Decor Elements on Wooden Letters

Our vinyl Decor Elements aren’t just for walls.  Last year I decorated my daughter’s bedroom wall with our Spot On I set, turning her room into a polka dot oasis, omitting the green polka dots because they did not match her bedding.  I had some pink & brown polka dots left over, so I added those to some white wooden letters and then stapled some pretty in pink taffeta ribbon to the tops for hanging.  Besides being a quick decorative technique, I can remove the vinyl at any time and dress up the letters in another style.

Kids’ Clipboards

I’m always looking for ways to get my house more organized, especially since I live next to my friend, who is an organizational whiz.  One of the biggest challenges is keeping track of paperwork for the kids’ upcoming school events & birthday parties.  I want it accessible so I don’t forget about it, but I don’t want it cluttering my counters. 

The other day I was thumbing through a magazine at the doctor’s office when I came across an article about using a clipboard for each kid to store these kind of documents.  So, I ran out and bought a couple of clipboards and set to work decorating them.  Now I have a clipboard for each of my kids and their important papers will be easy to find.  I can either mount heavy-duty magnets to the back and hang them on the refrigerator, or just hang them on the wall with nails.  The great thing is that I can change the look (colors & themes) whenever I want, even matching my room decor.

What do you think?…..pretty cute & functional cute, huh?!!   

Here’s one of the clipboards in action.  The only down side is that if you have letter-size papers, you won’t see as much of the cute designer paper underneath.  In that case, you can simply fold the papers in halves or thirds (like the color papers below) to expose more of the clipboard.

Stamp sets: jumbo outline alphabet; Inks: chocolate chip; Cardstock: taken with teal, pumpkin pie, so saffron, sweet pea designer paper stack; Embellishments: chocolate chip /apricot appeal / & pumpkin pie 1/4” grosgrain ribbon, chocolate chip poly-twill ribbon; Other: tombow multi-purpose adhesive, clear clipboards (non-stampin’ up!)

Tutorial: Pocket Card CD-Holder

Did you see the card/CD-holder I posted yesterday?  If not, see THIS POST.  I promised a tutorial so you can make your own…so, here it is!

1) To create the CD-holder pocket card, start with a piece of cardstock measuring 7-1/2 x 10-1/2 inches.

• score the long side at 5-1/4”
• score the short side at 5-1/8”

2) With your cardstock oriented as shown below, cut off the bottom left rectangle. 

3) Apply thin strips of Sticky Strip or double sided adhesive to the very other edges of the remaining bottom rectangle.  You may need to cut your Sticky Strip to a thinner width to ensure that the CD will fit in the holder.

4) Fold the bottom rectangle upward, creating a pocket for your CD.  Decorate as desired. 5) To create the pocket card base, you will need:

• 5-3/4 x 6” piece of cardstock
• 5-1/2 x 5-11/16” piece of designer paper

6) Layer these 2 pieces to create your card base. 7) Add your CD-holder pocket piece on top of this using Sticky Strip.  Here is how the finished piece will look.

** You can create a 2 CD-holder variation by leaving the bottom left rectangles attached in Step 2.  Simply cut the 2 bottom pieces apart in the middle so that you can fold up both rectangles, creating 2 pockets….one on each side of the card.

I’d love to see your Pocket Card CD-holders.  If you make one, please post a link to your creation below in the comments of this post!

For more papercrafting tutorials, check out the direct links in my sidebar!

Pocket Card CD-Holder

Seth had an Army Party for his 5th birthday this year and I got some great photos of him and his friends dressed up in Army uniforms and camouflage.  For his thank you cards, I wanted to give each boy’s family a copy of the photos on CD, so I needed a holder.  Now I’ve done cardstock CD holders before (see HERE for a tutorial), but in this case, I wanted it to be a combined card & CD holder.  Thus, I came up with this design….I’ll call it the Pocket Card CD-Holder.  Check back tomorrow for a tutorial for making the holder.

I tried to use mainly Army colors….browns & greens.  Since I didn’t have any military stamps, I used stars as my theme.  To give it a grungy look, I used the direct-to-paper technique to distress my Old Olive cardstock.  Simply lay your cardstock on a flat surface with scrap paper underneath….then press your open ink pad onto the cardstock, varying the angle of the ink pad until you get the look you want.

The yellow cardstock strip was distressed by rubbing the edge of my ink pad on the edges and front of the strip.

Stamp sets: fundamental phrases, classic stars wheel; Inks: old olive, chocolate chip, versamark; Cardstock: chocolate chip, old olive, so saffron, sweet pea designer paper stack; Tools: star punch, large star punch, sticky strip

Faux Tearing Tutorial

If you aren’t familiar with the faux tearing technique, here’s a little tutorial showing a few variations.

Shaped Torn-Edge Effect with Chalk & Sponge Dauber

1)  Start by tearing a piece of scrap paper in the desired shape.  Lay it on top of your cardstock.  Apply ink to the exposed area of cardstock.  In this example, I used a sponge dauber to apply stampin’ pastels chalk to my cardstock using a rubbing technique.  Make sure to apply your ink from the scrap paper working inwad to the cardstock so that the ink doesn’t get under the scrap paper.  Continue applying ink until you get the desired look (apply less ink for a lighter look, more ink for a darker look).

2)  Here’s the completed look….a faux “hill”. 

3) The finished card, with a few darker chalk lines added for dimension using the edge of my sponge dauber….

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Stamped, Standard Torn-Edge Effect with Classic Ink & Stampin’ Sponge

1)  Start by tearing a piece of scrap paper in a standard torn-edge design.  Lay it on top of your cardstock. 

2) Apply ink to the exposed area of cardstock.  In this example, I used a stampin’ sponge (cut down to a wedge shape) to apply classic ink to my cardstock using a sponging & rubbing technique.  Just wipe your sponge across the top of your ink pad to pick up the ink before sponging.  Make sure to apply your ink from the scrap paper working inward to the cardstock so that the ink doesn’t get under the scrap paper.

3)  Continue applying ink until you get the desired look (apply less ink for a lighter look, more ink for a darker look).  Here’s how your faux tear will look when finished. 

4) You can use this as is, or stamp over the inked area.  Just line your scrap paper back up at the tear and stamp an inked image on top.  The image will only appear on the inked area.

4) Here’s the finished card with the stamped edge.

Stamp set: kind & caring thoughts; Inks: basic black, rose red; Cardstock: whisper white, basic black; Embellishments: basic black 1/4” grosgrain ribbon; Tools: 1-1/4” & 1-3/8” circle punches, stampin’ sponge

For more FREE tutorials, check out the direct links in my left sidebar!

ATV Birthday Card

My husband celebrated his birthday on Earth Day, April 22nd… which meant that I needed to design him a card.  I don’t have many guy-friendly stamp sets, but luckily I had just received the Loads of Fun stamp set for FREE due to my Stampin’ Up! sales during our Sale-a-bration promotion (who doesn’t love free stamp sets?!!).  The images in the Loads of Fun stamp set are perfect for the guys in my house, especially my ATV-riding husband.

I used stampin’ pastels (chalk) and the faux tearing technique to create a hill for the ATV.  See my next post for a mini tutorial with this technique.  I colored in parts of the ATV with a silver encore pen to give it a chrome look.  And if you look closely, I added paper piercing along the top edge of the white cardstock.  The rest should be pretty self-explanatory. 

And since my card base was black, I added white cardstock to the inside of my card for signatures.  Rather than leave it plain, I decorated it a bit with a black ATV image and a strip of designer paper.  I don’t normally do anything to the inside of my cards, but I really like the way it looks, so perhaps I should start!

Stamp sets: loads of fun, on your birthday; Inks: basic black, taken with teal, basic gray; Cardstock: basic black, whisper white, creamy caramel, sweet pea DSP; Embellishments: silver encore pen, creamy caramel button, black hemp twine, basic black 1/4” grosgrain ribbon, stampin’ pastels; Tools: sponge dauber, curly label punch, paper piercer, mat pack

See Seth Swim 12x12 Page

The other day, I posted a page featuring photos of Mia swimming on vacation.  Now here’s Seth’s page.  Last year, we brought his neoprene life jacket along with us.  It was very freeing for Seth, enabling him to “swim” without having to hang onto someone or something.  Besides giving us a little break (we were always close by in the pool or just at the pool’s edge), it really helped build his confidence in his skills and helped him lose a bit of the fear he had of the water.  He did a little practice swimming on his own last summer, but the life jacket was great when he just wanted to play around in the pool. Stamp sets: ? alphabet; Inks: whisper white, brilliant blue; Cardstock: real red, pacific point; Embellishments: best ever simply scrappin’ kit, earth elements brads; Tools: 1-3/4” circle punch

Precious Cargo 12x12 Pages

On vacation last year, we toured the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin.  We loved looking at all the old trains and train memorabilia, but the highlight of our visit was a 7-mile, 50-minute round-trip ride on a former branch line of the Chicago & North Western Railway through the scenic Baraboo Hills.  We rode in restored steel coaches built in 1915.  Authentically-attired staff were on board and we left from a historic wooden depot built in 1894.  It was the kids’ first ride on a train and they loved it, though I think they were hoping it would go a little faster! 

   

Stamp sets: stencil alphabet, in the loop alphabet, jumbo outline alphabet, choo choo; Inks: dusty durango, close to cocoa, mellow moss; Cardstock: dusty durango, close to cocoa, mellow moss, whisper white; Embellishments: kraft corduroy buttons & brads, natural hemp twine, close to cocoa 1/4” grosgrain ribbon, happy me simply scrappin’ kit; Tools: 1-1/4” & 1-3/8” circle punches, round tab punch, my way punch, two tags bigz die, big shot, multi-purpose platform, standard cutting pads

Mini Tutorial: Side-Tie Ribbon

Here’s a page I did featuring photos of the kids swimming at our motel on vacation last year.  I had a few great close-up shots of Mia that I wanted to be the focal point of the page, so I nixed adding a title and kept my journaling to a minimum.  I added a little side tie at the bottom of her matted photo.  Check out my mini tutorial below on how to do a side-tie ribbon.  

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Mini Tutorial: Side-Tie Ribbon

1) Start by wrapping a piece of ribbon around your cardstock piece with the ends off to one side.  Place a length of thread or twine (I used two strands of embroidery floss) underneath both ribbon layers.

2) Using a knot, tie the thread around the main ribbon piece at the very edge of your cardstock. 

3) Trim the ends of both the main ribbon & the thread to the desired length.  Here’s how it will look.

For more FREE tutorials, check the direct links in my left sidebar.  Be sure to bookmark my blog so you can find your way back here easily or subscribe so you don’t miss a post!

Stamp sets: you & moi; Inks: basic gray, basic black, regal rose; Cardstock: cool carribbean, regal rose, whisper white, walk in the park DSP; Embellishments: basic gray taffeta ribbon, embroidery floss (non-Stampin’ Up!); Tools: 3/4” square punch

Go Go Go-Carts 12x12 Page

Last Friday was my day off and I had minor surgery to remove a few “bumps” (aka benign cysts) from my scalp.  Everything went fine but I had quite the headache in the afternoon due to the procedure and the resulting staples in my head!  Yikes!  So, I decided to spend the afternoon in scrapbooking therapy! 

Here’s one of the pages I completed.  It features photos of Brian and the kids riding go-carts on vacation last year.  It was the first go-cart ride for Seth and Mia was pleased as punch to discover that she was tall enough to drive her own car.  {She has always been in the 95th percentile for height, if not off the charts}  Luckily we had the course to ourselves or I might have re-considered letting her drive alone…..after all, she was only 8 years old!

I kept my layout simple, bunching the photos near the bottom of the page.  Along the top, I created a Chocolate Chip road with Riding Hood Red center line stripes punched with the Slot Punch.  And of course the page wouldn’t be complete without a go-cart….so, I turned my title block into a rudimentary paper go-cart!

I broke out a few retired In Colors for my page.  Unfortunately Kiwi Kiss is not coming back in July, but Wild Wasabi & Riding Hood Red are!  Woo hoo….those two are definite some of my favorites! 

Stamp sets: just perfect alphabet, taffy alphabet; Inks: whisper white, kiwi kiss, chocolate chip; Cardstock: wild wasabi, kiwi kiss, riding hood red, chocolate chip, whisper white; Embellishments: white gel pen, summer home simply scrappin’ kit; Tools: slot punch, 3/4” circle punch

Circle Circus 12x12 Page

Normally I like to post scrapbook pages that are complete with photos, journaling, and title.  But I’ve been wanting to share this page with you for a long time and I’m not sure when I’ll get around to finishing it.

We created this at one of my last stamp club meetings.  I purposely kept the design simple and omitted a title so that my club girls could finish their page to suit their photos.

This method of creating a scrapbook page first and then adding photos and text is so foreign to me.  I really struggled some months to come up with a design for the club with this approach.  I work better by starting with my photos and choosing a layout, colors, and title that correspond.  How about you?  How do you scrapbook best? 

I don’t know about you, but I'm so excited that our Rich Razzleberry In Color will be offered in our standard color line-up under the new Color Revolution starting in July.  I think it’s just gorgeous!   

Stamp set: circle circus; Inks: pumpkin pie, crushed curry, rich razzleberry; Cardstock: pumpkin pie, crushed curry, rich razzleberry, whisper white, razzleberry lemonade DSP; Embellishments: rich razzleberry polka-dot grosgrain ribbon; Tools: various circle punches

Basket Hunt 12x12

I created these pages awhile back using photos of the kids at Easter a few years ago.  There are photos of them with the Easter bunny, looking for eggs, and hunting for their hidden Easter baskets via clues.  I happened to use Wild Wasabi on my page.  This color is one of my favorite In Colors ever and so I’m THRILLED that it’s coming back to the line-up in July!

Stamp set: best friends alphabet; Inks: whisper white, wild wasabi, elegant eggplant; Cardstock: bashful blue, wild wasabi, pumpkin pie, elegant eggplant, patterned paper (non-Stampin’ Up!); Embellishments: elegant eggplant ribbon, die-cuts (non-Stampin’ Up!); Tools: curly label punch, slot punch, sizzix die (not sure which one!)

Easter Wishes

I am finally getting around to posting the card I made for my mom for Easter.  I used the retired Flower Filled stamp set…I stamped the vase image with Really Rust Ink to give it a terra cotta look.  I added silk flowers with pearl centers, both from our Pretties Kit, for extra dimension.  The flowers were sponged with Barely Banana ink first.  A beautiful card for my beautiful mom!  I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

This card uses 2 of our soon-to-be-retired colors: Barely Banana & Really Rust.  Make sure you stock up on your favorite retiring colors soon as they are only available as supplies last!

I have the day off tomorrow and I’m hoping to get alot of stamping done after a morning appointment.  So, be on the lookout for more posts and a tutorial or two in the next few days.  And also some  BLOG CANDY….I think it’s about time again, don’t you?!!!

Stamp sets: flower filled, teeny tiny wishes; Inks: really rust, barely banana, certainly celery; Cardstock: really rust, barely banana, certainly celery, whisper white; Embellishments: certainly celery 1/4” grosgrain ribbon, pretties kit; Tools: stampin’ sponge

Stampin’ Up! Announces Color Revolution!

There was quite a stir in the stamping community yesterday when Stampin’ Up! announced changes to their existing color families, which will take place with our new catalog in July.

The new Color Collections will include: 5 new colors, 10 In Colors (both retired & current), and 25 current colors.  30 of our current colors will retire. 

Stampin' Up! has done a wonderful job of introducing all the facts about the Color Renovation to demonstrators so we can share the information with you.  Some of you will be a little sad about losing your favorites, but I’m sure many of you are like me and feel that many colors are outdated and not being used.  I’m actually really excited about our new color collections….I think they look beautiful….and I’m excited to get some of our retired In Colors back as well! 

There will be new color kits available & special promotions to earn them for FREE! 

I will be posting that information as it becomes available.  Here are the Retiring Stampin’ Up! Colors.  These colors are only available as supplies last, so order soon if you need to stock up!  Don’t forget cardstock, ink pads, ink refills, ribbon, markers, etc.

Download the Retiring Colors chart HERE!

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And here are the new Color Collections:

Download the new Color Collections chart HERE!

Let me know what you think about the new Color Revolution!  Which favorites are losing and which favorites are you getting back?

Yappy Birthday

Seth was invited to a friend’s birthday party this past weekend, so I had to whip up a quick card.  With kids, I keep the cards pretty simple as they don’t appreciate a hand-made card quite like adults and they can often get destroyed during gift opening! 

Little did I know that I would be using several colors that will be retiring soon.  See my next post for details!

Stamp sets: yappy day, a little birthday cheer; Inks: basic black, creamy caramel, close to cocoa; Cardstock: chocolate chip, close to cocoa, whisper white; Tools: paper piercer, mat pack

Scrapbooking 101: Hand-Drawn Embellishments

There are times when I just don’t have the right embellishments for my page.  Times when I don’t have a stamp set, die-cut, rub-on, or other embellishment to match my theme.  In this case, I’ve occasionally resorted to creating my own hand-drawn embellishments. 

Let me start by saying that I am not an artist.  Free-hand drawing is not one of my strong points; however, the fact that something is hand-drawn by me makes it even more special on my page.  If free-hand drawing is not your thing, consider tracing an existing image so that it looks like it was hand-drawn.

In this example, the theme of my page was music.  I wanted some musical notes on the page.  Not having any available, I decided to create my own.  I started with a scrap piece of white cardstock and free-handed the notes using a black marker.  I then colored in the open spaces of the notes with additional colors.  I think the result is really great and those notes look much better than I could have imagined….likely better than something already made as I could draw them exactly the style I wanted (coordinated with the alphabet stamp set I used).  At this point, I’ll confess that it took me several tries to get them looking as they do, but it was worth the effort.

Stamp sets: outline lower alphabet, on the edge numbers, Inks: basic black, tempting turquoise, real red; Cardstock: tempting turquoise, real red, whisper white, certainly celery, ski slope DSP; Embellishments: real red 1/4” grosgrain ribbon, soft subtles brads; Tools: small corner rounder, big shot, multipurpose platform, stampin’ up! backgrounds II texturz plates, cutting pads, paper snips, round tab punch 

For more Scrapbooking 101 tips & tricks, check out the links in my left sidebar!

Tri-Circle Birthday CASE

My neighbor Joe celebrated his birthday last week and due to the fact that I didn’t plan ahead (as usual), I only had a little bit of time to make him a card before we were due over at his house for dessert.  So I grabbed our Summer Mini Catalog (available May 1st) and CASE’d a card from there, changing the colors and stamp images to make it my own. 

The card I CASED features a cool motorcycle image which would be perfect for a guy….especially my neighbor Joe who has several Harleys.  But unfortunately I don’t have that stamp yet.  And after perusing my stamp stash, it’s clear that I don’t have many stamp sets that are suitable for an adult male.  But luckily Joe loves trees (he has a ton of trees and bushes in his yard, planted there by choice), so I grabbed our Branch Out stamp set (available to order off the Dormant List).  The image worked nicely on the large white circular cardstock, cut with our Circle Scissors Plus.  I added a birdhouse image as Joe’s wife has several birdhouses hanging from the trees in their yard.  

Stamp sets: branch out, a little birthday cheer; Inks: always artichoke, old olive, chocolate chip, ruby red; Cardstock: always artichoke, ruby red, kraft, whisper white; Embellishments: earth elements buttons, natural hemp twine; Tools: circle scissors plus, glass mat, paper piercer, mat pack, 1-3/8” circle punch, small corner rounder

Ride the Ducks 12x12 Pages

I don’t think I’ve posted these pages previously; so if I have, just pretend like you’re seeing them for the first time!  These photos were taken on vacation last year during our trip to the Wisconsin Dells and our Original Wisconsin Ducks (amphibious vehicles) tour.  The kids look a little nervous because they were, even sitting by their dad and across the aisle from my mom and several of the neighbors, who joined us on our vacation.  The kids weren’t sure quite what to expect, but they ended up enjoying the ride.  I only wish that I had gotten a photo of the outside of our Duck.  Guess we’ll have to take another ride on our next trip back! Stamp sets: pick a petal, alphabet (can’t remember which one this is off-hand); Inks: riding hood red, basic black; Cardstock: riding hood red, basic black, whisper white, pumpkin pie; Embellishments: vintage brads