Year of the Rooster Easter Surprise

Happy Easter, everyone! I'm back today with my second project from Sister Stamps Release #12. This time featuring the new Year of the Rooster stamp from Chinese Zodiac Collection. Being that today is Easter, I just couldn't resist showcasing this darling rooster on an Easter surprise treat bag. What's the surprise? Pull up the the tab on the front of the bag to see....

...Easter egg "hatches" open to show a little chick and all the chocolate eggs inside!
Doesn't "papa" rooster look so proud to see his little baby?

This Easter cuteness is a brainstorm of cleverness from Andrea Walford...original template and tutorial for her Easter Peek a Boo Gable Box can be found on her blog, Sunny Stampin'. Since I don't own the oval Coluzzle template needed to cut the window in the box, I created a similar template for mines in MTC. I also ended up decreasing the depth of the box from it's original 1-1/2" to 3/4", mostly because it would take an ENTIRE bag of chocolate eggs to fill the larger sized box. (LOL, yeah, I'm "CHEEP"!) The little chick is a digital stamp from Azadi Images, banner is a cut from the Cricut Wedding Solutions cartridge, and corner embellishments were diecut from Provocraft's Vintage set.
For more sneak peeks of projects using Sister Stamps newest Release #12, be sure to stop in to visit the rest of the the DT blogs today!

Jenny: Sister Stamps Blog

Debi: Crafty Buzz

Vera: Lings Happy Place

Linda: Simple and Sassy Creations

Patti: Creations by Patti

Laura: By TKG

New Sister Stamps Release #12

Hi all! Welcome back as we preview the stamps from Sister Stamps Release #12, which includes the next two Chinese Zodiac stamps, the Rooster and Dog. My project today features the adorable new Year of the Dog stamp. As many of you already know, I am an avid dog lover who often decorates gift bags during special holidays to fill with treats and toys for my doggie Latte to give to her doggie pals. So of course the first thing that came to mind when I saw this sweet dog image was to create a gift for a doggie friend...uh, or at least for a fellow dog owner friend! Can you guess what this might be? Kind of looks like a pocket calendar or checkbook cover, doesn't it?

From the backside, it looks sort of like an envelope with a tabbed closure...

Look inside and you'll find...

Doggie treat bags! I stamped directly onto the sandwich bags with permanent StazOn ink to decorate them. LOL, you might have to be a dog lover to understand this, but I know several ladies who always keep ziplock sandwich bags in their purses just so they can take their leftovers from eating out home to their faithful canine companions. Thought this little holder might be kind of a cute and convenient way to store those baggies in their purses. Can't easily tell from the photos, but if you look closely, you'll see that the holder is encased in plastic so it can be easily kept in your purse without getting worn. The plastic cover was created by slipping the holder into clear page protector, trimming it to fit and sealing with an electric bag sealer. Kind of a fun and novel project, huh.

Okay, please head on over to the blogs of the rest of the DT members to check out their fabulous projects featuring this new release:

 

Jenny:     Sister Stamps Blog 

Debi:       Crafty Buzz

Vera:       Lings Happy Place

Linda:      Simple and Sassy Creations

Patti:        Creations by Patti

Laura:      By TKG

 

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for to get a peek at my project using the new Year of the Rooster stamp!



Birthday Koi

Here's another card that I actually created a while back, but haven't had the chance to post till now due to the holidays. This recessed window card was for my Dad's birthday back in November. Seems I've been doing more recessed window cards than any other kind of card lately. I think it's mostly because the size, the orientation, and even the depth of the window is easy to alter without having to worry about too much math. Also because shadowboxes always intrigue me and I love how this type of card reminds me of a shadowbox.

Let me start off by saying that boy, oh boy I sure struggled with this card! Spent hours on the internet searching for an image of a koi suitable for rendering into a cutfile without much luck, and finally succumbed to the realization that I would have to try and draw my own. LOL, I'm by no means an artist and as a result my poor drawing produced a not so great cutfile. (About this time I was so wishing I had dished out the $10 plus shipping to buy that Cheery Lynn Designs Koi die, even though I knew would probably only use it once or twice). I cut my koi from white cardstock with the plan to do a white on white type of card...but somehow it ended up looking sort of eerie and spooky like ghost fish...Eeek! Had to take my orange Copics and color them in to give them some life!

I sandwiched the colored koi between 2 sheets of acetate and adhered the white frame with the swirls on the top of it. This was then glued to the front of the window opening, which made it look like the koi were swimming on the surface of the water.

On the inside, I used Solly Pop font, created by the amazing Kay of Clever Someday for the pop up birthday greeting. Kay shares her font on her blog, complete with detailed instructions on how to use it to create your own pop up word cards.  

Added one more koi cut to the inside, this time a multi-colored one, colored in with Copics as instructed by my friend Patti on her blog here. Water lily image is an internet find, rendered into a cutfile, colored with copics and added at the last minute in desperation to fill in the empty space. Label for sentiment is from the Cricut Elegant Edges cartridge. So relieved when this card was finally done! Sometimes things just don't turn out quite as you imagined...

 

Wedding Gown Shower Card

Here is another recessed window card I came up with for a wedding shower I was recently invited to. This time around I decided to change it up a bit by adding a frame to the front of the window to fancy it up from the usual square or rectangular window. Though the window opening underneath the frame is still rectangular, adding the frame cut from Cricut Elegant Edges cartridge made the window appear as if it were fancy cut.

For the wedding dress and hanger, I used a gown from the Cricut Formal Affair cartridge. Under layer on the dress was cut from glittery mylar to add a little bling. Behind the dress, I used a light green cardstock for background to keep with the bride's wedding color scheme. To add a some glitz, I spritzed on a heavy coat of Maya Road Maya Mist, Irridescent Pearl, quickly dried with a heatgun to reduce warping and ran it thru my Cuttlebug Juli's Garden embossing folder. Hard to tell from the photos but the resulting irridescent sheen on the green paper was really quite pretty.

Oh, almost forgot to mention...the tiny filigree heart accent on the bottom of the frame is a cut from Cricut Straight From The Nest cartridge. Using Cricut Design Studio, this was welded together with the frame from the Elegant Edges cartridge.
Used this same color scheme to create a matching card for the wedding which I will share later after the wedding...

Always Together...

This is the card I made for hubby to celebrate our 32nd wedding anniversary last year. Our anniversary was actually back in October, but due to all the holiday project posts, I haven't had a chance to post this till now. I came across the saying on the front of this card a while ago on a card shared on the Cricut Message board and thought it would be perfect for an anniversary card together with the "Chinese Take Out" panda cutting files I purchased online from Designs On Cloud 9.



On the inside, I used the fun Pop Up Stage card technique...tutorial for this by Kim Score can be found over at Splitcoaststampers. The rice bowl, teapot and cup behind the pandas are from the Cricut Pagoda cartridge;  the branch was cut from the Sizzix Birds and Branches Decorative Strip die; and blossoms are from a mini Punch Bunch punch. The rice in the bowl was run thru the Cuttlebug "Tiny Bubbles" embossing folder to add some fun texture.

Here's a closeup of the two cutie pandas holding their fortune cookies. I added black pearls for their eyes and eyelashes to one of them by welding commas to her eyes in MTC.

This view of the bottom half of the card shows the tabs underneath the "stage" that hold the popped up elements.

Label for the sentiment was cut from the Cricut Lacy Labels cartridge and adhered to the front of the stage. The finished card was a bit bulky so I added a length of ribbon so I could tie it shut with a bow.

Had so much fun putting this card together! Usually I struggle with cards for hubby, but this one turned out just how I had imagined...that doesn't happen often, but love it when it does!



A Paper Pieced Girls Day

Today, March 3rd, is Girls Day or Hina Matsuri in Japan. This year I decided I would finally try to re-create the Hello Kitty/Dear Daniel version of the Girls Day dolls that I've been wanting to do for a very long time. Sigh...and now I know why I had been putting this project off...I really struggled creating the cutfile for this one. Ran into a major snag trying to create the cutfile for Dear Daniel, but thanks to the wonderful experts over at Make-the-Cut forum, I finally got it fixed.

Used my new cutfile to make an easel card to send to my daughter. Took me so long to create this file that I had to do more than just one card with it...

So I cut and pieced together a few more sets and made treat boxes filled with Japanese Yokumoku cookies. These were fun to put together so I was very sad that I ran out of time before I could make more...

And now comes the best part of this post...the oh so fabulous goodies created by my uber talented friends, Lorna and Kris!

Honestly, these two gals are just so darned crazy creative and talented!

Okay, so you literally had to pick me off the floor when my dear friend Lorna presented me with this AMAZING Girls Day doll set, encased in its own little doll case. Lorna used Dandelion Design's new Kokeshi Doll Head stamps to make her dolls. Their bodies are triangular shaped boxes to which she added obis (sashes) and draped with washi paper for their kimonos. She even added a gold fan and a beautiful screen made from cardstock and more washi paper as a backdrop behind the dolls.

Here's a view of the doll case from the top. Yup, she even made that! ...out of clear plastic acetate and cardstock. Everything about this is beautifully and neatly pieced together!

Now slide off the case and inside, you'll find that the base is actually a box filled with treats! How neat is that! This wonderful handmade gift is one I definitely will treasure for years to come...I actually collect Girls Day Doll sets, so this really has a special place in my heart. Thank you, Lorna!

And here are two more dolls created by Lorna! These Hi-Chew Kokeshi Candy holders also have heads stamped using Dandelion Designs Kokeshi Head stamps. Their lovely red kimonos are embossed with cherry blossoms and tied with washi obis...kawaii!!!!

This beautiful blue tote was a gift from my sweet friend and crafting buddy, Kris. Here you see the front and back views. See the pretty anime girl dressed in her kimono? You must take a closer look!

Awww...isn't she adorable? Believe it or not, this lovely girl was painstakingly pieced together using shapes entirely from paper punches! Various sizes of circle, oval, sun, sakura, and maple leaf punches...WOW! Imagine the patience it must take to punch out all those tiny pieces, shape them, and adhere them in just the right place! Truly a work from the heart...thank you so much, Kris!
I know I always say this, but I must say it again...I am truly blessed to have such thoughtful, sharing, and incredibly creative friends. Happy Girls Day! Spend the day letting the little girl (young or old) in your life know how special she is!