Hi – Tomorrow is the last full day of school!  Kids are cheering, moms are…cheering too! :0)  Here are a few year end teacher gifts and cards.  Julie and I stuck our heads together and came up with these “Fab 5” made with the First Day stamp set.

Well, that’s 3 out of 5!  They are:  a bottle of hand sanitizer (and what teacher doesn’t need plenty of that!), a notepad with a magnetic closure and a tri-fold “Good Student” coupon holder.  Isn’t that worm a hoot?!  On the card, I used the word window punch to make the book shapes that he’s perched upon.  Check Julie’s out at www.thoughtsthatstick.blogspot.com. They are slightly different since we get to yakkin’ and forget what we’re doing! 

Here’s the inside of the coupon holder plus the two cards to round out the 5 projects.  Hope you like them!  Holler if you have any questions –

Thanks,

kirstin

Hi – Tonight’s post shows how just a simple thing like a pack of tissues can get all dolled up with just a few supplies!  Tissues aren’t exactly a glamorous thing, but when you need one, you need one!!  These packs are just the individual ones you can find to carry in your purse or car.  They happen to have a monogram on them so that will be a nice surprise when the recipient pulls one out – but any small pack will do.  I wrapped each pack in some DSP with a contrasting band around the middle, added a little ribbon and a tag.  I plan to give them to some coworkers (Colleen, you get a sneak peek!!) since we work together in a preschool and there are always sniffles around.  There wasn’t much room to put a message so I made that piece that pulls out at the top.  It’s just 2”x3” but enough room to write a short note.  The rhinestone brad and starburst stamp give it some glitz.  So find some little tissue packs and give them a shmancy look with some papers and ribbons – think how cute these would be along with some tea bags or chicken soup for someone who doesn’t feel well.  Thoughtful and practical!  Thanks for stopping by –

kirstin

Hi – Tomorrow is the first day of fall and since it is supposed to be in the 80’s, I thought flowers seemed to fit the occasion better than fall leaves would!  I guess these look a bit like sunflowers or maybe big marigolds.  They are made with the scallop circle punch.  I just snipped between each scallop and curved it a bit with a bone folder.  The edges are sponged with Chocolate Chip ink, as is the DSP layer.  I added a little So Saffron scalloped edge on top of the Chocolate Chip layer – which is actually a leftover piece of the Top Note die scrap.  Did that make sense?!  It’s a side from the frame that is leftover when you die cut a Top Note. The ribbon is in the way a bit –sorry ‘bout that!  The DSP is from the Tall Tales pack and the stamp is from the Thank You Kindly stamp set.  There’s a bit of hemp twine tied in the center of the buttons too. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.  I hope you like it!  Thanks for stopping by –

kirstin

Hi – Last night I was cleaning up my scrap container and came across several little pieces of Parisian Breeze DSP that I had cut into strips or run through the Big Shot.  I get a little lazy with scraps and tend to toss them in a tub and then sort them out by color when the tub starts to overflow! :0)  But I got distracted – as I often do – by these pieces and started putting them together on a card!  Here’s what I came up with:

The colors are Baja Breeze, Kraft, Chocolate Chip and White.  The center heart is a chipboard piece that I embossed with white powder three times to give it a chunkier look.   The little “Thank You” stamp is from the Short & Sweet stamp set.  Hope you like it!  Thanks for stopping by -

kirstin

Hi – I love, love the new Medallion stamp!  It’s a background stamp so it’s huge and that makes it easy to have a big impact on a card.  On these two cards I used it in the background in Bermuda Bay ink on the same colorcard stock.  The focal colors are then black and white. 

For the “thanks” card I wanted the Medallion image on the white center piece as well and I wanted it to line up so it looked like it was stamped all at once.  Here’s my tip of the day:  it’s easiest to have that white piece bigger than you need it to be, stamp the image and then trim it down to fit in like a puzzle piece. Yes, I tried lining it up and stamping it first….didn’t work as well! :0)  The sentiment is from the Thank You Kindly stamp set.  The second card uses the Level 1 hostess set called Holiday Best – free with a $150 order.  I punched out 5-¾”circles and lined them up along the bottom of the black piece for a larger scallop.  I like the way both these cards turned out – hope you like them too!  Thanks for stopping by -

kirstin

Hi – I love this card….love it!  The colors, the trees, the simple layout…But for the love of a sandwich, I could not get a good picture of it!  Somehow the colors were all goofy.  Too yellow, too orange, too dark.  Ack!  So I finally gave up at 1:30am and went to sleep.  (I know, slacker!)   Tried again this afternoon and same deal.  That’s when I decided to forget the light box for now and take the picture on the kitchen counter! 

At least the card is the right colors now!  So Saffron, Old Olive, Soft Suede and white.  The striped DSP piece is from the Tall Tales pack.  The ribbon is So Saffron as are the buttons with a little linen thread tied through the holes.  I stamped the trees from the Trendy Trees set in Old Olive and Soft Suede, using the Stamp-a-ma-jig to align the trunks.  They are all cut out and put on with dimensionals and glue dots.  The sentiment is in Soft Suede.  I used the distressing tool from the Cutter Kit to rough up the edges of the Old Olive piece until the edges started to split and then used my fingers to roll back the top layer of the cardstock.  The little scalloped edge was pierced and added underneath.  If you look closely you can see the fluffy leaves stamped in So Saffron just under the top left corner of the Old Olive piece – for a little something unexpected.  I really {heart} this card. :0) Hope you like it too!  Thanks for stopping by -

kirstin

Hi – Today’s card was inspired by one I saw in the new Idea Book & Catalog.  There are so many beautiful ideas in there that it’s easy to find something to give you inspiration!  The card I loved is on page 101, upper right corner.  It is made with Soft Suede, More Mustard and Very Vanilla with Ruby Red and More Mustard inks.  I used Soft Suede with Apricot Appeal and Very Vanilla instead. 

The catalog card used the Bella’s Blooms stamp set and I used Pocket Silhouettes.  I added a bit of ribbon – because it’s hard not to! – and had to piece it together on the back of the card so the polka dots didn’t show!  I trimmed the bottom of the card front with the scallop edge punch but then added another scalloped edge in Apricot Appeal to bring the card length back to 5½” again.  All the scallops are pierced.  Hope you like it!  Thanks for stopping by -

kirstin

Hi – We are finally at the end of the school year and I’ve been working on a few teacher gifts.  My younger son’s teacher is a wonderful quilter and so I thought I’d try making a set of cards for her that look (somewhat!) like little quilts.  I used the Bella Rose DSP and Kiwi Kiss or Riding Hood Red cardstock for the bases. 

I’m sure there are other ways to do this, but here’s what I did.  I cut 6 pieces of white cardstock at 4 ¼ x 5 ½.  Then I decided on my pattern for each quilt.  After I cut the pieces (or punched them for the squares pattern), I placed them on the white cardstock like I wanted them.  Some of the pieces went off the edge of the white piece but that’s ok.  Then I sandwiched another white piece on top, lifted the ’sandwich’ and flipped it over.  Take the now top piece off and your pattern pieces will be upside-down on that second white piece.  I put Snail on the first white piece – not too much or it makes your sewing needle sticky! Then carefully place the white piece back on the pattern pieces.  Flip it back over and the pieces should stick.  Trim around the edges to square it off again.  Sew in a zig-zag over all the lines where two pieces meet.  Then I trimmed each piece down to 4 x 5 ¼ and adhered it to my base.  I kept the greeting and embellishments pretty simple because the cards were already kinda busy!  You can click on each card to make it bigger and easier to see.  Hope you like them! Thanks for stopping by -

kirstin

Hi – Question of the day…if the cardstock’s name is “Rich Razzleberry,” can you make a simple card with it or will it be rich and razzle-dazzle-ish?!  :]  Well this card is pretty simple in design.  It’s a lot like the Soft Suede card from two posts ago.  I changed the colors and the sentiment and shifted things around a bit.  Thanks for stopping by -

kirstin

Hi – Hope your weekend was wonderful!  Mine was. :]   Took a little time out to stamp this thank you card tonight.  It’s pretty clean and simple – nothing fancy.  I used the Soft Suede cardstock for my base with Whisper White and a little strip of the Razzleberry Lemonade DSP. 

I used the little dots texture plate and the Big Shot to put the raised dots on the bottom 1/3 of the card.  The ribbon is Polka-dot Soft Suede grosgrain tied so that the knot tails are backwards and don’t show the polka-dots.  I used the eyelet border punch on the DSP mostly to tie all the dots together.  The “Thank You” is from the Thank You Kindly stamp set.  I like the simple look of this card even though there are a lot of different little things on it.  Hope you like it too!  Thanks for stopping by -

kirstin