Stamping & Scrapping with Jen

Hand Stamped Baby Gifts

If you are a faithful blog reader, you probably know about the new babies in the family.  Last weekend we went to meet baby Chloe and my girls had stamped onesies for her.  I love making these as presents for new babies.  It's always something a new baby can use; it's great to be able to personalize their gift; and it's something there is no way someone else will get them!!  It's also super easy to do (even a 6 year old can do it!!) 

All you need to do is wash & dry the onesie first without using fabric softener. Then select your stamps and Craft ink.  (An alphabet set is great for the personalizing.)  Then slip a piece of cardboard on the inside of the onesie (so the ink doesn't seep through) and stamp!  It's best to stamp and hold your stamp onto the fabric for a few seconds to let the ink soak in a little more.  Then, once you are all done, let it air-dry for 24 hours, then turn it inside out and throw it in the dryer on medium for 30 minutes to heat set it.

Your best bet for future washings to retain the intensity of the color is to wash the onesie in cold and air-dry, which is probably not that likely for baby clothes, so just let the new mom know the ink will probably fade a little with multiple washings.  It won't disappear altogether, but it might get lighter.

Here are a few pictures of them hard at work!

And here are their finished onesies!!!

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Sweet Halloween Treats

How sweet are the Sweet Treat Cups? I love them! You can fill them with just about any loose candy. For this I used the Halloween stamp from Sweet Centers, then used the 1-3/4" circle punch to make room for the treat cup.  Sweet treats is stamped on the round tab punch that has been folded in half and attached to another piece of cardstock just big enough to hold the treats in place.  Once your "little pumpkin" pulls on the tab out come all the treats. 

12 Projects of Christmas: CD Holders

If you aren't on my mailing list, you are missing lots of great project ideas!!!  I wanted to share today's project, because it is one I created myself.  All the other ideas were created by other VERY TALENTED demonstrators.  But here is my CD Holder project.  These are great if you make your own CDs or DVDs and give them as gifts.

Here is a supply list and some instructions:

Frosty Day DSP (6” x 12” piece)

Close to Cocoa cardstock (1” x 11”) – for belly band

Bashful Blue cardstock (4-3/4” x 4-1/2”) – for inside insert

Tangerine Tango cardstock – scrap for punch

Kiwi Kiss cardstock – scrap for punch

Whisper White cardstock – scrap for punch

Deer Friends Stamp Set

Close to Cocoa Classic Ink

Scallop Circle Punch

1-1/4” Circle Punch

1-3/8” Circle Punch

Tag Corner Punch

Paper trimmer with scoring blade

To create: Score 6” x 12” paper at 1” on the long side and 2” & 7” on the short side.  Fold to create pockets for CD.  Add insert for notes.  Use for your homemade photo CDs, music CDs, or DVDs.

To see a few more ideas, you can click here.

Wedding & Shower Invitations

With my posts about Melissa & Eric's wedding, I realized I never posted their invitations!!  Melissa had asked me to make their wedding invitations after she saw my niece Megan's invitations right here on my blog.

Melissa really liked Megan's invitations, but wanted something a little less formal, but FUN!!  I thought & thought about what I could do and sometime in the middle of the night one night I came up with this idea.

Since it was a destination wedding on a beach, I thought about using an actual photograph of a beach and adding a layer of vellum with the invitation wording.  I shared my idea with Melissa and she loved it.  I asked her & Eric if they had any pictures of a beach, and they did!!  So not only was this invitation specific & unique to their destination wedding in Turks & Caicos (and their future), but it is a picture that they took from a trip to St. Thomas (reminiscent of their past).

They liked the trifold envelope just like Megan & John, and ended up with the same color, silver.  The bow is Stampin' Up! white taffeta.

When Melissa's mom heard I was making the invitations she called me to ask if I would also do the shower invitations, too.  She wanted something that was similar, but was more of a complement to the wedding invitations - nothing that overpowered them.  I sent her a few samples and this is the one she chose.

Here are the shower invitations getting all ready to be packed up & sent to Melissa's mom.

And finally, Melissa and I got together to do the programs.  I didn't take a picture of them before we sent them to Turks & Caicos, but I did snap a photo of one on the beach right after the reception.  We made them very similar to the shower invites. 

So, all in all, I think I tied somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 bows for their entire wedding ensemble.  Okay, that is not entirely true.  Melissa tied some & Jeff (my hubby) tied some too.  Eric gave it a shot, but he wasn't very good at it.  :)

Their wedding pictures are also posted on their photographer's blog if you want to check them out.  There IS a picture with my girls, too!!!  Hope you enjoyed all the invitations!!  Please contact me if you are looking for custom wedding or shower invitations.

Coordinating Colors for Designer Series Paper

I find myself looking for this list over & over again, so I thought I would post it here both for my reference and for yours!!!

Coordinating Colors for Stampin’ Up!’s Designer Series Papers:

• Azure: Brilliant Blue, Very Vanilla
• Bali Breeze: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Taken with Teal
• Berry Bliss: Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink, Purely Pomegranate
• Cutie Pie: Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Rose Red, So Saffron
• East Coast Prep: More Mustard, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Wild Wasabi
• Fall Flowers: Old Olive, Really Rust, Soft Sky, Sahara Sand
• Flowers for You: Certainly Celery, Lovely Lilac, Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise
• Ginger Blossom: Cameo Coral, Groovy Guava, Ruby Red, River Rock
• Jersey Shore: Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi
• Le Jardin: Always Artichoke, Bashful Blue, River Rock, So Saffron, Very Vanilla
• Notebook: Kraft, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla
• Olive Press: Old Olive, Very Vanilla
• Porcelain Prints: Blue Bayou, River Rock, Wild Wasabi
• Prints: Monochromatic papers available in Almost Amethyst, Always Artichoke, Blue Bayou, Brilliant Blue, Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa, Groovy Guava, Lovely Lilac, More Mustard, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, River Rock, Rose Red, So Saffron, Soft Sky, Tempting Turquoise
• Spring Break: Blue Bayou, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Sky
• Spring Fling: Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Sage Shadow, So Saffron
• Spring Silhouettes: Certainly Celery, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi
• Western Sky: Blue Bayou, River Rock, Ruby Red, Soft Sky

And in the Occasions Mini:

• Afternoon Tea: Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi
• Summer Picnic: Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red

And the winner was...

Here was this year's "winning" Christmas card.  If you look back to this post, you'll see the evolution of this card, and see how I arrived at this design.  For some reason I thought it would be EASY to reproduce 260 of these!  What was I thinking???

The making of this card was a complete family effort - Jeff, Emily, Erin, and Jeff's mom helped with the project.  There were a few days where things were so hectic here at home that we packed up all our stuff & took it over to Jeff's parents' house & his mom helped me stamp & assemble!!!  I even made my deadline of mailing them on December 20.  What a huge relief when they were done!!  And what great memories I have of another year of making Christmas cards together as a family.  (And just to clarify, Jeff was in charge of labels, stuffing the envelopes, and he did do some ribbon - he did NOT stamp anything!!  For those of you who know him, I don't want to ruin your "manly" impression of him!!)

Hope those of you who received these cards in the mail enjoyed them.  Although the conditions this year were a little stressful, they were fun to make!!

Purple Armadillo by Emily

I got a note home last week from Emily's kindergarten teacher that said, "Emily's picture was selected by the art teachers to be framed and hung in the school.  Ask her all about it."  So of course we did...

Turns out, her painting of a purple armadillo (don't ask how she knew how to even draw one let alone paint one - we haven't gotten that out of her yet) is hanging right in the lobby of the school.  I'm pretty sure (but not totally positive) hers is the only one by a kindergartner.  And there are only 15 pictures hanging up there (and right now 2 of them are covered by a poster).

So we trekked over to school this afternoon with the camera (would I miss this scrapbooking opportunity???) and took a few pictures of her masterpiece.  Honestly, it's pretty darn good for a 5 year old!!!!!  What do you think????

Wedding Invitations

I just finished making wedding invitations for my niece Megan and her fiance John.  I thought I'd share some pictures of them!

Here is a close up of the actual invitation.  It uses SU cardstock - Whisper White & Basic Black and the Purely Pomegranate Satin Ribbon.  The invitation is the center panel in this trifold design. 

In this photo you can see all three parts.  The bottom part is a pocket that holds three separate items: the response card (a postcard), the reception card, and the directions & accommodations information card.

Here are all three cards out of the pocket.

I also did all the calligraphy for them.   (You can see a little bit of it in all the pictures.)

These invitations were so much fun to do and Megan & John were really happy with the end result.  It was the perfect match to the theme, look, and feel for their big day.  If you like the look of these and know someone (maybe it's YOU) who is interested in their own custom wedding invitations, I would be happy to give you more information.  Please contact me so we can talk!

So you want to see the real card???

Well, I'm not going to post it here - YET.  I will post it, after I have sent them all out (but don't hold your breath, they are nowhere near complete!!!!)  However, for those of you who are more impatient, or maybe just curious, if you sign up for my mailing list & include your snail mail address in the next 24 hours, I'll randomly select 5 of you to add you to the list and you'll get yours in the mail.  If you are already on my mailing list and you are sure I have your snail mail address, leave me a comment below and I'll add you to the drawing, too!!!

Christmas Card "Rejects"

I went through several samples to come up with my final Christmas card this year.  I really wanted to use the Stampin' Up! Designer Wrapping Paper, because I thought that would save some stamping time.  (I make about 300 cards, so they have to be quick!!!)  But I just didn't come up with anything I *loved* so here are all the samples that did NOT make the cut.

This one uses the Celebration Wrapping paper and the Season of Joy stamp set (my favorite from the mini!!)  I just thought it was too plain...

So next I came up with this one, which I liked a little better, but it still wasn't "the one".

I tried these options in the Blizzard wrapping paper, too and I didn't like them as much, so I abandoned the wrapping paper idea (and it was such a good one!!).   

So here was another option.  Actually this was two options; the first one just had the horizontal strip across the card.  (I really was stuck on trying to use the card layout from the first card.)  It seemed too plain again, so I added the vertical strip, too.  This last card uses Snow Flurries (such a great deal at $10.95 for 6 stamps!!) and All Holidays.  It also uses my favorite Christmas color combination - Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink, and Wild Wasabi.  I was getting closer but this wasn't it...

So the card I made after this was the winner.  I have already started stamping & stamping & stamping them.  And you are going to have to wait until you get yours in the mail to see it!!!!  :-)