It's a Boy for Freshly Made Sketches

It's just that time of life for me! Not only are my own daughters having babies and giving me grandchildren, but my nieces and nephew are also having little ones. One of my nieces, Katie, just gave birth to a little boy, Logan! So a card and gift are in order and I decided to do the shaker card thing again, since I've been having so much fun with it.

Freshly Made Sketches new Challenge sketch is simplicity itself and I decided keep it fairly Clean and Simple.

• I love this combination of colours: Mint Macaron, Lost Lagoon, Silver and Whisper White. It's such a clean look.

Mint Macaron                  Lost Lagoon                          Silver

• The Star Framelits gave me a shape to use for the shaker card opening! I liked the look of the star used in the sketch and I thought it would work well for a little boy baby. I used the Be the Star stamp set to add those little sprays of blue and silver stars on the top and bottom of the opening.
• Out of some Silver Foil Sheets, I used some of the Baby's First Framelits to die cut some booties and blossoms for the the shaker bits. Hmmm! Booties and Blossoms sounds like the name of a Baby Store, doesn't it?
• Fun Foam with adhesive on one side is perfect to use as the spacer for shaker cards! You can die cut the shape with a framelit very easily and it will match up perfectly with the hole in the card. The adhesive backing makes it simple to seal the cavity after filling it with the shaker bits and attaching the whole thing to the card base.
• It's a Boy is one of the sentiments from A Dozen Thoughts stamp set. After I stamped it in Lost Lagoon ink, I die cut it using one of the Bitty Banner Framelits, but having the second flagged end positioned off the paper so there would only be one.
• The Congratulations is from the Made with Love stamp set, also stamped in Lost Lagoon ink.

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today!

Product List

A Dozen Thoughts Wood Stamp Set [131056]	A Dozen Thoughts Clear Stamp Set [131059]	Be The Star Clear-Mount Stamp Set [135734]	Be The Star Wood-Mount Stamp Set [135731]	Be The Star Clear-Mount Bundle [140251]
Be The Star Wood-Mount Bundle [140250]	Made With Love Photopolymer Stamp Set [138662]	Silver Foil Sheets [132178]	Mint Macaron 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [138337]	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]
Versamark Pad [102283]	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad [133644]	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder [109131]	Embossing Buddy [103083]	Heat Tool - Uk Plug [129054]
Baby's First Framelits Die [133735]	Stars Framelits Dies [133723]	Bitty Banners Big Shot Die Framelits [129267]	Big Shot [113439]	Silver Sequin Trim [138399]
Fuse Fast Adhesive [129026]	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]

Personalized Back to School Pencil Box

It is getting to be time to think about back to school! Helping your child be successful this year can be as simple as helping them to be more organized. As a former teacher, I know that many children do not understand how to have their desk arranged, their tools in order and all ready for the task ahead. Too many children spend the better part of every lesson in search of a paper, book or pencil that they need for the class. Of course, then they miss vital instruction and become frustrated as they try to complete activities for which they haven't absorbed the information they need.

You can help your children avoid this by actually teaching them how to organize their school belongings. An important tool for this task is a pencil box to hold their pens, pencils and erasers, pencil crayons and markers. Did you know that a Stampin' Up! Wood Mount Stamp Case is just the right size for this job and you and your child could work on personalizing it so that your child is excited to use it.

Now, mind you, I'm a fine one to talk about a messy desk, because as soon as I'm finished this blog post, I need to go into my Craft Cave and bring order to the creating chaos that has built up over this past week!! So I understand how the kids lose sight of this. But I also know that having a place for everything and everything in its place is vital. So let's take a look at how to make a personalized pencil case courtesy of Stampin' Up!

• Each of these Wide Stamp Cases has a sleeve on the outside into which you can slide an embellished piece of paper which will give you the personalized look. The case is 7 1/2" x 5 1/2" x 1 1/4", so it's big enough to handle pencils, pens and pencil crayons and markers.
• I chose a piece of the new Into the Woods Designer Series Paper available Sept. 1 from the new 2015 Holiday catalogue for its fall colours and themes, but any Designer series paper or cardstock would do. Choose one that your child particularly likes but not a really busy pattern. The School House Designer Series Paper from the Annual Catalogue is available right now and would be appropriate as well.

• Cut a piece of paper 6 15/16" x ll 3/8" to fit inside the sleeve of the case. Then, using the colour scheme of the DSP series, stamp, die cut and add some embellishments. I used the stamp set, Be the Star, because it has great encouraging sentiments and images that you can stamp and die cut with the coordinating Stars Framelits, for ease of assembly.

• I used some of the sentiments and stamped them in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink right on the design paper, and stamped and die cut the images to add on. I backed the images with cardstock cut with the next largest Star Framelit to add emphasis and I also used the Medium Star Punch to create an extra star for the name plate.
• The name plate is die cut using the Lots of Labels Framelits on Whisper White and backed with a coordinating colour from the Designer Series Paper palette. The child's name is die cut using the Little Letters Thinlits, as well as the word Pencils on the spine of the case.

If you like the idea of this personalized pencil case and you would like to help your child make one, there are two ways of doing this:

1. If you live in my area, register today for my Mom & Me class this coming Saturday from 1 - 3 pm.
2. If you don't live near me, then make sure you are signed up to receive my monthly newsletter and you will get a bonus photo tutorial with step-by-step instruction and a list of supplies and measurements. The newsletter comes out Aug.31 and you can sign up for it here:

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Are you a fan of the Minions? Join me tomorrow for a new look for one of them!

Happy Birthday, Canada! for Pals Paper Arts

Tomorrow is the 148th birthday of my country of Canada! That's pretty young as countries go! Canada came into being on July 1, 1867, when four colonies decided to form a confederation and became the first four provinces of Canada: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Then the other 9 provinces and territories joined up at various intervals, the latest being Nunavut in 1999!!
Here's a picture of the Father's of Confederation:

I decided to make a Canada Day card for the occasion, and as I was coming up with the concept, I remembered that we now have Leaflet Framelits, which include a maple leaf, which as you may know, is the symbol of Canada! I used the Pals Paper Arts Challenge #257 sketch for this one:

• I used various layers of Real Red and Whisper White, plus a narrow border of Silver Glimmer Paper in the background layers.
• The background itself features some stamped stars in Real Red and embossed with Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder to simulate fireworks! The little stars stamp is from the Be the Star Stamp set.
• I wanted the sentiment to say, Happy Birthday, Canada!, but I couldn't figure out a way to add Canada easily. I tried to write it myself using a Project Life Journaling Pen, but my penmanship is just not good enough to look professional, so I left it at Happy Birthday, using a sentiment from a new set I just received called Birthday Blossoms! It's just as well, because when I went to place the maple leaf and the Silver Glimmer Paper Heart (punched with the Sweetheart Punch), there wasn't room anyway for the word Canada!
• The leaf and heart and the silver glimmer paper layer are all popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals here to give a little vertical variety!

Happy Canada Day, my fellow Canadians! Celebrate well!

BONUS DEALS FROM JUN. 30 - AUG. 3:

Stampin' Up! is Rampin' Up the savings from Jun. 30 - Aug.3!  During that time they will be adding more product to the Clearance Rack with savings up to 60%. They will also be adding more Weekly Deals with savings up to 30% off! You will have to act quickly though, because there are only limited supplies available for the sale prices!  Here's the new Weekly Deals for Jun. 30 to July 6:

Today is also your last chance to earn an extra two free stamp sets for purchasing the Stampin' Up! Starter kit! After today, your chance will be gone!  The Starter Kit is such a wonderful deal and being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator is a great opportunity! Since we have stamp sets worth over $60 each, you could get an extra $120 more on top of the already great deal of $155 worth of any current Stampin' Up! products for only $125!  Do you have a big Wish List?  This is the deal for you. If you don't want to sell, you simply drop after 4 months, but in the meantime, you get to enjoy 20% discounts!  To join TODAY, just click on Join My Team in the top menu and follow the prompts. Or email me today and I will help you through the process.  Remember, this promotion ENDS TODAY!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today!

Product List

Be The Star Clear-Mount Stamp Set [135734]	Be The Star Wood-Mount Stamp Set [135731]	Birthday Blossoms Wood-Mount Stamp Set [139167]	Birthday Blossoms Clear-Mount Stamp Set [139471]	Silver Glimmer Paper [135314]
Real Red 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [102482]	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]	Versamark Pad [102283]	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad [126949]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]
Embossing Buddy [103083]	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder [109131]	Heat Tool [129053]	Leaflets Framelits Dies [138283]	Sweetheart Punch [133786]
Sweetheart Punch [133786]	Big Shot [113439]	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]	SNAIL Permanent Adhesive [104332]
Glue Dots [103683]