Eileen Hull

It’s my daughter and SIL’s first anniversary. They are both officers in the Coast Guard and he is out at sea for sixty days. She is expecting at the end of June, and probably not for the first time, they had to spend a significant occasion apart. They have’t lived together yet because they are stationed four hours apart. Our military sacrifices a lot of things that most people take for granted and I am so proud of the way they are handling things.

1. The card base is made from natural cardstock. I layered two pieces of pretty Basic Grey papers from the Picadilly collection on top and punched the bottom border with a Martha Stewart punch.
2. The sentiment was embossed using my Textured Impressions Birthday, Thanks, and Congrats set on top of both layers and then I inked over it lightly in brown. 
3. Flower Sizzlits (coming in June) called Sweet Treats for You and Birds and Butterflies were used to cut the flowers, leaves and swirls. 
4. Pearl bling from Queen and Company and a piece of vintage mini-rickrack complete the card. 

Today is special. Happy Anniversary, Jess and Jason! We love you…

Here’s how:

1. Assemble materials- soup can, string, Big Shot die-cut machine, Flowers, Layers #9 die, wool felt, large girls’s headband elastic, 2″ piece of pipe cleaner, mismatched earring, glue gun
2. Clean out soup can. If you have one of those Pampered Chef can openers that roll the lid instead of leaving jaggedy edges, make sure to use it. Unfortunately I do not have one and proceeded to rip my finger open. 
3. Dab a tiny bit of glue along the bottom edge of the can and place the end of the string over it anchoring it to the can. Wrap string around the entire can. Keep pushing down on the string so all areas of the can are covered. Dab another dot of glue at the top of the can to anchor the end of the string. (I thought the effect of the string on top of the ridges in the can was really cool. The thicker your yarn or wrapping material, the less you will notice the bumps though)
4. Die cut two flowers from felt. Layer them in size order. Find a pierced earring in your jewelry box that you don’t want. Stick the post through all of the layers of the flower. Put earring back on behind the flower. 
5. Double wrap the headband around the can and use the pipe cleaner piece to secure the headband to the earring. 
6. Fill can with pencils and place on your desk for a fun touch of spring!

I’d also encourage you to stop by the ScrapScene blog today and take a look at the WIP Monday where you’ll see some inspiring Works in Progress!


Thanks for stopping by today.

Last night, although there were a million other things I should have been doing- taxes for one :-(- I started playing around with some packing tape that I had found a while ago in the dollar section at Michael’s. It works great for taping up boxes, but the patterns and colors were so pretty I thought there might be a crafty use for it too. And it turns out- yes, of course there is! Keep an eye out for these fun ideas coming soon…

While catching up on Project Runway All Stars, I die-cut 75 Cake Slices for a Make and Take at The Collins Group event this weekend. Here are more samples of what will be taught at the Sizzix blog. Special note- my good friend Karen Burniston will be demoing her new line of dies called Pop’n Cuts. They are so cool- it’s a system that Karen designed to make creating pop-up cards easy, quick and super-impressive!

Here’s the project that I designed for the event. It has been interesting working within these parameters:

1. showcase the product 
2. 10 minute assembly 
3. successfully completed by all skill levels 
4. looks amazing
5. is quickly and easily taught

It took a little thought but turned out to be a piece of cake! (get it?)

On to finish the next thing… stay tuned!