Glass Etching

This is a candle tray that I made. I was actually trying for a darker etch but was worried that something was going wrong and stopped the process too early. The little yellow flecks are actually on our desk, not on the tray.

You'll need some kind of glass, flat works best for stamping. Armor etch, latex gloves, clear embossing powder, heat tool.

Wash and dry your glass (since I used a tray that's what I'll call it from now on). If you are going to be using your tray for serving food, you want to etch the other side, not the food side.

Pick what design you want. Something with lots of details or fine lines doesn't work very well. You want something a little solid.

Emboss just as you would for paper. If you accidentally slip, just wash it off and start over. Then emboss. This took me a bit longer that I thought it would. I guess the glass had to heat up too.

After you have it embossed, get your gloves on and your armor etch. After that you will need to follow whatever directions are on your etching compound. When the etching is complete, just wash it off and then scrape off the embossing powder to leave a clear image.

When it's done and dry you have a one of a kind gift to give or keep! I'm making a couple with a Christmas design, fill the plate with cookies and give it to our schools secretaries.

pyramid box

One of my co-workers had this little pyramid on her desk showing the food chain or something like that. I saw it and thought, wow, what a cool box!

So here is my first cut. The top is actually supposed to tuck inside but it was easier to secure it with loopy brads. I also used organza ribbon as a hanger but next time I would make both the hanger and the fastener the same.

I have visions of 10 or so of these on my Christmas tree this year!

Goodie Boxes

We are having a group of friends over on Saturday to carve pumpkins.

I made these little goodie bags for all of the kids who will be there.

It was easy but time consuming because there are so many (in fact, I think I still need two more!).

I used Beate's one sheet box as a template and just went from there. Here's what the first one looked like. If you look close you can see that they got a lot more basic after this one!!

Another Mini Scrapbook

This was a quick little scrapbook I made to highlight our trip up to mount hood.

It was so easy!! The hardest part was getting the pictures the right size to fit. You can make this any size depending on your pictures.

Figure out the size of the pictures you want to place in it, double that (because you will have a picture on the top and bottom). Add 1/4" to 1/2" to measurements and this will be your inside pages to mount the pictures on.

The add another 1/2" to 1" to those measurements and that will be your cover.

You can embellish the cover anyway you want. Punch a couple of holes to run your ribbon through. The ribbon goes behind the pictures so make sure the pictures are put in last.

After you make your "pages", they are simply stapled to the cover

This would be a fun gift for grandparents.

Teacher Gifts

Here's a gift I made for one of the teachers I worked for last year. This is another easy project and very cost effective. The journal came from the dollar store and the pen was probably another 1.00.

It's a great use for the older Stampin' Up! Designer paper that was only printed on one side.

The "K" is sponged around all the edges and I used grograin ribbon along the edges.

The flowers are from "Got Flowers?". I put a daub of crystal effects in the center of each one and put some little clear beads.

The pen has the same paper inside as the cover of the journal.

Gift Box

Here's what I made last night. I love giving gift cards as gifts. I'm finding though, that the trick is to package them in a fantastic way.

I came up with this little box last night. It's 2 1/2 inches X 3 1/2 inches with 1/2 inch in height. It could be thinner.

The flaps on the ends just fold in. This one is for a Starbucks cards (duh!)

I'll upload the template this weekend. You could resize this box to hold just about anything!

Never Ending Tag Card

This is an easy, but impressive card to make. The base of the card is pink.

I mounted the patterned paper onto the brown cardstock. After cutting out the mini envelope, I mounted it onto the patterned paper and then cut a slit in the bottom of the envelope all the way through the cardstock. This way, when you put the tag in it will slide all the way down.

Then I just folded the envelope and made a tag that was about 5 inches long to put in the envelope.

Soccer Scrapbook Pages

Whew! I'm only 1 year behind on my scrapbooking!

Here are the pages I did for my kids 2006 soccer season.

I always try to get as many pictures on one page as I can so the Stampin Up! tag punch really came in handy here!

There's no stamping on these pages. I have a really great dragonfly stamp but when I was at the scrapbooking store I found these wonderful pastel colored and glittered dragonflies (that was her team name) for my daughters page.

I also like the way I placed the row of tags along the bottom.

Mini Scrapbook

Here's a quick and easy mini scrapbook that also makes a great gift for grandma.

You can make these as big or little as you want simply by adjusting the measurements.

The end product of this one is 4X4. I started with an 81/2 X 11 sheet of paper and cut it down to 8X8. I used an envelope flap for a template to make the closure.

Since I had so few pictures in this one I didn't have to worry about it not closing but you could add an extra fold along each edge so you could put more accordian folds in it.

You are going to want to decorate the front before mounting your picture in though, especially if you're planning on used brads, eyelets, or anything like that.

This is simply tied shut with gold cord but you could get as fancy as you'd like.

I have pictures on both sides of the accordian fold.

You can make these using a theme (all halloween or all christmas, whatever). They're quick and they mail nicely!

Shaving Cream

If you've never done the shaving cream technique you have go to try it. It's messy but I love the results.

It works best with non-glossy cardstock. Take regular shaving cream (not gel), the dollar stores usually carry it. Spray some cream into a flat pan.

Take a couple of different colors of reinkers. Here I used blue and green for water. You could use orange and purple for halloween, pumpkin and brown for thanksgiving, etc.

Dot the reinkers over the cream and, with a toothpick, or skewer, or a pencil, swirl the ink through the cream until you like the way it looks.

Carefully lay your cardstock into the cream, lift off and wipe with paper towels.

You get the most amazing background paper!!

eek!

I saw a card similar to this one in a magazine. I used one of the tag stamps from Stampin' Up! and used a black marker to color the stamp.

The spider webs and drag lines were drawn by hand.

I used Everyday Flexible Phrases for the "happy halloween".

You can't really tell from the picture but along the right side and half way across the bottom I used my piercing tool to punch little holes.

I used traditional orange and black but a deep purple and orange would look great too!!

Ornaments

This is a fun project that is very quick and easy.

I couldn't get a very good picture but they really look great in person!

I hope I explain this well enough. If you need more instructions just email me.

You will need the following items.









Printed paper or paper that you have stamped on. Cardstock is a little bit too thick. If you want to use cardstock then skip all the steps dealing with the thin chipboard.

Thin chipboard, such as the chipboard that Stampin' Up! puts in their designer paper as a stiffener.
Small hole punch and a large circle punch

Linen thread or some other means of making a "hanger"
Glue gun, Sticker maker or glue stick

First you will need to cut your paper so that it will go through your sticker maker. If you are going to glue your paper to the chipboard then it won't matter what size it is.

Put your paper through the sticker maker and mount it onto the chipboard.

Do the same with another piece of paper, either the same pattern, a contrasting or a complimentary pattern.





Mount the second piece by turning the chipboard over and mount it on the opposite side of the chipboard.

If you are using cardstock just stick the two pieces of cardstock together.








Punch out or cut 4 circles. The bigger your circles, the bigger your ornament.












When you have four circles you will need to cut slits in two of them. Only cut half way through each.












Then, make the same cut again, very close so that you end up with a "slot" that is tight.

Punch a hold in one of the circles with a slit punch. This is where you will put your linen thread for hanging.









Cut the remaining two circles completely in half.












Slide the two circles that are cut half-way through together.









With your glue gun, pipe a thin bead of glue along the inside edge of one of the wedges. Quickly stick one of the "halves" into place.

Continue with the remaining three half-circles until you go all the way around the ornament.












Now you have a cute ornament to hang. Use different types of paper for different holidays!!


The flash made the glue really show up but it doesn't show up that much in real life.

Snowflake Card

This card was so easy to make. It's hard to see but the brad has a crystal center that really shines.

I love the see through snowflake. I wish I would have bought more of them!

I also think this would have looked better with some stitching but I hadn't got more sewing machine out yet when I made it.

Holiday Party Mix

This is a great gift for neighbors. You can make a big batch, it looks great in the gift jar and is delicious!!

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
8 cups corn or rice square cereal
1 cup white baking pieces
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 cups cashews
1-1/3 cups dried cranberries

Directions

1. In a large zip loc bag combine powdered sugar and nutmeg; set aside. Place cereal in a very large bowl; set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan combine white baking pieces, peanute butter, and butter. Stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.

3. Pour butter mixture over cereal mixture; carefully stir until cereal is evenly coated. Cool slightly. Add cereal mixture, half at a time, to powdered sugar mixture in bag and shake to coat. Add nuts and fruit. Shake until combined. Pour into shallow baking pan lined with waxed paper to cool. Store in an airtight container up to 2 days. Makes about 14 cups.

Kids Version: Prepare as above, except substitute 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder for the nutmeg; peanuts for the cashews; and dried raisins for the dried cranberries. You can even throw in some M&M's or Recees Pieces.

Black and White Card

This is a simple card I made one day when I was trying to be very elegant!!

The black is mounted on a quarter sheet of white.

I used white craft ink and white organza ribbon.

Scallop Punch

I've been playing around with my scallop punch. I really like it so far.

It's hard to tell but this card uses Green Galore, Summer Sun, and Elegant Eggplant. The colors look great together.

I used gold cord and wrapped it around the punch to give it more definition. The punch is mounted on the card with Stampin' Dimensionals to make it stand out even more.

Fantasy Box

This is one of those projects that is fairly simple but gets rave reviews!! The main thing here is to take it easy and go step by step. You can get all of the instructions at the website listed below. You can do just about anything you can think of to close the box, I used a little turny thing here but I've also used ribbon and velcro.



I was very surprised how easy it was to place the "shelves" so the box would close. My only suggestion would be that when you are initially laying the box out, after you placed your stamped or printed paper over the chipboard or heavy cardboard, fold the box before the glue dries and let it dry folded. I tore my first box because I let it dry flat and then tried to fold it.

Be sure to give this one a try!!

http://www.stubbystampers.com/whatsnew/projects/fantasybox.html

Pie Dough

I think I'm going to make Thursday's my recipe day. As much as I'd like to I can't spend all my time stamping!!

With the holidays coming up everyone needs pie!! Here's a no-fail pie dough recipe. You don't have to worry about handling this dough too much (within reason). It's easy to make, turns out a great flaky crust and it freezes, so you can make the dough now, and make your pie later!!

1 3/4 cup Shortening (the cheap kind works great)
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar

Cut together shortening, flour and salt. Mix the other ingredients together then mix into the flour mixture. Divide your dough (this should make 4 one shell pies or 2 with a top crust). Roll out on a floured board or freeze for later.

Getting ready for Christmas

It's hard to believe that it's already time to start working on Christmas cards. Here's some ideas that I've come up with, some I've "cased" but some are my own design. I've made a bunch and have kind of decided on at least two different designs, plus I'll give these away except for the couple that I don't like much.

This one was very simple, which I like, and I love the corner punch from Stampin' Up!.














I like the rustic look of this one.




















This one was easy enough but my note card inside keeps falling out.




















I really like this one but I found it a little hard to get consistent images since I was using white craft ink and brown marker. Plus I had to clean the stamp after every stamped image!