Rubber Stamping & Card Making with Yapha

Today is my final after-school card making class for this semester. I can’t believe that the school year is almost done. All semester long the girls have been asking me to make something with candy, so I put together a fun final project for them — little purses filled with chocolates. They will make the purses with the Petite Purse Bigz L Die, since they love using the Big Shot almost as much as they love chocolate.

Stamps: It’s a Wrap Occasions
Ink: Rose Red, Tangerine Tango
Paper: Floral District Designer Series Paper, Mailing Labels
Other: Petite Purses Bigz L Die, Brights Buttons

These stamps work perfectly with 2 5/8″ by 1″ mailing labels to easily wrap chocolate nuggets. The purses can hold four of them. These would also make super cute end of the year gifts for teachers.

I made this quite a while ago, for a friend at work who was having a baby, but she had chosen not to find out if it is a girl or a boy. Her husband is a professional photographer, so I figure they have a few million amazing baby pictures. I wanted to make her something to showcase a few of the pictures. I used the Scallop Square Bigz Die to create the base for this. The ribbon (which retired a few years back) is sandwiched between two of the scalloped squares cut out of the cardboard that comes in the packs of designer series paper. This die is on the retiring list, and only available while supplies last, so I would suggest getting it sooner rather than later! (You can click on the picture for a closer view.)

Paper: Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Subtles Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack
Other: Certainly Celery Satin Ribbon (retired), Scallop Square Bigz Die

The retiring accessories are selling out quickly! You can shop all of the retiring items here.

This new This & That line from Stampin’ Up is so fun! It makes great gifts for both scrapbookers and non-scrapbookers as well. As you know, quite a few of Eve’s friends have had birthdays lately. This bundle makes a fantastic gift for crafty tweens and teens! (And grown-ups, too.) We gave her the journal, matching stickers, washi tape, and date stamp. The pages of the journal are all patterned, but the cover is plain chipboard, so I used the matching DSP to personalize the cover for her. I love how it came out!

Paper: Calypso Coral, This and That Epic Day Designer Series Paper
Other: Typeset Alphabet Bigz Dies, Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon

It was quick and easy, but made the gift so much more personal! This is what the cover looked like before.

Much better decorated, right? If you want a closer look at each of the products in the bundle, Ilina Crouse made a great video as she opened hers for the first time. But act soon! All of these products will be available in the next Stampin’ Up catalog, but the bundle with its 15% discount is only around until April 30th.

We are almost at the end of Black History Month, and we have had a variety of celebrations at school throughout the month. We started it off with the African-American Read-In, and will be finishing it up tomorrow with a soul food lunch. One of the ways that the students could participate was by making something creative out of Kente cloth. Each student was given a square, and their creations are on display for the rest of the school to see.

I wanted to use the Kente Cloth to make a special thank you gift for the two teachers who have been leading the activities all month. Last year, you may remember, I made them cute felt Build-a-Bears with Kente cloth clothing. (By the way, many of those Build-a-Bear dies are available for super cheap on the Clearance Rack!) This year I decided to make something with the Dress Up Framelits. I saw quite a few examples of a framed set of five dresses, so I am not sure whom to give credit to for the original idea. I recreated it with the Kente Cloth. The Framelits are not advertised as being able to cute through fabric, but if the fabric is thin enough it is not a problem.

The frame is 14″ long, so my base paper is the one that came in it. I wanted a white background any way. I die cut the dress stands out of Chocolate Chip card stock, and the dresses out of a variety of Kente Cloth patterns. I apologize for the blurriness. My flash was reflecting off the glass, so I didn’t use it. They look really good in real life, and I can’t wait to deliver them in the morning!

For Valentine’s Day at school this year, Eve said that she would like to just put Hershey Kisses in each of her classmates’ boxes. I thought that was a great idea since all of the kids just want candy anyway. But we had to personalize it a little, so I designed a little logo using My Digital Studio.

Then I placed this logo over and over on to a sheet of labels.  I used the mailing labels that were 1″ x 4″, and I fit 3 of these circles onto each label. We used the 3/4″ circle punch to punch them out, and Eve stuck them to the bottom of the Kisses. We made enough that she can put two or three into each students’ box.

I wanted to do something a little bit nicer for her teachers, though, so I bagged up 9 of the kisses, and made this quick and cute topper.

Stamps: Delightful Dozen
Ink: Real Red
Paper: Real Red, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer Paper
Other: Top Note Bigz Die

Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope it is filled with love and chocolate!

Are you looking for a cute way to package up small gifts? I used this great mini pizza box tutorial to make a super cute little box for some earrings that we gave Eve for Hanukkah. The finished box is 4″ x 4″ square, and is 1″ deep.

Paper: Melon Mambo, Silver Glimmer Paper, Brights Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack
Other: Typeset Alphabet Bigz Die, Scallop Square Duo Bigz Die, Simply Scored

This is what the it looks like open with the earrings inside:

I am happy to report that she loved both the earrings and the box!

In other news, Stampin’ Up just restocked the Clearance Rack, and it is chock full of amazing deals! Beware though, some items are already sold out, and others are selling out quickly!

Thank you to all who visited our Hanukkah Blog blog hop over the past month! We received so much positive feedback! As I promised in yesterday’s post, today I have the tutorial for you on creating this box that will hold eight tea lights (2 rows of 4).

I started with the instructions on Tanya’s blog for a box that holds one row of four, and adapted it to make it wider. To start with, you will need two pieces of card stock. One that is 5 1/4″ x 8 1/4″ for the base of the box, and one that is 6″ x 8″ for the sliding cover.

To make the bottom of the box, score the 81/4″ side at 1/2″, 1 1/8″, 7 1/8″ and 7 3/4″.

Then turn it 90 degrees and score at 1/2″, 1 1/8″, 4 1/8″, 4 3/4″

Snip out the corners as shown below

Snip one of the fold lines on each corner to make tabs, then fold, glue, and assemble.

To make the cover, score the 8″ side at 5/8″, 3 3/4″, 4 3/8, and 7 3/8″

The fold and assemble! If you want to decorate the cover, it is easier to do that before you glue it together.

To stamp on the tea lights, you actually stamp on tissue paper. Use your 1 3/8″ circle punch to punch out circles of tissue paper. The easiest way to do this is to fold the tissue paper several times, then place it between sheets of copy paper and punch. Stamp your desired images on the tissue paper. Punch a small hole in the center of your design, and slide this over the wick of the tea light. Use your heat tool to melt a thin layer of wax over the tissue paper. (Note: Do not try and hold the tea light while doing this! set it down on the table.) Have fun!

Today is the last day of our first ANNUAL Hanukkah Blog Hop! We are overwhelmed with the extremely positive response we have received about this hop and all the amazing projects! We hope you were inspired to create and think outside the box when it comes to Jewish related projects! Watch out for future Jewish themed hops…we’ve already discussed one for Passover which is at the end of March 2013!

Thank you to everyone who has visited the first 8 days of the hop. We hope you have enjoyed all the projects and found lots of inspiration! If this is your first visit, you can always go back and visit Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

Today is the ninth day of the blog hop. As you know, there are only eight days of Hanukkah, but nine candles. The ninth candle is the Shamash (or helper) candle that you use to light all of the others. In honor of that, we are all making candle-themed projects for this, the shamash day of our blog hop. My project is a box of Hanukkah themed tea light candles. I used the basic tutorial from Tanya, and modified it to hold eight candles instead of four. I will have a tutorial on making the box on my blog tomorrow.

Here is the outside of the box. (I used Andi’s fabulous idea of including the number 8!)

Stamps: Jewish Celebrations, Every Little Bit, Memorable Moments
Ink: Midnight Muse, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight
Paper: Marina Mist, Midnight Muse, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White
Other: Midnight Muse Stitched Satin Ribbon, Apothecary Accents Framelits, Simply Scored

This is the box partially opened. You can see half of the candles.

Finally, here is a look at all of the candles. This would make a lovely hostess gift if someone invites you over for latkes. Or you can make your own menorah with them for the eighth night! You just need to add a shamash.

Welcome to Day 5 of the Hanukkah Blog Hop! We are so excited to be able to share with you some wonderful Hanukkah related projects. We’ll be posting 2 projects a week on Sundays & Wednesdays until the first day of Hanukkah on December 9th. There are 4 of us participating so that is a total of 9 hop days (one for each candle on the Hanukkiah) for a total of 36 ideas!

This month’s So Shelli Creative Challenge is to share Holiday Table Decorations. I have put together a lovely Hanukkah table setting for you — all that is missing are the latkes! (Mmmm… Latkes…..) Here is an overview of the setting:

The box in the middle of the plate holding the chocolate gelt is a hexagon box made by cutting out two of the milk cartons and putting them together. I used window sheets so you could see the gelt inside. (You can find a tutorial on making the hexagon box on Paula’s blog.)

Stamps: Delightful Dozen
Ink: Midnight Muse
Paper: Very Vanilla, Midnight Muse
Other: Milk Carton Bigz Die, Window Sheets, Midnight Muse Stitched Ribbon, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch

I also created a place card and a wine glass tag. You can use a variety of images on the wine glass to differentiate the glasses. Andi’s card from the first day of the Hop has some great images for this! I used Champagne Glitter Glass around the edges of the place card to jazz it up.

Placecard
Stamps: Lovely Letters
Ink: Midnight Muse
Paper: Midnight Muse, Whisper White
Other: Champagne Glass Glitter

Wine Tag
Stamps: Every Little Bit
Ink: Midnight Muse
Paper: Midnight Muse, Whisper White, Champagne Glimmer Paper
Other: 1″ Circle Punch, 1 1/4″ Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Midnight Muse Stitched Satin Ribbon

Your next stop is Miriam’s blog, where she is going to show you some more great Hanukkah related projects!

Please come back again and visit on Wednesday for Day 6 of our Hanukkah Blog Hop!

Here’s a complete list of the Hanukkah Blog Hoppers:

1. Andi Potler
2. Yapha Mason – YOU ARE HERE!
3. Miriam Permut
4. Jean Fitch

I wanted to give a CD that I burned to a friend of mine, but I’m a paper crafter, so of course I couldn’t just GIVE her a CD, I had to package it up real cute! I found this great tutorial on Heather Cserni’s blog, and it was really easy to make. Here is what it looks like closed:

And this is what it looks like open:

Stamps: Word Play
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Pool Party
Paper: Pool Party, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Story Time Designer Series Paper
Other: Apothecary Accents Framelits, Printed 2011 In Color Designer Brads, Simply Scored Score Board, Velcro

It was much easier to make than I thought it would be, and I love how it came out.