Spice Cake Lollies

Hello again, stamping friends! I have a non-card project to share with you today. When I went to Convention, there were lots of incredible demonstrations where they made adorable boxes, home decor items, and gifts. I was very inspired to branch out a bit with my crafting and try to make some things other than cards.

I just loved this little project. I saw something similar on Heather Summers' blog and decided to try it for myself. I used the new Simply Scored tool to make these little lollies. They are easier to make than I thought that they would be. I finished off the project with a small terra cotta pot, a styrofoam ball inside the pot to hold the sticks in place, lollipop sticks, Spanish moss and a hot glue gun.

We made these at my first team meeting and I am going to give one to the hostess of my workshop that is later this evening. She is a good friend, club member, and loyal customer, so I wanted to do something extra special for her.



Stampin' Up Supplies Used:
Paper: Spice Cake DSP, Soft Suede CS, Pool Party CS, More Mustard CS, Very Vanilla CS
Accessories: Simply Scored, scalloped circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, Blossoms Triple Layer punch, 1" circle punch, antique brads, in color brads, sticky strip

I hope that you like this project and that my hostess likes it too! Have a fantastic weekend! Thanks for stopping by! Check back next week for more projects!

~Marla Pin It

The Sounding Joy

Hello again!

Two postings in two days! Don't any of you go into shock! I'm trying to do better about stamping at least two or three days a week and stamping for fun more often (instead of just when I'm prepping for an event). I am loving all of the challenge sites out there. They are really great. I made this card for two different challenges- Freshly Made Sketches and Hand Stamped Sentiments. I haven't played along with Hand Stamped Sentiments before, but when I saw that this weeks challenge was to use embossing, I had to do it. I love embossing of all types. Nothing gives a card that WOW effect like embossing. I used two types of embossing on this card- dry embossing and heat embossing. I tried something that I had never done before on this card. I sponged the edges of the image panel using Versa Mark ink and then sprinkled silver embossing powder over the sponged ink and heat set it. I really like the effect that it gave. I don't think that I have ever seen this done before, but decided to try it because sponging with classic ink just didn't do it for this card.

I used a brand new stamp set, The Sounding Joy, on this card. It is in the holiday mini catalog and it arrived on my doorstep just about two hours ago. This has to be a new record for how quickly I made a card with a new stamp set! I also used another holiday mini item- the Snow Burst embossing folder. I love the super deep impressions that it makes!



Stampin' Up Supplies Used:
Stamps: The Sounding Joy
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Brushed Silver, Baja Breeze, Whisper White
Ink: Not Quite Navy (for sponging the edges of the stars), Baja Breeze, Versa Mark
Accessories: Big Shot, Show Burst embossing folder, heat tool, silver embossing powder, sponge
Techniques: Heat Embossing, Dry Embossing, sponging

I hope that you liked this card! If you need some inspiration, check out the challenge sites that I linked above. Have a great day!

~Marla

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Halloween Treats

Hello again! Can you believe how quickly time is flying???? My son has already been in first grade for almost a month! Fall is upon us and Halloween is just a few short weeks away! I have been busy planning for my next class on October 7th. It is a class to make Halloween treat holders and I'm really excited about it. It is the first class that I have ever done that is not a card making class- can you believe it? I think we will have a lot of fun and I really like all of the cute ideas I found when looking for projects to make. It had a hard time deciding, but I finally narrowed it down to these three choices-



Aren't they the CUTEST?

This class is being done buffet style. Everyone who is attending can make as many or as few of each treat holder as they like. They just need to preorder the treats that they wish to make by this Friday, September 23rd. Each treat holder is individually priced, but everyone attending can get them for half-price by placing a $20 order on the day of the class. Here are some close-ups and more information on each project.

The owl:


Stampin' Up Supplies Used:
Paper: Soft Suede, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink: Cajun Craze
Accessories: Big Shot, Pillow Box die, Fancy Fan Letterpress Plate, Hearts Trio punch, 3/4" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, Blossom Petals punch, basic rhinestones, glue dots, sticky strip

I originally saw this little guy on Pinterest and there was a link to a great little tutorial that you can find here. My friend, Rita Wright, also made her own version that you can see on her blog. I love the matching card that she made in addition to the little owl. These treat holders will hold several small pieces of candy or a small bag of M&M's and cost $1 each (or $.50 if a $20 order is placed at the class). If you are preordering this treat holder, please tell me how many you would like to make of "the owl".


The bat:

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: White Gel Pen
Accessories: Big Shot, Petal Cone die, Spider Web embossing folder, circle punch, shimmer spray

I saw this adorable bat on Shelli Gardener's blog. She is the CEO of Stampin' Up and demonstrated making one at a regional event. He is pretty large (about 4 1/2" tall) and will hold lots of candy. Each of these will cost $1 (of $.50 if a $20 order is placed the day of the class). If you would like to preorder this one, please tell me how many you would like to make of "the bat".


The bag topper:

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:
Stamps: Spooky Bingo Bits
Paper: Old Olive, Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Ink: Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: 1x8 cello bags (not pictured), scalloped square punch, 1" square punch

These bag toppers will be perfect for making treats for an entire classroom of children. They will be used with the 1"x8" cello bags and will hold pencils, pixie sticks, smarties, etc. I will have the entire stamp set called "Spooky Bingo Bits" so that you can choose the stamped image that you would like to use. These treats will cost $.50 each (or $.25 if a $20 order is placed the day of the class). If you would like to preorder this treat, please tell me how many you would like to make of "the bag topper".

I hope you liked these projects! If you are planning to attend this class, please be sure to preorder no later than this Friday, September 23rd! Thanks for stopping by!

~Marla

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Another Challenge Card!

Hello again, stamping friends! Why didn't anyone ever tell me how much fun I would have participating in challenges? They are a blast! As it turns out, I do enjoy designing my own cards! Who would have guessed? I participated in the sketch challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches once again this week. I really like the sketches they have chosen. Go on over and check them out! Here is this week's sketch if you'd like to play along!




Here is my take on their sketch:


Supplies Used:
Stamps: Raining Flowers, Petite Pairs, Netting (background)
Paper: More Mustard, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Spice Cake DSP
Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake, More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso
Accessories: Simply Scored, Early Espresso satin ribbon (retired), Scalloped Oval punch, Large Oval punch, sponges
Techniques: grid technique, sponging, gathered ribbon

I decided to make a standard 4 1/4"x 5 1/2" card rather than the square because I don't keep a lot of 12x12 paper on hand. There are a few elements of this card that I tried for the first time. The first is the technique that I used on the stamped image. It is called the grid technique and you can find an awesome tutorial here on splitcoast. My card ended up being a CASE of the card shown in the tutorial although I didn't really intend for it to be. I had seen the tutorial a while back and thought "That would be a good way to use the Raining Flowers stamp set." I guess that idea stuck in my mind when I sat down to make this card because my finished product looks very similar to the example. Oh well! The second new element I tried is the gathered ribbon. It was very simple to do. I placed a piece of sticky strip on the front of my card where I wanted the gathers. I attached a short length of ribbon and then doubled a little bit over what was already attached and then attached a little bit more until I had the look that I wanted.

Overall I am pretty happy with this card and I'm thinking that I may try a few more cards using the grid technique. It is a quick and easy way to give the stamped image a little extra visual interest!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Marla Pin It

Two Challenges in One Card!

Hello! Wow! It has been quite a while since my last post! So sorry about that! I hope to have more time to stamp and post now that we have settled back into our school routine!

I have decided to try playing along with some of the many challenges that are posted online each week. As you know, I CASE a lot of the cards that I make. While that isn't a bad thing, I think that it is time for me start doing more of my own designing. I want to spread my creative wings and challenge myself a bit.

There is a brand new stamping challenge blog called Freshly Made Sketches and I decided to try their very first sketch. This card is also for the challenge on the SUO Challenges blog. You should check out these challenges and play along. This card uses so many different products that I love- Spice Cake DSP, the stamp sets "Gently Falling" and "Petite Pairs". As soon as I saw the sketch challenge, I knew what I was going to use. OK, enough talk- here is the card!

Do you see the little embellishment in the lower left corner? It was made by punching a 1" circle of Very Vanilla cardstock, covering it with sticky strip, and then taking the Crochet Trim and gathering it and attaching it to the edges of the circle. I added an antique brad to the center and viola- a quick, easy peasy, and pretty little embellishment!

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Gently Falling, Petite Pairs

Paper: Pool Party CS, Soft Suede CS, Very Vanilla CS, Spice Cake DSP

Ink: More Mustard, Soft Suede

Accessories: Crocet Trim, 1" circle punch, sticky strip, antique brad

Techniques: stamping off

I was really pleased with how this card turned out and I hope you like it too! I had a lot of fun making it and will definitely continue to play along with the challenges. Thanks for stopping by! Come back soon!

~Marla

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