No Time To Stamp?

I have two things to show you today.  Here’s a little peek at a portion of my post over at the JustRite Blog – it is Day 4 for me over there — WHEW!!! That’s a busy place and I’m having a hard time keeping up — LOL!!!  But what I did over there today is something very near and dear to my heart, a type of project I have long loved — here’s a portion of it:

And as much as I hate to be a tease, you’ll just have to head over to the JustRite Blog to see the rest!  Hope you do, but in the meantime, I have a Christmas card I’d like to share as well.  Take a look:

That beautiful poinsettia is in a Gina K set by Melanie Muenchinger called A Year of Flowers.  I stamped it three times, colored one image with a variety of red Copics and the other 2 images were colored with a number of green Copics.  I then cut them out and layered them to form my poinsettia, highlighting them with Dazzling Diamonds and a rhinestone center.  Such a pretty and fun set to play with!!!

The *Poinsettia* on the bottom of the card was done with 2 different JustRite Fonts — Trompe for the capital letter and Brayton for the rest.  I used the Harmony Rectangle Stamper with my font sets.  This was FUN!!! Can you just imagine all the wonderful floral images we all have, and now with JustRite’s easy-to-use snap in letters — oh how fun it’ll be to come up with all the flower names as we create our cards!!! I can’t wait to use my font sets for similar projects!!!

Stamps:  A Year of Flowers by Gina K., Brayton Font and Trompe Font by JustRite, with the Harmony Rectangle Stamper   Paper:  White, Black   Ink:   Memento Tuxedo Black, red and green Copics   Accessories:  Red Organdy, Pearls, Rhinestones, Ticket Corner Punch, Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals

Thank you so much for looking!!!  I really do appreciate it.  I know I haven’t been around here much this week, but I’m back to normal real soon!!! Tomorrow we have our usual Friday Stamp Simply Challenge — and it’s a fun one that anyone can play!!!  Hope to see you then.  Thanks much!!!

We attended a beautiful wedding this weekend for our niece and her new DH!!!  The weather was just gorgeous, so all was well!!!  We have company this week, so although I wanted to play today and get my *fix*, it needed to be quick, really quick.  I was so pleased to see the TLC at SCS today was to make a Mini Pizza Box — that’s surely quick — and to go with it I decided to use a few other sure-fired *quick fixes*!!!  And those are a pre-inked stamper by JustRite, some Cuttlebug die cuts, and scored lines for interest using my Scor-It Mini.  Here’s my project:

The Mini Pizza Box measures 4″ square and you can find the template and directions here.  I made the scores on my full sized Scor-It and was done in a jiffy — fun box!!!  To decorate the box top and make the cards, I just  stamped the *Just a Note* sentiment on the bottom using one of my 2 X Stampers by JustRite.  As you can see in the photo, I stamped the sentiment on the box top and the card front, while I used the musical notes on the other side of the 2 X Stamper for the inside of the card, which is opened and on the bottom of the photo.  I then used my Scor-It Mini to score 6 lines, spaced 1/4″ apart each, across the panel to mimic music (I know, I put one too many lines - LOL), and then I used my musical notes Cuttlebug dies to make my notes.  I ran them through my little Xyron X which made is so easy to adhere them.  I decorated around my box with 2 scraps of unknown ribbon and I was done!!! This box will easily hold at least 8 of these little notecards.  My cards are cut 3.75″ square for a perfect fit inside the box!!!  Fun project.

I’ll just add one thing about my 2 X stampers– I have many of them and when I got them, I thought I would be using them for my Sunday School class (how handy being pre-inked) and to make other little projects for our church/ladies group, etc.  In all honesty, I didn’t think beyond that to realize how QUICK and FUN they are to use for all my normal stamping projects.  I was extremely impressed with the perfect impression received every time I stamped, and I love that there is a little coordinating image to go along with each sentiment — how PERFECT for quick, little projects!!!  Since this is a busy week for me, I plan to be using more of my 2 X Stampers and other pre-inked stamps for projects this week — so if you are interested, please check back in.  (And when I went to the JustRite site to get my link, I was very surprised to see the great sale price they have these for right now — amazing!)

• Stamps:  Just a Note 2 X Stamper by JustRite    

• Paper:  PTI White, SU Black    

• Ink:  None — used a pre-inked stamper

• Accessories:  Scor-It, Cuttlebug, Note Dies, Unknown Ribbon

Got to run again.  Thanks so much for stopping in.  If you like quick little projects, check in again tomorrow!!!  I always do appreciate you stopping in — thank you so much!!!

Oh, it’s Monday — check out what is offered today at Joan’s Garden!  See you soon!

I made a project today that I am totally  happy with — quick, simple, clean, fresh and something I can use for a gift!!!  I was cruising Tammy’s blog  earlier today, saw an adorable box/bag type thing, clicked the link and found a fabulous site I had never been at before — the 3-D Design Challenge Blog.  How fun!!!  A challenge was issued to create a One Sheet Box and a printable template was provided.  This was one of those times when I just had to drop everything else and do it!!! I LOVE this little box — SO quick and easy — and just adorable!!!  I know I’ll be making a lot more of these.  I added a rounded top to my box, but it’s the same template, and then I made an ornament to coordinate with and put in the box.  Here they are:

The box is made using a full 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.  I followed the instructions exactly, except I did NOT score those diagonal lines for the corner folds.  It was much easier to just fold it in my hand, easily lining it up, then crease that inside fold with my fingers.  I then used tape to secure all those folds on the inside of the box (between the layers of paper).  Adorable box!!!  (Editing:  I used a thinner DP that was 1 sided with a white back.  The thinner DP allowed for crisp folds in the corners.)  To  decorate the box  I decided I would make a large snowflake for the top to round it off and give it some extra height and stability.  Once the snowflake was made, I thought it looked like an ornament so, there you go — a box AND a gift!!!  Here’s how I made the snowflakes:

• Using the Cuttlebug Ice Crystal die on about a 4″ square of white c/s, run it through and cut.  Press out the snowflake and save for another project.  We are going to use the negative part for this project. (Editing:  I ordered this die from Jacksonbelle Embellisments, and to my surpise when it came there is ALSO a folder, same design, in the pacakge!!)

• Using a Circle Nestability, center it over the negative snowflake, cut and emboss.

• Using SU Bashful Blue c/s, apply double sided tape to one side, and using the same Circle Nestie as above to cut the snowflake, cut out the circle.  It will have tape on one side.  Those of you with Xyron’s large enough, could just run these through the Xyron instead.  I just don’t have one.

• Now take your circle negative snowflake and adhere it to the Bashful Blue circle above, on the sticky side.  The sticky tape will be exposed in the snowflake opening.  Sprinkle with fine glitter.  This technique is called a Glitter Window, and instructions can be seen on this SCS tutorial.

• Using Prism Iced Cobalt, cut a Circle with the Nestability Die just a bit larger.  This Iced Cobalt circle serves to frame the snowflake.  When adhering to the box, the snowflake is on the front of the box front, while the Iced Colbalt frame is on the back of the box front, so the box appears finished both inside and out.  Make 2 of these — one for both the front and back of the box.  Here’s a good look at the box:

I just added a little tag with ribbon trim. The tag was cut and embossed on the Spellbinders die called Tag 5.  It cuts 5 tags at a time — I like it a lot.  These tags are a bit bigger than the other sets of Spellbinders tags I have, so it allows for sentiments a bit larger.

To make the ornament I made 2 more of the snowflakes and sandwiched the Iced Cobalt Circle in between them, punched a hole with the Cropadile punch (gosh that thing works great for going through so many layers!), then ran my ribbon through the hole.  Done!!!

• Stamps:  Star Studded Season by SU

• Paper:  PTI White, SU Bashful Blue, Prism Iced Cobalt, very old DCWV Spring Stack DP

• Ink:   Versa Fine Onyx Black

• Accessories:  Cuttlebug and Ice Crystal Die, Petite Circle Nesabilities and Tag 5 by Spellbinders, Double Sided Tape or Xyron, SU Dazzling Diamonds, Cropadile, SU Ribbon, Dimensionals

That’s it for this project!  I’m sure you’d LOVE this box, too — give it a try.  Once you do it once and figure out the corner thing, it’ll go together in just a minute or two — truly that simple!!!

See 2 posts above with a Contest to Enter and more Blog Candy links!

Thanks for stopping in!!!  Are you getting tired of the party yet — LOL!!!   We’re about 1/2 way through!!!

This evening I went down to my stamp room to create a card for the Sketch Challenge at SCS, and before I knew what  happened I had this little gift set about done.  Here it is:

The card I did for the Sketch Challenge is on the upper right.  This set was so quick, easy and cheap to make — it truly was amazing — LOL!!!  All items are from the $ Bin at Michaels.  The black and white cards were in a pack of 8, with envelopes, for $1, and the journal was also $1.  I made the little pouch that the gift set of cards is in, and I’ll show you how below.

Above is the card I did for the Sketch Challenge.  This is the card to present to the recipient of this gift along with all the items.  Can you see how the purchased card base is shorter in front and the scalloped circle main image is hanging over?  I like that feature!  These cards are a bit smaller than normal, at 5 x 3.75″.   The circle image is stamped using the Harmony Classic Circle III Stamp Ensemble.  This is the new 3.25″ round wooden stamper that will be available real soon — but it IS AVAILABLE to preoder now at the JustRite site.  I stamped it in black ink.  I then masked all but the center sentiment and then stamped the center sentiment in red on a scrap of paper, then cut and embossed it using the Double Ended Tag die by Spellbinders.  My image was cut, embossed, matted in black and then framed with a red scallop, all using the Petite Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinders.  I wrapped the card with red ribbon before adhering the sentiment circle.

And here’s the journal to coordinate.  And this just couldn’t be any simpler!  The white Journal was already on it, so I wanted to use it as is.  I just added a monogram above it.  This monogram was made using the Damask Monogram Stamper Kit and the Times New Roman font that comes with the kit.  I used the same monogram on all of the gift cards in the pouch.  Now this is the original round wooden stamper that so many of you already have.   And what really pleases me is that this Damask border coordinates so well with the border I used on the 3.25″ stamper above, making it very easy to incorporate both stampers on the same project.  The red ribbon is actually a book mark.  It runs down the length of the inside back cover of the book, where is it adhered for the entire length with red sticky strip.  It can be placed anywhere in the Journal to mark your place!

I made the little pouch to hold the set of 4 monogrammed cards and 4 envelopes.  Now, granted, this is not the fanciest of pouches or card holders, but it’ll do the trick in a pinch for a quick little gift.  It is merely made from 2 of the cards that were in the set of 8.  I’ll try to show you:

Using 2 sided tape, I securely attached 2 card together to a length I thought would be adequate.  I then took red ribbon and ran it around the card covering the seam that was showing on the outside of the card.   There is red sticky strip holding the ribbon on in the card inside.  The seam you are seeing on the right is not on the outside, only on the inside, so it doesn’t matter.  Then I adhered more red sticky strip to the ends to hold it closed and together.

This is what the pouch looks like on the outside when complete.  This pouch easily holds 4  of the gift cards I made using the monogram  and 4 envelopes.  I forgot to photo the gift cards separately, but I think you can see them in the pouch and in the first photo.

And here we have all 4 gift cards plus the 4 envelopes in the pouch.  Easy peasy as they say!!!

• Stamps:  Harmony Classic Circle III Stamp Ensemble and Damask Monogram Stamper Kit, both by JustRite
• Paper:  Michaels $ Bin cards and journal, PTI White, SU Black and Real Red
• Ink:  VersaFine Onyx Black, SU markers in Real Red and Black
• Accessories:  SU Red Grosgrain Ribbon, SU Brads, Petite Circle Nestabilities and Double Ended Tags both by Spellbinders, Red Sticky Strip.

Thank you all so much for stopping in today!!!  I hope you can all come back tomorrow to join in the festivities of the week to come in celebration of my 1 yr Blog Anniversary.  A bit of detail is included in the post prior to this — just scroll down!!! Hope you are all having a wonderful week!!! Thanks so much — see you soon!!!!

I got to play with new stamps today - how fun!!!  And for as long as I’ve been stamping I’ve only had odds and ends of stamps for autumn, never a full coordinated set.  The moment I saw Papertrey’s new fall set, First Fruits, I knew it was just what I was wishing for — beautiful, yet simple, images along with a fabulous combination of words to take me through the fall and Thanksgiving season.  I don’t have the designer paper that so beautifully coordinates with this set, but I found a small Fall Harvest pad by K & Co. in Michaels that I think works well.  Here’s my first project with First Fruits:

I made a simple card using Petite Oval Nestabilities to frame the sheaf of grain as well as a label attached to a band running around the bottle of Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette.  I also stamped an envelope to match as well as the inside of the card.

This really was quite the easy project.  The Blessings  sentiment is cut and embossed using a label die, also by Spellbinders.  My ribbon is an old scrap, and my original plan was to make more pieces to this little gift,  but I ran out of this ribbon, so this is it!!!  I’m sure I’ll be making many more little gift type items with this set, so I’ll be sure I have enough ribbon next time before I start — LOL!!!

• Stamps:  First Fruits by Papertrey Ink
• Paper:  SU Very Vanilla, More Mustard, Morning Marigold, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive.  Fall Harvest Mat Pad by K & Co.
• Ink:  Versa Fine Onyx Black, Morning Marigold, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive.
• Accessories:  Ribbon, Petite Circle, Petite Oval and Labels Trio all by Spellbinders, Mounting Tape, Glue Dots.

And today is Monday, so you know what THAT means — it’s the Every Monday Sale over at Joan’s Garden — check it out — I think she has Scor-It’s this week — both full sized and Mini!!!!  I’ll have to pop on over and see what else she has, too!!!

Thanks so much for stopping in!!!  I do so appreciate it!!!  Hope you enjoy your week – it sounds like good weather for us — and today it IS beautiful!!!  Hope to see you soon — thank you so much!!!

I recently received my Autumn (2008) edition of Take 10.  I was lucky enough to get a few cards accepted, and in paging through I find it is, once again, filled with familiar names from SCS and Blogland — congrats to all!!!  Here’s a few that jumped out at me –

Jen  del Muro provided the Sketch Challenge and had many adorable cards throughout the issue.

Lisa Zappa did the Masterboard project creating a gorgeous One Sheet Wonder sheet and projects using beautiful Crafty Secrets images.

Kim Hughes was the main focus of 3 articles.  Kim was the Guest Artist, and had articles on Kissing and No Frills.

Lisa Somerville had a page full of fun Artistic Outpost offerings.

I spotted cards by Cindy Lyles, Kendra Wiestock and my good friend IRL (LOL!), DeborahLynneS.

And I had a 3-page segment called Simple Sophistication, featuring 4 cards and 1 bookmark/sleeve using Periphery DP by Basic Grey and images by Flourishes (Flourished Elements and Flourished Words).  Above is a photo I took of this project before mailing it off last January.  The card on the upper left was something I had done for a challenge at SCS — the technique was called Stab Binding.  That card and details can be seen here.   The bookmark and sleeve was previoulsy uploaded here.

The little loop on top of the frame above was drawn in.  This was a really fun and simple set to make as it was just a matter of selecting sheets of designer paper and making the most of what was already there — adding minimal stamped images and some pretty embellishments and ribbon to dress it up!!!  This set is a perfect example of what I always say — If you use pretty things, you don’t have to DO much!!!  So, so true!!!

Again, pretty things!  The birds were on the paper, I added very minimal stamped images, a flower from SU’s Pretties Kit with stick pin, ribbon and pearls!!!  It’s kind of like taking a sheet of paper and dressing it up for the prom!!!

I created the rose arch with a different sheet of paper, bordering it in black to highlight it.   Again, as in the card above, the bird just needed something to look at or peck at!!!

I also had another page in this issue, A Different Point of View, again using all images by Flourishes (Cake Decorating 101).  These cards have all been previously uploaded, so I’ll just show you a pic of the magazine page.  Unfortunately, mistakes happen, as did with this page.  The images were listed as being by No Time To Stamp.  Well, we all know, there are no images bearing that name.  All images were by Flourishes.

And I once again thank you for taking the time to look today!!!  It is always so much appreciated!!!  Hope you are all able to enjoy a beautiful summer day, such as we are experiencing here — a bit on the cool side, but nonetheless, beautiful!!!

I have been meaning to do a clear box out of acetate for ages, but it’s one of those things I just never got around to doing — so when the Technique Lover’s Challenge popped up today at SCS and it was to do a box out of acetate, well, I knew I HAD to!!!  I decided to make it to match the card I had done last night as all that paper was still out, and I’m pleased with how it came.  Here it is:

I believe the instructions found here called for the acetate to be 3″ or 3.5″ high.  I wanted a taller box so I cut mine 6″ high.  And by making a taller box, I wanted a longer box top, so I cut my cover piece 4″ rather than the 2.5″ suggested.  I then added my two rows of scallops, so my box top extends down almost 2.5″, rather than the 1/2″ as on the instructions.  Additionally, rather than scoring the acetate piece every 1 15/16″, I scored mine every 1 7/8″.  It doesn’t seem like much, but it did make a difference.  As you can see my base has 3 layers of cardstock, making it thicker than if I had only used the 1 piece called for, thereby making the acetate sidewalls way too tight.  By backing off my scoring that 1/16 of an inch it gave me the extra room I needed to easily put this together with no buckling.  Other than the above changes, I did follow the tutorial provided in the challenge.

My With Love sentiment circle was made using another of the soon to be available new stampers by JustRite (available to pre-order now from JustRite).  This one is 2 5/16″ and is called the Harmony Classic Circle Stamper II.  The ensemble I used today comes with the stamper, 6 borders and 6 rings.  Here’s a pic:

OK, I have all 3 sizes of the round Classic Stampers shown, just for size comparison.  The only one that comes in this ensemble is the center stamper which is 2 5/16.  The smaller one is the standard size that has been available in the past and the larger is the 3.25″ stamper I used for my card last night.  I’d like to also point out that the new stampers now have a deeper wooden base with nice finger grooves so they are much easier to hold onto while stamping. 

Once done with my box, I  wrapped it with ribbon, just like a package, with a bow on top.  I then ran another length of ribbon through the hardware piece I attached to my With Love tag, then ran that ribbon under my bow and just tied it up into another bow.  Here’s a look at that:

I’m so glad I took the time to make this today — I WILL be making more of these — so fun!!!  Here’s a picture of the card and box together — what a nice little gift and so fun to make!!!

Supplies for Box (Card supplies listed yesterday on post below):

• Stamps:  Harmony Classic Circle Stamper II by JustRite (shipping in September, but available for pre-order now at JustRite)
• Paper:  PTI White, SU Almost Amethyst, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Clear Cardstock or Acetate, Urban Couture DP by Basic Grey
• Ink:  Versa Fine Onyx Black
• Accessories:  May Arts Sheer Ribbon, Petite Circle Nestabilities by  Spellbinders, Martha Stewart Lace Punch,  SU Hodgepodge Hardware, Red Sticky Strip

Thanks so much for stopping in!!!!  Having so much fun with these new and larger JustRite Stampers!!!  I’ll have more projects coming to show you some more of the borders and centers included in these sets!!!  Hope you can check back in again — and hope your week is off to a good start!!!

… euphoria.  An utter and complete state of euphoria!!!  For your cards, that is!!!  I am just in love the the new Euphoria pad by Basic Grey and all the goodies that Flourishes has to go with them!!! I have SO MUCH to show you today, so let’s just get started.

Here’s my newest favorite pad by Basic  Grey.  It’s called Euphoria and these are 6 of the 18 designs in the pad.  There are 2 of each design for a total of 36 sheets per pad.  Aren’t those prints and colors just scrumptious!!!  I’ve paired them up with some of our fun and pretty May Arts ribbons.  Starting at the left we have Dotted Sheer Apple Green, 1″ Sheers in Apple Green and Pink, Dotted Lavender, 1″ Lavender Sheer, 3/8″ Lavender, Lavender/Purple Reversible Satin, Green Edged Purple, 3/8″ Bright Pink Satin, and 1″ Sheers in Steel Blue, Seafoam, and Dark Red.

Here we have 6 more of the prints in the Euphoria pad along with some more of our May Arts Ribbons.  And I’d like you all to see the pretty buttons and brads we have in stock, made by Basic Grey to coordinate perfectly with their paper.  It just doesn’t get any easier!  From the left our ribbons are Dark Red 1″ Sheer, 3/8″ Bright Pink Satin, 1″ Blue Satin, Blue Dotted Sheer, 1″ Apple Green Satin, 1″ Pink Sheer, Dotted Apple Green Sheer, 1″ Apple Green Sheer, and lastly a double sided Pink/Blue Satin.

And here we have the last 6 sheets in the Euphoria pad — love these rich reds!!!  And did you notice all the Glazed Brads in the back — so fun!!!  They coordinate with the Basic Grey papers, and we have brads to match Two Scoops, Sugared, Euphoria, Sultry and Boxer.  From left the ribbons are 1″ Sheers in Pink and Apple Green, Dotted Apple Green Sheer, 1″ Dark Red Sheer,  3/8″ Bright Pink Satin, Blue Dotted Sheer, 1″ Sheer in Steel Blue  and 1″ Satins in Blue, Apple Green and Burgundy.

And I also wanted to show you all these pretty new sticky back Pearls we have in the store — oh my — aren’t they lovely in all these colors!!!  OH, how these will dress up our cards!!!

And I wanted to also mention our H20’s by LuminArte.  They are amazing little pots of watercolors with lots of sparkle built right in.  Leslie Miller did a totally awesome tutorial earlier this week on watercoloring with these H20’s.  She makes it look SO easy and her results are totally spectacular!!! Check it out here, you won’t be sorry!!!

And for my project today, I’m going to show you what I call a *Cheater Box* — LOL!!! I love to make gift sets and boxes to present them in, but you know, we don’t always have time to make a box, as much as we might like to, so here’s a really quick idea for a gift box for cards.

OK, on the back right — I have my set of 3 cards and envelopes in a purchased plastic box — gotta love these.  I get mine from ClearBags.  Their site is not very user friendly, so I’ll tell you this box is item no. FB 17 and it is sized for A-2 cards and envelopes.  My cards usually have some thickness to them and I don’t like to squeeze them too tight, so I have 3 cards and envelopes in here, but it’ll hold quite a bit more if they are flatter cards.

OK, then I have a sheet of Textured Soft Sky (same as my cards are made of) cut to fit perfectly inside the box.  When my cards and envelopes are in my box, then I slip this cardstock sheet in front of them.  Then comes the fun part — I make a band to slip around the box, and once on, with the cardstock sheet inside the box - it actually looks like a box I made — thus, my *Cheater Box* - LOL!!!  Here’ a picture of it all put together.

How’s that for a quickie box?  I made the band pretty much the same as the card described in this post (using the sewing machine) or also in this post (using tape),  if you’d like more detailed instructions.  The only difference here is that  I added the *Friend* tag and button. The tiny button is from the Basic Grey button box shown above, and the Friend sentiment is from Flourished Words — a great sentiment set of 27 gorgeous, scripted words you can combine to form your own phrases.  It was cut and embossed with the Tag Trios by Spellbinders.  Just love these for making quick little tags to hang on a card — fun!!!

Here’s a side view of the box and a close up of the detail work.  Again, you can refer here for more instructions.  To make the band, cut a piece of paper 12 x 2.5 (or however wide you want it, and score it at 2.5, 3.5, 8 and 9.  It’ll then fold to fit this box perfectly with about an inch in the back for overlap where you can adhere it together.

And I think that about wraps it up for tonight — but to recap — what DID I suggest:

• Euphoria Designer Paper by Basic Grey
• Basic Grey Buttons,  Brads and fancy Glazed Brads
• Sticky back Pearls
• Luscious May Arts Ribbons
• Watercoloring with H20’s (see Leslie’s tutorial linked here)
• Making *Cheater Boxes* as above described
• Flourished Words for beautifully scripted small Sentiments
• Tag Trios for creating the perfect little hang tags for your cards
• And, of course, the JustRite Monogram Stampers to create these gorgeous Monograms

But before you leave, I’d like to recommend stopping in at these fun Blogs to see more creations using the fun products I’ve suggested for you today:

Julie Koerber - check out this absolutely darling little bird card — too cute for words!!!

Faith Hofrichter - check out her use of Pearls and her tutorial on how to change the color of your DP - yes, she did!!!!  Amazing!!!

Leslie Miller  - watercoloring with H20’s tutorial - she makes it so easy!!! A MUST READ!!!

Susan Roberts - check out this AMAZING 4th of July card made with Euphoria paper!!!!

Thanks so much for stopping in - I truly do appreciate it!!!  Hope you are all having a wonderful week!!!

Hi everyone — here is our Big News — we are announcing our New Guest Designer at Flourishes!!!  Here she is –

SHARON HARNIST, a/k/a StamperSharon at SCS!!!  YIPPEE!!!

Welcome, Sharon!!! We are so happy to have you with us at Flourishes and just can’t WAIT to see what you do with the Flourishes images!!!  Here’s a link to Sharon’s Blog, so you can check out her work as well!!!

Flourishes has 3 new releases today as well.  They are the set I’ve used today, Siberian Iris, which is a Mother’s Day set that can certainly be used year round for many, many purposes.  Then there is Wedding Party, which has just the sweetest bride, her bridesmaids and a bride and groom, and Wedding Essentials, which is a sentiment set not only for a wedding card but for all the events preceding the wedding - how cool!  Today I am showing you a Mother’s Day Project I made using the new set called Siberian Iris.

This is a standard sized card made with the gorgeous Iris in the set and 3 small gift items — a bar of soap in the box, bath salts in the bag and a bottle of body wash.  How fun to change standard store packaging into a coordinated gift set!!!  The Siberian Iris stamp set and the gorgeous Black Sheer Ribbon can both be purchased at Flourishes.  The DP used is retired SU.

My iris image was stamped with Adirondack Pitch Black and colored with Copics.  I was trying to get the color of a photo of a real iris, and I don’t think I hit the mark there (LOL!), but I think for my card these colors are just fine!!!  I further highlighted my iris with Dazzling Diamonds.  There are 2 different Happy Mother’s Day sentiments in this set, and this is the smaller of the two.  I was so happy when it just fit in the SU 1 1/4″ punch — that was good!  Can you see the subtle background stamping on the Amethyst card base?  That was done with one of the several small flourishy stamps in the set, and the butterflies are punched with a new punch by Martha Stewart that I just picked up at Michaels.  And I had to use my favorite black sheer ribbon by May Arts from Flourishes!  Just love it — I would be perfectly happy putting this soft, sheer black ribbon on every project I make — LOL!!!

This bag contains bath salts and I love the long and lean look of this bag.  This is merely a 2,5,7,10 box, with slight modification.  You can find the instructions written by Jenn Balcer in this tutorial in the Resources section of SCS.  She used an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper.  To get my taller box, I used a 12 x 12 sheet of DP and cut 1″ off the end, so I am using a sheet 11″ wide by 12″ tall.  Continue with all the same set of scores listed in the tutorial, which are 2, 5, 7, and 10.  Then when it’s time to turn the paper for the 2nd set of scores, score on 2 and 9 1/2.  That’s the only difference — continue with the instructions in the tutorial.  Then, can you see my black border on the flap?  To make that I merely cut a piece to line the flap, only cut it 1/8″ longer than the flap, rounded corners on both the flap and the liner piece and adhered them together.  I then punched holes and set eyelets in the flap part only, and ran my ribbon through it.  My bag is held closed by the sentiment circle which has a sticky back Velcro dot adhered behind it.  A very quick little box/bag!!!

These two simple items complete the set.  The left is merely a boxed bar of soap wrapped in DP and the sheer black ribbon.  The jar of body wash has a band run completely around it, decorated with another Happy Mother’s Day sentiment.  And I loved making the tags for these.  I can see myself using this fun little topiary stamp time and time again for a variety of projects!  I made these little tags simply with strips of paper and rounded the top corners.  The topiaries were colored with my Copics to coordinate with the Iris.  And I love that sweet little sentiment on the side which says *I Love You, Mom* — how sweet!!!  The tags have eyelets on top to run the silver stretch cording through.  I’d like to add that the topiary tag on the bar of soap reflects the true color of these tags — I was having lighting issues here and the tag on the bottle got washed out — sorry!

• Stamps:  Siberian Iris by Flourishes
• Paper:  Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery, Black, White, retired SU Designer Paper
• Ink:  Adirondack Pitch Black, Almost Amethyst, Copics to color
• Accessories:  Black Sheer Ribbon from Flourishes, SU  1 1/4, 1 3/8, and Corner Rounder Punches, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Zots, Pop Dots, Vecro Dot, Cropadile, Eyelets, SU Silver Stretch Cording, Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds

The Copic colors used are:

• Iris:  B21, BV000, BV02, V17, Y15 (some of these used to color topiary pot as well)
• Greenery:  YG03, YG17, YG63
• Shadowing:  C1,0

That wraps up today’s project!!!  I’m so glad you stopped by to look!!!  Please check out all the other projects by other members of  Flourishes Design Team.  Links to them all can be found on my sidebar.  Please note we were having SCS Blog issues last night and several posts may not be up as planned, but they will be later today as everyone gets home from work and is able to post.

Also, there is chatter in the Flourishes Forum at SCS welcoming Sharon Harnist as our new Guest Designer.  Feel free to stop in there and say Hi as well as visiting Sharon’s Blog!!!

Tomorrow I’ll be back with some samples from Wedding Party and Wedding Essentials — so if you either need to prep for a wedding or need wedding cards, check back in!!!  These images/sentiments will also be GREAT for use in scrapbooking a wedding as well!!! 

Thanks much!!!  See you later!!!

My stamp room is still not in order, but I cleared a small spot to make this super quick gift set for today’s Color Challenge at SCS — Soft Sky, Basic Gray and White — a gorgeous, classy color combo — so I went with a formal gift set using a monogram, Damask positive by Flourishes and lush black velvet May Arts ribbon that I also got from Flourishes.  Here it is:

This is a set of three identical cards in a clear box (love those) wrapped with lush, black velvet ribbon.  The monogram was done with a new toy I got in the mail yesterday called the D.I.Y. Monogram Stamper by JustRite.   It’s one of those self-inked stampers that you press down — kind of a fun little contraption!  I used the model C-45 for this project.   You can change the outer rings and the letters.  This was my first time using it, and you can use uninked pads and fill them with your own ink colors, but I just used the pre-inked black pad that came with it.  You know me, always taking the easy way out!!!

This was so fast to make.  I stamped 1/4 sheet of Basic Gray with Damask Postive in Black.  That was then cut to give me two 1 3/4″ strips, enough for two cards.  Just adhered those to my Soft Sky card, wrapped with my favorite black velvet by May Arts.  My monogram was stamped on a 2″ square, narrowly framed in black, and adhered to the card front with mounting tape — done — just a matter of minutes per card — truly!!!!  I also stamped the monogram on the back of the envelope flap.  Then after making 3, I decided to use one of the clear boxes from ClearBags.com.  Their site is not the easiest to figure out — this box is only 1/2″ wide, and is their BF6,  to fit an A-2 sized card, if that might help!  The pretty card is completely visible, and I then wrapped it with the black velvet ribbon — nothing makes a gift more special than wrapping it in velvet — it just really says *You are Special*!!!  And guess who gets this special gift — check out the initials — ME!!!  LOL!!!

Both the Damask Positive background stamp and the May Arts velvet ribbon can be purchased from Flourishes.

• Stamps:  Damask Positive background by Flourishes.  D.I.Y. Monogram Stamper by JustRite.
• Paper:  Soft Sky, Basic Gray, White
• Ink:  Versa Fine Onyx Black
• Accessories:  Velvet Ribbon, Mounting Tape, Clear Box

Thanks much for checking in — have a great day!!!