Miss Fancy Pants Designs

Product Spotlight: Saint Nick Chipboard Elements and Chipboard Banners

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here on the Fancy Pants blog! We have more holiday projects for you today. This time the Pocket Chicks are using our Chipboard Elements and Chipboard Banners from our Saint Nick collection.

These self-adhesive, printed, chipboard shapes are so fun and versitle. Take a look these beautiful creations ...

 

Believe by Yuka Hino
Yuka explains, "I made a big flower with the Saint Nick Filter Embellishments and bonded the Saint Nick Chipboard Element star and the button to the center with hot glue gun. The Saint Nick Chipboard Elements ornaments and tickets were tucked under that. In addition, I arranged the Saint Nick Chipboard Banners under the swirl. I think it is lovely enough because this chipboard is a very wonderful design, even if it only shows it a little."

 

Notepad by Iris Babao Uy
Iris says, "I made a gift using some of the paper sheets I took out from one of the Artist Edition Brag Books. Since I added chipboard shapes to it, the book became thick so I had to take some sheets out ...

I covered it with the flocked transparency and added some of the Sant Nick Chipboard Banners and Elements to create the dimension and design."

 

Season's Greetings by Bénédicte Ralphalen
Bénédicte explains, "For this page entitled 'Season's Greetings' I used the frame of the Saint Nick Chipboard Banners to create embellishment of my own. I put the flags both at the top of the page and each side of the photo.The half circles are arranged at the bottom and in the bottom right-hand corner of the page along with a few arabesque rub ons. Finally, I added up the circles and the stars around the photo. To me, those chipboard banners are perfect to embellish a layout in a twinkling of an eye! Have fun with them!"

-Amy Peterman

 

Fancy This: Table Runner

Hi everyone! Well we are finally in the Christmas season! I just love making things for the home at Christmas time. With the Christmas music (and occasional Christmas movie) in the background, there is no better time to create! So I got out the fabulous Saint Nick collection and made an adorable table runner. I hope you like it as much as I do!

Fancy Pants supplies:
Saint Nick: Tannenbaum patterned paper
Saint Nick: Christmas Story patterned paper
Saint Nick: Yule Tree patterned paper
Saint Nick: Gleaming patterned paper
Saint Nick: Joy patterned paper
Saint Nick: Garland patterned paper

Other supplies:
canvas fabric
sewing machine
sealer

Instructions:
Cut a bunch of 2x2 squares from your favorite pieces of patterned paper. Lay on your canvas fabric in the design you want. For end points just cut your squares in half, making triangles, to use on the edges. Cut the canvas around your design. I then ran my piece through my sewing machine to make sure all pieces stayed down and to give it more of a quilted look. Then I covered it with a sealer.
 


You can hardly tell I didn't use fabric for this awesome project! And because of the sealer, I am able to wipe it off if need be. And if I need to iron it, I just flip it over and iron on the back (you may want to use a lower setting on your iron). But this is a fun, easy project, that adds a lot of Christmas joy to your home. Hope you feel inspired to think outside the box with your beautiful Fancy Pants papers. And enjoy the Christmas season! 

-Pamela Young

Fancy Friday Challenge: December Daily Albums

Happy day after Thanksgiving to all of our US friends! It's Fancy Friday time again. What better way to kick off the holiday season (besides some Black Friday shopping) than to get going on a December Daily Album?

This is your challenge: Create a December Daily Album using at least some Fancy Pants product, post photos (your album cover and at least 2-3 pages/spreads) of it to your blog or online gallery, and leave a comment on this post with a link so we can see your lovely creation.

Should you choose to accept this challenge (and we hope you do!), you'll have a chance to win a Brag Book (like one of the ones some of our Pocket Chicks used below) and some Saint Nick goodies!

*We will accept only one entry per person . Entries will be accepted until midnight MST, Friday, December 2nd, 2011. We will post our winner on Tuesday, December 6th on our blog and Facebook, so be sure to check back then to see if you've won.

Sound cool? New to the December Daily concept? Need some inspiration? Check out some of the December Dailies our Pocket Chicks have been working on...

by Kim Watson

 

by Amy Peterman

 

by Iris Babao Uy

 

by Pamela Young

 

by Rachel Tucker

 

So, what do you think? Ready to take the challenge? We look forward to seeing all of your festive creations!

Product Spotlight: Saint Nick Buttons

This week's Product Spotlight is focused on our Saint Nick Buttons. If you are like me and my fellow Pocket Chick, Trish Harwick, you have a big stash of buttons sitting around. Well, Trish and I are ging to shows you some fun uses for those bountiful buttons!

 

 

 

 

Seasonal Trees by Trish Harwick
Trish says, "I have lots of buttons! They have been one of my scrapping staples since I began scrapping and when I use them I like to use a LOT of them! ...

I was inspired by the different collections' button colors, as they reminded me of the seasons; red/green/blue/yellow (Saint Nick) for Winter, aqua/pink/yellow for Summer, orange/brown/green for Fall and yellow/aqua/peach for Summer, so I decided to make these seasonal button trees. The shadow boxes allow for the depth of the buttons and the 3D effects of the foliage beneath."

 

Button Ornaments by Amy Peterman
I used this festive buttons to create these little framed Christmas tree ornaments. I plan to give one to each of the girls grandparents as gifts this year...

I used leftover product packaging as my "shadowbox" for each ornament. (The square ornament is made from the Saint Nick button packaging). I simply cut a piece of patterned paper the same size as the plastic packaging piece, adhered a photo to the patterned paper with foam adhesive, and the adhered the plastic over the photo. The rim around the edge was perfect for glueing a variety of buttons to create a frame.

I hope Trish and I gave you some inspiration for using your button supply. Come back again on Friday for more inspiration in the form of a challenge ... another Fancy Friday Challenge!!!

-Amy Peterman

 

Fancy This: Gift Card Bookmarks

Can you believe that Christmas is around the corner? It's definitely not too early to start thinking about gifts. This year, I plan on giving my boys' teachers gift cards just to keep it simple. To dress them up though, I created cute gift card holders/bookmarks.

Fancy Pants Supplies:
Saint Nick: Naughty or Nice? patterned paper
Saint Nick: Tannenbaum patterned paper
Saint Nick: Tinsel patterned paper
Saint Nick: Design Embellishments
Saint Nick: Buttons
Saint Nick: Trim

Other Supplies:
Die-cutting machine, linen thread, hole punch, glue gun, small circle punch, scissors

To create:
1. Use die cutting machine to cut out patterns.
2. Fold and adhere gift card holder bases.
3. Adhere star embellishment to tip of tree bookmark.
4. Using a small circle punch, make a circle to adhere to middle of bow bookmark.
5. Thread buttons and use glue gun to adhere.
6. Wrap ribbon around bow bookmark/gift holder. Adhere with glue gun.
7. Make hole in tag with hole punch.
8. Using linen thread, tie tag around base of tree bookmark/gift card holder.

-Jen Martakis

1 Product, 2 Ways: Saint Nick Ribbon

With the holidays approaching, I love coming up with special cards for close family members that we're not able to actually visit. I'll be the first to admit that only a few people on our holiday card list receive handmade cards—creating and assembling the number we would need to send to everyone would just add stress to my holiday that I'm not willing to take on! I DO love sending them to family members that I know will appreciate the time and effort that I take. I know they understand, and that makes it special to both them and me!

Today, I wanted to showcase a couple of different ways to use the Saint Nick ribbon to create a couple of embellishments.

I used them to create cards, but it would be super easy to use the same technique to create an embellishment for a canvas, project or layout! You will need to be able to stitch either by hand or with a machine to create both of these.

Ribbon Loop Christmas Tree:
Begin by taking the printed twill ribbon from the Saint Nick ribbon pack and cutting 6 pieces that are roughly 3.5" long. Fold each one over to create a loop and stitch across the open end.


I created a card base that was 5"x7" to put my tree on, and chose a tag piece to use as the trunk before layering my ribbon loops. Once the trunk is adhered in the center on the bottom edge, lay 3 of the ribbon loops across, angling slightly to the center. I chose to layer my center piece over the top of the two edge pieces. It looked more balanced to me. Using a liquid adhesive that's good for ribbon, adhere just the top edge of the ribbon loop. This will allow the ribbon to puff out a bit on the paper.


Create the middle layer by laying two ribbon loops across the center, again angling toward the middle. Adhere again just at the top edge. You should start to see your tree shape at this point.


Add the final loop to the top in the center, adhere just the top edge. Embellish with a star at the top, and buttons for ornaments!

Ribbon Wreath:
To create the ribbon wreaths, start by cutting a 12" piece of the printed twill, and a 15" piece of the striped grosgrain. Either using a sewing machine, or by hand, stitch along the top edge using the longest stitch your machine will make by setting it to the largest number. This will create a gathering stitch.


When you're finished stitching, pull just the bottom thread (the single thread if you've handstitched), until you have it gathered enough to create a circle. Once you've pulled it tight enough, tie off the ends and clip the threads.



Create a 7"x5" card base, and apply a circle of liquid adhesive that's made for fabric/ribbon in the center. Adhere the grosgrain ribbon to the circle of adhesive, overlapping the ends. Apply another circle of glue just inside the ribbon circle, and adhere the printed twill. Finish with a bow tied from twine, and a sentiment in the center!




These are a couple of fun ways to create embellishments for your cards or layouts this holiday season!

-Leah Farqharson

Product Spotlight: Saint Nick Cards patterned paper

So, I've been in the mood to turn on the Christmas music lately. Is it too early? I have refrained, but I'm not sure how much longer I can wait. Well, maybe it is too early for Christmas music, but it's not too early to start thinking about Christmas cards and projects! The Pocket Chicks are here for you today with some great holiday inspiration using this week's spotlight, Saint Nick Cards patterned paper.

 

Receipt Holder by Lisa Andrews
Lisa says, "The Saint Nick cards were prefect for filling the spaces on this receipt holder. I just cut up the Saint Nick cards page, slipped the cards into the receipt hold and added a few photos and embellishments. I love it when a product makes simplifies crafting!"

 

Christmas Card Set by Suzanne Sergi
Suzanne explains, "There are so many different creative uses for the Saint Nick Cards. I love using a few of them onto a scrapbook page to tell a story, or simply as is, to hold my journaling. However, this time, I decided to use them on cards, and on a Christmas goody sack. Some of them already have preprinted sentiments that make it easy to create a card. This time I used the images to layer my sentiments, and embellishments to create two Christmas cards. I also altered a simple paper bag with the Saint Nick collection, and use one of the cards to tuck into my ribbon. A simple way to embellish the holiday paper sack, and to layer embellishments."

 

 

Christmas Cards by Yuki Shimada
Yuki says, "I made three Christmas cards using the Saint Nick cards patterned papers. You can create a lots of cute Christmas cards quickly with this paper! I always cut the cards patterned papers into an each card before working on my projects. I picked 6 cards for my projects this time. For my Ho Ho Ho card, I first put the most favorite card to the center, then put the green striped cards cut into half to the both sides. I love the traditional striped ribbon and the border chipboard from the Saint Nick collection.
 

For this card, I cut out the center part of the card and used it for the title. Added some Filter Embellishments and the Glitter Cuts because I love the feminine touch for those items. The green pom pom trim is from the To The Moon collection.
 

My kids love the color combination of sky blue and red, so I made this card. The red pompom ribbon is from the Off To School collection, and the blue pompom is from the Beach Babe collection. The hanging stockings and the heart chipboard are really cute!"

 

I hope you got some great ideas while visiting today! Come back again on Friday for more ideas with another 1 Product, 2 Ways post.

-Amy Peterman

Inspiration from the Everyday: Apple logo

Here in our family we are big Apple fans, not the kind you eat (although we like them too) but the brand that brings us all the great gadgets we use everyday! In my inspiration photo you can see the evolution of the Apple logo from the striped, colorful image to the simplified silhouetted apple image.

I have taken the first apple image and used the stripes and color scheme for the background of my project. I have combined many different FP collections for this! For my photos I've used the evolution of the Apple logo from a colorful one to a black and white one and printed my fist photo with color, the next photo with less color and the last one in black and white.

Now my project looks nothing like the Apple logo, but it just shows that we can use different elements from our surroundings and just draw inspiration from little details. Happy scrapping!

-Katja Schneider

Product Spotlight: Summer's End Design Embellishments

Hey everyone! Are you enjoying this beautiful fall? Well, it's been beautiful where I live. I just love this time of year! The crisp mornings, the reappearance of sweaters, and evenings curled up in quilt with my girls and hubby. Yes, I'm always sad to see summer end, but I am thankful for the season that follows, full of cozy things to enjoy. Today, we focus again on our Summer's End collection. Our Pocket Chicks were asked to work with the Design Embellishments from this collection and we think they came up with some pretty great creations. Take a look!

Family Mini Book by Lisa Saunders
Lisa explains, "I have made a mini book that was inspired by one of the Summer's End Design Embellishments. I love the larger embellishment with the quote. I knew I wanted to use it for a larger project rather than a card or LO. So, I decided to base this whole mini book on this one design embellishment. The book started off as a kraft paper bag. I cut it in half and removed the handles. I stuck the sides down and then covered that side up with some papers from the Summer's End line. The other side was decorated for the front and back of this mini.

All the pages of the book have been cut from the matching papers and decorated with more of the design embellishments, rub-ons and buttons along with some flowers from It's the Little Things. Once the pages were finished, the book has been tied together with the handles from the paper bag.

I also used some of the matching ribbon from this line and finished off the book with one of the stickers.

I love these design embellishments. I love the texture of them and how good they look when layered up."

 

Live Laugh Love by Greta Hammond
Greta says, "I loved using the Design Embellishments on my layout. One of my favorite ways to sue them is to layer the different shapes like I did here...

I even used a bit of pop dots on the flowers and added some gems for dimension. The die-cut elements are great way to add some whimsical shapes to an otherwise linear layout!"

So Very Handsome by Guiseppa Gubler
Guiseppa says, "I love Fancy Pants Design Embellishments. They are a step above your average die-cut.  These embellishments have a nice, soft texture to them not to mention, the designs are fabulous. I created this layout of my son using the Summer's End Design Embellishments...

I love the fact that I can cluster and layer them to create the look that I want. These embellishments work great ... even for your most handsome boys in your life."

-Amy Peterman

Fancy This: Thanksgiving Crackers

With Thanksgiving coming up I wanted to share with you a project that you could incorporate into your Thanksgiving celebrations this year. These easy to make crackers will be a talking point on your table this year. Thanksgiving is a time when we gather our family and friends, a time to share what we are thankful for. These Thanksgiving crackers contain not just candy, but also a note with a question “what are you thankful for?” A great way to get your dinner guests talking.  The lovely autumn colors of the Summer's End range were perfect for this project, so gather your supplies and let's get started.
 
 


Fancy Pants supplies:
Summer's End: Divine patterned paper
Summer's End: Falling Leaves patterned paper
Summer's End: Changing patterned paper
Saint Nick: Tinsel patterned paper
Artist Edition: Filter Paper Embellishments
 
Other supplies:
Tissue paper
Ribbon
White felt
A small scrap of cardstock (any colour)
Cardboard rolls (sprayed with disinfectant spray)
Cracker snaps
 
Before we begin:
If you love recycling as much as me but don’t like the thought of using “toilet paper” rolls for this project you can either purchase cardboard rolls that have not been used for “toilet paper” or just simply spray the cardboard rolls with a disinfectant spray. A disinfectant spray kills 99.9% of bacteria and viruses and can be purchased at any supermarket.

Step one
Take one of your cracker “snaps” and use a little piece of tape to secure it to the cardboard roll on one side. Note: only tape one side otherwise when the cracker is “pulled” it will not work.

 
Step two
Take one piece of tissue paper and roll it around the cardboard tube and secure with a little tape to hold in place. 

 
Step three
Cut a piece of the Summer's End: Divine pattern paper to fit your cardboard roll. Approximately 4 inches by 6 ½ inches. With the tissue “seam” facing the underneath use double sided tape to secure the piece of pattern paper to the cardboard roll. 


Step four
Tie up one side of the cracker with a piece of ribbon. Write a little note onto a Summer's End: Changing patterned paper to place in the cracker about what you are thankful for. Finish off your note with the question “what are you thankful for?” It’s a great way to get your dinner guests to share. Place your note along with a few chocolate treats and secure the other end of the cracker with a piece of ribbon.

 
Step five
Embellishments. Die cut/hand cut or punch a frame, a 2 inch circle, brown leaves and some hearts from the patterned paper. Die cut/hand cut from white felt some wings. I have also die cut the wings from the Artist Edition: Filter Paper Embellishments. I recommend that when you do this you place a scrap of cardstock on top of the filter paper. This step ensures that the filter paper does not tear in the die cutting process.

 
Step six
Layer and adhere the 2 inch circle (this is the base), frame, wings, leaves and hearts together. Add a small message "give thanks” on the top.

 
Step seven
Adhere the embellishment to the outside of the cracker with a strong foam tape.


 
All there is left to do now is cook the feast, set the table and gather your family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving!!

-Rachel Tucker