Just add Cupcakes...

With cupcakes being all the rage these days (Yum! and Yay!), Stampin' Up! has been ready for it! The Table Setting die for the Big Shot (and exclusive to Stampin' Up!) has this cute Cupcake Cozy. Run through a sheet of Wicked Fun Designer Paper and stick the ends together - and wah lah! Ready for cupcakes! With the coordinating set Wicked Cool, you can easily make coordinating picks...

Just add cupcakes!


Julie

It's the Thought that Counts!?

OK, so I was thinking I should do a little something nice for my son this morning. (Not like I'm not always doing something nice for him - chauffeur, personal chef (or take-out food picker-upper), room cleaner, laundry person... OK, you get it!) But I was thinking last night that he told me he got another 100% on a math quiz, and he's keeping all A's, with a 7am to 7pm school schedule (including football practice). So I thought it would be nice to leave him a little something on his dresser to tell him I'm proud of him.

This morning I saw another demonstrator made a pull-up treat and I thought that was a great idea for something quick. I love making them! And, maybe it's not the most fabulous of all my creations - but as I decided it was done, I remembered "it's the thought that counts!" - and that he'll probably love the candy bar, and toss the rest anyway!


Julie

Trick or Treat Letterpress!

I finally made some time to use the new Letterpress Trick or Treat die today! Super cool! I really like the texture of how it comes out. It's a die that goes through the Big Shot, and you use the die with Craft Ink. The Craft Ink leaves it with a painted texture, and the image is slightly debossed (indented). Kinda one of those "gotta see it - and feel it" in person - hard to catch in a picture.

I was inspired to make this from Stampin' Connection - love all the inspiration from other Stampin' Up! demos!!

Thanks for stopping by,


Julie

Catalog and Idea Book CASE!

When the 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalog came out, this little mummy can idea immediately caught my eye! Even though I've flipped through the catalog a million times (yes, I have counted!), I kept coming back to this little guy! So, I finally decided to make one today.

And... he was so easy! The hardest thing was deciding what to put inside.


Have a great Sunday,

Julie


PS Does my picture look clearer and prettier today?? I just got a new camera - and I love it!

Next Friday's Technique Class!

Here are the projects we'll be making next Friday, October 1st! I love this little punched spider - and how he is perfect for our new Spider Web Embossing Folder! I can't wait to show you how easy his eyes are (I found a new trick from another demonstrator!).

And this super cute idea for a Get Well card was another idea found from another Stampin' Up! demonstrator. If you can't tell, it's like a little pop-up kleenex box inside the card. And the card does fold back down pretty flat - Love this idea!

And yet another "borrowed" idea!! And, yes, from another Stampin' Up! demonstrator - what would we do without each other's ideas and help!? This little pumpkin tote can be for Halloween or anything Fall, or even Thanksgiving. If you're coming to the class on Friday, ours will most likely have some kind of candy in it - What else....??

And finally, we'll make this card. I called it Wood Stamping because we're stamping on wood sheets. I bought these when I saw them in the catalog last year, and I finally found an idea to use them on. And glad I did, because they're so awesome - and perfect for a great Fall card! Do you recognize this card?? You've probably seen it before!? I only changed the saying.

I hope you'll be coming to next Friday's class!

Julie

A Peek of my Halloween Tree

I'm not quite sure when black trees became a Halloween decoration, but I really like them! So I found one the other day at Home Goods (love that place!), and I bought it. It was all scrunched up looking like a fat twig. But when I took it out and fluffed it up, it's awesome!! So, here's just a sneak peek of one of my Halloween ornaments - back to basics and simple! Just for perspective, each of the ten strips that make up the pumpkin are 1/2" x 3"!

I only have a few things on it so far, so I didn't want to show the whole tree - It looks a little Charlie Brownish! But when I get more on it, I'll post another picture.


Julie

Jessie's Birthday Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is my daughter's 20th birthday - Yikes where did the years go?!!

She's giong to Disneyland for her birthday, so I decided to make her a Mickey card. And, I was in luck because on Stampin' Connection they were hosting a contest of Disney themed cards - so there was plenty of inspiration for this card. I changed up a few things, but it was pretty much a CASE!

I love how our punches can work for so many things - and perfect for Mickey and Minnie!


Julie

Even More Spooky Things Decor Elements...

So here's more Spooky Things Decor Elements! This is the candle holder that I started in the last post (on the video). I put all three of the spiders onto the glass. - Two are on the front...

and one large one is on the back!

I sure have gotten a lot of mileage out of my Decor Elements for Halloween decorating! And I still have three pieces left!!


Julie

Spooky Things and a Video!

After three tries at this one, I have another video to share with you (and hopefully have figured out a couple more things about how to do videos!). It's taking time and patience, but I like adding them to my blog entries. Let me know what you think - and if you have any suggestions for things you'd like to see in a video.

If you've watched the video, you'll know what I mean... but I'll be posting a picture of the candle holder soon!

Thanks for stopping by,


Julie

A Crow with Cajun Flair!

OK, so really the Cajun Flair is just the color inspiration here! I made this card with the Dark and Dreary and Wicked Cool sets. I also used the napkin ring piece from the Table Setting die for the Big Shot. The napkin ring piece makes great borders - but I can't wait to make some fun stuff with the cupcake cozy - soon!

And my favorite part is the scrunched up "half" a piece of striped grosgrain ribbon! I cut a piece of ribbon in half horizontally (so that it's not 1 1/4" wide anymore, but maybe about 3/4" wide), and then I scrunched it along a piece of Sticky Strip. Love that vintage "messy" look!


Hope you had a great weekend,


Julie

A Fresh Look to Halloween!

Today I decided to take out my Halloween stuff to decorate the house! I love taking it all out of the boxes and unwrapping all my favorite things. These are a few new things I've made though with this year's Decor Elements!

At Convention Brent Steele had made white pumpkins with the trick or treat words on them - and they were awesome. So I thought about copying the idea. But when I went to get the white pumpkins, they didn't have a big selection of sizes. And although they could have looked cool all in the same size, I really wanted to vary the sizes. So I thought about using terra cotta pots in various sizes. And I really like how they turned out. I just painted the pots in a cream color - which was super quick and the paint soaks right in and dries super fast!

I also added the black jewels (like Brent had on his pumpkins). By the way, my stampin buddy Liz, www.seeinginkspots.blogspot.com made the pumpkins like Brent did and hers came out really cute!

So when I got my terra cotta pots, I did pick up one of the white pumpkins cause I really like the trendy feel of the white color (and I figured it would go with my Decor Elements frame too!).

Using some more of the same pack of Decor Elements that I've been using, I made a quick "Decor pumpkin!" I kept with the same colors (it does have a bit of razzleberry taffeta on the top!) so it all coordinates with the pots and the frame I already made.

I like this fresh look to the Halloween decor!


Julie

Batty for You, with a Little Bit of New!

It's way past my "I'm going to bed early tonight" bedtime, but I wanted to share a quick Halloween candy wrapper. I'm doing a class tomorrow and this is one of the projects they'll be making.

We've had the set Batty for You around since last year's catalog, and it was always a favorite. So, I thought I'd use it, but add some new stuff to it too! So, of course, the Candy Wrapper die is new. And, the Cajun Craze with the Wicked Fun Designer Papers - and my new favorite - the Silver Tinsel - all new!

Love the Silver Tinsel!! It sure makes tying the sides of the Candy Wrapper easy. All you do is cut a small piece and twist the ends together - no tying! The wire in it makes it so easy and cool! - And, gotta have some bling for eyes!!


Julie

A Spooky Recycled Container

This is one of my favorite recent projects! I love the new Wicked Cool stamp set, for one! But also, I stamped and used the new 1 3/4" circle punch, layered on the 2 1/2" circle punch, and layered on two Island Floral Big Shot flowers.

So, from the side you can see that this is all layered on top of a Stampin' Store container (aka recycled brad container!). You can buy these as a pack of 5 or recycle the ones you don't need anymore, from used up accessories!

I stuck a strip of Designer Paper around the bottom edge of the container. And I stuck some 1/8" ribbon around the top edge of the container. And, I also used the Crop-A-Dile to punch holes for a ribbon handle.

The bottom of the container has two Island Floral flowers to finish the look!

And it all opens up to store some special Halloween treats!

How fun is that?? And it's recycled!


Julie

Candy Wrapper and a Video!

These little thank you boxes were made with the new Candy Wrapper die for the Big Shot - and I'm lovin' them!

I even finally made my first video to show you how they are made! I will admit it's very amateur - no Emmys or anything! - but it was kinda fun (and don't look too close at the few glimpses of me - it was supposed to be a test video, but I decided to share. Next time I might actually fix my hair - in case I make it on camera again!).

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie

Making a Spider from a Bat (punch)!

As promised, here we go spiders! First punch a top-half of the new Bat Punch on the edge of a small scrap piece of black card stock. (I knew we were going to need that Bat Punch for more than bats!!)

Then, slide that piece into the punch so you can see just a little bit of black card stock - enough to see maybe a 1/16th of an inch. Hopefully you can see that in the picture above!

Then when you punch, you get this little smidge, creating two legs!!

And you do that four times (4 x 2 = 8 :) ) Some of them might try to get broken off from the little bat ears/head, but you can still use them by gluing just the "leg" parts. So, then you just glue those black leg pieces to the back side of the spider body (Oval medium punch). Then glue his head to the body.

And, of course, gotta have some rhinestone bling for eyes!! Check out yesterday's post for the final spider!

Yay!!, and thanks again Jackie Topa for the inspiration!


Julie

OMG! A Spider out of a Bat?!

I was so excited when I found this idea today!! I saw it made by the queen of punch art, Jackie Topa, another Stampin' Up! demonstrator. She proved her title of queen once again when I saw this spider!

I'll take a little credit for the card I put together - and I actually gave him a new body shape, and eight legs (had to be scientifically correct with the number of legs! Jackie's was cute, but actually had six legs!).

Here's a (blurry) close-up of just the spider. His body is the new Medium size Oval Punch, and his head is the 1/2" circle. And his amazing legs are the...... new Bat Punch!! OMG!! This is so cool!! Tomorrow I'll post some pictures of how it is punched.

Part of why I was so excited was because we have a spider web background - and we NEEDED a spider to put on it!!

Check back tomorrow for more details - I'll show the actual punch and how to get eight legs out of it.

Who woulda thought, a bat punch - and a spider came out of it too! Another "must-have" with Halloween coming!


Julie

It's Framed! - Happy Halloween!

I've been in a ready-for-Halloween mood lately. So maybe that's why I was super excited to finally put together this framed "Happy Halloween." It's just one piece from the set of ten Spooky Things Decor Elements that's in the Holiday Mini catalog - super fun decor for Halloween! I got the idea to do this from my friend Chari, who gave me a frame just like this one, but with the Decor Elements "friends are forever" - super sweet!

The Decor Elements is applied directly to the glass on the frame - and then I used Wicked Fun Specialty designer paper inside the frame (and maybe hard to see, but it's the flocked piece of designer paper!). I also used some of the leftover flocked bats to accent the outside of the frame too.

- And, this is the coolest, the circle piece that is under the 31 is punched with our new extra large 2 1/2" circle punch - how perfect was that?!

And, then finally I added some of our striped grosgrain ribbon, and, of course, some rhinestone bling!!


Julie

PS the frame is 8 x 10 - so it is pretty good sized!

Is a Bat Really an Owl?

Maybe owls and bats aren't really related, but using Stampin' Up! punches - they are!! This is really the body and eyes of the owl punch, with wings made from the wide oval punch. After punching a black wide oval, you then punch a piece out of the top with the large oval punch. Then you punch some 1/2" circles along the bottom of it - and wah lah, you have a bat wing!!

I also added a couple fun things to this card. On the Basic Gray "sky" piece, I added some smooch spray and ran it through the swirly texturz plate. It really looks more like a night sky in real life!

And, then for the word piece, I actually took out my heat tool and embossing powder and embossed a saying!! It really does add something to emboss stuff - I'm just lazier these days and don't do it very often. And then for the black background of the "Happy Halloween," I used two scallop circles - but I punched 1/4" circles out of each rounded part. So the scallops became spiky things - kinda cool look, especially for Halloween!


Don't cha just NEED that little owl now!?


Julie

Just Tea-rific!!

I saw this cute little tea bag holder on Stampin' Connection today and I realized that my new "had to have" Morning Cup stamp set was still waiting to be used. So I decided to use my new set and make the tea bag holder too!

Here's the inside with a little tea bag tucked inside the pocket - super easy to make! It's just like a card with a little fold over part to hold the tea bag.

One of my favorite things is that I realized I could use the 1" circle punch to layer underneath the new Oval Medium punch. I love that new little punch!!


Julie

Wicked COOL!!

I Love this set, and it's name - Wicked Cool! How could you not have to have this!? The set has seven pieces in it - and I love them all!

So I made this Scalloped Envelope from the Big Shot. I actually made two and stuck them together to make this little tote. Then I added an old olive grosgrain "handle." And my favorite part - the rhinestone bling and the silver tinsel accents!

And, so wicked cool - it fits a Reeses peanut butter cup!!


Hope you're having a great Labor Day weekend,


Julie

Simple Growing Green Fancy Favor Box

Here's a simple Fancy Favor Box, stamped with the Growing Green leaf stamp. And then I just added a window with the Wide Oval Punch and one of the tags from the Big Shot Lots of Tags set. And, the best part, some Malted Milk Balls in a cello bag inside - and you can see them!

And the tag is made with the new Medium Oval Punch - it's a cute little one! And I added some Chantilly Crochet Trim around the cello.

Pretty quick and easy, huh?


Julie

"In Real Life" is Always Better!

Here's another card we'll be making this Friday at Technique Class. And, like the title here says, it is definitely one of those cards that "you just have to see it in person, and touch it, turn it, look at it from the side..." Sometimes pictures just don't do it!

Anyway, I got a card in a swap at Convention that used this technique of making a shadowed image and a sort of window frame around it. It was really striking, so I decided to change up the stamps and layout a little, and here it is for Friday!! There's a fun trick to creating that "perfect frame" around the image - maybe I'll share a picture tutorial of it later! And the technique of it comes alive with the secret ingredient - Dimensionals!

By the way, the set is Just Believe.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie