Valentines Banner

If you are a regular customer of mine or even just blog visitor, you know I love to make banners.  They are just so festive and fun.  So this year for my Lots of Love Stampin' Buffet, I came up with this one:

Colors: Cherry Cobbler and Pink Pirouette.  Big Shot: Hearts Collection, Hearts a Flutter and Banners Framelits and Typeset Alphabet Bigz.  Accessories: Whisper White Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Pink Pirouette Taffeta Ribbon, Red and Silver Glimmer Paper, Tea Lace Paper Doilies.

You might have to click on that picture to get a better look at it.  It has a lot of fun textures and bling in it. I just love these new Banner Framelits that are in the Occasions Catalog.  Such a fabulous shape and you get  6 different sizes with the set. 

If you want to make one of these for yourself, today is the last day to RSVP for the class.  If you can't come to the class, but would like the banner kit for yourself, send me an email at paulastamps@gmail.com and I'll get it to you. 

Coming up Friday is the Stampin' Addicts Sale-A-Bration Blog Hop!  Don't miss this festive look at all the fun items you can get free during Sale-A-Bration.  And then on Monday, it's time for the Stamp Review Crew Blog Hop featuring Hello, Lovely.  We'll see you back her then!

Build a Banner Tips and Tricks

Wasn't the Stampin' Addicts Fall Blog Hop spectacular? So many great ideas for Fall from the Holiday Catalog.  If you missed it, the sites are all deep linked together so you can still make your way through the hop.

I promised today to share some tips and tricks I have learned about using the Build-A-Banner kit.

Colors: Pumpkin Pie, Summer Starfruit, and Basic Black.  Punch: 2-3/8" Scallop Circle.  Accessories: Build A Banner Simply Created Kit, Halloween Banner Simply Created Accessory Kit, Pumpkin Pie and Summer Starfruit Ink Refills, Sponge Daubers, Black Stazon Ink Pad, Basic Black Chevron Ribbon.

For the SPOOKY banner, I used the Stampin' Spritzers to color the background on four of the pennants.  This can be a little tricky and I will admit to ruining a few pennants before I got it right. But with the suggestions offered at convention and through trial and error, I have a few tips to share.

First, add about 30 drops of reinker to the Stampin' Spritzer and then add rubbing alcohol to fill the bottle about 3/4 full.  (70% alcohol works better than 90%).  Before you spray the pennant, make sure to protect the surrounding area.  I placed mine in a cardboard box.  Place the stencil over the pennant.  Prime the spritzer onto a scrap (or into the corner of the box) just to get a feel for the direction of the spray and saturation of it).  Hold the spritzer 8-10 inches away and spray lightly.  Don't over do it!  The more you spray, the more it bleeds under the stencil, so be careful!  Carefully remove the stencil.

For the other pennants and the letters (the ones with the polka dots on them) I used a sponge dauber to apply ink directly to the pennants using the stencils. 

The other thing to share about this is coloring the Black Chevron Ribbon.  I got this idea from my friend Rhonda Griffin over at the Stampin' Bunny.  I used a sponge dauber to add color the white portion of the ribbon pumpkin pie.  You can see that ribbon here:

You can also see on this pennant how I added a few 2-3/8" scallop circle punchies to the banner too.

Colors: Tangerine Tango, Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip, Crushed Curry.  Punch: 7/8" & 1-1/4" Scallop Circles.  Accessories: Build a Banner Simply Created Kit, Sweater Weather Designer Series Paper, 1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon, Naturals Designer Buttons, Linen Thread, Many Marvelous Markers.

For this banner, instead of using the spritzers, I colored directly on the pennants with the Stampin' Write Markers.  As you can tell, the colors turn out much more vibrant when you do this, but it does destroy the tips of your markers so you might want to used your old ones and then buy new ones to replace them.  I also dipped the tip in matching ink refills when they started to get a little dry. 

Here is a close up view of the smaller burlap pennants between the larger pennants:

I am already thinking of other banners to make for parties and Christmas, and other holidays.  Come back on Wednesday to see the mixed-media project plus a bonus mixed-media project.   See you then!

BOO banner

Several months ago, my friend Lynne asked me to design a BOO banner for a quick mini class for some of her coworkers.  Hard to believe but that class is now tomorrow.  Here is what I came up with:

Colors: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive and Whisper White.  Stamps: Googly Ghouls. Big Shot: Perfect Pennants BIGZ L, Typeset Alphabet Bigz, Window Frames Collection Framelits, Chevron Textured Embossing Folder.  Punches: 1-3/4" Circle Punch.  Accessories: Polka Dot Parade Designer Series Paper, Basic Black 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Rich Razzleberry 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, Googlies, Glitter Brads.

Here is a closer look at one of the pennants:

This banner will also be offered for $8 at my SPOOK-tacular Stampin' Buffet coming up Saturday, September 29 and Friday, October 5 at my house in Farmington.  You can get all the details of the class right here on my blog by clicking on the tab above.

Live too far away to come to my class?  I am also offering this project as a kit.  The kit does not include any stamped images, but does include all the pieces and embellishments precut and textured and ready to assemble for $10 (includes shipping and handling).  It is just one of the kits I currently have available.  To see them all, visit my KIT PAGE.

Stampin' Addicts Holiday Catalog Blog Hop: Ghoulish Googlies Bundle

Welcome to stop #12 on the Stampin' Addicts Holiday Catalog Blog Hop.  If you're hoping in order, you've just come from Betty's Kitty Stamps Blog.  (Isn't that cat just awesome?  I've just added it to my wish list.)  If this is your first stop on the hop, no worries: all the blogs are looped together in a circle so you won't miss a thing.  If you get lost along the way, or just want to chat about the hop, visit the main hop thread on Stampin' Addicts.

First of all, there are so many amazing things in the Holiday Catalog, I had a hard time picking what to use for the hop.  But several years ago, Stampin' Up had a Halloween set called Booglie Eyes that I never bought and I've always regretted it.  So when I saw Googly Ghouls, I was not going to make the same mistake twice.  And the Ghoulish Googlies Designer Kit is only $4 more when you buy it in the bundle with the stamps so who wouldn't do that? Right?  You get enough goodies to make ten treat bags and you will have left over tags for other projects too.  And honestly, I just can't stop creating things with this stamp set.  It is so cute!  If you come back on Wednesday and Friday next week, I'll be sharing more information about the blog hop projects.

The first project I'm sharing is actually a CASE of a project that was demonstrated on the Main Stage at Convention by Shannon West.  It uses all the things that come in the Ghoulish Googlies Bundle: the glassine bags, tags, stamps and adhesive-backed googly eyes. I added texture, color and bling to the bag in a technique that Shannon demonstrated and I'll tell you more about on Wednesday so be sure to come back.

If you've hopped along with Stampin' Addicts before, you know that I LOVE banners.  I make a new one every Halloween (and this year, I've made 2 already).  I was actually going to show you the other one I made, but then I got the idea to use the tags from the Ghoulish Googlies Kit as the background for the letters on a completely different banner.  And I love how they layered with these die cuts from the Framelits Labels Collection.

I easily could have made a card using the cute tags from the kit too.  But I made this card for a Holiday Mini Swap a few weeks back and decided to feature it instead.  I just love that witch image. The Designer Series Paper on here is from the Howlstooth and Scaringbone pack also in the Holiday Mini. 

This Halloween Frame was so fun to put together and pretty quick with some circle punches and die cuts.  I love the bright fun colors in the Polka Dot Parade Designer Series Paper Pack; four of the six are perfect for Halloween.  And of course, the Ghouls make an appearance here with their googly eyes. Love those things!  Come back on Friday to learn more about this project and how to get a kit to make your very own.

I hope you've enjoyed this look at the Ghoulish Googlies Bundle and that I've convinced you that you have to have it too. Don't forget to come back on Wednesday and Friday to learn more about each project.  Next stop on the hop is Heidi's RunningwScissorsStamper Blog and a look at Perfectly Preserved.  She always has fabulous projects share.