A busy day of “mass production” (if 4 sets counts as “mass”) and a step further in my Christmas gift endeavours.

I made 4 sets of notepads/beaded mini pens/gift tags and packaged them up this evening.  I used an assortment of patterned paper from Basic Grey and Jillybean Soup 6X6″ pads.  The stamps are all from PTI Christmas Tiny Treats which I bought after the Christmas season last year (from a gift certificate I received for my birthday in December).

If you look at the tag and the notepad on each set, you’ll see how versatile a small image can be just by changing the size of the shape you cut out around it (it’s also helpful that the notepad images have a sentiment under them).

As I didn’t take pictures before packaging the notepads, it was hard to get a good shot of my gift sets.  Here’s a closer look at one of the tags to see the simple layout.  

To make the tag, cut a piece of cardstock 2X3″, trim or punch the top corners to form a tag shape and punch a hole for the ribbon.  I reversed the order of the patterned paper on the tags so the more graphic design would be dominant.  This is a great opportunity to use your smallest Spellbinder circle dies that you probably don’t get to play with too often.  For those of you in Canada, the notepads are from Dollarama and the mini gel pens are from Staples.   I wish I could find a good source for black mini gel pens as the assortment from Staples has some difficult to match colours.

If you want to try your hand at these notepads, I did a tutorial last September that you can find HERE.  You can find a tutorial on SCS for beaded pens.  The mini ones from Staples require a piece of 1 7/8″ X 1 5/8″ patterned paper and a piece of 1 7/8″ X 1 1/2″ sticky tape.

…number 3!

Congratulations Melly Mac!  :)

I hope you enjoy using your Bow Easy Mini.

I haven’t been in my craft room the last 2 days so I don’t have a card to show today but I’m hoping to get a little time in there tonight.

I made this little set for my weekly PaperWorks Co DT blog post.  This month I’m working with Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety paper and coordinating embellishments as featured in the July Papercard Kit.

Except for the apple bushel I made, this project whipped up incredibly quickly and I didn’t use quite 2 6X6 sheets of patterned paper.  Pretty impressive!

Here’s my apron card (that thing in the pocket is supposed to be a seed packet – it kind of popped up while I was taking the picture and I didn’t notice…I’m going to pretend I popped it up on purpose so you could get a better look at it):

(yes, it’s really a card…the fold is on the top)  Not only did this turn out almost as I’d envisioned, I got to dust off my Cricut machine which hadn’t made it to my new craft room until this week (I don’t have a good spot to set it up in…I think I need to get DH to install a shelf for my printer so I can set the Cricut down on my countertop).  Now that the Cricut is in my craft room I might get some use out of it.

After I made the card, I made a little gardening journal and decorated a few items to go with it:

I made some journal pages in MS word and cut them down to size for the inside of the journal:

Then I packaged it all up in my handmade apple bushel (and I stamped some tissue paper with fruit and vegetable stamps to coordinate with my set):

Cute?  It only cost me about 2 bucks for the whole thing!   Now I just need to find a gardener to give it to!

Weekend starts at 5 pm…can’t wait!

I have SO MUCH to cheer about today!!!

Before I get to my project, I finally get to announce that I am now a designer for PaperWorks Co.!  I applied for a design team position just before I went on vacation and the invitation to join the team was waiting in my inbox when I returned home!  I’ve been BUSTING to tell my paper-crafting friends (’cause you’re the only ones who understand how exciting this is) but it was a big secret until today.

Please be sure to check out my debut post at the PaperWorks Co. BLOG (and keep checking back all week as they unveil the rest of the team members).

Obviously, my first task as a PWCO DT member was to create a project using the adorable line of stamps and papers that Peggy carries in her store.  The hardest part of this was deciding which stamp to use first!  After much deliberation, I settled on the hippo (I was originally going to use the snake as I have this project in mind for someone celebrating their birthday this week and I could have had some fun with all of the “S” sounds in her name!) and here’s what I came up with:

Isn’t it cute?  All the cardstock, patterned papers and the Hippo stamp are from PaperWorks Co.  In fact, the only things that didn’t come for PWCO are the ribbon and the scor-tape I used to assemble the box! 

My gift set consists of a box that I made from cardstock (I made several of them for Teacher Gifts last year – they’re so cute and just the right size for a simple “thinking of you” type gift) with some shower gel, body lotion and a bath puff inside.  The bath items came from the $1.50 bin at Michael’s.  I removed them from their original packaging and recovered the bottles with some strips of patterned paper to match the box.  I also made a matching card that measures about 3 1/4 X 4.  It’s bigger than a gift card but not quite as big as my regular cards.  I was originally going to make a square 5X5″ card but thought the larger size would be a bit overpowering with my cute little gift box.

Here’s a closer shot of the card (playing with hubby’s mini tripod this week so my pictures are a little different…if you hate it/love it, constructive criticism is always welcome – or you can just leave a comment telling me how awesome I am…):

A few more details (I’m in a chatty mood tonight): The patterned paper is by Three Bugs in a Rug and it’s quite a heavy weight – it’s great for paper piecing as the paper doesn’t flop around while you’re cutting out the stamped image (if you’re a regular visitor you know I love paper piecing - it’s the greatest, cheapest way to make your image completely match your card). The colours are so nice too – not too bright and not too muted…really fresh and fun.

My ribbon was adhered to the card with scor-tape using a fun ripple effect.  It’s my favourite new trend at the moment.  I created the scalloped ends on the paper with my corner punch.  I know there are lots of great edging punches on the market but I try to stick to the basics when it comes to punches and I think the scallop created by using a corner punch is just fine!

Well, it’s laundry night so I’d better wrap things up for now.  Enjoy the rest of your evening!

Hmmm, the banner is going to look cuter than the full picture of this project!

I made my traditional co-worker valentine’s treats – well, you can’t eat ‘em but it’s still a gift and who doesn’t like to get a little surprise on their desk to start the day?!

I bought a couple of packages of glittered pencils in the Valentine section at Wal-Mart and decided to dress them up a little.  I was hoping to find some pixie stix and make little pouches for the stix and the pencils but couldnt’ find anything that was the right size to tuck in with the pencils.  Then I thought I’d make bookmarks and pencils but couldn’t come up with a design that was simple enough to crank out 2 dozen of in 2 nights. (well, if I wanted to be annoyed and tired I probably could have but that would kind of take away from the gift-giving…)

I compromised by making a little holder for the pencils that looks a bit like a bookmark.  Here’s a shot (group photo – they’re just piled up):

You get the idea.

I used a cute Hero Arts cupcake stamp which is paper pieced and lightly dusted with glitter. (you can’t see it in the photo but the glitter is dotted all over the frosting on the cupcakes.)  I matted some valentine’s patterned paper with cardstock and cut a strip of cardstock to hold the pencil in place.  The cupcakes were punched out with a circle punch and matted with another circle of patterned paper which was then glued to a scalloped circle. 

These were fairly easy to mass produce.  I deliberately sized the holders so they wouldn’t create a lot of scraps of cardstock or patterned paper.  There was very little waste with this project – it’s always a good idea to do a little extra planning when mass producing.  Changing a dimension by as much as 1/8″ can be enough to save cutting into an extra sheet of paper or cardstock.  While most of us have spare cardstock, we often only have one or two of the same sheet of patterned paper so it’s important to get the most out of what you have.

Happy (Almost) Valentine’s Day!

Not much stamping here but that’s okay.  I wish I had time to share all the projects I’ve been working on.  Some are mass produced so they’re not worth showing every time I simply swap out the colours I’m using but I do have a couple of cool things to share over the next week or so.

This little gift is for the receptionist at my office (who is also my coffee buddy).   It was inspired by the fact that we’ve been treating ourselves to a “gingerbread figure” at Tim’s over the last few weeks (it’s one of the items of the month for December at Tim Horton’s).  I refuse to call them by their ridiculous name when I order them so I usually ask for “two gingerbread dudes”. (the whole PC thing is a bit crazy when you can’t call a cookie a gingerbread MAN!)

Anyway, we’ve had um, maybe 4 each this month which just goes to show how more-ish they are as we normally just get coffee and always pass on the sugary treats. (her body is a temple – mine is the temple of doom)

I thought an appropriate gift would be some homemade gingersnaps so I baked a batch tonight (some for her, some for a few coworkers to sample, some for my brother who is visiting, some for myself and Rich…) and packaged a stack up just for her.  Instead of a gift bag I put the cookies in a green tin pail that I was saving for just such a gift and tucked in a package of specialty hot chocolate (wish I could have found one with a gingerbread dude on the front) to fill out the pail.  I made a tag using some marvy uchida punches and my “Stretch Your Imagination” cartridge from my sadly neglected Cricut Create.   You can see some of the cute detail on the tag in my banner (hopefully) but here’s a shot of the final product:

A detail you might not notice is the ring of MS glitter around the gingerbread circle – it’s supposed to mimic sugar…the little gingerbread ‘dude’ was a bit fiddly to make.  It was tricky cutting out his little white arm and leg trims.  If I had a do-over I’d probably use liquid appliqué but I think it might be a bit too thick for the scale of this little guy.

Here’s another shot of the bucket contents – a simple, but heartfelt Christmas gift for someone who keeps me - and the rest of my office – entertained every day of the year.

Only three more sleeps until Santa!!!  I have a LOT of cards to make before then!

Whew!  I’ve been a busy, busy girl.  Funny that I never spent any time in my craft room when I got back and now that I’m back in the saddle I’m here all night (try the veal…)

I made 20 more notepads over the weekend…my friends loved them.  I’m a bit tired of making them but it was nice that they got such positive feedback.

Initially, I gave the tall notebooks a try because I thought they’d make a nice change for my yearly teacher gift.  I always do a beaded pen and a notebook and I started doing glass ornaments a couple of years ago (they were a big hit so I keep doing them).  I was really struggling to come up with something new this year but I’m going to stick with the winner and just change it up by the packaging and the shape/layout of the notebook.

I put together four gift sets tonight – as mentioned, a beaded pen, a notebook and a glass ornament.  I made a simple base to pop everything into and packaged it with some Christmas bags I picked up last year.  The ornament and the bags are quite shiny so it was very difficult to get a decent picture.

Here’s the set prior to packaging…

…and here they are in their Christmas wrapping…

They’re actually quite cute in real life.  These and Christmas cards are pretty much all I’ll be doing between now and Christmas.  I don’t know how some papercrafters get to spend so much time cranking out stuff…it’s all I can do to keep up between work, life, Christmas shopping, etc.

Incidentally, the patterned paper is American Crafts.  The adorable My Mind’s Eye paper that I used for the other notepads is too thick to easily make beaded pens so I picked up some thinner paper. (it’s still fairly thick but the MME stuff is REALLY thick and glittery.)

I received the most wonderful email a couple of weeks ago – from my idol, Miss Anna Wight!!!  That, in itself, is exciting to me. (what can I say, I adore her work!!!)  Imagine how much my excitement multiplied when I realized the purpose of her email was to invite me to be a Whipper Snapper Guest Designer for her September/October releases!!!

Of course I said “is this a joke?” YES!!!

I’m so honoured and thrilled to have been asked to participate.  Anna (along with Whipper Snapper) has a wonderful design team concept in that you are invited to be a guest designer for two months and then a new group of designers is chosen for the next two months.  It’s a great way to showcase the work of many talented paper crafters (and there are LOTS of you out there!).

The other great thing about Anna’s team is that *she* comes to *you* so she knows she is choosing someone who ENJOYS working with Whipper Snapper’s wonderful images.  If you take a peek back through my blog you’ll constantly see references to how much I love Whipper Snapper stamps.  They are my favourite so it’s a double thrill to be working with my favourite designer AND using my favourite stamps.  It’s impossible not to be inspired!!!

May I present my first official guest designer project:

Here’s a solo shot of the card:

As two of my projects used glass, it was difficult to get a picture without a lot of glare.  I had to ask my husband to take a picture with his spiffy camera.  Thanks, babe!

The framed snowman is a shadowbox from Dollarama that I painted with blue paint and distressed with some Ranger Distress Ink.  The image was stamped on the OUTSIDE of the glass using Stazon and I coloured the INSIDE of the image with some Bic markers and then covered it all with white embossing power.  I ran my tracing wheel around the wood in true Anna style and couldn’t resist a signature Anna banner sentiment using a felt star and button.  Some MS glitter on the inside of the shadowbox gives it a little more interest.

The image on the ornament was coloured/embossed in the same manner as the shadowbox using a piece of acetate as the stamping surface.

I created the card with Anna in mind so I tried to give it just a touch of the country charm she is known for and I think I pulled it off.  Anna has shared so much of her time, talent and technique with the card-making world and I have learned so much from her.  When I discovered her blog, I learned to be comfortable with my clean style of cards.  I now embrace my simple cards and have learned some great tricks from Anna on how to give them more depth without bogging them down with “stuff”.  

The snowman image I used is just one from the Spirit of Christmas stamp set that Whipper Snapper is releasing today.  Anna is actually releasing 3 sets this month and I will be back in the days and weeks to come with a few more samples.  Here’s a picture of the set that this stamp came from:

 Please take a moment to visit the other talented members of the design team.  I’ve linked their blogs and their Splitcoast Stampers galleries here:

The Who’s Who of September/October Featured Designers:

Danielle Lounds
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/dlounds
Blog: http://fatcatstamper.blogspot.com

Jeanie Witmer
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/Jeanie_Witmer
Blog: http://thespottedchick.blogspot.com

Katarina (Kathy) Menzies
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/katarinam
Blog: http://thecreataholic.blogspot.com

Kelly Bee (that’s me!)
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/kellybee
Blog: http://kellybee.ca

Stephanie Kraft
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/booga3
Blog:http://handkraftedbystephanie.blogspot.com

and last but not least  -  Anna Wight
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/sweetmissdaisy
Blog: http://sweetmissdaisy.typepad.com

Be sure to check back all week…I’ve got more to share (plus blog candy at some point this week)

I have been (im)patiently waiting to use my “Just Swimmin’ By” stamp set (by Anna Wight…have I mentioned that I adore Anna Wight?) and had a cute idea for a simple gift set.  It also helped that goldfish crackers were on sale last time we went grocery shopping.

I made the card last night and quickly decorated a small Ball jar (mason jar) this evening after filling it with crackers (filled my mouth with them too but that’s another story).  It’s simple but I think it turned out rather cute!

The ribbon embellishment was a happy accident.  There is a flaw in my roll of certainly celery grosgrain ribbon.  I was slightly annoyed at first as I consider SU ribbon a luxury item but I realized that I could still use the frayed section as a cool embellishment.  I even found a checkered button in my limited button stash – I have no idea where it came from – it’s one of a kind.

You can’t really see the jar very well in the picture so here’s an ever so slightly better shot:

…and here’s a slightly better shot of the card:

I used glossy accents on the bubbles and stamped the middle fish twice so I could pop it up on the card.  I resisted the urge to add ribbon as it makes a decent masculine card and I didn’t want to make it frilly.  Now I just need to figure out who gets the gift!

This is a little gift for a co-worker who has been on a diet for about a month and is seeing some progress.  I’m hoping this gives her a little boost of encouragement and lets her know that I am rooting for her. (as she was for me back when I was having some diet success)

This gift contains just over 100 calories but is packed with flavour – there’s a peanut flavoured “Sweet and Salty” granola bar, a bottle of water, a raspberry flavour packet for the water and a strawberries and cream lip balm.  It’s all packed in a cute little pocket I made and decorated with a (surprise!) Whipper Snapper stamp. (the pocket is a little slanted in the picture):

Here’s a shot of the complete set:

…and here’s a shot of the pocket (granola bar is not in the shot – the packaging is not that cute) – you can just make out the decorative strip of paper on the water and you can see that I covered the lip balm with patterned paper to match the gift. (the top of the water bottle lid is decorated too but you can’t see that in the shot):

This was fairly quick to make once I worked out where I wanted to score the cardstock for the pocket.  I think it turned out really cute and I can’t wait to see the recipient’s face when she spots this on her desk today.  I hope she likes it!

I wish she could package up some of her willpower and leave it on my desk!

Supplies used: Whipper Snapper stamp “Working It Out”, Nestabilities Labels dies (labels 2?), Cuttlebug, green textured cardstock, regal rose cardstock, SU markers, aquapainter, watercolouring paper.