PIN IT FRIDAY FAVS: Cool Cards and the Very Best of Pinterest Pins

These gorgeous double-sided step cards with floating butterflies and fantastic step-by-step instructions caught my eye:

Original Pin HERE
or
http://tinyurl.com/doublestepcard

This is my version:

The floating butterflies are made possible by using thin strips of acetate attached to each butterfly from the inside of the right and left panels. They actual look like they are suspended in mid air!

....and I also learned how to make tunnel

cards recently:

The original card idea was featured by Frenchie on her Stamp and Scrap blog with these two posts HERE and HERE:

She included a video for the snowman card above on her blog and demo'd two versions of tunnel cards via a live stamping event. Here are the measurements for the landscape and portrait versions.

Landscape Tunnel Card

• Card Base: 4 1/4" x 11" score at 5 1/2"
• Inside Insert: 4" x 9 1/2" score along the 9 1/2" side at 3", 6" and 9"
• Cut along 1/2" section to create 3/4" tabs at the top and bottom (Frenchie's video HERE shows how to do this)

Portrait Tunnel Card

• Card Base: 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" score at 4 1/4"
• Inside Insert: 5" x 6 1/2" score along 6 1/2" side at 2", 4" and 6" or
• Inside Insert Version 2 for snowman card: 4 3/4" x 5 3/4" (see note below) score along 5 3/4" side at 1 3/4", 3 1/2" 5 1/4" NOTE: 5 3/4" is correct even though Frenchie posted 5 1/2" on her blog. She does state 5 3/4" in her video tutorial. 
• Cut out 1/2" section to create tabs at the top and bottom

Check out this variation of tunnel cards with a tutorial posted on Splitcoast Stampers HERE:

The inside insert measures 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" scored along the long side at  2 1/8", 4 1/4" and 6 3/8".

MAY CARD DIVAS MEETING

Here are the projects for our May Card Divas' meeting:

Making Michele's card took us back to our childhood days when we played with paper dolls! It was fun to play like that as adults, too, as we designed the style for the dress form die cut.

Loved Alice's clever idea of using an oval punch (snipping on the top and bottom plus adding a wire) to make a stylish vase! The greenery was created by cutting strips of paper and adhering them with a glue dot then a foam square --- it's an easy idea with impressive results and it looked like a pricey Papyrus card when we were finished!

Christie showed us how to use three small glue dots on the back right and left sides to hold the twine and conserve it, too. This color combo is one of my favs! She pre-cut the flowers and added the glitz for us --- thanks, Christie!

Mel had us use a circle punched out of a Post It Note to create a mask for the white moon. It was a stunning card and now I'm looking at my stamp sets to see how I can make more cards using this technique! It would make a great Halloween card in yellow, orange and purple, too!

This possible Father's Day card from Katie was a big hit! She had us apply a liquid product to the frame to make it look 3D when it dried. I loved this idea! 

Here's the product we used to get the 3D effect on the black frame around the dog:

The tip on the bottle is very thin and it also allows one to control the rate of flow from the tip. I liked it a lot - better than some others I've tried! Click HERE to see it on Amazon.com. Katie showed us two more new products that I may have to have as well --- an opaque white pen that really looks white on colored paper and won't clog like the Signo Uniball pen:

Click HERE to see it on Amazon.com. The other item was a pen - Wink of Stella Brush Tip Glitter Marker by Zig - that easily applies a wonderful glitter effect to projects without any mess:

It comes in many colors, but Katie had the clear one. Click HERE for the Amazon.com link. Thanks, Katie, for all of these links and for helping me spend my money!!!

My project for the ladies was a card holder for 2 to 4 cards. Everyone made a unique holder using different papers and it was fun to see how different pieces of DSP really changed the look of this coordinating card holder and card set. From one 12" x 12" sheet, you can cut everything to make this set! For directions and more sample photos, visit my PIN IT FRIDAY FAV blog post HERE.

For favors, I made everyone a one sheet cookie box just like the ones that I posted HERE. For the inside of the boxes, I decided to go with a no calorie option and found travel sample sizes for that new shampoo and conditioner called Clear at my local Safeway store. I simply added shimmering raffia around the bottles and it was a quick and simple project to complete!

FUN TIMES WITH THE CARD CHICKS!

My Sister, Janie

 Janie brought DELICIOUS spaghetti salad
(see recipe below) and

quiche from Gene's Market

She brought fresh fruit, too - YUM!

 Chocolate Cake, Artichoke Dip and Lemon Bars

from Rachel - HEAVENLY!
See recipes from Rachel at the
end of this post!

 Janie, Rachel and Christie

Michele and Katie

Clever favor from Tiffany

and chocolate egg from Rachel

Inside Views

 Recipe

 Another Version

 You can coordinate the raised

punch on the front with the inside punch

used to make the window for the treat.

 My Favor

I purchased these from:

http://www.cafepress.com

Rolo Rose Idea

 Our Project #1

 #2

 #3

#4

#5

Gift idea using cupcake wrappers votive holders. I found this kit of wrappers at TJ Maxx and they sell them at Michael's, JoAnn's and even Safeway has cute sets of

cupcake wrappers, too!

Janie's Spaghetti Salad

1 English Cucumber chopped

1 Green Pepper chopped

1 Carton of Cherry and Yellow tomatoes

3 stalks of Celery chopped

2 Bunches of Green Onions chopped

1 8oz. package of Spaghetti noodles, cooked and drained

2 packages of Good Seasonings Italian Salad Dressing:

(Make one package of dressing according to directions and 

sprinkle one package on drained spaghetti noodles.)

May use Balsamic Vinegar to liven up the taste. 

Directions

Cook spaghetti noodles, drain, cool and sprinkle with dry Italian dressing mix.  Toss noodles to coat all noodles. 

Cut up the salad vegetables and add to cooled spaghetti noodles.  Toss the salad with half of the made up Italian dressing. 

Toss well.  Place in refrigerator overnight.  If you would like a zesty taste or more flavor add Balsamic Vinegar to taste.

Salad will keep for a couple of days.  

RACHEL'S LEMON BARS

Crust:

1 C flour

1/2 C butter

1/4 C powder sugar

Cream butter,floor and sugar.  It should like peas. Press into a 8" x 8" pan  Bake at 350 until golden brown. Cool.

Lemon:

2 eggs

1 C sugar  

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 T fresh lemon juice

2 T flour

1/2  t baking powder

Mix eggs, sugar , salt, lemon juice together.  Add floor and baking powder  Pour over crust and bake 25 minutes.  When cool sprinkle with powder sugar.

RACHEL'S CHOCOLATE CAKE

2 cubes of butter

1 C water

4 T cocoa 

Place in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.

Remove from heat and add:

2 C flour

2 C sugar

1/2 t salt

then add

2 eggs

1/2 C sour cream

1 t baking soda.

Pour in a greased 9 x 11 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-22 minutes.

Frosting:

1 cube butter

4 T cocoa

6 T milk

bring to a boil.  Add

 1 c chopped nuts

1 t vanilla

Powdered sugar to taste. Pour mixture over cake when warm.

Enjoy :)

TIE THE PERFECT BOW

HAPPY 2013 and here's a diagram that shows the bow technique described in my YouTube video HERE. Once you've practiced the technique, you can use a smaller length of ribbon to make a bow (rather than the 12" mentioned in the video)...and if I'm making a lot of bows, I measure out the length needed to make one bow, add a little extra length, then use that piece to measure and cut the ribbon for the rest of the bows so I can set up my bow-making factory!