Let's use up those scraps.....

Ugggg, I'm late again!!! My goodness, where is my head these days???? Thank you all so much for the well wishes for Moe! He's doing good today. His little paw (do 100lb babies have little paws, hehehe) is really raw between his toes and he doesn't want to put any weight on it at all. He's cast-less so his toes can have air and dry out properly. Since it's about 2 weeks too early to have it off we have to be extremely careful when he gets up to go out for a potty break and he is now wearing a "cone of shame"...my poor little baby!! He's taking it all like a trooper though and will be better in no time! Here's a few pictures of my precious little boy...

 

Well, after all that cuteness it's hard to switch gears and make y'all look at a card that I made, lol! Moe is a lot more fun to look at ;)

I was playing around trying to come up with a way to purge my scrap paper drawer. I just can't bring myself to throw away pretty patterned paper, even the smallest scrap!! I simply made some "flags" and layered them across the front of an A2 card base. I then added a solid strip of cardstock that I punched and added a piece of Washi (to pull in the purple) and ribbon to. To anchor the whole card I added a couple of punched scalloped circles that I stamped with a sentiment from the Assorted Greetings stamp set and a little circle frame called Double Circle Frame - both by DeNami Design. 

Well that's it for me today! I'm off to go sit in the floor and cuddle with my baby boy. Hope y'all have a great weekend!!

A little summer fun

Hi everyone!! Surprise...it's only Thursday!!!! I wanted to pop in with a little card that I made to enter a few challenges. I had a little time and pulled out some much loved but neglected stamps for a little play time.


Here's my card....

That little Single Daisy from DeNami always makes me think of a pretty summer day...what a perfect little image!! I wanted a sentiment but I also wanted it to take a back seat to the daises so I thought the "hello" from the Assorted Greetings stamp set was perfect for a sweet and simple little card such as this one. 

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Paper Sweeties July Challenge - inspiration picture

Crafty Challenge - anything goes

Chrisma Cardz Challenge - anything goes
Red Rubber Inspirationals - anything goes but must use a stamp

Little Miss Muffet challenge - sketch 

Well that's it for me today...don't forget, our birthday celebration right here on the blog is still going on so there's still time to enter the random drawing for a $50 DeNami Design gift certificate!!! All you have to do is "like" us on Facebook and leave a comment on the birthday post!!

Project Corner - Present Giftcard Holder Tutorial

Hi everyone, it's been quite a while since I've done a photo tutorial hasn't it?  I still haven't replaced my camera yet. I'm having a hard time coming to terms with the loss of my beloved "friend" and am kicking and screaming about having to find a replacement. Who has enough time on their hands to not only research cameras but to learn how to use it too...not me!!! So for now, my phone is not doing too bad a job ;)

Like I mentioned last week, I saw something similar to this on Pinterest...hmmm, maybe if I didn't spend so much time on Pinterest I could actually have time to research cameras??? Nah!!!! ;)

This little guy uses barely any paper (scraps really) and is super easy to put together - don't let the number of steps fool you, I just really broke it down!! I didn't have any measurements for the one I saw so I faked my way through it and I think I did rather well ;)

Here's what you need:

• cardstocks -

Bottom (red) 7 1/2" X 4 1/4"
top (santa print) 3" X 4 1/4"
strip (green) 1/2" X 3 3/4"
inside panel (white) 3 1/2" X 3 1/4"
circles (green & white) 1" & 1 1/2"

• hole punch
• brad
• glue
• ribbon
• ink
• sentiments

 



 Using the 7 1/2" X 4 1/4" piece...fold in half, then apply glue along 2 sides as shown in picture. Close fold and let dry just a minute.

Using a 1" punch (or just a pair of scissors) make a little notch in the "open" end (not glued or folded) of the square.

Using the 3" X 4 1/4" piece of patterned paper, fold it in half and set aside

 



Using the little 1/2" X 3 3/4" strip, attach it to the large notched square and trim to fit

 



Take the folded piece of patterned paper and place it over the notched end of the red square so that the square is actually inside the patterned paper (you should be able to see the patterned paper on the front and back). Next, using your hole punch, make a hole near the bottom left corner of the patterned paper then attach the brad. This forms your "lid" to open the holder

 

 



Setting that aside, bring out your punched circles. Stamp your sentiment or decorate it however you'd like

 

 Layer your punched circles and attach to the bottom right corner of the holder. Using a length of ribbon, make a bow and attach to the top of the holder

Set the holder aside and using the piece of 3 1/2" X 3 1/4" white cardstock, stamp a sentiment  (or decoration) at the top

Using a glue dot or adhesive gun, attach your gift card to the 3 1/2" X 3 1/4" white panel as shown

Open your holder and slip the gift card inside :)  See, I told you it was EASY-PEASY!!!

 

 

 The one I made to show you haw to do it was pretty plain, but you can dress it up quite a bit by scalloping the edge of the "lid", dry embossing the bottom portion, using all patterned papers or stamping patterns, using ribbon over the narrow strip of cardstock on the bottom, use a die cut or image in place of the punched circles, punch 2 small holes at the top to feed the ribbon through before making your bow vs. gluing it....just to name a few ways. Have fun with it, change it up and make it your own :)

 

 



Whimsical summer flowers

Today I have a fun little card to share. I just love pairing DeNami's magenta and red cardstocks together, they really compliment each other nicely. I decided that since I wanted to use such a fun and bright color palette that I'd pull out a fun stamp to go with it...

I also broke out the new grass border stamp...LOVE it!! I was head over heels as soon as I saw it...it's perfect for little scenes like this one. I really wanted a whimsical look, so for my leaves I traced outside the lines with my green marker before coloring and added just a touch of Lime Sherbet and strawberry freeze glitter to finish off the flowers.

Hello Chickie...

Hi everyone! :)

Today I have one of the chickies that came out last summer to show you. I just LOVE this little cutie, he's definitely in my top 5 faves as far as chickies go!

 

This card is one of those magical creations that just makes themselves...you know what I mean? I don't think I've ever used 2 backgrounds on one panel like this and I normally don't use a partial panel like the magenta panel under the chickie. Also, if I have something like the tree and chickie, it would be my focal point, not the sentiment. Not a clue what I was thinking while making this card, but I'm really feeling it! It's a darn good layout and will prove to be pretty versatile I bet.

 

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!



Tips & Tricks - March 2013

Today I'd like to talk about sentiments and just how versatile they can be. In the past i never really bought many sentiments and honestly just never really used them. I still have a bad habit of not using sentiments, although, I'm working on fixing that. Sentiments can make great focal points....

For this first card I simply used the Thinking of You circle sentiment and the dot circle frame in a fun new way. Instead of using them on a punched circle for a tag I randomly stamped them in a wave motion across the card panel. To finish it off, I added a little bling and a yummy matching ribbon. This card took just a few minutes to create, used only 2 stamps and is eye catching. 

This card was just as equally easy to create and only used one little stamp. I started off stamping the Happy Birthday (cling) sentiment in a light pink, filling up the entire panel. I switched to a darker pink and randomly stamped the same sentiment for pops of color. Added a little ribbon and button to finish it all off. Once again, created a cute little card using just a sentiment and it was quick & easy.

This next example literally took 10 minutes to do. I wanted to make a card for the 10 Minute craft dash over on the Pretty Pink Posh blog and after a little thinking decided to incorporate one of the fun fads that's out there right now. This fad just so happens to fit right in with today's theme too! Subway art. We've all seen it and like it, but most of us have resisted because it looks hard (me included). I was surprised at how easy it really was. I pulled out some sentiments and played around with them until I got a general idea of what I wanted.

I had a good idea of the overall design and all of my supplies at hand. I hadn't decided what ribbon to use so I had a selection and also brought out some yummy green rhinestones for "just in case".

I knew the time was getting close so I ended up grabbing the easiest to get to ribbon and didn't even bother to try with a little bling (wasn't sure about bling anyway, so no matter). When all was said and done, the timer showed 10 minutes 3 seconds. However, in my defense, I'm calling it an even 10 minutes because I had to grab my phone, push the button then slide the screen thingie then push the stop button and all that took about 3 seconds. ;)

WHEW! All that aside, see how fun just using sentiments as your main focal point can be?

Weather going for something fun and flirty or something a little more classy, sentiments can play a major role in your card making. I hope I've made you look at sentiments in a whole new way! Thanks for stopping by :)

a note of thanks

Recently I received a surprise package in the mail from a sweet friend (that we all know & love), Paulina Nakamura. We had been discussing some darling wood veneers that she had recently purchased from one of her blog sponsors over on her Pretty Pink Posh blog, Ellen Hutson. I've never tried them out and was pretty hesitant to give them a try. Like most crafters, I have a drawer full of odds and ends that I've tried out but soon realized they just didn't "fit" me. Paulina knows me and my style of crafting very well and definitely had confidence in these cuties being a great fit.  I can't believe she sent some to me, how sweet is that??!!??

She's a pretty smart girl cause I LOVE these little veneers!! Of course I had to use one to thank her for her amazing gift :)

For my sentiment, I ended up using 2 contraband sentiments from Lawn Fawn (free gifts) and 2 DeNami sentiments from the everyday greetings & assorted greetings petit four sets. I raised my little flags up on foam tape for lots of dimension.

There's a link on the Pretty Pink Posh blog for the Ellen Hutson web site, be sure to check it out. This site has a ton of fun card making and scrapbooking goodness at an affordable price.

10 minutes of panic

Hi everyone! Today I have a little challenge card I made to show you. To go along with the card, I have a before and after picture of my desk, lol...it's amazing what a mess I made!

Let me introduce you to Paulina Nakamura's 10 minute craft dash. It's exactly what it sounds like...you have 10 minutes to create a finished project. It sure gets your heart racing right along with the clock! As a funny little side note, it just dawned on me that my card matches the graphic! My circle is the clock and I have the same little green flag...how silly!

Here's my "before" picture...

Now mind you, I started off with a great plan...or so I thought. As you can see from this picture, I had doodled out a design and gathered my supplies. I have no clue what I was thinking because I was missing half of  the stuff that I needed! You can see from that picture that there's a lot of stuff missing!

Here's my "after" picture...

HA! I'm usually a "neat" crafter, I even clean my stamps as I go normally. This is just sad!! As I started making my card I realized in a panic that I didn't have several items pulled out that I needed;

• circle punches
• scrap white cardstock
• sentiment
• bone folder
• atg 
• foam tape 
• rhinestones

So as I was making the card, I was frantically pulling things out of drawers and storage places all willy-nilly and throwing things around. Even with all of that I managed to make this creation in 9 minutes and 96 seconds! I wonder what my time would have been had I had everything within easy reach....

Here's my finished card...

I started off scoring to lines at the bottom of the card (they didn't show up very well in the picture) then eyeballed/measured a piece of green cardstock to make the little flag. I added the twine and attached it with foam tape. Next I punched (twice because I punched the wrong cardstock with the wrong size punch) and stamped my circles then attached them to each other with my atg and attached them to the card with foam tape. To finish it all off I added a little bling to the lower right corner to balance out the whole card.

Well that's it for me today...thanks for stopping by!

What do you do with all of those left over scraps??

We all have scraps of coveted patterned and plain cardstocks along with random lengths of ribbons, misc baubles and stickers that we save up telling ourselves that someday we will use them. In reality we shove them in a basket or some other sort of container where they stay until...well, they just stay don't they? We don't admit it to ourselves, but we know we aren't ever going to use them. Today is the day to break out that stash of scraps and finally use them.

Did you know that DeNami has quite a nice line of little boxes and bags? I've shown you how I used little bags for treats in the past here & here & here. Well I thought I'd show some of the boutique boxes that can be made for pennies and still make adorable gifts.  These boutique boxes are great for using up your scrap paper, ribbon and other misc left over embellishments! I barely used any paper or embellishments and came up with four adorable gifts. I wanted what was in the box to stand out and decorated the boxes as to let the contents become part of the embellishment.

Have you ever gone to a crop or friends house that was hosting a crafty get together? Why not make her a little hostess thank you gift? I simply filled this little box with some yummy DeNami goodies; buttons, lengths of ribbons, a length of  twine, a couple of little bows that I tied and some (non DeNami) flowers. Added a little trim and tag that I attached with Crystal Lacquer and you have something any crafty hostess will be sure to love. The other box I made up for a friend. She loves Crystal Light and what's more fun giving little random gifts and cards to people...this was perfect! I picked up the hot pink from the packaging and added little punched borders that I attached with my ATG and added a little tag with a bow. You can't get any simpler than that!

 I've had these little boutique boxes for a while now. I originally ordered them because I use my petite four stamp sets waaaaaaay too much and some of the boxes were starting to look a little worse for wear and these are the same little boxes. I had so much fun making the other little boxes I thought I'd make a couple of more using my left over petite four boxes. Did you know that you can actually stamp on any of the boxes? Since they come folded flat it's really easy and all you need is a little Staz-On ink in the color of your choice. I simply stamped my fishies and air/water bubbles then cut a couple of strips of scrap cardstock to form the band. Add a couple of layered punched circles with a chickie and there you have it...easy peasy! It was really heard not to eat those little Swedish Fish...they're my favorite candy, ;)  however, I made this little fishy creation for my hubby...hopefully he shares!! The other treat box I made for my sister, Denise. Again I used just a few left over scraps of cardstock. I used my hole punch to make the dots and just randomly glued them to the box. Using my hole punch again I punched a small hole in the sides of the box to thread my ribbon to make a cute little handle. I made a tag from some scraps laying around and attached it to the handle. How cute is that??

I sure hope you try out some  bags or boxes and use up a few of your scraps. If you do, let me know, I'd love to see what you create!

Thanks for Stopping by!

CAS-Friday...let's strip

Happy Monday everyone! :)  I hope you had a great weekend. I sure did, lunch with a friend then spent the rest of the weekend holed up in my crafty area making cards for next months challenge here on the Addict blog...I'm way ahead of the game for once!

Today I have a card that I made for the current challenge at CAS-ual Fridays. This weeks theme; Strips

Here's what I came up with...

I decided to go with something kinda bold and bright...I used 4 different colors of glitter on this little scene, now that's seriously glitter-ific!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday Trigger - colored layers

Hello everyone :)

Have you ever noticed how sometimes a trend takes on a life of it's own? Well a certain little color palette seems to sure have! I just see it everywhere these days!! It's so fun and bright, can't say as I blame people for falling in puffy heart love with it....

I haven't had time to enter challenges on other sites lately but have made myself a promise to start making that a priority because I really do enjoy it! The yummy picture above is for the Tuesday Trigger over at Moxi Fab World. I just love Cath's quirky take on the world and her choices for trigger items! The stacked cookies made me think of layers, so here's my take on it....

I just can't get enough of DeNami's Spring Garden stamp set...it makes great background paper!! Well that's all I have for the Moxi Fab Challenge, but I have some other info I want to catch ya'll up on.  I want to remind ya'll that our first monthly challenge started this past Monday and runs through the 11th of June...you do not have to use a DeNami product, but if you have some, I'd sure love to see it cause I'm always looking for new ways to use my coveted collection! DeNami Design is sponsoring our challenges with a gift certificate so if you don't own any of their fab stamps yet, this could be a great opportunity to start that collection!! And lastly, did you see today's post over on the DeNami Design blog??? I'm a tad embarrassed...I made a little photo tutorial and told Paulina to keep my name off...the little snot didn't listen, she's so lucky I really like her, hehehe!! ;)  I guess I have to own up to it now, hunh? So if you have a minute, stop by there and see my tutorial!

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think....good or bad....or even better - what would you have done differently??...crafty minds wanna know!