Running With Scissors…

It’s about time Stella had a tote for some of her cards, don’t you think?  I know there’s been a lot of cute card totes made, but this just happens to be one I designed back in September ‘06 for a Fresh Fruits set I made for a friend.  This tote will hold five or six cards, depending upon the layers and embellishments.  There are five of Stella’s favorite cards in this tote.  If you haven’t seen all of Stella’s cards and would like to, please click on the Ruby Tuesday category over there in my right hand sidebar.  They’re all cards and projects made with BasicGrey Stella Ruby paper — one each Tuesday since April this year.

You can pretty this up any way you want to — make it plain or fancy.  I’ve included a thumbnail below of the Fresh Fruits tote I made last year so you can see a little bit simpler version.  Please click on the picture for a closer look:

   These totes are so quick and easy you could make them by the dozen.  I started with the 2-4-6-8 box concept.  You can go just about anywhere from there when it comes to making boxes — just change the dimensions.  But to make it even easier, I thought I’d share exactly how I made this — with the dimensions all figured out for you.  Okay?  Here we go!

I’ll start with a picture of bare bones white cardstock so you can see where the score lines go.

Cut your cardstock to measure 5 3/4″ x 11″.  Score one long side at 3/4″.  Turn and score across at 3/4″, 5 1/4″, 6″ and 10 1/2″.  Slit the bottom vertical score lines up to the horizontal score line.  Cut away the smallest bottom section and discard.

Next, cut two pieces of designer paper 4 3/4″ x 4 1/4″ and two pieces 4 3/4″ x 1/2″.  Adhere these pieces to the cardstock as show in the photo below:

My next step was to punch the notches in the front and back top of the tote.  I did this before I added the trim because I didn’t want to find out too late that my punch wouldn’t go through all the layers.  I marked the upper center of the panels and used my 1 3/8″ circle punch.  I love the handy vertical and horizontal guides on this punch which allow me exact placement.  The photo below shows the horizontal guide lined up with the edge of the cardstock and the vertical guide aligned with the pencil mark.

The handles were added next.  Cut two 8″ lengths of the ribbon of your choice, preferrably something with a little substance to it.  I used some of the Martha Stewart twill that Libby sent me because it was a perfect match for Sage Shadow.  I adhered them with a little piece of Sticky Strip about 1/2″ in from the edges and 1″ down from the top.

I then made my trim.  I chose to layer a 1 1/2″ strip of Stella Ruby on a 1 3/4″ strip of Chocolate Chip.  I pierced, distressed and added some faux stitching.  I scored the trim to match the score lines of the tote.

At this point I sponged all the corners and edges of my tote with Creamy Caramel.  The trim was then applied using two lengths of Sticky Strip, matching the score lines of the trim to the score lines of the tote.  I had planned to simply punch the notches in the trim but the handles were in the way — oops!  So I just trimmed out the notches with my Exacto knife — no problem.

After that I just folded it up like a box and adhered it closed, as seen in the finished photo at the beginning of this post.  Fold the sides first.  I applied Sticky Strip to the narrower long flap and carefully lined up the 3/4″ flap over that.  I applied 2-way glue to the bottom short flaps and Sticky Strip to one of the long bottom flaps and folded them closed, again lining it up carefully.  I stood the tote upright and used the eraser end of a pencil to press the bottom of the tote from the inside to make sure everything was secure.

Now Stella’s cards are ready for gift giving.  I’ve never sent away a single one of them yet because I figured I’d eventually make a variety of gift sets with them.  I still have a lot of the paper left!  As always, Happy Ruby Tuesday!  Let me know if you make a tote, okay?  I’d love to see it!

I haven’t had much time to play in the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges at Splitcoaststampers but I did manage this card for a couple of the challenges that were released on Thursday.  I did Beate’s sketch and genie1314’s challenge to use clear stamps.  I’d been intending to make this plain and simple guy birthday card with my Cake Decorating 101 stamps from Flourishes so I was happy to fit it in with the fun on Splitcoast.

I colored directly on the cake slice stamp with my Chocolate Chip and So Saffron markers.  I then masked the cake and stamped the plate with Chocolate Chip, colored it with my Bordering Blue marker and added the dots around the rim with my white gel pen.  The sentiment comes with the set, too, as well as the sprinkles I used for a little fun around the sentiment.  I cut out my cake image and its mat with my Creative Memories circle cutting system so it would fit Beate’s sketch.  The ribbon is from the new SU! Sherbet collection.  I like to use these wide ribbons much like designer papers as part of the layout, but they add a little extra element of texture and interest beyond that of the paper.  The paper, by the way, is some of the new BasicGrey Infuse, also available at Flourishes.  I like the fact that this collection has something for the guys as well as the girls.

I still have a couple more guy birthday cards to do, darn it, but I’ll try to fit some pretty stuff in between.  Have a great week!

Stamps:  Cake Decorating 101

Paper:  True Thyme, Bordering Blue, Very Vanilla, BasicGrey Infuse

Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Bordering Blue, markers:  Chocolate Chip & So Saffron

Accessories:  Sherbet Ribbon Originals, CM circle cutting system, corner punch, bar brad, Scotch brand mounting tape

It seems like it’s been a long stretch since I posted anything.  Or maybe it’s just been a long week.  At any rate,  I wanted to post something girly tonight to celebrate the end of the work week.

Speaking of celebrations, there’s sure been a lot going on over at Splitcoast this week!  If you’re a Fan Club member perhaps you’ve been participating in the Dare to Get Dirty challenges.  Everyone’s getting dirty with the Dirty Girls!  Gosh, I wonder how much spam I’ll attract with that comment?  I’m hosting a challenge that will launch, along with three others, at 9:00 Saturday morning.  I hope you’ll have time to play!  I’ve got a hair appointment at 9:00 in the morning and I just found out I’ll have a house guest this weekend, too, so I’ve got to get my grocery shopping done first thing.  There’s always something!  But as soon as possible I’ll be checking in on the fun.

For this card I used several of my new SU! favorites:  Priceless, the Happiness background, and Basic Gray and Purely Pomegranate ink and cardstock.  I so love these swirls and all the pretty images in the Priceless set!  The heart hangs from the swirls with silver cord and a brad.  I used the word window punch on “Priceless”, stamped the word again, cut out the “P” and glued it over top to bump it out.  The polka dot paper is from the Palette o’ Prints pad and the ribbon is “Flirty”.  There’s a bit of Pixie Pink cardstock there to brighten up the layers, too.

Well, this was the bright spot of my day.  I hope you’ll have a wonderful weekend and maybe I’ll see you at Splitcoast tomorrow!

Stamps:  Priceless, Happiness background

Paper:  Purely Pomegranate, Basic Gray, Pixie Pink, Whisper White, Palette o’ Prints

Ink:  Purely Pomegranate, Basic Gray

Accessories:  Silver cord, brad, Flirty ribbon, Scotch brand mounting tape, word window punch

I know this doesn’t look much like my usual Ruby Tuesday cards, but there really is some Stella Ruby here.  I needed this birthday card for a girlfriend who isn’t the frilly type.  We do make the card to suit the individual, don’t we?

When I saw this Stampin’ Up! set, Nature Prints, in the 2006 Spring Mini I knew right away I wanted it.  There was no question about it.  I love the earthy, natural look of it.  This is the first time I’ve used it, though, and I’m not sure why I waited so long.  There was never a point at which I asked myself, “now why did I buy that?”.  Do you have any of those “why did I buy that” sets on your shelves?

I stamped the row of three ferns directly on one of the less patterned BasicGrey Stella Ruby sheets with Timber Brown Stazon and it gave me a look that seemed perfect for this set.  I wanted to be sure to use some new supplies, also, so I stamped my Sanded background in River Rock on Blush Blossom and layered it on a Groovy Guava card base.  The ferns are layered onto River Rock cardstock.  I chose these colors because I wanted to feminize it a little bit and I do see a Guava tone in the Stella Ruby.  The ribbon is the new double stitched in Groovy Guava — more femininity.  The sentiment is Penny Black.  I isolated this part of it for the front of the card and stamped the rest inside.  The whole sentiment says “We grow neither better or worse as we get older, but more like ourselves.” 

It’s pretty apparent that this is one of those simple cards that wasn’t the least bit time consuming.  Sometimes it just feels so good to do a design like this.  I lean toward this sort of look more and more these days.  I get to feeling like I need to use more of my supplies so I’ll try to do more with a card.  It works both ways, though.  A simple design is very restful and I’m inclined to create more often if I allow myself freedom from fussing.  It’s all a matter of whatever feels right at the time.  I hope this Ruby Tuesday finds you well.  It’s Monday night as I write this.  Gosh, these evenings after work are the perfect time for creating these simple designs.  Maybe I’ll allow myself that freedom more often.  Have a wonderful week!

The brand-spanking new Flourishes will open their online doors on July 27 and this set, Cake Decorating 101, will be one of the first of their exclusive stamp sets.  The link I’ve provided will take you to their unfinished store front but be assured they’re working furiously behind that pretty facade to get everything ready for you on the 27th.

Now, about this set:  I’d like to begin by telling you I had a lot of fun putting this image together.  And I do mean putting it together because what you see here is the sum of many different parts.  I don’t know if you could ever come to the end of the possibilities for this set.  It allows you to choose from three different plates and two pedestals with a myriad of baubles to dangle from the plates or even to use as cake decorations.  Speaking of decorations…my goodness, you can pretty up this cake just about any way you can think of!  This is what I chose to do this time:

I sponge daubered Pretty In Pink ink onto the solid image cake stamp to give it a soft appearance when I stamped it.  Then I stamped the curlicues three times in Chocolate Chip.  These are clear stamps so all of this decorating is super easy to do.  My next step was to stamp the cake outline in Close to Cocoa.  I used my Pretty in Pink marker and a blender pen to add shading around the curlicues and the cake’s edges.  I then masked the cake and stamped the ruffly plate under it in Versamark and embossed with silver detail EP.  I added the pedestal next, no masking required.  The cake and pedestal are shaded ever so slightly with Pretty in Pink.  I scattered a few Rose Red cherries around the base of the cake, then added the candle and more cherries on top.  I also dabbed the cherries with my Rose Red marker to give them a little shading.  The candle glow was done with my Barely Banana marker and blender pen.  Finally, I shaded and blended around the edges of the entire image with Sahara Sand.  The sentiment (love the font) also comes with the set.

The 5 1/4″ card base is Chocolate Chip, layered with Rose Red and the new BasicGrey Infuse designer paper, the latter which will also be available from Flourishes.  I used Pretty in Pink cardstock directly under the main image panel.

I created a rather large image this time because I was just having so much fun with it.  Next time I plan to do something entirely different.  Keep an eye out!  Have a great week!

I’m playing tag catch up today.  The Rockin’ Girls on the following list were all kind enough to give me the honor of this badge for my sidebar.  The only thing is, I haven’t been able to get it in my sidebar yet.  I don’t know why it won’t work.  Anyway, thank you, girls!  You all…well…rock!  These are the folks who tagged me and if you haven’t been to their blogs before, please, check them out.  They all bear the Rockin’ Girl Blogger badge:

Stamp Till You Cramp  … Shannon    –    Stamperosity … Lynn

Moonlight Inker  … Sophia    –    Libby’s Little Addiction  … Libby

It’s Not All Black & White  … Bethany    –    Paper Pleasing Ideas  … Julie

The Stampin’ Soldier  … Laura    –    Angelosity … Angel

I was also tagged recently with the “List Seven Things About Yourself” tag.  I did this once before and I can do it again — as long as those seven things don’t have to be interesting…  The folks who tagged me are:

Jeansinkyhugs … Nancy    –    Stamp a Little Love, Baby! … Cambria

Also — Laura, Julie, Libby and Sophia — their Rockin’ blogs are linked above, in the first part of this post.  Here’s my seven things:

1.  When I was little, my brother and I used to play a game we called “Rocky Boat in the Sticky River”.  My Mom had a huge Audubon Society book and she (gasp!) allowed us to place that on top of something (can’t remember what we used) that turned the book into a roly-poly teeter totter of sorts.  He’d sit on one end and I’d sit on the other and we’d hang on for dear life as our “boat” was tossed around in the “sticky river”.  If we fell off…well…we’d fall into the sticky river.  The consequence was no more serious than that we’d simply fall into the syrupy rapids, but it was very exciting!

2.  At some point I developed a fear of heights, but only if I don’t have some sort of visible barrier that reaches at least to my waist level.  I can handle the Space Needle, the Pan Am Tower, an airplane window, but a glass front elevator that goes to the second floor — eek!  I’ll stand far in the back and look at my feet and pretend it doesn’t bother me.

3.  When I was growing up I lived in Oregon, Washington, California and Missouri.  My Dad liked to move around a lot.  In Missouri we had a farm with lots of cattle, horses, pigs, chickens — you name it.  A few of the animals had personalities and we devoloped relationships with them.  We had a cow named Toodles and a turkey that bonded with my Mom.  We also had a pig named Donna because she looked like my cousin by the same name.  Don’t tell Donna.

4.  If I had to pick a favorite color, I’d probably say green but I like all colors.

5.  One of my favorite things to do is lay in bed and read before I go to sleep.  I used to love to eat crunchy snacks while I read, too, but I have acid reflux now and can’t eat that close to bedtime anymore.  That was hard to adjust to.  I’m okay with it now.

6.  The dogs in our lives have had names like Otto, Charlie, Barney, Ebo, Gus.  Our cat is named Marvin and in the past we’ve had Elmo, Boston, Big Cat, Scooper.  My husband simply won’t stand at the front door and call out “Fluffy!”

7.  I’ve worked at the same Medical Laboratory for over 20 years.  I spend every Monday through Friday there, eight hours at a stretch.  I’m very fond of my coworkers and some of them are my closest friends.  How lucky am I?

I can’t find enough people in my blogroll who haven’t been tagged yet.  I’d like to invite you all to pick one from my list that you haven’t visited yet.  When you visit one blog you enter the Land of Infinity because there’ll be another new-to-you blog on their list, and another and another and another…  Some of the things you find…oh, my gosh!  It’s so worth looking around if you have the time!  Enjoy your day!

My new Le Jardin paper arrived today, so what did I do?  I made a card with it’s earlier counterpart, Enchante.  This Pale Plum card base has been laying among the scraps for quite a while.  I had folded the card and punched the upper corners with the large corner rounder just to see if I could — not easy!  That particular punch doesn’t have a lot of umph to it.  But I managed, and after all that effort I just set it aside.  I had this idea for it, though, and finally decided to finish if off.

I love layering scraps like this as a way to use them up.  The foremost panel with the bird and swirls just happened to be cut that way –  I almost overlooked it.  I just resized it a little and punched the corner to match the card.  The inset is something I started doing with buttons as a way to ease them onto a card without adding too much bulk.  I like my cards to fit their envelopes without a struggle and find their way through the mail unscathed.  I’m never sure if that “hand cancel, please” is going to be noticed.  I punched the vertical panel with the 1 3/8″ circle punch at the half-way mark.  The Carte Postale image was punched first with the new 1″ circle punch, the next layer with the 1 1/4″ punch and another layer with the 1 3/8″ punch and then I fit the layered circles into the panel.  They’re both raised on dimensional tape at the same level.  The 1″ circle was pressed into my Versamark pad and embossed with Iridescent Peacock EP for lots of pretty sparkle which, of course, doesn’t show in the photo.  The ribbon was curled with the heat gun.

See the little words there that say “Celebrate Love”?  They’re part of my new Flourished Words set that will be available at Flourishes later this month.  I selected two of the 27 words that come with this set and mounted them together on a little acrylic block.  They’re clear stamps so it was easy to put them together and see where to stamp them.  Since this is a wedding card these particular words were perfect.  Inside the card I stamped “Congratulations” from the same set.

I’ll be back soon.  I’ve got a lot more card-giving occasions coming up and I’ll try to use as much of my new stuff as possible.  Do you think my guy friend would like a Priceless card for his birthday?  Hmmmm…probably not.  Surely someone would like a Priceless card…  I hope your weekend is off to a good start!  Enjoy!

Stamps:  Carte Postale, Flourished Words

Paper:  Pale Plum, Very Vanilla, Enchante

Ink:  Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Creamy Caramel, Versamark

Accessories:  Organdy Ribbon, pearlized brads, Iridescent Peacock EP, large corner rounder, Scotch brand mounting tape, circle punches:  1″, 1 1/4″, 1 3/8″

I’m going on an adventure and I’d like to invite you all to come along!  Some of you may have already heard this news so I’m sorry I’m a little slow about sharing–that darn day job.  Just in case you haven’t heard, here’s the scoop:

A new online store called “Flourishes” will open their doors on July 27.  They’ll feature many of those must-have stamping and paper crafting goodies we all love — plus, they’ll debut their brand new line of stamps and I’m thrilled to be on their design team!  Let’s go on a little trip…

Flourishes — This link takes you to their store front.  I’d love to make a card that looks like their opening page.  Please pardon their dust as they’re still working on the finishing touches, but you can look around a little bit to get an idea of what’s to come.

Flourishes Newsletter – This is where you can meet the rest of the design team and find out more about Jan, Nancy and Sharon - the folks who are the foundation of Flourishes.  They give you the opportunity to subscribe to the newsletter so you won’t miss out on their latest happenings, tips and techniques.

The Caruso Manner – Jan Caruso’s blog features a tantalizing peek at one of their stamp sets.

Seaside Creativity – Nancy Kirk’s blog gives you another peek.  Hmmmmm…this cake looks a wee bit different from Jan’s cake…

Soon, I’ll have supplies in hand and I can’t wait to start creating and sharing.  This is my first design team work–quite an adventure–and I’m so happy you’re all coming along with me!  Thanks for being here!

This week’s Ruby Tuesday card is not much more than a big flower and a slightly curly bow.  I did stamp some Wild Rose leaves on the circle tag along with the “thinking of you” but they barely show.  I used my new from SU! scallop circle punch and the 1 3/8″ circle punch for the tag.  I punched a 1/4″ hole in the tag and pulled the ribbon through from the back to tie the bow so the tag would lay nicely flat on the card.  When I tied the bow I held the card upside down which somehow makes the bow turn out better.  It’s not as pretty as the “bunny ears” method for bow tying but it doesn’t take nearly as much ribbon, either.  Once the bow was tied I heated it with my heat gun just until it curled a little bit.

To allow the contrasting border along the top without covering any of this giant flower I used my craft knife to cut along the edge of the one petal and slipped the border behind it.  Large images like this on designer paper can be a challenge when you’re loathe to cover them.  I could have cut off more of the left side of the flower without compromising it too much, but I decided to let the flower have center stage this time.

My next project will be to clean my stamp room.  There must be some place I can fit in all these new toys and the ones coming by the end of the week.  I think some serious purging is in order.  I hope it won’t be too long before I emerge from the chaos…  Happy Ruby Tuesday!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Hero Arts sentiment, Wild Rose leaves barely visible on tag

Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow, BasicGrey Stella Ruby

Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow

Accessories:  Burgundy wide organdy ribbon (retired SU!), SEI pearl brads, 1 3/8″ circle punch, SU! scallop punch, 1/4″ hand held circle punch

I made another card with my new SU! supplies today and I have to tell you I’m most thrilled with the Happiness background!  That’s the Wasabi piece on this card.  Oh, my gosh, what fun this background will be!  I stamped the whole background with Wild Wasabi, cut out the parts I wanted to use and pieced it back together, rearranged somewhat.  Due to time constraints I couldn’t get too creative, but I’d love to stamp this background in several colors to mix it up a little.  It even has words on it which will be very useful.  I’m so glad I ordered this background!

I also really like this Garden Whimsey set because it’s so…well…whimsical.  I would have used the small butterfly from the set, but it was facing the wrong direction for my design.  This butterfly is from Sweet Shapes and I think it works just fine.  And while I’m talking about all these new things I love, I’ll tell you I’m totally smitten with the textured cardstock.  Oh, I know I could have mountains of Bazzill cardstock by now, but this is in SU! colors so it matches perfectly.  I’m so happy with the way the texture enhances the design of the card.  It just sits there looking good without any stamping on it at all!

The ribbon is from the Jersey collection.  Have I mentioned how much I love ribbon?  I actually designed the whole card around this particular piece.  It’s more like twill, really, with the zig zag stitched through it.  As for the main image, I colored the stamp with Ruby Red and Garden Green markers and used the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to position the words.  The butterfly is stamped in Summer Sun.

I have to run now because I’ve got a lot more to do tonight and dinner just came out of the oven.  I’ll save this now and post it later.  There’s supply details below.  Have a great week and I’ll be back next for Ruby Tuesday.

Supplies:

Stamps:  Garden Whimsey, Happiness, Sweet Shapes

Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Wild Wasabi, Ruby Red textured, Whisper White

Ink:  Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun, markers:  Ruby Red and Garden Green

Accessories:  Jersey ribbon, antiqued bronze brads (non-SU!), ticket corner punch, Scotch brand foam mounting tape