Dirt Scrapbook Page

This is my scrapbook page that I finally did of the kids playing in the dirt last summer.
The mud splashes and letters are cut by hand. The month is from the Full Calender stamp set and the year is cut with the Big Shot.

Honey Pot - Cookie Jar Cards

These are my new Honey Pot and Cookie Jar cards. I love these, they are so much fun!
The card slides out from inside of the jar with space to write your message. These would be perfect to send with homemade cookies or treats. You could make these jars into anything by just changing the words on the front. Give money in it for a retirement gift with 'Retirement Fund' written on the front or for a birthday with 'Birthday Fund' on the front!
The card is standard 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" size and fits in a standard envelope.

To see more details or purchase this tutorial CLICK HERE!

Timmy's Third Birthday Page

I finally found some time to do a tiny bit of scrapbooking! This page is of Timmy's third birthday morning. He went to our camp with his Dad and played in the woods and went four-wheeling. What better way to start your third birthday!?
This page is 8 1/2" square and I used Pumpkin Pie, Not Quite Navy and Chocolate Chip paper on this.

You can CLICK HERE to see how I made this background with the curly label punch!

Curly Label Father's Day Card

I found a great blog that I have never been to before. The site is called Stampin' Pretty by Mary Fish. I got this Father's day card from her wonderful blog!

To make this easier for you to line up I wanted to show the steps that I used. My Chocolate chip paper is about 3 1/2" x 5". I punched my shapes out of Kraft cardstock with the curly label punch. I lined the two top center ones up first both facing the same direction.

The second row goes in the other direction like shown and so on...


The main card is made out of Ivory cardstock and the ribbon is the Chocolate Chip Satin ribbon. I used the Well Scripted stamp set for the saying.
I thought this would make a great background for a scrapbook page too!

A Quick Guide to Shadows and Shading Techniques

I have been asked by a few people how I shade my projects to give them a three dimensional look. I figured I would write a quick, basic, hopefully user friendly tutorial on how to do it.

The diagrams below show a light source coming from the upper right hand corner and the effects it has on a shape. You have the highlight on the upper right, where the light source is coming from. You have the darkest area on the lower left, where there is the least amount of light. When you are shading your paper you have to think about these basic principles.

To show this in a more practical shading sense, like how you would shade a card, here is an example that I made.

This is a brocade blue large oval from the center of the scallop oval frame die and the Big shot.


First you need the same color ink as your paper, or a gray or Sahara Sand for a light color or white paper. Also you will need a sponge. I cut the large sponges into quarters and that seems to be a very good size.
CLICK HERE to see how I store my sponges to make it easy.


I am pretending that my light source is coming from the upper left corner and that this oval shape is really a rounded egg.
Using the sponge and a light circular motion I darkened the bottom right hand side of my shape. Do a little first, take a minute to look at it and do some more if you want it more defined.


Then I take a marker in the same color and darken the bottom right hand side. I make it wider at the farthest corner from the light source and do another layer on that bottom right section to make it even darker.


Then last I add my highlight with my white gel pen in the corner that the light source is hitting. You are done! You now have a rounded egg looking shape out of a totally flat piece of paper! Now you can just apply this same technique to whatever shape you have using the shading chart above.


I hope this was helpful! I tried to keep it pretty basic.
Here are some good links I found for more information on this topic:

1. CLICK HERE

2. CLICK HERE

3. CLICK HERE

4. CLICK HERE

Blush Blossom Retiring - HELP PLEASE!

I have received many emails from people about the Blush Blossom color being retired. This is the perfect skin tone for punch art people. I have emailed and called Stampin' Up with my concerns about the loss of this color. There really is no other color to replace it for making people. They are keeping only the marker as of now, not the paper or the ink pad. There are many other colors that are going out that I will miss, but this is the only color that there really is no replacement for at all.

I am asking all you great stampers out there who look at my blog to PLEASE call or email Stampin' Up and urge them to keep this color. Maybe if they hear from enough of us we will still be able to make punch art people!

Phone:
1-800-STAMP UP
(1-800-782-6787)

E-mail:
marketing@stampinup.com

Graduation Tri-fold Card

I saw a great card like this on the Seasons of Stamping blog by Martha Stewart.
I have a tutorial on my site for how to make the graduation cap shape out of the Top Note die, CLICK HERE to see how!
You can see the tutorial to make the base of this card on Splitcoast by CLICKING HERE!
For my card I used a 4" x 12" piece of paper instead of the 3 1/2" x 10 1/2" it shows in the tutorial.
Sorry for a post full of links but hope they are helpful!

This is how I made the string for the tassle:

Cut a length of 1/4" grosgrain ribbon.
Fray one end a little and pull the string that goes across the length of the ribbon. Keep pulling until the entire ribbon is just threads. Make sure you hold on good so they don't end up all tangled. If the side you have started does not pull, just turn the ribbon around and try the other end.


I tied the center in a knot to keep them together and put it under the 1" circle in the center of the hat with glue dots.

Important Announcement - Retiring Colors!

Color Renovation

If you are waiting to order retiring card stock, reinkers and such I advise that you don't wait!!
Please read the important announcement Stampin' Up! has released:

With Stampin’ Up!’s recent Color Renovation announcement, we have experienced a spike–much greater than anticipated–in demand for some of our retiring colors
For re-inkers in retiring colors, as we run out, they will be placed on backorder status and those orders will be filled as quickly as we receive the product. We will continue to do this to the best of our ability through May, and then the re-inkers will be available while supplies last in June. Card stock presents a bit larger problem, and because of this, textured paper may be substituted for some of the smooth colors–including card stock in 8-1/2″ x 11″ as well as 12″ x 12″–where the smooth is no longer available. You will notice these colors go on backorder, and we will be filling as many of those as possible with textured card stock. Because the demand for each color varies, we are unable to provide a list of what colors of card stock will be substituted with textured, or at what point that will happen. However, if you receive a package of card stock that is textured instead of smooth, there will be a sticker on the package indicating that change.

If you want anything in the retiring colors, I would suggest that you place your orders as soon as you can!!

You can order with me by emailing me your order at:
prattdesign@gmail.com

or you can go onto my
Stampin' Up website
and place the order yourself!

The orders for the retiring colors can be combined with orders for everything in the current mini and large catalog as well.
CLICK HERE to see the information on the retiring colors.

Tanning Bikini Beach Babe

I saw this great site that showed how to make this bikini beach girl. I changed it around a bit and made it into a card. CLICK HERE to see the original site that I got this from!

I changed a few things around slightly so here is how I made my card!
head - 1" circle
hair - scallop circle punch
sunglasses - scallop edge punch
body - wide oval with punches taken out of the sides
arms - photo corner punch
legs - word window
sandals - word window

Punch the pieces for the body out of Blush Blossom cardstock. I sponged them with Creamy caramel to look tan.


Make a fork bow with ribbon for the bikini. CLICK HERE for the directions to make a 'fork bow'. Wrap the ends around the back and tape them down for the top and bottom.


I used so saffron for the hair with the edges sponged.


For the sandals I used the word window punch and just trimmed them shorter like shown.


The beach blanket was a 3" x 3" piece of paper trimmed to give it perspective. The main card is creamy caramel and the water is Brocade Blue ripped and sponged with white craft ink.
I added some non-Stampin' Up bling for the belly button piercing and the earrings.
Hope you like her!

How to Tie a FORK BOW

So I found a great project to do that said to use a 'fork bow'. I had no idea what this was so I looked it up and thought I would share this great technique!

Here is how to tie a fork bow:
You will need a dinner fork (with 4 tines) and about 8" of ribbon of your choice. You can use less but it's much easier with something to hold onto. I used Razzleberry 5/8" polka dot ribbon but its a little easier with 1/4" ribbon.
First you are going to fold the ribbon in half to make a loop and put it around the fork.


Now take your back ribbon and wrap it around the front. Thread it through the center of the tines under the other ribbon.

Now take the front ribbon that you just crossed the back ribbon over and pull it forward.

Bring it up and stick it in the center of the fork tines on top of the other ribbon.

This is what it looks like from the back if you flip over the fork.

Now just tie the ribbon in a knot (still the back of the fork) and that will hold the center piece in place.

Slide it off of your fork and you have a tiny little bow! You can trim the ends for however long you need them.
This technique does work better with thinner ribbon, maybe 1/4" thickness.

Card for Dad

I made this card for my father a while ago as a 'thank you for being you' type of card. I used a photo of him walking me down the aisle at my wedding for the silhouette. I thought you could do a lot with this for a wedding or for Father's Day.

CLICK HERE to get the FREE template for the silhouette image!

The Sunshine Award!

I am honored to say that I have recently been awarded the Sunshine award by THREE different people! I am so honored!! I have been a little busy with my son's third Birthday and celebrating Mother's day so I am a little late in posting this. I also need to come up with my links for the award which I will do soon, I promise! I am having so much much trouble coming up with only 12 favorites in all of the blogs that I like!

I was awarded this from these great talented ladies. Check out their sites!
Pamela Browne - Stampin' for the Soul
Linda Cary - Linda's Paper Garden
Sage Kimbal - Stamping Madly