2016 Sale-a-bration

Gift Box for the Gift Set

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

We all have good days, better and even best days.  Sometimes though, we wonder where the day has gone and just what has gotten done.  That is what this time of the year brings for me.  I did start this post this morning, can’t win them all though.

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The last couple of weeks I have been sharing the cards from this gift set I made for my daughter.  It has room for all one dozen cards plus their envelopes quite nicely.  When she is done, I suggested she could use them for her embossing folders.   How cute is that?

I used a full 12 x 12 sheet  of blackberry bliss to make this box.  Then I added a wonderful print from that wildflower meadow dsp that just finished with Sale-a-bration.  Such a fun time filled with wonderful product.  I am quite excited to get back to work now on something new and exciting.  I wish my desk were a bit more tidy, one thing at a time.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Thanks For Being You

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Aside from some very hasty photography, and as a result poor images, I do rather like this card.  Even though several of the cards in this series look similar, this one feels different.  I guess that can happen when you include black a little unexpectedly.  The ribbon is nice though, even if it is a bit strong.

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I hadn’t had the bitty butterfly punch out in quite a while, but it was just what I wanted.  I sponged them in silver ink and thought it looked like the raindrops had given them a bit of a sheen.  I also sponged the tag in the same silver ink.  A favorite touch of mine.

I couldn’t let myself use the other photo I had taken.  Just too rushed for something decent, but I still wanted to share it.  I raised up the sentiment and the butterflies on dimensionals and left it at that.

Have a creative day.

Moana

They Say It’s Your Birthday

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Fun, fun and fun. That is what this birthday card says to me.  When you have a fun paper that isn’t just masculine or feminine, you are fortunate.  This card can be for just about anyone, regardless of age too.  I call that a super win!  The series I started is nearly to an end.  I can’t wait to share the cute box I made to hold the whole dozen cards for the gift set.

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The tag was made using the triple banner punch.  Dang, I sure do love that tool.  When it first came out I thought it was a bit excessive, but I gave it a try.  I use it so much.  It makes layered banner tags so easy.  This one was whipped together super fast, layered up on dimensionals, given a tiny ribbon accent and slapped in place.  Honestly, this was one super fast card.  Again, the paper is a win.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Forever Begins Today

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

I don’t think I can get enough of this pretty paper.  I am glad I managed to earn an extra pack of this paper during Sale-a-bration.  This particular pattern was my second favorite, hard to top it though.

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Another sad part about this card is that soon the blackberry bliss I used for the card base will soon retire.  I will so miss using it.  It was really my favorite.  Time to enjoy it as much as possible and get ready for some new colors.  I think I might get a little stash of it built up to enjoy though.

This card is like the others in the series, pretty direct and to the point.  I stamped my sentiment in old olive, punched it with the extra-large oval punch, sponged it with silver encore ink and shadowed it with another punch in blackberry bliss.  I raised them up on dimensionals and put them just to the side of a lovely ribbon tied with seam binding ribbon.  I could use that ribbon on just about everything.  I thought I wouldn’t love anything as much as the chevron ribbon that retired last year, but I sure do!

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Have a creative day!

Moana

My Heart Smiles Just Thinking of You

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It has been a very busy, but very fun, visit to Utah.  We have stayed a week, been snowed on twice, enjoyed the rain, and driven all over to spend more time with our son and his fiance. I would always like more time, but also can’t wait to get home.  Facing the long drive isn’t very inviting though.

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This is a tall card, cut at 4 1/4″ and scored at 5 1/2″.  I like working with cards this way because of how easy it is to add ribbon.  I arranged my tag just under the ribbon to make it look like it was attached.  There wasn’t room on the tag for an actual punch, so I had to make do.  It looks great though, don’t you think?

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Thanks to You I Grew Up Loved

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

What a sweet, tender card.  I was thinking of my mother as I put this one together.  She is all about flowers and everything that go along with them.  As I shared this one with her, we shared a few tears.  Having a wonderful mother that helped you grow up loved is more than a blessing, it is an absolute treasure that we both share.

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This lovely card showcases the dsp almost as much as the sentiment.  It is hard to decide which is the focal point, so I will call it a draw.  I stamped the sentiment on whisper white and punched it with the most narrow portion of the triple banner punch.  I then created a border of calypso coral and repeated the punching  to give a nice quarter inch boarder that tied the entire card front together.  After a lovely bow tied with seam binding ribbon I decided to put the tag on an angle.  It turned out so adorable and yet so simple.  One of my favorite ways to work.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

You Wonderful Thing You

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Yet another adorable card in this series.  I sure have loved sharing this card set, even more so giving it away for someone else to share and enjoy.  The true joy of card making.  What a fun color combination for sure, one of my favorites.

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The seam binding ribbon I used got a little rumpled in the center of the spool.  However, I decided I liked the look of it and didn’t try to iron it out.  I have bought ribbon before that was ruffled on purpose and liked it that way.  So, instead of getting frustrated at the center of the spool, I just made the best of it and enjoyed the results.

The sentiment was stamped on whisper white and layered with a scalloped circle of calypso coral to coordinate with the card base.  Don’t you just love this paper?  Full of whimsy and cuteness.  The simplicity of the color scheme also keeps this one very clean and simple.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Celebrate You

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

This card series has been so fun to share.  I love the simplicity of the cards themselves, allowing the sentiments to really be the focal point.  Sometimes there is so much, what you are trying to say gets lost.

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I actually liked this card without the sentiment nearly as well as with it.  The ribbon is so elegant it speaks for itself.  However, I wanted this one.  I have been enjoying sponging the sentiments in silver ink with this series.  I am usually all about the exact coordination, but it is a nice contrast without being a distraction.

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Have a creative day.

Moana

They Say It’s Your Birthday

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

How about a simple birthday card!  I think this one could be for just about anyone, don’t you? Keeping projects simple allows for a lot of options, more than you would think.  And how awesome is this balloon bouquet punch?  I am absolutely in love with it.  I hope it carries over.  I am keeping it no matter what.

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I had to hold myself back to not put strings and all kinds of fun stuff here.  But, that would defeat the purpose of of a clean and simple cards after all.  This way I think it would even work for a masculine card.  Gotta love those!

I punched two large and three small balloons.  The large ones were attached flat to the paper and the smaller ones were raised up on dimensionals.  Of course everything is sponged.  The balloons were sponged in hello honey to coordinate as well as the tag.  I thought the color was too strong on the tag, so I sponged with silver encore ink as well to soften it.  It turned out great.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

 

Wishing You all the Beautiful Blessings of Easter

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Easter cards don’t have to be all about bunnies and lambs.  An elegant one like this, even in bright colors, is wonderful too.

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I will definitely miss this beautiful color, blackberry bliss, when it retires this summer.  I do love new colors, but this one just might stay around.  The stamp fits only just inside the oval framelits, which allowed a nice frame and a lovely bow.  No extra embellishments or layering, just a lovely sentiment and strong color.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Peek-a-boo to Someone New!

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Adorable and adorable.  With a sentiment like this, any project is bound to look adorable. However, the dandelion puffs do help tremendously.  This is the third in a gift series focusing on one set of paper from Sale-a-bration and just one stamp set.  With a few punches and some ribbon I was able to create a dozen cards and a container to hold them. Enjoy them like I have.

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One piece of paper for the card front, one tag layered with a scalloped background, and a simple bow.  I do think of a new baby with this card, but it could work for other situations I suppose.  There are several ladies in my life who are expecting little ones, so this just might get made a few times over.  Easy and fun to do.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Thanks for Being You

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Day two in this adorable little series finds me fortunate enough to be in Utah visiting family, family, and more family!  How wonderful is that?  It is  more than fun, especially for me.  So many fun social opportunities.

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I do love this paper.  The little dandelions dancing in the wind are so cute.  Simple and fun but it will be the perfect thank you for the person who has been so kind.  Giving cards is always so much fun.  This gift set will be fun for my daughter to use.  And use it she will.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Success Looks Good On You

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Don’t you love it when designer paper has such unexpected patterns?  This awesome paper from Sale-a-bration, which will end soon, has a few patterns that are so fun and different.  You  wouldn’t guess that this dotted pattern comes from a primarily floral set paper.

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This project is the first of a dozen cards that I made for a gift set to share with my daughter. It is nearly spring break and my family gets to all be together.  She loves to paper craft with me, and actually kept me company through crafting nearly all of these.  So, you get to enjoy a different one each day.  The series will end with the coordinating container I made to store them all in.  It is so pretty.

The card is super simple.  Just one layer of dsp cut to leave a 1/4″ border, one strip of ribbon tied in a knot, and a layered sentiment.  I stamped in black stazon, punched with the decorative label punch, and then sponged with silver encore ink.  I did use a double layer of dimensionals to keep the tag high enough to clear the ribbon knot underneath.  Simple, right?  Sometimes simple is just right.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Flowering Fields with Botanicals for You

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

I did start out with a St. Patrick’s Day card set in mind.  Hence the green and gold. However, it quickly changed into something more elegant and much more useful.  I do know several people that truly do love to celebrate this holiday and this would work wonderfully for them as well.  What fun, right?

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This Flowering Fields stamp set will be gone soon.  I do love the fun free products available during Sale-a-bration, but always are sad to see them go.  I do know that there are always new things on the horizon that I will love equally well, but I do have my favorites that stick around year after year.

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I ended up using a full sheet of very vanilla, part for the card front and inside, and used the rest to make a gift bag.  I prefer to have paper used up with as little waste as possible.  I even used the snipping left from cutting the front and inside to be my sentiment tag.  Very little waste today indeed.

This glitter tape is so much fun.  I admit I have stashed it a bit too long, I thought I had learned my lesson.  Guess not.  So, I broke it out and put it to work.  Just a little bit does so much.  And it is so tidy, no glitter messes to be found.  A win for everyone for sure. I do think I will use some tape to close the bag when it gets filled with a treat or two.  Yeah!

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Hello and Bonjour!

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Can  Sale-a-bration be any more fun?  How about getting another free stamp set just so you can have it in french?  I saw another awesome demonstrator, Mary Fish, use this set with the bonjour stamp and I knew I wanted it as well.  Isn’t that just how we work?  Well, it was worth it.  I love it!

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The dsp I am using here is also from a free Sale-a-bration set.  Most of the patterns are floral, hence the wildflower fields title, but not all of them.  These simple stripes are adorable.  I thought I would create two color choices and a gift bag that could go with either one.  It worked out great.

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I thought for sure the bonjour card would be my favorite, but the birthday boy is also very adorable.  I think the party hat stamp really made it.  You can never have enough birthday cards, especially when I get to share most of them with my mother-in-law.  She is so good about remembering literally everyone’s birthdays.  And she loves sending out special ones much more than a store bought card.  Who wouldn’t?

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Botanical Gardens Card Set

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How sweet are the colors in this set?  I wanted to make a small set of cards using this wonderful velum as an overlay.  I asked my daughter for a color and she came up with soft sky.  So, I just selected three others from the subtles collection and got to work.

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The tricky part is attaching the velum without adhesive showing, as always.  However, it didn’t turn out too rough.  The ribbon held most of it together, but I did use a touch of glue in the outer corners.  It was easiest to see on the wisteria wonder card, but even then it was acceptable.  I usually mask my adhesive, but this particular setup didn’t offer good hiding places where I needed them.

I do think I will create a small box to house these in and give it as a gift.  This tiny little stamp that just says “Hi”.  How adorable is that? It comes from the newly available sale-a-bration stamp set Party Pants.  There are so many cute sayings in that one.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Pedal Pusher Through Wildflower Fields

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

I was so excited for this stamp set to show up I could hardly stand it!  Last year during Sale-a-bration Stampin’Up! added some new freebies half way during the sale to perk things up. It went so well they did the same thing this time.  This little set is one of them and it is the best!  It even made my husband grin.

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There are other sentiments, but this one is my favorite.  There are several different items that could be stamped in the basket, but I chose flowers to coordinate with my background paper choice.  Talk about riding through a spring meadow, wish I really could though. Having a tandem bicycle is something my husband and I can’t wait to have.  Maybe that is why I love this set so much.

I also broke out some markers to do my coloring.  I tend to prefer my aqua painter, but it is good to use other things too.  They worked great, of course!  I did water color the basket, the bike seats, and my country road.  What a fun time I had creating this project.  Like I said, I just got it yesterday.  The rest of my box is still on the kitchen table, not gone through, not inventoried or anything.  I just dug through it, got this set out and made something right away.  The sign of a great stamp set for sure.  This could also be a workshop project I think.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Hello Bohemian DSP!

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Guilty as charged.  I have loved this pack of paper and haven’t cut into one single sheet.  For shame, I know.  However, I have sorted that out and made something I quite like.  So much so that I think it will make it into this Saturday’s workshop.  I have a few ladies in particular that enjoy this paper as much as I do.

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I haven’t done a ‘z’ fold card for some time.  I saw some projects done by a few people I follow and thought I would give it a go.  The card turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself.  Also, I love how I have been able to showcase so much of this fantastic paper.  The ribbon on the back of the card is also something new, but thought it brought a nice balance the the closed project.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Sweet Li’l Things

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I haven’t visited my little chickie for a while now and loved saying hello again.  This stamp just says adorable like crazy.  I normally wouldn’t get a stamp set for just one image, but this one was just too perfect to pass up.  Of course it helped that it was a free gift with purchase, so there you go!

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I used the Sweet Li’l Things DSP for the background.  That is how I created the pallet for my water coloring today.  I was a bit distracted chatting on the phone with my daughter while painting, so I didn’t dry as often as I should have, but I decided I could live with the little edge goofs here and there.  Besides, I wasn’t going for a blue ribbon, just a smile or two.

The strawberry patterned paper underneath the card is the other side of the designer paper I used for the background.  I think I will turn that into a matching gift bag when I decide to use the card.  Might not be too soon because I want my lil’ chickie to be on my desk for a while.  I made a tiny triple banner set for the greeting and used the bitty banner punch for the edges.  So easy to make the edges just right.  The paper strips are 1/2″, so they fit right inside the punch.  I twisted them the way I wanted them and gave them a quick staple.  Then I used my bone folder to give them a bit of a curl then added a ribbon knot to finish it off.

Everyone is layered in 1/8″ borders and set up on dimensionals.  This one would definitely require extra postage going through the mail.  But since I plan on using this as a gift set, I didn’t worry one bit about how thick it got.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Everything Botanical

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Well, this project started somewhere else, but the results are great.  Sometimes it is hard to see past your ‘opportunity mistakes’, I managed though.  Once I fussy cut designer series paper I am totally committed.

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The free items you can earn from Sale-a-bration are all unique, but this one caught my eye right away.  A patterned velum paper that not only coordinates, but actually outlines designer series paper, well that is amazing.  I fussed a bit matching it up, but found the exact spot.  I almost did a 6 x 6 card just so I could see the whole pattern line up.  It would have been worth it, it looked so pretty all lined up.  I moved on though.

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My opportunities came from the glue experience.  I thought I could put tiny tiny dots of glue on little flowers and it would look kind of neat, and hide the adhesive at the same time.  Well, my tiny dots were not as tiny as they needed to be.  Several fixes later, it worked out.  Basic rhinestones, a larger sentiment with tag layering, and using one of the many coordinating framelits.  Phew!

I added a touch of inside stamping with a leaf from the coordinating stamp set.  I don’t usually go for a whole suite of product.  This one is different, I loved all of it.  However, it is my favorite color pallet, floral, and it goes together so wonderfully.  I couldn’t resist it.  So I didn’t.

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Have a creative day!

Moana