here's a cute bunny that made its way to my house last friday. and its belly was full of chocolate... oh my!
angelle cleverly disguised a lunch bag into a flower pot that hides chocolates. the bunny slides out of the front pocket to reveal a tag where she wrote her message.
clever, isn't she?! Merci, Angelle!!!
CeeCee
my new night lamp? maybe... she's such a cutie! and i made it all myself with the Mini Milk Carton Die for the Big Shot machine.
don't worry, i didn't put a real tea light in there. i used a flameless tea-light candle i bought at a craft store while i was in Florida. i had this idea in my head for a while when i saw everyone making those cute little birdie houses.
but the real challenge for me was to find a way to be able to open the top to turn the light on and off. here's how i did it:
you'll need 4 magnets and a Wire Clip from the Clips Assortment (#112580).
stick 2 magnets to the inside of your box -- one per panel where the roof will sit. the other two magnets have been glued to the inside of your roof piece...
drop your tea-light inside...
... and close the top of your box with the Wire Clip. then you'll just drop the roof over the top of your box and the magnets will clip it shut! when you need to replace or turn on/off your tea-light, you just have to remove the roof and unclip the top of your box.
clever? I think so - hehehe! sometimes, i just amaze myself!
have fun playing with your Big Shot dies. if you have any questions about this project or if you need to order supplies, just email me or call me.
CeeCee
tonight was our 2nd meet with the Technique Club members and here's what we did:
so cute! i love those Big Shot Dies -- this one is the Mini Milk Carton from the Occasions Mini Catalogue. the butterflies were die-cut and embossed at the same time using the Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die.
i love anything that can hold candies. just open the spout and pour into your mouth -- goody! the technique we used for this project was altering the color of your ribbon using Stampin' Write markers. the large Chocolate Chip/Very Vanilla ribbon was re-colored using the Pretty in Pink Stampin' Write marker. Easy to do and i love that it coordinates with the Pink Pirouette cardstock.
have a happy Friday, CeeCee
ooooooooh, i'm so excited!!! i had this in my head for a while but i had to wait until tonight to play with it. the trend these days is to incorporate fabric and felt into our crafts. here's my first attempt at a felt flower:
this flower literally took 3 minutes to make (i timed myself!). using the Flower Layers Originals Die for the Big Shot, i cut through 2 layers of pink felt giving me 8 pieces to play with. here, i've used only 6 layers because i wanted the brad to grab all of them.
after i installed the Rhinestone brad in the middle, i put my flower on a heat-resistant surface and heated it with the heat tool. i used the paper piercer to hold it in place while i heated it. this was my fist attempt and i realized that you need to be very careful when you heat it because if you put too much direct heat in one spot, it creates holes. the cool thing about the flower is that it becomes rigid after heated to it retains its shape! obviously, you need felt made with polyester -- i don't think it would work with wool felt although it needs to be tested.
i have tons of ideas with these little flowers and i will experiment all week long -- i can see hours of fun with this and with different dies.
ooooooh, the fun that lays ahead of me!!!
on a different note, i will announce the name of the winner of my blog candy tomorrow... i just haven't had the chance to breathe since i've been back so i just dealt with what was urgent.
until tomorrow, CeeCee
the picture above is a just a little snapshot of what today's Card à la Carte's Sweet Treat Thursday is all about. So be sure to head on over there and view this post.
i had such a fun creative day today. all the stars and planets were aligned! the following are remnants of felt i kept from die-cutting the above project on my Big Shot using the Baskets & Blooms Bigz XL Die. the cool thing about the Big Shot die-cutting machine is that it'll cut through 3 layers of felt easily. saves on time in a big way!
and darn it, you know me by now... i hate throwing anything away. i mean, look at all these perfectly good pieces of felt. we got flowers and circles and tags and leaves... hmmm! so i got busy and came up with these:
they're similar to the Sweet Pea Stitched Felt in Stampin' Up!'s Occasions Mini Catalogue. and don't get me wrong, i love the Sweet Pea's and bought several packages of them and use them often. BUT... i couldn't possibly pass up the opportunity to be creative with my leftovers. i hand-stitched them all.
the cool thing about that shape of flower is that the little pieces from the inside can be used as leaves, like on the following:
the die even cuts labels so i embellished one just and will use it on an upcoming project...
eeee, look at those french knots! i was immediately transported back to a time when i cross-stitched as a hobby.
Go ahead and try your hand at some of those too! and don't forget to visit Card à la Carte. Gen and i would love to hear your comments.
have a great day! CeeCee
i'm back with another tea bag holder. this time, i'm using the little flowers i made last week. i'm also using the new Sending Love Specialty DSP and the Extra Large Two-Step Bird punch.
i love that paper -- so glittery! it's all double-sided and the you can see the reverse side on the top flap. i absolutely love love the new luscious satin ribbon.
for this project, i glittered the flower by running a two-way glue pen over the "petals" and dunking it in Champagne Glitter. i love that effect. perfect for valentine's day!
instead of tea leaves, this gift contains a bag of tchai tea (another of my favorite). Here are the dimensions of the holder: cut a piece of 3" X 11" cardstock and score it at 1", 5 5/8", 6" and 6 3/8". Easy-peasy!
i love these little gifts. they're perfect for my friends of non-romantic nature :-D
have a great day! CeeCee
this little japanese girl was glittered a while back and she was comfortably sitting in my "for future use" box. she made a come back last night while thinking of a friend of mine who's a tea lover (she shall remain nameless for now :-)))
i love that stamp set, Dream Gardens. the upper flap of the tea bag holder is also stamped with the set. the little tag is from the new Tiny Tags stamp set and coordinates with the new punch as well.
in the next photo, you'll see the two mistakes i made but i decided to leave them in... adds character -)
oooooh, bad photo... sorry. anyways, the first mistake i made was to stamp the top flap upside down so i had to switch it to the inside. what you don't see is a geese on the image and the poor thing was flying upside down. the second mistake is the hole punched with the slot punch. why in the world did i want to do that? who knows! anyways, the glassine envelope contains leaves from this amazing (and very expensive) tea from my fav tea shop on the south shore called Thé Blanc.
the inside accent is also from the same stamp sets, Dream Gardens and Tiny Tags and i handwrote the tea name on the little tag. it's hung by a piece of linen thread as if it's hanging from the tea pot. love it!
i'll be back tomorrow with my Valentine's Day version of this.
cozy up with a nice cuppa tonight, why don'tcha! CeeCee
what's a girl to do when insomnia hits for the second time in a row. cry? been there, done that, didn't work. read? again, no success... the darn book is too good and keeps me awake. dh is snoring and the girl's getting very antsy.
she got up and went back to the studio to work but ended up creating this paper rosette instead.
pretty little thang, ain't she?! not sure how i'll incorporate it in my cardmaking, but it definitely deserves looking into. i'll come up with something and share with you.
all i can say is this: dust off your old decorative scissors, crafters! and that's all i'm gonna say for now.
hmmmm, do you think i can catch some sleep before i bring stuuph to the bus stop? technically, i still got 15 minutes left before i'm supposed to wake up.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......
CeeCee
One of the advantages of being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator is getting a copy of their exclusive monthly magazine. In it, dozens of ideas to help us feed our creative minds. This is one of them that inspired me to create these luggage tags.
Aren't they cute?! I love my little owl tags. The base is a chipboard owl from the So Tweet On Board set. The background paper is from the Welcome Neighbor DSP pack -- one of the free Sale-a-bration selection. I used Mono Multi-Purpose Glue to adhere all the pieces of paper and chipboard.
The feet, nose and eyes were colored with Craft ink (Apricot Appeal and Whisper White). The wings and belly are punched with the Scallop Circle and Wide Oval respectively. The belly is speckled with Dazzling Diamonds, as well as the eyes. When I finished decorating my owl, I sanded all the edges smooth, pierced a whole below the ear with my Crop-a-Dile and covered the whole thing with a generous amount of Crystal Effects. Then let it dry for 12 hours. Then I inserted a little chain through the hole and knotted a little piece of Bermuday Bay Polka-dot grosgrain ribbon.
On the backside...
... somewhere to put your info. I didn't put any Crystal Effects for obvious reason, but I made sure to adhere the name tag with some Sticky Strip so it wouldn't fall off when my luggage is handled by the "not so careful" baggage handlers at the airport :-) I've also added a glue dot in the knot of the ribbon and sealed the ends with my Heat Tool so it wouldn't fray. Now, they're ready to come with me to Florida next month!
Have a safe and happy Saturday! CeeCee
I just realized that I haven't posted in a week. Yikes, where does the time go? My brother-in-law came over from Toronto with his new g/f and they stayed over the weekend. That was a fun treat! And on Tuesday, my friend Marie-Pierre from Switzerland came over to play with Gen & me. We always have a good time, eat good food and laugh plenty. Love it!
I'd made them a few goodies and here's one of them:
These are so much fun to make. Whenever I order brads & buttons from Stampin' Up!, I store the content away and keep the container the come in. I'd never used them but nevertheless I was saving them because I knew they were the perfect size for treats. Mine are filled with Smarties. Then I saw these somewhere and I knew I had to CASE them!
Each container is covered with the Sending Love DSP (#117153) from the Occasions Mini Catalogue, as well as the I {Heart} Hearts stamp set... which brings me to a more serious matter:
As all of you know…on January 12, 2010 a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, leaving in its wake devastation so overwhelming that the Haitian people and their leaders can only look for help from the outside to cope.
To help make a difference in the lives of those who continue to suffer from the effects of this devastating earthquake, Stampin Up! will set aside $2 from the sale of every I {Heart} Hearts stamp set (117010) and donate it to the American Red Cross' Haiti Relief and Development Fund. (Until Feb. 28, 2010)
Help make a difference -- Order your I {Heart} Hearts stamp set today by calling me or emailing me!
I also made these ones using the new Sweet Pea Stitched Felt flowers (#117266 - $11.95):
These are so much fun to use. The set comes with 2 different kinds of flowers, 5 different centre pieces and leaves so you can mix and match however you want them. In total, 52 pieces of beautifully crafted felt. I should mention that the ribbon is going through the container and knotted at each end on the inside. The Crop-a-dile is a very useful tool that goes through a lot of heavy duty material, such as this plastic. Can't live without my Crop-a-dile!
Tomorrow, I have something fun to show you so I'll talk to you then! Have a happy Friday!
CeeCee
i can't help but reflect on how lucky i am to have such nice, talented, creative friends. last week, miss kool-aid, maman kool-aid and i got together at my place for some chit-chat. actually, it was more for therapy. they were trying to get me out of a funk... and they succeeded! But it's not because they made me these lovely cards:
nor was it because sophie knitted me an awesome pair of slippers which keep me warm in my basement studio
nor was it because she made me this awesome tree felt ornament (which is now stowed away and i didn't take a picture... arrrgh!)
nor was it because angele gave me this funky frame composed of multi-layers of peel-away white paper that you embellish yourself -- way cool (angele... comment trouves-tu ma première page?)
no, it's simply because of their friendship. they patiently listened while i reminisced about dad and then we ended laughing, as we usually do, because it felt good. well, i'm sure the potato candies and tea helped too. yuuuuuuummmmmm!
that's what friends do for friends. they get you out of dark moments and bring you back into the joyful present. and to think that i have more friends, just like them, that i'll be getting together with real soon. life is good!
MERCI, les filles! CeeCee
I found this cute little book in my to-be-recycled-or-turned-into-a-journal stash. The covers are made of metal (bonus) and the pages are blank (bonus2). Eureka! When I saw it, I knew I had just found my 2010 Sketch Book.
I used bits and pieces of old K&Co paper and leftover ribbon for the front and back covers, as well as inside the covers. The letters are more Thickers (love 'em!).
There's a lot to love about this book. Because the cover is made of metal, I can use magnets to hold bits and pieces of inspiration photos (or bills as is the case here). I added some SU Chunky Glitter to the magnets with liquid glue. And when I don't have anything to clip, the magnets act as the middle of the flowers on my paper.
I also love the fact that it can fold and stand on its own, like an easel for easy viewing while I create the project.
I love my little book of sketches :-) Do you have one to share? Share your pictures in the comment. I'd love to see yours.
Oh and today, I get to play/work with my friend Gen and baby Sara. Ooooh, I've missed that little bundle of love. It's been more than 2 weeks since I've seen her and I can't wait to cuddle up with her while... I let Gen do all the work, hee-hee!
Happy Friday everyone! CeeCee
I need lots and lots of cheering up just to get through my days lately. Let me talk to you about the cheapest therapy I could find: funky felt flower brooches. I can't seem to stop making them. My son and one of his girl friends came over to do a Christmas project yesterday and they just happen to look at my stash and they went totally bunkers!!! I thought... wow! They snatched a couple and are proudly wearing them on their winter coats and hats, yes... even my son! He's a funky artist/musician and is totally comfortable this way (hahaha). "They look like little sunshines!" I was told. They're my first customers!
This is the first batch I made with the felt I already had in my stash, so I had to make the best with these colors. The flowers are all die-cutted with the Big Shot and embellished with brads and backed with a sturdy clasp on the back. Sooooo, out of 20+ flowers I had, that's all I have left! I since bought more felt, different colors, so I'll get on the production line.
They just make me happy! Maybe I'll spread the joy around and offer them as Christmas gifts :-)
Take good care, CeeCee
