Stampin' Up! FLOWER FOLDS Fabric Brooches

9/27/2009 04:50:00 PM / Posted by Heidi Bound / comments (1)


At the 2009 Stampin' Up! Convention, our wonderful CEO, Shelli, showed us how to use the FLOWER FOLDS Big Shot Die to make these amazing flower brooches.

Today, my crafting friend, Eileen and I taught a jewelry making class at THE MECCA in NYC. These are the gorgeous brooches made by the very talented stampers and members of the Gotham City Stampers: Eileen, Christine, Rosie, Amalia, Teri and Ashlie! I hope you enjoy them!








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Background Smoosh Resist Technique Gratuitous Graffiti

9/20/2009 07:48:00 PM / Posted by Heidi Bound / comments (4)

My Stampin' Up! team, The Gotham City Stampers, are doing an awesome swap for our next team meeting. We are all making a 4X4 page featuring one technique. We are making enough for each team member to have one and then we are putting them into one technique fat book. I was working on mine today and wanted to share what I came up with! I used a technique called BACKGROUND SMOOSH TECHNIQUE which was adapted from the Technique Junkie Newsletter which I ADORE!

First, I inked the GRATUITOUS GRAFFITI Background Stamp in VERSAMARK and then embossed it with clear embossing powder. Make sure to use glossy cardstock for this technique!
I squirted different colors of IN COLOR reinkers into a piece of plastic. The original technique calls for using ink pads and rubbing them onto a page protector. I am always looking for new ways to use the reinks so this was my alternative. I then squirted water on the reinkers and smoosed the two sides of the plastic folder together.
I put two of the pieces of embossed glossy cardstock back-to-back into the folder and smooshed them around. SO much fun and SOOOO messy!
This is what they looked like as the embossed parts resisted the ink. Once they are dry, I plan to buff them with papertowel. Then, I will put them on chipboard or a coaster to give them more umph!
I can tell that I had a blast making these just by looking at my hands! I hope that you leave some comments if you enjoyed reading this tutorial!

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Stampin' Up! Updates coming this weekend...

9/18/2009 09:44:00 PM / Posted by Heidi Bound / comments (0)




I have been SO busy with my new school, DREAM! I am home this weekend trying to take care of myself. I originally planned a trip to PA to see my family but made the tough decision today to stay in NYC and take care of me. I have been dealing with a terrible earache and am feeling a bit under the weather. TRYING so hard not to get sick...

Enough woe and whining...
I will be updating my blog this weekend and hope to update it much more often. DREAM is quite a commitment but one that is is so important to me. Thanks for understanding and check back this weekend for new projects from THE MECCA in New York City.

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CHARMING STAMP SET Picture Frame

9/13/2009 06:55:00 PM / Posted by Heidi Bound / comments (1)

This is the final post for the RemARKables Holiday Blog Tour! It was so much fun. This is my favorite project so far--yes, I love the project itself but more importantly the pictures of many of the amazing GOTHAM CITY STAMPERS from the Stampin' Up! Convention 2009.

For this frame, I used a paper mache frame and painted it brown. Once the paint dried, it was so much fun to paint it all over with CHAMPAGNE MIST SHIMMER PAINT. My friend, Eileen, said it looked like fabric once that dried. I then used VERY VANILLA CRAFT INK to stamp the flowers from the CHARMING STAMP SET. The butterfly as well the "CRAFT" piece of the art are also stamped using stamps from that set. I can't wait for the SIMPLY ADORNED JEWELRY to go on sale so I can use that elegant set for that!

Major shout out to my amazing team members that are featured in these pictures:
Melissa, Eileen, Pat, JennyB, Laurel, Corris, Gayle, Yvonne and Jen. You gals are amazing and have truly touched my life! HUGS!

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Yummy Sweet Centers SKITTLES Card

9/12/2009 10:23:00 AM / Posted by Heidi Bound / comments (7)

TOO CUTE for words! I am loving this brand new stamp set SWEET CENTERS from Stampin' Up! Here, I used the hot air balloon images and filled the plastic sweet treat cup with SKITTLES! I have two young nieces and I am sure they would love a card that is full of candy treats. Imagine the possibilities of what you can do with this! I teach second grade at a school which promotes very healthy eating--trying to think of what I could put in here that is yummy and healthy. Or some sort of school supplies...any ideas? Post them in the comments section of this blog. I would love to hear them!
Stay tuned for another card using this set--so cute! And check out the blog of the amazing,Carolyn Serviss and remember to leave tons of comments. We LOVE hearing them!

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Delightful Decorations Christmas Card

9/10/2009 08:07:00 PM / Posted by Heidi Bound / comments (7)

Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la...
Here is another Christmas card using amazing products from the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini. I was inspired by a card that I saw online and decided to embrace the design.
I LOVE the new Delightful Decorations Stamp Set and the Ornament Punch! I was able to stamp the ornaments and use the punch to quickly punch them out. The picture looks like I may have done a masking technique to get the ornaments to look like one is on top of the other. BUT, I punched them out and used dimensionals to layer the top ornament on top of the other two ornaments.
My friend and downline, Pat, told me that she saw how someone used the punch online to make a flower. They cut out five ornaments and glued them together like flower petals. How cool and very versatile!
I would LOVE to hear your comments and remember to check out the rest of my blog! Once you finish, please check out Carolyn's Blog by clicking Carolyn Serviss

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Petals-a-Plenty Card from the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog

9/09/2009 08:48:00 PM / Posted by Heidi Bound / comments (8)

I am so excited to be able to introduce this elegant and SIMPLE card as my first project of the RemARKables Blog Tour! This card uses the Textured Impressions Folder called Petals-a-Plenty and the GORGEOUS Sleigh Bells Ribbon! Both of these items can be found in the BRAND NEW (drool-worthy) HOLIDAY MINI CATALOG!

The stamp set is one of the stamps found in the Level One Hostess Set called Holiday Best! I love the elegant lines and really enjoyed coloring the stamp with our markers!

I would love to hear from you so please take a moment and leave a comment. You can do this by clicking on COMMENTS up near the title of this particular blog posting! After visiting me, please check out the amazing blog of Carolyn Serviss. I had the opportunity to meet Carolyn recently--she is not only extremely creative but a really kind and genuine person. Click this link to check out her blog! Carolyn Serviss


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Our DREAM Classroom

9/06/2009 06:00:00 PM / Posted by Heidi Bound / comments (2)

Many of you have written to me excited to see the "after" pictures of our classroom! After many, many hours of work (I would actually be afraid to add it all up)--here is our new DREAM Charter School Classroom!

This is a view of our Science/Social Studies area as well as our Writing Center. This will all take form as the year begins and we hang more around it on the walls. Notice the nice, calm curtians! I love adding curtains to a classroom to take away that very institutional look of the windows. Curtains and plants can really make a classroom look more homey!

This is our MATH CENTER. We saw pictures of it from yesterday. Things were all over the place just a week before this picture was taken. This center is next to lots of board space for many charts, kids work and photos of us doing math.


Our classroom door is covered with cute, colorful animal cutouts. YES! That IS how many kids will be entering through that door in less than 48 hours from now...now, THAT is a reality check!



This picture is an overview of our classroom. You can't see some of it because it's on the other side of the room. This picture is taken from the classroom door! What a nice way to enter your school day.




The children will sit here for much of their instruction. Sometimes, we will be on the squares and other times we will be in a circle. LOTS of time will be spent here!


This is another picture of the rug area with some great visuals that Brooke made. She is really quite an artist which is so amazing for our kids.

This is a look at the entrance of our room. Everything has it's place and the colors are very relaxing. You will notice lots of open bulletin board space just waiting for charts, visual and kids' work! I envision tons of artwork and projects all over the space.


We used a very calming color scheme--mostly purple, blue, orange and green. This back meeting area (for smaller group work) is on a sage green rug. We think these are great colors to surround the kids.

This is our library-the nucleus of our classroom. Inside is a couch where you can visit our PEACE CORNER. This is great for kids that might be having a rough moment and need some "cool down" time. Our Director of Instruction said that when she walks into our room she sees it as a calm place where books are very important! PERFECT! That is exactly what we had in mind! I would love to hear comments about our room! If you are a teacher, be sure to check back as I will be blogging throughout the year about projects and changes to our room. You don't want to miss it!









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Setting up our new DREAM Classroom

9/05/2009 07:30:00 PM / Posted by Heidi Bound / comments (1)

This school year, I am starting a brand new adventure at DREAM Charter School in East Harlem, New York City. If you click here, you can actually read my staff bio on the website. There are some really amazing, talented and creative people working at this school. It is a new situation where I will have 25 students and a full-time co-teacher. I am so lucky to be working with Brooke in our classroom. She is amazing and many of the same interests--one being that she is very artist! FABULOUS! Let me walk you through our journey so far...

When I moved to DREAM from my last school, about 50 boxes of books and teaching materials came with me. They were stored in the basement for the summer and needed to come from the basement to the fifth floor! We have no elevator! Marty took on the task (by himself) of bringing up all of the boxes--it took him 13 hours and many blisters. BUT, everything is now upstairs! This is Marty and Brooke putting together shelves that would eventually turn into our classroom library--the nucleus of our classroom.

This is a picture of just the beginning of the "stuff" as it was coming up. There were moments when none of us were sure it would come together. We stuck together and worked as a team to make it happen.

This is the very early stages of our Math Center. We moved that stuff around so many times to make it feel "just right". Brooke and I have the same philosophy regarding the classroom environment: calmness, structure, organized and full of art and books!


This is one storage closet which no longer has those books in it. It makes me laugh to look at this pictures as so much has changed from these photos to the end results!



This picure makes me shake a little! This was at one of the heights of having things all around us. We kept saying "maybe if we JUST clear off the tables"...if only we knew how many times we would clear off those tables...




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