Making Something Special From Something Ordinary...A Recycling Story and Christmas Friends ...A Six Pack of Cards...plus alternates!

 Recently, I attended a crop with my friend Neemee, and I received a gift wrapped in a penguin-printed bag.  

This bag was about the size of a paper lunch bag but had a boxed square bottom. 

I really liked the bag, and the fun holiday print made me smile.  

Then, I got an idea...

I had to recycle this bag and make something special from it.  

I carefully cut it up and made a set of six cards featuring the Christmas Friends bundle #164279.  

Here is a sneak peek at the bundle:

Here are my cards... first up, three standard cards:

Next up three square cards: 

That is all the cards I made from the penguin paper bag...I encourage you to always be on the lookout for alternate items that you can bring into your craft space and recycle it into something special.

Here are some alternate ideas: 

Autumn To Remember Scrapbooking Workshop- Day 2 of 2- Four Cards!

 

As promised, I am back today for part two of the Autumn To Remember Scrapbooking Workshop.  

Today is cards!

I had a LOAD of leftovers (and still do) from this kit and wanted to create some cute cards.  Here they are:

And in case you missed yesterday's post, here are the three scrapbook pages: 

I still have LOADS of leftovers from this kit, so I am sure you will see these beautiful papers and ephemera in future projects.  

Check out this kit today, Item#166502!

Here are the 12x12 layouts that have step-by-step instructions: 

Autumn To Remember Scrapbooking Workshop- Day 1 of 2- scrapbook pages...

 Over the next two days, I am going to be sharing some scrapbook pages and cards I made using the Autumn To Remember Scrapbooking Workshop Kit. 

Here is a quick peek at this fabulous kit:

This kit has step-by-step instructions with all the supplies needed to make three two-page scrapbook layouts.  

These kits are super simple and have step-by-step instructions that guarantee success!

Now anyone who knows me well, knows that I like to think outside the box and make things my own.  

I am not a copy-the-designer type of gal...rather a thinker who takes the designer's idea, twist it, and adds to it, to make it my own. 

Today, I am going to share with you three single scrapbook pages in 8 1/2" x 11" format.  

In the past, I made all 12x12 layouts....but in recent years I have come to love the ease and simplicity of the 8 1/2 x11 layouts, as I already have that size paper at my fingertips, and the smaller albums are easier to store.

Here are my three pages: 

Please come back tomorrow to see the cards I made from some of the leftovers!

Enjoy Creativity- Shake It Up With Otterly Adorable...

 

Enjoy Creativity

CASEing Technique

Shaker cards are definitely one of our favorite card types, but when you combine them with the Otterly Adorable Suite Collection—including the Otterly Amazing Stamp Set, Otterly Amazing Dies, Riverside Irregular Pearls (plus Lost Lagoon Soft Cording)—you’ll have a corner on cuteness, and you’ll be crafting for days! There’s a lovely shaker card in the current annual catalog and we decided to CASE it. The happy result is a charming peek at the rollicking, undersea world of otters! Here’s how to do it: Make the card from Basic Beige Cardstock embossed with the Timber Embossing Folder. Die cut the window using the Countryside Corner Dies. Create the underwater background by painting wavy strokes with a Waterpainter and Coastal Cabana, Misty Moonlight, and Pool Party ink. Once dry, stamp the fish using Misty Moonlight ink. To make the shaker filler, remove the adhesive backs from the pearls. Watercolor the image of the otters in Pebbled Path ink and die cut. Die-cut leaves, logs, and rocks from Early Espresso, Garden Green, Gray Granite, Mossy Meadow, and Old Olive Cardstock. Stamp the sentiment with Pecan Pie ink on Very Vanilla Cardstock. Why not “shake things up” a bit and create your own shaker card!

Enjoy Creativity....featuring the Hearts of Elegance Bundle....an ONLINE EXCLUSIVE!

 

Enjoy Creativity

Step It Up: Hearts of Elegance Bundle

You can’t get much more versatile than hearts, flowers, and greenery, and the Hearts of Elegance Bundle features all three. These elements are perfect for creating collage focal points, so that’s where we started with each of our projects.  In addition to the bundle, ink, and cardstock, we also used Country Lace Designer Series Paper, Subtles 6" x 6" (15.2 x 15.2 cm) Designer Series Paper, and the Gift Bags Combo Pack. On our first card we used just stamps, ink, and paper and combined the heart image, flower image, and leaf image for our focal point. We added the sentiment on top for a simple and elegant card, perfect for beginners. For our next card, we stepped it up, using both stamps and dies to create a larger focal point. We cut some hearts out of cardstock using the dies. We stamped flower images on one of the larger hearts. We also stamped and die cut some leaves. Then we layered them all together, adding a sentiment on top. For our final project, we went all out using the stamps, ink, paper, dies, and a gift bag. We used a Blending Brush to add Petal Pink ink to the gift bag. Next, we cut some hearts from Designer Series Paper and layered them with some stamped and die-cut flowers and leaves. Then we cut smaller hearts from Designer Series Paper, folded them in half, and glued them together at the fold to create a honeycomb heart. We layered all of that together, added the sentiment, and there you have it—our masterpiece. Here is the bundle:  And here are some alternate samples:

Leftover Bits!

 Hey Hey Hey Stampers! 

I am back with my final video this week.  

In this video, I am using up scrap and leftover bits to create a card. 

Never throw out your leftover bits! 

Here is my video:

And here is my card: 

In case you missed it, here is Wednesday's video and card. 

Here is the video: 

And here is my card:

In case you missed it here is Monday's video and card: 

And here are all three cards from this week: 

Technique Thursday...

 Today I have a trio of techniques for you in one card! 

First off let me show you my card:

The primary technique I wanted to share with you is the watercolor leaves technique....but, I added in heat embossing, and dry embossing,  for some added wow.

How You Can Make It

Measurements: 

Card Base: Night of Navy: 8 1/2 x 5 1/2

Focal Layer: Night of Navy: 3 3/4 x 5 

Leaves:  Watercolor Paper

Card Liner: Basic White: 3 3/4 x 5 

Supplies: 

Spledid Autumn Bundle

Embossing Buddy

Gold Embossing Powder

Heat Tool

Night of Navy Ink Pad

Real Red Ink Pad

Crushed Curry Ink Pad

Pecan Pie Ink Pad

Waterbrush

Blooming Pearls (gold)

Instructions: 

1. Wipe the watercolor paper with embossing buddy. 
2. Stamp the leaf images 5 times using Versamark ink. 
3. Add gold embossing powder and heat set. 
4. Watercolor leaves using waterbrush and Real Red, Crushed Curry and Pecan Pie ink.  Remember ink dries lighter so you may want to do it a couple of times, depending on how vivid you want your leaves.  
5. Set aside to dry or dry with heat tool
6. Emboss the front of the card using your favorite embossing folder. 
7. Fold the card base on the score  line and burnish it flat using bone folder. 
8. Add the Basic White card liner to the inside panel. 
9. Stamp the wheat image on the focal panel using Night of Navy ink pad
10. Wipe the panel using embossing buddy. 
11. Stamp the greeting using Versamark ink.
12. Add gold embossing powder.  Remove any stray embossing powder flecks and then heat emboss.  
13. Attach the focal panel to the card front using dimensional. 
14. Die cut the leaves and add to the card front using a combination of tombow and dimensional. 
15. Embellish with gold pearls. 
16. 
    
    
    

Joyful Images!

 Hey Hey Hey Stampers! 

I am back with another video tutorial for you. 

This time I am featuring the Joyful Images Ephemera Pack found on page 15 of the Mini Catalog. 

Here is the video: 

And here is my card:

In case you missed it here is Monday's video and card: 

Come back on Friday for another video tutorial. 

Did you get yours?

 

Surprise in My Email

 I got a surprise in my email yesterday from Stampin' Up! 

Each year they send out awards to demonstrators for achieving different things in the calendar year. 

This year I received THREE! 

A huge thank you to my customers, and my team!