25 & Counting Advent Calendar

Stampin' Up!'s 25 and Counting stamp set is perfect for making advent calendars.  I saw an advent calendar made with pill boxes and had to make this one using the Holly Berry Bouquet Specialty Designer Series Paper.

Here is a close up of the calendar.  I put magnets on the pillboxes so they would stay on this cookie sheet memo board.  You can also use magnets to attach the pillboxes to your refrigerator.

Other items I used to decorate these pillboxes are the scallop square punch (119884 $16.95), the Buttons #5 Sizzlits (113440 $4.95) and the 1 inch circle punch (119868  @12.95).

Visit my online store to get your supplies for this project.  Remember that when you purchase $25 or more in product, you are eligible for my Rewards Program.

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

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Halloween Display and More

I LOVE Stampin' Up!'s silver glimmer paper.    It's so easy to cut, punch and die cut.  And it adds a little bling to your projects.  I used it in this project which also features the Gift Givers stamp set and Pick Your Poison Designer Series Paper.

What I also like about this project is that you can change out the Halloween tag to fit other occasions.  You can see some of the other tags throughout this post.

This display block is a great way to show your hand crafted  work in your home.  Some of the techniques used in these tags include dry embossing, wax paper resist, making a dahlia fold cross, and making a rosette.

 

 

Another fun thing is this is a green project that recycles the wood blocks from my stamps.  Many of you know that I've been converting my wood mount stamps to clear mounts.  Click here to see the details on my July 6, 2010 post. 

I've made several different projects using the wood blocks and wanted to do something special with the large wood blocks from my background stamps. 

To get more information about any of the techniques I used for these tags, please contact me at sharon@sharoncheng.com or leave a comment on this blog.

Visit my online store to get your supplies for this project.  Remember that when you purchase $25 or more in product, you are eligible for my Rewards Program.

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

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Get a Big Shot For Free

Stampin' Up! just announced one of their best specials ever.  When you sign up as a demonstrator in October, you can get a Big Shot for free!  You can also choose $100 in free product instead of the Big Shot. 

The Big Shot is one of my favorite tools for creating handmade cards, scrapbook pages and gifts.  With the large dies, you can cut many different products including card stock, fabric, leather, magnet sheets, and chipboard.

To see some of the things you can do, check out the Christmas project I did last year.  I used the Big Shot to die cut and emboss almost everything you see.  Using the Big Shot made it easy to make the kits for this printers tray.

Contact me today for more information about the Big Shot and becoming a demonstrator.   You can email me at sharon@sharoncheng.com or go to my website.  

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

Stampin' Up!'s Basic Rhinestones Aren't So Basic

This is a card that I made at Marilyn Young's card buffet last night.  I must confess that I did "cheng it up" to use a new technique that I learned at our September demonstrator meeting.  Notice the Lucky Limeade rhinestone in the center of the flower?  Yes, it is a Stampin' Up! basic rhinestone.

Judi Martin told us how to color Stampin' Up!'s clear rhinestones with a Sharpie marker to make it the color that you need.  It's easiest to color the rhinestone while it is still on the sheet.  Let it dry and then place it on your card. This is a technique that I'll be using a lot. 

Item 119246 $4.95

This is how the rhinestones look before they are colored. Enjoy making your custom-colored rhinestones.

Visit my online store to get your supplies for this project.  Remember that when you purchase $25 or more in product, you are eligible for my Rewards Program.

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

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Stampin' Up!'s Convention Was Fabulous!!!

Eight of my Stampin' Up! demonstrator friends and I went to Stampin' Up!'s convention in Salt Lake City. We had four days filled with fun and friendship. The theme was Grow.  The displays and classes all had a gardening theme.  The classes were about growing as a stamper, demonstrator and friend.  

At convention, there are lots of classes, swaps and opportunities to visit with other demonstrators. This year they had some extra classes with over the top projects. Here are the houses that they made in the Village of Cuteness class. 

Stampin' Up! went out of their way to delight and surprise all of the convention attendees.  There was a large display area that featured different papers and fabrics.  Here is part of the display using the Flirtacious Specialty paper and fabric. You can see more photos from convention on my Facebook page. 

 

In the display area they also showed the Christmas box that is part of the current $99 Starter Kit Special. If you join my Stampin' Up! team by July 31st, you will get the kit for this Christmas Box in addition to your starter kit.

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

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Owl Punch Rose

Punch art is so much fun.  I made 17 of these for a swap and have taught this project in several workshops.  I found instructions for this rose on Valita's blog and changed the flower and leaves slightly.  I added an extra row of petals to make the flower larger and scored the leaves to give them a little more dimension.  You can click on any of the photos to see a close up of the jpg.

Here are the supplies you will need to make the rose.

Two-Step Owl Punch
2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch
1 1/4" Circle Punch
5-Petal Flower Punch
Tangerine Tango Card Stock
Pear Pizzazz Card Stock
Rose Red Classic Ink Pad
Cherry Cobbler Classic Ink Pad
Always Artichoke Classic Ink Pad
Sponge
Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint
Multipurpose Liquid Glue
Mini Glue Dots
Bone Folder
Paper Snips

Punch out 12 owl bodies in Tangerine Tango.  Trim the feet to form a rose petal.  Sponge with Rose Red.  Lightly sponge with Cherry Cobbler.  Roll the petal lengthwise and then roll back the top edge.  Make a 1/2" cut at the center bottom of each petal.

I used a chopstick to help me roll the petal lengthwise first and then to roll back the top edge.

After cutting a 1/2" slit at the bottom of each petal, you'll cross over and glue the two halves to form a cup in the petal.  The petals will be tighter as you get closer to the center of the flower.  You control how much each petal is cupped by how much you cross over the bottom halves.  If you look closely at the picture above, you can see how the bottom of the petal on the left is a narrow "V" shape.  The petal on the right has a much wider opening on the bottom.  It's much easier to see the detail if you double click on the above photo.

You'll make 3 of the inner petals, 4 of the medium petals and 5 of the outer petals.

Punch a 1 1/4" circle and attach the five outer petals to form the first ring of petals. 

Stagger the medium petals to form the second row.

Add the inner petals for the last row.

To form the center of the rose, punch the scallop circle and cut in a spiral.  Sponge with Rose Red and Cherry Cobbler.

I put a mini glue dot on the first part of the spiral and rolled it around a chopstick.  You'll roll from the outside of the spiral to the center.  Your flower will be very tight to start.  Let it unroll a little so that it forms a small flower that fits the opening in your rose. 

I used mini glue dots to attach the rolled flower to the last part of the spiral.  I then glued it to the center of the rose using the multipurpose liquid glue.

I spritzed each rose with Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint mixed with hair spray.  The mixture was about  10% shimmer paint and 90% hair spray.

For the leaves, I punched the 5 petal flower out of Pear Pizzazz card stock.  I scored the center of each leaf.  I then sponged it with Always Artichoke and very lightly with Cherry Cobbler.  Cut out the leaves and attach them to the rose using mini glue dots.

I put the rose on a Bitty Box that I die cut out of Chocolate Chip card stock using the Big Shot.  The top of the box is layered with Paisley Petals paper and then the rose with leaves.

I hope you enjoy making this Owl Punch Rose.

Visit my online store to get your supplies for this project.  Remember that when you purchase $25 or more in product, you are eligible for my Rewards Program.

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

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Join My Stampin' Up! Family

I just had to share this card that the newest demonstrator in my group, Karen Hale, taught at her very first Stampin' Up! workshop.  This card uses the following stamp sets:  Inspired by Nature, Flight of the Butterfly and Teeny Tiny Wishes.  I loved the technique of placing the small piece of Whisper White card stock on top of the larger piece and then stamping the grass on the two pieces at the same time.

This card was cased from a similar card designed by Ilina Crouse.  Karen found it on a Stampin' Up! website that is exclusive to demonstrators.  She searched by the name of the stamp sets that she had until she found this card.  One of the nicest things about the Stampin' Up! family of demonstrators is how much they are open to sharing their projects.

During Sale-A-Bration, you can join my Stampin' Up! family with a 15% discount off of the regular starter kit and you'll also get an additional $50 in free products.  Our group meets monthly at Ol' South Pancake House in Fort Worth.  We have swaps that you can join, retreats a couple of times a year and right now we're planning to go to convention in Salt Lake City in July.  Whether you choose to join with yourself as your biggest customer or if you want to build a business, it's great fun with a low initial investment.

For more information, you can go to my website or contact me at sharon@sharoncheng.com.

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX