My little reversible bag

I don't know about you but where I live they don't give out bags any more when you shop.  You either bring your own or buy their paper bags for 10 cents a pop (feeding a family of 5 takes a lot of grocery bags).  So I do bring my own most of the time but I like having a little one rolled up in my purse in case I forget so I have been playing with this idea of a little bag I can put in my purse and here was my attempt at it.  There are lots of instruction on line and I certainly do not prefess to be an expert so I will just show you some of my triumphs and failures.  This was my final piece.  I used one pack of the designer fabric to make one bag.  I took the button fabric and stitched the right sides together to make the outside and the  orangish fabric the same to make the inside lining.  I cut up the stitch design to make the handles, the top border, the pockets and the left over loops and tab for the button and the closure mechanism. 

 I did learn to put the mechanism on one side so when you try to close it it does not gape open. And I put a little pocket on the inside using the last bit of fabric left over.  Both the pockets are completely finished so no raw seams on the inside. 

I wanted to make the outside pocket big enough so that I could flip the bag inside it to fold it flat instead of rolling it and this one worked.

 This was one of my first tries at the bag- I liked it for the most part.   Makani, my girlfriend said that she wished that she had a pocket inside the one she had for her wallet or keys so it does not fall to the bottom when she's at the market. So I tried. 

I liked how the pocket continued the handle but what was funny is that it was too narrow and I could not get my fat hands into it to grab anything.  That's why the final bag has the pocket going side ways.


I  loved playing with the fabric and now I ordered some more- how could I resist?  Maybe I will make a little blanket using this sweet fabric just for moi!  So I can have sweet dreams under my Sweet Stitches!

My Sweet stitches gift exchange

I am in love with the Sweet Stitches button fabric.  I bought a bunch when they originally came out with it because I thought it was so sweet- love the color combo and when it hit the clearance, I bought some more.  Where else can you buy 3 fat quarter pieces for 99cents?  Even at Joanne's it usually goes for no less than $1 each!   Anyway I found some tutorials on scissor holders so I had to make one of course.  I used the petite cone but I am told you can also use the Dresden Designs bigz die to cut the fabrics-
I found the instructions here: http://goinovertheedge.blogspot.com/2012/08/fabulous-comfort-cafe-fabric-holders.html although I had to tweak it of course- I do like a well padded  scissor holder and I did not like seams showing so I stitched the top round  turned it right side out, put all four layers together (with the batting between each of the layers) and stitched a scant 1/4 inch and turned it inside out then used some ribbon and button to sew down the flap-  It was pretty easy but I would advised you to sew the button on, don't glue it- I do think it is worth the effort.  It fits the SU paper snips perfectly!  I gave this away with a bag I made all rolled up.  Isn't it sweet?  I will tell you of my trials making the bag on tomorrow's post. 

Fabulous Florets- CASE

Paula Dobson had this fabulous calendar easel cards using this set and I just loved what she did.  When one of my friends ordered this set recently I had to try to make it as a thank you card and although my camera took a picture bit shady, ti came out exactly how I envisioned it.  Stamped the leaves and sentiment on white using midnight muse.  Sponge the paper using Bashful Blue. I stamped the flowers separately, sponged it too and cut it out mounting as shown using dimensionals.  Mounted the whole thing on midnight muse, wrapped the ribbon around it and used Bashful to mount the whole thing onto it. Add a littel bling on the big flower and it was really a 10 minute card- if you don't count the cutting out with scissors part.....

Notecube gift updated.

Remember the notecube?
I posted the how to on it eons ago in 2008 and with the diagonal scoring tool, it is infinitely easier.  I just took a 8x8 inch square cardstock, put it flush against the left side top corner and score diagonally at 2 1/4. 4 1/2 and 6 3/4 inch and it makes a perfect holder for a 3x3 notecube.  Easily altered for different cube sizes ( no longer sold by SU though)   I had some cubes I hoarded before and I wanted to make some last minute Holiday gift and I thought it was darling.  Used some Sycamore Street DSP (coming out with Sale-a-bration on Jan 22, 2013.  The DSP wrapper tells you what colors coordinate with it making it super easy to match it up. Used the Midnight Muse CS punched with 2 3/8 scallop circle and Pool Party CS punched out with 1 3/4 inch circle then embossed with the top part of the Holiday frame to add some interest.  The butterflies are stamped with Rich Razzleberry and colored in with pool party and summer starfruit markes with a a little bling added on at the end.  The big butterfly is mounted with dimensional and the little one is mounted on the scallop from Mixed medley- hostess set from the holiday catalogue using a sticky strip to keep it flatter. The original instructions are here:  http://stampingdoc.blogspot.com/2008/12/notepad-and-pen-gift-set.html  that explains what you do after you score the cardstock in case you need a more step by step help.

L.

Merry Christmas RAK

This was a little gift I got from one of our new stampin friends, Hermelinda.  She found me on line and has been coming to my stamping parties and when I saw what she has been creating, she blew me away!
Every month she has been bringing a little treat and I thought this was so cute I had to share with you.- I hope she would not mind.  My kids have been poking out the candy so I'm glad I got a picture of it before it disappeared!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Season's Greetings and Peace on Earth!

Lynda

A Little Thank You

What a crazy few months this has been!  The trip to Washington DC, with everyone's birthday seem to be falling in the last 3 months of the year, getting ready for the holidays and marching through the routines of regular life, it's amazing that we get anything done at all.  I finally had a day off- really OFF.  And I spent most of it in my pajamas , catching up some programs I Tivo'ed (it's  a vowel now.) and perusing through email.  I realized it's been a while since I posted anything.  I have so many projects I've been working on so I will now take some time to post them.                                 This was a thank you project I case'd from Shelly Gardner here http://soshelli.com/so-shelli-blog/2012/11/13/ending-with-a-bang-1.html.  I used Early Expresso CS as base instead and die cut it using the fancy favor box die- my favorite and put the cardstock to just below the top fancy edge to make a straight edge.    I used Candlelight DSP to accent the mug and used Scentsational Bundle to stamp and diecut the mug in real red.  Stamped the steam in Expresso and then white  (people commented how clever this was but actually I did the steam in expresso first but it was hard to see so I did it again in white and I like the effect so I did the rest of them the same way- see? not a mistake.  Just an opportunity to be creative!  Hee hee)   Circle punched the handle by using scraps of Expresso CS - first with 1 3/4 inch circle then used the 2 1/2 inch circle punch to cut the outside handle, (you're only going to use just more than the 1/2 circle.  Fold it to make a semi-circle handle and cut it off about 1/2 inch beyond. I used glue dots to attach the handles as it seemed most sturdy.

I diecut another DSP in the same set with Window Frames framelets, folded it in half to make a bag topper.  Stamped the smallest snowflake from Snowflake Soiree with white EP on Expresso CS and put a little gem in the center.  Filled the bag with marshmallows, candy cane and a packet of cocoa from Starbucks.  It comes in a multipak that made it easy to make these.  I just added 1-2 per and it made such a cute little mug gift.

Enjoy!

Lynda

Easy Peasy Snowflake Soiree Emboss Resist card

Another card we made at my workshop this November.  Take a base card of whisper white, emboss the edge with Delicate Designs folder.
Take another piece of whisper white, stamp the snowflake and sentiment with Versamark then use clear embossing folder to heat emboss, then use a sponge dauber to sponge on color of your choice- here tempting turquoise but melon mambo or other bold colors work well for contrast.  I tied it off with white taffeta ribbon and layered it with turquoise CS but any color ink and cardstock works.

Lynda

Believe in Santa

This was a really simple Santa Suit idea I cased from Louise Del Vecchio from Stampin Connections, a demo only site.  Super simple and so much fun.    Take a base Real Red cardstock. Stamp Believe from Snowflake Serenade with versamark and emboss with Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder to add a subtle sentiment with just the right amount of sparkle.  Punch 2 scallop circles (1 1/4 inch in the holiday catalogue)  with whisper white CS and mount with dimensionals.  Someone suggested cotton balls but I think a powder puff or pom pom would also work well here.   For the belt I took a 7/8 inch square punch (not SU- but 1" square works too) using Brushed Gold CS then I used Curly Label punch to make the buckle.  I used a 7/8 inch strip of basic black card stock and just laid the Gold buckle on top. 

It would be a really fun and easy project for kids even.
Enjoy!

Lynda 

Out of the box Beautiful Season

 This is one of my holiday cards we made for my November workshop. Love the pop of color and the out of the box technique.

Stamp the image from Beautiful Season with StazOn black or memento black Tuxedo black.  Stamp Merry from Pennant Parade set in Real Red.  Put the die from Apothecary Accents Framelits (my favorite die right now!) to see how you want it cut.

Lightly pencil in the inside margins to figure out how far you need to cut the images that you want to stick out.

Put the section you want to stick out over the diecut frame so it will not be cut (the blade of the dies should face down) and this is how it should look after you diecut it.

I used the diecut itself to make the frame.  Took a piece of real red CS same width as the diecut then traced the top and bottom with a pencil to cut it out then flipped it over to make sure the pencil mark did not show before I layered it.  The straight edge sides made it easy.

Lots of Scallops challenge

 Nothing like a challenge to get my mojo going on a Monday morning.  Even though daylight savings time is on, my body still has not adjusted and I woke up at 5 so I had some time to kill.  The splitcoast sketch challenge SC409 was turned sideways and WT399 to use no fall colors and TLC402 today was to use Layered Scallops and I was off.  Basecard is whisper white diecut with large scallop and embossed with edgelet delicate designs.  I stamped the flowers with pink pirouette then melon mambo, leaves are celery then limeade.  I layered pink pirouette and melon mambo CS diecut and scallop embossed again.  Used the Scallop rectangle Sizzlet (all SU) to add another layer of scallop. The sentiment is from the Trust God set.  I love this saying and bought the set because I loved this single stamp.  Layer it with melon and then pink pirouette.  Add another layer with scallop ribbon and seriously it was a easy peasy 10 minute card that don't look it......  Enjoy!     Lynda. 

Merry Minis

 I saw a card by Michele Reynolds and I liked the idea of stamping and punching the Merry Mini ornament in Cherry Cobbler and then doing a negative punch of the ornament as well.  But I did not have the sentiment she had and so I used Noel from Greetings of the Season.  Because the Whisper white seemed a little plain I embossed the Snowflake Soiree using Iridescent Ice. 
I thought pretty cool Lynda!
 Funny thing is that later on I was perusing Stamping connections (online site for Demos only) I found a card fromTamara Bertram that looks almost like my card. It seems that Tamara

made a card with Noel sentiment and embossed the white basecard, Michele cased it and changed it and I cased Michele and changed it back unwittingly similar to the original card. I guess Tamara and I both thought alike!  I was laughing by myself in the middle of the night.  Thought I was being original and clever but alas No.

Iridescent Ice is so much prettier in person......

Holiday Frame with stippled blossom

I think this Stampin Up Holiday frame is so pretty, I did not want to relegate it to just holiday cards.  I just got my Stippled blossoms set that I have been wanting so I used it to accent the frame.  Base card is pink pirouette embossed with the holiday frame and then I stamped the flowers in pink pirouette and melon mambo on whisper white and then embossed the oval from the Designer Frames Folder, then diecut it with one of the classic oval die from Spellbinders (which just fit the outer oval perfectly).

 I then stamped the sentiment from Made for you and stamped the little bud. The leaves are Celery and Limeade, punched it out with the Oval punch  (of course it matches perfectly on the inside ) and except for the cutting of the flowers, it was perfect.  I am working on my projects for my next workshop and I will post some of them after the party in a few weeks.

After I stamped the flowers, I wiped away the inside with the blender pen to add chocolate chip stamens with a marker to get an extra pop.

Lynda

 

Fall Leaves thank you card

My little thank you card for this month was one using the leaves made with Autumn accents dies.
I diecut the leaves using the daffodil delight CS, scored the veins using the scoring tool and sponged old olive, cajun and egglplant and stamped the waterspots from French foliage with the eggplant direct and stamped off, crumpled the corners a bit and put a sticky strip in the center to adhere to the old olive CS embossed wtih the wood grain.  Punched out word window and stamped the sentiment from Made for you in eggplant onto the vanilla basic CS .  It looked like it was floating do added the linen thread around really ties the elements together. A simple little autumn card. 
My kids had to peek around the leaf to see if it was real or not... tee hee.

Angry bird Pig Queen for Kyle

 Ok so I recycled this card idea but Tyler quickly corrected me and said I got it all wrong.
The pig queen does not get flown, they are either in the box to be hit by the birds or I guess there is different version where the queen is flying on a rocket so I had to redo the card.

Using Lucky limeade punched the face with 1 3/8 circle punch.  The snout is free cut since I had no oval that fit that size.  The rocket is Modern label- Tyler told me later it should have been a green soda bottle so I colored it in. The final sentiment is non SU.

Angry bird birthdy card

 Dylan said he wanted an angry bird theme but changed his mind at the cake shop changing it to Ninjago cake but still wanted a angry bird favor so this was his birthday card.  Real red base with bashful blue on top.  Diecut PTI grass in Old Olive.  Punch word window in chocolate and stamp woodgrain .  Make the lattice. Diecut the cake (sizzix) and color in with markers.  Bird is made from 1 3/8 circle in real red, same for the white belly piece.  the beak is summer sun (retired)  mount with dimensionals and add the flight with the white signo gel pen.   I have been getting instructions from Tyler on how to make

these cards concept correct!

Billboard letters HI

This card was inspired by a card I saw in the Scrapbooks etc magazine where they used the negative of the dies to spell Hi, and I thought it was so cute.  I took Stampin Up Billboard Sizzlit (retired) and diecut it twice with white and real red.  Punch a 2 1/2 inch circle in a real red CS and layer the sentiment behind it so it will show. (hardest part was sticking the little letter insides so it would form a complete letter- see the letter g) then I punched some pennants using the Petite Pennant Builder (only went up 1/2 way up the punch where the bend it to get little banners) Summer Smooches DSP and some Subtles DSP and layered it all over bashful blue and I don't know why but I just love it.  Today is my exam so I am posting this early. If you see this today, please pray that I pass my exams!!!!

Another Wonderful Winterland CASE

Base of whisper white CS base and use a scrap piece of paper to cut out a curve you want and stamp the Lovely as a tree in Midnight Muse. Now these new stampsets are not as quick drying as the old formulation so I used that to my advantage by using a piece of sponge with the mask still in place rubbed the stamped trees to get a blue smudge-y background which totally works.  Then stamp the little guy in black (I use memento black but staz-on will work too so the colors do not run) and then colored it in with Bashful blue and Real red and blush blossom for the face. Stamp another little guy and cut out using Eclipse paper or some other thin piece of paper to create masel.  I then used the curves of the mask to lay it down on different places and used Bashful blue to add some more colors to create the valleys in the snow and the little skating pond. Stamp the sentiment from Friendly Phrases in midnight muse and use 2 way glue pen to add sparkle over the trees and top of the snow banks with dazzling diamonds. So cute!  Again, totally cased from Janine Tinklenberg http://stampspaperscissors.typepad.com/stamps_paper_scissors/2012/09/two-one-layer-cards.html

Winter Wonderland CASE

 So I made whole bunch of these cards- I thought they were just so stinkin' cute!

Again, took a whisper white CS base and used a scrap piece of paper and cut out a curve I wanted and stamped the Lovely as a tree in Midnight Muse. Now these new stampsets are not as quick drying as the old formulation so I used that to my advantage by using a piece of sponge with the mask still in place rubbed the stamped trees to get a blue smudge-y background which totally works. I then stamped the little guy in black( I use memento black but staz-on will work too so the colors do not run)  and then colored it in with bashful blue and real red , Crumbcake on the feet and hair and blush blossom for the face. I then used the curves of the mask to lay it down on different places and used Bashful blue to add some more colors to create the valleys in the snow. Stamp the sentiment from Friendly Phrases in midnight muse and use 2 way glue pen to add sparkle over the trees and top of the snow banks with dazzling diamonds. Don't forget to add sparkle to the trim on the little kid's outfit!

Details on the coloring.

Enjoy!









Credits to Janine Tinklenberg at http://stampspaperscissors.typepad.com/stamps_paper_scissors/2012/09/two-one-layer-cards.html

Case from Janine Tinklenberg

 I don't get a chance to spend a lot of time perusing through internet but I love this Wonderful Winterland set and wanted to use it for my next stamping party but I was not inspired by much of what I saw until http://stampspaperscissors.typepad.com/stamps_paper_scissors/2012/09/two-one-layer-cards.html  by Janine Tinklenberg. I love how she used the Lovely as a tree as the background which I think totally rocks it.

 So I took a whisper white CS base and used a scrap piece of paper and cut out a curve I wanted  and stamped the Lovely as a tree in Midnight Muse. Now these new stampsets are not as quick drying as the old formulation so I used that to my advantage by using a piece of sponge with the mask still in place rubbed the stamped trees to get a blue smudge-y background which totally works.  I then stamped the little guy in black and then colored it in with bashful blue and real red adn blush blossom for the face. I then used the curves of the mask to lay it down on different places and used Bashful blue to add some more colors to create the valleys in the snow.  Stamp the sentiment from Friendly Phrases in midnight muse and use 2 way glue pen to add sparkle over the trees and top of the snow banks with dazzling diamonds.  Don't forget to add sparkle to the trim on the little kid's outfit!

Make a Mitten make and take

The make a mitten set is so darling with its matching punch but i wanted the thumbs to be opposite on the card I was making and this makes it an easy solution.  Punch out 2 mittens, stamp the snowflake and the band with versamark and emboss with white EP and heat set.  Add cherry cobbler bakers twine behind the gloves and mount them using dimensionals on very vanilla CS diecut with Windows Frames framelits die.  Diecut another in lucky limeade and paper pierce using the Festive paper piercing pack.  Emboss the sentiment from Greetings of the season after stamping with versamark with vanilla EP then layer a strip of Candlelight DSP.  Punch out scalloped ribbon and splilt it in half to line the DSP as shown. 

Googly Ghouls October make and take and Lin's card

   Because I became a doctor in 1987 and finished my training 5 years later I missed the window to be grandfather'd in for a never ending license and have to take an exam every 10 years (which I think is a GOOD THING!) but it does take a toll on the family and my extracurricular activities as I have to prepare for it.  So my projects for my workshop this month is really pretty simple.  This is one of the projects we will be making this week.  Take the Ghoulish Ghouls desinger kit (it comes with 10 glassine bags, 10 pieces of pumpkin pie twine and 20 preprinted tags you can embellish how you wish and a package of googly eyes-- so FUN!).  Emboss the bag with the spider web embossing folder.  Stamp the bat on the preprinted tag and add googly eyes. Put the twine through the hole on top of the tag and then make a bow from the twine and glue dot the whole thing in place. Fill the bag with candy of your choice.  You can also fold over the top and staple or punch 2 holes to loop the tag through as well.  Whatever suits your fancy.

 

 

I have downline friends that are amazingly talented. 
Lin Tsai made this card and we were all WOW'd at my last stamping party.  Love the layout, simplicity, really works well.  Thank you, Lin for sharing it with us!