Explosion Box / Gift Card Pillow Box

As I mentioned in the previous post, at yesterday's class we made, among other things, a birthday explosion box and a pillow box that holds gift cards.  I first saw this explosion box at a Cricut Stampede last year.  Cindy Royal designed it and sent us the Gypsy file.  I modified the file a bit by replacing the Cricut theme to a birthday theme.  If you have a chance, go check out her blog, she is amazing! 

Card / Gift class

Yesterday was a card / gift class I taught.  I stayed up until 4am Friday night finishing the kits.  We made the spring waterfall card from the previous post, a birthday explosion box, a watering can shaped card, a pillow box gift card holder and a joy fold Easter card.  I think the ladies enjoyed the experiece.  I have a bunch of pictures, so I'll make a seperate posting of the explosion box and gift card holder.  Here are the watering can card and the Easter joy fold card:

Spring Waterfall Card

Even though it's 80F here in Sugar Land, I have Spring Fever. In response, I made this spring waterfall card. I love the inside panels, but think the front still needs something. What do yall think??

Happy Mardi Gras

I don't have anything new to show yall today, but I just wanted to say HAPPY MARDI GRAS!!! 

Copic Markers

Sorry I haven't updated in a while.  In my never-ending quest for the latest (at least to me) and greatest crafting mediums, I've discovered Copic markers.  Actually, I heard about them about a year ago but totally blew it off because I had moved away from stamping.  Recently I've been seeing a lot of really beautiful cards and projects using the Copics which renewed my curiousity.  I heard about an online Copic class and decided to sign up.  I ordered the basic kit thinking that would suffice (haha).  I "won" an Ebay bid for about 100 more markers and now I have a pretty rainbow of the markers.  Anyway, our first assignment was to color one of the images that were in our kit and post it in the class gallery.  I don't have any skin tone markers (I see a shopping trip in my future) so I decided to color the cute dog.  As you can see, I have a lot to learn.  I told the instructors that I failed coloring in Kindergarten so they should not have high expectations for me.  (as for cutting, let's just say I am so thankful for my Cricuts!)

The class is very interesting and there is a lot more to this process than just coloring.  I saved this little guy and will color him again at the end of the class to see if I've made any improvements.  I can't digress, so I am hopeful!

Valentine Trend Class @ JoAnn's

Ok, everyone.  I'm teaching my first class at Joanns next week.  Saturday (2/11) is Open House where people can sign up for any of the classes they offer and half price.  I'll be there with my little samples, praying at least one person signs up.  If anyone is in the Sugar Land area of Texas, I would love to meet you!  The class is going to be on Monday the 13th of February from 10-12 and we're going to be making a Sour Cream container, Matchbook cover, Clear Window Pillow Box and a Valentine card for your special someone.  (We'll make a few if we have the time)  Here are some samples:

If you happen to be in the area Saturday, come say hi so I won't be so lonely!  :)

Fantastic Give-Away

In case yall have never seen it, there is a terrific blog that I follow religiously!  Scrap Guy's Paper Crafting Adventure is a blog by a guy named Bryan that has lots of different projects.  He recently re-designed his blog and is having an amazing give-away to celebrate the re-launching.  You have to check out his blog for all the details, but one of the prizes in the Cricut Imagine.  I am still discovering all the cool things I can do with my Imagine and I am excited that someone else can win one.  Here is his blog:
http://scrapguy.blogspot.com.  Leave him a comment for your chance to win and please tell him that PuffPastryDesigns sent you. 

I'll be showing off a few more projects that I'm working on today.  Go visit his site now!!

Birthday cards with matching tag

Good morning! 
Here are 2 different birthday cards with a matching tag.  This first one is meant for adults. Being OCD, it was sooo hard choosing different colors for each cupcake.  I was so frustrated that instead of using Stickles, I used my CM pens to make the sprinkles.  When I got to the tag, I decided the pen sprinkles were not pretty so I grabbed my Stickles.  At first I thought they would clash with the bling in the middle of the flower, but I think it's ok.
  

This next set is more kid-friendly with bright colors.  Yall saw the tri-fold card posted already, but I made a tag to go with it.  I wrote my sons name in the banner because it looked a little too plain.  the yellow cupcake is popped up and the red "Happy Birthday" cupcake has 2 layers of foam tape to make it a bit taller than the yellow one. 

Have a great day!

Secret Door Card

I recently discovered a new blog by Dawn Olchefske and the only thing I can say is AMAZING!!!  She has so many wonderful cards and even has tutorials for the more difficult ones.  One of the cards I fell in love with was called a Secret Door Card.  I had to watch her video twice to make sure I got everything right.  Here is a link to her blog with the video:  http://dostamping.typepad.com/dostamping_with_dawn/2010/08/video-secret-door-technique-meets-cottage-garden.html

My version is not nearly as cute as hers, but it was fun to make.  I made it for my 4 neices who (according to my sister) are just brilliant.  We'll see if they can figure it out.  My hubby couldn't figure it out without trying to take it completely apart!  Here is the front:

I left the front panel blank because I'm not sure what the sentiment will say.  Ok, here's the inside:

It says, "Can you find the secret message?"  If they can figure out the secret fold, here's what they'll see:

How cool is that?  I can't begin to explain how this card works, you'll have to go to Dawn's blog.  Her video is so easy to follow. 

Thanks so much, Dawn, for the inspiration and for letting me post.

More Valentines

I have been so busy making Valentines projects for 2 classes that I have not had any time to post pictures.  I already posted the cupcake postcard, matchbook candy covers and the spinner card. Well, here are the other projects.  The Sour Cream container has M&M's inside, but you can put any kind of small candy.  Don't put too much, though, or it won't shake properly. 

The next project was a heart shaker card.  It turned out super cute! 

The last card was one of my favorites.  It was  made with only Creative Memories products.

Now I'm working on Spring/Easter projects.  I have a really fun card that I made today but I can't post it until I get permission from the lady who owns the blog that I found it (does that make sense?). 

Hope everyone is having a great week!