What a marathon crafting session this week turned into! Long story short … (no, not my "style" but no time to ramble on! On Saturday I agreed to make 100 wedding invitations for my neighbours Nanny. Seemed simple enough … until we established we needed them done in 4 DAYS! Ack! I started cutting paper Sunday … it was all systems go staring Monday … and I have send 12 hours a day for the last 3 days making them … finishing last night at 1:30 am!!! I can't REMEMBER the last time I stayed up until 1:30 am!!! Somewhere around 12:20 am … when I had searing pain in my back (seriously 0 felt like a hot poker was being stuck into me!) I thought "perhaps" I bit off a bit more than I could chew! *lol*
Whatevs. I'm not known for my common sense! I got 'er done … well … mostly … today I still need to custom make 20 envelopes … THEN I can start getting excited for our holiday on Saturday. Yes - off to Hawaii … no - I haven't started ANYTHING towards packing or prepping. I still need to get US $$, do laundry etc etc etc .. (and place two orders!). Meh - I'll sleep on the plane! *lol*. So thought I'd do a quick share of the invites … and some figures I crunched whist crafting … alone … for 36 hours …
Here are some figures of what was involved …
Packs of white paper used - 8
Pieces of blue paper used - 33
Number of "layer pieces" needed - 1,030
Number of times I "punched" the scallop punch - 1,030
Number of times I cut paper - 4,120
Rhinestones used - 927
Rolls of double sided tape used - 5
Rolls of "Fast Fuse" tape used - 2
Rolls of "Tear Tape" used - 1
Number of back pills needed - 8
Number of ice packs needed - lost count! lol
That's a LOT of paper … and a LOT of work. Next time I may want to think things through a little more before saying "yes"!
Right! Those envelopes won't make themselves! Have yourself a stampy day!!
Hope you had a relaxing day off today! We did. We originally PLANNED to go somewhere and do something but … well … we were all just happily putzing around and nothing "worth writing home about" needed up happening.
I managed to purge and organize the final room in the house - Rebecca's room. Yes, I finally got around to sorting the tops of the kids' closets. Oh sure … I've been very diligent in storing their school work in 12" x 12" craft keepers - labelled with their name and year, of course … but I decided they didn't need to stay in their closets any more. Their rooms are small and closet space is valuable real estate … so they got shifted to the basement … to the cupboard I purged LAST weekend. (don't I live a glamorous,m exciting life? *lol*). It felt REALLY good to get through the last little bit of purging done. We are having a garage sale Thursday, Friday and Saturday and the goal was to go through EVERYTHING in the house to decide if it goes or stays. Well … mission accomplished. EVERY toy in the bonus room, every drawer, closet and bucket.
The girls spent the afternoon making the Garage Sale Signs and I spent some time on my Project Life album. We're about to fire up a family movie shortly so I best get on with my actual PROJECT post!
I FINALLY made it down to the Craft Cave Saturday. MAN did that feel great!! Well … to be honest it took a while to get to that point. As almost always happens after I've been away from stamping for a while I sat down … and didn't now where to start. I sat … looked around … sat … perused all my new stamp sets … looked around some more and though "nope - I got nuthin' ". Sigh. Well … as I ALSO often do when this happens … I headed to my stash of yet-to-be-put-together Paper Pumpkin kits. Yes - I hoard these kits for just such creative emergencies! I grabbed the top one … and my favourite … the July 2015 kit. I squealed when i opened this kit when I saw the stamp set. Yes, they are exclusive to the Paper Pumpkin kits. No, you can't buy them. I CAN order "refill" kits - alas, the refill kits don't include the stamp set or ink. The good new is that if there was enough interest I will schedule a class, order the kits for you and then y'all can cmd over here to use my stamp set … and drink some coffee!
Anyway … before I share my projects let's check out the video of what I got in the kit, shall we?
Oh! I guess this would be a great time to mention that if you subscribe to Paper Pumpkin before September 10th you get the first 2 months for 50% OFF. That's $12.50 per month for the first two. Smokin' good deal! Send me a message if you're interest and I'll hook you up!
OK!!!!! Lets move along! First up are the cards I made per the kit …
Key-UTE! So quick and easy … and therapeutic … to put together. All it took was that 45 minutes of ink, paper and rubber to get my creative juices flowing again. I needed some little thanks you cards and couldn't STAND how cute the little cup and "thanks a latte" sentiment were … 20 minutes later I had my card …
Abso-stinkin-lutely LOVE them!!! Really! Love. THEM. EXACTLY the look I was going for!
I started with the Note Cards and Envelopes. Yes, best deal in town for these bad boys. 20 cards and envelopes for … what, $8.00? Something around there, anyway. They are slightly smaller than a standard card (5" x 3 1/2" rather than the standard 5 1/2" x 4 1/4") - just right for a quick little Thank You. I HIGHLY recommend having at LEAST 3 packs of these in your stash at any one time!!
I used a 4 1/4" x 1 1/2" strip of Crumb Cake card stock and ran it through my (retired) crimper to get the corrugated layer (to mimic the cardboard cup wrappers you get at coffee shops). Nothing goes better with Early Espresso Ink than Cherry Cobbler … so I grabbed a 1" x 5" strip and my new Triple Flag Punch to make a perfect dove-tail end. FYI - when you use the inch you lose a lot of card stock. I STARTED with a 5" strip but after punching it you end up with a 4 1/2" strip. In my experimenting with this punch you lose less and less length as you increase the strip size. What?? What do I mean? So with the 1" strip width you lose 1/2" in length … with the 1 1/2" width I believe you only lose 1/4" in length and with the 2" width you only lose a bit … or something like that … I'd have to experiment again for exact measurements but just know that you need to start off with more length than you want to end up with. Clear is mud? Ya. Thought so. Moving on …
I punched out a 2 1/2" circle, stamped it twist the cup and steam (Early Espresso) and the sentiment (Cherry Cobbler). I also stamped some steam directly on the card base.
I adhered the Crumb Cake strip using the new TEAR TAPE. Verdict? I love it! It was PERFECT for this project. I didn't want to use snail as it would flatten the bumps. Didn't want dimensionals … Tear Tape to the rescue! It was nice not to have to use the old Red Sticky Stip. Aside from being very expensive it was much stronger than I needed and was always a pain to have to cut the tape … and peel off that red top which ALWAYS stuck to my fingers with static *lol*. Oh sure - the Sticky Strip still has a space on my shelf (cause ya KNOW I stocked up when I heard it was being discontinued!!) but in this case the tape was great to have!
I used some Linen Thread to wrap around the Cherry piece twice and tie a knot. I LOVE how it mirrors the waves of the steam. I popped that piece up on dimensionals … did the same with the punched circle piece .. added a rhinestone and Wa-Low! Done and lovin' it!
Thank you Paper Pumpkin for coming to my creative-block-rescue!
Right - gotta start that movie … Craig has to work in the morning! Have a fun evening and a stampy week!
Ho - Lee - COW you guys! I can't WAIT until Tuesday when I can order my new Holiday Catalogue items! I've SEEN the catalogue but can't order until then. Mary Fish attended the Stampin' Up! Convention last week and was able to pre-order some products. Here is her Sneak Peek Video!
I stalk Mary daily - you should too … www.stampinpretty.com
It's going to KILL me that I will get my new products just in time for me to be leaving on holidays - ACK!!! My new toys will be sitting in a box while I'm sitting on a beach! Luckily they won't go bad and I can spend 13 days dreaming up projects to make for the EXTRAVAGANZA EVENT Tamye Dunbar and I are planning for OCtober 17th. You WON'T want to miss it so SAVE THE DATE!
Off to the Queen Elizabeth outdoor pool today to beat the heat with friends. Ahhh summer …
Another kit video. Watercolor Wishes. This is a MUST have kit … but if you want one you better order them soon. Stampin' Up! sold their 13 WEEK supply of these in just TWO weeks! Yup - it's a hot item! Contact me if you'd like to order one!
Another flashback … but this one isn't QUITE as far back as most … this one only goes back to the end of June … so only about 3 weeks behind :)
This is the card I whipped up for Rebecca's Grade 6 "Grad" … of Grade 6 Farewell, as it was formally called ...
Perfect! As usual I left it until the night before to even THINK about making her a card. Luckily this one took all of about 3 minutes to put together!
I sued the very first stamp set ever bought - I THINK it's called Year After Year. Lots of great images that cover a gamete of occasions … Graduatin being one of them. I stamped the cap in Versamark and embossed it with black embossing powder. I added a red Candy Dot in the middle. The sentiment is also embossed in black … the name of the stamp set escapes me (and I'm WAY to comfortable to rotate my arse from the couch to the basement to check). I don't THINK it retired … I know their are four sentiments in the set … whatever … if you lose sleep over trying to figure out which set it is call me … I'll find out *lol*
It was a great little farewell ceremony. I got a great pick of my "baby". *Sigh*
Another flashback project today. This one was made for Rebecca's birthday … back in APRIL! *lol*
These were her birthday invitations …
They were JUST what we needed. Quick and cute! They were made with one of the Paper Pumpkin kits that arrive on my doorstep every month. I LOVE these kits! Everything you need to make the "mystery project" are in the box. $24.95 a month gets me a project that I can complete in about an hour. No cutting, not fuss, no mess - just a fun project to "get 'er done" and relax.
Want to receive a surprise project in the mail every month too? Drop me a line and I'll hook you up. It's a subscription dealeo … and you can cancel or suspend it any time. I highly recommend them. I just got this months' kit yesterday and I actually squealed when I opened it. LOVE the little stamp set that was included. Stay tuned for THAT little cutie soon!
Nothing says "a Friday in July" quite like an Easter project *lol*. Ya, ya … I should have posted this in March … just think of it as being ahead for next year!
I can't take any credit for these little cuties. I found them all over Pinterest … but my main CASE came from fellow demonstrator Dee Slater ...
So. Stinkin' Cute!
Dee was kind enough to post very specific instructions, materials and method to make these little gems. Figured I'd CASE that too rather than re-invent the wheel! Thanks you so much, Dee, for sharing your project and instructions! The girls and I made about 10 of these for grandmas and friends for Easter. I really should hold a class next year. SO cute! It uses Stampin' UP!'s Fry Box Bigz Die 132966 and a little punch art for the face. 2013-2015 In Colors Backgrounds Designer Series Paper Stacks 1310136 used to make the box. The stack comes with 40 sheets - 4 each of double-sided designs in 5 colors. Baked Brown Sugar used in our example!
Bunny Fry Box
The Fry Box assembles so quickly! It stands ~3-3/4" tall (back) and is ~ 1-1/4" wide. It's smaller than a fast food fry box - more petite and a great gift-giving size!
Bunny Fry Box Side ViewThe Designer Paper is light weight so you'll want to be careful not to overload. If you need a sturdy treat container, sub out the designer paper for card stock :)
Punches:
Ears - Extra Large Oval 119859, Large Oval 119855 Eyes - 3/4" Circle 120906, 1/2" Circle 119869 Cheeks/Mussel - 1" Circle Punch, Heart from Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack 133787
Other Materials:
White Bakers Twine 124262 Stampin' Write Black Marker 100082 Strawberry Slush Ink Pad 131178 Sponge Dauber 133773 Multipurpose Liquid Glue 110755 (Tombo) Stampin' Dimensional 104430
General Instructions:
Punch face and ear parts. Ink around edges with sponge dauber and Strawberry Slush. Make 3 dots on 1" circle and use top of dauber to make pink on cheeks. Adhere bakers twine to back of cheek circles. Assemble as shown using dimensionals (foam dots) to pop up the cheeks. FINALLY a cold, miserably, rainy day in Edmonton. I'm in the middle of purging / rearranging our Bonus Room. PERFECT day to make some progress … and maybe a *little* time for crafting! Whatever you get up to today I hope you have a stampy day! Tam
