Under Construction

Check back Monday, February 9th!

I became a demonstrator for Stampin' Up in September of 2008 and decided to start this blog. I probably shouldn't have jumped in so quickly and gave myself some time to make sure I had content to share.

We moved nearly a year ago and our new place has a lot less cabinette space. Therefore, a lot of my crafting supplies are still in boxes. The problem with working out of boxes is that you tend to misplace tools, or forget which boxes they are stored in. This causes you to purchase replacement tools, only to later find the original one. As a demonstrator having duplicate tools is not always a bad idea, however when not completely needed, they take away from purchases of new tools that are needed. :)

So, in order to remedy this situation, I've decided to spend the next week and a half organizing the craft supplies already unpacked and to get some more boxes unpacked. At the same time, I will be catching up on taking photos of projects I've wanted to share and writing directions for others I've posted images of and never shared the reciepes.

After that, I hope to start making at least once post a week, sharing a technique or such. I'm a part of some great communities and I have a great upline so I plan on having a lot of content to share in the weeks to come.

My Valentine's "Bard"

What's a "Bard" you ask ... aside from a keeper of lore and signer of songs?

Well, it could be a cross between a bag and a card, or in the case of this post, a cross between a box and a card.

One of the groups I'm in as a Stampin' Up Demonstrator gave us a challenge this week. We were to make a card with candy in it ... and the card had to be heart shaped.

I struggled with this all week. The first idea that popped into my head required a diecut that I just haven't had the chance to buy yet (I've only been a demo for about 4 months now and I'm building up my supply. :)) I started to make a pattern for what I wanted, keeping the idea of the diecut in mind. However, someone from the design team who gave us the challenge posted a very nice sample (and she's where I got the "bard" word from), and I decided, that wasn't the route for me. I wanted my submission to be different.

So in effect,  I made a box. I used:

Paper: Red Riding Hood Cardstock, Candy Lane DSP

Ink: Red Riding Hood, Close to Cocoa

Punches: 1-1/4 Circle Punch, 1-3/8 Circle, Word Window

Accessories: Gold Brads

Here it is! The picture of what it looks like inside is a bit blurry because, well, its nearly 3am and I really should be in bed. :)

SU/Sizzix: Texturz Plates

I have to admit, when I first saw the texturz plates in the SU Catalogue (page 203), I was skeptical. I had previously purchased texture plates from fiskars and for some reason, I just couldn't get them to work right. They got tossed in a box somewhere and never used again (and after the move, I still haven't located the box they got tossed into).

Today I went looking for sizzix diecuts that could work on my Big Shot, but that wasn't offered in the SU Catalogue. JoAnns had a sell on a texturz started kit for a set not offered in the catalogue, so I purchased it to try it out. 

One look at the result and I'm hooked. Not only was it the missing link to help me finally finish my valentine's day cards (I kept feeling like something was missing), but I can see so many other uses for them!

I'm finishing up my vday cards now and will post shortly.

Valentine's Day Cards