Four Ways Friday #79 - Petite Pairs

This week's Four Ways Friday shows you four fun ways to use your Petite Pairs stamp set!

I love to stamp sentiment stamps over and over, letting the ink lighten as I stamp.  Here I stamped the sentiment (with the help of my stamp-a-ma-jig) using Not Quite Navy ink.  I started at the bottom with the ink and full strength and then worked my way up, stamping at 1/2 strength and 1/3 strength.  The raccoon is from the Furry Folks stamp set.  I stamped him with Staz-On onto Crumb Cake card stock and cut him out.  I then used my aqua painter and some Early Espresso ink to add some darker color to his stomach and tail.  The Petite Pairs stamp set has sentiments that go together, so on the inside of this card, I stamped the companion sentiment...

You might also choose to stamp your sentiment and the companion sentiment on the front of the card.  That is what I did to make this incredibly simple card.

I created the smiley face with some Daffodil Delight card stock and my 1" circle punch.  The mouth was punched using the 3/4" circle punch and some Basic Black card stock - you could hand cut this piece as well.  The eyes were just hole punches from a small office hole punch.  I stamped the sentiments on the front of the card with Jet Black Staz-On with the help of my stamp-a-ma-jig.  The smiley face was added onto the card with a dimensional.  So simple and so cute :)

Whenever you look at a sentiment stamp, remember that you don't have to stamp all of the words.  The "happy birthday" came from a "happy birthday wishes" stamp set that is in the Petite Pairs set.  I used my Pacific Point marker to ink up the part of the stamp that I wanted and stamped it onto Crumb Cake card stock.  I did the same with greetings from Short & Sweet and Bring On The Cake.  I then hand cut the pieces into banners.  I also created banners using the brights stack patterned paper in Pacific Point.  The little stars were stamped using the Itty Bitty Bits stamp set and punched out with the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack.  I glued the pieces to 1/2" punched Pear Pizazz circles and then attached them to the patterned paper banners with dimensionals.  I adhered all of the banners to the Soft Suede card base - the sentiment banners were adhered with dimensionals and the patterned paper banners with glue.  Next I die cut a piece of Pear Pizzazz card stock using the Simply Adorned edgelits and embossed with the coordinating Adorning Accents embossing folder.  I adhered the strip to the card with glue and then embellished it with die cut Pacific Point stars.  The final touch was to add some adhesive rhinestones for some bling :)

Talk about a perfect sentiment for some Valentine's chocolates!!!!  This little box is a variation on a small box that was demonstrated during Stampin' Up!s Leadership convention.  I altered the box to make the ends a little shorter to look more like a small basket and added a handle and some white waffle paper....now all it needs are a bunch of Hershey's kisses! :)  Here is a video to show you how to make this modified version of this little box.

I hope you've enjoyed this week's Four Ways Friday!!!!  Wishing you a wonderful, creative and love-filled weekend!!!!!

More Design Team Creations For Paper Crafter's Library!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Sometimes Your Art Is Just An Opportunity To Share Your Inner Thoughts

I've realized something about this blog and what it means to me.  Sometimes I think that creating and sharing my projects serves as a "front" for the ability to share my inner thoughts.  Maybe it feels safer to do so within the context of sharing a piece of art.  Inside I feel that a big part of living is sharing the experience of life with one another.  I haven't quite decided where a line needs to be drawn yet - although I guess I have drawn one - between what I share and what I don't.  What I do know is that sharing what's going on inside of me makes me feel more real, more alive and just plain true.  I say "sharing" and the truth is I don't really even know if you read what I write here (except for the few of you that take the time to comment every once in awhile).  Please know that I appreciate when you share your thoughts with me - it allows me to listen to your inner thoughts and share in an exchange.  I hope the art I share with you continues to create opportunities for you to share your thoughts with me :)
As promised, here are two more projects that I created for my first installment as a Design Team member for Paper Crafter's Library!  For both projects I used the Twitterpated Suite in the Stampin' Up! Occassions Mini Catalog!  Can you tell I'm in love with these patterns and colors! :)  The first project is a fabric bookmark using the Twitterpated designer fabric, pleated satin ribbon and Twitterpated buttons.  I also did a bit of stamping on Whisper White satin ribbon using the Elements of Style stamp set.

The adorable Twitterpated designer series paper provided a great excuse to make these small tile magnets!  I'm already imagining the altered tin I can create to house these magnets for gift giving!!!!  I combined the paper with the Twitterpated buttons and the large adhesive pearls.  If you think my craft room and fridge are covered with these magnets, you are absolutely right! :)  If you are a Paper Crafter's Library member, I created exclusive videos and pdf handouts to show you how to make these projects yourself!  If you are interested in learning more about Paper Crafter's Library, feel free to check out the site HERE.  Next month I will be sharing my next set of projects for Paper Crafter's Library...can you say Blossom Punch???? (hint, hint :)

First Paper Crafter's Library Design Team Project!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  It Is Energizing To Begin A New Journey!!!!!

Today I am so excited to share with you my first project as a Design Team member for Paper Crafter's Library!!!!!  Since books can be used to document a journey, I decided to begin my journey with Paper Crafter's Library by created a mini book to capture my thoughts about this experience!  I turned to the Twitterpated Suite for my color palette, paper and accessories.  I love the spring feel of the Twitterpated designer series paper!  I even used the paperboard that comes with the designer series paper (to protect the paper from bending) to create sturdier pages for this mini book.  I was also very excited to use Stampin' Up!s new Adorning Accents edgelit dies and the framelits dies!  You can use them to cut through card stock, paper, and thin paperboard.  I dressed up the cover of the book with some pleated satin ribbon, baker's twine, a mini pin, a die cut (Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die), punched flowers and adhesive pearls.  Ooh - and I can't forget that adorable Twitterpated button :)  The stamped image is from the Outlined Occassions stamp set - one of the wonderful Sale-a-bration stamp sets that you can select for free with a $50 product purchase during Sale-a-bration!  If you are a Paper Crafter's member, you can log on to the member area of the site to view the video I created showing you how I made this book!  An instructional pdf is also available to members on the site.  Feel free to check back here tomorrow.  I'll be sharing two of the other projects I created for Paper Crafter's Library using supplies from the Twitterpated Suite! :)

For those of you that don't know, Paper Crafter's Library is an online educational and reference resource for paper crafters.  It is their mission to help their readers and their members discover and develop their creativity through paper crafting by providing both inspiration AND instruction.  Currently featuring a library of over 700 video tutorials, pdf downloads and exclusive templates, Paper Crafter's Library's online education program offers detailed product information & how-to’s, multiple techniques as well as projects for all skills and levels of paper crafting.  There are two components to Paper Crafter’s Library – the public blog and a membership site.  It is their goal for the site to be a place of inspiration and education for everyone – regardless of level of membership.  I was honored to be selected as one of the members of their first Design Team!!!!!

Valentine's Chocolate Bar Belly Band & Video!!!!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Maybe Your Dream Is Telling You You Are Finding Your Voice

The other night I woke up screaming...literally.  I woke both Michael and myself up when I screamed very loudly, "Help Me!!!!"  I remember the dream vividly - 2 men breaking into the house, my asking my mom to go downstairs and get the gun, shooting the men and running out of the house, grabbing the dog and trying to scream to the people down the street - they were so far away and I was trying to yell, "help me," but my voice just wouldn't come out of my throat....until it finally did - at the top of my lungs - and it woke us up.  As you can imagine - I had a hard time falling back to sleep - I was afraid to - afraid of my dream.  I was scared the dream was telling me that I needed help - that I was in danger.  Then I thought about it some more.  I have had dreams like this in the past...but have never been able to shout in my dream, let alone wake myself up shouting.  I realized that in this dream I actually found my voice - I had the ability to call out and use my voice to express myself.  And that led to a smile.  Maybe this dream isn't telling me I need help at all.  Maybe what it's really telling me is that I am finding my voice.
Today's project is a perfect way to dress up your chocolate bars for Valentine's Day!  Here is a video to show you how I made this fun belly band!  Enjoy!!!!

Artistic Etchings Tri-Fold Card

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Stop Waiting For Permission Outside Of Yourself.  You Are All The Permission You Need.

As I am writing this post for the coming week, I am sitting and turning frequently to look out the window.  Since yesterday (2/1) the news has been talking about a very large snowstorm that is headed our way.  So all day today I have been checking out the window, checking the news, trying to anticipate when it will start and how much snow we will get and what will it be like when it gets here.  It reminds me of that great ketchup commercial when I was young.  The one for Heinz 57 ketchup?  Anticipation....anticipation is making me wait.  Do you remember it?  You had to wait and wait for that ketchup to make its way to the opening of the bottle (unless you learned the little secret of hitting the bottle right on the "57."  Of course now they've put ketchup in plastic bottles and you don't need to anticipate, you just need to squeeze).  Anyway, I digress.  So I've been anticipating this storm - looking forward to it actually - and now, as I sit here, I'm a bit concerned that it might not come and that makes me sad.  So what is it that I'm really anticipating and worried about not experiencing?  A part of it is the snow itself - the peaceful white - the blanket it creates over everything.  Underneath that though, is what I really want - a day where you really can't go anywhere - a day where you need to just be indoors and enjoy your surroundings.  A day when places are closed and events are canceled and you are left to surround yourself with your loved ones - or just cuddle up on the couch and relax.  A day that gives you "permission" to do what you want or to just slow down.  So what the heck am I waiting for????  Why do I feel I need a snowstorm to make that happen - to give me permission?!  I can actually create for myself what I'm wanting this snowstorm to create for me.  I am all the permission that I need!  (Update:  The snowstorm did arrive and it brought a TON of snow...just in case you were wondering!).  Here are a few photos from the backyard.  The first one is a picture of the lawn chairs on Friday night.  The second picture is a measure of the snow Saturday morning :)  I had to use my large deckle edge ruler...the regular ruler wasn't long enough!!!!

For today's project I decided to make a tri-fold card that closes with a belly band.  I used the Flirtatious designer series paper with the new Framelits to create the belly band.  The stamped images are all from Artistic Etchings.  To create the tri-fold card I began with a piece of 4 1/4" x 11" piece of Melon Mambo and scored the card stock at 2 3/4" and 8 1/4".  I hope you like it!  Here is a close up of the belly band: