321 Stamp: Launching Creativity

Stampin Up' Cookie Stamps

Stampin' Up has introduced a new product that I love -- silicone cookie stamps just in time for the holidays. The Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamps are item # 125152 and are $16.95 in the US. (Just check my online order link on the right to get your own set.) There are three designs (a snowflake, heart and jack-o-lantern) that easily snap on and off the wooden handle. I made the cookies with my daughter using the sugar cookie recipe that is included with the directions. There is also a shortbread cookie recipe included. I chilled the dough and also rolled the balls of dough in granulated sugar before baking and stamping and found that my stamp did not stick.

I've been researching other recipes that are good for cookie stamps as the secret is to have a dough that does not rise too much -- so that means no baking powder or other leavening agent. Having said that, I have heard about people having great results with cookies that rise more by stamping them AFTER they come out of the oven so you get the impression to stay in the warm cookie and not just "bake away" as it rises.

Here's a video from Stampin' Up that shows the cookie stamps in action.

 

I packaged some cookies up for a workshop hostess (hi Kym!) in one of the cute Kraft boxes from the Holiday Mini catalog (item # 124106 (4 boxes for $2.95) -- and then forgot to take a photo. The boxes are a very nice size and the cookies fit in perfectly. I put them inside one of our large cello bags first so they would stay fresh.

Enjoy stamping on cookies!

Fall Holidays Inspiration

I promised some ideas from a great stamping event I attended in Orlando in late September. It was organized by fellow SU demonstrator Linda Heller and her amazing stamping friend Shantaie Fowler. So let the eye candy begin.... first, Halloween ideas -- I love how a tag from the Two Tags Big Shot Die becomes the background for each element of the Spooky banner (such a versatile die):

Now on to Thanksgiving and many things made with the amazing Spice Cake suite of products from Stampin' Up's Holiday mini catalog, which includes paper and matching fabric. Check out the whole table:

Look at this amazing tree. Shantaie made this and click here to see more info on her blog about it.

A beautiful wreath featuring Spice Cake Fabric rosettes...

Paper strip pumpkins from Spice Cake Designer Series Paper...

And what Thanksgiving table would not be prettier with these simple cream napkins dressed up with a simple strip of Spice Cake fabric sewn on and then a matching napkin "ring" made with the paper and buttons and a die cut leaf. (those giant buttons are also part of the Spice Cake suite and available in my online store.)

So many beautiful ideas for some fall crafting!

A Halloween Skinny Bag Pencil Treat

I love Halloween ideas with candy of course, but when I saw our new skinny bags in the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini catalog, I knew that pencils would fit inside these great new bags (in addition to the obvious things like stacks of M&Ms, Smartie's and any skinny wrapped candy.) You get 50 bags for just $2.50 so what a great item for school treats or to give to trick-or-treaters!

I got my pencils last year at an after holiday sale at a big discount so keep that in mind for next year. Of course all the dollar stores are full of Halloween pencils right now. I slid in two pencils, sealed the bag with the little self-sealing strip. Then to glam it up a little I punched out a Decorative Label punch in either Rich Razzlebarry or Wild Wasabi (how nice that my pencils matched SU colors!). I folded the punched shape in half and used a stapler to attach it to the bag. The staple is hidden by my cute punched shapes stamped with images from Spooky Bingo Bits.

Here's a full view of both styles I made (sorry it's blurry). The image is punched out with the new 1" Square Punch and layered onto a punched Postage Stamp shape in either black or Pacific Point. Mini Glue dots hold the images over the staple.

And of course I covered the staple in the back as well with another punched out image from the same great stamp set.

You can order Spooky Bingo Bits from my online store.

Halloween Houses

Have you gotten one or two of the Design-a-Houses from Stampin' Ups Decor Accents line? You can find them on page 37 of the Holiday Mini Catalog and in my online store of course and for only $5.95! This high-quality white cardboard house comes with directions and templates so it's easy to assemble and it can be embellished however you like. I posted some Christmas ones earlier so you can see those by clicking here. But I want to show you a couple of Halloween ideas courtesy of two fellow demonstrators on the 3-2-1 Stamp Team.

The first house is all decked out with punch art ghosts and bats (do you recognize the owl punch transformed into a ghost with a few snips to remove the ears and feet?) This house was made by Sandy Mitchell and she covered hers with the Wicked Fun Designer Series paper before it was assembled. Sandy says the addition of the paper made it a little trickier to put together, but it was well worth it (and like I said, the house comes with directions on how to assemble and even a little metal door knob and chimney!) I love the wire and the chunky glitter around the windows that was just stuck to Sticky Strip for nice straight accents. Here's another side view so you can see the vellum added inside the windows -- it was so pretty in person with a flickering candle inside. (the battery operated kind of course!)

Here's house number 2 below courtesy of Beth Daniels and this is the method I will most likely use because it's fast! You put the house together first using Sticky Strip of the Tombow Multi Glue and then you spray paint the whole thing black and throw on black glitter (or other colors) while the paint is wet! Easy peasy as people say! You can also use some spray adhesive to attach the glitter after you've spray painted -- either way work outside so you're not covered in glitter!

And here's another view of Beth's house below as I love the little bats from the Wicked Cool stamp set that were stamped on the vellum that she put inside her window. I also like how she just used tiny strips of card stock stuck in the chimney as the strings to attach her punched bats to -- very clever and quick Halloween accent.

Thanks Sandy and Beth -- I have about a week to get my house done and I'm now inspired.

Spooky Mini Lunch Sack Treat

If you're looking for easy to do Halloween treats, check out the Mini Lunch Sacks from the Holiday Mini catalog. When I first got these I was so impressed at the quality. Unlike a normal lunch bag, there is no seam down the back to interfere with my crafting -- instead it's hidden strategically down one side (I could not even see it at first.) The brown paper is SO smooth -- and there is a very nice white cardboard square already affixed to the inside bottom so it stands up so nicely. And that edge is already scalloped - I just added a piece of black card stock that was scalloped with our Scallop Border punch, which is a perfect match to the bag's pattern of course!

I dressed this little bag up with the Wicked Cool stamp set. I ran the whole bag right through the Big Shot with the Spider Web Embossing folder. A very cool look as it gets texture on the front and back as you can see below.

I sealed the bag with a glittered brad from the Glimmer Brad collection in the Holiday Mini (these are a deal at $4.95 for 40 brads in lots of great colors.) Take a look at that back view again and you'll notice that the black bat punch shape covers up the brad legs -- I love little touches like that.

Here's a view inside -- and a tip. When you emboss these with an embossing folder, make sure you lessen the "sandwich" on your Big Shot machine or else the folder lines could slightly cut through the bag. So I used no tabs on my Multi-purpose platform and used my set of newer, flatter cutting plates to ease the pressure on the bag as it goes through.

It's a Butterfly, It's a Bat... It's a Clever Big Shot Idea

I saw a great video for these bats that hold Smarties candy made using Stampin' Up's Beautiful Butterflies BIGZ die and the Big Shot. I got the idea from another demonstrator online and will share her video link with you -- BUT first one big change. She had made up this idea last year before we sold the fabulous Owl punch. Notice in my photo that the bat's body is just the body from the owl punch as bats have little ears like that and I checked and they also have feet. A much easier solution for the body and head then you'll see in Jennifer Turoff's great video. And like I said, she's re-posted this video from last year before the owl punch was an option.

Click here to see Jennifer's how-to video.

Bedazzle those Pumpkins for Halloween

At Stampin' Up's convention in July they showed a set of white pumpkins that had been dressed up with the Black Flourish Designer Jewels and Spooky Things Decor Elements. I had to make my own set to sit atop an antique Hoosier cabinet I have that had been my grandmother's — but because my living room walls are off white, I went with orange fake pumpkins instead so they'd show up better. I shopped around and was able to find the pumpkins for just $5 each at Walmart. That was a better deal then even using the sales at the hobby stores -- at least where I live.

I needed two packages of the Designer Jewels (item #120987). I love these jewels as they include a clear transfer sheet to make it easier to move the pre-made flourish designs from the cardboard backing to your item or card. I'll show that with photos so read on! I also needed one package of the Spooky Things Decor Elements in black for the words "Trick -or- Treat" (item #120909) -- they also come in a dark gray and as you can see below, I have lots of fun images left over that I can use to decorate windows, serving trays or anything else as the vinyl is removable when the holiday is over. But of course I made my pumpkins with fake ones so I can store and use them every Halloween. 

Here's how I did it:

First I applied by Decor Elements words to each pumpkin by cutting them out. If you need how-tos on applying this great vinyl product, you can watch a video here.

Next is was time to add the jewels and here's a look at the transfer sheet that I mentioned in place over a whole flourish design that I used on the middle pumpkin. The first shot is after I pressed the clear sheet onto the top of the flourish -- just press hard and they stick to it. That white paper you see is the backing sheet as I've peeled it off to expose the sticky part of the jewels. I find that if I cut off excess paper as I peel it stays out of my way.

Here it is pressed onto the pumpkin -- just press the jewel design in place -- peel off the clear transfer sheet, which can be saved to use again -- and you've got one bedazzled pumpkin!

 
Next, here's a photo of a piece of sticky transfer sheet that I cut to use on a partial part of the second sheet of jewels -- that's how I had plenty of smaller flourish designs for the trick and treat pumpkins. (I love that there are also extra lines of jewels in these packages that you can use on other projects.) And remember, the transfer sheet is included in your package.

I did tie various black ribbons and even some of the black waffle paper from the holiday mini onto my pumpkin stems to dress those up as well. Here are close ups of each pumpkin!

This was so much easier to do then I expected. Give it a try. You can find the Decor Elements and Jewels right in my online store at the link in the top right column.

A spooky little card for you...

I couldn't resist that -- sounds almost like that old song about a spooky woman that's so catchy. This was the make and take project at a fun home workshop the other night! Everyone loved the bat punch that's new to the Stampin' Up catalog this year. On this card I punched the bat first -- then punched around it with the new Decorative Label punch from the Holiday Mini -- makes a very cute frame. And if you don't like bats, you can do the same trick with the Large Oval Punch as the first step.

Here's an easy trick for lining up the stamped greeting Spooky from the Wicked Cool set: I stamped that on white card stock and then punched it out with the same Decorative Label punch. Then lay your bat frame on top, line it up just so -- and use a pencil to trace just the top edge -- remove the black and you can use the punch upside down and the pencil lines as a guide so you punch out the white layer. This was easier for me then trying to cut down the white by hand.

A bit of sticky strip behind the lace holds the "messy pleats & ruffles" in place. You have to really press the lace into the sticky strip -- but it does hold. I'll be playing with other ways to adhere this lace besides just tying it on. It's new in the Holiday Mini Halloween collection and I just love how soft it is -- and also how it's beautifully finished on both sides.

The bat accent is of course left over from the label frame and the rhinestone really makes him pop on that Rich Razzleberry layer, which has been textured with the new Spider Wed Embossing Folder. The web was brushed with the Charcoal distressing ink from the Stampin' Up's new Distressing kit -- and I love the smooth rubber applicator with the kit that you can use to apply the ink because that harder surface keeps the ink on top of the bumps and not down in between as can happen when you use a sponge or the "direct from the ink pad" method.

Here's the card's inside -- the spider web is so easy to stamp again and again for the perfect web of your choice. The designer paper I used is the Halloween paper from the main SU catalog -- and it's flocked on selected pages (such as the circles on this card).

I'll share more ideas with this set in the days ahead as it is really Wicked Cool fun -- love it!

Boo - somebody's watching you

I got the original idea for this cute little treat from Carrie Gaskin's delightful blog. I did some calculating to make it easy to get the most bang for your buck when cutting these out and came up with a quick and easy Halloween treat -- especially when you need something last-minute. The fun is when you open it.....

Look at those cute white Lifesaver eyes watching you. Here's how to make these:

- The Perfect Plum card stock base is 3" wide by 5 & 3/4" long. It's scored at 1/2", 3" and 3 1/2" from one short end.

- The strip of the Cast-a-Spell Designer Series Paper on the front (the stripes) is 3" wide by 1" tall. (see how you have very efficient use of a 12 by 12 piece of paper?)

- On the inside there's an accent mat of paper that's 2 3/4" wide by 2" tall. Adhere it in place so it goes down inside that little 1/2" flap that you fold up.

- Do your stamping and adhere paper before putting in the candy. For the front I used the Little Boo stamp (item #115558) stamped in black and then punched out with the 1 1/4" circle punch. A little Pumpkin Pie marker dresses up his pumpkin basket. It's matted onto a 1 3/8" Old Olive circle and then onto a black Scallop punched circle. Dimensionals pop it up over the striped paper.

- The black swirls on the background of the Plum CS are from the Tasty Sweet stamp set (item #111698) and that's also where I got the cute yum-yum-yum saying for the inside. Happy Halloween on the inside top flap came from Teeny Tiny Wishes (item #115370).

- I taped the bottom corners of my Lifesaver packages together as this made them much easier to hold in place under the matchbook-style flap as I stapled it, making sure to catch the candy's cellophane so it's held in there. Leave just enough room for your top flap to tuck in.

- Punch out two black card stock circles with a 1/2" circle punch and use a white gel pen for a little eye accent. Mini Glue Dots hold these to the Lifesavers.

These have been a hit with everyone who's seen them so I promised to share the how-tos. If something does not make sense just leave a comment or send me an email and I'll get back to you.