"PEAS IN A POD" (Part 3)

Young Girl's Invitation and Charm Holder


Here is the invitation that I sent out to the younger guests of my best friend Julie's baby shower. I used the same design that I had created for my "Charmed Birthday" invitations, as seen in the December/January 2008 issue of Paper Trends magazine. I just modified the colors, fonts and choice of patterned paper to coordinate with the adult invitations for the shower. Each of the invites includes one child-sized charm bracelet with a "It's a Girl" heart charm and a bejeweled initial charm, matching the first letter of the girl's first name.

Instead of creating individual charm holders to use as prizes (as I did with my "Charmed Birthday" set), I decided to give each of the girls all of their charms at once, so that they could create their bracelet as a craft activity. To that end, I decided to design one large charm holder for each set of charms. I based the size of the my holder on the card that came with the original packaging. I designed the holder to coordinate with my invitation, and used the packaged card as my template to punch small holes for the charms. Then I simply reused the wires that held the charms to their original packaging to attach them to my holder. I also repurposed the acetate envelope to protect my charms.

Invitation Finished Size 4" x 4.25".
Charm Holder Finished Size 2.75" x 4.25".

"PEAS IN A POD" (Part 2)

Two Thank You Cards...


This is the Thank You note card that I designed to coordinate with my "Peas in a Pod" baby shower invitations (see earlier post). I used the same pea pod graphic that I had designed for the invitation. I created a few different variations before settling on my final choice... (1) Adding small buttons (too much bulk); (2) Adding paper buttons on foam tape; (3) Printing the entire pea pod (including buttons) separately on white CS, cutting it out, and attaching it with foam tape; and (4) simply printing the entire graphic directly on to my yellow CS. My runner up choice was #3 - printing the pea pod separately - because it gave me my truest colors. However, after an informal poll (my DH), I decided that all the added embellishments were too much for such a small, simple note card. So I went with #4 - printing directly on the CS. Which also happened to be the easiest and quickest choice - Yay!

The cardstock that I chose was originally an A6 Folded Card. I sized my note card to fit two-up so that I could get two per card. The cardstock was also yellow on the outside and white on the inside. I decided to take advantage of this fact by trimming the front cover of my note card with decorative edge scissors and allowing the white interior to show through. I added the polka dots and along with my sentiment and Voilà! completed Thank You card!


This is the Thank You card that I designed for the woman I hired to bake the mini cupcakes that I served at the baby shower. I used the same A6 Folded Cardstock as above to create this card, however this time I held the fold at the top of the card. I also trimmed the bottom of the cover in an arc. I used a photo of the cupcakes that I had taken at the shower and mounted it to the front of the card with foam tape.

For the inside of the card, I decided that I wanted to create a pocket in which to hold my payment check. I simply folded my CS up and adhered it on the sides to form a pocket. Then, to add contrast with the front of my card, I adhered some green gingham patterned paper to the pocket. This was a simple design that could also work to hold a gift card.

Finished size of both cards approx. 4.5" x 3".

Happy Easter Everyone!

Just a quick post to share with you an easy Easter Basket that I made with the kids at my family's Easter gathering. There are many variations of this basket on the web. My version uses just one sheet of 8.5" x 11" cardstock or construction paper, a small hole punch, and two brads. Once completed, I let the kids embellish them as they wished with silk flowers, stickers, die-cut letters, etc. In the sample above, I used silk pansies which I separated from the wire stem, and removed all the remaining plastic except for the flower's "stamens." I then attached them to the basket with the same brads that hold the basket together. Enjoy!

1. Starting with a letter-sized piece of cardstock, cut off a 1.75" x 11" strip. Trim this strip to 1.25" x 11" and punch holes where indicated. Put strip aside to use as your basket handle.
2. Trim the remaining piece to a 6.75" square. Score 2.25" from each side. Cut where indicated on solid lines and fold on dashed lines.
3. Punch holes where indicated. Fold the sides up until the holes align. Insert a brad through the holes in the basket and the handle.
   
4. Embellish as desired.

Click for full size pattern.

Finished size approx. 5" x 2.5" x 6".

"PEAS IN A POD" (Part 1)

First and foremost, Congrats to Julie and Ken on the birth of their two bea-U-ti-ful baby girls earlier this month! Yay!


As promised, here is the first look at the projects that I created for my best friend Julie's baby shower. The complete party ensemble included invitations for the adults, invitations for the younger girls, charm holders (also for the younger guests), thank-you note cards, favors with hand-cut bag toppers, three different game cards, and decorated prize pails. I also designed a thank you card (which could also double as a gift card holder) for the woman who baked the mini cupcakes that I served instead of cake.


When I began planning for this shower, I knew the proud parents-to-be were going to have twin girls. So I began my search for a theme at that source of all knowledge... the Internet. I wanted to go with a twins theme, and after much (much, MUCH!) research, I finally narrowed it down to "Noah's Ark" or "Peas in a Pod." I really liked the "Noah's Ark" idea... (you know... "Two by Two") and I thought I could easily find decorations and prizes (animal-shaped balloons, beanie babies, etc...). But then I thought about creating 30+ ark-shaped invites... and my DH (Dear Hubby) pointed out that the "Two by Two" is the mom and dad, not the babies... So I did a mock-up design of a "Two Peas in a Pod" invitation, decided it was uber-cute, and went with my new theme.

The inspiration for the cover of my invite came from a "Two Peas" baby photo album that I came across online. It used buttons as the "peas" and I loved that idea for its added dimension. So I designed my own peapod in which to nestle my little shell buttons. My original design was entirely monochromatic in green and white. It wasn't until after I completed all the invitations and started working on the coordinating items that I introduced yellow as an accent color.

For the invite itself, I knew I had a lot of information that I wanted to include - the event data, directions to the location with a map, and registry info. So I took a cue from formal wedding invitations and decided to split the information up onto separate cards. For visual interest, I chose to stagger the heights of the cards, and based the size of the cards on the amount of information each needed to contain. The directions card is actually the longest card -- it unfolds to reveal a map and text. Finally, I created a pocket in which I could tuck my cards.

Assembly was actually rather simple. I designed the outer card so that I could get two cards from a single 12" square piece of cardstock. Once printed, I simply folded it up once to create a pocket and then in half to form my card. Creating the inner cards was simply a matter of printing, trimming, folding and collating. As you can imagine, the cover was the most time-consuming. I printed multiple designs on white cardstock, trimmed them to size, cut a slot for my "peas" using a craft knife, attached my buttons using glue dots, and finally adhered it to my cardstock with foam tape.

Finished Size 6" x 4.5" (closed).
Check back soon for additional "Peas in a Pod" projects...

Happy Spring Everyone!

Well, maybe I'm jumping the gun just a teensy, weensy, little bit... But hey! The first day of spring is this Thursday, and just this past week I saw approximately TWO DOZEN robins pecking away in a field. So spring can't be too far off...


So I figured now is the perfect time to share with you my Flower Pot Seed Holder project. The base for this project is a larger, more embellished version of my "Miss You" Envelope Book. (You can find the webisode and the instructions for these Envelope Books on the Paper Wishes website.)

I originally created these Flower Pot Seed Holders as elaborate birthday cards for my best friend and my mother-in-law, both gardening enthusiasts. The flowers and top lip of the "flower pot" open up to reveal pockets containing seed packets and a tag with sentiments. I used the larger No. 6 coin envelopes for this project -- they're the perfect size to hold my seed packets. The flap is held closed with some Velcro, and I used layers of silk flowers for added dimension. I presented this "card" in a drawstring organza bag, as it was rather bulky for a traditional envelope.

Finished Size Approx. 3.75" x 7" x 0.75"
More pics in my online portfolio.

Making Your Own "Love Stamp"... Priceless

Hate the rising cost of stamps?
Well here's how you can make your own!
True, this "Love Stamp" Tag won't get your package delivered, but it will make sure that it is well-received!


I designed this tag using the handmade Prima-style paper flowers that I created using Valita's great tutorial (see previous post), and scraps of paper and ribbon that I had on hand. First I measured out a 2.25" x 1.75" rectangle from my patterned paper. Then I applied my rub-on and attached my paper flowers with mini brads and glue. Next I matted my patterned paper on white cardstock which I trimmed with decorative scissors. Next I cut a 3.5" x 2.5" piece of blue cardstock. I rounded the bottom corners and mitered the top corners. Using a slot punching tool, I added a hole through which I threaded my ribbon. Finally I mounted my "stamp" onto the tag with foam tape.

Materials:

• Patterned Cardstock: Blossom "Sisters" Bird/Light Pink from Bohemia collection from My Mind's Eye, Red/White Hearts Double Sided Mulberry paper from The Paper Company, blue cardstock from Brights series by DCWV, white cardstock by Hammerhill
• Accents: mini circle brads and Simply Stated Baby rub-on by Making Memories, paper flowers - handmade
• Fibers: ribbon from Target's $1 Scrapbooking line
  
• Tools: Paper Edgers Stamp decorative edge scissors from Fiskars; Paper & Ribbon Slot Punching Tool by Making Memories; rounded corner punch, retro flower punch & daisy punch from EK Success; embossing stylus tools by Royal & Langnickel

Finished Size 2.5" x 3.5", exclusive of ribbon.

Make Your Own Prima-Style Flowers!

I found this great tutorial on Valita's blog. My loyal readers may recognize Valita as the designer who used my Original Hawaiian Shirt template to created those darling cards -- the one with the slippers and the one with the paint roller. Well, Valita came up with a great idea on how to create your own Prima-style flowers using flower punches and handmade paper. (You can find the link to Valita's wonderful step-by-step tutorial here.)

I didn't have any handmade paper on hand, so I used some scraps of double-sided mulberry paper. Since this paper is rather thick, I first peeled apart the paper into two layers. That's two for the price of one! Also, my flower punch didn't make heart-shaped petals (like those on the famouse Prima flowers), so after I folded each petal down the center, I snipped off a piece at the fold with my embroidery scissors. A little dry embossing with a stylus and Voilà! A finished flower for a fraction of the cost, using supplies that I already had on hand!

Thanks Valita!

(Stay tuned for a quick and easy project that I created using these handmade flowers...)

Busy Little Bee...

Howdy folks! I've been super-duper busy, so I thought I'd share with you a card that I designed a while ago...

I titled this card "Welcome to the HIVE!" It's a simple, cheerful card that I created using a sheet of acetate as the card base. The bees, "grass" and sentiment are on the front of the card, while the flowers reside on the inside. All of the accent images are vellum stickers. I added color to the fonts using Photoshop.

Materials:

• Cardstock: light blue & green adhesive cardstock by DCWV,
  white by The Paper Company
• Transparency Sheet: 3M
• Accents: Happy Flowers/Bees vellum stickers from Provo Craft
• Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares from 3L
• Fonts: HipHop Demi, Blomster from dafont.com, Leftovers from fontdiner.com

Instructions:

1. Cut a 7" x 10" rectangle from transparency sheet. Fold in half to form a 5" x 7" card, crease at the top.
2. Apply large flower sticker to blue cardstock. Adhere to the center of the inside of the card.
3. Cut a 1" strip from the bottom of the green cardstock. Tear away to edge of green cardstock to reveal white core. Adhere to the bottom of the front of the card.
4. Print sentiment on white cardstock. Trim to approx. 1" x 4.25". Mount to center of green CS strip using foam squares.
5. Mount one large bee on white cardstock. Cut out. Glue to card using two stacked foam squares for added height. Randomly attach remaining bees.

Works Like a CHARM!

I'd like to share with you my "Charmed Birthday" set, which appeared in the December/January 2008 issue of Paper Trends magazine. I designed this "charming" card to be an invitation to a young girl's birthday party. The invite includes an attached bracelet with one charm. Guests are instructed to bring their new bracelet with them to the party, where additional charms will be given away as prizes. I also designed simple charm holders to showcase the prizes.

Materials:
Bracelet:

• Accents: chain from Metal Madness, assorted charms by Fancy Finery, 12mm lobster clasps by Jewelry & Craft Essentials
• Tools: needle-nosed pliers

Card:

• Cardstock: Assorted Box of Cards & solids from DCWV, white from Hammerhill
• Adhesive: 3M's ATG gun & tape, Pop Dots from All Night Media
• Fonts: Fontdinerdotcom Luvable & Rickles from fontdiner.com, Round No. 1
• Tools: Crop-A-Dile by We R Memory Keepers, computer
• Other: charm bracelet, see above

Charm Holder:

• Cardstock: Assorted Box of Cards from DCWV, white from Hammerhill
• Accents: assorted charms by Fancy Finery
• Adhesive: 3M's ATG gun & tape
• Fonts: Fontdinerdotcom Luvable from fontdiner.com
• Tools: Crop-A-Dile by We R Memory Keepers, computer
• Other: wire

Complete instructions in the Dec/Jan 2008 issue of Paper Trends magazine.
Card Size 4" x 4.25"; Charm Holder Size 4.25" x 1.5"
Additional photos in my online portfolio.