Hi - looking for a Baby Shower Gift?

I designed a notecard set which uses really simple shapes and soft colours which could be used as a gift for an expectant Mom - or even for yourself if you'd like to have a sweet collection of ready-made cards.  I chose soft colours when I was first experimenting, and liked the results, but you could substitute many colour combinations!   

Recycle some scraps. Create a fun grid of polka dots by using the small 1/2 inch circle punch......and our RETIRING Trio Flower Punch (can't believe it!) to add interest.  

A butterfly - highlights the polka dot as well.

The box is 9 inch x 5-1/2 inch  with a 1/2 inch base scored in the middle. Two strips of paper, scored to make 3 sections, each 1/2 inch wide, are attached along the sides. 

The front panel has a half -circle cut away to create a pocket to tuck a tag into.

Embossing the cardstock with polka dots and a simple design means the cards can be used for many purposes - thank you, birth announcement, 1rst birthday......etc. Flexibility! 

To help the appearance, I staggered the height of the cards - this way,

 all the colours show when stored in the box. 

Close-up of box and cut-out front section with tag. 

Time to make: 1 hour or less. 

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Hope you try this - email me for instructions if you like! 

Beverly

Look at what my daughter surprised me with - she made a card like this, and it was soooo pretty, I had to know how.....so she show'd me!  Fancy that - she's been paying attention all this time, lol! 

Not really - I always say that she is very creative when she wants to be....ever since she was very young and she'd come up with some really artful poetry, while she may have made some funny-looking rabbits for easter bunnies or elves (none of them had arms, and very over-sized heads, ) in the beginning...she always was amazing me with the naturalness of her creative streak! 

But I digress....here are the basic instructions....go ahead, make one - they're fun!!!

Card Dimensions

   cardstock = 5.5 x 10-3/4 inches

   score at 3-3/4 and 5-1/2 and 7-1/4 and 9 inches.   Fold into valleys and hills (accordian style)

    turn 90 degrees and fold so that you can cut between (no further, no less) the 5-1/2 and 9 inch scored

   lines, at 1 inch from the bottom.  Unfold back to original, and still working between the area you've just

   cut - push in the center panel so that is folds opposite than the direction of the 1 inch top & bottom of the

   same panel.  See picture.   Pretty easy....decorate as you wish, have fun!

    

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Big Shot and Birds and Blooms Bigz Die/  Scallop Oval and Large Oval Punches/ Soft Suede, Very Vanilla  and Real Red Cardstock, Real Red Classic Ink, Close to Cocoa Designer Paper.

If you'd like to attend class to learn this and more techniques - contact me!

I love dies.   There is something satisfying about punching out paper.  Like popping bubblewrap I guess.  As far as punching styles go - I absolutely love "co-ordinating" stamps and hand-held punches.  After that pull out the big guns - I use the Big Shot, very sturdy and capable machine.

But naturally, its the "dies" we really get excited about. Whether you carry handheld punches over to your cozy corner to play or roll out a stack of shapes on your tabletop machine - you just end up wanting more and more dies - am I right? Bad habit, lol.

So I am always up for trying new dies I don't own - just yet - and here are two from Stampin' Up! I tried out recently  featuring both a Bigz die (love these as they go through amazingly easy!) and one of our newer Embosslit dies.

First card is using the Embosslit die called " THANKS" as you can see - but isn't that a nice way to pop on a thank you?  Its so clean, simple and quietly elegant.  If you really wanted to emphasize 'thank you' to someone, this would do it so well.

Thank You Card

Also what's neat about this die is that we have a hand-held punch to layer with it - our " Modern Label " punch, look for punch #24 in our cataloque, or item # 116630.

Tulipe Card

Up next is the Bigz die I mentioned....this is the very pretty "Tulipe"!  For a twist, this card is using the 'negative' image (or the background)  which means the punched out tulip  (not shown here) can still be used for another purpose -  let's say adorning another card - so 2 cards in 1 punch!

Starting with a co-ordinating colour base card  in Crushed Curry -  we put a strip of paper from the beautiful Razzleberry Lemonade Designer paper on the inside....

and then placed a 6 in.square of Rich Razzleberry (purplish) cardstock to cover the surface of the entire die.   Pressed through The Big Shot and  pushed out the pieces that comprise the tulip -  now our cardstock is showing the tulip's outline - or negative image. Layered this over more Razzleberry Lemonade cardstock - but not before punching the corners out with the tip of our newest  Christmas punch - Ornament!  I do own this punch already because it has co-ordinating stamps!  Wheee! (told ya I luv em!)   And lastly.....

we added glitter!  Of course we did!  The tulip is covered in a fine glitter, our very own 'Dazzling Diamonds' - but you know how hard it is to photograph glitter!!!  So I shut off lights and tried again....see if you can see it sparkle...?  

Well I had fun anyways...and you must admit, you have to  appreciate the whole 'Try before you buy' approach!  (ok...last thing I must sneak in...the Tulip's parts can be configured to make your own designs if you play around with the pieces...plus the 'Decorative Accents and Decorative Accents #2' are two more Bigz that could co-ordinate with this one.....ok, I'm done :) )

Goodnight!

 Stampin' Up! Products (prices listed in Canadian) =  Embosslit Die, Thanks: #115957/$15.95 Cdn....Bigz Die, Tulipe: #1134578/$29.95....Ornament Punch: #116794/ $22.95....Big Shot Machine: # 113439/$132.95

Here is another  Monday card......I decided to use a picture on my card. One of my fav topics of choice - my daughter pictured here so long ago when she was young!

 I felt like doing folding and stitching - for a more homegrown look all around.  It's a little hard to see the folded, stitched paper ribbon I made underneath the vellum rectangle in the photo (try clicking to see the photo closer)....and then I pulled out my Daisy die for my Big Shot - so fun to punch out your own flowers!

Again hard to see but the colour of the flower's button is a soft blue -  subtle - which I love - soft vintage-mod!

 That's the one thing about crafting, you can switch it up day to day...one day bursting with bright colours, and the next day, quiet as a mouse...but each and every mood reflects you, so you are realling charting yourself and all that you are....something to think about. :)

Cheers!


Stampin' Up! Supplies:  Big Shot Bigz Die-Flower,Daisies #2.; Vellum; Very Vanilla cardstock; Button Bouguet.

You must be joking, right? Wrong! LOL!

I have started on my Christmas - but I decided to use up some stash first. And I am doing a sort of mish-mash look based on a card I learned at a craft store.

I am balancing some embossed and die-cutting with matting layers, and embellishments. These take a bit of time but I really do like them. They might be a bit too detailed for a craft sale, so I won't be making that many of them to sell, but they are nice and make a really nice statement to your recipient!

Tip: use a circle and embed it behind some paper leaving 3/4 - 1/2 of the circle exposed and use this as a ring to tie ribbons on.

LOL - I know I can be slow, but...really!

Seriously, I've decided to break down and start doing one of these exercises after holding back for soooo long. I guess I felt I had enough to do without another commitment, but I must confess I was a little in need of a sketch challenge - it can be hard to come out of your own 'style' sometimes, so I went off in search of a well-known starting place. I remembered hearing the term "mojo mondays" and I quickly found their blog - and well, here's my first one!

Its called MojoMonday97 - I guess that refers to the number of sketches they've done so far? There is a lot of followers there, so you might want to check it out! They are HERE - MOJO MONDAY

Here's this past Monday's sketch and my version!

I do a monkey card e v e r y summer, so this playful monkey paper is from my ol' stash - I did have a life before Stampin' Up! LOL!

SU Supplies: new IN COLOR paper, Soft Suede, adhesive. Other Supplies: Reminisce 12x12 paper "Monkey Business", green textured paper, DCWV paper "Blossoms and Butterflies" Stack (polka dot strips), brights brads by 'Just Brads''; Marvy Scallop Punch.

My daughter had a really nice time at her uncle's wedding. And here is the card she made them. She wanted to use colours that were part of the bride's wedding theme, lavender and yellow. Then using the stamp from the KINDRED SPIRIT set, she sprinkled the large branch with tiny hearts and set the 2 lovebirds on the main branch - all snuggled lovingly together. I lined the inside of the envelope for her because I always think that is a nice touch. I'm sure some of you now recognize the bird die-cuts as being from Birds with Leaves and Flowers., a Big Shot exclusive. I am totally finding this to be a great die to have!

I am sure she will find that the happy couple are in LOVE with her heartfelt card!

Here I am again! I went to my meeting last night and we delved right in to some goodies that we all brought to share. I made cupcakes and I over-baked the first set so all I brought was half dozen but there was plenty to go around:chocolate goodies, nice bread-cake, cookies, and even fresh strawberries and chocolate dip! Mmm mmm!

I {heart} U Card

After we seemed to whirl around the tables weaving in and out of one another making cards ... the first up for me was the "I {heart} U" card featuring a stamp that can be earned 'free' when you take part in Stampin' Up!'s Sale-A-Bration promotion going on right now and til the end of March.

Since I am a sucker for embellishing, I got it home and was curious to see how it would look with real hand-stitching around the blue label {Top Note die}. The Top Note die comes with a cut stitched line and I used that as a guide. And... using my 'han-dy-dan-dy' piercing tool I sewed in some crochet thread. The thread colour changes from light to dark, so I took advantage of that. I learned a few things along the way doing it - its time consuming but I like the end result!

Next up...my Have an Ice Day Card

Our next card had as it focus one of the cutest and new stamps from the new Stampin' Up! 2009 Spring Idea catalog - called "Animal Crackers' . I don't know about you but I love-love-love big-headed baby animals - they're just cute as can be!!! I am definitely buying this stamp set, just in time for when our 'spring babies' start poppin' up!

It also features one of the new 'texture' plates for the Big Shot exclusive of Stampin' Up! as well - you can see the texture on the blue half-circles...a harlequin design, real stylish with a lot of possibilities! You could use this texture on lots of shapes too as well as a background - harlequin by the way goes waaaay back in time and associated with those clownish theater creatures in their parti-coloured diamond costumes. So its a classic!

Next Card....

There is one other card but I still have to make an adjustment, but its really cute and just perfect for those gardeners - that's all I'm sayin! :)

OK - I gave myself a personal challenge recently - and that was to 'up' my game and create 'the' card - and to create a set which includes a scrapbook page. So I put my energies into creative mode and thought and thought 'real' hard .......because I also wanted to move away a little from my norm.
Out in the shopping malls, I have noticed a trend that to me says 'home-spun' where objects are decorated using earthy fabrics, natural colours and then bursts of colours, fun buttons, stitched edges.....like a sock-monkey gone wild, lol!

And using that as my inspiration, I turned to one of my fav themes - birds! Which led me directly to my latest toy from my Stampin' Up! catalog, the Bigz Dies from the Big Shot and this one is called: Birds w/ Leaves with Flower [***see details below if your interested in owning one] Also is another fav Bigz Die, Top Note.

Tonight I am off to my upline's studio, called Craftin Caro and the lovely hostess Caroline has asked us to bring along a card sample for her studio's display boards - she has a huge, huge wall of great samples......and so I am bringing along this one.

One of the 'extra' touches I dreamed up for this card, is how I bordered the ribbon with piercing and then hand-stitiched in some crochet thread over top.

I am pleased as punch with myself over this one - thanks for looking.

Beverly

Beverly's Stamping Beehive

*Instructions will be posted shortly if you want to re-create this card.

To Purchase Supplies for this Card:

Stampin' Up! Big Shot, Bigz Dies =

• Top Note #113463 page 196 and


• Bird w/ Leaves and Flower #113465 page 197.

If you want to order these see my link on the side or you may email me. Feel free to ask about any details or other products you are interested in knowing about.