Today is the last day of school before Easter – how did April come around so fast?!   And so last night I decided to make some treats for my girls’ teachers…I had seen a few bunny treat holders and decided to make my own with the supplies that I had to hand…

Aren’t they cute?  And oh so easy to make…please excuse the quality of the photo as I had to take it before they left for school this morning and it was very dark!

I made the box using my Big Shot and Fancy Favor Bigz XL Die with a piece of Kraft cardstock – you will need to use 12×12 papers with this size of die.   I used Sticky Strip to assemble the boxes as you want a really strong adhesive to hold it together.

The bunny face was made using my Scallop Circle #2 Die and for the eyes I used my 1″ and 1/2″ Circle Punches and attached them using Dimensionals.  For the whiskers I cut thin strips of cardstock and for the nose I punched out a 1/2″ Circle and attached a cute pink heart on a Dimensional – this heart I punched out of Pretty in Pink cardstock using my Heart to Heart Punch.

The ears and feet are made using the Wide Oval Punch – I used the Large Oval Punch to make the inner part of the ears and for the feet I used my 1″ and 1/4″ Circle Punches – Mini Glue Dots are the perfect thing to use to adhere all the little punched out pieces of cardstock and they make assembly very quick and easy.

Finally I added a cute Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon Bow to the ears and filled the boxes with various delicious candies – Hershey’s Bliss Hearts, Raspberry Kisses and of course Easter Eggs on the top…I hope the teachers like em…

The Dies that I used can be found on pgs 199-200 and the Punches can be found on pgs 186-187 of the Idea Book & Catalog.

Stampin’ Up! have a brand new Sneak Peak promotion for April – it is the TWO-STEP INTO SPRING promotion where you get the chance to purchase the brand new stamp set Awash with Flowers that will appear in the new Catalog to be released in the summer AND you also get the chance to get this set for FREE with your qualifying order…

ADDITIONALLY you get 20% off of selected two-step Spring themed stamp sets during April…for more information please click HERE

It is really feeling like Spring here in Central Texas and when I came across my Bloomin’ Beautiful stamp set a couple of days ago I just had to use it…

This set features a jar of beautiful flowers and you can find it on pg 98 of the catalog…I love it because if you are a beginner at coloring in images or learning to watercolor this is the set for you – it is so easy to create a beautiful card using it and is very forgiving…

I stamped the image onto a piece of Watercolor Paper (pg 158) and colored it in using my Watercolor Crayons and Blender Pen…I cut out the jar and adhered it to a piece of  Confetti White and then cut out the flowers and attached them using Dimensionals to give a 3-D effect…I ran the edge of my Paper Snips along each side to distress the edges…

Notice the cute scalloped border? I used the Scallop Trim Border Punch to create this…and that sentiment stamp is from the set Teeny Tiny Wishes which I just LOVE – it has become my go-to set as it has sentiments for every occasion and you can find it on pg 145 of the Catalog – it is just fabulous value for money…

I love this cute overalls cards…and it is so easy to make…and just by using Bashful Blue or Pretty in Pink you could turn this design into a baby card…or use bright primary colors for a toddler birthday card…it’s one of those cards where the possibilities just go on and on…

Whisper White is the cardbase onto which are stamped little flowers using Lovely Lilac ink.  A slit was cut down and the two sides folded back to create a collar.  Onto the base are layered pieces of crimped Basic Black cardstock – crimping is so easy to do and so very effective – you can find the fabulous Crimping Tool on pg 188 which makes this a very easy effect to create.  Vickie then used a white pen to add the faux stitching and added buttons from Button Latte (pg 181).

The pocket is stamped using Whisper White Ink and a retired stamp from the set Pocket Fun – however you could use a similar pocket stamp featured in the currently available Made 2 Last stamp set  on pg 87.  The flower in the center is from the Pretties Kit (pg 178) that is dyed using Lovely Lilac Ink – a brad in the center, a sentiment and eyelets on the pocket finish it off…what a sweet card…

I have camping on the brain as we are going on a trip soon and I needed to make a card yesterday for my Monthly Swap Group and couldn’t resist making this one…the stamps are from the set Under the Stars and are sooo cute…

I love how the bear looks like he is coming right out of the tent…I also love to stamp onto Designer Series Papers which is yet another way to use up those scraps you have leftover – this gives a fab effect that you can see with the sleeping bags and it also saves coloring in images – the yellow paper is from Jackpot, the green is from Flock Together and can you see where the pink polka dot paper is from?

I hate to waste anything and I salvaged this paper from my pack of Love Bots featured in the Occasions Mini – this paper was  leftover after I pushed out the die cut boxes and I just couldn’t throw it away as I knew it would come in useful for something…

The trees in the background use a stamp from the set Lovely as a Tree – to make the ‘dirt’ I took a piece of Creamy Caramel cardstock and used my Color Spritzer Tool (pg 192) and Creamy Caramel Marker on it to make a speckled effect to resemble dirt – this tool is so easy to use and gives a fab effect – I then tore the top edge and adhered it to the base.

I wanted to make a 3-d tent so figured out my template and cut it out of a piece of Kraft cardstock – I scored 4 lines and folded to make the tent flaps. I attached eyelets onto those flaps and tied through a piece of Linen Thread. I then painted and cut to size some cocktail sticks and tied the other end of thread around them to make tent pegs – I glued these onto the card base using Tombow Multi-purpose Glue. I adhered the tent to the base using tape and Dimensionals under the flaps.

To make my bear appear like he is popping out of the tent,  I used Mini Glue Dots to secure his lower body and arms and a Dimensional under his head – I love this look…

Didn’t it turn out cute?  I hope the ladies like him…

Back from Spring Break and what a fun week we had…it is really beginning to feel like Spring here in central Texas which makes me think of the upcoming blooming flowers, and so I dug out my pack of Cottage Wall DSP which has some beautiful floral themes in it…

Only to find that I don’t have alot of this beautiful paper left…so I decided to find a way to use up these scraps to create a card and this is what I came up with…

This card is so very simple and adaptable to any scraps that you have around and suitable for any occasion just by changing the sentiment – to help you easily find sets with sentiments in them, you can use StampSearch which you can find by clicking HERE – simply type ‘sentiment’ into the search box and click ‘Go’ – it’s as easy as that!  I used a sentiment stamp from Whimsical Words which I got for free* as it is featured in the Sale-a-bration Catalog.

My card uses the colors Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive and Whisper White – I simply punched out circles of DSP using my 1 1/4″ Circle Punch and layered them onto co-ordinating circles that I cut using my 1 3/8″ Circle Punch.  I adhered them and attached one of them using Dimensionals to give a bit of an impact.  I finally added a piece of Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot Ribbon and a little bit of 1/4″ Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon and there you have a very simple card that is a great way to use up those scraps of patterned papers that you have lying around…

Here is a wonderful way to use up all those scraps of Designer Series Papers that you end up with…instead of throwing them away you can use them to create beautiful cards using a very simple technique that uses the Top Note Die…

I had a bunch of scraps left from my Sending Love Specialty pack – nothing big enough to use on a page or card front – just lots of strips. Sooo I got out my square punch, my scraps and my Top Note Die and got to work on this impressive to look at but super easy and fun to make card…and I have a Big Shot Special Offer where you can get this die for free and a link to a printable tutorial too…please read on for details…

I used Real Red for my card base and onto this I layered a piece of Chocolate Chip – like the pattern?  I very quickly dry embossed my cardstock by running it though my Big Shot in the textured impressions folder Petals-A-Plenty* which gives a very cool textured look to any card…

Onto the fun quilting part…these are all of my  scraps of Sending Love Specialty DSP…you really would think there is nothing you can do with them, wouldn’t you?

Well, I got out my 1 1/4″ Square Punch and punched out 12 squares from the papers – I then took a piece of scrap cardstock measuring 5″ x 3 3/4″ and adhered the scraps to it – you can use Sticky Strip, Snail or glue – just be sure that all squares are very firmly attached.

Next take your Top Note Die and lay your cardstock on it making sure that the squares are face down – this way you will get the the full impression of the stitching on the edge of the Top Note die on your patterned papers:

Run it through the Big Shot and this is what comes out:

Isn’t it cool?  I attached a piece of Real Red Satin Ribbon to it and adhered to the card base using Dimensionals.  Finally I stamped my sentiment from the set Oval All (pg 125) and attached it to a Scalloped Oval – I added a button from Button Latte finished with some Linen Thread and adhered to the card…

And there you have a very beautiful and elegant way to use up all those scraps that otherwise end up in a drawer or the trash…

During Sale-a-bration as well as all the freebies you could get the Bigz Top Note Die for FREE – find out more details by clicking HERE

Want a printable version of this tutorial?  Please click here to get your copy.

* The Petals-a-Plenty Textured Impressions Folder was featured in the Holiday Mini - although that mini has retired, this embossing folder is still available for purchase along with select other items – please click HERE for order codes and to see what is still available for purchase.

I am incredibly lucky to be part of a monthly swap group full of extremely talented ladies and each month one card is chosen as the best card and this month’s card was so beautiful that I just have to share it with you…it would make a fabulous Mothers Day card…

This card was made by Stephanie Schultz and features stamps from the  set Friends 24/7 and the wheel Friendly Words…to find details of these stamps including location in the catalog, prices and images please click HERE – this will take you to my brand new StampSearch feature where you can search for the title of a stamp set you are looking for OR you can search for a keyword such as ‘friend’ – StampSearch will then show you your stamp set or all of the available stamp sets containing the keyword you are looking for – for each item it will show you the image, price and where you can find it in the catalog – give it a try – it is fab!

Don’t you just love this card?  Stephanie used the colors Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry which work so well together.  To make the background she masked the center diamond shape which you can do simply with a piece of scrap paper and used the Friendly Words Jumbo Wheel and Rich Razzleberry ink and then used the flourish stamp from Friends 24/7 and Old Olive ink to stamp over it. She distressed the edges which you can do simply by running your scissors down the sides of the cardstock.

She stamped the center flower stamp using waterproof ink such as Stazon Black (pg 190) and color the image using Stampin Write Markers – you could also use Pastels or Watercolor Crayons and Blender Pens or an Aquapainter to achieve a more subtle look.

The ribbon is In Color Polka Dot ribbon that you can find on pg 182 and the piece of patterned paper is from the Cottage Wall pack on pg 160 – and she also added on a couple of little green rhinestones for a finishing touch…isn’t it beautiful?

My girls LOVE looking at photographs of things we have done and I wanted a way to move away from giving each of them a traditional scrapbook and to create pages that they can choose from to display one at a time in their bedrooms…hmmm…how to do that…

On my travels the other day I ventured into a national craft store and came across something perfect for the job – it is a metal L shaped memo holder where the girls can store all the pages in the back part and choose one at a time to display on the front, using magnets to hold the page in place.

I covered the front of the memo holder with Textured Very Vanilla cardstock and used my corner rounder on the top two edges – the memo holder is a bold pink color and I decided to cover it with a neutral color so that regardless of their color, all pages would look good against this backdrop.

I created 20 pages in total and they are sized 6×6 – you can use page protectors to cover them if you wish to do so, and they store perfectly in the back section – I choose this route because my girls are 7 and by storing them this way, they can easily access and change them whenever they want to.  If you are making this for an older child or relative you could store them in a 6×6 scrapbook album and they can remove each page as wished.

The page is attached to the front using magnets that I picked up from a national big box store – I used my 1″ Circle Punch to punch out pieces of Designer Series Papers to decorate the magnets which is a great little finishing touch.  I also used an On Board Chipboard Letter and applied glitter and a piece of Linen Thread so that they can hang their initial from one of the magnets – my girls love shiny, sparkly bling!

I made a bunch of pages of memories that they just love to look at…the page shown above & the magnets are made using papers from the Sweet Pea Stack that you can find on pg 33 of the Occasions Mini Catalog…the felt flower is from Sweet Pea Stitched Felt on pg 32…the scalloped border was made using the Scallop Trim Border Punch that you can get for FREE right now as it is featured in the Sale-a-bration catalog…and I used rub-ons for the wording…

Working with a 6×6 size is fun – you get 4 pages out of each 12×12 sheet of Designer Series Paper making it a very economical way to produce scrapbook pages…you also get very fast results because they are small and the photo is the main focus of each page which gives you little room for lots of embellishments – your pages turn out simple and easy to look at which is perfect for kids.

Today I wanted to show you a card I made for my monthly swap group…the theme this month is to produce something floral and this is what I came up with…

I used the Scallop Trim Border Punch and a stamp from the set Thankful Thinking that you can find on pg 173 – you can get both of these items for free during Sale-a-bration…

I took a piece of Perfect Plum cardstock and used my Corner Rounder punch to round two of the corners.  I then took 3 stamps from the set Define Your Life (pg  150) and stamped them using Perfect Plum ink onto it – I used the phrases Gratitude, Kindness and You.  I  wanted a swirl so I took a stamp from Priceless (pg 130) and stamped it using the same ink on one side.  I then took a piece of Very Vanilla and edged one side using the Scallop Trim Border Punch and adhered it and my purple layer to the card base of  Old Olive.

Next I stamped my sentiment from Thankful Thinking onto Very Vanilla cardstock using Perfect Plum ink and if you look closely, you will see a swirl stamped underneath the Thanks – I inked my stamp up with Pale Plum ink and stamped it once onto a piece of scrap paper and then I stamped it again onto the cardstock  – this produces a very subtle background which is great for stamping over using a stronger color.

The flowers…well, they are on the Baskets & Blooms Bigz Die – once I die cut them I whizzed them back through the Big Shot in the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder (pg 35 of the Occasions Mini) to give them some texture.  In the center of each I placed a Clear Button (pg 181) through which I threaded a piece of Linen Thread (pg 183) and to finish them off I attached some leaves which were super easy to make – I simply punched out a flower from Old Olive cardstock using my 5-Petal Punch (pg 186) and cut each petal out to turn it into a leaf – I distressed the edges of the leaves using my scissors and attached each with a Mini Glue Dot onto the back of the flowers.

I bought quite a few packs of those cute Heart Treat Cups last month and used them to make some cute Valentine treats…but this morning I realised that I have alot left over…hmmm…what to do with them?

Those hearts kind of look like flower petals too…that got me to thinking…instead of putting them away in the closet, with St Patricks Day just around the corner (March 17th) I decided to see if I could use them to make a sweet little something perfect for the occasion…so I dug out some green M&M’s and got to work on making a little shamrock treat…

What do you think?  It was fun to make – I used the Full Heart Punch (pg 186) to punch out heart shapes from Garden Green cardstock – I used a Heart Treat cup as a template and placed it into the punched out shape and drew around the edge of it – I then cut it out to create a border to stick on the top rim of each cup.  I then used a cup again as a template to draw around, to create a back piece for each:

I assembled each – attached the border to the top rim using Mini Glue Dots, filling each cup with green M&M’s and then attached the back piece – I took a piece of Designer Series Paper from the pack Flock Together (pg 162) – and adhered them onto it – for easy removal, I attached them using a piece of removable double sided tape…this way, the recipient can take them off to access the candy without causing damage to the card base – and they can then replace them back onto the card if wished.

The stem?  I wanted to use a piece of green ric rac ribbon but since I had none to hand, I got a similar effect by using a piece of Garden Green cardstock and the Scallop Edge punch – simply cut a piece of cardstock to 1″ wide – punch along one edge and then punch along the other edge, but on the second edge start offset, half way down a scallop to achieve a ric rac effect:

I attached the stem to the card using Mini Glue Dots and adhered a button in the center of the shamrock, threading through some Linen Thread for a finishing touch.  I attached a piece of Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon from the Occasions Mini and stamped my sentiment from the set Teeny Tiny Wishes (pg 145) and punched it out using the Modern Label Punch (pg 186) – I added a little Green Micro Bead (pg 180) to each end and attached the tag using Dimensionals.

Finally I layered this top layer onto a piece of Very Vanilla using Dimensionals – I used my Ticket Corner Punch to trim the edges of that piece for a neat effect – and then I layered this onto the card base of Chocolate Chip.  And there is a yummy treat perfect for St Patricks Day – I’m making some more for my girls and their teachers…I hope they like ‘em!