Unfrogettable Stamping!

Easy Gift Card Holder with tutorial

  This month my downline swap theme was to make gift card holders.  I wanted to design one myself and one of the requirements was to provide instructions so I thought I would share it with you all, too, and just share my blog post link with my team.  I created this easy gift card holder with a pocket to hold the gift card - I just love this retiring Beau Chateau DSP and will miss it!  My card base is pink pirouette card stock and I also used very vanilla, soft suede and marina mist to complete the card... all pulled from the DSP.  I apologize for the darkness of my pictures... for some reason my camera does not like photographing this light pink.

   Here is how the card opens up - it is a tri-fold and the pocket on the right will hold the gift card.  It starts with a piece of card stock that is 11" x 4-1/4" so you can get two from a single sheet of card stock (great for when you're making more than one!).

Score the long side at 3", 6" and 8-3/4" using a Simply Scored scoring tool.  Mark the short side of the card stock with the 2-3/4" width as shown below at 1",

Using a paper trimmer, cut the card stock at an angle from the score line down to the mark.

Attach a piece of sticky strip along the bottom edge of the card stock and close to form the pocket (this should be on the right-side of the card when opened up).  Use a bone folder to make your folds nice.

Cut a piece of coordinating card stock (I used Very Vanilla) to 4" x 2-3/4".  Stamp a sentiment if you like.  I used the retiring On Your Birthday stamp set with soft suede ink.

Cut a piece of DSP to 4" x 2-3/4" and attach to the front of your card.  I also cut out one of the flower images from a piece of scrap to embellish the inside pocket of my card, attaching it with a 2-way glue pen.

To keep the card closed you can either make a belly band or attach a length of ribbon.  For this sample I used the retiring 1/4" marina mist grosgrain ribbon and tied it into a bow.

I wanted to embellish it just a little more so used the Tiny Tags set with coordinating punch to add a tag with linen thread.

And you're done!

Thanks for stopping by!  I will be sharing the swaps with you in a few days... we are waiting on just one more.  Have a great weekend!!

Thank You cards/gift card holders for the Coaches

   Even though my kids swim year-round, we still have a banquet at the end of our short course season as we head into our long course season.  This past Friday was our banquet and I made the card above to hold the gift cards that we purchased for our kids' various coaches.  I apologize for the brightness of the photo - it was taken on the dashboard of my Odyssey since I forgot to take a picture at home.  Our team colors are blue and yellow so I used Pacific Point and Daffodil Delight card stock to cut out my stars and for the layers of the card itself.  The "Thank You" sentiment is a retiring a la carte stamp called Just Thank You.

   Here is a shot of the inside of the card - I cut my card stock to 11" x 4-1/4" and scored it at 1" and 5" to form this pocket to hold the gift card and it still fit in a regular envelope.  I stamped solid and outline stars on the envelope - the open star is from the retiring  Under the Stars stamp set and the solid star is from a long-retired sports stamp set (can't think of the name right now). 

  We had our banquet at the soccer pavilion of our YMCA and after many people had left and the parents were cleaning up, an impromptu game of Red Rover broke out on one of the soccer fields.  It was great seeing the kids, from age 8 up through 18, all playing together.  Of course my poor son Brandon got clothes-lined - a concept totally unfamiliar to this swimmer.  Luckily he didn't get hurt, landing on his bottom with his feet flying up in the air onto the soft grass.  Our first long course swim meet was this past weekend at the Virginia Tech pool and we had to travel out of town at the crack of dawn each day so I wasn't able to get any posts done... please forgive me!  I spent the whole day yesterday getting caught up on emails and drooling over the new catalog (demonstrators got to view it - woooo hoooo).  Let me tell you, you are going to LOVE it!!  I can't wait for June 1st!!  Want to have perks like getting to see and order from the new catalog sooner than everyone else?  Then you will want to become a demonstrator... so easy to do now with the fully customizable starter kit for $99.  Check out more information and sign up to join my team online here.

   Thanks so much for visiting today... if you have kids who play sports why not make hand-stamped cards for your coaches!  If they play a sport that we don't have a stamp set for you can still do something creative.  My friend Rachel Yurkanin suggested the stars for my card - thanks, Rachel!

Retiring Christmas stamp set inspiration

You know what they say... it's never too early to start thinking about making your Christmas cards and here is plenty of inspiration for you with some of our departing sets.  If any of these appeal to you, be sure and purchase them before May 31st... contact me to place your order or get them online here by clicking "Shop Now."  Online orders of $50+ are eligible for a free single tutorial of your choice (check them out here)!  Above is a card featuring the retiring Christmas Postcard a la carte stamp.  Below you'll find samples featuring Jolliest Time of the Year, Dasher, Christmas Greetings, Holiday Lineup, Winter Post and Gifts of Christmas.  I still have even more Christmas samples to share but will save those for another day.  Enjoy!

Jolliest Time of the Year (card by Michelle Arthur)

Jolliest Time of the Year (gift card holder)

Jolliest Time of the Year (gift card holder)

Jolliest Time of the Year

 
Dasher and Christmas Greetings

Dasher and Christmas Greetings

Dasher

Dasher

Holiday Lineup

Holiday Lineup (card by Rachel Yurkanin)

Winter Post (CASE of card by Barb Mullikin)

Winter Post

Gifts of Christmas (card by Cindy Blekas)

Gifts of Christmas (card by Delores Wilson)

Gifts of Christmas (card by Cindy Blekas)

 

Spring is in the air and it is Fabulous!!!

Spring is my very favorite time of the year - maybe because I was born in the Spring, but most likely because it is when life is coming back with flowers blooming, the leaves on the trees turning green - fabulous color everywhere after a long, drab winter!!  This week on the Sisters in Stamping blog we are featuring Spring-themed projects.  My Aunt Eileen recently purchased a new townhouse and I wanted to give her a gift card to Lowe's so she could pick up something new for her home and this is the card I designed for her.  It is a larger card designed to fit in a #10 business sized envelope so it is 8-1/2" x 4" when closed.  I used some of the flowers from the Blossom Builders Designer Kit found in the Occasions mini - what a great deal at just $9.95!!  You get so many different die-cut flowers to mix and match and the self-adhesive pink rhinestone jewels are the best!!  If you look closely at my flowers, you'll see that there are two different sizes - larger ones  and some really tiny ones.  There are a wide variety of colors of flowers in this kit, but I used only the ones that included blushing bride and baja breeze.

Here are some close-ups of my flowers - I achieved the cinched ribbon look by cutting my baja breeze seam binding ribbon twice as long as I needed it to be and anchoring it with tape on one side of the very vanilla card stock on the back side.  Next, I pulled two of the tiny strings from the middle of the ribbon on the untaped side and just cinched it as tight as I could, working my way to the side that was anchored down.  I taped down the end when I was done so the cinching wouldn't come undone behind the very vanilla card stock and used a few glue dots to hold the cinched ribbon in place on the front of the pane.   Easy-peasey!  The very vanilla card stock was just a bit too plain so I jazzed it up by running it through my Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots impressions folder... the card stock was longer than the folder so I ran it through once and then aligned up the polka dots on one end and ran it back through to embellish the whole piece.  Worked like a charm!

On the inside of the card I created a pocket from baja breeze card stock using my Simply Scored Scoring Tool (love it!) to hold my gift card and embellished it with the scallop trim border punch, some pear pizzazz 1/2" stitched-poly ribbon and one more little embellished flower from my kit.  Since I plan to hand-deliver my card along with a potted plant I didn't have to worry about all the dimension on my card - there must be dozens of stampin' dimensionals all over this card!!

If you haven't had a chance to check out the Blossom Builder kit, be sure and do so before our Occasions Mini catalog ends later this month!  It's a great value at $9.95!!  Want to order it?  Contact me or place your order via my online store here.

Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure and hop on over to the Sisters in Stamping blog after Noon EST today to get some more spring-themed inspiration!!

 

 

Some old favorites...

My 10-year old son Brandon has been invited to two birthday parties lately and I pulled out some old favorites for the cards.  Although most of what you see on these cards is current and available for purchase, the focal images are part of the extreme sports line that was retired last year.  This card is a large one - it measures 4" x 8-1/2" and is designed with a pocket to hold cash and fit in an A10 business envelope.

Here's a close-up of the surfer... I used the splat image from Extreme Elements inked in marina mist and rock-and-rolled in night of navy.  Once stamped, I used my color spritzer tool with bashful blue, marina mist and night of navy markers and then used the direct-to-paper technique on the edges with my night of navy ink pad.

The inside of the card has a small pocket and I stamped this simple "happy birthday" sentiment right on it.  Don't recognize this one?  It's a large-text one line stamp that I had custom made by Stampin' Up!

This is another card I made that we slipped an iTunes gift card into... I pulled the colors from my color coach - baja breeze, cajun craze and basic gray.  Again, I used Extreme Elements and the retired skate board stamp.

Pre-teen boy cards are really hard for me to come up with but Brandon approved of both of these so I was happy.  Speaking of teen cards, that is the theme for my downline swap this month.  I'll be getting those on Thursday night so will be sure to share them with you!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fabulous Santa gift card holder

If you're like me, you're always in need of a gift card holder.  Gift cards seem to be the gift of choice in our household these days... both on the giving and receiving ends!!  This week on the Sisters in Stamping blog we are featuring gift card holders - just in time for the Holidays.  I created this pocket card based on a tea bag holder idea I had seen.

Here is the inside view... the gift card slips right into the pocket and there is just enough space to write a little note to the recipient.  I used the Jolliest Time of the Year stamp set and the snowflake punch.  My color combination is crumb cake, whisper white, basic black and real red... perfect for Christmas!  If you like this gift card idea, the instructions are included in a Gift Card Trio tutorial that is part of the 12 Weeks of Christmas series and available for purchase.  Details can be found here.

For even more gift card inspiration, please be sure and visit the Sisters in Stamping blog after Noon EST today!  Thanks for stopping by... I know my posts are few and far between these days but I have been extremely busy with my kids' swim team activities, workshops,  classes, a big vendor event and life in general.  I do promise to post more often once things calm down a bit... I have so much to share - my swap with my downline last month, the shoe box swap from my team meeting this month, my Demonstrator of the month for November (sorry, just a tad late), class projects and much, much more! 

Week 5 of the "12 Weeks of Christmas" project tutorials from Get Creative with Rachel and Debbie

This week's tutorial is a trio of gift card holders.  I don't know about you, but we seem to be purchasing more and more gift cards to give to family and friends for Christmas and birthdays.  Here are three fun and different ways to package those gift cards so that they are wrapped nice and pretty.  One is a pouch, one is a pocket and one is an ornament that you can hang on the tree until it's time to open on Christmas morning!!

You can purchase each tutorial individually for $2.95 or buy all 12 of them for only $24.95. If you choose to purchase the complete set now, I will email you the tutorials each week as they are released. Our tutorials give you complete directions along with measurements and tons of photos to help you re-create the project with ease.

To purchase the tutorial for our Week 5 Gift Card Trio for $2.95 click the "buy now" button below.

 

 

If you want to purchase all "12 Weeks of Christmas" tutorials at a discounted price of $24.95, a savings of over $10, click the "buy now" button below.  Each week as we release the projects, you will be emailed a complete tutorial with pictures and instructions.

 

 

Check out the fabulous new Big Shot dies in the Holiday Mini catalog!!

 

Happy Friday!  This week on the Sisters in Stamping blog we are focusing on the new Big Shot dies in the Holiday mini catalog for our projects.  I decided to create a Christmas gift card holder using the fun new Holiday Stocking bigz L die.  The front stocking was cut out using a piece of the polka-dotted paper in poppy parade from the 2010 In Color DSP stack.  I cut out a second stocking from poppy parade card stock for the back side of the stocking.

Here's a photo of the back - it has a built-in pocket that I created using the word window punch.  The slot created isn't quite wide enough, so I made it bigger by lining it up and punching out on both sides, being careful not to get too close to the edge as seen in the photo below.

Once the slot is wide enough to accomodate your gift card, create a pocket using sticky strip all around the card (sorry, it's kind of hard to see it on a red piece of card stock).  This will also help the front of the stocking stick to the back.

I then embellished the whisper white card stock pieces with the fun new mica flakes found in the new Holiday Mini... I used a thick layer of Tombow multipurpose adhesive to help it stick.  Just pour the flakes on top and kind of smoosh it down and then walk away for about 5 minutes to let it dry.  Shake off the piece and voila!

To finish it off, I embellished my stocking with this penguin and tag from the Punch Pals stamp set.  Check out the super-cute mini jingle bells hanging from my stocking loop... I love these!!!  They were tied on using the baker's twine.  I stamped Merry Christmas on the back stocking cuff using the Four the Holidays stamp set and I was done!

How great would these be for teacher gifts or even as ornaments on your tree?!

Thanks for stopping by today... be sure to head over to the Sisters in Stamping blog after Noon EST today to see the other Fabulous Friday projects featuring the new Big Shot dies in the Holiday Mini catalog!!

Have a wonderful weekend!!!  Don't forget about my Labor Day special!!

Products used with today's project include:

 

 

End-of-Year gifts for teachers

 

 

My kids' last day of school was Wednesday, June 8th, and we bought gift cards for them all to show our appreciation.  This is the card we packaged them in... it is a CASE of a layout from Julia Miller's swap card from last month (see here for that post).  My daughter Kelsey (my future Stampin' Up! demonstrator) and her BFF Maddie chose the card from my display board and then they chose the colors (opting to go with retired Bold Brights favorites of lovely lilac DSP, green galore, yoyo yellow and pink passion).  They had fun using the new triple-layer Blossom Bouquet punch to create the flower embellishment.  Maddie and her Mom, Gerin (a friend and member of my downline), came over on the night before the last day of school to create these. 

Here is a photo I took of the girls at school earlier that day after their talent show performance - they both adore their Social Studies teacher Mr. Griffis so I made him a card with My Digital Studio.  Since it was last-minute and my color printer is out of ink I uploaded it to Walgreen's and printed it out as a true digital print (4" x 5.3") - the size was almost perfect as a cardfront for a turquoise card stock base... I just had to trim 1/8" off one side of the photo.  I learned this great idea from Christie Daugherty on the Alaska cruise - thanks for sharing the tip, Christie!  Mr. Griffis loves to chew Orbit gum so we were sure to give him several packs along with his gift card to Barnes & Noble.

If you saw my birthday card post several days ago,  you might remember that Kelsey made me a duct tape card... Kelsey and Maddie are really crazy about duct tape!!  For their English teacher Ms. Trotter (whom they danced with to a Beyonce song for the talent show), they wanted to create something for her that would hold her Kool-Aid singles packs (they say she LOVES them!) along with her Barnes & Noble gift card.  I found a glass votive holder in my stamping stash of alterables from the $ store and this is what they created using the Fun Flowers bigz L die with the Big Shot... how fun!  I cut out pieces of scrap whisper white card stock that they attached the colored duct tape to and then ran through the Big Shot.  The flower is held together with a clear rhinestone brad attached using sticky strip to the glass.

Didn't the girls do a great job?  It just goes to show that with a little imagination, you can use the Big Shot with non-paper items to create a one-of-a-kind gift for that special someone!!

February 2011 Demonstrator of the Month, part 2

If you missed my post yesterday, I'm sharing projects created by my Demonstrator of the Month Debbie Williams.  I've got 2 more for you today - a Big Shot project that you're going to love and a gift card holder!!

Here is the Big Shot project - this card features the Fun Flowers Bigz L die as well as the Sweet and Sour specialty DSP, subtles collection brads, rose red seam binding ribbon and Sweet Stitches designer fabric brads.

This is a gift card holder featuring the Lap of Luxury DSP along with the Decorative Label and Large oval punches, A Word for You and So Happy For You (SAB) stamp sets, Basic Rhinestones and Pretty in Pink 1/4" grosgrain ribbon.

A big thank you to Debbie Williams for her contributions to my blog this month! Since Debbie does not have a blog of her own, please leave her comments on this post or yesterday's post.