Vacation Mini Album with Riley & Company

Hello All!! The Riley & Company blog feature a regular Designer Highlight, rotating between the talented members of the Riley & Company Design Team.

Well, it’s my turn to share a Designer Highlight and I chose to make this adorable mini album.

 

I did a class in March at one of my local scrapbook stores for this album design. The pages flip out, creating extra vertical pop-up space. I thought the design was pretty cool, but I also loved the opportunity to pull out my favorite Rileys and decorate away! The front cover features Travel Trunk Riley.

When you open that front cover, you find this. The green pages are the left and right side of the “album”, while the orange and patterned pieces are the vertical pop-out. On this page, I also included a flip up, which features Balloons Riley.

The Riley stamp on the left page is Window Riley, while various stamps in the Travel Sticker Stamps set.

Page 2 features Hammock Riley (one of my very first purchases!) and more travel stickers.

The right side flips out this time and Floating Riley is hiding underneath.

To better envision how this album is put together, here it is expanded. You can see page 1 on the left and page 2 on the right…see that hinge hiding underneath? Turn the book around and you’ll find page 3.

Page 3 is the backside of the book and operates the same way. Here I’ve included BBQ Riley and Under the Tree Riley. No flip up or outs here, but I have left some un-adhered space under the images so that I can slide a card or insert underneath.

Hope you enjoyed my project today! Check out the Riley and Company blog for more fun and find all these adorable moose in the store.

Thanks for stopping by!

Riley & Company – May 2017 Release Day 5

It’s a bittersweet day. Friday…yay! It’s the end of the week and the weather around here has been fantastic! But, it’s also Day 5 of the Riley & Company New Release, so our week of celebration is coming to an end.

I have two final projects for your today, both using new Funny Bones sentiments.

This first one is called Bags and Shoes. I love the colors in this project! It’s been paired with Shopping Bag Sophie. I embossed the sentiment in white to give it some extra pop against that background.

The second sentiment is called Get Up, Get Coffee and I’ve done an easel desk calendar. This is the front side, which I’ve stamped in white ink on chalkboard paper and embellished with flags and stars.

Turn it around and here is the back side. I plan to put this on my desk at work, since I often start my day with a coffee.

Today is the last day to catch the free shipping special (domestic only) with any order over $20. Head on over to the Riley & Company store and check out your favorites.

My personal favorites this week? The Nesting Dies bundle for only $41 – you get the circles, ovals and squares! I also like the new No One is You sentiment that I used yesterday and the Zombie Apocalypse stamp that I used on Monday’s post.

I didn’t use them in my projects this week, but you’ll also want to check out the new accessories set for the Dress Up Rileys. Both Summer Fun Accessories and Sports Accessories are now available.

If you’re experiencing New Release withdrawal, then head on back to my blog starting Monday. Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps will have their May 2017 release next week, so swing by and join in the fun again!

See you again!

TCCCB – Recycle Something

Hello! 2017 marches onward and now we’re ready to commence the 2nd month of the year. That means, of course, that it’s time for a new challenge with The Crafter’s Cafe Challenge Blog!

Twice a month we roll out fantastic challenges for your to play along with and we work with great sponsors so you get to see art from a wide variety of talented artists.

Our challenge this fortnight is Recycle Something. Anything at all, so get on your thinking caps. If you need ideas, check out the challenge blog, because the Design Team has made some awesome projects for this challenge!

The sponsor I’m working with this time is Dr. Digi. This is a new sponsor for me, so I had fun checking out their inventory of great digital stamps. I settled on “Green Fingers and Thumbs”. Now, what to make with it?

I saw a project posted online a couple weeks ago where someone used an empty Valentine chocolate box to put seeds in. What a cool idea! So, Green Fingers and Thumbs and my empty chocolate box set to work making a unique valentine gift.

Isn’t this image adorable? Here is the inside of the box. I realized at the last minute that I didn’t have a stash of seeds on hand, so I occupied my kids for 10 minutes by making them sort bean soup. They had fun, I have a “model” for my box.

What do you think of my sentiment?

I hope you liked today’s project, because it was quite a bit of fun to make it for you. If you have time, come play along with us! You can link up your entry over at The Crafter’s Cafe Challenge Blog from now through the 15th of the month. Come and check us out!

Prickley Pear January New Release, Day 2

It’s New Release week over at Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps and they’ve got some fantastic new crafty options for you.

I had a blast playing with the new Valentine Cupcake and Love Banner set. Both are clear cling sets and are available as one of the New Release specials, along with the Spring/Easter Banner set. Check out Sales Special #5.

I wanted to come up with something unique to make with these sets and I was inspired by the “Save the Date” sentiment in the Love Banner set. I came up with the idea of throwing my two little Valentine’s a special tea.

First, the invites. I took a 6″ x  5″ piece of cardstock and backed it with some pretty Valentine paper. I used my computer to print out the “Mommy and Me” invite portion and cut it into a circle. The banner, love birds and Save the Date come from the Love Banner set.

No tea is complete without cupcakes, so I also included a cupcake from the new Valentine Cupcake set. The tea cup comes from the Coffee Cup Die set (one of my favorites) and I’ve added a little decoration from the Love Banner set.

The cupcakes make a repeat appearance on my placecards. Here, I didn’t want them all to look the same, so I added some variety. Claire’s a pink/purple girl, while Nathan would stick to the blue/green options. These were quick and easy and look FABULOUS!

Next up, treats for my little Valentine’s. I found this heart box in my silhouette library.  It was so easy to put together and makes a sturdy little gift box for a few chocolate treats. I stamped the heart banner from the Love Banner set onto pink patterned paper and colored it up. Then, added a second banner with the Be Mine sentiment.

Here’s a closer look at the windows and the banners on those cute boxes.

Here is the complete package! All I need is a tea pot and two little guests. Hope they accept my invite!

I hope you enjoyed today’s project. I sure had fun making it! Head on over to the Prickley Pear blog or the Facebook page to check out more great creations from the Design Team. Here are the release week specials, including free domestic US shipping.

I’ll be back on tomorrow with two of my favorite new red rubber releases from Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps. See you then!

Prickley Pear November Release {2}

Welcome back! It’s been a busy week on my blog, hasn’t it? As I mentioned on Monday, this week is the November 2016 New Release with Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps. There are 25 new red rubber stamps, 2 new clear sets with matching die sets and 2 new clear sets that match previously released die sets.

Today I have a project for you, a Christmas Planner. This planner is so much fun to make and decorate. Here is the front. The flap on the left has a magnetic closure. On the front, I’ve used the new Christmas Banners stamp set with matching dies.  This set is super cute and you should check out what my fellow design team members have done with this set.

Also featured is two red rubber releases. The sentiment is aptly called Celebrate the Season and the Santa image is Santa Going Down Chimney. If you love classic christmas imagery, this Santa stamp will fill your heart with Christmas joy.

When you pop the flap and open the planner,this is what it contains. The right flap has two calendars on the back, November and December, to help with all those important dates. The next page has a folio to keep receipts in and then there is a notepad for all your lists (and checking them twice).

Opposite side to the calendars, I’ve included a small to-do list and Christmas Bucket list. This page is also decorated with the new 3 Piece Tree Set, which is so super cute! Probably may favorite of the release. I’ve decorated it with pieces from the Gnome Homes Fall/Christmas set and Christmas Cupcakes set too.

Here is a picture of the folio opened up. You can see there are sections inside to keep organized.

See, all of your Christmas planning and plotting in one fine planner book.

All of these great sets can be found in the New Releases section of the Prickley Pear website. And, if you’re debating whether this is the week to buy, let me tell you that there is Free Shipping until November 21st when you enter FREESHIP in the coupon code box at checkout. So, make your list, check it twice and then either treat yourself or give your list to your special someone and tell them to treat you right before November 21st.

Head on over to the Prickley Pear blog or the Facebook page to check out more great projects. This is it for me this week, but you can be sure that I’ll be back with more wonderful projects using these newly released items.

Note: Just a quick mention that the planner tutorial I’ve used here comes from Paper Architecture with Sabrina.

SplitCoast Stamps Falliday Fest {8}

This is my last Falliday Fest post for 2016. I am done! What a lot of hard work, but there were some great challenge posted!

Today you will find all the last cards, with the exception of one posted. One of the challenges was to make a Joy Fold card and I have posted mine tomorrow with my Riley & Company post. We’ll count it today, but please come on back tomorrow and check it out.

This first challenge was an inspiration board challenge. Lots of pinks and blues I loved the board and yet this was another challenge I struggled to get just the right look I was after. I think I scrapped two versions before settling on this one. but, I’m happy with it! The text is a bit hard to see in this picture, but is clearer on the actual card.

There were four card drives with this Falliday Fest. These organizations are collecting donated cards for different purposes. This organization gives birthday cards to kids who have lost loved ones. The card was to have a star or stars on it to represent those lost. I chose to make this colorful card and hope the kids like it!

And, the last challenge of Falliday Fest was to try the salted watercolour technique. I tried this once before and it failed miserably. So, I groaned when I read the challenge. But, this time it actually turned out much better than my previous attempt. Can you see the pearl pen on my cupcake icing?

Finally, the last two tutorials. The first one is another fold technique, the twist gate fold. This looks great, but it’s kind of impractical! Harder to leave a message on. But, it’s fun to see how it come together.

I actually changed this slightly at the last minute and made it a gift card holder. I attached a band inside to hold the gift card tight and attached it shut with velcro.

And finally….finally!! The Copic Bleed Technique. The instructions for this looked SO cool. And it FLOPPED so majorly when I attempted it. Once I had most of the final challenges done, I decided to reattempt it with my main image on a lighter weight of paper. It turned out better. The image on the left is the main coloring page. I put a piece of cardstock under it and the color bled through to that second cardstock. The card on the right is what I made with that second piece of cardstock. Neat, right?

Let’s see, three cards today plus the joy fold one on my blog tomorrow. That means 27…28…29….30!! 30/30 done. And techniques? Ornament Garland, Shaving Cream Technique, Snowman, Twist Gate Fold and Copic Bleed…five done! I am a challenge Yeti. Really. And just in time too.

Thanks for following along!

SplitCoast Stamps Falliday Fest {7}

Hello everyone, welcome back again. I have been busy, busy, busy and I think I’m finally in the home stretch. Let’s see what I’ve created for you today, with the Falliday Fest challenges at SplitCoast Stampers.

First up was a challenge to make a monogrammed project. I luck out in this one because my initials happen to be “HB”. So, I used that to make this quick and easy birthday card. The background “sploshes” are from Two Paper Divas. And, this card comes from the sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch. Which I missed. But that’s okay!

This card caused me some problems. I thought I was being inspired by gingerbread men, but after starting my stamping I realized it was specifically white piping on gingerbread. I used my versamark to add the white stripes to my cookies with embossing powder, but it decided to stick in other areas too so my snowmen have a light dusting of powdered sugar too. I’m okay with it!

This was a fun challenge! It was to be inspired by milagros, a type of metal art. I decided to try two new things on my card. I embossed aluminum foil onto cardboard and I tried a faux metal technique. Unfortunately, my faux metal didn’t turn out, so I just ended up die cutting these flowers out of a gold embossed piece of paper. They weren’t the look I was after, but they’re still nice!

Next card was “hard candy christmas”, with hard candy being our inspiration for the card. I found this pretty paper that reminded me of candy canes and decided to use it. We always had candy canes on our tree at Christmas.

And, last card for today was a Snow Much Glitter challenge. I hate working with glitter. It never sticks just the way I want it to. This cad was stamped using my misti too. I did the background twice and clear embossed one piece and white embossed the other. I added glitter to both afterwards. Then, I cut one out and layered it onto the other. Added some diamond stickles and liquid applique. For a non-glitter girl, this turned out okay!

Last project on today’s post is a tutorial. This was posted early in the Falliday Fest and I kept coming back to it. I finally decided to try it out. It’s a snowman tealight and matching box. The snowman was pretty easy to put together and the box design was super cute. I love the window top on it!

That’s all for today. I do have a couple more done, but I’ll post them in the next day or so along with my last few cards. In the home stretch! The last few are in various pieces of completion on my craft desk. Current tally is 26 done, 4 to go and now I’ve only got 2 tutorials left!