Hello with a border punch and doily jar project

I am Laura Petruso and I am thrilled to be a member of the Scrapbooks Plus design team this year!  Have you taken a look at the Design Team Wall in the Crop Room at the store?  The designers are all such talented artists.  I am honored to be a part of the team.

Let me take a moment and introduce myself... some of you may know me as the Copic Marker instructor at Scrapbooks Plus.  I have been crafting of some sort for as long as I can remember.  My Mom always had craft supplies around the house when I was young so I naturally had to get into them and start creating!  I have been 'officially' scrapbooking for about 5 years but have albums of photos and mementos from as far back as grade school.  I actually resisted scrapbooking for a long time because I didn't need another crafting hobby.  I have been a stamper for 15 years and over the years I had accumulated a lot of 'stuff'.  Then a friend invited me to a crop and I realized I could use stamping (and all my supplies) to create my scrapbook pages of my children's mounting photos that were sitting in boxes (or still on the computer) and the rest is history.  I have two children and a very tolerant husband and we live in Western Loudoun.

I don't know that I really have an official style to my work but I would describe it as clean and classic in appearance.  I love to create projects and gifts with my scrapbooking and stamping supplies.  As I said, I've accumulated a lot of 'stuff' over the years... mostly smaller things, not major purchases.  However, I did break down and get a Cricut Expression a few years ago.  I kept reading that people were getting rid of their punches and just had this one machine, cutting any size you wanted.  People I knew raved about their Cricuts.  Don't get me wrong, I like my Cricut and use it a lot, however, get rid of punches?!?  Not me!  They are far too handy for a quick project.

If you've checked out the what's new wall at Scrapbooks Plus lately there are several  new large border punches.  I love these punches!  The ones I have in my stash are Fiskars, Martha Stewart or EK Success.  I am attending my first all weekend away crop this weekend and needed a quick gift for my roommates as I've been crazy busy getting ready. 

I pulled out a few Mason jars- the kind that once held spaghetti sauce (I like to repurpose/recycle).  I covered the top with a scallop punch of patterned paper I had on hand.  I wrapped the sides of the lids with the trendy rayon seam binding type ribbon.  I then wrapped wide grosgrain ribbon around the middle and used my newest large border punch from EK Success to cut out a really cool 'ribbon' to go on top.  I have been using a ton of doilies lately and used a lacy stamp to fancy up a small round doily for the front of the jar.  I used a letter sticker that I had on hand for the center (for my friend's first name).  I then filled with some yummy candy and off I went.  Pretty and quick thanks to my punches!!  Here are the finished projects...

I hope you have a great weekend.  I know I will!