Stamp Act

Halloween Candy Bar Holder & A Vistor....

Hi again!
I have made these before but wanted to make a few to have to give away and thought I would share the instructions with you in case you are interested!  They are really easy to make and you of course you can make them for any occasion. 

The candy bar inside is just your standard sized Hershey.  I am sure you can tweak the measurements and size it to fit a larger candy bar.  The measurements are as follows:

Cardstock wrapper (I used Going Grey) ~ Cut a 6" X 7" piece.  Score lengthwise at 1 1/2" and 4 1/4".
Wrap (I used Only Orange) ~ Cut a 2" X 7" piece of cardstock.  Score in the center at 3 1/2".

What I did was used the Spooky Skyline wheel in Basic Black ink across the bottom.  I then stamped the moon from Home is Where the Haunt is with White Craft ink.  The way I made it look less full is to roll the stamp on your ink pad just to ink up the sides and when you stamp it gives a neat look.  The witch is from the same set and was stamped in Basic Black.  I used sticky strip to hold the holder together.  I used it up the back seam and along the bottom so the candy doesn't fall out.  Before you tape the holder together, use your 1 1/4" circle punch, center it at the top, move it halfway down the edge and punch.  This will give you the half circle.

The haunted house (from same set) was stamped on Whisper White using Basic Black ink and then mounted on Basic Black cardstock.  The Happy Halloween is from one of the All Year Cheer sets and was stamped with Basic Black ink on Going Grey cardstock.  The end of the sleeve is held together with 3 black eyelets.  What it does is makes the sleeve tighter on the holder.

See how easy?!?!?

Last night my daughter went to a slumber party so my son was an only child.  He does NOT do well as an only child!  It is really funny, well sortof......  I must add a note in here to Heather ~ I should have taken you up on your offer and brought Joey to your house!!!!  LOL!!!  Last night when we got home, he just didn't know what to do with himself.  He followed Chris and I around everywhere.   He played with the dog while Chris and I were outside and then when we came in he says "what are we going to do now"?  I really wanted to work on my Snoopy library folder so I said, why don't you come sit in the crap room with me and you can watch TV there.  He came and talked and talked and talked.....  It was hilarious.  If there is anything you want to know about Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon, just ask me!!!  I had to come out to the kitchen to check to see if I was doing my folder right and there he was, right on my tail, standing by the computer and looking at me while I checked out the samples.  I know it sounds as if I am complaining but I DEFINITELY am not!  It makes me feel so good that my 10 year old son wants to be with his Mommy and it won't be long until he won't want to be with me!!! 

I had promised Joey that I would play tennis with him today before we went to get Mary so while we were playing, he looked up and drew my attention to George!

We were so excited!  This is a Bald Eagle (I wanted to tell you that in case the picture wasn't clear enough).  He was out looking for food.  Joey was yelling at me to get the camera (I am thinking the young, in shape child would be able to get to the camera quicker than the old, out of shape lady) and by then George was gone.  Then he re-appeared from the opposite direction he left from so Joey ran in and got my camera.  I am not good under pressure so Chris took this picture when he came by for another peek for food.   The chickens and guineas were hiding in the barn.  They know the difference between a vulture and a predator (eagle, hawk, owl).   We didn't get to finish our tennis game but it was worth it! 

Have a great night!

~Lynda

Beate's File Folder Weekend Challenge....

I made this card for Beate's Weekend Challenge.   The challenge was to make a file folder card.  She includes the instructions on her blog so check it out if you are interested in making one of these!  Mine is a little different because my Snoopy needed to be on the right so I put the tab's on the left.  I didn't like how my folder tab looked so I went ahead and punched one out from my SU! round tab punch used that.  See, I have a problem following instructions so I always screw up!  I am more visual so I followed the picture and well......  here it is!

The white looking paper is Shimmery White.  The decorative papers are Basic Grey Dasher paper.  The folder itself is Shimmery White as is Snoopy's "snow hill".  To make the slope I used my Creative Memories wavy cutter.  This was the first time and I really like how it looks!  Anyway, I stamped Snoopy on a separate sheet of white cardstock and cut him out.  I used a black marker and colored on the lines on the stamp and then stamped them on my card.  I added a few in free hand.  I colored Snoopy and Woodstock using markers, Blue Bayou and Soft Sky ink pads and a blender pen.  I also highlighted the hats with Silver Stickles.  I mounted them on the slope using dimensionals. 

I used my corner rounder to round all of the corners.  I put a strip of the Snowflake Dasher paper on the bottom and then layered some white lace ribbon (Joann's) and Blue Bayou double stitched grosgrain.  The top tab on the folder is the decorative snowflake paper punched using my round tab punch.  I layered a couple of snowflakes punched from Shimmery White cardstock and held them in place with a glittery white brad I got from KI Memories.

The inside card is not really exciting but I want to put a picture of my kids on it and send it to my SIL in London for Christmas.  She LOVES Snoopy!  For the base I used the snowflake Dasher paper and then a layer of Shimmery White.  The tab is just the dotted Dasher paper and the same snowflake layers and brad. 

Thanks for looking and I will be posting a Halloween candy bar holder in a few!

~Lynda

Bella Birthday Card....

My daughter has a slumber party to go to tomorrow night so I thought Jammybella would make a perfect card for the occasion! 

The base of this card is Regal Rose then a layer of Whisper White and then Green Galore.  The Green Galore piece of cardstock was embossed with my Happy Birthday folder and Cuttlebug.  The corners of this piece was punched with my ticket corner punch and pink flower brads were put on.  I got the brads from Oriental Trading.  Jammybella was stamped on Whisper White using Basic Black ink and then matted on Regal Rose cardstock.  I colored her with my watercolor crayons and a blender pen.  I used pink Stickles on her slippers as well as the centers of all of the flowers.  The striped decorative paper is Basic Grey and is from their Oh, Baby! Girl line.  I matted this on Whisper White cardstock.  The pink and green polka dot ribbon is from Michael's.  I used dimensionals to adhere Jammybella to front of the card. 

Pretty simple huh???  Thanks for looking and I hope you all have a great night!

~Lynda

Quick and Easy Christmas Card....

Sorry I didn't post yesterday!  I still am not feeling all that great.  Yesterday I didn't feel like doing anything!  I got a few things stamped today but didn't get much cleaning done.  Well, I guess you HAVE to prioritize so stamping I did!!!  I had this card in mind for a while and today decided to do it!  It was really quick and easy.  I hope you like it!  The card base is Kraft cardstock.

I distressed the edges of all cardstock.  I stamped on the base of the card using the swirl from Season of Joy and Versamark ink.  I pierced the dotted part of the swirl.  You can click on the picture to get a closer look.  The focal piece is matted on Bashful Blue cardstock.  The top Kraft mat was stamped with the word stamp using Versamark ink.  The tree was stamped next to the words using White Craft Ink.  You can see that the majority of the detail on this card is the paper piercing.   I added a pewter snowflake brad that I had purchased from Oriental Trading and 3 Making Memories pewter circle brads.  I used dimensionals to mount this on the front of the card. 

Thanks for looking!

~Lynda

SCS ~ Sketch Challenge 143

This card is for today's sketch challenge at SCS.  I made this card with a little girl in mind who is sick in the hospital and her Princess birthday party is this weekend.  Her name is Alexa and she is going to be 8.  If you have followed Lauren Meader ~ My Time's blog, you would know that her daughter has cancer.  She is in the hospital due to "a cold".  Because Alexa's immune system is so weak, just a little cold can turn in to so much more.  I wish there was more I could do but hopefully a card and a little gift for Alexa will help......  Alexa's birthday party is princess themed and she got a princess dress just for her party!  Of course, because my little girl is not much of a princess kind of girl, I had no princess stamps or stickers.  I did have Tinkerbell though and aren't some of her friends princesses????  This is the card I am sending:

The base of my card is Whisper White with a layer a green Bazzill cardstock.  The blue and green decorative paper is Disney Tinkerbell paper.   It is old so I don't know if it is still available.  The next layer is Whisper White with Lasting Impressions blue polka dot paper.  I then put the Tinkerbell sticker on Whisper White.  I stamped the flower and swirl from Priceless and the Wish Big from Short & Sweet in Bashful Blue ink.   I used LOTS of Stardust Stickles to brighten up Tink.  I mounted this piece on the same green Bazzill.  The ribbon is blue & green and I had bought it at Micheal's some time ago.  The 3 brads are SU! two are light green and 1 is light blue. 

I hope you all have a great night!  Please keep Lauren and her family in your prayers.....

Thanks for looking!

~Lynda

My FIRST Bloggers RAK!!!

I am so excited!  I received my first Blogger's RAK (Random Acts of Kindness).  It is a BEAUTIFUL card and is from Beate Johns.   She is an amazing stamper so if you get a chance, visit her blog ~ you will be glad you did!

Thank you so much Beate!  I really appreciate it!

I have been so lucky with the mailman this week (get your minds out of the gutter!).  I ALSO received a BEAUTIFUL thank you from Ilene Byrne who was one of my past blog winners!  Thank you SO much Ilene, your card is just AWESOME!

I did do some stamping today and will upload that card next!  Thanks for looking and thanks to Ilene and Beate!

~Lynda

Halloween Spider Treat Holder ~ Tutorial

I'm all set to give you my Spider treat holder tutorial ~ I hope you are!  These are really easy and SOOOOO cute!  I hope you don't mind but there is no stamping involved.  Actually, you can stamp the bottom of the spider with a Handmade By.....  There, it IS stamping related!  I made at least 40 of them last Halloween for my kids' classmates and teachers.  This year I am just going to give them to some of their teachers and will make something else for the kids.   

I filled them with candy (you know the kids don't get much candy on Halloween so I wanted to make sure they had a little treat!).  Anyway, I had seen something like these in a magazine last year.  From what I can remember, they used smaller boxes than I did.  I wanted them bigger but you can do them smaller and you can use the oval paper mache' boxes too.  I did some of those last year too and they were cute.  I thought the oval ones would be so cute to make grasshoppers like in spring.......  OK, so I got my boxes at Micheal's.  They are paper mache' and cost $1.99 regularly.  The size is about a circle ~ 4 1/4" round.  This is what they look like before they are altered:

The next step was to paint the box black.  I used some flat black acrylic paint I have had.  I used a foam brush and had to do a couple coats to cover it completely.  I did not paint the inside which you will see in some later pictures but what I did was put some shred inside with the candy.  They didn't care!  All they wanted was the candy!  After I painted the black,  I then painted a layer of Mod Podge ~ Mat on the top (not the top sides ~ JUST the top) and sprinkled glitter on and let it dry.  I used purple but you can use any color you want.

I got the purple glitter at AC Moore and of course the other stuff you can get at any craft store.  After putting the glitter on the top, set it aside.  You are now going to do the legs.  To make the holes, I used a wooden handled corn on the cob holder but you can use about anything.  I found that the size of the corn cob holder was perfect.  I punched it through and then spun it to make a circle. 

Sorry for the blurry picture but you get the idea ~ right???  I used regular black pipe cleaners for the legs.  Bend 2 pipe cleaners in half  to make 4 legs ~ you will do this again for the other 4 legs.   Poke the folded legs through your hole.  Once you get them through, twist them together (inside the box) and fold and press them up close to the side.

The way I did the legs was to just keep bending them until I got the look I wanted.  The feet, I folded the bottom 1 time so it has some dimension.  When I was finished, I put a dot of Elmer's glue on the top of each foot and put some glitter on them.

The eyes are 10 mm and the pom pom's are 1".  I used Elmer's glue to glue them on the top of the lid and to glue the eyes on the pom pom's.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!  They really are cute in real life and are great decorations as well.  Thanks for looking and I'll get back to stamping tomorrow so be on the lookout!

~Lynda

 

Sharon's Stamp Simply Challenge

I want to go ahead and post this now since I will have to go get my kids from school soon and my goodness I MUST get my sons (I think he is my son) hair cut!  I dread this because he likes his hair cut a certain way (not too long and not too short ~ what is up with that?) and just complains the ENTIRE time we are on our way to the Barber.  What is so comical about the whole thing is that he #1 ~ doesn't even brush his hair and #2 ~ hasn't even discovered girls yet!  He is going to be worse once he discovers girls although maybe then he will brush his hair!!!  I do get quite a kick out of him because he does his own thing, isn't really concerned that others might brush their hair!!!  Joey will be 10 November 1st and has a HUGE list of wants.  Unfortunately, due to the drought we have had here in Virginia, our money tree shriveled up and died! hahahahaha!   Too bad that isn't the only thing that has shriveled up around here!!! LOL!  I got off track there for a minute ~ sorry...... 

Sharon ~  AKA ~ No Time To Stamp recently started her blog and will be doing weekly challenges which will consist of making cards that are simple!  This is great!  She is a fantastic inspiration as well because her stuff rocks!  Anyway, her challenge this week is to use 1 stamp ONLY and very few other things.  This is my card for this challenge:

The base of my card is Shimmery White cardstock.  The size is the normal 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" but what I did was cut about an inch off the bottom of the front flap.  After I cut it straight, I then used my scalloped scissors to make it scalloped.  The decorative paper is Basic Grey and is from their Dasher line.  I put Stardust Stickles in the center of each snowflake to highlight them a little.  The ribbon is Blue Bayou double stitched.  The scalloped circle was punched from Blue Bayou cardstock.  I then used my paper piercer and pierced around all scallops.  The snowman from Merry & Bright was stamped on Shimmery White cardstock using Basic Black.  I then punched him out using my 1 3/8" circle punch.  I colored his scarf and hat with Soft Sky ink and a blender pen.  I used Stardust Stickles for the top knot and hat band.  The sentiment is from Short & Sweet (Sharon said we could use a sentiment stamp so I am not cheating!) using Basic Black ink.  I also used the snowflake from Short & Sweet and stamped next to the Very Merry sentiment using Blue Bayou ink (this snowflake might be considered cheating).  I highlighted this snowflake with Stickles as well.   See how easy that was!?!?!? 

I must admit though that I did not come up with this layout.  I was totally inspired by a thank you note my daughter received from her friend Syd (thanks Lis)!!  It is so cute and I have never seen a card like this before so I must admit it was not my creativeness that came up with it.  Mary's card is here ~

Isn't this layout great?  If you make a card using this layout, leave me a comment with a link as I would love to see what you guys come up with! 

Tomorrow, I am going to do an awesome tutorial for you!  I made some spiders last year for my kids' classes and they were so darn cute.  I want to share the project with you so I will prepare the step by step instructions so be sure and check back tomorrow.  I probably won't be able to post until later in the afternoon as I have to run to Micheal's to pick up a few things I will need for it.

Thanks for looking!

~Lynda

Featured Stamper ~ Starofmay ~ Kristina

This week's featured stamper at SCS is Kristina Werner.   I chose her card here to CASE.  I really wanted to use the snowman just like she did but I had to change something so I went ahead and used hedgehogs.  Hedgehogs aren't quite as cute as snowmen but they still are cute!!!  She has another card in her gallery that has some little baby pictures in the squares.  Very cute!  Anyway, here is my card:

The base of my card is Wild Wasabi.  The "window" cardstock is of course Real Red with a small rectangle piece of decorative paper from the Dashing package.  I stamped the hedgehogs (Holiday Hedgehogs set) on Very Vanilla using Chocolate Chip ink.  The way I did the squares was to punch 3, 1 1/4" squares from some scrap paper.  I taped them down on the Real Red cardstock where I wanted them to be and then lined my punch over them and punched out the red squares.  The top red layer is mounted on dimensionals. 

To stamp the hedgehogs, I laid my red windows on top of my vanilla cardstock and used a pencil to trace where the squares will be and then stamped my "hedgies" inside those squares.  Then I erased the lines.

The hedgehogs were colored with a blender pen and Chocolcate Chip and Close to Cocoa ink pads.  The skates were done the same but with black ink.  Two "hedgies" scarves are Real Red and the middle one is Wild Wasabi.  I highlighted their scarves with Red Stickles.  I used Soft Sky ink and a blender pen to make it look like ice on the bottom and then highlighted the ice with Stardust Stickles.

The ribbon is some off white wide organdy I had picked up at Micheal's some time ago.  I stamped the Wild Wasabi card with the snowflakes from Merry & Bright using Wild Wasabi ink.  Of course I had to highlight them with the Stardust Stickles as well......

Hope you are all having a great day!  I have another card to show you shortly ~ stay tuned.......

Thanks for looking!

~Lynda

My First Criss Cross Card ~

Hi again!
I didn't get the lawn mowed in fact I really didn't get ANYTHING done!  I am still not feeling so great and have  no energy whats~so~ever!!!  I hate because I have so much to do and then start feeling behind.  Oh well, the grass will be there tomorrow and hopefully after a good nights rest, my lawnmower and I will be there too!

If you have not done one of these Criss Cross cards, I highly suggest you try one.  Here  is the tutorial Beate did on SCS for the card that Michelle Wooderson created.  It is really easy and is so different.  The ideas are endless with this card!!!  Anyway, here is mine!

The hardest part about the card is deciding what theme, paper and embellishments you want to use!  I do intend to CASE the one Beate used in her tutorial because I REALLY like that one and it would be perfect to send to family and friends that live far away and include a picture.  Be sure and check out all the other cool cards in the Criss Cross card gallery.   Lots of inspiration there!

Anyway, the outside of my card has a base of Close to Cocoa.  The decorative paper on the front is Webster's Pages ~ Coco Collection "Chocolate Souffle".  Let me tell you, this paper is BEAUTIFUL!  If you are interested in these papers, you can purchase them from Jacksonbelle Embellishments and Terri Conrad,  who designed these papers, has a blog with a lot of inspiration and is truly an artist.  Terri is also an AMAZING writer.   She writes from her heart.  I have enjoyed reading her blog entries and I am sure some of you will too!!! 

OK, I got off track a little.......  I did actually sew on this card ~ it is not faux!!!  My husband thought it was pretty entertaining that I would dust off my sewing machine for a card but I have a few clothes to fix and they have just sat for months!!!  Yes, they are still sitting......  The inside card is first a base of  Chocolate Chip then a piece of a light blue Bazzill and then Very Vanilla textured cardstock.   Here is a picture of the inside ~

I stamped the upper left and lower right with the swirl from Baroque Motifs in Vanilla Craft ink.  The butterfly was stamped directly on the card front first using Close to Cocoa and then I stamped it again on a scrap piece of vanilla and cut it out.  I colored it with Metallic pencils which worked OK but I had already cut it out so it was just going to have to stay!  I mounted the cut out butterfly on top of the stamped one and just put adhesive in the center of the butterfly so the wings would come up a bit (I kindof bent them up too).  I used the large oval pewter Hodgepodge piece with Just Because from Fancy Flexible Phrases stamped in Chocolate Chip.  I am so glad I bought that set!!! 

The strip around the middle is first Very Vanilla textured and then I used the Chocolate ribbon that is in the SU! Holiday Mini and then a layer lace.  I cut my strip of Vanilla to be a little narrower than what Beate has in her instructions.  The vanilla flower is from Bazzill and the brown flower is from Prima.  I used a Making Memories decorative pewter brad for the center.

I hope you are all having a great weekend!

Thanks for looking!

~Lynda