I Love You to the Moon and Back

This school year I've made and tucked these little note cards into Nathan's lunchbox to let him know how much he's loved and that I'm thinking of him.  I'm so sad that this is the last lunchbox note of the year - I cannot believe just how fast Kindergarten flew by.  I. Can. Not.   :(

I started with a True Black cardstock base for this "Out of this World" themed card.  Next I printed out a computer generated sentiment and then cut it out using PTI Spiral Notebook die.  The lined notebook paper was created with PTI's - It's Official stamp set using Baja Breeze ink from Stampin' Up.    The adorable little rocket and moon are both from the Your Next Stamp's - What Not Celebrate Die Set.  I added a rhinestone flourish which I then rainbow colored using my Copics and created  "stars" using Silver Stickles.

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Sympathy & "Cheater" Bow Tutorial

This week our Ribbon Carousel Crewmate, Andrea Ewen is challenging us to create Sympathy cards.

I don't think anyone actually enjoys making Sympathy cards, but it's a good idea to have a few on hand just in case.  I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (Ripe Avocado, Kraft and White) and a simple striped patterned paper.  I created the background on the Kraft cardstock with a script rubber stamp from Inkadinkado and Antique Linen Distressing Ink.  The Botanicals stamp set from PTI was stamped with Peeled Paint and Walnut Stain Distressing Ink as well as PTI Fresh Snow.  Using Brown Cotton Twill ribbon and my Bow Easy, I tied a simple "cheater bow".  The image panel was popped up for depth and dimension using Helmar Zap Dots.

I'm often asked how I tie my bows and I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that 99% of my bows are considered "cheater" bows.  Which really just means that the bow is done in two parts rather than with one piece of ribbon.  I like how I have more control over the look of the bow and I use LESS ribbon than with traditional bow tying.  

First you will need:

Two Strips of ribbon

Twine

Scissors

Bow Easy  (Optional)

Hot Glue Gun

Your first strip of ribbon needs to be long enough to cover your card front panel and tape around to the back.

The other strip needs to be long enough to tie your bow.  You can tie it yourself or use a Bow Easy like I do.  It's very simple to use and it gives me perfect bows every time!!  Seriously, it's $6 bucks and is the best money I ever spent!!  :)  HERE is a YouTube Video if you need to know how to use it. 

Next, I use a small piece of twine and tie it tightly to the strip of ribbon where I will be placing my bow.      The crimped/scrunched look will give the appearance that the bow has been tied here rather than placed on top of the ribbon.

Snip the ends of the twine off and this is what it will look like.

Finally, hot glue the bow over the twine and Viola!!  :)

I LOVE my hot glue gun....it's a SureBonder Mini Detail High Temp glue gun and I use it all the time. I love that it also comes with it's own stand so you don't get those drips of glue on your desk and has a fine tip nozzle.  (I took it off the stand for the photo above).

Here it is again finished.  See?  You'd never know it was a "cheater" bow...even in person.

I hope my creation has inspired to you play along with us this week at the Ribbon Carousel Challenge Blog,  Remember, your creation can be anything you'd like, just be sure you use ribbon, bakers twine, lace, thread...(anything that comes on a spool) on a Sympathy card.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Christmas Gift Card Holder

This is NOT the project I had planned; I actually sat down to make a gift tag or a mini note card.   But I came across this half made gift card holder I had started last year and decided to finish it.  It's a super cute gift card holder but I just thought it lacked something.  So in an effort to dress it up, I decided to use Mini Christmas Tree from Your Next Stamp's November release and created a mini tag/charm for it. Since it is hanging from string and not glued down you could flip it over to write the recipients name on the back too.   Oh and for those of you wondering....the template I used is from Papertrey Ink's Timeless Templates by Lauren Meader (Cash or Charge).  Here you can see it open.

You do not even want to know how long it took me to finish this project!!!   LOL

Sadly, my mojo has left me :(  I'm certain it ran away after I made my huge list of Christmas Things To Do.  Hopefully after knocking some of those things off my list this weekend it will return.   Keep your fingers crossed.  :)  

Thanks for stopping by!

Wendy

Recipe:

Stamp: Your Next Stamp - Mini Fhiona's Christmas Tree

Gift Card Holder Template: Papertrey Ink Timeless Templates (Cash or Charge)

Paper: Papertrey Ink (Ripe Avacado)

DP: Papertrey Ink (Vintage Holiday)

Sentiment: Papertrey Ink (Mixed Messages)

Ribbon: Papertrey Ink (Ripe Avacado - Saddle Stitched)

Stickles: Gold

Copics Used: G99, YG95, YG11

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Welcome to the Your Next Stamp Christmas Release Blog Hop!!

You should have arrived from Guest Designer Cindy's Blog.  If not make sure to start at the beginning with Crystal's Blog.  We have lot's of wonderful projects to share with you as well as prizes and a 15% of Sale going on right now in the Your Next Stamp Store.  

One lucky winner drawn at random will receive a surprise new release stamp package.  Make sure to leave a comment on each DT member's blog and then leave your link at the end of the hop on Karen's blog to be entered.

We are also having (4) mini candy draws at regular stops along the hop.  So be sure to keep hopping to find our where.  If you ever get lost along the way here's the line up:

Crystal Irwin

Cindy Haffner

---> Wendy Ramlakhan (Me!) <---

Chris Olsen

Kerri Michaud

Angela Wood

Beth Ranney-Thomas

Simmone Clay

Sylvia Blum

Jen del Muro

Linda Cummings

Jenny Cierley

Maureen Wong

Tori Wild

Karen Dedman

And now my I'd love to show you my project.

Edited to add: This project is currently featured on Paper Craft Planet - Sooo EXCITED!!  :)

Christmas is just around the corner, and if you're like me your starting to feel the urgency to get things ready.  I hope my project's today will inspire you or at least motivate you to start on your own Christmas projects.  

Here you can see my family's 

2010 Christmas Set.

This is my second year of making a set just like this.

(I'll post a picture of last years' set in a few days)

My set includes:

*  Christmas Cards

*  Kid's Thank You Cards

* Gift Tags

* Notebook

Here's a close up of our Christmas Card for this year:

Yep, I make the kids send thank you cards!!!

And a cute little Notebook for all those Christmas lists!

I created it by covering chipboard and using my Bind-it-All.

And the Gift Tag for all those presents!!

This adorable Penguin Greeting stamp is perfect for those Christmas mass production projects. Very little coloring, but with lots of those little extra touches (like gloss & glitter!) that will be sure to have the recipients feeling special without you spending tons of time making them all.  Believe me, it's very easy to do and TONS OF FUN!!

Challenges:
My Partner in Crafting Crime = #12 Clean & Simple
Pollycraft = #64 Anything Goes
Stamp Something = Something to Celebrate
Anything Goes = #19 Christmas has come early
City Crafter = #25 Hooray for the Holidays

Well thanks so much for stopping by today!

Wendy

Recipe:

Stamp: Your Next Stamp (Penguin Greetings) & Papertrey Ink (Vintage Label)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black & Papertrey Ink (Fresh Snow)

Paper: Papertrey Ink (Kraft) & Bo Bunny ('Tis the season snowflake)

Stickles: Star Dust

Glossy Accents

Pop Dots

Ribbon: American Crafts

Nestibilities: Scalloped Square

Copics Used:

R59, R46, BG15, BG11, Y19, Y38, C9, BG10

It's Christmas in July

It's Christmas in July over at Aud Sentiments for our Challenge #7.  Yep, it's time to start thinking about Christmas and we all know it will be here before we know it.  Our challenge this week is

  Choose Your Own Christmas Sentiment.  

We make it so easy don't we?  :)  So get out those Christmas images and get a jump start on all of those Christmas cards that you're going to have to make this year.  This challenge will run until Aug 3rd.

Our Sponsor this week is 

and they are offering a $10 Gift Certificate their store to our winner!!

The DT was graciously given images from Digi Doodle Shop for their sample cards.  I have used Christmas Delight.  I'm not a coffee drinker, but I love how it smells and the cute designs that you see made in the coffee with the cream.  I'll be honest, this is not how I expected this card to come out.  I originally colored the image on white cardstock, but didn't like the look.  I switched to Kraft cardstock and still wasn't thrilled over the outcome but was running short on time and had to call it good enough. The only thing I really like is how the shading came out on the saucer. 

I've used ton's of Papertrey Ink products...the paper (all of it), the ribbon, the ink and the sentiment.

Challenges:
Christmas Cards All Year Round = Anything Goes
Stampavie and More = #102 Anything Goes
Stamp Something = Digital
Digi Doodle Challenge = #17 Anything Goes
Stamptacular Sundays = #69 Christmas in July

Thanks for stopping by!

Wendy

Recipe:

Stamp: Digi Doodle Shop (Christmas Delight) Digital; Papertrey Ink (Stocking Prints - sentiment)

Ink: Papertrey Ink. (Ripe Avacado)

Paper: Papertrey Ink (Holiday Vintage Prints), Kraft Cardstock, Ripe Avacado Cardstock

Ribbon: Papertrey Ink (Ripe Avacado - Saddle Stitched)

Accessories: Nestiblities (Labels One), Jolee's by You (Flower), Dimensionals, Shimmerz (Pixie Dust)

Copics: R59, R29, R27, R24, YG95, Y19, E35, E34, E31, E50

Just Hatched Baby Gift

Hi everyone, it's another 2 Cute Tuesday!!

I've made an adorable little gift box to give as a baby gift and used Easter Egg Chickie digi image.  You can get your's here. This digi image comes 2 different ways, with the eggs left plain or decorated.  You get both for the price of one!!  The undecorated eggs are perfect to use for baby cards and projects.

The box is a PTI template designed by Lauren Meader called Rounded Wrap Up, and the polka dot paper is more digi paper from Lauren Meader at My Time Made Easy.  I printed the digital paper on both sides so that the inside of the box has a finished look as well.  The overlaid DP is DCWV Nursery.  I finally used a little fabric covered brad in the center of the flower that I've had for years now!!  I love when I actually use some of the stuff that I've had sitting around forever, don't you?

Challenges:

Pile It On # 20 Out of Box
Stampin for the weekend Make someone smile
Crafty Creations #68 Encouragement/Celebration
Sew Many Challenges Anything Goes
MelJens Designs # 8 Seeing Spots
Corrosive Challenges by Janet #65 Clean & Simple (CAS)
The Crafty Pad #72 Over The Edge (the flower)
Charisma Cardz #20 3-D
A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge #105 Celebrations
Tuesday Throwdown Any image you can color
Simple Doodles Anything But A Card

Copic's Used:

Chick: Y15, Y11, Y000

Eggs: YG03, YG11, YG00, R02, R00, BG10, BG0000, Y11, Y000

I hope to have that Teacher gift I promised posted later this week.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Teacher Thank You's

Hi Everyone!

With a little over 2 weeks before school is over here in sunny Florida,  I've been busy making a few Teacher Thank You cards.  My step-children will be giving these to their teachers next week along with a little gift.  Check back next week for a look at the gift, it's going to be super cute!!

I LOVE my PaperTrey Ink, Vintage Picnic Basket stamp set.  (I really don't play with my PaperTrey stamps enough.)  I decided to do a paper piecing for the basket on a green patterned paper that I had in my scraps.  The yellow polka dot paper is digital paper from My Time Made Easy, the other DP paper, buttons, twine, sentiment, and ribbon are all from PaperTrey Ink.

I added shadows on the green patterned paper with my C1 Copic Marker to give it depth. And used my Ek Success Binding Edge Border Punch...perfect for teacher cards and school related projects.

Quick. Simple. Done.  If they were all only that easy right?

This card is for the following challenges:

MelJen's Designs = #8 Seeing Spots
Ooh La-La-Creations #54 Bright & Cheerful
Practical Scrappers Patterned Paper
Crazy Challenge - Something New (Border Punch)
Crafty Creations = #68 Encouragement/Celebration
The Pixie Cottage #19 3-D/ Paper Tole

Sorry, no close up today...it came out too blurry and I didn't have time to take more photos.

Copic's Used:

Apples: R29, R27, R24, R20, YG01

Leafs: G07, YG03

Outline & Shadow: C1

Thanks for stopping by!!