I don’t often work with bold colors but this little stamp from the set Wow Flowers works so well with strong colors…all the colors used on the card below are the In Colors that you can find on pg 155 of the Catalog.

During Sale-a-bration Wow Flowers  is one of the sets you can get for FREE with a $50 order…you can find it on pg 173 and I love it as it is such a versatile set and has two sentiment stamps and two flower stamps that can be used with Circle Punches to get fab results…

The base of this card is Dusty Durango onto which is layered a piece of Soft Suede.  Onto this is a layered a piece of Bahama Breeze which has a length of Crushed Curry Polka Dot Ribbon tied around and finished with a knot in front.

You will see a strip of Dusty Durango in the center of the card – it was cut to size and both edges were shaped using the Scallop Edge punch that you can find on pg 186 – I love this punch and you can even make a piece of cardstock or paper look like ric-rac ribbon using it!

The flowers are stamped using In Color inks onto Whisper White cardstock and punched out using the 1″ Circle Punch – some are layered onto a circle of Soft Suede and those circles were made using the 1 1/4″ Circle Punch.  Lastly the sentiment is from the set Teeny Tiny Wishes on pg 145 and is stamped in Soft Suede ink and punched out using the Window Punch that has been trimmed at one end – and there you have a beautiful card which I am loving today – the skies are so gray and dark and full of rain here today and this card reminds me of summertime and is brightening up my room and my day…

Sale-a-bration is running through February and you can find lots more details about it by clicking HERE – in a nutshell, for every $50 you spend you get to choose one item from a list of 83 products FOR FREE – and Wow Flowers is one of the sets on that list – you can see the stamps in that set below – what a cool deal!

Want a sampling of all of the In Color  Polka Dot Ribbons without buying the full rolls?  Check out my Ribbon Shares by clicking HERE – I have some spots still available for the Polka Dot Ribbons and also some for the brand new Satin Ribbons featured in the Occasions Mini…

When I give gifts I love to present them not in a paper gift bag, but in useful packaging – something that the recipient can re-use themselves rather than a bag to simply throw in the trash…

And rather than use a roll of gift wrap, I decided to show you how you can use papercrafting supplies  in your gift wrapping.  The cute green tin pail below houses my gift which is wrapped in a sheet of Designer Series Paper from the Cottage Wall pack…and the bow on the top?  Yup…also made of beautiful papers found in that package…read on for details and a tutorial…

I simply wrapped my gift in one sheet of DSP and placed it into my pail along with some tissue paper for padding.  I then cut two lengths of  ribbon from my spool of 5/8″ Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot Grosgrain and wrapped each around the pail from side to side to create the X effect.

To make the Gift Bow – all you need is your Paper Trimmer, one sheet of co-ordinating Designer Series Paper, a Stapler and some Mini Glue Dots or Sticky Strip…you simply cut your paper as follows – cut 9 strips each 3/4″ wide – cut 3 strips to be 11″ long, 3 strips to be  10″ long, 2 strips to be 9″ long and one strip to be 3  1/2 ” long.

Then take each strip and make a loop in each end and secure in the center using a staple – do this for all of the strips except for the smallest:

To assemble your bow, take the longest strips and layer them on top of one another, securing each with a Mini Glue Dot or piece of  Sticky Strip.  Continue until you have layered them all and then take your small strip and make it into a round loop and adhere it into the center of the bow – and there you have a very cute handmade bow to add to your gift…

By using different papers you can fully customise your bows for birthdays, weddings, baby showers…the possibilities are endless!  You can find the packs of Designer Series Papers on pgs 160-163 of the main Catalog and also on pgs 13, 25 and 33 of the Occasions Mini Catalog – you will find the links to both of these online catalogs in the sidebar.

I have put together a printable Tutorial with further photographs and information which you can find by clicking HERE – if you have any questions please let me know and I will be very happy to help.

I love this stamp set – you can color your cat stamp anyway you please to customise the card for the person receiving it…

You can find C is for Cat on pg 61 of the Catalog and right now with a $50 order it is one of the sets you can get for free during Sale-a-bration.   The card below uses just the beautiful cat stamp from that set and the colors on the cat are themed across the card which gives it a uniform and elegant look…

The card base is Creamy Caramel onto which is layered Chocolate Chip – the 3 flowers are punched into this layer using the Trio Flowers Punch (pg 186) and a strip of DSP is taped on the underside so that the pattern peaks through the flowers.  Next a strip of Creamy Caramel that has been embossed using the Flourish Texturz plate (pg 195) is adhered in place.

On top of this layer is a very cool black swirl – can you guess how to do this?  You use the Tulipe Bigz Die that you can find on pg 198 and run it through the Big Shot with black cardstock and cut off the pieces that you wish to use and adhere them to your card base – isn’t this a great look?

To make the cat look the way she does simply choose some inks and use your daubers (pg 192) to apply ink to the rubber – stamp onto your cardstock – you might need to add a little more color using those daubers to add more ink directly to the card – but doesn’t it give a neat effect?  The cat is punched out using the 1 3/4″ Circle Punch and ink applied around the edges.  Add a flower, some fine glitter and there you have a very cool and stylish cat card…meow…

This is another item that was a convention make ‘n take and a great one to show you as the stamp set used – Hello Again – is another one of the sets that you can choose for free as a Sale-a-bration freebie…

This is a box that is perfectly sized to hold 8 Hershey’s Nuggets – and I love it not just because I can see the versatility of this little gift for many occasions, but because it is such a very affordable way to give a little gift…all you need to make it is a sheet of colored cardstock, a piece of ribbon and the stamp set and inks you wish to use – there are no Dies to purchase – you simply cut, score, fold and assemble…

Firstly cut your piece of colored cardstock to size – I used Old Olive Textured and you need to cut 2 pieces at 5″ x 4″.  Score both pieces 1″ from each edge – lay one piece down and ink up a wheel or stamps and make a pretty border all the way along it – the box above uses the Retro Remix Wheel (pg 205) stamped with Old Olive ink.  This is your top piece – take a 3/4″ Circle Punch and punch a half-circle notch on each long side as shown below:

At each short end, take your scissors and cut 1″  along the score line until you reach the intersecting line – do this 4 times – fold in the flaps to assemble your lid and adhere with strong adhesive such as Sticky Strip.  Take a piece of ribbon approximately 10″ in length and 3″ from one end tie a knot in it – wrap around the box lid and adhere to the insides of the lid.

Stamp your images on a piece of cardstock measuring 1 3/4″ x 1 1/4″ – I used stamps from Hello Again to stamp a flower and sentiment and used Dimensionals to attach it to the lid.

To create the base, assemble as you did for the lid and put in your gift – I used 8 Hershey’s Nuggets and covered each using Designer Series Papers from the Cottage Wall pack (pg 160) – simply cut your papers to be 1″ wide by 3″ long and wrap around each nugget securing with Sticky Strip – then put 2 layers of 4 nuggets into the box and not only is the outside of the box pretty, but the inside is too…

Pop the lid on and there you have a very economical and cute gift just perfect for saying thank you…

You can find a printable version of this tutorial by clicking HERE – it will open in a new browser window.

You can find the stamp set Hello Again on pg 114 of the Catalog and it is also listed at the back of the Sale-a-bration Catalog as one of the sets that you can get for free…please click here for further details…

Below is a set of cards that was a convention make ‘n take – I have only just gotten around to putting mine together and realised that it would be a great project to show you since Things I Love is one of the sets that you can choose for free as one of your Sale-a-bration rewards…

It is a very girly set and I think especially fab for tweens and teens…you could make a package of these cards to give to a lucky girl for her to send to her friends or if you know a crafty girl, you could give her a gift package containing the cardstocks, ribbon and inks so that she could make her own…

The photograph below shows you a set of three notecards with envelopes that you can package and give in a cello bag with a cute bag topper – what girly girl wouldn’t love this little notecard gift pack?

The cards are sized 3″ x 3″ and the bases are made using Bermuda Bay cardstock – simply cut a 6″ x 3″ piece of Bermuda Bay t0 make each.  Each card has a layer of Chocolate chip cardstock and Melon Mambo Polka Dot Ribbon as a very cute finishing touch.  The inks used are Chocolate Chip, Bermuda Bay and Melon Mambo and the Circle Punch  is the 1 3/8″ size – and you can find Things I Love on pg 54 of the main Catalog.

The circles and hearts are all adhered to the card bases using Dimensionals to give them a lift – and the hearts have Dazzling Diamonds Glitter on them to give a real sparkle – just use a glue pen and sprinkle it on.  And check out those envelope flaps…isn’t that a really cute touch?

I simply traced around the flaps onto pieces of DSP from the Thorougly Modern pack which you can find on pg 163 of the Catalog – so simple but so effective – I love dressing up any sized envelopes in this way because you can use any paper scraps to do so and it makes a real impact.  Then you can make a bag topper and package them up in a small cello bag that you can find on pg 159 and voila – they are ready to give!

To make up a great gift package for a crafty girl so that she could make cards like this, you could order:

115315   Assorted In Color Cardstock package  $7.95  pg 155
116329   Set of 6 In Color Markers  $17.95 pg 155
115611    Melon Mambo Polka Dot Ribbon  $9.95  pg 182
100730  Whisper White Cardstock  $7.50  pg 155
107309  Whisper White Mini Envelopes  $7.50  pg 168
115673  Thoroughly Modern Designer Series Papers  $9.95  pg 163

Order those items now and you would get the stamp set Things I Love (item code 120208)  FOR FREE!  And another freebie - when you do place an order for those items through me, I will mail you the above cute package of cards and envelopes for free the same day – your lucky recipient would receive the stamp set, the things needed to make the cards PLUS a package of cards for them to copy and use with detailed instructions too!

Add on extras to your order such as the Linen Thread, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Circle Punch, Dimensionals and Adhesives and you would be entitled to choose 2 Sale-a-bration freebies…to find out more please click here

You can find close up photos of these cards and envelopes in my Sale-a-bration gallery by clicking HERE – Things I Love would also be perfect for Valentines projects as it has a great little sentiment perfect for the occasion…

Which I realised is only 24 days away – can you believe it?! I found the perfect thing for my girls to give to their classmates this year – as soon as I saw them I knew that I had to order them…and fast!

They are the fabulous LOVE BOTS and you can find them on pg 17 of the Occasions Mini Catalog which you can view online by clicking here – Love Bots are die cut treat boxes and come in a pack of 30 for just $9.95 – that makes them just 33c each!

You have a choice of pink or blue and you simply fold them along score lines and fill them with tasty treats – put on a round closure sticker that is also included in the pack and you are done!  I ordered the pink Love Bot Girl ones and they are SO cute in real life…

You can even get a Love Bots Personalised Stamp for just $9.95 so that your kiddo can stamp their own name onto the box in the space provided on the back of it – isn’t that cool?  You can find this stamp also on pg 17 of the Occasions Mini…

The assembled boxes are sized at 3″ x 3″ x 5/8″ which is plenty of room to hold a treat bag size of candies such as Skittles and treat bars such as Kit Kats – I took a photo which you can see below to give you an idea of what sized candies will fit in them…all of those shown below fit in them perfectly:

And if you want some HURRY – they are only available whilst stocks last – they are a terrific value and such a different treat container – the kids are going to love ‘em!

The Love Bots order codes are as follows:

118081 Love Bots Boy (30) in Bashful Blue  $9.95
118080 Love Bots Girl (30) in Pretty in Pink  $9.95

And don’t forget that during Sale-a-bration you get freebies with your orders – please click here for details…

Did you enjoy the Blog Hop?  I hope you gained lots of ideas and inspiration from the fabulous work…Below you will find further details of how I made my items along with the delicious and easy to make Banana Bread and Load Pan  Wrapper template and the lucky winner of my Blog Hop Candy…you can find close-up photos in my gallery which you can find in the sidebar or by clicking here…please read on for details…

I used the stamp set Good Neighbors – you can find it on pg 6 of the Sale-a-bration catalog which you can view online by clicking HERE - it is a set of 10 stamps featuring cute houses, trees and clouds making me think of spring time, moving house and new neighbors…totally versatile…very fun to play with and it jumped out at me as soon as I saw it…

I got the new Clear Mount version of this set and let me tell you – I LOVED using it with those Acrylic Blocks – all 4 sides are grooved giving you a fabulous grip – you can find them on pg 6 of the Occasions Mini Catalog and more details about this new option by clicking HERE

For my first project I made a very simple but elegant moving announcement…

The card is sized 6″x6″ and the base is Soft Suede – I matted onto it a piece of paper from the Welcome Neighbor DSP Stack – which you can get for FREE in the Sale-a-bration Catalog and it has an amazing 72 sheets of paper in it!  I tied around a piece of Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon from the Occasions Mini Catalog and a piece of Soft Suede Polka Dot Ribbon on top of that – I have a Ribbon Share open right now for the new Satin Ribbons that you can find in the Occasions Mini – please click HERE for details…

I printed my text onto a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock and adhered it to my card -  I stamped my houses using Melon Mambo, Soft Suede, Old Olive and Dusty Durango inks and used my 1 1/4″ and 1 3/4″ Circle Punches to punch them out – I then attached them using dimensionals for a 3-D look…

Then I got to thinking about what you could do for a new neighbor gift and what they would really appreciate – home-baking always goes down well and I love to give gifts in re-usable containers…but how to combine these with paper, stamps and ink…so I put my thinking cap on and this is what I came up with…

Here is my loaf of delicious Banana Bread – although I think it’s identity is a bit confused as I think it is more like a Banana Cake LOL – I took a standard 2 lb loaf pan and baked my bread…cake…whatever it is, it is yummy!  Once I had removed it to cool, I washed the pan and made a loaf pan wrapper using papers from the Sweet Pea DSP Stack that you can find in the Occasions Mini on pg 33 – TO MAKE IT EASY FOR YOU TO MAKE YOUR OWN LOAF PAN WRAPPER I HAVE THE DIMENSIONS AND DIRECTIONS THAT YOU CAN FIND BY CLICKING HERE

I then took my cute house stamps and stamped them onto two 12″ strips of  Very Vanilla cardstock and adhered them to each long side of the wrapper- to make it easy to line my houses up along the bottom edge, I simply used my Stamp-a-majig and drew a faint pencil line that I gently erased once I had finished stamping -  the ink colors I used are: Soft Suede, Dusty Durango, Old Olive, Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry

The Stamp-a-majig (SAMJ) is one tool that I reach for almost everytime I stamp – want to know how this essential tool helps you to easily position your  stamps perfectly? CLICK HERE FOR MY TUTORIAL!  You can find it on pg 191 of the main Catalog and it is priced at just $11.95 – and using your SAMJ you can create positioning sheets for each stamp set that you own by cutting squares of  translucent papers such as vellum sheets, stamping on the images and storing the sheets with each set making for super fast and easy stamping!

I wrapped my Banana Bread in clingwrap and tied around some gorgeous Old Olive Satin Ribbon from the Occasions Mini and made a tag to hang from it with Linen Thread – the tags are simply made using Circle and Oval Punches and the Just for You sentiment is from the set Teeny Tiny Wishes that you can find on pg 145 of the main Catalog.

And so that the recipient can make the Banana Bread themselves, I stamped a Recipe Card using the set From the Kitchen of (pg 126) to give to them too – I matted it onto a mat that I made using the Scallop Trim Border & Scallop Trim Corner Punches – you can find the corner punch in the Occasions Mini and you can get the Border punch FOR FREE in the Sale-a-bration catalog – how cool is that? You can write the recipe onto the card using a co-ordinating Stampin Write Marker…

That Banana Bread/Cake is sooo yummy – would you like the recipe?  Here it is…courtesy of my fabulous friend Jennie:

2 cups all purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
¼ cup softened butter
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
1/3 cup plain low fat yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine flour, baking soda & salt in a bowl.
3. In another bowl, beat sugar & butter at medium speed until well blended, then add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
3. Add banana, yogurt and vanilla and beat until well blended.
4. Add in flour mixture and beat at low speed just until moist.
5. Spoon batter into a 2 lb or 8 ½” x 4 ½” greased loaf pan
6. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in centre comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes in pan, then cool completely on a wire rack.  Note – Banana Bread should form a crack down the centre as it bakes.

For my final project, I decided to use these stamps for reasons other than the moving house theme and made a general occasion card that you can give to anyone, anytime…

The card base is Chocolate Chip onto which is layered a piece of paper from my free Welcome Neighbor DSP Stack – I trimmed the bottom edge using my fabulous  free Scallop Trim Border Punch.  I stamped my house scene with the aid of my Stamp-a-majig onto Whisper White cardstock and adhered it to my card. For my  sentiment I took a rub-on from Chit Chat Rub-ons that you can find on pg 177 of the main catalog (LOVE that pack – it has 2 sheets of sentiments covering all occasions and is fab value for money!) and then added a little embellishment that I made using a tree stamp to the side.

Finally I tied around a piece of Chocolate Chip  Satin Ribbon from the Occasions Mini Catalog and secured with a knot in front – voila – a cute and elegant all-occasion card…

And they are my project details…I hope you enjoyed them…if you have any questions  please Contact Me and I will be very happy to help.

And finally the winner of my Blog Candy…it is comment no. 36 – congratulations PATRICIA HOFFMAN!  She said:

“All of your projects are great! I really like the Just Saying Hello Card. The We’ve Moved Card is super cute too and who wouldn’t love to receive some of that yummy Banana Bread with the pretty decorated pan? You are very creative. I have been following your Blog, although I don’t comment often. I know I should do a better job of it. Thanks for the generous offer of the Blog Candy, and I can’t wait for that receipe. You’ve put me in the mood for some banana bread. Lol.  Trish in Wisconsin”

Congratulations Trish – I’ll be emailing you shortly…

Thank you so much for visiting me – if you would like to be notified automatically every time I post to my blog you can  find a link to subscribe in my sidebar to the right – have a fab Tuesday!

I’ve been wanting to make some of these for a while, so yesterday when I was in a home improvement store I picked up a stack of tumbled travertine tiles to play with…and look how they turned out…

What fun they are to make…and what a wonderful gift to give…by simply stacking 4 of them and adding some beautitful Satin Ribbon* you can package them up and they are ready to give…and oh so cost effective – the tiles cost just 50c each!

I used my Medallion stamp that you can find on pg 133 and Stazon Ink – I took my tiles and washed them to get rid of any loose dust.  Once completely dry, I stamped my image and then placed the tiles in a 350F oven for 15 minutes to heat set the ink…

Once your tile is cool simply apply some cork or felt ‘feet’ to the back to avoid scratching your furniture – I have a photo of the back of the tile in my gallery which you can find to the right.   If you use a waterproof ink such as Stazon then you are done – it is that easy!

If you use other inks or pastels to color in an image then after heat setting your tile you will need to use a sealer to protect your image.  Other stamps to try that would look fabulous on these tiles are the background stamps found on pg 134 – I think Tres Chic, En Francais and Bella Toile would give fabulous results.

You can find different tile types to suit your style – I love these tumbled travertine tiles as they are absorbant and have a very rustic look – you can get some other types of natural stone tiles that are smoother and will give you a more elegant smooth finish.

RIGHT NOW SALE-A-BRATION IS GOING ON – this means you get a free product for every $50 you spend – if you were to buy the Medallion stamp ($17.95) plus a Stazon or Craft Ink Pad ($7.50-7.95) as I used above  you would already be halfway to getting your free item!  Click here for more details…

* Nine new colors of the beautiful Satin Ribbons are available in the Occasions Mini Catalog – I also have spots available in a Satin Ribbon Share – please click here to find out more information…

When I saw my girls sitting on the floor working on their homework because of all the clutter on their desk tops, I decided to go in search of a solution…so I popped to a store and picked up a couple of Sterilite 5-drawer units to put underneath their desks and they can put in all their trinkets and work-in-progress works of art and general ’stuff’ to free up space to work on their desk tops…and those units were such a bargain at just $10 each…

So I brought the units home but they struck me as being very dull and I realised all the clutter would be seen through the draw fronts…hmmm…I got to thinking about how to pretty them up…my solution…I got out my gorgeous Sweet Pea Designer Series Papers and got to work…the girls were absolutely delighted to find them when they got home from school…

I simply trimmed the sheets of paper to fit inside each drawer front and adhered them in place using Mini Glue Dots to provide a secure but invisible way to fix them in there.  On the drawers where I used a plain pattered paper I attached some felt embellies from Sweet Pea Stitched Felt – I adhered them using Sticky Strip which works really well at holding them in place…they turned out so cute that I am going to get some more to decorate for storage in my crafting space…

They provide a very affordable and cute storage solution and it was such a fun, quick and easy way to pretty them up…you can find a larger view of the photo above and close-up photos of each unit that you can see in my Gallery by clicking here – you will find them in the Occasions Mini gallery.

You can find the Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper Stack and co-ordinating Sweet Pea Stitched Felt embellishments in the Occasions Mini Catalog on pgs 32 & 33 – view the online catalog by clicking here – and there is also a brand new instant Digital Download for My Digital Studio for these items which you can find out about by clicking here

The papers are just gorgeous and a real bargain at just $24.95 for a stack of 48 sheets – when y0u purchase those papers now you are already half way to getting your free item from the Sale-a-bration Catalog – for each $50 you spend you get to choose one free item – how great is that?

You might not have seen it tucked away on pg 28 of the Occasions Mini Catalog but Tiny Tags is one of my favorite sets in this catalog…it contains 10 sentiment stamps and there is something for all of the major happenings in a year and it also has some beautiful floral, filigree and tag stamps too…click HERE to view the Occasions Mini online…

And don’t forget right now during Sale-a-bration you get FREE stamps…for every $50 you spend on any products you get to choose 1 FREE item from the Sale-a-bration Catalog – you get to choose from a list of 81 stamp sets, 1 border punch and 1 stack of papers!!!  Spend $100 and choose 2 items…spend $150 and choose 3 + hostess benefits…and so on…  Click HERE for more details about this wonderful promotion.

You can use the stamps from Tiny Tags to create beautiful embellishments for cards and they are just perfectly sized for using on gift tags and mini notecards as you can see below…and check out my Gallery to the right where you will find close-ups of each notecard & envelope…

I used the Bitty Box & Envelope Bigz XL Die to make the envelopes out of In Color cardstocks – simply die cut them out and fold along the score lines – some of them are also textured which I did by running them through the Big Shot using the new Perfect Polka-Dot embossing folder which is on pg 35 of the Occasions Mini and some of them have stamped images on them using In Color inks and Versamark Ink…

The notecards are cut from Whisper White and Very Vanilla Cardstocks and are sized at 2 1/8″ square.  Onto each is stamped a little image in the corner using stamps from Tiny Tags…I then stamped co-ordinating images and punched them out using the Medium Jewelry Tag Punch which you can find on pg 11 of the Occasions Mini and made a hole in the top of each using my Paper Piercing Tool.

To assemble – write on your notecard and place inside an envelope.  Wrap a piece of In Color ribbon around and tie a knot in the front.  Put a piece of Linen Thread through the hole in the tag that you made and tie onto the ribbon knot – and there you have some very cute and fun to make gift tags or mini notecards…

Click HERE which will take you to my brand new Gallery where you will find close-ups of all my notecards & envelopes – you will find a permanent link to it at the top of my sidebar on the right – I am adding to it daily so be sure to check back!