Saturday, March 31, 2012

Pyramid Pen/Marker Holder



This is the marker holder that I made for me to use. I've read that markers are supposed to be stored flat so this will do that job quite well. I've organized my markers by color groups. Here's how you do it.

Empty Pringles cans will work well for this but that's not what I used. My husband is custodian at our church so I had him collect the core of the paper towel rolls that go in the machines. They are very heavy duty and have a plastic end to go on the back side. You need 10 cans or end rolls to make this.

  1. I cut my patterned paper to measure 7 1/2 x 9." For Pringles cans or other items, you will need to measure the length of your can and the distance around the can to find what size to cut your paper.

2. I put Sticky Strip (#104294) on three sides of the paper. This is a strong heavy duty tape that hold well.
I put one strip of Sticky Strip on the can that I plan to cover.


Do NOT take the red off of any of the strips yet.
3. Pull the red off the strip on the can. Line up your patterned paper so that it goes over this strip but is also straight with both ends. Be sure this is the side that does NOT have sticky tape on it.
Carefully, pull the beginning off of one strip of Sticky Strip tape. As you slowly pull the red tape cover off, press the paper to the can. Then do the same with the other end of the can/paper. Now, pull off the last red cover and overlap the paper and press to stick.
Repeat to cover all of your cans.
4. With your hot glue gun, run a bead of hot glue down the seam of the paper that you've wrapped around the can. Press this to the seam on the next can.

Continue hot gluing 4 cans together for your bottom row.


5. Now put hot glue on top, to the sides of your next cans and place three cans on the second row of your pyramid.
6. Build the third row with two cans and the top row with one can. Hot glue each of the cans on top of the others.
7. You can add a wide ribbon and tie a bow at the top if you wish like in the first picture. You don't have to hot glue the bow on but I would recommend it. Now just organize your pens and markers in your pyramid!

Friday, March 30, 2012

She's Got Moves Scrapbook page

For this layout of my granddaughter, I used striped paper from the Tall Tales DSP from a couple of years ago. I used Certainly Celery and Real Red cardstock. I cut a strip of real red striped paper to 4" wide x 12." I then used my scallop edge border punch (#119882) to scallop both of the long edges on the red paper. I adhered it about 1/2" from the right side. I matted my photo on Certainly Celery cardstock & place on the layout. I cut 2 strips of real red to 3/8" wide that I used to separate the title, journaling and picture. About 3" from the bottom of the page and across the bottom of the picture, I placed a strip of real red polka dot grosgrain ribbon across the page. I used SU! designer buttons to embellish the page. I put one real red button on the left and 2 certainly celery ones on top of the red on the right. For my journaling, I cut strips of real red and certainly clery to 3/8" wide. I wrote phrases on the strips telling about her and her sport. This beautiful granddaughter of mine received her black belt in Tai Kwan Do karate in June, 2011.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Ministry Wives Card class

We had a great time on Saturday at the Ministry Wives Event. It was a way to say thank you to many of the women who's husbands spend so much time in the ministry. Having a son-in-law who was a church pastor for many years & is now an Army chaplain, I've learned some of the demands on a pastor's wife by watching by beloved daughter. So often, when the pastor is hired, the wife is expected to do certain things and often without ever a thank you. I taught a card class for them to enjoy. The ladies had a great time and were much more creative than they claimed to be!

These were some of the experienced card makers.




These lovely ladies said that they didn't know how to make cards & many said they were not creative. I think I proved them wrong about the creativity!

They came up with these from my very basic card that I posted last Friday.


Katy led the ladies in songs.

They sang their praises to the Lord!


Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Punch Bunny


I made this card using a bunny that I made from my punches. The bunny is really easy using punches.

1. Punch all your pieces out first.
You will need 2 white ovals using the small oval (#120908) punch and 2 pretty in pink small ovals.
Punch one white oval with the extra large oval(#119859) punch for the body.
Punch 2 white ovals with the large oval(#119855) punch for the ears.
You need one white circle from the 1 1/4" circle (#119861) punch for the head and one small pink circle using the 1/2" circle (#119869) punch.


2. Cut the 2 small white ovals in half to use for the feet and arms. Place a small amount of adhesive onto the cut edges of the small white ovals. Slide these under the bottom of the extra large oval for feet and under the upper half of the extra large oval for arms.

3. Place adhesive on the back side of the small pink circle and place behind and above one of the feet so that it sticks out slightly.

4. Place adhesive on the back of the small pretty in pink ovals. Place those on the center of 2 large white ovals for the ears. Use a bone folder or your score board to score one of the ears about 1/2" from the top so that is will flop over. Attach these behind the head with adhesive.

5. Put the head over lapping the body.

6. Using your SU! markers draw a face on the bunny and toe & finger marks on the hands and feet. I used Marina Blue for the eyes, Pink Pirouette for the nose and mouth and Early Espresso for the whiskers and eyebrows.

7. Tie a bow in a piece of 1/8" organdy ribbon from the Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad pack that you can get free with a $50 purchase during Sale-a-Bration (until March 31).  Attach it at the bunny's neck with a glue dot(#103683).

8. To complete the card, I used patterned paper from the Flirtatious Specialty(#122360) pack cut 4 1/2 x 5 1/2." I used the small oval punch to cut out some "eggs" for the bunny. I cut the ovals in half and tucked the bottom part under other paper.

9. For grass, I punched Old Olive card stock with the Pinking Hearts border (#117649) punch and place it just barely over the bottom of the bunny.

10. The greeting is from Teeny Tiny Wishes(#115370)[Yes, I use this set ALL the time!] I popped it out with my Word Window punch(#119857) and mounted it on the Modern label (#119849) punch cut in Old Olive. I attached it with a brad from the Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad pack.

I think this will give me a cute Easter card for one of my grandchildren. Hope you enjoy it.


Monday, March 26, 2012

Easter Blessings

I can't believe that Easter is only 2 weeks away! It seems like it was just a few days ago that we were celebrating Christmas. Well, they say that the older you get, the faster time seems to go. I guess I'm getting pretty old now then. I'll be 65 this summer. Here's an Easter card for you. It's using a retired stamp set but the idea and the punches can be used with most any flower set.
1. I used Old Olive patterned paper from the DSP Brights Patterns Stack (#117155) for my background.

 2. The daffodils are from Abundant Hope(#118547) stamp set. I colored the stamp with my Daffodil Delight, Garden Galore and Old Olive markers before I stamped. Remember when you do this to give your stamp a little huff right before you stamp it to freshen the ink. I cut loosely around the edges and adhered it to the background paper.

 3. The Easter Blessings greeting is from the same set. I used Wild Wasbi ink to stamp it on Whisper White cardstock. Then I punched it our with my Modern Label punch(#119849).

4. The doilies are made using the Doily Triple Layer punch(#122465) and Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, and Wisteria Wonder cardstock. I think they make it look like the Daffodils are in a flower garden with the bright colors.

5. Adhere this to your white cardstock base and you are ready to go.

Hope you have a blessed Easter this year!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Matchbox Party Favors

With my demonination's local office, I helped to organize an event for the minister' wives in our area that is being held today. One of the things that I made for them was a little party favor box. These boxes can be made for any kind of special event, birthday parties, anniversaries, weddings, and on and on. I put M&Ms in mine but you can put anything that fits your event, even confetti or rice. Think our much fun the guests would have throwing the rice from these little boxes at the newlywed couple as they leave a wedding. People always say how easy these type of things are but then you have to figure it all out. I don't know about you, but sometimes it takes me a little bit to get it all figured out so I'm going to show you how to do these today. You will need a Big Shot Die Cut machine (#113439), the extended cutting pads(#113478) and the Bigz XL Matchbox die(#114890). I've found that you can make one complete matchbox with one 12x12" sheet of patterned paper. For this one I used the Rich Razzleberry DSP from the Brights Collection DSP Patterns Stack (#117155). Since I had to make so many, I also used some old patterned papers that I've had around for years. A double sided paper works best. Cut the paper in half so it's 6x12."
1. The matchbox die cut is just about a 1/2" longer than the 12" paper so you will want to position the paper so that one sheet is on the top part of the die and the other sheet covers the bottom part of the die. You will have enough paper left over to use for 2 card fronts! Build your die sandwich like you would for an original die. You will have paper sticking out both ends. Run your sandwich through your Big Shot machine.

2. After you pop the pieces out (actually, they just fall out), you will want to creased all the score lines with your bone folder(#102300).
3. To make the outside of the matchbox, after the edges are creased, just apply your adhesive to the shorter edge and fold them together.
If you have a stiped paper, like I did with one side of my patterned paper, it is more difficult to see the score lines. They seem to blend in with the lines, so be aware of that. Now, you are ready to make the inside part of the matchbox. After you've folded all your score lines, fold it again to see exactly how it goes together, including the little diagonal lines that make the folded part under the ends.
4. I placed adhesive on the top folds of each side. Fold the long sides in first. Then fold in the ends. You might need to use your fingernail to crease the corners on the inside after it's together. It will stay together without adhesive but I just like the extra security the adhesive gives. Now it's time to put the matchbox together.
5. Now it's time to decorate the outside. When you ran your paper through the Big Shot, it also cut out some labels that you can use to decorate. If you used double-sided paper, you can turn them over. I stamped "thank you" on the smallest of my tags from Teeny Tiny Wishes (#115370). I then wrapped a strip of organdy ribbon from the Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad Pack(#127279) and tied a bow. This ribbon & brad pack is currently free with a $50 purchase. You can find it in the Sale-a-Bration catalog until March 31.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Rosemary

I wanted a fairly simple card for my class I'm doing tomorrow at an event. This is for some ladies who have no experience in card making or very limited experience. I've also included in this a short tutorial on stamping different colors on the same stamp. You may or may not already know how to do this.

I used Old Olive DSP from the Brights paper collection(#117155). I cut it to 4 1/4 x 5 1/2."
Whisper White cardstock is 2 1/2 x 3"
Certainly Celery is 2 3/4 x 3 1/4"
Marina Mist is 3 x 3 1/2"
Herb Expressions stamp set(113224)

1. I used the Old Olive Stampin Write marker(#100079) and the Island Indigo Stampin Write marker.
Use the brush tip to color the leaves and stems Old Olive. Use the brush tip of the Island Indigo to color the flowers. I used the Island Indigo on the words on this stamp. Right before I'm ready to stamp this, I huff or breath on the colored ink to freshen it. The breathing helps to put moisture back into your color. Stamp on your white cardstock.

2. I sponged the edges with Old Olive classic ink. Mount each of these, stamped image, Certainly Celery and Marina Mist. Then adhere to the center top of the patterned paper.

3. I cut a strip of Marina Mist 1/2" Scallop Dots ribbon (#122986) to about 6 1/2." Apply adhesive to the back and place about an inch from the bottom of the card, wrapping the ends around the back.

Like I said this is a fairly simple card that I hope will show these ladies how much fun card making can be. I also hope that if you haven't used your markers on your rubber stamps before that you will give it a try.

If you are not familiar with the blooms on the herbs in the Herb Expressions set, the thyme blossom is a pale pink, rosemary has a blue blossom and basil has a pinkish-purple flower. Of course, lavender has a lavender color flower. I don't know if the color was named for the flower or the flower named for the color but it is one that I love.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Spring Flowers Card

This is a cute and simple card that could be used for birhdays, anniversaries, or just a quick note to a friend. What you do with it is up to you! SU! has so many greeting sets that make the inside super easy peasy!

1. I used Old Olive cardstock cut at 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" for the background. The yellow is Daffodil Delight cut at 4 1/2 x 3 1/4."

2. I then used my Scallop Trim Border punch (#118402) to punch the border on the bottom edge. I punched several of the flowers from Greenhouse Garden (#113824) in Passion Pink and Melon Mambo. I used Old Olive for the stems. I stamped the flowers on Whisper White cardstock & then cut them out. I stamped the stems directly on the Daffodil Delight.

3. The ribbon across the bottom is Ice Cream Parlor ribbon(#123613).

4. The back part of the greeting was punched with Modern Label punch(#119849) from the same Daffodil Delight that I used above. I just turned it over & used the pattern on the back. The greeting was stamped with Old Olive on Old Olive cardstock. Just for you is from Teeny Tiny Wishes (#115370 ) I punched it out with my Word Window(#119857) punch.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Flowers & Butterflies

This card is made using the new Up in the Air stamp set(#122477) that is a hostess only set in the current Mini catalog. You can get it until April 30.  I cut Daffodil Delight patterned paper from the Flirtatious Speciality DSP (#122360). I just love all the doilies on the patterns in this set! 

1. Cut a piece of Whisper White cardstock 2 1/2" square. Using the flower & butterfly stamp from the set, I stamped the first time next to the left edge with Island Indigo ink stamping the bottom of it off on to scrap paper. I wanted more flowers but not more butterflies so I placed some pieces of scotch tape over the butterflies. I then inked my stamp and took off the tape. That allowed me to get ink on the flowers but not on the butterflies. I then stamped more flowers onto my white cardstock.



2. I love my pretty borders so I punched two sides with my Eyelet Border punch(#119853). I cut a piece of Marina Mist cardstock to measure 2 1/2" square and a piece of Certainly Celery cardstock to measure 3" square. I punched the right sides and the top of both of these with my Scallop Edge Border punch(#119882).

3. I then layered the stamped image on the blue and then on the green cardstock. With my handheld 3/16" circle punch(#101227), I punched a hole near the top corner of the Marina Mist cardstock. I added a butterfly brad from the Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad pack(127279) that is in the Sell-a-Bration catalog until March 31. You can get it free with a purchase of $50 or more.

4. I adhered that to the top center of the Daffodil Delight patterned paper.

5. I cut a strip of Certainly Celery cardstock to measure 5 1/2" x 1 1/8". I chose a greeting from the Heard from the Heart set (#111644) and stamped it in Island Indigo ink. I used the Scallop Edge punch to scallop the bottom, then adhered that to the bottom of the card.

6. I added Lucky Limeade ribbon from the Everyday Enchantment pack where I got the brads. I wrapped it around and tied a bow.

This is a cute little card that could be used for so very many ocassions! Hope you like it.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Spring look Coasters

To the left is what the top looks like. Below is the bottom with the cork on it.
Coasters are fairly cheap to make. They take a little bit of time but are not hard to do. You can buy inexpensive dominoes at many stores. Our Wal-Mart has them for $5 or $6. I used a double six set made of a cheap "stone" type of material. These instructions are for a type with a clear, smooth surface. In addition to the dominoes,you will need to have some thin cork. You can buy it in most lumber yards, stores like Lowes, Home Depot & some other stores. You need to choose the stamp set that you want to use to decorate the coasters. I used Fifth Avenue Floral (#113734). I chose the daisy in this set. You will also need a roll of Sticky Strip (#104294). Regular adhesive is not strong enough to hold the dominoes together. You will need StazOn Jet Black ink (#101406), and Classic ink colors of your choice. I used Mambo Melon, Pink Passion, Daffodil Delight and Old Olive. 1. First, you prepare you dominoes. Take 6 from the set and measure 4 2" pieces of Sticky Strip and 1 3" piece.
Place one strip of Sticky Strip on the edge of 2 dominoes. Peel the red backing off one and slide another domino up to it. Press firmly together.
Do that again with the next domino so that you have 3 dominos stuck together. Do that again with the other 3 dominoes. 2. You will then place the 3" strip of Sticky Strip on one end of one set of 3 dominoes. Remove the red strip and push the other set of 3 against it. Press firmly.
You should now have all six dominoes stuck together. 3. Flip this over so that you are on the dotted side (the side used when you play a game of dominoes.) Cut a piece of cork to measure 3 x 4." Place Sticky Strip on all 4 sides of cork.
4. Peel the red backing off the Sticky Strip that is on the cork. Place this on top of the dotted side. It should cover all of the dots. Now you are ready to decorate. 5. Before you begin stamping on your dominoes, it's a good idea to decide what type of pattern or design that you want on your coasters. You can stamp it on plain paper to decide and to use as a guide as you work. Using StazOn black ink, stamp the images/design that you want on the empty side of your dominoes. With my daisy from Fifth Avenue Floral, I used a masking technique as I stamped. If you don't know how to do a mask, check here and here for my tutorial on that technique.
Continue stamping with the StazOn until you have finished your design.
The stamp will not stamp the "in-between" places between the dominoes. 6. Next you will color your patterns. First, I used Old Olive and a sponge (#101610) to sponge ink around and on the between spaces of the design. To sponge, you will want to pick up color by rubbing it across your ink pad. Then rub it on the dominoes. 7. For the color on the flowers, I used a cotton swab. I dabbed the tip of the cotton swab onto the Daffodil Delight. Then I dabbed/rubbed the color onto the centers of my flowers. Next, I used Pink Passion. I dabbed it onto the cotton swab & then put it on my flowers. Finally, I used the Melon Mambo to shade and highlight the flowers. Pink Passion is a retired color but their are several other pinks that will work great for this project. 8. After you have the design colored the way you want it, spray the entire coaster top and sides with a clear acrylic spray paint or varnish. Give it several hours to dry and possibly overnight before you put your drinks on it.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Flower Garden

I just love building a flower garden whether it's in my back yard...
or in my scrap room...

This flower garden was built using stamps from the Flower Fest set (#122280). If you use the unmounted stamps(like I often do), be sure you get some of the clear mount blocks (#118486, 118485, etc). i also used a bunch of my punches as this set was sized to work easily with many of our SU! punches. You don't have to use the punches to do this card. You can just cut each flower by hand but having the punches makes it go much faster! The punches that I used on this card are:
2 3/8" Scallop Circle (118874)
1 3/4" Scallop Circle (119854)
5 Petal Flower (#119880)
Butterfly (#119848)
Fancy Flower (#1189073)
1 3/8" Circle (#119860)
Modern Label (#119849)and
Word Window (#119857)
The colors of cardstock that I used for this are:
Certainly Celery 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Rich Razzleberry
Wisteria Wonder In Color
Daffodil Delight
Melon Mambo
I used Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive Classic ink.
1. I used the Certainly Celery for my card background.
2. I used Rich Razzleberry Classic ink to stamp all of my flowers, even the ones on Rich Razzleberry cardstock. You can stamp the flowers however looks good to you. I stamped the leaves with Old Olive ink on Old Olive cardstock. I also used the 5 petalflower punch to punch some extra leaves out of the Old Olive cardstock.
Be sure you stamp and punch out a butterfly also.
3. After you have all of your flowers, leaves & butterfly stamped & punched out or cut out, begin arranging the on your card until you are satisfied with your look. Arrange the leaves on the bottom card & place the flowers over them. You'll want the taller leaves to show out the top.
4. After you've decided where you want the flowers, start sticking them down with your adhesive. Let them overlap in areas and also overlap the leaves. You'll want to let the leaves show some but the main part is the flower show. Use Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430) on the backs of 2 or 3 flowers and the butterfly to give your card some dimension.
5. Before you put the butterfly on, you will want to make and attach some antenna for it. I used some wire that I've had on hand for years now but you could also you thin strips of black paper. Attach the to the back of the butterfly. I used double glue dots (dots on top & underneath the wire). Use glue dots (#103683) to attach the white beads to the top, center of the butterfly. Then peel the paper off the Dimensionals and place your butterfly on your flower garden. I placed mine a bit off center near the top right.
6. Depending on what you plan to use this for, you can then add a greeting. I stamped "happy birthday" from Teeny Tiny Wishes (#115370) with Rich Razzleberry ink on Daffodil Delight cardstock. The Teeny Tiny Wishes set has 24 different greetings that you can use for almost any occasion!
7. I punched out my greeting with my Word Window punch. I then punched out of Old Olive cardstock with the Modern Label (#119849) punch. I put the greeting on top of the label. Then I punched holes with my hand held circle punch. I attached it to the lower left using brads from the Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad Pack (#127279) that you can get free during the Sale-a-Bration promotion. (Until March 31)
8. I mounted that on Whisper White cardstock to complete my card and put a birthday greeting on the inside of the card.
9. As I've mentioned before, I don't like "naked" envelopes, so I used Rich Razzleberry ink to stamp some of the flowers from the set on the front of the envelope. As long as you leave the address and return address area clear, you can stamp all over your card. The Post Office doesn't care, as long as the info they need is where it belongs.


I use the Medium Whisper White envelopes (#107301) that SU! has because I've found them to be the perfect fit for my cards. A few years ago, I could get the right size envelope in many local stores. The past year or so, they have gotten really hard to find. All I find around here are just too big to really look good. SU! also has square envelopes and other sizes. Tomorrow, I will have a tutorial on stamping dominoes to make cool coasters.
Take a look at the cool ideas that Bridgett has for you today! Stamping with Bridgett

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Wedding Card

I don't do very many wedding cards these days but our young children's minister at our church got married this past weekend. I like to do cards in the bride's colors but I couldn't find out what they were so I went with the pinks and greens that are so popular right now.
I choose Certainly Celery cardstock for the front base, cut 5 1/2 x 4 1/4."
1. I had some of the gorgeous doily paper from the Flirtatious Specialty pack (#122360) left over so I checked to see if my piece would fit over the Certainly Celery. I adhered it tothe top of it & then cut the extra off.


You will find that the front of the card is sticky from adhesive at this point but I'll tell you how to handle that in a bit.
2. Next I used some patterned paper from the Raspberry Tart collection that was offered a couple years ago. I had a large enough piece to cut a doily using the Sizzlet Large Paper Doily die (#125592) that is in the current Ossasions Mini catalog until April 30. I ran this through my Big Shot(#113439) to cut it. I just LOVE this die! I applied adhesive to the back of the doily and place it on the left hand side hanging over the card edge a bit. I then trimmed it off. You'll want to leave the lower right corner of this doily loose to slide a flower under it later.
3. Now let's take care of that excess adhesive that's making the front of the card so sticky. Sprinkle a small amount of baby powder over the front of the card. Use a stiff bristle paint brush to rub the powder in slightly. Then turn the card over the trash can & tap the back to remove the powder. You may need to brush the card a little to get rid of all the excess powder but then your card will be sticky free.

4. Because this card was for our children's minister, I stamped a cross from the Crosses of Hope set(#120567) in Certainly Celery Classic ink. I cut around the edges and then sponged the edges with Certainly Celery ink. I like to sponge edges when they aren't just straight lines because it's so much easier to get the curves.
I adhered it to the center of the large doily on the left side of the card.






5. The next step I did backwards so the pictures won't look quite right but this is better. I stamped a rose from 5th Avenue Floral (#113734) using VersaMark ink pad on Whisper White cardstock. I sprinkled it with Clear Stampin Emboss Powder (#109130) and shook off the excess. I then used my heat tool to melt the embossing powder. Trim around the edge of the rose, then put adhesive on the back of it. Slide the rose just under the edge of the large doily where you left it loose. Let the rose hang over the bottom edge of the card a bit & trim off.


6. Next wrap 1/4" Whisper White Grosgrain ribbon(#109025) around the card and tie a bow. Adjust your bow to look how you want it & secure with glue dots (#103683). Then adhere this card front to your Whisper White card base.
7. On the inside of the card, I stamped the perfect greeting from God's Blessings stamp set (#114972) in Melon Mambo classic ink. This says "May the Gof of love be the heart of your marriage, the light of your home, and the ever-present partner in your new life together." I just love it!
8. Ok, now for the last step...I don't like what I call "naked" envelopes. Because this was not going in the mail, I stamped "for the newlyweds" from Tenny Tiny Wishes (#115370) on the front of the envelope. I also stamped part of the same rose that I used on the card on the bottom left corner of the envelope.
Tomorrow look for my flower garden!
Now check out what Bridgett has for you today! Stamping with Bridgett