Love Letter DSP Desk Set With Note Cards

The elegance of Love Letter DSP is perfectly presented in this desk set which includes seven note cards and matching bookmark.  It would make an excellent gift for your favorite teacher or avid reader!
 

Nanci discovered that the retired stamp set, Note to Self, matches the paper pattern in Love Letter DSP to a tee of T if you prefer!  Take a look at the stamped edges of the post-it notes and the black patterned paper of the note card holder--they are exactly the same pattern!

The note card holder contains seven note cards.  The stamp "just a little note" is from the Apple Blossom stamp set.

There are ten different book markers to choose from.  Each with their delightful "bookworm" sentiment which is also from the Apple Blossom stamp set. 

This set will be available for sale at the 29th Annual Oktoberfet Craft Show at Marion Catholic High School on October 10, 2010 in Chicago Heights, IL.  We hope to see you there!  Happy Crafting!

Pumpkin Instructions!

We have had several inquiries about our "Great Pumpkins" post from last Saturday.  The pumpkins were fast and fun to construct and decorate.  We hope these directions will assist you in creating your own pumpkin patch!

The pumpkins were made using 11 1" X 6" strips of card stock. Punch holes at top and bottom of card stock strips and run a piece of ribbon through the bottom and top holes. (I stacked mine and used the cropadile to go thru all 11 at once).  I used about an 8" piece of ribbon. Secure the ribbon at the bottom with a brad. Pull the ribbon from the top to form your shape and fan the strips around to form your circle. Tie off the top of the ribbon to form the stem, and decorate as you like!

If you want to purchase your pumpkins already made, plan to attend the 29th Oktoberfest Arts and Crafts Show at Marian Catholic High School on Sunday, October 10th!  You could also book a weekend retreat at Lake View Lodge in Dowagiac, MI and request a class in pumpkin paper crafting!


We've also received several inquiries about where we purchased that "skinny" bags used in Thursday's "Harvest Time Delights" post.  We purchased all our bags from Clearbags.com.


Happy Crafting!

Harvest Time Delights

 Our 1"X8" and 2"X5" clear bags arrived and we immediately put them to good use!   We punched out Cajun Craze tags stamped in basic brown with happy harvest from Loads of Love Accessories stamp set.  We layered a small More Mustard card stock oval stamped with Cajun Craze pumpkins from the same stamp set on top of the tag.  The edges of both punches were inked with Basic Brown to give added dimension.  The Sizzix Bag with Scallop die was cut using the Big Shot. 

The pumpkins were made with Cajun Craze and Autumn Spice DSP.  Punches used were the Medium Oval and 1" Circle punches.  The leaves are punched from the Two Step Bird punch.  Sentiment is stamped from Teeny Tiny Wishes and punched out with Word Window punch.

   
 Here are some close ups of the completed treat bags.  Both projects would make excellent table decorations and/or hostess gifts for your holiday dinner table.   These treats will also be for sale on our table at the 29th Annual Oktoberfest Marion Catholic High School Craft Fair.  We hope you will stop by and visit with us.  We will also have information about our weekend craft retreats at Lake View Lodge in Dowagiac, MI!

Batty For You And Treats Too!

Directions - Stamp, punch, punch, punch, glue wiggle eyes, glue, glue, white gel pen dots, cut, fold, fold, scallop border punch, punch, punch, punch, tie, insert sucker of your choice (ours is Carmel Apple), adhere back of sucker closure sleeve.

We found that these suckers are extremely top heavy.  We will be selling these Halloween treats at our upcoming craft show at Marion Catholic High School on October 10, 2010.  We could use a good display idea.   If you have a display solution that you would like to share with us,  please leave a comment on this post.

Recipe:
Paper: Wicked Fun Specialty DSP, Old Olive, Basic Black, Cajun Craze, Rich Razzleberry
Inks: Old Olive, Basic Black, Cajun Craze, Rich Razzleberry
Suckers of Choice

Haunted Handbags!

Check out these cute gift bags with coordinating cards! Stuff with purple or orange tissue paper and add some candy flavored chapsticks and you are ready to trick or treat your BFF!

These cute handbags were part of a Tres Chic Handbag tutorial that we purchased from the creator and designor, Becky Roberts!  Becky is a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and she creates, designs, and sells her tutorials from her blog, Inking Idaho.

Want to really trick or treat your BFF?  Suprise her with a Craft Haven Retreat weekend at Lake View Lodge!  Our fall special, $199 per person, ends October 31, 2010.  Contact us for information at info@crafthavenretreats.com.

Project Recipe:

Papers: Wicked Fun Specialty DSP, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, and Basic Black card stock

Stamp sets: Wicked Cool and Batty for You

Inks are Cajun Craze, Basic Black, and Rich Razzleberry

Punches: Scalloped Border Punch, Scalloped Cricle Punch, Oval Punch, Circle punch, Modern lable punch

Textured Spider Web Embossing Folder

Big Shot Original Blossom Party

Happy Crafting!

Are you searching for the Great Pumpkin?

Well you have found it!  Grab your Cajun Craze, Old Olive, and Very Vanilla card stock and Day of Gratitude stamp set and you are good to go!

We love these pumpkins!  They'll make great table decorations for your Thanksgiving feast.  These pumpkins are going to the 29th Oktoberfest Arts & Crafts Show, Sunday, October 10, 2010 at Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, IL from 10 AM to 4 PM.

Stop by our booth and get information on your next crafting retreat!  Pick up a pumpkin or two while you're there!

If you cannot attend the craft show, send us an e-mail at info@crafthavenretreats.com and we will send retreat information to you.   Thank you for visiting our blog!  Happy Crafting!

Boo!

Halloween is right around the corner!  We hope you are gearing up to "treat" your neighborhood visitors!  Stampin' Up!  has such a variety of crafting materials for the Halloween season!  Light a path to your door--take a look at these luminaries which we made with the Wicked Fun Specialty DSP!

Here is a close up of the black luminary! 

We embossed the vellum with the Spider Web Textured Impressions Embossing Folder!

Got Treats?

 
This stamp set is made to coordinate with the Mini Milk Carton Bigz L Die for the Big Shot!  Filled with your favorite candy--PUSH UP HERE . . . TO OPEN--and pour--we're sure they will be a hit at your home!

Nanci and I have been preparing for the 29th Annual Oktoberfest Arts & Crafts Show at Marion Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, IL.  The craft show will be held on Sunday, October 10, 2010.   Craft Haven Retreats will have a display at the craft show and we will also be selling paper-crafted items.  Doors open at 10 AM and close at 4 PM.  We hope to meet you there!

Big Shot Hero Video Contest Winner!

This video is the winning entry for the Stampin' Up! Make Your Own Commercial Contest produced by Matt and Linda Heller. Nanci and I both thought it was pretty entertaining! If you are receiving this post via e-mail, click on the article heading, you will be redirected to the blog to view the video! :) Hope you enjoy it!



By the way, we have a Big Shot and a lot more crafting space in our craft room at Lake View Lodge. Make your reservations today and you can roll out your own die-cuts and embossed images--soundtrack optional. Happy Crafting! :)

CHA Summer 2010 Remembered at Last!

The CHA Summer 2010 Craft Supershow was held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois this year.

We attended the show on Friday, July 30th.  I had to work on Friday morning for a few hours and we thought we would be arriving late.  We did not realize that it didn't open until Noon on Friday, so we didn't miss anything.  We were in line and waiting when they opened the doors! :)

We had such a great time at the show.  We decided to stop by the Splitcoaststampers.com booth.  I joked with Nanci that maybe we would get to meet Beate!  She does a lot of the video tutorials on Splitcoaststampers.com and her blog, fresh & fun, is wonderful!  We were doing a make-n'-take and the woman at the booth started explaining how to use the Copic markers and I instantly recognized her voice--it was Beate!  I was "star-struck" and tonque-tied immediately!  I still cannot believe that we actually got to meet her--what a thrill!

Nanci, Beate, and I at CHA Summer 2010

Custom Crops had this photo opportunity all set up at their booth including the props.  

We're thinking of replacing our current blog photo from last years Covered Bridge Festival  in Southern Indiana with the snapshot from the Custom Crops booth.  Leave a comment and let us know which photo you prefer!  Thanks in advance and happy crafting!

Original Content Removed at the Request of Stampin' Up! Compliance 2

Happy Labor Day!

Our Fall 2010 Special $199 per person is good through October 31, 2010.  We have a few spots left for the weekend of October 22-24th!  Reservations via e-mail, info@crafthavenretreats, or telephone, Nanci 708-259-7482 or Melannie 708-441-9531.  Happy Crafting!

Original Content Removed at the Request of Stampin' Up! Compliance

By the way,  my Squash Book was featured on Young and Crafty's blog for Scraptastic Saturday.  On Saturdays you can link up a project to the site.  It's a fun way to see what other people are creating!  Thanks again Hannah for featuring my project!  Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Holiday Mini Projects from Studio1Stampers Meeting!

In my blog yesterday I mentioned that we had been to a Studio1Stampers meeting with Laura Barto.  She had four projects we could make--all using items from the Holiday Mini catalog. 

Christmas Collage is a large wooden background stamp.  Laura stamped an image of the stamp on a piece of vellum.  She cut it to fit inside the stamps plastic container and positioned it so you could see the stamped image through the box lid.  She then took 4 different Stampin' Spot inks and applied the ink (rubbed it around)  to the box's lid in the areas where she wanted the color on the stamped image.  Then she lightly spritzed the box top with water mist.  When the color on the plastic lid beaded up, she placed a piece of white glossy paper on top of the box.  Then she placed a sheet of copy paper on top of the box top and lightly rubbed the paper over the area covered by the glossy paper.  This process transfers the ink colors to the glossy card stock.  Carefully remove the glossy paper and allow it to dry for approximately 2 minutes.  In the meantime, we inked the Christmas Collage stamp with Early Expresso.

When the card stock is dry enough, place the colored side down on top of the inked stamp.  Rub lightly with the copy paper over the card stock to insure transfer of the Early Express ink to the colored side of the glossy paper.  Each image will be unique.

This matchbox chest is filled with Gift tags that were stamped and punched like the Dec. 25 tag on top of the chest.  The fabric ribbon is cut from the new Stampin' Up! fabric.  Notice the stripes in the fabric all match the cardstock in the chest.  The matchbox die-cut is for the Big Shot.  It cuts the shape, scores the fold lines and will even put perforations in to make the more difficult folds easier!

The Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and the distressing tool where used to texturize this card.  The image was stamped in black and colored in with the Stampin' Up markers.  The rhinestones and ribbon dress the card up nicely!

This is the coaster from the Holiday Mini.  The die-cut for this shape cut all three layers at once.  I finished quilting the coaster at home tonight.  I did not have any white or natural quilting thread, so I decided to use the gold color--it makes the stitches easier to see.

Aren't these projects fabulous?  Thank you Laura for sharing these projects with us!

Christmas is Coming!

We went to the Studio1Stampers Group Meeting on Thursday evening.  The event was hosted by Stampin' Up Demonstrator, Laura Barto.  We made several projects, but I'm just going to post one tonight!  More projects and technique details will be given in Saturday's post!

This card uses the Christmas Collage stamp from the new Holiday Mini Catalog! 

Hope you enjoy the card!  Happy Crafting!

Merci Stamp Set with Blended Watercolor Crayons

I came across the picture of this card tonight and I thought it might be interesting to see it posted with the cards that I posted on Sunday using the same stamp set.  

This card was made about two years ago using the Merci Stamp Set from Stampin' Up!  The images were stamped in black and heat set with black sparkle embossing power.  I used the Watercolor Crayons Soft Subtles to color the card and blended it with the Aqua Painter.  The flower centers are Swarovski Crystals that are applied with a heat setting tool.

These are the two cards that I posted on Sunday, August 29th.

The Merci Stamp Set images were stamped with Versamark and colored with chalk on a q-tip.   Same stamps but what a contrast in styles!

Just a reminder that Craft Haven Retreats Weekend Fall Special $199 per person ends October 31st.  We have reservations available!  Lake View Lodge is located at 50650 Garrett Road, Dowagiac, MI 49047. If you are interested or want additional information, you can contact us at info@crafthavenretreats.com or call Nanci at (708) 259-7482 or Melannie at (708) 441-9531.  See our add in Michigan Scrapbooker Fall 2010 issue.

August Stamp Club Projects

Hi Crafters!

We had a really late night tonight!  Our August Stamp Club met tonight, so we could get the order in before midnight!  Here is our parade of projects!

Card #1--who doesn't love Play Date DSP and the Owl punch?

Card #2--Flower Pot Card--fast, fun, and fabulous! :)

Pick the flowers to reveal the sentiment!  The hardest part is deciding where you want to adhere your Old Olive leaves!

Card #3--Who doesn't like ice cream?  Design your own sundae!

Does anyone know what the wood grain looking square stamp is in this stamp set?  We cannot figure it out!

Card #4--is the Gala Greenhouse DSP sneak peek from our post on Tuesday 8-24-10.

Are you dazzled by our Dazzling Diamonds?

Card #5--Is a card we cased right out of the Stampin' Success.

Do you like this card?  Circle Yes  Circle No   . . . Circle Circus stamp set--we love it!  Hmmm, I wonder how many circles there are on this card?

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Crafting!