Die Storage by your Big Shot

Have you had this problem – you are creating with your Big Shot, pulling out various dies as you work on your project, you set one down on the table and keep working, then you need it again and it has disappeared?  Oh no!  It was just there.  Now its hiding under a little pile of paper scraps and hopefully you didn’t just put it in the trash!  Tragically I have lost a die like this and have been trying really hard not to let it happen again.  So I found a solution!  Magnet sheets!  Framed to set right by your Big shot!  Or perhaps you hang it on the wall by your Big Shot station.

For my frame I found 5×7″ white frames at Ikea – these had a flat front edge so I was able to use Washi Tape to decorate – it’s the Pick a Pattern Washi Tape.  I bought 5×7 magnet sheets which turned out to not actually be 5×7 but just a little bit smaller than that.  So they didn’t stay in the frame on their own – because they would slip through the opening.  So I used Tear & Tape and adhered the magnet sheet directly to the glass piece of the frame.

To decorate the corner of the frame I used the new Daisy punch and Daisy Delight stamp set.  Mine is Crushed Curry flower so it would match my classroom.  My Stamp Club made this project they each chose the color that they wanted for their flowers – so we had all different colors.  For the leaves underneath punch a daisy in Old Olive and the fold it in half so the petals off set with each other. I finished the center of the flower with a Clear Faceted Gem.

It’s really a quick and easy project once you have the frame and magnet sheet – you could decorate with any flower punch that you have on hand or a die!

Have a great day!

Love is in the Air

Last Friday was my monthly Card Maker’s Class.  I try to offer a variety of card choices at this class each month so that everyone can make the cards that the need coming up.  Well as we all know February is coming and that means Valentine’s day is coming.  I am not offering a class specific to Valentine’s day this year so I’ve been trying to sprinkle in some loved themed cards here and there and especially in my card class.

I find that I tend to come up with cards I really like at the very last minute before I need them.  Maybe when I have more time I keep changing and adding and over thinking it and when I’m pressed for time it’s just done because it has to be.  Well this creation is one of those.  As I got up Friday morning for my card class and looked over my selection of cards I realized I really should have one more Valentine choice.  So I ran to my craft room and created this just before class started.

I really do love quick and simple cards.  And this one came together just like that!

Here are the supplies I used:

• Sending Love Designer Series Paper Stack #142733 $10
• Stitched Shapes Framelits #145372 $30
• Suite Sentiments stamp set #142968 $28 (wood mount) – it also comes in clear mount
• Confetti Hearts Border punch #137415 $22
• Sweetheart punch #133786 $16
• Basic Black Baker’s Twine #134576 $3

Plus the Big Shot, Basic Black ink Real Red cardstock and adhesives.

The Stitched Shapes Framelits are one of my favorites and we have them in stock!  They are awesome and match up beautifully to our layering circles, squares and oval framelits too.

You can order any time at my online store – click here.  And don’t forget right now you can choose a free item with every $50 that you spend.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hello Note Card

Pull out your Big Shot and make this quick and easy Note Card – so stamping needed.  Just paper, a die, embossing folder and a couple of embellishments and you can throw this quick card together.

The piece of Designer Paper is from the Carried Away pack which is Free in the Sale-a-Bration brochure.  I love using note cards for quick and easy notes – each pack comes with 20 cards and envelopes.  You can get them in Whisper White or Crumb Cake.

Here is a list of supplies that I used – buy these and get the Designer Paper pack free.

• Whisper White Note Cards #131527 $6
• Hello You Thinlits #137363 $25
• Whisper White Baker’s Twine #124262 $3
• 2016-2018 In Color Enamel Shapes #141410 $9
• Hexagons Dynamic Embossing Folder #143231 $9  (Occasions Catalog)
• Carried Away Designer Paper #143608 FREE  (Sale-a-Bration)

Plus card stock in Smoky Slate and Night of Navy and my Big Shot Die Cutting Machine.  The Big Shot sandwich that I use for the Hello You Thinlits is  from the bottom up:  Big Shot Platform, Thin Die Adapter, Precision Base Plate, card stock, the die cutting blades down, Cutting Pad.

The Big Shot sandwich that I use for the Dynamic Embossing folder is from the bottom up: Big Shot Platform, Dynamic folder with one piece of paper inside, Cutting Pad.  That’s it – these folders are very thick so you only need on Cutting Pad on the top.  Don’t use the thin die adapter or the bottom cutting pad.

Enjoy your day!

Sneak Peek -Falling in Love Suite

Today Dec. 1st – Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators get the opportunity to pre-order from the upcoming Occasions Catalog.  Brand new products coming January 4th.  I had the opportunity to work with a few products and create samples for the display boards at the OnStage Local even in Atlanta in early November.  I worked with products from the Falling in Love Suite.  I wanted to share a few of those with you today.

First – a Curvy Keepsake box – a sweet way to celebrate a special day – like a wedding or bridal shower.  New Falling in Love Designer Paper and Embellisments, and the So In Love Bundle that includes a stamp set and Thinlits die set.

Next a Petite Cafe Bag – a food safe bag ready to add some yummy treats – decorated with some exciting new products. I used the same paper, stamp set, die and embellishments on this one

And one more for today – this is the popcorn box die but I shortened it to make a shorter box.  I used the So Detailed Thinlits Dies again on this one and some new Very Vanilla ribbon.

I hope you liked this little sneak peek.

Thanks for visiting!

 

Thailand Incentive Trip Achievers Blog Hop – October

Welcome to the Thailand Incentive Trip Achievers Blog Hop for October. This is our first hop with those that have earned the incentive trip with Stampin’ Up!® to Thailand next July. This month our theme is the “Inspired by Nature” as many of us live in different areas around the world and have amazing seasons that we are enjoying. Plus the nature in Thailand is just incredible so we are inspired by our trip too. I’m very excited to be a part of this exclusive group of demonstrators!!

UPDATE:  My blog is not part of the hop anymore – sorry – my blog platform won’t play nice with the others.  So I’ll just share my project and hopefully you can get on to one of the other hoppers sites and go through the hop all the way.

Here in Georgia in the United States it is Fall/Autumn.  The leaves on the trees are changing into a variety of colors and they and the acorns are falling everywhere right now.  So my projects were inspired by that.  I created these for the Fall Retreat I just had at my home this past weekend.  Everyone received this as one of their little gifts at their table – a bag of trail mix and a water bottle with a cute hanging tag.

I used the Moroccan Designer Series Paper for this project along with the Leaflets Framelits and the Cheerful Tags Framelits.  I love the little copper pine cones in our holiday catalogs – I tied those to my leaves with some Linen Thread.  And behind the leaves is a little bunch of our Copper Thread.  Here is a closer look at each one.

I die cut the leaves our of Delightful Dijon card stock and the Moroccan Designer Paper then I left the framelit on the die cut and traced around the inside of the leaf.  I really like how it adds some definition to the leaves.

The trail mix is inside one of the 2×8″ cello bags that are in the annual catalog.  I stapled the tag over the top of the filled bag.  And then covered the staples with the leaves.  The little tags on each project are 1/4″ strips of Very Vanilla card stock but I die cut the end with the leaf die so I could tie it into the bundle of leaves.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Spooky Fun Halloween

Halloween is quickly approaching.  Do you decorate and create fun treats for Halloween?  I think it varies from year to year what I do.  When the kids were little we made costumes and decorations and lots of treats.  Now the kids are older and I don’t do as much for Halloween.  But I do love a lot of our stamps and accessories for Halloween – so making cards and treats are still on my list.  I’ll be mailing things out to my boys and their friends.

Today I’m sharing a fun card I created for my stamp club.  It’s one that kind of grew as I worked on it.  I started and then kept adding little elements to it.

I started with the Halloween Scenes Edgelits and Spooky Fun stamp sets – they even come together as a bundle in the Holiday catalog!  One question that I get asked is about these dies – note that they are called Edgelits (not thinlits or framelits).  The difference is these are designed to cut an edge – so you start with a piece of card stock the width of the die and then the height can vary based on what you want – it will only cut the edge of however tall your piece is.  This is the tree and the fence in this set – both just cut the edge – so the bottom is not cut.  The rest of the dies are little framelits meant to go around the stamped images in the stamp set.  They “frame” the image.  And while we are on the subject – Thinlits are detailed dies that coordinate with stamps and other dies but don’t necessarily “frame” or outline anything – they are meant to compliment other dies and stamps not cut them out.

I used the Ghoulish Grunge stamp set for the brick wall image in the back ground.  The bottom is the Halloween Night Specialty Designer Paper and the Halloween Night Baker’s Twine – I love that twine.

In the corner I stamped the moon image and then sponged it with a little bit of Pumpkin Pie ink.  Then the little die cut witch is on a dimensional in front of it.

It turned out to be a fun Halloween card – now who should I mail it too?

Thanks for visiting.

 

Thoughtful Branches

Today (August 31, 2016) is the last official day to order the Thoughtful Branches bundle, stamp set, and dies.  Stampin’ Up! just told us they do still have inventory left and will continue to sell it until that runs out – which could be any time – so if you want it get it before its gone.

I think it is a wonderful stamp set with some great words and versatile images.  My class this month was a ton of fun.  We made a cute box to hold the 4 cards and envelopes that everyone made.  I swear I took pictures of the box but can’t find it with the others.  So for now I just have the cards to share with you.  My plan was to use a variety of the images and dies and show ideas for throughout the year – so I kind of thought of these as various seasons.

For Spring:

This was a quick card using Elegant Eggplant and Old Olive with Whisper White.  A little peek of a doily, the new Petal Burst embossing folder and Elegant Eggplant Bakers Twine.

For Summer:

This idea was from another demo Dena Reko with just a minor change.  I love how nicely the die lines up with the leaves on the tree.  I wasn’t sure at first.  But the die is designed so you can see right through it to the image you are cutting out and line it up.

For Fall:

I love to make cards like this that I call “window” cards.  I used the new Layering Circles Framelits to cut the window in the two front layers.  The trees are stamped on the layer below.  And for these I used the thumping technique – its perfect to create a fall look.

For Winter:

I love how this one turned it – it was a favorite at the class and used a really fun technique.  It’s called Salt Lifting.  And I used that technique over a watercolor wash. This one is done on Watercolor paper and I used Garden Green, Bermuda Bay and Pool Party for my colors.  Everyone at the class had a lot of fun doing this.  Here are a few instructions:

1. on a clear block – I used the H block for mine – apply ink to the block using all 3 colors – Garden Green at one end, Bermuda Bay and Pool Party at the other end – over lap a tad.
2. have your watercolor paper ready and I used paper towels.  Lay your block on a paper towel and the watercolor paper on one too. You need a spritzer filled with water.
3. spritz the ink covered block with water (watch for ink splashing off the block too) then quickly flip it over onto your watercolor paper – if your paper is bigger then the block – slide it across to the other side.
4. spread salt on your paper – all over or just in spots – let dry – you can speed up the drying with a heat tool if you need to (we did that in class)
5. wipe off all the salt and finish the card.

You’ll get different results each time.  The ink, the salt, how much water, how much salt, etc. will all give you different results.  Have fun playing with that.

This class was a ton of fun!  Order today so you don’t miss this bundle!

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

 

Box of Hugs

A few months back I signed up to walk in the It’s the Journey 2-Day Breast Cancer walk here in Georgia.  The walk will be held in mid October in Atlanta.  It’s a 2 day walk that is 30 miles long.  I’ve been training to get my feet, legs and body ready to walk that far.  Right now my longest walk has been 10.5 miles.  Monday I’m planning to do an even longer walk.  In addition to the actual walking I have to also raise some money.  So last month I held a Pop of Pink class and $10 from every class fee I put in my walker fund.  I was able to donate $150 to my fund and I’m now half way to my goal!

One of the projects from the class was this sweet little Box of Hugs.  I thought it turned out so cute and would be a sweet gift for someone battling breast cancer or anything else.  We filled each box with about 15 Hugs and on the bottom of each added a little circle of the Pop of Pink Designer Paper.  Since the boxes are clear you can see the bottoms through the sides.  Each box is wrapped with some Designer Paper and tied with Thick Baker’s Twine.  On the top I added the die cut heart and the word hope.  They are both from the Sunshine Wishes Thinlits.  You could use the same idea for a bridal shower and use the word Love instead of Hope.  Or for a graduation and use Congrats.  Lots of possibilities.

I hope you like this little project.  If you wanted to donate to my walker fund you can visit my fundraising page here.

The other project was a set of cards in a little bag.  Come back again to see that one.

Thanks for visiting.

Artfully Exotic

The Moroccan Suite in the Stampin’ Up! catalog is artfully exotic.  The suite includes a stamp set, Designer Paper, Washi Tape and coordinating ribbons.  You can find it on pages 66-67 in the Annual Catalog.  For today’s card I took another idea from the catalog samples and used that with some minor modifications to create a stunning card perfect for lots of occasions.  I find that the Moroccan Designer Paper has a masculine feel to it so I can create cards that aren’t so girly.

I used Emerald Envy card stock for the base and stamped the large image from the stamp set in Emerald Envy ink for the background.

At the base is a strip of the designer paper and then its tied with the new Emerald Envy Baker’s Twine.

The sentiment is from the Suite Sayings stamp set – it was a carry over from the Occasions catalog and has an assortment of sayings in a variety of fonts.  It is stamped in Delightful Dijon and then cut with the Tags & Labels Framelits.

To finish the card add a couple of the Enamel Dots – I used Emerald Envy for my card, but I think the gold or the Delightful Dijon dots would work too.

Enjoy the day and come back again for a visit.

Remember if you earned Bonus Days Coupons in July that you need to redeem them in August!

Quick & Easy card

Quick & Easy cards are favorites for many people.  I often look at ideas in the Stampin’ Up! catalog and then make a few changes to the colors and/or stamp set and ta-da I have a new quick & easy card.  If you look throughout the catalog there are ideas marked “Quick & Easy” and some include You Can Make It supply lists so you know exactly what was used.

I found the Quick & Easy card on page 41 in the annual catalog.  It however used a stamp set that I didn’t have.  So I switched it for a different one and created this.

I kept the colors the same – Emerald Envy, Very Vanilla, Delightful Dijon, Early Espresso.

I used the same layout – but flipped it to be landscape instead of portrait.

I used the same washi tape – Moroccan Designer Washi Tape.

I used the same punch – Petite Petals Punch.

I even used the same technique on the flower – scrunch it up to break down the fibers in the card stock giving it some dimension.

I used a different stamp set.  For my card I used the Rose Wonder stamp set.

And I left off the Bakers Twine.

What do you think?  Can you use that card from the catalog and create another version for yourself?  It’s Quick & Easy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Monika Davis