Monday, November 30, 2009

December Stamp of the Month Hop

Hello and welcome to the December Stamp of the Month blog hop. A whole bunch of Close to my Heart consultants get together every month to showcase the stamp set that you can get at a discount or free this month with your Close to my Heart order. If you arrived here from Tanya's blog you are on the right track. Don't forget to read the news about the BIG BIG clearance sale below this post.

You need to cut a piece of white cardstock 5 1/4" by 6". I used textured white cardstock because it lends a nice look to something that doesn't have to be quite perfect and is maybe a little messy. Fold the paper so that the longest ends meet, use a corner rounder on all four corners then distress with black ink. Now choose one of the stamps from the set and stamp it a few times on side one (rounded ends at the bottom) and then on the back side also keeping the rounded ends at the bottom so your checkbook cover will look upright on both sides. I lined up the numbers (which all come separately) on a block to stamp several times. I used Grey Flannel, Grey Wool, Holiday Red, and Black ink pads for this.

Now take another stamp and another color and, keeping in mind that you want all of these to be in a straight line, stamp the next stamp on both sides of the cover.

Continue with another stamp. I made sure that I just sprinkled the red here and there to brighten up the darker colors.

The arrows were fun to use because I could turn them any way I wanted. You want to show "movement" in your scrapbooking, stamping and paper crafting, the arrows work for that.

Continue on mixing colors and stamps as you stamp in straight lines. Fill in spaces with the little stamps like the crayon and the words. Doesn't this look cool?

Now take your wiry sponge and dot little tiny black specks all over the cover. That fills it in so it doesn't look too white. Remember the best reason to distress your paper crafts and such is that it covers a vast amount of mistakes!

You could stop stamping at this point if you like the look of the cover so far or go another step and do some layering. Layering papers on each other is what takes an ordinary paper craft (or card or layout) to something really fantastic. Cut a piece of white paper about 5 1/4" by 1/2", stamp the numbers on it in the red so they really stand out, distress. Mat it on a piece of black paper cut 5 1/4" by 3/4".

If you have a couple of circle punches, now's the time to pull them out. This is a 1 1/2" circle with a 1 3/4" scalloped punch, distressed and stamped. Since I'm always happy when I'm spending money I figured that would be a good word to highlight.

Glue the strip of numbers 1/2" from bottom of the cover.

Add the circle embellishment on the lower left hand side of the cover as shown.

Now unfold the cover and glue it to a piece of black cardstock (also textured) that measures 6" by 6 3/4". You may have to adjust this size if your checkbook cover is larger or smaller, you never know with these things.

Now fold the whole thing back the other way and slip it into the checkbook's plastic cover, pushing each side in at the same time.

Fold it back the other way (now that it's in the plastic) and crease it with a bone folder. Here's what the back looks like.

Here's the front! That's it, now you have a new cover and it's time for Christmas shopping.

Now hop on over to Laurie's blog. Thanks for stopping by!

All Decked Out

Isn't this adorable? Karen Neal, winner of blog candy here at Can't Stop Dreaming, sent this to me and I just had to share (with her permission) because it's just the cutest card! It's the All Decked Out stamp set. Enjoy! (11/30 P.S. I put a better picture up here of the cute card.)

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Blog candy

My friend, Laurie, is giving away some great blog candy on her site. Here's the address: Laurie's Site

December Projects

I just wanted to let you know that my goals for December are to provide instructions to projects for you that can be used as Christmas gifts or stocking stuffers. I'm really excited about doing this and can't wait to get started. There won't be a new project every day but I will put up as many as I can.

All My Love

How often do you let people know how much you appreciate them? Valentine's Day shouldn't be the only day you let your special guy or girl know that you love them. Here's a card to do just that. The set is appropriate, All My Love. and if you like hearts, this is covered with them. The paper is Twitterpated and here are the measurements:

8 1/2 by 5 1/2 colonial white cardstock, folded in half. Once finished with card front, attach it to this base
5 1/2 by 4 1/4 sorbet cardstock
2 by 4 1/4 striped pattern paper
1 3/4 by 4 1/4 sorbet dotted pattern paper
2 by 2 colonial white cardstock

Distress if desired with chocolate ink.

Use your trimmer and a dry embossing tool to make two lines around the outside of each side of the card about a 1/4 inch apart, sand to show white core.

Glue the polka dot paper on the striped paper then attach about and inch and a half down from the top of the card (opening to the right). See how easy this comes together!

Stamp the "i love you" heart on the colonial white cardstock square using sorbet ink.

Glue that piece about a half an inch from top and left hand side of the card.

Stamp the word "cherish" on the card just below the striped piece as shown.

Round the corners with a corner punch and re-distress the edges and you are finished! Give this card to someone you love!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Heartfelt Christmas

Has the Christmas spirit hit you yet? I'm not quite there but I will be pretty soon. I'm not a fan of winter or snow but I think my delay does have something to do with the fact that not a single snowflake has fallen yet.

One good thing about the upcoming bad weather is that it gives me an excuse to stay in and scrapbook or make cards because who wants to go out in that anyway, not me! The stamp set I'm showcasing today is called Heartfelt Christmas. Doesn't that just sound nice? This is one of my favorites of the Christmas sets we have this year and I just noticed it's on sale if you follow the link. Before I start this tutorial I wanted to remind you that Stampaganza ends on Monday. I have Black Friday specials going but you have to sign up for my newsletter to find out what they are (link to the right).

For this card you need Twitterpated paper cut like this:

8 1/2 by 5 1/2 card base, fold in half, attach card front to it once finished
5 1/2 by 4 1/4 sorbet cardstock
5 1/4 by 4 sorbet polka dot pattern paper
4 by 2 3/4 striped pattern paper
4 by 2 1/2 sorbet polka dot pattern paper
3 3/4 by 2 1/4 colonial white cardstock

Attach the large sorbet polka dot paper to the sorbet card front.

Glue down the striped paper one inch from the top of the card (held vertically).

Stamp the Christmas tree from the stamp set onto the colonial white cardstock in crystal blue, use a wiry brush to add sweet leaf specks all over and then glue to the polka dot mat.

Glue to card 1/4 inch from the left hand side and top of card. Use a glue pen on the garland on the Christmas tree and also the tree stand (or anywhere you want). Pour glitter on it and let dry for a few minutes. Stamp Merry Christmas from the Say It In Style stamp set with sweet leaf ink down at the bottom right of the card.

Dump the glitter off and attach to your card base. Isn't that pretty? Have fun at your Black Friday sales today!!


Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I have quite a few tutorials lined up for you this coming week but I will be taking today off and driving to Battle Creek to be with my family. I wanted to say, though, how grateful I am for the response to my blog these past six months. I really started one up to help my customers with measurements and directions to the projects we did at gatherings and workshops and it's turned into something so much bigger with over 20,000 visits by all of you. It means more than I can say that you spend a few minutes here and I want to thank you all so much!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Many Thanks

What a perfect title for the day before Thanksgiving! Many Thanks is a beautiful stamp set to play with and teaming it up with Twitterpated paper means you're in for a treat.

Cut your card paper as follows:

8 1/2 by 5 1/2 card base, fold in half, attach whole card front to it once finished
5 1/2 by 4 1/4 sweet leaf cardstock
5 1/4 by 4 striped pattern paper
3 1/2 by 4 blue striped paper (it's the backside of the other striped paper)
3 1/4 by 3 3/4 colonial white cardstock
2 3/4 by 3/4 colonial white cardstock

Distress everything in chocolate ink.

Glue striped paper to the sweet leaf cardstock.

Stamp the largest leaf from the Many Thanks set randomly in chocolate ink on the large colonial white cardstock. This is to fill in the background before you add the cut out leaves.

Glue that piece down to the blue striped and then to the middle of the card, about a 1/2 inch down from the top.

Now on scrap paper, stamp a bunch of the other leaves in sweet leaf, crystal blue and sorbet inks.

Cut them out and begin to add them to the top of the colonial white stamped piece.

Spread them out so that the colors are intermixed well. You can do this with pop dots but because the post office charges extra, I kept mine flat.

Once your card is filled with pretty leaves, stamp Happy Fall in sorbet ink on the small colonial white piece and add to card at the bottom. Glue the whole thing to your card base. Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to see my Black Friday specials and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

My Newsletter

You are going to want to sign up for my newsletter before Black Friday! The link is right here.

Gift Card Holder

I already highlighted this great stamp set, Christmas Melodies, but I'm using it again because I want to show you the cute little gift card holder I did as a make and take at the crop in Athens last weekend. This is a very user friendly set so I highly recommend it.

I used Jingle paper, our latest, greatest Christmas set, it looks good on any project! Cut your paper:

7" by 4" juniper cardstock
1 1/4" by 4" pattern paper
2 1/4" by 4" pattern paper
2 3/4" by 4" pattern paper
2" circle white cardstock
2 1/4" circle tulip cardstock

Distress everything with juniper ink.

Score your juniper cardstock at 1 1/2" away from one end and 2 1/2" from the other.

Be careful when using your dry embossing tool that you don't cut through the paper.

Fold those in. The smaller fold goes on the bottom to hold the gift card.

Glue your smallest pattern paper on the smaller folded piece and the medium sized pattern paper on the front. Do not put the back pattern paper on yet.

Use your corner rounder to round the two bottom corners of the front of the card.

About a 1/4" in at the top of the bottom fold, poke holes with your hole punch and put in small tulip brads. The backs of the brads will show on the back of your card holder.

To cover them, apply your last piece of pattern paper to the back. Tombow glue works best.

Stamp the "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" stamp onto the circle in juniper ink.

Glue the white circle to the tulip cardstock circle. Attach to the top part of the card letting some of it hang down over the flap. Do not put glue on the bottom fourth of the circle.

Use a glue pen to put glue on the Christmas tree. Add prisma glitter. Let dry a little and then shake it off.

Inside match up two sides of a velcro closure, take paper off so it can stick, one piece to the bottom, one piece to the top.

Here's the finished look. Your gift card will fit right inside and you will have given it in a very creative way!!