When you have some extra roof flashing...

Make tea light holders!  I've been threatening to try this project ever since I saw a shoe box swap of this style at convention.  I've seen tons of pictures of these cool tea light holders all over the internet so it's impossible for me to give credit to any one person for the inspiration.  I'll just say to whoever thought this up first, YEAH YOU!!  This was so much fun!

Ok, Kelli...what are you talking about?  Flashing is a roofing material used to weatherproof your roof.  You'll see it around chimneys or vent pipes. It's generally made of some kind of sheet metal.  The stuff that's pretty easy to find your local home improvement store is made of aluminum.  It comes in rolls with sizes from 6" wide to 14" wide and as long as 50 feet or more on a roll.  Most of it is silver in color but I was able to find a coated flashing that was brown on one side and white on the other. (If you need to know more about flashing, check out this Wikipedia link.)  For my particular project, I purchased a roll of flashing that is 14 inches wide (the same size as the Bigz XL dies) and 10 feet long.

To put this in the simplest of terms, I cut the flashing to 6" x 14" and put it through my handy dandy Big Shot using the Flower Folds die.  I ran each piece back through the Big Shot using an embossing folder.  I bent the small flower up and the large flower down, assembled them with some sticky strip and voila!  We have a tea light holder :-)  I know that sounds overly simplistic but I'm telling you, it was SO easy.

 A couple words of caution.  Flashing is SHARP!  I cut myself and didn't even know I was bleeding.  This is not a project for kids.  Also, you will probably need a card stock shim when you cut the flowers out.  Even through it's thick enough to go through with a cut, you do need a little extra push because the material is so thick.

Go try making yourself a great little tea light holder out of roof flashing!  I bet your hubby will be pretty impressed you 1) know what flashing is ;) and 2) figured out a unique way to use some of those scraps.  I really want to stamp on this stuff.  I'll report back with the results!

A quick share

I really love the Box #2 die for the Big Shot.  It's really very versatile!  This basket is made from two die cuts mounted back to back then decorated with some DSP.

So simple and easy, right?  This fun little basket makes a great gift carrier or desk caddy.

Grab your big shot and make something fun!!

Chocolate Monkey Suckers and a Cupcake Tree

I had an amazing weekend!  For those of you who have followed my blog for a while, you'll know I was taking a poll a few months back as to which invitation to use for my sister's baby shower. (We decided on the pocket card.)  Saturday was the shower and it was wonderful fun!  We had a house full of family and friends.  We had family in from out of state that we hadn't seen in quite some time, too, so that helped make it an even more special day!  Lil Sis was showered with wonderful gifts that will be ever so useful when my nephew makes his debut sometime around the beginning of July.  I can't wait to meet him!!

So, you know if I was making the invitations, I had to make the decorations :)  The baby's room has a monkey theme so we kept with that and used Brocade Blue and Chocolate Chip as our colors. I had lots of help getting these decorations and favors ready.  Mickey, Audra, Madison, and Heather - Thank you for helping alleviate my stress.  You guys did a great job!!!  Below is a description of some my favorite party decorations and favors.  You can click on any of the pictures for a larger view.

WELCOME BABY Banner - We made this banner from the Stampin' Up! Pennant Die the morning of the shower.  It went together so quick easy!  Each of the pennants is connected with a 3/8" Chocolate Chip brad and the ends with the ribbon are reinforced with Pewter Jumbo Eyelets.

Cupcake Tree - With lots of help, we made Lemon, Chocolate, and Red Velvet cupcakes for the shower.  I was even able to mix icing that was frighteningly close to Brocade Blue!  Each cupcake was wrapped up so cute thanks to the Perfect Setting Big Shot die. BB - chocolate, CC - red velvet, CC DSP - lemon.  On the top of each one sits a great little cupcake pick made by sandwiching a toothpick between two scalloped circle punches.  Look closely at the photo.  I used a 16x20 mirror as the cupcake tree tray.  In the lower right corner, I applied the "M is for Monkey" Decor Element.  So cute, right??  Now that it's not being used as a cupcake tray, it will be put in a frame and hung in the baby's room.

Chocolate Monkey Suckers - I'll be brutally honest.  I hope I never have to get these chocolate molds out again :-)  I made about 60 of these monkeys in both milk chocolate and peanut butter chocolate.  They were really tasty and so cute!  Each monkey was wrapped in a cello bag and mounted on a flower made with the Stampin' Up! exclusive Flower Folds die.  We tied the little thank you notes to each one and put them into vases for fun and tasty table arrangements.  I'll definitely use this idea again! 

A fun way to recycle

Who said the only way to recycle was through your recycling bin?  This is a super fun card made using my Big Shot, the new Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, and an aluminum can!  That's right, the shiny silver textured piece of this card is a soda can!

One of the reasons I love my Big Shot is because of the variety of materials you can put through it.  I love the fun of using a soda can as part of a fun embellishment on a card.

To make your own soda can embellishment, use some tin snips or old scissors to cut your soda can apart and into the shape you want it (you could use a Big Shot die for this part!)  Put the soda can piece into an embossing folder and run it through as you would any piece of paper.  Voila!  You have a recycled embellishment!

**Tip: You'll probably want to use Sticky Strip to adhere your soda can embellishment to your card!

Did you hear I'm giving away a FREE Big Shot??  Check it out!

Shhhh....it's a Sneak Peek!

Last night I had some of my bestest stampers over to say thanks for being hostesses during Sale-A-Bration.  We had a great time stamping and laughing.  Nothing formal.  Just a nice little get together and a great way to spend a Friday night!  These ladies never cease to amaze me, really.  They're so creative and fun.  I get inspired everytime we're together.

One great thing they had the benefit of seeing were my fun preorder products from the upcoming Summer Mini Catalog.  One of my favorite new sets is called Sweet Scoops.  It's just darling!  This is a really quick and easy card I whipped up for a swap I'm in as well as for the Stampin' Up! Milwaukee Regional seminar that I'm going to next weekend.  Super cute, right?  What girl doesn't love ice cream??  Last night Patty said, "You should make a banana split!"  I'm on it!!  Just give me a few days to figure out just the right banana!

Another one of my favorites in the mini is the Island Floral Bigz die for the Big Shot.  I think the flowers are super versatile. I'm definitely going to be attempting some fabric flowers with this die!  Another fun favorite are the Builder Wheels.  The little 3x3 note card and envelope were decorated using this new wheel concept.  You can get up to three wheels into one of our jumbo handles.  Very very cool, indeed!  We made this little note holder lickedy split...mmmm  banana split.  (One track mind. I need to go find some ice cream!)

I'm very excited to have a restful weekend to play with my new stash.  There's lots of creating to be done.  Tomorrow I'm going to take my new goodies over to my (new demonstrator!) mom and dad's house so we can do a little creating and sharing as we celebrate Easter together. 

Happy Stamping!

Shabby or chic?

Ok...feel free to click on the picture to get a bigger view.  I'm torn.  I've now made several fabric flowers but I don't know which version I like better.  On one hand, I like the ease and simplicity of the "chic" version on the left. On the other hand, I really love the "shabby" frayed and currled edges of the version on the right.  The kids aren't any help to me today.  They're being just as indecisive as I am!

Bonus on the "chic" version...once it's done, it's done.  No waiting on the wash/dry factor.

Bonus on the "shabby" version...I'm getting a lot of laundry done!  It would be a crime to just wash a couple fabric flowers.

What do you think?  I'm really looking for some opinions here.  I have a pile of flowers that I either need to wash or walk away from.  Actually, I'm not even sure what I'm going to do with all of the pins I've made so far!   Oh what to do, what to do.  Opinions, please!!  :)



**Note to yesterday's blog readers...I tried the folded vs. stacked version in the washer and have decided I like them both, unfortunately!  I will probably continue to use the stacked version when I have 3 fabrics to use as opposed to 2 or 4.  Easy way to distinguish at least that part of my flower pin dilema :)

You're right. I don't sell fabric, but...

I do have this fantastic flower die for the Big Shot that makes the coolest fabric flowers you've ever seen!

While I was at the SU leadership conference last week, I saw tons and tons of fun flower pins and embellishments made with the Stampin' Up! exclusive Bigz XL Die Flower Folds.  Who knew you could cut multiple layers of fabric with the Big Shot?  I've had a very good time cutting fabric.  So much fun that I really want to place an order for just about every die in the catalog :)

These flower embellishments are actually quite simple to make.  The purpleish pin on the left is made using all four flowers from the Flower Folds die.  I cut three coordinating fabrics in each size and layered them all together.  I hand stitched the middle and added some Stampin' Up! clear buttons to the center.  I threw it into the washing machine then dryer to get the frayed and currled edges.

The pink pin was made without fraying the edges and using a pretty simple folding technique to get the flowers placed just right.  The buttons in the center are from the Playground Designer Buttons and Button Latte.  They work really well with this project, don't they?  I can't wait to make pin in this particular style and throw it into the washer just to see what happens!  I really like the shabby chic style of the frayed edge but i also love the clean edge of the folded look.  At least I know I have options!

The Flower Folds Bigz XL Die is exclusive to Stampin' Up!  If you'd like to learn to make these shabby chic flowers on your own, shoot me an email!  I'll happily give you a free Flower Folds pin class with the purchase of the Flower Folds die!

Don't forget, Sale-A-Bration is going on now!  Purchase the Flower Folds die plus an additional $7.05 in merchandise and you will qualify to receive an item from our exclusive Sale-A-Bration catalog!  Can it get any better???  A great die, a free class, and free "stuff"!!  Email me today to reserve your die, schedule your class and pick out your free stamps!

Happy Stamping!