Creation Station April Blog Hop--Sweet Treat Packages

 

Welcome to the Creation Station April Hop!  Whether you've hopped over from Yvonne's wonderful blog or have just started your hop, I'm so glad you've landed here.  This month our theme is Sweet Treat Packages.  We have lots of inspiration for you today.  Be sure and click on the "Next" link at the end of each blog and hop around to see each of the design team's projects.

As I thought about what I wanted to do for today's hop, I made a mental list of my favorite sweet treats.    Blueberries, as always, topped the list.  Why?  Blueberries invoke some of my favorite memories from childhood and family camping trips.  We always took our trips from Kansas north to Northern Minnesota and Ontario, Canada, during the hot month of August.  We landed in our favorite spots as the wild blueberries were reaching the peak of sweetness--which is why they were our favorite spots!  My sisters, brother and I would take our buckets to find "our" blueberry patches.  Sometimes we arrived well after the bears had eaten most of the berries, and one time we arrived at the same time as a bear (another story); however, usually we arrived in time for enough berries to have blueberry pancakes in the morning (maybe two mornings!) and a sweet juicy cobbler my mother made by rigging up an oven out of foil to bake it in the campfire ashes.  That, my friends, is the sweetest treat of all!

A blueberry cobbler wouldn't fit in a treat package, so I baked some blueberry bars, cooled them completely and packaged them in Printed Gusseted Cellophane Bags (#151312) for sweet Easter treats.

The tags were created using the third and fourth largest dies in the retiring Stitched Nested Labels dies (#149638) and Misty Moonlight and Whisper White card stock.  The ribbon is the retiring Misty Moonlight 1/4" ribbon (#153624) and the Misty Moonlight/silver baker's twine from the Flowers for Every Season ribbon combo pack (#153620).  The greeting is from the retiring Well Said stamp set (#148796) and was stamped in night of Navy.

The blueberry image used on the tag and mini card set is from the retiring Field Journal Stamp Set (#152609--purchased because of those camping memories!).  The image was stamped in Night of Navy and colored using the following Stampin' Blends:  Old Olive Combo, Misty Moonlight Combo, Rich Razzleberry Dark and Soft Suede Light.

The 3" x 3" card set includes 5 cards and envelopes which fit nicely inside a 3-1/8" square Acetate Card Box (#150428).  It makes a nice little gift to go with a sweet treat.  The cards have both "For You" and "Thank You" greetings (the "Thank You" is from the Field Journal stamp set).  The background grid image is from the retiring Comfort & Hope stamp set (#152509) and was stamped in Crumb Cake.  The images were all stamped on Whisper White card stock which was die cut using the largest square in the retiring Stitched Shapes die set (#152323), then layered over Misty Moonlight card stock.  The Misty Moonlight layer on the box cover was embossed with the Old World Paper 3D embossing folder (#153200).

I've used several retiring products as noted, including the stamp sets and dies.  If you are interested in purchasing them, they are now available while supplies last or until May 3.  Shop Here to find these and other Last Chance products.

Whisper White card stock is now discontinued, but I'm using up my stash.  You'll find an equally nice card stock with our new Basic White (Shop Here).

Now head over to Julie's blog to see her cool sweet treat packages:

To Julie's Blog . . .

Have a wonderful day!

--Sara Nell

Behold Him, Behold Him

Lift up your eyes and see the

Son of Heaven.

Hosanna, Hosanna

Pour Out Your Praise

Sing the Name of Jesus

--Brandon Lake

"Son of Heaven" from his House of Miracles Album

Creation Station November Blog Hop--The Great Outdoors

 

Hello! Welcome to the November Creation Station Blog Hop.  We are a group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators from around the world who create and share projects with you each first Sunday of the month.  This month our theme is "The Great Outdoors" and we are creating with monochromatic color palettes.  If you landed here from Yvonne's blog, you've already seen some fantastic projects.   You are sure to find more great inspiration around our hop, so remember to click on the "Next" link at the bottom of each post to travel around and see each design team member's projects.

To me, there is nothing cuter in nature than a little chipmunk.  Lucky for me, chipmunks have their very own monochromatic color palette and I went with it:  Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Early Espresso.  The chipmunk image is from the Field Journal stamp set (#152609). It was stamped in Early Espresso ink onto Very Vanilla card stock, then colored with Crumb Cake (#154882) and Soft Suede (#154906) Stampin' Blends.  He  It was die cut with a Stitched Shapes circle die (#152323) and layered over an Early Espresso scalloped circle die cut using the Layering Circle dies (#151770).  The "Hello" is from the Free as a Bird stamp set (#149468).  Leaf shapes were die cut out of Soft Suede and Early Espresso card stock using the Forever Flourishing dies (#152714) and then layered under the chipmunk.

The plant image from the Field Journal stamp set was randomly stamped in Crumb Cake onto Crumb Cake  card stock for the top layer of the card.  It was spritzed lightly with water and embossed with the Tasteful Textile 3D embossing folder (#152718).  It is layered over Early Espresso card stock.  A double length of Linen Thread (#104199) tied around the layers and into a bow and a Crumb Cake card base complete the card.

I used the "Hello" greeting, so the card can be used for one of several different occasions or to mail out to a friend.  I made a coordinating tag with no greeting for the same reason: it may be tied to a birthday gift, a Christmas gift or a gift basket:

Many of the same elements used on the card were also used on the tag.  Instead of die cutting the leaves, the smaller leaves on the tag were punched out using the Sprig Punch (#148012).  The Scalloped Tag Topper Punch (#133324) was used to create the tag.  The Early Espresso tag bottom was punched from a 2" by 5-1/2" piece of card stock.  The stamped and embossed Crumb Cake piece was cut 1/8" smaller on both the height and width measurements so it could be layered over the Early Espresso layer as on the card.  A piece of Faux Suede Trim (#152472) was threaded through the tag top hole and tied with a double length of Linen Thread. 

Hope you enjoyed my monochromatic projects half as much as I enjoyed making them for you.  Now it's time to head over to my talented friend Denita's  blog for more inspiration.

To Denita's blog . . .

Have a great day!

--Sara Nell 

 

Picking Blueberries--#tgifc270

This week is theme challenges week over at TGIF Challenges.  This theme this week is Summer Vibes.  I immediately thought I should do bright colors and a beachy/tropical card, but I couldn't make it happen.  Probably because my favorite Summer Vibes are not beachy/tropical vibes. 

My family always spent three weeks in August camping by lakes in Northern Minnesota and Ontario, Canada.  We had favorite camping spots (some in campgrounds, other requiring a fire permit from the ranger's office and a boat to get to). We would return to these spots from time to time but not every year.  The best spots had great wild blueberry patches nearby with their fruit ripening in August.   Mama would rig up an oven out of tin foil and make blueberry cobbler in the fire ashes for dessert and then pancakes cooked over the fire for breakfast.  We were sorely disappointed when the bears got to the blueberries before we did.  One time, we and a bear arrived at the same time.  We let the bear have the blueberries and then grumbled all the way back to camp. No blueberries meant no cobbler and no pancakes.

Those camping trips are probably what drew me to the new Field Journal stamp set in the Annual Catalog (#152609).  This set has a wild blueberry image and other images from the lakes and woods.  It seemed like I discovered a treasure when I saw this stamp set. These are my Summer Vibes!

Here is a simple note card highlighting the blueberries.  The image was stamped in Soft Suede then colored with Crumb Cake Combo, Misty Moonlight Combo, and Granny Apple Green Combo Stampin' Blends.  The stamped piece was layered on a piece of Misty Moonlight card stock and then on a Whisper White note card.  Linen thread finishes the card.

Lots of bright, fun cards representing Summer Vibes over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

I hope you are able to enjoy your favorite Summer vibes and Summer Places this year!

--Sara Nell