"GIVE IT A WHIRL" FALL DESIGN

 

I'm not one of those people who love Summer.  As a matter of fact, it's my least favorite season.  I don't like to be hot, and I really don't like all of the creatures that come crawling out and slithering around to enjoy the hot, humid heat.  Now that it is September, I am REALLY looking forward to Fall.  Go ahead, Summer!  Pack your bags and go!  

Today I'm sharing a card with Fall colors and images that I created for my parents.  I used the same layout as in my previous blog post because I thoroughly enjoy using the Give it a Whirl dies this way.  The images on my card are from Stampin' Up!'s retired Lighthearted Leaves stamp set, and they are quite fun to color.  The following three photos show each of the images that I used:

Didn't they turn out so pretty?  After the images had been colored, I dotted the white background with one of the markers, which I thought added extra whimsy and interest.  Of course, I used the Tailor Made Tags dies to cut that gorgeous little tag, and the sentiment is from the Very Versailles stamp set.  The embossing folders featured on this card are Seaside and Petal Burst.  My cardstock colors are Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Pear Pizzazz, Mossy Meadow and, of course White.  Other Stampin' Up! products that I used are Stampin' Dimensionals, Foam Adhesive Strips, Round & Square Brads, and the Take Your Pick Tool.  This card just screams "Welcome, Fall!!!", doesn't it?

A funny thing . . . when I showed this card to my son, he just looked at it, said it looked good, and handed it back to me.  When I told him that he was supposed to spin the white circle in the direction of the arrow, he said, "What arrow?!?!"  LOL  Granted, I knew it wasn't a very good idea to make the arrow the same color as the embossed background, but I didn't want a lot of visual attention on the arrow.  Before mailing the card, I outlined the bottom (of the arrow) with a black ink pen--very lightly.  My mother said she almost didn't see it, so I guess I'll need to do better the next time.

"GIVE IT A WHIRL" ANIMAL BIRTHDAY CARD

 

Today is my great-nephew's birthday, and I'm sharing the card that I made for him.  I was totally inspired by a similar card that Brenda Quintana designed, but I couldn't resist making a few changes such as including a cute donkey, some hatching chicks, and a balloon in the hoof of the proud sheep.  I also thought the die-cut fence provided an excellent opportunity to use some of Stampin' Up!'s new Cork paper, and didn't it work perfectly for the fence?  Because the cork paper is thin, I adhered it to a piece of cardstock before die-cutting the shape.  In the image below, you can see the other two images that come around when the scallop circle is turned.  

It's hard to tell from the photos, but I used the Wink of Stella glitter brush to apply thin lines of glitter around the die-cut clouds and also on the balloon.

The Give it a Whirl dies are so fun to use!  While there are so many options with those dies, this is the quickest card that I've made with them.  Best of all . . . the set of dies includes some of the prettiest clouds that I've ever seen plus some other shapes that can be used on all sorts of cards.  You know how some dies are just a great investment?  Uh huh . . . these are that!  Other Stampin' Up! products featured on this card include:

Cardstock:  White, Old Olive, Pool Party, Daffodil Delight

Stamp Sets:  Counting Sheep, Darling Donkeys (2021 SAB, retired), Hey Birthday Chick

Dies:  Sheep, Give it a Whirl

STAMPED WREATH CARDS

Not much to talk about today--just wanted to share photos of the wreath cards that I made recently.  My ink and cardstock colors (from Stampin' Up!) are:  Old Olive, Soft Suede, Gorgeous Grape, Highland Heather, Pear Pizzazz, and VersaMark (for the stamped sentiment, which is from the Heartfelt Wishes stamp set).

These little square cards were kept very simple so that the stamped wreath got all of the ahhhhh's.  I used Iridescent Ice embossing powder (retired product), which gave the sentiment a little sparkle.  

Of course, the envelopes needed to be pretty, too, so I stamped a bucket of flowers, some of which had spilled out.  

A few days later, when I was ready to mail a candy bag zipper pouch to my niece, I made this card for her.

The jewels are really pretty, and I wish they showed up better in the photo.  They're Stampin' Up!'s 2021-2023 In Color Jewels, and they come in a nice selection of colors.

ANOTHER CANDY BAG ZIPPER POUCH

My mother had saved a KitKat candy bag that my niece sent to her a while back and, after seeing my first candy bag zipper pouch, she thought I might like to turn this bag into a useable pouch.  How fun that this bag was a bit larger, but the conversion process was a bit tricky because the bag was made from paper.  Mostly, it turned out very well, with just a little tearing.  The biggest tear was in the bottom left corner, and the only remedy that I could think of was to sew a little tab there.  

I found what appeared to be the perfect fabric to use for the lining.  It looks really nice with the bag, huh?  Want to see the bag of the bag?

Once complete, I wrapped the pouch with glassine paper and made a wax seal closure over the twine bow.

The stamped rose didn't show up very well, so I colored the top of it with a gold Sharpie marker.

This little treat was all ready for the USPS to deliver to my niece in Michigan.  Being that the package was totally unexpected, she was surprised and delighted--and recognized that the bag was one (once filled with candy) that she'd sent to my mother.  Being able to surprise someone and make their day a little sweeter is one of the best things in life.  

UPCYCLED PROJECT: CANDY BAG ZIPPER POUCH

 

If you're visiting my blog to see a stamped project, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed.  Or . . . if you're someone who enjoys sewing as well as stamping, this post might inspire you to take the cover off of your sewing machine.  My mother told me recently about a Missouri Star Quilt Company video that she thought I might like, and she was right!  I can remember seeing similar projects years ago (long before I started sewing) that were made from cookie and chip bags, and I'm pretty sure I also saw something made from drink pouches.  They might not have been sewn, but they were a creative upcycled project.

For my zipper pouch, I followed MSQC's instructions (here's the video link) and cut apart the candy bag.  The one that I had purchased had a pleated bottom, but it was easy to cut that out.  Also, I didn't tear the top of the bag to remove the candy--I cut a slit in the bottom so the majority of the bag was left intact.  As you can see from the above photo, I used the front and back of the candy bag for my pouch.

Per the video instructions, I applied clear Heat-n-Bond Iron-On Vinyl to the bag, sandwiched each piece (front and back) with batting and lining fabric, and then machine-quilted.  The vinyl that I used was "Gloss" and, as you can see, it left the project quite . . . well . . . glossy.  

As someone who is new to sewing and hasn't been building a fabric "collection" for very long, I was thrilled to find that I had a perfect fabric for the lining.  Just look at how well the colors coordinate with the bag!  I even had the perfect pink zipper, but that wasn't too surprising because I have a drawer full of zippers--probably will never use them all, but I'm gonna try.

So what do you think about this cute zipper pouch?  Are you inspired to make one?

IT'S A (ROCKIN') CHRISTMAS CARD

 

What do you do when new Christmas-themed products arrrive?  You make a Christmas card--even if it's a wee past the middle of July.  Can you tell from the photo above that the focal point is a round "ornament"?  

I used a circle die to cut the Sahara Sand cardstock base, which was folded in half and then embossed with Stampin' Up!'s brand new Merry Melody embossing folder.  The ornament was created by using a retired Circle punch to cut a piece of the gorgeous Tidings of Chistmas designer paper.  Both pieces of designer paper on the ornament are from that paper collection, and I 💗 the colors for Christmas . . . Cherry Cobbler, Evening Evergreen, Misty Moonlight, Sahara Sand, and Soft Succulent.  The greens are so pretty together!  To create the topper for the ornament, I used one of the dies from Perfect Plants to cut that shape from Silver Foil.  It's perfect, right?!?!  

The sentiment is from the Poinsettia Petals stamp set and was stamped with Evening Evergreen ink.  Notice the texture on the Soft Succulent trees?  I used the new Timber embossing folder for that.  I almost didn't purchase that folder, thinking that the Bark folder was all the wood texture I might need; however, I am loving that the Timber folder has a smaller "grain" which is quite perfect for my tiny trees.  This little rocking card was quite simple and quick to make, and I love that it's stylish and festive.  I have a feeling that I'll be making more ornaments--and rockers to display them.

"SWEET AS A PEACH" PURSE CARD W/MONEY POCKET

Sunday, July 4th, was my niece's birthday.  Being born on Independence Day--a day celebrated with fun family/friend gatherings, fireworks, and parades--is such a perfect day for Haley's birth.  She is such a sweet, bubbly, and funny young lady and brings joy to our family.  She loves big, and I hope she knows that she is very loved.  She is truly a ray of sunshine!  My sister and I always say (jokingly, of course) that Haley is our parents' favorite, but I've decided (shhhh . . . don't tell anyone) that it's okay if she is because I can see how she would be.  It's no surprise that they call her Precious.  And she really is--to all of us.  For her birthday, I created this sweet purse-shaped card featuring Stampin' Up!'s Sweet as a Peach stamp set, Peach dies, and You're a Peach designer paper:

It was perfect because it stood on its own when closed and folded flat for mailing.  BTW, I used Soft Sea Foam for the card base.

In the above photo, you can see that the card had a Velcro closure.  The top part of the card had a pocket (created with the striped designer paper) which was perfect for holding $$$.  Can you see that an envelope was tucked into the pocket? (Photo below)  The bottom panel, although sweetly decorated, had plenty of space for writing our birthday wishes.  Yes, that adorable tag was cut with one of the Tailor Made Tags dies.  💗 those dies!!!

Because the envelope blended in a little too well with the other designer paper on the top interior panel, I decided to add a Calypso Coral tab to the top left corner:

All of these peach products are sooooooooooo fun to work with, and I don't think it's possible to make anything ugly with them.  

One last photo of Haley's birthday card:

"MEASURE OF LOVE"

 

Today's post features one of Stampin' Up!'s new stamp sets, and it's such a fun one!  It was love at first sight for me, although I still gave a lot of thought before buying it.  Normally, I would jump right in with the purchase, but I wanted to make sure that I "thought" I could get a lot of use from it.  There is no buyer's remorse here!  Best of all, I've already had sweet comments from those who received the cards I'm sharing today.  It all started with this one:

I needed a thank you card for a customer/friend, and I really wanted to play with Measure of Love.  That's when I decided that someone who has placed a Stampin' Up! order probably wouldn't care that their thank you card was more of an inspiring sample.  What's not to love about that?  The card base is 4" square and, of course, the layers are tilted a bit and extend past the top of the card.  That's okay because the card still fit perfectly in an A2 envelope.  Stampin' Blends were used to color the scale, and have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy coloring with the Blends???  They are fantastic!  So once this card was complete, I decided to play around with other color combos.

The scale on the above card was colored with Soft Succulent.  A piece of paper from In Good Taste was used to mimic a table to ground the scale.

The card above features Soft Sea Foam and Highland Heather cardstock, and the scale was colored with Highland Heather.  You might have noticed that a rhinestone jewel was placed at the base of each stamped pointer doohickey, but first I colored the rhinestones with the coordinating Blends marker.  My last scale color was Granny Apple Green, and it turned out pretty, too!  

I don't normally like fussy-cutting, but I really enjoyed the stamping and cutting required for these cards--it wasn't at all difficult!  Fortunately, I didn't have to cut the pointer doohickeys for the scale faces, and it was quite nice that I could stamp them to coordinate with the color of the scale.  

Is this a simple card?  You bet!  But . . . each of these cards were VERY well-received, and THAT makes a stamp set a winner for me!  My great-aunt (Betty) was so happy with her card, and she said that she knew she must really be special.  She is really special, but it melted my heart a little to hear in her voice just how much she appreciated her card.  

And now I look forward to trying other color combos with Measure of Love.

"SWEET AS A PEACH" BOXED CARD SET

 

For one of my mother's birthday gifts, I created (what I consider to be) a FANTASTIC set of assorted cards featuring Stampin' Up!'s Sweet as a Peach product bundle.  These products are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G and oh so fun to use.  I'm sure you just want to see the cards, so let's get to it:

The above design features Soft Sea Foam and Calypso Coral cardstock.  Stitched So Sweetly and Peach dies were used for the die-cut shapes.

All of the die-cut shapes in the above card were cut with the Peach dies except for the tag, which was cut with one of the Tailor Made Tags dies.  That cute cloud?  It is from the Give It a Whirl dies.

Dies featured on the cards directly above and below are:  Give It a Whirl, Stitched So Sweetly, Tailor Made Tags, Peach, and Pierced Blooms.  Embossing Folders are:  Brick & Mortar and Bark.

All of the peaches were given a pretty shimmer with a Wink of Stella Glitter Brush.

The card below features You're a Peach designer paper and Checks & Dots embossing folder.  Those embossed checks are the perfect amount of texture for the background!  Do you love the Balmy Blue tag?  I'm telling you . . . those Tailor Made Tags dies are something every card-maker should have!

Just look at all of the texture and dimension on this card:

Below is another of the crisp and clean designs featuring Stitched So Sweetly, Pierced Blooms, and Peach dies.  The embossing folder featured on this card is Parisian Floral.  Yes, it's gorgeous!

It was completely unnecessary but, since I was playing with peaches, I couldn't resist using the peach image from the retired Fresh Fruit stamp set.  I still love this stamp set, and I loved having the perfect opportunity to use it again.

The card below just screamed for a die-cut tag, don't you think?

The Wink of Stella Glitter Brush brought to life all of the peaches in this card set.

Want to see inside the box?

On the left interior, I placed a small pocket to hold postage stamps.  The box on the right side held all of the cards.

One last look at the front, which features Artistry Blooms sequins.

I liked this set of cards so much that I need to make a set for myself.  You just can't go wrong with peaches, and the most important thing was that I gave my mother a gift that I was quite proud of.

UPDATE:  I appreciate all of the views, comments, and compliments that this post has received.  This was an interesting and fun project to work on; however, creating the box was a progressive task.  Measurements that I mapped out ended up having to be tweaked, and I do not have a tutorial or exact dimensions at this time.  If I ever re-visit this project, I will be sure to make note of exact measurements and add them to this blog post.  Your understanding is appreciated.