Cute, fun and simple!

When a project is cute, fun AND simple, that's about as good as it gets for me. These adorable little photo holders are actually binder clips. (The box says large on it. I got a dozen in a box at Office Max.) Here is the big supply list: binder clip, one piece of designer paper (2 X 3 1/4), 2 felt flowers, 1 black brad, 6" Pumpkin Pie narrow grosgrain ribbon, pop up glue dot, glue stick. Yes, I used glue stick to adhere the paper, and it works great! You do want to have the ribbon on there. It holds the metal pieces together securely so the picture stays there. You could easily use a stamped image or a flower from the Pretties Kit in place of the felt flowers. I've also seen them with the big flower from the Pretties Kit secured to the metal clip so it's covered up.

P.S. The two cuties in the photo are my nephews Ted and Nat. They are sweeties!

Looking for some SU inspiration?

I am always looking for inspiration and ideas, especially for using Stampin' Up! products. That's pretty much all I own! If you're looking for that too, check out my new list of awesome blogs using only Stampin' Up products. It's over on the right side, down a little. All of these people are very talented and have promised to post a few times a week as well as feature SU products.

How to make a scalloped edge from the scallop circle punch

Here's a tutorial on how to make a scalloped edge from the scallop circle punch. As stated in my previous post, I did not invent this idea. I first saw it here on Mary Jo Albright's blog. Be sure to check out her blog as she has been going crazy with great punch ideas! When Mary Jo did hers, she cut out the center with paper snips. I am not that confident in my ability to cut it out straight! Then I saw on Patty's blog here that she used a circle punch to punch out the middle. That is more my speed! (Be sure to check out Patty's blog too! She has lots of new stuff from the catty.)First, punch a circle with the 1 3/8" circle punch.
Next, center the scallop circle punch over the hole and punch.

Snip it open in one spot.
Bend and manipulate the cardstock at each scallop to start straightening out the row.
Once you adhere it to the back of the other cardstock, you won't see all those little wrinkles. One strip is about 4 1/4" long.
Edited to add: Mary Jo Albright commented here with the following tip: "I have tried both techniques and found them both to work. If you try paper snips and cut really close, you won't have the breaks/little segments...it should lay flat in a straight line (just a little tip in my experimenting)."

What is a CASE?

A term you see used a lot in stamping is CASE. It stands for Copy And Share Everything. If you CASE a card or other project, you definitely want to give credit to the original artist. It is also good etiquette to change SOMETHING so you aren't totally copying.
One of my favorite artists is Debbie Olson. I decided it would be fun to CASE one of her cards and send it to her as a thank-you. I looked over some of her recent posts and chose this card to CASE. I decided to choose a card that didn't use SU stamps so that I could make more of a change to the card. I kept her color combo and sketch. It was really fun, and I hope she likes the card!
(BTW, I made the scalloped border using the scallop circle punch. I did not come up with this idea. But I will take some photos and post them later so you can see how it was done.)
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Priceless, Taggers Dozen; Paper: Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink; Ink: Pretty in Pink (craft), Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Chocolate Chip wide grosgrain ribbon, 1 1/4 & 1 3/8 & scallop circle punches, Fresh Favorites buttons

Swap card

I've signed up for one small new catalog swap. Usually I sign up for more and then stress out trying to get the swaps made. I love getting samples, but I'm trying to be practical about it now. Anyway, I love signing up for Crystal's swaps because the quality is always outstanding! So here is the card I came up with. I thought I'd tell you how I did it in case that helps you in your creative process.
First, I looked at the sets I wanted from the new catalog and decided which one to use. I decided on Boho Backgrounds because it's not very expensive, and that medallion goes perfectly with the scallop circle punch. Then I happened to be going through old swaps deciding what to discard and what to keep when I came across the card in the photo below. I really liked it! Then I looked on the back and saw that it was done by Laurie Schmidlin. She is so talented! She's one of the Dirty Dozen now on SCS. You can visit her blog here. I decided to use her layout for my swap card.
I changed the color scheme based on the paper I chose. I decided to use the Ginger Blossom paper. I wanted to use strips of the really cool piece that has big tree branch/plant stalk images on it, but there just wasn't enough color in it. So I chose the one you see on my card. Of course, the focal image is different too. I stamped the medallion 3 times, in Ruby Red, Cameo Coral and River Rock. I punched out the Ruby Red with the scallop circle punch, Cameo Coral with the 1 1/4" circle punch and River Rock with the 1" circle punch. (I got this idea from Crystal!) Then to make the circle behind the medallion, I punched the round tab punch twice in Cameo Coral and adhered them together to form the circle. Because most of it is covered by the scallop circle, you don't even notice the seams. (I didn't come up with this idea either!) I added the twill tape for a little accent. Finally, I stamped the sentiment in Groovy Guava. (In case you are wondering, I did end up cutting apart that one stamp and mounting each line onto dominoes. It makes stamping one part SO much easier!)
So that's the story of my swap card. Thanks for visiting!
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Boho Backgrounds; Paper: Whisper White, River Rock, Cameo Coral, Ruby Red, Ginger Blossom; Ink: River Rock, Cameo Coral, Groovy Guava, Ruby Red; Accessories: cutter kit, 1" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, scallop circle punch, round tab punch, twill tape

2008 planner cover

For the last 2 years, I've gotten the demonstrator planner that Stampin' Up offers. But they are no longer offering it. So I decided to create my own cover for the planner I have (I bought a new calendar for inside too.)
I used Going Gray textured cardstock and rounded the corners. I stamped the swirl from Baroque Motifs in Basic Gray and then again in Whisper White craft ink. I added some small flowers (also from Baroque Motifs) in Rose Red and Elegant Eggplant. I stamped the flower from Priceless in Basic Gray onto Rose Red and Elegant Eggplant cardstock then punched them out with the 5-Petal flower punch. I thought that was too dark, so I stamped the flower again in Whisper White. I used silver brads for the eggplant flowers and black brads for the rose red flowers. I wrote 2008 Planner with a Basic Gray marker. (Not crazy about how that came out, but I don't have a good alpha left. All of mine retired!)
I got the color combo from the Scraptitude website. It's not always working, but when it does, it's awesome! Be sure to check it out.

Workshop sneak peek

This is one of the projects we will be making at my workshop next Tuesday. It is a CASE of a card by Carmi Walling that I saw on the Stampin' Up website. Her card was all gray. I changed the colors for Valentine's Day and used textured cardstock to add a little interest. For the other 2 projects, we will be using a SAB set and making a 3D item using the Flower Fusion Accents & Elements. Thanks for looking!

Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Priceless, Warm Words; Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black textured cs; Ink: StazOn Black, Real Red, Whisper White craft; Accessories: ticket corner punch, Real Red narrow grosgrain ribbon, Pretties kit