Rubber Stamping & Card Making with Yapha

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!

One of the Sale-a-Bration freebies I was looking forward to getting was the Decor Elements “Notes” chalkboard. I really wanted to put it on the back of our front door, to jot down things I needed to remember in the morning. But the door has panels, and they weren’t quite wide enough. There was however, a hook on the back of the door from the previous owners, so I thought, “Hey! I could hang it on the back of the door!”  So I searched all over the house for a piece of cardboard that I could mount it on. After about 20 minutes, I realized that the Notes chalkboard came packaged with a piece of cardboard!! Here is what comes in the package. The chalkboard piece and the white parts are separate:

So I applied the chalkboard piece to the cardboard and trimmed around it. Then I applied the white layer. I used my crop-a-dile to make two holes, and set in two of the pewter jumbo eyelets. Then I ran a piece of Poppy Parade ribbon through the holes to hang it up.

And here it is in use!

I’m really pleased with how it turned out, and I like the fact that it is removable.

A huge thank you to Tanya for posting this adorable snowflake tea light candle set on her blog! After seeing her post so many different versions of the tea lights, I just had to try it. It was so much easier than I thought it was going to be! In fact, we are going to be making these as our final project in the after-school kids’ class. As like a grand finale. With a lot of supervision, of course. The snowflake is cut out of metal flashing with the Big Shot.I took Tanya’s advice and ran it back and forth several times before taking it out of the Big Shot.

(Note: Don’t buy the flashing shingles. They don’t work. Get the flashing on a roll. I found I could cut it with my Craft & Rubber scissors — on sale until Tuesday!)

Stamps: Northern Hearts
Ink: Marina Mist
Other: Tissue Paper, 1 1/4″ Circle Punch, 1/16″ Handheld Circle Punch, Heat Tool, Snowflake #2 Originals Die, Big Shot

For a complete tutorial on making the tea lights, see Tanya’s Blog.

Have you seen these new houses in the Holiday Mini Catalog? Are they cute or what?

These chipboard houses can be decorated to suit any season or style. The included template will help you embellish as much or as little as you like with Designer Series Paper, ribbon, and more! The size of a finished house is approximately 6-1/4″ x 6″ x 5″. I haven’t had time to make one myself yet — what with the start of the school year and Rosh Hashanah and all — so I thought that I would show you the three examples that Stampin’ Up put together. Which one is your favorite?

Haunted House

Stamps: Dark & Dreary
Paper: Basic Black Card Stock, Cajun Craze Card Stock, Old Olive Card Stock, Rich Razzleberry Textured Card Stock, Wicked Fun Specialty Designer Series Paper, White Vellum Paper, Waffle Paper Assortment 2
Ink: Basic Black Classic Stampin’ Pad, Distressing Essentials, Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker, VersaMarker, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz
Accessories: Fine Galaxy Stampin’ Glitter: Black Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Circle Scissor Plus, Color Spritzer Tool, Bitty Bat Punch

Gingerbread House

Stamps: Bells & Boughs Stamp Set, Welcome Christmas Stamp Set
Paper: Confetti White Card Stock, Always Artichoke Textured Card Stock, Cherry Cobbler Textured Card Stock, Early Espresso Textured Card Stock, Deck the Halls Designer Series Paper, Newsprint Designer Series Paper
Ink: Early Espresso Classic Stampin’ Pad, Distressing Essentials, Frost White Shimmer Paint
Accessories: Champagne Glass Glitter, Victoria 5/8″ Crochet Trim, Always Artichoke 1/2″ Seam Binding, Antique Brads, Neutrals Designer Buttons, Deck the Halls Big Designer Buttons, Décor Accents Design-a-House, Deck the Halls Designer Fabric, Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, Pearls Basic Jewels, Mini Vintage Tags, Vintage Trinkets, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Curly Label Punch, Decorative Label Punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, Big Shot, Merry Details Sizzlits Die, Cream crochet thread

Season’s Greetings House

Fabric? Yes, Fabric! Stampin’ Up has come out with a line of designer fabric! This new product line combines their exclusive designs and colors with high-quality fabric–making coordination with our other products a cinch!

Designer Fabric details:

• 100% cotton
• Patterns coordinate with select Designer Series Paper designs
• Each assortment includes three coordinated designs in an extra-wide fat quarter size (28″ x 18″)
• Each assortment includes an instruction booklet highlighting five projects you can create using the fabric

You don’t have to be a seamstress–or even like to sew–to enjoy using Designer Fabric! The colors and patterns in the Designer Fabrics are designed to coordinate perfectly with Stampin’ Up! inks, card stock, Designer Series Paper, and other accessories, and are perfect for adding a stylish touch to traditional paper projects. If you do enjoy sewing, however, the beauty and high quality of Designer Fabric, available in an extra-wide fat quarter (18″ x 26″), makes it perfect for use in quilting, clothing, home décor, or any other project you can think of.

Along with Designer Fabrics, they also offer coordinating products that provide you and your customers with everything you need to start crafting with Designer Fabric.

• Big Designer Buttons – These buttons coordinate perfectly with the Designer Fabric in the 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog.
• Big Shot Fabric Adhesive Roll and Big Shot Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets – Use them to make adhering your fabric die-cuts simple!
• Big Shot dies – Stampin’ Up! offers a multitude of Big Shot dies, including the new Tasteful Trim and Scallop Squares Duo in the 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog.

Want to see more? Check out this great video from Stampin’ Up:

My brother and his wife are expecting their first child in about a month. I am super excited about the imminent arrival of my new nephew, and almost as excited that they picked some super fun Decor Elements with which to decorate the baby’s room! One of the great things about using these here in Southern California, is that you can decorate above the crib and the changing table without the fear of anything falling down in an earthquake. I showed you the super cute robot they put up a few weeks ago. Well, they had time to put up the rest, so I went over to take some pictures.

You can see the robot over the changing table. They also added some monkeys swinging on a vine. (Don’t forget, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them.)

Here’s a close up of the monkeys. I just love how they are going around the corner!

Moving on around the room, they added four animals from the now retired stamp set, Wild About You. These are done in multiple steps, since each of the colors are applied to the wall separately.  My brother said it was not as difficult as he thought it would be. He actually had a lot fun putting them up!

Here are all four of the animals. (The bird is not up yet.)

Isn’t the room adorable? I have to tell you, though, these adorable creatures are all on the Decor Elements Last Chance List, and will not be available after June 30th. The good news is that right now they are all 25% off! If you want to see a visual list, go to my website, then click on Last Chance, and then Home Decor.

When we moved into our new apartment last summer, I told Eve that she could pick whichever Decor Elements she wanted for her new room. (You might remember that she used to have butterflies on her wall.) She picked the princess, carriage, and castle — all in pink. No real shock there. But when we went to put them up, they just looked strange, floating on her wall with nothing grounding them. So I while I was looking around for some better way to put them up — maybe frames, maybe canvas — Stampin’ Up announced that they would be selling some of the raw vinyl. People could use their Big Shots to make their own Decor Elements! I bought some of the raw vinyl in Certainly Celery, but instead of die cutting it, I used it to create more of a scene with the Decor Elements that Eve had chosen.

It took us less than hour to put all of it up. Steve helped with the castle, since even standing on the bed I can’t reach that high. Most important of all, Eve loves it!

Each package of the raw Decor Elements vinyl comes with two sheets of vinyl (approximately 14-1/4″ x 24″ ), along with two sheets of transfer tape, for $12.95. It is available in the following colors:

118801 Bashful Blue
118814 Basic Gray
118804 Black
118806 Certainly Celery
114337 Chocolate
118808 Clear
114334 Dark Gray
118813 Gable Green
114336 Kraft
118805 Night of Navy
118803 Old Olive
118810 Pixie Pink
118800 Pretty in Pink
118809 Pumpkin Pie
118802 Real Red
118798 Rose Red
118812 Sahara Sand
118797 So Saffron
118799 Taken with Teal
118807 Tempting Turquoise
114335 White

Chalkboard Decor Elements Vinyl Sheets (118815) are also available for $14.95.
You can purchase any of these through my website. Just click on Shop Now.

For those of you that do not know, I am an elementary school librarian. When I saw the new Decor Element that said “Do Good. Be Kind” it really resonated with me. Of all of things we teach children, this is the most important. If they can learn these two items, then our job is well done. It is a theme that runs through most of the stories I read to them, and also what I hope they see in my daily interactions as well.

Directly opposite the door to my office is a wall that is a lovely shade of blue. It was calling out for something, and I think I found it!

Do Good. Be Kind. If only we could all follow this simple advice every day.

I love the Thoughts & Prayers Tree. I love it as a stamp and I love it even more as a Decor Element vinyl design! I have put up three of these trees so far — one at Applewild School Library, one at Paula’s house, and one at my parents’ house. But I’ve never had one of my very own. And now I do! We put up one in our living room, and I have to tell you, it looks fantastic! And it’s great for California, because you don’t have to worry about a huge piece of art falling down in an earthquake.

Remember, this comes in 6 pieces, so we started out slowly. Here’s a look at it partially up:

Here is the finished tree, right behind our couch:

My husband really liked the quote that was with it in the catalog, so added that too. We separated the birds from the quote for a more balanced look. Here’s a close-up of our end result:

I love seeing this in the living room! Here’s what it looks like:

Now Available! Stampin’ Up and Country Living have joined together to bring you the cutest BBQ kit ever!

For just $24.95, you’ll have what you need to throw a fabulous summer barbecue, including

• Dig In stamp set
• Die-cut table tents (two each of four colors)
• Die-cut components, bamboo skewers, and envelopes to create eight shish kabob invitations
• Die-cut coasters (three each of four colors)
• Die-cut tags (four each of four colors)
• 12″ x 12″ printed food wrapper sheets (12 each of two colors)
• Printed recipe cards (four)
• Linen thread (five yards)
• Ruby Red Classic Stampin’ Spot
• Night of Navy Classic Stampin’ Spot

(Tofu Dogs and Veggie Burgers not included…)

Here’s another look at the compononants:

You can see some other great ideas with this kit on Shelli Gardner’s blog. Contact me to order yours today!