Table Centers and 3-D Favors from the Poughkeepsie Shoebox Swap

Morning Everyone! Here's a look at the table centerpieces I made for the Poughkeepsie Shoebox Swap. I made four of these, with the help of hubby on the accordion flowers. Whew! Glad to get them done! I got the flower pots, called Easter Trees, at the dollar store - a classic alteration project!

The dimensions of the accordion flowers are 3/4 x 12" strip of DSP, scored every 1/4". I held these together with a hot glue gun, to make sure they weren't going anywhere! The center circle of the flower was punched with the 3/4" circle punch.

I used the Birds & Blooms die for the small and large leaves. I totally think these look like spring trees - not fully filled out with leaves and blooms yet. I hope the ladies liked them!

Supplies: Paper: Delicate Dots DSP; Accessories: 3/4" Circle punch, Hot glue gun, Birds & Blooms die, Big Shot, Flower pots.

These are the little 3-D bunny boxes that Sue (Stampin'HappyInCT) brought for everyone. So cute! Thank you, Sue!

Thanks for stopping by!

Make & Takes from the Poughkeepsie Shoebox Swap

We did a couple large group make & takes at the Poughkeepsie Shoebox Swap. This is the make & take Gayla brought. It is a 5 x 7" canvas board, which we inked and embellished. Very cute!

This is the one I prepared - a card purse. I figured the participants could use this box to carry some of their shoebox cards home. A tutorial can be found here.

I used some of the beautiful images from the Sweet Pea DSP pack in the Occasions mini to create the box panels. I just flipped over the backside of the DSP for the coordinating strip of paper. The "collar" is made by punching with the 1-1/4" Circle punch and then centering that hole in the Scallop Circle punch and punching again.

Here is the backside of the box. This project comes out really elegant with the satin ribbon from the Occasions mini. The dimensions for the box are 6 x 11-1/2", score at 1" on the 6" side, score at 1, 5-1/2, 6-1/2, 11" on the 11-1/2" side.

Stamps: Sweet Celebrations, Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Sweet Pea DSP; Ink: Taken with Teal; Accessories: 1-1/4" Circle punch, 1-3/8" Circle punch, Scallop Circle punch, Crop-o-dile, Chocolate Chip satin ribbon, 5/16" brads, Dimensionals, Sticky Strip.

Here's a picture of the door prizes.

Thank you to everyone who donated to the door prize collection, including There She Goes and Bugaboo stamps!

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Goodie Bags from the Poughkeepsie Shoebox Swap

Last week I showed you the felt basket I made with the Baskets & Blooms die and the Big Shot. Although the basket was pretty easy, not quick enough to make 22 of them. So I eliminated the round bottom and made more of a flat felt pouch for the goodie bags for our shoebox swap.

I also used the Baskets & Blooms die to make the flowers and the Leaves #2 die for the leaves.

And the "goodies" in the goodie bag...

Supplies: Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun, Garden Green felt, Chocolate Chip thread, Sewing machine, 5/16" Chocolate Chip brads, Baskets & Blooms XL die, Leaves #2 die, Big Shot, Hot glue gun.

A couple shots from the fun day -

Thank you everyone for coming. I had a great time!

And thanks for stopping by!

A Cute Felt Basket

Today is another post showing the fun you can have cutting fabric, in this case felt, with the Big Shot. I specifically bought the Baskets & Blooms XL die in order to make one of these felt baskets.

I tried sewing the basket bottom on using the sewing machine, and I was starting to get the hang of it, but it is difficult since it is circular. So I resorted to sewing the sides together by machine and hand-stitching the bottom with Creamy Caramel-colored embroidery floss. The Sweet Pea felt pieces from the Occasions mini make it so quick and easy to dress up this little basket. I glued them on with a glue gun. I know, how cheesy, huh?

But don't these baskets come out cute?

Supplies: Chocolate Chip felt, Chocolate Chip thread, Sewing machine, Creamy Caramel embroidery floss, Sweet Pea felt pieces, Baskets & Blooms XL die, Big Shot, Hot glue gun.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cardfront for Poughkeepsie Shoebox Swap

Have you ever had a stamp set you had to have and then haven't used yet? Kind & Caring Thoughts was that set for me, recently at least. So I was determined to use it on my cardfront. It took me two days to get a prototype, and it went totally in a different direction than I imagined, but still I am happy with it.

I love using this color-blocking type of background. It's a great way to use up scraps. An image in last year's Decor Elements brochure was the inspiration for the colors.

For the main image, I stamped the flowers (peonies, in my opinion) with Pretty in Pink and Pink Pirouette on the Whisper White cardstock and in Regal Rose on the vellum paper. The vellum paper didn't show the full strength of the Regal Rose color, which is what I was going for, but still strong enough to draw your eye to the image rather than the somewhat noisy background.

Here are some close-up images of the stitching.

Can you imagine I made 20 of these?!?

Stamps: Kind & Caring Thoughts; Paper: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Bella Rose DSP, Candy Lane DSP, Vellum paper; Ink: Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Mellow Moss, Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Ticket corner punch, Scallop oval punch, Wide oval punch, Brads, Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon, Sewing machine & thread, Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chemistry Birthday

My brother-in-law is a chemist, so what I great opportunity to use my Chemistry set from There She Goes again. I really do like this set; it is very nerdy! ;) [And also pretty cool that this set was co-designed by a stamping friend in NJ!]

The background is scored with a scoring blade, and I colored the image with Stampin' Write markers and watercolor crayons. I paper pierced for some interest.

Stamps: Chemistry by There She Goes; Paper: Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Ruby Red DSP; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Going Gray, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron markers; Accessories: Aquapainter, Neutrals and Earth Elements Watercolor Crayons, Paper Piercer, Brads, Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by!

ATC for Poughkeepsie Shoebox Swap

We are ramping up for the first shoebox swap in Poughkeepsie, which is this Saturday! Everyone is busy making their swaps and their shoebox projects, which we will enjoy making on that day. I finished my ATC swap, and I got to use my new There She Goes stamps.

So this is an elegant trifold invitation with beautiful glossy striped paper accent and black linen cardstock base from the retired Taste of Textiles DSP pack. Makes you think of a black tie dinner, huh? Well, open it up and...

... just an invitation to dinner at our humble home! Heehee. There She Goes has several sets with cheeky sayings, cute for those who like a joke. Our 'little meal' was sponged on the edges and paper pieced.

I had no idea I could cut such small pieces. I have really gotten into micro-crafting lately with tweezers. Whew!

Stamps: Tastes Like Chicken by There She Goes, Baroque Motif, Sanded; Paper: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Going Gray, Pink Pirouette, Taste of Textiles DSP; Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Chocolate Chip, Basic Gray, Going Gray; Accessories: Sponge, Circle punch, Corner rounder punch, Black eyelets, Black embroidery floss.

More creations for the shoebox swap to come... Thanks for stopping by!

Scrapbook Monday

I know it is really starting to feel like spring. So who would be thinking about snow photos? Well, I have been waiting for the end of winter to look back on all the 'fun in the snow' photos and create a scrapbook page, inspired by a page in the Holiday mini catalog.

This page uses printed window sheets from the mini. I attached the window sheet to the photo using small drops of Crystal effects.

In this view you can see that I stamped a background using the Snow Swirled stamp set and Frost White shimmer paint. I used a sponge dauber to apply the paint directly to the stamp and then stamped the cardstock.

Stamps: Snow Swirled, Christmas Punch, Season by Season, Short Order Numbers; Paper: Kraft, Bordering Blue, Naturals White, Bella Bleu DSP; Ink: Versamark, Chocolate Chip, Bordering Blue; Accessories: White embossing powder, Circle punch, Scallop edge punch, Square scallop punch, Printed window sheet, Timeless Type chipboard letters, Sponge dauber, Frost White shimmer paint, Mini Library clip, Linen thread, Crystal effects, Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by!

More Swaps to Share

A second installment of "choice swaps" from my Syracuse Regionals mail-in swap. Here I grabbed all the masculine and young teen cards - a hard bunch to stamp for!

This card was created by my friend tillyhead, aka Michele Moran, using the Extreme Guitar stamp and a homemade brick background stamp. Super cool!

This card, using the stamp sets Extreme Skateboard and Extreme Elements, was created by Cathy McGough. She used Glossy White cardstock, colored the background with yellow and Taken with Teal inks, and embossed the main image with black embossing powder. Nice effect!

And I love getting cards with stamp sets I don't have! This one uses the Just Basketball stamp set. Sorry, I don't know who created this one. She stamped whistles on the orange background.

I hope you enjoyed these differently styled cards. Thanks to all the swap participants who mailed and shared their swaps with me!! And thanks for stopping by!

Swaps to Share

Last week I completed a mail-in swap for the Syracuse Regionals that all us local demonstrators missed out on - recall it was cancelled due to that huge snowstorm. I picked out some cards that really caught my eye.

These cards use the stamp set I love but haven't gotten my hands on yet - Trendy Trees. This set also coordinates with Sweet Pea DSP and Sweet Pea felt pieces in the Occasions mini. Love this set! Sorry I can't give credit to the creator, as they weren't signed on the back. :(

Come back tomorrow for more swap sharing. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

I'm not Irish, but it's fun to make seasonal projects. Since I am laying in bed sick, I'll share with you a couple projects from last year.

Here is a card using "inches".

Stamps: Holiday Blitz, Occasions Collection; Paper: Certainly Celery, Garden Green, Spring Fling DSP, Whisper White; Ink: Garden Green; Accessories: ribbon, square punches, Stamp-a-ma-jig.

This is a trifold card. I used Heat 'n Stick powder and Cosmo glitter for the clovers and puffy paint for the foam on the green beer.

Stamps: Cheers to You, Holiday Blitz; Paper: Garden Green, Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla, Close to Cocoa, Spring Fling DSP; Ink: Close to Coca, Garden Green; Accessories: Circle punch, Puffy paint, watercolor crayons, aquapainter, Heat 'n Stick powder, Cosmo glitter.

ETA: I wrote the above post yesterday, and I made it out of bed today (yeah!). I whipped this card together this morning for my father-in-law's 65th birthday. This is a CASE of 'sleepyinseattle' on SCS - love her work!

Since I didn't have all the colors I needed in markers, it was easier to unmount my Occasions stamp from the wood block, trim the little shamrock, and stamp it individually. I did this by adhering the stamp to my acrylic block with double-stick tape and then stamping with my cardstock on top of a mouse pad. Fun!

Stamps: Branch Out, Occasions Collection; Paper: Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip; Ink: Garden Green, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Sponge, Old Olive taffeta ribbon, Glue dot, Finial Press embossing folder, Big Shot, Stamp-a-ma-jig.

I've got St. Patrick's fever now... here's one more.

Stamps: Sweetheart, Holiday Blitz, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Occasions Collection; Paper: Green Galore, Whisper White, Patterns Pack II DSP; Ink: Green Garden; Accessories: Full Heart punch, Heart treat cups, Whisper White taffeta ribbon, Lollipop stick.

Thanks for stopping by!

Vintage Birthday

Another vintage birthday card a stamping friend. Nancy and I shared a couple of sheets of rubber stamps at last year's stamp expo in Syracuse. I figured she would probably enjoy a card with one of the images I took home.

Can you believe the pianist is a stamp? I stamped with Black Stazon on Glossy White cardstock, which was actually a little beat up. It gave the image a weathered vintage look. I sponged the edges of the background to antique it as well. I had also picked up the musical notes background at the same expo. Hope she likes it. Happy Birthday, Nancy!

Stamps: Pianist by Stampsmith, Musical notes by Stamp Camp; Paper: Very Vanilla, Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Glossy White; Ink: Black Stazon, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Sponge, Chocolate Chip satin ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chemistry ATC

I've joined an ATC swap featuring There She Goes stamps. Another opportunity to use my new Chemistry stamp set! I tried to go a little darker, but it's hard to think up the right embellishments for a chemistry theme. This has been a work-in-progress for several days.

Stamping the image turned out to be quite an ordeal. Since I was watercoloring, I discovered which water insoluble ink also works with clear stamps. Since Versafine doesn't come in a marker, I had to use post-it notes to mask off most of the stamp when I inked it - a little bit of a nightmare with stray marks. It's a learning process...

I stamped and colored the main image using Kiwi Kiss classic ink and Stampin' Write markers. Some special details include Tulip puffy paint for the foam and Crystal Effects on the test tube for a glassy look. I made a sentiment tag with the small and large oval punch, pewter eyelets, and jump rings. The rope twine is currently available in the clearance rack on my SU website.

And some close-up views of the Crystal Effects and puffy paint.

Stamps: Chemistry by There She Goes; Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black, Whisper White, Rockabilly DSP; Ink: Versafine Black Onyx, Kiwi Kiss, Going Gray, Pumpkin Pie, and So Saffron markers; Accessories: Aquapainter, Neutrals Watercolor Crayons, Large oval punch, Small oval punch, Pewter eyelets, Crop-o-dile, Rope Twine, Jump rings, Post-it notes, Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by!

Leprechaun Bear

A fellow Stampin' Addicts blogger made a Build-a-Bear Leprechaun, and it was just so cute. Heck, I haven't made any St. Patrick's Day projects yet, so in between music class and satisfying the demands of the jelly bean snob (my daughter) who only wanted the green Jelly Bellies from Adams, off I went to CASE.

The basket and necktie are from the new die Beary Hoppy in the Occasions mini. It is a Sizzlits die and very affordable at $5.95. I am sure there is an Easter bear or two in my future!

The original art work was created by Lisa Naples, her blog here. Thanks for inspiring me today!

Stamps: Holiday Blitz; Paper: Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Basic Black, Garden Green, Certainly Celery; Ink: Garden Green, Certainly Celery; Accessories: Sponge, Gold embossing powder, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, Small circle punch, Big Shot, and Bear, Beary Essentials, Beary Boy, Beary Hoppy dies.

Thanks for stopping by!

Skater Dude

Here is a good idea for a birthday card for an adolescent or teenage boy - skater dude! This one I call SAB (Sale-a-bration) style, because I earned both the Extreme Skater and the Itty Bitty Backgrounds stamps used here free for Sale-a-bration (pick a free stamp set for every $50 spent).

I created this card to open like a book by scoring the 4-1/4 x 11" cardstock at 4-3/4" and 5-1/2". I created the main image panel by embossing the image in black embossing powder on Glossy White cardstock. The background of the main image uses the Polished Stone technique: soak a cotton ball with some rubbing alcohol and add a few drops of coordinating reinkers (Crushed Curry and More Mustard here), then dab the ball on the glossy cardstock until it is covered. The right side of the Dusty Durango DSP was weathered with a sanding block. This layout was inspired by the cover of September 2009 Stampin' Success magazine.

Stamps: Extreme Skateboard, Itty Bitty Backgrounds; Paper: Dusty Durango, Crushed Curry, Naturals White, Soft Suede, Glossy White, Welcome Neighbor DSP, Thoroughly Modern DSP, Dusty Durango DSP; Ink: Versamark, Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay, Basic Black, More Mustard and Crushed Curry reinkers, Basic Black marker; Accessories: Black embossing powder, Cotton ball, Rubbing alcohol, Color spritzer, Sanding block, Brads.

Thanks for stopping by!

Another Baby

It seems to be raining babies lately. This is a card I made for a friend from my mom's group for her new little one Adelle.

I wanted to create a card that opened like an envelope from an awards ceremony (the Oscars??). And I have been wanting to try these inter-office envelope closures for a while; I crunched them up a bit so they would look weathered. I sketched out the dimensions for this one myself: 5-1/2 x 10" cardstock, score at 2-7/8" and 7-1/8".

Here's the inside. I'm pleased with how this one came out.

Stamps: Punches Three, Buggies & Booties, Warm Words, Holidays & Wishes; Paper: Pretty in Pink, Very Vanilla, Spring Fling DSP; Ink: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Corner rounder punch, 3/4" Circle punch, Eyelets, Cording, Aquapainter.

Thanks for stopping by!

ATC Class on Wednesday

Some ATCs that you may have missed...

We will be making these ATCs at class tomorrow. Stop in to find out how to squeeze a lot of art into such a little space!

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Papa's Birthday

Well, it was hubby's birthday on Friday, so my almost 3-year-old daughter picked out her stamps and colors and made him a card. She stamped everything herself except the unicorn and colored with her markers. I helped a little bit with the mane and tail.

I think she's getting really good with her stamping. Very masculine, don't you think? :) Papa liked it very much!

Stamps: Pony Party; Paper: Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Whisper White; Ink: Melon Mambo, marker; Accessories: Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon, Glue dot.

Thanks for stopping by!

Big Shot Fabric Swap: Build-a-Bear Drawstring Bag

Here is my other Big Shot fabric swap item - the Build-a-Bear drawstring bag. This would be a perfect party favor bag for birthday parties.

I created this one the same way as the appliqued towel. Iron on Heat 'n Bond to the backside of the fabric and run it through the Big Shot with the Stampin Up Bear and Beary Girl dies. Yes, I was able to cut fabric with the Sizzlit dies! Then remove the backing from the Heat 'n Bond and iron onto the drawstring bag. I just pressed the iron rather than moving it back and forth to avoid the fabric from fraying at the edges. I added a Sending Love epoxy brad from the Occasions mini for a little belt bling.

We will be making these bags at our Big Shot club Meeting #3 (Alternate Materials theme) on March 30th. Feel free to join us!

Thanks for stopping by!