Flower Garden Decor Elements + Diaper Genie

You might wonder what Flower Garden Decor Elements have to do with a Diaper Genie.  And no – I don’t have a diaper genie, and if you saw one at my house it wasn’t mine.  Jamie brought me her diaper genie and I decorated it for her with the Flower Garden Decor Elements.  And look at how cute it turned out.

I purchased two sets of the flowers and put them on all the way around.

And to finish it I added a piece of Pretty in Pink wide ribbon at the top and attached it with mini glue dots.  Now it sits in the baby room at Jamie’s house and it fit in so perfectly.  Here is a picture from Jamie –

See the diaper genie on the left side – it matched all her decor  just perfectly.  And who is the room for – well for Baby Chloe –

born on Dec. 15th!  Congratulations to Jamie and her husband on welcoming their new little one into the world!

Hopefully Jamie will be back for stamp club in January.

Have a great weekend!

Happy Holidays Decor Canvas

I haven’t used any of the Decor Elements pieces in a while and when Wendy sent these to me to create a project for my downline meeting I had to get creative with a quick idea.  I headed to the store to see if I could find a frame or mirror to add the Happy Holidays Decor Elements label from the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini Catalog to.  I didn’t have any luck finding anything that would fit – the piece is 12-1/2″ wide and 6″ tall.  So I walked around the store trying to come up with other ideas.  First stop was the craft aisle and a stroll through the painting section where I came across some stretched canvas.  At first I only saw large pieces or small ones but then looking on the lower shelves I finally found a rectangle canvas – it measured 7″ x 14″ – yeah!  These were the perfect size.  I put them in the cart, headed to check out and back home to quickly put something together.

I added some ribbon, snowflakes, buttons, stitched felt, bakers twine and jingle bells and look what they become –

 

 

The end result was a nice piece of holiday decor to display in your home for the holidays. The Happy Holidays Decor Elements is a two piece vinyl image but I only used the Real Red over lay and not the White oval since my canvas was already white.  Because the canvas is stretched over a frame and has no support in the center I did place some of my Big Shot dies underneath the open space to create a hard surface that I needed to apply the vinyl piece to the canvas.  Then it was just a matter of decorating.

I used the 1-1/4″ Striped Grosgrain Ribbon – Wild Wasabi; I punched a snowflake from Shimmery White card stock with the Snowflake punch; the buttons are from the Holiday Berry Bouquet Designer Button collection – and they are tied on with Whisper White Baker’s Twine around the knot of the ribbon with the snowflake tucked behind it.  On some of them I added Winter Wishes Stitched Felt piece – the little holly leaves and berries.  And on some I tied the Mini Jingle Bells on the ends of the bakers twine.

This would also be a nice gift for the holidays.  Enjoy!

 

Roommate Gifts – Project Boards

Earlier I shared one of the Project Boards I made for my Convention Roommates.  I wanted to come back and show you the rest of them – each was a different color combination.  And give you some instructions.  Here is my original post.

I made 6 of them and still need to make some for myself.

Cindy G. - Marina Mist, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight

 

Cindy S. - Pretty in Pink, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry

 

Dawn - Certainly Celery, Concord Crush, Tempting Turquoise

 

Linda - Daffodil Delight, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz

 

Michele - Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Marina Mist

 

Wendy - Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie

 

I used the Patterns DSP to cover the Long Board Chipboard.  First I covered the bottom with a full sheet of 12×12 Designer Series paper.

I fold in the sides and the folded up the bottom.  Unfold and cut away the corners.

I used the Anywhere Glue Stick to attach the paper to the chipboard.  First glue down the front (center piece), then the bottom flap and then the two sides.

Next I covered the top portion in the same manner with a coordinating Designer Series paper – I only used a 12 x 6″ piece for the top.

Repeat for a second board matching the papers to cover the same amount of space.  Put the two boards together back to back (the back is where I have the seams).  At the top punch two holes with the crop-a-dile and at the bottom punch one hole in the center.  You will need to punch one piece, then mark the second one through the holes of the first so that they line up.

Before connecting the pieces I decorated the fronts.  I tied a piece of wide striped Grosgrain Ribbon around where the two papers met.  On one side I tied it off with Linen Thread and a button.  The other side is just glued flat to the back.  I added a piece of card stock and then a piece of the Chalkboard Decor Elements.  I also stamped and punched out butterflies and decorated with those.

To connect the two pieces I used two piece of ribbon tied through the holes at the top so they were touching.  At the base I added a piece of ribbon with a knot at each end – this is to help the boards stand up so they don’t slide apart.  I also covered a binder clip with the matching DSP – this is to hold your card sample and the chalk board is where you write the instructions.

 

And this is what it would look like with a card project clipped on the top -you can add a card on each side and write instructions on the chal board underneath.

This idea originated from a project I saw on Wendy Wexler’s blog.

Convention Roommate Gifts and UDI Color Challenge

Well when I am pressed for time I try to double dip and get two things accomplished at the same time.  I knew that with it being the week of convention the only way I was going to get my Color Challenge done was to use it for something I was working on for convention.  And as it turned out I ended up using this weeks color challenge to create one of my roommate gifts.  I made the same gift for all my roommates and my upline but each one was a different color combination.  I’ll show you the one that fits the Color Challenge today and then later in the week I’ll show the rest and the instructions on how I made them.

Here is the inspiration piece with our colors for this week: A swimsuit featuring Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black, Concord Crush and Certainly Celery.  Earlier I had sent each of my roommates a convention getting to know you survey – so we could all learn something about each other.  One of the questions was what is your favorite color.  As I looked through them I saw that my roommate Dawn listed purples and blues as her favorite color so I decided she would be my Color Challenge project.  And I went to work with my idea – I actually had the idea for a while I just waited until the last minute to actually try to implement it.  So here it is:

This is what I’m calling a Demo Board.  It is actually two sided so you can use both sides.  It was an adaptation of a project I saw on Wendy Wexler’s blog.  My idea was to use this for classes, clubs, or workshops – on the top is a clip for you to clip the card that everyone is making.  On the bottom is the Decor Elements chalkboard where you would write brief instructions, measurements or information that everyone needs to know to make the card.  You can set it in the center of the table and have one card on each side.  Here is what it looks like with a card clipped to the top.

 

Click on this link to go to the  Utah Diva’s Color Challenge blog.   There you can see the creations from the entire design team and add a link to your creation if you decide to play along.

Stampin’ Up! Supplies:

• Card stock:  Whisper White, Certainly Celery
  
• Ink: Concord Crush, Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise
  
• Stamp sets: Butterfly Prints, Creative Elements
  
• Accessories:  On Board Long Board, Patterns Designer Series Paper – Subtles, In-Color, Concord Crush Ribbon, Crop-a-Dile, Glimmer Brads, Brights Buttons, Baker’s Twine, Wide Grosgrain ribbon, Anywhere Glue Stick, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Butterfly Punch, Chalkboard Decor Elements sheets, binder clips
  

To order Stampin’ Up! Supplies to make this project click here.

 

sale-a-brate with ..{decor elements}..

During Sale-A-Bration (now through March 31st) you can earn the Notes Chalkboard Decor Elements for free.  I just got mine and put it up in my craft room this morning.  I thought I would show you the steps for putting it up.  It actually comes in two pieces and is larger than I thought it was going to be – 16 inches tall and 8 inches wide.

The first piece is the chalkboard background.  It is one large piece and you need to peel off the back paper leaving it on the sticky sheet – normally you have to burnish the side with the grid paper but I didn’t have to do that for this one and it wasn’t on the grid paper. Then position it on the wall where you want it.  Use the little applicator tool and burnish the entire piece starting in the center and working out so you don’t get bubbles in the center.  Go over the entire piece until it is adhered to the wall.

Then start in one corner and peel back the sticky sheet.  Peel that piece all the way off.  If you have any bubbles work them out to the edge using the applicator tool.

Now you have the chalkboard piece up and ready.  You could use it just like this if you wanted but it is boring so you probably want to add the second piece to it.

Next you need to prepare the second piece which is the part that has the doodle and the word “notes”.  This one is on a grid sheet so the first thing you have to do is burnish the entire image on the grid side so that it sticks to the sticky page.

Then slowly peel up a corner to remove the grid paper.  If you any part of the image is still sticking to the grid paper then lay it back down and burnish it some more.  I find that the smaller the piece the more it takes to get it to transfer to that sticky sheet.  This one was pretty easy since none of the piece are very small and detailed.

Now you want to take the image on the sticky sheet and position it on the wall where you want it.  In this case you want it right over the chalkboard background that you already hung up.  This piece fits exactly so I lined up one edge of the doodle with the edge of the chalkboard.  If it is straight it should match up exactly on the other side.  One trick that I do is gently tap down the sticky paper in a place where the design is NOT there – this holds it for a second so you can move your hand and see if you have it in the right spot.  You can still lift it back up if you need to and reposition it.

Once you have it in position you will do the same thing as the background – burnish the entire image so that it transfers to the wall.  Pull up a corner of the sticky paper and carefully pull back to see that it transferred – if it didn’t lay the sticky paper back down and burnish some more.  Once it is all transferred remove the entire sticky paper piece.

Ta-da!  Now your chalkboard note pad is ready to use.  I put mine on my craft room wall right by my door above the light switch.  I’ll see it every time I leave the room.  Right now I wrote on the next few classes that I have coming up that I need to prepare for.

That’s what I have for you today.  It’s been a hectic week.  The painters are outside – I can see their van but they haven’t come in yet – I’m not sure what they are doing – but they aren’t in here painting!  I cleared almost everything out of my kitchen, breakfast room and family room for them to paint and now half the day is almost gone…..and tomorrow I have class and don’t want them in there painting. Let me go out there and see what’s up.

Displays at Convention

One of the fun things about convention is to see all of the displays that they have set up.  They have things set up inside Memento Mall – which is the special store that we get to shop in to get SU logo products.  The first day they limit almost everything and then usually the second day the limits are lifted.  This year I got to get in early with special VIP privileges for getting a recruit at the beginning of July!  I didn’t have to wait in line – I walked right in, did my shopping and waited briefly to check out.  I was so caught up with that I didn’t stop to take pictures that first day when the store was full of product.

Here is the new shirt – and I did buy one so you will see me in it.  This one did not sell out.  There was also a t-shirt and it did sell out quickly.  The laptop bag – yep I got one of those – sold out.  And there looked to be a few of the craft totes left – I did not get one because I have the one I bought at last years convention.

These are the flowers on the display table where they had bags of Taffy in Stampin’ Up! colors.

Other items that I bought included some cute new shopping bags, rulers, pens, collapsible trash bins.  Many of those sold out too.  The trash bins were very popular!  And I brought back a surprise for all of my downline!  Do you want a surprise too – then consider joining my team and I’ll have something for you too.  The new starter kit in the mini catalog is only $175 and is full of exciting new products.

There are also displays throughout the Demonstrator Resource Center which is a fun place for us to get lots of ideas.

Sample “rooms” featuring Decor Elements and stamped elements.

This year Stampin’ Up! created a special place called the sweet shop.  OMG you should have seen the stamped creations in there.  Stuff looked good enough to eat.  The displays are always coordinated on a color or theme.  The sweet shop had Halloween, Christmas, Birthday, Office organization, Wedding themes and more. 

Lots of ideas on treats and sweets and fun project ideas.  I had mostly closeup pictures of ideas I might want to use but here are a few of the displays in general.

Lots of fun new holiday ideas.

My favorite were the chocolates – they looked yummy enough to eat even though it was all made out of paper, ribbon and accessories. 

Fun stuff!  Have a sweet day!

Stencil Smooch card

Hey everyone it’s Saturday and no I don’t have another challenge card for Create with Connie & Mary.  The summer session of posting new projects and challenges has ended. But if you are looking for some GREAT ideas on how to use your summer mini stuff, you can still subscribe for $24.95 and have access to ALL the GREAT ideas that were shared.

And guess what Connie & Mary are continuing to do weekly challenges that are open to everyone!   They will be posting on Thursdays – and the first one was this week.  I hope you’ll visit the Create with Connie & Mary blog and try to play along.  I will when I can fit it in.

So on to my card for today.  Last night was my Stamper’s Club meeting – we normally make three projects – 2 cards and a 3D.  This was one of the cards we made – it looks so much harder than it is.  The card was designed by my friend and upline Wendy and uses several products from the Stampin’ Up! Summer Mini catalog.

It has a masculine look to but also looks elegant and vintage at the same time.  So i think you could use for a variety of things – Father’s Day, Anniversary, etc.

The card base is Basic Black – which is a little hard to see in the photo because it kind of disappears into the background.

Then you need two Whisper White pieces – one for the front and one for the inside so you have a place to write.  So here is a fun technique that you can do with the Smooch Spritz .  Use a plastic project folder like you use for a school report – spritz inside the folder – Silver Foil  – you could also add the gold if you want.  Close up the folder and smoosh the spritz around  a bit.  Open it up and lay the two pieces of white card stock back to back inside the folder.  Close it again and smoosh the spritz on to the card stock.  Take the card stock out and you have the marbleized looking pieces.  Each person will get a different looking piece.

Then add the Decor Elements stencil to the front – the stencil is called Mostly Vintage and it is in the Summer Mini.  Use a Stamping Sponge and Jet Black StazOn ink and add the stencil to the front of the card.  Remember to pounce the sponge and don’t rub or you will bend the little pieces of the stencil.

To finish add one of the little vintage tags that are in the Summer Mini.  I hope you like it.

Stamper’s Club Gift

I wanted to share with you the gift that I made for all of my Stamper’s Club members.  My club started again last month and our next meeting is on Friday this week.  Then Saturday I’ll be getting ready for Easter and Sunday I’ll have over 30 people here for our Easter Lunch and Egg Hunt.  I am trying to come up with a fun “Egg Hunt” for the teenagers – which is what most of the kids are now.  Only my niece and nephew are little and enjoy the actual egg hunt the rest have grown up so much I think I made them hunt eggs last year.  Although they do still like the candy.  Sorry – I wandered off topic – back to my project……

I decorated a 12×12 Craft Keeper for everyone.  Each one is personalized with their name and I’ll use it to put in all of their supplies for our meeting each month.  Here is a picture of the one I made for myself.

To create the names I used a sheet of Chocolate Chip Decor Elements – yes you can buy them in sheets in various colors – and cut the letters on my Big Shot Die Cut Machine.  I used the Stampin’ Up! Alphabet Simple Letters dies to cut each name and then applied them to the Craft Keeper with the Decor Elements Applicator.

To decorate around the names I used the For All You Do stamp set and White StazOn Ink.  For the top I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch holes along the flap and then ran a piece of Bashful Blue Grosgrain ribbon in and out of the holes.

Next I tried my hand at making fabric flowers.  I picked up this fabric – 3 different patterns at the fabric store – it had Chocolate Chip as the base so of course I liked it!  I used the Big Shot Die Cut machine to cut the fabric – the die that I used is the Scallop Circle #2 die and I used the smaller flower that is on it.  For each flower you need 5 scallop circles.  I know many people are making lots of flowers and things with fabric and the Big Shot and I’m not exactly sure how everyone else is making their flowers – but since I didn’t have one of the flower dies I used this scallop circle and this is how I made it look like it had flower petals.

The bottom layer is just the scallop circle – that was my base to sew everything else on to.  Then I took each scallop circle and folded it in half (wrong sides together) and then folded it in half again so I ended up with a quarter of the scallop circle and 4 layers.  Then I sewed the tip so it would stay together and then sewed that to my scallop circle base.  I did that 4 times and then sewed a button in the center to cover up all of my sewing in the middle.  I didn’t cut the layers apart but I guess you could and it would give a little bit of a different look.  If they aren’t cut the folds give the flower some fluff.  I did mix up the prints so not all the petals have the same fabric print on them.

To finish off the craft keeper I used glue dots to add a piece of 12×12 Designer Series Paper inside.  Then it is always pretty and whatever is inside will be behind the paper.  I hope everyone liked these.

Just a quick bird update – still no bluebird eggs but I do see them around the yard and going into the house every day.  I did check my House #1 this morning and someone has started a nest in there – I’m not sure who – I did see a Tufted Titmouse go in there a few days ago but it could also be the Chick-a-Dees – they used that house last year.

Have a nice day – we are having some great Spring Weather and it should be really nice here on Sunday – which is good because I use my screened porch and deck for extra tables and chair on Easter.

More EAT Decor Elements

I can’t believe it is the end of another Year – 2009 is leaving us and we are on to 2010 in just a few hours.  How can that be?  Have a safe New Year’s Eve!

I don’t think I mentioned this yet but I got a new laptop for Christmas – yeah me!  I decided a few months ago that I really did want one so that I wasn’t tied to my desk all the time.  Now I can work from anywhere in the house (or out).  But with the new laptop comes some changes and getting used to new things.  And my husband decided to change a whole bunch of other stuff too – new internet service, new email addresses, new printer and more.  So I’m trying to get everything back up and running on this new laptop.  So one thing was the way I download my pictures from my camera.  It is going to be a little different than the way I did it before but I atleast have it working (although maybe not the way I want it).

I was able to download the pictures from the last Club meeting so you can see the rest of the EAT Decor Elements Frames that the girls made – there were two done in Real Red with the Night & Day Designer Series paper.  And they used the Viola stamp set to create some of the magnets.

There was also one done in Old Olive with Old Olive Patterns Designer Series paper.

The “EAT” Decor Elements comes in five different colors – Black, Chocolate, Real Red, Old Olive and White.  So you can mix those with various Designer Series papers and make one to coordinate with any kitchen.

Click Here to see the original one made with the Black EAT and Soft Suede.

Don’t need a recipe holder – here is an idea that Lisa shared with me last night.  She cut some vinyl to put on the top – you can purchase just the sheets and cut your own designs using your Big Shot machine – and used paper and stamps to make her husband a ” Honey Do” list board.  Put that in your husband’s workshop or garage and leave him notes where he is sure to see them.  Lisa decorated the magnets with some stamps from a retired stamp set.

The Decor Elements sheets come in Kraft, Chocolate, White and Dark Gray now.  And they should be available in more colors in January.

Other ideas – maybe for your teens or kids create a “to do” board or HW board that they can set on their desk.  Attach a list of chores or homework that needs to be done for the day or the week.  For the New Year – it could have your goals listed and set it in your bedroom or bathroom where you can see them every day.  Mark them off as you complete them.

Enough of me today….I’ll leave you with one of our Decor Elements quotes….

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.”  ~ Henry David Thoreau ~

Join me for Create with Connie & Julie – early bird pricing through January 3rd – so sign up soon!

EAT Decor Elements Stand

This is not the best picture of this project – sorry.  The idea comes from the Stampin’ Up! Decor Elements catalog – on page 19 there is a Recipe Holder on the stove top. They have a better picture.

For mine – I used the From the Kitchen of stamp set to make a set of recipe cards and the two magnets. The images are stamped with Black StazOn ink and then colored in with Stampin’ Write Markers.  I made a set of 6 cards to go with the holder.  And there are 2 magnets – one has the ‘Yum Scale’ and the other has “From the Kitchen of” on it.

The ‘eat’ is the small Black one.  The Designer Series Paper is from the Soft Suede Patterns collection.  The ribbon is Basic Black Grosgrain.

A friend of mine made these and her husband cut the wood bases and the metal sheets.  I had him make some for me and used this project as the December Club project.  The club girls made some with other colors and I did take pictures but haven’t gotten them off my camera yet.  I’ll do that and post their creations on another day.

This was a great gift for almost anyone.  And a great guy gift.  I gave one to my brother-in-law and he loved it.

Thanks for stopping by today!