Sites of the week

Happy {Good} Friday! I finally reached for some more spring-y pastel colors and made this little basket as a gift for my neighbor. It’s filled with iridescent grass and a cello bag filled with pastel jellybeans {yummy ones!}.

I started off with a 8.5″ square paper {PTI Lemon Tart} and score at 2.75″ on each side. I then cut, folded and pasted it into box form. I covered the sides with purple polka dot paper {The Paper Studio} and then punched holes to thread the ribbon in and out of. The ribbon is secured on the inside of the box with red-line tape. I then added a handle made of the same ribbon that I threaded through the basket {PTI Lemon Tart Saddle Stitch ribbon}. The buttons are both for decoration and they secure the handle…well, actually, I guess that is what the linen thread is doing, but you get the idea.

In the pic above and below, you can see the scalloped scallop edge that I added. This is becoming one of my “go to” punches {EK Success}. It’s one that I picked up at Michael’s with my handy 40% off coupon. As for the front of the basket, I cut out 2 flowers with my Slice machine, ran them through the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder and inked the edges. Then, I added a Prima flower and the butterfly punches topped with Swarovski crystals.

Here’s a shot of the inside of the bag topped with PTI New Leaf satin ribbon inside the box…

This was a super easy project that can easily be customized for holidays and events. Although I chose not to, a sentiment or name could easily be hung off the handle. These would be lots of fun for favors for showers or kid’s parties. Have fun with it!

Hope you have a wonder Friday! I will be back tomorrow with another Sketch For You To Try!

Yes, you read correctly ABC THURSDAY. I normally do an ABC {Anything But a Card} project each Friday, but I have one today and one on Sunday, so I am jumbling this week up a little. Hope you don’t mind

First, I want to thank Katharina Frei of Whiff Of Joy for inviting me to be a Guest Designer. I have loved working with these stamps and hope to grow my collection in the future. Today I am bring you a tag that I did after seeing this bottle of wine from CUPCAKE VINEYARDS…how cute is that?!? {the name of the wine co.}

I used the Melinda with Muffin Basket stamp and colored it with Copics and highlighted her wings using my Sakura Stardust pen {spread with rubbing alcohol in an aqua painter}.

For my finishing touches, I used a EK Success punch along edge and then put in yellow Dew Drops/Bellas Baubles. The punch is one that I picked up at Michael’s and I am not sure of the name, but I refer to it as the “scalloped scallop.” I also used some Papertrey red/white polka dot ribbon tied together with SU! white tafetta ribbon.

See you tomorrow when I start showing you some fun sneak peeks at the new stuff coming out from Taylored Expressions.

TGIF! Today I have a couple of things to show you. First, I made some of my own embellishments using the Slice machine, Cuttlebug, Primas, a button and dimensional glue dots. These were SO EASY to put together and ANYONE can do this! So, you are saying, “I don’t have a Slice machine!” No problem…if you have scissors, you can cut a couple flowers out of paper. Yes, that is a **little** more work, but it does work!

Here’s the finished product, which I will be giving away VERY SOON…

How I did it…
First, I cut 2 different 2 flowers with the Slice machine (2″ and 1.5″). I used the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss the larger one. I then placed a dimensional glue dot between the 2 flowers. I glued a Prima flower on top and then topped it all off with a button. Done and done!…easy peasy! I made all six in less than 20 minutes…including the packaging!

I have one more thing to show you today. This is the project that I did for the Verve Stamps Project Parade. The theme this month is “Egg-stra Special Spring.” All of the DT members have been posting their special projects with this theme on the Verve blog. I chose to make little favor/treat bags. These are really tiny and cute! The bag measures about 2.5″ x 3.5″.

See you tomorrow for another SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY!

Welcome to ABC {Anything But A Card} Friday! I am the featured Baker’s Dozen designer in today’s TE newsletter and I am happy to show you this sweet little Easter project using one of the recessed frames from Taylored Expressions.

This frame uses paper, flowers and a glitter brad from the March/Easter Key Ingredients kit, as well as stamps from the the Sweet Spring set.

How I did it…
First, I painted the frame with white paint and allowed it to dry. I pressed a pieced of the pink stripe paper into/around the recessed opening and rubbed a bone folder along the edges so that I could see where to cut to get a precise panel to fit within the recess. I then used my Nesabilities to cut the scallop and straight edge heart, which are mounted on dimensional glue dots. On top of the heart, I added the flowers, brad and sentiment panel. The bunny was stamped, colored and paper pieced and then placed in the lower right corner. As for my finishing touches, I added the buttons along the edges.
This is meant to be an Easter gift, but could easily be displayed year round on a plate holder or with added magnets and placed on the fridge. You could use multiples of these frames and attach them with ribbon or hinges to make more of a display piece, too. Without trying to sound too cliche, but the possibilities are endless.

See you tomorrow for another Sketch For You To Try with a Whiff of Joy blog tart!

Welcome to another edition of ABC {Anything But A Card} Friday! Today I am showing you a frame that I made the day before I left to come to San Diego. This is actually a 4-section shallow tray from Glue. I am pretty sure that these are about the greatest trays/frames around to make personal gifts. I think that this is the 4th one that I have made…and I rarely do something more than once, which is really more of a time constraint thing rather than a personal choice.

I started with the plain unfinished tray and painted it white. The squares are layered with Papertrey Dark Chocolate, Sweet Blush and Stamper’s Select White. The top square is cut out with scallop square Nestabilities and then embossed with the Swiss Dots embossing folder for Cuttlebug. It is also mounted on dimensional glue dots for added depth. The swirls are cut from Prism Intense Kiwi cardstock with the Basics 3 Slice cartridge. I added Prima flowers, acrylic accents and brads as the finishing touches to the squares.

Along the outer edges of the frame, I applied a scalloped scalloped {yes, I said that twice on purpose} edge. This is a fun new punch from EK Success that creates a scalloped edge, but the scallops actually have scallops on them, too! Very fun! The bird in the center is a Jenni Bowlin chipboard piece that I covered with American Crafts cardstock. The wing is the same Prism Intense Kiwi as that swirls in the squares. I also ran it through the Swiss Dots embossing folder to coincide with the texture inside the squares. The sentiment is from PSX {”retired”} and is topped off with another Prima, and button like the ones that I applied to the four outer corners.

I hope you enjoyed this ABC Friday as much as me! See you tomorrow for another Sketch For You To Try!