Stampin' Up! Demonstrator Kim Thompson: 2023

Thursday, September 14, 2023

Zoo Crew Lunchbox

The other day I confessed on my Facebook page that I’m a bit of a “procraftinator” – many of my ideas/projects come together at the last possible moment, and I’m confessing now that sometimes they come together even later than that!

My Zoo Crew Lunchbox Note Holder is one of those projects, and I'm hope that the old adage “better late than never” applies here.

For last month’s Creative Card-iology Team Back to School Tutorial bundle, I created 3x3 notecards using the Zany Zoo bundle and the Zoo Crew Designer Series Paper – encouraging notes that could be put in with a child’s lunch.

I love the Zany Zoo bundle – it’s such a fun collection and features a variety of creatures involved in all kinds of activities – just like the kids in our lives have different interests and skills.

I wanted to create a coordinating box in the shape of a lunchbox to hold the cards. I decided to do a Pinterest search to see if anyone else had ever created one before, and I found one in a blog post by Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator Angie Pyjas at stampingwithamore.com.

I used the dimensions I found to make an initial lunchbox, but it turned out a bit bigger than I wanted. I made some adjustments and was able to create a lunchbox that fit my notecards perfectly. So I added a note to my tutorial that I would be having a special blog post at the end of the month for the lunchbox holder.

And then I ran into trouble! I planned on using small super thin neodymium magnets for a closure for my lunchbox lid, but at the time I turned in my tutorial I hadn’t actually tried them out yet (because of my “procraftination” tendencies). I tried a couple different sizes of magnets and different placements of the magnets and kept having issues with the magnets not staying together or coming loose from where I’d adhered them. I ripped off many layers of DSP, but finally came up with a finished project! This lunchbox can be used to hold all the notecards you create as well as some 3x3 envelopes, or it can be used a treat holder with a 3x3 notecard added in.

Here are the dimensions that I used for my lunchbox:

Pool Party Cardstock

3 ½” x 11”, scored at 2 ½” and 4 ½”

3” x 3”, scored at ½” on 3 sides (cut 2)

¾” x 5”

Zoo Crew DSP

3 ¼” x 6 ¼” (lid)

3 ¼” x 2 ¼” (front)

1 ¾” x 2 ¼” (sides, cut 2)

1/2” x 4” (handle)

A list of products I used in making my lunch box is posted below. A full tutorial is available as a gift for opting into my mailing list during the month of September. You can opt in here.

Thanks for visiting my blog today and sticking with me on this project! I always appreciate your feedback, so feel free to leave a comment below! Happy Stamping!

Product List

121045

$10.00

159276

$10.50

144245

$10.00

122924

$10.00

Zoo Crew 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

161304

$12.50

154242

$22.00

160424

$28.00

159183

$30.00

161314

$34.00

162363

$21.00

103683

$5.75

104430

$4.25

138995

$7.00

152392

$26.00

150673

$66.00

144107

$11.00

Thursday, August 24, 2023

Crafting with the Kits Collection

I’m back with the Creative Card-iology Team bloggers for another blog hop, and this month we are featuring the Kits Collection from Stampin’ Up! The kits are on sale through August 31 at great discounts – up to 30% off, and there’s a great variety of kits that are sure to give you a great time of crafting.

I chose the Forever Friends Kit, which includes the supplies to make 8 cards (2 designs, 4 of each) with envelopes. I love the beautiful floral designs and foil accents for the cards and the envelopes with the same foil design on the flap, and I was so excited to see the Dimensional Strips as the adhesive in the kit. The coordinating Stampin’ Up! colors are Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Night of Navy, Old Olive and Petal Pink. A Night of Navy Stampin’ Spot and Calypso Coral Baker’s Twine are included.

I made 2 cards following the pictorial directions, and then changed up the designs a bit by adding a little extra cardstock to the supplies in the kit. I switched card bases and printed design layers to the opposite ones in the printed directions and added a layer of colored cardstock (Night of Navy and Old Olive) as a mat behind the printed design. I stamped a floral image in the Night of Navy ink and colored the flowers with Stampin’ Blends. My Calypso Coral Baker’s Twine was arranged around and adhered to the back of the floral images and then the floral images were adhered to the card fronts, popped up with pieces of the Dimensional Strips.

I went a bit further with an alternate project with this kit and made a mini journal using one of the card bases as my journal cover. I made a score line about 1/16” on either side of the center score of the card base. I took about 8 pages from a sketch journal and folded them together inside the card base and then stapled everything together twice along the center score of the card base with my long neck stapler. I then trimmed the inside pages even with the cover.

I kept the cover design pretty simple as I didn’t want any embellishment to be ruined when this journal is slipped inside a purse, back pocket, etc. I just cut one of the printed design pieces to the size I wanted, stamped the floral and leaf outlines on the flowers and leaves of the printed design, and then matted the piece it with a slightly larger piece of Night of Navy cardstock. I die cut a sentiment label using one of the stitched circle dies from the Stylish Shapes Dies collection. To fit my sentiment within this circle, I colored half of the sentiment with the Night of Navy Stampin’ Write Marker and stamped it on my die cut circle, then repeated the process with the second half of my sentiment. I adhered it to my card front with Mini Glue Dots.

Since I used sketch journal sheets for my inside pages, I thought this would make a great beginner’s (that’s me) mixed media art journal. I decided to start by embellishing the first page of my journal by brushing some Daffodil Delight ink with a blending brush over the lower right-hand corner of the page. I then stamped the floral and leaf images in Night of Navy ink over the inked corner. I used Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive and Real Red pencils from the Watercolor Pencil Assortment 1 collection to color the images. Who knows where it will go from here!

Not quite sure what I’m going to use the journal for, but I love how it came together. I might keep it myself to write about answered prayers and how God brings me through hard times, or I might give it as a gift.

Since the kits don’t take up much room, they’re great for crafting on the go or in small areas when you don’t have a lot of room, and they are an easy and cost-effective way to get started stamping. The Classic Stampin' Spots Assortment is a great beginners collection of inks to add on to your kit, and it will help expand the use of your kit stamp set beyond the kit contents. I used the Daffodil Delight Stampin' Spot for brushing ink on my journal page.

The Kits Collection changes as availability changes, and new kits are added regularly. Stampin' Up! also has a monthly subscription kit called Paper Pumpkin, which is a stamping kit that includes all the supplies to make the featured project, just like the kits in the Kit Collection. Paper Pumpkin subscriptions are available on a month-by-month payment basis (paperpumpkin.com) or by 1, 3, 6 or 12-month prepaid subscriptions (shop prepaid subscriptions).

The September Paper Pumpkin kit looks like it will be a beautiful kit - you won't want to miss it! The sign up period for the September kit runs through September 10th. There is a coordinating Thoughts of Thanks journal add-on available now while supplies last.

I hope you were creatively inspired by the Forever Friends kit – making the cards as the kit directions called for or possibly creating some alternate projects - and I hope you can see how easy it is to get started stamping with a kit.

Don’t forget to check out my blogging teammates’ projects for some more "kitspiration" by clicking on the links below.

Bonnie's Blog

Diana's Blog

Jessica's Blog

As always, thanks for hopping along with us today! I love connecting with blog readers and getting your feedback on the projects, so I hope you’ll leave a comment and let me know you stopped by today! Don’t forget to check out the Kits Collection and take advantage of the super Kits sale (shop the Kits Collection)!

If you’d like to get together with some friends at your home or mine to craft together with Kits, I’d love to talk with you about how I can assist you with your craft gathering! You can connect with me by email at kimskeepsakecreations@gmail.com or on my facebook page @kimskeepsakecreations.

And as always, the products used to create my projects can be found in the list below. Happy Stamping!

Product List

162363

$21.00

159276

$10.50

100867

$10.00

100702

$10.00

153183

$24.00

147158

$30.00

Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

154881

$10.00

Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

154883

$10.00

154893

$10.00

161700

$16.00

153611

$13.00

150673

$66.00

159183

$30.00

103579

$11.00

152392

$26.00

103683

$5.75

152813

$8.00

147042

$8.50

Thursday, July 27, 2023

Horse & Sleigh Fun Fold

Welcome to the July 2023 Creative Card-iology Team Blog Hop! We’re glad you've joined us to check out this month’s cardmaking inspiration featuring Stampin’ Up’s Online Exclusives.

I chose the One Horse Open Sleigh Suite Collection and a simple Z Fold for my project this month. The Designer Series Paper in this suite has some really beautiful scenic 6x6 paper designs! And the Horse and Sleigh stamp set and dies have a nostalgic winter theme that brings back fond memories of holidays with my grandparents as the call to mind the old holiday song “Over the River and Through the Woods.”

Here are the cutting measurements:

Misty Moonlight Card Base – 4 ¼” x 11”, scored at 2 ¾” and 5 ½”

Basic White – 2 pieces 2 ½” x 4”, 1 piece 2 ½” x 5 ½” and 1 piece ¾” x 3”

One Horse Open Sleigh DSP – 2 pieces from same pattern 2 ½” x 4”

Basic Black – 1 piece 2 ½” x 5 ½”

Black Bakers Twine – approximately 15” long

Directions:

1. Fold Misty Moonlight Card Base at 5 ½” score mark.

2. Fold card base back in opposite direction along 2 ¾” score mark.

3. Stamp sentiment in Misty Moonlight ink on ¾” x 3 ¼” Basic White piece.

4. Punch ends of sentiment label with Happy Labels Pick A Punch.

5. Stamp horse and sleigh image in Memento ink on the 2 ½” x 5 ½” Basic White piece and color with Stampin’ Blends (I used Real Red, Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Boho Blue, Misty Moonlight, Pool Party, Crumb Cake, and Ivory Blends).

6. Die cut colored horse and sleigh image.

7. Die cut a second horse and sleigh from the Basic Black piece.

8. Adhere colored horse and sleigh die cut to Basic Black horse and sleigh die cut, offsetting it just a bit to give a shadow effect.

9. Adhere 1 piece of DSP on far left panel and the other on the far right side of the card front.

10. Adhere the 2 remaining Basic White pieces (2 ½” x 4”) to the center 2 sections of the card base.

11. Place glue dots on back of sleigh and the tip of the horse’s tail and adhere to left and bottom of DSP card front panel (making sure that die cut is only adhered to this left panel).

12. Place small amount of adhesive on back of sentiment label and adhere looped Black Bakers Twine to back of sentiment label.

13. Place Stampin’ Dimensionals on back of sentiment label so that left and center of sentiment label are adhered to DSP panel but right end of sentiment label swings free when card is opened.

14. Place snowflake embellishments on sentiment label/card front as desired.

15. In center of each snowflake embellishment, place an Iridescent Rhinestone Basic Jewel.

I hope you enjoyed this project! Don’t forget to check out my teammates’ blogs by clicking on the links below! We appreciate your feedback, so feel free to leave a comment!

Bonnie's Blog

Diana's Blog

Jessica's Blog

Thanks for hopping with us today! I hope you'll check out all of the online exclusive products at my webstore. There's still time to earn bonus coupons this month - for every $50 ordered, you'll earn a $5 bonus coupon that you can use toward a purchase in August.

Our team always has a great time stamping and inspiring each other, and we'd love to have you join us! I'd love to answer any questions you might have!

Product List