Monday, June 27, 2011

I'm one lucky girl!

I am definitely a lucky girl these days... let's see:  I'm on summer vacation and get stay home with my two awesome kids.  I just celebrated my 12th wedding anniversary.  I am healthy.  I have a great family.  I have a cute dog.  Oh, and I AM THIS MONTH'S GUEST DESIGNER AT SCRAPDANGO!!  That's right- I'm extra lucky this month.  And, this kit was AMAZING! 

I got to play with the "Sugar" kit which consisted of mostly the Jillibean Soup Watermelon Gazpacho collection.  *swoon*  I love, love, love the kit and am totally happy with the projects I created.  The only one not happy with it was my son, who didn't see anything about HIM!  Guess I better get back to my scrappy table, eh?  But first, I want to share what I did with you!

My girl:  Made extra gorgeous by using a sketch from Sketch Support.


Pixie Girl:  Another awesome sketch from Sketch Support.

Summertime:

Life Is Sweet:

Dad Card:  (Happy Father's Day again, Dad!)

Hello Sunshine Card:
Thank you to Heather and the ladies at Scrapdango for being such a fun group and I hope to be there for a LONG time!

Thanks for stopping by today!  I have lots more to share with you- I'm just trying to space it all out!  ;)

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Gift Bag Tutorial!

Before we get to the tutorial, don't forget to play along in the Scrappin' Sports and More Blog Hop! You have until Monday, June 27th to play along and a winner will be posted here on the blog on the 28th! See the hop and what you can win HERE!


On my blog for our blog hop, I created a gift bag and told you all to let me know in your comments if you wanted to see a tutorial. You said you wanted to see it, so here it is!! It looks like a lot of steps, but it's really easy- I promise!!

First of all, gather your materials. You will need 2 pieces of patterned paper (or cardstock), a scoreboard/scoring tool, paper trimmer, scissors, adhesive, hole punch, eyelets/eyelet setter (optional), ribbon, tag or decoration for the front.

The first piece of paper should be at 12"X12". You need to score it at the following measurements.

The 2nd piece of paper should be trimmed to 10"X12" and scored at the following measurements.


Now, fold all of your score lines as shown below.

On the 12"X12" piece of paper, use scissors to remove the area of the paper between the 3" horizontal score line and the 2.5" score line as shown below. Repeat on the other side using the 3" horizontal score line and the 9.5" score line.

 
On the 10"X12" piece of paper, make one cut from the edge of the paper into the 1.5" score line along the 3" horizontal score line as shown below. Repeat on the other side using the 3" horizontal score line and the 8.5" score line.

Now flip your paper so you are looking at the side that will face the outside of your bag. Add a strong adhesive to the outer most flap (the 1" wide section) on both sides. I used my ATG gun, but a sticky strip would work well, also.


Stick down the 10"X12" paper on to the flap that you just put adhesive on. The edge of the paper should run along the 1" score line of the 12"X12" paper.


Now, fold the 12"X10" paper underneath and fold the 1.5" flap over onto the 1" section that has ahdesive on it. Again, the edge of the paper should run along the 1" score line.

Now, to form the bottom of the bag, add adhesive to the outer flaps of the bottom section as shown below.


Fold the bottom flap over and ahere the sticky ends to the innner sides of the bag.

Now, add adhesive to the remaining bottom flap.



Fold the flap over to close the bottom of your bag.


Now, the basic bag is made! All you have left to do is decorate it! And, you can do that any way you want!


Here's how I chose to decorate my bag... I started with a 2"X11" strip of white cardstock and one of the red preschool paper. I used my Fiskars Scallop Border Punch along the red and then adhered them together as shown. You need to make TWO of these strips and score them at 1.5", 8.5" and 10".


Now, adhere the strips to the top of your bag. They should go all the way around and should overlap slightly.


Next, punch holes for your handles and add eyelets (optional- you could use holes). I put mine at 1" in and 1/2" down on either side.



To make the handles, I chose to use ribbon, but the only white ribbon I had was satin and too "floppy" to make good handles. So, I cut two pieces of ribbon that were approximately 18" long and ahdered a 1/4"X9" strip of the red paper to the ribbon to make it stand a little straighter.

Now, feed the ribbon through the eyelets/holes and tie a know on the inside of the bag. Trim off excess ribbon as shown. Repeat on the other side of the bag to create two handles.

Finally, if you want to, you can add a tag or decoration of your choice. I used my Nestibilities dies and a stamp to create mine.

Here's the bag I just made next to the one I made for the blog hop!


Thanks so much for stopping by today! Please let me know what you think of the tutorial and share your gift bag on the Scrappin' Sports & More Facebook page so we can share some love!

And the winner is....

The winner of the 6X6 pad of glitter papers from Best Creation is:


Congratulations!  Email me at nwise(at)metrocast(dot)net with you address and I'll get your prize out to you!  Thank you to everyone who left comments and played along!  I hope you'll come back again soon.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Scrappin' Sports & More Blog Hop!!

Welcome to Scrappin’ Sports & More’s first ever blog hop!


It’s the time of year when we are all looking forward to summer, but we want you to think about school for just a little longer! We would like to feature our fabulous new “School is Cool” line and we think you are going to LOVE it! Whether you are scrapping the first day of school, the last day of school, school pictures, or making something fun for teachers, this is the line for you! And, by doing a few quick things, you will be eligible to WIN the entire “School is Cool” line!!

There are THREE ways you can win!
1. Leave a comment on all of the blogs included in the hop (including this one!).
2. Become a follower of our blog. If you are already a follower, then that one’s already done!
3. “Like” our Facebook page and leave us a comment there telling us what you love about our new “School is Cool” line of paper!

You will be entered into the prize drawing once for each of the three possible ways to win. You will have until midnight on June 27th and a winner will be posted on our blog, and on our Facebook page on June 28th. Have fun!

Now on to the really FUN part! Check out each of the projects that our design team has put together for you. Just hop to each blog and don’t forget to leave some lovin’ so that you will be entered to win!


--->Nicole Wise<---

Thanks so much for playing along! Good luck!

Here's my project!  I created this fun gift bag using the Graduation paper and the Preschool paper from the awesome "School is Cool" line.  It stands 9" tall and is very sturdy.  I love how it came out and will be making LOTS more of these to give gifts in!


Products Used:
#1355- Preschool
#1355- Graduation

If you think you'd like to see a tutorial on how I made this bag, just let me know in a comment here on my blog and I'll make one for you for my next post on the Scrappin' Sports & More blog on Thursday! Of course, by leaving a comment, you will be on your way to winning the ENTIRE School is Cool collection!


Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Water Fun!!

It's a Water Fun weekend at Best Creation!  The designers are having a BLAST playing with projects that invlove a water theme.  I had no shortage of photos to create a layout featuring the brand new Splash Fun line and together with a sketch by Allison Davis, I love the LO that I created!!


The title work was the most fun on this one!  I used a combination of white cardstock cut with my Cricut (sans serif), green paper from the title strip paper from the Splash Fun line and more cricut, some letters cut from the title strip paper and finally a few glittery thickers.  Here's a closeup of all of the fun title work!



Products Used: SF002, SF004, SF005, SF013, GCS008, FT003, Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive and Zap Dots

This line is so fun and I can't wait to get my camera out this summer and capture more fun photos to go with it!

 If you hop over to the Best Creation Blog on June 17th and 18th, you will find lots of water-themed projects. There is a  FUN guessing game with prizes to be won and many of the designers are having giveaways on their blogs.
I have a little giveaway today, too!!  I have a 6X6 pack of glitter papers from our May release called "I {heart} America" and I want to give it to YOU!  There are TWO ways to win!  You get one entry for leaving a comment here on this post and you can get another entry for becoming a follower of my blog.  If you are already a follower, then you are already entered to win!  Make sure to leave me an email address or a way to contact you if you are the winner!  I'll announce a winner on Wednesday, June 22nd.





Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Third Grade!

It's officially summer and Elizabeth is officially a fourth grader.  What an incredible year she's had!  She had a wonderful teacher who was so sweet to her and offered her the challenges she needed.  I'm so proud of her!  I created this LO using Scrappin' Sports & More's School is Cool line of papers and I love how it came out!  It's so bright and cheerful!  Elizabeth likes that I included some of the things from this year's curriculum in the journaling.  I also love finding a use for those wallet sized photos that are always left over from school photos!



Stay tuned to my blog and the Scrappin' Sports & More blog for a FUN event coming up on Monday, the 20th!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Best-Punky-Mar!!!

Best Creation has teamed up with Punky Sprouts AND Helmar this week and OH what a party it's been!!!  I designed a super fun mini album about our trip to Disney and my son kept asking if I was done yet so he could take it to school to show it to his friends. While I was taking photos of it, I had to get it out of his backpack....twice!

My mini was made with the brand-spankin'-new paper line called "Loops and Scoops."  It's a super fun amusement park themed line that has a full line of double sided papers, two full sticker sheets (including three sets of mini-alphas!), a full sized set of chipboard AND a 6X6 paper pad!  Most of the mini was made using the 6X6 paper pad and it came out oh, so cute!!

Here's the front cover:
 Page 1:

Page 2:

Page 3:

 Page 4:
 Page 5:
And of course, the whole she-bang is held together with Helmar glues-- fantastic for working with the different materials in this album (chipboard, cardboard, acrylic and canvas!).

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Be sure to check out the Best Creation Blog for all of the fun going on this week....and maybe even win a prize!!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Got 2 Dance!!

There is so much scrappy fun going on this month!  There is paper and glue and glitter flying everywhere in my scraproom.  No, really....it's a MESS!  But, it's a happy, scrappy mess!

This month I have the honor of being the Guest Designer at Scrapdango!  I received this month's Sugar Kit to work with and it's SO FUN!!!  One of my responsibilities (more like a perk!) was to represent with the Dango Girls as Scrapdango sponsors Sketch Inspiration.  I got to play with the sketch and was a part of the sketch reveal along with the rest of the Scrapdango team!

I used the brand spankin' new line from Best Creation called Rock Star and it couldn't have been a more perfect fit for these photos!


Scoot on over to Sketch Inspiration to see the sketch and to go into the drawing for a prize from Scrapdango.  And, don't forget to swing by Scrapdango to see the fabulous kits and get one for yourself!  You won't be sorry!!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Thanks to the teachers!

Scrappin' Sports & More's new line of school papers is fabulous for school photos, first and last day of school layouts, and lots of things in between.  They are also great for teacher cards and gifts!  Here are some cards I made for my kids to write thank you notes to their teachers in.  We'll probably put a little something extra in there, too!


There's a fun contest going on on Facebook right now where you can win the whole School Is Cool line from Scrappin' Sports & More!  Go over to their Facebook page and check it out!

Thanks for stopping by today!!