School's out for Summer!

Yesterday was the last day of school! Yea!  But did my kids let me sleep in a bit this morning? No, they did not.  5:40 was the time on the clock when they got up today.    Crazy kids : )

This is my son David's forth grade class making silly faces. cute!

Here is David several years ago, on his first day of first grade! Time Flies!
Over the next few days I am going to be pricing and organizing my retired products garage sale.  If you are in the Chicago Land Area, stop by and say hi.  I have tons of stamp sets and papers for sale.  And, do a free make and take!
Detail on my garage sale page.

Last Minute Teacher Gifts

Back Pack Treat Holders!  I made these last year too but I couldn't help making them again.  They are so cute. They are pretty quick and easy to put together, too.   I filled them with a Starbucks gift card and some Godiva Chocolates, as well as a note from me.  The template is from my favorite paper craft website, www.splitcoaststampers.com.  They have a "Resources" page with countless projects for you to try.  I go there whenever I feel like trying out a new technique or need a new treat holder.   The first thing you can do is print out the template, either directly onto your paper or you can cut it out of copy paper. 

cut out your pieces.

score along your score lines.  I go right through the template, with my card stock underneath.  You may need to go over the score lines again after you remove your template.

fold along your lines and punch our your holes.  I used an "anywhere" hole punch tool for this, as my hand held punch didn't reach the holes in the lid.

Attach your flap, and then punch holes in the box in the spots where they are on your flap.  By the way, I attached all my pieces with sticky strip since I figured the box would be handled a lot, opened and closed several times.  

Important:  You need to attach your ribbon before you assemble your box, otherwise you'll never be able to get  your hands in the box to tie the knots.  Start your ribbon going from the inside of the box to the outside at a bottom corner. 

Flip the box over and thread the ribbon through the next hole and back out again, leave the ribbon a bit slack so it looks like the shoulder straps on a back pack. 

make your top loop, going back into the box.

make your next shoulder strap.

cut the ribbon and tie knots to keep the ribbon from going back through the holes.

Now you can sticky strip your box together, add the front pocket if you like.  I added some matching corduroy buttons (love the clearance rack at Stampin' up!).   I used Velcro to keep my flaps closed.  Warning, I bought magnetic circles from Oriental Trading and they do not keep boxes closed.  I have tons of these little magnetic circles and they are so weak they cant hold cards onto my magnet board, or keep flaps closed.  Hopefully I'll find a use for them someday :) 

Fill your box with treats and give them to the various people at your school who deserve a thank you at the end of the year.  I gave one to the crossing guard too, she is always to nice to the kids and seems to know them all by name. 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 

Bath Time

I am still having fun with My Digital Studio!!  I love making pages as I watch the nightly news or while the oven is preheating for dinner.  Its so nice to be able to get some things done without having to cover my table with photos and papers and ribbons, etc.   And, its nice to not have to clean up! : )     I received a few more pages in the mail and I love to see them all printed out.  Fun stuff!! 
Starting in July I will be giving some lessons on My Digital Studio to some of my customers who have purchased the program.  If you are in my area and are interested, please let me know.  If you just want to come and see what the program is all about, but don't know if you want to commit to buying the software yet, that's OK, just come to the first class and see what you think.  If it turns out to be not for you, no big deal.  If you like it, buy the software and get 5 more classes free!  All customers who buy the software from me will also get 5 free classes.  Ask me for more details if you are interested.

See, how beautiful is that?  Well, the baby is beautiful, so the page can't help but be cute too!  Learn how to turn your favorite photos into pretty pages for your scrapbook!  Contact me to learn more about My Digital Studio. 

Betsy's Blossom take 2

I really like the bold images in the Betsy's Blossom set.  I guess I'm really liking the new Gumball Green too because it seems I've used it on just about everything I've made this past week.  Here is another card, very similar to the one I posted last week, but I added some of the new Designer Paper, Floral District.  Really pretty paper.  The colors I used on this card are Gumball Green, Rich Razzleberry, and Daffodil Delight.  And, check out the new 1/4 stitched grosgrain ribbon! Love that! 
I made a few co-ordinating items that match this card.  I was asked to do a quick paper craft demo, so I used this card as the make and take, and then I showed how to use a scrap if paper to make a cute treat container, and how to turn a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 paper into a gift box. 

The little sour cream container is made with a 5 x 7 piece of paper, rolled into a tube, then pinched closed at each end in opposite directions. I have directions for this in a previous post here.

The box is made by scoring a piece of paper at 2,5,7, and 10 inches, then turn the paper and score again at 2 and 7.  I made this box tons of times too, and I gave directions here and more examples here.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you liked today's projects!

More swatchbooks

The rest of my Swatch Books arrived today!  yea!  I thought I would show them to you even though I showed another swatch book just a few days ago, because I wanted to show you one of the things I love about digital projects.  Notice how I have three books.  Now look closely, they are slightly different.  With just a few clicks I was able to personalize them for different people, without recreating the whole thing.  One for my Niece Edith in London, one for my Mother in law, and one for me.  I love how they turned out and I know I'll be making these again in the future.  If your a troop leader, these would make great little books for the girls or boys to have pictures of a camping trip or of their friends in their troop, they could be autograph books for their friends, coupon books for mother's or father's or sweethearts day.  So many ideas.  oh, a cookie recipe book for those of you who do cookie exchanges, picture of the cookie on the front, recipe on the bake.  Doing that for sure!  

And, I got a Board Book too, for my mom. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Garage Sale!!! Save the Date!!

Scroll Down for new posts, this one is staying up top for several days!

Save the Date for my Annual Retired Stampin' Up! products Garage Sale!!  June 2  9:00 am till noon.
I am getting ready, marking things down and packing them up!  Tons of Stamp sets, Ribbon, Papers and more!!

This is not even all of it.  Those bags are filled with retired stamps, I have 2 more bags not pictured!  And, 2 bags full of 12 x 12 paper.    I will also have new catalogs available to look through, and a free make and take!  I have rented a room at the Lombard Church of the Nazarene, easy to get to from 355, or the 290, just a block south of North ave.  The actual address is 536 N. Route 53.   If you are in the area, please stop by!

Teacher Gift

This little note card set will be given to my son David's teacher at the end of the year.  Amazingly that's just 6 more school days away!  This box is the same as the one I made here.  The box is made in two parts. One piece of paper 10 x 6 , scored at 3.75 in, 4.5 in, and 9 in. This is the back and top flap, with a little tab for the bottom that nestles into the next piece... 11 x 4.25, scored at .5, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10 and 10.5. then rotate the paper and score at 1 in. This makes the accordion folded sides and front of the box, with the one inch tab that nestles over the other pieces flap, i think if you cut and score your pieces, this will be clear. Here are some pictures to help those visual learners like me.

Here are your two pieces, scored, with tabs cut off the bottom of the one piece.

Fold your score lines.

Sticky tape your pieces together.  sides too, not shown in picture so you could see how the bottom two pieces nest together.

Side view.

Close up of the note cards.  The stamp set is an old one.  I really like the images so I hung onto it when it retired.  You can use any set you like, of course.  I made several of each design. 

 The cards and envelopes all fit inside.  I also added some paper to the envelope flap, just for added cuteness.

Here is the whole set.  Hope she likes it. 

Thanks for stopping by!

MDS Swatchbook!

Yea!  My first MDS (My Digital Studio) Swatch book is here!!  Unfortunately two days too late for Mother's Day, but what are  you going to do.  My fault, I sent it out too late.  But, now its here and I love it!!

The first page has a photo of my parents, photo on the blog is blurry but in real life its not :)  The swatch book comes with a clear plastic cover too, to keep the swatch book nice and protected.  I made this for my mother.  Its a book all about her grand kids.  I figured the swatch book format would be good because she could carry it with her in her purse and pull it out for those moments when she feels like showing off her grandchildren.  There are 9 grand kids, so i featured them each on their own page, a large photo on front and a collage on the back.

Then some pages of the family together.

These little swatch books are really great.  I made this one first, and since then I've made three more.  One for my niece in London, a book all about her cousins.  One for me to keep in my purse, and one for my mother in law.  They haven't been delivered yet, I expect them any day.  These books are a great bargain, just $12.95, even less if you are a demonstrator and buy it from yourself.  That was a hint, if  you love digital scrap booking and know your going to print images and pages or photo books, or buy downloads, might as well buy from yourself!  Ask me about that if your interested :) 

Betsy' Blossom

I now have my new catalog in hand and I don't even know how many times I've already browsed through it.  The photos are lovely, lots of close ups, really pretty colors, LOVE IT! 

One of the stamp sets that demonstrators were able to get as a sneak peek is the Betsy's Blossom set.  This is a really cute set, I can see using this one a lot.  This is  my first card with the set.  I used all new 'In Colors'  from the new catalog.  The new colors I used are Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, and Summer Starfruit.  Two other new colors are Raspberry Ripple and Primrose Petals.  Very pretty colors.  I decorated the envelope as well, by stamping the smaller flowers on the front and back corners.  I used markers to get all three colors on the stamp.

Thanks for stopping by!! 

close enough : )

My sister sent me these photos and I cant stop laughing at them.    Sort of reminds me of myself sometimes.  I tried some melting snowman cookies I saw on Pinterest, and mine did not quite live up to the samples online either :)  I did do a little better than these though!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!  Today I thought I would share some pictures of my mother.  I have been blessed with a great mom.  Here she is as a baby, toddler, little girl, and high school graduate.
This page used papers and images from the new Fan Fare Collection from Stampin' Up!  This collection will be in the new catalog, just weeks away from its debut.
Thanks for stopping by!  Love you Mom!

The Tassel is worth the hassle

So, yesterdays grad cap card had a really cute tassel and some of you asked how to do it.  It is super easy, shown to me by another demo Deanna a few weeks ago, thanks Deanna! 
A picture is worth a thousand words right?
Cut a length of ribbon and fold it in half and knot.

Cut off the raised edge of one side on the ribbon.

Start pulling the long fibers off the spine (the other raised edge).

Cut off the other raised edge spine, you will be left with a cute fringe piece that you could use on another project (we craters can be such hoarders can't we?) Do this to both ends of the ribbon.  Now you have your tassel!

What can you make with the left over fringe?  I don't know, it reminds me of a cowboy shirt.  But, am I going to toss it?  not yet ;) 

Add a brad and attach it to the cap.