Tic Tac Tutorial!

Tic Tac anyone? Now what is the proper response when someone offers you a breath mint???? I read somewhere that most people are having one themselves and you just happen to be sitting near enough that they feel they should offer you one. They really have no idea if you truly need one or not. Reading further the proper response is, "yes, thank you." Everyone can use a little fresh breath now and then, can't they???

So on to the tutorial.



Cut your card stock 3-7/8" x 2-3/4". Score on the long side at 1-5/8" x 1-5/8". Fold on the score lines. Set your Tic Tac container on the inside to see how well it fits. I know you what to!!! LOL I always do!! You will want to add a little piece of tape to hold the Tic Tac container in place or it will slide right out when you are done!

Attach about 12" of ribbon to the card stock, preferably in the center and you are ready to decorate as you like.


Cut card stock as follows:
Cut black piece 1-1/2" x 2-5/8"
Cut red piece 1-3/8" x 2-1/2"
Cut vanilla piece 1-1/4" x 2-3/8"




When you are done decorating it, tie your bow off to the side. Fun, cute and quick to make!!

This item was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more cards/items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

For more tutorials just click here.
These would be a fun Stamp Camp project, more can be found here.

Thank you for stopping by,
Wanda

Well Wishes and a Challenge for Me!

I needed to make a get well card for my aunt. She had to have her total hip replacement redone. OUCH!!! She's such a tiny petite lady that they had to use a child-size artificial hip on her. Hopefully this time the surgery will work.

My challenge was to use the Always Amethyst decorative paper. I have a lot of time working with this paper. I did find that if I put the black next to the decorative paper instead of the colored card stock it looks better. But wen you put the colored card stock next to the decorative paper it's not as vivid.

So I'd have to say that this time it worked out and I like the colors. And there was another challenge here too. I needed to incorporate some Hodgepodge Hardware on the card too. I buy this stuff and rarely use it.

Now my card is ready to go out in the mail tomorrow!

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more cards made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Weekend Project! Cheery Cherry Notes!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day. Here in Minnesota it was a fabulous day weather-wise too! I woke up to a clear blue sky and sunshine. Would be odd to have a clear blue sky without any sunshine now wouldn't it. I guess that part could have gone without saying!!! There is a bit of a wind and that is a bit cool so it would be called "sweater weather" but to me it was perfect. I got home just a little while ago from my mom's. Did the lunch and gift thing there and in about an hour or so I'm off to see our son and go out to dinner!!! So with all that going on I thought I should do my post before I forget and get it in too late for Feedblitz to send out.

Onto the project "Cheery Cherry Notes!" Say that one 3 times real fast!!! lol Ok, I had purchased this notepad at Michael's. I picked it up because of the cherries on it and having in mind the "Tart & Tangy" set. Though I didn't use that set with this, I used the Stampin' Up! "Office Accoutrement" set. I did try to do cherries on the front but with all the cherries in the decorative paper it was just too busy and no matter what colors I tried to use for layering it was just TOO busy. SO I settled for the "Daily Notes" stamp and went with something different with the ribbon. I didn't say something fancy, just different. I just laced it like you would your shoes and tied an knot in the middle. I did have to use two thicknesses of Dimensionals because of the knot though. I tried one and the scallop bulged out in the middle. And the only way around that was to tie the knot in the back of the notepad. But then it wouldn't lay nice to write on the notes!!! Such a dilemma!! LOL

For starters here I had to divide this pad up into 3. I needed it and the layers I was creating to fit in the Crop-a-Dile. I took a piece of cardboard that came with the 12" x 12" decorative papers and cut it for the back. The back of the pad needed some stability. Then I cut a piece of Bashful Blue for the front, then a smaller black piece for on top of that and then the decorative paper. The top band is that wide because of the design on the paper. I didn't want it to show when the notebook was open. I just wanted the cherries in the corner to be the focal point of the page. After I got the layers taped in place I punched the holes with the Crop-a-Dile and laced them with white grosgrain ribbon. This was a pretty quick and simple project to do. Plus one pad will make 3 altered ones!! If you're making them to sell, think of the profit margin there! These would also make great Hostess Gifts or Customer Appreciation Gifts as well. And I think they'd sell well at craft fairs too. Plus it would be a VERY fun project at Stamp Camp!!! There's lots of thing you could use these for!!

This was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items and cards made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Gratitude!

Those of you who have subscribed to my blog using Feedblitz will get this post tomorrow morning, I believe the "mail" goes out around 1 am Central time. And for those of you who use the Google Reader the post goes into your Reader the minute I hit "publish." So this wish may be a little early for some of you but that's OK, it doesn't change the sincerity in it. I'd like to wish everyone a very Happy Mother's Day. I hope your day is filled with many fond memories (ones you'll even scrapbook!!!).

My card for today is a little different. I decided to combine a couple of colors I rarely use together, red and orange. Right from the Bold Brights group. Don't you just LOVE those colors Cyndi???? LOL (Cyndi is one of my fellow DIVA's and Bod Brights is not one of her favorite color groups. But I will work on her and get her to like it one of these days!!! LOL). And I also combined that with a set I have hardly used. The Stampin' Up! "Defining Alphabets" set, I even had to cut out the "G" to use it!!! And the "Define Your Life" set. I like them both but have not played with them much at all. I had opened up my catalog and I saw on page 156 the little red card made using this set. I decided I was going to copy something out of the catalog. I'd never done that before. I didn't have that little flower they had and that's what started the whole thing of deviating away from the copying. And this is what I came up with. I used decorative paper from the "Picnic" pack. The flower is from the "One of a Kind" set along with the Boho Flowers punch. I added some ribbon and brads and I actually liked how it came out!! Shocker, huh?? Especially after the last one. UGH!!!

This is a very quick card to make too!!! To view more quick cards please click here.

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more cards made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

"Thanks So Much" Strawberry!

Sue (my manager) sent me a card with this curious edging. She had used 3/4" half circles along an edge and it REALLY dressed up the card. I kept looking at that edge and finally I broke down and asked her if I could copy her card and put it on my blog. And being the gracious person she is she said I could. Well Sue, sorry. This looks nothing like the card you sent me.

I just started with the half circles and thought I'd try the smaller 1/2" circle and somehow the peanut butter got in my chocolate and I ended up with both of them on my card!!! I liked it so I went on with the card and this is the end result. It's a very simple card and I like that way of doing a faux scallop edge. Pretty fun, huh? What else do you have for me Sue? LOL

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more cards/items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Now For Something REALLY Ugly!

They all can't be winners you know!!! I have made my share of UGLY cards and this one goes in that pile!

I REALLY liked this layout and wanted to run with it. SO I made some background paper to go with the pink and chocolate. So far so good. I was liking what I saw. Then all of a sudden I didn't see ANYTHING anymore. I hit a brick wall with this one. I had no idea where I was going with it. I just sat here and stared at it. I ended up cutting out some flower images from the Stampin' Up! "One of a Kind" set. I was leaning towards that type of stamp since the background was Boho. I am SO not happy with this but I thought I'd share my failures with you too.

I will have a much prettier card tomorrow!!! LOL I PROMISE!!!

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more cards/items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Wednesday Sketch Challenge at SplitCoastStampers

Here is my submission for the Wednesday Sketch Challenge at SplitCoastStampers.

This one was SO different than all the others. It was quite a challenge but I LOVED it!!!

I used Really Rust, Old Olive, Basic Black and Whisper White for my colors. I added a few brads and some ribbon to the Stampin' Up! "True Friend" set. Plus I used the "En Francais" background stamp and the "Itty Bitty Backgrounds" set too.

There's not a whole lot to this card. You don't really need measurements because the sketch at SplitCoast prints out exact size. I just used that for my measurements. This is one sketch I am pretty sure I'll be using again!

If you have time go to SplitCoastStampers and give their Sketch Challenge a try. It's a lot of fun!!

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more cards/items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Strawberry Fruit Dip 6 x 6 Recipe Page

I have a wonderful 6" x 6" album going with recipe pages in it. These pages are SO fun and such a cute way to display some of your favorite recipes.

I saw this recipe on Melissa's blog, Simply Pink. Check out her blog, she has some wonderful cards and other items there as well.

I copied the recipe and did my layout a little different. I have SO many fruit recipes that I could use this stamp set for a month and still have recipes left. And guess what? Stampin' Up! has extended the mini catalog for another month!!! SO I just may be doing more fruit recipe pages!!!

Last month I had gotten the "Viola to Go" set so I can use that for some pages too. Not all of my recipes involve fruit!!! LOL

If you're going to start making an album you will want to type up your recipe on your word processor and print it out. I like to try to keep my recipe in a 4-1/2" to 4-3/4" by 4-1/2" to 4-3/4" square. You want to have room to stamp, color or add embellishments or even all of the above!!! LOL I usually like to stamp some soft image on the background but this page I didn't. I just left it at the sponging. I don't think adding an image in the background was going to do much for this page since the red card stock was going to be drawing your attention. After you print out a few copies and measuring to get the words where you want them then print it out on your background card stock. Here I used Whisper White. I like to keep a copier paper printed one cut at 5-3/4" x 5-3/4" on hand for lining up my next recipe. I don't like to measure things if I don't have to!!! I just set the copier paper copy on the card stock printed one and lightly add some pencil lines for cutting. If I after working with it and adding layers I find I need to trim it back more I still have that option, that is why I only cut 1/4" off to begin with. I never just cut it 6" x 6" because I want to (and need to) add layers.

Ok, once you get your piece cut and know what you want on it just have fun adding your items. I don't tape anything in place until I have all the pieces assembled and sitting on the page. I sometimes move things around a few times before I find them pleasing to my eye. Then I tape it all up and put it in the 6" x 6" album sleeves. Now it's protected forever and is ready for your VERY fun and VERY cool recipe album!!!

Aren't they a fun thing to have???

This item was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more cards/items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

True Friend! Mother's Day Card #7

Ok, here is the final Mother's Day card I'm going to show you (this year!!!). I made so many because I need 4 of them for myself plus I wanted to have some on hand for display. Some of them I like to keep because of the layout.

For this card I used the new Stampin' Up! "Boho Friend" wheel, the "True Friend" stamp set and the "Boho Backgrounds" set. The "True Friend" and "Boho Backgrounds" have to be my favorite sets. Well, lately they are and will be until I run across another one I just can't put down. I've had a lot of fun with these two sets and there's still more "stuff" coming using these sets!! Especially the background set!!!

The Mother's Day sentiment was done on the computer, punched out with the 1-1/4" punch, then the Bayou Blue card stock was punched out using the 1-3/8" punch and the Scallop punch for the black.

On the Soft Sky background I used the little flowers in the "Boho Backgrounds" set. I used the Bayou Blue stamped off once for the background. I wanted a little bit of color but yet I wanted it visible enough to know there's something there.

For the flower I stamped the image in Soft Skey. I used my blender pen and removed the Soft Sky from the stem. I took the Bayou Blue ink pad and touched around the edges of the flower. Sort of like the rock and roll but the ink pad was in my hands so I could see where I was going. And get this. I did it that way too so I wouldn't hit the stem. Like I couldn't remove the ink with the blender pen!!! LOL A big DUH there!!! I colored in the stem and leaves with Mellow Moss and then added a touch of Always Artichoke on the dots and top edge of the leaves. I huffed on it to remoisten the ink and stamped the image on a pre-cut piece of Whisper White card stock. I sponged the edges, added a rhinestone brad and it was ready for layering. Another fun card to make. This one really didn't take very long to make at all. The time I spent on this card is about how much time I like to devote to a card. It wasn't a super quick card but it wasn't an all day one either. It was just right!!

To view other Mother's Day cards click here.

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more cards/items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Very Bright Mother's Day Card

I thought I'd make a Mother's Day card catered to the younger ones giving the card!!!

The colors in the Bold Brights group seem to represent a kids card the best. Do you think it's because of those basic 8 crayons we got as kids??? And those GIANT ones at that!!! I don't think I recall my son ever using up those giant ones before he got a new pack of the thinner ones. And I don't even recall him ever breaking a giant one either. Maybe they were TOO big to break!!! LOL I know they were the last ones to melt down. I would melt all the old crayons (similar colors) and pour it in candy molds. We'd have NEW dinosaur or car crayons!! LOTS of fun and you get to recycle too!!!

Anyway, back to the cards. I used the Stampin' Up! "All in the Family" set and the "Sprinkles" mini background stamp set. I colored directly from the marker. No blender pen or water coloring. I did sponge the edges on the white card stock and I used Summer Sun ink on the Yoyo Yellow card stock.

I was a bit disappointed in the ribbon I tied on under the girls feet. It was much darker than I wanted and it showed up even darker in the photo!!!

The words were done on the computer. It's a pretty simple basic looking card. Not a whole lot to it. And doing the words like that on the computer will allow you to change them to "Grandma, Nana" or whatever fond name you use to refer to grandma.

It's a fun card for Mother's Day! To view it closer just click on the photo.

To view other Mother's Day cards click here.

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more cards/items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Mother's Day Card #5

Actually the Mother's Day card in the previous post was #4. For #3 I had given it a regular title and not a numbered title. SO this is the 5th Mother's Day card!!! Click on the photo to see a REALLY close view. You can also see my errors at that size!!! LOL

For this card I used the Stampin' Up! "Blooming Beautiful" set from the mini catalog. I hadn't used this stamp in the set yet and wanted to play with it and with water coloring. I LOVE to use the blender pen and rarely use the Aqua Painters. SO I thought it was time to play with them too!!! I colored with a marker on a piece of plastic and picked up the color with the Aqua Painter. I didn't want to color directly onto the watercolor paper because I wasn't sure I would be able to wash it all out if it were too dark. SO I played it safe!!!

I colored all the flowers in with Bashful Blue and then came back with the marker and lightly touches areas that looked like it should be darker there. Then I came in with a little bit of Lovely Lilac. Again I scribbled the marker on a piece of plastic first and took my color from there. I used Apricot Appeal directly from the marker on the center of the flowers.

I scribbled some Apricot Appeal on a piece of plastic and picked up the color and added it around the flowers and vase. The vase was colored in using in using Creamy Caramel and then adding Close to Cocoa for the darker areas. I used Bordering Blue on the area under the vase. And Old olive was used for the leaf.

I sponged the edges on the larger white background piece and on the punched circle. I layered the circle with Basic Black and a Ballet Blue scallop circle. I added 5 brads to the bottom of the card and a bit of 5/8" ribbon. Those few embellishments seemed to be just enough to add to the card but didn't make it look overly accessorized!!

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more cards/items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Weekend Project! Flowers for Spring Gift Giving!

Are you ready for this FUN weekend project?? Well, here it is!! I got these REALLY cute flower/seed pots at Target in their Dollar Spot. They aren't very big, they measure 2" wide by 2" tall. Just the perfect size for gift giving!!! Click on the photos to view them close-up.

I saw on someones blog that they removed the packaging and traced it onto decorative paper. (I don't remember who's blog it was so if you know, please let me know so I can give them credit.) Now I couldn't tell if they just used the decorative paper for the new cover of if they attached the paper to the original packaging. That is what I did only because there are instructions on the inside. I didn't want to have to type them up and print them out and try to work them into the design. It was much easier to tape the paper over the original packaging.

I bought Strawberry Seed planters. They caught my eye and I immediately thought of the Stampin' Up! "Tart & Tangy" set for this. Cute, isn't it???

I traced the packaging onto the decorative paper and cut it out. I did use a Craft Knife to cut the holes. Then I taped it back on top of the original packaging and folded it. I then put it back on the planter.

Next I stamped the strawberry image, twice!! One I punched out with the 3/8" circle punch and the other I actually cut out the pieces. I cheated here. I was making more than one so I stamped a few red strawberries, cleaned the stamp and then stamped them in green and then I cut out the parts I need. Now if you were doing just one you can use a marker to color in the areas, huff on it and then stamp. After I got the pieces cut out I used pieces of Dimensionals under it. I set them on top of the strawberry in the punched out circle. I just felt it looked nicer raised. I punched out a round scallop and then taped the strawberry to that. I added that to the top of the planter. Now you can add a little gift tag and it's ready for that special strawberry loving person

Isn't it just cute? I have a few more planters that have flower seeds in them so I'll be trying out some different papers to see which looks the best. I'd better get a move on it or spring may come and I'll miss it. We've got some more cold weather coming for this weekend and possibly snow too!!! Minnesota is such an interesting place on the climatic scale!! We have the four seasons here and sometimes they can all happen in one day!!! LOL The lawns are greening up and the trees are budding but it's still too early to plant or put flowers out. I usually put my flowers in around mid May but at the rate it's going I won't be doing it until the end of the month!!!

Have fun shopping at Target for these cute little planters. You may want to make an extra copy of the packaging so you can go to Michael's and pick up some small planters (they are 39 cents each there) and make your own flower pots. I got some peat disks at the grocery store last week. I didn't even know you could buy those things. So I'm going to have to get some flower posts out and make my own too (after I finish up the ones from Target!!!).

Flower ones would be perfect for Mother's Day!!! For more Weekend Projects please click here.

This item was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more cards/items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Have a great time with this project and thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Mother's Day Card #3

Here's a bright and cheery looking Mother's Day card. I used Barely Banana and Certainly Celery and the two colors just seemed to warm up this card, didn't it?

I did stamp Summer Sun on the Barely Banana. Versa Mark and Barely Banana showed up too light on the card stock.

I was torn between adding just a knot or a bow. I went with the knot to keep the focus on the flower.

For the flower I used the direct to rubber technique. For those of you who are not familiar with that technique, it just means you color the ink on the rubber with a marker and when you're done you huff on it to add some moisture from your breath to moisten up the ink. It's a very nice technique. It allows you to use many colors on your image.

I added some holes to the upper right corner using the Mat Pack and I added a brad to the center of the flower.

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more cards/items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Be sure to stop back tomorrow. I have a VERY fun weekend project to show you!!!

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

The Long Awaited Bracelet!!!

As I said in my post yesterday, I was going to a beading class. It was the first beading class I'd ever taken. Most of the time I can figure out the beading on my own but this bracelet really threw me for a loop and when I saw it at the beading store I was informed that there was a class coming up on it. Well, I was the first one to sign up!!! If you click on the photo you can see it closer.

So this is the bracelet I learned to make last night at the class. I made one in class but I didn't finish it and I took it apart because it is SO awful. The leaves are loose and very far apart. You can see a lot of thread but only at the beginning of it. Once I caught on the spaces tightened up and it started looking like it should!!! And that was all the practice I needed as you can see by the two I did last night after I got home from the class! I started another one after dinner tonight and it just needs the flower cluster and it's done. It's for me too!! The other two are already spoken for!! I'm going to use red for the flower cluster on mine. Well, a red/cranberry color. Ok, fine I'll show you when I'm all done with it. Maybe tomorrow depending on how much cleaning I get done in my workroom and laundry room tonight. We've got the plumber guy coming to put shutoff valves under the kitchen sink. Then cable is coming because they gave us a faulty box and now they have to come into my home just to tell me that. UGH. And it's in my workroom that they need to be in. Hopefully no where else. It's such a mess here. I have a HUGE counter top sitting on my living room floor. The new kitchen sink is in the den and the laundry room is full of dirty clothes waiting to be washed. Who wants to come help??? LOL Oh and on Monday the handyman will be here to remove the old counter top and sink and do who knows what. It's going to take him 3 or 4 days to finish the job. It's ok, that means I won't have dishes to do for 3 to 4 days or cooking either since the refrigerator and stove will have to be moved into the dining room to give them more room to work and maneuver that HUGE counter top. So there you have it, my chaotic life and messy house!! I wonder how I'll make coffee?? LOL WOW, if that were my only concern!!! LOL

Thanks for viewing my bracelets!!! I had fun at the class and a wonderful instructor!!
Wanda