Dannie's Designs

Sweet One

I've had a card idea floating around in my head for a couple of weeks now.  I kept trying to find time to make it, but that never happened.  Last night I was determined to make it so I stayed up late and stamped.



I took a piece of Bashful Blue cardstock and cut the waves free-hand.  When I placed the two layers of waves on top of each other, it was difficult to see the waves on the front layer.  To fix that I sponged white craft ink on the tops of all the waves.

I stamped the little boat from Nursery Necessities and cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals.  I think the "sweet one" stamp with the moon and stars coordinates well with the little boat.  I've been wanting to use those two stamps together for a while now.

This week I got the Polka Dot background stamp and I'm so happy I did.  It goes well with anything in any color.  It's perfect to use on cards where it just needs something to finish it, but you're not sure what.  I wanted to have stars all over the large bashful blue layer, but that wasn't working the way I thought it would.  I used my Polka Dot background stamp and it pulled the whole card together.

Stay tuned next week because it will be "Birthday Week" on my blog.  No, it's not my birthday next week.  I'm calling it birthday week because all week long I will be showing the cards we made at my birthday stamp-a-stack class. 
Also, remember that today is the last day to enter to win the blog candy.  I'll see you tomorrow when I post the winner.  ~Dannie

Stamps: Polka Dot, Nursery Necessities, So Many Scallops
Paper: White, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, Night of Navy
Ink: Craft White, So Saffron, Night of Navy
Accessories: Sponge, Scalloped Circle Punch, Dimensionals

Easter Box

I'm usually not this late posting, but today has been crazy and it's only gonna get crazier.  I'm running all over the place.  But I still wanted to show you a little Easter basket I made.



I started with an 8 1/2" square piece of Pretty in Pink cardstock and folded it using this pattern here.  The handle is 1" wide by 8 1/2" long.  The Easter eggs are actually the balloon stamp from the "Birthday Whimsy" sale-a-bration stamp set.  I just cut off the bottom part of the balloon (where it would be tied) and it left an egg shape.  It took me less than 10 minutes from start to finish on this project.

Stamps:  Birthday Whimsy
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Confetti White, Spring Fling DSP
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Sage Shadow, So Saffron
Accessories: Silver Brads, Pretty in Pink Grosgrain, Dimensionals, Bone Folder (it makes folding this box so much easier)

Blog Candy

Be sure to enter for your chance to win some blog candy.  Simply click over to  this post for details.  You have until Friday night at midnight to enter.  I'll leave this post at the top of the blog until I draw a name on Saturday, March 1st.

Gina Taylor

When I went to the Oakland Regional earlier this month, I didn't take any swap cards or projects with me.  I simply ran out of time and didn't get any made.  As everybody was gathering before regional began, I kept hearing the same question over and over "are you swapping?"  I had to keep telling them "no."  The swaps were fantastic and I was missing out.

When Gina Taylor came up to me, I told her I didn't have any swaps.  She said, "that's okay" and proceeded to give me not just one or two stamped items....but FIVE!!!  What a sweetheart!  She even gave me her permission to post them here on my blog.



This cute little box holds a small Hershey's milk chocolate bar.  What a darling way to package them.   



I love this little Easter cello bag.  The little chicks are covered peppermint patties.  Gina added some bling to their shells by covering them in crystal effects and dazzling diamonds glitter.



Whoa, that picture looks huge!  It's really not that big.  It's the tiniest milk carton I've ever seen.  It's an inch wide and stand about 2 1/2 inches tall and holds four starbursts.  Isn't that cute?



This is a little 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" trading card.  I love the simple, beautiful design. 



Gina's swap card was this darling rabbit made completely out of punches.  I love using my punches and this gives me some new ways to use them.  All of these took a lot of time to make and she just gave them to me!  Gina, thank you so much for your generosity. 

Sour Cream Container

I have been busy getting ready for my birthday card stamp-a-stack tonight.  I'll be posting the cards we're making later in the week so be sure to check back.

As a side note, anybody is welcome to participate in my classes no matter where you live.  I send out all of the details on my classes in my newsletter.  So if you're  interested in participating make sure you're signed up for my newsletter.  There's a spot on my blog in the left column under my photo that says "sign up for my newsletter."  Enter your email address and hit "go" and just follow one or two more directions.  It's that easy!

Part of getting ready for my class tonight is making doorprizes.  I needed something quick and easy so I made some sour cream containers.



To make this, I started with a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of cardstock vellum.  I stamped the flower in Elegant Eggplant craft ink and then covered it in clear embossing powder and heat set it. 



Next I put a piece of sticky strip down the shorter (4 1/4") side.  I took the red backing off my sticky strip and rolled it into a tube and adhered the two sided together.



I added another piece of sticky strip inside one end of my tube and adhered the two sides together to make a bottom for my sour cream container.



I placed the closed end of my container into my paper crimper and crimped the bottom 1/4".  When I did this, some of my embossing powder flaked off.  The flowers were still purple where it flaked off and it wasn't too noticeable.  However, if I were to make these again I don't think I would crimp the ends if they've been embossed.



I filled my container with M&M's and closed the top with more sticky strip.  Make sure when you're closing the top, that the seam points in the opposite direction from the bottom seam.  In other words, if the bottom seam is pointing east and west make sure that the top seam is pointing north and south.  I hope that's clear!  I also crimped the top so it matched the bottom.

I punched two holes in the top and threaded ribbon through it and added my tag.  The whole container took me less than 10 minutes to make.   Now to finish cutting cardstock for tonight!

Stamps: All Through The Year, Tagger's Dozen
Paper: White, Elegant Eggplant, Cardstock Vellum
Ink: Elegant Eggplant (craft and classic for the tag)
Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder, Sticky Strip, Crimper, Elegant Eggplant Grosgrain
Punches: 1/8" Circle, Large and Small Tag

WOW!!!

Today is such a great day.  Not only is this my 100th post, I'll also reach 100,000 hits today!!  Thank you for coming and visiting my blog and leaving such sweet comments.  They really brighten my day.

In honor of reaching these milestones, I have some goodies to give away.



This is an assortment of Designer Series Papers.  All the pieces are 6" x 6".



Plus I also have some small organdy bags (3 of them) and an assortment of copper metal edge tags.  The top two packages have white cardstock in the tags and the bottom two packages have vellum in the tags.

To enter the drawing for these goodies, simply leave a comment on this post (only one comment per person please) letting me know what type of video tutorials you would like to see me make--techniques, 3D projects, etc.  You can enter this drawing through midnight Friday, February 29th and I'll draw a winner on Saturday, March 1st.  Thanks again for visiting me!  ~Dannie

Flowers

I seem to work best under pressure.  I can struggle with a card when I have a swap deadline approaching.  Then right before I have to get it in the mail, a card just comes together.  Why can't it just "come together" like that all the time?  I guess that would make life too easy.

I had my downline meeting last night and I needed to make a swap card.  I went to the SplitCoast sketch challenge and this is what I made (2 hours before the meeting!!).





It came out just the way I imagined it.  I stamped the flower once in Soft Sky on Whisper White cardstock and punched it out with the scalloped circle punch.  I stamped the flower again in Old Olive ink on Sahara Sand cardstock and punched out the words in the center with the 1" circle punch.  Part of the flower got punched out too giving it an Old Olive "ring" around the words.  It looks like it's layered, but it's not.

For the stem, I cut a 1/8" strip of Old Olive cardstock.  The leaves are from the "Friendship Blooms" stamp set.  This was a fun layout to work with.

Stamps: En Francais, Friendship Blooms, So Many Scallops
Paper: White, Soft Sky, Sahara Sand, Old Olive, Fall Flowers DSP
Ink: Soft Sky, Old Olive
Accessories: Old Olive Wide Grosgrain, Silver Brads, Dimensionals
Punches: Scalloped Circle, 1" Circle, Three For You Flower

Congratulations

Today I made some "congratulations" cards for two of my downline.



I have a stash of Stampin' Up! note cards on my shelf and used those as my card base.  They're 3 1/2" x 5" and come pre-scored in a pack of 20 with 20 envelopes.  You can't beat that when you're in a hurry to make some cards.

The turquoise paper is actually a piece of Bali Breeze Designer Series Paper, not card stock.  I used my So Many Scallops Sale-a-bration stamp set for the flower and covered the center with Flower Fusions.  I was pleased to discover that the felt Flower Fusions match perfectly with this DSP.  I'll have to use these two together in more of my projects. 

Stamps: So Many Scallops, Hugs & Wishes
Paper: White, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red (behind the rose red flower), Bali Breeze DSP
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Basic Gray
Accessories: Flower Fusions, Brads, Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain, Dimensionals, Scalloped Circle Punch

Oakland Make-n-takes part 2

As I mentioned in my post this past Saturday, there were a couple more make-n-takes that we did at the Oakland regional.  I finished putting my scrapbook pages together and have those to show you.



Here's a 6x6 scrapbook page that uses the "Live Your Dream" stamp set from the Occasions mini catalog.  It's such a quick, simple layout and this page went together really quickly. 

I know I should have pictures on my scrapbook pages, but I'm one of those protective moms who can't stand the idea of her children's pictures on the internet.  I just can't do it! 



Here's the 12x12 page we made.  Again, another simple layout.  There are a few things about the page that I want to show you.



We embossed the little dots around the Wild Wasabi square using a crop-a-dial. 



We also embossed the little photo corner.  I think it's so cute.  Here's how we lined it all up.



With the paper piercing template!  We used the medium sized holes in the section that says "for small eyelet placement."  Simply set your crop-a-dial to the A1 setting and emboss through the holes like this....



Just be sure not to squeeze too hard (yes I'm speaking from experience) or you'll make holes in your cardstock.  I know that's not a very good photo, but I took that picture myself.  It's the best I could do with one hand holding the camera. 

For the photo corner, I embossed the 5 dots and then turned my photo corner punch upside down, lined it up and then punched it out.

There is one more card that we made, but I'll have to post that later.  It needs a tutorial on how to fold it to get the pocket inside.  So I'll work on that and post it at a later date.

6x6 Page
Stamps: Live Your Dream
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla, Afternoon Tea DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava
Accessories: Groovy Guava Double Stitched Ribbon, Aged Copper Hodgepodge Hardware, Dimensionals
Punches: Corner Rounder, Circle (1 1/4" and 1 3/8")

12x12 Page
Stamps: So Much, Big Deal Alphabet
Paper: Kraft, Real Red, Soft Sky, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi
Ink: Basic Gray, Wild Wasabi, White Stazon, Versamark
Accessories: Linen Thread, So Saffron Button, Dimensionals, Crafters' Tool Kit, Crop-a-dial
Punches: Photo Corner

Punched Card

I belong to a swap group and needed to work on this month's swap.  The theme was "punches."  Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know how much I LOVE my punches.  I use them on just about everything.  But for some reason this card was so hard to make!!!  I have been stressing over this swap for about 2 weeks now.  I need to mail them out today, and just this morning I finally came up with a card.



I hope I used enough punches!  I sliced 3/4" off the right side of the front of my card and then scalloped the edge with my corner rounder.  I added a layer of Purely Pomegranate cardstock to the inside of my card to show the scalloped edge.  I think the rest of the card is pretty self-explanatory. 

I hate to cut this short, but I have 9 more of these to make and drop in the mail today.  I gotta hurry!  See you tomorrow.  ~Dannie

Stamps: Boho Backgrounds, One of a Kind
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Purely Pomegranate, Basic Black
Ink: Purely Pomegranate
Accessories: Black Grosgrain, Black Brads, Sponge
Punches: Circles (1/2" and 1 3/8"), Large Oval, Round Tab, Corner Rounder, Ticket Corner