Happy Star-spangled month to you!
Every year I tell myself I’m going to do something besides Red-White-And-Blue for July, and every year I cave in and go patriotic. It’s just one of those things!
Take a look and see what Cheryl and Crystal have done with their calendars this month. Hope you enjoy seeing our DIY Calendar mini-tour!
March is almost over {gasp} and that means we’ve nearly reached the end of Sale-a-bration 2014. I know some of you folks on the East Coast had snow yesterday – my son told me it snowed on campus too. (There was deep disgust in his voice. He knows full well what the weather is here at home. I was a good mommy – for once – and didn’t mention the warm sunshine.)
If it snowed at your house yesterday, please accept my condolences and this bright Spring bouquet!
Those faceted vintage buttons are very handy to have around. They come in 3 sizes and reflect colors around them very nicely. I have a nice little stash of them 🙂
I hope you have a little bit of spring weather!
Pinterest is my favorite Black Hole on the internet – I have spent hours there looking at anything and everything. Our new tour features a Pin-Worthy theme every month and we are starting off with a flourish on the theme of True Love – or as our fearless leader Jan puts it, “Lovey-Dovey”.
Our Crumb Cake note-card sized envelopes have been on my desk lately – I’m SUPPOSED to be making (and sending!) thank-you notes! The new Retro Fresh DSP (that’s Designer Series Paper to the uninitiated) paper pack has Crumb Cake in its color palette, so it seemed a natural pairing:
Love those Petite Petals from the new Occasions catalog – and they are bundled with the coordinating punch. I’m a sucker for deals like that 🙂
There’s something about these Crumb Cake envelopes that begs for lining. I played with all the patterns before choosing this open, floral pattern. Honestly? I just liked it the best.
On the inside I added a sentiment from Memorable Moments – I love that the words are separate (Happy and Anniversary – there’s also a Birthday stamp). No Stamp-a-ma-jig this time, just stamp-a-ma-GO!
I was inspired by this sketch – it’s this week’s Mojo Monday Sketch – so I made a second card with it using the same color palette:
Out with Real Red and in with Pool Party and Baked Brown Sugar. A minor change like that makes a major difference, don’t you think? This is still Retro Fresh DSP.    Piercing seems to be out of trend right now, but I’ve always loved how it adds texture and design without adding color, so I pulled out my Piercing Tool (aka Pokie Doodle) and the guide. It also reflects the little dots on the DSP (really, I planned it that way.)
This card needed a coordinating envelope as well. Love those dots!
The smallest heart is punched with the Owl Punch, and the larger one is a single punch. And what card doesn’t NEED some Linen Thread? Perfect touch.
Finally, the inside is stamped with the brand new Hip Notes image – don’t tell Mr. Maui Stamper, but this just might be his Valentine.
Hope you like this Inaugural post for the PinWorthy Tour! Your next stop is Audra Monk at the Crafty Yogi – I’m sure you’ll enjoy her projects.
I inked up my Undefined Pineapple:
Yeah, I kinda pulled out everything in the stamp studio for this one 🙂
The pineapples are inked with markers and masked. I carved just one pineapple, and I carved it in a hurry! It has a folksy, rustic look to it.
Didja break down and get the Thinlets Flip Card die yet? I confess that if I hadn’t seen them in person at convention I might not have been so anxious, but I did and I was so I ordered them on August 1st – the first day I could. The 5 chevron pieces are one of the accent dies that accompany the Circle Flip die.
I stamped this sentiment from Yippee Skippee three times in three colors of ink and cut them up. There’s a strip of Crushed Curry card stock stamped with the diagonal lines from Gorgeous Grunge behind the words to serve as an anchor. Lining that up was definitely a job for the Stamp-a-ma-jig.
If you stretch the entire card out, this is what the first side looks like. You’re seeing the front of the card, the back of the flip, and the inside of the card. The Baked Brown Sugar panel was run through the Honeycomb TIEF before I adhered it to the Old Olive card base. I added a strip of white card stock (more details HERE) to the inside for additional writing space, and I put a Crushed Curry 2 1/2″ circle behind the flip to give it a finished look. I might write an additional note here, or I might add a photo. And yes, this is an extended card. Patty Bennett has made an excellent tutorial – see it HERE.
Turn the card over to see the second side. If you look closely at the Natural Trim ribbon you’ll see that I butted the edges on the diagonal to create a finished edge – I didn’t want a knot or a bow. It also creates a more finished look over the scallop trim from the Tasteful Trim Bigz XL die. I used a full-height piece of Sticky Strip to secure the trim.
This card looks a lot more complicated than it is – you could surely make one yourself.
LOVE these muslin gift bags from the Holiday catalog!
Lazy girl that I am, I cut a piece of ribbon and just clipped it on with the clothespin from the Tag a Bag accessory kit. That little rhinestone is a leftover from…something. A kit, the name of which I cannot remember or find. But you could take a plain rhinestone jewel and color it with a Sharpie® marker and get the same result.
Here’s what I did to stamp the bags:
THAT’S IT. I did NOT wash, fold, dry, iron or otherwise pay any attention to these bags. I used Stampin’ Up! Classic Ink. It dried to the touch but I noticed that as I stuffed the bags the ink would transfer to my hands, so I recommend allowing them to dry overnight before gifting them – there was no ink transfer the next day for me. I stamped 4 different times – the 2-step flower image in Primrose Petals and Raspberry Ripple, the stem in Old Olive, and the sentiment in Raspberry Ripple – and didn’t have any problems with smearing.
I made a bunch of these for my Hostess Club members. They’re filled with a cute stamp and some Trader Joe’s Chocolate Covered Sea Salt Butterscotch Caramels (I think I’m happy that TJ’s isn’t in Hawaii because these would become an ISSUE for me). These bags are a perfect last-minute-gift solution! I’ve got a stash on hand and I think you should too 🙂
The Maui Stamper 