Happy Monday!

Just signed off from my full time job as an Account Manager and now I get to have one hour of FUN papercrafting until I need to start dinner.  Wish I could keep up this pace all five days during the week!

Here is another card I made over the weekend for a very special friend who is celebrating a birthday this week.  I LOVED Whole Lot of Lovely Designer Paper and the Bundle Oh So Eclectic Stamp Set and Thinlit dies will get a ton of use in my morning room (aka where I craft).

Here are the products that I used for this sample:

Card base Cardstock Pear Pizzazz - 5-1/2" x 8-1/2"

Cardstock Crushed Curry 4" X 5-1/4"

Cardstock Whisper White 3-3/4" x 5"

DSP Whole Lot of Lovely 3" x 4"

Stamp Set:  Oh So Eclectic

Thinlit Die: Eclectic Layers

The mini label was made with punches that are no longer available, however it is very easy to stamp your saying on Whisper White cardstock and hand cut if you do not have any punches.  Promise I will NOT use these punches on my next sample!  I just wanted to make sure to complete the card this weekend so I could mail it today.  This time I didn't go crazy making a bunch of them.....only six!

Tip # 1

Once you use the thinlet to cut out the design in the Whisper White Cardstock, put your adhesive on the outside edges of the DSP and then line it up underneath the White Whisper piece of cardstock.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

If you need to place any of these items on order, please select the order button on the right side of my home page or you can also access my page at www.donnabolsar.stampinup.net.

Hope you had a great day!

Off to finish up the last 25 of my 50 Christmas Cards!

Once again it has been TOO long since I have posted.  Once again a visit with my sister motivated me to take my Stampin'  Up! business more seriously.  My husband and I traveled from Pennsylvania to Chesapeake, VA for the Thanksgiving holiday last week.  We were fortunate to spend time not only with my sister and her husband, but my niece Emily and nephew Ben who were home for the holiday.  It had been 2-1/2 years since we saw my brother in law and niece and nephew!  WAY too LONG!

Anyway, my sister scheduled a meeting for her down lines on Friday night and four of us were able to attend.  One of the ladies mothers also came along for the fun. We each went around the table and discussed where we were with our business - both the good and the not so good, as well as what we were planning for 2018.  We made two projects that were fun and cute as well.

So back to reality and one of the commitments I made this week was to create a card and update my blog at least twice a week.  Well I never start small and cut out the ingredients for 10 cards!  So here is my first sample for you.  Please feel free to case this idea to use up some of your Designer Paper scraps, and pull out those thinlets that might be "dusty" for lack of use.

Here are the products I used for this card and a few "tips" I found useful while creating this card.

Cardstock for base:  Fresh Fig   (5-1/2" x 8-1/2")
Naturally Eclectic DSP:  4" x 5-1/4"
Whisper White Cardstock for Heart Thinlet and Happy Anniversary Label
Scrap of Fresh Fig Cardstock for small butterfly thinlet and Happy Anniversary border
Scrap of Lemon Lime Twist Cardstock for butterfly thinlet background

Framelits & Thinlets:
Bold Butterfly Framelit
Butterflies Thinlits
Bloomin' Heart Thinlits

Unfortunately the punches I used for the title were discontinues by Stampin' Up. 

Tip # 1.  You can easily cut a strip of Whisper White Cardstock and use a corner rounder punch to create the oval.  For the Fresh Fig background,  you could use the "Classic Label Punch" in the current catalog.  At this time I do not have that punch, but it would work well for this label.

Tip # 2.  Use your paper trimmer to cut a 1-1/2" slit on the long side of your DSP at about 2-5/8".  You can use the scoring blade and bone folder to create the area that is bent back.

Tip # 3.  Before running the Bloomin' Heart Thinlit through my Big Shot, I put a piece of was paper on top of the Whisper White Cardstock.  This made it easier to remove the cardstock from the die.  The die brush and foam pad is also helpful to remove all the little pieces as well.

The 2017 Holiday Catalog is winding down and the new 2018 Occasions Catalog is on its way with Sale a Bration on its heel!  Demonstrators can pre-order this Friday December 1st.  If there is anything you need, please go to my website to place an order.   www.donnabolsar.stampinup.net.
Feel free to comment here or email me if you have any questions.

Till later this week when I showcase another easy card.........
Happy Stamping!😊

Donna

Got Scraps?

Catchy title, right?

You are probably shaking your head, since if you have been involved in papercrafts for any period of time you probably have a stash  of scraps "somewhere" in or close by your work area.  

I remember the first time Deb (the "other" D in D & D Papercrafts) came over to scrapbook in my finished basement of our previous home.  She asked if I had any "scraps".  I asked her what color she needed and proceeded to go over to an area on my shelves where there was a line of photo boxes, filled with scraps sorted by color. I thought her eyes were going to pop out!  She had been keeping all of her scraps in a drawer and it took forever to locate what she needed.  If I remember correctly, she went home that day and decided to organize hers in a similar way. 

I still have those boxes filled with scraps and have added a "portable" scrap bag that I am known for when we go to any type of day crop or weekends.  AKA "Donna"s Scrap Bag".  All of us chuckle when I tell anyone that takes a scrap out...."Do NOT return any bit that is left over".  Why cut in to a fresh piece of cardstock when you have access to Donna's "scraps"?

So today I am sharing a few of the 35 cards I worked on at a weekend event I went to the end of April.  I finally finished the last of them last night.  It was easy to pull "bases" which are pieces left over from scrapbooking that I cut to 5-1/2" x 8-1/2".  PLEASE don't even ask how many of these I have!  Added to my bag some white cardstock, my washi tape container, my "scrap Bag" and finally a few stamp sets, black ink and a block.

Here are two of the cards I created.

The squares were created with two sizes of punches.  Hint...punch the smaller one first and then the larger one.  I used a small flower punch from Stampin' Up! that is unfortunately retired, however you could use any small flower punch or embellishments you have laying around.  I put a small pearl in the center of each flower.  Pearl Basic Jewels are still available from Stampin' Up! along with their Rhinestone Basic Jewels.  There is an assortment of sizes in each package and I find these a staple for everyday cardmaking and scrapbooking.

So I close todays post with a confession.......

It is time to part with some of my scraps.  Since we moved, my space for my papercrafting hobby has been reduced and I am fine with that, so it is time to reduce my scraps.  I will be disposing of the teeny ones by trashing them.  Yes I have kept small ones thinking "you never know when you need to stamp a small word or two on a card".  Then I will sort the rest as I found a friend who can use them in her job.  She works with special needs adults that make cards!  They will use anything over 3" x 3" both cardstock and printed papers.  All I am going to keep is anything that is larger than 4" x 6" for matting.  If I find out I have too many of them, I will give HALF of them to my friend as well.  

Every day I create scraps........and every day I can share with others that can use them, whether it is at a crop with my "portable" bag or by providing my friend a box or two every now and then to a group that can use them to create cards.

Another Successful D & D Papercraft Event

Happy Hump Day!

It has been over a week since Deb & I held our D & D Papercraft Event!  We SOLD OUT our June 10th Event.  We always open the registration for our next event to the current attendees and over 80% of the seats are already sold for our August 12th Event!

June 10th was the first time we held the event at the community center of Spring Valley Village in Bechtelsville, PA.  This is the 55+ community that my husband and I built a house and moved in to early this spring.  So far we love it here and are starting to get accumulated to this type of living, since we still are both working full time.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the Make N Take cards that my sister, Kathy did with those that were interested.  We offer a FREE Make N Take at each of our events. This events featured the new In-Colors and the Daisy Delight Bundle and Designer Paper.

We also feature a workshop using Stampin' Up! Products as well.  This is for an additional charge with limited seats.  Everyone seemed to LOVE their Purse and Cards, with several attendees already purchasing materials to make holiday gifts!  Again we used the Daisy Delight Bundle and Designer Paper Pack for this project.

If you are interested in receiving emails about our events, please do not hesitate to email me at abolse@yahoo.com or ask to join our D & D Papercrafts Facebook page.