Open House Make-&-Takes + a FREE gift for everyone!

Here's the make-&-takes for my Open House Monday evening. This simple card features the new Friends Never Fade stamp set + Greenhouse Gala designer series paper. I love the bright and sunny Daffodil Delight! The 1 1/4" squre punch was used to punch the ds paper. The wording is from my new Fabulous Phrases set! I've been in need of some new word stamps. And the clear mount option is perfect for aligning 2 or 3 words together.

I also made each attendee a personalized little notepad. These feature the Newsprint DS paper, which I also love!! The red circles are Poppy Parade, which really looks great with the black/white. The monogram letters are from the Lovely Letters set, but this would also look great with the Rough Type alphabet- which was what I originally saw this project used with!I used the Bigz Scallop Circle die. The inside of each notepad is regular lined notebook paper, which actually runs through the Big Shot very easily. There's about 25 sheets of paper in each notepad and I think about half of them could be run through the machine at the same time. I used my Crop-o-Dile to punch a hole and tied it all together with some retired ribbon I had on hand. Definitely a fun project that makes a great personalized gift!

August Class Projects

Thanks to the 5 ladies who attended my August class last night! You all made it a successful evening! I hope everyone enjoyed the projects. I always love it when something is new to everyone! For those of you who missed out, we made a total of 4 projects:

2-in-1 Basket.I love that this is held together by a little binder clip ring, decorated w/ribbon! This basket uses a 6x6 piece of ds paper. Score at 2" all the way around. Then, score from each corner point to the middle & fold points in. Click here for a tutorial on how to make this PLUS the other basket option.

Owl Punch Paper Clip Bookmark. I love this little guy! And so easy- just choose your paper and punch! The hardest part is putting the tiny black eyeballs on the whites of the eyes. I used my stylus to help position them onto drops of liquid glue. The finished owls (front/back) were attached to the jumbo paper clip using large glue dots. Someone mentioned that you can find the paper clips at the dollar store! I think I got a big pack of these at the office supply store awhile back. If you don't own this adorable owl punch, you must get it!

Origami Shadowbox Card. I thought this was very striking! Love the effect! Just a square w/a few folds. Click here for detailed instructions.

Stencil Emboss Resist Card.This card kind of has a 'vintage' feel to it. You can get the stencil through SU and there's lots of possibilities for using it & it's very inexpensive! I lined this one up on vanilla cardstock and left a little off the paper. Then, I smooshed VersaMark on top of it, poured on clear embossing powder, & heated with my heat gun. Next, I used a sponge to apply color around the stencil. The embossing part of it 'resists' the ink and makes the image pop out! You can watch a video tutorial here.

If you have any questions, drop me an email!

My 1st Rag Quilt!

Here's my 1st attempt at a rag quilt! I've made several of the rag quilt bags, so I thought I would give the quilt a try. It was basically the same- just more squares. And actually, after finishing, I wish I would have added even more squares! If you ever try this, keep in mind that if you don't pre-wash your fabric, some of the pieces might shrink during the wash/dry rag process. Plus, the scallop edges kind of curl up more and I just think the whole thing kind of looks smaller. I made this one 6x6, so it's small and could be considered a lap quilt. I used Beatrix Potter flannel fabric + several others including cotton, chenille, & fleece. They all worked great together and give the quilt lots of texture. Here's some basic instructions and some pics of the assembling process.

1. Cut squares w/scallop square die through Big Shot. You will need squares for front & back of quilt.

2. Cut cotton batting 3 1/4" x 3 1/4". One piece for each square 'sandwich.'

3. Use sewing or all purpose glue stick to hold batting in place between each sqaure.
Sew an 'x' on each sqaure from corner to corner. This gives it the quilted look.

4. Lay out and then pin all sqaures together- scallops up.

5. Begin sewing- piece by piece in each row. You should end up with long strips of sqaures sewn together. Aim to sew your seams at the same place on each 'sandwich.' I think mine were a littl under 1/2" and I actually put a mark on my machine to guide me.

6. Then, each strip has to be sewn to the one above it. Pin before sewing and LINE UP seams! This will make a difference on a quilt! I had to re-do several of mine. Also, the chenille fabric I used kind of stretched, so it made it a bit more difficult. Here's a pic of the back (where you can really see the seams) before I re-did some of it. You can see where I was off.

7. The final sewing step is to sew a seam around each outside edge.

8. And to finish, throw it in the wash on a gentle cycle and then dry! This starts the rag quilt process which will continue w/each wash.

That's about it! I actually started this one last Sunday. I cut all the squares and sandwiched them together with the batting. It took me a couple of hours. Then, I did the sewing Thursday evening & finished it up Friday evening. I think I'm definitely getting better with each project. It just takes time for beginners, but don't give up! I love working on something and going through each phase of putting it together and in the end, seeing the finished product.

Sweet Little One

The Fox & Friends set continues to be one of my favorites! There's just something about those cute little animals! Here's yet another card using this set. I whipped this one up literally in a matter of minutes right before I needed it. I used the Square Lattice embossing folder for the olive cardstock background. I love the texture it leaves! Then, each adorable animal was stamped and then punched with the 1 1/4" square punch and taped to a chocolate chip background. I used the word window punch for the words, which are from a retired baby set, I believe. The ribbon is the new Marina Mist in grosgrain. Don't you love the little heart the monkey holds? SO sweet and easy- I used the small heart punch! If you don't have that one, you should really get it. For only 5.95, it's a bargain & I have used it ALOT! Ok. Yet another quick & simple card!

Sesame Street Punch Card

Isn't this the cutest card?! I've seen these floating around on various blogs and on splitcoast for awhile now, but have never had the chance to actually make one. I decided to put this one together for my nephew in Ohio who just turned 2. He loves Elmo! Actually, what toddler doesn't?! All of the characters & their facial features were made using punches! Let me know if you have questions about the exact ones I used. The hardest part was adhering the tiny black eye balls! Y0u can search for more 'Elmo punch cards' on splitcoaststampers.

The Last of my Baby Thank-You's!

I can't believe how many baby thank-you's I've had to make, especially with this being my 4th child! All the gifts and meals have been much appreciated and a true blessings to us. I have to admit, I was seriously tempted to buy store-bought thank-you's, after letting my list pile up! Plus, we received several more gifts on our recent trip to Ohio! Instead, I cut 20, 3x3 whisper white cardstock pieces, stamped a monkey or owl (from Fox & Friends) on each + 'thank you' & taped each one to a 4x4 card in pacific point, real red, tempting turquoise, & pumpkin pie. Very simple and quick. I did this after the kids went to bed one night. Now I'm officially caught up & I didn't compromise the hand-made quality! I actually got the idea from a new blog I was referred to. Check it out here.

Aviary Fun!

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I've really been into case-ing cards, lately! I guess all of my creative energy is running a bit low. Usually the extent of my creativity is coordinating 3 kids' naps to happen at the same time! LOL! Anyway, to give credit where credit is due, this card inspiration comes from stampwithheather. The only thing I basically changed was the buttons, some of the paper dimensions, & the greeting, but I wanted you to at least see the set, if you haven't yet noticed it! I think I also changed some of the bird positioning. I love how this card uses so many new and bright colors! And the birds are adorable! When I originally saw this stamp set in the new catalog, it was instantly my favorite. I bought this one in the clear mount

which makes it pretty easy to line everything up. What a fun set!

Kind & Caring Thoughts

This is a card I recently 'whipped up' using the Kind & Caring Thoughts retired hostess set. It's actually case'd from the Summer mini catalog! I love the long look. You'll see that I'm caseing alot of cards these days! I love simple stamp images and this one features shadow-like plants and flowers which are great for tone-on-tone looks. The butterfly is popped up with dimensionals, after cutting it w/my Big Shot from the Beautiful Butterflies die. I used jumbo eyelets and hemp twine for embellishing the side. Since I had the inspiration, I literally made this one in about 10min! Just my kind of card!

I gave this to a wonderful couple at my church who graciously allowed our ladies Bible study to 'shop' on donation (to the church) from their garage full of unwanted home decor items and furniture! It was the best 'sale' I've ever been too! It's also allowing me to somewhat re-decorate my living room, so maybe I'll post before and after pics soon!