fifth avenue floral

I love this set, and I love how the change in ink colors gives it a whole different look. This is a card I made for a recent swap, and I'm not sure I really love it, but I wanted to try a faux silk technique and what I thought was an original idea, of adding a faux embossed look to it too. I added a large heart under the tissue (upper right corner), so when the tissue is layered on top, it doesn't stick.

Pina Colada

The second stationery box I made (designed by Jackie Topa, as described in the previous post)also used a now retired Simply Scrappin' kit, Pina Colada. I love the simply scrappin' kits. They are so versatile, and this one especially had so many die cuts, you could design for weeks on what came with the kit. I'm amazed at how different the boxes look, just by using different printed paper. I think Jackie did an amazing job figuring this out, and I really want to thank Dannie Graves for explaining it as well as she did on her video tutorial. Once I knew what to do, they came together surprisingly quickly.

I also made a pinwheel for this gift bag, and thankfully, pinwheels are not limited to Christmas time, so I can use them with our SU! gift sacks, and always have just the right touch!

Summer Home

I made a couple of these stationery boxes at Christmas time, using different Simply Scrappin kits. These were designed by Jackie Topa, and I watched a great video tutorial by Dannie Graves before I attempted my first one. They look like they should be difficult, but were pretty easy to put together and looked really nice (I think) when they were completed. This first one, with the now retired Summer Home Simply Scrappin' kit uses great "in colors", baja breeze, kiwi kiss and riding hood red, in addition to chocolate chip.

I also used some of the printed paper in the kit to make a cute pin wheel for the bag decoration. I learned how to do that on Sandy Hancock's blog.

You sure can learn a lot from all the great demonstrator's out there who are willing to share.

rustic rooster

I think I like this set because it gives me a feeling of the french country side. I made this card using the Patterns DSP in Riding Hood Red, as well as Riding Hood Red and Basic Black card stock. I also embossed it and used Creamy Caramel to give it a tea stained look. The addition of the word window punch and a brad, as well as the Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon, really helped balance everything for me. I like the post mark in the oval punch, layered onto the designer label punch too.

skinny tins

Before the end of the year when I was trying different things with the skinny tins, I had experimented with craft ink and clear embossing powder. I think they turned out nicely, and I used a couple of them for gift certificates during the holidays, and will probably continue with them for birthdays and other occasions (there's a wedding coming up soon). I also made a few with a sizzix embosslit alphabet called pink lemonade, which I think is retired now from their collection. It makes great embossed letters on a cut out circle. I used our SU! 1/2" circle punch on some magnetic adhesive backed sheets that I got at Staples (the kind that are the size of business cards, so you can make a magnet out of your personal cards), and backed each letter with a magnet disc, then added them to the inside of the skinny tin (they stick great and don't slide around). You can then spell whatever you want and mount them to the outside of the tin, changing it whenever you want. The tins stand up if you don't shut them completely, and you can view your creation whenever you'd like. I apologize for the quality of the pictures, embossed letters and the shiny tin surface make it pretty tough to get anything viewable!

where does the time go

I can't quite believe it's been so long since I posted anything, and yes, once again, I'll try to do better. This is a swap I made for our upcoming Luv2Stamp group meeting. I had so much fun making a sea of flowers from the Tangerine Tango Patterns DSP and the Sizzix Daisies #2 die. I used the center of the middle sized daisy for the build a brad center, so I didn't even have to do any extra punching. I'm still trying to mix "in colors" while they're still current, so I used the Tres Chic background stamp in Pacific Point, and the Kiwi Kiss card stock as another layer. I love the striped grosgrain ribbon (also in Tangerine Tango).