Sunday, January 23, 2011

Bubbles and Bunnies

This little bunny is just SO cute!  I made several of these cards for a swap on UStamp.  
The image is stamped in Staz-on Jet Black ink on watercolor paper.  Diluted re-inkers and markers were used for color.
Two little rhinestones are the finishing touch.
Materials:  Blowing Kisses stamp set; Jet Black Staz-on ink; Cardstock-Crumb Cake, Wild Wasabi, watercolor paper; re-inkers-Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue; Markers-Crumb Cake; DSP-Sweet Stitches; Certainly Celery 1-1/4" striped grosgrain ribbon; Word Window punch, Basic Rhinestones; Melon Mambo Pom Pom trim.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Puppy Pandemonium

We had quite a time getting a good puppy picture of Chester.  He was feeling rather rambunctious making for some pretty funny shots.  He and Tom had quite a wrestling match!  I thought these would look cute in a film strip style layout.
I have a tutorial for making the film strip here.  It is very easy now that the spiral punch is available to download.

To make this page:
1. Add Certainly Celery cardstock as the background.
2. Add overlay stamp (second from the bottom) from the Vintage Overlay stamp set.
3.  Add photo box for the main photo.  Use the Photo Shape function to change it to an oval.
4. Add photo and mat.
5. Follow tutorial to add filmstrip.
6.  Add leaves and "splotches" from the French Foliage stamp set.  I used Always Artichoke, Really Rust, Cajun Craze and More Mustard.  I reduced the opacity to vary the colors.  Use the "Send Backward" function to place these items behind the pictures.
7.  Add title and journaling.  I used the "Color Picker" function to pull colors from the photos for the words.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Rub-ons and Watercolors

Today I am sharing some details about two of the projects that were part of this gift set.
On this card I tried something new.  I applied the outline rub-on to watercolor paper.
Then used re-inkers to paint inside the lines.
I thought it turned out very cute and fit the retro look of this design.
A couple of items in the gift basket that were not easily seen were the tape measure and pillow box of sewing supplies.  I cut a transparency with the pillow box die and applied a rub-on before assembling.
Now I need to find someone to give this gift basket to!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Ribbon Dispenser Tutorial

Today I have the tutorial for the ribbon dispenser that I made for the Stampin' Addicts Occasions Mini Blog Hop. 
This uses the new Petal Cone Big Shot die.  If you are looking for other ways to use this die you can see another tutorial for a candy dish HERE.  You could make one to match from this Sweet Stitches paper to have a place to store little sewing supplies.

To make the ribbon dispenser:
1. Cut two pieces of designer paper with the Petal Cone die.
2. From the score line, measure up 4 inches and draw a line parallel with the score line.  Cut the tip off at those lines.
3.  Punch a Post-it Note with the Wide Oval Punch.   Place this oval on the Petal Cone where you would like the window to be.
4.  With the Post-it note in place, punch the oval again.
5.  Cut a piece of transparency to fit behind the window.  Apply the sewing machine from the Sweet Stitches Rub-ons and adhere with mini glue dots behind the opening.
6.  Assemble box with Sticky Strip.   Adhere pom pom trim to edges of box.
7.  Roll up coils of ribbon and stick one end of each ribbon out through the top.

Monday, January 3, 2011

25,000 Blog Visits and Sweet Stitches Pincushion Tutorial

On New Years's Eve morning my blog counter was at 24,448 visits.  Only 552 to reach 25,000!  I was pretty amazed as I started this blog only one year ago.  So I began a New Years Eve count down of my own.  I wanted to see if it would reach 25,000 by midnight.   I checked several times through out the day and YES!  it did reach 25,000 around 9PM.  Some watch for the ball to drop; I was watching for the counter to go up!   By midnight it was at 25,218.  Happy New Year!!    

Now for some stamping stuff....  I have the directions for making the pincushion that was part of the weekend's Blog Hop. You can see the gift set in yesterday's post.
 1.  Cut a piece of fabric using the Scallop Circle die.
2.  Using small straight pins, attach the fabric to a 2 1/2 inch styrofoam ball pleating the edges as you go.
3.  Add pins around the entire circumference.
4. Use the Perfect Setting die to cut a piece of Early Espresso cardstock.  Apply Sweet Stitches rub-ons.  Adhere Melon Mambo Pom Pom trim to bottom edge.
5. Join with Sticky Strip.  Using a hot glue gun adhere the styrofoam ball inside.
6. Hot glue the pincushion to a base of purchased pins.