August 2011 Tour de Freaks!

Yes!  It is time for the monthly Tour de Freaks, brought to you by your Control Freak Swappers!  Is it your favorite day of the month?  It is mine!  I love to see what the other Control Freaks share with us!  They always have such wonderful ideas.  You've probably just come from the awesome Patty Bennett's blog…love her projects!  Or, if you are starting here, we have 13 stops and you go around the tour and end back here!  Remember, the tour doesn't officially start until the morning of August 20th, so not all links may be working yet if you get here earlier!

 

The theme this month is a sneak peek of the upcoming Holiday Mini!  I know most of my customers have received their copy in the mail within the past couple days!  I'm hearing LONG wishlists!  lol!  I featured the stamp sets Gently Falling and Hand Penned Holidays in my projects this month, along with the WONDERFUL Spice Cake Designer Paper.  I'm already ordering a couple more packages of it…LOVE it!  Quite frankly, though, I had trouble getting started!  Maybe it is a letdown after the wedding, or maybe just wishful thinking that summer isn't going to end!  I decided to do sunflowers to go along with my Gently Falling leaves for my ensemble. 

 

My first project uses one of the new Kraft Gift Boxes in the Holiday Mini!  They are a great size for small gifts!  I filled mine with a cello bag of candy corn!  They are nice and sturdy and at a price of $2.95 for 4 of them, a pretty good deal!  I covered each of the sides and top with Spice Cake Designer Paper, then wrapped the 1 1/4" Soft Suede Stripe Ribbon around and tied a knot on the front.  I went looking for a sunflower and thought that Blossom Party Originals Die looked the most like one.  I cut it with More Mustard cardstock, spritzed it with water and crumpled it, then added More Mustard Ink around the edges.  For the center, I punched a 1 3/8" Circle of Early Espresso, then ran it thru the Big Shot with the Square Lattice Impressions Folder.  I added Very Vanilla neutral flower button to the center and tied with the Early Espresso Bakers Twine so I don't have a "naked" button!  I stamped the smallest leaf from Stampin' Up!'s Gently Falling stamp set with Old Olive and then the outline with Early Espresso and cut them out.  The flower and leaves are popped up on the top with Stampin' Dimensionals.  I added the greeting from Stampin' Up!'s Hand Penned Holidays in Early Espresso Ink on Pool Party cardstock.  It really gives it a POP of color with the other all earthly tones.

 

 

I followed the same color scheme and design as the box on this card.  I did make a double bow from the Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon for this one!  I also used the Square Lattice Impressions Folder on 3/4 of the background Pool Party cardstock, leaving the bottom un-embossed so I could stamp Give Thanks on it.

 

 

The sketch this week from Stamping 411 inspired the design for this card.  Again, I used the same elements as the box and previous card.  Love how the Spice Cake Designer Paper patterns all coordinate together!  Stampin' Up! sure makes it EASY to create!

 

I hope you enjoyed my Sunflower projects this month!  Make sure you continue on the tour with the fabulous MARY BROWN!  She always has such fantastic ideas!