Big Surprise Birthday Book...

If my delayed posting works out, when you are seeing this post....I will be in Chicago celebrating my father in law's 60th birthday. His whole family is throwing him a surprise birthday party. All of my husband's family lives around the Chicago area, except us. So we are flying in for a surprise party for him. It should be a lot of fun. Anyway: I wanted to make a scrapbook for him so we could remember his day. Anyway: I thought of a bunch of different things I could do but I finally settled on one idea. I wanted a book that had space to capture the event but wasn't huge. I wanted space for pictures of the party that I could add to the book. I wanted space for everyone there to be able to write him a little letter/note/whatever they wanted. So I decided to try to make a 6x6 accordion scrapbook. I will say that these pictures don't do it justice. :) I think it really is cuter in person. I love the colors and the stamps and all of it. :) It was fun to do. On to the book...
This is the front...obviously. I attached the ribbon under the back page, so it would wrap around and tie in the front to keep it closed.

Here it is with the ribbon un-tied so you can see the full cover. "Happy" is done with my Big Shot...the Go-Go Boots alphabet. The big scallop is also done with the Big Shot.

Here is the book opened up on one side.

Here is the other side of the book. Both sides are decorated. You can see the ribbon on the far right...it is under the Designer Series Paper so it doesn't get in the way but closes the book.

Here are up close pictures of a few of the pages. I wanted to keep the book fairly uniformed. The white pictures are for people to write their notes. The pages with the Kiwi Kiss Designer Series Paper is where the pictures will go. The Real Red scalloped strip on all the pages is textured card stock. I LOVE that stuff and what it adds. :) (I think I have said that a million times! :) )

Hope you enjoy and this project inspires you in some way! I know I had fun making it and I know I want to make bunches more in other color schemes and such!

Gift Bag Idea....

Here is a way to jazz up a regular brown lunch bag for a gift. All I did was cut my bag down to the size I wanted. Then I made two "fronts" for the bag. (I made them the exact same so I just showed the front here.) Then I used my Word Window Punch to make a slot to hold the bag and then tie it closed. Here is what it looks like from the front...
I LOVE LOVE the Organic Outlines stamp set. I love the bold graphic image. Too cute. :) It's Kraft card stock mounted on a Chocolate Chip mat. I sponged the edges to give them some depth.

Here you can see my lunch bag. Again...just cut it how tall you want it and then measure so you know how big to make your cardstock fronts.

Just an up close picture of the embellishments. I just used the flower image that is in the stamp set....stamped some flowers....added some brads in the middle...then put them around the front where I wanted them. Again...the back looks the EXACT same.

This was a fun project to do and fun to give away as well. I would love to see it if you make one! :)

Glittery Fun...

I made this card probably a week ago...sorry I haven't posted it until now. What can I say?! I was in a glittery mood when I made this card. The outcome of my glitter mood....there is glitter all over this card. I actually embossed the whole Designer Series Paper portion of the card (the bottom) with Iridescent Ice. So how do you do that, you ask?! Well....just put VersarMark all over the piece of paper. Dump some Iridescent Ice embossing powder all over it and then emboss. Instant glittery Designer Series Paper. So easy. Here is the card....

Look at all that glitter shine in the light! :)

Then on the big flower image....I stamped it two times. Once in VersaMark on Baja Breeze. And then once in VersaMark on Rose Red. Then embossed with the same Iridescent Ice embossing powder. Then to make the outer petal tips darker...I just colored it in with my VersaMarker. Let me know if you have any questions!

Some card CASEing....

These cards are all about CASEing. I sometimes will save ideas that I want to use in the future and when I have a moment....I will try to get some made. Here are my attempts.

This one is copied right out of the catalog. I LOVE this stamp set (Organic Outlines) and I loved this sample when I saw it. I changed a card stock color or something, but I just love the bold graphic images. These next three are all cased from the same person. The original card that I cased you can see HERE. Since I am SO NOT in the mood to do a winter card (BRING ON SPRING PLEASE!!!), I changed it to springy but obviously kept the same layout. I like the simplicity of it, but hers was definitely cuter than how this one turned out. Maybe it was the Kraft card stock. I love that stuff. :)

I love how this could so easily be a boy/man's birthday card. You can see the original HERE. One change I think I would make maybe is stamp the "happy birthday" phrase right above the Chocolate Chip textured card stock. But I LOVE this card. I loved it so much I made a card box with 4 cards all with this idea HERE.
I have been wanting to case this one for a long time. LOVE it! I just used pink instead of Kiwi. You can see the original HERE.

Hope you enjoy! :)

Card Workshop Cards...

I'm doing a card workshop tonight and these are the cards my hostess picked from her options. :) Some of these will seem familiar. These workshops are fun because everyone gets to play with so many things! Hope everyone enjoys making them! On to the cards....

I think this one is fun and I love the colors. I've been having a love affair with Rose Red lately....don't know why. I haven't used it too much before now, but it seems to be the color I reach for a lot these days! Love it with Kraft as well! :)

I really like this one. A bit more elegant. I did not like the Raspberry Paper too much at first. I know...most people love it. After working with it a bit....I am starting to come around. It's better in smaller doses for me....like on this card.

This one is just about the same as one we made at Leadership for one of our Make and Takes. I changed just a few things. Maybe I'm a sucker for trends, but I am IN LOVE with this bird. : ) I think he is SO fresh, fun, and cute! I could look at him all day! :) Plus....he's actually really easy to use! I love that his legs are a seperate stamp from his body....and so is his beak. So you can ink them all up in seperate colors...not markers or anything needed. Love it!

I explained all about this one in THIS POST. I love this card SO MUCH! Don't know what specifically it is about it...but I LOVE it! :)

This one is a repeat I did for another big card making night for a group of demo's back in maybe Oct or something. I LOVE this one as well! :) So why not show it's face again?! :)

Designer Series Paper Club...

I know you just LOVE all the Designer Series Paper in the new catalog! :) It's fabulous! I know I just love all the new designs and want to order them all. However...it would cost over $200.00 to do so! So I am going to offer a Designer Series Paper Club!!! What is this club? It's a way to get one 6×6 sample of EACH AND EVERY Designer Series Paper!!!! What happens is this: there are 20 packs of Designer 12 x 12 Paper. Once I have a club filled, I will get them ordered and you will get ONE OF EACH DSP! You end up with 120 sheets, all 6×6 samples! There will be SO MUCH for you to play with!

The cost of this club is $28 AND I put them in a clear acrylic 6×6 box to protect the papers and keep them looking fabulous. Priority Shipping is $4.80. I can definitely combine shipping if you are ordering more than one. (Email me to let me know what that cost would be.) (US orders only please) designwithink@gmail.com

These are all the papers:
Rockabilly Specialty (new)
Parisian Breeze Specialty (new)
To the Nines Specialty (new)
Sweet Slumber Specialty (new)
Bella Birds (new)
Pink Flamingo (new)
Good Morning Sunshine (new)
Urban Oasis (new)
Bella Bleu (new)
Flock Together (New)
Tea Party (new)
Candy Lane (demo preorder)
Urban Garden (Fall/winter catalog)
Bella Rose (fall/winter catalog)
Jackpot (demo preorder)
Manchester (fall/winter catalog)
Raspberry Tart (demo preorder)
Washington Apple (demo preorder)
Sweet Always (fall/winter catalog)
Rainbow Sherbet (fall/winter catalog)

***This sampler does not include the Prints Papers. Feel free to email me at designwithink@gmail.com with any questions!

DSP Club

DSP Club-Local Pick Up $28.00DSP Club-Shipped Out $32.80

Accessory Club is here!!!

I have talked to a few of my customers about starting one of these, so I thought I would open it up to everyone. A few of the demonstrator's I met at Founder's Circle gave me this idea. And I have to say...if you are like me you are IN LOVE with ALL of the new accessories in the NEW catalog!!! But yet...it is expensive to try them all! Well I am starting an ACCESSORY CLUB to get you started! This way you can find out just what you LOVE and need more of! :) What is this club, you ask?! Well, you will receive ONE OF EACH OF THE NEW Buttons, Brads, and Clips from the NEW Stampin' Up! catalog!!! You can buy one package of each new item yourself for approx. $124, (including the tax and shipping), or join my club and get ONE OF EVERYTHING shipped to you for only $16.00!!!!!!!

This is what you will receive in your sampler:

• 3 Kiwi Kiss Corduroy Buttons
• 3 Chocolate Chip Corduroy Buttons
• 3 Kraft Corduroy Buttons
• 3 Pacific Point Curduroy Buttons
• 3 Pumpkin Pie Corduroy Buttons
• 3 Summer Sun Corduroy Buttons
• 3 Library clips (1/2")--one Chocolate Chip, one Old Olive, one Whisper White
• 10 Latte Buttons (one of each style)
• 4 Jumbo 5/16" brads (one Chocolate Chip, one Very Vanilla, one Whisper White, one Silver)
• 4 Jumbo 5/8" brads (one Chocolate Chip, one Very Vanilla, one Whisper White, one Silver)
• 1 Clear Rhinestone brad
• 4 Flower Assortment brads (one Pumpkin Pie, one Pretty in Pink, one So Saffron, one Chocolate Chip)

This club includes 44 pieces as described above. They can be seen on pgs 174, 175 and 176 of the NEW Stampin' Up! Catalog.

Each club will consist of 8 members. I will place orders each Friday for all filled clubs, and will mail your club sampler back to you within 14 days of the order going in. Feel free to email me at designwithink@gmail.com if you have any questions!

Card Folder Revised!

In THIS POST I talked about taking that same template, making a few alterations, and turning it into a different project. Well, I'm finally getting around to posting what I was talking about. Here is a double sided card folder...
This is the front cover. I made this one a "thanks" card folder as well. I feel like that is the most used type of card for me. :)

Here is a pic of all the contents" The actual folder, 2 cards of one design, 2 cards of another design, and 4 envelopes. There is a little more room to add embellishments on these cards since there are 2 cards instead of just 1.

Here is a picture of the folder opened, with the cards inside.

Card #1. I LOVE this Designer Series Paper! I think it's beautiful! It's called Urban Garden. So Yummy!!!! Anyway: I wanted the DSP to be the star of the show in this project. So I kept my cards very simple and just added a sentiment on them.

Here's an upclose picture of the banner on the card with the sentiment. I've been loving these.

Here is Card #2. Again....the DSP is the star of the show! I love this pattern!

Another up close and personal picture of the banner.

This project would be SO EASY to recreate for ANY occasion! Just change the sentiment.....it could be a thinking of you, birthday, get well, or anything type of card! Change the DSP and you can customize it to be whatever you wanted!

Hope you enjoy! Have a great day!

Matchbook Mini Album...Pizzazzy!

Could it be? Did I really have ANOTHER enlightened moment! Ok...now I'm NOT saying I am the first one to think of doing this. However...I have not seen one before so it was an enlightened moment for me. :) I wanted to do a Matchbook Fold Card. Well....I have mini albums on my brain because I have to make one for something. So as I was thinking about the card...I DECIDED TO TURN IT INTO AN ALBUM!!! Again...I'm sure there are a ton of smart people out there that have already done one of these. But it was a first for me. So here it is...my Matchbook Mini Album! I don't usually like figuring out measurements and how it would work and stuff, but it turned out FUN! :) And OF COURSE I had to use a new stamp set...Petal Pizazz. I LOVE this stamp set. It was a "I have to have it RIGHT now" stamp set for me. :) ***If you are interested...measurements for the album will be at the bottom of this post.***On to the album...
So...this is how it works. The cover of the album is tucked under the left hand side "flap" portion. Just like a matchbook...hence the name.

Here is a Bird's Eye View of the album. I tried to bow it out a bit so you can see how the cover is tucked in to the left hand side.A close up of the flower. I used one of Stampin' Up!'s AMAZING new Designer Hardware for the center of the flower. Now.....you only get one of each style in a package so you know I had to love this project to add this to it. :) I'm a hoarder of embellishments I don't have a lot of. :) By the way...I used CLEAR Rhinestone brads here! YES! I don't have to hoard the ones in my Pretties Kit anymore because Stampin' Up! now sells them individually!!!! (Well, in a package of them..not one by one. :) But you know what I mean.)

Now here is the album opened. There are 4 decorated pages. All stamped with that fabulous stamp set! :) Here is page 1. The pages are secured under those 2 brads.

Page 2. Each page is score 1" in, so that you can turn each page easy. (That leaves the finished page measuring 4 1/2" x 4 1/4".)

Page 3.

Page 4. I love the stamp set "warm words" and thought that went great with this album. I like how each page (and the cover) has a word and the paper piercing. I think it ties it all together.

MEASUREMENTS AND DIRECTIONS

1. Cut your card stock cover to 4 1/2" x 12". I used Chocolate Chip textured card stock here.

2. Score card stock cover (with the 12" end butted up against your cutter) at 7/8", 1", 6 3/4". (These are the measurements if you use just 4 pages. You made need to make a bigger "spine" if you add more pages. The 7/8" and the 1" score lines are what make the spine.)

3. Cut your pages to 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". I used Very Vanilla for my pages.

4. Score pages at 1" with the 5 1/2" end butted up against your cutter. (This will make it easy to fold up the page to view the next page.

5. Insert your pages into the card stock cover you created. Line up the edge of your pages, with the 1" score line at the left, with the inside of the "spine" you made with your two score lines.

6. Punch 2 holes with your Crop-a-dile for brads. This will be what holds your pages into your album. I used Clear Rhinestone Brads here.

7. Decorate album and pages as you wish!

I hope this makes sense. Kinda in a hurry as I wrote this so let me know if something is not clear! Hope you enjoy! :)

Darling New Notebooks...NEW Product!!!

I saw THIS video by Kristina Werner, and fell in love with these little notebooks. What can I say, I LOVE notebooks! Especially ones I can make ENTIRELY all by myself! So I knew I had to make some of these. PERFECT project for my new Designer Series Paper and stamps. One of the perks of being a Stampin' Up! demo is that you get to pre-order things before catalog releases. These were a few of the things we could pre-order. (Details below about what supplies I used.) On to the notebooks...

How cute are they! If you watch the video....you can see exactly how they are made. If you don't want to watch the full video....this is what I did. 1. Cut some copy paper to 3" x 11". 2. Cut a piece of Designer Series Paper to 3" x 11". (You might actually want to cut it to about 11 1/8" or something. There is a little overhang once the copy paper is folded that I had to cut off with my paper trimmer. FYI. :) ) 3. Take as much copy paper as you want (I used 6 sheets) and fold them in half. (So now you have a 12 page notebook.) 4. Fold your Designer Series Paper in half. 5. Put your copy paper into the Designer Series cover you just made. 6. Staple the center seam. (Kristina used a swivel stapler if you have one. Or....you can take a pin cushion or something that like, open your stapler all the way, staple, then pull it out and fold the prongs back to hold. Make sense?) 7. Decorate the front however you would like! :) Easy Peasy, right?!?

Stamps: Sweet Stems, Flexible Phrases (I forgot it was retired...but any small word stamp would do. :) )

Ink: Basic Black Ink Pad, Pretty in Pink, Old Olive and Rose Red markers

Card Stock: Whisper White, Rose Red

Accessories: Raspberry Tart Designer Series Paper, Rose Red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, 1/16" punch (to punch hole for brad), Earth Elements brads, Word Window Punch

Now how about this FABULOUS game night one?! How cute would this be to keep with your games so you can always keep score?! I LOVE this one. :) Sorry....but I do! :)
I know the ribbon is pretty, and that's it's point....of course. :) But here...it has a useful purpose as well. You can put the papers behind it and use it to keep your place. :) A decorative bookmark built right into the notebook! :) I love when these enlightened moments come. :) This just happened to come when my husband was making fun of me for not being able to make a project without ribbon. :) I had to show him that it had a purpose!

Stamps: Game Night
Ink: Real Red, Basic Black Ink Pads

Card Stock: Whisper White, Basic Black, So Saffron
Accessories: Jackpot Designer Series Paper, Basic Black 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Vintage Brad (Black), Word Window Punch

Hope you enjoy! If you have any questions....let me know!

New Catalog FUN!!!!

YEAH! The new catalog is HERE!!!! I'm so excited. I'm kicking off the new catalog with LOTS of pics in this post. I could spread out all the pics in this one post for DAYS! Even longer. :) But hey! I've been waiting for awhile....so you get it all now! :) I can finally show you these pics from Leadership! These are pics of samples they had on display and stuff. This is a bit embarrassing, but I will start by showing you this pic...

YEAH!!! WE NOW HAVE CHOCOLATE CHIP BRADS!!! I have been wanting these for SO LONG!!! So I had to pose with them. :) The light was doing some funky things and washed me out a bit. Oh well....WE HAVE CHOCOLATE CHIP BRADS!!! :)

A shot of other new products on display. Look at that YUMMY ribbon! Love it!

I love this product line. These birds, owls, trees...all of it is incredible! LOVE IT!

Look how stinking fun this stuff is! It cheers me up just looking at it. I love Spring/Summer MUCH MUCH more than Fall/Winter!!!!
Just more samples from the sample boards that were around. Look that that little bird. TOO CUTE!!!

So this "Trendy Trees" set is a SO MUST HAVE set for me. I can't wait to get it, actually. I LOVE LOVE it!!! Look how fabulous those trees are! :)

I love the simplicity of this card. And who doesn't need a great "hi" to cheer them up one day?!

I am DEFINITELY going to have to repeat this card one day. I LOVE this one! The simplicity is great, the "bubble" trees are so fab-o, and I just love the colors. Look how cute this magnet board is. The alphabet magnets were made with the Big Shot. That thing is amazing. Love it!

This is using a variety of new elements. The background is Designer Series Paper that is stamped, the butterfly is a new fabulous die for the Big Shot, and the "faith" word is a Decor Element. I am DEFINITELY going to be making some of these! WONDERFUL! They even gave us some of these decor words for FREE at Leadership for a 20th anniversary surprise! So YEAH! I get to make these now. :)

One of my fave product lines they have is the "Manhattan" line. LOVE everything in this line! Maybe I love it so much because I've always wanted to be a "Manhattan" girl. :) Can't help myself....I just love this line!

How cute is this welcome sign?! Made with Big Shot dies. AMAZING! I need one for my house, I think! :)

Hope you enjoyed some of these samples! I know I did when I saw them. I can't wait to get my 1st order here so I can play with new stuff myself! :)