Halloween Street

I had just a little time to play in my stamp room today.

I chose to use my new stamp Halloween Street from the holiday catalog, since it will be the first holiday coming up.

To view it online:

http://www.stampinup.com/ECWeb/ItemList.aspx?categoryid=1995

My first project is a CASE of a goodie bag that is in the catalog.

As soon as I saw it in there I knew I wanted to make those!

So fast, so simple, so cute!

It's empty right now but imagine it filled with full-size candy bars.... My boys will be so happy - they are too old to go trick-or-treating anymore!

I used the new food-safe Petite Café bags. These will come in handy during the Christmas holiday as well, since I plan to make cookies and/or candy this year to give as gifts.

I added a cute tie/bow with our new Tangerine Tango and White Two-tone Trim.

To stamp the sentiment, I used Tangerine Tango ink to match the cord.

The dots were made using a #2 pencil eraser dipped in my black ink pad!

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The card I made today uses both new and retired products.

Again, the Halloween Street stamp was used on Tangelo Twist card stock. It was cut out with the Big Shot and the Apothecary Accents framelits.

I used the retired Witches' Brew washi tape 

 that I recently purchased off of the Clearance Rack. http://www.stampinup.com/ECWeb/ItemList.aspx?categoryid=493

I also used the spiderweb embossing folder. I only used the embossing folder in the upper right-hand quadrant of the card - that's where I wanted the spiderweb to be!

The cute little spider from Googly Ghouls and googly eyes (also retired) were used in the upper right-hand corner.

Rhinestones were added to this sentiment piece and it was adhered with Dimensionals.

There is definitely a third card I would like to make. It's a CASE of something I had seen on Pinterest. I have to wait, though, until my next order arrives because it contains the Dots and Stripes Decorative Masks that I need.

When they get that I will be sure to share it!

Next up... a few fall/Thanksgiving cards.... Or, Christmas if I can't wait to open the sets I received today!

If you did not receive a copy of the holiday mini catalog but would like one please let me know and I will send one out ASAP!

It's chock-full of new stamp sets and accessories for your holiday card making/ gift-giving!

Check out our online store in clearance rack!

Visit my website and click "shop" in the upper right-hand corner:

http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/dandyspandy/

A card for my son!

Those of you who come to my classes or are friends with me know that my youngest son recently had to have surgery. 

He was hit in the face with a pitch while up at bat during one of his games two weeks ago tomorrow. He suffered a broken cheekbone, with fractures in three places.

( ...love the tongue depressor-contraption for the bleeding nose...)

As a testament to his toughness, he got hit with the pitch and he didn't drop to the ground - instead, he tried to go to first base! (Normally, when you get hit with the ball you automatically go to first.)

Thank goodness his coaches stopped him and sent him out of the game!

We ended up taking him to the closest emergency room where they did a CAT scan and discovered his fractures.

Poor baby!

It could have been a lot worse. I am thankful that he didn't hurt his eye or get hit in the head!

Needless to say, he had surgery to repair it this week, complete with titanium plates and screws to put everything back in place.

So, now he spends his last month of summer recuperating.

This all seems too familiar....

Last summer it was the same kid who had knee surgery in August!

That time the sport was ice hockey, and the injury a torn meniscus.

Geesh!

I always say that "this one should live in a bubble"! He's always the one who gets hurt. If can happen to someone, it will happen to him. (I mean, the kid had to get stitches from tripping while BOWLING for goodness sake!)

Lord, give me strength!

So, with all this going on with him (and also a high school reunion trip to Pittsburgh), I haven't done a blog in a couple of weeks!

Sorry!

But now, things are getting back to "normal".

We are all catching up on sleep we missed during our time away to PA and the hospital stay!

I finally headed down to my stamp room tonight. I thought I would cheer him up by making a "Get Well" card for him. I didn't put any money in it though - that was Grandma's thing! (Can you believe he got $20 for having surgery? And the older one got 20 bucks too because he had poison ivy! Aaah... Grandmothers are the best!)

I told her recently that, since I had a stroke, that should trump all, so where's my card with $100? She just laughed. Guess daughter-in-laws don't rank as high as grandchildren.

Oh well.

I tried.

Anyway, I just got this new photopolymer set Dear Heart, and couldn't wait to use it!

It is the male counter-part to the popular Sweetie Pies photopolymer set from Stampin' Up!

You won't see either set in any catalog. You can only view them on the online store, under "photopolymer" stamps. Just go to my website and click in the upper right-hand corner where it says "shop".

http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/dandyspandy/

You'll see the word "stamps" in the far left-hand column. Once you click on that, you'll go to the "photopolymer" icon.

Unfortunately, the Sweetie Pies set has sold out! Hopefully we will see it again in a future catalog!

For my card tonight, here are the "players":

I also got a lot of use out of my Big Shot and magnetic platform! I used the Circle Collection and Banners framelits and the Circle Card thinlets:

The Circle Card thinlet comes with several elements besides the "flip card" itself. I used the "xoxo" for the inside of the card and the chevrons for the baseball stitching.

The colors of cardstock I used were: Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red, and a piece of my favorite retired color - Ballet Blue.

I used Night of Navy ink for the baseball background, and the same color marker to touch up in a few spots where I had applied uneven pressure.

See, there's always a way to hide or fix our mistakes!

You've heard me sing the praises of this glue:

The fine-point tip end really comes in handy when I have small pieces to work with! Where would I have been without it when it came to placing all those "stitches" on the baseball or the "XOXO" sentiment?

I used my new Blendabilities skin-tone marker assortment to color the boy. (Of course, I used the recommended Memento ink pad). I used the shades of Nude, Ivory, and Natural in order to achieve his tanned book - my son's current skin tone!

His hair was colored using the Blendabilities as well. I used the Mocha from the skin tones, and the "dark" shade from the Daffodil Delight set.

The final touch was a red Candy Dot on the banner!

The perfect card for this situation!

It's always fun to make your own cards!

Let me show you how!

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Dandyspandy@sbcglobal.net

Rosettes for Gift Tags

This year I made coupons and put them with all of the catalogs that I handed out in June. They are either for a discount or "get something free" when you purchase a particular item.

June was the first month of the new catalog, therefore it is the first coupon. Last month focused on the new In Colors - which we used at stamp club so everyone could see them up close! Several of my stamp club members and other customers took advantage of the FREE gift when they purchased the new color kit. They each received a pack of the Cut and Ready Card Bases in the new In Colors! (They are cut to card size and already scored for you, to make life easier!)

I decided that each month I would package the free gift in a fun way, since I am starting to stamp more and more each day. (☺️)

For June gifts, I decided to make tags. I used: Layered Labels stamp set (retired), Apothecary Accents framelits,

 ribbon in the new colors Lost Lagoon or Blackberry Bliss, and gold baker's twine.

The finishing touch would be a rosette since I haven't made those in a while.

And when I say "in a while", I'm not kidding... Things did not go well in the beginning!

I wanted to use the new Moonlight Designer Series Paper stack, since it featured several of the new colors, 

and the Designer Rosette Bigz XL die for the Big Shot.

What I didn't remember was that you need two strips of paper, each 12 inches long, to make it rosette as big as I needed. The Moonlight paper stack sheets are only 6 1/2 inches, so even with two of those, it wasn't long enough.

Every time I tried to make one it tore!

YUK!

Finally, I broke down and decided to watch tutorial videos from YouTube. The one that helped me the most was by Sarah Nabor. Here's the link to her video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxvZbqit6n0&list=FLjJpVCHUKXJ3IIU40qENQKQ

Her helpful hint was putting some hot glue on one end of your accordion folded piece...

Press it down for a few minutes on your silicone craft mat (adhesives don't stick to it!) ...

When the glue is dry, the piece starts to fan out on only one side, already starting to form your rosette.

(Think book binding!)

When you do that to the second piece and then join them together with your sticky strip, it makes a beautiful, EASY, rosette that I don't have to struggle with trying to push the center down!

Yaaaa! No more stress! Now it is fun again!

Thank you, Sarah Nabor! 

Now I was ready to finish the tag.

I had some 2 1/2 circles that I had already punched out of card stock. I stuck it down to a Jumbo Sticky Round  (picture sticky strip in a circle rather than tape!)

I placed the rosette onto the Jumbo Sticky Round, adhering it into place.

Next, I added some hot glue to the middle of the rosette and added the tag that I had created.

I went on to create several more... Easy as pie!

You can see the one on the bottom right that I did the other day trying to use the shorter paper... I don't know how, but this one worked and so did the others that I made for Tuesday club, but the new ones are way nicer and I'm much happier with them!

My apologies go to anyone who already received one that is not as nice as these new ones! 

But after all, I have to put it in perspective - it is just a tag! 

Oh well, they still looked nice! There were just a few spots on the back of those that I used washy tape for a tore.

So, don't look at the back! Ha ha!

Now I know a trick, and it will be smooth  rosette sailing from now on!

I hope this helps you too!

Of course, if you do not own the Big Shot or the die, you can still make rosettes! You simply need teo strips of 2 x 12" paper, and use your paper cutter or Simply Scored tool to make even scores on both (you choose the width.)

If you are interested in purchasing any of these items please visit my website and click "shop" in the upper right-hand corner!

http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/dandyspandy/

And don't forget my special for July - FREE glimmer paper with the purchase of any framelits from page 231!

Organizing Framelits

I have been wanting to change the way I organize my framelits for the Big Shot. 

All framelits come in a sturdy opaque envelope. They are attached to an inner piece of cardboard with a strip of really sticky double-sided adhesive. Half the time I feel like I'm going to bend my framelits when I try to pull them off! The other half of the time I get so frustrated because if I don't put them back on the adhesive strip, they end up falling right off and it's hard to put them all back in their envelope.

Here is what I mean:

See how they're floating around in there? Imagine a set with lots of little pieces!

I always spend a lot of time on Pinterest late at night. (If you know the follow me on Pinterest already know this) -ha ha!

I pinned a couple of different ideas for Framelit storage.

Some stampers are using a 6 x 6 or 8 x 8 photo album to store and organize their framelit collection. They are putting a set of framelits in each page sleeve.

 I have a box that I keep them in and I'm happy with that system. The box is from Creative Memories, and it was a "photo keeper". (I don't know if that is the official name, but it is wide enough to accommodate my larger size envelopes. - you know like the envelope liner framlits?)

(I keep my embossing folders in one of the storage boxes from Stampin' Up! -Perfect!)

Whether you put your framelits in an album or keep them in a container like I do, the element that all the posts seem to have in common is.... magnets.

I did a video when we first started to carry the framelits. I showed a couple of different ways how to use the heart framelits, and also how I stored them on a magnet sheet:

http://youtu.be/jh9BqZRZ0Ec

Problem is.... Stampin' Up! no longer sells the magnet sheets!

What to do...  what to do?

Who ever came up with this idea was a genius!

Yet another trip to Home Depot in order to purchase something not for its original use! 

(By the way, now that there is going to be a mad rush on this product, look for it in the plumbing, cooling and heating section of the store!)

These came in a three pack, 8" x 15", for only $4.50! I bought two, but I'm sure as my framelit collection grows (have you seen the new catalog?) I will be making more trips to Home Depot!

I cut it to the size of most of my framelits (6" x 5 3/4").

(I've had these goodies in my stamp room for years: a rotary cutter and a large cutting mat! I'm sure you could just as easily use scissors ,or even your paper cutter on this thin magnet sheet.)

No more messy framelits!

And because I had at least a 2" strip left over from what I cut, I put those to use as well!  No waste here! They were perfect for my smaller framelits!

I still have some small strips left over. I may even try this idea with framelits that match a particular stamp set:

Genius! (Tip was shared by Australian demonstrator Leonie Schroeder, on her website stamp-a-latte.com)

Try these tips! They will make your stamp room more organized and your life thatmuch easier!

"Throwback Thursday"- Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Since Monday is the annual Irish holiday of St. Patrick's Day, I thought I would feature this cute box for "Throwback Thursday":

Behind his smirking Leprechaun face is a little gift box!

In the past, I have offered two classes called "A Year of Big Shot Boxes". We used Big Shot dies to make two different kinds of boxes (If memory serves me correctly, they were called "box #2" and "scalloped- top bag"). Most of the designs were made from the Top Note shape and punches, (like the one you see here).

Over the years I have presented small gifts in the boxes so many are now gone.

Here's what I have left:

Aren't they cute?

The designs came from several sources.

If you took one of these classes you know that we made a box for every month, January through December.

The ones that I have used  -that are now gone - include: a Thanksgiving turkey, a fall pumpkin, a Halloween mummy and Frankenstein, a sunflower and "baby New Year" on a clock with the hands on 12 o'clock.

Here is a closer look, from left to right, at the boxes that we made for December, June and December (the second time around):

The Leprechaun box was, obviously, for the month of March during the first class.

Here are some boxes representing April, May and July:

They all look so dear when presented with a cellophane bag filled with seasonal candies.

Remember, it doesn't have to be a big gift when you're doing a "random act of kindness" but my motto is: "presentation is everything"!