Dannie's Designs

Tag Box Tutorial

I sat down this morning and finally figured out how to make my own patterns.  It was much easier than I thought.  I'm happy to say that I finally have the pattern and the tutorial done for my gift tag box that I posted last week.

Click here to download the pattern.  If you're having trouble downloading the pattern, hold your mouse above the words "click here" and RIGHT click on the link and select "save link as."  This will download the file straight to your computer and then you can open it.

This is my first pattern, so if you see anything that needs to be changed please let me know.  I made the pattern so it makes complete sense to me; however, that doesn't mean it will make sense to you.  If you have questions or suggestions on how to make the pattern more readable, please let me know.  

Now for the tutorial.  Cut and score all of the cardstock and the transparency as shown in the pattern.  Take the 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of cardstock and fold it on the score lines so it looks like this.

The peak should be pointing up.  Turn the cardstock upside down and add a piece of sticky strip on the side of the peak.  It doesn't matter which side you put it on.

Remove the backing from the Sticky Strip and adhere the two sides together.  Burnish it with your bone folder to make sure it sticks well.  It should look like this when you're done.

As you can see, the right side is 2 1/2" wide and the left side is 2" wide.  That's exactly the way you want it.

Follow the steps above and do the exact same thing to the 4 1/2" x 2 1/2" and the 4 1/2" x 2" pieces of cardstock.  When you're done they'll look like this.

These three pieces make up the dividers in the box.  The piece on the bottom left is 2" wide and the piece on the bottom right is 2 1/2" wide.  Place the two bottom pieces on top of the top piece like this.

Once they are lined up, adhere them in place.  Make the box bottom according to the pattern and drop this piece inside.

Fold the transparency on the score lines.  Add a piece of sticky strip to one of the ends--it doesn't matter which one.  Wrap the transparency around the box, remove the backing off the sticky strip and adhere the two ends together.  Fill the box with tags, add some ribbon and you're done!  

Thanks for stopping by!

An Award

I've been busy stamping, but I can't show you what I'm making just yet.  Instead I thought I'd share with you a recent blog award I received from Sharlene.

Now I'm supposed to share five stylish things about me.  I don't really consider myself a stylish person, but here goes.

1.  My favorite place to buy shoes is DSW.  I can always find a pair of shoes in there that I love.

2.  I'm a jeans and t-shirt kind of gal.

3.  I love wearing a toe ring with my flip flops.

4.  I love having my acrylic nails done up all fancy.  They make me happy.

5.  I prefer lip gloss to lip stick.

How's that for five random things about me?  Thank you so much for the award Sharlene!

Another Quick Card

Are you ready to see another one of my creations I made using stuff I've stashed in my stamp room?  I came across several packages of Pocket Notes that Stampin' Up! used to sell.  I think I was saving them to use for my children's Valentine's Day cards but that didn't happen. 

I made these cards to send to people who bought some of my retired stamp sets that I have listed for sale.  Now that I'm looking at it--that would be a pretty cute Valentine's Day card.  Maybe I should make more of these now and save them for February. 

What hidden treasures can you find in your stamp room?  What have you been saving for a special day that has long since been forgotten?  Pull it out and use it.  You'll be glad that you did.  Thank so much for stopping by! 

Stamps:  Hello Again
Paper:  Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant, Rose Red, Perfect Plum Patterns DSP, Pretty in Pink Pocket Notes
Ink:  Rose Red
Accessories:  Whisper White Ribbon, Dimensionals
Punches:  Corner Rounder, Square (1 1/4", 1 3/8"), Scalloped Square, Scalloped Edge

August Birthdays

Did you enjoy the Control Freak blog hop?  My fellow Control Freaks always amaze me with how talented they are.  I love being a part of their group.  Yes, I promised you a tutorial for the tag box, but I don't have it ready quite yet.  I will post it later in the week.  I have a few pressing matters to take care of first and then I'll get right to it.

I do, however, have a quick card to show you.  There are lots of members of my family born in August (including me!) so that means I need to make lots of birthday cards.  I choose a quick and simple design and then mass produce it.  I have to do it that way or I'd never get them made and in the mail if I tried to make each person's card unique.  Here's the card I made.

Now I know I've made this confession before, but I'll go ahead and say it again.  I am a hoarder of stamp stuff--especially when it comes to paper and ribbon.  I buy it and then don't use it because I might run out.  How crazy is that?  So I challenged myself to make these cards using stuff that I have hoarded. 

I bought the white card bases and coordinating envelopes from Stampin' Up! years ago.  The Certainly Celery cardstock and striped DSP are from the retired Friends and Flowers Simply Scrappin' Kit.  The ribbon is from my stash of bits and pieces of ribbon that I've gathered from who knows where.  I didn't cut one full sheet of cardstock or DSP or touch a spool of ribbon to make my stack of cards.  It was all scraps!  Put them all together and I think they make some great birthday cards.

Now I know I'm not the only hoarder out there--you know who you are!  My challenge to you is to use those papers, ribbons, and accessories that you've been hoarding.  If you take my challenge, I'd love to see what you make.  Leave a comment on this post with a link to your creation so I can take a peek.  It feels so good using up this stuff and making cards to send out to my loved ones. 

Now I'm off to go sign all these cards and get them in the mail.  Thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Mini Control Freak Swap

It's the 20th of the month and that means it's time for the Control Freak Blog Hop! 

If you're following along the tour, you've just come from Lee Ann Greff's blog.  If you're just starting here, there's a link at the bottom of this post that will take you to the next blog so you can see all of the fabulous creations.

The theme for this month's hop is the Holiday Mini Catalog.  I love all of the products in the mini catalog so this was perfect for me.  One of the traditions that I have with my children is that we make homemade gift tags for the presents we buy for each other.  We set aside a night and that's all we do--stamp, color, cut, glue, etc.  It's a lot of fun.  With that tradition in mind I *had* to buy the Tags til Christmas stamp set so we can make fun tags like these.

Isn't that a great stamp set?  I decided that my tags needed a box to go in so that I can give some of these away as a gift so I made this box.

I sat down and made my own pattern for this box.  I know you're going to ask for it, so please rest assured that I'll post the pattern and directions within the next couple of days.  UPDATE:  Click here to download the pattern.  Click here for the tutorial.

If you're having trouble downloading the pattern, hold your mouse above the words "click here" and RIGHT click on the link and select "save link as."  This will download the file straight to your computer and then you can open it.

The holidays are always such a busy time of year that I wanted to come up with a quick card that I could make in less than five minutes.

Isn't that cute?  It's a little postcard that doesn't open.  It's perfect for writing a quick note to a friend or for tucking inside a gift bag.  Quick, simple, and easy to duplicate.  

Are you ready to see what the other Control Freaks made?  Then click on the link below to hop on over to Ilina Crouse's blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tag Box
Stamps:  Tags til Christmas
Paper:  Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke, Marina Mist
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Marina Mist
Accessories:  Window Sheets, Sticky Strip, Chocolate Chip Striped Grosgrain
Punches:  Decorative Label, 1 1/4" Square, Scallop Square, 1 3/4" Circle

 

Snowman Postcard
Stamps:  A Cute Christmas
Paper:  Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Blushing Bride, Real Red, Candy Cane Christmas DSP
Ink: Basic Gray, Garden Green, Baja Breeze, Blushing Bride, Real Red
Accessories:  Blushing Bride Ribbon, Glue Dots
Big Shot:  Top Note

For You

Several months ago I saw a store bought thank you card that caught my attention.  It had 12 squares on the front of it with different patterns on the squares.  I never did anything with the idea until today.  I thought if the idea has stuck with me for this long, I obviously like it and need to give it a try.

This layout is perfect for using up all of your DSP scraps.  Each square is 1 1/8".  I cut each of the squares on my paper cutter which  turned out to be a little tricky.  As hard as I tried, all of the squares weren't exactly square so the design was off by a little bit.  When I make a card like this again, I will definitely be using a square punch rather than a paper cutter.  That way I can guarantee that all of my squares will in fact be square.  

I made several of these cards to send off to people who ordered the new Stampin' Up! catalog from me.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Stamps:  Fresh Cuts
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Rose Red, Sweet and Sour DSP
Ink:  Rose Red
Accessories:  Very Vanilla Ribbon, Dimensionals, Flowers, Silver Brad
Punches:  Large Oval, 1 3/8" Circle, Designer Label

Stamps for Sale

This weekend I decided to get in my stamp room and really clean it.  I went through my "current" stamp sets and pulled out all of the sets that recently retired, pulled all of the stamp sets I no longer want off the shelves, and picked up my stacks of stamps off the floor and found room for all of them on the shelves.  Imagine that...no stamps on my floor!  All of my stamps are organized.  Wow!

I have updated my list of stamps for sale so be sure to click on over and check it out.  If you see any sets that you'd like to have (US residents only please), then please send me an email and let me know.

Now I need to tackle the stacks of ribbon, DSP, 12x12 paper (pulling all of the retired colors), and card samples.  I'm getting there one area at a time.

Fast and Fabulous

I am having such a good day today.  I got up early this morning and went to the gym, but my favorite teacher was out of town.  She had a substitute, but the class was too difficult for me to do.  So I came home and decided to stamp.  What a great way to start the day!  I got my card made and then had to run out the door to work so that's why I'm posting it so late in the day.

I searched my favorite blogs and decided to give this week's Mojo Monday sketch a try.

I challenged myself to make a non-Christmas card using the Deck the Halls DSP.  Here's what I came up with...

What do you think?  It's such a warm color combination.  I wanted to add some sponging, some paper piercing, and some bling, but I ran out of time.  It's a challenge for me not to add all of the little extras that I love.  Don't get me wrong, I still like the card and I'm pleased with how it turned out.  It's just a little different from my usual style.

 

The inside of my card is very simple--two layers of cardstock, a scalloped edge, and a stamped flower.  Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Stamps:  Fast and Fabulous, Hugs and Wishes
Paper: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Deck the Halls DSP
Ink: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding
Punches:  Scalloped Edge

Love Letter DSP

I have been trying unsuccessfully to get in my stamp room for days now.  School starts in a few days so I have been busy cleaning out dresser drawers seeing what clothes still fit, buying school supplies, and replacing clothes that have been outgrown.  It's an exhausting process but one that needs to happen.  I am now officially ready for school to start.  Now I can get back to stamping!

I need to make some thank you cards so I sat down and came up with this design.

I used the new Love Letter DSP and decided to stick with Basic Black and Very Vanilla.  It's such a striking color combination.  The sentiment is from the Circle of Friendship stamp set and it says, "thank you for everything over and over again."  It's the perfect sentiment for what I needed.

I kept the inside of my card very simple.  That's it--a quick and easy card.  Thank you so much for stopping by! 

Stamps:  Circle of Friendship
Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Love Letter DSP
Ink: Basic Black Craft
Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder, Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Basic Black Grosgrain, Dimensionals, Paper Piercer
Punches: Scalloped Circle, Scalloped Edge, Circle (1", 1 1/4", 1 3/8")

Stamping Tip: Organizing 12 x 12 Cardstock

About three posts back on my blog I shared some photos of how I store my 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock.  I asked if there was anything else you'd like to see and many of you asked how I stored my 12 x 12 cardstock.  I aim to please so I have some photos of my 12 x 12 storage.

I don't use anything fancy, just these little cube wire racks that you can find in lots of different stores.  There are more cubes to the left of this photo, but with the way my stamp room is set up I couldn't get a picture of all of it.

Here's a closer look at just one of the cubes.  You can see the blue and red circles that hold the wire cube together.  I didn't want to stack my cardstock too high so I added shelves in the middle of the cube.  This one has two shelves, but you can add as many as you like.  What did I make the shelves out of?  They're simply the wire grates that make up the cubes!  You can see it a little better in the photo below.

Remember, you can click on these photos to enlarge them to get a better view.  I used cable ties to hold the "shelves" in place (you can buy these in most store too).  The cable ties are the long white things you see sticking out in every direction.  If I weren't lazy I would go back and trim them off so it's not so messy looking, but I just don't feel like doing it.  How's that for honesty?

Each of these shelves is holding a lot of cardstock and it's rather heavy so I used three cable ties down the left and right side of the shelf (six total).  I didn't add any cable ties to the back side of the cubes.  The side ties hold it just fine.

I have other cubes that have four shelves in them and they hold my 12 x 12 Designer Series Paper.  Since these shelves don't hold as much and don't weigh as much, I only have two cable ties on each side (four total) holding the shelf up. 

That's it!  If you have any questions or need more clarification, please don't hesitate to ask.  Also, if you'd like me to share more tips on organizing your stamping supplies just let me know.  Thanks for stopping by!