First Holy Communion Banner

I have to warn you this is a long and detail post!  My oldest son, Ryan, is going to be receiving his First Holy Communion this coming Saturday.  We were asked to make a banner as a family.  Ryan and I roughly sketched out all the elements that he likes to have in his banner.  Jake helps me crank the Big Shot and makes sure that I listen to his opinion.  My husband cuts the wooden dowel to size.  And I learn how to work with fabric like never before!

I like to use as much SU! products as possible as it helps me coordinate and design easier.  The end result is a little bit different than we envisioned, but we love it! I use the Deck The Halls fabric collection from SU! for the last name and the mountain-like scenery.  As you can see for this project, the Big Shot becomes part of a helping hand!  I use the Serif Essential Alphabet Die for the last name.  Working with letters is probably the most difficult thing for me as fabric does not hold up its shape like the way paper does.

Since we don't have too many choice of fabric selection yet, I pull out my stash of fabric that I received from my husband's friend and customer, Shirley Anderson.  Shirley does custom sewing for the interior and according to my husband, her work is absolutely awesome!  Since I rarely use fabric, I was pretty nervous about cutting into these beautiful, and to say, expensive, fabric that Shirley generously showered me with.  Thanks, Shirley!  Since I can't hand-cut very well, the beautiful pattern of the fabric becomes this gorgeous-looking stained-glass cross as my main element that I built around. The mat for the cross was hand-drawn and hand-cut.  I started out with the oval shape, but end up with the egg shape instead!  I rather like the idea as the egg represent the beginning of life which is the opposite of the cross. 

The host, chalice and fish are made from Circle #2 Die.  The fabric for the chalice and the fish is from the small scraps of precious fabric designed by Mariano Fortuny.  According to Shirley, how the fabric is made is still a secret and it's very expensive.  So I try my best to preserve and make art out of them.  The largest circle from the die is cut into 3 pieces for the chalice.

I was going to make a fish, but Jake insists that I have to make 3!  A little mistake in cutting the tail from the blue fish becomes double-tail fish.  I can say, it's meant to be!  I re-insert the circle back to the die with slight shift away from the circle to get the moon shape piece.

 

Although I wish that I got the Elegant Bird Die from the Occasions Mini Catalog, I decide to work with what I have and I discover how much fun it is to make die-cut art on fabric too!  I use the Scallop Circle #2 for the tail, Island Floral for the body (yes!), and, get this, Leaves #2 for the wings (no kidding!).  I love it!

I use the smallest circles from the Circles #2 Die to create the grapes.  The leave is from the Leaves #2 Die and the swirl is from the retired Tulipe Die.  The bread is made from the Ovals Die - nice and dark like chocolate for my 4-year old Jake. :)

A sentiment from the Crosses of Hope stamp set on one of the Lots of Tags Sizzlit Die finishes off the whole banner.  I really love all the elements considered in this banner as we see how bless we are to receive all that is given by God - from the sea, the plain, the mountains, to the sky!  The Tasteful Trim Die is also used to make the separation between these elements.  Finally, the burlap background lends itself to an earthy feeling which I love!  When working with fabric, I have to consider fraying is part of the natural process which adds to that earthy feeling too!

I hope you enjoy seeing the details of the banner as much as I enjoy making it.  Have a very blessed day!

Danee

Wonderful Mother

I found some extra tie-dye coffee filter paper flowers that I made for Allie's party awhile ago.  So instead of wasting them, I created the same card with the new Delightful Dozens stamp set.

Have a wonderful day!

Danee

Trendy Trees

We had such a wonderful week last week! We went to Monterey and stopped by the Outlet which is close to the Aquarium. Look at this candy store! The kids were in candy heaven! Too much sugar, Babies!

The retired stamp list is up.  These stamp sets are available only until May 31st, 2012.  So make sure you order your favorite stamp sets before they are gone!  Please click on the photo below for a complete list in PDF.

These are 3" x 3" love notes  using the Trendy Trees stamp set, which is on the retired list.  They are really fast, fun and easy to make!  I also make a pizza box to hold them.

Have a fantastic day!

Danee

Dr. Seuss' Inspirations

If you guessed the Lorax from the last post, you are absolutely right!  The movie was released last month.  It seems that his eyes are blue, but when you buy color Googlie Eyes, you only get like a pair of each color! :)

My kids brought home these hats that they made in school to celebrate Dr. Seuss' Birthday in March.  I made these Party Favors for a few weeks already.  I use a paper towel roll as my guide to create the container which looks like the hat from The Cat in the Hat.

I inserted some wrapped bubble gums inside the 1" x 8" cellophane bags (#124134).  I use the new Small Oval Punch (#120908) and Large Oval Punch (#119855) to create the Cat in the Hat punch art.  I inserted these favors in the container to decorate as my center piece.  I missed the old Small Oval Punch and I thought I would not have too much use on the new Small Oval Punch.  However, I was wrong as I use it a lot, even on the Lorax!

Have fun creating!

Danee

Tool Time - Paper Snips

Can you guess what this is?  One of the many inspirations I get is from my kid's interests.  It can be anything they bring home from school to shirts they like to wear and books they like to read.  The answer to this will be on the next post.

To get the precision of the cut for the eyebrows, sometimes I need to use scissors to do the job.  I owe many pairs of scissors, but Stampin' Up! Paper Snips is the best of all!  Its sharp and pointy tips do the trick of getting these fine thin cuts.

103579 Paper Snips

Until next time...have a wonderful day!

Danee

Sweet Treat Lion and More

I hope you had a wonderful Easter!  We sure had lots of FUN activities!  I was inspired by Angie Juda's lion punch art video to create this version of the Sweet Treat Lion.  I got lots of Treat Cups (#116802) when they first came out but never really had time to use all the cups I bought.  So this year I am trying to use them up!  Plus this year, the stamps and accessories are going to be retired one month earlier!  We are going to have a brand new catalog on June 1st instead of July!

As promised on the Sweet Treat Chick post, here is what you get when you pull the animal's heads off.  Animal bookmarks!!!  These serve as trap doors.  I had to trim the lion's bookmark down just a little bit as 3" circle for the body did not fit well.  Therefore, you see giant shape animals because I have to use the 3-1/2" Circle Die instead. :)

I think the adults had more fun looking and wanting these animals because the kids were having too much fun Egg Hunting, pulling and getting a ride on the wagon!  It was such a glorious day to celebrate Easter yesterday!  What's one of my favorite things to enjoy yesterday?

OMG, my own Bakerella at home!!!  Remember I said that some of my inspirations come from Bakerella and that I have some great bakers in my family?  Well,  I am introducing you to Vy Passetti's blog.  Vy is my niece.  She and her dad are really amazing artists in our family!

Finally, thank you everyone who left a comment on the Chick Critters post.  You are my inspirations as well!  Just like some of you, I never heard of Stampin' Up! until my co-worker Trina talked about it to me at work.  Even though I never went to a workshop, I was so willing to pay her $10 for the catalog that already had marks on it.  I ordered lots of products immediately without meeting the demo yet! 

My kids and husband each pick these winners from a bucket.  So here are the winners:

Cindy (Comment #2)
Sherryd (Comment #3)
Kelly Worner (Comment #6)

I don't have Cindy's email address so please email me within 48 hours so I send out the tutorial.

Have an awesome day!

Danee

Angry Birds - Blue Bird

Good Morning!  It has been awhile since we created an Angry Birds character.  I made these nests based on Brenda Quintana's direction here. Thanks, Brenda!  I love your work!  These nests are so cute as they are, but they are for my sons so I want to add these little Blue Angry Birds to them!

The Blue Bird is a smallest and weakest character in the Angry Birds game.  However, it has the ability to split into a three identical birds to maximize its force.  It has with 3 different expressions, too. How fun!

I love the surprise and happy look, but to mass produce this bird, the close beak and no eye-liners will do a faster trick!  I don't know if anyone does this or not.  I love to do eye-liners (what I named it) on my punch pieces as shown on the surprised bird.  I hold the punch piece between my thumb and forefinger (or tweezers) and roll the edges on the ink pad.  It gets my fingers very inky and then sometimes it smears on the punch pieces.  However, it really define the punch art - much different than sponging!  Try it on a few pieces, but don't mass produce!  Ask me how I know.  Never mind, just look here.  :)

Have a wonderful Easter weekend and may God bless you and your family!

Danee

Sweet Treat Duck

Happy Good Friday to you!  Thank you for visiting me today and thank you to everyone who has been leaving me comments!  I am back with another Sweet Treat.  I also made the ducks for my young nieces and nephews for Easter.  Isn't he adorable?  Just a slight change from the chick and I got myself a duck! 

Don't forget to leave me a comment on this post to get a chance to win one of my tutorials!

Have a great day!

Danee

Chick Critters

My friend, Helen Schadegg, sent me a picture of her Chick Critter a few years ago. I decided to make these for my son's class as they were so cute and fast to make! I only made a couple of changes to these punch art chicks.

I could easily create my own chick with current products.  However, I want to acknowledge someone special who crosses a path in my life.  Helen was the person who inspired and ignited my first flame for Nugget Critters at the 2008 Convention. She gave me my very first Nugget Critter, the Penguin, as seen below (I know it's not Christmas, but bear with me :) ) and then I modified to make it into an ornament as seen here!  I've been making hundreds of these with different designs from there on.

Here's the story.  I ran out of swaps.  After making so many oohs and aahs with her penguin, she gave me one in return for a promise to send her a photo of my swap.  Not only did I send her a photo of my swaps, I also sent her the above photo to show her how inspired I was from that one little gift!  I will never forget that act of kindness from a stranger from MN.  Thank you so much Helen, my dear friend!  I am forever grateful for your kindness and friendship!

So here is the photo of my swaps made from Embrace Life stamp set. I love this set!  I did have a passion for punch art from the very beginning!   What's your passion and who is the first person to ignite your fire?  Leave me a comment with your email address and I will pick out 3 winners to give away my Cute Critters Collection tutorial from this post.  If you already purchase this tutorial, I will send you my Frog Critter tutorial.  I will announce and send the tutorial to the winners on Monday after Easter.

Have a wonderful day!

Danee

Sweet Treat Chick

I got some spring animals made.  Here is my giant chick!  :)  I made a few of these for my nieces and nephew for Easter.  The idea is to use it for another purpose which I will show you later...

Have a great day!

Danee