Boo Banner

Another Halloween banner and this one was almost embarrassingly quick and easy to make. Once again I used flags and twine from a banner kit I bought on post-Halloween clearance at Target last year. The triangular flags are super cute with their little Halloween pre-printed story and spider web and the top edge decorated with black microbeads. The kit also included a few plastic spiders so I attached one on top of the web on the center banner panel.

To save time and effort, I used black and ivory rosettes that I picked up on post-Christmas clearance at Target. (Did I mention that I love shopping post-holiday clearance sales at Target. Yeah, it's a bit of an addiction, but who can resist when you can use this stuff to make such cute decorations?) The black and ivory color on the rosettes coordinated perfectly with the banner flags, so all I needed were some letters and some die cut circles to make the rosettes pop even more. I used circle framelits to cut circles out of basic black card stock and glitter gold paper. I also used gold glitter paper and the Sizzix Phrase Boo w/ Frame die to cut out just the letters. Because the rosettes already add dimension, I just used regular adhesives to attach the letters to the rosetttes and the various layers to the banner flags and each other.

I love the way this short banner looks hanging on the door of our antique china cabinet. It's the perfect addition to our dining room Halloween decorations.

Halloween Banner

It's been a super busy month that didn't leave me with time for stamping until this week. With Halloween coming up, this themed banner took priority. It also happens to meet this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog "Not A Card" challenge, so I will share it there.

The black banner flags and thick black and white baker's twine came from a kit I picked up last year at a post-Halloween clearance sale at Target. I love the alternating shapes and the glittered edges! (Starting with pre-made tags made the project easier, but event without the kit it wouldn't be too difficult to cut out the flag shapes from black card stock and glitter the edges using black glitter and sticky strip.)

I thought about using some of my Halloween patterned papers to make rosettes, but I wasn't in a mood to score, fold and hot glue, so I decided to go for a telescoping circle look using dimensionals. I cut out circles using the circles and starburst framelits, I used a retired SU designer paper for the largest circle, then silver glitter paper for the starburst on the next layer. The next circle was cut from black card stock and embossed using the Tim Holtz cracked embossing folder from Sizzix. The final circle layer was cut from pumpkin pie card stock and embossed with an SU spider web embossing folder.

I used chipboard letters from a retired Stampin' Up! assortment. I first used a black stampin' spot to dye them and then covered them with mono multi glue and fine black glitter. Once they were dry, I used mini glue dots to attach them to the pumpkin pie circles.

I like how festive and sparkly the banner turned out. It's the perfect window decoration in our living room.

For those curious, the backs of the lighted pumpkin trio in the transom window above the banner are decorated with retired SU Halloween décor elements.

Love Wall Hanging

I have to admit, it's a lot of fun playing with the Love You Much bundle. Here's a little wall hanging I put together using some of the stamps form the Love You Much set, the Candy lane designer series paper and the three hearts punch. I also used some striped riding hood red ribbon from the holiday mini catalog (get yours before it's gone on January 18!) and the 5/8" striped riding hood red ribbon from the fall/winter idea book and catalog, plus some very vanilla and riding hood red taffeta ribbon.

I also used flowers, half pearls, pearls, hat pin and small clear rhinestone brads form the pretties kit, some felt fusion too flowers and some riding hood red buttons.

I used the Lovely Letters alphabet to spell out the word Love, stamped in close to cocoa craft ink on very vanilla card stock, embossed with clear embossing powder and punched on a diagonal with the scalloped square punch. On the first square I also used the En Francais background stamp on vellum with versamark ink and heat embossed it with white embossing powder.

As I said, I'm having a lot of fun working with this bundle, so more projects are sure to come! Stay tuned! And in the meantime I wish you a very happy New Year. May all your stamping and crafting wishes come true in 2009!

Decor Elements Candy Jar

Tomorrow is our annual neighborhood Holiday brunch. Each year the families from out block take turns hosting and everyone brings their favorite food to share. It's a lot of fun!

This year I decided to make a gift for the hosts (something a little different form the last-minute bottle of wine we typically bring). I found this cool candy jar at Wal-Mart and I just knew that I could do something fun with it. I started by adhering the small Jingle All The Way home decor element to the lid. It was just the perfect size! Then I wrapped a piece of 5/8" real red grosgrain around the edge of the lid and tied a bow around that using the red gingham ribbon.

On the sides of the jar I wanted to continue the "jingle all the way" theme, so I stamped the image form the Sleigh Bells Ring set with the white stazon ink on each side of the jar. To make sure the image was visible, I used my coluzzle to cut out 2 circles from real red patterns paper (available only in the Level 1 Hostess paper sampler). I then attached the circles on the inside of the jar -- one on each side -- using mini glue dots.

After that I just had to fill the jar with peppermint candy to complete the gift. I love the way it turned out and I hope this year's brunch hosts will like it as well!

On Board Scrapbook Centerpiece

Tonight's project is a sample of the scrapbook centerpiece we'll be making at my December Itasca Community Library class. I love this project for so many reasons. First, it takes scrap booking out of the album and into home decor, allowing us to share this craft with everyone who enters the home. Second, it's decorated on both sides, so it's pretty from any angle. And third, because one side is seasonal, it can be kept out long after the other Holiday decorations are put away.

To make this project I started with one piece of the large on board book basics (they come 4 to a pack, so you can make one for yourself and give three away or make one for each season of the year). For the Christmas side, I covered it with riding hood red card stock and old olive patterns designer series paper, with a piece of the riding hood red striped ribbon from the holiday mini covering the seam. I used an image form the Big on Christmas set as my title, stamping it in basic black on naturals ivory card stock and coloring with a blender pen and stampin' write markers. I added a riding hood red mat to make the title stand out. I then punched different shapes out of riding hood red card stock, stamped them in encore gold with images form the Winter Post set, added pieces punched with the word window punch out of brushed gold card stock to look like ornament tops and used the elastic gold cord to make the "ornaments" look like they were hanging form the top of the page. The photo mat is a 5.25x7.25 piece of naturals ivory card stock, just perfect for a 5x7" photo.

On the reverse side I used baja breeze card stock and pacific point patterns designer series paper. I stamped the baja breeze card stock with various size snowflakes form the Snow Swirled set in baja breeze ink. I then stamped the title (again, from the Big on Christmas set) in basic black on whisper white card stock and colored it using a blender pen. I added a pacific point mat and punched a horizontal slot in both layers, which enabled me to tie on a piece of baja breeze striped grosgrain ribbon. I added a 5.25x7.25" mat of pacific point card stock, wrapped with more of the pacific point striped grosgrain ribbon. As a final decoration I added two of the felt flurries.

The best part of this project was that even though it involves two separate scrap layouts, it really does not take long to put together. Which is a good thing, because the class is only scheduled for 1-1.5 hours! I just hope everyone who attends will enjoy making this holiday project.

More Decor Elements

One more non-stamped project before we return to regular programming tomorrow. This time I wanted to show you the area above the range in my kitchen which I decorated with Stampin' Up! Decor Elements. When we remodeled our kitchen 2 years ago the original idea was to tile the back splash and the area above the range, but in order to save money we (and by we I mean my DH) were going to do the tiling ourselves. Now two years have gone by and, as you can see, still no tiles, so when the Decor Elements line came out I knew these would be a perfect non-permanent way to create a decorative focal point without breaking the bank.

To create this look I purchased the Baroque Medallions and 2 packs of the Flourishes Decor Elements. I only used the square medallion and the vines from the sets I purchased, which means I still have the round medallion plus 6 flowers to use elsewhere in the house.

I think the decor elements were perfect for this application because the area above the range no longer feels so bare but, at the same time, the decoration does not distract from the range hood , which is the real focal point of our kitchen. The swirly vines also mimic the grape motif that was used on the range hood and is duplicated elsewhere in the kitchen. And the best thing was these were super easy and quick to apply! Talk about instant gratification!

You can purchase various Decor Elements images and phrases from our Phase 1 brochure right now. As I mentioned yesterday, you can also purchase the Spooky Spider Decor Element. And, starting October 1, you will be able to purchase even more Decor elements including new fun images and phrases, seasonal decor for Thanksgiving and Christmas, two-step Decor Elements and images in more colors!

Spooky Spider

Another break from stamping today, this time to show you the cool new Halloween Home Decor product Stampin' Up! is making available now through October 31.

This fun self-adhesive vinyl spider image is here just in time to help you get ready for Halloween, and is priced low so it won't break your candy budget.

Decorate your candy jar to thrill the treaters, or adhere it above your door to scare off the tricksters. As you can see, I chose to to use my medium size black spooky spider to decorate a mirror that I use each year at our pumpkin carving party. I will also order a small white spider to put on the back window of my car for the duration of the spooky season! However you decide to use this fun image, you'll be a Halloween hit!

The exclusive Spooky Spider comes in two colors (black and white) and is designed to coordinate with our Ghostly Greetings Designer Series paper and our Chills & Thrills Rub-Ons from the Fall-Winter 2008 Idea Book & Catalog. You can get the image in three sizes:

Small (4 5/8x4") $5.95
Medium (8 7/8x7 3/4") $10.95
Large (14 15/16x13") $14.95

Contact me to place your spooky spider order to make sure it arrives in plenty of time to be part of your spooktacular Halloween decor!

Inspired by Nature Home Decor

As I promised yesterday, today's project is a bit of home decor that was inspired both by the Make and Take card we made at Convention (the 3x6" card you see here) and the projects featured on page 100 of the new Fall/Winter 2008 Idea Book and Catalog. Through sheer coincidence, recently I purchased a frame at Kohls that had chocolate chip edges and an olive green grass/like mat. I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but I really liked the frame and I thought I could stamp something in there to decorate my home.

Imagine my delight when I saw the Convention stamp sets and the make and take. I just knew as soon as I came home I would have to make this project.

To stamp this I first inked up the grass blade image in the new kiwi kiss classic ink, and then added some old olive ink to the image with a sponge dauber. I then stamped the grass on a piece of very vanilla card stock cut to size to fit the frame. Next I inked up the flower stamp using chocolate chip and very vanilla inks and sponge daubers. The reason to use daubers instead of ink pads is to create a variation in the color intensity so that the centers of the flowers appear darker than the petals.

I really like the way my picture came out and I think it will look great in the living room. If you like this set as much as I do you can order it starting tomorrow. Woo hoo!

Mom

Just playing around today with chipboard and designer paper. I thought this was a very cute and simple Mother's Day project. First I took the three hearts out of the On Board Accents assortment, covered them with so saffron prints double sided designer papers and sponged the edges with rose red ink.

I then stamped the word MOM on rose red ink on whisper white card stock with the Lovely Letters set and punched out each letter with my 1 3/8" circle punch. I layered this on two scalloped circles punched out of the prints designer paper in certainly celery and rose red, and attached each letter onto a heart.

I punched 1/8" holes in the hearts with my crop-a-dial and used certainly celery narrow grosgrain to string them together. I thought the sign was a good start, but something was missing. I tried adding some felt and punched flowers, but that didn't seem right either.

Finally it hit me -- what this project needed was a little double striped ribbon and hodge podge hardware. So I reached for my aged copper hodge podge hardware assortment and my purely pomegranate double striped ribbon and added a piece of each to each heart.

I like this result much better! The ribbon and hodgepodge hardware add just the right bit of decoration to take a plain wall hanging and make it stand out.

The best part, of course, is that right now you can get a 25% discount on the price of the the On Board Accents chipboard assortment with any non-chipboard $35 purchase of Stampin' up! products. And you can get the aged copper hodge podge hardware Free if you sign up to be a demonstrator this month. Both are great deals int heir own ways, and if you;d like to take advantage of these just e-mail me or give me a call!

scrapbook on your wall

I don't mean that you should literally turn your wall into a scrapbook page, but pretty close. Keep reading to see the project we'll be making at my May 28th class.

Yesterday I mentioned that now is a great time to become a demonstrators because new demonstrators can register for Convention on Tuesday. Great, you say, but what's so special about Convention? Well, Convention, just like all the other Stampin' up! events, is a great place to pick up loads of inspiration and creative ideas that will keep you stampin' all year long! I just looked over my notes from last Convention and I haven't had time to use half of the ideas I picked up there. So for a busy demonstrator or for a hobbyist who wants to see the latest and greatest trend and projects, this treasure trove of creative ideas is priceless!

One of the trends we were introduced to at last Convention was using stamping in home decor. This idea was reinforced in January at our Leadership meeting, where we were shown this adorable scrapbook wall hanging made with our new small On Board Book Basics. I filed this idea for future use, and now can happily offer it to you in a month that features a fantastic special on all of our chipboard products and is the month in which we are supposed to celebrate scrapbooking.

While I loved the project shown to us at Leadership, I wanted to create something a little brighter and perhaps a bit more unisex. So I decided to use the Summer Picnic Double Sided Designer Series Paper from the Occasions mini catalog. Here is my final result. No pictures yet (I guess I always leave the hardest part for last) but you can get the idea where they will go from the placement of the mats.

I used a whole bunch of different accessories to decorate the panels, from jumbo eyelets, to chipboard, to build-a-brads to a wide a variety of ribbons. I really like the way it turned out. It's just a perfect thing to hang during the summer months that really don't have too many decorative occasions of their own.

Since this is a wall hanging for my home, I made it "couple" themed. So read in order, the captions say "you and me, happy together, just because." At class participants will have access to these and all my other stamps, so they will be able to use whatever theme best suits their needs. This Summer Picnic designer paper is so versatile, both on the sides I chose to feature and the reverse sides, that it will go with just about any theme.

Here is a close-up shot of the first panel. Here I used a stamp from the Text and Texture set (stamped in versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder), some old olive poly twill ribbon and bashful blue striped ribbon, circle punches, pewter jumbo eyelets, chipboard discs and build a brads. In retrospect I might have skipped the build a brads which, using the designer paper I chose, reminded Bill of eyeballs. At class participants will be able to alter the design and skip the build-a-brads entirely or use them in a different manner.

This is a photo of the second panel. The sentiment (heat embossed in white) is from the Happy Everything set. I went light on the accessories for this page, using only a bit of the twill old olive ribbon from the Jersey ribbon originals assortment. The bashful blue mat (purposely cut in funky angles) if popped up on dimensionals.
And here is the last panel. I heat embossed another sentiment from the Text and Texture set, used some red zig-zag stitched ribbon from the Jersey ribbon originals assortment as a boarder between the designer papers, used some pieces from the On Board Accent assortment covered with more Summer Picnic designer paper as both accents and the main mat for the photo, added some punched stars and more striped ribbon and yet another ribbon from the jersey ribbon originals assortment. I attached the chipboard tag to the base with pop-up glue dots to accommodate the thickness of the various ribbons.

So there you go -- the May chipboard scrapbook home decor class project. If you would like to make this project be sure to register and pay the $20 class fee by May 16. The class will take place on may 28, 6:30-8:30 in Itasca. Please note that due to the nature of chipboard assortments, not everyone will be able to duplicate this project exactly. However, there will be plenty of chipboard for everyone to be able to personalize their projects! And, as I mentioned before, all of my stamps will be available to help with the personalization as well.

Father's Day side of wall hanging

As promised, here are the close-up views of the Father's Day side of the wall hanging as well as the recipe for this side.

Stamps: All Holidays, Wanted, Star Struck

Ink: chocolate chip, soft sky

Paper: Close to cocoa, chocolate chip, wild wasabi, soft sky, kraft, whisper white, Afternoon Tea double sided designer series paper

Accessories: Aged Copper hodgepodge hardware, chocolate chip poly twill ribbon, small star punch, chocolate chip wide grosgrain ribbon

As you can see, the Father's Day side is much less ornate, for obvious reasons. Most dads don't want to see a bunch of ribbons on their cards or decorations. I kept the color scheme very similar, but substituted close to cocoa for the groovy guava. I love how the Afternoon Tea designer paper has patterns that can easily be used for more masculine projects.

On the first panel I just stamped the close to cocoa covered coaster with a stamp from the wanted set and then added a piece of striped designer paper and the Greeting with aged copper brads in each corner.



On the second panel I stamped the paisley stamp from the Wanted set in soft sky on the soft sky covered coaster, then added some Afternoon Tea designer paper and a bit of chocolate chip poly twill ribbon (no knots or ribbons, though). I added two picture holders from the hodgepodge kit for additional interest.

On the third panel I used the direct to paper technique with my chocolate chip ink pad to create a wood texture, added some designer paper and a square clip from the hodgepodge hardware kit.


And on the fourth panel I stamped a star from the starstruck set in soft sky on the soft sky background, added a strip of designer paper, punched two small stars out of a different pattern of designer paper and attached them to either side of the letter with brads.

I had so much fun working on this that I'm actually doing another project to coordinate with this sign. Hopefully I'll be able to post photos for you tomorrow.

Mother's Day sign

Just as a reminder, this is the project I was working on today and showed you a sneak peak of earlier. It took a bit longer than I thought it would but in the end I ma quite pleased with it. It's one of those projects that actually turned out better in real life than I was picturing in my head. Now that does not happen very often, so it's a cause for a celebration.

Ad you can see, it's a little wall hanging made out of chipboard coasters. The front of the wall hanging is obviously intended as a Mother's Day decoration. Photos of the individual panels are posted below, but here is the general recipe for the project:

Stamps: All Holidays, Big Deal Alphabet

Paper: Groovy guava, soft sky, wild wasabi, chocolate chip, whisper white, Afternoon Tea double Sided Designer Series Paper

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Soft Sky

Accessories: double stitched grosgrain ribbon in groovy guava, wild wasabi and soft sky, pretties kit, aged copper hodgepodge hardware, stamping sponge, ticket corner punch, wide chocolate chip ribbon, sticky strip, dimensionals 4" round chipboard coasters.

Here is the first panel. The sentiment does take up quite a bit of room so I left this pretty plain except for the hodge podge round clip and a bit of double stitched ribbon. The sentiment is popped upon dimensionals.

For the second panel I used some flowery designer paper and I also hand-trimmed out a flower and attached it on the soft sky side of the circle. I also added the square hodge podge clip and some more double sided grosgrain ribbon for interest.

This is probably my favorite panel. I love this particular paper design and I love how great the flowers from the pretties kit look n the groovy guava side. I used the small clear rhinestone brads from the pretties kit for the flower centers (I punched the holes for the brads with my crop-a-dial) and hand-trimmed leaves from another paper design. Once again I added a hodge podge clip --oval this time - with double stitched grosgrain ribbon for interest.

On this final panel I omitted the hodge podge clip in favor of a buckle. I also hand-trimmed some more flowers and leaves from other sheets of designer paper in the Afternoon Tea pack to decorate the sky blue portion of the panel.

And that's it for the front. But, of course, I couldn't just leave it at that. So I decided to make the wall hanging reversible. and here is a sneak peak at the other side. Yes, the other side serves as a Father's Day decoration. I'm saving the detailed photos of those panels for tomorrow, so y'all come back now, y'hear!

Sneak Peak

I know, I know -- last night I said I would post a picture by noon and here it is, almost 3:00 p.m. and I'm still not done. What can I say? Others stuff got in the way and the project kind of grew as well and it's still not quite done. However, so as not to be a complete liar, I thought i would post this sneak preview. It's a Mother's day wall hanging made out of chipboard coasters and some of the Afternoon Tea designer paper from the Occasions mini catalog. I love the paper and I so wish I had ordered the coordinating Live Your Dream stamp set. The good news is that there's still time to get it, so it's definitely being added to my next order!

I know that it's hard to see the details in the photo so tonight I will upload close-ups of each panel. At least each of the front panels. Did I mention that the project grew overnight? Well, this morning I decided to decorate the reverse side of the hanging as well, so that's what I'm finishing up right now and that's what I'll be uploading tomorrow.

See you later!