A little Tess

Good morning folks ~ I hope that today finds you well.

I've been lucky enough that Betty let me borrow some of her stamps again, and this time it's Tess.  At first I really did not care for it - til I touched it.  Once I touched it I loved it!!  I love the chef from the Voilà' set too because like Tess you can paper piece it.  So you wanna see what I did with it?  Of course!

I wanted to make some easel calendars that are still good for the rest of this year, that's what these are.  The base is Garden Green that I layered with Chocolate Chip and Brocade Background DP.  I stamped the image from Tote-ally Tess and colored parts of her in, then paper pieced the rest with scraps.  I stamped off the bag and rubber stamp in her hand, colored them and cut them out and added them to the main image. 

Isn't she just adorable!!  I love to paper piece - you can get such a different look than just coloring an image.  And if you use the scraps from the papers that your using you get a matched look.

Here is another calendar made with Tote-ally Tess.  The base measures 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" so it will fit into a regular A2 size envelope.  I stamped the image from Tote-ally Tess and colored her in with pencils and gamsol and paper pieced the rest.  The DP is called Brocade Background from SU! but it is discontinued, sorry.  I also used River Rock, Chocolate Chip and Garden Green card stock.  The punch I used across the middle was from Martha Stewart and the Chocolate Chip layer under the image panel was cut out with my Cricut Storybook cartridge, as was the green flourish in the bottom right corner.  The paper rose I made with some Creamy Caramel paper. 

To get this size easel I took a piece of card stock that was 5 1/2" x 11" and scored it at 5 1/2" and 8 1/4".  The front panel was 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" that was decorated.  Easy Peasy......

Ok, now I will share with you something that I did and while I was doing it I thought "you dummy".  Take a peek at her bag.  Can you see all the little pieces?  I stamped her bag twice on to the DP.  One of the bags I cut the handles off of, that was used at the back of the bag.  I stamped the little images, the pen, the rubber stamp, the card and the scissors and cut them all out and placed them in her bag.  I put a piece of tape on the "back" of the bag and adhered the pieces down.  I then placed the "front" of the bag, the piece with the handles over that.  Using the "back" of the bag gave me the placement to put Tess' tools in her bag and it also gave a little dimension to the bag.  Yup, I'm

crazy!!

If you are wanting the link to the calendars I had got them off of Splitcoast Stampers.  Cat has posted each year these wonderful calendars for everyone.  The link to the rest of 2010 is HERE and if you'd like the 2011 calendar you can get those HERE.  THANK YOU Cat, these are awesome!

I'm always in need of a calendar - so I keep one at my desk, one at my craft table, one in my purse, one on the refrigerator...  So these work out great.  And best yet, they fold flat so you can mail them out to friends and family.

Hope you enjoyed my post today!  Have a super great day, and I hope to see you tomorrow.

Good Morning

I hope that today finds you well.  This past weekend was so beautiful!  It seemed to me so much like the start of the Fall season ~ and you all know that I love Fall.  I want to start putting up Fall decorations, but I'll wait till the beginning of October... 

So you wanna see a few things?  Here we go...

This was an acrylic frame that Betty and I got from Dollar Tree, they are sturdy.  When I was working I would of loved to have something like this on my desk.

I opened the acrylic frame and inserted a piece of paper from the Delicate Dots collection.  I added a post it note pad and a mini calendar from skyblupink.com to the front of the frame.  I also added a pen that has matching DP.  Here are a few more of them.  I basically did the same to all of them.

This one has DP from the Melon Mambo collection.

This frame has paper from The Angel Company called Tuscany Spice.  I thought that it looks a little Fall like, don't you?

I'll be back later with more...

**EDITED 09/28/2009 to add how the pen is attached.

Some of you asked how the pen was attached to the post it note holder.  I simply took a 3/4" x 3" piece of cardstock and rolled it around the pen.  I kept the the end where the pen is over the top of the clear acrylic frame and attached the other ends to the back of the frame.  I then added a piece of DP to the back of the frame to cover up the cs piece and I was done.  I hope that this clarifies it for some of you.  If not just let me know and I can take a picture of it for you.

My other two seasons

Here are my other two seasons, Winter and Fall.
There is so much to love about Fall with all the different colors. I'm excited for that season to reach us!

I hope that you enjoyed my calendars ~ and I hope that it brought you some inspiration!

Have a great day!!

You like?

Yesterday I posted a peek at what I'm doing now ~ they are CD Calendars. Well, not really CD calendars ~ more like CD case calendars. The thought popped into my head last year but instead I made the checkbook calendars. I am forever looking for a calendar. When you don't have a daily job you go to you sometimes neglect the date... so that's where these come in.
I made 4 inserts for the calendar. One for spring, summer, autumn and winter. You just change them out with the months.

I had first seen these over at Maria's site. She is such a talent!!

I will pop in later with the other two "seasons" for you to see later!

2 Posts in one day? My goodness!

I guess you cant get rid of me that easy, this is my 2nd post for the day!! But there are just a few things that I need to show you other than a blog award, even though I'm proud of it!

The other day when I was blurfing I stopped by Stamp a little love and had seen what she made. My goodness, just in time too. I was needing to make something other than post it note holders for Christmas. I love doing the mini desk calendars, and I did some last year on coasters, remember? Well anyway, I saw these and they were perfect! Actually she got the idea from Nancy Littrell on SCS. Then another of her friends, Nancy Morgan posted the tutorial here. So please go give them all some love for these awesome calendars! Here's my spin on them.

I basically used random paper from Heidi Grace, Crate Paper and SU! Since I don't have the Top Note die from SU! I traced and hand cut those pieces. I used my square scallop punch and Mega scallop punch to cut out the images from A Tree for All Seasons. Then just random eyelets, buttons, primas, flowers and ribbon. The base card (the Chocolate Chip part) is cut 6 1/2" by 11. They are not small, but they are not too big either. I hope that you like them.

Everyone has their own way of doing things, so make sure that you check out the other blogs, and make sure that you tell them how great they are, because they really are!!!

Remember the cute Christmas planners that I did? I made one yesterday that looks just like a long card. I just attached the lists to the inside with brads and covered them with the card front. I am sorry, I neglected to get a photo of the inside, but you can go to Organized Christmas to find different print outs to customize your own.

Basically I just cut a piece of Ballet Blue cs to fit the planner inside. I think it was 3 1/2" wide by 7" long. I stamped the snowman from Ann-ticipations and colored what there was to color with watercolors. I used the paper I got from Walmart last year, some ribbon and a saying from an old foam D.O.T.S. set I had with Ballet Blue ink and that was it. To keep it closed I just added some of the DP from the pack and ribbon to a small binder clip and that was all. It's perfect size to slip in your purse. I always write things down at Christmas. What I get who and such. If I don't then I'd go way overboard or forget to buy something for someone.

Well, that's all for today. Please be sure to go and check out those other calendars and let them know how cool they are! I need to be off to create something else for you to look at. Hopefully I will be back tomorrow, but we've got some family things to do - so I can't promise.

If not, have a great weekend!
Hugs,
Joani