Thanksgiving Decor

Sorry for being MIA! Just a simple post today to show two of my new decor items for Thanksgiving. I have several card orders going right now, however, most of them are for showers/weddings for Spring/Summer next year, so while they are keeping me busy, I won't be able to post the final product for a very long time (I never like to post pictures of invitations until after the event)! I did invitations for a co-worker's grandson's birthday that is next weekend, so look out for those next weekend! :)

Anyways, here are my two projects:

First up is my "Thankful Tree". I took a clear vase, threw in some moss and a few twigs from my yard, then used my Stampin' Up Leaves #2 die to cut out leaves from various fall colored paper in my scrap bag. I plan to write things I'm thankful for on each leaf throughout the month. 

Next is this little pumpkin frame made from the oval punch and various scrap pieces. I sponged each piece with Close to Cocoa ink and hand cut the stems from Chocolate Chip cardstock. I tied some twine in a knot and adhered it to the solid colored pumpkins using a glue dot. The background is Kraft cardstock. I do wish I had spaced out the pumpkins a little more, but overall, I think it turned out cute :)

Click here to see a Thanksgiving project from a few years ago!

Halloween Baby Shower!

Okay, I'm a day late...I'm so sorry! I knew I never should have made a promise to post three days in a row! haha

Anyways, last year on October 23, I had my baby shower, which was all Halloween themed. Halloween is my favorite holiday, so it was a no brainer as to what my theme was going to be. With the  help of my amazing friend Melissa, everything turned out great! It was held at a local bed and breakfast that I had driven past every day for 4 years on my way to work and always hoped to have an event there. I absolutely loved planning it and was pretty bummed not having something Halloween themed to plan this year (especially since I've discovered Pinterest and there are so many cute things on there!).

First up are the invitations: The bear is from SU's Teddy and Train stamp set, while everything else is from a clear stamp set I bought at Michael's or Joann's, so is the paper. The bear is popped up with dimentionals and I used the criss cross card technique. These were extremely time consuming, but I absolutely LOVED then end result and they were a huge hit!

 I loved the candy corn stamped on the envelope.

All 50 of them!

This was what the room looked like. Melissa and I made the centerpieces out of supplies we picked up from Pat Catan's. They were also prizes for the games.

Close up of the centerpieces. 

These are the favors I made. They were baby food jars filled with various Halloween candies. I used my Big Shot to cut Halloween fabric using the scalloped circle die. I glued that to the jar lid, tied it off with some raffia and used the scalloped circle, 1 1/2 and 1 3/8 punch for the tag. Each one also had a button attached to the bow. These buttons came from a jar of antique buttons I purchased a long time ago at Joe and I's favorite antique store. All of the buttons were either orange, gray, black or white...except one blue one. Whoever had the blue button also won a prize!

Here are some pictures of the dessert table. I made all of the cookies, Melissa made the popcorn mix and my friend Carrie made the pumpkin cupcakes!

Witch hat cookies, chocolate dipped pretzels, oreo bombs, pumpkin cupcakes!

 

Are these not the cutest things ever???

 Halloween popcorn mix with candy corn and M&M's.

 Pumpkin cupcakes made by my great friend, Carrie.

You can also see the picks in the fruit. I used the Batty for You stamp set as well as the same patterned paper from the invitations to create those.

There was one aspect of the shower Melissa didn't allow me to know about/make on my own...the drinks. Her and her mom took the time to cut out pumpkin faces out of duct tape and attach them to orange cups. They were so cute and I thought it was such a great idea!

Speaking of Melissa, here is a picture of her and I. (I'm obviously the one on the left! hehe) Now, one year later, she has a little one of her own who is almost 4 months old! She's actually pregnant in this picture, but didn't know it yet. How neat is that?!

Baby Shower Gift, Favors, and Cake!

As mentioned yesterday, here are some pictures from my cousin's baby shower. First up is the gift that I made her. I found the tutorial for the little "onsie flowers" on Lauren Meader's Blog. It was super easy to make and was a real wow at the shower! There are 5 pink, brown, and white onsies intermixed with artificial pink/white roses and greenery. When it was brought over to my cousin she said "Hmmm...let me guess who this is from!"

The little card/envelope was made from the Big Shot Petal Card die with a little 2x2 card inside (stamped with the bear from Teddy and Train to coordinate with the invitations). It was attached to a bamboo skewer with mini glue dots.

Next are the favors. Since her theme was bears and baby blocks, we stamped them with the bear from the Teddy and Train set and letters from the Big Deal Alphabet. We had originally planned on making our own boxes, but due to time constraint, my aunt picked up these already pre-scored and cut boxes. We did 50 Pretty in Pink bears and 50 Chocolate Chip bears. Half of them were stamped ABC and half were XYZ. Inside was a tool circle with some candy covered chocolates all tied off with an "It's a girl ribbon"...forgot to take a picture of that before I ate my candy! Oops!

Finally, thanks to my super talented aunt, is the cake! Isn't this thing incredible?! She made all of it, down to the bears in the middle and the little chocolate molded candy in the plastic blocks around it. I might have to take lessons from her on cake making!

Click here to see the invitations that I made for her shower.

Halloween Treats #2

Today I am sharing part two of my Halloween Treats class. These little guys were made using the Big Shot and seriously took 10 minutes to make both of them; therefore, this is a great project for mass producing. Both were made using the Cast-A-Spell DSP. The Frankenstein is from Batty for You and the tag is from Eat Drink and Be Scary. I do prefer the thicker Old Olive ribbon because it covers the little "hole" from the petal card better (see below), where with the thinner Pumpkin Pie ribbon, you do have to do a little finagling to get the knot in just the right place. The petal card will stay shut on it's own, however, the candy inside is just big enough to cause an opening.

Here is a view with the ribbon untied

And opened to reveal a yummy Ghiradelli chocolate! And the other side of the DSP is a fun surprise too!

Again, my class is September 25 and more details can be found on this post.

Halloween Treats #1

I couldn't wait to start prepping for my Halloween Treats class as this is my favorite holiday of the year! I will be sharing the projects with you over the next few days (if you get my newsletter, you already know what all of the projects are). The class will be held on Friday, September 25 from 6:00-8:00pm at my home and is $15--and all the candy is included! I know you're going to want to make all of these again to give out to teachers, co-workers, family, etc, so to sweeten the deal if you purchase a pack of the Cast-A-Spell DSP, I will knock $5 off! And if you bring a friend, you will be entered into a drawing for a free stamp set! RSVP by September 21.

The first box is a Criss Cross box and uses the Eat Drink and Be Scary Stamp set along with the DSP.

This second box uses the Fancy Favor die for the Big Shot along with the Batty for You stamp set and DSP.

Scalloped Turkey

I have been on a big punch art kick lately (although a lot of today's post was made with the Big Shot Scalloped Circle die). I saw this post on SCS and knew I wanted to try and make it into a card (hers is a gift box). I am really excited with how he turned out! The card was made by cutting 2 Scallop Circles out of Chocolate Chip. Score one of them about an inch down and adhere it to the other one so that the card will open. Three more scallops were cut out of Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, and So Saffron and then cut so that there were only 4 scallops per piece. They were adhered together in the center and then adhered to the Chocolate piece. I used a Chocolate Chip marker to add the detail to the feathers. The feet, beak, and gobbler (not sure if that's what it's really called) were all made from the Scalloped Circle punch just cut to different sizes. His body is the 4th circle on the Coluzzle and his head is the 1 3/8 circle punch. His hat was made with the Word Window punch and then a little square cut from Basic Black and rounded on two corners. The buckle was hand cut from So Saffron and Basic Black and a White gel pen added the details. Finally, I gave him googly eyes! Easy, easy, easy!

The inside was cut with the Coluzzle and stamped using the Holiday Best stamp set (Hostess Level 1) and the Chocolate Chip marker (I eliminated the leaf design)

Stamps: Holiday Best
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Basic Black, Whisper White

Ink: Chocolate Chip Marker

Accessories: Big Shot, Scallop Circle Die, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8 Circle Punch, Word Window Punch, White Gel Pen, Coluzzle

Christmas Cardinal

No, this image is not Stampin' Up :( Jen had this little guy laying around and I thought he would be good to use for Christmas cards to sell at the craft fair in November. I used the same layout as this card that I made back in July. I like the Christmas one better--sorry for the poor quality, I think my camera was dying when I took this picture.

Stamps: Heard from the Heart, Misc Cardinal Stamp

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Merry Moments DSP

Ink: Basic Black, Whisper White, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Big Shot, Top Note Die, Texture Plates, Real Red Ribbon, Sponges, SU Markers, Sanding Block, Dimentionals

1. Score 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 piece of Chocolate Chip at 4 1/4 and fold on score line.

2. Cut a 3 inch square of Very Vanilla, a 3 1/4 inch square of Old Olive, and a 3 1/2 inch square of Real Red.

3. Stamp the cardinal image in the center of Vanilla paper in Basic Black. Stamp branches around edges.

4. Sponge Vanilla piece with Old Olive. Sponges other two squares with Chocolate Chip

5. Adhere all layers and set aside.

6. Run a piece of Real Red through the Big Shot with the polka dot Texture Plate, then again through with the Top Note die. Cut the shape in half. Sand the dots with the sanding block and sponge the edges with Chocolate Chip.

7. Cut a 1 1/2 x 5 1/2 piece of DSP and wrap Real Red Polka Dot ribbon around it. Cut another small piece of ribbon and knot it around the other strip so that the knot is able to move around.

8. Adhere the DSP and Top Note piece to the card base.

9. Ink sentiment from Heard from the Heart in Whisper White. Wipe off all words except "Christmas" with a towel or baby wipe. Stamp word in top 1/3 of the right side.

10. Stamp the other two words in Whisper White onto Real Red and cut out. Adhere above and below the word "Christmas".

11. Adhere cardinal image with dimentionals.

Birthday Pumpkin

Here is the second of the Halloween themed birthday cards. I cased this card that I found on SCS. I really like all of the circles. And again, the Big Shot was used with the small polka dots on the Whisper White layer, however, the picture doesn't help show that!

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes, Batty for You
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Whisper White, Cast a Spell DSP

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Big Shot, Texture Plates, Colluzle, Horizontal Slot Punch, 1 1/2 Circle Punch, Chocolate Chip Ribbon, SU Markers, Twine, Dimentionals

1. Score a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 piece of Chocoalte Chip at 4 1/4 and fold on score line.
2. Cut a 5 3/8 x 4 1/8 piece of Pumpkin Pie, 5 1/4 x 4 piece of More Mustard, and a 5 1/8 x 3 7/8 piece of Whisper White.
3. Run the Whisper White through the Big Shot with the small polka dot texture plates.
4. Cut the 7th largest circle out of the Coluzzle onto Cast a Spell DSP. Adhere to bottom right portion of Whisper White and cut off overhang.
5. Cut out 4th largest circle onto More Mustard and the 3rd largest onto Chocolate Chip. Adhere.
6. Stamp the pumpkin image from Batty for You in Chocolate Chip onto a scrap piece of Whisper White. Punch out with the 1 1/2 inch circle punch. Adhere to Chocolate Chip circle.
7. Stamp image again, this time using SU Markers to color the pumpkin. Cut out pumpkin and adhere to circle image using dimentionals.
8. Adhere circles to top of DSP circle and Whisper White layer using dimentionals.
9. Punch a slit using the Horizontal Slot Punch on the bottom right side. Thread Chocolate Chip ribbon through and tie off with a piece of twine.
10. Stamp sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes underneath ribbon using Chocolate Chip ink.
11. Adhere Whisper White layer to More Mustard/Pumpkin Pie layer and adhere the whole piece to the Chocolate Chip card base.
12. The inside has a 5 1/4 x 4 piece of More Mustard.

Get Well Soon

This is a card I made for my aunt who just had back surgery. When my mom called me about it, she said "you should make her one of your pretty cards" :) My mom is definitely my number one fan when it comes to my card-making! Love ya mom!

I made this card using a shadow box tutorial that I saw on SCS. You take a 4 inch square piece of DSP and fold it in half twice. Fold the points down to themiddle and then fold each point

back towards the side. It was super easy and I love the effect it gives. The sentiment says "Take Care of Yourself" and is from Sweet Little Sentiments. The Bashful Blue piece was also run through my Big Shot with the polka dot texture plate. I love how it compliments the polka dots in the DSP. I also cut a strip of DSP for the inside and punched it with the Eyelet Border Punch.

Stamps: Fun and Fast Notes, Sweet Little Sentiements

Paper: Ballet Blue, Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue DSP (retired), Whisper White

Ink: Basic Black, Bashful Blue

Accessories: Big Shot, Texture Plate, Eyelet Border Punch, Large and Scalloped Oval Punch, Twine, SU Markers

Antique Store Set #5

Hello! You are reading my 100th post! I can't believe it. When I started this blog in March, I never thought it would only take me 4 months to reach 10,000 hits and post 100 times. Thanks to all of you for supporting my blog and visiting regularly! This is my final card set for the Market Place on Main (all that's left is candles). I wanted to make a variety of styles to give him to see what works best, so this set is much more "fun" than the other sets. I CASED this card from SCS. It was very simple to make these and they were done in about an hour. And I just can't get enough of the color combination. I'm really sad that I used my last sheet of this style DSP. Time to order more!!!

When I started to think about how I wanted to package them, I didn't want to make another one of the boxes I have been making. I wanted something for the cards to "stand" in. I searched all over SCS and couldn't find any template for what I was visioning...so, I decided I was going to make my own box template! Boy, I didn't realize what I was in for. Although it only took me about 15 minutes to figure it out, my brain hurt after it was all said and done! I cut my cardstock to 8 1/2 x 6 and scored it at 2 inches all the way around. Cut the flaps and assemble. It seems way to easy for the time it took me to think of it! The DSP is 1 3/4 square for the sides and 1 3/4 x 4 for the front and back. See the template below for cutting/scoring.

Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes

Paper: Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Razzleberry Lemonade DSP

Ink: Basic Black

Accessories: Big Shot, Scallops 2 Die, 1 3/8, 1 1/2, and Scallop Circle Punches, Crystal Effects, Coluzzle, Horizontal Slot Punch, Melon Mambo Ribbon, Dimentionals, SU Markers, Blender Pen

And, all of the cards with the box. I was the mad photographer with this set, can't you tell? :)