A Stampinpalooza good time & a very cool tutorial for you!

I know, I am a bad bad blogger. I am not even going to give you an excuse (although I have MANY). I am just going to apologize and move on.....

Blogland, I am sorry.

However I can not promise not to do it again. I will however promise that I am working on something. Something that I hope will allow me to blog regularly again. Not often, but regularly.

For now, I would like to share with you some thing I demo'd at Stampinpalooza this past weekend. For those of you who don't know what Stampinpalooza is, I will give you some background. Stampinpalooza (or Palooza to us regulars) is an all day stamping event in Toronto that takes place in June and October, and is organized and hosted by the uber talented Stampin' Up! Demo (and my awesome Upline), Caroline LeBel! It is ALWAYS a blast, and this time was no exception!

I have had the great pleasure of presenting at all of the Palooza's. This time I decided to show a selection of things that you can do with the awesome Petal Cone Die for the Big Shot. This die rocks! It was released in the last mini catalogue (Occasions Mini) and is still for sale, in fact it has made it's way into the new Catalogue due out July 1st!!

Here is a picture of the Petal Cone in all it's cone-y goodness. You can close it with the "petal" flaps, or make it like a basket as per the pic below. But it's a cone. what else could you possibly do with a cone???

Oh, let me be the one to tell you that you can do LOTS with the Petal Cone die. Here are just a few of the AMAZING things that you can create with the die:

• Ice cream cones
• cupcakes
• Mobiles
• banners
• Heart shaped cards
• baskets
  
• Chinese take-out boxes

Now, if you are still paying attention, which I hope you are, your jaw probably dropped when you read that list. I know mine did. And by the time you got to Chinese Take-out boxes, you were just too flabbergasted to even comprehend what you were reading. Well, I share your sentiment my bloggy friends. I too could not believe my eyes, until I made one, and then a second one, and then a third and so on.

Look at it! Is that not the cutest thing you ever did see? It's not a big box, it's just a cute little thing, but it holds it's fair share of candy, or jewelery or even a mini cupcake (yum!). When I was demonstrating it the comments I was hearing sounded a bit like this:

"When I saw that die, I was like "what would I want a cone for" but now I am like "how can I live with out this die"??"

Or something like that. Truthfully, the consensus was that people were generally not aware of all the very cool things you can make with it. I honestly believe that is one of the most versatile dies we carry. So, with out further ado, here are the instructions for making your very own mini Chinese Take-out containers:

1. Cut two petal cone pieces using your Petal Cone die for the Big Shot.

2. Fold each of the cut pieces in half along the score line.

3. Place in a paper cutter and line up the score line below the "half circle" at the top of the petal cone along the 3" line and slice off the bottom of the cone. Repeat this step with the other petal cone piece.

4. Line up the now blunt end of the cone at the 1" mark and score the cone piece. Repeat this step with the other petal cone piece.

5. Cut along all the score lines on the bottom of your petal cone pieces just up to the new score lines you just created. These pieces will form the bottom of the box.

6. Using Sticky Strip adhere the sides of the petal cone pieces together by the flaps.

7. Fold up the bottom of the box and adhere with a piece of sticky strip.

8. Decorate your box as desired and fill with whatever treat or gift you desire.

If you don't already have this die, I suggest you purchase one pronto! Stay tuned in the days to follow for more Palooza updates and pictures of other things made with the Petal Cone die, including my 3rd place winning name tag.

Cheers,

Jam jars & Punch storage

We have two Black Currant bushes in my backyard & back about 3 weeks ago my daughter Kieran offered to pick some for me. I have been wanting to make Black Currant jam for years. And it turned out yummy! But then the jars sat there waiting patiently to receive their labels. But I had no labels big enough to handle the size of the Curly Label punch. And I had something already in mind. Thankfully there is a Grand & Toy in the building that I work in (which for some reason I keep forgetting about....). So finally last week I picked up some labels. And labeled up my jam!
I used the retired Cute & Curly stamp set for my labels, stamped in Perfect Plum. I wrote the type of jam and date using my Old Olive Stampin' Write marker, and then punched them out with the Curly Label punch! Et voila! Beautiful jam jars!! I already have plans for the Xmas season as I have a Holiday Preserve recipe that I am dying to try out, and I can't wait to package them up for gift giving!!! :)

The other thing that I got accomplished this weekend that I have been wanting to do for the LONGEST time was some cheep punch storage. I have amassed quite a collection of punches due to my punch addiction (don't worry I am seeking counselling for said condition....and it's called "buy every punch SU has, cause then you won't have any to buy!!!"). I popped on over to Ikea the other night to pick up a few of the Bygel racks. Only $2.99 each!! And my loving hubbie mounted them for me even though he had just worked a 12 hour shift mounting metal!! He's the best! He even bought me a brand new Photosmart Wireless printer this weekend too!!! As you can see, I have no space left!! I bought the buckets at Ikea too (think they were $3.99 each) and they look just like Vanilla Hodgepodge hardware, don't they? I am however going to mount them directly to the wall to free up my very valuable punch space as I have a new punch from the Mini arriving this week!! And it needs some where to live!! Either way, this is by far the cheepest storage for punches that I have seen, and I love how it looks in my craft room.

Don't forget to post your answers to my "100 posts contest survey", you have until Friday to be entered to win a stamp set!!! Good luck!


Cheers,

Heart to Heart Sample #3

Here is another beautiful and fun project that uses the Heart to Heart punch. This is perfect for valentines day, or any day you want to tell someone that you love them.

Remember, paper crafting is not just about card making and scrapbooking, it's totally about gift packaging too!! One of the best things about the holiday season is all the awesome opportunities to give adorable gifts! I can't wait to get right into the Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine's day stuff!!!

In fact I will be holding Christmas Card class in August!! Stay tuned for my August Newsletter for more details! If you don't get my newsletter enter your email address in the subscribe bar on this blog, or email me to be added.

Products used:
Stampin' Up "Whoo's Your Valentine?" stamp set
Stampin' Up Card stock- Melon Mambo textured Whisper White textured, Regal Rose.
Stampin' Up Ink- Regal Rose, Stampin' Write markers- Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose, Melon Mambo.
Accessories: Heart to Heart punch, Crop-a-dile, Ticket corner punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, Chocolate Chip double stitched Grosgrain ribbon.


Cheers,

iPhones & Open Houses

I was hoping to get this post out yesterday, but I was learning how to use my new iPhone!! I was determined to send the blog from there, but I couldn't get the pictures to work.... still need to figure some things out.

In the mean time however, I have a few projects to share with you from yesterday's New Catalogue Open House. My appologies because the pictures were taken with my iPhone so they aren't of the best quality but like I said, I was trying to figure out to work the thing! Love it though, love it emmensly, perhaps even more than I love my Big Shot... okay, well maybe not that much, but it's close! :)
We made 2 projects yesterday using some of the new stuff. The first one is a card using the VERY fabulous new Level 3 Hostess set called "The More the Merrier". I LOVE this set! It's awesome. I have already shown a card made with the line up of birds, and this time we used the line up of cupcakes! I will try and show you the rest of this awesome set over the next little while.

This card also uses the beautiful new Soft Suede as a card base! And we coloured the cupcakes with my Pencil crayons & blender pens. Oh and do you see the beautiful new Polka Dotted ribbon? LOVE this stuff!! And since the other side doesn't have any dots, you have a two sided ribbon. LOTS of variety with this stuff! And how could I forget the NEW Modern Label punch too! And the new sentiment set called "Teeny Tiny Wishes". Click on the image at the right to see this in all it's glory, there is truly a sentiment for ANY occasion. I really like this set a lot. I can tell right away that I will get lots of use.

Products used:
Stampin' Up "More the Merrier" Hostess Level 3 stamp set
Stampin' Up Card stock- Whisper White, Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue.
Stampin' Up Ink- Basic Black, Soft Suede.
Accessories: Water colour pencil crayons, blender pen, Polka Dot ribbon, Modern Label Punch, Dimensionals.

The seond project is a "Bag-a-lope". It's a bag, made using an envelop! And it's sooo easy.
Once again, I am showing one of the new sets. This one is called "Circle Circus". Again a really really versatile set. It has a bunch of different circle designs that of course coordinate with our circle punches, and our scallop circle punch! I love when things go with punches. Click on the picture to see it better. I am sure you guys will be seeing this set in use a lot. I have a ton of ideas for it. And it will likely be featured at my "Meet the new In-colours class" on July 17th! Have you RSVP'd for it yet??

Okay, back to the bag-a-lope. I promised the women who were at my Open House that I would share the instructions. So here they are! If you use these instructions to make a bag, send me a picture! I might even post it here! :)

Circle Circus Bag-a-lope:

1. You will need an envelope, any size. Seal the envelope.
2. Stamp random circles using the Melon Mambo ink on both sides of the envelope.
3. Using the paper cutter as a guide & a bone folder, score the envelope on 3 sides (the 2 long sides, and one of the short ones) 1" in. You can change the amount you score it at, every different option will result in a different dimensioned bag.
4. Using the Scalloop Edge punch, add a scallop border to the side with out the score.
5. Tuck the sides in, and fold the bottom flaps in and adhere with Snail or Sticky strip.
6. Punch holes for ribbon near the top of the bag using the double rectangle punch.
7. Feed the Polka Dot Bermuda Bay ribbon through the holes and tie in a knot (paying attention to the side with the dots.)

I will be back later with the winners of my Open House Door prizes!!!!

Cheers,

Blair