Wedding Crafting!

My little sister just got married and I made the card box for the gift table. She saw an idea in a store, but didn't want to spend $40+ on something she was going to use once for a couple of hours, so I was asked to make something similar. 

I found a box, took off the shipping labels I could remove, taped it shut, and cut the hole out to put the cards into. I painted it all white with acrylic paint. Then I bought a roll of burlap and stewed about how to get it on the box and make it stay and laid it out and talked to friends... one suggested staples might hold it on without making a mess? It totally worked and it worked great except for the top where the hole was- it wasn't sturdy enough to take the staples, but it worked well enough everywhere else that it ended up okay. There is no burlap or paint on the bottom, that way my sister could just cut that end open to get to the cards inside. 

The better looking side of burlap got to be the front, haha. I decorated it using a lot of retired stash! 

First the strip of White Jute ribbon, then a strip of Old Olive Mini Chevron Ribbon. And finally I made the "medallion" part. That is a Pearlized Doily, backed with a little more jute ribbon, and topped with a twist of the Olive Chevron, then a bow made from Silver 1/8" Ribbon, and finally a wooden "love" which came from a Paper Pumpkin kit! They're all held together with glue dots and sticky strip and it held up! 

...until the crazy wind started throwing everything around and the rain was pounding, haha..... But it looked pretty anyway! 

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I also put together a bunch of activities to keep the kiddos occupied. Just in nieces and nephews alone, we're at 8 kids between 2-11, and we didn't know how many others were coming. I needed quiet activities that were also clean...hmmm..... I happened to remember my long-retired Bingo Board background stamp, so I put my daughter to work searching current and retired stamps for small images that worked for an autumn wedding...and maybe honeymoon, even tho the happy couple isn't going on a trip any time soon.

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And finally, my husband was in charge of the wedding cake! He actually completely volunteered and was given free reign, so here's his "first, and likely only" wedding cake-

That is a rice krispies base, and two layers of pumpkin cheesecake. The leaves are a marzipan shortbread cookie and after they were baked they were painted with a cranberry/powdered sugar glaze. Finally it is frosted with a white chocolate buttercream for a "naked" cake look, and then dollops of maple cinnamon white chocolate buttercream to hold the tiny pumpkins and cookies on! 

Weddings are a TON of work, even if you live two hours away and aren't the couple or their parents! Sheesh! hahaha! 

Catch-up Scrapbooking!

I actually got all these pages done last week, I just haven't had time to blog it!
This was the best scrapping day in a long time, haha. All of these pages were done yeeears ago. All I had to do was find pictures to go on the pages, glue them down and a bit of journaling! That means I got all four pages done in half an hour! So exciting, haha!

This page came from a Stampin' Up! Regional conference in 2007. It was one of our make & takes, and it has literally been in a scrapbook pile since then. YIKES! I glued down these two pics of my youngest and bam- she's got another page done! I dont' remember the names of these stamp sets, tho I did own (maybe still do?) the doodly one on the circles.

This page was one I put together for a class I held I believe in 2010. We used two punches and the glimmer paper, which was a new thing then. I did an 8x11 and a 12x12 version to accommodate my customers. I used the 8x11 at my class, but never glued pics down on this one. I just found out today that my son got both pages, hahaha...but they're like a decade apart in his books so it's just fine. Right? hahaha....

And finally, I had made this fun layout for a class I held in 2011. This Bingo board and Halloween bits were so fun! Well, I had printed pictures of last Halloween for my youngest, and she is a big fan of Halloween so that was a perfect match! She got two more pages, lucky girl! haha!

So see? Make sure you look thru your stash and double check that things are used the way you intended! You never know what's hiding, waiting for your attention. haha......!

Bingo Birthday!

Hello again! In recent weeks we have had a lot of birthdays and my stash is seriously depleted. I decided it was time to make some birthday cards that can be used for anyone, although I especially need kids cards.  Here's my first one, which also uses the current Freshly Made Sketch:

Supplies:
Stamps: Bingo Card, Collage Curios, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, Gumball Green, Basic Gray
Paper: Sunshine & Sprinkles DP, Real Red, Lucky Limeade & Whisper White card stocks

The Bingo Card can be quite overwhelming, but I thought it could be a fun little snippet, with these cute hot air balloons! What do you think?

Mini Stamp Class for a Mini Stamper!

Last week my daughter needed stitches...

Consequently, she needed to give some thank you cards to sweet and thoughtful friends! I asked if she wanted me to make the cards and she could just write in them, or did she want to stamp the cards herself? Her typical style can be found HERE. But this time she asked if I would create the cards and teach her to make them, just like I do in my classes. awww!

So, I pulled out some retired DP and ribbons and went to work designing! She did a really good job trying new things! Here you can see my card's next to her's.
I used Susan's Sketch for this first card...but since the tree image took up so much space, I'm hoping to use the sketch again later!

Supplies:
Stamps: Forever Young
Ink: Soft Suede
Paper: Very Vanilla & Soft Suede card stock, Everyday Enchantment DP (retired)
Accessories: Lucky Limade organdy ribbon (retired)

I used last week's Mojo Monday sketch for this card:

Supplies:
Stamps: Petite Pairs
Ink: Melon Mambo
Paper: Melon Mambo & Whisper White card stocks, Spring Fever Simply Scrappin DP (retired)
Accessories: 1 3/8 inch square punch, Whisper White grosgrain ribbon (retired)

And finally I used the latest sketch from Stamping 411 for this card. I thought I would like this card, and I know my daughter enjoyed all the colors, but the bingo piece with the polka dot dp makes the card waaay too busy for my taste. Oh well- she likes it!

Supplies:
Stamps: Button Button, Bingo Card, Itty Bitty Banners
Ink: Basic Gray, So Saffron, Baja Breeze, Pretty in Pink, Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Peach Parfait, Early Espresso
Paper: Whisper White & Peach Parfait (retired) card stocks, Just Add Cake DP (retired)
Accessories: Peach Parfait twill Ribbon (retired)

a project.

I am still trying to decide if I am insane, dedicated or ambitious. hee hee! First of all, I signed up to be my son's class room mother - a decision I wonder about frequently, LOL! Secondly, that made me in charge of class parties, which you'd THINK wouldn't be stressful, but...turns out...you'd be wrong. It is quite stressful for me, LOL! Plus, this is the first Halloween I've sewn a costume (just part of one...second time using a pattern...wow, stress!) and I'm working on Christmas card classes and working on getting a job, and my house has had three colds, pneumonia (coupled with pleurisy) and a sinus infection for me. ..its kinda been crazy 'round here this month!

So, me being me, decided to make Bingo boards for this class party. See that? That would be 30 boards, completely randomly spaced images, ready to go.

I'll share my process in case anyone else wants to do this too. (Altho to be honest, I would suggest something smaller, like a Halloween -or other holiday- party at home, haha!)
First, I stamped 30 Bingo Boards. Two fit on a 8x11 sheet without worry of overlapping. I chose the ink colors I own and laid them out, and then stuck a stamp (or two!) with each color. Then there's the trick of how to play the game, since this isn't letters and numbers...after a lot of thinking on my part, my brilliant husband came up with the plan to stamp each image 5 times and on the back write a B or an I, etc. That's how I used up the scraps of paper that I had stamped the boards onto. Worked out quite nicely!

the various boards... I tried hard to make it super random. Like I'd take the stamp and fit it on a B square, I square, etc, and also tried to keep the similar colors apart to make the boards prettier. Because I am *sure* these kids will appreciate the way it looks! hahaha!

After I wrote the letters on the backs of the squares to draw, I had my helper sort thru and make sure I had stamped each image. I was sure I would have missed at least one!

and here we are, ready to go! Each kid will get a handful of candy corn to use as markers and we'll see how it goes!

Supplies:
Stamps: Bingo Card, Spooky Bingo Bits
Ink: Peach Parfait, Basic Gray, Certainly Celery, More Mustard, Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Old Olive, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Pumpkin Pie, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Classic Basic Black, Craft Basic Black, Lucky Limeade, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, Pear Pizazz, Rich Razzelberry, Daffodil Delight, Wisteria Wonder, Early Espresso, Tangerine Tango inks!
Paper: Whisper White

Halloween pages!

I don't usually post incomplete projects but somehow, with all my huge photo orders, I have NO Halloween photos printed!! I also don't have very many scrapped so I guess I just don't print them very much... But this layout was part of my class yesterday and festive and fun for today, so I am sharing it anyway! ....someday I'll print photos, I promise!
This was kind of fun, even tho it was sort of a lot of work. I started by choosing my selection of inks; all my shades of oranges, greens, purples, yellows, browns and gray and black. Then I laid out my stamps with whichever color I felt would work best. I stamped it on the board and then on the border strips, and voila- a fun, quick Halloween page!

Supplies:
Stamps: Bingo card, Spooky Bingo Bits
Ink: Old Olive, Wild Wasabi, Always Artichoke, Pear Pizazz, Lucky Limeade, Certainly Celery, Rich Razzleberry, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Concord Crush, Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Peach Parfait, More Mustard, So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Basic Black, Basic Gray
Paper: Old Olive textured card stock, Whisper White card stock
Accessories: Peach Parfait ribbon, Basic Black grosgrain ribbon

'Tis the Season...!

Nooo, not that season, a season to play with new toys to make fun Halloween projects! I got a fun box this week and last night I finally got a chance to use what was in it.
Today's sample uses two new stamp sets and an embossing folder!

Aren't mom's great?? My mom places orders, lets them come to my house and lets me play with her new toys before she even gets to see her things! When this spider web embossing folder came out in last years holiday mini catalog she wondered how she could use it without the Big Shot. Very recently, Splitcoaststampers.com showed me exactly how we could use it without purchasing the machine. Of course my mom ordered it immediately! If you follow that link you will see this awesome idea and fun new (to me at least!) technique! I don't have a brayer (my mom does...and its at her house) so instead I used an easy direct to paper technique, where I simply laid the ink pad down on the card stock and scrubbed back and forth until the color was as even as I liked. Then you just buff it with a tissue and voila! So striking and fun!
And then you see I got the bingo board background stamp, and filled this section with a variety of Halloween bits in all kinds of colors! I have a lot of plans for those two stamp sets, so just get comfy! haha!

Supplies:
Stamps: Bingo Board, Spooky Bingo Bits, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Tangerine Tango, Basic Black, Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake, Pear Pizazz, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Gray, Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, Wild Wasabi, Wisteria Wonder, More Mustard
Paper: Always Artichoke & Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Black Grosgrain Ribbon

Are you ready for this season? We'll be decorating the house tomorrow, and then figuring out how to make my son the costume he very much wants....tricky, tricky!