Just Add Cake!

Last Friday was a friend of mine's birthday.  We celebrated her birthday on Tuesday at work, and I whipped up a little card, and dessert.  I used the Just Add Cake DS paper from SU, and used a decorative punch on the edge of the paper to create my rosette, the score marks at 1/4".  The base of the card is So Saffron, and I also used some Wild Wasabi behind the tag.  I used markers to color the cake from a stamp out of the Happiest Birthday Wishes stamp set.  I also used my favoirte stamp set Short and Sweet for the sentiment at the top, and finished it off with some Marina Mist grosgrain.

A lot of you already know I love to cook as well as stamp.  So, you may see a recipe or two show up on the ol' blog!  I decided to make Peanut Butter Pie from this website, and  can I tell you it was incredible!  So creamy and rich, and I don't even want to know how many calories were in this bad boy!  But, I decided if I used my little half pint jars, I could use the same rosette on top of my jar that I had used on her card.  Also, a little side note about the pie, it will make one large one, but she doesn't say how many small ones it will make.  If you were to use the same jars I have, I think you could easily get 8 - 10 servings from it.  I made 7, and had some filling left over, and totally could have made my crust thinner and not filled them as much.  It is a super rich pie!

Here's a close up of the top, I also added Stampin' Up's version of Stickles to the candle, but you can't really see it here.  Hope you try one of these techniques, even if it's the recipe for the pie!

Mini Scrapbook Folder

OK, some of you may know I have a bit of a "thing" for mini scrapbooks!  When I saw a file folder scrapbook on Andrea Walford's blog, I just had to make one for myself.  Unfortunately, I discovered this folder after the instructions were no longer available!  So, I had to put my thinking cap on to figure it out!  So, I started with a regular manilla folder, and decided I wanted the base to be 6 1/2" tall, and the pocket to be 3", then I trimmed off the leftovers.  I then created score lines for the pockets, I played around with it a bit, and decided to score 4 1/4" from the right edge, and then continued to score at 4 1/4" from each fold.  You can see in the photo, it is "fan folded" from the center out.   This happens to be a 1/3 cut, most folders come in an assortment of "tabs" in the package, and I don't think a center tab would work very well with this project.  With the end tabs, you should be able to flip your folds to make it work.  Make sense?  If not, just shoot me an e-mail!

I then used designer paper to cover the back.  I cut the pieces 6 1/2" wide x 12" long, and adhered them from the center out.  If I make another one, I would totally ink the edges of the folder BEFORE I adhere the paper.  I can still see some manilla peeking through, and would have liked it more if it were cleaner looking.

After adhering the papers, I used an Exacto knife to trim the excess paper from the edges of the folder.  You'll notice I'm just covering the back of the folder, not the "pockets".  Also, note the printing on the back side of my booklet?  If you decide not to cover the inside of the pockets, it's important to be sure your printing is on the outside like mine so it will be covered!  It wouldn't look so pretty sticking out behind your photos ; )!!

Here's how she looks all trimmed up, isn't she pretty?!!  I also trimmed up the center notch, which you will see when you have it all folded up, it's easy to tell what needs to be trimmed away.

I then did the inside pockets in the same fashion as the outside.  After the front and pockets were covered, I added Sticky Strip to the outer edges of the pockets and adhered.  Another tip I would give is to fold it all up before pressing your adhesive together.  Mine seemed to be just a bit wonky after I adhered it and then tried to fold it.  I'm guessing my score lines were not perfectly lined up.

After finishing covering the folder, I decided to use a belly band as a closure.  I simply cut a 2" wide piece of Chocolate Chip paper, and added a 1" strip of the designer paper to it.  I wrapped it around, and decided where the first score should be, I then scored just 1/4" from my first score to allow for the thickness of the folder.  The belly band is adhered with double sided sticky strip at the front of the folder, and the punched snowflake is centered over the seam.

For the pocket inserts I used Old Olive cardstock, cut 6 1/4" x 4" wide.  I also used an edger die to put a decorative edge at the top.  The ribbons have a brad holding the tail together, and then a beautiful rhinestone for a little bling bling!  I stamped snowflakes around the edge, because after a photo is added, it will be just a little extra decorative element.  When I made my folder, my computer had crashed and I wasn't even able to look at the photo of Andrea's, but I came pretty darn close!  One difference in hers is that she had folder pockets were actually 7" deep, and she added a label at the bottom for journaling, which is an awesome idea too. 

Here is the finished inside of the booklet.  I decided not to cover the back of the folder, which would require 2 more sheets of designer paper.  I like the look of the manilla, and depending on the paper you use can totally coordinate.  I also used the SU set Short & Sweet to stamp the folder tab, and added a little more bling to the center of the snowflakes. 

Hope you enjoyed my little tutorial!  If you decide to make one, I totally want to see it.  They are super fun to make, and they would be a fantastic Christmas gift for someone!

Lace Doilies

So sorry for the delay in posting!  I had a great weekend filled with stamping, not as much as I had originally planned, my guilt set in and I felt I should clean my house too!  After spending time editing my photos for you, I've run out of time to post what I was hoping to accomplish this morning ; ). So, I thought I would toss this one on the blog this morning before work, and then tonight I'll finish my original idea for you!  This is a card we had done for stamp club.  It uses SU Delicate Doilies, we stamped a background in white craft ink, and added a strip of paper from the Flirtatious Designer Papers to a Pumpkin Pie card base.  The Melon Mambo doily is also from this pack of paper.  We then added a paper rosette, and finally stamped a birthday lable from the Happiest Birthday Wishes hostess set.  I love the colors of this card, I think it is so fun and bright!  Of course, most of you know I'm a sucker for anything pink!

Ok, so here's a bit of homework for you....I have a new class to post tonight, so I would love for you to do a little research on the subject!  My newest class is a "Daily December Album" if you Google it, you should find all kinds of info from other bloggers who have made an album as well.  It may give you a little more perspective into why it's such a great idea!

Fall Thank You

This is a super simple card, but I love how it turned out!

I started with a card base of SU Cajun Craze, layered with Early Espresso, and then another layer of Cajun Craze for my stamping.  The set is by Papertrey and it's called Year of Flowers: Mum, but any open flower set you have would work.  My images were stamped in Espresso ink, and then I used my Versamarker and "colored in" the petals.  I then cut the image out, and used my beloved dimensionals to  pop it up!  Have a great Monday!

Soiree Birthday...

I needed a birthday card for Shelly (you know, the new mom to the cutie patootie owl!)  P.S. the owl's name is "Popsie".  Ok, so on to the card!  I bought some paper a while back to cover a box for my BFF Susan's birthday present, it's called Soiree Collage, and it's made by House of Three.  LOVE this paper!  So, obviously this paper is my entire focal point.  I'm not one to go totally over the top, but I thought this paper kind of screamed for it!  So, I added lots of stuff to it!  I started by using an exacto knife to cut a "pocket" at the top of the Celebrate label, I then placed my candles in the pocket and held them in place with glue dots.  The Star is a pin from Heidi Swapp, and I placed a dimensional on the back side of it to hold it in place and to protect the tip of the pin.  I used SU Daffodil pom pom trim, white taffeta ribbon, and a Tempting Turquoise button and a little rhinestone bling was placed into the center of the button.  I did have to stack 2 dimensionals on top of each other all the way around the card to help to give it a little extra space behind to allow for the extra bulk of the candles.  There is a bit of a wave to the paper, but it still turned out cute!  I haven't made a square card in a while, so this was a fun one to create.  Now, since this is a bit of an unconventional size, I needed a little help with the envelope, so I used a glassine sack.  I love the look of this too!

Once the card was inside, I punched 3 stars and layered those, added a little bling, and used my mono-adhesive on the back to create a "seal" for the envie.  Hope you like it!

Whoooo sees an owl?

Sorry, just couldn't resist titling my post like that!  I have a friend who works next door to me and she is super sweet, and today is her birthday!  Her nickname is "Hootie" and she loves owls.  I've done some research, and found a link to a tutorial to make an owl with a styrofoam ball.  I took a few pictures to show you some of the tips I came up with as well.  I started by cutting what I felt was more than enough feathers, not!  I started with 60 turquoise, and 30 fuschia feathers, but had to add another 20 to the turquoise pile.  But, the ingenious part (can you tell I'm pretty proud of myself?!) was to use my Stocking Stuffer die from Stampin' Up to cut the feathers, look!

Pretty cool, huh?!  I trimmed off the "socket" part of the bulb, and voila, they were feathers!  So, I also cut 2 triangles for the ears, and 2 different sized circles for the eyes.  I used my circle Nestabilites because I'm a little anal, and love things to be perfectly cut!  My circles are approx. 1 5/8" and 1 1/8".  I also used a 4" styrofoam ball.  Here's the felt pieces I started with.  You also notice that I cut a triangle for the nose, but later decided to use my die and cut a new one!

One of the tips the other blogger gave was to add a nickel to the bottom for stabilization, this came in handy, here's a shot of how it looked in the beginning

I started with the belly feathers, and just used a glue gun to adhere to the ball.  I put a little dab of glue at the top of the feather so the rest of the feather would be loose.  I have to say the trickiest part was getting the rows to be straight, but just do your best, and you can always go back and pry 'em off if they are a little crazy looking!  I should have taken a pic of her head before I put the eyes on, but I was on a roll, and didn't do it, sorry!  I added feathers all the way up to where her eyes are, and the nice thing about using the rough styro ball is your felt will "cling" to it a bit so you can see how to place things before you glue.  Here's a close up of her eyes so you can see where her "feathers" are.

Which also ensures you have everything covered that should be!  Her ears are the triangles of felt, and I just pleated them in my fingers to see how they looked before adding glue to set the pleat, I then trimmed the extra felt, and then glued them to the back side of her eyes.  Here's a close up pic of her ear.

Hopefully my lack of pictures will be ok since I gave you the other link and she definitely has more pics! Ok, are you ready to see the final project?  I'll let you know what Shelly named her later!

Patriotic Gratitude

I was asked to make a card which could be included in care packages being sent to some of the troops in Afghanistan.  I was very honored, and even a little nervous!  It's an amazing thing all of the soldiers are doing over there, and I wasn't really sure I could do it justice, but this is what I came up with...

I measured the stars from the Verve stamp set, and then set about making a grid pattern on white with my paper cutter and scoring blade.  I used a color palette of Stampin' Up colors, Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy and Whisper White.  I then added a pennant for the sentiment, and a floral embellishment using the Daisy Big Shot die.  This was the "feminine" version, there was also a similar card using a stacked star embellishment for the guys.

Gift Box Portfolio

I'm super excited to show you this one!  As some of you already know ; ), I purchased an insane amount of test tubes for a cute Halloween project.  I purchased these test tubes and it was super fast shipping!   Well, I knew I would still have quite a few left, so I started to think about other ways to use them.  This is what I came up with!

I love how it turned out!  I really love the color combo of  this particular one.  Yes, there are other versions you will probably be seeing in the future!  This box uses dies and stamps from Papertrey, but the papers, inks and ribbon are Stampin' Up!  Even the inside is cute, and this is where the test tubes come in to play:

How cute is that?!! Little baby marshmallows and hot cocoa!  Swiss Miss sells cocoa called "Marshmallow Lover's" and it worked perfectly for what I wanted to achieve.  I have this pattern for sale at the top of my blog under Tutorials.  The tutorial has step by step instructions with photos, and also includes pictures of a couple of others I've made, plus a bunch of other ideas to get your creativity flowing!  I would love to see what you create with the pattern, please leave a link in the comment section!
Ingredients:  Rich Razzleberry, Island Indigo & Whisper White paper, Island Indigo & Basic Black Ink from SU! From Papertrey Ink: Warm Happiness set, Fillable Frames #10, & Mat Stack 4.

Happy Birthday Robert!

Last Sunday was my brother Robert's 40th Birthday!  I can't believe he's that old!  Of course the reason I say that, is it just makes me older ; ).  I wanted to do something a little different for him, because let's face it, this is a big one!  So, he is a lover of Jack Daniels, so I devised this "wrapping" for a really large bottle of Jack!  I also made Jack & Diet cupcakes, and I must say, they were a huge hit at the party!

Sweet Little Tag

I have to say I really LOVE tags!  They are a miniature work of art, and there are so many possibilites of things you can do with them.  They can be added to a card front, a scrapbook page, the top of a gift, heck, they can even be the gift!  This is a tag made with Papertrey products and a little ribbon from Stampin' Up. The flower is cut from pink tissue paper using the Beautiful Blooms #1 dies, so fun!