Here it is Saturday night, and I’m finally in the studio.  I had an idea for a gift tin, and wanted to see if I could make it work.  Some time ago I picked up a couple of the metal (altoid) tins at Archivers when they were on sale.  I thought I would use them business cards, but they are just the teeniest bit smaller than a business card.  However, they would be perfect for a gift card or money (everyone’s favorite gift)!

I was playing with snowflakes earlier in the week, and had an extra that I wanted to use an embellishment on the tin.  I found some Graphic 45 paper I thought matched and decided to cover one of the tins. 

I found an image that looked snowy and covered it with Ranger Cracked Accents.  The flip side of the paper used to cover the tin was die cut/embossed with Spellbinders™ Curved Rectangles Mega Nesties.  For the fun of it and for some added dimension, I die cut/embossed a portion of a frame using the same Nesties™.

Here’s a close-up of the snowflakes and the image.  I love the effect of the Crackle Accent and of course you know I can never find enough uses for the Vintage Glass Glitter.

You’ll be able to see more about these snowflakes on Wednesday.

• Paper:  Prism Baby Blue Light; Graphic 45 Christmas Past Collection – The Night Before Christmas and Jolly Old St. Nicholas
• Ink:  Ranger Old Paper Distress; Papertrey perfect match Fresh Snow
• Accessories:  Spellbinders™ S5-006 Curved Mega Rectangles and S4-222 Create A Flake One; Tsukineko Sponge Daubers; Crafting Wire; Papertrey Vintage Buttons and Rustic Cream Button Twine; Ranger Glossy, Matte and Crackle Accents; Art Institute Krystallos Vintage Glass Glitter

I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend, and thanks for stopping by.

WOW . . . it’s !  Where is this week going?  Okay so maybe I don’t remember what I did during the first few days of the week . . .

Before I get started on my project for today, let me answer a few questions about the products I use.  I get my May Arts Ribbon from Sharon Johnson’s store, Stamp Simply Ribbon.  She told me last night if she doesn’t stock what you are looking for, she will special order!  All the Ranger product I use, including both T!m and Wendy’s stamps, can be found at eclectic Paperie.  Joy and Daisy are fabulous and so very helpful.  Everything is stocked and they have a quick turn around time.

Now I have a question for you!  Paper?  What do you use?  I have both SU and Prism and know that I won’t be purchasing any more SU.  That leaves the Prism which I find matches BasicGrey DP fabulously, but it is rather flimsy for a card base.  If you use Prism, where do you purchase it?  I’m seriously thinking of switching over to Papertrey.  If you use the paper from Papertrey what do you think about it?

Now that all that is over with, questions answered and if I forgot any that you’ve asked, please let me know.   I try to answer each individual email you send, but sometimes it’s not always possible to get to them as quickly as I would like and then I forget to answer.

Now!  How many of you love the movie Hook?  It’s one of my favorites!  You know how there are certain scenes in movies that you always think of.  Like in the Color Purple, I will sit and watch the entire movie just to see Shug Avery walk her stuff down the road to the church, singing God’s Trying to Tell you Something.  I LOVE that scene!  In Hook, it’s the boo box!  When Glenn Close is placed in the boo box and the look on her face  . . . well it just slays me every time!  So, since it’s that time of the year for Halloween (which is one of my faves to decorate for), I’ve made a Boo Box!

I bought a candle not too long ago that was in this fabulously sturdy box and the lid slides down inside.  I kept the box thinking it would come in handy at some time or another.  While I was making Halloween cards, and thinking about the girls, I decided that treat boxes might be in order.  It will be so easy to slide some the girls fave chocolate in this box!

I had one sheet of Lollipop Lizzy DP and used that covered the box.  All the edges were sponged with Black Soot Distress Ink.  I circled the box with a purple band and tied some ribbon.  I love watching ribbon melt, and used my candle lighter to melt the ribbon to give it a spookier look.  The boo label was die cut/embossed using Spellbinders oval nestabilities.  Since the paper had little skulls on it, I found a small grunge board skull, painted it white and then covered it with Rock Candy stickles.  Way too much fun!

• Stamps:  Just Between Fiends
• Paper:  Hallowhimsy – Lollipop Lizzy from imaginisce; White and Black
• Ink:  Ranger Archival Jet Black and Black Soot Distress
• Accessories:  Ranger White Paint Dabber; Spellbinders S4-141 Petite Scalloped Ovals – Small, and S4-138 Petite Ovals – Large; Tsukineko Sponge Daubers; Tim Holtz idea-ology Elements Grunge Board; May Arts Ribbon and twine; Scalloped Border Punch; Buttons; Candle Lighter; Foam Tape

Oh my gosh, I’m done and it’s time to start my day!  It’s not like I didn’t get up at 4:30 this morning.   I’ve already folded one load of laundry, put in another, written this post, and took the photos.  Anyhoo, have a fantastic day and thanks for stopping in!

Happy Monday!  I’ve got to tell ya, it’s already been a very busy morning around my house.  Even though it’s quiet, it has been busy!  I can hardly believe that I’ve already had a shower, dressed for the day and have been in the studio already.  Yes, I might have a fever!!!!

After I caught up on emails and my blurfing this morning, I checked out the Technique Lovers Challenge on Splitcoaststampers.  It’s such a great challenge today!  If you find yourself giving gift cards during the holidays, this is one you need to check out.  The challenge is to make a pop-up gift card holder!  Oh my BADness, they go together so quickly and would also be great if you are giving a bit of cash instead of a gift card.  I myself am a little leery about gift cards this holiday season . . . you never know if the company is going to be in business long enough for the gift card to be redeemed.

I decided to show you both the front,

and the inside.  I made the same design for the inside that I used for the image on the front, so that I could write a personal note.

The holly was colored with Copic Markers and then cut out, so that I could mount them on the sentiment panel.  Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities were used to make both the image panel and the one on the inside.

• Stamps: KK Originals Christmas:  Holly SKU:21-07 KK and Rubbernecker Winter Holiday:  Christmas Script SKU:255-04 from Rubbernecker Stamp Company
• Paper: BasicGrey Fruitcake; SU Very Vanilla and Riding Hood Red
• Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black; Ranger Vintage Photo Distress; and SU Riding Hood Red
• Accessories: Copic Markers; Spellbinders Classic Circle Nestabilities; Tsukineko Sponge Dauber; Venture Foam Tape; Ribbon; Ticket Corner Punch; Ranger Inkssentials White Opaque Pen

Have a great day everyone!  I might break down and give these stinky dogs a bath – remember I said “might.”

Happy Monday ya’ll! I hope you had a great weekend and look forward to stamping fun this week! I actually finished my holiday decorating yesterday and now this place looks more like Christmas. I’ll share photos later, I know Mallory is probably interested on what I’ve done this year! There is a garland or two Mal, so don’t worry!

FYI - I’ve been asked about my distressing and sponging, again! What I’ve decided to do, is show you what I do here on my blog. I need someone here to help me with photos first, but hopefully in the next day or two I can talk my sister and/or Kate to give me a hand.

Let’s move onto today’s stamping. What a fab Try a New Technique Challenge on Splitcoast today - Paper Piecing a Gift Card. I’ve only done this technique maybe once before, so I couldn’t wait to try it again. For a gift card, the only thing I could think of today was a stocking. For years now at Christmas, by parents (now my mom), pass out little red stockings to each of us. Those little red stockings are the highlights of the year – we really love receiving what is inside! My sister has had the same stocking for years – she put her initials on it with glitter – can’t miss which one is hers.

Anyhoo, I had the perfect image to use today. The larger stocking from Rubbernecker Stamps. I stamped the image once on buff cardstock, and then on a piece of Daisyd’s Snowflakes & Holly paper. I trimmed both images out, but only the stocking part of the designer paper (which I sponged the edges of with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink). The DP was then sewn to the trimmed image of the buff stocking at the heel and toe. To make the gift card pocket, I traced the stocking image on another piece of buff cardstock, and then painted outside the traced area with Distress Crackle Paint. Once the crackle paint was dry and starting to crack (which I sped along the process with a heat gun), the stocking was sewn to the background layer. The stocking was sewn leaving the top open so that there was a pocket to either put in money or a gift card.

This top panel was attached to another background panel of the Daisyd’s Snowflake and Holly paper. Now when I went to sew this panel, the paper buckled and wrinkled on me. But I liked it, and kept it as it was and did a bit of distress sponging. The lace is some I’ve had in a stash, and thought that it went with the feel of the card. To keep it from being bright white, I sponged some of the distress ink on it. The pocket panel is attached to the background panel with the corner brads (it leaves a little play in the card for what you might be adding inside the stocking). For the stuffing, I tied a bow around a roll of money and tied it off to hang on the outside of the pocket. This way, all you have to do is pull on the ribbon to get to the contents. Once the card was finished, I masked off the area around the top of the stocking, and applied Tulip Puffy Paint. Instead of letting it set for hours to dry, I took the heat gun and went to work. Once again, to achieve more of an aged look, I sponged on a little of the distress ink and reheated the puffy paint.

I was so taken with the look of the crackle paint along with the puffy paint, I had to take a closeup to show you.

Stamps: 53-09 Grand Stocking from Rubbernecker Stamp Company

Paper: Buff; Daisyd’s Snowflakes and Holly

Ink: Adirondack Raisin, Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink

Accessories: Sewing Machine, Tulip Puffy Paint, Tim Holtz Old Paper Distress Crackle Paint, Tsukineko Oblong Sponge Dauber, Brads, Lace

Once again, I decided to post a photo of the products that I’ve used. I get so many questions, I thought this might be helpful to you. Let me know if you like this having this extra information and if it helpful to you. All products in the photo except for the Tulip Puffy Paint are available at Rubbernecker Stamp Company. The Tulip Puffy Paint I found at Meijers on clearance – WOO HOO! The Daisyd’s Snowflakes & Holly Designer Paper used today is from Jacksonbelle Embellishments.

Good Monday Morning! It’s Thanksgiving Week and I go pick up Daughter #2 at school tomorrow. YAHOO! I haven’t seen her since Labor Day. When she was home last, I was in Texas. Of course, she’s been calling 5 to 6 times a day the last week so I think she misses me too! She’s also had some exciting things happening: initiated into Sorority, new schedule for the next semester and has forwarded her Christmas List. Yep, gotta get that shopping list home!

I slept in today. I woke up at 6:00, moved around a bit and then went back to bed. My mother called me at 9:15 and woke me up. Guess I should quit staying up all hours of the night chatting online. By the time I feel tired and get ready for bed, then I have to read for a bit. I always have a book going and read before I fall asleep. I don’t care what time I get to bed, I’ve gotta read at least a few pages. Right now I’m reading another Fern Michaels – The Marriage Game. I have to say this one is keeping me mesmerized. I have just a few chapters left and I don’t have my next book lined up to read. I don’t like that! I normally have a couple of books sitting on the nightstand in order of what I want to read next. Guess I’ll be shopping or dig out something that I’ve tried to read and haven’t been able to yet for one reason or another. Most times, it’s because my head just isn’t in it.

Anyhoo, let’s get to today’s Splitcoast Challenge. I’ve enough I think. Today it’s the Try a New Technique Challenge and we are to make tea bag holders. I love making these little cards, but have never made one to put anything in other than a tag. I had to play along today. I don’t drink tea either, but I know I can find little packets of coffee (or make my own) to put in the holder. I just didn’t do that today.

and here’s the inside of the holder.

I used the Latte singles from Lizzie Anne Designs on my project today. The latte cup is colored with Copic Markers and the steam is highlighted with a Sakura Stardust pen. Liquid pearls were used to make the dots around the large scallop circle and a Signo white gel pen for the small dots on the pink circle. All the edges were sponged with Vintage Photo distress ink and the coffee beans were stamped using Antique Linen distress ink. To add some ribbon, I made a tie attaching the ribbon under the main image on the front, wrapping it around the back and then tying on the side in a bow. This will also help keep the tea bag holder together once something is put in the inside pocket.

Stamps: Latte Cup, Latte Saying and Coffee Beans by Lizzie Anne Designs

Paper: Georgia Pacific White, SU Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Tim Holtz Vintage Photo and Antique Linen Distress Ink

Accessories: Copic Markers, Ranger Liquid Pearls, White Signo Gel Pen, Sponge Dauber, Mounting Tape, Ribbon, Sakura Stardust Pen