Rubber Stamping & Card Making with Yapha

The Valentine’s Day mailboxes are back at Target’s Dollar Spot! I picked some up to make with the after-school kid’s class this week. Because really, what is more fun than decorating a mailbox? I love these! Here’s the sample that I made up. I used Emily Giovanni’s tutorial. I am brought the girls a variety of DSP and heart punches, so they could customize their mailbox to suit their personalities.

Stamps: I {Heart} Hearts
Ink: Calypso Coral, Pretty in Pink
Paper: Whisper White, Sweet Shop Specialty Designer Series Paper
Other: 1/2″ Circle Punch, Full Heart Punch, Small Heart Punch, Calypso Coral Ruffled Ribbon

I wouldn’t normally use Pretty in Pink with Calypso Coral, but the flag was light pink, and I really wanted to use that paper! That don’t look bad together, actually.

When I saw this super cute box of note cards on Lyssa’s blog, I knew that was exactly what I wanted to make for Eve’s teacher for Christmas this year! Since she loves monkeys, I decided to go with monkey themed note cards. This is the outside of the box:

Here is a look at all of the components. I included 18 note cards and 10 envelopes. Each of the note cards was a tiny bit different.

Stamps: Fox & Friends, Baroque Motifs, Lovely Letters
Ink: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip
Paper: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Other: Old Olive Dotted Scallop Ribbon, Chocolate Chip Dotted Scallop Ribbon, Basics Glimmer Brads, Simply Scored, Sticky Tape, Medium Whisper White Envelopes

I apologize for the pictures being blurry. I didn’t notice until after I had given her the present!

Cindy had these absolutely adorable boxes of tea light candles posted on her blog, and she was kind enough to include the directions to make them! I decided to make a box for my fabulous library assistant as part of her Christmas gift.

Since both her first and last name start with A, I put that on the candles themselves in matching colors.

Stamps: Lovely Letters
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive
Other: Holiday Windows Mover & Shapers Dies, Old Olive Satin Ribbon, Simply Scored, 1 3/8″ Circle Punch, tissue paper (for the candles)

I’m really pleasd with how easy this was to put together, and how fabulously they came out!

When I showed Eve the Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamps, she was super excited about making cookies for her teachers. So we came home from school on Tuesday and got to work! The Cookie Stamps come with two recipes, but we used the Trader Joe’s Sugar Cookie Mix that we happened to have on hand. After mixing the dough, we rolled them into 1 1/2 inch balls, placed them on the cookie sheet, and then pressed down with the stamp.

Eve loved doing this, and rolled them all and then stamped them all herself. (She’s not actually that tall, she’s standing on a step stool…)

Here are the finished cookies. They came out not only yummy but cute!

Next on the list was packaging. I put a half dozen cookies into one of our large cello bags, and tied the top with Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding. I’m really pleased though, with how the tags turned out!

Stamps: Perfect Punches
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive
Paper: Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Silver Glimmer Paper
Other: 1 1/4″ Circle Punch, 1 3/4″ Scallop Circle Punch, Snowflake #2 Die, Big Shot, Large Cello Bag, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamp

In addition to the snowflake, this pack of the cookie stamps has a heart and a Jack-o-lantern face. Good news, there will be another set in the Occasions Mini catalog with a bunny, a flower, and a shamrock.

Thank you all for your good wishes!  It is slow going, but I am beginning to recover from the pneumonia. I haven’t had the energy to stamp anything in awhile, but I do have some projects that I haven’t posted yet.

Did you know that the new Hanukkah Stamp fits perfectly on the top of the Matchbox? Oh yes! And how fabulous is this Tempting Turquoise Embossing Powder?

And here’s a picture of the side (sorry it is blurry) so that you can see that cute little Glimmer Brad knob.

Stamps: Hanukkah
Ink: VersaMark
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Brights Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack
Other: Tempting Turquoise Embossing Powder, Brights Glimmer Brads, Matchbox Bigz XL Die, Big Shot

Occasions Mini Catalogs and Sale-a-Bration Catalogs should be arriving mid-December in your mailbox! If you have purchased from me in the last year, then one is on the way to you! Keep an eye out for them, since there are so many catalogs around this time of year. The Occasions Mini Catalog is regular size, but the SAB catalog is long and skinny. Both are full of fabulous items, as always!

I saw these super cute fabric pumpkins over on Heidi’s blog the other day, and I totally wanted to make my own! Luckily, she linked to the directions on the Martha Stewart website. One of the art teachers at school has been sewing lately, so I asked her if she wouldn’t mind helping me out with the part that needed to be machine stitched. Not only did she help with the sewing, Edy also taught me what it means to cut fabric on the bias, and why it is important! These are made with Stampin’ Up’s super yummy Spice Cake fabric.

Supplies: Spice Cake Designer Fabric, Hemp Twine, More Mustard Dotted Scallop Ribbon, Early Espresso 1/4″ Grosgrain, Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon, sewing machine, thread, batting

The pieces of fabric I used were 4″ x 8″, 6″ x 12″, and 8″ x 16″. You could go bigger or smaller, depending on the size of the pumpkins that you want.

Thanks again to Heidi & Edy. If you have a sec, go check out some of Edy’s amazing artwork!

As I mentioned yesterday, I followed Cindy’s fabulous tutorial to make the Jewish Star Card that I showed you yesterday. I learned some things along the way, so I wanted to put together a tutorial for others to enjoy as well. You can use either thin card stock or patterned paper. (I recommend Stampin’ Up Designer Series Paper.) For this tutorial, I will be using card stock. Here is my finished card:

Supplies needed:

• Card Stock or Designer Series Paper
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Paper Cutter
• Scoring Tool (such as Stampin’ Up’s Simply Scored)

Start with a piece of card stock or Designer Series Paper that is 10” x 8 3/4”.  Mark the top of the paper at the halfway point of 5”.

Using your ruler, draw a 10”  line from each of the bottom corners to the midpoint that you marked.

Cut along those lines, and you should now have an equilateral triangle that is 10” on every side.

Place one of the sides flat against the left edge of your Simply Scored (or other scoring tool). Score each point at 4 3/8” and 5 7/8”. Rotate the card stock to score all three sides.

Fold the corner in towards the center on the score line closest to the middle, then back out on the score line closest to the tip.

Repeat on all three sides.

Cross fold the outsides, over and under, tucking them in and alternating, all of the way around. Now you have your finished star!

For a more finished look to your Jewish Star Card, you may wish to line the inside.

• For one layer, create a 5” Equilateral Triangle. Start with a 5” x 4 3/8” piece of cardstock, mark the midpoint at 2 1/2” and follow the same steps above.
• For a second layer, create a 4 1/2” Equilateral Triangle. Start with a 4 1/2” x 4” piece of cardstock, mark the midpoint at 2 1/4” and follow the same steps above.

After creating these once, I made templates of all of the triangles that I used, to make the creation of multiple cards easier.

Again, here is the outside of the card:

And here it is opened up:

Stamps: Shalom
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze
Paper: Baja Breeze Textured Cardstock, Not Quite Navy Card Stock, Very Vanilla Card Stock
Other: Simply Scored, 2 3/8” Scallop Circle Punch, 2 1/2” Circle Punch

Would you like a PDF version of this tutorial? You can download it for free here. I also make my tutorials available for Kindle or Nook.

Did you see the amazing Jewish Star cards over on Cindy’s blog last week? They were so incredible, that I had to make some myself! This is the outside of the first one that I made.

And here is the inside. As you can see, it really is a card that you can write inside and everything!

Stamps: Shalom Sayings
Ink: VersaMark
Paper: Whisper White card stock, Regals Patterns Designer Series Paper (Night of Navy), Silver Glimmer Paper
Other: Simply Scored, 2 3/8” Scallop Circle Punch, 2 1/2” Circle Punch, Silver Embossing Powder

I followed Cindy’s fabulous tutorial, and along the way I figured out a few things that worked better for me. I’ll be posting my tutorial here tomorrow. I hope you’ll come back and see!

As I continued on my quest to use the Tootsie Rolls (see yesterday’s blog post), I found that they fit very nicely into the 1″ x 8″ cello bags. I used the super cute Gift Givers stamp set to create the toppers again. There are so many holidays represented in this set, that I’m just going to keep filling bags! The Curly Label that comes with the Movers & Shapers die is just a hair bigger than the actual punch so I used that to mat the punched out piece.

Stamps: Gift Givers
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Early Espresso, Poppy Parade, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie
Paper: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso
Other: Curly Label Punch, Movers & Shapers Curly Label Bigz XL Die, 1″ x 8″ Cello Bags

So, what are you doing with your leftover Halloween candy?

We gave out Tootsie Rolls for Halloween. Or tried to, at least. Not a lot of trick-or-treaters came by, leaving us with a lot of Tootsie Rolls. We donated some to Operation Gratitude at school, and I figured the rest could be used for crafts. As I was thinking about how to use them, I remembered these super cute Top Note Owl Bag Toppers that were all the rage about three years ago. I decided it was time to bring them back!

Paper: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Basic Black
Other: Top Note Bigz Die, 1 3/8″ Circle Punch, 1″ Circle Punch, 1/2″ Circle Punch, 5 Petal Flower Punch, Small Cello Bags

This little owl is so cute, I almost feel bad eating the Tootsie Rolls. Almost.