Happy Halloween!

20171031_133718[1]
Today I'm excited to share the artwork of a sweet stampin' friend, Jane Downs. She showed up to card class last week with a basket of The. Most. Adorable little Halloween treats…. same size as this one, but each a different color and character…. totally appropriate for the trick or treating occasion!  She offered each of us the opportunity to pick one, and although the choice was really hard (they were ALL just so stinkin' cute!), I finally selected Garfield. Jane's little boxes were filled with candy (of course), and although not made with Stampin' Up!'s retired "Curvy Box" die, they were the same shape and style of the die, just a little bit larger. (Apparently she's got some fancy crafting gadget that makes that kind of thing easy.) At any rate, we were all charmed – both by the delightful designs, as well as her thoughtfulness! Thanks for such a sweet surprise, Jane!

Seasonal Chums - Pumpkin
Next, I just had to stick this in here before the holiday got away and it would be too late to show it off. This was my very first attempt at using our brand-new, "available TOMORROW" Stampin' Blends alcohol markers earlier this month, and this happy pumpkin just makes me grin every time I look at him! He's part of the "Seasonal Chums" bundle, which includes the Jack-o-lantern, a snowman and an adorable little reindeer. These charming little characters have both their front and back images on each stamp, and then the corresponding dies cut the entire piece out at once, so all you have to do then is fold it in the middle for a clever little tag. (Hey, the die even punches the hole thru which you can string your twine!) So for this one, I stamped the image in Tuxedo Black Memento ink, and then used Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive Stampin' Blends to color it in. Each color comes in both light and dark markers so they'll blend beautifully.  

Now, one of the features of alcohol markers is that they bleed through your paper, so I did have to cut a 2nd piece of white cardstock with the same die and use it as a liner so the inside of the tag is clean and white…… but that was no big deal. 

Can't wait to share some of the other fun I've been having with my new markers, and I'm sure you're gonna want your own set soon, too!

 

Not too late to get October’s Paper Pumpkin shaker cards kit!

Paper_Pumpkin_2017_Oct

October's Paper Pumpkin kit arrived last week, and I put mine together while dog-sitting for my grand-dogs over the weekend. While it's been common knowledge that the October and November kits would coordinate this year, it's always a surprise to see what exactly is in each. And this month's kit certainly did not disappoint! Not only were there supplies to make 10 (that's 10, not 8, but TEN) shaker cards, but as usual with the Paper Pumpkin kits, I still have extra supplies, a stamp set and an ink spot left over to use on future projects.

But here's a really cool part. THIS month, instead of selling kit refills in the online store, Stampin' Up! will be offering these kits in their entirety (meaning including stamps + ink), BUT only while supplies last. (Which I would be very surprised to be very long.) But here's the rub:

Paper Pumpkin kits and/or refills available in the store are only available for purchase by Paper Pumpkin subscribers.

Uh, oh! Not a subscriber yet? (Or *still*, or whatever….?) Well, that's simple enough to fix: simply go to PaperPumpkin.YourPaperDreams.com and get signed up. Now! Quickly! So that you'll be ready to jump in right away and get your October kit just as soon as it becomes available….. about 1 pm or so (Pacific time) this afternoon. It'll show up in the Paper Pumpkin section of my store (but only while supplies last, remember).

 And then the next piece of good news is that by being a subscriber, you'll automatically get the coordinating November kit in your mailbox, too!

So here's the quick and dirty review about how to get your October kit:

  1. Subscribe to Paper Pumpkin here – right now. (You might want to consider setting your monthly kit order to a number larger than 1 – at least at this time of year so you can have plenty of these projects on hand.)
  2. Sign OUT of your Paper Pumpkin account. (Don't just "x" out; you'll need to actually log out so you'll be able to sign into the online store soon thereafter.)
  3. Go here to order as many kits as you want from my online store (beginning at 1 pm Pacific time, but only while supplies last). And I'd be appreciative if you would apply my current host code, found here on my YourPaperDreams.com website.
  4. Enjoy putting together your 10 shaker cards when your order arrives, and then look forward to your NEXT (coordinating) kit to arrive automatically around mid-November. We don't know yet what the project will be, but we do know it'll coordinate with these cards, altho it won't be cards. Perhaps treat boxes? Packaging/wrapping of some kind? Tags? All of the above? Who knows?!?!???

I can't wait to find out! Can you?!???

Happy World Card-Making Day!

World Card-Making Day
Happy World Card-Making Day to all my Stampin' Friends! Today's the day we set aside some time from our usual busy schedules to make (and send) some cards…. and enjoy the special connection to other card-makers around the world who are doing the same.

Additionally, I host an annual Virtual Retreat so my team, along with THEIR friends and customers from across the USA, can be even a little MORE connected while we create our cards this weekend. If you're reading this and you fit in that definition of attendees, please join us in our private retreat FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/118681528846590/.

When you ask to join, there'll be 3 quick questions to answer (to ensure you're a real, authorized invitee and not a troll, lol), and then I'll admit you to our private group.

BTW, this set of crate + 4 cards & envelopes was one of the retreat prizes won so far…. and the Wood Textures Designer Series Paper stack is available this month as part of the "Buy 3; get 1 free" Designer Series Paper offer !

Crate + 4 cards

 Main project supplies 

Paper Pumpkin Mash-up

YourPaperDreams_Paper_Pumpkin_June_2017[a]
There are lots of reasons crafters enjoy Stampin' Up!'s Paper Pumpkin program: it delivers a crafting surprise to your mailbox every month, introduces products that sometimes go on to show up in the regular line later, offers color combinations you might never have tried, and so many more. Personally, I particularly appreciate getting a new stamp set every month that often compliments others I already own. And these projects are perfect examples of that.

Both the gift bag and the "Hooray" card came from this month's Paper Pumpkin kit. I was immediately captivated by the bright, fun colors in this kit, and sat down to assemble every element immediately. (June's kit included enough supplies for 4 gift bags, tags & tissues + 6 coordinating cards with envelopes….. and as usual, sufficient extra elements to use on future projects, too.)

I knew right away who would be the first recipient of one of my bag/card combos, but the occasion called for a little bit different sentiment on the tag than those that came with the kit. So a quick exploration of my stamp sets turned up "So excited to see you!" – from "Marquee Messages". 

Visit http://paperpumpkin.yourpaperdreams.com/ and click on "How it works" to learn more about Paper Pumpkin. And if you decide you'd like to try a subscription (either month-to-month or prepaid), please select my name – Lynda Glassmoyer (Post Falls, ID) – if the system asks for the name of a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. (Thank you kindly for choosing me.)

I can't say as I've ever really been captivated by the color Emerald Envy; it reminds me of Glorious Green, from oh, SO many years ago….. which only saw daylight at my place around Christmastime. But when this kit paired Emerald Envy with Melon Mambo for this charming watermelon, well, ok, I had to admit I liked it. In fact I liked it so well I had to keep using it, even after all the elements of this Paper Pumpkin kit had been assembled!

Watermelon thank you

So here's the next thing I made a pile of….. using not only the same colors and watermelon stamp from June's kit, but a sentiment from April's Paper Pumpkin kit, along with a "wreath" die from Santa's Sleigh Thinlits. (The die proved perfect for taking a "bite" out of the watermelon!) And having taken a queue from last year's "Pop of Pink" Designer Series Paper (retired), I've come to really love pairing Melon Mambo with Basic Black. Talk about making a statement! So a strip of each color anchors the bottom of the card, and the watermelon and sentiment elements are then balanced with a set of 3 small rhinestones. A very basic card with a big helping of sass, don'tcha think?

Oh, and did you know that if you're already a subscriber to Paper Pumpkin you can get a refill for the consumable elements of the kit? (While supplies last, that is.)  As of today, the refill for June's kit is still available in my online store here – for only $8 US.

My first Stampin’ Up! sampler

Spring sampler 2017_1

Well it finally happened. My first 12" x 12" framed sampler. 

Not that I haven't adored all the gorgeous themed samples I've seen through the years; I guess I was just a little intimidated. But I finally bit the bullet last week, put together a color palette inspired by Fruit Stand DSP, and dug in. I hit a creativity roadblock after the first 7 squares, so I lost a bit of time 'cuz of that, but at least I got the project finished on the same day I started it.

Ironically, I think the hardest thing about this was getting a half-way decent picture, lol! It's been raining, cloudy and dark around here for days, and since I shoot under natural light…. well, there just hasn't been any. So I ultimately decided to just run with what I had, and maybe someday, should we ever see the sun again, I'll try for a better shot then!

Here's what my thinking went like when planning this:

  • Size - well, I already had the 12 x 12 frame, which I'd purchased a number of months ago. So that was a no-brainer.
  • Color Palette – primarily inspired by the Fruit Stand DSP collection (Tangerine Tango, Peekaboo Peach, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White), and I substituted So Saffron for Daffodil Delight, then added Soft Sky (for some of the backgrounds) & Basic Black for punch. (Every square has both white and black in it.) I even used 2 pieces of the DSP itself.
  • Theme – flowers & nature
  • Dimension – I knew I wanted "some", but had to keep it modest because this would be displayed behind glass. (You can go all kinds of crazy with dimension if you're using a shadow box, though….. and I'm anxious to do one of those one of these days, too.)
  • Techniques – I also wanted to showcase a variety of techniques, as well, so I was deliberate about doing something different with each square as I developed it.

Each decorated square is 1-7/8" square (Whisper White CS or watercolor paper), which is then mounted on a 2" square of Whisper White, and then mounted on either a Pear Pizzazz or Tangerine Tango 2-1/4" square. I first laid out the pattern for the largest layers, then stamped the 9 decorated squares, mounted each to its white backing, and then spent quite a bit of time experimenting with overall arrangements before anchoring them down to their colored backgrounds.

Can't wait to do my next one!

Thanksgiving, Black Friday & Online Extravaganza

Black Friday Fun

Happy Day-after-Thanksgiving!

And Black Friday, too!

SCROLL DOWN TO SKIP TO THE BLACK FRIDAY FUN if you don't want to read about my Thanksgiving!

My son and I did a Thanksgiving-dinner-to-go  to take over to my folks' apartment yesterday. There were only going to be 4 of us (son's wife and kiddos had gone out of town to be with her family for a change this year, but he works for the postal service and it's holiday time, so he couldn't go with 'em), so I'd figured how complicated could this be, right? But oh my gosh - the logistics - another whole story! I don't know whatever made me think that would be "easier" than just going out to dinner somewhere, but in spite of the work, I'm glad we did it. 

First off, my folks' apartment's cooking equipment basically amounts to a single-plate-size microwave. Well, there's also a 2-slice toaster and a cute miniature oven about the size of my grandkids' play kitchen. Not sure it would even accommodate a regular muffin tin, and since it's never been turned on in the entire year+ that they've lived there, I wasn't real comfortable with the idea of "testing it out" on Thanksgiving Day….. given that their smoke detector has already proven a bit on the sensitive side and the place was running on skeleton staff. So we opted for a "carry in" dinner instead.

So let's set the scene: Think of fixing a Thanksgiving dinner in a one-butt kitchen with m-a-y-be two square feet of counter space (that is, assuming no dirty dishes are occupying any of that precious space). Ok, so that's where it really began. Oh, by the way, that's the description of *my* place, lol. Given the circumstances, I'd thought it would be smart to bake the pumpkin pie, prepare the stuffing, and cook the sweet potatoes here at home. THEN go over to my son's place because they have a real-size oven over there – which could actually accommodate a turkey. (Thank goodness he was willing to handle that part of the meal!) 

I'd purchased a Thanksgiving Dinner kit from the local grocery store, and picking that up on Wednesday went without a hitch, so I thought we were on a roll. (Uh, no pun intended; sorry.)

The purchased dinner included a fully-cooked turkey (just heat and eat….. yeah, right), and a number of side dishes – all ready to warm up in the microwave. Oh, and a pumpkin pie just the perfect size for 4. (Mind you, this meal was marketed as 10 – 12 servings, but why pick over details, eh?)  Well, Mom likes "homemade" stuffing (her recipe, which, granted, IS delicious), and homemade pumpkin pie and some type of secondary pie …. and the candied sweet potatoes I fix….. so sure, I'll do those too. 

So I prepared all those things, packed them up (stuffing and sweet potatoes at perfect "sit down and eat 'em right now" temperature), and headed over to my son's to heat up the rest of the stuff. Oh, but wait! Apparently "heating" the bird takes as long as roasting one from scratch, so there was going to be an unexpected delay in the timeline. Ok. A quick phone call over to the folks and we can be flexible. And besides, when was the last time I got a chance to have an actual conversation with my son – solo?!?

But how do we keep everything else warm in the meantime? And the "just heat in the microwave" instructions for everything else would mean that cycling everything through would lead to the first dishes being cold again by the time the last were ready. Ok, so I took the stove-top/oven route vs microwave. So everything could go in based on when we wanted it to come out. Green bean casserole that was included in the dinner package got set aside due to an ingredient that would create an allergy situation. Thankfully, replacement ingredients were located on site, and required casserole got recreated from scratch.  Turkey got carved and arranged on a platter (and "test-tasted" along the way, of course). Sides came out of the oven at appropriate time, and overall everything was going great. UNTIL we realized we had an entire kitchen full of Thanksgiving dishes all hot and ready to serve – that (YIKES!) needed to be packed and transported over to the next town. And there were no handy empty boxes on site, of course, thanks to a recent recycle run in an effort to clean out the garage! 

So we were exactly 1 hour late in arriving at our destination. And then all 4 of us began scurrying around in the approximately 16 or so square feet of space that encompasses Mom and Dad's cooking/serving/eating area (trying really hard not to knock each other over and add an emergency-room trip to the agenda), and eventually got all the food unpacked (although it was by now no longer at serving temperature), and reloaded it all into the pretty serving dishes that Mom had set out. Ultimately we decided to load our plates and reheat (ala "leftovers" style) one-plate-at-a-time in the microwave. 

A little shy of "tradition", but dinner proved delicious and it was a lovely time together.

And then it was time to do the dishes. Uh-oh. Another detail I'd largely overlooked…. although I HAD remembered to bring extra dish towels. But comparing Mom & Dad's itty-bitty sink (that's just perfect for a couple coffee cups, 2 cereal bowls and 2 spoons) against the mountain of dirty dishes we'd just created with this endeavor….. AND given that everyone except Mom was by now sweating profusely because of the built-up heat in the place), Son and I looked at each other and immediately knew we needed to pack the dishes out and wash them elsewhere. So we stacked 'em up, packed 'em out and carried 'em home. Back to his place where we "kind of" sorted stuff and portioned out the leftovers that we hadn't left for Mom & Dad, and divided the dishes to be done. And then I brought my share home in a mammoth tote bag – and set it down. Put the food away and literally fell into bed, knowing I'd be in a better frame of mind to face the dishes this morning.

All told, it was fun. And I'm glad we did it. But our "oh, it's only 4 of us and we'll even buy a dinner-to-go kit to keep it simple" without a doubt turned into the most complex Thanksgiving dinner that I've ever experienced! There was certainly enough food for 4, though. A wonderfully moist turkey that could have easily served 8 or more, 3 pies, 2 kinds of stuffing, 3 kinds of cranberries, 2 green bean casseroles (although we scrapped and didn't serve the original one), mashed potatoes & gravy, candied sweet potatoes, a dozen rolls (of which we used only 2), pumpkin bread, and 4 different beverages to choose from – all made for PLENTY of food!

Would I do it again? Well, at this point I honestly can't say. The food prep turned out to be the easy part, actually. But the transporting, serving and cleaning-up kinks kind of overshadowed the rest in my mind. But give me another year to think on it. Once I go tackle those dirty, dried-on dishes!

BLACK FRIDAY FUN

So yeah, there really IS a Stampin' Up! connection to this post! It's not only Black Friday, but Stampin' Up's Online Extravaganza continues through this upcoming Monday (the 28th), when it concludes with another 24-hour Flash Sale!

You can see the items on the Extravaganza here, and the stamp sets that have been available all month for 25% off here

But if THAT's not enough, here's the rundown of what *I'm* offering for my Black Friday and November customers:

Cookie Cutter Christmas

  1. I will be sending the tutorial for this stocking stuffer project to everyone on my mailing list and/or my customer VIP Facebook group. Look for that complimentary tutorial before day's end.
  2. Everyone who has a total of $50 – $74.99 or more in product orders through me Nov. 1 – Nov. 28 will get a "Class-in-the-mail" for this project (consumable materials packet only; does not include the stamps, punch, ink pads or other basic tools) – to make 2 of these stocking stuffer gifts.
  3. Everyone who has a total of $75 – $99.99 or more in product orders through me Nov. 1 – Nov. 28 will get a "Class-in-the-mail" for this project (consumable materials packet only; does not include the stamps, punch, ink pads or other basic tools) – to make 4 of these stocking stuffer gifts.
  4. Everyone who has a total of $100 or more in product  orders through me Nov. 1 – Nov. 28 will get a "Class-in-the-mail" for this project (consumable materials packet only; does not include the stamps, punch, ink pads or other basic tools) – to make 8 of these stocking stuffer gifts!
  5. All orders of $75 or more placed Nov. 25 – 27 will qualify for FREE SHIPPING (within the US, of course), but you MUST contact me by phone or email so I can place your order for you if you want the Free Shipping option. (In other words, do not place your order for this at my online store if you want to use your Free Shipping option!) Sorry, but I cannot make exceptions. 

When the packaging’s just gotta coordinate with the contents

Packaging collage

I had occasion recently to wrap a baby gift. Now, this wasn't just some random baby gift, but rather, in celebration of the upcoming arrival of my 2nd granddaughter. So if there's ever a reason to spend a little extra time wrapping something, I figure that that would qualify. I'd picked out this adorable little 3-piece set – 2 onsies and a coordinating pair of pants/leggings. Yes, I know the pant legs will be too long; manufacturers have had DECADES to figure out babies' legs aren't proportioned to the rest of their bodies yet, but for some reason they refuse to adjust accordingly. But I digress. I had this cute little clothing ensemble and it needed to be wrapped. Appropriately.

So the first thing I reached for was cardstock in colors close to those of the clothes. Minus purple, of course; I already knew that wasn't
gonna happen. But I was Botanical-Builder-Box-close-up-800-wmsurprised to see how tough it was to match the other colors, too! Especially a yellow-green. Came up empty-handed there, too. But eventually I ended up pulling out some scraps of retired In Colors: Strawberry Slush, Pistachio Pudding and Coastal Cabana…… and then added Bermuda Bay, Pink Pirouette, Wisteria Wonder and So Saffron to round out my options. 

To determine the size of the box I folded (and refolded) the 3 items until I
could stack them up into a size I could create a box for (using only 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock, 'cuz that's what I had available). Luckily, I determined I could do that with a box 5-1/2" x 7-1/2"….. and 1-1/2" deep. YAY!  So I just trimmed a half-inch off the bottom of a full sheet each of Wisteria Wonder (for the box bottom), and Pink Pirouette for the box top. (Leaving me with 8-1/2" x 10-1/2".) Scored 1-1/2" borders all the way around for the bottom, and just the teeniest smidge narrower for the top.  (This technique leaves the box top just that itsy-bitsy bit larger so it'll fit over the bottom.) 

Botanical-Builder-Box-800-wmAfter assembling the box I determined that that much surface looked just a little bit  "flat", so I added a layer using the Brick Wall embossing folder. Figured that made a decent base to work with, and the fun was about to begin.

Now, I have to confess that I love flowers (DUH! Those of you who know me aren't surprised, are ya?), and after 20 years of working with flowers in the paper and ink world I've figured out it's not likely I'll ever tire of them. And whenever I can combine flowers with DIMENSION, so much the better. So it's really no wonder the Botanical Builder Framelits have become my "go to" faves these days. 

So this is the result. I shaped the flower petals and leaves with a bone folder and also wrapped some elements loosely around a white gel pen. (Ugh! Just realize that's been retired. YIKES! How'd I miss that?!?) All the flowers are glued to a belly band that simply slides off to open the box. I love belly bands on boxes for this purpose; you can get as elaborate as you want with the decoration, and yet nothing has to be untied or otherwise destroyed when it's time to access the box's contents.  A perfect packaging solution in my book!

Buy NOW, get a coupon for NEXT month!

Now here's something ELSE really cool! Right now (and through the remainder of July, actually), for every $50 of product you order through me (at one time, that is), you'll get an emailed coupon worth $5 towards product(s) you order NEXT month. (Specifically Aug. 2 – Aug. 31 .) And there are no limits as to how many $5 coupons you can accrue; you'll get one for every $50. So for instance, if you like the Botanical Builder Framelits AND the coordinating Botanical Blooms Stamp Set I've used on this project, well, guess what?! ? Conveniently, they both add up to $50, and BOOM! you've earned a coupon to spend next month! Or choose $150 in product (ordered at one time) and get not only THREE $5 coupons for next month ($15 value, that is), but also $15 in Stampin' Rewards THIS month, too! Get the idea?!?

Here are the products I used on this project; items that are currently available (at time of this writing) will link to my online store:

 

Strawberry Slush 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

Strawberry Slush 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock
[131295]
$6.95
Pistachio Pudding 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

Pistachio Pudding 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock
[131294]
$6.95
Coastal Cabana 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

Coastal Cabana 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock
[131297]
$6.95
White Signo Uni-Ball Gel Pen

White Signo Uni-Ball Gel Pen
[105021]
$4.00

 

 

Post Falls High School Craft Fair 2015

I had a ton of fun chatting with so many friendly people at the Post Falls High School Craft Fair on Saturday! And was especially impressed to see how many Stampin' Up! demonstrators dropped by! I think by day's end there had been about 7 or 8 demonstrators who'd popped in and introduced themselves; now, if only I was good with faces and names to remember 'em all for *next* time, lol!

And the morning crowd was amazing; I remember looking up at one point and seeing the (quite wide) aisle completely filled with people in both directions. This was obviously not only a craft fair, but the day's social meeting point as well!  🙂

If you've attended one of my booth events over the years you know that I'm not one to just hang and wait for someone to show up. But rather, I generally keep myself busy stamping some kind of little give-away goodies. This year and last I chose gift tags for that item, and this year I particularly wanted something I could crank out quickly and not have to clean stamps along the way. So what's my favorite "quick stamp" technique?  Something monochromatic! Not only can a single color of ink be a real wow, but it holds down supply costs and there's zero chance of sticking the stamp into the wrong ink pad! (Something that's always embarrassing to do in front of an audience.) I knew my working space would be limited, so the simpler, the better, I figured.

So here's the simple, monochromatic design I made and gave away 60-some Tag_Mossy_Meadow
of in 6 hours.  (Actually, more like 4-1/2 hours, because the last hour and a half of the 6-hour show was basically dead.)

This tag began as a 2" x 4" piece of Whisper White cardstock. I chose Mossy Meadow for the ink color, and then there were just a few simple steps…..

  1. I chomped off one end with the Scalloped Tag Topper punch.
  2. The snowy trees image (from "Happy Scenes" stamp set) was placed about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom. (Remember that when using photopolymer stamps, I always recommend placing a piercing mat underneath to compensate for the lack of foam layer on the stamp itself.)
  3. "Season's Greetings" image (from the same set) was placed in the lower area, closer to the left edge for weight balance.
  4. I applied 2-way glue pen in the areas to be glittered….
  5. Then dunked into Dazzling Diamonds glitter and shook off excess.
  6. Finally, I folded a 12" length of Whisper White Bakers Twine in half, brought the two ends together through the tag hole from back to front and looped through the fold for the tag ties.

IF I'd been able to find a "To / From" stamp I'd have either positioned that in the upper left-hand corner or on the back, but after searching in vain through my entire collection of current stamps I sadly concluded I must have sold or retired any such stamps that I once owned. Shoot. There are 3 such pairs of stamps in the current Holiday Catalog, and at least that many in the Annual Catalog, but doggone if I could find 'em when I was tearing through my stuff searching for 'em, lol! Oh well, we'll just call that "white space" – an important element of design, too.

Product List

AND DON'T MISS THIS WEEK'S "WEEKLY DEALS" – available until discounted supplies are exhausted, or thru Monday, Nov. 16, whichever occurs first:

Guest Artist – Watermelon Mini Treat Bag

P8060056Kevin Boyer has earned a reputation as an excellent stamping party and class host, and I suspect one of the ways in which she encourages awesome attendance is the darling handmade favors she prepares for everyone! Last month I had the privilege of gathering with Kevin and her friends again for a card-making class while I was visiting back on Whidbey Island.

For that event Kevin had picked a watermelon theme for her favors – using the new In Color "Watermelon Wonder", as well as various watermelon-flavored candies and gum. The main bag is cut with the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Die, ribbon is 1" Dotted Lace Trim, and the darling seeds are actually punched hearts cut in half! (The heart punch, white ribbon, tag punches and "Yum Yum" stamp are retired, but sure still work well here…. and I think the green and lighter pink are also retired cardstock colors, as well. Guessing at Strawberry Slush and…..??????)

Thanks for yet another awesome party and take-home favor, Kevin!

Product List

Small Heart Punch

Small Heart Punch
[117193]

Birthday gift wrapping

P7060014So what do you do when it's time to wrap a birthday gift that measures 4' long by about 2-1/2" wide? Well I had to think about this long and hard before finally coming up with this idea!

Much of my inspiration came from the fact that my son is a volunteer for the American Red Cross and had spent many hours this past week working at several evacuation shelters put in place due to the many fires in the area. In fact, he'd missed all of the family's 4th of July activities, and then most of his birthday the following day. So I suppose it was "fire" on my mind that led me to this giant candle – made almost entirely from Stampin' Up! supplies.

I began by fashioning a long cylinder constructed from the white backing sheets that come in most of the Designer Series Paper packages. And in the process, fell in love with our new "Tear and Tape Adhesive", btw!

Once the cylinder was the proper length I made a top and bottom by tracing the openings and clipping an oversized circle of the same white backing board inwards to that pencil line, folding each tab downwards for a custom fit. I anchored the top one in place with scotch tape and then inserted the gift from the bottom and closed up that end the same way.

Then starting at the top again, I wrapped a combination of Designer SeP7060016---desaturated-background---web---crries Papers (12 x 12) and several full sheets of cardstock down the length of it, and ultimately added stars cut with the Stars Framelits. I drew and cut two layers of "flame" and glued the upright section of a bent piece of white florist wire between the two layers, taping the other section to the top of the tube.

I think David was amused and intrigued, but obviously uncomfortable when I had to go and spoil the moment by grabbing the camera, lol! 

But I was pleased to see that he had immediately noticed the card repeated the same "candle" theme – with the same colors and prints. (The finer points of having grown up in a Stampin' Up! household!!!)

But eventually the moment arrived that I'd been dreading: how to remove the gift without destroying the package? Ultimately I suggested he use a knife and cut just around the inside perimeter of the bottom, and that allowed him to slip the gift out without destroying the "packaging".

So now the question is:  a whole day later now, have his 2 little kiddos completely destroyed the candle themselves yet?