MeGa Stampin Studio

Take 2 Tuesday! - Vintage Altoid Tin

Welcome to our first "Take 2 Tuesday".   Here is how it works.   Each month we will feature a "take 2" (additional ideas) of one of our tutorials.  You will get to see a new idea every Tuesday that month.  We know sometimes it is hard to come up with more ideas once you have seen a project done one way. For those of you who have already purchased the tutorials, you'll get several fun, new ideas.  For those of you who haven't,  maybe this will give you enough ideas to justify one more tutorial.  We believe you can never have too many....we buy our share!

This month we will feature one of our most popular tutorials  - the Altoid Tin!!  Who doesn't have a small stash of these saved for the perfect project and who wouldn't want to receive one of these completed.  Some of the examples we share will be available in our Etsy shop the day they post.  

We LOVE the new "Newsprint" DSP from Stampin' Up! The Altoid tin was covered with this DSP and lots of unique embellishments including a wooden domino, paper flowers, covered chipboard and buttons.

The top of the tin is embellished with an "R" from the Serifs Essential Alphabet die set cut from Very Vanilla card stock, sponged and embellished with a star button with linen thread.

The rim of the lid is covered with black grosgrain ribbon and for this one, we left the bottom of the tin uncovered keeping with th vintage look.  It looks great in person!

The inside of the tin holds the accordion-fold album that will accommodate several photos. 

We've covered the pages with additional pieces of DSP and sponged the edges.

The last page is secured inside the tin with sticky strip.  We covered a chipboard "M" with DSP and added an "R" game piece tile. 

We hope you have enjoyed our first "Take 2 Tuesday" and have been inspired to create one of these tantalizing tins!!

Melissa & Gayla

Big Shot Wednesday - Week #3, Bag w/Scallops

This week we took two "bags" and created a jumbo belly band.  This band uses only the large main piece of the die.  This band is around one of SU!'s new stamp cases.  We added DSP in the plastic "sleeve".  What a great way to embellish a stamp set for a friend, a hostess, your downline, etc.  These cases can hold other gifts as well.  What a great way to store Build-a-Bear paper dolls.  You can create these belly bands to go around DVDs or adjust the size and embellish CD's, or other small gift boxes, etc. 

 Here is a another view.  You can see we used DSP from the Sweet Pea collection. The belly band is Tempting Turquoise card stock that was embossed with a polka dot embossing folder and it is embellished with rhinestones, white ribbon and jumbo eyelets.

Lastly, here is a picture of what the belly band looks like off the package.  You can see we adhered two scallop bags together.  And, notice, the belly band will slide off and on so that you don't have to undo the ribbon.

Things To Do Album / Organizer

We have created a step-by-step tutorial for our "things to do..." album/organizer for only $5.95.  This organizer has been created with the DSP from the Occasions Mini catalog, Shades of Spring.  We also include a word document with all the "lists" we use in our album as well as some "spare" ones you can use to create your own lists.  If you would like this tutorial and word document, please, use the Paypal button below.  This tutorial is available just in time for Mother's Day, graduation, SU! convention, etc.  The uses for this album/organizer are limitless.

 

 

Altered Coffee Cup Easter Basket

So far this month, we are right on track.  We have met our goal of a basket a week until Easter.  So, here is our second Easter basket.  As you can see from the photos below, we started with a disposable coffee cup.

After

The coffee cup was covered with DSP, given a handle, embellishments and filled with candy.  And, as simple as that, you have created an Easter basket.  Here are the supplies we used:

• Card Stock - Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Lovely Lilac 
• DSP - Shades of Spring (from the Occasions Mini catalog), Certainly Celery
• Punches - Scallop Trim Border, 3/4" circle
• Embellishments - Certainly Celery and Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon, buttons, wire, hemp twine, jumbo eyelet, Non-SU rick rack, disposable coffee cups from Wal-mart, Easter grass and chocolates
• Stamp Set - Country Morning (hostess set)
• Ink - Black Staz-On, marker

Here's how we did it.  First, we removed the band from around the coffee cup to use as a guide and pattern for the DSP.

Next, lay the paper "guide" on your DSP, trace, cut out and glue to your cup.

Then, use this coffee band ""pattern" to create any additional band-layers.  We used only one extra layer, but you could add as many as you like.  By using the actual band from the coffee cup as your pattern, you are able to keep the original curve of the cup thereby making the new piece fit nicely.  
 

We used card stock circles topped with buttons to create the "dots" on our basket.  We used heavy wire for our handle but you could also use pipe cleaners, ribbon - whatever you like.

And, there you have it - an inexpensive way to create your own Easter basket.  You could use any style or size of "cup."  These baskets would make a great party favor, treats for school, or table decorations. Use your imagination! 

Old Fashioned Designer Series Paper

Do you remember making your own decorative paper?  This paper is made with 2 pieces of waxed paper and hearts punched from tissue paper.  We used the Full Heart and Heart to Heart punches to make our hearts.  Place the hearts in a single layer, across one piece of the waxed paper which should be laying on a thin towel.  Carefully lay the other piece of waxed paper on top of the hearts being careful to not "blow" all the tissue hearts off.  Iron the two pieces of waxed paper together until they melt. 

We then used this new DSP with several Big Shot dies - Two Tags, Scallop Envelope and Petal Card.  What fun, colorful treat holders.  You can see we filled them with Ghiradelli, foiled hearts and mini candy bars. 

This handmade paper could be used on a card, decorations, flowers and you can create handmade paper for any holiday or occasion. 

What's New for 2010!

As mentioned yesterday, we are working on exciting things for 2010.  The last couple of months we have been working very hard in preparation for our new on-line store. 

Like many of you, we are always looking for quality products at  reasonable prices.  We will let you all know first, our loyal followers, as to the date the store will officially open.  We will continually add new products with ideas how to use them into the store and we will keep you updated as this happens. 

So, with the opening of the new on-line store as well as keeping up with MeGa, we realized we would have to shift some of our time around.  We would need some time to design samples for the new on-line store.  So, starting this month will be posting mostly on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. This doesn't mean that we won't still have some posts on the other days, just that we promise new ideas on those three days.  While we reserve the right to change our minds :):)  right now we plan to showcase the following:  Cards on Mondays, BIG SHOT Wednesdays, 3-D items on Fridays and any new tutorials will be shown on Saturdays.  Of course, there will be another site that will have other samples for those of you who always crave more!

The two samples below, are made with the round tins we will be carrying in the store.  The tins are made with the new Sending Love Specialty DSP found in the new Occasions Mini Catalog that starts January 5th.  If you haven't received your new Occasions Mini Catalog or Sale-a-Bration supplement AND you don't already have a demonstrator, please contact us and we will be happy to mail you one.

Candy and More Candy!

Halloween is definitely about the candy.  So, here is one more container you may have laying around the house or leftover from another project.  We have filled this cd case with black licorice - we did have to cut the licorice to fit.  The band across the front is Basic Black and Whisper White card stock.  Even though the picture doesn't capture it, we did texture the Whisper White piece. 

The "tag" is made with Night & Day Specialty DSP from the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog, as well as, Basic Black card stock.  We used craft punches to create the scallops.  The "halloween" is a rub-on from Spooky Treats found on page 177.  They come in black and white.  We did use a piece of Night & Day DSP on the back of the cd to show off the licorice better than just the clear plastic.

In the lower right-hand corner of the case, you will see the white crow which is another rub-on from the same Spooky Treats set.

Big Shot Wednesday Week #4

Week #4 - Flower Folds

In keeping with our fall  decorations, we decided to create this wonderful 12 x 12 tile using our featured Big Shot die, Flower Folds, as well as this beautiful saying from our Definitely Decorative Fall-Winter Catalog. This Decor Element can be found on page 8. The inspiration for this project came from one of our friends and a fellow demonstrator.(see details below)

 The flowers were cut out of Crushed Curry DSP.  We embellished the flower center with a pop bottle top and a 1" circle of Basic Black card stock. The flowers were sponged with Crushed Curry and then glued together using TomBow adhesive.

The leaves were made with the Big Shot die, Leaves #2, and Always Artichoke card stock. The texture was created using the Stampin' Up! Impressions embossing folder, Finial Press.  The leaves were sponged with Always Artichoke ink.  The ribbon is our 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Basic Black.

As we mentioned earlier, this week's project was inspired by one of our friends and a fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.  Connie Haselrick made this tile for our annual Stampin' Up! Christmas party and Melissa just happened to be the lucky recipient of this lovely gift.  Thanks, Connie!!

Altered Cigar Box

This is another project I did using the techniques for my WOW presentation on Saturday evening for the LNS group at convention. My demo combined direct-to-paper with collage stamping.  I used 3 different colors on my paper and then stamped images with black Stazon.  The flowers, friend tag and butterfly were all cut from scraps of the paper that I created using the direct-to-paper technique.  Step-by-step directions for this technique is on Saturday's post.

 

Matchbook Paper Clip Holder

I saw these online somewhere and thought, how cute!  So I made them for my downline as part of their little "goody" bag that I give them at convention.  They were made using our new In Color card stock, DSP and ribbon.  I hope they like them!! If you would like to try these, see the Instructions below.

 

To make these, cut your card stock at 4-1/4" x 7-3/4".  Next, score at 3", 3-1/2", 7-1/4". The 1/2" end is turned up and stapled. Have fun embellishing any way you want.  We layered a piece of coordinating DSP.   The flower on the front is from the Flower, Daisies #2 die.  Use brads or buttons for the center.

The inside piece (holding the paper clips) measures at 3" x 3-1/2".  An Exact-o was used to create three small slits, just large enough for the paper clip to hook through.  The flowers on the paper clips are from the Boho Flower punch, Trio Flower punch and Flower Fusion.  We actually took the retired flowers (the Pink Pirouette ones) and dyed them Melon Mambo. 

To die the felt flowers:  Place a few drops of water in a small baggie.  Add a few drops of ink.  Place the flowers in the baggie and "smush" around.  They were next laid out to dry.  You can probably use the heat gun to speed up this process.  Use a variety of cardstock and DSP for your flower layers.  Small rhinestone brads were used in the centers.  Glue dots were used to keep the front and back flowers together around the paper clip.  This way they look nice from both sides.