September PTI Blog Hop!!

Magnetic Snowman Kit!!

As a teacher I am always trying to come up with fun little projects to make for kids!! I remember as a child receiving little gifts and it just made you feel so special. Well, I decided to create a "mini" magnetic snowman traveling kit!! This little kit can be used on the refrigerator, any magnetic surface or even by itself! There are so many wonderful magnetic supplies out there that this project is so simple to create for the little ones in your life!

I started this project off by creating the card first. The important thing about my card was that it would have an inside pocket to hold my "magnet board". So, when I scored my card I made sure to leave an inch at the bottom when I folded it over. I then just folded the remaining inch up and inward to form the pocket. I used two small glue dots on both sides to keep it closed. For the outside of the card I used my new set from PTI Made of Snow. What a versatile set that can be used all winter long! I just love it. I stamped each part of the snowman along with his accessories and cut each individual piece out. I then just "built" my snowman using glue dots and dimensionals to add some depth. I used a small piece of tape to cover his nose when I stamped the eyes and mouth. I then just colored the nose with a orange marker and re-stamped the face. As for the inside of my card, I stamped the middle sized snowflake from last years set, Snowflake Serenade in red and green ink. I then stamped the sentiment, "Snowmen fall from heaven unassembled". I thought this fit perfect with the theme of my project. Next, I had to create my "magnet board". This is for when the recipient does not have a magnetic surface in front of them..(if they were at a restaurant or church). I bought some magnetic paper from Hobby Lobby. It has paper on one side and the magnetic surface on the other. The paper side acts as a magnet and it is so nice because you can run it through your printer for other projects. It also runs through my Cuttlebug perfectly(love that little green machine) with the nestabilities die-cuts. So, I chose the size I wanted, cut it out and decorated it. It slid perfectly in the inside pocket of my card.

The next step in my project was to create my snowman pieces! I first stamped the snowman body and cut it out. I then cut out small arms from brown card stock and placed onto the snowman. I then ran the smallest circle nestie I own through my Cuttlebug to create the faces of my snowman. It was a perfect fit. It was then time to cut out the individual pieces so I first stamped each scarf image with different colored inks and cut those out. I cut between the inside of the scarf to add more movement to them. I then stamped the hat images along with the mitten images and cut those out as well. Once I had all my snowman pieces I took my Crop-a-dile and used the smallest punch to punch out tiny magnetic circles from my magnetic paper. I then just placed those onto the backs of my snowman and accessories with glue dots.

Now, I needed a place to store my little snowman pieces and decided on the small square tin. I love the size of this tin and they work great for little kids! My snowman along with all his accessories fit great in the tin. I took my crop-a-dile and punched two holes on each side to create my ribbon handle.

So, there you have it!! I fun little gift that can be used over and over again by little hands! Thanks for looking!!!

Bridget

September PTI release party

Hi!! Well, another release party has come and gone..It was so fun last night to see new faces, as well as the regulars on the forum!! It has to be so neat for Nichole to see all these people coming to her site to see her work!! So cool and I'm always so jealous..what an experience for her! The best part of it is that she is still so humble and gracious to her customers!!

This month was all about Halloween for me.. I just love the Spooky Sweets set! Lots of different ways to go with it..I love the old, Halloween vintage feel of these stamps. My first entry is my hanging spider card! I used my square nesties to cut out a large square from my card base. I then just went down in size and layered two more nestie squares that would fit inside the first square I cute. I then stamped and cut out my spiders and threaded some sewing thread for the web. I then took a small glue dot and placed it on the inside, front upper flap and placed my spiders on there. Because the thread is so fine, I just took my crop-a-dile and punched out 3 tiny dots that I used to place over the thread and glue dot. This worked perfectly and blended in nicely with the card. I had the largest spider hold onto the sentiment and I like how his little legs overlap the paper. I then just finished the card off with the sentiment in the lower right corner. Very easy and fun card to create.

My second entry was my hanging coffin basket. I love giving my kids little gifts to open up now and then, especially around holidays. Well, I decided to create this small coffin to hang on their doors for Halloween. It is a template that I created and would be happy to share with anyone who is interested! I first stamped my images onto the black CS and then cut out my template. I punched 2 small holes on the side of the coffin and threaded my ribbon in to form my loop. I used the sentiment "Open if you dare" and placed that on top of the coffin with a small brad. I used a photo frame hinge to keep the lid closed. It works perfectly for this project. I then just filled my coffin up with Halloween candy and trinkets and its ready to be hung!! I can't wait to surprise my kids with these Halloween morning! I've made these in the past as party favors for a Halloween party. You can add the child's name onto them with a clear label.

My third entry was my creepy kitchen recipes box. This was really fun to create and I think would make a great gift for a teacher, mom or anyone who enjoys making and baking food!! I first surfed the net and found fun, unique, different and healthy Halloween recipes. I printed them off from my computer and made little recipes cards that would fit inside a small gable box. I then decorated the outside of the gable box in Halloween fashion. I then took the sentiment "Creepy Kitchen Collection" and masked off the word "Collection" I then printed off the word Recipes from my computer and stamped "Creepy Kitchen" above it. I am planning on giving this to my sister-in-law who is a teacher/mom a few weeks before Halloween..that way she can start testing out the different recipes!!

My fourth entry was my candy corn card. I had this delicious candy corn paper that I was drawn to but no candy corn card. So, I looked through my stamp sets and saw one of the party hats from the It's a Celebration set. I just masked off the different sections and stamped them onto white paper. I cut them out and used dimensionals when I placed them onto my card. I like how they look like you can just reach out and eat one. I stamped the sentiment directly onto the card itself and framed it with two brads.

Thanks so much for taking the time to look!! Can't wait to see all the entries for this month..so much inspiration just waiting to be tried!!

Bridget

Blog Hop

What a fun challenge this month!! I love taking different objects and altering them into fun things!! I have to admit I struggled a bit with this one because I kept picturing Nichole's adorable licorice case..so my mind kept wanting to wander to Halloween and candy..However, once I looked through all my stamp sets the label stamps kept popping out to me for some reason..I then looked at my Halloween sets that just arrived today..(YIPPEE) and saw the word Boo..Right then..a BOO-BOO kit came to mind..Pretty simple but a fun little gift to give to young children or to even have around your home..

I took the label stamps from Spooky Sweets and Limitless labels to use as my band-aid holders. I took a piece of card stock, scored it at 1 inch lengthwise and then stamped the labels along the bottom of the fold. I then cut out each label making sure to not cut the bottom by the fold. Once you turn it over you will see the small pocket formed. Place a small dot of glue on each side to hold in place and slide band-aid in.

I used the Polka Dot Basics set to keep with the polka dot theme from the labels and stamped this pattern on the cover of my case, as well as in the inside. I created a small pocket for my band-aids on the inside cover. This helps to keep the band-aids in place without them sliding all over the place. I used the sentiment "Boo" from Spooky Sweets and also used the sentiment from Spooky Sweets II "Creepy Kitchen Collection" by taping off everything but the word "Kit" from Kitchen.

I'm so excited to see what everyone else has come up with!! Thanks for looking!!!

Bridget

Bitty Baby Blessings..

Well, I'm officially an aunt for the 5th time and am so thrilled!! Alivia Grace was born on Aug. 14th!! She is just adorable and I am so happy for her parents..they are so excited to have her here!! I was in the baby mood so made a few cards using the Bitty Baby Blessings set from PTI. I have made this card once before but with different colors so thought I would change it up a bit.. I just love the little elephant in this set, along with the tiny baby face..I created the basket by punching out a small circle and then just cutting the top center half out for the baby to fit in to. I love the colors of this card and the simplicity of the design..It would make a great baby boy shower card..

The second creation I did was to make a small baby wash theme set. The little duck in this set works great with this theme. I took a small gable box and filled it with washcloths, little baby soap and shampoo and a tiny toy duck. I created the card using the the Bitty Baby Blessings patterned paper to coordinate with the box. The colors are a bit different for a baby but I thought it would be a nice change from the typical blue or pink or even green...I just love the small gable boxes too..they are the perfect size for all types of small gifts...so cute!!Thanks for looking..

Bridget

Happy Birthday Sammy!!

Well, my little guy is turning 3..oh my goodness where does the time go..I can't believe he will be 3 years old..it makes me so sad..it feels like just yesterday I brought him home from the hospital. Three years seems so short but it just amazes me how much they grow and change within that time!! What a miracle and I'm soooo blessed he is healthy and happy!! It was time for invitations, which I just LOVE creating!!! This year we decided on a Safari theme..I love the jungle theme, the colors, animals and really there are so many possibilities to creating cards with this theme.

I decided on creating a pocket card similar to the baby shower invitation I had created awhile back. I love, love kraft paper so started with that as my pocket base. I cut two pieces, the back piece being about an inch and half longer than the front piece. I placed a piece of patterned paper with palm trees on the inside of the lid and on the longer piece. I then sewed along the sides and the bottom, leaving the top portion open so my invitation could slide in and out of it. I then cut out a palm tree from card stock and distressed it a bit to give it a jungle feel. I placed the trunk of the palm tree onto the bottom portion of the card and the palms onto the top portion of the card..that way the card would still open up. I then stamped grass along the bottom and placed the palm tree onto the kraft card stock. I then used my jungle theme cuttlebug die cuts and cut out the little monkey..isn't he adorable?? I used a glue dot to adhere him to the back of one of the palms.. I then just printed "Sam's Safari Headquarters" onto paper and cut it out with scalloped scissors..I layered with a darker piece of card stock and placed created a sign.

Now for the actual invitation I just printed out the information onto cream card stock. I placed this over a piece of brown card stock and distressed the edges of the brown by using my scissors to the edge..I don't have a "special" tool for this but have found that running one blade from my scissors along the edges works just as well. I then die cut a lion, elephant and monkey and placed them onto the invitation. I used my It's a Celebration set from PTI and stamped and cut out small party hats by using the little flags that go with the birthday banner..I just love those little hats.. and there you have it!! Happy Birthday Sammer Jammer!!!

I've been tagged!!

I had such a wonderful surprise this morning when I read my mail!! I received an email from Charlene Monroe explaining that she had tagged my blog!! What fun is that..there is actually someone out there who looks at my blog..Thanks so much Charlene!!! Please check her blog out at A Stamp a Day..she has some adorable cards and is very talented!!! Well, it looks like I have some rules to follow..first, I must share 7 random facts about myself..oh boy, this is going to be tough..

1. When I was 22 months old I had a small bump on my forehead that would not go away so my parents brought me to the famous Mayo Clinic. The doctors determined I had a small hemangioma on the inside of my forehead. Now, this was in 1980 when plastic surgery wasn't very popular and especially on tiny toddlers..but thankfully the doctors recommended my parents to a plastic surgeon who removed the bump. Instead of cutting my forehead where I would have a huge scar today,(this is kinda gross) they cut from ear to ear, pulled the skin forward and got the bump out. So, now I have the coolest scar on my head that goes from ear to ear!! Crazy, I know!!

2. I love, love, love cheese and mashed potatoes

3. I'm married to an identical twin and luckily have never gotten them confused...and our doctor told us since they both have the same DNA that our children and my brother-in-law's(the twin)children will be considered half brother/half sisters..interesting..

4. I secretly wish I was an ESPN broadcaster..I love sports and would love being able to be right in the action all the time.

5. My husband is a funeral director along with his dad and twin brother

6. I have 3 younger brothers who have protected me my whole life..I feel so safe knowing they are in my life.

7. My daughter Nora was born at exactly midnight...she came out and we all looked up at the large clock and everything was pointed at exactly midnight...the computers and the doctors didn't know what day to give her as her birthday..they had to call to find out what day it would be..the doctors eventually decided on the following day...

Ok..now I must choose 7 blogs to tag..there are so many wonderful, unique and inspiring bloggers out there..this is going to be hard...

1. Julie- My little scrap shop

2. Chris- Chris' Corner

3. Jacki- The Card Castle

4. Lori- Inking aloud

5. Maria- Maria's craft room

6. Kacey- All in a Day's Work

7. Monique- Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust

Hopefully, you girls haven't been tagged before and if you have I'm sooo sorry..but if not..have fun!!! Thanks, Bridget

Birthday gift bags

I recently created some birthday favor bags for my niece's 4th birthday party. I had so much fun creating these and they were so simple to do. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought the small canvas tote bags which are very reasonably priced.. I think you really get your money's worth by buying these totes compared to using the typical plastic favor bags that end up getting thrown away. I wanted each child to have a different bag and so I just went through all my stamp sets to find different images. I started by stamping each child's name onto a bag and then stamped the image I chose. I then made sure to use my heat gun to set the ink..you really have to be careful not to overdo the heating process or your bag can turn brown. Another tip I have found useful is to have your stain remover spray for your laundry close by..if for some reason you get some ink onto the cloth that you do not want I immediately spray a q-tip with the remover along with some water and quickly wipe over the area you do not want..it should remove the ink right away...it really does work!! These bags were so simple and inexpensive and a fun party favor that hopefully the guests will use over and over again!! Thanks for looking! Bridget ***Side note..Hi Melissa..I used Palette Hybrid Ink..it works great for projects like these..just make sure to heat set it for a few seconds to really set the ink into the cloth..they can then be washed and will not fade!! Super simple and easy!!