The last donation for the auction... a hand knitted tote back with journal, ink pen and candle. The journal is a composition notebook that has been covered with DSP and card stock. Used my Big Shot Tasteful Trim die to make the Pacific Point card stock rick rack.  I unscrewed the pen and put a piece of matching DSP inside the pen barrel. The candle is decorated with stamped images, too. It's really easy to do; you just stamp onto tissue paper and then use your heat embossing tool to adhere the tissue paper to the candle by melting just the top layer of wax.

The tote is knit using regular worsted weight yarn with a one inch strip of plastic disposable bag. I had to have something to do while watching NCAA Men's Semifinals!

Tart and Tangy Card Set

This is CASE from Dawn Olchefske. She's one of my favorite stamping bloggers. She has a real knack for creating clean and simple cards. This is the retired Tart and Tangy stamp set. The ribbon really dresses up these simple images. Dawn has instructions on her blog for making the cute holder on the left, too.

One Sheet Wonder Card Set

I've been working on donations for the seminary's senior class silent auction. This is a cute little box of 9 all occasion cards. The box comes from Angie Leach's Too Cool Stamping blog. Really easy to make with the new Simply Scored Diagonal Plate.

These three cards are birthday cards. I tried to make one each that was masculine, juvenile and feminine.

These 3 are thank you cards.

I then made one each for Sympathy, Get Well and Anniversary.  The Designer Series Paper is a retired pack. It has some really pretty images and goes with the Elegant Lines embossing folder. I could have gotten all the cards out of one sheet of DSP but wanted to use more of the prints. I think I'll be making another set of these cards to keep! 

Packed for Baby

I got the "Packed for Everything Bundle" free as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator incentive. I wasn't sure I would use these four stamps very much. But then I saw a post on Angie Leach's Too Cool Stamping blog and was inspired. I've used them a lot! And it's nice that you can either buy all 4 stamps as a bundle or buy each one individually. Here are 2 baby cards I made. I have friends who just had their first baby and another friend who has another grandchild. So, these went in the mail yesterday.

Got Birthday?

I made this card using left overs from a recent card making evening with friends at a retirement home here in Chicago. I go there 2 times a month and help a group of residents make 3 cards each. I cut all the pieces before going and then they stamp and assemble the cards. So, I come home with lots of left over scraps because I never know how many will attend. Then the challenge is to use those scraps for cards that I need. I heat embossed the icing with the vanilla embossing powder.

Just Believe

Finally had all the Easter cards I needed and still had a few pieces of this ribbon and some of the green and yellow scraps... so, rather than start another pile on my desk I made a couple cards like this. I always have a need for thank you cards! I used the Stripes Embossing folder for the background and turned it to get the checked look at the top and just the stripes along the bottom. There are so many ways to use the embossing folders! I just love my Big Shot... a really good investment! The stamped images are from the Just Believe stamp set.

Scrap Challenge

Still needed a few more Easter cards and decided it was time to use some of the "scraps" sitting on my desk. I had ribbon, card stock, vellum, even the die cut doily laying on my desks from past projects I'd done with the group at the retirement home. I'm pleased with how they turned out. It's amazing how quickly those scraps turned into lovely cards!