Dannie's Designs

Retiring Product Lists

Stampin' Up! has released all of the retiring lists.  

Retiring Stamp Sets

Retiring Accessories

Retiring Decor Elements

Remember, with the retiring accessories and the retiring Decor Elements, these items are available only while supplies last!  I will update the lists as items are no longer in stock.  BE sure to place your order (shop now button in the upper right corner) before these items are gone for good! 

Scalloped Flower Card

Usually I try to keep my blog strictly about stamping and sharing projects, but I thought I'd start today off with a little confessional.  My stamp room is an absolute mess!  It is so unorganized that I am having trouble functioning in here.  I have yet to pull the retired stamp sets off my shelves from LAST catalog year, let alone start pulling off the sets that made this years retiring stamp set list.  How ridiculous is that?

I have a section of my stamp desk that is covered in half finished projects or card accents.  Whenever I go to stamp, I never look in that pile or use any of it so it just continues to grow.  I have a box on my stamp room floor overflowing with spools of ribbon and I'm not sure how to organize it.  I have stacks of 12x12 paper leaning against tables and shelves and spilling into the floor.  It's a wonder I can find anything at all in here.  I like to think of it as "organized chaos."

When I entered my stamp room this morning, I tried to start organizing my desk.  In doing so, I found a couple different elements sitting in my "partially done" stack and so I decided to combine them to make a card.

I made the flower on this card for the tutorial I posted the other day.  The Not Quite Navy scalloped card, however, has been sitting on my desk since I made this tutorial in August of 2008!!!  How sad is that?  I added a Rhinestone brad to the center of the flower and tied a ribbon around the top.  This card took me literally two minutes to make.  Of course if I hadn't been such a slacker and had all of the pieces mostly done sitting right in front of me, the card would have taken a few minutes longer.  I'm just going to ignore that minor detail and pat myself on the back for making such a cute card in under two minutes!

So how does your stamp room look?  If you have any organization suggestion for buttons, brads, ribbon and other small items, I'd love to hear them.  Also, what do you do with all of your 1/2 finished projects and card accents?  Leave me a comment on this post so we can all hear your ideas.  Something tells me I'm not the only one with a messy stamp room.  Thanks for stopping by!

Paper:  Not Quite Navy, Everyday Enchantment DSP
Accessories:  Pool Party Ribbon, Rhinestone Brad
Punches:  2 3/8" Scalloped Circle
Big Shot:  Scallop Circle #2 Die

Retiring Stamp Set List

Stampin' Up! has released the list of retiring stamp sets.  Be sure to look through the list and mark the ones you have to have before they are gone.

On April 25th, Stampin' Up! will release the list of retiring accessories and Decor Elements.  These items will be available only while supplies last.

Click here to order your favorite stamps before they're gone for good!

Heart Framelits Card

Today I have a quick, easy card to show you (click here to see more quick and easy cards that I have posted on my blog).  The inspiration for this card came from Elaine.  I received one of her gorgeous cards at my last downline meeting and I had to give it a try.

I love the way the designer series paper shows through the heart.  Both of the hearts were made from the Hearts Framelits Collection.  After I cut the big heart out of the River Rock cardstock with my Big Shot, I popped that layer up on dimensionals. 

For the sentiment I stamped it first and then centered it in one of the smaller Heart Framelits.   After I cut it out using the Big Shot, I sponged around the edges.   I popped the sentiment up with dimensionals.

For the inside of the card I wanted to keep the heart theme going so I used the Pinking Hearts Border punch along the bottom of the DSP.  I finished it off with the same ribbon I used on the front of the card.  Like I said, it was a quick and easy card.  Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps:  Sprinked Expressions
Paper:  River Rock, Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Paisley Petals DSP
Ink:  Not Quite Navy
Accessories:  Sponge, Cherry Cobbler Ribbon, Dimensionals
Punches:  Pinking Hearts Border
Big Shot:  Hearts Framelits Collection

Coffee Filter Flowers

Last night I had a great meeting with my downline.  Kelly taught us how to watercolor coffee filters to make these gorgeous flowers.

I used Wisteria Wonder and Concord Crush to color the coffee filter. Even though both of those colors are purple, the red and the blue in the ink tended to separate giving it a gorgeous spectrum of colors. 

Each of the flowers is made from four punched out flowers stuck on top of each other.  The leaves are also made from coffee filters.

I asked Kelly where she learned the technique from and she couldn't remember.  So I apologize for not being able to give credit where credit is due.  I will put together a picture tutorial and post it within the next couple of days.

Here's a closer look at the flowers.  I apologize that the picture is a little blurry.  As I've mentioned before, I need a new camera.  It takes bad pictures even when I adjust the settings for closer photos.  I finally found a camera that I want to get, but I have to wait until it's back in stock.  Then my blog pictures should look much better.  I can't wait!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Paper:  Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, Everyday Enchantment DSP
Ink:  Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder, Lucky Limeade
Accessories:  Button, Glue Dots, Coffee Filters
Punches:  Fancy Flower, Blossom Petals Builder, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border

Big Shot Petite Purse

I had the chance to play around with my new Petite Purse Bigz die and I made the cutest purse.

The purse itself (not including the handle) stands about 2" high and about 2 1/2" long.  When you cut out the die, it includes a simple strip of cardstock to use for the handle.  I wanted to change it up a little bit, so I used 6" of the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch for the handle instead.

For the flap of the purse, I cut out a piece of the Summer Smooches DSP and adhered it on top of the Island Indigo cardstock.  If I had to do it again, I would have cut off the flap of the Island Indigo cardstock and just used the DSP itself as the flap.  It was a little bit too thick to fit into the slit in the front of the purse.

I finished off the front of the purse with a punched flower and a pearl.

Here's a look at the back of the purse.  Once my girls see this little purse, I'm sure I'll be making a lot more.  Thanks for stopping by!

Paper:  Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Summer Smooches DSP
Accessories:  Sticky Strip, Pearls
Punches:  Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border, Itty Bitty Shapes
Big Shot:  Petite Purse

Mojo Monday Flower Card

Today I needed some inspiration for stamping, so I turned to one of my all time favorites--the Mojo Monday sketch.  Julee's team always has great sketches to work with and I can make a card in no time following along with the sketch of the week.  This week we had this sketch to work with.

I decided to use my new Summer Smooches DSP (on sale this month) for this card.  If you click on the photo, it will enlarge the image so you can see some of the details better.  The red strip across the middle was a piece of Real Red cardstock that I punched out using the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch.

The flower is from the new Large Paper Doily Sizzlet.  I ran it through the Big Shot and then cut out the flower in the center.  I attached the flower using a dimensional.  The sticky part of the dimensional was showing through the hole in the center of the flower, so I added some Dazzling Diamonds glitter so it wouldn't be sticky and to add some shimmer to the flower.

As usual, I kept the inside of my card pretty basic so there's lots of room to write a message.  That's pretty much it.  Thanks for stopping by!

Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Island Indigo, Summer Smooches DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Real Red Ribbon
Punches:  Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border
Big Shot:   Large Paper Doily Sizzlet, Polka Dot Embossing Folder

Easter Basket

I can't believe that Easter is right around the corner.  I'm not ready for it at all.  I went online and looked for a quick Easter project to make and I found the pattern for this adorable Easter basket by Leslie Miller.

Click here for a link to her tutorial.  UPDATE:  The link to the tutorial no longer works.  I have created my own video and picture tutorial on how to make this basket.  Click here to view the tutorial.

This project took literally five minutes to make.  It was the perfect project for teacher gifts.  I filled each basket with some paper shred and then filled it with a Cadbury egg.  When I gave it to my youngest daughter to give to her teacher, she asked me why I had filled it with trash.  Apparently she has never seen paper shred before.  I got a big kick out of that.

If you would like some more Easter ideas, simply click here and it will take you all of the Easter projects I have posted on my blog.  I think all of them have directions, a tutorial, or a link to the tutorial that I used.  Thanks for stopping by!

Paper:  Everyday Enchantment DSP
Accessories:  Calypso Coral Organdy Ribbon, Sticky Strip

Summer Smooches Special

The new Stampin' Up! catalog is right around the corner (June 1st).   Normally we have to wait to see all of the new products and accessories.  However, this year Stampin' Up! is giving us the opportunity to pre-order products from the brand new Summer Smooches collection.  This offer is available from April 1-30 and includes two products that are available during this pre-order period only.

Item	Description	Price
125495	Bright Blossoms Wood-Mount Set	$16.95
125497	Bright Blossoms Clear-Mount Set	$12.95
125409	Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper	$10.95
125583	Daffodil Delight 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon	$10.95
125411	Summer Smooches Designer Fabric	$9.95
125589	Summer Smooches Fabric Designer Brads*	$6.95
125626	Summer Smooches Décor Stencil*	$7.95
125606	Petite Purse Bigz L Die	$32.95
129919	Summer Smooches Photobook Template	$17.95
129601	Summer Smooches Digital Kit	$9.95

*Exclusive to the Summer Smooches Special Offer; will not be available in the 2012-2013 catalog.

Click here to download the flyer with more details and pictures.

Click here to purchase your items today.  Thanks for stopping by!

Tag Tutorial

Today I'm back to show you how to make the tag that was on the birthday card I posted last week.

Supplies needed:

• 1" strip of cardstock
• Curly Label punch

Step 1:  Flip the punch upside down and insert the cardstock into the punch as shown in the photo below.  Be sure to center the cardstock top to bottom so that the "point" is in the center.  Punch the cardstock.

Step 2:  Flip the cardstock around and insert the other end into the punch as shown in the photo below.  Again, try to center the cardstock left to right so that the curve is in the center of the cardstock.  Punch the cardstock.

That's it!  It's that simple.  If you're not sure how long to make your cardstock, I would recommend stamping your image or sentiment first and then punching it out.  That way it comes out the perfect length.

Thanks for stopping by!