• "Hugged" A2 cards/envelopes
• "Hello Gorgeous" A2 cards/envelopes
• "You Rock" A2 cards/envelopes
• Stationery Tag Kit - Bows
• Stationery Tag Kit - Hello
• Stationery Tag Kit - Heart
• Stationery Embellish Kit - Pink
• Stationery Embellish Kit - Gold

Supplies | Handmade by Heidi Stationery - available now at Joann.com

Today, on the Heidi Swapp blog, I'm sharing these semi-handmade cards I've created with Heidi's brand new Stationery Collection...available now at Michaels stores...


Click HERE to see how each of these cards came together...and make sure to check out the entire collection HERE.

Happy happy Friday!

My kids went back to school today.

I can't believe it.

This was the FASTEST. SUMMER. EVER.

Truly.

I feel like we were just writing our bucket list and now the summer is over.

Crazy.

The only good thing about it being the end of summer is that means it's the START OF SCHOOL!

Yay!

I love back-to-school time for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the office/school supply sales. I swear I could spend hours just staring at folders and pens...(that's not weird, right?)

I also love BTS (that's the cool way to write back-to-school...just fyi) because I LOVE making teacher gifts...cards, little mementos, supplies, whatever.

This year I found the perfect Studio Calico accessory to help me create all of those little things I enjoy making for the kids' teachers...the Teacher's Pet Stamp & Die Set...




AAAACK! Are these stamps and die not just perfect? That little pencil and the "A+" are my faves...

And here are some of my favorite projects from the Studio Calico Member Gallery showing just how versatile this set is...




So awesome, right? And seriously customizable...

I can't wait to get mine so I can start creating...I may be a little late with the gifts...but I'm sure it'll be OK.

How about you? Do you give your kids' teachers gifts for the start of school?

Last weekend was when the 3rd-graders that go to the local Catholic church made their First Communion...

...our friends have twins that were 2 of those children...and we were honored to have been invited to not only the mass, but also to the celebration that followed.

Here are the cards that I made for the girls...


I have been CAH-RAZY over vellum lately...and the new Sheer Metallic collection at We R is just about as good as it gets.


When you start with paper as luxurious and lovely as this, you really don't need to do too much to it.

To make these cards, I started with some Letterpress Folding A2 Note Cards. I love how thick and sturdy this cards are...they just feel expensive...you know?

To one of these I added a little rectangle of Sheer Metallic Gold Stripe, and to the other I added a piece of Sheer Metallic Gold Dot.

Next came a piece of plain vellum notched at the bottom to create a little banner, a small doily and a paperclip decorated with a little Maggie Holmes resin flower. (I used small glue dots to attach the flowers to the clips...they worked so well!).

I did use a little adhesive to hold the different papers to the card base...I didn't want them to fall all apart if the paperclips came free...

OH! I almost forgot! One little thing I did to the doilies before attaching them...and the one thing that really makes this card stand out...the debossed monograms!


This was a technique I hadn't tried before...but it is one I will definitely be doing again! I love the way this looks...

In order to get this look you do all the same steps you would do for Letterpress...only you don't use ink! So awesome!

I used a letterpress plate/die set from Studio Calico for this project.


Easy, fairly quick, beautiful & unique...just the way I like my projects...

Love this Sheer Metallic Paper? You can get it HERE...and use the code "MIDWESTERN" at checkout to get 20% off your order!

Mother's Day is just right around the corner (how is this possible ALREADY???) and this year I vowed to actually make my Mom's card.

I know, I know.

Yes, I usually just swing by Target and pick up a card. BUT not this time.

Yay, me.


I was super-inspired by Maggie Holmes' cards in the Studio Calico Gallery lately. She's been using a lot of layers and banners and they are just so fantastic.

So these are some of the things I started with...


...a couple of Lifestyle Crafts flag dies...I thought these would make perfect little banners...a Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder (Dainty),and some embroidery floss and a paper piercer. I also grabbed a few pieces of the new Glitz Design Carpe Diem paper to use for my layers.


I started by using my Evolution and Genius Platform to cut the flag dies. The little holes you see in the die above are to stick a little pin or stylus through to help you remove your cut paper from your die...but I thought it would be fun to use them as a stitching guide. Soooo, after the banner was cut, I left the paper in the die and used my paper piercer and mat to make the holes that I would use to complete my stitching.


See the little embroidered flag up there??? So cute, right? Love it.

Then I used the other flag die to cut the little lattice-pattern piece you see above. I love using the dies...they make such a sharp, perfect cut.

A few more pieces of the gorgeous Carpe Diem paper fussy cut into banners and I've got almost all my layers ready to assemble.

Next I grabbed a piece of Lifestyle Crafts No. 10 letterpress paper to use for my card base. The No. 10 paper is 4x9.3" and folded in half it's the perfet size. It's also super-thick and soft and is just beautiful and classy-feeling.

After I had my base I took one more piece of No. 10 and cut it just shorter than half. I ran this piece through my Evolution with an embossing folder (Dainty)...and out it came with those fantastic circles of dots you can see just poking out under some of my paper layers.

Almost done gathering my layers!


I've been adding vellum to almost all of my projects lately. I had a small piece and some little punched banners leftover from a layout I had been working on, so I grabbed those for my card, too.

Now here was the fun part. I started with my embossed paper...on top of that I added my vellum. Then came my various banners...I added a small amount of adhesive to the backs of each banner as I was layering them and then I ran the top edges through my sewing machine...randomly adding little vellum punches along the top as I sewed.

Next came my stitched flag...I added that right to the top of the rest of the layers.

Almost done!

Then I took the whole stack and adhered that to my card base.

To finish things off, I added a line of pink stamp ink around the edges of my base (not sure I like this, but meh...it'll do) stapled the little "favorite" sticker (also from the Carpe Diem collection) to my stitched flag, and adhered "LOVE YOU" to the front of my card using a beautiful silver glitter alpha (from Pink Paislee).


ooops! Forgot! Just one more thing...I add a few drops of pink mist to the top of the card...just for some extra ooomph.

And that's it! I love the look of the little embroidered banner...and I want to check all my other dies to see if they have those holes around the edges...so fun!

Like some of the products you've seen? Don't forget you can get 20% off any item you purchase from We R Memory Keepers using the promo code: MIDWESTERN ...so awesome!



Supplies used:

So, even though it's still near freezing here and we are sitting under feet of snow and expecting more (AACCKK!), we are on the right side of Winter and Spring is only 6 days away!