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Last month I was asked to teach a craft class at my church but had no idea what to make. My friend Megan, gave me this link for tile coasters and I was thrilled. They are so cute and so easy. And let's face it, me and easy are BFFs. You can make these coasters in about 5 minutes, they are cheap, and they make great gifts. Win-Win-Win.
So take a look at what you need:

I purchased the 4 x 4 agora almond tiles from Lowe's, but you could really do any 4 x 4 tile that is not glossy and isn't to dark for the stamp to show.

All you have to do is stamp any image of your choosing onto the tile with StazOn ink and then let it dry for a few minutes. Then lightly apply a coat of sealer. I chose a glossy finish for mine, but matte would work just as well. Take caution to spray at a far distance and spray lightly otherwise your stamp could run. After the first coat has dried completely I like to add a second coat of sealer.


For the bottom of the tiles you need to use squares of sticky back felt or you could also stick on the circles of felt that are used for the bottom of legs on chairs. This way your coasters won't scratch any surfaces. Tie them up with a ribbon and you have one adorable gift (for you or a friend!)

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We are so excited to have our favorite Stampin' Up! demonstrator, Anne Beale Yancey, doing a guest post for us today. Take it away, Anne Beale...

A little HAPPY NEW YEAR card is a sweet way to warm the winter. For me, every New Year has always happened in cold snowy places, so I always think of January as wintery and snowy. My inspiration for this card is a bright red cardinal against a beautiful wintery backdrop. I didn’t have a specific image, I just remember seeing images here and there over the years and they’ve always left an impression on my mind.



Creating this little 3” X 3” card was so easy using my Stampin’ Up! Punches and Folders. The NEW Stampin’ Up! Extra Large 2 Step Bird Punch™ creates the little bird, wing and branch all in one punch! This punch is one of our newly redesigned punches, which locks flat for easy storage in small places. You can see all the other punches in our OCCASIONS MINI CATALOG.


The falling snow was created by running the cardstock through my Stampin’ Up! Big Shot™ using our Stampin’ Up! Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Folder™. Using a brayer rolled in Whisper White Craft Ink™, I gently rolled over the raised polka dots to make them white. The snow mounds are Whisper White Cardstock™ punched out with the Wide Oval Punch™. After applying the ovals to the card front, I cut off any excess cardstock along the edges of the card. Of course it’s not really “snowy” without a little Stampin’ Up! Dazzling Diamonds Glitter™ applied using a 2-Way Glue Pen™. Our little Red Gingham Ribbon™ was the perfect little touch to finish my sweet little HAPPY NEW YEAR card.



Visit MUKIBUG to order supplies for this project.

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Meet Anne Beale Yancey. Isn't she a cutie? She's incredibly talented and seriously hilarious. We happen to love her, and we think you'll love her, too. She is one of our fabulous sponsors and she has some exciting news. It's Sale-A-Bration time!

As a Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrator, she is more than an independent sales representative: she is a TEACHER, creative COACH, ADVISOR, and FRIEND. We're so glad to call her ours!

AB is our local Stampin' Up demonstrator, but even if you're not a Seattle local, you can still benefit from AB's creativity and great specials! She has a very cool blog and online ordering, so you can take advantage of Sale-A-Bration, our favorite time of year!

So if you don't know about SAB, it's when Stampin' Up! offers a free exclusive stamp set or other product for every $50 you purchase (click here to see the catty--is anyone else drooling over that new punch?). But this year it gets better. There is also a long list of stamps from the regular catalog you can get if you don't just loooove the special SAB sets. Are you kidding me?

Whether you've never heard of Stampin' Up! or you're a long-time customer, we want you to check out Anne Beale's blog, Mukibug. She offers tons of great ideas and tutorials, like the one for this gorgeous covered composition book.


If you are a local, you've got to join us at AB's monthly stamp camps, where you get to sit in her beautiful craft room and make 5 awesome projects that have been designed and prepped for you. Plus, if you spend $50 you get your stamp camp free! Combine that with SAB and holy-freakin'-cow--it is a DEAL!

Her official web site can be found at http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/aby where you can order products, view projects, and see a calendar with all her events. When you place an order on her web site, you will get the best price, the best shipping rates, and even free products when you qualify for Stampin' Rewards.

We're proud to have Anne Beale as our sponsor. But we also really love her and the Stampin' Up! line. If we didn't, we wouldn't be telling you about her. And that's the honest truth. :)

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It's almost Thanksgiving, and if you're going to someone else's house for dinner, maybe you should think about bringing a hostess gift. For example: a jar of homemade jam and a Fall-ish dishcloth. Your host will think you're so thoughtful! Even if you're not thoughtful, here's a cute way to dress up a simple gift: the flower tag. We showed you tons of flowers during Flower Week, but this is one we didn't have time for. So here you go!



Paper Flower Tag Tutorial


What you'll need:


*Patterned paper
*Scallop punch or die cut
*Brad
*Adhesive (I used Tombow's Mono Multi Glue)
*Stamped or handwritten sentiment

1. Punch or die cut 4 scalloped circles (or other flower shape).


2. Scrunch up your flowers. If needed, spritz them with water to make the scrunching easier.


3. Un-scrunch and fold flowers in half with patterned side on the outside.

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Celebrity sighting! Guess who we met at the Redmond Ben Franklin store? A true papercrafting celebrity. She's an amazing artist, and we got to see her creating beautiful works of art in person. Her name is Judi Watanabe, and she is the genius behind the company JudiKins. We've touted her Diamond Glaze in the past (it's a staple at our jewelry classes!), but her product line is so much more than that. JudiKins makes rubber stamps, inks, and tons of other cool papercrafting and art supplies. She is uber talented and totally spunky--so much fun to watch! We asked her that day if we could post about our meeting, and she was so sweet to pose with us!


We were lucky enough to see her demonstrate her Mica Gloss inks with a brayer and some stamps. So cool!



Here's a link to a video of Judi playing with Mica Gloss, which is metallic pigment inks that come in a bottle. I love how the colors are so rich and lustrous, unlike anything you get from a regular stamp pad. Check out this how-to video from her Web site to see how she does it! She is a great teacher, always mentioning tips to make things easier.

She has a ton of other how-to videos with cool techniques and awesome crafts on Judikins.com. I'm only about halfway through them, but my head is about to explode with all the new ideas she's given me! You can also watch older episodes by searching "Judikins as seen on tv-weekly.com" on Google video.



So if you're totally jealous that we got to meet Judi and you didn't (we know, we're cool), you should check out the list of upcoming events on their site as well. If there's an event in your area, we highly recommend you check it out!

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Stacy has been playing around with metal stamps lately and come up with some fun projects. We thought this one was perfect for Father's Day!

We used a metal stamping alphabet set we found at HarborFreight.com to stamp a little message on a metal dog tag. You could stamp your kids' names, "World's Best Dad," or a silly saying. I chose one of my favorite quotes from the movie Star Wars. Who doesn’t love Yoda?

Beaducation.com has a great video tutorial on YouTube about metal stamping (it's a four-part tutorial, so be sure to watch all four), or it's available as a free class on their Web site. If you're new to metal stamping, check that out before beginning.

After stamping your letters, color them in with a Sharpie marker (you can use black or any other color you want). Wipe the excess marker off with a paper towel.


Attach the key ring and you've got a cool, manly key chain for Dad!


Our metal stamping set was only $7.99, but if you have a Harbor Freight retail store near you, they have them for about $6 (and no shipping charges!). You can find dog tags at your local military surplus store. We've also tried this technique on common hardware like washers for pendants (watch for that in a later post). Or you could try the sterling silver jewelry pieces available at beading stores or in the jewelry aisle in craft stores. Happy stamping!

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