Bonnie's Halloween Lanterns

My phone was dinging last night and I grabbed it to find several awesome photos, texted from Bonnie with the note that she was having technical issues with her computer and was unable to upload them on her blog.

Bonnie has used my new Paper Lantern die to make some spooky decor for Halloween. I LOVE THESE LANTERNS! 

First let me explain the die. It is a Bigz XL size die and cuts a big and a mini-lantern on the same die by cutting lantern halves. The holes in the bands serve as both ribbon-threading holes AND line-up holes, making construction desperately simple and quick.

The die does not have any crease rule, meaning you can stack up about four sheets of paper over the die and cut two big and two small lanterns with one pass through the Big Shot (or Big Kick, or Vagabond) Bonus!!!

You can use ribbon, yarn, twine, etc. to put them together. For Bonnie's "Jack-o" Lantern (see what she did there?) she used orange cardstock (four lantern halves instead of two, to make it even bigger!), twine to cinch/hang, and added hand-cut black cardstock pieces (with sequin eyes) to make a face. What a quick and easy decor item for Halloween!

Next, she made a Fall-ish Bird Lantern from Kraft-colored cardstock, a ropier twine for cinching/hanging, and embellished the top of the lantern with my retired Bird die.

The Spider lantern set may be my favorite (but it's hard to choose!). She used both sizes of lanterns, cut from a flocked spider paper and cinched/hung with black ribbon. She embellished the lanterns with die cut spiders and hung the Pop-up Spider/Web die from the bottom of the set.

Here is a closer look at the bigger lantern and the web/spider decorations:

Bonnie will be back up and blogging soon, so you'll want to bookmark her blog here: Bonnie Bruns

You also may have noticed that the Paper Lanterns are out of stock on Sizzix.com. Another batch is expected in three weeks, but you may be able to find the lanterns in stock right now at your local scrapbook store. For online options, here are some direct links to the Paper Lanterns (in stock as of today's date):

Crafter's Home Online

It's Cheaper than Therapy

Scrapbook.com

Oh My Crafts!

Thanks for sharing your spooky lanterns, Bonnie!  

PS Bonnie and her youngest son, Tyler, came to visit us in Texas last month. It was only for a few days, but we had such fun! Bonnie is a wizard with thrift-store finds, repurposing jewelry and furniture into one-of-a-kind pieces that she sells in her craft booth in Colorado Springs. We went thrifting, did a little crafting, drank amaretto sours by the pool, and just enjoyed each others' company. I sent her home with a box full of dies and, no surprise, she made magic with them! Love ya, Bon!

Pop-up Spotted! Kathy & Johanna

Here's another installment of Pop[up] Spotted, where I send you to look at some awesome cards made by awesome people who were awesome enough to send me links! (Awesome!!!)

Kathy is up first. Kathy has used the Scalloped Circle Pop-up to create her own fun farm scene inside a card. This die is extremely generic and can be used to make anything pop-up, so definitely think of it as one of your "staple" dies, or tools.

Kathy Nakata's card: Hay there!

Johanna has done it again! She's used one of my all-time favorite dies, the Pop-up Tree, to create a beautiful card. Unfortunately, the tree is a retired die, and Sizzix has sold them all, even from the outlet, but I did find one through Amazon here: Pop-up Tree die

Johanna's card: A wish for someone special

More links, please! Use the "e-mail me" link right below my picture in the left sidebar of this blog to send me links to your projects made with my pop-up dies. I would love to see them! 

Thanks Kathy and Johanna! You rock!

Summer in a Suitcase!

Whew! I've been doing a lot of traveling this summer. Last week I was at the CHA show in Chicago doing demos and education on my Party Essentials dies from Sizzix. These are the latest release from me and although half are currently out of stock, we do expect them back in the warehouse in three weeks, so if you can't find them at your local store, there's a new batch on the way.

I came home from Chicago, dumped the suitcase and re-packed, jumped in the van and the family headed east to Zwolle, Louisiana for the first biannual Toloso Family Reunion. This is John's family on his mother's side, consisting of three generations. We had a blast!

Here are just a couple of random shots from the weekend

Next up is a family vacation to Minnesota, where we will have a much smaller reunion (of sorts) on my side of the family with my brother, sister and her family. 

And then it's back on the teaching trail!

Here are my upcoming teaching dates:

August 25-27 Creative Escape - Chandler, AZ

September 2 Oh My Crafts! Live Ustream Class - online

September 9-11 For Keeps Sake - St. Louis, MO

October 8 The Scrapbook Page - Kansas City (Shawnee), KS

October 14-17 The Collins Group Retailer Training - Houston, TX

 Well I'd better scurry . . . the suitcase won't pack itself! (Don't I wish?!)

 

Sizzix week at Craft Critique! (Hey, that rhymes!)

Head on over to Craft Critique this week to read in-depth reviews on lots of Sizzix products, as well as enter for a chance to win a Big Shot or eClips machine!

Way!

 

Pop[up]Spotted: bibbi's dillerier

One of the things I always say in my classes is that I love seeing what you've made with my dies. "Send me photos!" I always say, quite demandingly.

Sometimes people send me photos, but not as often as I would like.

So how about this - send me links! If you've made something with one of the Sizzix pop-up dies, please send me a link to your blog post. I will, in turn, post a link to your blog here on my blog in my next Pop[up]Spotted post.

I've added a category and blinkie to the left sidebar so you'll be able to find the links as they rack up. (See how optimistic I am?)

First up! Johanna, of {bibbi}s dillerier fame, sent me photos of an awesome birthday card using the Scalloped Circle Card pop-up die, which is coincidentally the same die up as a prize in the current Lawnscaping Challenge (scroll down the page to this post to learn more about the challenge). Here is a teaser of Johanna's awesome card. Click on the image to go see the full card 

Thanks for sharing, Johanna!

So how about it? Want to be Pop[up]Spotted? Use the "e-mail me" link below my photo (upper left corner) to send me your links. And thanks in advance for using my dies!

 

Happy 4th! And Lawnscaping challenge.

Gretchen is cool! She participates in the Lawnscaping monthly challenges of Lawn Fawn stamps, and mentioned a few months back that it would be cool if I sponsored one of the Lawnscaping monthly challenges with one of my Sizzix pop-up dies.

I said "I'd love to!" and they said yes! What an honor!

Gretchen coordinated the whole thing, even pre-cutting the Scalloped Circle Pop-up Die for each design team member to work with. Thanks G! You can watch a video tutorial for this die here: Video Instructions for Scalloped Circle Pop-up Die

The Scalloped Circle die is the prize for this month's challenge, but the challenge itself does not require you to make a pop-up. The challenge is to decorate the inside of your card, too. Click the link below to learn all about it, including the rules for entering the challenge and some awesome DT inspiration!

 Lawnscaping Challenge: don't forget the inside!

I made two cards for the challenge: (Click to make them bigger)

I made the Bernie card for my parents. They are getting a new puppy later this week. Here's a picture of the real Bernie:

Awwwww! 

Bernie Card Supply List: Sizzix Scalloped Circle Pop-up Die, Sizzix Celebrate Sizzlit Set, Lawn Fawn Stamps "Critters in the 'Burbs" and "Harold's ABCs", Sizzix Styled Labels die, My Mind's Eye paper, Bazzill cardstock,Inks (Staz-on and Stampin' Up!), Creative Imaginations' Wood and Grasscloth papers, Stash items (rhinestones, wire, colored pencils)

And then, since my Critters in the 'Burbs stamps were already out on the table, I thought it would be cool to make a quick card using the cute bunny that's included in the set:

Congratulations Card Supply List: Sizzix Scalloped Circle Pop-up Die, Sizzix Celebrate Sizzlit Set, Lawn Fawn Stamps "Critters in the 'Burbs" and "Harold's ABCs", Sizzix Movers & Shapers A2 Horizontal card with Circle, Three, Sizzix Scallops On the Edge die, Inks: Staz-on and Stampin' Up!, Cosmo Cricket patterned paper, stash ribbon, Glossy Accents

Thanks to Gretchen and Lawnscaping Challenges for allowing me to be part of this month's challenge!

Video Tutorial: Bigz XL Photo Wheel die

Continuing the video tutorial series for the Party Essentials dies, here is one for the Bigz XL Photo Wheel die. I've also used the Butterfly, Flower & Swirl Sizzlit set for decoration in this video.

Here is the video:

 

In the video I assemble this photo wheel:

Supply List: Sizzix Photo Wheel die, Sizzix Butterfly, Flower & Swirl Sizzlit set, Sizzix Extended Cutting Plates, The Stamps of Life number stamps (basic4abc), My Minds Eye papers

 

Happy July! Pop-ups on SALE at Sizzix.com

I got a new Sizzix Scoop newsletter this morning and noticed that several of my new Party Essentials dies are included in this sale! Go scoop them up! (Pun intended!)

Click here to shop this sale!