Field Journals

A few years ago when I bought my Bind It All tool I made a small journal for my son and put a dinosaur on the front so it would look proper for a little boy.  Ever since that time, he has carried small notebooks in his pockets (pants, snow pants, mud pants, back pack, lunch box, probably even some under the bed) and all of them are visibly scribed on "FIELD JOURNAL".  

Now, I love finding these "journals" when he forgets to put them away or I find them in the laundry as they are a glimpse into the very important matters of a seven year old boy.  I learn about the baby rabbit in the shrub behind the school, and that it does not like to be fed leaves, that the bug population on the boys bathroom floor at school has increased in population size since yesterday, what James had for lunch and what it looked and smelled like, and other assorted sundry matters that are of paramount importance.  

As I looked at my stack of these books that I keep on hand for that inevitable call "Mom, I need another journal" I decided I would use up some of the Twitterpated Designer Series Paper (DSP) and make some "girly" Field Journals.  The books are first covered in DSP and then the fabric flower from the Flowers Die are put on (there is Wonder Under on the back to fuse the flowers to the paper).  Various oddments are added on including buttons and on the middle one I cut and sewed the ribbon together to go around the book and then fused the flower to the ribbon.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Cookies a la Evelyn

While I love the idea of the Cookie Stamps from Stampin Up, I have difficulty with getting good images from the snowflake and now the heart Cookie Stamps.  The Halloween one was great because the image protruded from the stamp face, the other Cookie Stamps all have recessed images and this makes them difficult to work with.

My son and I decided to make the heart ones tonight (used the recipe that was included with stamp set - will not use it again, very bland flavour). 

After cutting out the cookies with a heart shaped cutter I tried using the stamp dipped in red decorator sugar and found the granules to big.  Then I tried coloring granulated sugar to see if that would work - didn't got a big gob of sugar.  Hmmmmmmm

As I stared into the cupboard wondering what else I could do I spied a box of wild cherry Jello!!  When I was a kid if my mom needed to color icing she would use Jello powder to color the icing rather than food coloring.  What if I dipped the stamp in Jello powder prior to stamping???

Well, this is what I got.  The cookies have a light flavor of wild cherry (my son has requested strawberry for next time), and the image comes out visible.  The baking process seems to intensify the color as well, the cookies were not this bright when I put them to bake.  

So there you have it, cookies a la Evelyn.  Thanks mom.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sale-a-bration Cards

I think I may have crafting commitment problems.  Not sure that there is a group or therapist out there trained in this exact niche of the psych world....hmmmm.

I started to make this card this morning with the intent to showcase the Every day Enchantment Designer Series Paper (DSP)  that you can get for free through Stampin Up's Sale-a-bration promotion.

I decided on my colors, Poppy Parade, Very Vanilla, and the Dsp, then decided to start building my card.

First I went for my Cuttlebug (not SU issue).

Then I took out this swirly embossing folder (might have come with the Cuttlebug as the lettering is all worn off - not SU issue).

After embossing the very vanilla I decided I would use my distressing kit (actually SU product) and used the flat stamp and Tea Stain ink on all the very vanilla images.

While getting out the Cuttlebug I came across an old set of Spellbinders die cutters in this scallop square shape and I thought that they looked kind of similar to the shapes on the DSP so I cut out matching Very Vanilla and Poppy Parade shapes.  

I stamped on the Very Vanilla using the You Are Loved stamp set (Christmas Holiday Mini 2011 - actually SU product).  The colors I used for the image are Cajun Craze, Old Olive and Baja Blue. 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

How to make Envelopes Kathy style

I have been playing a lot with my Simply Scored Tool, and I love it.  Over the Christmas holidays, I decided to make envelopes with it, and here is what I have come up with.

Cut Designer Series Paper at 6 3/4" wide, and 10" long.  

Score along with length side at 1/2" on both sides.

Turn paper so that the width/longest edge is along the top measurement line of the Simply Scored Tool.

Score Designer Series Paper at 1 1/2".

Score Designer Series Paper at 6".

Make cuts as seen above (cut out 1/2" wide rectangle on either side of 1 1/2" score mark - creates envelope flap).

Cut 1/2 inch on either side at 6" score mark.

Fold on scored lines towards inside of envelope.

Apply sticky strip along 1/2" edges on lower portion of envelope and fold upwards.

Insert card and enjoy.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Cut Once, Stamp Twice

Here is another edition of my Cut Once, Stamp Twice idea for the year.  This paper comes from the Sale-a-bration promotion that starts today with Stampin Up.  I used Lucky Limeaide card stock for the base, a layer of crumb cake and zig zag stitched the designer series paper to both cards.  The card on the left the image is from one of the stamp sets you can get during Sale-a-bration called Fresh Vintage.   The image was stamped on whisper white then applied to Lucky Limeaide card stock and stitched around the edge with Pool Party Bakers Twine (had to get more fiber in there).  The card on the right has flowers punched from the designer series paper as well as the solid card stock using the triple flower punch, and an antique brad in the center one just because I thought it was pretty.  

Now if you look closely on the left you will notice a matching envelope.  I love my Simply Scored Tool, and over the holidays started playing with it and decided to make envelopes.  It has just come to my attention that Stampin Up will be introducing a tool to assist with this, however, I will post my version of how to make envelopes tomorrow.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Oh S"crap"! It's Monday...

Oh S"crap", it's Monday again!  I went through my box of paper scraps today, and this is what I came up with.  Left over black card stock, a piece of whisper white card stock that had previously been run through the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, and a couple pieces of left over wax paper resist paper.  The wax paper resist paper is sponged with Pear Pizazz ink, then stamped with the Field Flowers (the Saskatchewan farm kid in me thinks that they look a lot like weeds).  The image is stamped with black Staz On ink.  The Poppy Parade flower (was really tempted to stamp it in either a more mustard or wisteria wonder so that it would look like a weed) is cut out with scissors and a pop dot underneath to add some dimension.  A small piece of black ribbon across the bottom to make it look pretty.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Penguin Quilt

This is the very first kit package that I picked up from The Quilt Patch.  I love their productions!!!  For this quilt there are 81 squares to make it and so I chose to cut 9 of the 6 inch squares from each of the 9 fabrics and then spent an agonizing afternoon figuring out how to make sure that the squares were all evenly placed.  I did it in Sodoku fashion that every row contains the same colors, but in different layouts.  Once the Sodoku part was solved I sewed all of the blocks together (my family was under the strictest rules to not move or in any manner disturb these blocks).  Then the penguin was appliqued on, and the penguin minkee back was placed on and quilted.  My son immediately "adopted" this quilt.  This quilt is one of those items that comes out of the closet for the holidays, although it will likely be the last one back in as my son usually keeps this quilt out until spring.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...


Kathy