top dog dies: give thanks

Each year for Thanksgiving, I like to create a gratitude journal for family members and dinner guests to record what they are grateful for.  More recently, I have been creating place cards for the table setting.  This year, I was lucky enough to have some Top Dog Dies to help me out.

Using the Scallop Box Die

I created place card favor boxes:

20 of them:

Each one topped with a handmade flower

filled with a pearl center.

The boxes themselves are filled with some chocolates for a post-dinner, pre-pie treat!

For this year's gratitude journal, I decided to create a banner:

Each pennant has a glassine envelope that contains a Project Life card for recording this year's gratitudes.

Each pocket is embellished with an accordion-folded medallion made with the Sizzix die

and trimmed with paper cut with the Madison Border Die

I love that this year's "journal" doubles as holiday decor!

For those of you celebrating tomorrow, have a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving.  And for those living in other parts of the world, may you always find something to be grateful for.

Method Playground: Vegetation

A new challenge is up at the Playground: use some form of vegetation on your layout.  I love what the design team did with this one.  Be sure to go check out their creations.

I created those flowers with Tim Holtz's Tattered Florals Sizzix die.  I'll do a tutorial this week while the kiddos are in school, and get it posted here as soon as possible.

Method Playground: Cardboard

This week, Amanda is asking us to think OF the box and use cardboard on our pages. I used cardboard to create some flower embellishments for this Easter LO. I spray painted die cut flowers (Sizzix Flower Layers #3), and then peeled back some of the paper to reveal the corrugated cardboard beneath. I added a touch more of paint with some swipes of a dry brush, and glued on button centers. Easy and inexpensive embellies.

Holiday Cards {almost there} days 25, 26, 27

Coming into the final stretch, and I really want to be done with these before the stroke of midnight tonight. But in case I don't make it, I'm posting what I have so far:

Day 25:

Day 26:

Day 27:

Holiday Cards Day 1

I've cooked up this kookie idea in my head that for the month of November I'll post a holiday card a day. Typically, I like to avoid this type of commitment-filled posting, because somehow it's nearly always destined for failure. Maybe it's the start of a new month on the start of a new week (I love when that happens!) that makes me feel like CraftySuperGirl, or maybe I'm just on the prowl for a handmade holiday card, too. Whatever it is, this may be a good way to test some out (and possibly inspire you to make a few of your own this year, too *wink*wink*). And I have a stash of cards to fall back on if I'm feeling a bit lazy on any given day.

We'll give it a whirl. So here's number one:



Aesthetic Factor: 5 (1=eh, 5=very pleasing)
Ease of Mass-Producing: 2 (1=impossible, 5=easy peasy)
Cost: Minimal
# of steps: approx. 15
Likelihood I'll be making 85+ of these: 30%

A quick search through the Splitcoast gallery yielded the inspiration for this one. The card itself is cut with the Sizzix Bigz Circle Scallop. The snowflakes are stamped in Versamark ink and accented with Stickles Crystal. One of the trees is pop-dotted for dimension, and both are accented with Stickles. The tops of the snowdrifts are glittered with Shimmerz. I punched the ornament top from a juice pouch using the SU! dog tag punch and threaded it with jute.

I love that this card could actually hang on recipients' trees. I would adhere a photo to the backside along with a greeting. This card doesn't open making it more cost-effective to produce. Hand trimming the trees, applying and drying the glitter, and creating the hanger makes this card a slow-going one.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! (Patterned Pines, Cold Play, Warm Words and Holiday Tag Team)
Paper: Stampin' Up! (Bashful Blue, Whisper White)
Ink: Stampin' Up! (Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip), Tsukineko (Versamark)
Glitter: Ranger (Stickles), Provocraft (Shimmerz)

Celebrate

My Mom's birthday card:

Glittered flourish handcut from MAMBI patterned paper; Butterfly die cut from SU! sizzix, textured with Cuttlebug, and sanded; SU! sentiment from Warm Words; Circles punched from MAMBI and layered with pop dots.

Blue Jean Baby

Used the Pencil Lines sketch for this layout; simply turned it a quarter to the left.

The sketch, coordinating papers from MME, a few passes through the sewing machine, and some premade denim letters pull this page together in a snap. Oh, yeah, I also used the scallop punch and Top Note Sizzix die.

A card & a box

Splitcoast had a fantastically easy tutorial in their newlsetter just in time for the end of the school year. I made a few of these *pizza boxes* for the boys to give their teachers and bus drivers. They are so simple and fun, and sized perfectly for a gift card or piece of jewelry.

As I'm writing this, I am also thinking this could be the perfect home for a mini-album. Hmmm. . .

There are those beautiful sizzix butterflies again. I can't wait to create more projects with them!

The end of a school year means teacher gifts and graduations. My cousin graduated from college this year. Here's the card I made for her. I finally used the Forest Friends set. The owl is stamped on the label diecut from QuicKutz.

KWerner Color Challenge #54

This week's color challenge was so fun. After the week I have had with a sick boy and lots of grey skies, these bright, cheery colors brought some happiness to my stUdio. The inspiration for this card came from a layout in the June issue of CK.


This card has lots of dimension: hand stitching with embroidery floss (I used the SU! piercing template to get the stitches even), thickers letters, and buttons. The flowers are die cut from the Birds and Blooms Sizzlets.

Quick Gifts

I am such a last minute person--it's one of my greatest flaws. It's not so much that I procrastinate, it's more that things have a way of sneaking up on me: birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, end of the school year. Two of my boys only have three weeks left of school and my youngest's last day of "school" (a once a week program that ran in 3-8 week sessions since September) was yesterday. I wanted to get his two teachers just a little something to tell them how much Maddox loved being with them each week, and how grateful I was to have an hour and a half to myself (maybe I should have given them something much nicer!!). After a trip to Target and landing in the candy aisle (how does that always happen!?), I picked up these two jars of trail mix. With a quick little wrap of patterned paper, a few stamps, flowers, and a pass through the Big Shot, I easily transformed them a bit.


A gift and thank you note all in one:





The lid of the jar:

KWerner Color Challenge

I am knee-deep in production for a quickly approaching wedding (pics to come soon, I promise), but I did manage to scrounge up 10 minutes to create this card for a friend's birthday using Kristina's color challenge for the week, as well as a Splitcoast CAS (Clean & Simple) card for Monday's challenge. Loving my Big Shot these days for time-saving projects.

Colors: So Saffron, Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Rose Red

Dies: Bird W/ Vine Sizzix, Top Note Sizzix, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder

Stamp: Sincere Salutations

Ribbon: American Crafts

Felt Bag

I wanted to make a cute little bag to hold chocolates for a hostess gift, so I sewed this one up pretty quickly. I wish I had taken photos of the process, but I wasn't sure if I would be happy with the end result.

The How-To:

1. Cut a piece of felt. I used white felt cut to 6 1/4" x 12" to create a finished bag size of approximately 5 1/4" x 6".
2. Cut the felt pieces that you'll embroider onto the bag. I used the Sizzix Bigz Scallop Circle and Bird with Vine dies. I cut the Bird w Vine out of brown to form the base layer, then cut it from light blue and rose to make the bird and flower layers.
3. Trim edge of circle to desired size and pin to the white felt. Hand embroider the scallop circle to the front of the felt.
4. Turn the felt over and fold in half right sides together. Sew sides of bag closed with 1/4 to 1/2" seam backstitching on both ends.
5. Flip the bag right side out, and the scallop circle is neatly sandwiched in the seam to create a nice finished edge.
6. Lightly glue the vine piece to the bag. I only ran glue on the vine and leaves where I would not be stitching.
7. Use pins to tack the rest of the design in place and embroider with floss.
8. Cut handles to 1" x 12" and sew with a decorative stitch to the front and back of the bag.

Voila! Hang your little bag on a bottle of wine or Godiva White Chocolate liquor (yum! Bring on the chocolate martinis!!) and fill the bag with fine chocolates.

Day 16: First Day of School

Here's Day 16's layout. It's serving double duty as one of the layouts for my Scrapbook Club this month. The sketch is from Pencil Lines sketch #128. I love teh graphic cleanliness of this sketch. It is veresatile, and I'm thinking this is not the last time I will be using it. Again, there are those letters from the Sizzix Alphabet strip. Have I said how much I am loving these?

Whooo loves ya, baby!

Ok, that's not really what I'll be putting on the inside of these Valentines for the boys' classes. Actually, I haven't come up with that part, yet. These little cuties are made from the Stampin' Up! exclusive Sizzix Top Note Bigz die. Simply fold the Top Note in half and embellish with hearts (crest and beak, also from Sizzix), and circles (1" and 1 3/8"). For a little more love, I added hearts for the pupils by punching with a mini punch and backing with colored paper. This is the girl color scheme (pink & brown). The boys will get red & black. These open with Velcro and hold a coupon for a free ice cream from Friendly's inside.

Let me know if you have any ideas for a message using the pun Owl (I will) or Whooo.

Baby Shower Invites

I am honored to be designing and creating my cousin's baby shower invites. Here are the two mock ups:




She and my aunt chose the second one. The tabbed card pulls out with all the info of the shower.

A Little Something

These little cuties were made from felt cut with the Sizzix and sewn with embroidery floss. The boxes are from Target and stamped and filled with Lindt truffles.

A Little Birthday Whimsy

Loving this new die from Sizzix: the Hello Kitty Birdie. I'll be making some cutie felt ornaments with this little baby.