Scrapnextras

Fast and Fabulous Fridays: Mini Easter Basket

You are going to love these adorable Easter Baskets if you have any plans on sending Easter treats to school with your kids, because these are Fast and Fabulous!  Trust me, if I'm going to mass produce anything, it has to be just that!

Here's what you need:

• 2 strips of paper; one that is 1 1/2" x 11" ,
•                            one that is 1 1/2" x 8 1/2"

So really, what I do, is cut one sheet length wise at 1 1/2", and the other width wise at 1 1/2".  You will get 5 strips length wise and 7 width wise.

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You want to apply adhesive to one end of the longer strip. 

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• Now you will adhere that end to the mid point of the short strip.  If you are using your grid paper, you will line up the edges at 3 1/2" and 5".
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Next, you want to wrap the long strip around and adhere it to what is going to be the bottom.

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You need to crease your edges so that it will become more basket like, rather than round. 

I just fold every thing in and over until the bottom edge are creased nicely.

When you are done it will look like this:

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OK, you're almost done!

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At this point, you will apply adhesive to the bottom inside of the flaps. 

I apply 2 swipes of adhesive about an inch apart.

Do not glue higher up than an inch from the bottom.

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This is what you should have after adhering the flaps.

I bet you can guess what the next step is!

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You were right!  Now you are going to thread your ribbon through the fold of the tabs, and around the outside of the basket.

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Tie your ribbon in a knot or bow, and I also added a sentiment to finish it off.

Now of course this can be made nice and fancy with designer paper, or you could stamp it with a fancier design.  I know these will end up in the trash faster than I can say Peter Rabbit, so I used a wheel.

It's the thought that counts!

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Here are a few of mine.  I used the Spring Fever designer paper on a couple. 

The one with the circles I cut at 2" wide, because then I was able to have the full pattern without cutting the circles off.

These little babies hold a lot of chocolate Easter eggs.  More than I would really want my kids to eat, so you could add some Easter grass if you were particular.   The 2" basket will hold a KinderSurprise egg, which my kids love!  A bit expensive to do 50, but word is the Easter Bunny might leave a couple for my girls Easter Morning!

I sure hope you have fun with this!  I think they would make cute Wedding Favours, Name Place settings, Baby Shower favours, and for all you demonstrator out there, a Fabulous Make and Take for the Free Wheeling promotion!

Got some more to share later today, so don't go away!

Friday's Fast and Fabulous Projects: Acetate & chipboard

OH boy, I kept you waiting for this one!  I kept my youngest home from school today.  She woke up with a red, puffy, swollen eye and I feared the worst.  Luckily her eye didn't get any worse, in fact it got better as the day progressed, however, I didn't.  When it's just me and her, I'm "it".  Ah well, better late than never.

I hope that before this month is over, you will have so many ideas you will really need to stock up on chipboard!  I have really enjoyed sharing some of the different ways you can use chipboard, and there are so many cool things that I could go on and on, and still find newer and cooler ways to use it.  Today's project was "brewing" for a while.  There, and not quite there...certainly not fully formulated, but there.  If you're creative, you probably know what I mean!

I have loved all the clear cards I have seen over the last little while.  I love the possibilities of acetate, being clear and almost not there, but strong and sturdy.  I just loved the idea  of something appearing as though it were suspended in mid air.  So with all my focus on chipboard this month there was this "AHA" moment!  Chipboard could float...in midair...via acetate.

To create this card, I started with 2 nesting flowers from the On Board Blossoms and Basics, and a small chipboard circle.  I used the direct to paper...or rather direct to chipboard to colour the larger flower in Purely Pomegranate, and the Smaller in Groovy Guava.  The small circle I inked up in Soft Sky.  I should mention that I don't get as even coverage with the classic ink pads, direct to chipboard as I do with the Craft inks.  I needed to use a sponge to even out the colour, as the inner portions don't ink up as evenly.  However, the "In Colours" don't have a craft ink option.  I also heat set them to speed up the drying process. 

The layers were adhered together with Mono Multi adhesive and then a hole was pierced through the center of all three pieces and then secured to the acetate with a large circle rhinestone brad.   

I  chose the "Friend" flourish rub on from the Love and Happiness Rub on set, a free Sale-a-Bration selection with a $70.00 purchase, and placed it below the flower.  I tied Purely Pomegranate double stitched ribbon to finish off the front of the card.

I really thought it would be cool to leave it as is, so the flower really appeared to be floating, but decided in the end to put a "back" on the card.  I adhered a 4" square of Soft Sky to to the inside of the back of the card, and then to be sure the adhesive wasn't evident, I adhered a 4 1/8" square of Purely Pomegranate to the back of the back.

That's it...really fast, and totally fabulous!  Here's another view from a higher angle, without so much reflection. Oh and the flower can spin..not that it needs to, but it was something my oldest dd noticed and she thought this card was "Sweet"!  Good enough for me!

Have a great weekend!

**Edited to add:  I purchased the acetate from Staples.  I chose the cheapest they had, because it's pretty pricey, and even that worked out to about $0.65 sheet, or $16.00 for 25 sheets!   Look for overhead projector sheets, or transparency film.  They have many different kinds and I just chose the least expensive, since I had no intention of using them for their intended purpose!

Friday's Fast and Fabulous Projects: Cup Template and Travel Tissue holder

Last month I struggled with trying to make a template to cover miniature washtub.  The project was featured on the cover of Stampin' Success, a magazine sent to all demonstrators, and the instructions did not include a template.   So I had to figure it out myself.  Now maybe everyone else has already discovered the secret, so this is for the one other person out there, who hasn't. I Googled for templates and the best I could come up with was this site.  (Linda, if you right click the link, you can choose "open in new window", and you won't be re-directed).  Another site suggested rolling the tub and tracing it, and that didn't work at all; it was impossible to get it to roll in the right circle.  So after much determination...I can never let something go once I start, I came up with this method of making a template.  And this time I'm showing you my version of a travel tissue holder that I CASE'd from my dollar store!

All you need is a piece of copy paper and your cup, scotch tape, and scissors.

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Now you want to place your cup at one edge in the middle of the paper and roll it up.  Roll it all the way up, keeping the paper fairly snug against the cup...or whatever you are working with.

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Now you want to tape it up with scotch tape.  The edge will likely include a corner so you want to tape all the edges that are within the cup area.

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Next I used my fingers to create a groove where the top and bottom edges of the cup are.  Then I took a pencil and drew my lines.  I did try to use the pencil first, but my line was really warbly, so the groove really helped to keep it straight.

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Now you will cut the cone open.  I like to cut in the area where I taped so I don't have pieces falling away from my future template.

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This is what your opened template looks like.  To finish it off, you want to tape or glue any edges that are within the template portion and then cut it out.

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When you are done, your template should look like this!  Now you can trace it on to any surface you want.  Incidentally, this template does fit within a 8 1/2" x 11" paper.

Wanna see the Travel Tissue Holder?

My dollar store sells these little items, and as you probably guessed they are only $1.00.  However, they are all flowery and colourful, and the interior of my car is gray, Basic Grey to be exact!!  So I knew if I got the right cup and lid, this little project would be a snap.  My Canadian friends will certainly recognize the Ice Cap cup from Tim Hortons!  The open lid is crucial to the mechanics of the tissue holder.  Any tissue should work as long as it's interfolded, such that another pops up when you pull one out. Just don't put too much in, or it's too tight to pull!

The middle section is Whisper White, and I wheeled the "Kindness" wheel in Basic Grey, and coloured the flowers in with my Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose Markers.  I adhered it with Sticky Strip, and would not recommend any other adhesive.  To create the top and bottom borders, I traced the top & bottom of my wonderful template onto Basic Grey textured card stock and then sort of eyeballed the width at one inch and cut it out.  I scalloped the edges with my corner rounder.  Remember to scallop the narrower curve on the top and the wider curve on the bottom and you really don't want to ask why I know this!!

The top of the cup is adorned with our very cool "Love and Happiness" rub ons just because they were there!  I just love Rub ons!  They are so versatile, and they went on the little lid so easily.  I actually used my thumb nail to rub them on, since my finger was the only way to "back" the pressure.  The rub on is a section of the black border, and I have another cup, so I will try the white or brown on it!!

So there you go.  The finished project isn't as fast as it is fabulous, but making the template is very fast!  I don't save them, because each project has different dimensions, and it's so easy I make a new one every time!

I hope you are starting off a great weekend!  I can't wait to share my next project..not fast, but totally fabulous!  Until then...

Friday's Fast and Fabulous Projects; Luv Note Valentines

This past Christmas, Stampin' Up! had a promotion for a Christmas card kit with pre-cut, pre-scored supplies for matchbook Christmas cards.  I thought they were really cute, and could easily be worked into Valentines cards!  I also liked the idea of a matchbook style card with something in it.  I got a really cute sewing kit in a matchbook, and another had a set of emery boards...very cute ideas.  So how about if the Valentine matchbook card had Luv Notes??

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So this isn't the most original idea, you all know I don't have any of those!  But this one has been running around in my head, and my 7 year old thought they were awesome, and I thought I would share my way of making it a Fast and Fabulous project, including recruiting your 7 year old to colour them since she chose a stamp that needed colouring.  OK for one, not so fun for 20!

To start with you need:

• cardstock...I like 12x12, you get 8 cards per sheet!
• copy paper, 4 sheets makes 12 cards
• Guillotine cutter  (a regular paper trimmer won't cut through the layers, but you can easily modify it to do it one at a time)
• stapler...a good one,it's going through 6 layers.  My cute one with coloured staples didn't work so well
• stamps or whatever you want to decorate them (I chose Happy Heart Day for the sentiment, and Greetings Galore for the image
• punches...they make everything fast and fabulous!

If you work with 12x12 paper, you will need to cut it down to 12x11", since the copy paper is only 11" long.  Then cut it in half so you have 2 sheets that are 6" x 11".  Cut your 4 sheets of copy paper 11" x 2 1/2".

Score your card stock at 2 5/8" and at 5 1/2".  Fold on the 5 1/2" score and place your copy paper (4 sheets @ 2 1/2" x 11") on top.  Tuck them into the fold, and staple.

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I didn't specifically mark my staple measurements although in hind sight it does make it easier to cut, so here are my recommendations.  Staple at approximately 1 1/4", 4", 6 3/4" & 9 1/2"

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Once you have your 4 staples in, then you want to cut at 2 3/4" four times.  This is where your guillotine cutter comes in handy.  Insert your card with the folded end at the top. 

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You will then have your four cards to be folded and ready for decoration!  I look forward to spending some time with dd! Just colouring with her will be fun...she has her own little station in my studio, so we often make cards together.  I hope you have fun with this project!

Still, I wonder if this is such a good idea for my grade two-er.  She is in trouble enough for talking too much in class, I hate to think how much trouble she could get into passing notes!  Well, since I put my name in to volunteer at her Valentine's Day party, maybe I'll be able to pass on a few tips for passing notes in class discreetly!  What are Mom's for?

Have yourself a wonderful Super bowl weekend!  TV time for him = stamping time for me!!      

Friday's Fast and Fabulous Projects: Kids Valentine cards on a stick

It's time for Friday's Fast and Fabulous project!  If you have kids, then you are already aware the Valentines Day is one of the top rated holidays!  Honestly it's one of my favorites too.  I just think it's tres cool to celebrate and reconnect with friends and family by wishing them a Happy Valentine's Day.  However, today's project is all about the kids!

The last few years I've noticed a trend to include treats with Valentine cards.  This year, I wanted to include the treat as part of the card, so this is what I came up with.  Now I have to do about 50 Valentines, so you can be sure they will be fast.  I also like to be a little creative, so each one is a little different, although there is no denying that this is going to be a mass production.

To make these little babies, I primarily used the "So Many Scallops" stamp set.  This set becomes available as a Sale-a-Bration set on February 1st.  If you want to make these darling Valentine cards, get your order to me now, so it will go in on February 1st.  I also used "Happy Heart Day"  which is part of the Valentine Bundle available until January 31st.  Although the bundle has an expiry, Happy Heart Day will still be available through to July. 

In addition to your stamps and ink, you will also need the 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, glue dots, scotch tape, suckers (the thin kind work best), and a 2 way glue pen.  These cards are all 3"x3", and you can get 8 out of 12"x12" sheet of paper.  I'm using Pink Passion in the tutorial. 

Start, by decorating your card.  You can add designer paper, or a coordinating colour...whatever works for you. 

Next, ink one of the "So Many Scallops" stamps and stamp it on a neutral colour, and punch it out with the Scallop Circle punch.

Turn the scalloped circle over and apply glue only to the scallops.  I really like the 2 way glue pen for this, as dry adhesive or tabs simply cannot do this type of detailed work.

Now you want to adhere it to your card, but nearer to the bottom, a little lower than dead centre, or you will not be able to position your circle punch.

For the next step, you could simple decorate the opposite side of the white circle you just punched.  I chose a smaller circle because I like the frame the space between it and the card gives.  Either way, you want to decorate your circle.  I elected to stamp the dotted circle stamp from Think Happy Thoughts, and add a sticker.   I purchased these from Walmart, and they are so cute!  And only $1.23 for 32 dimensional stickers...love it!

Next, you will need to tape your sucker to the back side of the front of the card, positioning it so that the candy part is in the window.  Then you will adhere the circle to the front of the sucker, and Voila!  Fast and Fabulous Valentines!  Here are some close ups of some of mine.

For the boys, I figured that they would not like hearts and flowers, so I went with "Wanted", which is really the only masculine set I have, so this is what I came up with. 

Oh, and the cool thing about these is that you don't need envelopes!  Although they do fit in a regular sized envelope.

I am off to my Mom's this weekend, so after I post my Limited Supply Challenge card you probably won't hear from me, although you can be sure I'll be stamping.  I hope you have an awesome weekend, and find time for yourself to stamp!

Friday's Fast and Fabulous projects: Wine bottle topper

You know that Miss Manners always says to never arrive as a guest empty handed.  So the next time you decide to give a bottle of wine, make sure it says you were thinking of them before you stopped at the store!

This little project is a great way to personalize a gift.  It starts with a 3x3 card.  I had some left over from our August Promo, so I used Purely Pomegranate for this one.  I punched a circle on one side of the card then tied a bow with the Purely Pomegranate satin ribbon just to add an extra touch of fancy.  I used Baroque Motifs, and did a shadow stamp technique, where you stamp first in the colour of the paper...in this case Purely Pomegranate.  Then you move the stamp over slightly and stamp it in Versamark, and emboss.  I used the sentiment "for you" from All Holidays, and the cool thing is...you can sign the reverse side for a personal touch!

Here is another topper I did earlier this year with a now retired set, Happy Day.

There you go. Fast and Fabulous!  I hope you are inspired to see what kind of fabulous designs you can create!

Have a wonderful weekend, and stop by when you can!

 

Friday's Fast and Fabulous Projects: Ribbon Bookmark

What day is it??  I guess I'm a bit late here, 'cus it's already Saturday, but I will still share Friday's Fast and Fabulous projects.  I saw a ribbon bookmark in one of the many magazines I buy although I can't remember which, and I have seen them popping up on Splitcoast too lately, so this is not my original idea...I don't have any of those!  However, this is my version, andI love the idea, because it can be cute, pretty, elegant and still be practical.  This project is really a favorite of mine because it's so quick and easy to make, even kids can do it...a fabulous personal touch to a book gift you might give to teacher, especially if your child makes it themselves!  Are you giving any romance novels as valentine gifts?  Here is the perfect wrapping!

I love a ribbon book mark, because it doesn't get bent.  Plus if you make this right, it will clip to your page instead of just slipping in.  For this project I started with an 18" length of Purely Pomegranate satin ribbon...so luxurious for Valentines! That might be a bit long, but I wanted the tails to dangle out the bottom of my book!  I punched 2 scalloped circles in Purely Pomegranate,  2 x 1 3/8" circles in Chocolate Chip, 2x 1 1/4" circles in Pretty in Pink.  I stamped the heart from A Cause for Celebration in Purely Pomegranate on Whisper White and cut it out.  You will also need a stapler, your favorite adhesive and dimensionals.

Here's how I put mine together.  First I folded the ribbon in half, then I positioned the 2 scallop circles on either sides of the fold and lined them up keeping  the ribbon as high into the scallops with out poking through the top.  Then I stapled them!!  How simple is that?  I put 2 staples in, nearer to the top, so that the bottom would be open enough to "clip" onto a page in a book.  I adhered the Chocolate Chip circles to the scallops with dimensionals or foam tape (because of the staples I don't recommend a flat adhesive), then layered the Pretty in Pink on top. 

The Valentine theme is one option, but how about personalizing it with a monogram, or adding a charm or a funky build a brad?  Giving something to Dad...this would look awesome with Twill tape and a square or diamond monogram instead of the scallops.  All you teacher's out there, this is a cute project for the kids that requires so little in the way of tools or skills. 

I hope you all have fun and will take ten minutes to make one!  If you do, leave me a comment with a link so we can all see your creations! 

Stay tuned, I've got more today! 

Friday's Fast and Fabulous Projects; Gift Tags

'tis the season for all those gifts and gift tags.  I have two daughters who count the gifts under the tree.  I often wonder if I should just wrap up 50 stocking stuffer items instead of spending the big bucks on some of their gifts LOL!  At their age they are only looking at quantity not quality, and regardless of value, there will be a lot of sore feelings if one has less than the other.  So I am constantly doing the balancing act, making sure it's all even.  How do you do it when you have three or five kids?  Yikes...I guess that's why I stopped at two LOL!  Needless to say, all those gifts mean lots of gift tags.  Now from time to time I make really fancy tags, and spend lots of time embossing and adding glitter and dimension, but in my house, those little baby's are torn off faster than Santa runs those reindeer, so really, I am looking for some fast and fabulous ways to make LOTs of them.  Here is my quick fix. 

To complete this project I used my jumbo wheel, card stock, scrap strips of designer paper, adhesive and the large tag punch, and a hole punch and cord to attach the ties.

I started with left over strips from my Wintergreen Designer paper, which is retiring at the end of this  month...get it while it's hot, and drew my colours from that!  I cut a strip of Whisper White that was 8 1/2" x 3 1/2".  The 3 1/2" is important, but really it doesn't matter how long it is...make it the length of your designer paper scrap.  I scored the white strip at 1 3/4" lengthwise, and folded it along the score line. 

Then I took my jumbo wheel, and wheeled across the white paper.  You can stamp anything or leave it blank!  I just love wheels, they qualify as Fast and Fabulous from my perspective!  From there, I took my strip of designer paper and adhered it to the white, with the paper on the bottom, fold at the top.  Really, there are no rules here...go ahead and glue it to the top...it'll still be fabulous!

Now, with the paper folded, insert the folded strip into the large tag punch, with the fold at the top.  Push the paper in a little further so that the fold is inside the punch area, by just a smidgen.  Sorry about the photo here...but I think you get the idea.   Then just punch away!  I took my 1/8" hole punch and punched a hole in the top, and tied a 6" length of elasticized silver cord. I got 5 tags from that strip, maybe I could have got 6 had I been conservative.  I wasn't all that concerned, since it seemed that as much as I hate to throw anything away, especially designer paper, it was destined for the recycle bin prior to this little project.

So there you have it.  You don't have to have long strips, you can adhere 2 or three short strips...the idea is to be fast and fabulous, which, I think it is.  How about you?

Friday's Fast and Fabulous projects: A card with the December Sketch

Friday's are my favorite days!  It's the end of the week, a halt in most routines, and a night to stay up late and stamp!   However, my day is usually spent getting ready for the weekend and stamping time is at a premium.  If I do get to steal some stamping time, it's got to be fast, so I thought I would share some of my "fast" projects on Fridays. 

This card uses a couple of the things that I think make stamping fast.  Markers for colouring, and scraps for layers, and a sketch..actually the December sketch I featured in my December Newsletter!  I am working with Time Well Spent, the free Hostess Set that Stampin' Up! sent to all it's demonstrators...yes I know, again!  I can't help it.  For one, it's new, and two, it's just an awesome set!

I started with a Rose Red base, and chose Confetti Cream for my focal layer.  I stamped the flowers in Basic Black first, to position them, and then I stamped the stems and leaves.  I used markers to colour with and I went with Rose Red, Almost Amethyst, So Saffron and Certainly Celery.  This is the colour combination of last year's Sweet Shop ribbon originals, and also the colours our Palette o'Prints came in last May.  Love, love this colour combination, and I was so glad it showed up this year in the Fairy Tale ribbon originals!  By the way, that's another "fast" element, having my colour scheme all picked out!

Once the card was coloured, I found a strip of Confetti Cream and stamped the sentiment "Too Much of a Good Thing is a Good Thing" in Basic Black, and coloured in the flowers.  I layered it on scraps of the corresponding colours, and voila!  I think this took me about 15 minutes!  So you know what I did?  I made two!  I thought it would be fun to step it up a bit...just a bit, and this is what I came up with:

The card is pretty much the same as the first, but here I stamped three more flowers on a scrap, coloured them in and cut them out.  I mounted them on Stampin' Dimensionals which gives a kind of paper tole look!  I also sponged the outer edges of the Confetti Cream with So Saffron ink, and although you can't see it, I dabbed a little bit of 2-way glue on each of the little dots in the flower centres and sprinkled on Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  In real life it almost seems like the dots are moving, the way it sparkles.  The scraps are a little different, because they were scraps.  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed seeing how just a little bit extra can step up a card.  Be sure to click on the images to see them in their full glory!

I hope you have a great weekend! Happy Stampin'!

Recipe:  Stamp Set:  Time Well Spent  Paper:  Confetti Cream, Rose Red, So Saffron, Almost Amethyst  Ink:  Basic Black  Accessories:  2 way glue pen, Stampin' Dimensionals, Stampin' Write Markers  Embellishments:  Dazzling Diamonds Glitter