Sizzix Matchbox Bigz XL Die (what a mouthful)

I have seen several blogs where people have doubled up on the drawers to make these cute little boxes, so of course I had to try one too! I used our new DSP from the Occasions mini (you can order tomorrow), Walk in the Park and Cameo Coral C/S. The Baja Breeze Corduroy buttons are also in the mini (2 new colors) and the Little Leaves die along with the Whisper White Organza ribbon (love this ribbon). 

On another note: Did you know you can die this ribbon (and many more)? Want to know how? In a ziplock baggie add: 

20 drops of water

10 drops of re-inker

Smoosh (is that a word) it around until it turns  the color you want, and lay the ribbon on a piece of foil to dry. Done! So you can create custom ribbon, and not have to own every ribbon in the SU catalog.  I say that like its a bad thing.......but really its not. I love ribbon and have many, many ribbons.

Top Note Bag Topper

Here is another bag topper using the Big Shot Top Note die. I found some pastel Jr. Mints and thought they would be cute for Easter. I already had my topper done and when I opened the box, most of the mints were yellow and only a few were blue. So much for pastel......I did use the new DSP, Walk in the Park (you will be able to order on the 1st), and my new die, SU Little Leaves. The stamp set is Matchbox Messages (also in the new mini). This new DSP has Cameo Coral in it, I haven't used this color in a long time. I wish now, that I had the Coral on the bottom and the DSP on the top. Oh well, next time.

Easter Swing Card

Here is another card that is a little bit different. It doesn't open like a normal card either. I started with a Whisper White base at 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" and each of the Lovely Lilac & Almost Amethyst is 3 x 4 1/4". When I adhered the Almost Amethyst I didn't run the adhesive all the way to the top, because the Lilac actually nests inside, as you can see by the first photo. Click to view larger. I used a new stamp set in the Occasions mini, Eight Great Greetings. I love this ribbon, 5/8" Organza in Whisper White. I've seen a few people die this ribbon to match their project, turns out very beautiful. I forgot to mention the Amethyst also was punched with the Eyelet Border punch, love this too! A brad finishes this card off so you can swing the Lilac to see the greeting. The greeting is from A Good Egg.

Easter Bunny Side Step Card

I found the directions for this card on Bunny's blog. I didn't write down her blog address. I keep forgetting to do this. I've never done a card base like this before. Totally different, not sure how you would mail it. The only envelope we sell that is big enough is the envelope in the  Carousel Notes. Anyway, this was really fun to make. I was hoping I could use it on my next Stamp-a-stack. A little too time consuming. The card base is Certainly Celery and the DSP is the Delicate Dots from the Sale-a-bration catalog. Our wide oval punch makes perfect Easter eggs. Who knew? The Happy Easter is from A Good Egg stamp set. Did you notice the scallop oval? Its in the new mini out on the 1st.  You have to have it. Love it!

Blooms & Birds Basket

I love when you can use your Sizzix dies, punches, stamps a different way then they were intended. Normally this die makes a little round basket. Well, Connie Babbert at INKspiredtreasures.com  figured out a way not to have to deal with the bottom of the round basket.  Here I am using the DSP that is in the new mini catalog (you will be able to purchase on April 1st.)called Walk in the Park and Baja Breeze c/s. I cut the handle part out of the DSP using the Big Shot. The part in the middle is cut at 3 1/2 x 8 and scored at 2 3/4 on each side. I also trimmed off the tab on the handle part and scored at 1/4" on both sides. I used Sticky Strip to adhere together and decorated one side with the Daisy die. The butterfly is cut out from the stamp set Great Friend (mini) and the oval is from Oval All (mini). Did you notice the scallop oval? Thats in the mini too!

Matchbox

I finally had a couple of hours to play with all my new stuff. This is the new die that is in the Occasions Mini Catalog that you will be able to order from on the 1st. It was so easy to put together. Also got a great tip from Lisa Freeman.  She shows you how to get 2 complete boxes out of 1 piece of 12 x 12 piece of DSP.

Then Patty Bennett  has a video on how these boxes go together.  These gals make it so easy for us. You will definitely  want to add this to your Sizzix collection. I made mine with the Rockabilly Specialty DSP. These are so awesome. I added some Dove chocolates inside the box. You can fit 4 chocolates in one box.

Not sure why all of this is highlighted. You can click on the photos to get a better look, and to also go to Lisa & Patty's blogs.

A Notebook to keep track of everything to do with Anthony

I made this cute little notebook for my daughter. She is having a hard time remembering when Anthony ate last, when she pumped (I know too much info, sorry) and when she took her meds. (She had a C-section). So I looked in my stash of stuff that I have, (you all have stash too, don't you?) and I found this note book from Target. I covered up the note part with a sentiment from, level 1 hostess set, Sweet Little Sentiments and used the new scallop oval punch, (you will be able to order April 1st), you will love this punch. I stamped the bird from Good Friend on the DSP from Sale-a-bration on the opposite side and cut it out. Added the boarder with the same paper and the scallop edge punch, the A for Anthony is the Sizzix, Serif Essentials Alphabet die, and then added the Bashful Blue stripped ribbon. So simple. Now she will be able to keep track of everything with a little style.

Announcing the Newest Member to our Family.........

Anthony Miles Jimenez. Weighed in at 7 lbs 12 ozs., almost 21 inches long and was born on March 20th at 12:39 pm. He looks like his youngest sister, Gianna and  his Daddy. Mommy and Anthony are doing great and hopefully coming home today. 

Easter Bunny Basket

I saw this cute Bunny Basket on Sandi McIver's Blog last week and couldn't resist making one. The basket part is 4 of the Sizzix Envelope die cuts adhered together with Sticky Strip on the side flaps of the envelope. Her ears I took a very large heart punch and folded the heart in half and and rounded the edges to make a pattern. The head is drawn free hand. The flowers are from the Baskets & Bloom die and I used the Raspberry Tart DSP. Of course I had to sponge with Going Grey around her entire body. Almost forgot about her feet. I used the Wide Oval punch, 1" circle punch and the 1/4" circle punch. Stamped the Happy Easter from, A Good Egg. She was so fun to make. This will be on my Easter table next month.  Click on the photos to see them better. Her whiskers just didn't want to stay straight.

Anniversary Card for my Husband

Here is the card I made for my husband. Today we celebrate 31 years of marriage. WOW! We've come a long way baby!

It's so hard for me to make a "man" card. The base is Baja Breeze & I used the Parisian Specialty DSP. The stamp sets I used are: A Little Somethin', which is a level 2 hostess set and  Hugs and Wishes for the Happyc Anniversary on the inside of the card. In the corner I couldn't resist the 

Chocolate Corduroy button with the Whisper White Taffeta ribbon. Used both of the star punches (which I hadn't used in a long time) and finally the 1" double stitched grosgrain chocolate ribbon that goes around the DSP. 

So there you have it, my "Man" card.

Just a quick note,

to let you know that I have had to change my Stampin' Up! website address to: www.cincraft09.stampinup.net. I'm hoping this is temporary and I should know in the next 2 weeks if I can go back to my original address. Since I changed Upline's I had to re-sign and everything starts from the beginning again. But I think this will be a good thing. My new Upline is Patty Bennett and she is so awesome. I will be updating my SU website within the next week or so. Just be patient with me, you know how all this computer stuff is hard for me.  Anyway thanks so much.

Fifth Avenue Floral & Mover's & Shapers

As promised here is the card using the new Manhattan  Flower Impressions die. All I did was put the c/s inside the embossing folder, ran it through my Big Shot, attached a ribbon, stamped the sentiment and punched it out with the new wide oval punch. Done!

The Pretty in Pink card was done with the Mover's & Shaper's XL die, (love this one too). Added some Tea Party DSP. ribbon is from the Sale-a-bration bundle and stamped the flower from Sweet Stems, colored with markers and punched out with the Curly Label punch, and added the sentiment at the bottom. Easy peasey. 

Fifth Avenue Floral

Ok, so by now I'm sure you know that the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set is my most favorite stamp set ever. So here are 2 more cards using that stamp set. The Baja Breeze card also uses the big scallop die and the Lots of Tags die. The Kraft card uses the Parisian Breeze DSP and the 1" Chocolate ribbon with the white stitching.  Tomorrow I will be posting the cute and fast (I mean really fast) card I made using the new Textured Impressions Die, Manhattan Flower. (see page 202 of the Spring/Summer catalog) Boy, are you gonna love this baby. Fast, easy and beautiful. My kind of card.

Sneak Peek For the Occasions Mini Catalog

You can click on the side bar and see the Easter stamp sets that are available to order NOW! The rest of the catalog will be available to order on April 1st. (No joke) Wait to you see all the new Sizzix dies (matchbox, Pop-Up dies), punch (think scallop oval), stamp sets (these coordinate with the new matchbox die & more) and accessories (DSP, window sheets, Rub-ons, Corduroy Buttons, 2 new colors, ribbon, Designer Hardware). 

Stamp a Stack

Here are 3 cards from last Sunday's Stamp a Stack. Everyone loved the Kiwi Kiss card with the Raspberry Tart DSP. It also uses the Petal Pizzazz stamp set. The other 2 use Sale-a-bration DSP, stamp sets and ribbon.

Cupcake/Cake Take a Long

This is another "Cupcake/cake Take a Long" that I did for our Stamp Club. We will be making these next Sunday when we meet. For this one I used the Tea Party DSP and the ribbon is the Sale-a-bration bundle (free). On this one I used the Sizzix Envelope die and part of the Scallop bag for the closure. Inside has the 3 test tubes you can put sprinkles in and don't forget the frosting. (I didn't take a photo of the frosting.)Click to see the photos up close. I almost forgot, I layered the flower from the DSP. 3 layers. Not a lot of stamping but still a fun project. This is the perfect give to give someone who has everything, but you still want to remember them on their special day. 

Easter Basket from the Envelope die

Isn't this cute? You would never guess that you use the Sizzix Envelope die and cut 6 of them. Glue them together by the side pieces and add a piece of DSP around the entire basket. I also used the new Eyelet Border punch for the handle. The stamp set I used is A Good Egg. The DSP is Bella Birds.

Fifth Avenue Floral all a Glitter

I was so excited to order this new glitter in Chocolate, and to use with this stamp set. So I started out using my Embossing Buddy on Whisper White c/s. Then I stamped the flowers in Versamark and used Heat & Stick powder, heated the powder & sprinkled the ultra fine glitter and heated it up to set. But I couldn't get all the excess glitter off of the card stock. I tried to use a Swiffer cloth, it stuck to the glitter, tried a stipple brush and I felt like I was taking all the glitter off. So I decided this was as good as it was going to get. Anyone have any other suggestions? If you click on each of the photos you will see what I'm talking about. Or am I just being to critical?