Peaceful Plum Snowflakes

I made this card for a sketch challenge on SCS today, found here... http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=303977

Short on time, so I'm just going to post items used for now! Thanks!

Stamps: Kitchen Sink Stamps Snow Flurry

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Shimmer white; Bazzill Basic

Ink: Versamagic Eggplant chalk ink

Accessories: clear embossing powder; Michael's $1 ribbon; SU! small tag punch; dimensionals

Clear Sleeve Nugget Boxes

If you haven't tried making a nugget box yet, you've got to get busy! These are fun and easy, and now I love them even more with this new twist of using acetate for the sleeve! Chris Simon has patterns for all sizes of boxes on this thread at SCS... http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=190469 Check it out! I chose to make mine 2x3 this time instead of the 3x5 that I did for my recent class at the store. This little size is just the perfect little pick-me-up gift. I think the girls and I will just make these for teacher gifts this year!

These two are made using my Kitchen Sink Stamps, and are going to be sent to two SCS'ers who I need to ELF! The blue one uses stamps from Snow Flurry. The blue cardstock is Bazzill Bling, and the eggplant is from Archiver's. I also used Stampin' Up Shimmer white and silver cardstock. The labels around the nuggets were stamped first with the giant snowflake swirl stamp in Versamagic Aspen Mist ink, then stamped again with silver Encore ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I punched a scalloped circle with my Marvy super jumbo punch with silver cardstock for the center. I stamped the "stamped with loving hands" snowflake stamp on Shimmer white with Versamagic eggplant ink, embossed with clear EP, and punched out with a 1" circle. The "belly band" is just crimped with a paper crimper. The card uses the same inks, cardstock and stamp set, plus silver cord and ribbon from Michael's.
The pink set uses the Kitchen Sink Stamps Playful Christmas set, and I also used KSS Backgrounds & Borders for the starry snowflakes on my nugget labels. The labels were stamped with Versamagic Pink Petunia ink, then stamped with silver Encore ink and heat embossed. The tree in the circle center is also stamped with Pink Petunia, and then overstamped with Colorbox Warm Red. The cardstock for the box base is Bazzill Bling, the red cardstock is Bazzill Basics, and the white is SU! Shimmer. I again used the Marvy scalloped circle in super jumbo and a 1" circle punch for the center, along with the crimper for the band. The card is created with the same items as the box with the exception of the sparkly red ribbon that I had on hand but don't know the supplier.

This third set was made with stamps from a Paper Salon Tailored Tin called Winter Wonderland. I made this set to send to Kim Conlin, who is my Susan Gilman Company rep at the store. She has been so extremely helpful to me ever since I started my job at Toyrifix with advice and ideas, and is now helping me plan the Stamp Workshop Day for January. This little gift is in no way equal to all the help she's given me, but I hope it will in a small way let her know how much I appreciate all she's done! My cardstock used here is Bazzill Basics, along with Stampin' Up shimmer white and silver. I used Versafine Onyx Black ink to stamp the snowman then heat embossed with clear EP to keep the colors from bleeding when I colored it with Tombow markers. The mittens were stamped with Colorbox Blue Iris ink, and also heat embossed. I used the circle punches again on this set, and the crimper. I stamped "happy holidays" on the card with silver Encore ink, then heat embossed with clear EP. When I was heating the sentiment to emboss, the heat gun started to affect my ribbon and cord on the card, so I just let it do that and ended up with a neat effect, I think! The silver cord kind of frayed, and the sheer ribbon curled up a little.
I hope you'll give these a try soon! They're a really easy project, and will be loved by whoever you give them too! Stamp Happy!

New stamps from The Sink!

Beginning Monday, December 3rd, you can order some great new stamp sets from Kitchen Sink Stamps. Two of the new sets are used on this card... Happy Birthday Cupcake and Never a Loss 4 Words. I actually gave you a sneak-peek of this card several weeks ago, and so now here it is!

I made this card for my awesome friend Cindy for her birthday, and I was late so it says "belated." It's actually still late because I haven't given it to her yet! (long story!) But I let her borrow my stamps, so that should count for something, right?

I also used the Backgrounds & Borders stamp set on this card. I stamped the cupcake using Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black ink, and colored it with my Copic markers. I then added stickles on the cupcake swirls, and a touch of glitter pen with my At You Spica marker on the bottom. There are also stickles on the candle flame. The sentiments are stamped with Versamagic Pretty Petunia ink, and the background is done with Versamark. Other ingredients are below.

Stamps: Kitchen Sink Stamps: Happy Birthday Cupcake, Never a Loss 4 Words, Backgrounds & Borders

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Cool Caribbean, Lovely Lilac, Almost Amethyst; Hollo's white

Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black; Versamagic Pretty Petunia; Versamark

Accessories: Copic markers, At You Spica glitter pen, Stickles, Marvy giga scalloped circle punch and mega circle punch, Fiskars circle cutter, Stampin' Up circle punches and ticket corner punch, 1/16" hole punch, Offray ribbon, silver cord, sponge, Stamp-a-ma-jig

More peppermint patties!

I am hooked on these little pattie boxes from Cambria Turnbow's blog! (Seen here... http://cambriaturnbow.blogspot.com/2007/09/batty-for-you-basket.html) This was one was made with my Kitchen Sink Stamps set Snow Flurry! I used Stampin' Up Soft Sky cardstock for the box, and layered 2 sides with Dazzle paper from Paper Salon. The metallic pink paper is from The Paper Company. I used silver eyelets from We R Memory Keepers on the sides, and attached them with my Crop-a-dile. The silver snowflake brad is from Making Memories. I really like how these look with a scalloped top edge, but my poor little corner rounder doesn't like punching through more than one layer! I hope I don't break it! I also used the Stampin' Up round tab punch, obviously for the tab! And SU! grosgrain ribbon. Each pattie is sandwiched between circles punched with a Marvy super jumbo scalloped circle punch. I will say, the Stampin' Up scalloped circle punch probably works better for this project. The Marvy punch is a little bigger and those patties are really stuffed into the box. I'm ordering one from SU! just for this project this week! :)

I hope you like these as much as I do and will give them a try! Stamp Happy!

Peppermint Patties

I saw a post on SCS one day about making things using peppermint patties, and was directed to Cambria Turnbow's blog and this post... http://cambriaturnbow.blogspot.com/2007/09/batty-for-you-basket.html. I just fell in love with this design!!! She has the neatest ideas! I highly recommend bookmarking that blog for daily viewing. I was meeting my friend Laurie for brunch today, so I decided to make this up quick to give her, and now I can't wait to make more!Cambria has very good instructions on her blog, so I won't waste space by retyping them here!

Items used:

Stamps: Winter Wishes from Rubber Soul; Happy Holidays circle from Stampin' Up Riveting set

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; generic white; snowflake paper from unknown source

Ink: Colorbox Chalk warm red and dark moss; Versamark

Accessories: clear embossing powder; regular and scalloped circle punches; jumbo eyelets; Crop-a-dile; corner rounder punch (for scallops on box edges); May Arts ribbon; Stampin' Up round tab punch; snowflake brad from Darice

Baby Sympathy cards

My dear friend Patti (MommaPatti on SCS) is a nurse in the NICU for a large hospital in Cleveland. They have a bereavement committee that helps the parents who's babies don't survive, and Patti has asked her fellow stampers for help in the way of sympathy cards that can be sent to these parents. Here is a copy of Patti's request on SCS...

"I have a very special request. I am an RN in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in a large Cleveland, Ohio hospital. Sadly, we do have some babies that do not make it, and our unit has a bereavement committee to help support these parents that suffer such a loss. Some babies live just a few short hours after birth, some of them succumb to the overwhelming odds after months in our unit. We help parents make a memory book, and collect mementos of their little one's too short life. We also send a sympathy card to the parents, and many of our nurses like to write a little personal note in the card before it is mailed. The hospital does provide generic cards, but they are in no way nearly as nice or as appreciated as handmade cards are. Awhile back, I did post this as a weekly challenge here on SCS, but unfortunately, our supply from that challenge is almost gone. I am hoping many of you lovely Wish-RAKers would help me in this effort.To help fulfill my wish, you can send me a handcrafted sympathy card that would be appropriate for a family suffering the loss of their infant. It does not necessarily have to have a baby theme. I ask that you try to make the card a bit larger than our standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" cards, since we have lots of nurses that like to write a little something in the card. (5x7ish is a good size, since it is still able to be mailed without extra postage)."

So, I created 8 cards today of 4 different designs, and I'm really unsure that they're "appropriate" but I'm going to send them to Patti and hope they can be used. I'm feeling like they're a little too "bright" but perhaps Patti will think differently since this is such a vastly different need than the typical sympathy card.

If you'd like to help by sending some cards too, please put your email address in a comment here and I'll contact you. I will edit or just not publish your comment so that your email address is not seen. Thank you!

This first card is made with generic cardstock and Wild Asparagus designer paper. The heart image is from my new Stampin' Up set called Time Well Spent, and the sentiment is from my Kitchen Sink Stamps Never a Loss 4 Words. I used Versafine Onyx Black ink, Versamagic Aspen Mist around the edges of the white square, and Versamagic Spanish Olive for the sentiment. The heart is colored with Bashful Blue, Mellow Moss, and Summer Sun SU! markers, and the main image panel is raised up on dimensionals.
These cards were created using the retired Rose Romance cardstock from Stampin' Up along with Pretty in Pink and Very Vanilla. I also used a light green Bazzill cardstock and designer paper from Anna Griffin. The flower stamp is from Inky Antics, and the sentiment is from Kitchen Sink Stamps Never a Loss 4 Words. I used Versamagic Pixie Dust ink for the flower base, and Pink Petunia for the flower petals and the sentiment. I inked the edges of the center square with Versamagic Aloe Vera ink. The ink strip was scalloped using my SU! corner rounder punch, and I added some pink Offray grosgrain for a finishing touch.At the suggestions of another SCS'er, I created these cards with the butterfly image from my SU! Time Well Spent set. The sentiment is from Kitchen Sink Stamps. My light green and moss green cardstocks are generic, and I also used SU! Taken with Teal and Very Vanilla. Both pieces of designer paper are from Paper Salon. I inked the butterfly and sentiment with Versamagic Sage ink and also inked the edges of the center square with it.These last cards are the ones I am most unsure about, as they didn't turn out very "baby-ish" but then again, I'm not sure they need be. All stamps are from Kitchen Sink Stamps... the 3-Step Daisy set, and Never a Loss 4 Words. Cardstock used is Stampin' Up Ruby Red, Blush Blossom and Very Vanilla, and designer paper is My Mind's Eye. I inked the daisy with Blush Blossom and Ruby Red, then inked the daisy center with Versamagic Jumbo Java. I inked the leaves with Versamagic Sage and Hint of Pesto, then spritzed the images with my color spritzer and Blush Blossom marker. The sentiment is stamped with Versamagic Red Brick. I added vanilla grosgrain ribbon to the dotted panel.
I hope you like my cards (and I hope Patti can use them and likes them, too!) I hope they'll inspire you to try to make some cards for the NICU also! Thanks in advance for your help!
I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving Day! Stamp Happy!

Holly & Figgy Pudding

Sorry for the delay in the details on this card! It's been a busy day! I created this card based on the SCS sketch challenge for today. The holly and sentiment are from my Kitchen Sink Stamps, the 3-step Holly & Mistletoe set. The holly was stamped first with Versamagic Chalk ink in sage. I inked the second stamp with Versamagic Hint of Pesto and stamped it off once to lighten before stamping my image. The third step was stamped with Hint of Pesto... full strength! The holly berries are stamped with Pixie Pink Versamagic, then Red Brick stamped off once, and the third time with Red Brick full strength. I stamped the sentiment with Red Brick also. I used my Stampin' Up Color Spritzer and spritzed the white panel with my SU! Mellow Moss marker. The cardstock is all Bazzill except for the white which I get at Hollo's. The designer paper is Figgy Pudding from Basic Grey, and that yummy faux seude red ribbon is from May Arts. The antique brads are from a source long ago forgotten! The main panel is raised up on dimensionals.

Thanks for looking, and Happy Thanksgiving! Stamp Happy!

Holiday Gift Ideas

Today I'd like to share with you the projects that were done at the store last week for the Holiday Gifts Classes that I had. This was quite popular as I ended up holding the class 3 times in 10 days for 19 different customers! All of the ideas came from SCS, of course... such a wonderful, helpful place to get ideas! The designer paper used in all 3 projects is the new Figgy Pudding paper from Basic Grey. We've never carried Basic Grey in the store before, and it's been quiet popular, so I'm pleased! All regular cardstock on my projects is Bazzill, and my white paper comes from Hollo's.
This first project is a Gift Card holder! Instructions to make you own can be found here... http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/giftcardholder.php. This was fun and easy to make. I decided to alter my design slightly and make a tag out of the top piece. The stamps are from Art Impressions. The "To:/From:" is stamped in Merlot Colorbox ink. The holly and berries were colored with Tombow markers, and there is Soft Sage Memories ink sponged around the edges of the tag. To create the "holder" there are scored lines on the long, folded piece that create a very short box-like piece, and then a small coin envelope is mounted inside for your gift card to slide into! The pattern on SCS calls for 2 envelopes inside so you have one for your sentiment but in this case I chose only one envelope. Less confusion in the class and less time spent creating!This next project is a Post-It Note holder. I found instructions for it long ago on someone's blog, I think! It is 2 pieces of chipboard coaster cut to 3 1/2" squares. The snowman paper is cut in 4 1/2" squares, and folded around each side of the coasters and attached with red-line tape. Inside, the light blue cardstock is cut 7" x 3 3/8" and is scored 3 1/4" from each end to create a "pocket" at the top for the post-it notes. Then we just stamped this little "Joy" stamp from Hero Arts in silver Encore ink, punched out scalloped circles with Marvy extra jumbo and super jumbo punches, attached a silver snowflake brads, and adhered! Cute and EASY! You could turn out a bunch of these for gifts in an evening!This last project was everyone's favorite because it involved CHOCOLATE! This is a Nugget Box! You can find instructions for your own box here... http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=190469 and if you read through the first few posts, you'll find there are instructions/patterns for nugget boxes of all sizes there! I owe many thanks to Chris Simon on SCS for re-writing this 3x15 pattern for me with alternate measurements so my customers could use the Scor-It to score all the lines on the boxes. The stamps on the box top are from Art Impressions. The serpentine swirls are stamped with Memories soft sage ink, and the sentiment is stamped with Colorbox warm red. The labels for the nuggets are also stamped with the serpentine swirls and letters in warm red. These are also very easy to make... don't be intimidated! These would be a big hit as teacher gifts and perfect for man or woman!
Thanks for looking! I wish everyone a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving Day! Stamp Happy!

Snowflakes!

I got this beautiful new paper from Magenta's Gingerbread Collection at the store on Thursday, and this cute, folksy snowflake stamp so I decided to pair them up and try this sketch challenge from Beate's blog... http://beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/

The snowflake and the sentiment (from Impression Obsession) are both stamped with Versamark ink, and embossed with Stampin' Up copper embossing powder. The snowflake is stamped on SU! Natural Ivory cardstock, then punched out with my mega circle punch. I punched a scalloped circle with my giga punch with a piece of Bazzill cardstock to layer. The card base is also from Bazzill... the color is Java. I pierced 3 holes in the top right corner for the copper brads (source unknown). I really struggled with the urge to add ribbon to this, but didn't want to detract from the pretty designer paper, so I resisted!

Thanks for looking!

Fall Cards Class

Back in September, my class at the store was simply "Fall cards." The previous manager had to plan the newsletter for September before I started working there, and made the class a little generic in the subject so that I could have a little freedom in planning it. So today, I'm finally getting the cards from that class uploaded! I hope you like them!
This first card was my very favorite, but also gave me the most grief! I really struggled with how to color the image! It's hard because things I have here at home and are comfortable using, or things I would have used as a Stampin' Up demo, are not necessarily what I have available at the store. I tried making markers work with this and it wasn't pretty! I finally settled for a Tombow marker #912 to highlight the shadowing on the pumpkins, and another Tombow marker #856 for the berries. The rest was colored with chalks, and I think turned out beautifully! My customers were a little leary of the chalks, but once they got started their images were gorgeous and it was neat to see how different each one turned out! Some people were very heavy-handed so their pumpkins and all were very bright and bold. Some were lighter, like me. The cardstock on the card is all Bazzill. I used a circle Coluzzle to cut out the circular window, and the green panel is then raised up on foam squares. The pumpkin patch stamp is from Northwoods.This second card was created using all stamps from Stamps by Judith and Heather. I have a few customers that are very loyal to her company and stamps, but I think I may discontinue carrying them. I personally like some of the images, but her company is difficult to deal with and requires a large minimum order every time. This card was also CASE'd from the Judith idea catalog. The leaves are stamped with Ancient Page black, and colored with a variety of Tombow markers in fall colors. "Be thankful" is stamped with tangerine Colorbox chalk ink, as are the leaves in the background on the orange panel. The maple leaf brad is from an unknown source (found it in my box of brads just laying loose!) For the class I purchased oak leaf brads from Hero Arts. All cardstock is Bazzill. I also thought the different-size card would be a neat change-up for the class, but something to remember with this size of card is it wastes a whole sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock for just one card!This card may look familiar... I might have uploaded it previously. The tree/rake stamp and the sentiment are all from Serendipity stamps. The tree was watercolored using Memories chestnut brown ink and an aquapainter. The sentiment is stamped with eggplant Colorbox pigment ink, and then embossed with Moon Glow copper embossing powder. The edges of the main panel are inked with Memories soft vanilla ink, and the chestnut ink. The whole panel was then spritzed with Moon Glow's Moon Shadow mist... can't remember the exact color but it was a copper. It gave it a gorgeous shimmer! If I remember correctly, I think I CASE'd most of this design from the Serendipity catalog.I was also pretty pleased with the results on this last card. The cardstock is all Bazzill, and the striped paper is from Flair. The long panel is a regular-size Rollograph wheel from Clearsnap called Harvest. It is inked with sepia Ancient Page ink. The sentiment is inked with olive pastel Colorbox chalk ink and unfortunately my memory escapes me this morning and I don't remember where that stamp came from... possibly Serendipity? I used my Crop-a-dile to set the We R Memory Keepers eyelet, and tied a piece of twill through it. For the class I had customers knock off 2 corners of the sentiment panel and the mat and centered the eyelet and twill to make it look more like a tag.
Thanks for checking out my fall cards! I'm off to work today, and hope to have time to play while I'm there! The whole stamping department has been cleaned up, reorganized, etc. and there is now a need for more demo samples on the floor so send good stamping vibes my way for quiet time today for stamping!
Stamp Happy!

Bliss... a day off!

Yeah, a day off was bliss but I still had too much to do that kept me from doing much stamping! Sorry for the long "pause" in posts here... it's been crazy lately and the calling hours and funeral last week took a big chunk out of my time and the weekend was just non-productive as far as stamping!




I finally got to play with some of my new Kitchen Sink Stamps this evening! I hope that you've all been chomping at the bit to see more of these great stamps! This first card uses the Playful Alphabet for the letter C, and the "congratulations" comes from a set to be released later this month called "Never a Loss 4 Words." It is an AWESOME set! You will never need another word/sentiment set again! My cardstock on this card is all Stampin' Up... Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla. I made the scallops using my corner rounder with the guard removed. The chocolate ribbon is from Joann's. I stamped swirled images from my Kitchen Sink Backgrounds and Borders set on the Vanilla cardstock with Frost White Colorbox ink. It didn't turn out quite the way I wanted... I stamped it first and let it dry, then stamped it again and embossed with clear. I may have to do it over again... it'll keep me up nights! The "c" was double-stamped with SU! Purely Pomegranate classic ink, and I cut one letter out and mounted it above the other. The "ongratulations" is stamped with Versamagic Jumbo Java ink. Both are embossed with clear EP.

This last picture is a "sneak peek" of a new set soon to be released! Doesn't it look YUMMY???

Beauty from The Sink!

Have you ever had anything this beautiful come out of your Kitchen Sink? LOL This 3-Step Daisy set from Kitchen Sink Stamps continues to amaze me! I just love what can be created with it!

This card is for our wonderful friend, Carol. She's the wife of our family friend who died on Sunday. I hope it brings her some cheer, along with the apple crisp I made for the family!

The stamp set I used is, of course, the 3-Step Daisy and the sentiment comes from that set, too. I inked the first layer of the daisy with Versacolor white, then edged it with a little bit of Smoke Blue Colorbox ink. The second layer I inked with Stampin' Up Going Gray, stamped it off once to remove some ink, then stamped the flower. The third layer is stamped with Going Gray, fully inked. The daisy center was stamped with Versamark, then I sprinkled it with Moon Glow yellow embossing powder. The leaves were stamped with Versamagic Sage and Spanish Olive. The sentiment was stamped with Spanish Olive, also and embossed with clear embossing powder.

Remember, only 1 day until the release of 4 new Holiday Stamp Sets from Kitchen Sink Stamps! Remember to look for the banner ad on Thursday, November 1st at www.splitcoaststampers.com to purchase the new stamps and get a 15% discount!!!

Stamp happy!

One more day to NEW STAMPS!

I can't get this banner to animate, and show you the words "4 New Holiday Sets" or to tell you specifically that they'll be released on November 1st, but you get the gist, right? Be sure to go to http://kitchensinkstamps.com for the online store, and click on the link for "Sink News" to go to Maria's blog and get a sneak peek at some of the new sets! Then, right away tomorrow morning, go to http://splitcoaststampers.com and look for the banner ad! Click on it to take you to the store, where you'll receive 15% off your total purchase on November 1st! Can't beat that! Great new stamps, with a great discount! I promise, you'll love the stamps! :)

Are you ready for some new STAMPS!!!

Less than 2 days and counting until the release of new Holiday Stamp Sets from Kitchen Sink Stamps! Be sure to see the banner ads at http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ on Thursday, November 1st! Click on the banner to order the new sets, and receive 15% off your order! Wow! How generous is Maria! An awesome chance to get some awesome stamps at an awesome deal! Do I sound like a valley girl, or what? Totally!

sadness

That's it.... just a plain black square. Our family lost a very dear friend to cancer this evening. I had made a few cards today that I intended to upload tonight but it's now furthest from my mind, so it's just a black square. This man was the absolute very nicest man you could ever hope to meet, let alone call a friend. Just one of those people that you're very lucky to have known... you know what I mean? Always kind and good to everyone, always there to help, always giving more than he got. And it's completely and utterly unfair that his life is over at age 55. And he leaves behind a wonderful family... a wife, 3 awesome kids, a daughter-in-law, 2 beautiful grandchildren, brothers, his mother, nieces and nephews and a ton of people that we so lucky to have had him touch our lives. If you are so inclined, please include the Lantz family in your prayers. And remember to let everyone in your life know how much they mean to you! Say "I love you" until you can't say it anymore!

Busy, busy!

The weekend was busy, and has extended into my week, as usual! Can't believe it's Wednesday already! My daughters volleyball season is officially over, so hopefully that means a little more "down-time" for me before the holidays through us into high gear.

I spent a lot of the weekend, and a few hours of my day off on Monday making cards for a project at church. One of my customers at the store told me she keeps a box full of all-occasion cards on a table at her church. People are welcome to help themselves to whatever they need, and all that's asked is that they leave a donation of some amount in another box beside the cards. The donations are then given to their mission fund. What a wonderful idea, don't you think!? So I decided to try something like that. I have to wait until Church Council meets again next month for approval, but I can't think of any reason not to approve so I've started making cards. I have 44 done so far, and am hoping to have at least 100 to start. I'm a little leary of making too many duplicates so it's been challenging. I'm worried that if there is someone in the church having a special birthday, that 3 or 4 people may take the same cards from the box (if I do too many duplicates) and then the birthday person gets all the same cards! So anyway... above are pictures of what I created. There is too much information to list specifics for each card, but if there's one you want to know more about, just email me! A link to email me is in my profile.

Thanks for looking, and happy "hump" day!

A new adventure!

Check out that great logo on the right side of my page! Yep, I'm officially a Design Team member for the Kitchen Sink Stamps... dubbed the Kitchen Sink Crew! I'm thrilled, excited, nervous and just plain happy (Stamp Happy!) to be given this honor by Maria! It's really neat to be a part of all this, and to kind of be helping Maria get her company really off the ground! There are some great new holiday sets due to be released soon, and you'll love them all! Maria has got some wonderful ideas, and is such a great artist! Be sure to check out the website for the store and idea gallery (http://www.kitchensinkstamps.com/) and check out the Design Team announcement on her blog (http://kitchensinkstamps.wordpress.com/) to see the other wonderfully talented designers that I share this opportunity with!

Easy Gift Bag

My daughter has a birthday party to go to tonight, so I quickly made up this easy gift bag! I must have received one previously in a swap or something because I had one in a pile of cards and stuff in my stamping room, but don't know where it came from nor who the original designer might be (if there is someone to give credit to for the design!) If this bag design has a name, I'd love to know! Anyway, I used just a plain white paper lunch bag, and cut it so that it is 7" tall. The front piece of cardstock is cut the width of the bag (5 1/4") by 7" tall. The back piece is cut 5 1/4" by 8 1/2" and was scored at 7 1/8" for the fold over the top. The cardstock I used is Stampin' Up Cool Caribbean, Chocolate Chip and generic white. I stamped swirls from my Kitchen Sink Stamps Backgrounds & Borders set using Versamagic Sea Breeze ink. Happy Birthday is from Kitchen Sink Stamps 3-Step Daisy set and is stamped with Versamagic Jumbo Java and embossed with clear embossing powder. The scallops on the Chocolate Chip piece under the flap was punched with my corner rounder punch. The little card is 2 3/4" square and is stamped with the medium flower from my Kitchen Sink Stamps 3-Step Daisy set in Versamagic Sea Breeze, Aegean Blue, and Jumbo Java. The edges around the main image are inked with SU! Cool Caribbean, and the piece is matted on a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock punched with my Marvy giga scalloped square. I finished off the bag by punching a hole and threading a piece of chocolate brown satin ribbon through it.

My daughter is at a volleyball game, so she has yet to see this! When she does she's probably not going to want to give the gift! :)

Thanks for looking!

Holiday Gift Idea

Do you need a good idea for holiday-gift giving? This is a coaster calendar that I made last year. Someone asked me to send pictures of it to her, but my email account won't let me send this many pictures at one time, so I thought I'd post it here for everyone to see! The front and back covers of the calendar are made with 4x4 chipboard coasters, covered with designer paper and/or cardstock. The inside pages are just made from cardstock, and glued back to back. The calendar stands on it's own using the front and back covers. The rings (I can't remember what they're called!) are available from any office supply. I think I've even seen them in the office supplies at Wal-Mart. Mine are about the size of a 50 cent piece in diameter (or maybe just a tad bigger). If you get them too small, there won't be room for all the pages. The actual calendar pages come from http://www.stamponthis.com/. All supplies to make this calendar are from Stampin' Up, however it was created last year, so some items are outdated or retired!

Have a happy Thursday!