Christmas, Uncategorized

Stampin’ Up! Toile Christmas for Happy Inkin’ Thursday Blog Hop

 

Good Thursday ‘week after Thanksgiving’ morning to you!

It doesn’t seem possible that a week has passed already and Christmas is getting ever closer. Next thing you know it will be 2021, which HAS to be better than 2020. Right? I am praying that it will be so. Meantime….

Our team has some very talented, creative souls who will share their gifts with you today. Come on along and hop with us!

Our Hop theme for today is:

My answer to the theme is a faceted gift box. I also make jewelry, and often give it as a gift. While trying to find some unique ways to package the jewelry instead of the typical flat jewelry box, I came across an older You Tube tutorial for a faceted box. You can find the video here

Here is my version of the faceted gift box:

To begin you will need a 12″ x 12″ sheet of card stock. I chose Real Red from the Regals collection for this box. Cut it down to 7 7/8″ x 11 1/2″ and stamp whatever design you desire all over it randomly. I chose the berry branch from Toile Christmas, and stamped it in Real Red.

Next, you will take out your Simply Scored Scoring Tool and score this sheet on the patterned side. This might look scary, but take your time. It isn’t hard at all.

With the short side up, score at 2 1/2″, 4 5/8″,and 7 1/8″.

Rotate the card stock so the narrowest horizontal line is at the top and score ONLY to the SECOND line at 2 1/2″, 5″, 7 1/2″ and 10″.

Rotate 180 degrees and score to the first score line at 1/4″, 2 3/4″, 5 1/4″ and 7 3/4″

Your paper will look like this:

Turn it over and it will look like this:

Now you will score on the diagonal, matching up the vertical scored lines like this:

When you flip the paper to the back side and make pencil lines where the score lines are, it will look like this, with the shaded areas being the ones you will cut away.

After cutting it will look like this on the patterned side

And like this on the back side:

Next, cut the vertical lines to the horizontal scored line. (cut three at the bottom and one at the top). You will also need to trim the narrow flap at the top so it will close properly, and take a couple of small wedges off the bottom flaps so they will fold easily. Now fold and burnish all score lines. It will look like this.

I know, it sort of looks like a holy mess doesn’t it?? Never fear, all is well and you will soon have a box with a square top and bottom and 8 sides!

I used Tear and Tape, but you could just as easily use Stampin’ Seal or Stampin’ Seal+. See those 4 bottom flaps? Turn your paper so they are sitting on your table and begin to fold them in on one another to form the bottom of your box. You can decide which ones on which you will use adhesive. I put 3 strips on the WRONG side of the first one, which became the very bottom. Then I folded in the next 2 and put adhesive on the RIGHT side of the last piece as it folded in on top of the other 3. The funny little triangle on the side also was adhered with Tear and Tape under the larger triangle. Then your box looks like this:

Yep, looks weird doesn’t it? But it really is a square box with 8 facets. Pretty cool! You will have everyone thinking you are a genius. Fold in the side flaps and close the lid:

Here is is closed:

And a side view of it closed:

Now for the real fun….decorating the top. Remember, it is a small square, about 2 1/2″, so you will want to keep everything small, including the tag. I cut 2 berry branches from the scraps of Real Red using the dies in the Poinsettia Petals Bundle, and fussy cut one of the smaller flowers from the Poinsettia Place Designer Series Paper. I used my Paper Snips Scissors to cut apart one of the berry stems and used Liquid Glue to attach them to the back side of the flower. A couple of Stampin’ Dimensionals adhered this to the top of the box.

The sentiment is from Toile Christmas and is stamped in Real Red on Whisper white. This was cut with a die from Ornate Frames, then edged with my Real Red Stampin’ Write Marker. A couple of Stampin’ Dimensionals adhered it in the corner of the box top.

This finished the box, but I wanted to show you how I used it. I placed some fiberfill in the box, then added the bracelet.

I think this makes a very nice, unique gift box for any small item that needs a special box. Don’t you?

I know this was a rather lengthy post, but I did want you to see it step by step as I don’t do videos. Of course, you can always watch the one I found, by going to the link at the beginning of this post. Thanks for stopping by. Please leave comments below! To go on with the hop, just click on the ‘next’ button, or on any name to go to her blog.

Amy Koenders

Mary Deatherage

Kristi Gray

Jaimie Babarczy

Sue Prather

Akiko Sudano

Karen Ksenzakovic

Julie Johnston – You are Here

 

 

Product List

Christmas

Stampin’ Up! Plaid Poinsettia Petals Fun Fold

Good Thursday morning Everyone, and welcome to another Happy Inkin’ Thursday Blog Hop! The ladies have wonderful projects in store for you today as we follow a red/green/white color scheme.

I do hope this finds you, and yours, well and following safe practices in these uncertain times brought to us by Covid19. Please, wear your masks in public and avoid going where there are crowds of more than 5 or 6 people. I have been ordering my groceries online and picking them up curbside, and doing very little socializing in person, unless it is outdoors and socially distanced. I would urge you to do likewise.

My family is foregoing our Thanksgiving gathering and probably Christmas, too, as numbers escalate.

OK, on with today’s post!

Our challenge/inspiration for today is based upon color:

I started in my mind with Shaded Spruce, Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White, as those were the predominant colors in the Plaid Tidings Designer Series Paper that I chose to use. As I began cutting and laying out the parts of the card, I changed my mind (woman’s prerogative you know!) and decided to use all five colors. I think adding the Real Red and Garden Green made for a brighter, more cheerful, card. Let me know what you think.

And here is my card.

The card base is Garden Green. The mat, which is part of the fun fold is Cherry Cobbler. The part above the fold is Plaid Tidings Designer Series Paper, as is the outside of the folded up portion. The inside (when folded up) of the easel is a panel of Poinsettia Place DSP, same as used on the small card.

On top of the plaid base is a smaller card, so you get 2 cards in one with this fun fold. The base of this one is Cherry Cobbler. The front and top inside are panels from the Poinsettia Place Designer Series Paper.This smaller card is the base of the decorations. If you use a paper that has a directional design, be sure to double check that your designs all run the same direction. Plaids, even though they may look even, often have a bit of difference if you turn it, so watch for that. On this card, with the fold up, it really needs to match.

For details on how to assemble this card, visit my friend Mary’s blog for a video with the basic details.

My card has a few changes as I used the Poinsettia Petals Bundle for the decorations instead of a wreath. Otherwise just substitute the papers and card stock colors.

Use Liquid Glue to adhere all card stock and designer series papers.

I find it easier to put the finished sentiment liner inside the smaller card, assemble the decorations, then attach it to the larger card. You may find it easier to do things in a different order.

Adhere Poinsettia Place DSP to front and upper inside of small card. Stamp sentiment from Merry Moose in Shaded Spruce on the Whisper White panel. Stamp the whole poinsettia flower in Real Red after stamping off once on a piece of scrap paper. Liquid Glue this to the lower portion of the small card.

I cut one each of the 3 sizes of poinsettia, then used the embossing part to emboss them. I used my bone folder to give a LITTLE curl  to the petals, using a very light touch. Three leaves were cut, 1 large and 2 small, from Shaded Spruce, and embossed as well. Cut 2 Real Red berry branches and one Cherry Cobbler branch. Stamp the sentiment from Merry Moose in Real Red on Whisper White and use the smallest Stitched Rectangles die to cut it.

Do a dry fit, and when satisfied that this is the look you want, take a photo with your phone so you have something to which you can refer if you can’t remember where each piece was. I used Liquid Glue to attach the leaves first, then added a Stampin’ Dimensional to the center back of the largest poinsettia and stuck it on. A dab of Liquid Glue on the center of each flower layer is all you need to hold it together and leave the petals free. Use Liquid Glue to attach the Bumblebee (yellow) center.

A dab of Liquid Glue on the lower portion of the berry branches is enough to adhere them as well. With only one Stampin’ Dimensional under the poinsettia (I would recommend a whole one), it is easy to slide the berry branches  underneath. The sentiment piece is adhered with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Use Liquid Glue to attach the finished small card to the card front easel(plaid). The fold up portion of the easel will fold over the glued down small card, with the front of the small card closing over the folded up portion of the easel.

For the inside of the card base (tent card), I cut the Whisper White liner with the largest Stitched Rectangles die. I must have measured something wrong, because I had to cut one end off by about 3/16″. Not a big deal, just so you know, in case you measure ever measure wrong.

I stamped the sentiments from Poinsettia Petals in in Shaded Spruce on this die cut liner, then used Liquid Glue to adhere it to the Cherry Cobbler mat and into the card base. Card done!

The envelope is graced with a Real Red poinsettia on the front and more of the Plaid Tidings DSP on the flap.

I do hope you watch Mary’s video. Her instructions are very clear. Now, on with the hop. Just click the ‘next’ button to go to the creative Amy Koenders, or just click on any name to go to her blog. Enjoy!

Amy Koenders

Mary Deatherage

Kristi Gray

Sue Prather

Karen Finkle

Akiko Sudano

Karen Ksenzakovic

Julie Johnston – You are HERE

Card Cuts:

Garden Green: card base 4 1/4″ x 11″scored and folded at 5 1/2″

Cherry Cobbler: easel (the folded up part) 4″ x 7 1/2″ scored and folded at 5 1/4″; small card base 3 1/4″ x 8″ scored and folded at 4″; mat for inner liner 4″ x 5 1/4″; berry branch 1 1/2″ x 2 1/2″

Whisper White:  front sentiment 1″ x 3″; inner liner 3 7/8″ x 5 1/8″; inner liner for small card 3 1/8″ x 3 7/8″; poinsettia 4″ x 6″

Shaded Spruce: poinsettia leaves 2″ x 6″

Plaid Tidings 6″x6″ Designer Series Paper: large panel on easel 3 7/8″ x 5 1/8″; small panel on easel (outside) 2 1/8″ x 3 7/8″;  envelope flap 2 1/4″ x 6″

Poinsettia Place Designer Series Paper: panels on front and inside of small tent card (2) 3 1/8″ x 3 7/8″; inside panel on easel 2 1/8″ x 3 7/8″

Real Red: berry branches 1 1/2″ x 4″

Bumblebee: small scrap for poinsettia center 1/2″ x 1/2″

Product List

Thank you

Stampin’ Up! Merry Moose Thank You for Happy Inkin’ Thursday Blog Hop

 

Good Morning Everyone, at least it is morning here in the Heartland, though it may not be where you live. I forget sometimes that this platform is global and anyone, anywhere might see it. So, I hope it is a good day, whatever time of day you see this.

Today we have a sketch for inspiration.

Here is my card.

I began with a card base in Sahara Sand, with a front cut the same size as the base from a piece of the Poinsettia Place Designer Series Paper. Over this I adhered, with Liquid Glue, a panel of Mossy Meadow dry embossed with the Evergreen Forest Embossing folder.

The tree on the left is actually 2 die cuts, from the Pine Woods dies, glued one on top of the other to provide dimension. It is adhered to the front with Liquid Glue.

I used the smallest Stitched Rectangle die to cut the sentiment panel which I had stamped in Early Espresso. The stamp is found in the Dragonfly Garden stamp set, which will be available to everyone in the January-June Mini Catalog. I didn’t use the complete stamp, only the words Thank You. I think this font looks good with the moose and trees. To do this, I used my Early Espresso Stampin’ Write Marker to ‘paint’ the words, then huffed on them to re-moisten and stamped them on Sahara Sand. Stampin’ Dimensionals were used to affix it to the card front.

The moose is punched from Soft Suede using the punch in the Merry Moose Bundle. It is also attached to the front using Stampin’ Dimensionals. I was going to use Early Espresso but decided it was too dark.

On the inside the wood grain paper from Poinsettia Place Designer Series Paper is cut similarly to the Mossy Meadow on the front and Liquid Glued into the card base. This provided a mat for the Sahara Sand liner which is stamped with the moose, tree and stars from the Merry Moose Bundle using Early Espresso and Mossy Meadow. Using a Sahara Sand Stampin’ Write Marker, I added some ‘ground’ beneath the moose. I just didn’t want him walking on air! Liquid Glue again was the adhesive used to adhere the liner to the inside of the card. I chose to not add a sentiment to leave room for a personal note.

The envelope flap was finished with another piece of the wood grain Poinsettia Place DSP, while the front has a solid moose in Early Espresso.

I think this is a fitting card for a man who did a good turn that was very much appreciated. It was a quick and easy card to do. I love the Evergreen Forest Embossing Folder and have other cards in mind that will feature it as well. Stay tuned!

Now on with the hop. Just click the NEXT button or on any name to go to that individual’s blog.

If you don’t have a demonstrator, I would be happy to help you with your projects and answer any questions. If you wish to replicate this card the card cuts and products are listed below. To purchase, just click on the Shop Online with me button at right.

Amy Koenders

Mary Deatherage

Kristi Gray

Jaimie Babarczy

Sue Prather

Karen Finkle

Akiko Sudano

Karen Ksensakovic

Julie Johnston – You Are Here

CARD CUTS: Sahara Sand: card base 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ scored at 4 1/4″, sentiment 1 1/2″ x 3″, inside liner 3 1/4″ x 5 1/4″; Mossy Meadow: front embossed panel 3 1/4″ x 5 1/2″, tree (2) 3″ x 3 1/2″; Soft Suede: moose 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″; Poinsettia Place Designer Series Paper: front 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″, inside mat 3 1/2″ x 5 1/2″

 

Product List

Uncategorized

Stampin’ Up! Snowflake Wishes for Happy Inkin’ Thursday Blog Hop

 

Good Thursday everyone! I had planned to visit my daughter in Minnesota a couple of weeks ago, but the weather for that weekend included a SNOW storm, so I didn’t go until this past weekend. Which is all to lead into today’s theme for our Thursday blog hop, which is SNOW.

So, come on along on our SNOWY journey, bundle up and stay warm.

I love the SNOWFLAKE WISHES BUNDLE, and all the other elements of the SNOWFLAKE SPLENDOR SUITE…the designer series paper, the embossing folder, just everything.

Here is our theme

 

and here is my card.

I decided to enter a challenge, the Dream Valley Challenge, which is to use dies and/or punches.

I also entered Ike’s World Challenge # 139. This month’s challenge is the letter W, for White on White/Anything Goes.

I think my card also qualifies as an entry in the Try it on Tuesday Challenge. This one is Embossing, either dry or heat. My card has both!

The Snowflake Splendor Suite is such a beautiful suite, and there are so many lovely ways to go with any of the elements. I chose to use the dies and stamp set.

I like monochromatic cards, and white is a good choice for snow, don’t you think?? I paired the white with a bit of silver and some rhinestones, and I really like the result.

To begin, I spritzed some Thick Whisper White card stock and ran it through the machine in the Winter Snow embossing folder. While it dried, I cut the card base from Whisper White card stock.

Using the So Many Snowflakes dies I cut 2 smaller fancy ones, one in Silver Foil Sheets and one in Whisper White. I cut 3 of the larger plain one in Thick Whisper White. The three plain ones were adhered to each other with Liquid Glue. The silver one was adhered to its mate, then to the larger plain one, also with Liquid Glue.

By now the embossed panel was dry, so I cut it to fit the card base and adhered it to the front of the card base with Liquid Glue. I rounded the corners with the Detailed Trio Punch.

Before stamping the sentiment, from Snowflake Wishes, I rubbed my Embossing Buddy over the panel to prevent the embossing powder from sticking where I didn’t want it. The sentiment was then stamped in Versamark on Whisper White, heat embossed with Silver Embossing Powder, and cut with a die from Stitched So Sweetly.

This was glued with Liquid Glue to a panel of Silver Foil Sheets for a mat, which was fussy cut. This was pretty much straight cuts, and easy-peasy.

Using the Beautiful Boughs dies, I cut 2 of the smaller and 2 of the middle size from Whisper White card stock. In the end, I only used 3 of them, arranged under the sentiment. You know, pine boughs, when covered in snow, are white!

I dry fit everything to the card front, and when satisfied with the look, I used Liquid Glue to attach the boughs to the snowflake embossed card front. The silver matted sentiment was attached over the boughs with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The snowflake was attached with a double stack of Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals on the four points that do not cover the sentiment panel. The final element is the attachment of 3 small and 1 large Holiday Rhinestones Basic Jewels in the Coastal Cabana color. I was going to use regular Rhinestones, but thought the small touch of blue was elegant.

For the inside, I cut a panel from Silver Foil Sheets for the mat, and a panel of Whisper White for the liner. Both panels were given rounded corners with the Detailed Trio Punch. The liner was stamped with the snowflake group in the Snowflake Wishes stamp set, in Versamark. Silver Embossing Powder was heat set with my Heat Tool. These panels were Liquid Glued into the card base.

I chose to not put a sentiment on the inside to leave room for a personal note of thanks.

The envelope flap received a piece of Silver Foil Sheets, and the Snowflake group was heat embossed in Silver on the front.

Amy Koenders

Mary Deatherage

Kristi Gray

Jaimie Babarczy

Sue Prather

Karen Finkle

Karen Ksenzakovic

Julie Johnston

CARD CUTS: Whisper White: card base 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ scored at 4 1/4″, inside panel 4″ x 4 7/8″, pine boughs 3″ x 5″ or use scraps, small snowflake 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″; Thick Whisper White: embossed panel 4 1/2″ x 5 3/4″ (spritz, emboss, let dry and trim to fit card front), snowflakes 3″ x 9″, sentiment 2 1/2″ x 3″ Silver Foil Sheets: sentiment mat 2 1/2″ x 3″, small snowflake 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″, inside mat 4 1/8″ x 5 1/8″, envelope flap 2 1/4″ x 6″

Product List

Uncategorized

Peaceful Boughs Fun Fold for Happy Inkin’ Thursday Blog Hop

 

Good Thursday morning everyone, and welcome once again to our Happy Inkin’ Thursday Blog Hop! It has been a chilly week here in the heartland, but today is WARMER, as in summer warmer. However, it won’t last 😦 as temperatures tomorrow are predicted to be lower by 30 degrees!

Today we have for you a color challenge, or, inspiration as I prefer to call it. We are instructed to use a minimum of three of these colors.

You probably took one look and knew what I am making. Yup, Christmas. How did you guess?

My friend Mary, who is also hopping today, did a fun fold recently that I am also using as inspiration for my card. Go here to see that inspiration card, and a video detailing the steps. I could see no point in re-inventing the wheel, so to speak, when her video shows it all.

This card is not at all what I had in my mind’s eye before I actually started the card. I wanted to use plaid and the Poinsettia Petals bundle, but the colors dictated otherwise. None of the plaids matched up with the colors in today’s challenge, so I simply switched paper and stamp sets.

All products used for this card and card cuts are below. So, let’s get going! 

I began with a card base of Garden Green and some of the lovely Poinsettia Place Designer Series Paper. Actually, I used two of them, the wood grain and the pine cones. I think this matches up perfectly with the Peaceful Boughs stamp set and Beautiful Boughs dies.

I started with a Soft Suede mat, which is also the ‘fold’ part of ‘fun fold’. Over this I used Liquid Glue to adhere the wood grain Poinsettia Place Designer Series Paper as well as the folded up flap. The inside of the flap is the Pine Cone paper. Liquid Glue was used to adhere this to the card front.

The smaller card is a Soft Suede base (also acting as a mat) with the Pine Cone Poinsettia Place DSP on the front and on the inside. The Pine Cone paper is also on the inside (when it is folded up) of the flap

Adhere all DSP panels to their respective backgrounds with Liquid Glue. Adhere the small card on the card front with the fold folding up over it.

Decorate the front of the small card with 2 die cuts of the larger pine bough and one of the single bough, 3 die cut pine cones (all from Beautiful Boughs), one red berry branch from Poinsettia dies, and one stamped and die cut pine cone. I also used a length of Linen Thread wound behind the sentiment.

Stamp the sentiment from Peaceful Nativity in Real Red and use the smaller die from Beautiful Boughs to cut it out. Use your Old Olive Stampin’ Write Marker to make a line around the edge of the sentiment piece. Mine is a squiggly, broken line but you can make it look like stitches if you like.

Dry fit all the elements and when you are satisfied with the arrangement, begin adhering with Liquid Glue. The large pine cone and sentiment piece are adhered with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

For the inside of the small card, use the small pine cone stamp in Peaceful Boughs and stamp off the Soft Suede Ink once before stamping your Whisper White panel. Over this stamp the sentiment from Peaceful Nativity in Real Red.

Inside the large card, on a Whisper White panel, stamp the pine bough from Peaceful Boughs in stamped off once Old Olive. Stamp two small pine cones in stamped off once Soft Suede. The sentiment is also from the Peaceful Boughs stamp set and is stamped in Real Red. This panel was cut with the largest Stitched Rectangles die. Liquid Glue adheres this to a Soft Suede mat and into the card base.

The papers, card stock and inks were all looking brown and green and I wanted a pop of color. I didn’t think the Bumblebee was quite right, but the Real Red adds some relief.

I really like this style of card, and it is much easier than it looks.

To finish, I stamped a full strength Old Olive pine bough on the front of the envelope and used more of the Designer Series Paper on the flap.

Now, I still will make the one I originally intended with the plaids, so maybe next week you can look for that.

A BONUS for you, if you like the lovely Designer Series Papers that Stampin’ Up! has. Many of them are on sale until the end of the month at 15% off. This is a very good deal, so get yours while they last.

Now on with the hop. You know the drill…click next, or any name to hop to a blog. Please leave comments below. If you do not have a demonstrator and wish to re-create this card, you may click on the button that says ‘Shop with me Online’ to go to my store.

Amy Koenders

Mary Deatherage

Kristi Gray

Jaimie Babarczy

Sue Prather

Karen Finkle

Akiko Sudano

Karen Ksenzakovic

Julie Johnston-You are Here

 

CARD CUTS: Garden Green: card base 4 1/4″ x 11″ scored at 5 1/2″, pine boughs 3″ x 5″; Soft Suede: fold up mat 4″ x 7 12″, scored at 5 1/4″,  small card base 3 1/4″ x 8″ scored at 4″, mat for inner liner on card base 4″ x 5 1/4″, pine cones 2″ x 8″; Whisper White: large inner liner 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″, liner small card 3 1/8″ x 3 7/8″, front sentiment 1 1/2″ x 2 1/2″; Old Olive: pine bough 3″ x 3″; Real Red: berry branch 2″ x 2″; Poinsettia Place Designer Series Paper: large front panel 3 7/8″ x 5 1/8″, fold up flap 2 1/8″ x 3 7/8″ (one in wood grain, one in pine cones) front and inside of small card 3 1/8″ x 3 7/8″

Product List

Uncategorized

2021 Calendar

Good Monday morning everyone. There is no card on today’s post, so if you are looking for that you can stop reading right now.

Instead, I bring you another of my paper creations. Well, sort of. I made the photographic images and put together a calendar, then sent it off to the printer. I guess that qualifies as my creation, even if I don’t do my own printing.

Here is an image of the cover

The calendar is 12″ x 12″ with 13 different images. There are fun facts about woodpeckers also. I had so much fun taking these images and as much as I love photography, I also love putting those images together for a practical purpose.

I know, you can get free calendars anywhere, so why would you want to buy one? I would hope that it would be that you like my images, and want a few for yourself. There is no pressure to buy, I just want to let you know that they are available.

These top quality, spiral bound calendars will be ready on November 8, plenty of time to get them as gifts or for yourself. The cost is just $20 each with special pricing if you purchase 3 or more. Shipping is $5.

Here is an image of the back, showing all the woodpeckers included.

Yesterday I went birding with a friend and we found 43 different species, including 4 of the ones on this calendar. However, those particular individuals are not on this calendar! 

Iowa has 7 of the woodpecker family. They are: Pileated, Red-headed, Red-bellied, Downey, and Hairy Woodpeckers, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Northern Flicker (yellow-shafted). All are present on this calendar. The others are from Canada, Minnesota, and Arizona. I have a few other woodpecker images, but there are only 12 months in a year.

Although, I guess I could have made an 18 month calendar. Maybe next time, since I didn’t even think of that for 2021.

In addition to the photography and making the calendar, I have been busy of late doing quite a bit of canning. One of my daughters and her husband grow and weed the garden, and pick the produce. I do the canning. They freeze some of it, but I process the bulk of the vegetables. I froze peaches and strawberries this year too, and made peach and strawberry jam. The jars look like jewels on the shelf. I enjoy doing that and do not like to weed and pick. This arrangement works well for all concerned.

We didn’t need corn this year, but did need green beans, tomatoes and beets. I have another daughter and 3 granddaughters who also share in the canned goods, so it takes quite a bit produce for canning. We are at the end of the garden now, but when I finish with the last picking of tomatoes and green beans, there will still be pears to can.

A friend has a pear tree and they couldn’t use all the pears. As is the norm in Iowa, people give away most of their excess, so I was the fortunate recipient of 10 buckets of pears. My son-in-law and John, the tree owner, picked them, while I sorted through the ones that had fallen. That’s a lot of peeling folks!

This year the problem was jars and lids. Due to the Covid19 Pandemic early this spring, more people grew gardens and, perhaps for the first time ever, did some canning. The result has been a severe shortage of jars and lids.

I have always saved my jars (I have been canning since the 60s) but the lids are not re-usable. I usually have a few leftover from the previous year, but never enough for all the canning. It has been a struggle to have enough to do all that I wanted (needed) to do, but over the summer we have managed to scrounge up enough so far.

Here are a few of the items I have canned.

Left to right, front Beet Pickles, Tomato Sauce, Dilled Beans. Back Row: Soup vegetables, Lime Water Pickles and Vegetable Stock. I also canned sweet pickle relish, salsa, tomatoes and green peppers, green beans, beets and whole tomatoes.

The Soup veggies got their start in the 60s when, at the close of the growing season, I just threw everything left in the garden into the jars and called it “end of the garden soup”.

I grew everything back in those days, and now my daughter sometimes does. Sometimes I end up purchasing one or more of the veggies to add to the mix. Most of this years’ 40 quarts contain green beans, tomatoes, cabbage, onions, garlic, carrots and potatoes. Everyone in the family loves this as it makes a quick meal as is, or with the vegetable stock,chicken or beef broth added along with your choice (or not) of meat. Sometimes I add hamburger or stew meat, sometimes chicken or turkey, sometimes sausage or ham. It makes a really quick meal and is SO good on a cold winter day!

To go along with all the canned goods, the zucchini and yellow squash were prolific this year (aren’t they always?), so I made many, many loaves of zucchini bread and froze it. All of it will be so welcome this winter.

I know this is not my usual post, but sometimes change is a good thing. I hope you all have a great Monday. If you are interested in a calendar, please comment or private message me.

Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday

Stampin’ Up Whale Done Happy Birthday for Happy Inkin’ Thursday Blog Hop

Here we are and it is Thursday already. Time for another great Happy Inkin’ Thursday Blog Hop with the Very talented ladies on our team. So, come along and see what wonderful, inspiring projects we have for you.

Today we are working with a sketch, with which I took a few liberties. Just sayin’. 

You can see for yourself what I did. Here is my card.

I began with a Pretty Peacock base over which I adhered, with Liquid Glue, a piece of Whale of a Time Designer Series Paper to completely cover the base.

Next, I dry embossed a panel of Pool Party with the Seabed 3D embossing folder. To make the deep impression I first spritzed the paper with a little water. I used the second largest die in the Celebration Labels dies to cut the panel. Stampin’ Dimensionals adhere this lovely panel to the card front.

I don’t know about everyone, but I have a hard time making a simple card. It seems that layers add so much, so I usually wind up with a collage and several layers. This card is no exception.

Coordinating with the Whale Done stamp set is the Whale of a Time  pack of 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper. (By the way, select Designer Series Papers are on sale right now at 15% off.) The Whale Punch is perfect for cutting out a whale from one of the sheets in the pack. For the rest of the front I used the grass die in the Smooth Sailing set to cut 2 in Shaded Spruce and one in Granny Apple Green.

I stamped the sea turtle in  the Whale Done stamp set using Pretty Peacock ink on Pool Party card stock. Using a Stampin’ Sponge I lightly sponged the turtle with a little Calypso Coral to add come color other than the greens/blues to the front. For more color, I stamped the coral image in the set in Calypso Coral on Calypso Coral card stock, and the grass image in Shaded Spruce on Calypso Coral. Both of these, and the turtle, were fussy cut with Paper Snips scissors.

The sentiment in Whale Done is stamped in Shaded Spruce on Whisper White. This was cut with an oval from Layering Ovals dies. A second oval, cut with a scalloped die in Shaded Spruce, makes a mat for the sentiment. I used Liquid Glue to attach the ovals together.

All these pieces were dry fit then adhered to the embossed layer with a combination of Liquid glue and Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Since I still had a piece of the DSP that I used on the front, I trimmed it down and Liquid Glued it to the bottom of the Pool Party Liner on the inside. The whale needed some water and this filled the bill. As you can see, this card is for a 4 year old. The ‘Happy 4th Birthday stamps are from Family Party. The other sentiment is in the Whale Done stamp set. All of the sentiment is stamped in Shaded Spruce except the word Birthday, which is stamped in Calypso Coral. The Whale Punched whale is from the same sheet of DSP as the whale on the front, and is adhered with Liquid Glue. A few Pool Party bubbles completes the inside. This liner was adhered to the card base with Liquid Glue.

Since I had only punched 2 whales from the 6″ x 6″ sheet of the Whale of a Time Designer Series Paper, I flipped it over to see what was on the other side. Well, golly gee whiz, it had the perfect design for the envelope flap. I used Liquid Glue (I think I should own stock in this!) to adhere this to the flap. For the front, I stamped the grass in Shaded Spruce and the coral in Calypso Coral.

I really like this suite of products. The papers are lovely and the punch is so handy, especially when it works so well with the paper. All the stamps in the set are perfect for any sea themed card or scrapbook page. It is a bundle/suite you might want to get. The embossing folder is REALLY great!

I hope you like my card. If you wish to re-create it, the products I used are found below with a link to my online store. Or, you can just click on the button at right that says Shop With Me Online. Don’t forget, you have until the end of October to cash in on the 15% off many of the Designer Series Papers.

Clicking on the image below will download the pdf file that lists all the Designer Series Papers that are 15% off.

Now, on with the hop. Just click on the ‘next’ button to continue with Amy’s blog, or click on any name to go to that blog. Card cuts and products used are listed below. Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment.

Amy Koenders

Mary Deatherage

Jaimie Babarczy

Karen Finkle

Akiko Sudano

Karen Ksenzakovic

Julie Johnston – You are Here

CARD CUTS: Pretty Peacock: card base 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ ; Pool Party: for embossed front 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″, inside liner 4″ x 51/4″, scrap for turtle, about 2″ x 2″; Shaded Spruce: sea grass 2″ x 8″, scalloped oval 1 3/4″ x 2 3/4″ ;Granny Apple Green: 2″ x 4″; Calypso Coral: stamped grass and coral 2″ x 4″; Whisper White: sentiment oval 1 1/2″ x 2 1/2″; Whale of a Time Designer Series Paper: whales and envelope flap 1-6″ x 6″ sheet, card front (waves) and inside strip 1-6″ x 6″ sheet.

Product List

Uncategorized

Stampin’ Up! Gather Together for Happy Inkin’ Thursday Blog Hop

Good Thursday to you all! We’re back! Well, we, being the Happy Inkin’ Krew, are always here on Thursday to bring you some inspiration for your cardmaking. At least, that is the hope.

Today we are working with PLAID as our theme challenge, so come on along and see what the outstanding, awesome and talented Krew has for you.

Inspiration and challenge

I also wanted to use the sketch from Sunday Stamps Challenge even though I knew their challenge would close before our hop so I couldn’t enter this card. No worries, I just like the design, and thought it was great for plaid. I did fudge it a bit, but I guess that is what a challenge is supposed to do…challenge us to adapt any challenge to our own parameters. Here is the design that challenged, and inspired, me:

And here is my card.

I chose a plaid from Plaid Tidings Designer Series Paper (page 57 in the Aug-Dec mini catalog) with fall colors because I wanted to make this a Thanksgiving card without actually saying Thanksgiving. This Pumpkin Pie, Bumblebee, Shaded Spruce and Rich Razzleberry plaid does just that. And, it gave me the colors to use for this card. That is the nice thing about Designer Series Papers-your color scheme is right there for you. And, by the way, a good selection of Designer Series Papers are on sale now at 15% off!

I want to say here that I would not normally choose to use these colors in a card, but I let the plaid dictate the colors. My usual choice would be browns, golds and oranges with some metallic thrown in. It is good to be challenged to get out of what could be a rut.

My card base is Rich Razzleberry with a front layer of Rich Razzleberry embossed in the leaf design Meadow Moments embossing folder, which is adhered to the base with Liquid Glue. This embossing folder is narrow, so I had to run it through twice to get both sides of the front. I chose it because it reminds me of falling leaves, appropriate for this time of year.

The plaid, as are all pieces that are matted, is adhered to a Basic Black mat with Liquid Glue. The next layer of Bumblebee Designer Series Paper from the In-Color 2020-2022 6″ x 6″ pack in the wood grain is also on a black mat. The two small strips of plaid, from Plaid Tidings in Bumblebee, are the last of the pieces with a black mat. Liquid Glue was used to adhere all these pieces to each other. All card cuts will be found below.

One of the liberties I took with the Sunday Stampers design was to cut the plaid pieces smaller to showcase the embossed card front.

I very lightly sponged a piece of Pumpkin Pie card stock with Rich Razzleberry and Shaded Spruce ink for a little dimension, then stamped the large leaf from the Gather Together Bundle in Pumpkin Pie, and cut it with the coordinating die in the bundle. Also from Pumpkin Pie card stock I cut the tri-leaf image found in the Nature’s Roots dies and embossed it with the embossing piece in the die set. I then very lightly sponged it with Shaded Spruce ink. One of the 3 leaves is tucked under the sentiment circle.

Two small leaves in Nature’s Roots dies were cut and embossed from Rich Razzleberry, as well as a leafy branch found in the Birds and More dies. Using this same leafy branch die, I cut another from the woodgrain Bumblebee DSP left from cutting the front panel. There is a small leaf in Rooted in Nature stamp set that I used to stamp in Shaded Spruce on yet another Bumblebee  In-color 2020-2022 DSP design. It was cut with the coordinating die from Nature’s Roots. The last piece of my leafy collage was cut with a die from Stitched Leaves after I sponged a panel of the Bumblebee Plaid (same as the strips) with Pumpkin Pie, Shaded Spruce and Rich Razzleberry. When real leaves turn color, they are seldom just one color and I was attempting to make this look less plaid, and more like a fall leaf. I think I succeeded and the plaid gives depth where a plain color under the sponging would not.

The sentiment, from Gather Together, was stamped on Whisper White in Pumpkin Pie, then cut with one of the Stitched Shapes circles. The leafy branch stamped in Shaded Spruce is from Rooted in Nature stamp set. In hind sight, which as we all know is 20-20, I think I should have used Very Vanilla for the sentiment circle. You can do as you like.

I dry fit everything until it looked pleasing to me, took a photo with my phone, ‘cuz I KNEW I would forget what I wanted it to look like,  and started to adhere the bits and pieces together. I used a combination of Liquid Glue and Stampin’ Dimensionals to accomplish this. The sentiment circle is adhered with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The inside Whisper White liner was stamped with the large leaf from Gather Together in twice stamped off Pumpkin Pie. I wanted this to be light enough to see the sentiment stamped over it. The sentiment is from the same stamp set and is stamped in Rich Razzleberry. I didn’t really want to use a large chunk of the precious plaid as a mat, but thought Whisper White on Pumpkin Pie rather plain. There was a scrap of the plaid just laying there, so I used the same small leaf die from Nature’s Roots as I used for the Shaded Spruce/Bumblebee leaf on the front to cut leaves from the scrap. These were Liquid Glued to the corners of the Whisper White, adding just a bit of needed OOMPH. This liner was then Liquid Glued to the Pumpkin Pie mat and into the card base. Card done.

NOT QUITE! In looking over the card front, it too needed something. I looked again at the challenge design and noticed the 3 dots between the strips. Good place for 3 Holiday Rhinestones in the Pumpkin Pie color. Perfect! Rhinestones and plaid? W-e-l-l, maybe a bit more glitz to tie them together? Hmmm. A good place for some Clear Wink of Stella on the Rich Razzleberry leaves. OK. NOW  the card is done!

The envelope front is graced with Shaded Spruce, Rich Razzleberry and Pumpkin Pie leaves. The flap has another piece of the fall plaid to finish the envelope. You know, no naked envelopes!

To shop for these products, just click on the bird at right that says Shop Online with Me. Clicking on individual products will take you directly to my online store.

Now, on with the hop! Click on this button to go to the next blog, or click on any name to go directly to her blog. You will like what you find, I assure you!

Amy Koenders

Mary Deatherage

Kristy Gray

Jaime Babarczy

Sue Prather

Karen Finkle

Akiko Sudano

Karen Ksenzakovic

Julie Johnston-You are here

CARD CUTS: Rich Razzleberry: card base 5 1/2″ x 8 1/4″ scored at 4 1/4″, embossed front 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″,  leaves and branch 3″ x 5″; Basic Black for plaid mat 3 1/2″ x 4 3/4″, woodgrain mat 2 1/4″ x 3 1/2″, mat for plaid strips one at 5/8″ x 3″ and one at 5/8″ x 1 5/8″; Pumpkin Pie large leaf 3″ x 3″, tri leaf 2″ x 2″, inside mat 3 3/4″ x 5″; plaid tidings Designer Series Paper: orange plaid 3 3/8″ x 4 5/8″, envelope flap  2 1/4″ x 6″, inside small leaves from scraps; Bumblebee plaid for strips, one at 1/2″ x 2 7/8″ and one at 1/2″ x 1 1 /2″, stitched leaf 2″ x 3″; In-color 2020-2022 Designer Series Paper: Bumblebee wood grain 2 1/8″ x 3 3/8″, branch 2″ x 3″, bumblebee allover design small leaf 1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″; Whisper White: sentiment circle 2″ x 2″

 

 

 

Product List

Christmas

Stampin’ Up Poinsettia for Happy Inkin’ Thursday Blog Hop

Good Day Everyone! It is a good day here, in fact we are having a whole string of gorgeous fall days. I love it! Autumn is my favorite season, so I am ready for this.

Today our challenge is that of a sketch. It looks pretty simple, but I struggled with it a bit until I decided to use the Poinsettia Petals Bundle and the coordinating Poinsettia Place Designer Series Paper. What fun, and so easy to let the paper do the work. AND….today is the first day of the Stampin’ Up! Designer Series Paper sale.

That’s right, 15% off select Designer Series Papers for the whole month of October. More about that later.

Here is the sketch and here is my card.

Using Designer Series Papers makes it easy to choose a color scheme, in this case Old Olive, Real Red and Whisper White. These are my favorite colors to use for a Christmas card. I love holly, pine, and poinsettias, all of which lend themselves to this color theme. Here is how I made it.

My card base is Thick Whisper White. To dress it up a bit, I cut a Thick Whisper White panel and dry embossed it with the Parisian Flourish 3D embossing folder. I cut it to fit the card front and used Liquid Glue to adhere it to the card base. This is such an elegant embossing folder.

Real Red mats fill the supporting role for the Poinsettia Place Designer Series Paper. I used the Holly paper, and the design on the reverse side. These are Liquid Glued to the card front, both on an angle.

The sentiment from Celebration Tidings was stamped in Old Olive on Whisper White. This was cut with an oval from the Layering Ovals dies, offsetting the sentiment to allow room for the holly leaves. I cut a second oval from Real Red, using a slightly larger scalloped die for a mat for the sentiment. Liquid Glue also adhered this to the card front.

Using the smaller holly leaf dies from the Poinsettia Petals Bundle, I cut and embossed 3 leaves in Old Olive. The Real Red berries also are in this bundle. I dry fit them, then used Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals and Liquid Glue to attach them to the sentiment oval.

For the inside, a Real Red mat is behind a panel of Poinsettia Place DSP. A Whisper White liner was stamped with Old Olive using a sentiment from the Poinsettia Petals stamp set. I considered embellishing the Whisper White panel, but decided that sometimes less is more, so I left it plain. More room that way for writing a note.

The envelope front sports a few holly leaves fussy cut from the Poinsettia Place DSP, and the flap has a whole strip of it!

I mentioned that Stampin’ Up! has a sale on Designer Series Papers, starting today. Yep, 15% off select papers.

  • Sale runs 1 Oct – 31 October 2020 at 11:50 pm (MT)
  • All order types qualify for this promotion.
  • There is no limit to how many packages of Designer Series Paper may be purchased during this promotion.
  • Only select Designer Series Papers are available at a 15% discount during this promotion.
  • Orders must be placed—and closed—during the promotion period for the 15% discount to apply.
  • Designer Series Paper ordered as part of a Starter Kit or with Stampin’ Rewards qualify for the 15% discount.

 

Amy Koenders

Mary Deatherage

Kristi Gray

Jaimie Babarczy

Sue Prather

Karen Finkle

Akiko Sudano

Karen Ksenzakovic

Julie Johnston – You are here

CARD CUTS: Thick Whisper White: card base 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ scored and folded at 4 1/4″, embossed front 4 1/2″ x 5 3/4″, emboss then trim to fit card front; Whisper White: front oval 2″ x 3 1/2″, inside liner 3″ x 4 1/4″; Real Red: front mats (2) for DSP 3 1/2″ x 4 3/4″, inside mat 4″ x 5 1/4″, berries, scrap approx. 1 1/2″ x 3″; Poinsettia Place Designer Series Paper: fronts (2 from coordinating paper) 3 3/8″ x 4 5/8″, inside 3 3/4″ x 5″, envelope front scrap, envelope flap 2 1/4″ x 6″.

Product List

Uncategorized

Stampin’ Up! Poppy Moments Thank You

Here we are again for a Happy Inkin’ Thursday Blog Hop! The weeks just keep rolling around in spite of hurricanes, wildfires and Covid19! I hope all of you are out of harms way and well. If not, my prayers are for things to quickly improve. The farmers in my neighborhood have started their harvest, but it isn’t in full swing yet. OK, enough chatting, on with the hop.

Today we have a color challenge, where we are given 5 colors and have to use a minimum of three of them. I have to say, this one was really a challenge for me. I struggled with what to do and changed my mind at least 3 times. As I write this, I still have a little time, so might change it again! Here are the colors.

They didn’t really ‘speak’ to me like some colors do, so it was a struggle as to which 3 to use. In the end, I used all five.

I have the Painted Poppies stamp and the Poppy Moments dies, but I wasn’t sure what to do with them. I guess the poppies came to mind because most poppies are orange, and Cajun Craze is sort of orange. And, Pretty Peacock is sort of green, so that became the leaves.

Here is my card and how I made it.

The card base is Basic Black. I double matted, meaning there are 2 layers under the card front piece, Whisper White on Basic Black and Blackberry Bliss on the Whisper White.

My card front is Whisper White, embossed with the Pinewood Planks 3D embossing folder.

Using the dies from Poppy Moments, from Pretty Peacock I cut 2 branched leaves, 2 detailed branch leaves, 2 large leaves, and 2 large leaf details. These are adhered with Liquid  Glue.

The large poppy was cut from Cajun Craze twice, and the detail twice. I only cut one of the smaller poppy and its detail once as well. Liquid Glue adhered the detail to the poppy base. I also cut the appropriate poppy centers from Basic Black.

Now to assemble the front. I did a dry fit, then, when all was as I wanted it, I used Liquid Glue to attach the leaves to the embossed Whisper White. To add a little more dimension, I very carefully curled the poppies with my bone folder. Not too much, as I was afraid of tearing the details. The top most poppy was adhered just with a little Liquid Glue in the center, leaving the edges of the petals free.

The other large poppy was adhered below it with a couple of Stampin’ Dimensionals. The smaller one was also adhered with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The sentiment is from Ornate Thanks and is stamped in Blackberry Bliss on Whisper White. The Paper Trimmer cut it to the perfect size, then I mounted it on a mat of Pretty Peacock. In hindisght, perhaps I should have stamped it in Pretty Peacock and matted it in Blackberry Bliss since the main mat is Blackberry Bliss. You can do as you like.

For the inside liner, I stamped the sentiment, also from Ornate Thanks, in Blackberry Bliss on Whisper White card stock. The field of poppies from Painted Poppies was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with my Cajun Craze Stampin’ Write Marker. I deliberately did not color them perfectly, leaving some white area to make it look a bit more rustic. I like this little field of poppies. The liner was directly adhered to the card base with Liquid Glue. I decided not to mat the liner.

The envelopes had to have some decoration too, as I do not like naked envelopes. Again, the poppy field was perfect for the envelope, both front and flap.

Now that you have seen what I did with the challenge, click on the ‘NEXT’ button to see what Amy has for you, or click on any name to go directly to her blog. Thanks for stopping by. Comment below. Also, the products used and card cuts are below the names.

If you don’t have a demonstrator, I would be happy to fill that role for you.

Amy Koenders

Mary Deatherage

Kristi Gray

Jaimie Babarczy/

Sue Prather

Karen Finkle

Akiko Sudano

Karen Ksenzakovic

Julie Johnston – You are here

CARD CUTS

Basic Black: card base 4 1/4″ x 11″ scored at 5 1/2″, scrap for flower centers, approx 2″ x 2″;

Whisper White: front mat 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″, embossed front 3 7/8″ x 5 1/8″, inside liner 4″ x 5 1/4″, front sentiment scrap cut to size, in this instance 1/2″ x 2 7/8″

Blackberry Bliss: front mat 4″ x 5 1/4″

Cajun Craze: poppies one piece about 4″x 5″ will do all the flowers and details, or you can use up scraps.

Pretty Peacock: leaves 2″ x 6″ , sentiment mat 9/16″ x 2 15/16″

 

 

Product List