2009 Calendar

Gosh, it's been so long since my last post ~ apologies. My husband hasn't been well so I was distracted for a while there ... but he's on the mend now and I've had a chance to do some playing! My friend Heidi told me about a SU demonstrator called Angie Kennedy Juda who has a wonderful blog 'Chic n' Scratch'. Angie had a post showing a calendar class with a great photo so I decided to use her idea and make some of my own. The first challenge was to make a word document using the 2009 months ... sounds easy, but the placement was a nightmare ~ I wanted to make them all the same size so had to manipulate the top and left margins to make trimming easy and accurate. Took a few goes but I made it in the end! If anyone would like the word document, just e:mail me (ladyandthestamp@gmail.com) and I'll send you the doc.

Papertrey Ink sell these sturdy CD cases, a pack of 5 for $3 you can find them here. All I did then was measure the dimensions and cut my cardstock accordingly. The calendars were printed on Whisper White and layered with Close to Cocoa and then I used the Scallop Circle, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches to make each month's unique image. I think it turned out very well ... thanks Angie for the inspiration!

Treat Sac Gift Bag

I thought you might like to see a simple gift bag ~ oh so easy to make! I found a pack of treat sacs in Target, about 2.99 for 16 of them. All you do to make it into a Gift Bag is trim the top down to whatever size you want (I trimmed about 1.5" off the top but they look adorable if you make them square). Then measure the treat sac and add about 1"-2" to the top to allow for the handle. I cut a piece of c/stock about 1/8" larger than the bag so it wouldn't show. Then punch the word window slot along the top to make the handle, decorate the cardstock (here I just used Designer Paper) and attach it to the treat sac with Mono Multi Adhesive. Soooooo easy! Give it a go, it's addictive!

Recipe
Stamps: SU 'friend' from Bella Blossoms, Curly Label
Cardstock: PTI Sweet Blush, SU Regal Rose, Rose Red and Sweet Always DP
Ink: Rose Red
Accessories: Rose Red Ribbon, Curly Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Scallop Edge.

Rose Red, Kraft and Black

Have a go at this colour challenge ... CC181 on SCS ... Rose Red, Basic Black and Kraft. It's a great combo and I really like how it turned out on this christmas card. The stamp set, Snow Swirled, is just lovely and I'm looking forward to using it more ... it's so versatile and is brand new in the 2008 Fall Winter Catalogue.

Recipe
Stamps : SU Snow Swirled, sentiment from Mixed Messages, PTI
Cardstock : Rose Red, Basic Black, Kraft
Ink : Rose Red, Basic Black
Accessories : Dazzling Diamonds

Faux Dry Embossing

There's a great challenge today over on SCS here. It shows you how to do a 'faux' dry embossed look on a card. Basically, you stamp your image in white craft ink. Once it's dry, you stamp the same image again but just a smidge to the right in the same colour ink as the cardstock. You get this clever 'shadow' effect around the image and it looks embossed. Give it a go, it's fun!
Recipe
Stamps : Bella Blossoms (my new fave!)
Cardstock : Mellow Moss and PTI White
Ink : Mellow Moss, White Craft
Accessories : SU Mellow Moss Taffeta Ribbon

Boxes, Bags & Tags

My Boxes, Bags & Tags Class is being held this Friday, August 29th at 7pm ~ there's still time to sign up! The class is $12 and we'll be making all of the above containers using all new product from the Fall Winter 2008 Catalogue! Don't miss it!

One of my best friends (hi Hilary!) has a sister (who's also a friend of course!) who's getting married on Saturday. I haven't seen her for the longest time, not since we moved over to America in 2001, so I haven't met her fiance ... but I wanted to make them a card for their special day. I found inspiration whilst browsing Angie Kennedy Juda's blog. She'd made a cute gate-fold card so I decided to give it a whirl myself.

I always think that the combination of River Rock and Chocolate Chip is so elegant, and as it's a wedding card, I went with those colours.

Start with an 11" x 4 1/4" strip of c/stock. Score at 2" and 3 3/4" from each end ~ this forms the gate fold. For the side panel accent strips, cut 2 strips 4" x 1 3/4" and decorate (you can use DP too). For the centre portion, I cut a piece of c/s 4" x 3 1/4" and stamped 'together forever' in the centre. The main image panel is 1 3/4" square and I layered it up with the 2 colours in 1/4" increments. It's easy to do and so effective! The main image is the wreath form 'Together Forever' and the initials S and L are from PTI's Ambassador alphabet set. A few pearls at the corners and hey presto a simple, elegant wedding card.

Recipe

Stamps : SU Together Forever, PTI Ambassador, Anna Griffin b/g

Cardstock : SU Choc Chip, River Rock

Ink : as above

Accessories : Scor-Pal, Pearls

Featured Stamper ~ Jessie

Jessie (Knightrone over on SCS) is a super-talented card maker and artist. I love her beautiful cards and have been a fan of hers for a long time! Today on SCS the Featured Stamper is Jessie. I was so exctied to see her included today! I decided to CASE her card seen here. I used both the 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches to make a flower template (sounds easy if you say it fast! LOL) and then cut out the shapes and layered them up to make the flower. Sooooo hard to make it look good! I did change the main card, colours from blue to pink and the central image is smaller and simpler. If you get a chance, you should check out Jessie's blog too, it's jam-packed full of lovely offerings!
Recipe:
Stamps : PTI Green Thumb, Polka Dot Basics
Cardstock : PTI White, Berry Sorbet, Blush Blossom, SU Kiwi Kiss
Ink : PTI Berry Sorbet, Spring Moss, SU Kiwi Kiss
Accessories : SU Circle and Scallop Punches, Michaels organza ribbon