Teddy bears & ducks

1. For this baby card, I used the Daffodil Delight paper from the DSP Pattern Stack, Brights Collection (#117155) for the background, cut at 5 1/2 x 4 1/4."
2. Using the duck from the Every Little Bit stamp set (#120558), I stamped a row of ducks across the bottom of the patterned paper. I stamped in Daffodil Delight ink for a tone on tone look.
3. I cut a piece of Certainly Celery cardstock to 2 3/4 x 3 3/4." Using the Scallop Edge border punch (#119882), I scalloped the short sides.
4. I cut a piece of Whisper White cardstock to 2 x 3." I used my corner rounder (#119871)to round off all 4 corners. I sponged Daffodil Delight ink on the edges with a Stampin Sponge (#101610) that I had cut into quarters.
5. Then I stamped 3 teddy bears from the Every Little Bit set in Creamy Carmel, a sun, and 4 flowers from the same set in Daffodil Delight.
6. I adhered the stamped images to the center of the Certainly Celery cardstock. Then I adhered that to the center of the Daffodil Delight paper, just above the ducks.
7. Using the "Hello Baby" greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes (##115370), I stamped it onto Certainly Celery cardstock with Old Olive ink. I used the Word Window punch (#119857) to punch out the greeting. Yes, I love this stamp set & punch. They make cardmaking soooooo very much easier because every greeting in this set will fit perfectly in the Word Window punch. What more could you ask for?
8. I adhered the greeting in the center top above the teddy bears. I then punched a hole on each side with my handheld circle punch (#101227). I choose 2 brads from the Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad Pack(#127279) that I got free with the Sale-a-Bration promotion. (You still have until March 31 to get free products.) I pushed the brads through & bent them over on the back. I think the little butterflies go perfect with the stamped "picture."
9. For my last embellishment, I tied some Lucky Limeade organdy ribbon (from the same pack as the brads) around the card, near the bottom of the Certainly Celery cardstock. I'm not good with tying bows so I've discovered this little trick that helps me. I put 2 or 3 glue dots (#103683) in strategic places under the ribbon. It's really not necessary to keep the ribbon there but it sure does help in making the bow look more like I want it to, instead of sticking out every which way!
10. I then adhered my card front to a piece of 5 1/2 x 8 1/2" Whisper White cardstock that I folded at 4 1/4." That hides the back ofthe brads & the back of the ribbon. I think it gives it a more professional look also.
I then stamped my verse from God's Blessings(#114972) on the inside.
Now it's ready to go with the gift I bought for my young friend, actually a former student. I actually love it when former students invite me to their weddings & baby showers. I really feel something special for these children that I taught(mostly in 2nd grade) who have now grown up to be productive members of our country! Tomorrow see what I did with doilies.

Your next hop will be to Bridgett's adoreable blog! Stamping with Bridgett.

Heros All

I'm proud of the military members of my family. My sil is an Army chaplain, currently stationed at Ft. Gordon, GA. This layout has pictures from Dec. 2008 when my son-in-law returned from his tour in Iraq. Now he's already done a second tour there and is back home again. My idea for this lo which I titled "Heros All" is that there are many kinds of heros. Certainly, our military men & women are all heros, no matter where they are serving but those that they have left behind are heros too. For the 15 months that my s-i-l was over there, my dear daughter had to function as a single mom for their 3 children. She is a hero, imo, for the sacrifices that she makes so that her husband can do his job. The kids also are heros because they have to spend that time without their daddy to guide them.
For this page, I used So Saffron cardstock for the background, Always Artichoke for the matting and title and Mellow Moss for the journaling box. I ran the Hero (#116229) Jumbo Wheel in Real Red for the bottom border. The ribbon is Old Olive 1/2" striped grosgrain (#113883) ribbon. I punched the arrows from Always Artichoke cardstock using the My Way (#110709) punch. To finish out the look, I used Star Designer Brads (#112572) on the corners of the journaling box.

Obviously, I'm proud of my family members who serve our great nation. I hope that all Americans will take time to say thank you the next time you see a military person. I'm very glad that for my s-i-ls last deployment my daughter & my grandchildren were only 30 miles away from home. We enjoyed their 2 yrs at Ft. Hood but realize that they have to move on. It does make a grandma sad so!

Hope you are enjoying our blog hop. Come back tomorrow for a baby card with duckies and teddy bears.

Bold Stars

#3 Grandson had a birthday on the 9th. He turned 18. He's already enlisted in the Marines & will be going to boot camp soon. This is the card I made for him.

For this card, you need a piece of white cardstock 5 1/2x 8 1/2", a piece of patterned paper 5 1/2 x 8 3/4", a piece of coordinating patterned paper 3x4" and some scrap white cardstock. I used patterned paper from the Celebrations Designer Series Paper from last year's SU! catalog. I wanted something bright & bold for a young man about to go into the Marines.
1. With the white cardstock, after I folded it in half, I cut 2 slits on the folded side to make a popup. Check out my tutorial on popups that is here This card needs the pop up tab on the inside.
2. From scrap white cardstock, I stamped the stars from the Sprinkled Expressions set (#125130) that is in the Sell-a-Bration catalog. I cut around the edge of the stars and adhered it to the pop up tab.

3. I used 5 tiny star brads to "sprinkle" stars down the bottom of the card. I then stamped stars from Starring You set (#111696) around the top half of the card and a greeting from On Your Birthday set (#111664) to the left of the star brads.
4. Wrap the 5 1/2 x 8 3/4" patterned paper around the outstide of the white cardstock to cover the hole left by the pop up tab. Adhere like shown in the pop up tutorial. You may need to trim a little off of the edges of the patterned paper but I'd rather trim than have it too short.
5. Using the happy birthday star stamp from the Starring You set, I stamped in on scrap white with Night of Navy classic ink (#102977). I punched the circle out with my 1 3/4" circle punch(#119850). I then inked the edges of the circle with the Night of Navy. Using Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430) I popped the circle on the 3x4" piece of patterned paper on the left side.
6. With some 1/4" Real Red Grosgrain ribbon (#109034), I tied a bow around the right side of the patterned paper. To help it stay in place, I used a couple of glue dots (#103683) under the ribbon.
7. I stamped the "look who's turning ()" from the On Your Birthday set in Night of Navy. Punch it out with the 1 1/4" circle punch(#119861). Ink the edges like you did with the other circle. Write the age (18) in the space with a Night of Navy marker(#100069) and adhere to the bottom right corner of the 3x4" paper.
8. Adhere this all to the front of the card in the center.

Inchies Floral

This is a fun card that can be used for most any occasion or just to send a note to a friend.
1. I used a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" piece of Daffodil Delight for my background paper.
2. Cut 6 squares with your scallop square punch(#119884)from scrap cardstock of different colors. I used real red, bashful blue, old olive, perfect plum, and brilliant blue.
3. Arrange them in two rows of 3 squares each. Choose felt flowers in coordinating colors. I used chocolate chip, bashful blue and pretty in pink flowers.
4. I have trouble punching a hole in the exact center so I punched a square. I folded it in half and in half again. Then I marked an X at the mid-point where the folds came together. I used my 1/16" handheld circle punch(#101227) to punch a hole on the X. I then placed that on top of each square and marked where I would punch my hole.

5. Using Daffodil Delight brads from the brights brad collection(#119740), I attached the felt flowers to the center of each scallop square.
6. I adhere the square in two rows of 3 each.
7. If you wish, you could add a greeting to the front of the card. The Teeny Tiny Wishes set (115370) has many great greetings that would be a perfect fit on the front of this card.

Paper Doily Card

I am just loving the new Paper Doily Sizzlits die (#125592) that came out in the occasions mini catalog! I guess I've just got a touch of that Victorian romanitism in me.

I used it to make the focal point on this card and for the top embellishment.
1. Using my Big Shot Die cutting machine (#113439), I cut the doily out of Daffodil delight cardstock. I also cut a doily out of garden green cardstock. (Actually, I was having so much fun, that I cut a bunch of doilies out of all different colors so I could have some to play with.) I used melon mambo cardstock for my base.
2. I had some white doilies that I had bought in the cake decorating section of my local store that I used to back my daffodil doily.
3. To make the embellishment, I cut a 5 petal flower (punch #119880) out of Old Olive (one of my favorite colors to use!). I then used the same punch to cut a flower out of the garden green doily that I did earlier. I applied adhesive to the back of the doily flower & placed it on top of the old olive one. When you cut different shapes out of the doilies, they really need a solid one for the background. Otherwise, there are too many cut outs that they don't really look good.
4. Next, I cut a strip of 1/2" melon mambo polka dot ribbon (this exact ribbon is retired but there is a great 1/2" scallop dots ribbon that will look great here {#122985}) Apply adhesive to the back of the ribbon and wrap around the bottom of the card with the ends to the back.
5. I stamped "friend to friend" from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set (#115370) on paper & then punched it out with Word Window (#119857) punch. I punched out of Old Olive cardstock with the Modern Label punch (#119849)for the background for the greeting.
6. Using one of those super patterned brads that I got free from the Sel-a-Brations Enchantment Ribbon & Brad Pack (127279), I attached the greeting at the center of the doilies. I am loving that SU! now has so many more cool brads! I hope that they keep these patterned brads after the Sel-a-Bration sale is over. I just love them!

Cupcake Birthday Card

Ok, this card was fun to make with my new Cupcake Builder punch (#121807). 1. Because I was going to make 6 birthday cards, I used 6 different colors of paper to punch. That gave me a nice variety of colors to use to have for the icing, wrapper, candles, etc. It was easy to mix & match them with this.

2.After I punched out my pieces, I put the little cupcake "paper" wrapper on my score board & scored it to make it look like the design on a real cupcake paper. SU! now has a really cool Simply Scored Scoring Tool that can be used with this. (#122334) As of March 1, there is a diagonal piece to use on it for diagonal scoring also. While I have a score board that I've had for many years, I have not seen the diagonal piece anywhere before. You'll want to get this soon.
3. Before I built my cupcake, I cut a piece of coordinating card stock to measure 2 1/2 x 3". I used my Scallop Edge Border (#118402) to cut one long edge. I then rounded my other corners with my corner rounder (#119871).
4. As I was building my cupcake, I put a SU! dimensional (#104430) under the wrapper & the icing parts to give it some pop.
5. Using my stamp from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set (#115370), I stamped "happy birthday" on white cardstock for all 6 of the cards I was making. (I love this set! It has perfect greetings for just about everything. And they fit right in the Word Window punch perfectly!)
6. Using my Word Window punch (#119857), I lined the greeting up & cut it out. I used the Modern Label (#119849) punch to punch out backings for the greetings from colored cardstock. Adhere the greeting on top of the Modern Label tag.
7. Use the 1/16" handheld circle punch to punch holes & put brads in. I usually punch all the way through the label and the background cardstock. That way the brad ends are on the back & won't show after I adhere my decorated base to my folded cardstock.
8. Using a piece of 1/4" grosgrain ribbon (SU! has 17 different colors of this), tie a bow around the card with the bow to the front.
9. Adhere the card front to the folded card base & you are done.
You can either write a greeting on the inside or use one of many greeting stamps found throughout the SU! catalog.

Beaded Cross picture

This is the cross that I made for my son-in-law's Christmas present. He is a chaplain in the US Army so I made his in shades of dark green with the US Army logo in the center. The logo is a sticker from another company. I mounted it on a small, circle of chipboard first to give it a bit more height. Here is my tutorial for making these.

1. Start with an 8 x 10" piece of matboard that you can find at your local craft store for about $2. If you plan to make a lot of them, you can have a large sheet of mat board cut in to 8 x 10 pieces. My craft store charges $7.99 for the mat board and 50 cents for each cut. With my 40% off coupon, I get 16 pieces for about 78 cents each.

You will also need: beads of your choice and color in varying sizes, including seed beads(save the seed beads for the very last), 8-10 toothpicks, cross pattern on my patterns page(see my blog list), Mod Podge in both matte and gloss finishes, and a sponge brush.
2.

Center the pattern over the mat board. If you hold it up to the light, you can see how to center it easier. Using a ball point pen, trace firmly around the pattern. You will want to leave an impression on the mat board.
3.

Choose a small bead (not seed beads) to thread and use for your outline. You can use a matching color or contrasting color for this. I thread mine on regular sewing thread with a floss threader but you can use jewerly "thread" and a jewerly threader, if you already have those. You will need to thread about a yard (36") for your outline. Be sure to knot the end of the thread before you start stringing the beads.

4. Pour a small amount of the matte finish Mod Podge into a small bowl or container. Using a toothpick, outline the impression of the cross on your mat board with glue. Only do a few inches at a time. Then lay your string of beads onto the glue. Continue until the outline is completed in your beads.

5. Place your gems/stones/items on your cross to see what basic arrangement you want for your cross. You should use several large stones like you see here and also lots of smaller stones like in the next picture. After you decide on your basic arrangement, remove the stones to begin your glueing.
6.

First glue your larger stones in place with the Mod Podge. They dry fairly quickly so you really don't have to wait before you start filling in the rest. Pour glue into the larger areas and spread it around with a toothpick. You will want the glue to cover an area all the way to the edge of the bead outline.

Do one small area at a time. Use toothpicks to help you arrange the beads so that they cover most of the area. When you are satisfied with your arrangement, then you will need to fill in any empty areas with seed beads.

Allow this to dry for several hours or overnight. When the glue is dry, I always turn mine over to remove any loose beads, especially loose seed beads. Check for any more empty spaces you might have overlooked. You want to have it all filled in with beads.
7. Your final step is to coat all the beads with the Mod Podge gloss finish.

This will seal in everything. Be careful not to get glue outside the bead outline. While it dries clear, too much on the outer area can look messy and spoil the picture. Give it at least 24 hours to dry. The mat board may warp some because of the moisture but it will flaten out easily. Add a frame for a super look and hang on your favorite wall.

This picture is not completely dry so you can still see white areas of glue. This is the one I did for the tutorial. It will be a Christmas gift for one of my children or grandchildren.

You can also add special items to these crosses. I've made one for my son for Christmas where I included some pins that belonged to my father. A friend made one using old jewerly that had belonged to her grandmother. You can make these as personal as you want or just a pretty picture.

Hope you enjoy doing these. Framed, they make great gifts for loved ones or for anyone who loves our Jesus.