Valentine Ribbon Weave Heart

I used the same ribbon technique that I used on my Christmas tree card on this heart card for Valentines Day. I used the Music Notes roller for the background and I used the Big Shot with the Serif Essentials alphabet for the love. ( The heart for the "o" is using the Heart to Heart punch.)

CLICK HERE to see how to do this technique!

Bowmaker Dimensions

Sorry I have been MIA lately but the holidays have been busy and hectic but wonderful! The kids are at the perfect age to celebrate this year and I haven't had time for anything else, especially since they are home from school for winter break!

Stay tuned because I will get back to normal posting soon!

I have gotten a ton of emails asking for the dimensionas of the bowmaker that my mother made and I gave to my downline this year. Instead of replying to every email I am just going to post it on here!
The main block is 6" x 2-1/2" x 3/4".
The dowels are 1/4" diameter and about 3" long. The holes in the block are about 1/2" apart but some are random so you can make bows in different lengths then 1/2" increments.
Hope that helps! I'm sure just about any size would work as long as you have the same general layout.
CLICK HERE to see the original post!

Craft Project Central Blog!

Here are the latest posts on the Craft Project Central blog!

Days-To-Remember Calendar (one of 12 pages) – Shelby – www.craftcloset.wordpress.com


New Year’s Champagne Punch Recipe Page – Jacque – www.stampinwithjacque.com

New Year’s Party Favor – Jacque

Downline Gift - Bow maker!

I thought I would share the holiday gifts that I made for my Stampin' Up downline this year! I really have to give credit to my mother because she is the one who made these for me. We have seen them everywhere online to buy and thought we would make some ourselves. (When I say "we", I really mean my mom made them and I cheered her on and gave moral support from Vermont.)

Thanks Mommo! Your the best!
CLICK HERE for the directions we came up with to use the bow maker if you want to make your own!

Ribbon Weave Christmas Tree

Here is my Ribbon Weave Christmas Tree card! A long time ago I made the wedding card shown below so I thought, why not do the same type of technique with a Christmas tree!

Here is a close up of the finished tree. I used SU rhinestones for the ornaments and just colored them with a permanent marker on the top. I love this technique!

Here is the bride card I made a long time ago.

Here is how I made the woven tree:

I stamped the tree from the Season of Joy stamp set and then cut out the center with a craft knife leaving the small border of white on the inside of tree image.
On the back I used Snail adhesive to surround the tree and cut strips of 1/4" grosgrain ribbon. I alternated going back and forth across the back of the paper trying to keep where they cross going down the center.

Once its finished this is what the front will look like. Then I put the rhinestones on.

Wedding Invitations

So I skipped about a week of posts because life got crazy for a bit. One of the things that I was working on are these wedding invitations. I used Very Vanilla, Basic Black and Cherry Cobbler card stock to make them. I used a retired snowman and snowflake stamp set for the bottom. They look a lot better in person then in this photo.
We also got the insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor for Ashley!! We do not have it hooked up yet because we still have to learn how to use it but still very exciting! If any of you have any advice for starting an insulin pump on a five year old, it is more then welcome!

Gingerbread Boy

My mom made this and showed me, and it was just too cute not to post! It's just using the Fancy Flower Punch and the white gel pen to make a cute little gingerbread boy. I can't wait to use this for scrapbooking pages!

Holiday Teacher Gifts

The teachers at my kids school are wonderful and I wanted to do something fun for a holiday gift. I found this great template for the coffee cup HERE and thought it would be perfect for teacher gifts! The only problem was that I had a hard time deciding how to limit who got gifts so I ended up making a lot of them. (The women who run the front desk, the nurse, the lady in the cafeteria, teachers, teachers aids... how do you limit things like this?)
I did change my coffee cup around from the template a little bit. CLICK HERE for the template! I cut my paper 8-1/2" x 5" so I could fit two on one sheet and they would be a little bit taller then the tutorial ones (this makes the tab 1/2" instead of 1"). I also used the Scallop Oval Frame die with the Big Shot for the handles. I used only the inside, folded it in half and cut out the center by hand. Then I scored 3/8" out from the center fold in both directions. I glued this 3/4" middle section to the cup and then glued the ends together so the handle would be sturdy and support the cup to pick it up. I used the music notes roller to decorate the outside (before I put it together).
I got hot cocoa mix and marshmallows and filled a bag for the inside of the cup and then added the bow and the tag. The ornaments were from a kit using wire and glass beads. I made these with my three and five year old... it took a little bit of time!
Here is a picture of the back of the cup and another of all the ornaments that we made.

Craft Project Central New Posts

Here are the most recent posts on the Craft Project Central Blog!

Joy Decorated Glass Block – Debbie – www.unfrogettablestamping.typepad.com

Gift Card Box and Treats – Zeva – www.inkzstudio.blogspot.com

Christmas Frame Bonus Project - Naoko - www.nstampage.com

Candy Cane Gift Box & Candle – Jacque – www.stampinwithjacque.com

Photo CD Holder Album

Here is my Photo CD Holder Album. You can decorate the inside pages with pictures and then include the photo CD to give as a gift! I have it decorated for the holidays but you can easily change the Designer Series Paper and colors and make it for any occasion!
The album has four to ten inside pages to decorate and space for two CD’s to fit into pockets. It is approximately 5 1/2" square and will fit in the square SU envelopes.
This would be the perfect Christmas card to send to family and include a CD of the pictures! Or make it into a scrapbook album and put the CD with the photos inside so you have them all together!

To see more details or to order the tutorial for this project
CLICK HERE!

The Night Before Christmas Scroll

Here is my The Night Before Christmas Story Scroll! I thought this would be a great way to read The Night Before Christmas to my kids each year. Just thought it would add a little Christmas spirit with it looking like an old scroll.

And... this was so easy to make! I just got some dowels from the dollar store and some wooden ends from the craft store. I sponged on the dowels and ends with Early Espresso ink. I then printed the story in an old looking font on four pieces of Ivory card stock. I glued the edges together with Tombow adhesive.

Then I ripped the edges and sponged them with Soft Suede ink. I wound it around the dowels and tied a ribbon around it with Early Espresso 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain ribbon. I like how it came out so much I think I am going to make these as gifts for my friends with kids for Christmas too!

I have attached the words to the poem here so you can make one if you would like to. I have it two ways, one is a pdf. if you want to print it exactly how I have (in case you don't have this font on your computer). The other is a word document if you want to change the size or font of it. If you change it around, send me a photo, I would love to see what you do with it!

CLICK HERE for the Word version

CLICK HERE for the pdf. version

Craft Project Central Blog!

I have been asked to be a Guest Designer on the Craft Project Central blog for the next few months! I did this Nutcracker punch art gift box for this month. You can check it out on their site!

Here are the latest projects that have been posted to the site this month.

Candy Cane Candle – Naoko – www.nstampage.com

Merry Crittermas Holiday Card Tin – Sonya – www.stampwithsonya.com

and the Jolly Holiday Christmas Organizer – Free Project – Jacque – www.stampinwithjacque.com

Gingerbread House Gift Box & Card

Here is my Gingerbread House Box & Gingerbread People Card Project! Doesn't this make you want to go find some cookies to eat?! The Gingerbread house box is the perfect way to give a gift for the holidays, and what better card to put with it then a Gingerbread man or woman!
You could also make this box into any other type of house for other occasions. It would be perfect for a spooky Halloween house or a cute doll house for a child or a regular house for a moving gift. Change the colors and decorations for any occasion!
The card is standard 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" and the box measures approximately 4" deep x 5-1/2" tall. You do not need 12"x12" paper for this project.

To see more details or purchase the tutorial
CLICK HERE!

Downhill for Diabetes Event

As most of you know Ashley was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes earlier this year. We have been struggling to get her sugar levels under control but Ashley has faced this disease with courage and a positive attitude. (Most of the time!)

For those of you that don't know, Brad (my husband) and I have recently started a non-profit organization, Donations for Diabetes, to help raise funds for diabetes research and find a cure for this disease.
We are holding a ski and snowboarding event called Downhill for Diabetes at Pico Mountain in Vermont on February 13th, 2011.
It is very similar to a donation walk, only Vermont style! I hope you will help us with this effort by participating in this great event and come ski or snowboard for the day!
If you do not ski or snowboard you can still participate in the event by donating money and getting free gifts and prizes!
If you raise $50, you get a half price lift ticket for the day and a Downhill for Diabetes fleece ear band! Raise more and you can be eligible for more great gifts and prizes! There will also be a donation race course set up that you can go through and get timed and prizes will be awarded for the fastest times of the day! You can participate in this event as a skier or a snowboarder. You can do it individually or form and team and come as a group!
I really hope that you will join us in our fight to cure this disease so Ashley and all the other people like her can lead normal healthy lives!

You can see more details and register on the website at:
http://www.donationsfordiabetes.org/
If you have a business and want to get some great publicity for it, you can also be a sponsor!
You can see all the details on the website at:
http://www.donationsfordiabetes.org/p/sponsor.html

Thank you!

Little Leaves Wreath

I saw a wreath just like this HERE and love it so much I just had to try one!

I cut a circle that was 3 7/8" out of Always Artichoke card stock and then cut the inner circle out at 2 7/8". I used the Little Leaves Sizzlet (about 20 of them) in Old Olive cardstock and randomly glued them on to make the wreath.
For the rhinestones, my fellow SU Demo, Tonya Ditzler, told me that if you use a permanent marker on them you can make them any color you want! It works great! All I did was color them with a red sharpie.

A HUGE Thank You!

I want to give an enormous thank you to Heather Wright-Porto from Blogs by Heather. If you have not been to her site and you currently have a blog or are planning one you should definitely check her out. She does great blog design, setup and maintenance and is great to work with!
My husband and I have started a non-profit organization, Donations for Diabetes, to raise money for diabetes research. I got so inspired from you guys with all of your support and well wishes after doing the Diabetes Purse tutorial that I wanted to do even more. (For those of you who do not know, my five year old daughter has recently been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.) We are doing a ski event this winter but I am still finalizing the website and the details so I will have more about it coming soon.
I just wanted to take the time to say a proper thank you to Heather while she is doing all this work for me. She has generously donated all of her time and expertise to help me set up the site for the charity organization and the event and it is looking so good! I need thank her mostly for putting up with me through the design process of this site. I am incredibly detail oriented and very picky!
I will post all the event details and the link to the new website when it is all set up!
Thanks again Heather, you are the best! I appreciate everything you have done more then you could possibly know.

Happy Birthday Mommo!

All the tags in the pockets...

The cake out...

A close up of the cake.

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to Mommo,
Happy Birthday to you!
Today is my mothers birthday and this is the card I made her. Since I am not very good at doing things on time I have not sent it out yet, so Mommo, here is your card! I love you! Happy 43rd birthday! (Don't worry, not really, she didn't have me when she was 13.)
This card uses the Birthday Bakery Stamp set and I made it with two pockets on the front instead of opening up. This would also be great to give a gift card in one of the pockets.
My kids have the cutest song they sing that made me think of this card. It goes:
Wake me, Shake me,
Don't let me sleep too late.
I'm gonna get up in the morning,
And eat my chocolate cake!

Here are the dimensions for the cake and card:

I used the Modern Label punch for the filling. It is shown here in Cherry Cobbler paper but in the end I went with Very Vanilla. I just hand cut the waves using the center bump for the size.

The cake base is 3" x 1 7/8" out of Early Espresso card stock and I used the Owl Punch for the cherries out of Cherry Cobbler. I cut the base by hand.


The card base is 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" out of Early Espresso. The bottom pocket is 1 1/2" x 4" and the middle pocket is 3" x 4". I just used a small bead of Tombow adhesive around the edges and bottom to keep the pockets on and open on the top. The back Vanilla paper is 4" x 5 1/4" and is fully taped on.


I used the small and large tag punch for the tag and Real red ribbon for the ties. I punched the holes with the Crop-a-dile.

Love you Mommo!