Midnight Crafting: June 2011

4th of July Layered Jello Jars

Jello?! That's not crafting, that's food!
AHA!
Well anything, really, can be turned into crafting my friends!

I saw the most adorable craft / recipe on Tip Junkie last week, the 4th of July Patriotic Party Jello Snacks, and I knew it would be perfect for the MOMS Club 4th of July potluck picnic! So I rustled up some baby food jars, not to be had in our house for many, many moons - but in the club I easily found a few...dozen.. really - I am Good for jars for a while now, thanks to my friend Ann! And so I began this adventure in Jello.

I wanted to do the jars layered, but I didn't want to use the marshmallows or cool whip like the instructions said, so I looked around and found this cool recipe for layered jello over at the Food Librarian where she uses condensed milk & unflavored gelatin for the white. Then I just modified and mixed the two recipes to result in my creation:

I used Strawberry Banana Jello for the red, the Condensed Milk recipe for the white, and Berry Blue Jello for the blue layer. Instead of spray painting the lids, I opted to craft them up: scallop circle punch in red, white circle punch, and a blue star punch. The fabulous ribbon is a steal from the Dollar Store, and the tag is a re-sized and fancy punched version of this cool 4th of July free printable .

Strawberries sliced and placed into the jars, Jello added - chill for 15 minutes

White layer added, chill another 15 minutes - longer might be better

Added some fresh blueberries, and the blue Jello

Chill to perfection!

I was really enjoying this jello adventure, and bub was SUPER excited to try some! Then, It hit me -- the picnic is at a park. Where they don't allow Glass. Where small children might not do well with glass... oh #FAIL!!!

So, Plan B went into action!!
I went back to the Food Librarian recipe, got some more unflavored gelatin and supplies, and made some Patriotic Finger Jello! I used the recipe exclusively, but went for 3 layers instead of the 5 or 7 she mentions. I omitted the fruit this time in the interest of easy cutting, and came up with THIS creation:

3 layer Patriotic Finger Jello

Called Finger Jello I suppose due to its thicker consistency than the jiggler recipe on the box, this recipe will allow you to cut with cookie cutters and have it stand up to little fingers without separating. It was pretty delicious, as I did have some rejects in the cutting and display - bub and I both indulged in a few pieces!

He would say its delicious, but hes too busy stuffing his face!

It was super easy to make, I had it in the fridge setting up within an hour, and then cutting and arranging it after it set overnight was a quick 15 minutes. Great tasting - I used Cherry for the red, Condensed Milk for the white, and Berry Blue for the blue.

chilling away in all its glory

reject plate for snacking, but you can see how nice the layers set up

I highly recommend this for a contribution to your holiday feasting, it was easy and tasty - if you like jello! But I would caution, it does take normally non-dairy Jello which is a good snack option for those restricted diets and adds the Condensed Milk layer - making it still a Gluten Free snack, but now definitely containing dairy. There may be other options for a white layer, there was mention of a Pina Colada flavored jello, but I did not see that in the many flavors carried at my supermarket.

Enjoy! and have a Safe and Happy 4th of July!!
P.S. The jars I made anyhow, and they will not go to waste - I'll dole them out to our friends and family as we party over the weekend! Yay!

Festive Fridays Square Lattice

Its that special Friday again -- a FESTIVE FRIDAY!

Festive Friday is a Blog Hop happening the second and fourth Friday of each month, showcasing Christmas projects. The goal is to work on a few Christmas Cards a month so your all ready to mail a gazillion cards by December! How many are in your stash now? Enough for your coworkers? Enough for your family list? Enough to send some off to charities that accept handmade cards? :-)

If you're joining me directly, you will probably not want to miss the beginning of the hop over at Terris blog. If you've joined me from Brendas blog, You're hoppin' along just fine!

A full list of blogs is at the end of this post. Please enjoy your tour of the festivities this week!

Another swift and simple card this week, I've been running amok with the begining of summer - kids underfoot and activities to plan and carry out... Busy Busy Busy!! But not so busy I dont enjoy a bit of crafting!

I've used the Square Lattice embossing folder to texture emboss the back layer, then added a simple stamped and punched sentiment (Fundamental Phrases, Modern Lable Extra Large punch) onto a textured strip of cardstock; finished it off with some Big Felt Flurries (Clearance Rack #113698 - snag these beauties before they're gone!), and a bit of bling (Clear Rhinestone Brad) on one or two...

These are good layouts to use for family assembled cards, you can easily prep the pieces and have your helpers assemble them in no time! Easy enough for the little ones to help - mine LOVE to run things thru the big shot to emboss or die cut!

You're off to #9 - Yolonda,
but be sure to take a whirl through the entire Festive Friday blog hop - and get your notepads ready for some great ideas!

Entered in these challenges this week:
Sparkle Creations Weekly Christmas Card Challenge - add fabric to your card (felt snowflakes)
Fab's Big Christmas Card Challenge for the Month of June - include a sentiment that means Christmas to you (Christmas Wishes - sums up Christmas to me right there, wishes for peace & joy & family time)
Christmas Cards All Year Round June - Anything Goes Challenge (5 cards for June, see additional links :-)

Festive Fridays Punch Pals

I used a corner rounder on the edges of the white layer, and distressed the edges lightly with my nail. Finished off the layeres with ribbon, and the sentiment popped up with Dimensionals.

These cards are made with the Punch Pals stamp set. (Don't worry - this one is Not on the Retired list!)

Punch Pals #116588, Wood Mount only; Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder #117335; 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punch #119854; ribbon used is retired, card stock So Saffron, Very Vanilla, Whisper White

You're off to #9 - Yolonda,
but be sure to take a whirl through the entire Festive Friday blog hop - and get your notepads ready for some great ideas!

Entered in two challenges this week:
Sparkle Creations Weekly Christmas Card Challenge - color combo: white, cream, gold
Fab's Big Christmas Card Challenge for the Month of June - include a sentiment that means Christmas to you

How I made the OWH card...

What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.

~Shakespear

And sweet it was, all the love you dished for my paper roses used on my Missing You card! (I did use them on this project HERE, too) Thank you very much for visiting over Memorial Day Weekend, and for all the nice comments - you are too kind! I hope you got a chance to go through all the blogs - there are some fantastic card makers working some magic for Operation Write Home! Visit the Blog Hop Summary HERE (with cool pics of all the cards!)

My card was inspired by the Martha Stewart Mothers Day Show - the one with the First Lady and the baby shower for all the military wives - I watched last month. Literally every part of the card, now that I look at it... I was struck by the woman who wore her own set of dog tags with an inscription, to keep her husband close to her heart. And the show had this massive baby shower for wives expecting a baby while the father was deployed, so I thought back to my baby blanket cards, and thought the technique would work for the flag, it was a really patriotic show with Joining Forces featured. So there you have it - a flag quilt with the missing you tags. Oh, that was a good show!

I know it doesn't look like it, but really that card is almost as simple as can be.

The quilt style uses strips of paper and a Sizzix Top Note Die. You have seen this technique before, its a couple years old at least - but its usually done with a Square Punch instead of cut strips. I've not seen a design done in paper strips, now that I've gone and googled Top Note Quilt, but I figure that I can do almost anything in paper that can be done in sewing (naive novice sewer that I am) so I decided to make a quilt-style picture of the flag!

I cut a white card stock to 4" x 5.5". I picked a blue Designer Series Paper, 2 rose red Designer Series Papers, and used my retired black and white pattern Designer Series Paper. (Seriously - the toughest part - choosing paper!) I cut the colors into strips that were 1/2" x 2" and laid them out on the white card stock, trying for a brick-pattern in the layout while maintaining the feel of the stars & stripes of the flag and using the different patterns on the paper (love double-sided DSP!). Once the pieces fit, I glued them down. No need to trim any edge-hangers - you just run the whole thing through the Big Shot with the Top Note Die, and its cut perfectly!

The back ground paper? Well now, that may be Cheater Crafting at its best! I will admit, I do not have a "Missing You" sentiment stamp. I have some close alternates, but I really wanted it to be the more stark emotion of "missing". So I made my own paper. I know, you hate that. But its easy: you open a word processing program, type Missing You in a font you like, a bajillion times - well, you can copy and paste! then you only have to type it once or twice - until the whole page is covered. I printed it onto my card stock. And then... had to cut the card out of the middle, so I could get just the right part of "Missing You" at the edges. (I don't obsess, I think intensely). If you are not so picky as Some People, you could get two cards out of the 8.5 x 11" sheet.

But then, it needed that Something Extra. I didn't want to add bling, I tried some ribbon and it was not good. And then I looked at my extra strips of DSP and said AHA! I'll make some roses to go on here. Red of course for true love, and blue for valor and honesty. --yes, I really chose them that way, I am that nerdy. But look - you liked it! Its very patriotic and has a touch of romance. Since I had scraps from cutting the card out, I used my adorable Tiny Tags punch to get the Missing You dog tags from my extra paper.

I am proud of how it came out, and I plan to make some more! (I already have, as the pics used in this post are from new cards!)

How to make the paper roses:

I suppose these are more of ribbon style roses made of paper than the traditional rolled paper roses, you can google both techniques and decide for yourself.

Your mantra: Fold and Smile

Your supplies: clear-drying liquid glue, glue dots, paper strip, patience, and a smile

1) cut a 1/2" strip of paper - I used 6" length for the smaller, 12" for the larger (you can vary the size of the rose by the length of the strip)

2) crush and mangle that strip until its soft and pliable as.. well, as ribbon, I guess! I ran mine through my crimper, then rolled them into balls in the palm of my hand. You need to break the paper fibers down so you can fold and bend the strip easily. This also gives it the "shabby chic / distressed / vintage" feel.

3) practice your smile

4) crinkle the corner into a nub, and then fold and wrap the strip around, forming the "petals" of the rose around as you go. Sometimes you will just wrap, sometimes its a fold and a wrap to maintain the circular direction - or to get some different color or texture.

The rules clearly state you may unwrap and restart as many times as you wish, as long as you smile!

5) once you reach the end of the strip (yay! and it looks like a rose!), you need to have a glue dot or some clear-drying glue to dab on the free end to secure it to the underside of your flower.

6) then you'll want to fluff/smush the flower into a pretty shape, and add glue between the petals to keep it intact (as needed). Your roses will vary - some are blooming, some are buds. Enjoy the variety.

Experiment with different widths and lengths in the strips - some will come out much more folded and compact: maybe perfect for a scrapbook or mini album or card; others will be tall and proud: great for frames or shadow boxes or making wreaths.

Free Stamp Set for June 2011

Create a Cupcake - Clear Mount

What’s our favorite birthday treat?

Cupcakes that are oh so sweet!

There’s just something about cupcakes that brings joy to a person’s heart and taste buds, which is why it’s one of our favorite birthday themes for stamping cards and scrapbook pages. Our Create a Cupcake Set includes a variety of accessories for decorating cupcakes to adorn your projects, as well as a couple cheerful greetings in a font that’s as smooth and appealing as frosting.
Coordinates with our Build a Cupcake Punch for quick cupcake making. (punch Not included)

I'm happy to offer this set as the Free Set of the Month to one of my Online Customers!
New, Clear Mount, set of 12, Create a Cupcake

Each order placed by Thursday June 30th, 2011

at my Online Store

automatically earns you one entry into the drawing.
For more details visit my Win Free Stamps page.

Q&A New Catalog Timing


	Q: How do I get a copy of the new catalog? A: It’s an annual phenomena, the new Idea Book & Catalog arrives and stampers around the world drop everything to pour through the pages to see all the new products and project samples. Husbands go hungry, kids are sent outside to play, and the laundry is ignored. It’s okay, we all do it! You sure don’t want to miss out on that! Purchase The 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog can be purchased online or with any order beginning July 1st. Better yet, contact me today to pre-order your reserved copy and you may even be able to have it in your hands on July 1st! Host Schedule a July workshop and you’ll be one of the first to receive the new Idea Book & Catalog, AND you’ll get it for free. Plus, you and your friends will have the fun of seeing and creating projects with the hottest new items! Join If you want to see the catalog before July 1st and you love the quality and creativity of Stampin’ Up! products, you may want to join my team! Stampin’ Up! demonstrators get lots of perks like being the first to see and order new products at a discount. Some demonstrators join as a hobby for the discount on products they love and some join to earn extra money doing something they enjoy. The Starter Kit is one of the best-kept secrets in the catalog. Why? Because when you order the Starter Kit, you get over $300 of products and supplies for only $175, and with no commitments, you have nothing to lose and a whole lot to gain. Some of the favorite benefits of being a demonstrator are obvious like the discount, earning income, access to tons of demonstrator-only resources online, and the monthly Stampin’ Success magazine. Other benefits, like the joy of amazing friendships and the sense of accomplishment that comes from sharing your creativity, are harder to measure, but every bit as valuable. I’m sure you have lots of questions about becoming a demonstrator. I’m happy to answer them for you, without pressure, so you can make the best decision for yourself. Get your hands on it! The new Idea Book & Catalog will be here before you know it, so contact me today to pre-order a reserved copy, schedule your fun July workshop, or find out more about the joys of being part of the Stampin’ Up! family. Any option you choose will ensure that you have your hands on your new Idea Book & Catalog while it’s still hot off the presses!

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