As I mentioned in my post last week, I’ve been busy digging into my paper scrap stash looking for fun ways to use up all those gorgeous Christmas patterns. Today I wanted to share with you two more ornaments I created using the same paper collection as my Snowflake Christmas Ornament from last week – the Bo Bunny Blitzen collection.
First off, I made this Vintage Chandelier style ornament:
Welcome to our Make Over Monday Challenge – a weekly challenge brought to you by the Paper Crafter’s Library and Sunny Stampin’ Studios. The purpose of Makeover Monday is to help you learn how to take the ideas and inspiration you find on the internet, and make it your own. This challenge is strictly a “work from your stash” challenge.
Over the last 7 years of teaching in the paper crafting industry, I’ve noticed that many of my students feel like they have to run out and buy the exact same products I used, rather than looking to their own stash to see if they having something that might work instead.
Now I’ll be the first to admit, shopping for paper crafting supplies is fun, and I certainly do my share of it, but why spend your money on a product that may be similar to what you already have?………………and that’s where the concept for Makeover Monday was born.
Every Monday I take a project I found on the internet, and show you my process for recreating it and making it my own, using supplies from my own stash. This week’s inspiration for the project shown above, comes from the card below, created by one of my favorite paper crafting artists Ashely Cannon Newell.
You can watch the video on how I made my card below:
Here are the details on how you can participate in the Makeover Monday Challenge:
A new Makeover Monday Challenge & video will go up every Monday
Work from your own stash to create a project based on the inspiration project provided – you can use any products you would like.
Post your project on your blog, in your gallery or on any other photo-hosting site (such as photobucket or flickr).
Click on our inLinkz button below to add a link to your project for our challenge
You will have until 7am, Monday, November 28th, to add your link to the list to be eligible to win. And you can enter as many times as you like.
One randomly selected winner will be chosen from ALL the entries on Monday, November 28th, in the afternoon.
The winner will be posted here. The randomly selected winner will win the Blitzen Holiday Planner in a DVD Tin Kit(supplies and instructions) shown HERE (value $30).
Good luck to everyone and we look forward to seeing your projects!
Before I sign off, I’d also like to announce the winner of the Makeover Monday Challenge #3 and thank everyone who participated. The winner was randomly drawn, and it is…….. Barb! You can see her entry below. Congratulations Barb – you have won the Blitzen Holiday Planner in a DVD Tin.
To claim your prize please email me and andrea@sunnystampin.com and be sure to put “Makover Monday Challenge #3 Winner” in the subject line of your email. I’ll also need your full name, shipping address, email and phone number. Congrats!
*Scroll to the bottom of this post to see last week’s Freebie Friday Winner*
It’s no secret that Soph and I are HUGE fans of Spellbinders Paper Arts, which is why we are absolutely thrilled to not only be able to review the Spellbinders Presto Punch, but thanks to Spellbinder’s….to give one away too!
Spellbinders Presto Punch In a Nutshell…….
Pros of the Presto Punch:
The Spellbinders Presto Punch is the first automatic punching and embossing machine of it’s kind. It uses punch templates which are similar in concept to the dies Spellbinders has become known for. There are currently somewhere around 22 different Presto Punch templates which come in different sizes and shapes of up to 2″ x 2″. The cost and space saving potential of the punch templates is HUGE compared to regular punches. In addition, you can use materials that you can’t normally use with a punch – things like foil and fun foam. It’s compact and lightweight and operates on AA batteries making it making it easy to transport and use for on-the go crafting (there is a power adaptor that can be purchased separately).
Although designed to work with the Presto Punch Templates – what really sold me on the machine is that it is compatible with the regular Spellbinders dies, as long as the size of the die is less than 2″ x 2″.
Cons of the Presto Punch:
There are a couple of cons we came across, although not enough to dampen our enthusiasm for the machine. First off, it’s quite loud – so forget crafting with it in the dead of night. Second, if you have a large volume of shapes you want to punch, it will take a lot more time than using a traditional punch (although of course with a traditional punch you do not get the additional embossing). Third, I do find that the magnetic mat in the punching envelope does get chewed up pretty quickly (way faster than the embossing envelope), so it’s a good idea to make sure you have some punching envelope replacements on hand so that you don’t get stalled in your punching if yours gets too chewed up.
Our overall assessment of the Presto Punch:
All in all, we’ve found that the Pros of the Presto punch, far outweight the cons, making it a product that definitely falls on our Paper Crafter’s Library Choice Recommended Product List.
For our full review of the Presto Punch – to see it’s features and exactly how it’s used, please watch the video below.
Okay, so now, details on how to enter our Freebie Friday Giveaway…..simple, all you have to do is enter a comment in the comment’s section of this post – tell us whether you use punches or not, and what your favorite punch shapes are. The winner will be announced on Friday, November 25th. Whoever that lucky person is, will only have 24 hours to email us to claim their prize, if we don’t hear from you, then someone else’s name will be selected!
Now, the winning comment for last week’s Freebie Friday post for the My Mind’s Eye 12 Days of Christmas Collection Kit:
Congratulations John! To claim your prize please email me at andrea@sunnystampin.com and be sure to put “12 Days of Christmas Collection Blog Winner”. In the body of your email please include your full mailing address and phone number.
I am so excited to share my very first blog post with all of you! My name is Tracy, and I am an Educator/Designer with Sunny Stampin’ Inc. / Paper Crafter’s Library. I have been working for Andrea for just over four years now. The main areas I work in include project design and filming – if you’re a member of Paper Crafter’s Library then I’m sure you’ve seen many of my projects and videos.
With Christmas just around the corner, for the past week I have been working on Christmas Ornaments – it’s been a lot of fun! The ornament you see here is the one I made, called a Snowflake ornament – I was so happy with the way it turned out and thought that it would be a beautiful addition to my Christmas Tree this year. It’s also the perfect way to use up all those scraps of patterned paper – we always have leftover pieces and I just hate to through them out…why waste money when you can use up some scrap pieces to create such a beautiful ornament? The video tutorial and PDF will be posted today for Paper Crafter’s Library members.
Today’s card is my take on the card featured in Stampin’ Up!’s 2011-2012 Idea Book on pg. 51. I liked the idea of taking a simple gate-fold card, and tweaking it to be a little more unique.
I started out by making mine square (as I do prefer that shape), and then pairing it with the adorable cupcake image from Cricut Cartidge “Something to Celebrate”.
I wanted the the image to really stand out, so I paired it with some Spellbinder dies. To make it even more fun, I created an insert using the Lettering Delights Font called “Unique”. You can purchase yours here for only $3.00 if you are interested – otherwise you’ll need to substitute for another font you do own. I find that the font really makes a difference as it is very fun, and childlike in nature.
For the card itself, I designed my own template which is available to Paper Crafter’s Library members. The template is available as a printable template, or a Silhouette file. For the cupcake (for those who own the Cricut) I have made available my cut file which can be opened in the Cricut Craft Room. If you don’t already have it, make sure you download the Cricut Craft Room software onto your computer from the Cricut website as it’s free. Once you are in the Cricut Craft Room, you will be able to open the file from within there (already properly sized) and as long as you have the cartridge, you will be able to cut it. If you don’t own that cartridge then substitute with any other cupcake you own – whether a stamp, die or sticker.
I have to say that I am really having fun with my machines!
Supplies:
Image Cartridge: Something to Celebrate (Cricut)
Dies: Circle Nestability, Scallop Circle Nestability (Spellbinder)
Other: Tombow multi-purpose glue, mini Xyron, dimensionals, sponges, Silhouette, Printer, Die cut machine of choice (I used the Big Shot for the Nestabilities), Fine Crystal Glitter (Martha Stewart)
Welcome to our Make Over Monday Challenge – a weekly challenge brought to you by the Paper Crafter’s Library and Sunny Stampin’ Studios. The purpose of Makeover Monday is to help you learn how to take the ideas and inspiration you find on the internet, and make it your own. This challenge is strictly a “work from your stash” challenge.
Over the last 7 years of teaching in the paper crafting industry, I’ve noticed that many of my students feel like they have to run out and buy the exact same products I used, rather than looking to their own stash to see if they having something that might work instead.
Now I’ll be the first to admit, shopping for paper crafting supplies is fun, and I certainly do my share of it, but why spend your money on a product that may be similar to what you already have?………………and that’s where the concept for Makeover Monday was born.
Every Monday I take a project I found on the internet, and show you my process for recreating it and making it my own, using supplies from my own stash. This week’s inspiration for the project shown above, comes from the card you see below, made by the talented Danielle Flanders- you can see the original post HERE.
Watch the video below to see my take on Lisa’s Card:
Here are the details on how you can participate in the Makeover Monday Challenge:
A new Makeover Monday Challenge & video will go up every Monday
Work from your own stash to create a project based on the inspiration project provided – you can use any products you would like.
Post your project on your blog, in your gallery or on any other photo-hosting site (such as photobucket or flickr).
Click on our inLinkz button below to add a link to your project for our challenge
You will have until 7am, Monday, November 21st, to add your link to the list to be eligible to win. And you can enter as many times as you like.
We will be tweeting and posting on our Facebook page highlighting some of your projects. These tweets/Facebook postings will just be a shout-out regarding projects that caught our eye and do not have any special merit regarding the actual contest.
One randomly selected winner will be chosen from ALL the entries on Monday, November 21st, in the afternoon.
The winner will be posted here on this blog post, on Twitter and Facebook. The randomly selected winner will win the Blitzen Holiday Planner in a DVD Tin Kit(supplies and instructions) shown HERE (value $30).
Good luck to everyone and we look forward to seeing your projects!
Before I sign off, I’d also like to announce the winner of the Makeover Monday Challenge #2 and thank everyone who participated. The winner was randomly drawn, and it is…….. Jessica! You can see her entry below. Congratulations Jessica – you have won the Christmas Advent Calendar Kit.
To claim your prize please email me and andrea@sunnystampin.com and be sure to put “Makover Monday Challenge #2 Winner” in the subject line of your email. I’ll also need your full name, shipping address, email and phone number. Congrats!
*the winner of this Freebie Friday Giveaway is posted at the bottom of the post HERE*
Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday! Today we’re going to spotlight another fun paper collection by My Mind’s Eye, I’m going to share with you five different projects I made using that collection, I’ll give you details about this week’s give-away, aaaaand, I’m going to announce the winner from last week’s Freebie Friday!
I was first “introduced” to My Mind’s Eye at CHA (Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show) in Chicago this past summer. I had never heard of them before and didn’t really own any of their product. Soph and I just happened to be walking by their booth, when their bright colorful display caught our eye. As we browsed through the booth, we were struck by the wide variety of design styles you see in their products, and loved everything we saw. The sales representatives were also very friendly and helpful, and willing to work with us.
So you’ll definitely be seeing a lot more from their line. For today, we want to introduce you to this fun and bright collection called “12 Days of Christmas”. Our video below will give you a closer look:
Today we’ve created a series of projects to highlight the versatility of this collection. We have put together a free video tutorialand pdf handout for BOTH the pocket style gift card holder AND the CD Sleeve-Style Treat holder The Lollypop box is a Paper Crafter’s Library exclusive available as a Silhouette cut file, or as a downloadable PDF to Paper Crafter’s Library members only. All the projects are simple yet elegant, and can easily be adapted to other holidays.
We are also giving away the My Mind’s Eye Mischievous Collection pack you see pictured above to ONE lucky winner…..more details on how to enter at the end of this post
The next project is a CD Slevve-Style Treat Holder. The template is an original one I created that was inspired by a decorated CD sleeve I saw in the most recent issue of Paper Crafts Magazine. I wanted something smaller to hold just a few treats. Other products featured for this project include the Spellbinder’s Grand Calibur (which I did a review and video on last week), as well as Spellbinder’s Nestabilities and dies. You can watch a free video tutorial for this HERE.
I created a second gift card holder, this with a hook and loop closure:
Finally, I created this 12 x 12 scrapbook layout which you can see below. I glittered up the elements and created little wrapped candies out of cello using the swirly circular die cut elements from the kit. Paper Crafter’s Library members can view the video from here.
Okay, so now, details on how to enter or Freebie Friday Giveaway…..simple, all you have to do is enter a comment in the comment’s section of this post – tell us what your favorite holiday tradition is!
The winner will be announced on Friday, November 18th. Whoever that lucky person is, will only have 24 hours to email us to claim their prize, if we don’t hear from you, then someone else’s name will be selected!
Finally, the winner of last week’s Freebie Friday give-away for the Spellbinders Circle and Scalloped Square Nestabilities shown below…….
is……drumroll please……
Congratulations Michelle! Please email me at andrea@sunnystampin.com by Monday 9 am EST to claim your prize. Make your email subject line: Spellbinder’s Nestabilities Blog Winner” and then in your email itself please include your phone number and shipping address.
Today, we are looking at a very beautiful and versatile technique in the watercolor family. It is called the gradated wash, and is perfect for showing of the beauty of a sunrise or sunset, or the mysterious duskiness of evening or dawn before the sun rises. If you like to portray a certain moodiness in your backgrounds, then this will be the technique for you! In order to master this technique, it is recommended that you first master the flat wash which was featured in last week’s Club 52 project. It requires a certain timing and rythm, which once mastered, will never be forgotten. You will find yourself using this technique again and again, to achieve beautiful professional results!
The Lighthouse project on the left, shows the beautiful one color gradated wash. The Sun over the mountain tag, shows the dreaminess and versatility of the two color gradated wash. Both are timeless and unforgettable.
It you are not already a member of Club 52, then please check it out. It is a year long class (Free to PCL members) which shows a new technique each week, for a total of 52 techniques. For more information, please check it out HERE.
We’re excited to announce that we are launching a brand new feature EXCLUSIVELY for our Paper Crafter’s Library Facebook Fans called “Watch Us Wednesday”!
On the second and fourth Wednesday of every month we’ll be posting a new project with a link to a private web page featuring a video tutorial and pdf handout for that project. If you haven’t already, be sure to visit the Paper Crafter’s Library Facebook Page and “Like” us – you’ll also receive the gorgeous Beautiful Wings Video & tutorial as a thank you for joining our Facebook Community!
Today’s “Watch Us Wednesday” project is this beautiful, monochromatic Gratitude card pictured at the top of this post. You can access the video tutorial and handout from our Facebook Page.
Supplies:
Stamps: Day of Gratitude (Stampin’ Up!), Gratitude Journal (Papertrey Ink) Ink: Early Espresso Classic ink (Stampin’ Up!) Paper: Very Vanilla CS, Crumb Cake CS, Brushed Gold CS and Early Espresso CS (Stampin’ Up!) Accessories: Stampin’ Dimensionals, Tombow Multi-liquid glue, Early Espresso Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Big Shot, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, paper cutter, foam mat, paper-piercing tool (Stampin’ Up!), double-sided adhesive (Thermoweb); ruler (EK Succes); pencil (other), Christmas “greenery” (Michael’s)
*please scroll down as we have two posts for you today*
Ok, so I have to tell you about this absolutely fantastic new stamp company called Dreamerland Crafts. These stamps are in the style of Japanese Anime. I don’t know how many of you are familiar with this style, but as soon as I saw it, I was IN LOVE!
In our household, we love watching some of the classics: Kiki’s Delivery Service, Ponyo, Howler’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away, My Friend Totoro and more. If you observe some of the artwork from these movies, you will instantly see the resemblance. The artwork is beautiful, whimsical and original, compared to much of what is on the market today. All the movies which I listed portray fantastic family values, and these images also reflect those wholsome ideals of love, family and friendship.
I suppose that one of the things that appeals to me, with this style of artwork, is the attention to detail, the lush colors, and the way they stand out in an age of digital images. Truly they are like a breath of fresh air! These stamps were originally released at Scrapfest in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, by a scrapbookstore which is called Pointers Scrapboking. As I was walking by, I literally stopped in my tracks and stared. WOW!! Gorgeous images for all occassions, perfect for coloring or paper-piecing. I can tell you that you will be seeing a lot of these images in the future *wink*.
Ok, so today’s image is called: Box Train Express, and can be purchased HERE. It shows a little boy and a little girl using produce boxes for a train game. Who doesn’t remember doing that as a kid? My kids are still known to do this on occassion lol.
The card was meant to reflect the produce logo of the boxes. I used Spellbinder and Quickutz dies to create the tomato plant in the corner, along with some older Prima Flowers. A lot of techniques were used in this card. There is Copic coloring for the skin, Gamsol and Color Pencil coloring for the clothing, and Watercoloring for the train anD grasses. Also there is sponging all along to add character. Small glitter dots were used to add sparkle in the air between the children, and lots of love was infused into this paper *grin*.
Supplies:
Coloring supplies: Copic markers, Color Pencils, Gamsol, Watercolor paints (real)
Paper: Lucky Limeade CS, Whisper White CS, Chocolate Chip CS, Poppy Parade CS, Kiwi Kiss CS (Stampin’Up!), Cosmo Cricket Pattern Paper (veggie pattern), Daisy D newsprint Pattern Paper, Fawn colored pencil paper
