Let's Shell-ebrate - Eileen Hulls new Embossing Powders!

Eileen Hull, along with Emerald Creek, has just released some beautiful Molten Dimensions Embossing Powders and her Inspiration Team will be posting projects using them all month.  They will be gathered over at Eileen's Blog so be sure to check it out!

 Today, I'm sharing a project that I used the gorgeous Aqua Splash Molten Dimensions Powder on.  When I tried it out, the look of it immediately made me think of the ocean, and the beach, which then made me think shells!

Kent and I have spent several vacations on Sanibel Island, FL  which is known for the wonderful shells on all it's beaches - and I have several bags of them!  I was happy to get them out and finally use some!

First, I die cut the pieces of  Eileen's Basket die out of Little Sizzles Mat Board.  I stamped the pieces with Versamark and poured the Aqua Splash over them -  the powder is so grainy that not much stuck when I tapped off the excess -  so I sprinkled a little more on each piece.  I started heating the pieces with my heat tool from below, holding the piece in a pair of tweezers.  As the powder started to melt, I held my heat tool above the panel holding it about 5" above so as not to blow off any loose pieces, moving it closer as it really started to melt.

And what a gorgeous result! It really does look like the foaming ocean!  There are white and aqua bits mixed and also spaces that show of the matboard.  I was going to sponge over the edges but decided I like the clean white and aqua colors!

I didn't die cut the handles or the rims from the basket die - but wanted to have something nautical looking on the basket somehow.  So I got out Eileen's Twist and Style tool, cut a piece of twine about 10 feet long, folded it in half and then in half again, looped it onto the Twist and Style tool and made a piece that looks like the thick rope you see on docks and boats!

The twist won't stay tight on twine like it does if you use wire with the tool, so as I adhered it to the rim of the basket with my hot glue gun, I kept re-twisting it as I moved along the edge.  And it gave me just the look I was hoping for!  A nice thick twisted piece of twine!

I used my hot glue gun to adhere some shells on the back of the basket as well.

I die cut one of the circles from Eileen's Book Plate Hinges and Label set for the stamped sentiment and added the flip flop stickers along with the fence, bird and another shell.

So please check out Eileen's Blog all this month to see what projects the Inspiration Team is creating using these lovely new powders from Emerald Creek and Eileen Hull!

Also linking my Shell-ebrate basket to:

Try it on Tuesday: Let's Party 

Happy Little Stampers

Stamps:  Fence Line Summer - Papertey Ink.
Paper:  Little Sizzles Matboard - Sizzix, white - Papertrey Ink.
Ink:  ersamark, Limestone, Silver Stone, Industrial Diamond, Rocky Shore - Altenew.
Accessories:  Basket Die, Bookplate Hinges and Label Dies, Twist and Style Tool- Eileen Hull/Sizzix, Fence Line Summer Die Set - Papertrey Ink, Aqua Splash Molten Dimensions - Eileen Hull/Emerald Creek, shells from Sanibel Island, Flip Flop Stickers - Michaels, hot glue gun

A Heartfelt Birthday Gift Basket

Today I'm sharing another new Sizzix die designed by Eileen Hull that was shown at Creativation this past January.  

A beautiful little Basket die! 

I made my sweet little birthday basket out of white Little Sizzles Mat Board with some wood grain  patterned paper layered over it.

First I die cut the basket, then traced the pieces onto the wood grain paper, marking where to punch the holes.

I adhered all the pieces of patterned paper to the die cut matboard pieces (being sure to line up the handle holes!) and then assembled the basket according to the instructions.

Instead of using the handles from the die - I thought it would look cute to have twisted wire handles, so I took 18" of 18 gauge floral wire, folded it in half to make it a thick twist and used Eileen's Twist N Style tool to twist it up!  I repeated the process so I had two handles.

This gave me two sturdy pieces for the handles - that I could bend but they would keep their shape.

I used pliers to bend the pieces into equal sized handles and made a loop on each end.

First, I adhered the die cut rims to the top of the basket edges and then attached the handles using 10 mm Flat Broke Brads from Bazzill, having the loops of the handles on the inside of the basket.

I cut some felt flowers and leaves using Eileen's new Stitchy Flowers and Leaf Thinlits dies, layered them and held them together with a little flower brad.  I adhered one flower to each side of the basket.

To finish decorating my little basket - I added a stamped sentiment on each side and filled the basket with basket shred.

Stamps are from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous - Crazy Talk set.

Isn't this basket a lovely way to give a friend a gift card or small gift?   

It measures about 4 3/8" x 4 1/2" x 1 1/2" including the handles.

Eileen will be posting all of the Creative Teams projects using her new dies on her blog during the month of March - so please check it out - I know you will be inspired!

Baskets for Easter

Have you seen the wonderful Wednesday Tutorial Betty posted over at Splitcoaststampers last week?  Here's a link to it.  She calls it a slatted basket.  I love making treat baskets so I ran right up to my craft room to try it out.  This took me less than 15 minutes to score, cut and put together. The base of the basket is 4" x 4" and it stands about 8" tall to the top of the handle.

First you take a double sided 12" x 12" piece of patterned paper or card stock, score, cut and adhere the sides to create  the box base.  Then you cut 6 strips, center and adhere them  across the bottom of the box, fold them up to the top and adhere them under the rim of the box.  And to finish - you cut the handle and adhere it inside the box.

You can decorate them with tags, flowers, and stampings of course -  but I simply tied a long tailed bow with wrinkled seam tape on mine and called it done!  I'll add candy or maybe a small gift - like soap, a candle or body lotion depending on who I present it to!

Then I thought it would be fun to make one for my son.  Mind you - he's now 38 years old - but a mother has to give her boy an Easter Basket right?!  I always give him a few treats and thought a basket would be much nicer than a plastic shopping bag!

Two things define Josh - he proudly served in the US Army and he loves to ride motorcycles - and since I didn't have any motorcycle style patterned paper on hand (none big enough anyway!) and I did have some camouflage paper - the Army theme won out! 

I decorated the handle with some Jolee Army stickers that I've had for ages - so long that the stickers on the backs of them had dried out so I had to put new ones on!

The other side of the handle with more Jolee Stickers - A duffle bag and a shirt.  I added a few treats that he likes - malted milk ball eggs, Reeses Peanut butter eggs and Cadbury Eggs.  I added his name with Idea-ology Label letters.

I knotted a piece of frayed linen ribbon on the top of the handle - because all Easter baskets have to have ribbons right? But I didn't want it to look feminine.   I thought this would look like an ace bandage that he might have had in his Army first aid kit!

I think he'll get a kick out of this basket - I know he'll like the treats!

What's in your Easter basket??!!

Easter Basket
Paper: Sweet Sorbet Double Sided DP - SU  
Accessories: wrinkled seam tape, ScorTape, ScorPal, Quick Dry Scotch adhesive

Army Basket
Paper: Green Bazzill, Green Camouflage - Creative Imaginations/Joanns  
Accessories: ScorTape, ScorPal, Quick Dry Scotch adhesive, frayed linen ribbon, Army Fatigues Jolee's stickers, Label Letters - Idea-ology

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Hanukkah for all those celebrating this holiday that starts tonight!  I work for 3 surgeons who celebrate and each year I look for blue baskets (I get them at my local The Christmas Tree Shop - I start looking in the summer!) and I fill them with home made goodies.  This year, I also found a fun gift to put inside - a Doctor Gnome!

I made a Hanukkah tag to wrap around the gnome 

(should have moved the glitter yarn off his mouth for the photo!)

There's a package of cranberry oatmeal, macadamia nut white chip and chocolate mint cookies, Pecan Rum cakes and fudge tucked inside the pretty blue basket.

 They were all very appreciative of their Hanukkah gifts - and they even liked the Doctor Gnomes!
If you'd like to see the things I've created for Hanukkah in the past - click here.

Destination Inspiration - A Birthday Cone

Hi Friends!   Today I'm posting over at A Vintage Journey -  the Creative Guides -Monday Destination Inspiration.  For each Monday this month we had to use this 'recipe'.

Product - Distress Paint

Substrate - Canvas

Technique - Grungepaper flowers (Vol 1 of Tim's CC Book, page 65)

Color - Picket Fence

If you'd like a look-see at the other 3 sides of my cone and how I put this together -  please click here!

And just a reminder - you still have time to join in the A Vintage Journey "Through the Looking Glass" challenge - it's open until April 30th.  Check it out here.

Hugs xx -   Julia

Hanukkah Gift Basket

Tonight at sundown is the beginning of the Festival of Lights - the 8 days of Hanukkah (or Chanukah if you prefer).  Every year I try to come up with a new creative idea for packaging home made goodies that I give at Hanukkah to the 3 trauma surgeons I work for.  The holiday came so early this year I really had to get going!   I found some wonderful woven newspaper baskets at my local  Christmas Tree Shop - so I had my container.

Now, my basket appears a little empty because two of the  packages I put in them (holding  fudge and  almond lace cookies) were made using some templates from Creations by AR that aren't coming out until next week - so I couldn't show them to you! (come by next Friday on 12/6and you'll see them!)  But I can show you this fun Star of David creation.

I found a wonderful tutorial for this on Brenda Quintana's blog.  Her instructions are very clear and it goes together perfectly.  After fitting the strips together, you slip a Hershey Kiss into each triangle, add a ribbon and tag.  Here's how it looks from the back - the kisses fit quite snugly into the spaces so they all hold together without a backing!

Here's the card I included in each basket.  Stamps are from Eight Happy Nights by Cas-ual Fridays Stamps.

And here are all the confections I made -  zuchini bread, yellow rum cakes with pecans, almond lace cookies and fudge! (plus the kisses that I bought of course!)

Here's wishing all of my Jewish friends a wonderful 8 days of Hanukkah!

Card

Stamps:  Eight Happy Nights - Cas-ual Fridays Stamps

Paper:  White - PTI

Ink:  Archival Jet Black

Accessories:  Copics -B21, B23, foam tape.

Star of David

Paper:  white, Blueberry sky - PTI, brushed silver - SU

Stamps:  Cas-ual Fridays Stamps - 8 Happy Nights

Ink:  Archival Jet Black

Accessories:  small and large oval punches - SU, glitter eyelash yarn - Martha Stewart, Hershey Kisses, ScorPal, tutorial - qbeesquest.blogspot.com

Be Mime, Be Happy, and a Berry Basket

Here are a few more projects that I made this week for the DTGD Challenges over on Split Coast.

 I absolutely LOVE this cute little Mime from Hambo Stamps.   I saw it on someones card month's ago and immediately ordered it -  then he sat - silent as a mime (!) - in my craft room - begging to be let 'out of the box' !  So here he is on my tag!!   I colored him with Prismacolor markers and layered him onto a die cut tag from  Papertrey Ink with foam tape.  I stamped the sentiment that comes with him - on a small wonky rectangle Nestability.   Cutie cute - n'est pas??!

I made this simple little 'bee happy' card using a mini chicken wire stencil from The Crafters Workshop and stamps from L'il Buddies set from Waltzingmouse.

and finally here's my summery Berry Basket.  I bought this basket die from PTI so long ago and never got around to making one (how often do I do that when I buy things??!!)  This is SO perfect for summer time gifting!   I stamped a woodgrain background from Waltzingmouse onto the 4 sides of the basket before assembling it.  I wove a piece of wrinkled seam tape through one of the rows of openings and adhered pieces of paper doilies to the edges.

This sweet jam jar, lid and sentiments are from Jar Fillers - Jam Packed from Waltzingmouse.  Claire also has FREE cut files for this set in the WMS shop.  I used the jar cut file here and paper pieced the lid.

And here's a view just to show you that I continued the woodgrain stamping onto the bottom pieces of the berry basket - just to make it look really finished off!  The basket is 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" so would actually fit a jar of two of jams or jellies!  (I'd put a square of cardboard on the bottom to give it more strength if I filled it with heavy items.)

We're off to a Christening on this lovely summer Sunday afternoon.  Hope you are enjoying your weekend!


Be Mime
Stamps: Mime & Sentiment - Hambo Stamps
Paper: white, pure poppy, true black - PTI
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: tag sale #3 die - PTI, Prismcolor markers - black and Crimson Red, Copic - E00, wonky rectangle die - Spellbinders, ribbon - PTI, staple, heart punch - McGill, foam tape.

Bee Happy
Stamps: Waltzingmouse - L'il Buddies
Paper: white, lemon tart - PTI
Ink: Versamark Onyx Black, Ranger Distress Scattered Straw
Accessories: foam tape, mini chicken wire The Crafter's Workshop, blending tool - Ranger

Berry Basket
Stamps: Woodgrain Backgrounders, Jar Fillers Jam Packed - Waltzingmouse
Paper: white, Kraft - PTI, DP October Afternoon Sidewalk
Ink: Versfine Onyx Black, Ranger Distress Festive Berries.
Accessories: Wrinkled Seam Tape - Prairie Bird Boutique Etsy Shop, Berry Basket Die - PTI, scor tape, foam dots, Maraschino Bakers Twine - The Twinery, WMS Jar Fillers cut files, 5 1/2" paper doilies

Something Old - Something New Easter Basket Template

Yes -  I did title this post Easter Basket Template -  because that is the name of Adela's template I'm using today for my turn at the SOSN Wednesday post - to use an old template and make something new!

  and I made it new by using it as a basket for gifting 4 single Keurig Coffees or Teas!  The insert's original purpose was to hold  Easter Eggs.

 I made two baskets -  a Get Well Basket filled with different teas and a Wishing You A Happy Birthday Basket containing 4 Cafe Caramel Coffees - Yum!!  I also made bows to place at the base of each side of the handles using  the recently released It's Bow Easy template.  I just LOVE these bows!

I used a teacup die for the sentiment on the Tea Basket -  attaching it with the brad that holds on the handle.

 And I used a coffee mug die for the sentiment on the Coffee Basket

So there you have it!  A new way to look at the Easter Basket Template! 

So - do you like my Easter Basket re-do??!  Wouldn't these be great to give to friends - or, with a different sentiment, to welcome a new neighbor into the neighborhood??  And if they don't have a Keurig coffee maker - you could fit some tiny muffins inside the circles - or just remove the inner tray and fill the basket with goodies!

And look!  here's a discount code to save $2 when you order both the Easter Basket and It's Bow Easy!
Just use promotion code  bow2 at checkout to receive the discount!
 

 

Stamps:  Get Better from Tea for Two Additions, coffee mug stamp from Warm Happiness - PTI, Wishing you a Happy Birthday from About Birthdays - MFT.
Paper:  white, DP Father Knows Best - PTI
Ink:  Memento Rich Cocoa and Tuxedo Black
Accessories:  Easter Basket Template, It's Bow Easy Template - Creations by AR, Scor Pal, Tea cup and coffee mug dies - PTI