Bunko Gift

I've been hosting Christmas Bunko for several years now and like to come up with a cute little gift for all my friends.  I've mentioned my addiction to shrink plastic before, so I wanted to come up with something using it.  I decided on keychains (who knew it would be so hard to find key rings that would work though!?).

Since I was making 11 of them, I went for a simple design.  First I stamped the sheets using 2 Basic Grey stamp sets and several colors of Fresh Ink.

I let the ink dry overnight.   I cut the sheets into rectangles, punched holes for the key rings and 'cooked' them at 325 until they were done.  

They came out really cute!  Too bad there were a couple of mishaps - I wish there was one left for me!

For the packaging, I stamped some little muslin bags I got from Etsy using my favorite stamp of this season.

Supplies:
Shrink Plastic - Frosted Ruff n Ready Shrinky Dink
Stamps - Flowers - Basic Grey, Partridge/Pear - Savvy Stamps
Ink - Red Current, Tomato Red, Celery, Mango, Ginger, Pool, Navy, Provincial Grey (Fresh Ink)
Key rings - Darice
Muslin Bag - Clever Thoughts on Etsy

Happy Anniversary to me (a little late)

I've been busy, then under the weather for the last several days so my post is a bit out of date.  My 13th wedding anniversary was Monday.  I made a cute card for my husband with some new stamps I just received from Papertrey Ink.

It was such a sweet sentiment - (inside it says 'is my favorite thing to do'.)  I thought it was perfect for my sweet husband!

Supplies:
Cardstock - Khaki (PaperSource), White - (Recollections)
Stamps - Chair-ished set (Papertrey Ink)
Twine - Mandarin, Lemondrop & Cappucino (The Twinery)
Ink - Ginger (FreshInk), Distress Antique Linen & Tea Dye (Ranger), Brown (TPC)
Marker - Copic Light Walnut 

Its not paper, but its still pretty!

I went to a Wreath Making workshop at Monticello yesterday with a slew of friends.  It was so fun and the finished product is beautiful (if I say so myself!).

All of the greenery and embellishments are supplied at the workshop and everything is harvested from the Monticello area.  I can't remember all of the different items I used, but the long brown and whitish things are okra pods!

Can't wait to do it again next year!

Thinking summer (a little anyway)

I've been experimenting with some different materials for my cards lately.  My favorite so far is shrink plastic (Yes, like Shrinky Dinks of our youth!).

I bought a package of it a couple of years ago at a local craft store's going out of business sale, but never got around to trying it out.  There are still some kinks to work out, but we're getting there!

For this card, I die cut and stamped the PolyShrink plastic and used it along with some of the same images die cut and stamped on white card stock.

I tried a few different inks with varied results (I think I'll do a post on that soon.)  The best (but still not perfect) was Fresh Ink from Impress Rubber Stamps.  The impressions definitely work out better if the ink pad is a little drier.

Supplies:
Cardstock - Ripe Avocado (PTI), White & Kraft (Recollections)
Shrink Plastic - PolyShrink (Lucky Squirrel)
Stamps & Dies - Simple Sunflower (PTI)
Ink - Mango, Honey, Fig (Fresh Ink), Colorbox Espresso (Clearsnap)
Punch - EK Success

After looking at the photo, I think it needs a little something more.  I'll have to work on that later!

Christmas tags

I've been selling cards at the local holiday market for the last couple of weekends.  Sales are slow, but  I can't stop making new cards!  To change things up, I made some gift tags this week.  

This patterned paper was so pretty.  I cut 2 scalloped circles for each tag of of the same paper.  (The lighter colors went on the inside so you can write a little note to the recipient.)  I cut a plain circle from the card stock and stamped the image.  The cardstock was glued to the patterned paper.  I lined up the scalloped circles and punched a hole at the top for the twine.  

They were so easy and super cute - I think I'll make more for all of my gifts this year!

Stamp - Brenda Walton
Ink - VersaFine Black - Tsukineko

Stamp - Sentiment Savvy Stamps
Ink - Versafine Black - Tsukineko, Red Current - Fresh Ink

Stamp - Savvy Stamps
Ink - Red Current & Celery - Fresh Ink

Stamps - Savvy Stamps
Ink -  Colorbox Espresso - Clearsnap, Red Current - Fresh Ink

Supplies for all - 

Cardstock - White & Kraft - Recollections (Michaels)

Patterned Paper - Martha Stewart Crafts

Twine - Holiday Divine Twine - Whiskers Graphics

Die - Spellbinders

Circle Cutter - Creative Memories

Hole Punch - EK Success

Cute little Christmas tree!

I've got a little problem right now - I am addicted to Lil' Inker dies and stamps!

I used the Christmas tree die and sentiment from the Holly Jolly set.  The perforations on the tree and trunk are really sweet and add a lot of detail with very little effort!  For the ribbon, I used washi tape and folded it over onto itself to make the bow.  I think I love it!
I'll post a few more cards with the dies and stamps over the next few days when I have a little more time to experiment!

Supply List: 
Paper - Strawberry 4 bar card  & Clover cover stock (PaperSource), Gold card stock (Recollections);
Die & Stamp - Holly Jolly set (Lil' Inker);
Ink - Brown & Espresso (ColorBox), Versafine Black (Tsukineko); 
Washi tape - mt 1P drop green - Kamoi Kakoshi.

Poppies, poppies and more poppies!

A friend is having a sweet baby girl in January.  For a while, the little lady was called Poppy.  We ran with that and came up with a cute poppy theme for the baby shower.

I made the invitations and giant pink paper poppies for the decor!  I went a little crazy with this, but loved the chance to head to some of my favorite paper crafting stores (PaperSource and Angela's Happy Stamper in Reston, VA).

For the invitations, I used a poppy stamp from Impress Rubber Stamps.

Supplies: Cardstock - Blossom (Paper-Source)
Stamp - Poppy (Impress),  Dots (Hero Arts), Sentiment (Stampin' Up)
Ink - Worn Lipstick (Ranger), Provincial Grey (Fresh Ink), Frost (Versamark Dazzle)
Twine - Divine Twine

For the poppies, I found this tutorial online.  It was really simple and had so much impact!  While the tutorial calls for art paper, I used wrapping paper from Paper Source (and a LOT of hot glue!).

Supplies:
Wrapping Paper - Blossom, Blossom Dot and Strawberry (PaperSource)

I put some of the poppies on stems to put in vases.

And some on a ribbon to make a garland.

Poppy garland

red velvet cupcakes and a vase of poppies

poppy seed favors and more poppies

Everything came together so beautifully.  The mom-to-be loved it!

Finally getting started...

Here we go!!


I think this may be one of my new favorite cards.  I made it to submit for publication, but it wasn't selected. It was far too cute to keep to myself!

Supplies: 
Cardstock - Stamper's Select White & Sweet Blush (Papertrey Ink) 
Stamps - Sally's ABCs (Lawn Fawn)
Ink - Provincial Gray (Fresh Ink) & Pixie Dust (Versamagic)
Tulle & Ribbon - Joann Fabrics