STAMPS (redeux)

The other day I showed you the beginnings of a banner I was making, using the Springtime Vintage fabric, Big Shot, Serif Essentials alphabet dies, seam binding, and markers.

When I posted the photos, I hadn't completed the banner. But now I have, so I thought I'd show it to you tonight.










This is what they looked like the other evening, when I left them to "muddle" and I went to bed.




And here's what they look like now!









As you can see, I "gussied" them up a little.

I added ribbon and lace and buttons and butterflies cut with the Beautiful Wings embosslit (Item 118138).

I added Glimmer paper rickrack which I cut on the Tasteful Trim BigZ XL die ( Item 120893). This die was unveiled in the Holiday mini, but is still available for purchase!

And here's what it looks like, hanging on my workbench. The lighting isn't the greatest, but I think you can see it well enough.



The banner I made using the letters themselves is hanging above the banner I made using the "negative" portions of the fabric.






I'm having a hard time deciding which one I like better.

What about you? Which one appeals to you the most? Leave me a Comment and let me know!

In the meantime, I hope you're stamping something! It's a great stress reliever, believe me!

And don't forget - it's Sale-A-Bration (SAB)! Time to gather together at least a $50 order and select an SAB set and get the order to me!

Thanks for stopping by...

NOW we're gettin' it!

Finally, I was able to get my act together re: fabric coordination!

You don't think about 8 different fabrics going together unless you're a quilter, I guess.

I do with paper - it just never dawned on me that I'd need the same mind set for making fabric flowers!

As I mentioned before, I used a lot of different Big Shot flower dies to cut out my fabrics. I was curious if it really made a difference which one I used. Would I like the flowers better from the Flower Folds die or the Scallop #2 die? Or would I like those I'd made with yet other dies?

Well, I think I tried them all!

It's very easy to make these flowers, since you can cut EIGHT LAYERS of fabric at the same time! YES! Once through Mr. Big and you've got all your flower petals - and more!

Wanna see?


This one was made using the Flower Layers w/Leaf die (Item 113470 $19.95).

There are three different flowers and a leaf on this die, so I just folded my fabrics in half and cut two of each one at the same time.




This is one of the other flower patterns on that same die.

Isn't it interesting how different the two flowers look once they're put together? Yet both of them look like the flowers they're supposed to be! I love it!



I used some fabrics with music, musical notes and a yellow with a small pattern. I used buttons for the centers of both. These seem to be the handiest things I have laying around, and I think they're just about perfect!

I have more to show you, but will need to finish them first! I got off on another tangent for a couple of evenings and need to get these done by Sunday afternoon, since they're going to be my swap for this month's Demo get-together! SHHH - don't tell them, OK?

I hope seeing these fabric flowers has struck some resonance within you. If you're a quilter to start with, I'm sure you can see myriad possiblities here!

If you love flowers as I do, well, they're just great accessories to make and give as gifts!

I've taken to wearing one of them on whatever shirt I'm wearing for the day. Lately, because it's been pretty chilly here, I've been wearing my white vest - and they ALL go with that!

Next post I'll give you step by step instructions on how to make these, OK?

Don't forget about SAB, Haitian relief - oh, and I hope you had a very

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Thanks for stopping by...

Occasions Mini

Isn't this beautiful? It's a quilt square all the Leadership attendees received. These were made by the employees of Stampin' Up!'s manufacturing facility in Kanab, UT.

The employees, although quilt making is NOT in their job description, brought their own sewing machines from home to make 1,000 of these for Leadership attendees.

What a wonderful surprise for all of us, and what a thoughtful thing for those employees to do! Stampin' Up! really is an awesome company to work for!

They used the Big Shot, fabric, and the 5-Point 3-D Star die for this square.

They were made for us because Jill Olsen, my upline, received the Bright Idea award from Stampin' Up! for using our Big Shot to promote another type of craft.

Here she is, on stage at Leadership, receiving that award from Shelli Gardner.




She's been doing this type of quilting since last summer.








You may remember this post. Jill had called me to tell me she would be demonstrating the Big Shot at the local Quilt show. I went to touch base with her and see how she was going to promote this idea.

Mr Big (as he's lovingly called by some) can cut up to 8 layers of fabric each time dies are run through the machine.

Makes for speedy cutting out of the pieces, doesn't it?

Jill's made so many quilts now and used the same ideas to make other things as well.

She's inspired a lot of people, including Shelli, to play with Mr. Big and come up with other ideas - such as these:




These are flowers Shelli demonstrated at the Phoenix Regional, which took place the day after Leadership ended.







Velvet hasn't shown up on this blog for quite a while, so here she is, beautiful girl, sitting out on the patio one night this week.















And with that, I'll sign off for tonight. Have a wonderful weekend!

VINYL!

YES! We are now selling the VINYL we make the Decor Elements with as individual entities!

At Convention last year I chatted with one of the Stampin' Up! employees who was in the Decor Elements display area, and mentioned that I'd love to be able to purchase the vinyl for my personal use.

At the time, we were only carrying Decor Elements in white, black, brown, and, in some instances, red.

Well, I wanted more colors than that, and mentioned it to the gal while we chatted. In the mini-catalog that was released in July, we began carrying OTHER colors for some of the product! I told her I wanted THOSE colors, as well...

I also emailed my suggestion - just a few weeks ago. And, LO and behold, they showed up on the Twelve Days of Christmas list.

I've decided I must be psychic!

I was ecstatic!

So, you ask yourself, what the heck is she going to do with all this vinyl?

Look!



I just got the Tulipe die, so my first attempt at using the vinyl was to cut Gable Green vinyl on the Tulipe die.

This is a pretty intricate die, so I chose to use the negative design - simply because I felt it might be easier to apply.

Well, it took some time. I had to work out the bubbles, and at the bottom, I did have a little trouble working out the wrinkles. So, I just cut the vinyl, and overlapped it a tad. I will probably go back tomorrow and snip just a TEENY TINY piece out of that overlap area so it sits flat. And the next time, I may cut just a SLIVER out of the cut pattern before applying.

But, all in all, I thought it came out pretty well.

And then I got the scathingly brilliant idea (Trouble with Angels, anyone?) to cut a couple of small pieces of the Pixie Pink vinyl and run it thru the new butterfly embosslit! I decided to try the new polka dot Heart embosslit as well.

Look!












These are really slick! I cut more butterflies, just so I wouldn't waste the vinyl.

And then I decided maybe they'd look pretty good on the glass block with the Tulipe die.

I haven't applied all the butterflies yet. They're in the "mulling" stage.

I realize I COULD remove them if I didn't like how they looked, but I think I'll just let this sit overnight and I'll look at again tomorrow to see how I want to finish it.


But isn't this KOOL!!??!


So many Big Shot dies, so much vinyl - I need more ideas of what to decorate! Got any you'd like to share with me? Leave me a Comment!

SHH - Sneak Peek!

What the heck is THAT, you ask!

Well, it's a sneak peek from the Occasions mini-catalog, which, if you're a customer of mine, you will probably receive the week between Christmas and New Years...

If you're not one of my customers, why not? Just go to my website and place and order, and you will be!

So, anyway, what IS that in that photo, anyway?

ANSWER:

butterflies! LOTS of them - in all different sizes and colors! And they have texture! Made with one of our newest embosslits!

There are 4 different (small to tiny!) sized butterflies in this embosslit, and each one of them has a different texture to it. I can't wait to start playing with these things!

Come back later (after I've finished getting Christmas packages wrapped, decorated, and IN the mail), and I'll show you what sort of ideas I came up with for these pretty lil things!


These, you can probably figure out.

Yep, birds, wings, and branches...

All from ONE PUNCH! (OK - technically, two punches, because I punched the same thing twice).

How cool is this?

I'm displaying them on a quarter sheet of card stock, just so you can get some sort of reference as to their sizes.

Remember I told you I'd been playing with my Spectrum pads and the brayer - I brayered a number of sheets of card stock specifically so I could play with this bird punch and the butterfly embosslit.

And here's a card I whipped up using the bird punch, the new scalloped punches and the New Year's stamp (A Brand New Year Item #116838) on page 31 in the Holiday mini-catalog.

Isn't he a cute little bird?

And he looks totally different if you face his wings down, instead of up like they are on this card...

I'm sure I'll be making lots of things using this punch...

And did I mention? When you're done with our new punches, you can lock them closed so they take up less space in your craft cupboard! Fantastic idea!



If there's something you really want from the Holiday mini-catalog, you'd better hurry - it expires on January 4th, 2010...

And while you're at it, check out The Twelve Days of Christmas sale that Stampin' Up! has right now. Lots of Big Shot items, all the way from embosslits to dies, to colored vinyl you'll be able to use WITH Mr. Big!

Got all your Christmas gifts made yet? How about your gift tags? That's where I am these days - making the tags...

Tags!

I got the Two Tags Big Shot die a while ago, and haven't really played with it much - too many other toys, I guess!

When planning for my stamp club meeting this month, I decided to let them have the opportunity to make some tags to take home.

I chose a Bermuda Bay/Real Red color scheme. I realize Bermuda Bay is a little more blue than most of our greens, but it does look good with Real Red - and that's certainly a Christmas color!

I also embossed quarter sheets of Bermuda Bay, Real Red and Whisper White with the Petals A Plenty embossing folder, so that I could layer the tall tag.

The die cuts a perforation around the outside of the tall tag (like the Top Note die), which makes it really easy to trim the top layer on those perforations, and allow you to do layered tags with more than one color.



























The other tag on the die cuts a tag that folds up, and catches under a slight cut made by the die. Very easy tag to make - doesn't require a lot of decoration (for one thing, there's not much room!) and would be a quick project when you need a tag.

And here are a couple of tags made using the Merry embosslit from the Holiday mini-catalog. These came out pretty cute, too! And they were very fast to make.















So - do you NEED these two Big Shot items now? Just call or email, and I'd be pleased to order them for you. Or, alternatively, go to my Stampin' Up! website and place an on-line order. Be sure to choose me as your demonstrator - you'll get a better price than if you'd don't select a demonstrator!

My suggestion? Once you get these tools, sit down and make a bunch, then you'll have them for that last minute gift.

Chuck's Pets

My brother, Jim, has a friend he's kept in touch with since high school. The guys and their wives try to get together once a year - generally in the Fall, as that's what seems to work out .

He asked me to "do something" with photos of Chuck's pets that he had. Chuck and wife have "furry kids", like I do. Jim said they had run out of ideas for a gift this year, and thought something I made might be well received.

Last year for Christmas, Stampin' Up! sold chipboard kits that I made into Christmas tree ornaments for Jim and his wife that had photos of the kids and grand kids. I really enjoyed making them, and apparently Jim liked them too, since that's what he meant when he asked me to "do something".

So, I started putzing. We no longer sell the precut chipboard pieces I used last year. BUT, we DO sell a Big Shot, and, I have tablet backs (i.e. chipboard, although much lighter weight). So what's the problem?

I'll just use my Mr. Big dies and come up with something. I got the photos via email, so I can maniputlate them in IPhoto - no problem! I can even reprint them, if I mess things up!

So, here's what I was able to come up with. Hope you enjoy them!




































Recipe: Square Scallop and Oval Frame Sizzix dies; Merry Moments DSP; Snowflake punch; Dazzling Diamonds glitter, a retired leaf punch, Autumn Splendor stamp set; Pumpkin Pie and Real Red 1/2" striped grosgrain ribbons, as well as Ribbon Originals (green).







I was afraid they might have trouble finding a box that would accommodate these, so decided to make one.

I'm quite impressed with this! It's crisp and clean looking, yet has a lot of visual interest.

Recipe: Lattice die, Leaves #2 die, Merry Moments DSP, Real Red polka dot grosgrain ribbon, and the green ribbon from Ribbon Originals in the mini-catalog.






After everything was cut, using either the square scallop die or the oval frame, I added glitter to the edges of all the scallops, and "accessorized" using the snowflake punch and some holly leaves/berries made from punches and die cuts.

Cut the DSP and the chipboard all at the same time - it tends to make for a better "fit" for everything, since it's sorta related, by virtue of being cut that way.

If you'd like to learn how to do this for YOUR family photos give me a call and let's set something up!

Here's Smudge tonight - she just wants to say "hi".















Happy Stampin'

A Little More Halloween

Hey Everyone

I'd forgotten I'd taken this photo of a really cute idea for Halloween, using the Matchbox die and that cute pumpkin idea I showed you a couple of days ago which uses the scallop oval punch. Remember these?















Del brought this to my Team Meeting a couple of weeks ago as her Shoebox Swap for the evening.

Isn't it cute?

She had us turn the pumpkin on it's side to attach it to the top of the matchbox dies, all glued together.

We just filled the drawers with M&M small bags. I'm not sure where she got those, cause I've never seen them anywhere, but they fit perfectly!











And here's a photo of a convention gift from my upline that she made using the Big Shot and fabric. Now I KNOW she didn't mean for this item to be used in this fashion, but I thought it was pretty cute!

She used the Flower Folds die in all its sizes, cutting batting along with the fabric. She stitched the flowers individually, then layered them. Then she sewed the whole thing to a piece of Curry grosgrain ribbon.

Thankfully, the ribbon was long enough to fit around my head, so I could wear it like a hair ornament!




Would you be interested in learning how to make either of these items? Call me and book a workshop or let me know you've got 5 friends who are interested! I'll bring all necessary items with me, and we'll stamp and have a great time!

Heritage Quilts

As I've mentioned before, earlier this month Susan and I had the opportunity to go to my upline's once a year stamping event.

The quilt I'm about to show you was made by Janet Baker. It is exquisite.

It's a Heritage Quilt. I SO want to make one of these after having seen Janet's.

The quilt was hanging on the wall, so my photos may look a little skewed.

I did the best I could without ripping it off the wall and asking Janet to pose with it!

Notice how each square is unique. She used the Big Shot to cut the swirly pieces. She also used the Tulipe and the Oval Scallop dies.

The fabrics coordinate very well together, both from the pattern and the color standpoint.

She used different laces on each square.

She used different buttons on each square.

She even used a piece of our hardware on one of the squares.

She used both portrait and landscape photos on her quilt to keep the viewer's eye interested and moving around the quilt.

And here are photos of each individual section of the quilt, so that you can really see how much variety she put into the quilt, while maintaining the color scheme she'd chosen. She carried the buttons through out the quilt, as well as the laces.

It's just lovely...

ENJOY!

Sam