The Joyful Stamper| easy and stepped-up uses of Stampin' Up! products| free papercrafting tutorials: Tiny Purse for 3x3 Note Cards and Envelopes

How was your weekend, friends? We took a trip to Hershey, PA to watch the state cross country championship meet. The boys' team from our daughters' school made it as did one girl from the girls' team. Caitlin runs for Eden's team and went along as her teammate's roommate. It was such a fun day! We had a tailgate lunch after the races in our team tent with lots of photos and celebrating. Then we walked over to Hershey Chocolate World for a tour and some shopping. Did you know the streetlights in town are Hershey Kisses? Even the park where the meet was held smelled like chocolate! Someone told me the company intentionally pipes the aroma around the area but I have not verified that is true. Whether true or not, it smelled divine! Better than the sewage plant that used to sit on the course 😜.

On page 30 of the Annual Catalog is a set of 6 tiny note cards using Itty Bitty Greetings that I've wanted to make, but I wanted to gift them so I searched for a holder. I found a tutorial on Splitcoaststampers for a cute little tote. Hold on, because I have lots of photos to show you of this treasure!

3x3 note card tote using Stampin' Up!'s Gather Together

Isn't it adorable? I piled on the layers and added sponging with Soft Suede ink. The Crumb Cake ribbon is one of two spools in the Come To Gather Ribbon Combo Pack. I cut a piece in half length-wise to get a frayed look. That bit of wood embellishment peeking out from behind the ribbon and leaf is a round tree trunk tag from Tags & Feathers Elements. Did you know you can color on them with Stampin' Blends? And did you know you can heat emboss them? Yes! They are fun to work with!

You can see how it holds 3x3 sized cards and envelopes. I fit 6 of each in the tote.

3x3 note cards 1 and 2 using Stampin' Up!'s Come To Gather product suite

To make the 3"x3" note cards, I began with a 12"x12" sheet of Whisper White cardstock. 3" and 9" are where you'll score and 6" is where you'll cut. That gives you (2) 6" x 12" pieces which you can then cut at 3", 6", and 9". That gives you 8 note cards, although I used just 6 of them for this project.

3x3 note cards 3 and 4 using Stampin' Up!'s Come To Gather product suite

When making projects like these, I love to pile products on my desk and dive in. It's inspiring to see it in front of me like that, plus it limits my choices which makes it easier to create.

3x3 note cards 5 and 6 using Stampin' Up!'s Come To Gather product suite

I could hardly stay in my seat while working on this! It was so exciting to play with the different patterns in the Come To Gather pack and the colors of fall were gorgeous. Do you know what really made me happy, though? The sponging on the sentiment dies and the addition of the Basics Holiday Rhinestone Jewels! That mix of vintage and sparkle makes my heart sing.

Here's the tutorial:

3" x 3" Note Card Tote

Here's what was on my desk to make this:

Come To Gather Bundle (includes bulleted products listed below - bundle is orderable November 11 when ribbon combo pack comes back in stock, or products can be ordered individually)