Chickies aren't just for girls

I definitely love my DeNami Design chickies. I've taught many classes utilizing them over the years. Once again I wanted to use them for my class in May but wanted to do something different. I wanted to create some cards that will work to give to the men in our lives. I think stampers and crafters think these chickies are girlie and they cannot use them to make a card for a man. I picked a few chickies and created three cards that can be used for a multitude of occasions.

Hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed creating them.

If you live nearby why not join me for my class at KEPT Creations on Sunday, May 5th from 1-3pm. You can pay online or call the store (781-447-4010) to sign up for the class.

Cardapolooza

I notice that many students that take crafting classes have a tendency to save the cards and projects they make in the class. I know people like to use them for inspiration or to refer to when making other cards, but I also think these cards should be used for those occasions that they were intended for. 

I've seen classes where you can make different versions of the same card. I liked this idea and thought that not only can you keep one for yourself but you can also use the extras. I decided to teach a class like this and put a different spin on it. These classes usually use several different stamp sets but I wanted to show people that you could do this same thing but use only one set of stamps. I picked the stamp set 'Flap Happy' from Paper Smooches and used some of the dies that go with this set.

What I like about this stamp set is that it has several different sentiments that could work different occasions. Plus, they could be used to create not only elegant cards but also cute and whimsical cards.

I went to my LSS Kept Creations and looked for papers that would work together as a sets. I knew I could create at least four different cards from the stamp set of I decided to make 3 cards for each style. I picked three papers for each set that would coordinate well together.

Here are the four sets of cards I taught in my class.

 For the first set I used the Secret Garden collection from Graphic 45

 I combined two different paper lines for the second set Canvas Corp and Pebbles

 For this set I used three different paper lines BoBunny, Jillibean Soup and Lawn Fawn

Last but not least I used Graphic 45, Bella Blvd and Echo Park

Hope this approach to cardmaking shows that you can make many cards from just one set of stamps. You can also use just the stamps, just the dies or both and by just changing the papers a little you have the same look but a slightly different card. 

Whoopie Pie Inchie

I just had to share my latest 'inchie' creation. Our inchie swap meets once a month at KEPT Creations and our challenge for April was 'Dessert.' I knew I wanted to make a 'whoppie pie' inchie for the swap. I applied brown Liquid Applique to the the top of two chipboard 'rinchies,' heated them to get puffiness and since the color wasn't exactly what I wanted I used my Copics to get the right shade of brown. Then I used white Liquid Applique on the other side of one rinchie and heated it. I put them together to form the whoopie pie.

Since I wanted to attach my info for the participants in swap, I added a small piece of paper under the white Liquid Applique and then adhered the other end to the other rinchie to create a hinge. 

The added bonus is I wanted to make inchie-sized whoopie pies. It took a little trial and error but I made them. 

It was so worth it. Each person received 6 inchie whoopie pies. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did creating them.

VOTE on Election Day

I created this pin for KEPT Creations which was open for Election Day since the polls were just across the street from the store. Kim wanted a make & take for the occasion and I just knew exactly what I wanted to make for it. I used DeNami Design's Patriotic Chickie for the centerpiece. I just punched a 1 inch circle from some old DesignsbyReminisce paper and adhered it to a bottle cap, popped the chick with foam tape and stamp the 'I VOTED' using small letters by JustRite Stampers. Once the pin was assembled I adhered a pin back and it was all set to go.

It's a good thing I made these because when I went to vote there weren't any of those 'I Voted' stickers they usually handout. Hope everyone made it to the polls and the campaign season will be over soon.

DeNami Design Halloween Blog Hop

  

It's finally here, the DeNami Design Halloween Blog Hop. I'm so excited to participate in this blog hop. I've loved these stamps for so long and now I get a chance to show everyone how much I adore them.

The blog hop starts today October 14th at 6 AM, PST. However, you have until October 15, 2012, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs (to be eligible for a prize). Make sure you comment as you go along the blog hop because DeNami Design is giving away THREE $20 gift certificates to their website! They'll be giving away one gift certificate to a random participant (DT members not eligible) and then they'll also be giving away TWO gift certificates to TWO people who comment along the hop!

If you are following along the blog hop you just came from Barbara Murphy's blog. There are loads of beautiful cards and whimsical cards in this blog hop. If you get lost along the way just go back to DeNami Design's blog to find the list of participants.

Here's the first card I created for Halloween. It's pretty simple and it utilizes the 'inchies' I so love.

DeNami Design keeps coming out with these cute chickie stamps and I just have to have them all! I stamped the new Franken-Chickie and Kitty-Chickie on the 'inchie' and colored them in with my copics and then ran a marker along the edges to give each one of them a border. Stamped the sentiment and colored it in with my copics too. I backed them with scalloped squares, mounted them on this diamond patterned paper and put it on a 3x6 inch card. Lastly, I added a small strip of black velvet ribbon.


This next card was something I wanted to do and this blog hop gave me the opportunity to try it out.

I had stamped all the chickie stamps on cardstock whenever I did a little make & take for my local stamp store. I picked the chickies that I thought would work well as costumes for Halloween. I stamped the three houses onto cardstock and colored it and the chickies with copics. I stamped the fence directly onto the card several times. I mounted the houses onto the card with foam tape. Then, I cut a few small pieces of gray cardstock and scored them to look like a sidewalk and adhered them along the bottom and also leading to the house. Next, if just randomly put the chickies along the sidewalk, some are popped up to give a little dimension. I punched out three circles from metallic cardstock, stamped the smallest with the 'Trick or tweet' stamp and popped each layer with foam tape.

My next project came as a brainstorm just before leaving for vacation last week. I bought a small 1x1 bag die by Memory Box a while ago thinking I would use it sometime in the future. I was trying to think of another idea for this blog hop that wasn't a card. As I was looking at the halloween petit four set and the friendly bat stamp, I thought it would be cute to create little 'trick or tweet' bags.

I cut out the bags from several different patterned paper and kraft cardstock. I stamped them in Brillance graphite black and sprinkled some clear embossing powder and heat set it to give the images a little pop.

I cut some leftover coils for binding in half, colored them with a black sharpie and bent them a little to create handles for some of the bags.

I also, stamped the spider and bat on cardstock and used atyouspica's to color them in and added 3mm googly eyes for a little character.

It was a little hard to find candy to fit in these little bags but the end result was cute and a great way to decorate a Halloween tree I picked up at Michaels.

I hope you enjoyed the cards and little bags. The next blog on you will hop to is Kristy Smith's. I know you'll enjoy all the creations along this blog hop.

Zutter Basics

Do you own a Zutter Bind-It-All?

Have you taken it out of the box?
Do you know how to use it?
Have you used it to make an album?
Have you used it to make a cute project?

If you answered ‘Yes’ to the first question but ‘No’ to any of the following questions then this is the class for you. Lots of people are afraid to use this tool for fear of messing up their project, but we’ll get to know our Zutter Bind-It-All in this class by learning some basic information about the tool and what additional items work with it, such as the extension paper guide bar and stop guide. We’ll create a sample book of materials that can be used with the zutter along with a 6×6 mini album with lots of pages. Some will fold out or have pockets, along with lots of other techniques to create a unique album.

Call the store to sign up for this class or go to this link and pay via paypal.

ATC and Inchie swap

I participate in an ATC swap at a local scrapbook store, The Crop Shop, and I run an inchie swap at the same store. We make a certain amount of inchies and then swap them out at our gathering. Here are some of the inchies from the July inchie swap. Each one of us usually comes up with different ideas and techniques to showcase the particular themes each time.

 Inchie Swap - 1920s, Food/Recipe and challenge - Hobbies

These are my ATC and inchies for the swap we had in September. I made little replica of an iPhone for the ATC and then I was stumped on the inchie but then I remembered that I had a stamp of an envelope and one of a snail which paired well with a DeNami Design stamp of a chickie with a computer. Snail mail to email. Then I used Elizabeth Crafts peel-offs and glitter to make these fall pumpkins and leaves for the fall theme. I used copics and a JustRite stamp set. For the challenge I used a collection from Reminisce that I picked up last year in while traveling through Tennessee. I incorporated my inchie into the ATC.

                      ATC/Inchie - Technology                   ATC/Inchie - Fall

ATC/Inchie Challenge - Halloween

                           Here are the ATCs made by those in the swap.

                            ATC swap - Technology                   ATC swap - Fall

ATC/Inchie challenge - Halloween

                              Here are the inchies made by those in the swap.

                  Inchies swap - Technology                Inchies swap - Fall

Our next ATC and inchie swap is Saturday, November 10th from 10a-noon and the themes are 'animal' and ' fairy tales' plus the challenge is 'veterans.' We'll also be making a 3x4 book with pockets to store the ATCs. If you would like to participate in our next please call the store and sign up.