Jack O' Lanterns

Did you ever try to carve pumpkins with 3 little boys?

They all want the knife!

Dylan wanted a spider man pumpkin and then wanted to give him a lobotomy- I let him carve and destroy the back of the pumpkin.

Kyle decided he wanted to draw a bunch of jack o'lanterns and see which one he liked and make a book- using my post it notes and my eraserboard marker! Do you think it's acid free and archivable? (LOL) Not bad for a just turned 4 year old, eh?

Here's one of the JOL's carved and ready...

Happy Halloween!

Lynda

Halloween school gifts

Halloween is fast coming upon us and my kids always look forward to this time of the year. Costumes.... candy.....jack o Lanterns.... It's kid's dream. I really try to teach my kids about healthy eating and try to discourage candy giving since everyone gets so much of it- I tried the toy and playdoh route although it was not popular at Halloween- I keep trying!

For school I made a little thank you gift for the teachers- a little magnetic notepad I picked up at the local store, with a matching pencil, I placed the bat topper- directions given previously and put it in a halloween bag and tied it with SU's gorgeous ribbon and with a llittle tag. a simple but hopefully useful gift. We have such great teachers at our school- with the budget cuts in the california state, they really are getting shafted and we need to really show our support and write to Arnold and tell him to stop cutting our school budget!




These are 20 pencils and bat toppers for Tyler's class- better for their teeth than candy! - stick the bats on with sticky tape- everything else came undone! The container held some candy from someone I am recycling.

Crimper ice cream cone

Nothing says summer like an ice cream cone and with a crimper the cone is an easy job.

Just put the cardstock in one direction and then run it across in opposite direction to make the waffle pattern.

Take the scallop circle and punch 3 scallops from your favorite flavors- here 2 from chocolate chip and one from pink pirouette.

cut the scallops off the top part of the scallop to make a scoop.

Stamp cupcake wheel in red for subtle background. Tie a ribbon with sentiment from crazy for cupcake dtamped in black around the bottom and apply highlight with a gel pen.

Have fun with your crimper!

Trifold card with Crimped bellyband

Another crimped idea- We made this at my last party for the birthday special- this card is in thanks to one my swap group members- this is the crimper in its more traditional use. Take a real red CS 10 1/2 by 3 1/2 and score at 3 1/2 and 7 to make a trifold. Score the end squares on a diagonal parellel to each other and it will fold into a trifold- attach summer picnic DD paper - 3 1/4 inch square cut on diagonal. Stamp Crazy for cupcakes on a white CS- color with blender pen from lids of inks- old olive, pumpkin and bashful blue then red marker for the cherry- add dazzling diamonds-glitter for the cupcake frosting and crystal effects for the cherry on top. Crimp a 3/4 x 8 1/2 inch orange piece- again alway cut to size after the crimping- attach the cupcake piece with a dimensional after tyiing on a silver cord. Inside has stamped on the center panel in white craft ink " hope yourday is sweetest ever" on the left and balloon on the right side. Emboss with clear EP and heat set.

Crimper Tricks

I have had a crimper since they first came out probably over a decade ago and have used them for various purposes- It's been sitting on my wall forever but I used it recently for a birthday card trifold bellyband and so many people were wow'd by it that I thought I'd make some cards that showed its versatility- I have other crimpers but this straight one is the one that I always come back to. Take a pink pirouette CS 4 1/4 by 5 1/2- quarter sheet- then score and fold down the corners 2 1/8 inch triangles on all 4 sides- run it through the crimper with the folds in place and it gives you opposite direction corrugation as shown. Unfold and trim to size- it bows out and shrinks during the crimping. You always want to start with a larger size than one you really need because of shrinkage. Stamp heart and sentiment from Always in ridinghood red on whisper white CS and cut out and mount on kiwi CS and cut out again. Use stampin' dimensional to attach the heart and the sentiment . Mount the pink crimped paper to white cardbase- I like to use sticky tape for this for that extra hold. Simple but pretty

Twins' Birthday

My little guys are turning 4 and we are having a birthday party with everyone in their preschool invited. Of course you can't have 2 invitations for one party but Kyle wanted a race car and Dylan wanted a dog on the card so this was the compromise- the dog driving the racecar!

The twins are offered the same food and environment and parents yet they can't be more different; the older I get more convinced I am about about nature being more determinant of who we are than nurture.

This is the invitation and Crayola Crayon favors I made for the party- It's at Gymboree and we got their favor bags but I wanted something a little extra with the theme of the party.

The car is from Start your engines clear stampset from Boxer Scrapbook. The little dog is from Dog and Pony show from Technique Tuesday- I couldn't find a dog that fit inside the car and my DH says " I can't believe with the thousands of stamps you have you don't have a dog that fits in there"- well spoken. Dylan picked a big dog out from a set and little did I realize it came with a tiny version of the same- thank you Technique Tuesday! Alphabet for invitation from Hero arts- for favor from simple alphabet from Papertrey Ink. Other words from various CTMH sets- Exhaust Fire from tatoo set from Technique Tuesday also. Paper from Harley Davidson from EK success- I bought a whole mess of these at Michaels when they were on sale- I figured with 3 boys who all love hotwheels I'd get plenty of use out of it. I tied a black ribbon with a white stitching down the middle that looks like a road below the car but took a picture of this one by mistake- too late for another picture so you'll have to imagine it -

Happy Weekend!

Lynda

Happy Blessings

I like to have at least 4 projects for my stamping parties. This past week was so hectic that even by Friday morning I had only 3 projects ready and I had so many ideas but not enough time to prepare and I wanted different type of projects to round out the experience for people- watercolor one, diecut another, wheel another so you get to try different things- I had a whole day planned out to the minute with doctor's appt for the twins, haircut, bank, hospital rounds, meeting with accountant, get cake for FIL's birthday, grocery shopping, doctor's appt for Tyler- you get the idea. So it had to be easy for me to make and prepare and I wanted to use the Happy Blessings stampset and I saw the card in the Holiday mini and tweaked it and you know I think I like it better. Again a simple layout for any stamp with a central image and a sentiment on the side.

Happy Blessings Stamped with Basic Brown Ink on Very Vanilla and colored in with watercolor crayon using aqua painter. Distress the edge with Cutter Kit and mount on chocolate brown CS piece. Pierce holes and put 2 gold brads. Use same ink to stamp sanded background to stip of kiwi CS then mount on "Pungkin Pa" Cardbase - as my Dylan would say- Mount the center image on top. Stamp the sentiment with same ink on corner. Stamp the pumpkin in a separate little piece, color in and attach with dimensionals on top of center image.

Bat Pencil topper

This is a little treat I am making for my son's class for Halloween - the bat was CASED from http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1054178

I did change the ears a bit because I wanted it to stand up and stay that way.

This starts with the scallop square punch using black CS.








score the center diagonally.













fold diagonally as shown.













cut little angles using scissors- you may have to play around- different cuts will give you different head and ear sizes. I thought cutting about a quarter inch in like this looked well proprtioned.










fold the ears back as shown. Now this is how the original looked complete but the ear sometimes flipped out so I changed it up a bit. You should do it however you like.










I unfolded the square and then turned the ears up and then refolded it like this.












You may have to tweak the ears a bit but it will stay as you make it.












decorate the face with white gel pen.

and place on top of a pencil- I stuck the wings down with the dimensionals- using the half size they have at the margins and it will stay on the pencils pretty tight.

Enjoy and thanks for looking!

Torn window

This is a really nice technique for any single image- I love the organic feel to the card as opposed to most of my neatly diecut windows with embossed edges that I tend to do. With this and a simple sentiment on the card itself- simplicity-



It feels like there was this secret behind the front panel and you tore it open to take a peek inside.



Here I used A Cardinal Christmas from the SU holiday mini catalogue in black ink on 4x4 whisper white CS and colored in quick with watercolor crayons. Take real red CS 81/2 x 5 1/2 folded in half and versamark the snowflake (hard to see I know). Cut an x with a craft knife where you think you want your image then tear the edge- make sure you leave at least 1/2 inch around the edge to tape the white CS from behind. I really like the edges to be rough- you can use the distressing tool or your fingers- I like to roll the edges and tear it so the rolls go in 2 different directions too. The sentiment is stamped on a inch wide strip and punched with keytag punch doing one side at a time to allow for the longer length -then horizontal slot punch- cut a strip of kiwi paper and thread through and tape down with dimensional behind the tag to add some depth.



This is the card I had for my stamping party- - same technique as above - here it looks spooky to have it torn- Stamp House of Haunts on Orange CS in black ink then use Green galore watercolor crayon directly on paper to get that opaque look on the moon, window and tombstones. Do not use water or blender pen over it. Tear the black CS as noted above then stamp Happy Halloween from same set and punch out with Wide oval and the sides with the horizontal slot punch. Sponge the edges to make it even more spooky. Cut a slit on the fold of the card to thread the ribbon and then thread Kiwi Kiss ribbon throught the tag, through the slit then aroung and through the right side of the oval and tape down so the edges are hidden.



This is an easy formula to duplicate with any season card. Couldn't you see a little bunny sitting in a basket behind the torn window for spring? or a valentine heart throbbing behind a red card?

Oodles of October Occasions

October for me is the craziest time of the year- the birthdays start with my DH on the 2nd -my FIL on the 10th - my own father on the 13th- then my twins on the 16th - with a party to plan for 20 preschoolers- Halloween with all their spooktacular images I am dying to stamp with- even if don't send it you anyone - but I always mean to.... so I've neglected this little blog- but hopefully no longer- these are little treats we made at my stamp party last night. The little pillow box die from SU with whisper white CS wheeled with arachnophobia in black, the tag is from Eat, Drink and Be Scary from the holiday mini. Punched with the tag punches and tied with pumpkin pie 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon.

My gripe with this project is with the die- The pillow box die is just a little too big on one of the sides to fit a 1/4 sheet of 8 1/2 by 11 CS. If you do use it you will slice off a piece from one of the flaps on the ends. Solution? die cut 2 boxes and lay them on a half sheet 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 and lay them out one reverse of the other, then hand cut a gentle S between the 2 boxes and it will tightly fit and 2 perfect boxes. Keep one of the cut pieces as a template for future boxes though so you don't have to keep doing this.

I made this for a sample for my class last night and because I had to take my oldest for his doctor's visit, had to set everything up for the party and left my -about to turn 4 -twins at home with the nanny. The party begins at 4 and I get home at 3:30 and the sample is GONE! I search the house top and bottom with my sweetie girlfriend Makani who came early to play to no avail. I grill the twins and Dylan admits he took it- I am frantic as I still had another project I needed to be working on and I did not need the aggravation.. he says it is in Daddy's room- so I look and he crawls in under the bed and gives me 2 pieces of candy corn- where is my topper?- I am screaming and nothing! He shrugs his shoulders and goes back to playing- Makani turns to look at me and says- "It's your own fault for leaving candy out with the kids at home."- I had to laugh- I whipped this second sample up in about 2 minutes- so it's not as perfect as my first sample but oh well....


I CASED this from a project from my talented stamping friend Marisa H. She told me she cased it from someone too but not sure where so credits to whoever it belongs for this darling idea. Take a top note die cut in Kiwi and then die cut another using a strip of black CS at the end only- and cut out shoe shape as shown. Stamp trick or treat from Tasty sweet with kiwi ink, then put 1/2 inch strips of orange CS for stockings, then tape on the shoes. Take another 1/2 inch strip of lovely lilac- tape the back and cut little irregular strips and tack on the orange socks- the more irregular and uneven the better it seems to look! Take horizontal slot punch through the summer sun CS and use black marker to make the hole in the buckle- attach to candy filled small flat cellophane bags and staple or tape the topper on. ( if you want to hide the staple you can stample from the back where the shoe would go before you mount the shoes to hide the rough ends.

Here's wishing for a spooky month!

Going Green

I have been a recycling FANATIC as long as I can remember- I tore the little windows from envelopes so that it could be recycled- I would make trips to the recycling center saving eveything that can be recycled until I had enough to make the trip worthwhile when they did not have curve side pickup. My neighborhood recycles almost everything and my hubby who complained when I signed up for the tiny garbage can notes that it is barely half full with our family of 5 and a cat.- I am so proud. If I can compost even that could be cut back- I am working on that though-

I love Papertrey Ink stampsets because Nichole Heady obviously designs with stampers in mind- I hate coloring in with markers and she separates the images out so we don't have to- LOVE that! The stampsets come in this beautiful boxes and you know I cannot stand to waste anything! so I've "repurposed" it for a gift I want to give to a class mom for Tyler's class- Grace is incredibly sweet and she's a avid knitter- so I made a box wrap with 18" cardstock cut into 2 inch strips- used stampin' up wheel -watercolor joy- my favorite! - in pretty in pink- I made

up some Handmade by Lynda Lee on the computer and printed it on WW cardstock and diecut and embossed it with oval spellbiinder nestabilities. These cards are stamped with stampendous Fluffles the cat stamps and colored in with SU watercolor crayons and aqua painter after being stamped with black ink and set. The edges are embossed with rectangle spellbinder nestabilities to add a little something. I really like clean simple cards like this. I hope Grace likes it too when I give it to her. I don't think she reads my blog so hopefully it'll be surprise when she gets it at Christmas.
Did I also tell you I was one of those annoying people who makes gifts in advance? Believe me, my christmas cards that I started in July still will barely be finished by Christmas to send out. See the theme?

This is one of those glitter window cards using fashion statement stamp from couple years back from SU hostess set. Had to kill myself to earn enough to get the set but I really love this set- with my sister in lingerie design and lots of knitting friends- it gets a lot of use. The Real Red CS was cutterbugged- that is now an official word- with the polkadot embossing folder and hole punched out with 1 1/4 square punch. The image was stamped inside the square on a WW CS and then clear packing tape put over the window on the back side and dazzling diamonds glitter sprinkled on front.

Hard to see the glitter but very pretty in person. Then add a ribbon, button with red hemp twine and done.

details of the gift box

This is the close up of the glitter window from above. colored in with markers.
These are little gift card enclosures I made as well to include- in case she is giving a gift she made to someone she will have something to include. The note cards are 4x 3 pink pirouette CS scored in half so 2x3 size- punch a window or not, stamped with just for you from sock monkey and fashion statement - knit happens stamp with basic brown ink. The envelopes are cut from the scallop envelop die using good quality copy paper- I used the envelope glue on the flap so it could be sealed with a lick. I would recommend cutting one envelope at at a time as if you cut too many layers sometimes the side flap instead of creased - gets cut- ask me how I know this. Iam building quite a biceps from using my big shot- who knew you can stamp and workout at the same time?

Simply Sent Kits

For World Card Making Day, Stampin' Up is having 20% off on their simply sent card elements and kits. this is one of my classes I will be offering later this month. It takes Flower Power Card elements -20% off at $12.76 for 1 week only and it comes with colored cardstock, 2 sheets of double sided cardstock and all these cute adhesive die cuts, ribbons and buttons!- and it has a coordinating stamp set Wow Flowers to boot at just $12.95 for 4 stamps. So with this kit and less than 1/2 a package of note cards-about $3 for 10 cards and envelopes, and 1/5 package of small open end envelopes $1.50- I was able to make 3 different cardholder boxes with 4 different notecards in each with very little work except cutting and gluing. And I still have gobs of paper left over. I was thinking about making little gift card enclosures with my SU scallop envelop and folded cardstock to add to this sweet package. This is the 3x6 card gift box.


This is the upright note card holder closed and open.

and this is the one sheet notecard holder with the little belly band with stamped sticker.

I was planning my stamping buddies to order the kits while they're on sale and hold a class later this month on how to put it together with all the templates- I'll have to hold that secret until my class though....teehee... A girl's got to make her living right?

so for a little over 20 bucks-not counting the stamp set- you get 3 very pretty gift boxes and cards inside- not bad!

Pick a Petal Ladybug

I love using things in a way different than expected. This is a card I made for a girlfriend of mine- It's made using pick a petal set- the polka dot petal stamped twice in real red and cut out and 1 1/4 and 3/4 inch black circles punched for the head and body - 1/8 inch circles for the antennae and the line just drawn in with a black marker. The center of flowers from three for you punch with red stickles in the center for that little sparkle. The stitch line is an old retired set that I loved called all in a row. Saffron, celery ink and paper and whisper white CS rounds it out.