Paper, Scissors and Superheroes

Summer's almost here!

Summer is almost here!  Seems hard to believe, since we had 6" of snow on the ground just two weeks ago,  but next week marks the last week of school for my kids.  I can hardly believe it!  Where did the year go?  I love creating goodies to spoil my kids' teachers.  I try to give a little something handmade every year at Christmas...but I'm ashamed to say I was too busy this year and it didn't get done.  So I'm going to try to make up for it on the last day of school.  I put together some treats to make that last day even sweeter.  Let me show you.

I wanted to stay away from the traditional teacher-y apple type gifts and do something fun and summery.  When I give gifts, I also assume everyone is like me (probably a bad idea), and gets overwhelmed with knick-knacks, so I like to give something they can enjoy, and then not feel bad about not keeping around for years and years.  :-)  This time I went with a flavored drink and some candy, along with a personal note to each. Very simple. The cost of these items was about $1.50 per gift.  All of the stamps/paper/dies/inks are from Papertrey Ink.  There is a complete thumbnail list of supplies at the bottom of this post...just click on the thumbnails to view the products.  

I decorated the bottles using the Wine Bottle Tag die embellished with oranges from the Fruitful set.  I made it interactive as well, using the Zipper Border die.  I stamped the word "orange..." from the Fruitful Sentiments set on the outside of the tag.

The tear-away zipper strip reveals the rest of the sentiment to say "Orange...you glad it's summer?"  The "orange you glad" joke was a favorite of my youngest for a long time!  :-)  I'll show you details on how I did this a little later in the post.  Oh, and a little time-saving tip - the circle that's left when you diecut the Wine Bottle Tag is the perfect size for stamping the larger orange, no need to make another diecut.  The smaller orange was diecut using the circle from the Hello Sunshine die set, but could be done with a 1 1/4" circle punch if you have one of those in your tool box.

For my tote I used the Favor It Box 4 die, which I think looks just like a beach bag when it's all done up!  I tucked some flip flops inside using the Flipping Out stamp set and coordinating dies.  The sunglasses are from A Day at the Beach.  

To create the "towel", I simply rolled a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Hawaiian Shores Polka Dot paper.  Inside is a personal note to each teacher.  There is also a bag of candy.  I used Peachy-Os...the sugared orange slices would probably have matched my theme better, but I don't think I know of anyone who likes eating those more than the peach o's, at least not at my house.  

I have a few tips for you just in case you'd like to recreate today's project. I love mass producing things...it makes me feel super productive.  I usually start by creating one complete project, then when I have everything looking the way I want it to, I set out to create the rest.

Gathering supplies and diecutting everything is always my first step.  I kind of love the way it all looks together, just waiting to be stamped and assembled.  

Here is a close-up of the Wine Bottle Tags.  After diecutting the tag, I diecut the Zipper Border strip near the bottom edge.

The Wine Bottle Tag is too big to fit crosswise in the diecut machine in order to use the Zipper Border, so just fold the top portion back along the score line.  Position the Zipper Border where you want it, then secure it with a Post-it note.  Post-its are great for diecutting...enough adhesive to hold everything in place, but not too much so that it tears your paper when you remove it.

To create the "you glad it's summer?" insert, I simply printed it onto cardstock using my computer/printer.  The Wine Bottle tag is 2 1/2" wide, so I made sure my sentiment would fit in that area before printing.  I then cut them into strips, making sure the strip was wider than the opening of the zipper cut.    

Then I just positioned the sentiment strip behind the zipper cut area and used my sewing machine to stitch just above and below the diecut area, making sure to catch the sentiment strip in my stitching. You could use thin strips of an adhesive like Scor-Tape too, if you'd rather skip the sewing part, just make sure you don't place any in the "tear away zone".  :-)  I also stamped the "pull here" arrow from the Movers & Shakers set so they would be sure not to miss that the strip is meant to be torn.  

My kids are excited to bring these fun treats to their teachers...but I'm making them wait until the last day of school.  I had fun pulling elements from various sets to create these summery teacher gifts, but if you'd like to create something more traditional, Papertrey Ink has you covered in that area as well.  Here are links to some Papertrey sets that would be perfect for creating teacher gifts (just click on the thumbnails):

InLinkz.com

Thanks for stopping by today!  Below is the supply list for today's project.  Feel free to contact me with any questions.  Have a great weekend!

Bokeh Inspired Stamping...

A technique that's been around in photography circles for years is starting to pop up everywhere.  It's called bokeh.  By definition, bokeh (boh-kay) is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image. Bokeh has been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light".  It's a look I noticed popping up in paper crafting products released at the CHA show this past January.  I thought I'd play around with trying to mimic the look with stamps.  I had so much fun with it!  It's a super easy technique, uses the most basic stamps the acheive the effect, and can be combined with lots of different stamp sets in your collection.

Here are a few great examples of bokeh in photography...

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Now, obviously I can't actually duplicate this effect with my stamps...it's all based on how the camera captures light, but I was inspired to try to incorporate the look and feel of it in a few cards for you today.  I wanted to let the stamping shine, so I kept the cards themselves nice and simple today.  I created these all in a matter of just a few hours, so they're great for quick and easy cards.  

Since bokeh is really a photographic effect, I couldn't resist pairing it with the camera from the Shutterbug Special set for my first card.  I was inspired by the soft, dreamy look in the ferris wheel photo at the beginning of this post, with the spots of aqua, pink and yellow.  

I added some sponging of Aqua Mist ink, then just used the large single polka dot from the Polka Dot Basics stamp set to add the spots of "light".  

Let me show you step-by-step how I created this card.  Like I said, I started by sponging Aqua Mist ink onto Vintage Cream cardstock with my Ink Blending tool (from Ranger).   I conentrated the ink in the lower left and upper right corners.

Then I took the large single polka dot from Polka Dot Basics and stamped some circles using Aqua Mist ink.  I stamped the circle three times before re-inking.  And you'll notice that the first time I stamped it (the darkest) is in the lower left and upper right corners (areas with more sponged ink).  Without re-inking I stamped twice more, working up and out towards the lighter areas (less sponged ink).  If you don't have the polka dot set, any circular stamp will work - you can just flip them upside down on your block and use the backside of the stamp.

I then repeated this process with Hibiscus Burst and Harvest Gold inks.  The Hibiscus ink is pretty bright, so I stamped off once onto scrap paper before stamping on my cardstock, then stamped a couple more times before re-inking.  The images are very light, but I think that's the key to re-creating this look.  It's very subtle!  There's also a happy medium between stamping enough circles to make it effective, but not stamping so many that it just looks busy.  It's a happy balance.  :-)

I actually have four more cards and the photos that inspired them to share with you.  Each of these was created with basically the same technique I just showed.  

 

How fun to use this with Friendship Jar...

I used a tiny star from Super Stars as well as the dotted lines/swirls from Super Star.  The sentiment is from Daydreamer.

(image credit)

Who can resist a sweet cupcake a sparkles?  So perfect with the Cupcake Collection set and coordinating dies.  

This time I used a colored cardstock background (Sweet Blush) and also added a few hearts stamped with my Essential Glue pad and sprinkled with glitter.

How about the cute little cup from Warm Happiness Too?

I used Hibiscus Burst, Spring Rain, and Melon Berry Inks.

How about a mono-chromatic take?  

I just used a piece of solid/texture patterned paper (this was from a Basic Grey 6x6 pad) and stamped various circles in shades of aqua using Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores and Ocean Tides inks.  The sentiment is from the Wonderful Words: Hello stamps and dies, diecut from a metallic gold cardstock.

That's all for projects today, but if you're in the mood for more inspiring photos, you can check out my Pinterest board full of gorgeous photos featuring the bokeh effect HERE!

Oh, and I'll be back tomorrow for a fun giveaway, so be on the lookout for that!

Market Street Stamps...

I'm excited to do a little guest designing for Market Street Stamps!  I have a project today using their Dream Catcher set...

There are lots of fun, trendy images in this set.  My favorite are the feathers and that super cool chevron border.  Both of these looks are so trendy right now!  

I used these images for my card today...

The two-step feather image makes it perfect for the water color technique I used here.  I think the combination of the sentiment and the trendy elements would make this perfect for a teen girl graduation card.  

This technique is super easy.  Start out with some re-inkers and a scrap of acetate.  I used Papertrey's Winter Wisteria, Raspberry Fizz, and Aqua Mist.

 

Just put a few drops of each re-inker color on the acetate.

Mist it with water and let the colors blend together. 

Press the stamp into the ink - I used the solid feather image and stamp onto your project.

Let the image dry (use a heat gun if you're impatient like me), then stamp the coodinating feather outline image using Versamark ink and heat emboss with white powder.  If you're creating a background with several images like in my card, do all the watercolor stamping at once, let dry, and do all of the heat embossing at once to speed the process.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I'll be designing with another Market Street Set in the next few weeks, so be on the look out for that!

Bracelet Tutorial...

I've had several requests for a tutorial for the bracelet I posted the other day...

So I made another today and took photos of the process so I could put together a tutorial for you.  Here's the bracelet I made today...

Same concept, just different fabrics and papers for the beads.

To me, the funnest (that's probably not a word, is it?) part of making these is choosing the fabrics and papers.  Everything gets sort of "mashed" up, so you really don't need to be concerned with patterns - it's really more about colors.  It's funny how the fabrics take on a whole different look once torn and braided.  Same thing with the papers used to make the beads.  I thought I'd show you the fabrics and papers I used in each of the bracelets I made.  The fabrics are just regular cotton prints, same as you would use for quilting or sewing. 

For the original bracelet I posted the other day I used papers from both of the Beautiful Beads paper packs along with the fabrics shown in this photo...

Here's a shot of my supplies for today's bracelet.  I used the Basic Grey Mint Julep 6x6 pad (in stores soon!) and the fabrics shown in this photo.  You can use any papers you'd like with the Beautiful Beads die - the Beautiful Beads paper is lighter weight, so if you use other patterned papers for your beads they will turn out a bit bigger (which is perfectly fine!).  I love being able to make them out of other papers  -- it means I can create a totally coordinated project...from the bracelet all the way down to the packaging.  

And lastly, I made this one the other night...no paper beads, just fabric and regular beads.  

Here's a better shot of the fabrics...

 

Below you will find the step-by-step instructions.  Oh, and I should include a disclaimer.  I am not a jewelry maker. I really have no knowledge of the correct techniques or methods for constructing jewelry (aka: I have no idea what I'm doing).  This is how I made mine...you might be more familiar with proper jewelry construction, and might have a better method.  Feel free to use whatever works best for you.  :-)  

Supplies:

• 3 Different fabrics of your choice
• Beads of your choice (I used a combination of glass, metal, and paper beads made with the Papertrey Ink Beatiful Beads die).  My glass and metal beads were just something I picked up from Walmart
• Swivel Clip and "D" Ring set (I used a 1.3" size purchased HERE on Etsy)
• Beading Wire (also purchased at Walmart)
• Sewing Machine

A little about the clasp I used in my bracelet -- I used this swivel clip and D ring - I originally bought these for the straps of some cute little wristlets I made for Christmas gifts.  They're not really intended for jewelry making, but since I live an hour away from a craft store, this was the only thing I had on hand that would work.  Necessity is the mother of invention, right?  :-) The one drawback is that it's not adjustable.  Not a problem if you're making these for yourself.  More of a problem if you're making them for gifts.  You could consider adding a bit of chain to the D ring end so that the wearer would have a little adjustability -- just make sure the chain links are large enough that the clip swivel clip will fit through them.   Someday I might try someting like this for a more polished look.   

So step-by-step, this is how I created my bracelet.  

1.  Tear edge of fabric to straighten.  Snip appx 1/2" from edge and tear strip.  Repeat until you have three strips of each of the three fabrics.  

2.  Stack strips and machine stitch across top (this will get trimmed off later, it just makes braiding easier).

3.  Braid strips.  Braid rather tightly and try to get the braid as even as possible.  Use a clilpboard to secure while braiding.

4.  Continue until all three fabrics are braided.  They should each be a minimum of 9-10" long.  I used some small binder clips to hold the braids in place until I was ready to work with them.

5.  When the braiding is finished, machine stitch across the braid (make sure it's nice and neat and tight over the area you are stitching)

6.  Trim off excess close to stitching.

7.  Repeat steps 5 & 6 with the other end of the braids.  You will be left with three tidy braids to work with.

8.  Get out the swivel clip and D ring.  

9.  Thread all three braids through the loop of the swivel clip.  Line them up neatly, folding the ends over neatly back onto themselves.

10.  Hold them in place and stitch through all three braids without stopping to cut threads between each braid...just sew over the whole works, but becareful not to hit the metal ring with your sewing machine.  Trim away any excess close to the stitching.  (The way I have bracelet shown in photo is what I will refer to as "wrong" side)

11.  Lay the bracelet out wrong side up and straighten braids.  Thread other ends of braids through the D ring.  Check the length - I found that having the braid portion about 6 1/2" long worked well for my wrist, but that may vary for you depending on the size of your wrist and the clasp you are using.  Fold the braids over the ring and line up neatly, making sure all the braids are the same length.

12.  Stitch across all three braids, just like in step 10.  Trim excess close to stitching.

13.  Now get out your beading wire.

14.  This is probably the trickiest part of the bracelet, and difficult to show in a photo, but hopefully you'll get the jist of it.  Insert the end of the beading wire between the first two braids, threading it between the line of stitching and the ring of the clip and then back up through the ring of the swivel clip.  Tie a double knot to secure, leaving a 1 1/2" -2"tail.  Edited to add:  a wonderfully helpful blog reader shared that the beading wire is not meant to be tied -- seeeeee....I told you I have no idea what I'm doing!!  :-)  She suggested using a crimp bead/tube and pliars instead as the knotted wire may not wear well.  You will need two strands of beading wire, one between each braid.  You could try tying the beading wire to the ring of the clip BEFORE stitching the braids to the clip - whatever you feel would be easier.  If you do it before, just make sure the wire is positioned between the braids when you stitch through the braids.  

15.  Add your beads making sure to catch the "tail" of the wire in your beading for at least an inch or so - this hides the tail and feels more secure than trimming it close to the knot.  You can trim the tail of the wire so it will hide inside a bead.  I used a mix of glass, metal and paper beads.  If you want to see a tutorial for creating the paper beads, visit Nichole's blog HERE.  

16.  Once your beaded strand is the same length as the braided strands, thread the end of the wire between the braids and knot it around the D ring.  Thread the tail back through an inch or two of the beading and trim excess.  Repeat this process for the second strand of beads.  

and that's it!  Just fasten the clasp and your bracelet is finished.  Here's a close-up of the back of the finished bracelet.

But it's really not complete without some pretty packaging, right?  I once again used the new Boutique Accessories stamp set and Boutique Accessories Card die to create a coordinating card to put it on.  Both the new stamp set and die are now up for purchase in the Papertrey Ink store and are linked in my supply list below.

And one more close-up...

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial...let me know if you have any questions!  

Other supplies not linked:  beading wire, glass and metal beads, fabric

 

 

Tremendous Treats: Valentine...

Happy February!  It's the first of the month and that means it's time for the Papertrey Ink Sr Team challenge.  We are revisiting an older set once again.  This time each Sr Team member created a Valentine treat using the Tremendous Treats: Valentine set.  I just love this set - there are so many different themed treat ideas using the images from this set.  

My treat today was inspired by these these cute pencils worms I saw from Oriental Trading a while back...

I thought it would be fun to do something similar, but instead of worms, I created an airplane pulling a banner.  The little airplane image from TT: Valentines is the perfect size.    

I picked up a few packs of Valentine pencils at the dollar store  - 8 in a pack for $1.00.  One sheet of patterned paper will create 8 pencil wraps...that makes for a pretty inexpensive school treat.  They're quick to put together too.  And simple enough that the kiddos can help too.  Let me show you some step-by-steps.  

I started with an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of patterned paper.  The paper I used here is the Raspberry Fizz Bitty Dot from the Pattern Pack.  I used my Martha Stewart scoring board to score at every inch along the 11" side.  

I then cut my paper into eight 1" x 11" strips (toss the extra 1/2" strip you'll have left).  I trimmed one end into a point, and the other I notched into a "v".   Now would be a good time to stamp your sentiment onto your strip.  I used the "be my valentine" sentiment from the TT: Valentine set.  You could also include a "to:/from" stamp for your child to write classmate's names if you wish.  (I'm so bad at remembering to take pictures along the way sometimes...I forgot to take one of the strips stamped with the sentiment, but you get the idea, right?  :-) )

Then I fan-folded the strips along my scored lines.  I punched a hole through all layers (you can split it up and do just a few layers at a time if it's too thick for your punch).  You'll want a hole that's large enough for your pencil to go through.  Mine wasn't quite large enough so I did punch an extra bit away by punching right next to the first hole -- it makes for a hole that's not perfectly round, but once your pencil is pushed through you'll never notice...so don't sweat it!  

Lastly, I set an eyelet in the pointed end of the strip.  Then I pushed my pencil through the holes.  

The airplanes were diecut from white cardstock, colored with Copics and attached to the end of the pencil with a bit of foam tape.  I punched a hole in the tail of each plane and knotted twine through the plane and the eyelet of the banner.  I also added some small clouds, which were diecut from Aqua Mist cardstock using the Heart-2-Heart #6 dies.  

Overall, a pretty quick, easy, and inexpensive project that would make for fun school Valentine treats!  

Want more ideas for kiddie treats?  Be sure to visit the other girls to see what they've whipped up using Tremendous Treats: Valentine set.  

Melissa Phillips
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Nichole Heady
Maile Belles 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Chalkboard Art Meets Stamping...

Hello there!  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Ours was nice and quiet with lots of yummy food.  Just the way I like it.  

You're probably all out and about rounding up the best Black Friday deals, but if by chance that's not your thing (like me) and you're at home, with the day off of work and heading to your craft room (like me) -- I have some inspiration for you today!

It's no secret...I've been a fan of the whole chalkboard trend for the last couple of years.  I did some posts about it a few years back.  The whole chalkboard trend doesn't seem to be going anywhere just yet...in fact, it seems to be growing.  If you're a Pinterest fan (ok, that's a no-brainer....) then you've probably stumbled across at least a few of the amazing chalkboard art pieces out there.  I love all things typographical, so I am enamored with the likes of these...

(image source)

(image source)

...and while the above are computer generated, check out this woman's work...all hand done and amazing.

(image source)

I could never dream of being able to create something like this by hand, but hey...I always have my stamps, right?  Papertrey's designers have done such an amazing job with fonts and sentiments that I was sure I could dig out some of my favorite stamps and put them to use in creating my own stamped version of the trendy chalkboard art.  Here is the result...and after I show you a few cards, I'll show you step-by-step how I created this look including some tips I learned along the way for getting a pretty darned realistic look!

All supplies are from Papertrey Ink (unless noted) and complete clickable supply lists for each card can be found at the end of this post.

First off is a birthday card.  I incorporated lots of different sets into this card...some sentiments from Movers and Shakers, the new banner from Stitched Sentiments and one of the new Sentiment Signs images.  This is the card that I will walk you through from start to finish!  

Once I had the panel completely finished, I decided it didn't need a whole lot of embellishing...just a few buttons, a paper clip and a bit of washi tape.

Next up is a holiday card.  I'm thinking this might be the thing that pushes me over into creating my own holiday cards this year...I know, I'm lame and usually send out photo cards.  Maybe I actually need to make them this year!  I'm pondering a way to incorporate this look into some sort of photo card.  

The main sentiment is from Stylish Sentiments: Holiday, the flourishes are from Holiday Photo Finishers and the little banner behind the word "cheer" is from Fabulous Frames.  

And my third card today is a little love note...it would be perfect for Valentine's day, or any other day.  I positioned my sentiment towards the bottom this time, which gave a little more room for embellishing the top.  I added a cute heart garland using patterned papers from Basic Grey's new True Love collection (coming to stores soon!)

The "love you" sentiment is from Say it With Style and the "every single day" is from Movers and Shakers.  

 

So how about a little step-by-step of the process I used to create all three cards?  I started by gathering some supplies that I knew would be the basics for creating this look...True Black cardstock (at first I thought Smokey Shadow, but trust me and stick with black..everything shows up clearer and brighter!), Fresh Snow ink, white embossing powder and a white colored pencil.  

1.  Start with a piece of plain black cardstock.  An embossing buddy will be your best friend here.  You can get one HERE, or you can make your own by sewing a small fabric pouch filled with cornstarch.  It will keep the little specks of embossing powder from sticking where you don't want them. 

2.  Start building your sentiment, stamping with versamark and coating with white embossing powder.  

3.  Keep building your design.  I like to sprinkle the powder as I go (easier to see than the versamark alone) and hit the whole thing with the heat gun when I'm finished.  

4.  Once you have the design the way you like it, heat it with a heat gun.

5.  Now start adding details with Fresh Snow ink.  Here I added the banner from Stitched Sentiments.  I decided while working on this technique that shading is the key to creating a realistic chalk look -- the embossing provides a bright, crisp white, and the stamping with white ink provides a lighter, softer shade.

6.  Go back and stamp all of the sentiments again, this time with white ink.  Shift the design slightly so that you create a "shadow" effect.  This really helps make it look more realistic!

7.  Add hand-drawn lines with a white pencil.  This step could be optional, depending on how you want your finished project to look.  I did this on all three of my cards...it just adds to the hand-drawn effect.  Make sure to stop and start lines so that you don't draw over any of your stamping.  

This photo just shows my panel after I was finished drawing lines with my white pencil

8.  Next, we need to add some chalk "dust".  Take a paper towel, or sponge, whichever you prefer, and blend some Fresh Snow ink onto the background -- around the sentiments, in the corners, however much or little your heart desires.  Just be careful not to smudge the stamping you did with white ink -- it's pigment ink and takes awhile to dry -- you might want to hit it with a heat gun before doing this step.

9.  You can stop there, or you can add some more hand-drawn details with the white pencil or even colored pencils.  Here I took a pink pencil and added some lines around some of the sentiments, etc.  You can do this or skip this -- totally up to you and how you want your project to look!

And that's it!  So much fun..I want to make more!

I hope you enjoyed today's post and I hope you're having a fabulous holiday weekend.  All the best to you and yours.... 

The complete supply lists for each card are listed below -- just click on the thumbnails to take you directly to the products.  

Edited to add:  P.S.  For those of you who have been wanting a Big Shot, I just stumbled across this amazing deal -- today only (Friday 11/23) -- Half Off the Big Shot at Scrapbook.com!  Just use code BSDFR3 at checkout!

  

InLinkz.com

InLinkz.com

InLinkz.com

Introducing Party Poppers + Favor it Box #8

Hello and welcome to the first day of the November Papertrey Ink countdown!  We have lots of goodies to show you again this month.  Today I get to help introduce a new stamp set that's designed by Erin Lincoln called Party Poppers.  This set is filled with fun images of party poppers, plus lots of different sentiments that will let you create cards and projects for nearly any occasion worthy of a celebration!  

I also get to show you peeks of the new Favor it Box #8, which will allow you to create your own full-sized party poppers that can be decorated to suit any occasion.  

All of the products that I mention as "new" in today's post will be available for purchase from the Papertrey Ink website as of 10pm EST on November 15th.  Complete supply lists for each project can be found in the thumbnails in the bottom of this post.  

So let's get on to some projects using these new goodies!  

First up is a super festive birthday card and coordinating popper.  

There is a "broken" popper image in this new Party Popper set, which I combined with the Movers & Shakers Spinner dies to create an interactive card.  

You can pull the popper apart to reveal the word "celebrate" which finishes off the sentiment.  The "it's your day & you should" sentiment is from the Movers & Shakers Sentiments set and the word "celebrate" is from the new Party Poppers set.  

Here is a peek at the new Favor it 8 die in action.  This is a two part die -- one die cuts the center "box" portion and the other die cuts the ends. There are tons of options to customize your poppers.  They can be cut from any papers and embellished in so many different ways.  I used some crepe paper to embellish the ends of mine. 

Here are a few step-by-steps on how I did the ruffled crepe paper ends...

Here's one more birthday themed project, which would be perfect for boys!

This time I diecut the center of the popper from Clearly Creative cardstoc, which lets the colorful contents show through.  When assembled, the Favor It 8 has holes in each end.  I just used some cottonballs to keep the contents in place.

The card again uses the Party Poppers set.  I used lots of ink colors on the confetti...

And how about a New Year's ensemble?  

This time I embossed the popper image with silver embossing powder and added some Modern Number diecuts.  Notice the cool circle diecuts in the background?  That's a new Coverplate die...soooo cool!  

For this New Year's popper I diecut the ends from some glitter cardstock and here again used the new Cover Plate: Circles die.  

And last, but not least is a card I created using a few of the "unbroken" poppers from the set.  To me they kind of resemble pieces of candy.  I also pulled out the big peppermint image from Candy Cane Christmas and added the popper ends to that as well to create a fun candy cluster.  This would make a fun card girl's birthday card.  The sentiments are from Strawberry Patch Sentiments.

I wrapped some washi tape around the edges and added a Loop de Loop border diecut to one edge.  The background was impressed with the Diagonal Stripes Imrpession plate.  

Well, thanks for stopping by today, I hope you enjoyed the peeks at a few of this month's new products!  I know there is so much more that this new Party Poppers set and Favor it 8 die can create that I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg.  Erin will be sharing more projects using these products throughout the countdown.  

For peeks at other goodies coming your way this month, you can click around to some of the other gals sharing projects today...

Lexi, Melissa, Heather, Nichole, Cristina, and Danielle

 

Supplies not linked, but available on November 15th from Papertrey Ink:  Party Popper Stamp set and coordinating dies, Favor it #8 die

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Supplies not linked, but available on November 15th from Papertrey Ink:  Party Popper Stamp set and coordinating dies, Favor it #8 die

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Supplies not linked, but available on November 15th from Papertrey Ink:  Party Popper Stamp set and coordinating dies, Favor it #8 die, Cover Plate: Circles die

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Supplies not linked, but available on November 15th from Papertrey Ink:  Party Popper Stamp set and coordinating dies

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Mazel Tov Revisited...

Hey there!  November has arrived!  Holy hannah...I have no idea where this year has gone.  Seriously.  Are you with me on that?  

It's the first of the month again and that means Papertrey Ink Sr Team challenge time again.  This month we are revisiting another older set and this time around we have a treat for the Jewish friends in our midst.  We are all creating projects with the previously released Mazel Tov and Additions sets.  

My first project is centered around Hanukkah.  I busted out my Favor It #5 die, and came up with a template to go along with it to create some dreidel treat boxes.  You can download a pdf of the additional template HERE and I'll show you step by step how to put it together with the Favor It die to create these fun treat boxes.  

So...the Favor It #5 die creates the triangular bottom of the dreidel (which is the tricky part) and the template I created to go with it creates the boxy top of the dreidel.  Here I've cut each one from Spring Rain cardstock.  If you want to do any stamping on the background, now's the time, before you start assembling the pieces.  

So then I assembled the Favor It box, leaving the flat portion (bottom) of the triangle open.

Then I took the boxy template and used a bit of liquid adhesive to attach the small 1/2" flap to the Favor It box on the side opposite the flap that I left open in the previous step.

After the boxy top portion was attached, I have a contraption that looked like this.  Now I added adhesive to the areas I have pointed out with the red arrows in the photo below.  These flaps (and the pyramid "bottom") game me areas to which I could adhere the boxy portion.  I just wrapped the sides of the box/cube around and secured them with the adhesive.  

After I had the boxy portion wrapped around and adhered to the flaps, it looked like this.  I did trim off the part of the Favor It box lid/bottom that is supposed to tuck inside the box...the little flap portion, otherwise it would have extended up above my boxy portion if I had left it there. Confusing, I know...but if you make these it will make sense (I hope...)

So then, I needed to create the top/spinner for my dreidel.  I took a 2" x 4" strip of Blueberry Sky stripe paper and rolled it up.  

I used an exacto knife to cut an "x" in the center of my box top (marked with an "x" on the template).  I put a bit of liquid glue on the rolled up strip and inserted it through the "x".  It would have probably looks a bit neater done with a circle punch, but I didn't have anything that would reach that far...so this just had to do.  

And that's all there is to it.  I topped them off with the Menorah image from the Mazel Tov set embossed in silver on some White Shimmer Cardstock, diecut with the Limitless Layers 1 3/4" circle dies with Night Sky Shimmer cardstock behind it.  Fill them with goodies and they would make fun treats for the kids, or table favors.  (please forgive my crummy photos today....it was sooo dark and dreary outside!)

And lastly before I leave, a more everyday occasion type of project using the Mazel Tov set.  I created a gift card holder that would be perfect for a young girl's Bat Mitvah.  I used the Essential Pillowbox die cut from Raspberry Fizz and added some gold embossing onto Gold Shimmer cardstock.  

A gift card tucks perfectly inside, which I wrapped with a sentiment strip cut from Gold Shimmer and embossed in gold using the Bat Mitzvah sentiment from the set.

That's all from me today, thanks for stopping by!  You can check out the other DT gals' projects using Mazel Tov...

Melissa Phillips
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Nichole Heady
Maile Belles 

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Holiday Tags...

Welcome to group post #1 for the October Papertrey Ink countdown!  Today the team is featuring the latest Holiday Tags set.  Each year about this time, Papertrey releases a new Holiday Tag set.  These are always some of my favorites and this year is no exception.  This set has lots of neat things goin on...very classy and .  This set will be available for purchase from the Papertrey Ink website on October 15th.  

For our projects today, Nichole challenged us to create both a set of tags and a card.  I had so much fun with the shaker tags I made last month, that I decided to make another variation with one of the new tag images from the 2012 Holiday Tags set.  I just love this tag with the house silhouette and thought a snowy, glittery shaker background would be perfect.  I had lots of questions and requests for a tutorial on last month's tags, so I've got some step-by-step instructions this time.

For my card, I used the same concept to create a shaker card.  

I stamped some of the new Peaceful Pinecones into the background and embossed it with the Woodgrain Impression plate.  I added some glittered In the Meadow diecuts to the bottom edge.

So now some step-by-steps on making the shakers...

For these, I started out by stamping the tag image with versamark and heat embossing it onto acetate.

I diecut a 3 1/2" oval from patterned paper and diecut a 2 1/4" oval from the center.

I cut out the acetate tag image -- it can be done roughly, just leave a little excess around the edges so you can adhere it to the backside of the diecut oval.  

Next is a little trick I stumbled on to make this next part of the process go a little quicker.  To make the shaker part, you need to have some depth for the glitter to shake around in.  Foam tape will give you this depth.  I buy mine on a roll and for my tags, I cut my foam in half down the center, cutting a strip long enough to go all the way around my oval tag. 

Then instead of cutting all little pieces of foam and sticking them around the tag (which takes quite a while and you can't skip spots or your glitter will fall out), just snip the foam with a scissors every 1/2" or so, not cutting all the way through the other edge.  It should look something like this and will allow you to "bend" the foam around the oval shape.

So then I stuck my foam strip to the backsice of my tag, with the snipped edge to the outside.  And now since it's all still one piece, removing the liner paper will be easier too, because it will all come off at once...way quicker than peeling it off little piece by little piece.

Next I diecut one of the decorative edge ovals from the Limitless Layers 3 1/2" oval set from Aqua Mist cardstock.  I placed it right side up and put a small pile of glitter in the center of it.  Then I could just lower my top layer onto it -- easier to line it up than doing it the other way around.  

And that's it!  So fun and pretty...and they go together pretty quickly too if you do them assembl-line style and use the little tricks I mentioned.  

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my projects today.  Be sure to check out the other girls as well!

• Ashley Cannon Newell
• Danielle Flanders
• Jess Witty
• Maile Belles
• Nichole Heady
• Dawn McVey
• Melissa Phillips
• Cristina Kowalozyk

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Reflected Sentiments...

Happy Monday!  I'm up for hosting the Make it Monday video this week.  I'm showing a technique for creating mirrored or reflected sentiments.  Word art is hot and I love playing around with my sentiment stamps and coming up with different ways to use them.  You can visit Nichole's blog HERE to watch the video.  

Here's the card I'm showing in the video...

It's an easy technique that just uses a sentiment stamp, ink and a scrap of acetate.  Here's another card that uses this technique...

I hope you have time to play along this week!

P.S.  The winner of the Holiday Cards & More giveaway was Noreen -- I've sent you an email!

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