Polished to Perfection

JustRite Snowflake #3

This is the third snowflake for the class I taught in Houston.  For this snowflake I used a sage versamark pad and a red chalk pad to alter my 6" Darice glitter snowflake.  I die cut the copper foil paper using the Renaissance Heart pendant.  The Copper paper was very bright and shiny...to tone down the color I sprayed the diecut with Vellum Adhesive and applied crystal glitter rom the Art Institute.  The Sleigh image is one of the images from the Old Fashioned Christmas Stamps.  My entire Christmas Tree has handmade Christmas Ornaments on it -- I can't wait to add this to my collection.

 
Thanks for stopping by!!!

JustRite Nursery Room Decor

 

I found these great nested boxes at the Christmas Tree Shop- they came as a set of 3 and were just perfect for altering.  What I love about this project is that it can be used as a gift box for a little gift but doubles as a trinket box and decor in the babies nursery. This is the largest box of the three.  if you haven't seen DieCuts with a views Nana's Nursery paper pack - baby girl and baby boy, you don't know what you are missing.  I am usually not a fan of paper packs. They are usually only a few papers in the pack that I love,  But this paper pack is the exception.  To decorate the box I used the  new JustRite -JB 08170 Baby Stamp Ensemble Set . It is so versatile - use it for a girl's baby shower or a boys baby shower.  Perfect for any project - cards, birth announcements, DIAPER CAKES, and home decor.

 Here is a view of the top of the box.

The Rhinestones are from Kaiser Krafts. The Floral Ribbon is from American Crafts.

Here are the designs available in the set.  Remember these are all interchangeable. These are the perfect shaped oval for the Spellbinders Oval Nestabilies.

 

Here is the medium Box:

   

Here is a game tin that I also decorated.  Inside are coasters with questions for the baby shower.

 

This would also be a great tin for a coaster albumn for the new arrival.

My blog candy is still active.To enter simply pick your favorite project from my blog and leave a comment on here - please tell me which project is your FAV and why.  There is still tons of  blog candy from Sharon's Bog iversary here is what is still active:

JustRite Blog Candy is alive and active- click here. (Huge Basket of JustRite Product)

Blog Candy #17 is alive and active — click here.  (JustRite Special Occasions Monogram Set)

Blog Candy #16 is alive and active — click here.  (2 prizes - JustRite Christmas Ensemble and Baking Ensemble)

Blog Candy #15 is alive and active — click here.  (Scor-It Mini with Tote)

Blog Candy #14 is alive and active — click here.  (Kitchen Sink New Release Stamp Set)

Blog Candy #13 is alive and active — click here.  (CB Folders, Die, Chalk and Brads)

Blog Candy #12 is alive and active — click here. (Flourishes Stamp Set plus paper and ribbon)

YOU MAY SIGN UP FOR EVERY BLOG CANDY, but please only sign up once at each Blog Candy post — thanks!

JustRite Christmas Day 8 - Christmas Cookie Swap

Now we could have titled this post just as easily....YES HONEY I REALLY NEED IT ALL!!  because this next project used more tools (AKA Toys) then any project we have created so far. For CHA we designed a cute apron with a Summer Salad Recipe which you may have seen a picture of on the JustRite Blog in July.  For this project we used that apron as a jumping off point.  As we were playing a couple of weeks ago - We were brainstorming about using the Apron Die from AccuCut to make a Christmas Cookie Swap book. Now with my busy work schedule I don't always get to make all the ideas that are rolling around in my head...but Angela does...so here is another great project brought to reality by Angela.  Collaborating is so much fun!! 

Here is the front of the Christmas Cookie Swap Book.  Wouldn't it be fun to invite all your friends to a cookie exchange and a night of stamping. 

 

To recreate this book, you will need to diecut 2 Chipboard aprons using the AccuCut Apron Die and 12 aprons from double sided Christmas Paper. Use the first four aprons to cover the chipboard covers. Use one apron pocket to wrap around the chipboard cover. This paper is all from American Crafts and is now available in a Christmas Paper Pack. Next use the bind it all to bind together your aprons . Angela used 3/4" red wire to create this size book.

To decorate the first set of Apron Fronts Angela used the Candy Cane Tonic Border Punches and the Fleur II Corner Tonic punch.The stamped images are from theJB 08130 JustRite Baking Ensemble Set. To decorate the recipes Angela used borders from the Three Border set - which includes borders for from the Library of/the Desk of/the Kitchen of.  She decided to make her book using family recipes from her kitchen and her moms kitchen and she used the Times Roman Font.  These will be sweet gifts for her family!

 

For these pages Angela used the Martha Stewart Scalloped Border Punch and a Tonic Snowflake Border Punch.  Now some of the pages she decided to leave blank to put photos of her friends at the party ...or perhaps pictures of her cookies:

 

Here are the last set of pages in her book:

Don't you just love how the borders and centers are all interchangeable!!  For the page on the left she used the royal tonic border punch.  These punches are some of our favorites because they are so versatile.  You can use them alone or place them in the border system and design your own borders...you choose the spacing!!  Simple to use and they punch cardstock beautifully.

These stamps are now available for pre-order on the JustRite Website. They will begin shipping Mid-September.

JustRite Christmas Day 7- The Perfect Secret Santa Gift

Of course there will have to be 12 Days of JustRite Christmas.  Today's Project was created by Angela Barkhouse- for those of you who read my blog often - you know that Angela & I love to collaborate on projects.  So of course when she saw that I was hoping to blog 12 Days of JustRite Christmas - she was up for helping with the Challenge.  Any excuse to use our New JustRite Toys-Right!!

This project was inspired by a project Taylor Van Bruggen designed months ago.  And we were so happy on Monday when we read Sharon Harnist's Blog to find out that she too had been inspired by Taylor's project.  She created a stunning Coupon keeper (if you ask me too nice for coupons!!).  Sharon has written fabulous instructions on how to construct the folder itself. So you can visit her post for those instructions. Here we will just concentrate on giving the altered file folder a Christmas Twist.

Angela decided to make a paper wrap to enclose her Agenda holder.  The image stamped on the front is from the JustRite JB 08150 Christmas Stamp Ensemble. ( remember to purchase your wood block separately) The font is Times Roman - 50 pt, and the date is TImes Roman 25 pt - which is available in the JB 08060 New Times Roman Font set.(296 Characters- 3 sizes of font). The stamped image was then double matted with 2 diecuts using Spellbinder's Scalloped Circle Nestabilities. She used her Small Harmony Rectangular stamper to personalize the file tab.

 

Here's a view of the inside of her folder.   And here are some close up photos:

For the interior embellishments Angela used the JB 08120 Harmony Classic Circle II Stamp Ensemble borders (this is the set that comes with the wooden stamper) and designed the messages inside the center of each border using the expanded Curlz Font in 25 pt.  The first pocket of the Agenda holds a tag for items on her wish list - (yes you all should have a wish list tucked in a special place that your family can find!!). 

 

The second pocket contains a list for all the Christmas Parties she will be attending.  Angela used her Cricuit -Tags Bags Boxes and More Cartridge to diecut the tags and since the tags tops looked like wreaths she decided to dry emboss them using her Snowflake A2 Embossing Folder. Then she added holly and bow die cuts.  Next we dug through my stash of toys to see how we could decorate the note paper on the tags.  I love Rubber Stamp Tapestry's peg stamps and this set was perfect for decorating each note a little different and the tiny present peg in this set fits perfectly in between the star designs in one of the borders.  Here is a closeup of the right side of the Agenda Folder.

 

And here you can see how cute the tiny peg present stamps are stamped between the swirl designs in this border.

Sorry for the color variation in the photos..this paper is really bright red!!

Here are photos of how we decorated the note paper.

Stop back tomorrow to see the next Fabulous Projects Angela & I designed!!

JustRite Christmas Day 4

For Christmas this year my Sister and my neices made these great gourmet cocoa cones for everyone for Christmas. Imagine how spectacular a bucket of these would look for a Christmas Party or a Skating Party.  I loved the gift...but was surprised that my sister who was a Stampin' Up Demonstrator hadn't stamped her tags.  When I needled her about it she told me that she had looked everywhere for a Cocoa Stamp but couldn't find one.  So of course it was an absolute must have for JustRite's New Baking Ensemble - JB 08130. (This set consist of 6 interchangeable designer centers and designer borders). These stamps are available for pre-order on the JustRite website - they will begin shipping in mid-September.  Note that the wooden stamper must be purchased separately- JB 08117 Harmony Classic Circle II. 

To recreate this fun project you will need to purchase plastic icing cones from Wilton.  I found mine at Walmart in the cake decorating section- purchase the box with 50 bags in it.  Each cone will use two icing cones.  Next you need to find tiny elastic bands- try looking in the hair care section of the store.

Fill the first cone with your Favorite Hot Cocoa mix....or go all out and make your own gourmet cocoa.The cones are designed to make two cups of cocoa mix.  ( Perfect for a cold winter's night). Scoop 4 tablespoons of Hot Cocoa mix into the first icing cone.  Use a tiny elastic to seal the bag. Now insert that cone into a second icing cone.  Now here is the fun part...choose your favorite flavor of chocolate chips.  At Christmas time there will be tons of gourmet cocoa choices scoop a nice layer into the cone. Then add a layer of mini marshmallows.  Use a tiny elastic to seal off the the cone.

Now design your Cocoa tags using your interchangeable JustRite Baking Ensemble Stamps.

I love traditional red and green for Christmas Projects ...So here I used some of my favorite Christmas Paper from American Crafts.  If you are new to my blog and love Christmas Projects click through to my American Crafts category to see the all the fun projects I designed with this paper and the scraps last year.  My favorite are the Christmas trees. This year you can purchase this Collection as a paper pack from American Crafts.  The ribbons are also from American Crafts. Next stamp your images and die cut them using Spellbinder's Scalloped Nestabilities.  If you look in the mug you can also see that I made a variety of flavors for my friends.  On the back side of the tag we designed on the computer instructions for making the gourmet cocoa.

 

Here is what we put on the directions:

Hot Cocoa Mix for Two!

Chocoale and Vanilla Swirl

Divide and stire cocoa mix (2 Tbs.) into two mugs of hot water (1 cup each). Swirl the yummy chips and marshmallows aroud in your hot cocoa.  Sip slowly and enjoy!

Have fun making these great gifts!!

Christmas in New England

Tonight I thought I would just post a quick Christmas Card with a brief description. This stamp reminds me of a New England Winter.  I stamped it with Adrionadack Pitch Black and colored it with Copic Markers.  The stamp is from Northwood Rubber Stamps and the border is Holiday Ribbon from Lockhart Stamp Company.  For added shimmer I used my Olive and Melon Spica in the green areas and in the locations on the image that were snow I used designer dries clear adhesive to apply crystal glitter from the Art Glitter Institute. The red and white polka dot paper is Rudoplh from American Crafts.   Thanks for stopping in!!

Decorate a CD Gift Box using Lockhart Snowmen

I absolutely adore these snowmen from the Lockhart Stamp Company...they are individual stamps ..so you can make your own family.  I also love their holly and bough border (9002 Holiday Ribbon from the Millinery Collection). Anyone who know me persoanlly knows I love snowman, they adorn all of my handpainted christmas ornaments and my snowman paper designs.  I absolutely love the possibilities these cute little snowman have.  I found these great CD Boxes at the Dollar Store - they come 3 in a packet with a variety of fun designs. I am always looking for great gift ideas and I thought these would be cute with a CD or even with a Gift Card inside the box.

So to start this project I cut a 4 1/2" x 4" piece of white cardstock, then I stamped the Holiday Ribbon border. The border was longer than my paper, so I used a mask on both sides of my paper so that I could make a square frame with the bough border.  Next I cut a Scalloped Oval using my Spellbinders Nestabilities I used Steel Blue Elan Metallics from World WIn and dry embossed it with my Snowflake A2 Embossing Folder. (choose the size oval that fits inside your bough frame).  To color the bough border I used YG67 Copic Markers to color the holly leaves and then I used Apple Green Prismacolr Pencil to color the boughs.  Then I highlighted the holy with my Olive Spica Micro Glass Flake Pens and the boughs with my Melon Spica.  I colored in the berries with my Red Spica.

Using Adriondack Pitch Black I stamped all four snowman and colored them with a combination of Copic markers and Spica Pens.  Then I cut each one of the snowmen our and placed 3 of them on my scalloped oval using foam squares.  I used 2 layers of foam squares to add the smallest Snowman to my family.  For the snow I used snowtext writer and Crystal Glitter from the Art Glitter Institute.  I used a pallete knife to put the snow in place, since my snowman were 3-D.  I placed the tallest snowman on the right hand corner.  To balance the red in my card I used American Crafts Rudolph paper to mat my image.

Know if you have been reading my blog - you know I always like to do one more step...so as I was writing this blog it occurred to me that the Tonic Snowflake Border Punch...Punches the cutest scrap baby snowflakes - so of course I retrieved the the snowflakes from the belly of my punch and they just happened to be this beautiful pale blue and a perfect size to add to my card.  So here is the upgraded design: 

Aren't the baby snowflakes cute??  In the larger version of this photo you can actually see the shine of the microglass flakes- I was so hopeful that you might be able to see them in this photo post...it really makes my cards just pop.

Directions For My Cuttlebug Paper Snowman

Since the very first tree - I have been thinking about making a Paper Snowman. I actually started him weeks ago ..but we all know how life can get in the way of creating.  So I started working on him last night to unwind a bit from a hectic day....and hours later we found ourselves searching for twigs in our front yard at 1 a.m. in the morning. Yes my DH went out and found me twigs at that hour. And at that hour the twig arms became quite the topic of conversation for 2 very design weary people.  The first twigs had all these great nubs and my DH broke them off until they had two ordinary V's.. (Which are the arms from last night's photo post). I explained that I liked the character of the original twigs before they were trimmed and of course he went and found me new twigs.  Here is the snowman with his revised "naturally nubby twig arms" (yes we are perfectionists- to the nth degree).  While photographing the snowman, my husband wanted the hat to be slightly tilted as a tilted hat signifies a happy go lucky snowman, whereas a hat that is put on straight denotes a very serious snowman. Now remember it was after midnight by this time.  Anyway we were both thrilled with the end result.  And actually the most difficult part of designing the snowman was the scarf...which my husband finally figured out the best way to make the scarf.

So here is our very Jolly Snowman. He stands 12 3/4" high and now I might need to make a larger Paper Tree..since he towers over my forest.

If you have already made my cuttlebug paper pumpkins for Thanksgiving this snowman will be a snap!!

Supplies you will need:

3 sheets of White Cardstock, 6 dark blue snowflake brads,15 dark blue pearlized straight pins, 2" Dowel, Bamboo Skewer, Tonic Snowflake punch and Tonic Border System, Snowflake and Snowman Epoxy's from Best Creations, Golden Rings Christmas Paper from American Crafts - real twigs for arms, Cuttlebug and A2 Snowflake embossing folder, Obsidian Elan Metallics from WorldWIn.   2- 4" Styrofoam Balls and 1- 2" Styrofoam Ball.

To Make the Snowman Body:

Cut 2 sheets of White Cardstock into 1/2" x 3" strips.  Fill your A2 Snowflake Embossing Folder with a layer of white cardstock strips and dry emboss.  Repeat this step until all your strips have been dry embossed.  Next shave a hair off the bottom of both 4" styrofoam balls.  Place paper strips around ball until you have covered most of the ball.  I have 4 layers on each of the 4" balls.

To make the scarf:

Cut a 3" x 12" strip of the Golden Rings Christmas paper from American Crafts.  Using a scor-it board score, make score lines at 1/2" and at 1 1/2".  Place the scored paper in your paper trimmer and cut a 1" x 12" strip (which will be scored at the 1/2" mark).  This becomes the neck section of the scarf.  Fold on the score line and make a circle big enough for your 2" styrofoam ball to sit in. Trim off excess.  Use the remaining 3" x 12" strip to create the tails of the scarf.  Fold the scarf on the score line and fringe both ends of the paper. ( you may curl the fringe on a pencil if you like).  Fold in half making a V and place under the snowman head.  To hold the styrofoam balls in place we inserted a bamboo skewer into the top of the snoman's head and pushed it through all 3 balls.

To make the eyes and the buttons I used navy blue snowflake brads from Creative Impressions.  I found this really cute sheet of epoxy snowman, snowfalkes and trees from Best Creations and I placed the snowflake circles on top of the brads.  I thought it really dressed them up and made the eyes twinkle.

For the nose we cut a dowel and widdled it with a knife to a point and them colored it orange with my copic marker.  For the mouth I used 15 navy blue pearlized straign pins.

To make the hat:

I cut a 2 1/2" x 9" piece of  Obsidiam Elan Metallics from Worldwin and I placed one end into my snowflake A2 embosssing folder and then I flipped the paper around and embossed the second half of the paper. Then I made it into a tube. Next I cut a 2" strip of red cardstock and I used my new tonic snowflake punch to create a snowflake border. (Note you have to start with a wider strip and then trim it to 1" after you have punched it in the border system).  To make the snowflakes standout I backed the red cardstock with white cardstock and added these epoxy snowmen.  To make the brim of the hat I used 2 nested circles from my nestabilities set, make sure the smaller one will fit on your styrofoam ball and will fit the base of your tube.  Now using a third size circle nestabilities cut out a circle for the top of the hat. I used Scotch Tacky Adhesive to glue my hat pieces together.  Since the petallic paper is pretty thick, I decided to staple together my tube, I placed the staple in a location that would be covered by the red hat band.  Have fun Creating!!

It's a Sneak Peak at my Paper Snowman

It's a sneak Peek at my latest creation - a paper snowman...It's late at night and the directions haven't been written yet...but I couldn't wait to share him...so stop back by Sunday Night for complete directions.  Here is a closer look:

Isn't he cute!!    I just had to share him !!

Directions for a Paper Christmas Wreath

Sorry for the delay in this post..I just ran out of steam last night...So here with a full night of sleep..are the complete directions...Happy Crafting!! My house is looking very festive!!

Now while I was busy making Christmas trees number 5-7... Angela was busy making this great paper wreath...It looks stunning on my wall ...I kidnapped it for photography and never gave it back!!

Supplies you will need: 12" styrofoam wreath - your finished wreath will be 14",30-40 - 6" x 3" strips of cordinating paper. (You can make a much fuller wreath by doubling the number of strips),1- 12 x 12 sheet of red cardstock for the bow and lots of straight pins.

Directions for the Wreath:

1. Cut 30-40 strips of paper 6"x 3" -amount will vary depending on the size of your wreath and how close together you place your strips. (We suggest cutting one strip and following the directions to the end and see if the strip will fit the size wreath you purchased)
2. To make this project a little easier, rather tha placing individual strips on the wreath, Angela placed fringed strips. To make the fringe cut 2/3 of the way into the strip and make your cuts about 3/4" wide.  For her wreath one cut of the fringe overlapped.
3. Next start attaching the strips to the wreath using straight pins.  Make sure to overlap the rows so that the foam wreath does not show. As you place each strip of paper on the wreath use a pencil to curl the fringe to get this great sassy look.

Now originally Angela - had a velvet bow on her wreath...but my husband insisted that we needed to make even the bow out of paper.  So you can imagine the voice in her head..."I should have known...there would be another step or two to finish the project"

Directions for Making the Paper Bow:

1. Cut a 6" x 12" piece of red cardstock and place it on your scor-it bord with the 6" side at the top.  Now score at 1" intervals. Now flip the paper  45 degrees and score at 3" intervals. Pick up the right hand side of the sheet and fold it into the center line.
2. Now fold the left hand side into the center line.Starting at the top fold the score lines like an accordian.  Next using scissors cut about 2 1/4" into the valleys of the accordian folds of the bow....this will allow you to fluff out your bow.
3. Now cut a 1" x 3" piece of paper and wrap it around the center of the bow and adhere it. Now cut 2 tails - 1" x 7" and Cut out a notch in the bottom of each strip.  Using a glue gun attach the 2 tails to the back of the bow.
4. For a little bling use Christmas Red Stickles to add glitter to the top edges of the bow, as well as on the center of the bow and add a little accent to the bow tails.  Set aside to dry. Adhere bow to wreath using a glue gun. 
5. Now find inexpensive 3 'D ornaments to embellish your wreath.  Angela used gold snowflakes and trimmed off the back of each ornament.

Have fun creating...we would love to see what we inspired you to create...Sorry for the delay in posting directions...I got the fun part of this project...writing the directions!!