A Moment in Time

Achilles Tulips

  Well, I am getting all set for our February 1st release and to get us in the spring frame of mind I thought I'd post a neat little idea. It really doesn't really have much to do with paper crafting but there is a connection to stamping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What this is is an  Achilles brand antique rubber stamp holder in the carosel style. You know, the one you saw on the desk of the librarian in elementary school.

 

 

 

 

I found this beauty for $5 at a garage sale. I also found one that holds 12 on ebay which has a silver finish. I think I will offer this up to a friend of mine who is having a wedding and needs a centrepiece.

I inserted our glass test tubes from RBD into each clamp all the way around the carosel and inserted a single stem of tulip. What an elegant display and great way to re-pupose an old item. Go dig out those antiques girls!!!

 

See you on the 1st!

 

Introducing a friend of RBD

  Hello all, just thought I'd pop on and tell you to have a look at Keri Lee Sereika's Blog today and look at the wonderful projects she created using the Roots and Wings sets. Beautiful job Keri Lee!!!  You're going to want to bookmark this one folks, if you haven't been there before she does the most amazing things with Spellbinders dies and stamps!!!  Go check her out!!

The four seasons

I wish I had pictures of the hotel to post from the inside on a fabulous vacation but no, it isn't the case! haha  I've created the four seasons from the Roots and Wings stamp set  to show off a little bit of how the images look once assembled. So here we go:

 I first took rectangles of 3 1/4"x 4"  white cardstock and crumpled and tea stained them. Once dry I stamped the trunk image on all 4. I then took the co-ordinating season's toppers to the tree and finished the card. I also stitched around the edges of the top layer to add a little bit of a rustic feel.  To get the varigated color I threaded the bobbin with green thread and the main spool with white. My tension is a little off so that some of the green locks show on the front side

Spring-Here I stamped the bud image in green and rose and then added some white gel pen as accent. I stitched a few pinky-red seed beads onto the branches to add some dimension to the tree. I added a pretty little bird on the lowest branch to draw the eye. I finished it off by adding the sentiment "may you never forget the promise of spring".

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer- I used the full tree image for this season. I used the rock and roll technique to get the variation of color on the leaves. I then added a little glitter to give it some depth. I finished it off by adding the sentiment "Friendship is a sheltering tree".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall - I used the same full tree image here but colored each leaf individually with markers. I then added red stickles onto some of the leaves for a little sparkle. I added a few leaves fluttering to the ground to portray the feeling of fall. I finished with the sentiment "Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter- Here I left the tree as it was but accented it with white gel pen on the branches to look as though the snow had accumulated. I added some clear lacquer covered in sparkles for a shimmer and stitched a few white seed beads on to look like snow.  I finished this one off with the sentiment "No winter lasts forever, no spring skips it's turn.

 

I sponged all the edges and matted on corresponding mats. I've made these into a set of 4 greeting cards, but wouldn't these look lovely as framed art!

Have a great day!

 

Favor box template!

Hello everyone, here I am as promised with a quick little template which goes hand in hand with Friday's post, but would also be a great idea for inexpensive wedding favors!!   They are so easy to put together and you can fill them with anything you'd like!

**Please note if you are putting baking or goodies directly into them you may want to print out the template onto a transparent adhesive film and then stick that to your paper or cardstock, on the back side, to protect the outside packaging from grease spots.

Download Favor box 

Stamp your sentiment on the inside flap for a little bit of personalization. Here I used the stamp set Cupid's Arrow. I also used this set for the subtle pattern on the outside. The ribbon is Jadefrom our Taffeta Edge Satin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Test tube idea

  Just a quick note to say pop on over to Tina's Blog and check out her ingenious idea for using our test tubes as treat packaging! This brings a whole new level of CUTE to these versatile tubes!

Treats from the heart

I thought I'd share a recipe with you today which is so easy to adapt to any time of year or occasion simply with a drop or two of food coloring and a different cookie cutter.

This is one of my favorite recipes for homemade marshmallows. If you've never enjoyed fresh homemade marshmallows you don't know what you've been missing. These marshmallows are useful in any standard recipe calling for marshmallows but because they are so soft and delicious they stand alone very well by themselves! Dip them in chocolate for an even more enjoyable experience! Print off this recipe and include it with your marshmallow gift! Here I've placed them into a clear cellophane bag and topped with our taffeta edge satin ribbon

Download Homemade Marshmallows

Here I've just placed them in a small jar purchased inexpensively at IKEA and added some ribbon, you could also add rub ons or other decoration as well, I wanted to show off the heart shapes here.

Here is an example of using the marshmallows in your own recipes. After you've cut out all of your shapes with the cutters you'll have a scrap pile of excess marshmallow which isn't very pretty to look at. I've made these scraps into crispy rice treats on a stick. I used the large heart image from our Cupid's Arrow stamp set to stamp on the cellophane in Staz on ink.

Such a quick and easy recipe which is sure to impress...especially after they have been tasted! You'll never go back to store-bought again!

check back on Monday because I'll be posting a tutorial on a cute favorbox which you could easily package theses treats in!

Bunch of Bees

I thought I'd share a project done by the talented Amber Chapman today. This is a fabulous gift set that really works for any occasion.

She used the favorite set Bee-Mail from RBD to create every co-ordinating element of this gift pack.

Don't you love how the bee image stamped onto the focal points ties everything together with her honey theme?

 

 

Here she used the technique from one of my earlier poststo make hand poured candles.

 

She added Tea and honey sticks to the set to really bring home the sense of pampering

A beautiful spiral card to complete the theme

 

A closer look, doesn't this technique just bring life to this set?

 

 

Notice the subtle honeycomb background on the inside of the card

Once more the complete ensemble with Burt's bees lip balm included!

 

Recipe: Ink Basic Black SU!
Paper: Mulan Piggy Tales
Stamps: Bee-Mail, RBD
Tins: 4oz clear top square
Ribbon: Taffeta Edge Satin in Marigold

January Stamp set release.... Roots and Wings

The new set Roots and Wings is now officially on sale at RBD. I have been working with this set for a few weeks now and I am loving it! I thought I'd do a little project with you to give you a bit of a feel for the set itself and the sentiment behind it.

Often as a mother, and especially at this time of year, I have looked back at what I have done with and for my children and wonder if I am doing enough. Am I instilling enough tradition in my children's lives? Is there enough constancy and routine? Am I doing my job preparing them for the world and helping them grow to be contributing members of society? Have I done my duty as far as preserving the family memories and heritage? I think these are questions every mother has about themselves.  Just the fact that we worry about these things I think is answer enough that we are doing our best.

I would like to focus on the part of preserving the family memories and heritage. When I designed the stamp set Roots and Wings I had this exact purpose in mind. Not only does this stamp set cover many of your greeting card needs but it also plays a great role in family tradition and heritage.

I've done this framed project as a demonstration of how this set can help you keep your ties close to heart and memory. I've photographed it so that you can see the ways of leaving it simple and clean but still expressing the respect for the family roots or more personal by adding family ancestor's photographs.

I first took a white piece of 8.5x11" cardstock and printed out my family's clan history (I am of Scottish decent, my dad's given names are Ian James MacIntyre!!!) which I found by doing a Google search for my clan name (When I printed I did so without using the Magenta or Yellow cartridges to get the color, you can also use the basic print mode if your printer has it....it shows as black until the next step). Crumple your paper gently and uncrumple and smooth flat, I added a few tears for vintage feel.

Then I took a cold, wet, tea bag (English Breakfast works best) and lightly dabbed and swabbed the entire paper, changing the printing on the paper to a pretty teal color and giving the page an antique look by tea staining. Set aside to dry. 

I then took the trunk image from the set Roots and Wings and stamped first the tree trunk, and then masked off the trunk leaving just the branch portion of the image, inverted it and created the roots portion of my tree. I used a post-it note to do this. I love that this adds a whole new image to the set just by doing this simple trick!

I then added my leaves, which is a separate stamp image for maximum versatility, cut out the entire image with the ovals Nestabilities and then proceeded to tea stain this portion as well.

 *keep a piece of paper towel close at hand in case you need to blot the excess moisture from your image... a little running is good but too much can be disaster!

I made a little ribon decoration using our taffeta edge satin ribbon in Teal by looping and layering the ribbon and adhering it with Scor-tape. I then popped the focal image up with foam dimensionals and layered it on top. I added some antique copper swirls for some bling.

I stamped the images "family" and "Roots" and made a label of sorts to tie the whole thing together. I tea stained this as well and also popped this below the focal image. This is the point where you can leave it as is. Simple and clean and beautiful. I almost prefer this version as a wall hanging and the more personal one as a scrapbook layout page. (I've blurred the photographs to provide privacy)

             

To add in the family photos all I did was punch out ovals from the photographs (NEVER use original photograps when you are working with heritage projects, have them professionally copied and archive the originals!!) to mimic the ovals previously used in the layout. I popped these up as well to give it the dimension and voila!!! There you have it. Beautifully displayed memories and a constant reminder of your family roots.

 

Swing by the store to see the full details of this new set and it's matching partner.. while you're there, take a look at the new ribbon... we've marked it down 20% for this week only as one of our New Year's celebration perks!

Hope you liked this project!

Wishing you all the best in 2009!!!!

Remember to kiss your babies- they grow up so quickly!

Recipe:

Stamps: Roots and Wings- RBD
Ink: SU! Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss
CS: Whisper White SU!
Ribbon: Taffeta Edge Satin in Teal- RBD

Frosted PVC totes

 

We are now carrying the cutest frosted clear tote bags in two sizes 4-1/2" X 2" X 7"  and 6-2/4" X2-1/2" X9" . These make elegant gift packaging easy as can be.

another part of our frosted line is our Frosted Oval window tuck top candy boxes. Perfect for all of your Valentine's Day candy gift packaging. They measure 2-3/4 X 1-1/2 X 5-7/8.