Sunday, March 17, 2024

Ghirardelli Easter Holder

My-Creative-Time.com recently had a sale and I bought a few die sets during the sale. One of the dies is the Pocket Treat Die and here is a photo of this one piece die that makes a box:

This die holds one Ghirardelli candy bar and  you can cut out three of these boxes from one piece of 8 1/2 x 11 card stock. Here is a photo of some of the holders I made:

I wanted to use a small checked card stock to decorate the top of the box so I put the die onto part of the checked card stock and cut that out. Used the trimmer to trim off any parts I did not need. Used liquid glue to put the checkered card stock onto the solid card stock boxes:

This die has a little tab that tucks into a slit on this die cut piece so no ribbons, velcro, or magnet is needed to hold this box closed. Here is a photo to show this box open and the candy bar inside:

To decorate the top of the box I used the carrot bow die set from KSCrafts to make the carrot bow. For the bow pieces I used scrap printed card stocks. I also used green glittered card stock for the carrot tops. Put the bow on the box front using liquid glue. Also added coloured gems from the stash to decorate the corners of the box front. Wanted to have a stamped holiday greeting for the box but did not want to put it across the carrot or the bow so I put it on the spine of the box:

For the Easter greeting I used a used stamp I recently bought at a recycle store and to cut the banners out I used the small banners die set from Pink and Main. Easy box to assemble as no gluing or tear and tape needed - just die cut your piece and fold it on the lines: 



Sunday, March 10, 2024

Bunny Bows

Bought one of the die sets from the new ScrapdivaDesigns release for Easter projects. I really like her die set for Bunny Bows and in this set she has both the small and large sizes:

For my bows I used the Faux Leather Wide Ribbon on sale at Hobby Lobby long ago. On my bows this is the holographic part of the ear. I also used both solid card stock scraps as well as scrap print pieces:

The photo above shows the smaller bows made and this next photo shows the larger bow next to the smaller bow to show the sizes of these dies:

I used liquid glue to layer the ears. Used tear and tape for the bows and used hot glue to put the bows at the bases of the ears. These dies are very easy to assemble and another good use for scrap card stocks... All I need to do is to put a gem in the center of the bows and these embellishments will be done. Cute additions for the Easter treat holders I already made. 

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Easter Cards

Was suppose to be cleaning up the craft room when I received an email notification from CatherinePooler.com announcing their new release.... just in time for Easter..... Had just finished my St. Patrick's Day cards so putting things away.... but I did glance at the new release and two days later my order was here ---

From this release I only ordered the stamp and die set Ukrainian Eggs:


I had seen the card made by one of their design team members, Kristie Goulet, on her blog:  kreativekristies.blogspot.com and was inspired by her projects using this stamp/die set. Here is a photo of my card:

I used a white card stock base, cut and scored at the top. Used the MISTI and stamped the "happy easter" stamp from the stamp set in the upper right hand corner using black ink. Set these card bases aside.

All my white card stock eggs have been embossed using WOW white embossing powder. To stamp these eggs I used the four printed egg stamps in the MISTI and stamped them all at once using Versa mark ink. Once each group was stamped I heat embossed that piece. Set these aside and kept doing this step until I had all the eggs stamped and heat embossed that I was making. Here is a photo of the tools I use for heat embossing - and all my white stamped eggs are at the bottom of the photo:

In the embossing case I keep my RabbitHole anti static tool, my Versa mark ink, and a clothespin to hold the items I am heat embossing. Once the white card stock stamped eggs were all heat embossed I used the egg die and die cut out all the eggs I made. With that done I then put the eggs on my grip mat from Waffleflower and used blending brushes to add inks to the eggs for colour:

With all the eggs coloured and dry I put them in order of how I would use them on card fronts and for other projects I am working on. 

For my card front I stamped the greeting in black ink and I wanted to add black to the front of the cards to tie into the stamped image but to also have a line to put my eggs on in a row - for the prints on the bottom of my card I cut scrap prints to 3/4" strips and put them on the bottom of the card front. Then put the thin black card stock above those. For the eggs most of the cards have three or two of the eggs on foam squares for dimension but I did make one card with all my eggs flat just using tear and tape behind those:

In the above photo the card on the left has all the eggs attached to the card front flat and the card on the right has two eggs flat on the card and three eggs on foam squares for dimension. The foam squares I use are from the Dollar Tree:

These foam squares are very popular with card makers and at my Dollar Tree this package can be found in the automotive section. My store sells different craft foam squares like these in the craft aisle but those do not adhere as well as these do. Happy CatherinePooler.com is here in Raleigh and happy when I order from her I get my order in two days.... a huge thanks to Kristie Goulet for all the projects she made using this stamp/die set for inspiration. More cards:

With card fronts done now I can get back to all the Easter treat holders and projects I am working on and other holiday items.....

Waffle Flower Shamrock Release

 

I recently bought the Shamrock release from Waffleflower.com for upcoming St. Patrick's Day cards. In the past I have bought a die set for a Leprechaun from another manufacturer and that was not an easy die set to assemble... the Waffleflower Leprechaun die set is so easy to assemble - here are the pieces cut for this die:

I used all scrap card stocks to assemble the Leprechaun. My base piece is the brown and this base piece will be the colour of his eyes and mouth if you want it to be. Once the base piece was cut I used a pale pink card stock scrap for the face die piece - I kept the little mouth piece this die cut out as later I would use this piece for his mouth. Then I cut out the hair/beard die using a rust coloured card stock scrap. For the hat I used green card stocks and I sponged the edges of the hat using a darker green. I cut out the hat band/buckle using a brushed gold foil card stock. With the hat cut out and edges sponged, I used liquid glue to put the hat band/buckle on the hat. Glued the hat to the brown base piece. Then I glued the hair/beard piece to the face and then glued this piece onto the brown base. With that done, this is when I glued the small mouth piece to the face on the base. My Leprechaun was complete. Set him aside to dry. Here is a close up photo of the Leprechaun:

Once he was on the card front I used a white gel pen and added the white dots to his eyes. Very easy Leprechaun to assemble and he helped to use more of the card scraps up so this was a good project to make.

This next photo shows the card I made using the Leprechaun and other items from this release:

I used the shamrock stencil in this release to add the shamrocks to the white card front using green ink and blender brushes. I wanted to add more design to the card front so I used a small circle stencil from my stash and stenciled the circles onto the card front pieces. The card base is green and cut and scored at the top. Cut a black card stock for the frame for the card front. Used liquid glue to put the stenciled shamrock card front on the black card stock. Then put these pieces onto the green card stock base. 

For the "lucky" die I cut that out of the gold foil poster board sold at the Dollar Tree. The shadow piece to this die I cut out of vellum from the stash. Used liquid glue to put the "lucky" word onto the vellum shadow piece. Also used liquid glue to put this word set onto the card front.

For the Leprechaun for some of the cards I cut out a piece of white craft foam to put him on to give him some dimension on the card fronts. The other cards I just used tear and tape and put him on the card fronts. Once the card fronts were all done I decided I wanted to add green glittered card stock shamrocks. I went through my stash and used the small shamrock die from the Karen Burniston die set for Happy St. Patrick's Day  that I had bought last year. Used liquid glue to add those to the card fronts and they help to add some sparkle to the cards.

Card on the left has the craft foam base die cut piece behind the Leprechaun and the card on the right has the Leprechaun on the card front using tear and tape and he is flat on the card front. Another fun release from Waffle Flower just in time for St. Patrick's Day cards!



Sunday, February 18, 2024

One and done - - -

Yesterday DH drove me and my PIC (stamping Partner In Crime) to Columbia, SC for the SSAT rubber stamp show that we attend every year. Sad to say this show, like many others, is getting smaller and smaller as years pass but I was able to come home with some new fun items to add to my craft room..

Before the show I had checked what vendors I wanted to shop at to see what new products they would have to see at the show. I saw the new Bookmark and Toppers die set from Scrappyboy.com and I put that on my list to check out at the show. I shopped that booth first and picked up a couple of things from them:

also picked up their new Little Box and Lid die set:

They had a special at their booth that all die sets were 15% for the show. I also picked up a holiday pad of their 6x6 card stock:

Their 6x6 card stock packs have loose sheets in the envelope so you do not have the glued spine holding the card stock together that can sometimes rip your card stock as you remove it from the pad. From that booth I went over to The Ton booth and picked up the other items on my list:

I picked up the Abstract Clouds stencil set, a leaves stencil, and also another item on the list:

This stencil is a saying from the movie Elf and it is a smaller stencil so will fit many projects for the holidays ahead. From that booth off to Stampers Anonymous so my PIC could pick up the items she was searching for - she picked up what she had on her list and I picked up a couple of things:

with two inks I wanted for my stash:

I also shopped the Technique Junkies booth and found lots there:


Their show special was a free stamp set at the register with a qualifying purchase so I picked out a new Christmas stamp set:

After we left the show we headed to Greenville to shop the ReCraft Creative Reuse store that my PIC had found online. This is a store that sells new/gently used crafting items that are donated. I found a few items to add to my craft room at good prices there:

a new holiday stamp set for BOO Day projects:

also picked up the Sizzix Box #2 die:


picked up a few Sizzlits dies:


I picked up the Heart postage frame Sizzlit, the Candles and wax Sizzlit, and the USA Sizzlit. Those were each 75 cents. Went over to the sewing section where I picked up these metallic threads for $2.00 each:


Happy to find these colours that I can use on my rosettes that I make. I also picked up two loose wood mounted stamps for 50 cents each:

Cleaned them up using 1/2 Simple Green to 1/2 water and they are ready for use:


also picked up two empty Stampin Up stamp cases for a quarter each so those will hold bows and rosettes I make before they are added to projects.  A nice store to shop these items.... We left there and ate a late lunch at a nearby Olive Garden before heading home for the day. A long day but this is the only stamp show I am going to this year so was happy to make the trip.... Lots of projects in the works and more to make with these new additions! 


Monday, February 5, 2024

Bunny Carrot Bows

 Recently got the Bunny Carrot Bow by Nicole Silhouette for KSCrafts and this die set has a large size carrot/bow die as well as the smaller one. Here is a photo of the bows I made using this die set, glittered card stock, and scrap prints and orange card stocks:


The smaller carrot/bow is approx 2" wide by 2 1/2" long. The larger carrot/bow is approx 2 3/4" wide by 3 1/4" long. Easy project to assemble. Die cut the orange carrot pieces and sponged the edges of those with orange ink. Used liquid glue to put those together. Then I cut the carrot die (it has the carrot and top on that die) out of white #110 weight white card stock for the base of my carrot bottom and top to make this piece more sturdy. With the carrot layers dried I put that on the white carrot base using liquid glue. Cut out the carrot top from glittered green card stock and put that on the base piece again with liquid glue. 

Die cut all my bow pieces. Used tear and tape to put the bows together. Die cut the white bunny bottom piece with feet from white and pink card stock scraps. Liquid glue keeps those together. Used hot glue and attached my bows to the carrot bases. Cut a small piece of white foam to put in the center of the bows to hold the bunny bottom w feet piece to the center of the bow. Used hot glue and attached my white pom pom that I have in my stash. Fun project to assemble for Easter projects ahead! Cute embellishments for sure....








Saturday, February 3, 2024

Stamping Shopping Finds . . .

Stopped at the Scrap Exchange in Durham yesterday looking for nothing in particular but certainly came home with some great finds for my craft room...  DH recently had back surgery so I try to get him out of the house and walking around so I suggested we head to Durham to shop the Scrap Exchange as I know he likes to go there to see all they have.... 

This used to be one store and now they have this original store and also a thrift store they opened in the same plaza and that store has home goods, clothes, books, storage items, etc.. The original store is more of an art supply and a recycle store. They hold classes for kids to show them how to use recycled items to make new things or to decorate with them, etc.. This store has fabric, yarn, ribbons, card stocks, paper, post cards, greeting cards, some tools and supplies for building items, bins for storage, house parts (like electrical wiring/lamp parts), plumbing items, wood pieces, cardboard, envelopes, photos, nails/screws, craft paints, house paints, etc. . . so I got DH a cart at the door and he went in one direction and I in the other..... 

Over to papercrafts for me.... found these Stampin Up stamp sets - BRAND NEW - for $1.00 each:

I was happy to find the Christmas background stamp -- and it is a larger stamp but I opened the case to look at the stamp and it is unmounted and the wood block for it is inside with the stamp. I will not mount it on the wood block so I plan to use the block for a craft project and the MISTI to stamp the stamp with. Here are photos of the other sets that are clear stamp sets:


and a photo of the sets:

I think only one set was marked $2 and the rest the one dollar sticker.... They also had a shelf that held punches so I looked through those but I did not get any of them . Below that shelf were stacked bins loaded with wooden stamps. I looked through a couple of bins but ended up buying just these 4 stamps:

These stamps were covered in inks - one of them had metallic ink on it and another had paint on it that someone had used as ink..... brought them home and gave them a much needed clean up and here they are now:

When I first began stamping years ago, a Stampin Up demonstrator told me she cleans all her stamps using 1/2 Simple Green to 1/2 water in a spray bottle and she spritzes this onto the stamp and lets it sit for a few seconds and then the inks come right off -- ever since I learned to use that that is what I clean all my stamps with - cling and clear - and not only does it clean the stamps but does not cause damage to the stamps or anything. I will say the Easter Greetings stamp was the worst but I used a soft toothbrush I clean used stamps with and that worked getting inks off the smaller letters of this stamp. The birthday stamp is from 1993 from Annette Watkins and that stamp was $1.00. The other stamps were either a quarter or 50 cents each... so these stamps will get some use, esp now that they are cleaned up, for projects ahead in this craft room.....

Headed over to the office section and found this heavy duty letter/paper holder that I will use for my white card stock that I use all the time:

I did not want the plastic paper holders for desk tops that also store paper but was happy to find this wire holder and it is a sturdy frame so it should work well for the card stock.... I think this was $2 or $3.... then I  walked over to the art supply aisle and there were a couple of bins marked "Stencils". Many of the stencils were for home decor projects but I kept looking and near the bottom of the second bin were two new to me stencils that I now own --


I like that this star stencil has different sized stars and they are in a design on the stencil and not just rows of stars... and then BOO Day..... saw this smaller stencil and knew it would be coming home with me for upcoming BOO Day projects:

The star stencil was clean and I do not know if it was ever used but the BOO Day stencil had purple and green inks on it, as well as the black over the spider web part of the stencil. Again used the Simple Green/water in the spray bottle and cleaned off the inks on the stencil. There is some black still on the spider web part of the stencil - even tho I did use a little rubbing alcohol over it - but it should not effect the stenciled image. Fun stencil to use on tags and such for Halloween.... and then . . . 

Could not locate DH and the cart so I thought I would head back to the part of the store we entered in to look for him there and as I was headed that way a white bin in the hallway caught my eye.... Clearly marked Altenew inks and refills..... WHAT?? So I am holding and balancing all my finds in one hand and I pulled the bin out so I could look inside..... and here they are ---






I did not take a photo of each colour family but I did leave there with all I could find after paying 75 cents per bag or a total of $12.00 for these.... I brought them home, opened the bags, and here is all I picked up of the Altenew ink cubes and refills --- and the purple family still has sealed refills:

I cleaned everything up and sorted them -- the ink cubes that have the refills I put the refill on top of the ink cube and the ink cubes I have no refills for are in the front of the bin. A couple of the ink cubes in the front are duplicates of popular colours so a couple of the refills have two ink cubes. I know that Altenew sells the refills for approx $5.00 each and their ink cubes are sold in sets of 4 for approx $14.00 per set. I did find only two of the sealed ink cubes still packaged - and there was only two of these packages and in the same colour family so one set is for me and one set is for my PIC (stamping Partner In Crime):


 

Again, being a good stamper shopper, I balanced me and my new to me loot and headed to find DH and esp the cart .... when behind me I hear him calling my name..... turn around and he is signaling me to come over to where he was standing.... so I get to the cart and load in all my finds and he is pointing at some silver thing in plastic and says "do you want this for your craft room?" I look at it and ask what is this???? 

Not easy to see but this is an $8.00 price tag on a stainless steel table top - DH said he will build me the table I have asked for for my machines in the craft room if I want it... He pulls on the plastic covering over it so we can look at it and it is in mint condition with no dents or waves on it... he said all I have to do is draw out what I want the table to look like and he will build it.... once he is better from surgery.... so I am certainly happy about this and for $8.00??? we brought it home....   so another fun stop at the Scrap Exchange to shop for nothing in mind but coming home with lots of new to me items for the craft room..... DH did find three things he was also glad to find so he was happy we made the drive....

Just wanted to show a photo of the "easter Greetings" stamp from A Muse that I bought. When I picked it up I was not sure with the lettering being so small on the stamp, and also covered with different inks, if I would be able to clean off all the inks and get down to the words on the stamp. Even if I was able to clean it really well, how well would the image look once stamped? Well here is a sample of how it turned out:

Stamped it onto scrap white card stock using a pink ink pad on the craft table and happy me it stamps well! So this will be used on some of my now-in-progress Easter projects I am working on.....