A Real Shaker Card This Time

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  You all were so gracious about my faux shaker card from Sunday’s post, I thought I would prove to you that I honestly do know how to make a real shaker card!  This idea was rattling around in my head for a while after I received Sprinkles of Life and I finally took it to fruition…no pun intended:

I used some Farmer’s Market DSP and the new Tags & Labels dies to make my shaker window.  I stamped and punched out the tree, bird and apples and assembled the whole thing with a window sheet and foam tape. 

It’s really cute IRL!  I added a couple of banners and stamped the sentiment on an Itty Bitty Banner to finish it off.  And here’s a hint about punching out those small images with the Tree Builder punch.  Stamp your small image on a narrow piece of scrap cardstock (we all have plenty of them, right?):

Slide the strip into the specific punch area from the back….you should be able to wiggle it through the slot fairly easily:

Then just punch!  You won’t have a bunch of other punched pieces flying around!   Here’s my little apple, and I still have more cardstock on which to stamp and punch!

We are on vacation, so I am going to take a little bloggy break, but I’ll be back on Sunday with my Paper Players creation!  Enjoy your week!

DD73 & Halloween Candy Holder Tutorial

I promised I would share with you the directions for the little Ghiradelli candy holders from this post on Sunday!  But first, let me share my Dynamic Duos card that I am barely squeaking in for this week!  Here’s the color challenge:

And here’s my card:

LOL, I know this looks like a baby congrats card, but it’s actually a card I made for the top sellers in my downline!!!  I really wanted to use this color combo, as it is not one I would have chosen myself, and I really wanted to use that Zoo Babies set…..so hopefully they’ll get a chuckle from it as well as being congratulated on a job well done!  It’s really simple, as I have to mass-produce them, but hopefully there are enough elements to still make it interesting!

Now, on to the the Ghiradelli candy holders; here they are:

And here are the directions….these are very basic but easy!

A couple of tips I will share….when you trim the diagonal edges to tuck inside, use the opening from the Word Window punch to give you an idea of how much to trim off…..that way it will fit inside the punched opening easily!  Also, make sure you use some good adhesive….Sticky Strip or Tombow Multipurpose glue, so your candy won’t fall out.   Now you can decorate your Ghiradelli candy holder in any way you like!  Have fun!

I told you before that Cassidy was giving me a hard time when I wanted to take her picture….here she is, helping me by emptying the silverware bin from the dishwasher, but she did NOT want that camera in her face!!!

Hopefully when she comes back today, she will be in a more photogenic mood!  Enjoy your day!

A Quick Gift Idea

Happy Friday, everyone!  I know it has been a while since I posted, but I have been enjoying time with family and friends and I am sure you have too.  I did want to share a speedy tutorial for making a quick little gift or stocking stuffer.  At the DS, I bought a package of 6 tissue packs for your purse…they’re 2”x4” in size, so that’s the measurement I used when I worked this up.  If you have tissues of a different size, you may need to adjust your measurements:

You can use cardstock or DP, whichever you like, just adjust your scoring “heaviness” accordingIy!!

I decorated these with images from Every Little Bit, and punched them out with 1” circle punch and 1 1/4” scallop punch.  You can decorate them any way you like, really!

Sorry for the awful photos, but I was trying to do this before Cassidy arrived! If you’d like to have a written set of directions, just email me and I’ll send you the document.  Please don’t leave your request in the comment section!  Have a terrific weekend!

Thought I’d share this photo of DH, too….I was recycling some SU packaging paper by stamping on it to make wrapping paper, and I corralled him into helping me:

He did a mighty fine job, too….he thought the clear stamps were ingenious!

Shabby Ribbon Tutorial

I’ve had several people ask about how I make a shabby, vintage-looking ribbon and bow like the one on these projects:

It’s really easy, so I threw together a few photos to help you along the way.  In these shots, I used Stampin’Up!’s Rose Red seam binding, but I have also used store-bought steam binding as well. (I haven’t tried it with any other kind of ribbon---it needs to be the seam binding, as it is soft enough to crinkle!)  Pull off a good yard or so (or more if you want to do a whole supply of it---might as well!), and let’s get to work:

Easy as pie!  Much faster than my old method of heating it in the oven!!!  You can make as few or as many loops as you want; this one only has two on each side; and trim your tails to the size you want too.  I have found that a hot glue gun is the best way to attach them to your project.  You can also add a button, brad or charm to the center.

I have dyed white seam binding with SU inks; it is a little messy, and you have to experiment with the dyes as you may not get as dark a color as you like, or you may need to mix colors.  Just dilute the dye with a little bit of water in a baggie or on your silicone craft sheet and mush the seam binding around until it is all saturated (remember tie-dying?).  I like to squeeze out the excess using a paper towel wrapped around my seam binding, remove it from the paper towel,  and then proceed right to the microwave.  Have fun!  Here’s another project I made a few months ago:

 

And a few more swaps from the meeting last week:

From Kathi Davis:

From my downline Kathy Kelly-Borowski:

And from my downline Laura Chambers:

Wonderful cards!

Playing with my great-nephew Trent in his sandbox at Uncle Raymond’s!!!

Enjoy your day!

Felt Flower Tutorial

I promised I would show you how to make the felt flowers I made on my card here.   I apologize in advance for the poor photos….it was a really dreary day when I did this and I caught Cassidy’s cold, so I am not up to my spiffy self!  But I am sure you can catch the drift of it, since it is so easy.  I know there are dies available on the market to make these, but they’re so easy to do, it makes sense just to make your own….plus, you can make them any size this way!

For the materials, you’ll need felt, Sticky Strip or Sticky Tape, and good sharp scissors.

    

I use a hot glue gun to adhere my flowers to my project; it holds quite well!  I would love to make some little ones to put on a barrette for Cassidy!  I made a tag from this one with SU’s Two Tags die:

Speaking of Cassidy, this is what a freshly-made chocolate chip cookie from Aunt Louise (who lives right behind us) looks like after Cassidy is done with it:

Yummm!