Luv my jeans!

There's nothing better than a good pair of jeans that fits just right. And depending on the rest of your outfit, they can be dressed up or down for just about any occasion. (Luv my jeans!) This yummy jeans-inspired card (or set of cards, as the case may be) is no exception.

This was one of my gifts to my sister for Christmas. She likes to hand make cards, but sometimes has trouble with the 'inspiration and design' aspect of cardmaking--AND she's more Tex-ified than I am, and has been known to wear large belt buckles with her matching leather belt and boots. So I put together a few card kits for her, each with one finished card, plus all the pieces pre-stamped and pre-cut to make three additional cards. I included matching envelopes with the horseshoe and star motif stamped on the flap. I have to admit it looks a lot better in person, though.

Ingredients (all SU!):
Stamps: Bronc Buster
Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Close to Cocoa, Brushed Silver
Ink: Versamark, White craft
Other: Markers, white gel pen, silver embossing powder, sponge wedge, 1/4" circle hole punch

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Last craft fair of the season

Yesterday was the last craft fair I'm going to do this season, and it was... awful.

It was a first year fair, but they seemed to have a good handle on it when I signed up in early November. It was held at a nearby high school and had more than 80 vendors between two gyms. The big problem was they didn't advertise well, didn't put out adequate signage (friends and family who knew it was there, but who were not familiar with the school, still couldn't find it), and didn't take into account the proximity of the entertainment stage in relation to nearby booths. Half the time every booth was super easy to find (once you actually found the gyms) because there was NO ONE there shopping. The other half, the entrance to the gym was blocked, all the aisles were blocked, and many booths were blocked, not by shoppers, but by hordes of kids waiting to dance or sing, and parents wanting to watch their kids dance or sing.

Needless to say, I didn't even make back my booth fee.

On the bright side, I made a new friend (Hi Kara!), and had a fabulous display! The fireplace was an eleventh hour idea (literally, 11:00 pm Friday night). Check it out!



My friend Stephanie, with whom I shared the booth, suggested I put some of my unsold stuff on Etsy. I thought it was a great idea, so that's what I worked on when I got home. Check out my new Etsy store! You can also see some recent additions in the Etsy store gadget in the left column ( <-----*pointing left*).

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Top Note genie bag

Got lots of oohs and aahhs over these last night. I made one for each of my PTA Board members in attendance at our holiday get-together/board meeting. They looked fabulous en masse there on the table. Shoulda taken a picture of that, but alas, in my effort to get everything else into my truck, I forgot my camera bag. Oh well.

Ingredients:
Papers: Baja Breeze and Whisper White cardstock, pearlescent vellum from Hobby Lobby
Sizzix Dies: Top Note, Snowflake #2
Stamp: Snowflake from this year's Country Living Holiday Collection (SU!)
Punches: Scallop Circle, Large Oval, Trio Flower
Ribbon: Silver tulle 'ribbon' (comes 6" wide, but I cut it down to 2")
Bag: #2 white gusset-bottom bags from Sam's Club

My own Top Note die is still on backorder (* S I G H *), so I borrowed this one from my downline. Thanks Carole!

Though this is a simple idea, it wasn't mine. I'm not sure who originated it (using the Top Note), but the earliest example I could find was by Angie Kennedy Juda at Chic n' Scratch.

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Santa bookmark

Gah. I was hoping to take pics for a tutorial on how to make this guy using SU punches, but it's not gonna happen any time soon. So I'm just gonna share the pic, and the supplies list, and maybe you can figure it out!

Ingredients:
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Blush Blossom
Punches: Scallop Circle (beard/mustache), Scallop Square (hat trim), 1-1/4" Circle (skin), 1" Circle (cut out of scallop circle), 1/4" Circle handheld (nose and hat ball)
Other: Black marker (eyes), Stampin' Pastels (cheeks & nose), jumbo paperclip, grid paper

Hat is an isosceles triangle one inch tall, and one inch wide at the base. For the hat trim, I punched a scallop square, then put the punched piece back in the punch to trim it down (you can get two hat trims from one scallop square punch). The mustache is cut from the piece I cut out of the scallop circle for the face (you end up with a crescent shape left over).

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Reindeer Joy

How cute is this?!? This project started with the guy with the snowflake on his nose. I had been experimenting with punches, figuring out how to make a reindeer face with the tag punches, and then how to make convincing antlers without hand-cutting them. He turned out so well that I had to make the others to keep him company. And then I discovered that as a trio, they took up a lot of space. Not to mention the fact that they took a lot of detail time to make. So a card, even a big card, seemed a bit too...disposable...for the amount of work--and the CUTENESS factor!!--that these guys entail.

INGREDIENTS
Cardstock: Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, Creamy Caramel, Basic Black, Baja Breeze
Paper: Ski Slope
Punches: Tag, Small Tag, Five-Petal Flower, Round Tab, 1/2" Circle, 1/4" Circle, Word Window, Scallop Square
Other: White gel pen, Cricut, frame

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Pocket Card of Goodness

That's what I'm calling it, since Hot Pocket was already taken. This groovy little 'card' has two pockets on the inside to hold a packet of soup and a packet of hot cocoa. I have several set aside for teacher gifts. Here's a pic of the (potentially) warm num-yummy goodness contained in one little card:


I made two prototypes for this thing, one with separate pockets that you glue on, the other all one piece where you glue down a couple of flaps. While gluing the pockets was a lot easier on the one-piece design, cutting it out and scoring it was a royal pain in the rumpus. So I stuck with the three-separate-rectangles design. Gluing the pockets is a little fiddly, but overall it took a lot less time. Here's the cut and score measurements for each piece:


Snowflake stamp is from Season of Friendship. 'For You' stamp is from One of a Kind. D'Vine Swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder by ProvoCraft. Snowflake border punch is by EK Success (same company that makes SU's punches).

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Snowman Cocoa pouch

This is a super-easy project, so much so that our PTA might make these for our 85 teachers and staff. You can get two pouches out of a single sheet of cardstock (and if you're making more than one, it's better to score first, then cut it in half). Here's some measurements for you:

Once you've got your cardstock stamped and folded, you'll only need a stapler, a cocoa packet (or a soup packet), and a scrap of colored cardstock run through your crimper:

Here's some how-to pics on the creation of that paper bow:


Snowman stamp is from the long-retired SU set Let It Snow ('arms' hand drawn). He's colored with a combination of markers and aquapainter watercoloring.

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