What 2 Stamp

May your frosting be thick

I love the sentiment on this card, from the Birthday Bliss stamp set. It says, "May your layers be many, and your frosting be thick." This set includes 4 stamps you can use for tons of birthday cards and guess what? You can get it for FREE--but only for 3 more days!

This set is one of many you can choose during Sale-a-Bration, which ends Wednesday. During SAB, for every $50 you spend, you can receive a FREE SAB item from the SAB catty, or from a special list of sets.

We made this card during my March Card Cafe. Do you like the felt heart? I do! I didn't have a heart-shaped die, so we punched a heart from cardstock and then used that as a template to trace on the felt. I'm really enjoying using fabric and felt on my cards these days--it just seems warm and fuzzy! We gave the birthday cake a little pizazz by adding Crystal Effects for some shine.

 
To get the Birthday Bliss set--or many others--for free, place your online order by clicking the red button at the top of this page. Remember, you have to order by March 31 to get the SAB freebies. Please email me if you have any questions.
 

In the Happy Place

Where is your happy place? For me, it's a place where inspiration never runs dry. Because, being someone who teaches creativity for a living, once in a while, I find that the well has run dry. Thankfully, I am nowhere near that right now, and instead, am in the happy place!

How did I find the happy place? Well, whenever I find difficulty coming up with new ideas for my primary art form of papercrafting, I go back to some of the other arts that have intrigued me over the years--stitching, crocheting, quilting, sewing. When I made my first rag bag a couple of weeks ago, I decided I liked it so much, that I need to make a bunch more. This, of course, required fabric shopping--in one of the largest quilting stores in Florida, which I'm lucky to have just up the road! Nothing like a little shopping to get the blood flowing.

And then, I decided to look on the Internet for more purse ideas, and that's when I found a blog I have come to cherish. It's called Laughing Purple Goldfish and it's written by a wonderful lady in Australia who crochets and knits only with recycled and reclaimed materials--she actually buys old sweaters, unravels the yarn and cleans it, then uses it again in a new project. Now, I will probably never be quite so ambitious, but reading her blog has inspired me to look at all sorts of materials in new ways. I'm using fabric and felt on cards, finding new uses for those extra buttons that come on new garments and just having a blast in general.

So, when the happy place has left you--or you have left it--start looking at art forms that may not be your usual cup of tea. You'll probably find that inspiration is only a few clicks away.

Losing It

Yes, folks, tonight is the night we lose an hour of our lives (I choose to ignore the fact that we gained an hour in the fall!). It's another hour I can't stamp, or stitch, or sew, so I suppose I will have to turn in soon (it's the grownup thing to do, ugh) and dream of those activities instead. Hope you all wake up rested!

Re-Work Wednesday: The Cover

First of all, yes, I do know how to read a calendar and I do know that today is Thursday, not Wednesday. But, I had this project all ready to post and then got REALLY busy yesterday and never got to it. So, here it is!

While perusing through the catalog in search of the next Re-Work Wednesday project, I had a thought: I always LOVE the projects on the catalog's cover, but I had never reworked any of those before. So, I chose what is actually part of a folding scrapbook, pictured at the top of the catalog, and used that as the basis for my card. The original is shown here:

I wanted to interpret the design by using the Abundant Hope set, in the Occasions Mini Catalog. I made mine into an Easter card, but it could be used for any occasion.

This is one of the cards you can choose from at my Card Cafe this Saturday, March 13, 9 a.m.-Noon. If you would like to attend the Cafe, email me right away!
 

Egg-cellent!

It's time to start decorating for Easter (yes, yes, I'm still taking down Valentine's Day, but I digress), and I'm loving the new Eggcellent Eggs Kit in the Occasions Mini Catalog. This value-packed kit (only $9.95!) is loaded with possibilities. It has 24 egg stands, 2 sheets of rub-ons, a entire sheet of rhinestone bling, and 5 sheets of punch-out flowers and leaves.

I decorated these faux eggs (purchased at a craft store) with egg stands, rub-ons and bling, and I barely made a dent in the kit. In fact, if you are like me and probably not inclined to decorate two dozen eggs, you can break up the parts and use them on cards and scrapbook pages galore. Again, this kit is a great value, so get it in time for Easter and then use the leftovers to your heart's content!
 

Card Cafe is March 13

This adorable offering is one of the new projects at my March Card Cafe, on March 13, 9 a.m.-Noon, at my house. It features the Vintage Vogue stamp set and the Sweet Pea stitched felt flowers. You're going to love these flowers--all the cutting and stitching is already done--you just glue them on and look like an artist!

At Card Cafe, you will have a buffet of cards to choose from, including some new ones and some repeat projects from the previous month. Each card is $3 and you can make as many as you like during the class; additional kits also are available to purchase and assemble at home. Please RSVP by March 11 if you would like to join the fun!
 

Re-Work Wednesday: Page 112

In case you haven't noticed, I've been really into using my Big Shot lately--it just makes life so easy! So, this week's Re-Work Wednesday project also uses that great cutting tool.

The original project comes from page 112 of the Idea Book & Catalog:

Rather than stamp the flower from the Good Friend set, I used the phrase only and instead cut my flower using the Flower Layers w/Leaf die.

For the bottom paper, I used a piece from the Welcome Neighbor DSP pack in the Sale-a-Bration catalog, which is in effect only until March 31, so email me for more details on how to take advantage of SAB!

Rag Purse

When Stampin' Up! first introduced the Big Shot in 2008, there was much talk about how the machine could cut through layers of fabric. I watched the initial presentation and thought, that would be great for quilters! Well, some other people have thought the same thing and recently, SU has introduced several ideas for quilting with the Big Shot.

One popular idea is to use the Scallop Square Die to make a rag purse, like the one here. To make this size, you cut 38 squares, which is easy because you can cut 8 at one time with the Big Shot. Then, sandwich a piece of quilt batting between 2 squares and sew an X from corner to corner. You end up with 19 total sandwiched squares, and then you sew those together, add some handles and a closure. Because this is a rag purse (meant to be a little rough on the edges), you clip the seams after they are sewn and then throw the purse in the washer and dryer to fluff up the seams, like this:

Clipping the edges is more work, so you can skip that step if you like.

You can vary the size of the bag, by adding or subtracting the number of squares used. Whatever size you make, I suggest sketching a layout plan before you begin, just to decide where the colors are going to go. To make fabric selection easy, many fabric stores sell sets of "fat quarters" that coordinate, so you can't go wrong. In my case, my hubby gave me this coordinating set of fabric for Christmas and said, "I know you'll do something with it." And when I saw that fabric, I just knew it had to be a purse!

A demonstrator more patient than me has produced a set of videos on how to make these purses. To view them, click here. You will need basic sewing knowledge, but not much more than the ability to sew a straight line. The whole project took only a little over 2 hours, which is my kind of project!