Tissue Paper Flowers

Hello!

I thought I'd share another card I made with goodies from the upcoming Stampin' Up! Occasions mini and Sale-a-bration catalog with you today! There are some really cute offerings and this set is sure to get lots of use! It's called Fresh Vintage and this one is the Sale-a-bration catty:

Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Fresh Vintage, Good Grid
Ink: Lucky Limeade, Sahara Sand, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black
Paper: Sahara Sand, Twitterpated DSP, white tissue paper
Accessories: Lucky Limeade ruffled ribbon, Antique brads, Scallop Circle punch

Stamped a few of the images from the Vintage Fresh set over the grid background. I love the layered look it created and how it lets the hand made tissue flower stand out. Here is a closer look at the flower:

I found it easiest to punch my scallops first. The tissue paper is thin so you need to do many layers at the same time to get them to punch. I used about 8 scallops for one flower. Once I had them all punched out, I stamped them with black ink and and the large floral image from the Fresh Vintage set. I let them dry for a minute and then stacked them up and added a brad to the center. Then you just fluff your tissue around the brad to create the full ruffled look.

You can see I really enjoyed playing with these goodies! My demo friend Kiesha just got another order of Occasions/ Sale-a-bration stuff so hopefully she'll let me play again soon!

Thanks for stopping by today!

-tessa

Peek-a-boo Butterflies Card

Hello!

Hope your day is starting off well! We are still in vacation mode here- I love having the girls home from school and we've been pretty lazy so far this week! I don't have much planned except for some play time with thier friends. It's been so nice and very relaxing!

I took some time to craft yesterday and was inspired by Lifestyle Crafts I Made This contest. I would LOVE to win that grand prize- could you imagine?? How fun!

I used my Tag It Kit die set to create this card with pretty peek-a-boo butterflies:

Goodies:

Stamps: A Note of Thanks set by Stampin' Up!
Dies: Tag It Kit set by Lifestyle Crafts
Paper: cardstock by Bazzill and Stampin' Up!
Ink: Black Versafine ink
Rhinestones: Basic Rhinestones by Stampin' Up! colored with Copic marker

I die cut the butterflies first and then added the colored cardstock behind it. I love how the colors peek out from behind the butterflies. I also like the 3-d effect the butterflies give.

I am hoping to make a few more cards using my dies- you can enter the contest by uploading up to 20 projects into thier community gallery. There are lots of great projects up there already, too!

Well, hope you are enjoying the last week of the year! Thanks for stopping by to take a peek today!

-tessa

Playing....

Just playing around on my new laptop! I am so excited to be blogging from my comfy couch! Hee! We had a great Christmas at our house- a low key one with nothing planned except for meals, games, and visiting some friends. It was perfect! Santa brought just what we all asked for- new bikes for the girls and laptops for me and my hubby! Just in time, too- I think our old desktop has had just enough of our trying to push it to do things!

Now that most of my gifts have been given, I can share some more of the homemade items I made. One, that was a big hit, was this great sugar scrub that I made:

I found the idea on Pinterest- which linked me to this recipe. There are only two ingrediants in this recipe and they were easy for me to find at Wegmans where I do my grocery shopping. I found the unrefined coconut oil in the beauty area in the natural/organic section of the grocery store. Later, I also found it in the baking area but it was almost double the price. I think I paid around $8.00 for my container.

I made myself a little pot as well and it's been great! It smells SO good- like an Almond Joy! And, I can already tell it's been helping with my dry hands and feet.

Anyways, just thought I'd pop on and blog cause I could! Hee! Hope you all had a great holiday! Thanks for stopping by today!

-tessa

Making Cash More Fun to Give...

Hello!

I hope you are all enjoying the last few days leading up to Christmas! We still have two more days of school and work to get through until our vacation starts but boy are we ready for it!

I wanted to share what I made for my nephews this year. They are older boys so every Christmas I send them money that they can take to the store and buy what they really want with. And, every year I try to come up with a different, fun way to give it to them. I mean, really, how much fun is it to open an envelope? Hee! I think I was pretty clever this year- I came up with this:

Fun, right? I hid the money inside the soap! I love that they'll have to use it to get their money out. Hee! Knowing my nephews though, I'm sure one will figure out a quicker way.

I bought some soap making supplies at Michaels- clear glycerin soap, green dye, and the mold. It was so easy to make- you melt the soap in the microwave, add your dye and stir. Then fill your molds half way and drop in your rolled up money. Let it set for 10 minutes and then fill the rest of the mold over the money. To keep the money safe, I rolled it tightly and put it into a tiny treat baggie and rolled it around the bills. I used a little scotch tape to hold it together but I wish it wasn't so obvious.

To decorate my little money soaps, I picked out these great whistling Santas from this years Cosmo Cricket holiday line- aren't they just perfect for this project? That is where I came up with the name, too- he just looked like he was hiding something! Hee! I punched them out and paired them with the my favorite red patterned paper from Bazzill Basics. I added the cherry cobbler baker's twine and a little tag stamped with holly and each boys' initial; all from Stampin' Up!

These were so fun to make and I hope that my nephews get as much joy out of them as I did! Now to think of something clever for next year...

Have a great day and thank you for visiting my blog!

-tessa

Chocolate Covered Strawberries Card

My Stampin' Up! demo friend came by last week with her preorder goodies from the new Occasions Mini Catalog. So many cute things! She let me play with some of the great new products. There are wafer thin dies and embossing folders that match along with some great new stamp sets. I love them! Here is what I made:

Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: P.S. I Love You set
Ink: Real Red, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede classic inks
Paper: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Naturals Ivory, Pink Pirouette cardstock; Real Red textured cardstock; First Edition DSP, Subtles DSP
Accessories: Basic Rhinestones, Early Espresso Baker's Twine, Crystal Effects, Labels Collection Framelits Dies, Adorning Accents Edgelits Dies, Adorning Accents Embossing Folders

The P.S. I Love You set is packed with so many great stamps! And what do you think of the new dies and embossing folders? I love them! They have a great design and I love the added texture that the embossing brings. If you end up with these, make sure you die cut the edge first and emboss second. It is easier to line up and won't squish your embossing.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my peek of this set! The Occasions Mini is out in January so keep an eye out for it!

-tessa

Fun Ruffled Flowers Card

Hello!

I've got a pretty card to share today- one with some fun, 3-D flowers! And, they are easy to make, too! Here is my card:

Goodies:

Kindness Matters stamp set, Basic Black ink, Sahara Sand cardstock, Scallop Edge punch, Circle punches, Scallop Circle punch and Wisteria Wonder ribbon by Stampin' Up!
Vintage Vogue Collection patterned papers, Spool Buttons, Ephemera, and Ribbon Trims; Nantucket Collection Clear Stamps by Pink Paislee
Vintage Rose Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels

The flowers are so easy to make. To make the purple one, just take about half a yard of your favorite crochet trim and run a stitch through the bottom edge. Tie the ends of your string together to gather your trim into a flower. It will look great every time!

The scalloped paper flower is one of my all time favorite flowers to create. Just punch 4 scallop circles out of your favorite paper. Scrunch them each tightly into a ball with your hands- use a spritz of water if the paper is extra thick and tough to crinkle. Uncrinkle them and pile them on top of each other with your pattern facing up. Pierce a hole into the center, going through all of the scalloped circles. Add a brad to hold them together and then scrunch each layer around the brad until it is to your liking.

Not too hard, right? And they add so much texture to any project.

I'm going to be heading out the door shortly for an outing to Ikea! I love that store- so much inspiration and pretty things to buy! There is one in my town that I can go to when ever I want and I still get excited to visit. My girls have already put an order in for Swedish meatballs for dinner so I guess I'll be picking some of those up, too!

Hope you enjoy your day! Thanks for stopping by to take a peek!

-tessa

Happy Birthday Card

Hello!

Today is my mom's birthday! Happy Birthday Mom! Of course, I've made her a card- want to see? Here it is:

Goodies:

Grandma's Feather Bed patterns and cardstock by Bazzill Basics
Celebrate pattern by Teresa Collins Designs
Tag It die set by Lifestyle Crafts
twine by The Twinery
Create a Cupcake stamp set, Basic Black ink, and rhinestones by Stampin' Up!
Scallop Edge punch by Fiskars
Large Black Eyelets by We are Memory Keepers

I was inspired by my new Tag It die set by Lifestyle Crafts that I picked up recently- there are so many cute tags and little pop up shapes in the set. I am hoping to pull it out again soon to experiment with it some more. If I have time that is- my days have been going by so quickly lately and I haven't had much time to craft!

I'm glad I found a minute to post today! Thanks for stopping by!

-tessa