April Suite Sampler #4-A Pretty Foil Bag

Hello there! The snow is melting and the creek is flowing! I think spring is finally here. Might get to take the outside Christmas decor down this weekend. I even noticed my daylilies are coming up. Yep, spring is here. :o)

I thought I'd share with you another project from the April Suite Samplings Kit. If you're not sure what that is, check out this post. The kit included a couple of the gold Striped Treat Bags. These are flat treat bags, but with a couple of score lines, it's pretty easy to make a gusseted, stand up style bag.

Start by scoring a line 3/4 of an inch in from each side and the bottom.

It's a good idea to then fold the bag along those lines in both directions. Then it's just a matter of opening up the bag and creasing along those folds.

Just pinch along the edges to crease them. The bottom corner will end up making these little triangles. You can use a glue dot or Tear & Tape to adhere them to the bottom of the bag.

Voila! You have a gusseted bag! Once the bag is filled, fold over the top and add your decor. For my bag I cut a 2 x 6 piece of DSP and a 1 1/2 x 5 1/2 piece of vellum. They were both banner punched and then folded about 2 inches down from the top and simply laid over the top of the bag. I didn't even glue the vellum to the DSP. The library clip is holding it all together. Some simple stamping and fussy cutting, along with some sequin trim finishes up the tag. I used the Sweet & Sassy heart dies to cut out my heart, but you could easily fussy cut that out.

What do you think? Are you enjoying these projects? I hope so. I've been perusing through the new catalog and picking out which suites I love the best and what items to put together with them to make up next year's kits. So many super-awesome choices! It's gonna be hard narrowing things down. I do have June's picked out and most of the details figured out. Can't wait to share it with you. Remember, there won't be a kit in May due to most of the DSP retiring. I will announce the June kit as soon as I am able to.

I will be back with at least one more project using the April kit. If I have time, I will show more because I have a LOT of paper and supplies still left from this kit. Just not sure I'm going to have time to make more goodies before April is gone. I would love to know where time flies to. If anyone finds out, could you please let me know? Thanks.

Till next time...
God's love and blessings!

Hostess Code Bonus: Please use this month's Hostess Code when you place an order. It will allow me to pick up some goodies to share with you when I send out your Thank You gift at the end of the month. (If you check the "Do No Contact" button when you order, I cannot legally contact you in any way, which means I cannot send you a Thank You gift or any extra goodies. :o(  )

April Suite Sampler #3.

Hello there! I am back with some more ideas to use the April Suite Sampling Kit. This time I'm going to share 2 cards with you. The first one is a great way to show off both sides of some Designer Series Paper that you love. Sometimes I hate using DSP because I love both sides and I don't want to glue down one side and not be able to see it. This way you get to see both.

To make this card, I cut a piece of DSP 4 x 6. Since the sheets of DSP are cut to 6 x 12, it was simply a matter of cutting off a 4 inch piece. I then tore the paper by hand about 5 inches down. I glued smaller piece to the bottom of the card front and then flipped it over and glued the larger piece on top. By cutting the paper at 6 inches your bottom piece should be large enough for the top to overlap it and not have any gaps for the card base to show through.

The sentiment was stamped onto Whisper White and then punched out with a 1 3/4 inch circle punch and mounted on one of the larger gold circles included in the kit. That was adhered with dimensionals. In the picture below, you can see that I glued some of the mini sequins included in the kit between the flowers on the larger piece of DSP. They co-ordinate well with the gold foil circle.

For the inside I stamped some Whisper White with one of the flowers in the stamp set and some leaves. To get a bit of a watercolored look, I inked up the stamp and then sprayed it lightly with some water before stamping onto the cardstock. Super simple. I did create a mask to go over the flower before I stamped the leaves.

My second card showcases one of the other floral patterns in this kit, but on the envelope flap. The card highlights the various stamps in the set. I love that you can get this multi-colored stamped look super easily. I simply started by stamping the sentiment, and then stamped the various leaves and flowers around it. Most of them are just ink straight from the pad, but the little flower and what I think are berries were inked up with Stampin' Write markers so I could get the various colors. 

I little strip of DSP and some shimmery ribbon complete the card.

To cover the envelope flap, I traced the flap onto the DSP and fussy-cut it out. I glued it on with Tombow Multi Adhesive as I wanted to make sure I got the adhesive all the way to the edge. 

One last thing before I go: this stamp set and the coordinating DSP on the retiring list. So, if you didn't order the April Suite Sampler, but you would like to make these projects, you will want to get an order in for them as soon as possible. 

I will be back later with some other projects using some of my favorite retiring products. Gotta use 'em while I can! 

Till next time...

God's love and blessings!

Hostess Code Bonus: Please use this month's Hostess Code when you place an order. It will allow me to pick up some goodies to share with you when I send out your Thank You gift at the end of the month. (If you check the "Do No Contact" button when you order, I cannot legally contact you in any way, which means I cannot send you a Thank You gift or any extra goodies. :o(  )

April Suite Samplings #2-A "Locking" Card

Hello there! I'm back with the first of several cards using the April Suite Sampling.

This pack of DSP has quite a variety of colors and patterns. I think the multi-colored florals are my favorite, but for this design I wanted something a bit simpler so the heart wouldn't get lost. The front is a simple layering of Basic Black Cardstock and the pink floral DSP, each 1/4 inch smaller than the layer behind. I tied a bit of the Black Shimmer Ribbon around the two layers before adhering them to the Powder Pink card base. The shimmer in this ribbon is very subtle, but, oh so pretty.

The fun part is the little heart. I used the Sweet & Sassy hearts dies to cut the stamped image, and 2 Basic Black hearts. If you don't have the dies, you could use the gold hearts that I include in the kit as a template and trace around them and fussy cut. The black hearts are folded in half and then glued to the back of the stamped heart so that they form an X.

I used the retired Word Window punch to punch out a slot in the card front, but you could use the Classic Label punch for it as well. Slide the heart into the slot so that the stamped image is in the front and the other half of the black "X" is inside. Apply adhesive and stick the heart to the inside of the card. Now the heart acts as a lock to keep the card closed, but when you open the card, the heart is on the inside. Does that make sense? If not, leave me a comment and I'll see if I can put together a better tutorial on it. 

What a fun card. I do like interactive cards and this one has a sweet message. :o) Only a couple more days to get your reservation in for the April Suite Sampling Kit. Don't miss out. I do have several more projects to share with you over the month, so as you get your kit, you will have lots of ideas of things to make with it.

Email me to reserve your kit.

Be sure to check out this post for all the information on the kit, and this one for another fun idea. Deadline to reserve your kit is April 6th!

Hostess Code Bonus: Please use this month's Hostess Code when you place an order. It will allow me to pick up some goodies to share with you when I send out your Thank You gift at the end of the month. (If you check the "Do No Contact" button when you order, I cannot legally contact you in any way, which means I cannot send you a Thank You gift or any extra goodies. :o(  )

Till next time...
God's love and blessings!!

April Suite Sampling Project #1

Hello there! I'm back with the first project using the April Suite Sampling. I wanted to start with this project because even if you don't have the kit, this would be a super quick, easy project you could do for table favors for Resurrection Sunday. I know that's just 2 days away, but these are seriously, super easy and you could use whatever paper you happen to have on hand.

Bonus, this bag uses exactly one half sheet of cardstock (8 1/2 x 5 1/2), so you can get 2 bags from one sheet with minimal waste.

On the long side, score at 3 3/4 and 4 3/4
On the short side, score at 1 1/4 and 4 1/4

Cut along the long score lines, stopping at the short score lines. Then chop off an inch or so from the flaps you just made.

If you want to emboss your bag, this is the time to do it. Most embossing folders won't be large enough to do the whole bag in one shot, so this is a way around that. First, line the embossing folder up in this corner.

Then flip it around and line it up in this corner.

The bottom of the bag will be double embossed, but that's OK.

Then simply fold on the score lines and glue the flaps together.

You can opt to glue the front and back flaps to the inside ones if you want, or just leave them loose. I glued mine.

I filled mine with a little of our Ready Shreddie and some Robin Eggs. I think this would also be the good size for some Girhardelli Squares which would be the perfect treat to keep on hand for those times when a friend needs a little pick-me-up.

To finish off the bag, I added a strip of Designer Series Paper and I used our Fine Tip Glue Pen to adhere a strip of the Black Mini Sequin Trip to the bottom of it. I inked the flower stamp with Stampin' Write Markers and punched it and the black cardstock out with simple circles. I stamped the sentiment and then cut the words out with Paper Snips. Then, I simply closed the bag with a gold Library Clip.

I hope you like my little project. Remember, you can get all the supplies for this project and LOTS more in the April Suite Samplings Kit. See this post for more details.

Hostess Code Bonus: Please use this month's Hostess Code when you place an order. It will allow me to pick up some goodies to share with you when I send out your Thank You gift at the end of the month. (If you check the "Do No Contact" button when you order, I cannot legally contact you in any way, which means I cannot send you a Thank You gift or any extra goodies. :o(  )

April Suite Sampling

Hello there! I was really hoping to get this post up earlier, but I was busy this last week snuggling with this little cutie. 

It's so much fun being a Grammy. Just wish they lived closer so I could snuggle him more often. They headed back home yesterday, and my house is now way too quiet. :o( 

I do have something to show you today, but, I'm afraid it's not as cute as that little guy. ;o) I've put together April's Suite Sampler, and I think you're going to like it. It showcases the Whole Lot of Lovely Suite (pg 86-87 in the Annual Catalog). This is my second favorite set in the catalog.

This photo doesn't do the papers justice. I absolutely LOVE the two floral prints and the stripes. So feminine and almost Victorian in style. 

Here's what comes in the April Suite Samplings Kit:

• 1/2 pack Whole Lot of Lovely Designer Series Paper (6 x 12)
• 2 sheets ea. Pool Party, Powder Pink, Tranquil Tide, Crushed Curry, Basic Black Cardstock
• 4 sheets Whisper White Cardstock
• 10 Whisper White Envelopes
• 5 Gold Library Clips
• 1 yd. Shimmer Ribbon, Basic Black
• 1 yd. Shimmer Ribbon, Pear Pizzazz
• 1 yd. Shimmer Ribbon, Pool Party
• 1 yd. Shimmer Ribbon, Powder Pink
• 1 yd. Mini Sequin Trim, Gold
• 1 yd. Mini Sequin Trim, Black
• 1/4 sheet Gold Foil (6 x 6) + *Gold Foil cut outs
• 15 White Perfect Accents (5 each of 3 sizes)
• 1 sheet Glossy Cardstock
• 2 Gold Striped Treat Bags
• Bonus: 1/2 sheet Vellum Cardstock (5.5 x 8.5)

You get all of this for $25! That includes shipping! If you are local to me and want to pick up your kit, your total is $20

To get all of this in their full size packaging, you would be paying $118 plus shipping and taxes, but you get a sampling of it all for $25. I think that's a pretty good deal. PLUS, I will be posting projects over the next couple of weeks to give you ideas to use your kit. 

Optional Extras:

• Layered Leaved Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder $9
• Lots of Love Stamp Set Wood $27 or Clear Mount $19

Bonus: Purchase 1 of the Optional Extras and receive 1 yd. Whisper White Baker's Twine. Purchase any 2 and get the Baker's Twine and a Stampin' Spot inked in the color of your choice (Pool Party, Powder Pink, Tranquil Tide, or Crushed Curry). 

How do you get your kit? You must email me with your order and I will send you an invoice. Payment must be made by deadline (April 6th) and then I will put in an order for all the product. As soon as it arrives, I will divide everything up and package it and mail it out to you. 

*Gold Foil Cut Outs--I will take a 6 x 6 piece of Gold Foil paper and cut out as many hearts and circles as I can from the sheet. These will be sized to coordinate with the stamp in the Lots of Love Stamp Set. I managed to get 1 small, 3 large circles and 3 small, 4 large hearts out of it. 

Email me to reserve your kit.

Shipping Notes:

I took my kit over to the Post Office and worked with the awesome ladies there to find the best and most economical way to ship these kits out to you. I will be able to send them out in a Priority Flat Rate padded envelope for $7.25. So, just to make it a nice round number I will add on $5 for shipping which will make your total $25. If you add on the Optional Extras, your shipping cost does NOT increase. :o) 

This is only available in the US. You need to email me to order. I will send an invoice and payment will be to me, in advance of the order being placed and sent out.

Deadline for ordering is Friday, April 6th. I will place the order early the following morning and hope to have the packages ready to ship out to you by April 18th (My Birthday!!!) (delivery from Stampin' Up! permitting).

I hope you're as excited about this as I am. I will be posting a couple of projects over the next few days to give you some inspiration for the kit. There's SO many things you can make.

One more thing, I will not be offering a kit in May. With the retiring list coming out, I'm afraid items will be sold out before I'm able to put the kits together, so the next Suite Sampler will not be until the new catalog comes out in June! Can't believe we're this close to a new catalog coming out. Time flies when your happy crafting. :o) 

I'm off to go finish up a few more projects to share with you later. 

Till next time...

God's love and blessings!