Dannie's Designs

Valentine Card

It has been a long time since I've stamped a full-sized card...and even longer since I stamped a card that didn't use Designer Series Paper. I didn't think I could do it, but I think I pulled it off.

I used this card as my inspiration.

This was posted on one of the display boards at leadership, so I don't know who to give credit to for this wonderful card.  If you know who stamped this, please let me know so I can give them credit.  Here's my card.

The base of my card is Purely Pomegranate with a piece of Regal Rose layered on top.  The photo doesn't show this, but I stamped the Flannel Plaid background stamp in Pretty in Pink ink on the Regal Rose cardstock.  It's very subtle and gives the look of textured cardstock.

I used the Sprinkles stamp set for the small hearts (does anybody else think of Dwight and Angela from the TV show "The Office" when you hear this stamp set name?).   I scalloped the bottom of the "Sprinkles" layer with my corner rounder punch and layered it on a thin strip of Purely Pomegranate cardstock.  I think the rest is pretty self-explanatory. 

I have my downline meeting tonight and these are my swap cards.  I have a lot more to get ready for tonight, so I gotta run.  Have a wonderful day!

Stamps: Time Well Spent, Flannel Plaid, Sprinkles, Holidays & Wishes
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Purely Pomegranate
Ink: Rose Red, Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink pad and marker (to color the border of the large heart)
Accessories: Corner Rounder Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Purely Pomegranate Double Stitched Ribbon, White Gel Pen

Seeing Stars

Here are some fun cards demonstrated at leadership by Jill Kocherhans (although I believe she said one of the Stampin' Up! designers made these).

This is a 3x3 card and it shows off our star punches and our new Rub-Ons (I'm telling you, these rub-ons are addicting!).  The black star is from the "Anchored" rub-on set.  To make the orange star, simply punch out your cardstock using the small star punch.  Then center your large star punch over the small star and punch like this...

Super easy.  I then added dimensionals to the back of my orange star (by cutting the dimensional into thirds to make them skinny enough so they wouldn't show) and stuck it to my card.  Here's another card using the same layout and design.

These were so easy to make and I love the way they turned out.  Tune back in tomorrow for more leadership stuff.

Stamps: Fundamental Phrases
Paper: Soft Sky, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Real Red
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Anchored Rub-Ons, Dimensionals, Old Olive Button, Real Red Grosgrain, Glue Dots, Crafters' Tool Kit, Large and Small Star Punches

More new stuff!

I went through my photos last night and I found more new stuff to show you!  I truly wasn't trying to leave stuff out.  I completely forgot I took these pictures.  I took over 1000 pictures, so some of these got lost in the shuffle. 

Here are the new "A Perfect Day" Rub-Ons from the new Occasions mini.  These were made to go with the new Die-cut Blooms I showed you in yesterday's post.

Here's a good look at the new Carousel Notes.  Again, these come in Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, and Wild Wasabi.  And yes, that's a sneak peek at a new stamp set called "Live Your Dream."  I love the way they added Rub-Ons to the center of the flowers as an accent. 

The Chocolate Chip envelopes are 6 1/4" square, so I imagine the Carousel Notes are about 6" in diameter.   Don't the white Rub-Ons look striking on the envelope?  They're so pretty!

Here they used the Carousel Note as a layer on a scrapbook page.  **Oops, I forgot to mention that this is the new 1/4" Poly-Twill Ribbon.  It comes in Chocolate Chip and Old Olive.  15 yards for $5.95.  I can't wait to get some!!!***

Before I show you more Carousel Notes, I should probably show you the new Afternoon Tea DSP.  Here's side one.

And here's side two.  You'll see this paper on a few more of the samples I'm going to post.  And yes, that's another new set of Rub-Ons in that photo.  Here's a better look.

These are called "Love Bird" Rub-Ons.  They're designed to coordinate with the Carousel Notes. 

Here are more samples.

Here they turned one of the envelopes into a Bag-a-lope (for directions click here).  The envelopes are large enough that they make a decent size bag.

A Carousel Note layered on Afternoon Tea DSP.

I love the way the Rub-Ons look on this one.  Also, you'll notice that the flower stamp from the "Live Your Dream" set is stamped directly onto the DSP.  The images are a perfect match.

Here they made the envelope into a pouch and filled it with candy.  That's one of the red Die-cut Blooms.

These two Carousel Notes were connected together with a brad that is hidden behind the ribbon.  You rotate the top one around to see what's on the bottom layer.  It's such a cute idea.

I think this one is my favorite.  It shows what the Rub-Ons look like on vellum.  It also shows that the Carousel Notes were designed to coordinate with the "Pick a Petal" Classy Brass Template (on page 187 of the new catalog).  They used the brass template to dry emboss the circles in each of the scallops.  They also used the holes on the template to paper pierce the circle around the vellum.  It's so pretty.

I think that's all for today.  Be sure to come back tomorrow for more leadership stuff!  ~Dannie

Occasions Mini Catalog Sneak Peek

I'm back from leadership and had a wonderful time.  I learned so many great new ideas that I hope to be able to share with you over the next couple of weeks.  I've been debating what to share with you first...and I think I'll start with the Occasions mini catalog (previously called the Spring mini catalog so if I interchange the two, you know what I'm talking about). 

Aren't those colors bright and cheerful?  There's nothing like bright colors to pull you out of the winter blues.  I quickly snapped this picture of the mini catalog when they showed it on one of the big screens at leadership. 

What's that?  You want to see what's INSIDE the mini catalog?  I guess I can show you a couple of things! 

At every Stampin' Up! event, they always give away doorprizes and I won!!!  I won this great stamp set that will be in the Occasions mini.

It's called "Big on Spring."  Isn't it cute?  Oh...and that's not all.  My stamp set also came with some brand new glitter from the occasions mini.

This is our new "Chunky Sprinkles" glitter.  It comes in Celery, Crystal Iris, Light Blue, and Light Pink.  When I first got it I thought it was the same chunky glitter that's in the big catalog.  It's not.  It's four new colors to play with.  Thank you Stampin' Up!

Another perk of being able to go to leadership is that Stampin' Up! offers product bundles that we can buy.  We get 15% off the product cost plus our demonstrator discount on top of that.  This year's product bundle was the "tart and tangy" bundle which included three new products from the occasions mini.  First there was the "Tart and Tangy" stamp set.

And you can't have a cute stamp set like this without some coordinating Designer Series Paper, right?

This is our new Summer Picnic DSP.   The  third item is brand new...Die-cut Blooms.

They're die-cut flowers that come in a package of four 12 x 12 sheets of TEXTURED cardstock (Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, and Real Red).  I can't wait to play with these new flowers.  You can't go wrong mixing and matching them together.  They're pretty large too.  The Pumpkin Pie flower on the left is about 3" across. 

Isn't that a great bundle?  There's also so much more in the mini catalog.

• There are two new sets of Rub-Ons.  One that has all sorts of flowers on it to coordinate with the new Die-cut Blooms.
• A baby stamp set that's designed for twins!
• A star stamp set.  Our two star punches will go great with these.
• A NEW set of Hodgepodge Hardware!
• Carousel Notes--these are die-cut scalloped circles about 6" in diameter.  They come in three colors--Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, and Wild Wasabi.  They also come with Chocolate Chip envelopes.
• Another new set of DSP called "Afternoon Tea"
• Poly-Twill Ribbon!  It comes in two colors--Chocolate Chip and Old Olive.  It's 1/4" wide and you get 15 yards for only $5.95.  That's a fantastic price!
• Lots of other stamp sets

I think that's all I have for now.  Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you'd like to see pictures of next. 

Leadership Make-n-Takes

Well, I didn't think I'd get to post again until after leadership, but it turns out that my roommate (Blythe Klipple) has a laptop computer.  She's letting me use it to post some pictures.  Thanks Blythe!!

Here are the make-n-takes we made today.

Isn't this cute?  I know a lot of you are going to be asking for directions on how to make this...but you'll have to wait until next week.  I'm using Blythe's Mac for this post and as a PC user, I feel like a fish out of water. 

UPDATE:  You can now find the tutorial on how to make this card by clicking here.

This is a cute tri-fold card.  On the front flap we measured up 1 1/2" from the bottom right corner.  Then we took our paper trimmer and cut from our 1 1/2" mark to the upper left hand corner.  So the front flap is angled.  It's a little difficult to see in the photo, but it's there.

I also have to add that I LOVE our new striped grosgrain ribbon.  It's much wider than I thought it would be--it's 1/2" wide.  It also lays very nicely on the card.  In this card, the striped grosgrain is holding the front flap closed.

This is a 9 3/8" square scrapbook page.  We glued our DSP down to a piece of chipboard that big.  It's nice and sturdy.  As you can see in these photos, we got to use lots of Rub-Ons.  This was my first chance to work with them and they're so easy to use.  And yes, you'll be addicted to them too!

This picture has a little shadow on it, but it's hard to take a good photo in a hotel room with your bed sheets as the back drop!  We made two of this card--one to keep and one for the Ronald McDonald House. 

Leadership classes start tomorrow.  I'll try to post another update, but I can't promise anything.   Enjoy and I'll see you when I return!  ~Dannie

Off to Leadership

I'm out the door to Palm Springs for leadership.  I had all these great plans to post projects while I'm gone, but I'm out of time.  I even have a cute photo wallet to show you too but I haven't had a chance to take photos of it yet.

I'm traveling with my baby and need to leave during nap time so she'll sleep in the car.  So I'm on her schedule and I've run out of time.  Sorry!

I'll be back next week with LOTS of great ideas and projects to show you.  See you Monday!  ~Dannie

Another Blast from the Past

Here's my last project using chocolate...well, my last project using chocolate before leadership that is.   I don't think I could ever take chocolate completely out of my projects. 

Yup, more peek-a-boo boxes (click here to see my other peek-a-boo box and to download the pattern).  I used the same scallop design as I did on the M&M container because they're all being packaged together and I wanted them to coordinate.

I added two peppermint patties inside each box and, of course, I stamped those too.

I am now completely done with my 3-D swaps for leadership and I'm sad to say that I don't have one card swap done.  NOT ONE!!!  It's killing me, but I'm out of time.  I've never attended a Stampin' Up! event before without swap cards.  I'll get over it.  I'll just have to take pictures of the cards my roommates get.  There's always regional next month.  I'll make up for it then!

Stamps: Happy Heart Day
Paper: White, Ruby Red, Groovy Guava, Ginger Blossom DSP
Ink: Ruby Red, Cameo Coral Marker
Accessories: Crafters' Tool Kit, Crystal Effects, Acetate, Sticky Strip
Punches: Scalloped Circle, Circle (1 3/8", 1 1/4")

More nuggets

I'm just about out of time to get things done for my leadership swaps, so I resorted back to an idea I've done before...nugget tins.  Lots of nugget tins!  To see my previous post about the nuggets and to find out about where I ordered my tins from, click here. 

I used Ginger Blossom DSP so it would coordinate with my M&M container (in my last post).  Here's a better look at one of the tins.

I got the idea for how to attach my tag from Robin Rouch.

Isn't that cute?  I punched out Ruby Red CS in my Word Window Punch.  I folded it in half and threaded my spiral clip through the middle.  Then I glued one end of the Word Window Punch to the front of my tag and the other end to the back of the tag.  Then I punched a hole and threaded my brad through the Word Window Punch and tag to hold it all together.  Lastly, as I was tying my ribbon around the tin, I threaded the ribbon through the spiral clip and tied it down.  I added a dimensional to the back of the tag to hold it on place. 

Stamps: Happy Heart Day
Paper: White, Ruby Red, Ginger Blossom DSP
Ink: Ruby Red, Cameo Coral Marker
Accessories: Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware, Groovy Guava Double-Stitched Ribbon, Dimensionals
Punches:  Word Window, Small and Large Tag Punch

M&M Container

I've finally started working on my final swap project for leadership.  I haven't even started on swap cards yet and leadership starts on Thursday.  Nothing like getting stuff done last minute! 

For this swap we're supposed to come up with a $20 class project.  It doesn't have to cost us $20 to make, that's just how much we would charge people to attend our class.  I thought I would have fun with this project and make a couple of different projects all using chocolate.  You can never go wrong with chocolate!

I love this little container.  I got the idea from Becky Fisher when I saw her box posted on SplitCoast.   I clicked on the link to her blog and saw that she even had directions (click here to see them) so it was super easy to make.  Thanks Becky!

I used acetate that I bought at Office Max or Office Depot (I can never tell them apart).  They're just simple overhead projector sheets.  The acetate is folded into a hollow "tube" that is 1 1/2" square and 4" tall. 

Once I made the "tube" from the acetate, I added sticky strip around the top and bottom of the acetate.  You need the sticky strip to help hold the lid and the bottom of the box on or else you'll pick up the box and M&M's would pour everywhere. 

Once I removed the red backing on my sticky strip, the tricky part was getting the acetate into the bottom of the box without it sticking where it shouldn't.  As soon as the adhesive touched the card stock it would stick and I had to peel it off and try again. 

TIP: GENTLY fold your acetate like you would the top of a paper grocery bag (I say GENTLY because you don't want to crease your acetate).  Push in on the two sides while gently squeezing the front and back together.  Don't squeeze too hard or the sticky strip will stick together on the sides.  While you're squeezing it, set it down into the bottom of the box and when you have it where you want it...let go!  It will pop out and stick to the sides. 

Here's a closer look at the lid of the box.

The photo doesn't show this, but there's Crystal Effects covering the heart in the middle.  I also stamped the polka dot stamp from my "Polka Dots & Paisley" stamp set on the Ruby Red card stock that I used for the lid and the bottom of the box.

I'm working on a couple more of my chocolate ideas so be sure to check back on Monday.  I have two more ideas that I'm working on and I might (read "if I have enough time") throw in a 4th project.  Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Happy Heart Day, Polka Dots & Paisley
Paper: White, Ruby Red, Groovy Guava
Ink: Ruby Red, Cameo Coral Marker
Accessories: Crafters' Tool Kit, Crystal Effects, Groovy Guava Double Stitched Ribbon, Acetate, Sticky Strip
Punches: Scalloped Circle, Circle (1 3/8", 1 1/4")

2, 4, 6, 8 Box

I just finished project #2 for my leadership swaps. 

I made 26 of these 2, 4, 6, 8 boxes.  The best part about this box is that it uses the supplies in the Valentine's Day Bundle from Stampin' Up!  When you purchase the Happy Heart Day set, Real Red Wide Grosgrain, and medium cellophane bags, you get a whole roll of Regal Rose Wide Grosgrain for FREE! 

Inside the box is a cellophane bag filled with pink M&M's and tied it off with some pink grosgrain ribbon.

Here's the back of the box.  I tried to keep it simple because I needed to make 26 of these boxes. 

For the handle I used a piece of Real Red Wide Grosgrain Ribbon.  I folded over 1/2" of the ribbon on both ends (to help reinforce it) and poked a brad through the ribbon.  I punched a 1/16" hole in the sides of my box, stuck the brad through the hole, opened the prongs, and my handle was done.

Just in case you're wondering what a 2, 4, 6, 8 box is or how to make one...here are the directions.  Start with an 8 1/2” x 5 1/2” piece of cardstock. With the 8 1/2” side going across the top, score at 2”, 4”, 6” and 8”. Turn the paper so the 5 1/2” side is on the top and score it at 2”.

Cut off the little 2” x 1/2” piece of cardstock (NOT the 1/2" x 3 1/2" piece). Cut on the 2”, 4”, 6” and 8” score lines and stop at the 2” score mark that is going across all of them. Add sticky strip on the 1/2” x 3 1/2” piece and adhere it together into the shape of a box. Fold in the bottom flaps and adhere them in place.

If you have questions or need clarification on these directions, please let me know.  Also, be sure to send me an email if you'd like to purchase this Valentine's Day Bundle!

Stamps: Happy Heart Day
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Real Red
Ink: Regal Rose, Purely Pomegranate (on the Real Red CS)
Accessories: Brads, Real Red Eyelets, Real Red Wide Grosgrain, Medium Cellophane Bag, Pink Grosgrain, Crafters' Tool Kit, Dimensionals, Sticky Strip
Punches: Scalloped Circle, Circle (1 3/8", 1 1/4", 1/16"), Small and Large Tag