Don't be fooled - - -

Yesterday -- another BIG day for me and my PIC (stamping Partner In Crime)... With our Cuber driver (DH) off on one of his weekend swap meets it was she and I and we headed out at 5AM for a yearly event for us -- but first....

DON'T BE FOOLED:

Paper Crafters Muse -- this is a store in Matthews, NC (near Charlotte) and the store owner is Daphne. I LOVE her store a LOT and yesterday's visit there did NOT disappoint!!!  Her store is at: 1905 E. Rice Rd. in Matthews. This is a small store but don't be fooled by the size.... "Paper Crafters Muse" -- don't be fooled by the name .... this is NOT just a paper crafters store for scrapbooking and card making!! Inside --

This Wizard Of Oz collection is right by the front door as you walk in with lots of printed card stocks for inspiration. Here Daphne has a display of the new Color Burst Shimmers:

Always nice to see new products in use and what they really look like IRL and not just in a bottle... Plus Daphne will answer any questions you may have about how to use these new products and such so when you buy something you will know how to use it.... Here are photos of other projects she has on display on the walls of her store:

Tote bags, altered boxes, boards, etc.. Not only does she display cards, tags, journals but other items as well using products in her store. Another thing I like about her store displays:

I took a photo of this display board since it has winter cards, holiday cards, BOO Day cards, etc.. Not all card makers wait until a holiday week to make our cards. Many of us work on holiday cards and projects throughout the year and it is nice that Daphne keeps that in mind with her display boards. Here is a photo of one of the walls of the store:

Shopped her store yesterday and I picked up a die set from Lawn Fawn for the cutest little Easter basket and a second die set from Taylored Expressions:

Fun products for projects ahead.... Daphne carries SO many manufacturer products it is hard to decide WHAT to buy!!! But in the Spring - -  Daphne holds a yearly "Annual Craft Yard Sale" for her customers to sell no longer needed or used crafting supplies from their craft rooms. Daphne holds this sale in another store front at her plaza and the sellers in her sale rent tables and sell their own no longer needed/wanted craft items.  My PIC and I look forward to this sale every Spring and we save our dollars and pennies just for this sale. Each year items you find are different and you just never know what sellers are selling -- machines, card stocks, dies, stamps, inks, shimmer sprays, stencils, trims and bling, stickers, photo albums, storage items, etc.. Well. . .  the sale yesterday has to be the best one my PIC and I have shopped!! Here are photos of items I bought:

Could not believe the prices!! ONE DOLLAR each for new Carta Bella, Hero Arts, and Echo Park die sets??? Packs of flowers were $1 also... As I was paying for some of the dies and these punches that were 50 cents to a dollar each:

Out of the corner of my eye I see hot pink packaging fall on the floor at a table two tables down... I turn -- could it be???? I walk over to help the customer pick up what she had dropped and BINGO they were Heartfelt Creation stamp sets -- YAY!! So this decided the next table I would shop... Two ladies were selling their items at this table and they had Heartfelt Creation stamp sets... I had printed out my list of HC stamp/die sets I already owned to take to the sale so if I was lucky enough to find any Heartfelt products I would not be buying duplicates.. I pulled out my list and went through their bins of stamp sets and found a couple of die sets I did not have but wanted:

Each of these die sets were $5.00 which for Heartfelt Creation products this a great price! In another bin I found these stamp sets but no dies:

I held onto to these and went through the other stamp sets in that bin and there in the back -- all by itself -- was the matching die set for the Petunia set!! YAY!!

The orange sticker on these items meant the price was $3.00 each -- WOWSA!! So who would have guessed I would have found a die for the Petunia stamp set? Here is a photo of the original price stickers on this stamp and die set:

So paying $6.00 for the two was a great deal for this stamper! Happy me for sure.... I also bought Close To My Heart card stock for $5 for the bag and a pad of 12 x 12 Graphic 45 card stock (still sealed) for $5.00:

To think I had told my PIC while I was driving us to the sale that the ONLY thing I was hoping to find was the retired Postcard stamp from Stampin Up.... but other than that I did not have anything else I was wanting to buy -- haha!! But although I did not find the SU Postcard stamp to buy I did buy three SU stamp sets:

Painter's Palette and Best of Halloween -- paid $5 for each set. The Diagonal Stripe stamp was $3 so good deal for those. Bought a few packs of sealed SU card stock - for $5 each so a savings there from the regular SU price of $8.50 for a pack of 8 1/2 x 11 card stocks.... Love to buy "gently used" SU items -- saves me paying full price plus not having to pay their shipping and handling.... My last purchase at this sale was:

A Cheery Lynn die set and a new Creative Expressions die set - both $5 each..... so more great items to add to the craft room....

As I did last year I made a little basket of Easter treats for Daphne that I brought with me:

I used the SU Berry Basket die set and cut out a basket - did not use the handle for it though. I assembled the basket and used hot glue to add cotton ruffled trim around the top edge of the basket and added flowers to the front with lace/pearl bows on either side of the flowers. Inside the basket is white paper shred with a test tube treat holder I had made, a Cadbury Egg and holder, a tray of Hershey Nugget Candies, with bite size various candies in the basket. Used a clear bag to wrap this up and put one of the Easter tags I had made at the top of the bag with a bow.  Just a little something for Easter.

Before we left the sale I stopped in her store to thank her for holding this Annual Craft Yard Sale for us crafters.  A fun time for sure!!

My PIC and I left there and off to Olive Garden for us.... We brought our tote bags of 'new to us' goodies from the sale so we could see everything each of us bought. When she and I shop these sales we do not always shop the same tables at the same time. This way we can let each other know of items at other tables that we may be looking for. Also she is a scrapbooker and a card maker and does crops and such and I am a card maker and I am now getting into other things -- altering paper clips, tags, treat holders, etc.. It is always fun to see what each of us buys when we are all done as sometimes at the sales you are too busy to see what each is buying.

Sooooooooo... if you are in the area or traveling through the Charlotte area be sure to shop Daphne's store -- it will be well worth the trip!! If you are planning to make it a day trip shop Daphne's store and drive over to IKEA for storage for all you buy at her store !!   ;0)   Both my PIC and I commented yesterday that this was the FIRST time we have driven to the Charlotte area that we got home when it was still light out -- usually when DH is our Cuber driver we leave in the dark and get home in the darkER... ... hummmm.... certainly nice to get home early enough to unpack all our goodies and have already cut out my Lawn Fawn basket die -- Thanks Daphne!!!

Easter Test Tube Treat Holder

Divinity Designs - which used to be Our Daily Bread Designs - recently released their Test Tube Treats die sets. One of the die sets makes a treat holder that holds one of the test tubes and the other die set holds three of the test tubes.  I ordered the die set that holds one of the test tubes for a treat holder and I had also ordered a package of their plastic test tubes for the die set.  The plastic test tubes were on back order and happy me they arrived yesterday. With those here I decided to finish the test tube treat holders I had been working on for Easter.

Here is a photo of the finished treat holders using the single test tube treats die set:

with a closer photo:

First I used 12x12 solid card stock from Stampin Up for my treat holder bases. I only bought 12x12 card stock packs by SU at stamper's sales over time so I do not have a large selection of spring colours so I was limited to colours on hand in that size. For my printed card stock I used prints from various paper packs and manufacturers. I die cut all the pieces needed to make the treat holders:

Before assembling the treat holder I made a small pencil mark on the treat holder bases so I would know which side of the holders to put my printed card stock pieces on:

I used the ATG to add my prints to the base but for the small square with the circle for the test tube to fit through I used liquid glue since that is such a small piece. I also used the Treat Tag Sentiments #3 stamp set from Divinity Designs for the "For You" tag using black Memento ink. Die cut the tags with the tiny tag die in the die set.

With all die cut pieces done I assembled the box. Used Easter M&Ms to fill the treat test tubes. Added twine from my stash to the test tube tops to tie on the greeting tags. Used a small amount of Glossy Accents to keep the bow tied and to keep the twine in place on the screw top to the test tube. For some of the holders I used a 1" circle punch and punched out a printed circle to match the print on the holder. Used the ATG and added adhesive to the circles and put them on the top of the test tubes. For the solid circles I used the circles that the die cuts out at the holder top:

Also -- you can die cut a second long piece to put on the back of the treat holder for a more finished look. I did this for the green holder but left the other holders plain:

Looks more finished with the second long piece on the back of the holder but since I was working with scraps I did not have enough prints for both front and back long pieces but I did put the printed side pieces on the holders.

This is a very easy die set to use - I had watched the video for this release when it first came out and I did use the tip they suggested for using a piece of printer copy paper under your card stock on your die cutting machine plate to keep your die cut pieces smooth. Many times the cracks/dents/grooves in your die cutting machine plates can transfer creases or lines to your solid card stock while die cutting your shapes out. This die set cut all my pieces with one pass through the machine and I did not have to use shims or anything. The only thing I do not like about this treat holder is the plastic test tubes - they do not have a flat bottom so the test tube can wobble in the holder - if that makes sense. But I know some craft stores sell the plastic test tube treat holders with flat bottoms so I will just buy my next supply at a store instead.

As for the bunny -- I used a small bunny die from my stash and cut out a bunny from brown flocked card stock. Added a bow and a crystal and then a small pom pom to the tail. All holders were put together using Tear and Tape and I also used that to put the bunny on the treat holder front.

Another cute treat holder for Easter treats and happy to use more of my card stock stash for them! TFL

Bunny-Up Season

Closing in on Bunny-Up Season and I had seen these chunky wooden bunnies made out of 2x4's here and there and of course no how-to's... so I made my own and here they are:

Started with scrap pieces of 2x4's and using white craft paint I painted them:

Fronts, backs, tops, and bottoms.... took two coats to cover the wood. With that done I needed a heart nose but all of the chunky bunnies I had seen had wooden heart noses... did not have any so I used a heart die and cut out three hearts using #110 weight card stock from Mikes. Layered the three hearts together using Glossy Accents. The thicker card stock and the Glossy Accents in between give the hearts a stiffer finish. Used wire from the floral dept at the craft store and wrapped that around a pencil for the whiskers. The eyes and mouth are made using black craft paint. For the cheeks I used a dauber and pink craft paint.

For the burlap ears I did not have have wired burlap ribbon in a smaller size so I used unwired burlap ribbon and cut it to the size I wanted. Used pink craft paint for the pink on the ears. Put the ears onto the bunny block using hot glue. Added the wired whiskers using hot glue and also used that and foam dots to put the heart nose on the face:

For the bows I had bought the sparkly wired ribbon at Hobby Lobby for 50% off.  But wanted to have some stiffness to the bows so I used this stiffener from Aleene's:

I was afraid when I spritzed this onto the sparkly bows that the stiffener would leave a residue or maybe flake off but it did not. It holds the bow shape and you can see the sparkles in the ribbon:

 Have wanted to make the chunky bunnies for some time but just never did. Decided this is the year to make things I have not made before but have wanted to and to try new things and not just limit myself to cards......

Birthday weekend for me -- my PIC (stamping Partner In Crime) went with me to IKEA on Saturday and we stopped at Daphne's store in Matthews, NC -- The Paper Muse... LOVE her store!!! Picked up many Easter/bunny dies for Bunny-Up Season!

LOVE all the brands Daphne carries in her store.... She has cards and projects on shelves and table tops and hanging on the walls for plenty of inspiration. Fun times at her store always -- if you are in the area of Charlotte be sure to shop her store - 1905 E. Rice Rd Matthews, NC -- well worth the drive! Picked up a few fun dies for Easter as well.....

And as usual... we left the house in the the dark early morning and arrived home in the "darker" at night -- but a fun day.... On Sunday my PIC and I went to a used stamping sale and here is a photo of the items I brought home:

Leaf punch $3, Stickles/Liquid Pearls $1 ea, SU stamp set $2, ribbon $2, trims, etc.. Don't think I paid more than $1 or $2 for anything except the punch. But was happy to find brand new card stock pads from Graphic 45 - $8 per pad and the sheets are double sided and 8x8. We love shopping used supplies!! Anything that helps to stretch our crafting dollars......

With it being my birthday my PIC surprised me with a gift bag of goodies:

A box die from Spellbinders, cork and wood sheets in a pkg from Spellbinders, orange twine, a bag of bling, circle die from Sunny Studio and a package of blue shimmer card stock -- IRL very pretty.... So happy me to receive her gifts!!! She is so generous!

Recently ordered the Sack Bunnies die set from Franticstamper.com and I was able to cut out a set of bunnies and I used the whiskers stamp from Jaded Blossoms:

Here is a photo of the Bunny Faces stamp set from Jaded Blossoms:

Bunny faces, whiskers, and other face stamps in this clear stamp set of 18 pieces! Always nice to have clear stamps you can see through for perfect stamping!

Working on other Bunny-Up Season projects and will post those when they are completed but wanted to share my chunky bunny family for Easter..... TFL

The Weather Vane

DSD is moving this week from one apartment to another closer to work and last night she and DH moved some of her "fragile" items to our house to keep them safe until the move is done. . .  This is a post about the Weather Vane . . .

DSD decorates her apartment with a nautical theme -- any mermaid would love it....  While shopping a neighborhood garage sale awhile back DH found this weather vane lying on the grass for his daughter.  He offered the home owners less than they had it priced and much to his surprise they agreed so he picked it up for her apartment. He said he could build a floor stand for it so she could stand it up in her living room which he did...

It was a surprise gift for her and she was thrilled when he gave it to her and she says it is one of her prized possessions.... With it parked at the house for the move this was the perfect time for me to take a good photo of the weather vane for posting on the blog:

This weather vane used to be on a $750,000.00 house in Chapel Hill, NC.  I told her that is why the patina is so perfect on it -- haha.  The weather vane moves and with her theme it is a perfect addition to her living space.  It will be here just a couple of days but I wanted to post it before I forgot to again. TFL

Bow dies

Recent shopping trip to Mikes I found two silver shimmer card stocks I liked. I picked up a thinner one and a thicker one to use for bow dies for Valentine projects. I have the small, medium, and large bow die sets from Pink and Main and they have turned into my favorite "go to" bow dies.

Earlier this week I received an email from Pink and Main about new products they were releasing and they now have an extra large bow die set. I ordered that the day I got the email and it arrived yesterday. Here is a photo of the Pink and Main bow dies and the bows I made using the thinner and thicker sliver shimmer card stocks:

Here is a photo of the bows to show the sizes:

The new larger bow die set makes a bow that will work well on gift bags and larger projects. With the thicker silver shimmer card stock these dies cut well and the stitching on the die shows on the card stock:

I also picked up red heart crystals from my last shopping trip to Hobby Lobby so I will add those to the center of the bows for Valentine's Day.  IRL  these silver shimmer card stocks are very sparkly and the weight of the card stocks give the bows a nice shape.

My PIC (stamping Partner In Crime) and I are going to the SSAT stamp show in Columbia, SC in two weeks and we will be shopping the Pink and Main booth for their other new products. Always fun to shop at the stamp shows and see all the card/project display boards and product lines. TFL

Altered project

This year I will be making different projects I have seen that I have wanted to try and make but never had. Decided I would start with a project I have wanted to do for a long time. . .

These are called Altered Paper Clips and I am using my paper clip vertically rather than horizontally as many of the altered clips are. Here is a photo of my Altered Paper Clips:

The first one I made:

The image of the vintage woman and the seed packet I founded on the internet and you can print them out for free. I used the computer printer and printed them out onto white/GP card stock. Set these aside.

Have seen many of the altered paper clips online but I did not want to make a small one. For the base of my altered clips I used the Memory Box Sideshow Tickets die set. This is a photo of the die set:

The size I used was the second smallest die. For the above ticket I used cream #110 weight card stock from Mikes. I cut out two tickets - one for the back of the paper clip and one for the front. This photo shows the front ticket piece and the printed card stock ticket I will put onto the front ticket:

I used the ATG and put the printed card stock onto the ticket base. Using a pink distressed ink I sponged the edges of the ticket front. With that done I put the paper clip onto the back ticket base and attached this to the ticket front pieces using red sticky tape. With the ticket pieces together I could now decorate the front.

I used scissors to cut out a photo of a woman I liked and a seed packet I wanted to use. I do not have the 'torn edge' scissors to give the photos of the woman the torn edge look but I have a die set for that from Frantic Stamper. I die cut the four sides of the photos and then sponged the edges of them using distressed inks. Set those aside.

For the "love" and word stamps on my altered clip pieces I used an old stamp set from MFT.  I cut them out using scissors. The red crystals are from my stash. I cut out two sets of three circle red crystals and put one set at the top of the ticket and the other set at the bottom. Wanted to add cheesecloth to the ticket so I cut a small piece of cheese cloth and I laid that onto scrap copy paper. I dabbed this cheese cloth using an applicator and distressed ink to give it the pink colour. Using TomBow glue I put glue on the front of the ticket and laid the cheese cloth onto that and pressed it down so it would stick. Set it aside.

Using a pearl from Hobby Lobby I added a pearl to the bottom of my ticket pieces and in this next photo I show this pearl on the second ticket I made:

With the pearl in place I now decorated the front of the ticket. For the seed ticket I laid the seed packet photo over the cheese cloth and put that on the ticket using tear and tape. For the photo of the lady I cut out a small cream doily using an old Cheery Lynn doily die. Cut that in half using scissors. Lightly sponged the edges using the pink ink.  Used scrap cream lace and cut off some of the edging of that and put the photo on top of that using red sticky tape.  Then I put this on top of the half doily piece using tear and tape.  Wanted her photo to be higher for dimension so I used foam tape behind her. Put her on the ticket over the seed packet piece. Added a red crystal heart to her photo and also to the seed packet.  Put the "love" greeting on the ticket front using glue dots. To finish the ticket I tied a piece of red ribbon at the top. Here is a photo of the other ticket I made:

For this ticket I used a floral card stock print that I just bought at Hobby Lobby from Prima. The black and white card stock is from my stash. This ticket is a base of white #110 card stock from Mikes. I also used the white card stock to cut out a Cheery Lynn doily die piece and cut that using scissors to fit behind the floral ticket piece - for this altered paper clip ticket I used the floral print and cut out the smallest ticket die in the die set for a smaller ticket.

Once again for the vintage lady photo I used the torn edge die for the edges of the photo piece. I had bought a hard cover dictionary at the thrift store for a quarter and I tore a piece of a page out of the book to put onto the ticket front. For this ticket I also used cheese cloth but left it the white it comes as. Used liquid glue to put that onto the ticket front and also put the dictionary page piece onto the ticket with that glue.  Set that aside to dry.

For the photo piece of the lady I added a piece of black ruffled trim from my stash trimmed to fit behind the photo.  Put the floral ticket piece onto the ticket front using tear and tape. Then put the lady photo piece over that also using tear and tape. Once again the stamped words are from the old MFT stamp set and I used black in from Close To My Heart for those. Cut them out using scissors and put them on the ticket front using tear and tape. Added pink crystals from my stash to the upper and lower corners of the ticket front.

For the pink rose -- had that in the box of supplies for the tussy mussy's I had made and I used clear TomBow glue on the tips of the rose and sprinkled it with glitter. Set it aside. Using scrap green card stock I punched out two sprig pieces using the sprig punch from M Stewart.  Put the rose onto the sprig pieces using hot glue. Also used hot glue to put this rose onto the ticket front. Added a piece of black satin ribbon at the top of the altered paper clip ticket piece.

I will use these altered paper clips to slide on the top of the gift treat bags I am making for Valentine's Day. I am happy with the size I made these and each one is different but even tho I am currently working on some more.... they are addictive!!! But fun and good to use scraps of different things I have on hand. Happy I have tried to make something new and for making something other then cards, tags, or treat holders.... TFL

Rose Garden Thank You Card

Stampin Up recently posted new items to their Clearance Rack section and I ordered the Rose Garden Thinlits die set. The price was 40% off the regular price so I was happy I was able to get this die set at a cheaper price. My order arrived last Friday and today I was able to make a thank you card using my new die set:

Had always liked this die set but did not like the price - and I also did not need the matching stamp set so did not buy the bundle when it first was for sale.  But since the release of this bundle set many cards have been posted using them and so it goes.... Happy me that the die set was on sale - -

This card is on a card stock base of Stampin Up Real Red, cut and scored on the side. The white piece is GP cut at 4" x 5 1/4" and I die cut out the rose and leaves die from that. Put the solid right side of the white/GP die cut piece onto the red card stock base. Using clear TomBow glue I put glue under the rose and leaves piece and put this onto the card front fitting it into the solid white die cut piece. Using a stamp from the Close To My Heart stamp set "Card Captions" I stamped the "thanks" onto the solid white card stock using Stampin Up Real Red ink.

With the stamping done I added a white mixture of sequins from Pretty Pink Posh to the card front. In this next photo I tried to show the sparkle and shine of these sequins but the photo does not show it well:

Some of the sequins in this mix are clear, white, or have a mirror finish to them so IRL they are very sparkly. The Rose Garden die cuts very well and I had no problems with the die cut pieces falling off my die cut piece by themselves. Happy to add this die set to my collection and esp happy I paid a sale price!  TFL

Gift bag topper

Bought a used die by Sizzix For Stampin Up "Clear Oval Accent" for $2.00 from another stamper. Knew I would use it for a treat bag topper for Christmas this year and here are a couple of photos of this die in use:

This next bag topper I added a paper doily to it:

This is a large die and for the treat bag topper I used the die piece folded in half. Here is a photo of the die and a piece of copy paper I had die cut for my pattern:

With the copy paper die cut piece I folded it in half width wise so I would have the center of the die cut piece. Using a pencil I made a small line on the center fold so I would know where the center of this die cut piece was:

I die cut my red card stock for my treat toppers that I would need. I laid the copy paper die cut pattern piece over the red card stock pieces and marked the center of the red die cut pieces using the center pencil line on the copy paper pattern:

With the center marked on all the die cut red pieces I was able to score them down the center on the score board. Once scored I used a bone folder to crease the scored lines. These red pieces would fit over the top edges of my treat bags. For the greeting I used a stamp from Close To My Heart and stamped that onto white/GP card stock using red ink. Used a 2" circle punch and punched out the greeting piece. Put these circles onto the red die cut pieces using the ATG.

For the bows I used the SU Bow Builder punch. The Christmas tree is a punch from Hobby Lobby and I used glittered card stocks for the trees. For some of the treat bags I added red crystals from the stash. With the red die cut pieces decorated I put them on the front of the treat bags using tear and tape. The folded red die cut piece goes over the top edge of the front of the treat bags. Once that was done I put my smaller treat holders inside the bags and added paper shred to the bags.

For the bag with the doily after I had decorated the red die cut piece I put a white paper doily under the decorated end of the die cut piece using tear and tape. Then I put this onto the treat bag. With all the treat bags filled I added a regular sized candy cane to the bags and hung one of the snowman tags on the candy cane - here is a photo of the snowman tag:

Happy to be able to pick up the Oval Accent die for $2.00 earlier this year. Am sure it will get more use in future projects as well.