Shabby Chic Gift Box

Shabby Chic is not something I do very often. Usually because I feel that once I've 'shabbied' (is that even a word?) that I've gone too far and lost the Chic. I can't be the only one who feels this way?!

Anyways, I saw a cute box idea, and this beauty actually folds flat and pops open. It's 4x4" so you can use it as an awesome gift box, jewelery box, treats, cards.....(keys to a new car? Diamonds <--you never know, my husband COULD read this right?)

The flower is made from Bella Blue designer series paper! I love this technique for making flowers... (and my stamp club members will be learning how to do this next week!)

I distressed the corduroy button with Night of Navy ink...and used a sponge dauber on the flower to apply a bit of distressing with the same ink. I also stamped the textured chocolate chip paper and the kraft paper with the filigree from the Vintage Vogue stamp set.





This is the side view of the box as it's being folded flat. Neato! I kid you not when I say this box is amazing!!

So...what do you think?


Not too shabby? (bwaha!) If you know me...you KNEW I was going to slip that joke in...sigh. I love words (but not as much as this box!) Really, I don't think I went too far with the shabby...it's still a bit elegant.

Did you spy that teeny little rhinestone?

It's one of the sticky back rhinestones (which come on a 6x6 SHEET of goodness) in the Eggcellent Eggs Kit (for $13.25)! Did you know when you shop in my online store on my website you get preferred customer pricing 10% savings? Oh yes you do! (click here).

You can do so much more than JUST Easter with this kit. I'm not just fluffing your feathers when I tell you "chickie, you need this kit".









Here's the product shot of the Vintage Vogue stamp set. Available in clear mount or traditional wood mounted rubber.



Isn't this just all kinds of pretty? Wood mount is $31.95 and Clear is $23.95 (preferred customer pricing on my website).


Note: I've been redesigning my blog to make it easier for you to find the information you need. Please feel free to use the links on the right hand sidebar to visit my website where you will find:

• projects for inspiration
• product information
• shopping
• my calendar and links to book your own classes and parties
• Links and information to join my Stampin' Up! group and start your own business!

I've also got tabs up at the top/header...where you can click to contact me and more.


Please feel free to comment on my new blog design and I'm open to suggestions!


Have fun stamping!


~Dreena

Giraffe!

This is one of those cards that can really be anything, for any occasion, and THOSE are the best kind of cards! I love the flexibility that stamping offers!

Let me tell you about this card.

First of all, I'm a technique junkie and I never get bored with stamping, I love learning new things...see the plaid background, that's not a fancy shmancy paper...OH NO...I did that. Me. It's my 'faux plaid' technique...well I'm sure there could be many names and I don't claim to be the inventor of this...it's really just playing with chalk pastels and scrap paper...but here on this card...it's all mine!! (PS. my contact info and class schedules will be on my Stampin' Up! website HERE)


Now, take a peek...look reallllly close at that Giraffe too....

The Giraffe is from the new Fox and Friends clear mount stamp set (which is ONLY $19.95) seriously, you need this stamp set (or I'm not talking to you).

You can stamp baby cards, fun cards, birthday cards, romantic cards...YES, EVEN romantic cards with this set. This giraffe could be saying "wanna neck" very flirtatiously with it's husband or wife. OK, if that's not to your liking it could be saying 'thank you for always sticking your neck out for me'. It is always good to thank people, it's the right thing to do! Why not do it with a giraffe?

See the spots on the giraffe's neck? Those are itty bitty teeny weenie hearts that were left over from punching with my "pinking hearts" border punch. I applied them all ever so lovingly with glue and tweezers.

The yellow card stock is dry embossed with the BigShot 'Perfect Polka Dots' embossing folder. I can't tell you how much I love that machine! Do you have a BigShot? Don't you just LOVE the embossing folders? Squee!

The ribbon was a cute little trick I learned from Mary Dawn's blog 'My Pink Mexico' (and my friend Kerri) thanks ladies! Now, last but not least...the four 'quilt squares' behind the giraffe are punched scallop squares.

Cutie patootie. I love this card. It makes me smile.

PS. Lori-Ann, does this qualify as a submission to my own colour challenge (wink)...it's pretty close? I think it does!!

Peek-a-boo Punch Technique

Valentine's Day is fast approaching! If you're like me, you'll need Valentine's for the kids, for the class, for the teacher, for your special someone...the list goes on...

One of my favourite tools are Stampin' Up! paper punches. I {heart} punches...and as it so happens...I used punches with hearts on them to do this project.

We've been doing techniques classes with our stamping club, and this Peek-a-boo Punch technique was part of January's stamping class. Check it out then scroll down for details...



Cute hey?

This uses the Heart to Heart punch to punch out the 'windows' on the front of the card. Then simply layer a beautiful piece of Designer Series Paper behind your windows and stick down (be careful not to have any adhesive show through your punched shapes). Voila!

To kick it up a notch, we used the new Pinking Hearts Border punch and layered it along the bottom edge (the front edge of the card is slightly shorter than the back).

Then stamp with your preferred sentiment, wrap some ribbon... DONE!

The stamp set used is the new Well Scripted stamp set, which you can search and view on my website and online store, and it is from the Occasions Mini. (stamp set is available as clear mount rubber, or traditional wood block mount).

And...just in case you didn't know...buying the stamp set, ribbon, punch and designer paper pictured above would get you a FREE Sale-a-bration stamp set. Who loves free? I do. Sale-a-bration Details and Online Ordering are on my website HERE.

I hope you enjoyed this project, and I encourage you to check out our full line of punches and think forward to other occasions where quick and beautiful cards are just what you need!

Have fun!

I Love you Sweet Pea

ahhh....amour, love is in the air....

chocolate...

smiles....

crafting...

YES, I said crafting. This is one of the things you missed if you don't come to class or stamp with me! You missed out on creating this GORGEOUS (tooting my own horn) valentine. In non-traditional valentine colours - yay me! So really, it can be used for loving someone up any time of year, but Valentine's is coming and you OUGHT to give your someone special something handmade and lovely!

Check out the texture and loveliness....the clean simple lines....(I think I have a crush on this card).




This card was inspired by the Sweet Pea Felt, a new Stampin' Up! product in the Occasions Mini Catalogue. Stinkin' cute! I squee'd when I saw them. I loved the colours and translated them over into my valentine (smart of me, now I can hoard my felt just a little longer...).

Here's the scoop:

• Perfect Polka Dot Impressions Folder for the Bigshot (to get the sweet little dotted textured background) in Pretty In Pink
• the Heart of Hearts Embosslits Die (for the scallopy white heart..which also has a dotted texture) in Whisper White
• Stampin' Up! heart punch (layered on top) in Melon Mambo
• Scallop Square die to make the card base in Old Olive
• embellished with some mighty fine Stampin' Up! chocolate 1" grosgrain ribbon.

Voila! PSSST....see the pretty papers in the background?

That's the NEW glittery and GORGEOUS Sending Love Specialty Paper.

Every page has GLITTER accents on it! I might hoard that too!

You need to go to my website, you need to look at pretty things!

But don't listen to me here, go there and see for yourself ... http://www.doodlebug.stampinup.net/

I hope you liked the valentine. Tell me if you make one!

Hugs,

Dreena

Babyface! You've Got the Cutest Little Baby Face

So this is what's been keeping me busy for the last couple of weeks. Babies....

Babies, we knew they were hard work, but I'm here to tell you 75 babies keep you very, very busy indeed. Aren't they just the most adorable bundles of joy? I love them. I've been making these babies for a 25 member punched art swap meet at our team convention on Saturday. I hope the ladies love them as much as I do.

Each baby is constructed from a variety of shapes of punched card stock, in this case a wide oval punch, circle and flower are used. See end of post for a more detailed list.

If you haven't tried punched art or you haven't been bold enough to do it alone, please come to class or email me! My contact is on my website here. The possibilities are endless with punched art.





Last week I used the scallop circle punch pictured here to make the background sky for the baby bundle cards. If you follow my blog you'll remember this...

The sky backgrounds, got trimmed and mounted onto a layer of Bermuda Bay cardstock, and stamped in Basic Black Classic Ink with the "Rock-a-Bye-Baby" sentiment from the stamp set Nursery Necessities. Nursery Necessities is a gem of a baby set for cards as well as scrapbooking. Details on the stamp set are at the end of the blog post.

Baby Faces up close! I have a few tips to share with you. When doing punched art there are a few things you can do to make your creating go smoother, faster and easy to store...

Can you see the little 'dotted' bits behind the faces, on the paper? That's a temporary adhesive that Stampin' Up! sells called Dotto.

Dotto is a sanity saver.

Really it is. Read on...

Let me tell you more about Dotto. Dotto is helpful when you are creating detailed work, or when you are fiddling with a scrap page layout.

Here I've run strips of Dotto across a piece of printer paper, and stuck down ROWS of baby faces... They are all ready for me to sponge and ink and add detail.

NOT ONLY THAT, but when it was time for supper, I just picked up the page and put it in a protective craft keeper envelope. It stays stuck and waiting for me to pull it out next time! MY FRIENDS...how easy is that?

Think of all the times you've been interrupted by say the phone, come back and the kiddies have picked up your scrapbook page and your layout went everywhere?! No more! Dotto! See the end of the post for product info.

See, here I'm putting down some Dotto and adhering my baby bundles and shapes so that I can do my inking and shading with my sponge daubers. Handy!

Here's a shot of the assembled baby bundles. These were so simple to make.

Close up time! Little rosy cheeks, and white gel pen dimples, awww. Note: the faces are popped up on a foam dimensional before they are stuck down to the bundles.

The sentiment from Nursery Necessities, gel pen highlights, pretty punched border (say ooh...say ahh). LOL!

Again, the finished baby bundles! Thanks to Sophia Landry for her inspiration on baby bundle punchies. I really enjoyed making these little guys.

All supplies used are Stampin' Up! and can be purchased from my store.

**The Almighty DOTTO temporary adhesive** (insert sound of trumpets and fanfare)

Dotto: 103305 $17.95 (Dotto is refillable, don't throw away your cartridge!)

Punches:

• Wide Oval Punch 112082 $22.95
• 3/4" circle punch 107217 $15.95
• 5-Petal Flower 109041 $22.95

Border Punch: Eyelet Border 113692 $22.95

Cardstock:

• whisper white (40 sheets) 100730 $9.95
• Bermuda Bay (24 sheets) 115317 $7.25
• Kraft (40 sheets) 102125 $9.95
• Soft Subtles Assorted Pkg (pink/yellow/apricot/green) 36 sheets (3ea. of 12 colours) 105568 $10.50 *each colour is also available in single packs of 24 sheets for $7.25

Accessories:

• Black Journaler 105394 $4.50
• White Gel Pen 105021 $5.50
• Sponge Daubers (12) 102892 $15.95
• Stampin' Dimensionals 104430 $5.50
• Hemp twine 12yds 100982 $3.95
  

Stamp Set:

• Nursery Necessities 113506 (set of 12) $42.95

I Heart Paper Punch Art

I'm still working away on my swaps for our team convention in a couple of weeks. The swap is all about punched art and there are 25 punch lovers participating. I can't wait to see all of the designs!

Here's a gem that I did for a punched art class as well as for my downline. A punchy peacock! Isn't he adorable? Truly a labour of love. (sorry for the thumb print on my camera lens!)



Punches used are :

• scallop oval - body and wings #114889
  
• boho blossoms - feet and 'crown' #110711
  
• small star - beak #109045
  
• word window - feathers, neck, head #105090
  

Additional:

• mini glue dots #103683
  
• tombow mono multi liquid glue (ESSENTIAL FOR PUNCH ART!) #110755
  
• Fine Cosmo #108796

Sentiment on the inside: You did such a great job and I'm 'Proud as a Peacock'!

Of course, all supplies are available in my online store, HERE.

Stay tuned in October when My Digital Studio digi-scrapping becomes available!

Cards for Dudes

I (heart) this card so much. It was fast, it was easy and it was WAY FUNKY! Punchy cards are all the rage. I am constantly amazed by what my sistahs who stamp keep making with simple punched shapes!

Check out this card that we made in the Manly Men Class (I'm saving it for my hunny). He always fixes things around the house, big or small and it never ceases to amaze me how talented he is. I (heart) him too :)




All Supplies are Stampin Up! (of course)

Stamp set: retired <---- sniff...this is WHY it's important to get your wish list items before they retire! See the scoop on the current retiring lists by going to my AB FAB website HERE

Cardstock: brushed silver, Real Red, Kraft

Accessories: Large Grommet, silver brads

Inks: versamark, black Staz-On, circle punches, paper snips