Dannie's Designs

April Stamp Class

Where did March go?  I just realized last night that I only have about two weeks left to do my taxes and I haven't even started.  Not good!  I think Easter happening in March and the kids being out of school for a week really threw me for a loop.  Hopefully I can catch up.

At least I'm caught up in one area--my stamping!  I've had so many people ask me how I find the time to stamp with four kids.  I make time to stamp, that's how.  It truly is my sanity.  I'm able to think about things and clear my mind while I stamp.  A stamping mom is a happy mom.

Now that April has snuck up on me, I've realized that it's time to finalize my April stamp class.  We'll be making this box...



along with 8 Tart and Tangy 3x3 cards to match.  Don't be left out, be sure to join me for this class either in person or through the mail. 

Date: Saturday, April 12th at 10am

Cost: $15 (plus shipping if you don't live near me)

Registration Deadline: Friday, April 4th

How to Register: Email me at DannieGrvs@hotmail.com

We'll have great doorprizes, refreshments and lots of fun.  I hope to see you there.  ~Dannie

Mojo Monday...

on a Friday?  I'll take a little mojo help any day of the week!  I saw the Mojo Monday sketch earlier in the week and decided I needed to do this one.



Isn't that a great layout?  Here's the card I made.



This card is full of firsts for me

• First time using my Build-a-brads
• First time using my Die-cut Blooms
• First time using Striped Grosgrain
• First time using the "A Perfect Day" Rub-ons

I have no idea why it took me so long to use these products.  I bought them all the very first day I could and they have just been sitting here neglected.  I need to be better about that.

The build-a-brad was really easy to use.  I used a flower rub-on for the center of my brad.  I rubbed it on Pumpkin Pie cardstock and then punched it out using my 1/2" Circle Punch.  I added a little adhesive to the back of the cardstock, stuck it to the brad, added the clear bubble and it was done.  You can't get any easier than that.  I also added the "For You" rub-on as my sentiment.

I added a row of paper piercing above and below the Pumpkin Pie Striped Grosgrain Ribbon.  I used dimensionals to put this whole card together.  The Real Red cardstock with the ribbon on it is on dimensionals, the Real Red and Bashful Blue layers with Old Olive brads is on dimensionals, and the Die-cut Blooms are also on dimensionals.  This is a thick card!

Whenever I need a little mojo help, a good card sketch always helps.   What helps you get your stamping mojo going?

Paper: Bashful Blue, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Picnic Designer Series Paper, Die-cut Blooms
Accessories: Build-a-brad, Old Olive Brads, Crafters' Tool Kit, Pumpkin Pie Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, A Perfect Day Rub-ons, Dimensionals
Punches: Ticket Corner, 1/2" Circle

Cherry Tin

I love the Summer Picnic Designer Series Paper in the Occasions mini catalog.  The colors are so cheerful and bright.  I was "working" (can you really call this work?  It's more like play!) in my stamp room last night and decorated this tin with Summer Picnic DSP.



This is another tin from my stash that I bought over a year ago at Michael's in the dollar section.  This tin is the perfect size for 3x3 cards, so I made a set of cards to go along with it.



These cards were made using the One Smart Cookie stamp set found in the Occasions mini catalog.  I'm telling you, it's a GREAT mini catalog.  If you haven't seen it yet, click on the link in the left column of my blog.  Or email me (DannieGrvs@hotmail.com) and I'll be happy to mail one to you.  Here's a close up of each of the cards.



I stamped the little apple in Real Red all over the Real Red cardstock.



All of the circles in these cards are popped up on dimensionals.



I used our new Chocolate Chip Poly-twill Ribbon for the cookie card...again from the Occasions mini catalog.



I chose my color palette for all of these cards from the colors in the Summer Picnic DSP.



I got the idea for making these cards from a demonstration at Stampin' Up!'s leadership in January.  I changed some of the colors of cardstock, DSP, and ribbon from the original presentation.



I used every stamp from the One Smart Cookie stamp set to make this set of 3x3 cards.  I used the same layout for each of the cards so it didn't take me long to make all 6 of the cards.  I'm going to use this tin and cards as my next hostess gift.

Stamps: One Smart Cookie, Tart and Tangy
Paper: White, Kraft, Real Red, Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Picnic DSP
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Real Red
Accessories: Dimensionals, Linen Thread, Crafter's Tool Kit, White Grosgrain, Real Red Grosgrain, Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain, Chocolate Chip Poly-Twill Ribbon, Wild Wasabi Double-stitched Ribbon
Punches: Corner Rounder (for tin), Scalloped Circle, Circle (1/16", 3/4", 1", and 1 3/8")

Flap Fold Card

I wanted to thank all of you for your kind comments about my brother.  I forgot to mention that he won't be home from Afghanistan until October, so it will be a while until he's home safe.

Today I wanted to try something new so I went to see what this weeks Try a New Technique challenge was on SplitCoast.  The challenge was a Flap Fold Card (you can see a tutorial here). 

I covered the top flap with Designer Series Paper to match the DSP on the bottom part of the card.  It just about lines up perfectly.  I cut all three layers on the flap with the largest circle on my coluzzle (see the tutorial for directions).  I've never lined up curved layers before and I was pleased with how it turned out.

I love this little lion from the Wild About You stamp set.  I like to layer him like this...

I stamped him three times--twice in Bashful Blue and once in Brilliant Blue.  I punched out one of the Bashful Blue images with the 1 3/8" Circle Punch.  I cut around his mane on the Brilliant Blue image and I cut out just his head from the second Bashful Blue image.  I added dimensionals between each layer and stuck him all together.  Isn't that cute?

See you tomorrow!  ~Dannie

Stamps: Wild About You
Paper: White, Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Jersey Shore DSP
Ink: Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue
Accessories: Sponge, Dimensionals, Crafters' Tool Kit, Brilliant Blue Brads, Coluzzle
Punches: 1 3/8" Circle, Large Oval, Round Tab

I miss you!

I miss my brother.  Right now he's proudly serving our country in Afghanistan.  He's in the Marine Corps and this is his third time being deployed.  He has served twice in Iraq already.  Usually while he's gone I send him lots of emails since he has daily (just about) access to his email.   This time around, however, I want to mail him more letters.  I think they're so much more personal than email and he can read them whenever he likes--even when he can't get on the computer.

I pulled out my "The Free and the Brave" stamp set and made him this card.



This is actually the FIRST stamp set I put on my order when we could order from the new catalog.  I knew he was going to be deployed again and so I had to have this set.

The card is a Z fold card.  I started with a 4 1/4" x 11" piece of cardstock.  I folded it in half to make a standard size card with the fold going down the left side.  I took the front of the card and folded it in half back towards the main fold in the card.  Here's a photo of the card open to help you visualize it better.



I embossed the soldier and the white stars with white embossing powder.  The red stars on the right help hold the card closed.  I tuck the soldier flap under the edge of the stars.  Each of the red stars you see is actually 3 stars glued on top of each other.  It was too flimsy to use just one layer of cardstock, so I made it three layers thick.  Once I had all three layers glued together, I added the star rub-on on top.  I adhered them to my card with dimensionals. 

I'm going to make a batch of homemade cookies and send them along with this card to my brother.  I hope they find him safe and well, far away from danger.

Stamps: The Free and the Brave
Paper: White, Real Red, Night of Navy
Ink: Versamark, Night of Navy
Accessories: White Embossing Powder, Small Star Punch, Dimensionals, Anchored Rub-ons

Origami Box with Window

Sorry I just disappeared last week.  I was laying in bed running a fever for two days.  It hit three of my kids too (thank goodness the baby escaped!).  My husband and I have been taking turns around the clock for three days taking temperatures and giving out medicine.  I think we're through it now--phew!!!

Despite all that, guess what I have done?  My tutorial!!!  In the video I'll be making this box.



For this box I used a white rub-on from the Love and Happiness Rub-ons set.  In the video you'll see me use an Old Olive rub-on (there was only one white one in the pack).  It's the same design but just a different color. 

The measurements for the box are

• DSP  8" x 8"
• Regal Rose 7 3/4" x 7 3/4" for the base of the box and 2 5/8" x 2 5/8" for the piece in the window
  
• Window Sheet 2 5/8" x 2 5/8"
• Ribbon 21"

If you get an error saying "video no longer available," try refreshing your screen (F5).

Paper: Regal Rose, Spring Fling DSP
Accessories: Coluzzle, Love and Happiness Rub-ons, Glue Dots, Regal Rose Wide Grosgrain, Sticky Strip, Embossing Buddy, Bone Folder, Paper Snips

Sketched Dahlia

I'm happy to say that my computer is back up and running.  I can now upload photos so I can post more stuff on my blog.  Yeah!  It will take me forever to fill up this new hard drive.

Now that I have my computer again, I had to wander over to SplitCoast and see what I missed out on.  This week's tutorial is the Dahlia fold!  I love making Dahlias (click here to see a dahlia origami box that I made and here to see my dahlia card).  When I saw this week's sketch challenge, I decided to combine it with the dahlia fold.





I love the way this turned out.   The  River Rock cardstock (under the dahlia) was wheeled with my Rough Texture jumbo wheel in River Rock ink.  I don't have a River Rock jumbo ink cartridge so I just rolled my wheel on the stamp pad to ink it.  I wheeled the cardstock in one direction and then rotated it 90 degrees and wheeled it again.  I also sponged River Rock ink around edges of the cardstock. 

If you look closely you'll see that I paper pierced the River Rock cardstock in all four corners around the dahlia.  I also pierced along the length of the Ruby Red cardstock. 

Now I know you're wondering what happened to my video tutorial.  It's coming, I just don't know when.  My husband has been swamped with work and with fixing my computer (thank you!).  Tonight is our son's birthday party so I know he won't have time to work on it today.  I think in the future I'll just surprise you with new tutorials.  That way I don't have to keep apologizing that it's still not ready!

Stamps: Rough Texture Jumbo Wheel
Paper: River Rock, Groovy Guava, Ruby Red, Basic Black, Ginger Blossom Designer Series Paper
Ink: River Rock
Accessories: Sponge, Crafters' Tool Kit, Rhinestone Brad (from the Pretties Kit), Dimensionals
Punches: 1 3/8" Circle, Ticket Corner

Computers!!!

Guess what?  My tutorial isn't done yet!  Yesterday my computer flashed a message up on my screen letting me know that I was almost out of space on my C drive.  That's not good!  So I called my husband at work (he's a computer guy) and he had me look at how much free space I had left.  It was so low that he said my computer would crash if I had too many things open.  So I went down to only one browser window open at a time.  How's a stamper supposed to function on ONE browser window when there's email to check, splitcoast to look at, blogs to read, etc.???

So last night he worked really hard cleaning up and setting up another hard drive for me to use....only to find that he didn't have the right cable to install it in my computer.  So because he was working on my computer, he wasn't able to work on the tutorial.  He felt like he was letting me down, but he didn't.  I'm just so grateful he does this stuff for me.  He works on computers all day only to come home and I put him to work on mine.  Poor guy!!!  Hopefully it will all come together tonight.

Because my computer is out of space on the hard drive, I wasn't able to upload any new pictures of projects.  I just didn't realize how much I use my computer until something like this happens!  So I quickly dug through the photos that are already on my system and found a project I haven't shown you yet.



Another nugget tin.  I made this recently and I hadn't planned on posting it (because I've already posted plenty of nugget tins), but desperate times call for desperate measures.  Goodness knows I couldn't miss a day posting! 

I'll be back later to post the recipe.  I'm out of time and gotta run.  Life just doesn't slow down.

UPDATE:  Here's the recipe.  Oh, and you can buy the nugget tins here.

Stamps: Circle of Friendship
Paper: White, Pumpkin Pie, Jersey Shore DSP
Ink: Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain, Dimensionals, On Board Simon Upper Chipboard
Punches: Circle (1" and 1/2")

Easter Pillow Box

I can't believe that Easter is less than a week away.  I was looking through my recent posts and realized that I don't have any Easter projects posted.  So last night I had my husband pull out his video camera and film an Easter box tutorial.  Depending on how fast he can edit the video, it will either be posted Tuesday or Wednesday.  There were quite a few outtakes--I kept getting tongue tied, I tried to cut using my coluzzle without putting the cutting mat under the cardstock, a really loud motorcycle raced by and you couldn't hear what I was saying, the ice maker dumped a load of ice and then refilled with water--it was quite funny.  Thank goodness my hubby knows how to cut and splice all that together. 

In the meantime, I made this Easter pillow box.



I found these pillow boxes in the wedding section at Target.  It was originally white so I sponged Barely Banana ink all over it.  Whenever I think of Easter I think of pastel colors and the white was just too stark.  I stamped the flowers all over the pillow box using So Saffron ink.

The egg was stamped on Lavender Lace cardstock and then I stamped flowers on the egg with Lavender Lace ink.  The pink "stripe" on the egg was stamped on Pretty in Pink cardstock.  I colored the dots and the two outside stripes with my Pretty in Pink marker.

I added a crimped Pretty in Pink belly band to the pillow box.  Next I added Apricot Appeal Grosgrain and then I adhered my egg to the box with dimensionals.  It's a very simple, festive design.

I'll see you tomorrow hopefully (fingers crossed) with a video tutorial.  ~Dannie

Stamps: A Good Egg
Paper: Lavender Lace, Pretty in Pink
Ink: Barely Banana, So Saffron, Lavender Lace, Pretty in Pink, Basic Black
Accessories: Crimper, Apricot Appeal Grosgrain

Birthday Kit

Yeah, it's Friday!  This week has flown by.  I have enjoyed reading all of your comments and emails about yesterday's post.  It seems that several of you now have to make a stop at Staples to check out the post-it notes and clips.  LOL!  That wasn't my intention, but it's nice to know I'm not the only one who shops like that for craft stuff.  I am not a clothes, shoes, or purse shopper at all.  But keep me away from the craft stores! 

Speaking of time flying by, Sale-a-bration is almost over!  It ends Monday, so don't miss out on your chance to earn some free stamps.  Contact me for more details.

I had a great time last night.  All the ladies from church met for Enrichment night.  The theme was "Our Favorite Things" and they asked each of us to bring one of our favorite things as part of a get to know you activity.  We took turns explaining what our favorite thing was and why we liked it.  Then we drew a name out of a bowl and that person won our favorite thing.  It was a lot of fun.

Of course one of my favorite things is rubber stamping, so I made some cards to give away.  One of the demonstrations at the Oakland Regional (sorry, I don't remember who presented the idea!) was an emergency birthday card kit.  I took the basic idea and modified the words and cards and came up with this...

You can click on the photo for a larger image so you can read it better.  Isn't that a great idea?  I made the birthday kit using the Confetti Simply Scrappin' Kit (SSK).  I used less than 1/2 of the SSK to make 8 cards and the large envelope that holds all the cards.  I love how these SSK can be used for more than just scrapbooking.

All of the cards are 3" x 6" and fit in the Small Open-end Envelopes.  Below each card I've listed the recipes.  The majority of everything I used was from the SSK, so I'll just list the "extra" stuff I used to make the cards.

This card was inspired by one they presented at Oakland.  Extras: none!

This card was a direct copy from the Oakland presenter.  Extras: 1 3/8" Circle Punch (for the Rose Red circle behind the "happy" circle), Dimensionals.

Extras: A Little Birdie Told Me stamp set, White Cardstock, Small and Large Oval Punches, Rose Red Ink, Tempting Turquoise Grosgrain, Dimensionals.

 

I used the Big Birthday Candle stamp set for the candle flames.  I inked up the flame in versmark, then I inked it in Summer Sun, and then stamped it on white cardstock.  I added Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder and embossed.  I cut out the flames and popped them up on dimensionals.  I finished the card by tying some of our new Old Olive Poly-twill ribbon.  This is my first time using this ribbon and I LOVE it!

I added a 1 3/8" punched Summer Sun circle behind the "wish" circle and then popped it up on dimensionals.  I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp "make a wish" (from the Big Bold Birthday stamp set) on the tag.  I also used some Apricot Appeal Grosgrain and some Linen Thread.



This card was inspired by the idea sheet that came with the SSK.  I cut out the larger Old Olive circle with my coluzzle and punched out the birthday cake with my 1 3/8" circle punch.  The words are from the "It's Your Birthday" stamp set.  I finished the card with some Old Olive Wide Grosgrain.  I love how this ribbon looks tied on a card.



This card was a straight copy from the idea sheet that came with the SSK.  I didn't have the stamp set they used so I used my "So Many Scallops" stamp set, my Old Olive marker, and my stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp "Happy Birthday."

Extras: It's Your Birthday Stamp Set, Basic Black Ink, Tempting Turquoise Grosgrain, Dimensionals.

The SSK comes with textured cardstock, but you'll notice that I didn't use it.  I kept the cardstock colors the same, but I used some older 12 x 12 paper instead.  I have a stash of cardstock left over from when it wasn't true 12 x 12 paper (it was 11 7/8" x 11 7/8").  I'm trying to use that up so I can replace it with true 12 x 12 cardstock.

I hope you have a great weekend with plenty of time to stamp.  I'll see you on Monday!  ~Dannie