Saturday, March 31, 2018

Celebrate You Shaker Card w the Barn Door Frame

 April 9 is our Barn Door class and I have 2 great Barn Door cards for you. I also have this one that uses the thinlets to cut out the frame for our shaker card.



Shakers are fun.  They are fun to wiggle and jiggle.

I love the word celebrate - still free today (last day of Sale-A-Bration!)  


I attached an adhesive sheet to the back of the gold foil. Below is an example with the word happy birthday. You get 10 large sheets for $10.   



Then when I ran the celebrate word through the Big Shot the back has an adhesive layer (see the adhesive partially off on the celebrate)?

This shaker card is very easy.  The Frame cuts at 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 so my designer paper (the Eastern Medallion series) is 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 and I attach that to the front of the Very Vanilla 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 folded in half.

Then I create the shaker front.  Attaching the window sheet (2 1/2 x 3 1/2) then attaching the foam strip.  It takes a full strip and then a half.  You don't need to cut the foam you can just bend it easily.  (Ignore the YOU, I just cut it out at the same time I did the frame to save time!)


Then put your gold flakes and / or gold glitter (I used both).  Take the foam strip off and attach the frame to the front of the card.

Cut the word YOU out (for the inside) and sprinkle a tiny bit of liquid glue and a few gold flakes.  

I think this is a great anniversary, birthday, graduation -- or maybe for one of my amazing team mates who achieved a milestone (we are meeting and celebrating April 10!)

Love shaker cards?  Just type in "shaker" in the search bar (top right of this blog) and you'll see lots of shaker ideas.  My favorite was with the Jar of Love, here's the link to where I made a removable Jar of Love shaker in a card.

Click here for the Jar of Love Shaker card

happy stamping, MaryKate

Friday, March 30, 2018

Happy Wishes cards


Card details and dimensions from our class Monday 3/26 at Warsaw.  Hope you can join us this April!


You are the Best.  Base 8 ½ x 5 1/2 . Black 2 ¼ x 5 ¼  Petal Passion designer paper is 2 x 5 ½ . Layer these and adhere to your card.

Cut basic black 3 ¾ x 2 ¼ Cut whisper white 3 ½ x 2 and stamp the sentiment in black (if coloring with blends use Memento ink).

Wrap the shimmer ribbon around twice and tie a knot. Attach to the card with dimensionals. Add rhinestones if you wish.

Best Wishes Colorful Blends card.  Base is 8 ½ x 5 ½. Black is 4 ¼ x 3 ¼ the designer paper is 4 x 3. 

Color in the flowers with Blends

Stamp the greeting and color if you wish, hand cut “best” so more of the flowers show.  Attach the greeting to the card with dimensionals. Add a tiny bow with the white organza ribbon if you wish.

Happy Day card.  Base is 8 ½ x 5 ½.
Designer paper is 5 ½ x 2 color the flowers with Bermuda Bay.  Adhere to card.

Glimmer paper is ½ x 5 ½ adhere this above the designer paper.  Wrap the card with the Bermuda Bay ribbon.
Bermuda Bay is 4 ¾ x 2 ¾, whisper white is 4 ½ x 2 ½ stamp the greeting, adhere. Add rhinestones.

Mail your cards and make someone’s day!! Happy crafting, MaryKate

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Paper Pumpkin Pop Up Blog Hop May Good Things Grow

Welcome to the Paper Pumpkin Pop Up Blog Hop!


We are all fans of this monthly crafting kit and want to share with you our enthusiasm for this box of fun and creativity. The beauty of the Paper Pumpkin kit is that you can follow the directions provided in the kit to make the projects as they were designed, or use the supplies as a starting point and let your creativity run wild. On this hop we will be sharing lots of ideas with you on how to use this March Paper Pumpkin kit: May Good Things Grow.  

This paper pumpkin box really created wow projects without alternatives! 

Here’s the kit – I love that we got 4 + yards of Finely Woven Fresh Fig ribbon!!  And the colors were inspiring: Crumb Cake, Powder Pink, Fresh Fig and Lemon Lime Twist. 

So I made the cards as directed.  I loved the antique look And I thought the cards were worthy of a bag.



So I took the Fresh Florals Designer paper in the Fresh Fig and decided to match the antique look with my brayer and Crumb Cake ink. 



The bag is 8 ¼ x 12, scored at 4 ¼, 5 ¾, 10, 11 ¾

On the short side score the bottom (in case your paper has a direction!) 1 ¼ from the bottom edge and 1” from the top edge (for the cuff). 

Trim the small ends off (they are 1 x ½ and then 1 ¼ x ½). Add tear n tape to the edge of the bag, seal. 

Fold the “cuff” at the top, then cut the tabs at the bottom, make into a bag.   I find I have to glue down that bit of cuff at the end to make it look neat.




Punch 1/8” holes at the top about 1” from the edge, add about 12” of ribbon and tie a knot at the ends.  Add the cards and a pretty tag and that’s a great gift.






April classes are a lot about gifts (Teacher appreciation, Mother’s Day, Graduations are all in May), so my mind is on small gifts. 








The envelopes were so pretty and are the perfect size for seeds (popular gift here in Maine) and so I tucked in a seed packet.


Then added the envelope to a plant pot (you can’t see but below the Easter goodies there’s a big bag of licorice all sorts for my Mom, her favorite), and is the “soil” for the seeds!  A bit of Easter grass and treats and that will be gifted this Sunday.






The die cuts, paper, stamps and envelopes inspired a few more cards.  

These ones show the flowers and these ones the stunning paper with the roses.

The Fig card on the left is a notecard size 3 1/2 x 5 and the Powder Pink is a regular sized card. 



  




I thought they were just right for hello, sympathy, and more.  This ribbon is so easy to tie. 


And here's a final card... wow these die cuts made it super easy to create pretty cards. I simply cut the big die cut in half and used on the above card and the one below.  The wood embellishments as the gift were so fun to stamp on. The lemon lime card base was from the envelope inside.



And then I couldn't help seeing that the kit base (the stiff cardboard to keep your kit contents in good shape in the mail) was Crumb Cake!!

And I was left with a piece of designer floral paper from the bag (all nicely brayered with Crumb Cake) that was 12 x 3 3/4

So I cut the cardboard into a rectangle 3 5/8 x 5 7/8 so the paper would hang over just a bit so you wouldn't see the cardboard.  

I rounded the corners with my punchbaord.  Ok I was a bit nervous, but, I had lost the top of the punchboard knob and was going to replace the board.. so if I broke it.. oh well... in fact it worked GREAT!  So I rounded the corners on the cardboard and the paper and attached some To Do List imagery that I printed on the Very Vanilla to match.  More of that wow Fresh Fig ribbon and a clip from the Dollar Store and a cute teacher gift. I think I'll put a pocket on the back for a card and a gift card and that's pretty and practical.  

My last project is still in progress... this envelope to me looked like a photo frame so I'm going to make a shadow box for this!  

I've saved lots of kit contents as I bet there will be plenty of projects from this blog.  


Are you currently a Paper Pumpkin subscriber? If not, now is a great time to join in the fun. New subscribers receive 50% off their first 2 months with the Creativity Starts with Paper Pumpkin promotion which ends May 10th. Contact me to get started. New subscribers use promo code: SAVEFIFTY0418.
Thank you for joining us as we share with you the possibilities of Paper Pumpkin, now hop over to Joni Metras' blog to see her fun creations.

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

LL Bean Bag Update - with Brushwork Alphabet Monogramming


We made these at class last night along with some cards.
 


Here's the instructions for the smaller navy bag; I have a larger bag as well (the red one)


and you can find details on the tab above Ideas, Projects, Free Things.


Cut very vanilla 3 ½ x 11, put tear n tape on one of the short ends.

Cut the base 2 ½ x 4 ¾, score at ½ on all 4 sides.


Make the base into a box but adhere the tabs on the OUTSIDE so your bag is pretty on the inside.
Put tear n tape around the base of the bag base.Wrap the very vanilla around the base.  Consider where you join will be, I suggest it should be on the back and covered up by one of the straps.


Stamp an initial on the pocket (front pocket is 2 ¾ x 1 ¾) and adhere a 1/16 strip to the top of the pocket so it looks like binding. Let that dry. Adhere to the front of your bag.  I used the Brushwork Alphabet set.  



Make 4 12 x ½ strips for the top and bottom of the bag and the 2 straps.  Create stitching lines with a chalk marker or white watercolor pencil  on all 4 strips on both edges of each strip. This takes an extra few minutes but it makes the bag look really cute!!


Put tear n tape along the length of 2 strips. Attach to the bottom edge  and top edge of the bag.    THEN do the 2 straps.  The straps have tear n tape on the first and last 4” of the straps.  Use your bone folder to curl them a bit.


If you wish add little triangles to the sides of the bag (see the red bag)  which is a little larger

Add in an umbrella or the flip flops, cards, and a small journal.  Maybe add some sunscreen, sunglasses  or an EOS lip balm or a pad of paper with the LL Bean catalog on the front. 

Happy bag making!  Don't forget .. just a week left to get your Sale-A-Bration items! MaryKate

Monday, March 26, 2018

Team design challenge - Beautiful Day

If you follow my blog you know we have 2 team challenges each month: design challenge where we have a sketch to follow and a color challenge where we can make anything at all using the colors.  Last week was a design challenge and here's the design.


And here's my card.  I took a few liberties with the horizontal stripes and lowered mine and used ribbon.  I love this Petal Passion (black and white) paper and we are using this at class tonight.  The flower is from Beautiful Day and it's such a great set for coloring. I used blends for this one. 

Here's Tamara Bowers using the Myths and Magic paper with a few liberties on the design, I love it!!!

This Happy Easter is from April Lindow of Seattle, I love her daffodils and coloring.  The tiny 1/16" frame for this card really makes it with the matching thin ribbon.

And this one is from Diana Michaud -- this Picture Perfect set with the matching paper just makes me smile! Love the extra sequins Diana put on this card. So many other entries but these ones popped for me. Hope they give you lots of ideas.


Only a week left in Sale-A-Bration - if you join the team, you pay $99, select $125 in products, choose 2 stamp sets and if you choose to stay that works and if not that works too. We are all about the fun, friendships and I love that you do it your own way.  We never do "obligation" -- and welcome hobby demos who like to have an account to get 20% off everything.  The special with 2 free stamp sets expires 3/31.

Happy stamping all... see you tonight....where we will do the LL Bean Bag, I'll post the updated version tomorrow!

MaryKate

Sunday, March 25, 2018

Easter cards with 3D Leaves

Well.. if you follow my blog, you know we met last weekend to create 80 Easter cards and we are finally done!  I love them!  Happy Palm Sunday to you all.  

This simple wooden paper is really lovely.  


Our initial version had a plain white background but we decided that the leaves really added to the beauty and the message.  Easter is a time for new leaves and spring and hope!  

Here's the original card with the greeting on the front... these cards had "Easter blessings" on the inside.


The ribbon took a while... each 9" piece was originally vanilla and then we used the marker to make it a deep purple (elegant eggplant).  My fingers are still inky and I'm still smiling from our fun day together.  

The gold burst was from the Sale-A-Bration set Amazing You with a little gold embossing it really shines.


Happy Easter all, MaryKate

Friday, March 23, 2018

Fruit Basket Pens - thank you and swap gifts


One of my very favorite items from the Occasions catalog is the Fruit Basket and matching Tutti Frutti paper!  

I saw these pens on Amazon and had to get them.  Simple fun packaging with the 2x8 cello bag (50 for $3) and the fruit paper.  

Here's the link, $9 for 12.
https://www.amazon.com/12pcs-Roller-Marker-Plastic-Styling/dp/B078MNCCFG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1521837703&sr=8-3&keywords=fruit+pen




A quick thank you tag (from the set All Things Thanks) and I'm done. I'm giving each of my March customers a Fruit paper share and a pen, I think they'll love these.  

I ordered quite a few of these pen sets so I'll make some more for my teammates who are going with me to OnStage in Hartford April 6 and 7.  600 Stampin Up demonstrators in one room, with a new catalog and new stamp sets to play with!  Can't wait :)

Happy stamping, thanks for shopping with me, don't forget the host code so you get your free Tutti Frutti fruit paper with the matching pen!

Enjoy your weekend, MaryKate


Wednesday, March 21, 2018

The Lots of Happy Kit - lots of fun and versatility

This kit was new in the Spring Occasions catalog and I love it!!

Here is the full set of all 5 cards made up. 



It comes with everything you need: stamps, ink, the watercolor pencils and supplies to make 4 of 5 different card designs. I love that it has a $21 refill kit (same kit ex stamps, ink, pencils). 

Lots of versatility too.   My team mate Susan Morrison decided to use different stamps in a card she sent me and used blends instead of pencils and both look great!


Susan's card is on the left with the blends and mine the right with the watercolor pencils. 


The watercolor pencils (see below) are really easy to use as they have a light green shade (Lemon Lime) and a dark green (Old Olive) that blend easily together. 

Cards are larger (regular size) 1 medium size and then 2 smaller gift enclosures.  




I hope you try it, I think it's a lot of fun.  I've had several mothers and aunts buy this and create cards with their families.  

Easy fun and lovely to get in the mail (thank you Susan!)

happy coloring - MaryKate