Have a Wild Summer!

As promised, today I am sharing the gifts I made for the teachers at school to thank them for a good year. I used the Wild Cats stamp set and some clever masking to come up with the tags for these cute gift bags!

 

The template for this gift bag comes from Ronda Wade. It's a pretty easy design that can be used with any patterned paper! 

 

You'll need a piece of cardstock measuring 3 1/2" x 3 1/2". Score each side at 1/2". Cut up one score line on each side to create tabs, and then use a strong adhesive like Stampin' Seal+ or Tear & Tape on the tabs to create the bottom of the bag. It will look like the bottom of a small box.

 

Next, cut a piece of Designer Series paper 6" x 12". Put Stampin' Seal+ or Tear & Tape along one of the short sides and one of the long sides. The long side will wrap around the bottom of your cardstock "box". Go slow so that you don't get any "bubbles" in your paper. When you've wrapped the paper all the way around, there will be some left that overlaps. This is the short side that you already put adhesive on. Let it fall into place and press to hold the adhesive. 

 

Pinch the top sides of your bag together, and punch a circle with a circle punch in the size you'd like. I used a 3/4" Circle Punch. This is where you will tie your ribbon through.

 

Finally, design a tag for the front of your bag. These bags are perfect for any occasion - birthday, Christmas, a little appreciation gift... In these we put some chocolates and a Sonic gift card.

 

One more note about my stamping - I did use a retired alphabet set - Skinny Mini Alphabet - to spell 'SUMMER'. You could also use the Playful Alphabet Dies. I found that the die-cut letters were just a little bit too wide for my tag, and I needed something quick and easy because I was putting these together last minute! The sentiment in the stamp set says "Have a wild birthday". I masked off the "birthday" before inking the stamp. Same with the "you're the beast" - I masked off the thanks before inking (although it was appropriate in this instance, I liked how the sentiments flowed better without it). I used the Tailor Made Tags Dies to make a little tag for each teacher's name.

 

I hope you enjoyed this project! I just love the funny play on words, and the teachers loved these too! Here is a full list of supplies I used:

Stamps: Wild Cats, Skinny Mini Alphabet (retired)

Ink: Crushed Curry, Memento Black

Paper: Blushing Bride, Evening Evergreen, Basic White, Pattern Party DSP, In the Wild DSP

Embellishments: Blushing Bride Metallic Ribbon, Evening Evergreen Open Weave Ribbon

Tools: Hippo & Friends Dies, Tailor Made Tags Dies, Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine, 3/4" Circle Punch (retired)

Adhesives: Stampin' Seal+, Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Stamping!

Rachel

Heal Your Heart

Today's card features two Sale-a-bration products - the Heal Your Heart stamp set and the Paper Blooms Designer Series Paper. These are both free with a $50 purchase during Sale-a-bration, and they pair together beautifully!

 

The color combination in this paper is so pretty. It immediately caught my eye when I saw the Sale-a-bration brochure, and it was the first thing I picked as a reward. The sentiment from the Heal Your Heart stamp set is stamped on a piece of white cardstock and cut with the Hippo & Friends Dies. If you haven't checked those dies out yet - go do it! Of course the stamp set they pair with is amazing, but the die set includes different shapes and sizes of labels that can be used with practically any stamp set.

 

Here is a full list of the products I used on this card:

Stamps: Heal Your Heart

Ink: Night of Navy

Paper: Night of Navy, Rococo Rose, Basic White, Paper Blooms DSP

Embellishments: Elegant Faceted Gems, Silver Metallic Edge Ribbon

Tools: Hippo & Friends Dies, Old World Paper Embossing Folder, Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine

Adhesives: Stampin' Seal, Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Stamping!

Rachel

When in Doubt, Be a Unicorn!

The new Hippo Happiness Bundle is one of my favorites! I used it for the first time on today's card. 

What do you think of the color palette? I used Purple Posy, Magenta Madness, and Blackberry Bliss. I think these are the perfect colors for a unicorn card!

I also paired this bundle with the Rainbow Glimmer Paper. Rainbows and unicorns are a no brainer combination, don't you think? If you look carefully, I die cut the unicorn horn with the glimmer paper! 

I have a few tips for you after making this card:

• Two step stamps always take a bit of practice for me. So don't give up if you can't get the different pieces lined up correctly the first time! I found that it was easier to stamp the darker part of the unicorn first, and then the larger, lighter piece. (To get the lighter color, I stamped off one time first.) I also found it helpful to look at the samples in the catalog and others I've seen online so that I knew how the stamps should line up. 
• I used the new Water Painters for the first time for the background. It seems to take more pressure to get water out than it did for the former Aqua Painters. But overall, I liked them!
• I used my Stampin' Blends Markers to color the Whisper White Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon. I started with Light Magenta Madness, blended into Dark Magenta Madness, then Light Blackberry Bliss, and finally Dark Blackberry Bliss. Multicolored ribbon is so fun!

This bundle is a must have! If you'd like to see more of it, I am featuring it as my product of the week over on my Facebook page this week.

Stamps: Hippo Happiness
Ink: Magenta Madness, Blackberry Bliss, Stampin' Blends Markers: Light & Dark Magenta Madness, Light & Dark Blackberry Bliss
Paper: Purple Posy, Whisper White, Watercolor Paper, Rainbow Glimmer Paper
Embellishments: Whisper White Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon
Tools: Stitched Be Mine Dies, Hippo & Friends Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Water Painters
Adhesives: Stampin' Seal, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots, Multipurpose Glue

Happy Stamping!

Rachel