts. I'm pretty critical of my work and many times I'm not 100% satisfied with the final product. In this case though, I absolutely love everything about it....the photos, the colors, the layout....

I stamped the alphabet on black cardstock with Stampin' Up!'s retired crayon alphabet (not sure if that's the name since I borrowed the stamp set) in whisper white ink to give it a chalkboard look. The center picture on the left side page lifts up to reveal my journaling underneath. I printed my journaling and subtitle on photo paper on my computer.

Stamp sets: tall tales alphabet, crayon alphabet, best friends lower alphabet

Inks: stazon black, whisper white

Cardstock: tempting turquoise, only orange, pixie pink, gable green; patterned paper (non-Stampin' Up!)

Embellishments: white gel pen; ribbon & rub-ons (non-Stampin' Up!)

So Many Scallops Baby Card

I made this card for a Sale-a-Bration swap with my 3rd upline's group. My 1st upline Ann was gracious enough to lend me this set as I don't plan on preordering any Sale-a-Bration sets this year (hoping to earn them all for FREE).

For this card, I was inspired by scrapnextras' beautiful card on SCS: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/770379?cat=12239 . I modified the layout and changed the stamp sets to make it my own.

Stamp sets: so many scallops, starstruck, warm words
Inks: pink passion, tempting turqquoise, versamark
Cardstock: tempting turquoise, only orange textured, only orange, green galore textured, pink passion, whisper white
Embellishments: tempting turqouise grosgrain ribbon
Tools: scallop circle punch
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Are your ready to Sale-a-Brate? {February 1st-March 17th}

Customers: For every $50 purchase you make, customers will receive a free Sale-A-Bration product (stamp set or rub-ons).
Hostesses: In addition to our regular hostess benefits, hostesses will receive a free Sale-A-Bration stamp set for workshops that reach $300 or more.
Recruits: Anyone who joins as a demonstrator during Sale-A-Bration can choose any stamp set--a value of up to $47.95--from the current catalog.

Check my Stampin' Up! website at the beginning of February for Sale-a-Bration details!
http://tarakieninger.stampinup.net/

Scrapbook Showcase #22

The page features photos of Mia on her first hayride. The local VFW from my hometown (Alton, IL) has a Halloween party at their farm each year. There is a costume contest and hayride for the kids. Mia had so much fun.

I made this page several years back when I was just getting started in Stampin' Up! and didn't have many of their products. The only items on the page that are Stampin' Up! are the chocolate chip and whisper white cardstock and the ink (chocolate chip, really rust, old olive).

Scrapbook Showcase #21

Shots of Brian, Mia, and I making Christmas sugar cookies a couple of years ago. I loved that we weren't wearing red and green so I could scrap the pictures in non-Christmas colors.

Stamp set: so very
Inks: pretty in pink , night of navy
Cardstock: pretty in pink; patterned paper (non-Stampin' Up!)
Embellishments: square metal edged tag; striped ribbon (non-Stampin' Up!)

2 Catalog Cases

My upline gave us a challenge this week to case a card from the catalog, changing either the stamp sets, colors, or both. After having the kids myself for most of the day Saturday and Sunday, I was ready for some peace and quiet. When Brian came home yesterday evening, I barracaded myself in my stamping room and got to work. I finished the first case and had so much fun (and wasn't yet ready to give up the peace and quiet) that I had to do another one! There are some days when I really struggle to put a card or scrapbook page together, but not yesterday. If you're having trouble with a project, find an existing layout and change a few things to make it your own.

Warm Wishes Scallop Card - case of card on page 120

Stamp sets: time well spent, priceless, hugs & wishes

Inks: basic black, cameo coral, versamark

Markers: cameo coral, always artichoke

Cardstock: cameo coral, whisper white, basic black

Embellishments: always artichoke & basic black grosgrain ribbon, black embossing powder

Tools: corner rounder

Thank You 3x3 card - case of card on pg 59

Stamp sets: wanted, take three

Inks: really rust

Markers: really rust, bordering blue, night of navy

Cardstock: really rust, bordering blue, night of navy, whisper white

Embellishments: whisper white grosgrain ribbon

Tools: 1-3/8" circle punch

Other: staple

Scrapbook Showcase #20

This 2-page spread features photos from our trip to Bennett Springs State Park in the summer of 2005. Brian loves to fly-fish (me too, but now that we have kids, I'm usually on babysitting duty!) and we took the kids down to the trout stream where they were able to get up-close and personal with the fish. Mia loved hunting for snails in the water. The shots on the 2nd page were taken at one of the old shelters at the park. I just love the old stone structures there. Besides being a great fly-fisherman, Brian often ties his own flies as well (and they look awesome). I put 2 of them on the second page in the metal frames to help tell the story. I rubbed and sponged always artichoke ink on the solid cardstock to give it an aged look.

Stamp set: whimsical lower alphabet

Inks: chocolate chip

Cardstock: always artichoke; patterned paper (non-Stampin' Up!)

Embellishments: hodgepodge hardware

Scrapbook Showcase #19

I know....I know. I missed a day posting scrapbook pages, so as promised I will post 2 today.

Another 6x6 page that was created during one of my stamp club meetings in the past. I didn't notice it in the photo until I was posting today, but the ribbon on the right side of the page had unwrapped from the back. Pretent it looks perfect anyway!

Stamp sets: all through the year, happy winter
Inks: not quite navy, garden green
Cardstock: not quite navy, garden green whisper white, real red
Embellishments: red gingham ribbon
Tools: 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" circle punches

Scrapbook Showcase #18

During our vacation to Baraboo, WI in the summer of 2006, we drove into the Dells to eat pizza at the MooseJaw Pizza & Brewing Company. Talk about yummy. The pizza was delicious. I just had to get photos of their sign, moose on the wall, and delivery car. The kids loved the paper moose antlers they got to wear on their heads. I saved one of their coasters and used it as a page element.

P.S. Getting ready to head to my 3rd upline's business meeting tonight. Hope to exchange some awesome swaps, see some new techniques, and do some fun make-and-takes plus visit with some great ladies!

Stamp set: everyday flexible phrases, outdoors wheel
Inks: chocolate chip
Cardstock: ruby red, chocolate chip, kraft
Embellishments: chocolate chip & close to cocoa grosgrain ribbon, hodgepodge hardware
Tools: word window punch

More CD Holders

Here are some additional CD holders I created to give to family and friends.
Stamp sets: pick a petal, jumbo outline alphabet
Inks: night of navy, versamarker
Marker: chocolate chip
Cardstock: bordering blue, chocolate chip, whisper white
Tools: scallop punch, circle punch

Stamp sets: all about U, love it

Inks: ruby red, bordering blue

Cardstock: ruby red, bordering blue, whisper white

Tool: circle punch

** I used the direct-to-paper inking technique with my versamark pad on the belly band to give it some depth.

Scrapbook Showcase #17

Thought I'd feature a layout with a picture of the whole family. There aren't that many of them sad to say. But it seems like Brian and I are always doing the picture-taking. Plus, I'm not that crazy about having my picture taken. Regardless, I think I'll make it a point in 2008 to get a few more family photos.

There's another 6x6 page in the top left corner of this 12x12 page. The 6x6 was done at a workshop and features cardstock decorated using the baby wipe technique. Put drops of ink from a reinker on a baby wipe and wipe it across your cardstock. See Beate's tutorial on SplitCoastStampers: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ee/index.php/resources/tutorials/baby_wipe/.

Stamp sets: stars & swirls, tall tales numbers, tidy numbers, other alphabet
Inks: real red, brilliant blue
Cardstock: real red, whisper white
Embellishments: whisper white grosgrain ribbon, red gingham ribbon
Other: white gel pen, whisper white tag

January Club Projects

My stamp clubs met yesterday and these are the projects we created.

Fun little pocket card using my new stamp sets.

Stamp Sets: celebrate everything, fast flowers (wheel) time well spent

Inks & Markers: elegant eggplant, orchid opulence

Cardstock: certainly celery, elegant eggplant, orchid opulence, whisper white

Ribbon: certainly celery grosgrain
Tools: circle punch

Other: staple

This card uses the faux tile technique. Score your cardstock every inch on the diagonal to create this unique look.

Whimsical Tip: I discovered a great new way (at least new to me) to score your cardstock. Of course my cutter has a scoring blade, but I hate using it because I either put too much or too little pressure on it. I usually score my cardstock by running my bone folder in the cutting groove of my cutter, but sometimes it's hard to keep it in the track. By chance I had left my bone folder at my upline's house and needed to score cardstock. So I grabbed my embossing stylus (the brown one) and it works great! I had a super easy time keeping it in the groove. Plus, with a large and a small end, I can choose whether I want a shallow or deep score. This is definitely the way I'll be scoring from now on. Try it yourself!

Stamp sets: baroque motifs

Inks: bayou blue, chocolate chip, versamark

Cardstock: bayou blue, textured chocolate chip, more mustard, very vanilla

Other: clear embossing powder, more mustard brad

My version of the fringed party favor box. Check out the awesome tutorial on Andrea Walford's blog (one of her September 2007 posts): http://andreawalford.com/. Her work is so awesome!

Stamp sets: happy everything, polka dots & paisley

Inks: purely pomegranate, so saffron

Cardstock: purely pomegranate, so saffron, cutie pie designer series paper

Embellishments: purely pomegranate double stitched ribbon, linen thread

Tools: word window punch

Scrapbook Showcase #16

Thought it's about time to throw in a Christmas layout. On a trip to my dad & stepmom's house in December of 2006, we had the chance to get photos of Mia with my stepbrother's boys' Nate & Noah. The kids were all dressed in red pajamas and Santa hats (or red headband in Mia's case!). Sure wish we lived closer so the kids could spend more time together.

Cardstock: whisper white
Marker: basic black
Embellishments: black gingham ribbon
**All other supplies non-Stampin' Up! (actually the snowflake in "Holiday" might be a stamp from Stampin' Up! but if so, I don't recall which set it's from)

Scrapbook Showcase #15

Mia was playing at the neighbors' house 2 summers ago when their friend pulled up with the back of his pickup filled with sand (he's a landscaper). The girls couldn't resist so they threw on their swimsuits and hopped in. They had a blast burying each other in the sand. It's too bad we all haven't had a chance to play in a "Truck full of Sand"!

Stamp set: best friends lower alphabet, bud basics

Ink: taken with teal, versamark, white gel pen

Cardstock: taken with teal, pretty in pink; patterned paper (non-Stampin' Up!)

Embellishments: chipboard letters (non-Stampin' Up!)

Scrapbook Showcase #14

I made this page as Mia was in her "Can I go to the neighbors?" phase. We heard her ask this many times throughout the day. She would have spent every minute there if we would have let her. I used our collage alphabet and stamped the title on photo paper using close to cocoa ink to give it that sandy look since the girls are playing in the sand in the bottom photo. Both the title and the text (printed on photo paper on my computer) were inked with close to cocoa ink using a cotton ball. I printed my photos in sepia tone to give it a natural look. There's a 6x6 page in the top center of the page that I had my customers do at one of my workshops. This is the built-up result.



Stamp sets: all the best & collage alphabet (both retired)
Inks: close to cocoa, versamark
Cardstock: close to cocoa, ruby red, mellow moss
Embellishments: close to cocoa grosgrain ribbon
Tools: 1/4" circle punch