A Fred in need is a Fred indeed - A Blog Hop

You've heard of flat Stanley, and versions of flat Stanley travelling the world on vacations...

Little paper likenesses of people going from place to place, taking photo opportunities where they may and sending images home to their friends and family...

(if you haven't heard of this then I can't explain the origins, google Flat Stanley, and talk to your friends).

Well I don't have a Flat Stanley today, but I do have a FRED. 
Fred is a relative of Flat Stanley (kind of) (not really).

Fred is a card that has travelled all over the US and Canada, and Fred had a mission!

A mission of love and comfort. 

Fred started in Austin, Texas with Lydia of Understand Blue...and travelled through many friends...each of us adding one element of love to the card and made it's way to Sue in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
(SO MAKE SURE, you all start at Lydia's page HERE and see the journey and creation of FRED) all the way through to Tara's blog HERE which is the next stop.  Then you'll see what it looked like right before we sent it off to Sue.

Sue is our friend in need, because she lost her dear mum...and while she was away in Ireland taking care of her family and honouring her mum's memory...Fred started making his journey to Sue.  (We're not sure if she received Fred yet...so we've been SO careful to hide our secret.  I'm pretty sure no one accidentally spilled the beans...which means we're all pretty amazing).

Anyways.  I only added one small element to Fred before sending him off.  I added the body/antennae to the butterfly.  Sidenote: I did this on my lap because I was knee deep (okay, ankle deep) in a water crisis in the basement that week. 

But Love and Friendship prevail and a Fred in need is a Fred indeed! 

We love you Sue! 

Here's Fred before I sent him off:

NOW...don't forget to 'hop' on over to see Tara's blog HERE which is the next stop. 

Punchy Party Planning

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful summer weekend with the kids fresh out of school! Let the fun begin...

For us, we celebrated Canada Day (July 1st) with outdoor festivities, fireworks and of course outdoor food.  

I love outdoor parties and I enjoyed the last watermelon craft (treat holder) in the previous post soooo much....that I had to make more.  Lots more...

Card number one, in Melon Mambo and Garden Green.... 

The seeds are made from a scallop square punch, each scallop I cut at an angle like a teardrop and removed from the square.  You can also use a scallop circle (or any scalloped shape) to make tear drop shapes for seeds, eyes etc.

Next...CHOMP...nom nom....a watermelon card (or invitation) with a wee bite taken out (thanks to my circle punches)

A closer look at this one and you can see it is done with Riding Hood Red (a more masculine watermelon?)  and the seeds are arranged in a row across the melon. 

The seeds are highlighted with white gel pen.

The watermelon rinds are sponged with green ink to give it a more true to life effect.

Decorate your drinks!  Punch a little watermelon with your circle punches and sassy up those straws!  Bendy straws would have been better...but I have none...so we improvise.

Punch up those paper plates with some watermelon funfetti!  Okay so they are really only half circles of watermelon coloured circle punches...but they work very well! Cute!

Make a napkin ring/name card with your small circle punches and a ring of matching cardstock.  Leave out the seeds and you have room to write a name!

I hope you've enjoyed our little watermelon punch party!

xo.
D.

PS.  How did I get those round bottom cards to stand straight?  On the back of the card, the bottom edge is trimmed flat so that it doesn't tip and roll.  Have fun!

Watermelon Punch

School is out, summer is here and there's nothing else that screams "summertime" to me quite like a fresh piece of watermelon!

Watermelon reminds me of picnics, BBQ, fireworks, ball games in the park, kids in bathing suits....ahhhhh summertime...

Here's a little something you can whip up for your summer parties and festivities....a little watermelon treat box with a surprise inside! 

These would be cute at table settings, as birthday treats (really you can't go wrong with watermelon!)

This uses a few products from Stampin' Up! and assembles very quickly.  You'll need:

• Top Note die for the BigShot
• Scallop circle punch for the watermelon seeds (cut off each scallop)
• Punch an oval out of the top to make 'handles' for your treat box
• cardstock of your watermelon choice! (we have so many delicious cardstock colours to choose from)

For the middle you have options!  You can:

• Use a small cut off gift bag
• Use a mini lunch or food bag
• make a gift bag from an envelope
• use the box number 2 die for the BigShot
• or make your own small box....

 I like options.  Options are always good. 

Now, for you papercrafty teachers out there...wouldn't this be a GREAT hostess gift with a little stamp and an inkspot?  Indeed!

Punch Art Rescue

If you follow along on Facebook you will have heard my pre- Dad's day grumbling that the sneaky peeker (husband) came into the craft room and caught me unawares.

No that's not code for anything romantic, honest! 

What did happen was he saw all of the delightful projects that had been prepared in advance of The Day.  So I (with a 5 year old running after me) had to think of something new (with a 5 year old talking a mile a minute)...

The first attempt was an epic fail (if I may quote the 12 year old of the house)...

And then I remembered seeing a punched art owl card SOMEWHERE...a magazine?  a blog?  It said 'hi' or something like that...could I find it anywhere so that I could run my desperate eyeballs all over it?  No. 

So this is the interpretation of that card (wherever it is) with all Stampin' Up! punches (which are fabulous and amazing).

Cute hey?  Whoo?  Who's the best dad in the world?  You Are!

I had a good laugh with the kids when I was gluing on this sleepy fella's eyes.  If you turn them so that the outer corners of the eyelids are facing up....he becomes a very cross owl (angry eyes!)....and if you leave the eyelids off entirely...a very startled and surprised fellow!

Have fun and get punchy!

You know who to call for all things stampy now dontcha'?  Just click here to go to my website for online orders!

I hope your Father's Day was great, ours was!

xo.

D