Peonies and Paper Chains

Stamp Review Crew: Zoo Babies Edition

 

 

Welcome to the Stamp Review Crew: Zoo Babies blog hop! So excited to be sharing ideas for the Zoo Babies stamp set...it is such a sweet little collection of animals that you can find at many zoos! Whether you've just come over from Dawn Tidd's Tiddbits by Dawn blog or are just starting here, I hope you'll take the time to hop on through to see all of the creations!

Today's hop gave me a fabulous opportunity to put together idea's for Britt's upcoming birthday! It is in May and she'll be celebrating with her preschool friends. I decided to use Zoo Babies to create a set of party pieces -- cupcake toppers, festive napkins, and juice box embellishments -- for a fun, festive celebration! 

Thankfully the girls and I baked some cupcakes one night this past week that I could use for a little staging!

For the cupcake toppers you need card stock circles (1-3/8" and 1-3/4"), toothpicks, Sticky Strip, and Stampin' Dimensionals. The stamped Zoo Babies images make these adorable without a whole lot of fuss!

A little stamping is all you need to for the napkins! I stamped 5 each of 4 different Zoo Babies images -- giraffe, alligator, rhinoceros, and elephant. However, the more I think about it, I definitely should stamp some more for the pre-school set!

The rhino with the bit of white twine is a juice box embellishment. Initially I planned to tie these onto some paper straws, however, I realized that juice boxes were likely a better choice than open cup beverages.

This image gives a better look at the juice box. This is simply a band of card stock in Coastal Cabana that has been attached to the box with Sticky Strip. I did use a bone folder to loosen up to the fibers of the card stock before adhering -- definitely an important step! For the final products I will actually be cutting wider strips of card stock to better cover the full height of the box sides.

Had to include this image of Brooklyn holding the cupcake topper! She has asked that we make some of these for her doll and make sure that we celebrate her doll's birthday on the same day that we celebrate her sister's birthday!

Hope you that you are feeling inspired to pull out this set and to get creating! I had lots of fun creating these party pieces and can't wait to get production underway for Britt's big day! 

Be sure to hop along to visit Betty Traciak and the other Stamp Review Crew members for more Zoo Babies ideas!

                                        

 
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Stamp Review Crew Line Up for the Zoo Babies Hop: 

1.  Ann Schach  
2. Shana Gaff  
3. Debra Burgin  
4. Bronwyn Eastley   
5. Yapha Mason  
6. Dawn Tidd   
   
7. Kerry Willard Bray  -- YOU ARE HERE! 
8. Betty Traciak 
9. Tanya Boser    
10. Rochelle Blok  
11. Heidi Baks  
12. Linda Callahan  
13. Martha Inchley  
14. Wendy Weixler

Time to Celebrate...and Sale-a-Brate!

Hello friends. Today I'm sharing a messy, yet very fun project with you! It incorporates a few of my favorite things...

• Birthday Bash Designer Series Paper
• Celebrate Today stamp set
• Calypso Coral Pompom Trim
• Bermuda Bay Sequin Trim
• Whisper White Baker's Twine
• and all three shades the Best Year Ever ribbon (free with the purchase of the items above during Sale-a-bration)
• PLUS a canning jar 

It's the perfect little something for someone special...

 

It's a festive celebration jar!

 

When we made this a couple weeks back at one of my "Sunday Crafternoon" gatherings, I called it a birthday jar -- a very apt name given the supplies I used. Change things up a little and you could use this for a baby shower, retirement, wedding, first day of xxx...really just about any celebration!

 

 

Depending on the size jar you pick, you can fill it with so many things ranging from gift cards to sweet little baby socks, from luxurious lotions to candy treats, from a collection of handwritten well wishes to packets of tea or hot cocoa. The possibilities are endless!

 

 

In addition to little gifts, add some fun (and mess) with DIY confetti and paper curls! The confetti is a breeze to make using a pair of Fringe Scissors and/or some small circle punches -- up to a 3/4" in diameter. If using Fringe Scissors, use you Stampin' Trimmer to cut some strips (thin or thick) of Designer Series Paper and after doing so, snip away with the Fringe Scissors to make the confetti pieces. You can tell from the image above that I used strips in varying widths.

For the paper curls, cut several thin strips (no more than 1/2" wide) using your Stampin' Trimmer. Next, loosen the paper fibers by running your bone folder over each paper strip just as you would with curling sheet. Once the fibers are loose, take a strip of paper and twist it around a pen or pencil and then slide off. Repeat until you have all the paper curls you want! A special thanks to Lisa Harlow at Dwell Delightfully for this idea! Lisa and I have followed each other on Instagram for at least a year now...she's a fabulous paper crafter and is currenty a Stampin' Artisan Design Team member.

 

 

While there are so many details that go into this project, it is easy to make! Hope this project has inspired you and you'll put it to use for an upcoming celebration!

Don't forget that Stampin' Up! annual Sale-a-bration is going on now! It is a wonderful time to stock up on supplies since you are entitled to a FREE Sale-a-bration exclusive with every $50 in products purchased. I love free stuff...how about you?

For those with a lengthy wish list, your best bet is to purchase a starter kit with up to $125 in products for just $99 (includes free shipping) and you'll be eligible to save 20% or more on future purchases through at least June 2015! When you buy a starter kit there's no obligation to purchase anything else and no penalty to drop. Hobbyists are welcome! Oh, and one more thing, you'll also get to choose a free project kit from the occasions catalog OR two exclusive Sale-a-bration items. Check out the Sale-a-bration catalog for complete details!

Again, hope you are inspired by the celebration jar! 

Enjoy a little creativity today!

 
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Stamp Review Crew: Celebrate Today

Happy February! Today the Stamp Review Crew is ringing in the new month with our Celebrate Today blog hop! This new set from Stampin' Up! is so fun, so festive, and so versatile! You are in for a real treat with our hop! You may be starting here or you may have just come over from Linda Callahan at Stampin' Seasons (I always adore her creations)... wherever you are staring, be sure to enjoy the full hop!

There are two fun projects that I put together for you! Up first is a birthday tag:

There's a whole lot of detail and I had a blast putting it together:

Brayering, stamping, embossing, cutting (with the Balloons Framelits), pom poms, and sequins...it all adds up to a sweet and festive birthday tag! Even the back of this tag is all dressed up:

One of Brooklyn's friends celebrated her birthday this past weekend and she was the recipient of this gift tag. The two attended the same pre-school for two years but go to different kindergartens now and don't see each other as often. It was lots fun celebrating her big day!

The second project I have in store is a little birthday wishes book:

photo embellished using the Rhonna Designs app

This is the perfect little gift for everyone at birthday celebration to sign! It would also be great for a group of colleagues to sign rather than a card, especially for a co-worker who is having a very special milestone birthday!

If you look real close at the image above, you'll see that the balloon is actually popped up on the journal. Originally I made a cut-out in the journal of the balloon and I lined the inside of the journal cover with some Pool Party card stock. While it looked sweet, I thought a little something more was needed and I decided to add the stamped and embossed balloon right over the cut-out with some Stampin' Dimensionals!

Hope you've enjoyed these projects as much as I did when creating them!  As the image says "let your imagination run wild...be creative" -- hope the hop gets you inspire to pull out the Celebrate Today stamp set and get creating!

Up next is Rochelle Blok at The Stamping Blok -- she does beautiful work and I know this hop will be no exception! Use the buttons below to navigate and happy hopping! 

     

 
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Stampin' Up! Five Color Combo

Happy Friday, friends! Hope you are ready to get creating this weekend and I hope that this brand new five color Stampin' Up! combo will get your creative juices flowing...

Make a card

Wrap up a package

Put together a pretty display for your home

I'd love to see what you've created with this combo over on my Peonies and Paper Chains Facebook page.

Now for those who want to see what I created, here's my card featuring the Celebrate Today stamp set:

Stamping, embossing, fussy cutting...oh my!

The fussy cutting definitely works for this big "tassel" hanging from the ballon, but certainly not a paper crafting technique that I have patience for everyday!

I'll be sharing some of the other secrets behind this card over the weekend!

Happy Friday! Enjoy a little creative today!

 
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Stamp Review Crew: Perfect Pennants Edition

It's 2015 and the Stamp Review Crew is kicking off the New Year by sharing ideas for the Stampin' Up! Perfect Pennants stamp set! So many possibilities for this set and you may have just popped over from Heidi Baks blog or perhaps you are starting here. Whichever is the case, you are sure to get loads of inspiration by going on through our hop!

I've got four projects for you today...yes, you read that right, I did say 4 projects! Figured I'd kick off the year with a bang! Let's get right to the projects:

Lassoed up a wish! This card features three stamps from perfect pennants -- the star, the dots, and the make a wish sentiment. And, of course, I used the coordinating Banners Framelits. The lasso is just a little bit of Linen Thread looped around a couple fingers and attached to the back of the pennant.

Here's the next one:

 

Same background, same lasso effect (just doubled up), and a whole new sentiment from the Perfect Pennants stamp set. This time I set-off the sentiment by framing it with some Old Olive cardstock.

One more with this same starry background element:

This time, there is only a tiny slice of the starry backdrop and plus the sweet little "hello" pennant on this one. The Lost Lagoon focal point at the back is simply a matter of the pressing the inkpad onto the card base...can't get much easier than that for creating a background!

Creating the Starry Background 

1. Take a piece of Whisper White cardstock and apply So Saffron ink to it directly by pressing down your ink pad -- apply at random angles and allow for some overlap to add "texture" and dimension.

2. Ink up your star from the Perfect Pennants stamp set with Hello Honey and stamp many times varying your spacing and angles.

To create all the cards you saw above, I inked up 1/2 of a sheet of Whisper White (5.5 x 8.5) -- this gave me plenty to work with to create the 3 cards.

Now if you'll recall, I said there were 4 projects today -- the last one is a bit different from the others:

This is a sweet, simple and very CASE-able gift tag. Can't believe how well the colors coordinate with my dragonfly vase! I based my color choices off the Five on Friday color combo I shared the other day, but it sure appears that the choices could have come straight from the vase!

Hop on along and see what Debra Currier has created! You can use the buttons below to navigate or the full blog hop line-up below my signature! Happy hopping and Happy 2015

  

 

 
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Stamp Review Crew Perfect Pennants Line-Up:

1. Wendy Weixler  
2. Dawn Tidd  
3. Lisa Young  
4. Debra Burgin  
5. Heidi Baks  
6. Kerry Willard Bray  - YOU ARE HERE!
7. Debra Currier  
8. Ann Schach  
9. Beth Beard  
10. Mike Funke  
11. Rochelle Blok  
12. Nancy Smith  
13. Yapha Mason  
14. Tanya Boser  
15. Cindy Beach    
16. Shana Gaff  
17. Holly Krautkremer  

Stamp Review Crew: Amazing Birthday Edition

Hello! Thanks so much for stopping by Peonies and Paper Chains! The Stamp Review Crew is bringing a brand new hop to you and this time we are featuring the Stampin' Up! set, Amazing Birthday! It is a fabulous set for creating birthday cards and more! You'll finish the hop with lots of fresh and fun ideas!

The other day I made some gratitude journals for my girls using card stock in Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, and Tangerine Tango. You may be asking what that has to do with the the Amazing Birthday stamp set...well, the tie in is that the scraps were still out on my desk. I had a choice to make -- I could put them away in with my other card stock or I could use them for this hop. I opted for the latter and I exclusively the scraps that were on my desk and to cook up the Amazing Birthday projects for you:

Can't get much more fun that a little 3 x 3" mini card -- it is one of my favorite sizes! A little stamping, a little paper snipping, and then a little assembly and voila, I had a sweret little mini card in minutes! Some Stampin' Dimensionals were used to pop up the sentiment -- these are most definitely my favorite adhesive.

Since I still had additional scraps to go, I made another layered card and this next one measures 4-1/4" square:

While the many layers, the stamping, and the embossing provide lots of interests, this card was quick and easy to make! All elements on this card had a cheery feel to them and that includes the pennant stamped images from the Amazing Birthday stamp set. It is different a fun twist to stamp them upside down!

If you have scraps lying around, I hope these projects encourage you to pull them out and get creating!

Be sure to hop on along for all of today's fabulous creations! The full blog line-up is below my signature or you can use the buttons below to navigate. 

                                

Enjoy the hop and a little creativity today!

 

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Amazing Birthday Edition Line-Up:

1. Mike Funke  
2. Dawn Tidd  
3. Yapha Mason  
4. Cindy Beach   
5. Shana Gaff   
6. Kerry Willard Bray   -- You are here!
7. Tanya Boser  
8. Adriana Benitez  
9. Wendy Weixler   
10. Ann Schach  

  

Hip Hip Hooray for Friday!

Hello friends...Happy Friday!

I'm happy Friday is here and hope you are too! It really has become my favorite day of the week and that is due in part because I get to share a new five color combo! I'm delighted to be sharing it with you and thrilled to have a reason to get creative! Things have been busy here and my time for making things has been limited. These weekly color combos always get my creative juices flowing -- what about you?

Let's get to the combo:

I'm not quite sure how to describe this combo. It reminds me a bit of sherbet perhaps scooped with a pwetwer spoon. How would you describe it? 

For those who are wanting inspiration to get crafting, here's a full look at my latest card:

This card features one of my favorite sentiment stamps -- "hip hip hooray...today's your day" -- and I love this because you could use it for absolutely anyone's birthday! This stamp is exclsuive to the Hip Hip Hooray card kit. At $19.95, this kit is an incredible deal -- it contains enough supplies to make 20 cards, and, if you are like me, you'll use this one stamp from the kit again and again and again! The other stamps in the kit say "thanks" and "just for you" which make them just as versatile!

The card front is only 3-1/4" wide versus the 4-1/4" of the back which allows the Pistachio Pudding that I applied to the inside edge to show. I thought that was hard to tell from the image above and wanted to share this view.

This card is for one of Britt's friends who is celebrating her birthday this weekend. In hindsight the little paper clip is probably not the best embellishment for a preschooler, so perhaps I will slide it off...easy to do!

Enjoy a little creativity today!

 

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Pretty Stripes and a Big Howdy!

One of the tasks that the girls and I had to complete yesterday was getting a package in the mail to their cousin Max. Before we could mail it, we needed to wrap it. I knew we would use the Yee Haw stamp set for his card and I was thinking about how to combine that with a sneak peek from the holiday catalog. And then it dawned on me...this was the perfect opportunity to use the Festive Designer Kraft Paper Rolls! Here's the gift:

I'm loving the stripes on this wrapping paper, how about you?

The wrapping paper comes 2 rolls per pack and includes two different patterns...I'll have to show you the other pattern soon! 

Ultimately I decied to create a flat card for Max and it is precisely what you see on the top of the package. Our birthday message is written on the back and the I'm crossing my fingers that the Washi tape will come off without ruining the card front!

The photo above gives you a closer look at some of the details...

• the barbed wire stamp from Yee Haw -- perfect for a background or highlightin a focal point
• the zig zags on the Beach House Designer Washi Tape -- love the depth of color that Crushed Curry has

It was a fun package to create and we hope that Max will enjoy the contents! 

FINAL DAYS! The Stampin' Up! Big Shot Bundle promotion ends on August 31! Don't miss out on your opportunity for your free or reduced price bundle. Details here.

 

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Hip Hip...

Hip Hip Hooray...it is Tuesday! And that means new weekly deals!

Hip Hip Hooray...holiday catalog sneak peek's start tomorrow! So excited to share them with you!

Happy Tuesday, friends! However you spend your day, hope it is filled with something that makes you want to say "hip hip hooray!"

 

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Very Vanilla Cut & Ready Card Bases

$4.95

Gorgeous Grunge Wood Stamp Set

$24.95

Gorgeous Grunge Clear Stamp Set

$17.95

Hip Hip Hooray Card Kit

$19.95

2-1/2" Circle Punch

$16.95

Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Hello Honey Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Hello Honey 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

$6.95

Lost Lagoon 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

$6.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

 

Just can't put this stamp down!

Seriously having a hard time putting down the "Make today ridiculously amazing" stamp from the Amazing Birthday stamp set. It is one that I received at the Stampin' Up! Inspire. Create. Share. event back in July -- thank you, thank you, thank you Stampin' Up!

This stamp makes for the perfect birthday sentiment and I've been thinking about other opportunities for using it as well. Here are a few ideas:

• first day of school...how sweet for your special little one to find in their lunch?
• college move in day...who wouldn't smile to find this tucked in their suitcase?
• wedding day...what bride or groom wouldn't be happy to see this as they get ready for the day?
• first day on a new job...wouldn't this make for a nice little welcome card for a new colleague?

These are just a few examples! I'm also thinking this could work for retirement, a vacation, going skydiving or rock climbing or scube diving or some other fun activity.

The possibilities are endless.

What other ideas do you have?  Please be sure to share them in the comments! Reading this in your email? Click the post title above to be taken to my blog.

And I'm thinking you just may want to see the rest of this project. Here you go!

It was a fun card to make and to achieve the background, bryaer up a piece of Whisper White  cardstock with some ink (I used Daffodil Delight), and, once dry, emboss with the Honeycomb textured impressions embossing folder.

Looking for a fast, fun, and easy way to be creative?

Now is the time to give Paper Pumpkin a try! Get 50% off* your first two months when you sign up by September 10. Go to MyPaperPumpkin.com and use promo code: HALFOFF2. 

After your first two months, keep the creativity coming for just $19.95 US/$24.95 CAN + tax per month (shipping included). Each month a fully designed project kit will arrive at your door with stamps, ink, and paper—everything cut and ready to go.

It’s commitment-free! You can cancel or suspend your membership at any time—really! So, go on, give it a try. What do you have to lose? (Except some boredom.)

*For new subscribers only, not valid on prepaid subscriptions. Discount applied to one kit per month for the first two months of a new subscription.
 

Have a creative day!

 

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