Tiddbits from Dawn

Someone is Eleven!

Today is Garrett's 11th birthday! He is last of our oldest three grandchildren who turn 11 years old within eight weeks of each other! We drove up yesterday to deliver a farmhouse table my husband made my son and daughter-in-law and were able to deliver Garrett's birthday gift at the same time. Of course, the gift was a book pillow! The card on the other hand was all about another option for reading books. Take a look....

It's a phone. Garrett did download a book to read on his phone while he was here week before last. He just got a phone and is only allowed to use it at home, no carrying it around with him. I have had this Hero Arts stamp set for quite awhile. Thankfully, I remembered I had it to use for Garrett's card. It comes with the little text box sentiments and a few emojis too. I just stamped it in black ink a couple of times to get really good coverage and added the messages and I was done. I did have to trim out the phone with my Paper Snips. For some birthday pizzazz the Pumpkin Pie card base was embossed with the Oh My Stars embossing folder. "Oh my stars" is exactly my sentiment when I think about Garrett turning 11!

Inside the card I used some balloons and a banner from Birthday Banners to finish it off.

I did manage to get a picture of Garrett with his book pillow yesterday. I was thankful for that because I forgot to take a picture of it before our delivery.

Today is a good day to think about joining Stampin' Up!. A special promotion for the month of July could be just the "bang" for your buck you've been looking for before joining Stampin' Up! When you join during July you receive a full collection of an ink pad family free! Besides choosing $125 in product of your choice for $99 just for  joining Stampin' Up!, you also get ten free ink pads worth $67.50 if bought in a set or $77.50 if purchased individually. Click below for more information! Join now and you'll also be one of the first to preview the new Holiday catalog later this month, place August pre-orders for those products and so much more! Contact me if you'd like to talk about it. :)

The month of July is also the Buy Three Get One Free Designer Series Paper month on select Designer Series Paper. You can also see more about this special purchase opportunity by clicking below.

Here's a video showing all the pieces of Designer Series Paper in each package for this special offer.

 

 

Another Grand Turns 11

Our oldest granddaughter has a birthday next week and I've got to get her gift in the mail today or at the latest Monday. That will depend on what happens around here today! She is definitely a sports fan and not a "girly girl".  She also love Converse tennis shoes so guess what stamp set I used yet again? That's right, Epic Celebration. She is also a huge Clemson fan so her card reflects that!

Rich Razzleberry sneakers cover the entire Whisper White panel. That panel is backed with a little Rich Razzleberry card stock and mounted on a Tangerine Tango card stock base. I pulled out some old Tangerine Tango ribbon to tie around the stamped panel before adhering the panel onto the base. Birthday Banners has been one of my "go to" birthday sentiment sets and that's where I found the birthday banner to stamp and then die cut with the coordinating Bunch of Banners Framelits. The sentiment on the ribbon is from Epic Celebration, die cut with the Stitched Shapes Framelits and then added to a scalloped circle die from the Layering Circles Framelits. I think she'll be happy with this card and it goes with the book pillow I'm still not quite finished making yet, but I'm almost there!

Inside the card I added more sentiments from Celebration Time and Number of Years. The die cut "1's" were cut with the retired Little Numbers Framelits. I can't let those go!

Today's the day! The 2018-19 Annual Catalog is almost ready for you to place your orders. The ordering system at Stampin' Up! is down until 12:00 MT today to transition to the new catalog. In the meantime there's a little sneak peek of some things in the new catalog below.

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We are headed to our grandson's baseball tournament tomorrow when it's going to be 90 degrees and humid. Then it's back home to get readfy for my niece and her family to come. They are coming primarily to see my mother. That will be something my mother will really enjoy! Also on Monday The Stamp Review Crew will be hopping. I hope to see you hopping along with us! - Dawn

Let's Go Fishing!

Four of our grandchildren are here for a few days along with our daughter. Tucker turns 9 years old this weekend so we wanted to have his gift ready for him. Of course, that meant a card too. Tucker loves to fish and brought his pole along with him so Poppie can take him (and his brothers) fishing at the pond behind our house today. Poppie took the day off to do just that. His gift and his birthday card were fishing themed. I made his card using my Silhouette. I found this adorable download and just had to make it for Tucker.

The Silhouette even punched the holes in the vest to stitch around. I picked out the colors and put all the pieces together after they were cut and added them all to the vest with Tombow Multi-Purpose Adhesive.  The only thing I added was the number nine, die cut with the Little Numbers Dies.

Since it's an over-sized card it even had a matching envelope included.

While the guys fish today my daughter and I and Lucy, my granddaughter, are going shopping. Sounds like a "girly" thing to do, doesn't it? Have a great day! - Dawn

Running to Eleven

I cannot believe that Friday our oldest grandchild turns eleven! Seems like it was just a couple of years ago we were planning to go down for his delivery. I particularly wanted Epic Celebration Sale-A-Bration stamp set to use for the three grands that we have turning eleven in the next three months. It worked great for this card for Grey...

This was so simple to make with the tennis shoes image and then die cutting Grey's name out with the large Letter Dies. I had another plan that I didn't end up liking. That's when I cut the Dapper Denim letters out to put back into the negative space on the card over what I didn't like. :(  That made all the difference! The sentiment is part of an image from Birthday Banners that is heat embossed in White Stampin' Emboss Powder. If I hadn't had the detour of not liking something this may have been an 11 minute card!

Inside I used a piece of the spattered paper I had leftover from the Brusho trials from yesterday's card. I thought it would be perfect for stamping the guitar on it. I fussy cut the guitar out to add next to the sentiment inside.

I was up early this morning placing my pre-order for the new 2018-19 Annual Catalog! We never know what we can order in May until the morning we order. That means there is some quick decision making on my part. :) Can't wait to get that order and get busy with some new color! I spent yesterday afternoon cleaning out my card stock and rearranging things on my shelves! I store my inks and card stock by color family, in alaphabetical order. When I was working on it I got so excited to see how pretty the new revamp colors look together. For now I'm off to finish Grey's pillow I'm making him for his birthday! And I have one in the works for my mother for Mother's Day too. My goal is to have both of them finished before my new product arrives. I hope your day is amazing! - Dawn

Pocketful of Sunshine

Today our grandson, Will, turns 7! It's hard to believe but it's true! He is so sweet, loves to kiss the dog and then me! :) He finds that hilarious but he's such a little charmer I'll take those hugs and kisses too. We won't see him until sometime this weekend and we'll give him his book pillow that I made him. We sent his card on early so he would have it on his birthday and my daughter let me know it had arrived. I couldn't quite decide what to do for his card and finally chose the Pocketful of Sunshine stamp set and Pocket Framelit Dies to make this card especially for Will.

I covered a Thick White card base with a piece of Designer Series Paper from the Bubbles & Fizz DSP in the Sale-a-Bration catalog. The pocket was die cut out of Dapper Denim card stock and heat embossing stitch lines make it seem almost real. Two Silver Foil circles, punched with the circle framelit in the coordinating framelit pack, were added on either side of the pocket before putting the goodies inside the pocket. In addition to the fake money and sunglasses was a real Gift Card. We'll take him to spend his gift card when we arrive this weekend! 

Inside the card I used a sentiment put together using the Happy Celebrations stamp set. 

I also finally finished the baby quilt, washed it and shipped it off yesterday. I'm hoping it will be well-loved.  I did remember to take a picture before mailing it and I'll share one tomorrow. Today I'm cutting pieces for a another quilt project or two. Hope you day is full of happy things! - Dawn

I also wanted to let you know that Stampin' Up! has added even more offerings to the Sale-A-Bration products you can earn FREE with a purchase of $50 minimum product purchase. Click here for the scoop!

 

A Valentine Soda Pop

Ten year old boys are getting sort of difficult to create Valentine cards for but the Bubbles & Fizz Designer Series Paper, free with a $50 purchase during Sale-A-Bration, came to my rescue!

I didn't purchase the suite of stamps and dies that coordinates with the DSP but with my paper snips I didn't need them! I snipped out two bottles of "pop" from the DSP and paired them up with some non-traditional colors for a card that I think are suited to ten year-old boys! The "fizz" coming from the bottles are hearts from Heart Happiness and they make perfect bubbles in my opinion. The sentiment is pieced together using stamps from, can you guess? My go to Labeler Alphabet stamp set stamp and Thoughtful Banners. What would I do without them?

Inside is another fizzing bottle and sentiment created with the same two stamp sets mentioned above plus Teeny Tiny Wishes.

I'm getting ready for a rainy day today. Those days are the kind when I can usually get a lot done. I'll see if that works today because my list is long! I hope whatever your weather you have a great day! - Dawn

 

 

Nuts!

You're probably wondering what in the world nuts have to do with today's card. It's all about that little squirrel image found in the We Must Celebrate stamp set. The squirrel found in it helped me create two Valentine cards that I'll be sending to two of our grandboys.

That's one talented little squirrel on my 4" x 4" card! He can handle a whole pile of cute little acorns and juggle them in the shape of a heart! We have some talented little squirrels around here too! They could, until we finally have everything squirrel proofed, get into every singe bird feeder we have an clean us out of seed in a skinny minute! Once we finally foiled their free, no work involved food source they started chewing off all of the bulbs to our outdoor patio lights we only purchased last summer. Prior to that they chewed up the arm on one of our adirondack chairs, made of aTrex-like wood and chewed up one side of the deck box where we store our deck chair cushions! If they only knew that if they showed me their juggling skills, like this squirrel is, I may give them a few peanuts! 

Inside the card is another of those cute creatures with a big "U" from the Large Letter Framelits. 

p.s. This post is not sponsored by the letter "U"! :)

I'm entering this card in both the Freshly Made Sketches 322 and The Paper Players 379 challenges this week. I'm nuts about both of them!

                         
 

I've got a lot of projects on the tables around my craft room. I also taped a video of a Valentine treat holder that I hope to share this week. I guess I better, right? I hope you have a day full of doing something you love! - Dawn

 

The Stamp Review Crew: Any 2018 Sale-A-Bration Stamp Set Edition

A bonus hop is up for The Stamp Review today and we're all using any 2018 Sale-A-Bration stamp set for our cards. Our regular hop days are the first and third Monday of each month but if there's a fifth Monday we pop in with something special. Sale-A-Bration is certainly something special! Before moving on I'll tell you a snippet about The Stamp Review Crew. We're a group of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators who are located around the globe and our hops usually showcase one stamp set so today is a bit different. You could be here with me in South Carolina one minute and with someone in Australia in the next to get ideas from around the world. Fun, right? If you want to find out more about us or if you get lost along the way click on either the banner or link above and you'll find everything you need to know along with a list of this week's hoppers so you don't miss anyone. If you start hopping on Sunday we go live a little early so we can work out the kinks. Be sure to come back tomorrow if someone's blog is not live yet!

If you didn't start with me you may have come from Nikki Spencer's blog, My Sandbox! I'm sure she's had fun playing with the 2018 SAB stamp sets and has inspiring ideas all ready for you like she always does!

The cute SAB set that helped me with today's card was Party Pandas and the Celebrate You Die Cuts added to the party. I think it's a favorite for a lot of us!

Party Pandas and Flirty Flamingo teamed up to make a fun card to mail to the cutest little girl. She is the nine year old daughter one of our daughter's childhood friends. She did a fantastic job, from the YouTube video I saw, singing at her school's talent show last week. I wanted to let her know that I thought she was amazing. I would have never done that at nine years old but I've never had a singing voice like her's either! :) These pandas were so impressed that they're doing a trick to hold up that "YOU" die cut cut from the Pick a Pattern Designer Series Paper. The Panda on the bottom is balancing the "amazing" to finish the greeting. Every little girl needs a bow to tie it together and this one is tied with the Flirty Flamingo 3/8" Striped Ribbon.

Inside the card there's one more panda holding a paper pieced ballon and plenty of white space for note writing.

You're all done here now and ready to hop on over to Debra Burgin's blog at Heartfelt Inkspiration. Debra always has amazing creations to share!

Party Hat!

I managed to get Lucy's, our youngest grandchild, birthday card made yesterday in between appointments. It was a bit of a crazy day but I was pleased with how her card turned out. I used one of my new favorite stamp sets, Party Hat Birthday to create it.

Some colors not often used lately came off the shelf for Lucy's card; they're Rose Red, Perfect Plum and Tangerine Tango. Gosh, I really like this stamp set. It is so much fun to layer up those images and watch how they line up just right. After stamping all three of the images for the hat the big "3" was cut from hat. Then four Perfect Plum "3"s were cut out too. They're layered under the stamped "3". That "3" was first covered in Dazzling Diamonds Embossing Powder to make it nice and sparkly. I remembered I had some mini pom-pom trim somewhere and I managed to dig it out to add around the bottom of the hat. That's how the Tangerine Tango actually got into this color trio! The hat was added to a Rose Red card stock base that had been embossed with the new Scattered Sequins 3D Embossing Folder. They really look like sequins, don't they?

Inside the card I used a row of party hats from Party Hat Birthday stamped along the bottom and the sentiment came from Sweet Cupcake stamp set.

This year I decided I was going to make all nine of our grandchildren book pillows for their birthdays. Since Lucy's birthday is the first one of the year her pillow has been the one on which I'm learning to make them. They're really cute and about 24" square with a pocket for books on the front. I'll show you Lucy's next week. I'm making them from fabric of something that each child likes and Lucy's is ballerinas in tutus. She loves princesses, much to her mother's chagrin, but I couldn't find any princess material that I thought was suitable for her. Of course, the pillow will include a book in the pocket! So you can guess what I'll be finishing today? Tomorrow a friend is coming to stamp with me. I'm really looking forward to that! Monday I'll be hopping along with The Stamp Review Crew so be sure to come back and see what we'll be sharing. Have a wonderful weekend! - Dawn

Hearts on a String

This little card I'm sharing today is one for our three year old grandson. I had a lot of fun making this one and loved how it turned out. I did use some retired Valentine Designer Series Paper from last year called Sending Love. I just fit with the card. You see what you think...

The bear from We Must Celebrate was colored with my Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends and fussy cut from the Whisper White card stock. Next I figured out which square framelits from the Stitched Shapes and Layering Squares framelits would work to make a frame in which to place him. Two plain square framelits were placed on the inside and outside of the stitched square framelit and held together with a piece of tape and run through the Big Shot like this...

This set up cut a perfect frame for that cute bear. He went onto the Whisper White panel with some Fast Fuse and some Adhesive Strips were used to pop that frame right over him. Next the little Real Red hearts were die cut with the row of heart dies from Everyday Jars Framelits. Five of them were added between his waiting hands with a tiny dab of Tombow Multi-Purpose Glue behind each of them. All that was left to do was add tiny pieces of string in each of his hand with a Basic Black Marker. The sentiment was then added underneath the frame with my well-used Labeler Alphabet stamp set. I always leave an extra clear block on the craft table when I'm using this set. If I'm going to use a letter multiple times I put it on that extra block so I know where it is. That helps me keep up with the letters.

Inside the heart I added another colored bear who holds a bit bigger heart this time...and the sentiment fits!

I've got a few more Valentines card left to make but at least I've got a start! It's going to be another cold day around here so I'll continue to work on the projects we started over the weekend. That should keep me warm! Have a lovely day! - Dawn