Sympathy Card

A friend of mine recently suffered the loss of BOTH her parents within a few weeks of each other. This is the card I made for her.

Here are your links to the products used today:

Twitterpated Designer Series Paper

Word Play stamp set

Labels Collection Framelits Dies

Very Vanilla 1/8inch Taffeta Ribbon

Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents

Using Fabric on Your Cards and Layouts

Hi there! If you've jumped over here from the Practical Scrappers blog then Welcome! I'm so happy to see you!! Today I am talking about using fabric on your projects and I'm sharing a number of ways in which I have done just that recently.


Fabric is a pretty hot trend in the paper crafting world right now and there are many types of fabric you can add to your cards and layouts. Some have been around for ages - think ribbon and lace - and some are fairly new - fabric paper for example. Today I want to show you how to take ordinary pieces of cotton fabric and transform them!

First let's make some embellishments out of fabric like I did here on these two cards.

Both these flowers were made using a piece of cotton fabric and a sheet of Multipurpose Adhesive for the Big Shot. Let me show you how I made them.

1. This is the Big Shot Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet as sold by Stampin' Up (see below for links). It comes 12 sheets to a pack and each sheet is 12"x12" so you can make TONS of projects from one pack. And they're not just for fabric, that's just what I'm showing you today. In fact, Stampin' Up also sells adhesive rolls specifically for fabric but since the Multipurpose sheets are great for paper too, I think they are a better deal for layout makers like myself.

2. Lay your fabric on your work surface face down (TIP: iron it first!! learned the hard way that those creases don't magically come out when you lay the adhesive sheet on top of them!) Peel off one corner of the adhesive sheet, turn it over and stick it down onto your fabric.

3. Slowly pull back the rest of the adhesive backing using a bone folder to keep it as straight and crease free as possible until the entire 12"x12" sheet is adhered to your fabric.

4. Trim off the excess and then use your bone folder again (or a credit card or ruler if you don't have a bone folder) to get out any remaining creases or air bubbles. And no, I was not able to get out that huge crease but as I was cutting the sheet in half to fit through my Big Shot I decided not to worry about it. Remember, IRON FIRST!

5. Cut your sheet to fit your Big Shot die - I used the Fun Flowers Bigz L die so a simple cut in half sufficed. If your die is smaller you may want to cut your sheet smaller to minimize waste. Make your Big Shot sandwich (cutting mat - Die - fabric - cutting mat) and run everything through your Big Shot (or other manual cutting system - whatever you have.) 

5b. I found that some of my flowers didn't cut completely through, so when I ran my second piece of fabric through I used a scrap piece of card stock as a shim and the flowers cut out perfectly. In this picture you see the white card stock shim on top of the Big Shot sandwich - this is very important. If you put it under the top cutting mat you will just end up cutting out white card stock flowers as well as fabric ones. Maybe that's what you want ... maybe it's not!

6. Sit back admire your beautiful fabric flowers! :) I cut out two full sets plus a couple extra of the larger flowers to have on hand.

7. Time to assemble your card. Obviously, you would use whatever papers coordinated with your fabric, I am lucky enough to get to work with Stampin' Up papers and fabrics which are already pre-coordinated. So here I am showing you a piece of Riding Hood Red card stock (5.5" x 4.25" folded in half) and two pieces of the Twitterpated Designer Series paper which coordinate with that pink Twitterpated Designer Fabric.

8. I love to ink my edges. I find it gives added definition and "finish" to my projects. Here I am showing you how I do that using a Stamping Sponge that I've simply cut into a wedge shape. I am using Soft Suede ink - my favourite colour for inked edges!

9. Don't forget about your fabric flowers. They gain a lot by having their edges inked too!

10. For our first card I simply adhered my paper pieces as shown using my Snail Adhesive runner. Then it was time to start building my fabric flower embellishment. Carefully peel the backing from the largest die cut flower and adhere it to the card as shown below.

11. Continue this with the smaller flowers laying them down in a offset pattern being sure to keep them centred.

12. Finishing touches. I finished my card off with a button tied with some bakers twine and a sentiment stamped onto a piece of Whisper White card stock. Here is a close up of the finished flower.

13. For a more 3-dimensional flower like this one, I simply left the backings on each flower layer and used my bone folder to curl them after they were adhered together. With the addition of a Vintage Faceted Button, it looks like this on the finished card.

Well, that's one way to use fabric on your cards and layouts ... are you still with me? Want another way?

How about using it in place of paper? That's right, you heard me. Instead of pieces of patterned paper on this layout, I used pieces of fabric.

There are literally 3 pieces of paper on this whole layout (okay, 5 if you count the photos!) - the background card stock and the two pinked circles under the rolled fabric flowers. Everything else is fabric!

The large square of brown fabric was adhered using another Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet and the smaller pieces were adhered using Sticky Tape. (If I had a functional sewing machine I would have sewn them to the card stock but ... I don't, so tape and glue are my friends!)

This is what my layout's starting point looked like.

Here a close up of the layers of fabric. Oh yeah, I also wrote my journaling right onto the fabric! Easy peasy!!

And now for my third way to use fabric on a layout or card - make a rolled flower embellishment like this one.

Here's how I did it.

1. Start with a giant glue dot - take off the top layer of plastic to expose the glue.

2. Twist your fabric and place one end in the middle of the glue dot.

3. Keep twisting your fabric as you roll it around and around from the centre out until you are left with something that looks like this. The longer and thicker your piece of fabric the bigger and fuller your finished flower. I punched out a 2.5" circle of white card stock and used my pinking shears to pink the edges. Once it was mounted onto this I added a button and called it done! 

I used smaller scraps of the brown fabric to make another flower - here's a close up of that one.

The strips were narrower and shorter so the flower is looser and smaller than the other one on the page.  

One last way to use fabric on your layouts ... as trim like I did to anchor the photo on this layout.

Yes, that is yet another variety of fabric flower but this post is already reaching epic proportions so I think we'll save that for another time. 

Thanks for joining me today as we explored my second favourite thing to stock pile ... FABRIC! As always, please leave a comment sharing ways in which you've used fabric and I'll be sure to pop over and check it out. 

Here are your links for products featured in today's post:

Big Shot Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet 

Twitterpated Designer Fabric

Big Shot Die-Cut Machine

Bone Folder

Fun Flowers Bigz L Die
Twitterpated Designer Series Paper
Stamping Sponge
Snail Adhesive
Designer Buttons
Baker's Twine
Essentials Designer Fabric
Jumbo Sticky Rounds
2-1/2 Inch Circle Punch

The End of Another School Year

Today was the girls' last day of school. Not that you could really call it a "day". They attended the Grade 7 Grad ceremony and then were dismissed at 10:30!! Paige was "graduating" from Kindergarten too so I of course was there with camera in hand. Look for that post on my other blog soon. Hopefully!

The reason for this post today is to share the cards I made for Marley and Paige's teachers. Check them out.

Fun huh?

I used Twitterpated DSP (SO glad this wasn't retired along with everything else as I LOVE this paper set!) Stampin' Up! has a new stamp set (and paper line) that features blue ribbon motif but I do not own it so I made my own.

The sentiment was created using 3 different stamp sets - Patterned Party, Family Reunion and Morning Post Alphabet. Oh, and the hatch was hand drawn using my Riding Hood Red Stampin' Write Marker.

Here's a close up of the blue ribbon embellishment.

Inside the card I simply stamped "Thank you" from Wacky Wishes.

Thanks for coming by today. I hope you liked my cards. Just a reminder that I will be participating in a Blog Hop on Sunday and there will be prizes so I hope you'll come back for that. Here are your links from today's project.

Twitterpated DSP

Patterned Party stamp set

Family Reunion stamp set

Morning Post Alphabet stamp set

Wacky Wishes stamp set

Delightful Dozen stamp set

Stampin' Write Markers - Regals Collection

New Class - Mother's Day Gift Box Set

Come on out and create this gorgeous gift box display for your Mom.


As a Mother myself I know how much we do for our families and am always in awe of all MY Mum did for me. I lost her at the age of 14 and gained a new Mom who is equally dedicated, loving and supportive. I do have problems coming up with what to give her each year though. As a recipient now of many a hand made item, and as an avid Crafter myself (shocking, I know), I turn to what I know and love to inspire me. This year, Ina will be receiving these little boxes filled with her favourite goodies (Licorice All Sorts!).

How about  you? Wouldn't YOUR Mom appreciate receiving these from you this year? 

Cost - $15.00
Includes: all supplies necessary to make the boxes in the picture above.
Does NOT include: goodies to go inside the boxes!!
Please bring your own scissors, bone folder and adhesives. 

IMPORTANT: RSVP by April 11, 2012 otherwise I can not guarantee I will have enough product to go around! You can RSVP on my website if you plan to pay by cheque or cash or use my Eventbrite site if you'd like to pay by credit card. I will ONLY be ordering enough product for those registered so be sure to sign up early to avoid disappointment!

No matter how old we are we still need to show our love and appreciation for all our Mom's do and have done for us over the years. This box set can be used as Home Decor to remind your Mom how much you love her after the goodies you fill it up with are long gone. These boxes are food safe so fill them up with your Mom's favourite chocolates, cookies, candies or anything else she would love.

Hope to see you there!

PS - If you can't make it but would still like to make this gift set, you can purchase the supplies to make it yourself along with my Step-by-Step instructions for $10.00. This will NOT include the stamped or embossed images though. I encourage you to use your own supplies of stamps and punches to make it your own or order what you need from me.

Happy Birthday Marley!

Today is my eldest daughter's 8th birthday. 8?!?! When the heck did THAT happen?!
Here is the card I whipped up yesterday for her. I wanted it to be girly but not too girly - to match her personality.

My card base is Very Vanilla card stock - I love this soft neutral for cards! 

I started with the cupcakes as that's what we made the other day for her birthday party. The top of the cupcake is Blushing Bride which I embossed with my Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions folder after I punched it out with my Cupcake punch. 

Then I started thinking about how I wanted the cupcakes to be layered. I decided to pop them up on top of flowers (as it has been feeling kind of Spring-like around here lately) so I used  the new Blossom Punch and some Twitterpated DSP with coordinating 1 3/8" circles. They needed a grounding base so I pulled out my Island Indigo card stock, embossed it with the same polka dot folder as the cupcake tops but I adhered it de-bossed side up for a bit of variety.

Finally the sentiment on top and the dots below were from the Create a Cupcake stamp set. The candles (8 in number) were an afterthought and were made with my cupcake punch again. Everything is better with a  little sparkle (same goes for layouts!) so I used my Dazzling Details on the candle flames and the polka dots on the cupcakes.

Thanks for stopping by. If you like my style please become a follower and you'll never miss a post again!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Sketchy Thursday layout

Hmmm ... I just realized that I forgot to put a title on this layout for Sketchy Thursday. Oh well.

Here is the sketch:

And my take on it.

The background paper is from the Flirtatious Specialty DSP line - a gorgeous girly line! I inked the edges in Concord Crush ink for a slightly distressed look. I used a piece of Basic Grey card stock to mat the larger photo of my youngest daughter and then put that on top of a large piece of Concord Crush card stock. I ran my Scallop Trim Border Punch along the bottom of this for a bit more detail.

I mounted this small black and white photo onto a piece of Concord Crush card stock and Silver Glimmer Paper that I cut out using the Hearts Collection Framelits Dies. Onto the card stock I stamped  the wood grain heart image from I {Heart} Hearts in Whisper White Craft ink. I love the subtle pattern it gives.

For the journalling block I used the Labels Collection Framelits Dies and sandwiched a piece of grey patterned paper from the new Twitterpated DSP line between two pieces of Whisper White card stock. (The stamped lines are a non-Stampin' Up! stamp that I've had for ages.)

My embellishments were made with more of the grey patterned paper and Silver Glimmer paper which I used both the Hearts Framelits dies and the Heart-to-Heart Punch to cut out several sizes and shapes of hearts.  

In lieu of the banner detail on the sketch I used a row of hearts. I tried adding a banner here but it just didn't seem to work with what I already had so ... Sketches are really just a jumping off point anyway!

Oh, and you may be wondering about the rather glaring yellow-green apple in the middle of the journalling. Well, I am participating in an on-line class over at Big Picture Classes called Twelve. In it we were given 12 topics to scrap book about and we assigned one of (you guessed it) 12 colours to represent each topic. We were then asked to gather 12 or 13 small embellishments from our stash in each of the 12 colours. Every time we complete a layout from one of our topics we add one of these embellishments as a visual reminder to ourselves that it is a) for Twelve and b) for a particular topic. This layout is for my PEOPLE topic which I have designated as yellow-green. So ... I went hunting in my yellow-green embellishment cup and found this punched out apple and knew I could use it in place of the word 'apple' in my journalling. Clever, no?

Well, must get this entered into the Sketchy Thursday challenge. It's their last sketch challenge which I'm rather sad about. I've entered a few in the past and always enjoyed the process. I wish the design team over there all the best. Thanks for all the fun!

Occasions Mini Birthday cards

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope you had a wonderful Holiday Season with your family and friends.

A few days ago, my Upline Sandra came over with her kids for a play date. Really, WE wanted to play! We'd both received our pre-order shipments from the Occaions Mini and Sale-a-bration catties and wanted to try out some of the new items. So we made sure the kids were fully engrossed in Lego or Wii and we got busy!

I have 2 aunts with birthdays coming up so I made a couple birthday cards.

This was the first one I made. I used Very Vanilla Card stock for the base and stamped it in Lucky Limeade with the butterfly image from the Sale-a-bration stamp set Elementary Elegance. The circle is punched out of Blushing Bride card stock with my 2 1/2" circle punch. Then the flower .. ah, the flower ... There is a new stamp set with matching punch in the Occasions mini that I LOVE! It's called Mixed Bunch and the punch is called Blossom. I stamped the top image and then both punched and fussy-cut it out and mounted it on top of another punched out flower from the Twitterpated DSP (see below for a close up of the flower). I held everything together with a brad from the Sale-a-bration Everyday Enchantment Ribbon & Brad pack. 

The ribbon along the bottom of the card is the new 3/8" Pleated Satin Ribbon in Blushing Bride and the Happy Birthday tag is cut out using the new Framelits Dies - Labels Collection.

I liked the design so much I did it again.

This time the background stamp I used is from the Mixed Bunch stamp set and I used Basic Grey ink and Baja Breeze card stock and pleated ribbon.

Hope my aunties like these cards! I also made a set of birthday cards for one of my aunts but I'll show you that in a few days (just in case she checks!)

Thanks for stopping by. The Occasions Mini catalogue goes live tomorrow so check my website for ordering information. Sale-a-bration starts on Januray 24th. For every $60 you spend on Stampin' Up! merchandise, you get a free item from the list.  If you are in need of some staples this would be a good time to stock up! You still have a few days to order Clearance Rack Blitz items - they go away after January 5th so act fast! These deals are A-MAZ-ING!!!

Have a good evening - see you soon!