Altered Notebook

I picked up a few of these fat little notebooks at Family Dollar for $1. I decided I would make little notebooks for my convention friends. It took me just about all day to make 10 of them, but they are done and I'm really pleased with how they turned out. They were really easy to make. This particular size is a quarter sheet size (4.25x5.5) So it was pretty quick cutting everything out. I unwound the wire so i could make the holes perfect. I glued my front on and then flipped it over to see where the original holes were and then used my 3/16th side of my Crop-A-Dile to punch the holes. That by far was the worst part of the project. I thought the unwinding and winding back up would be bad, but it really wasn't! I used Stampin Up supplies for everything. The stamp set is the Level 3 Hostess set, Kind and Caring thoughts. I used the new in color markers to color the image and then used Melon Mambo for the base, Razzleberry Lemonade DSP, Rich Razzleberry and Crushed Curry cardstock. I used my mini calendar alphabet to spell "notes" and then cut them all out. I hope everyone who receives them loves them as much as I do! hehe!

swaps

In just two weeks I will be surrounded by thousands of Stampin Up demonstrators at our yearly Convention. I am so excited I can't even stand it! It is tradition to make swaps and trade cards with people. So here are the cards I've prepared.

This card is for a "case the catty" swap I'm doing, but it's not actually a part of convention. I copied the card on page 105. I changed the colors to Ricsah Razzleberry, Elegant Eggplant, Burmuda Bay, and Basic Gray. I used a cotton swap and smeared ink on the circles of the leaves. It seems like that's what they would have done and it worked out great! I used the flower punch (the one that has three flowers, I can't remember what it's called) and a clear rhinestone brad near the sentiment. I used Sahara sand for the sentiment. They used Kraft in their example, which wasn't used elsewhere, so I figured Sahara Sand was a good substitute for my color scheme. This picture does not even do this card justice. It might be the best card I've ever created!

This card is also part of the "case the catty" swap. I cased the card on pg 82 for the Lots Of Bots page. I knew the moment I laid eyes on the bots that I had to have them. So I told myself if I was going to get them I'm have to use it to make my swaps. I only had Real Red 5/8 grosgrain ribbon, so I pretty much had to design the whole card around that color. I wanted the bot to have some sort of red in it, but to actually color it red was too much. I inked him up with Real Red ink, and then lightly color washed him Crushed Curry. Seems like that got the red point across, but wasn't so in your face. I used Soft Suede for the card base, Burmuda bay for the long strip, Crushed Curry for the mat and then my Real Red ribbon with a filigree brad. Unfortunatly that was the best option for the brad that's meant for that spot. It looks good enough I think.

Now this card is for a true convention event. We are having a dinner the opening night of convention, and this will be my swap. Again I used Lots of Bots (because I had to :)). I used Burmuda Bay for the Card base, with accents of Crushed Curry. You may notice it's the same layout as I did for my July projects. That's who much I loved the layout! I used Thoroughly Modern Designer Series paper here with Soft Suede grosgrain ribbon. I punched my bot out with the 1 3/4 punch, but then used the Circles big shot die to get the border. (something I wished I would have had when we did our July club). I plan on making this same card with girl colors, so I can prove these bots are for girls too!! hehe. I still have to make my "general" swapping cards. I'll probably make about 50 card fronts and I'm not sure what I'll do yet.

July Projects

Here are the projects for our July workshop. I found this card layout for an advertisement for a whole other company. I loved it immediately and thought it would work great showcasing the new in colors and Designer Series Paper, Which by the way is Razzelberry Lemonade. The new In Colors this year are just amazing. I am completely in love with them already!

This card showcases the new darker purple, Rich Razzleberry; new yellow, Crushed Curry; and the new bold pink, Melon Mambo. I used the In color markers to color the cupcake from Party Hearty and used the 1 3/4 circle punch to punch it out. The ric rac is actually Elegant Eggplant, but it went very well with the paper, so I used it. It's part of one of the Ribbon Original bundles. This card was so quick and easy to throw together. A person could easily put a birthday/celebration sentiment where the ric rac is and have the same darling card!

WE also made this post it note holder. I loved this bird set so much that I just had to use it this month for our workshop. The set is called Bird on a Branch. I used Soft Suede for the branch, So Saffron for the spotty leaves, and Tempting Turquoise for the bird. You can't really see from the picture, but I used the color spritzer in the background with a Certainly Celery marker. It's very cute in real life. Also I used the new phrases set called "Teeny Tiny Wishes" at the bottom. I picked up the post it notes at the dollar store 4 / $1, so it makes this project very inexpensive. I used So Saffron Cardtock for the base, then Tempting Turquoise for the mat, and Very Vanilla for the picture. I wrapped Certainly Celery 1/4 grosgrain ribbon around the whole thing to keep it closed. Because the post it notes are a different shade of yellow, I matted them on a piece of Tempting Turquoise card stock just like what's on the front. This project was a little more time consuming because we used the stamp-a-ma-jig for precision for the branch and leaves. But it could easily be mass produced. We cut the bird out and popped it up with a dimensional.