No Time To Stamp?

Some women have a shoe fettish.  Me, I have a gift bag fettish.  Though I have hundreds of them here, I just had to buy one more yesterday on my usual Sunday afternoon stroll through Wal-mart.  I entered their Christmas decorating section for the first time this year and picked up a few more little items to alter, too!  It’s monogram madness for me this week, so we’ll see how many little gift items I can get completed.  Here’s what I started with today:

• A pretty, but rather bland and VERY alterable, gift bag;

• A heart I made by gold embossing an old Magenta stamp I’ve had, cutting and matting onto Gold Mirricard with my Heart Nesties by Spellbinders;

• A key I fell in love with, a Christmas tree decoration from Wal-mart for $1 (I think);

• And my NEW 2″ Square Monogram by JustRite — I’m still just giddy with delight over these square monograms that will be available 11/13.  I am taking preorders for the new JustRite product being released – just email me at ssj@up.net and I’ll get back to you with details.  Scroll down to read more about the square product.

And here’s my altered gift bag:

Much improved over the original — agreed?  And the exciting part for me is that it was quick and easy - which is my entire premise for holiday projects - HAS to be!  And are you getting the symbolism — the KEY to my HEART — LOL!!!  Although I created this as a Christmas gift bag, it would be perfectly suited for a Valentine’s gift as well, or any *lovey* occasion!!!

Just a better look at the stamped heart and tree ornament key.  That’s old SU gold cording that I used to tie them on. The ribbon is 1″ Satin by May Arts.

Here’s a closer look at the monogram I created and the actual 2″ Square Wood Stamper with the Special Occasions Font used for the letters.  I thought this ornate frame was just perfect to go with the ornate heart I used today.  The monogram and layers are cut with my Classic Square Nesties by Spellbinders.

You can make these lovely square monograms by purchasing the product in a couple different ways.  The 2″ Square Monogram products are available as:

1)  Decorative 2″ Square Monogram Kit (Stamper, Font & 4 Borders) - $24.95;

2)  2″ Square Wood Stamper Only - $9.95;

3)  2″ Square Decorative Frames Only (6 Borders) - $12.95

Please refer to this post for more details on this new 2″ Square product.

To preorder and get on my list for 1st shipment, email me at ssj@up.net. 

Check out The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store for your ribbon selections. All ribbon by the spool is currently 15% off.

I also have 30% off the original boxed Monogram Sets. Damask, Curlz and Special Occasions Monogram Sets are 30% off — $13.25, $17.45 and 17.45, respectively. 

Be sure to check out the JustRite Blog each day this week as they reveal the new product and offer Blog Candy.   I, too, will have daily samples to share as the new product reveals!  Thanks SO much for stopping in!  I truly love your visits and hope you enjoy the new JustRite product as much as I do!  Have a wonderful day, everyone! 

I can not even begin to tell you how I have waited for these new monogram stamps by JustRite — to me it’s like a dream come true!!!  I really LOVE the new direction JustRite is taking with its monogram sets.  And today I’m going to share the new 2″ Square Monogram Kit with you.  Here’s the first little gift set I made with it:

Isn’t that square monogram just to die for?  Oh, how I love this set!  Today I altered a box that was used as a table favor at a wedding.  It was filled with candy, but once being emptied I knew I’d have another use for it.  I turned it into a small gift box, something perhaps my son could use for his girlfriend.  She likes pink, so I went with pink even though the box was gold.  The box is merely wrapped in Pink 100% Silk Ribbon and tied.  I intentionally left the ribbon tails a bit long so when the box is opened there is enough ribbon there to easily tie it closed again.  The monogram was so easily made.  I used the new 2″ Square Monogram Kit.  It comes complete with the 2″ Wood Stamper, the Special Occasions Font and 4 Frames.  I can see so many possibilites with this elegant new set!!!  I’ll show it to you a little farther down.

Here’s a closer view of the card.  I used the LaCreme DP by DCWV as it had that hint of gold that I thought would tie the card in with the box.  To get it a bit more gold, I DTP’d the edges of the DP panel with Encore Gold Metallic Ink.  I used my standard and most favorite ribbon treatment, explained here, using the Bow Easy.  I cut my Monogram and matting with my Classic Square Nestabilities by Spellbinders and decorated the monogram with Kaiser Pearls.  I used an inexpensive corsage pin on both bows.  The tiny beads are from Wal-Mart or Michaels in the beading sections.

Here’s a photo of the product I actually used today. Since I’ve had them for awhile, they were sent to me without any packaging, but at least you can see the actual product contained in the 2″ Square Monogram Kit.  And actually, these products are available to you individually as well as in kits.  The Kit is the perfect choice for someone who has no font yet.  But if you have font already, then you have the option to purchase the 2″ Square Stamper alone, and you can also purchase a set of 2″ Square Decorative Frames for the 2″ Square Stamper.  There are 6 in that pack, four that come in the Kit plus 2 others.

Decorative 2″ Square Monogram Kit - $24.95

This monogram kit includes a 2″ Square Wood Stamper, 4 Square Borders, 95pt uppercase Special Occasions font set (36pcs), 50pt uppercase Spec Occ font set (92pcs), and an uppercase 15pt Spec Occ font set (264pcs)– that’s 392 characters!

2″ Square Wood Stamper Only - $9.95

Border enables use of 6 or 15pt font to create custom sayings. 2″ and 1 5/8″ Centers fit in the center area.

2″ Square Decorative Frames (6 Borders) - $12.95

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Shopping:

These new and fun 2″ Square Monograms will be available soon right here at The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store.   I’ve placed my order and the moment they arrive I’ll be ready to ship out to you.  JustRite will begin shipping on 11/15.  

Pre-orders are now being accepted for the new JustRite product being released this week.   Just send me an email at ssj@up.net with what you’d like and I’ll get back to you with details.

Other items used on this project available at The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store are:

The JustRite Product shown above (email me at ssj@up.net)

100% Silk Ribbon, Bow Easy, Kaiser Pearls, VersaFine Black Onyx Ink, Scor-It.

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Thanks much for stopping in.  Hope you are as excited about the new JustRite 2″ Square Monogram Stampers as I am!!!  Check out the JustRite blog for some wonderful inspiration using these new sets as well as their full line of product. 

I’m involved in the Flower Soft Blog Hop, and that goes live at 10:00 a.m on Sunday morning, so hope you can check back in then — thanks!!!  Hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

I have a couple of super quick Halloween treat ideas today.  The first is a little basket that could be used for school treats, table favors, or a teacher gift as it’s cute for a desk decoration.  The second is a small money holder for a dollar or two for your favorite little ghost or goblin!  Here they are:

I used last year’s Halloween DP by K & Company that I got from Michaels.  It’s very glittery and festive. Not sure if it’s still available.  The only other paper used is Pumpkin Pie cardstock by SU for the scallop.  The stamp set used is this year’s Limited Edition Halloween Set by JustRite, called Witch Way to the Treats.  It fits on the 1 3/16″ Wooden Stamper, a fun size.  I do have a limited number of sets left, but won’t be able to get any more once they are gone.  I’ll tell you quickly how I made these and give you some closeup shots.

This little basket is so quick and simple.  It’s basically a cube that has not been pushed all the way in to form the cube.  The side flaps are only partially pushed in and adhered, if that makes sense?  I’m thinking there is an official name for one of these, but I can’t put a finger on it.  Anyone know?  To make this, start with a square of paper, 6 x 6″.  I then used my Scor-It to score 2″ in from all 4 sides.  You end up with 9 equal squares.  Cut the 2 score lines on 2 opposing sides.  Now you can fold it up, just don’t fold it all the way in, and adhere into position.  (I don’t have time to make a template and photo now to show you, but if anyone doesn’t understand and would like a template photo, just let me know and I’ll come back this evening and edit this post to include one.)

Here’s a view of the back.  I think you can see how it folds easier on this side.  My handle is made of 10″ of 1.5″ Striped Ribbon. It is just adhered to the inside of the basket with a heavy duty double sided tape, folded on the bottom where taped to create the little gather.  It is then stuffed with shredded paper and some wrapped taffy.  Finished it measures about 5″ at the widest point and about 5″ high.

This is a little holder for a dollar bill or don’t some places like McDonald’s make coupons for Halloween?  A fun way to present a little treat.  Finished it is 4″ square. Cut your paper 4 x 9″.  Again using my Scor-It, I scored 2″ from the bottom for the pocket and used double sided red tape on the sides to adhere it up.  I then scored 3″ down from the top to create the top flap, and I rounded the corners with my SU Corner Rounder.  Now it’s done, except for decoration.

Again, I used Witch Way to the Treats and the same Grape 1.5″ Striped Ribbon.  And I really like this ribbon treatment — so quick to do and fun!  The ribbon is tacked to the flap with double sided tape so it doesn’t slip and the ends are just tied with a coordinating color of 100% Jute String.  Can’t get much easier.  And in this case I love how that ribbon flying off the end of the card mimics the motion of the witches broom in the image.

Here’s the inside — fun with the double sided paper!  And just enough room for some little treat!

Nothing fancy about either of these projects.  They were kept super simple with mass producing in mind for school or other events. 

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Shopping: 

Most items to make these projects, with the exception of the paper, can be found in the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store:

Witch Way to the Treats Set and 1 3/16″ Wood Stamper by JustRite

Petite Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinders

1.5″ Striped Ribbon and 100% Jute String by May Arts

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Thanks so much for stopping in today!  Hope you are enjoying this Autumn Season!  We are still having higher than normal temps and we are waiting for the leaves to change.  It’s always so beautiful here in the fall.  And speaking of fall, that reminds me of this week’s Stamp Simply Challenge — stay tuned!  It’ll be up on Thursday evening, as usual.  Have a great week, everyone!

Today I took a pretty gift bag that I found in my stash (recycled)  and just gussied it up a bit to give it my own personal touch, adding the recipients single letter monogram using the 1 3/16″ Damask Monogram.  Love this darling little monogram set.  Here’s the *before*, or what I started with:

The gift bag was very pretty to begin with, but  you know how it is — you just want to add some more!  I often like to add a touch of black, thus the black gingham, ink and scallop.  I used the newest of the monogram sets by JustRite.  This is actually a 1 3/16″ Wood Stamper that comes with the Bonus 60 pt font and 3 Damask Borders — a totally FAB little set.  It is a sized down version of the original Damask Monogram Set, and I’m lovin’ it!!!  And here’s my completed bag:

Just a quick project to complete, but a fun, personalized gift bag for these last days of summer!  The Gingham Ribbon is glued to the bag with 1.5″ double sided tape.  The bow is made with the Bow Easy and glued on.  The buttons have Black Jute String and are glued on as well.  The monogram has a little hole punched in the top, Jute String run through it and it’s tied onto the bow.  Here’s a close up :

Fun little monogram!  The B is punched with a 3/4″ punch.  The other layers are cut and embossed with my Petite Circle Nestabilities.  Fun project to do — only took a short amount of time — and that’s nice!

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Shopping:

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store carries these items to make this project:

1 3/16″ Wood Stamper with Bonus 60 pt Font and 3 Damask Borders by JustRite

1.5″ Gingham Ribbon and Jute String by May Arts 

VersaFine Onyx Black Ink, Buttons

Bow Easy and Petite Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinders

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Thanks much for stopping in again today!  Later in the week I’ll be involved in JustRite’s Mega Blog Hop, so stay tuned for that.  It will be AMAZING!!!  And I’ll try to squeeze in a simple project or 2 before that, if I can.  Thanks everyone!  Wishing you a wonderful new week ahead.

Flower Soft, that is!  Our assignment for this month’s Flower Soft Blog Hop was to create an out-of-the-box project using Flower Soft products.  Well, all you have to do is say the word *box* to me, in any context, and I’m right on it — literally, with a *box* — LOL!!!  I LOVE making boxes, but today I had a purchased box sized perfectly to this large Santa image, so I went with it.  Here’s a peek:

My box measures about 8 x 7 x 3″ deep.  The Flower Soft Card Topper Santa (available for purchase July 24) is 5.75″ square.  It is double matted and then adhered to my box covered in River Rock DP.  These Card Toppers are so fun to work with. The Toppers come with punch out parts to layer and build up your image for a FAB 3-D look. The Series is called Cute Christmas and the package I used is called I Love Santa.  There are 6 Toppers and parts for them.  Take a close-up look:

Can you see all of Santa’s Flower Soft?  I used the brand new Polar White, which is SO pretty and has a bit of a sparkle to it.  I used it for Santa’s fluffy hat fur and his beard, but it is also the PERFECT product for snow.  And as much as I hate to think of snow right now, it won’t be long and we will ALL be making snowy white cards!!!!  I’m glad I’m prepared!!!  There were such large areas to cover on this Santa image with glue, I just used my finger to spread my Flower Soft Glue.  Maybe not the most neat way to do things, but it got the job done quickly with good coverage.  And every time I use Flower Soft, I am just amazed at how tightly it sticks and how durable it is.  It just does NOT flake off and get all over like other products might.  Gotta really love it for that!

Here I wanted to show you the elevation and 3D effect that is achieved by layering the pieces and parts.  I used the SU Dimensionals between all my layers.  They are thin enough to use when doing these multi-layers - worked just perfectly!

My ribbon is 1.5″ and 3/8″Gingham by May Arts, made using the Bow Easy, both from the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store.  The cute Don’t Peek tag that teddy is holding is from the new Tiny Words Set by JustRite. My die cut corners are Cuttlebug corner dies run through my Xyron X.  I liked how the curvy border on Don’t Peek kind of matched my die cut corners.

Stamps: Tiny Words Set by JustRite used on the 1 3/16″ Wood Stamper

Paper:SU Black, White, Real Red, River Rock Prints DP

Ink: Versa Fine Onyx Black

Accessories: Flower Soft  Polar White, Flower Soft Glue, Flower Soft Card Toppers (Cute Christmas/I Love Santa), 1.5″ and 3/8″ Gingham Ribbon, Bow Easy, Petite Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinders, Cuttlebug Corner Dies, Cuttlebug, SU Dimensionals, Eyelet, Cropadile, Glue Glider

Shopping:

Flower Soft for these fun Card Toppers, Flower Soft Glue and the new Polar White Flower Soft.  Please note: The Card Topper I used and the Polar White will be available for purchase on July 24.

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store for the May Arts Gingham Ribbon and the Bow Easy

JustRite for the Tiny Words Set containing the Don’t Peek sentiment

Please be sure to check out the projects done by the rest of the  fabulous Flower Soft Design Team, and bear with us as we are all uploading on Monday morning:

Jennifer Buck- DT Coordinator

AJ Otto

Carole Burrage

Niki Estes

Charmaine Ikach

Deb Saaranen

Val Stangle

Sharon Johnson - that’s me!

Once again I thank you so much for stopping in!  Hope you’ve enjoyed this peek at some new Flower Soft Product.  As always, wishing you all a wonderful week!  I’ll be back soon!  Have a great day everyone!

This is one of those projects that turned direction once I started, due to a shortage of time, but I do like the end result. I was planning to do a standard paper bag pocket album type of thing to insert seed packets in as a Mother’s Day Gift, decorating all the pages. Well, as so often happens, the day got away on me, time was short, and I had to make some cuts — and the result is this sort of honeycomb design pocket bag for my seed packets. I do love this design and after the photos I’ll show you how I did it. Here’s the finished product:

Kind of shabby, which I thought would go well with the Heirloom seed packets. This is made like a bound book. The binding is on the bottom, partially covered with my wide silk ribbon. There are 3 pockets for my seeds. But the way it opens, thereare actually more like 6 compartments, 2 in each pocket. Here’s how I started:

These are 3 standard white lunch sacks from the grocery store, layered on top of each other. I inserted 1 seed pack as my guide as to how big the pockets need to be. I then clipped the sides so they’d stay in place. I then went to the sewing machine and sewed across the bottom. I had first measured and drew a line to follow with a pencil.

I then took my sewn together bags to the paper cutter and cut off the bottoms, 1″ below my stitching line. Since this was a garden theme, I thoughtthe picket fence might work (this was definitely a plan as you go project), so I straightened my top edge at the paper cutter and cut each bag with the Martha Stewart picket fence punch. The full thickness of the bag top (all layers) cut easily with the punch. I punched the tops of all 3 bags.

Using my Glue Glider, I then taped the bags together. Actually, the center bag got taped to the one in front and one in back, so the bags no longer would separate from each other, and you end up with this kind of honeycomb arrangement. There are now 3 pockets, but because of the folds in the bags, you kind of have 2 compartments in each pocket. Now that the basic pocket bag is made, it’s just a matter of decorating it up — the fun part!

I apologize for this poor photo — it’s been one of those kind of nights — LOL!!! As you can see, I covered my bag with DP by Daisy’D’s. I wanted a bit more white in my DP, so I applied very hurriedly some Gesso with a foam brush — not a great job - but this was Shabby, so I was good to go, and it gave me the bit of white I was after. I used the SU tab punch to top off my seed packs and make them easy to pull out of their pockets.

Here’s a closeup of the detail to the focal image. The tag was a punch out in the paper pad. I used JustRite Times New Roman Uppercase Font (50 pt and 25 pt) on the larger of the Vertical Wood Stampers to create my sentiment. The sentiment in thehalf circle is from JustRite’s Celebrations Demi Phrases, used on a Wood 2″ Stamper. The lower ribbon is 1.25″ wide silk, and the narrow yellow silk was fine enough to thread into the eye of a needle and I used it to sew the button onto the panel. The die cut is from the new Floral Accent dies by Spellbinders and the gingham is 3/8″ by May Arts.

And here’s the back. I wanted to show you the CUTE little *made with love* for the back of projects — I was so excited when I saw this! Actually, there are 2 for the backs of projects in a set called Tiny Words by JustRite, available on 5/10, but available for pre-order now. It fits on the new tiny 1 3/16″ Wood Stamper. This will surely be a fun little set to work with. It’s shown in the picture below.

Here’s what I used to make this project. Everything shown is currently available, with the exception of the Tiny Words Set, which is available now for pre-order with a 5/10 shipment date. Fun new things!!! You’ll love them!!!

Stamps: Times New Roman Uppercase Font, used on a Vertical Stamper, Celebrations Demi Phrases, used on a Wood 2″ Stamper, Tiny Words Set, used on a Wood 1 3/16″ Stamper, all by JustRite

Paper: PTI White and Vintage Cream; Prism Dark Green; Beacon Hill 8 x8 pad by DaisyD’s.

Ink: Versa Fine Vintage Sepia, Color Box Chalk Creamy Brown.

Accessories: May Arts Silk and Gingham Ribbons available at the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store, Vintage buttons, Sewing Machine, Needle, Thread, Primas, Lunch Sacks, Petite Circle Nestabilities and Floral Accent Dies by Spellbinders, SU 1 3/8″ Punch, SU Scallop Punch, SU Tab Punch, Martha Stewart Picket Fence Punch, Gesso, Paint Brush, Glue Glider, Glue Dots

Shopping:

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store has all the May Arts Ribbons used and more.

Joan’s Garden has the products used by Spellbinders, Martha Stewart and Glue Glider.

Thank you so much for stopping in today. It’s been a crazy day around here and I’m wishing for a quieter tomorrow!!! Hope you are all having a good week. Again, thanks much for stopping in and we’ll see you soon!!!

I finally got back to my Sue’s Kitchen projects! And I had help on this one from Martha. I purchased a Martha Stewart Bag Set, but decided it needed a little spicing up (sorry, Martha). The set was on a 1/2 price sale at Michael’s the last time I was there (about 2 weeks ago) and it consisted of 15 of the square bottom cello bags with heavy DP inserts, pre-scored to fit (as you see in the bags), and narrow white grosgrain ribbon. Cute to throw together quickly — sure! But I KNEW we could do better!!! Here’s my finished product:

Aren’t they fun! And those are supposed to be delicious homemade cookies wrapped up in the tissue. I, of course, had no such thing on hand, but I know Sue will!!! Sue loves to make up gift bags of treats, so I made these especially with her in mind - not that I’m making up the entire set for her — oh NO — but I’m giving her the remainder so she can make them up herself, using these as inspiration and guidance. I hope she likes them!!!

The bottom of Martha’s bag was plain, so I personalized it with my JustRite font sets and Spellbinders Double Ended Tags die. I also added the lace doily, cutting it down a bit to fit in the bag perfectly. And the top of Martha’s bag was rather plain, too, so I added the scalloped white lacy border, using one of Martha’s lace border punches. I think it adds a lot! And, of course, I thought my 1.5″ May Arts Gingham Ribbon was a huge improvement over Martha’s narrow white grosgrain - LOL!!! And now that I’ve been a bit tough on Martha, let me say that I KNOW she would have had beautifully baked cookies in her bags, whereas I merely have mason jar rings wrapped in tissue under the pretense of being cookies — LOL!!! Seriously, these ARE cute little bag sets to pick upand personalize for your own needs, and I’m sure that was Martha’s intent all along!!!

From Sues Kitchen was done on the smaller of the Harmony Rectangle Stampers with Times New Roman Font, both Uppercase and Lowercase (in 25 point), except the S that was done with Special Occasions Font. I LOVE mixing up the font sets for an interesting look! The Times New Roman LowercaseFont is available from JustRite on 4/10, but you can get those sooner if you like. Check out this post on the JustRite Blog for a list of both brick and mortar and online stores.

Stamps: Times New Roman Lowercase, Times New Roman Uppercase, Special Occasions Font, Harmony Rectangle Stamper, all by JustRite.

Paper: White, Martha Stewart Bag Set from Michaels (bags and scored DP)

Ink: Versa Fine Onyx Black

Accessories: 1.5″ Gingham May Arts Ribbon from My Ribbon Saleabove my Blog banner, Double Ended Tags by Spellbinders, Martha Stewart Lace Punch, Doilies, Brads, 1/4″ Hole Punch, Glue Glider.

Super Simple Ribbon Treatment

I’d like to take a minute here today and show you how to do this type of bow. I get a lot of questions about bow tying. Many of you feel you aren’t able totie a decent bow. Well, this is the perfect ribbon treatment for bow challenged stampers!!! I know many of you are very familiar with this treatment, but for those who aren’t, here we go:

Punch holes in your card top. As I knew I wanted to use a 1.5″ wide ribbon today, I used a 1/4″ hole punch. The ribbon runs through each hole twice, so this is a perfect size hole for this ribbon treatment when using such wide ribbon. Cut your ribbon long enough that you have room to trim your ends when done. Cutboth ribbon ends at sharp angles tomake it easy to run them through the holes.

Run the ribbon through the holes to the card back, as shown. With both ribbon tails on the back side, now take one, cross it over, and run it through the hole to the front, as shown.

Now take the 2nd ribbon tail and cross it over and run it through the other hole to the card front. The 2nd photo shows what the card front now looks like.

Merely trim your ribbon ends in whatever fashion you like, and you are done!!! This ribbon treatment can have different looks depending on how far apart you punch the holes. You’ll note the pre-punched holes in my Martha bag were farther apart, giving one look, whereas I punched my holes closer on this sample, giving more the look of a standard bow. This is a perfect ribbon treatment for those who feel they can’t tie a decent bow!!! It comes out perfect, every time!!!

Thanks for stopping in again! Hope you are having a good weekend. We really got dumped on with a heavy, wet snow again. I just wish spring would come, and STAY!!! Leaving you with warm spring wishes!!!

Keyword ssnotime74 -There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload yourproject at Splitcoastand/or your Blog, anytime at all! You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!)can play as many times as you like!!! The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!! Please link back here.

Today our Challenge is to use Monograms - make anything with a monogram on it. Card, 3-D items, altered project — anything — let’s just get a monogram included. Monogram stampers are perfect for this challenge, but if you don’t have one you can make a monogram in any fashion — with regular font or alphabet stamps, with punchout letters or stickers, by making a computer generated monogram — anything at all — just monogram something!! I LOVE monograms and find them to be so fun and so personalized — always a hit!!! Can’t wait to see what all of you do!!!

If you are confused on the order in which to place the initials, here’s a link to some quick rules.

Please Note: If you do use a JustRite Stamper to make your monogram today, and if you upload to SCS, please include the word JustRite in the keywords section so your project will show up in their gallery — they’d love to see what you do!!!

Some great samples for the Stamp Simply Challenge today can be seen on the blogs of these designers:Heather, Dee, Tammy, Janine, AJ, Jenniferand Becky. Julie is taking the day off but will be back next week! Please bear with us as we are all uploading and linking on Thursday night.

You can see all Gallery Submissions here.

What wonderful samples!!! Thank you girls!!! Much appreciated!!!

Here’s my monogrammed project for today:

I chose to do a crimped envelope today with a flat card insert, ideal for tucking in a little something extra as there is plenty of room in the envelope for gift cards, cash, photos, whatever you need to include!!! And you can write your message on the card insert. I was reminded of these fun crimped envelopes as I started to see them popping up on SCS over the past week. Crimped envelopes were the very 1st fun thing I was taught to do by my SU demo when I was learning to stamp years ago. I made a ton of them at the time, then just sort of forgot about them, but how FUN they are!!! Here’s a link to the SCS tutorial for a Crimped Envelope Pocket Card. As you can see, I did not use a purchased envelope. I made my own out of SU designer paper, which I think makes it even more fun!!! To make my envelope I used a plastic template for a 9 x 6 envelope, but that did present some problems as that template requires a sheet of paper at least 13″ long. I used 12″ square paper and made some adjustments and it worked just fine, but I won’t go there right now, as I do have an easier way to make beautiful envelopes, which I do plan to share with you later next week.

Here’s a closeup of the detail. I used my favorite of the monogram stampers by JustRite, the Damask set. I thought this particular border went fabulously with the DP I used today. My S is from the Special Occasions Font Set, and I always seem to be pulling out Special Occasion font to use with my Damask borders– I just like that combination!!! I added a few pearls to my monogram. I used my Circle Nesties to cut, emboss, mat and frame my monogram. My scalloped frame was then pierced as well for a bit of added texture. To bring more definition between the two paper patterns (this is 2 sided paper and I just turned the top of the envelope inside out to get the other pattern before gluing it together — one BIG advantage of making your own envies!) Ithen created a scalloped border and added a strip of the green behind it to bring it out more and created a nice line of separation to highlight each pattern better.

And here’s my flat card insert for the inside. My finished envelope is 5.75″ high x 5.5″ wide. My card insert is 5.25″ high x 4.75″ wide. If I wanted to send this in the mail, it would still fit in my favorite 6 x 6″ envelopes. My card insert is simple and self-explanatory. I added the sentiment on top *A Little Something Just for You* as I will include a *little something* in the envelope! This sentiment was done in 25pt. font — the capital letters being Special Occasions Font and the small letters being the new, soon to be available, lowercase Times New Roman Font. LOVE this new lower case font — it gives us so much more flexibility and looks so much more pulled together!!! FUN STUFF!!! Did you notice the tiny pearls along the scallop border?

Here’s a visual for you of the JustRite product I used to create my project today. My monogram was done using the Damask Border Deluxe Kit(my box pictured is an older version). I used the 1 5/8″ round stamper included in the Kit (though it can be purchased separately as the Harmony Classic Circle Stamper I). The border I used was also included in the Kit (though it can be purchased separately as the Damask 1 Letter Borders). The Kit does include Times New Roman Font, but I chose to use my Special Occasion Font today. And that’s part of the beauty of the JustRite products, once you start to purchase and collect the various sets and fonts, they all work together, are interchangeable, and you can make additional purchases either as kits or by individual item, depending on your needs.

To create the sentiment on my card insert, I used the smaller block in the Harmony Rectangle Stamper Set, I used Special Occasions Font for my capital letters and I used the new and soon to be available Times New Roman Lowercase Font for the rest of my words. I know you’ll love it and it’ll be availabe real soon — we’ll be sure to announce it as soon as pre-orders can be taken!!! (Along with a lot of other new and fun product!!!)

Stamps: Damask Border Deluxe Kit, Special Occasions Font, Harmony Rectangle Stamper Set, the new and soon to be available Times New Roman Lowercase Font, all by JustRite. Friends 24-7 by SU.

Paper: SU Very Vanilla, Softy Sky, Wild Wasabi, Spring Silhouettes DP.

Ink: SU Wild Wasabi, Soft Sky and SU markers in Garden Green and Bashful Blue.

Accessories: Petite Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinders; Martha Stewart Lace Punch; Fiskars Crimper; Kaiser Pearls; Envelope Template; SU Piercer, Mat Pack, and Ribbon; Glue Glider.

Note: The Glue Glider, Pearls and Nestabilities are available at Joans Garden.

Thank you so much for stopping in today. I hope you can find time to do a monogrammed project — they are SO much fun!!! Wishing you a wonderful weekend ahead, whatever your plans are!!! See you soon!!!

TodayI havea little sneak peek at some new product from JustRite to be showcased at CHA. We have all fallen in love with the font sets available by JustRite and those incredibly fabulous Rectangle Stampers — well, it is getting better!!! JustRite will be introducing lower case font for us to use along with our upper case font — how totally cool is this!!! I LOVE being able to use lower case font on my sentiments, and that’s what I did today — I created a Valentine sentiment for my altered box, usingBraytonUpper Case Font and Times New RomanLowerCase font. Take a look –

Isn’t that new lower case font just wonderful!!! I love it and it opens up many doors for fun sentiments we can make!!! I’m so excited with this new release by JustRite!!! Let’s look at what I did here.

This is how this project started. And now to show you this, I must confess — YES, I purchased store bought cards this Christmas, many boxes of them — BUT the really good thing is that they came in these wonderful boxes that are perfect for altering! The cards are from Wal-Mart, by Day Spring, as shown on the left. They were all nice cards with Christian Christmas sentiments on them, so that pleased me. An empty box is shown on the right, and the boxes are made of striped gold and black mirrored paper, so they are highly reflective and rather difficult to get a good photo of, but I think you can get a good idea.

This is a photo of the box after I adhered on the decorative paper. The left is the box top and on the right the inside of the box is shown. All I had to do to the box base was insert a sheet of DP on the box bottom. I left the black and gold mirrored paper as is. After all, it was very pretty and one of the reasons my eye went to these cards in the store. Now that our box has some pretty paper on it, lets see what I used to finish it off and decorate it up:

I used both the BraytonUppercase Fontand thesoon to beintroduced Times New RomanLower Case fontto create my sentiments on the Harmony Rectangle Stampers. On the larger block *Be My Valentine* is in 95 pt. and the *I Love You* on the smaller rectangle is in 25 pt.

Above are all the pieces I made to embellish my box. The *Be My Valentine* that was black embossedis cut with the Curved Rectangle Nestabilities by Spellbinders, sponged while still in the die and then edged with a gold paint pen. It is matted with a larger shape cut with black Mirri Card from Marco’s Paper. The black on the box is exactly the same as the black Mirri Card at Marco’s Paper. I also used Nested Birds and Classic and ScallopedHeart Nestabilities and a Tag die as well for the *I Love You*.

Here’s a closer look! I was really pleasedwith how this turned out — I think it’s pretty and rather sophisticated — not quite like the traditional red and pink Valentine’s Day themed items and projects. And here’s a view of the side of the box so you can see why I didn’t want to cover up much of this box:

This was a fun project and unusually simple to make with rather dramatic results — and that’s always a good thing!!!

Stamps: Brayton Uppercase andTimes New RomanLowercase Font, used on the Harmony Rectangle Stampers, all by JustRite

Paper: SU River Rock, Black Mirri Card from Marcos Paper, Once Upon a Time Stack by DCWV

Ink: Versa Mark and Versa Fine Onyx Black, SU River Rock

Accessories: Spellbinders: Curved Rectangle, Classic and Scalloped Hearts, and Nested Birds Nestabilities and Tag Dies. Kaiser Pearls, May Arts Ribbon, Marvy Uchida Gold Calligraphy Pen, Black Embossing Powder, Fire Mountain Pin with clutch added, Sponge, Glue Glider, Foam Mounting Tape, SU Dimensionals(Joan’s Garden has some of the Spellbinders product, Kaiser Pearls and Glue Glider)

Thank you so much for stopping in today. I do so appreciate all your visits and comments. Hope you are having a good week and that you can check in again to see my future projects!!! Thanks much!!!

Today’s Altered Valentine Tin coordinates with the Valentine Accordion Card I uploaded yesterday. Here’s the completed tin, with instructions to follow:

This was a fun recycling project as I used a tube shaped tin that had cookies in it. Here’s the before shot:

I’m not including any measurements for this project as they will be different for each can you use, but the first thing I did was to determine the size of my base red paper, remembering that I need it to be wider than the measurement around the can as I plan to score it to create embossed lines and when we score a lot it eats up length. My can was about 10″ around, so I left my paper at the 11″ length.

I used my Scor-It to create the embossed lines in my paper, scoring every 1/2″. I love adding these embossed lines to the base paper on the can — it really just adds a bit of richness that I love. And when you score thepaper repeatedly like this, it takes on a natural rounded shaping, making it so easy to wrap it around the can. Here’s an older photo of a sheet scored on my Scor-It from another similar project:

Once my base paper is scored I adhere it around the can using red sticky tape. And then it is just a matter of making my focal image, my topper, determing what ribbons, etc. I want to use to pretty it all up!!! I’ll take it section by section.

I used stamps by JustRite for my focal image and my can topper. The Harmony Classic Circle Stamper III Ensemble was used for the focal image on the can front. And notice how this is the largest of the round stmapers, over 3″. Well, you can look below and see that my focal image is oval shaped, not round. No problem — just stamp the center image ONLY onto cardstock and then cut out in any shape you desire. I thought the oval suited this image well and also suited my project. Just wanted to share that versatility tip with you! Take a look:

Doesn’t it make a perfect oval? I thought so! I used my Petite Oval Nestabilites to cut, mat and frame this Just Rite image and further added a few Kaiser pearls — fun!! The can is also wrapped with a layer of white, thenmy Bella Rose DP, and then mywide checked ribbon by May Arts. After adhering the image, I then attached a sheer ribbon bow with a glue dot. I wrapped the very bottom of the can with the red sticky tape and adhered some velvet ribbon to finish off the bottom! Here’s a look at the upper can:

This was a great can with a nice lid that slips on — love when I find those! I made the white lacey strip with my Martha Stewart Lace Punch. After adhering it over the red, it just looked a bit bare, so I added a band of red velvet and it seemed to do the trick. As for the lid, the side is also wrapped with the red velvet and a topper was made and adhered. Take a look:

Just simple layers stamped using my Harmony Classic Circle Stamper II Ensembleby JustRite. I stamped the center (With Love) and the border (hearts) in two differnet applications and then cut them with my Petite Circle Nestabilities and layer them to form my topper. The top 2 layers are up on SU Dimensionals. And here’s a view of the back of the can:

My bows, or knots, are all staggered intentionally, just for interest. There is red sticky tape under the velvet and Glue Glider tape under the checked ribbon so everything is nice and snug. With so many layers on this can there are many overlap seams on the back. I was just trying to pretty it up and take away from all those seams. And don’t the embossed lines add a nice touch! Here’s a pic of this altered can along with the Valentine Accordion Card I made yesterday.

What a fun Valentine card and little treat box! Hope the recipient likes it!!! A full tutorial on the Valentine Accordion Card can be seen here.

Stamps: Harmony Classic Circle Stamper III Ensemble and Harmony Classic Circle Stamper II Ensemble, both by JustRite

Paper: PTI White; SU Real Red, Pink Pirouette, Bella Rose DP

Ink: Versa Fine Onyx Black

Accessories: Scor-It, Petite Circle and Petite Oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders, Martha Stewart Lace Punch, Piercer and Mat Pack by SU, Kaiser Rhinestones, May Arts Ribbons, Red Sticky Tape, Glue Glider, SU Dimensionals, Zots

You can read about the Scor-It at the Scor-It site, but you do need to locate a retailer to purchase. A large list of retailers is available on the Scor-It site, but I know Joan over at Joans Gardenhas listed the Scor-It, so you may want to check it out. She always has fun things to share! She has the Glue Glider andKaiser Pearlsup today, too! I know Marcos Paper also always has a good supply of Scor-Its on hand and thats another great site to shop!!!

Thank you so much for the time you spent here today — so much appreciated!!! I still am working on Valentine themed projects this week, so there’s more in store!!! Hope you can stop back in!!! Hope your week is going well!!!