So ... I did a thing!

Yes! I just did a thing ... I joined a new company!! Color Street!! I am so excited about this! 

What is Color Street, you ask?
Well, it's a company that creates mess free, easy to apply, no dry time nail polish strips. 

What are nail polish strips, you ask? Well they're ...

• Easy, one-step application for a brilliant, salon quality manicure in minutes!

• Chip-resistant, long lasting color — up to 10 days depending on usage

• No dry time, smudges, or streaks

• 100% real nail polish formula with base coat, color, and top coat all in one

• Convenient and travel-friendly

• Easily removed with nail polish remover

• Flexible — can be gently stretched for a perfect fit

• Made in USA with globally patented technology

They're gorgeous and come in Solids, Glitters, Nail Art, Over lays and French!!

Would you like to learn more? See some examples, tips & tricks? Get free samples?

Join my brand new Facebook group by clicking right here ...

Join my Color Street FB Group

Thanks for stopping by! As always if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

xoxo

Dawn

Decorate your planner with Stampin' Up!

Do you use a planner? I have to have a planner to keep me organized lol. Of course, because I'm a paper crafter, I make my own every year! I never found a planner that fit all of my needs, so years ago I decided to create one that was customized to what I needed. It's pretty time consuming, (& a lot of printing/ink!) but super easy to create one. I use Word to create most of the pages, and put them all in a 3-ring binder.

And of course, being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I decorate it with Stampin' Up! supplies! I use washi tape to add borders & stamps and ink to decorate the pages. Here's a couple of examples ...

And of course because I'm a Cricut user, I create my own stickers ...

I create/print/cut at the beginning of the year and store them in the pocket of the 3-ring binder. Plus, I create/print/cut as needed throughout the year. Usually I decorate each month at the beginning of the month. I think it helps me get organized and see what's coming for the month.

Do you use a planner? Have you ever thought to use Stampin' Up! supplies to decorate it? Stampin' Up! is so much more than card making! I think I'm going to start blogging about the different ways I use it.

Thanks for stopping by! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me or leave a comment.

Swirly Circles Card

Hello, hello!
I have a super fun card for you today! When I seen this technique on a Stampin’ Up! demonstrators group on Facebook, I just knew I had to try it 😊
Here’s what I came up with ...

Don’t you just love it? 😍
Okay, so here’s how I made it ...
I decided to use shades of blue. I used the colors Night of Navy, Misty Moonlight, Pacific Point and Balmy Blue. You can use any colors you choose and this is a great card to make if you have a lot of scraps you want to use up!
These are the products I used (a complete detailed list will be at the end of this post).

The Layering Circles die set has 8 circles graduating in size. So if you number them 1-8 (1 being the largest) I’m using the numbers 1, 3, 5, & 7 - the ones on the left.

I went darkest to lightest, so this is how I cut them out with my Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine ...

I layered them from lightest to darkest, then darkest to lightest and glued them together ...

Next, I positioned them on my cutter and sliced them in half ...

Take half from each circle. It takes a little playing around to line them up, but you end up with 2 'swirls' for 2 different cards! ...

I set those aside to begin stamping. I decided on using the hippo and sentiment from the stamp set 'Hippo Happiness'. Using Misty Moonlight ink, I stamped the hippo outline full strength onto a scrap of Whisper White cardstock ...

Using the hippo body stamp, I inked it up with Misty Moonlight ink, and stamped onto my work surface to make the ink lighter. Then lined up and stamped over the hippo outline ...

I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink to stamp the face ... 

The Layering Circles Die set also comes with scalloped edge circles. So I used the smallest one to center over the hippo face and cut it out with the Stampin' Cut & Emboss machine ...

I lined up the cut circles on a layer piece of Basic Black cardstock, then used Multipurpose liquid glue to attach. You can use any adhesive, but I like using the liquid to give a little wiggle room to line them up ...

Here's a tip for you ... I always pre-cut a bunch of the front layer of the card (5.25"x4") in Whisper White & Basic Black to have on hand. When I pre-cut them all, I end up with strips that are 1/2" x 8 1/2" and I keep them. They are perfect for sentiments!

So I grabbed one of my strips and cut it to 4". Using Misty Moonlight ink, I stamped the sentiment ...

I added adhesive to the back of the strip and attached it over the seam of the circles ...

I put a couple of Dimensionals on the back of the hippo circle and attached it over the sentiment strip, centering it over the small circle ...

To finish, I used Thick Whisper White cardstock as the card base and attached the Basic Black to the front ...

Ta-daaa ... complete!

Here's another tip ... When I was using the second set of circles for another card, I discovered that you can use a 3 1/2" piece of foam strip, attach to the center of the card layer ...

Then line up and attach the circles ...

Center the sentiment over the foam strip ...

The foam strip makes the sentiment evenly raised since the layered circles are a little thick where the small circles are ...

Here's another card I made using the colors Magenta Madness, Misty Moonlight, Pool Party & Old Olive; and the stamp set "Nothing's Better Than" for the sentiment ...

Here's the detailed list of the products I used. You can shop for them on my shopping website by clicking right HERE

CARDSTOCK MEASURMENTS:

Whisper White, thick ... 8.5" x 5.5"

Basic Black ... 5.25" x 4"

Whisper White ... 1/2" x 4", + scrap for Hippo scalloped circle

Night of Navy, Pacific Point, Misty Moonlight, Balmy Blue ... scraps for circles

Such a cool technique, right? I love it and can definitely see myself making more! The possibilities of colors and sentiment stamps are endless!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Thanks for stopping by!
xoxo
Dawn

DIY Money Tree

Hello, hello!
I don't know about you, but when I give a gift of money to someone, I have a really hard time of just putting it in a card! I feel like I always have to come up with some creative presentation lol.
My niece graduated high school this year - woohoooo!! However, because of COVID and the quarantines and limited gatherings, my sister was just recently able to throw her a graduation party. I had seen this idea for a money tree/topiary awhile back and decided to try it myself.
Here's what I ended up with ...

I think it turned out pretty cute! I created a picture tutorial if you'd like to see it, just click HERE
But if you're more into written tutorials, this is how I made it ...
The supplies I used are ... 1 9-inch styrofoam ball, floral pins, floral tape, dowel (I didn't have any, so I used an American Flag yard decoration I had left over from the 4th of July lol), white glue (or you can use Mod Podge), floral foam, a Mason Jar (or any jar/vase/container), party streamers, & curly ribbon

I began by removing the flag from the dowel, wrapped it with floral tape and poked the dowel into the center of the styrofoam ball. Then I removed the dowel and filled the hole with white glue and poked the dowel back in ...

I set that aside to dry and grabbed the dollar bills & floral pins. Pinching the center of the bill, I positioned the floral pin over the center, careful not to poke the bill ...

I then began attaching the floral pins into the styrofoam ball ...

I ended up with some blank spaces that I didn't like. I used some $10 and $5 bills, but if you have more $1 bills, it might fill it ...

I decide to use punches and cardstock to make flowers ...

And I also used my Cricut die cutting machine to cut out leaves ...

Using the floral pins, I attached the flowers and leaves to the spaces ...

Once that was done, I cut 4-5 foot lengths of curly ribbon - I think about 6 of each color ...

 I gathered them together and tied them around the rim of the mason jar. Then using one edge of my scissors, I curled each strand ...

I forgot to take pictures of decorating the mason jar, but all I did was rip strips of a roll of purple party streamer and covered the jar using diluted white glue. I ended up making 3 layers to cover it all.
Once it was completely dry, I stuffed the jar with floral foam, and poked the end of the dowel into the center. I took a sheet of green tissue paper and stuffed it into the jar with the corners poking out ...

All finished ...

I was so happy that my niece was so thrilled to receive it!

I don't know why, but I always worry that my craft projects are dumb or ugly or the recipient thinks it's lame. So I'm really ecstatic when they love it!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thanks for stopping by!
xoxo
Dawn