I’ve been having so much fun with the Sara’s Surfaces™—I made a lot of sample projects to show on QVC earlier this month, but we flipped through them so quickly that I thought I’d post a few here. So in the next couple of weeks, I’ll be sharing projects with instructions. Enjoy!

Tea For Two Folder
This folder is a great place to tuck specialty tea bags or other treats!

Supplies:

• Sara’s Surfaces 4-Fold Folder
• Chocolate Use ‘Em for Anything papers
• Chocolate Monograms
• Chocolate Silk Flowers
• Chocolate Brads Pack
• Black inkpad
• Small Zots™
• Glue stick
• Foam tape
• X-acto® knife, cutting mat
• Emery board

Instructions:

1. Fold and score the folder. Cover the front flap and front panel with stripe paper, placing the stripes vertically. Open the folder and cover the inside front flap with dot paper. Ink the edges of the front flap.
2. Open the folder and line the inside panels, alternating striped paper and light cream texture paper. I find it works best to cut my paper slightly smaller than the fold lines—that ensures the folder will close properly. Ink the edges of the paper before attaching with glue.
3. Cover the pocket flaps with dot paper, ink the edges and glue to secure.
4. Use the emery board to heavily sand the “T”, “4” and “2” monograms. Attach the “4” and “2” with foam tape as shown. Insert brads into small silk flowers and attach with Zots™.
5. Cover the back of the “T” with light cream texture paper, trimming the edges with an X-acto knife. Attach the left side of the letter to the front flap only.
6. Add a brad through two silk flowers and secure to the front of the folder with foam tape.

1. Cut the striped paper slightly smaller than the card front; ink the edges green and glue to the center of the card. Ink the edges of the card green.
2. Stamp the blossom onto white cardstock and trim to a 2 3/4”x3” rectangle, then ink the edges. Use watercolor paints to color the flowers blue and the leaves green. (Don’t have watercolors? Try a colored pencil or chalk to color the flowers instead!)
3. Cut a 3”x4” piece of green texture paper. Tear the bottom edge so the white core shows, then ink the edges. Gently roll the torn edge so more white is exposed.
4. Layer the stamped focal on the green texture paper and glue to the front of the card.
5. Hold a sheer yellow ribbon and a green grosgrain ribbon together, then tie a knot in the center. Trim the edges at an angle. Use Zots™ to secure to the front of the card.

1. The banner was made for a Shrek themed b-day party so I printed my daughter's name in a Shrek font and cut it out along the edges.
2. I drew a heart shaped design on a square piece of chipboard and used a strong pair of scissors to cut out the design multiple times.
3. I then glued the chipboard down on a various full sheets from the "Citrus Use 'Em for Anything" papers to incorporate the designs on the papers at the right angle on the heart shape.
4. I repeated this with each chipboard shape and then used some Memory Mists ink on square blocks of paper to mount the letters using foam tape.
5. I embellished each shape with the various elements provided in the kit like the super sized brad, silk flowers, colored and printed brads from the creative pack.
6. I punched a hole in the upper left and right corners of the hearts and tied them together using the ribbons from the Personal Shopper kit.

You know how sometimes you forget about supplies you have? (Please tell me I’m not the only one.) Well, this morning I was tidying up my shelves, which is where I stash all of my paper crafting supplies, and came across my Walnut Ink sprays. Why haven’t I been using these more often? Hmmm…and how would they work on a Sara’s Surface™?

Since the Surfaces have both a glossy and a matte surface, you can choose which side you want to spritz. I tried it with both. On the Celebrate 6"x6" Portfolio, I’ve spritzed Eucalyptus Walnut Ink on the matte side. It absorbs pretty quickly and I love the aged effect, especially in combination with papers from the Flea Market sarapapers collection. Oh—and that “celebrate” stamp is from the Christmas Words set. I love being able to use holiday stamps for everyday occasions—more bang for my buck! (Or Euro.)

  

The Tall Coin Envelope was also spritzed with Eucalyptus Walnut Ink, but on the glossy side of the Surface. As soon as I spritzed it, I blotted it with a crumpled paper towel. This means it dries much faster, and also gives a softer look. The envelope was decorated with patterned papers from the Winged Things Finished in a Flash!™ kit. The music note paper is a vintage scrap of mine!

The Tag in a Bag is spritzed on the glossy side with Cornflower Walnut Ink. Then, because I didn’t realize it was in the line of fire while I was spritzing something else with Terra Cotta Walnut Ink, it also has a spattering of brown—which I realized I really liked! The blue ink was still wet when the brown hit, so it gives a speckled look. Note: If you’re spritzing on the glossy side of a Surface and not blotting it, it needs to dry overnight. Even then, I hit it with my heat tool before decorating it.

The “thank you” stamp is from the Expressions stamp set; the swirl is from the Delicate Patterns set and the text paper and lace are from my own stash of vintage treasures.

Happy crafting!

PS. If you’re looking for a great read, check out Markus Zusak’s “The Book Thief”. It’s one of the very best books I’ve read this year (and I am a big reader). I started it when I got on the plane from Portland to Frankfurt and didn’t put it down during the entire 10-hour flight.