More Fancy Schmancy Folds and some FAQs

For class tomorrow, I have developed three more cards. This first one is a blast from the past! These were VERY popular 5 years ago, so I thought I would revisit this fold. This is called a basket card:

Ingredients: (all SU!) Stamps - Really Retro; Paper - Sweet Always DSP, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, Pumpkin Pie, Chocoalte Chip; Ink - Chocolate Chip; Other - Stampin' Up! Birds & Blooms Sizzlet dies, Pumpkin Pie striped grosgrain, Trio Flower Punch, Small Oval punch, Little Leaves Sizzlet die, eyelets, Chocolate Chip marker, dimensionals, sponge wedge

This is what it looks like open:

GOJUS!!! (YILM!) You were waiting for that, weren't ya? To make this card, mark your cardfront at the bottom center (2 3/4") and 2 3/4" up from the bottom on the left and right sides. Score a line between the center mark and the right and left side marks, then fold the points to the center.

Then proceed to fill with whatever you like. Would you like to see the one I did 5 years ago? Okay!

And considering it was 5 years ago, when I had not yet achieved the full range of my mojoness, this is still pretty STINKIN' CUTE! (YILM!)

This next card is called a Spring Card and was featured on Splitcoaststampers: Tutorial by Sandy Hulsart:

Ingredients: (All SU!) Stamps: Very Versatile; Paper - A Walk in the Park DSP, Baja Breeze, Cameo Coral, So Saffron; Ink - Baja Breeze, Cameo Coral, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White Craft, Basic Black; Other - Whisper White Satin ribbon, Word Window punch, Large Oval punch, gold brads, white gel pen.

GOJUS!!! (YILM!)

It's called a Spring card, because it does this:

BOING!

It fits into the 5 1/2" square envelopes we carry.

And last but not least, here's a card that also can be found on Splitcoaststamper's in the resource section, the Diagonal Double Pocket Card:

Ingredients: (all SU!) Stamps - Wonderful You, On Your Birthday, Short & Sweet, Curvy Verses; Paper - Delicate Dots DSP, Sahara Sand, So Saffron, Bashful Blue, Whisper White; Ink - Basic Grey, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue; Other - Large Oval punch, Pretties Kit, Bashful Blue 1 1/4" double stitched grosgrain, Certainly Celery 1/4" grosgrain, Bashful Blue 1/4" grosgrain, sponge wedges, Sahara Sand marker, 1/4" hole punch, Tag Corner punch

Here's what the tags look like:

 

GOJUS!! (YILM!) I was pretty much forced to use this paper from SAB, because this card uses almost an entire piece of 12 x 12 paper and it's the only DSP where I will have enough pieces of the same pattern for everyone to do the same. You have to cut it down to 8 1/2" x 11", but ACTUALLY...I cut mine down a little further than that so that I could mat it up on a piece of cardstock and still have it fit in an envelope. I cut mine to 8" x 10 1/2" and then did the center scores at 4" for the vertical and 5 1/4" for the horizontal. Just one of those little innovations that make you love me SO MUCH!  (YILM!)

Now I'm going to answer some questions, because I've been getting a lot of the same ones, and it just saves time to get them all out of the way at once:

1) Do you prefer to be called Janine or Jan?

Either one. I grew up being called Janine, except one aunt who liked calling me Jan, I guess because it was more Dutch sounding and she was definitely one of my most Dutch aunts.

However, when I first established my presence online, way back in 1996, the screen name JanineT was already taken, as was any other combination that used "Janine", so I became JanTink and the rest, as they say, was history. I've been JanTink in just about every place on the web I have ever hung out, so when people started to meet me IRL, they naturally started calling me Jan. And I'm okay with that. You can call me Jan or you can call me Janine...just don't call me late for dinner.

2) Where do you get those cute smileys?

I am a proud subscriber to Millan.net. They have some free smileys, but the really cutest ones are only available by subscription. The cost is only $8.95 per six months and I think it's totally worth it.I have to thank Julie Ebersole for introducing me to these super cute smileys!

3) What is your favorite chocolate and can I send you some?

Why, you are so nice to ask!!! Thank you!

In general...cough...I do take chocolate bribes tributes because I know it makes YOU feel so good to pay back for all the cool stuff I show (YILM!) and all the chuckles I pass your way and I really like you to feel good, so...er...yeah...that's my story and I am STICKIN' TO IT!!!

I wouldn't send any chocolate right now, though, because it most likely would melt. Ask me again once it cools down. My email is jantink atsign sbcglobal dotmark net. Once the weather cools off, just drop me a line and I'll give you my address, if you really want to send some, that is. But don't feel like you hafta.

But if you really want to know, or are just morbidly curious, as far as what I like, I am pretty much an equal opportunity chocolate consumer, however...there are some things I really don't like:

• NO cream centers (too sweet).
• NO alcohol flavors. If I am gonna drink, I will do it separately.
• NO peanuts. I don't mind them. Just don't want them in my chocolate, thanks.
• NO weird flavor combinations. I like chocolate to taste like chocolate.

I have developed, over the years, a very particular taste in chocolate, starting as an innocent child who got the chocolate gene from her father, moving through the year I spent in college working at Fanny Farmer's Candy Store (yes, I lost 25 pounds when I stopped working there! They let us eat as much as we wanted, thinking we would get tired of it and stop...guess what? I didn't ever get tired of it!), and on through the years when I actually had more money to spend on chocolate and a willingness to experiment with all kinds of high end chocolate, up until today, when I buy myself one candy bar a week because of shrinking funds and a growing rear.

I really don't like my chocolate overly sweet, but I don't like it too bitter either. I will eat either dark or milk, but no white chocolate (too sweet). Well...except for those Hershey Cookies & Cream Bars. I wouldn't kick them out of my chocolate queue. I love caramel, but I really prefer the chewy (or crunchy) kind over the runny kind.

My very favorite things, not in any particular order:

• Rolos.
• Milky Way.
• Mounds. Love dee coconut, even widdout dee lime. Not Almond Joy (too sweet), though I will choke down the ones my children pass me from their Halloween stashes, just to save their dear sweet little teeth from the sugar...yeah...that's my story and I'm STICKIN' TO IT!
• Lazzaroni Dark Chocolate Bar with Amaretti Crumbles, which is almost impossible to find these days...its' soooo stinkin' good...dang, now I want one!
• Riesens, though they are not kind to my TMJ. I have resolved, though, to suffer through eating them. I wouldn't want them to feel neglected.
• Scor.
• Heath Bars.
• English Toffee bark or Toffee-ettes (See's).
• See's (or any other quality chocolatier's) Dark Chocolate Covered Caramels.
• Lindt truffles, just about any kind, though I like both the dark and milk.
• Dove chocolate, either milk or dark.

In general, I don't care for mint in my chocolate, though I occasionally do have an Andes mint or a York Peppermint Patty. I am not much for nuts, though I don't mind almonds. Just no peanuts. I give that kind of stuff to Dan, who likes it. Who knows why.

But really, I am not THAT fussy. I do eat Hershey bars, kisses and M&M's, because that's what I buy to stick in my candy buckets for my classes and if there is some left, I may eat a few here and there.

Other than that, you will always find me ready for brownies, the ultimate expression of chocolate. And chocolate chip cookies warm out of the oven...'Scuse me, I need to go get a towel...BRB!

ANYWAY, I really don't eat as much chocolate as I used to, even though it sounds like I'm constantly stuffing myself with it. I've been trying to cut back, since I had my thyroid out, because my metabolism is really....reaaaaalllllyyyyyyy....slloooooowwwwww. Sigh. I have been gaining weight ever since. Though I managed to remove (my chiropractor yells at me if I say lose, because that implies I will probably FIND it again) 9 pounds since November, it is a small fraction of what really needs to be...er...encouraged to find the nearest exit.

Well, that about covers it. I'll be back, probably tomorrow with some more FAB projects! Ta!

Comments

[lisa808]

I apoligize if this is a duplicate post. Previously tried to post it disappeared.

Anyway, great cards! I especially like the basket ones. I've never seen them before, but will definitely like to try it.

I'm a milk chocolate girl myself. I will eat white and dark chocolate, but only the good stuff (i.e., Godiva, Leonidas) and especially filled with raspberry!

After reading your hilarious post, I am now yearning for a Rolo or two...

[Kerney Whitman]

I'm a See's girl. Love the caramel and the coffee centered truffles (soft center, not one you would care for). It's funny to look back at our "first" cards isn't it? I like that basket fold, somehow I missed that one when it first came out. ~tfs~

[Tashana Lundy]

chocolate chip cookies right from the oven are the best! my #1 weakness.

[Sherri G]

Jan, not only do you inspire me with your cards, but I now have my own chocolate stash as my craft desk. I keep the regular stuff in a small jar on the desk, but the stuff I don't want to share? . . .I keep that in a baby wipe box on the shelf. No one ever thinks to look there. What's in it now? Big Turks! I am loving Big Turks right now.

[Anita]

I must be psychic...I made some Chocolate Chip cookies with my girls today :) And ate them warm LOL

[sharon]

ooohhhh I bet you'd like Tim Tams........we have these biscuits in Australia. The staff fom SU!USA! load their suitcases up with these everytime they visit....we laugh our heads off at them, although we are greatful fo Arnotts!!!!

[Joyce Spear]

OMG, I just laughed myself silly over this post, especially the bits about chocolate! I love you and want you as a friend -- except then I'd have to share my chocolate with you and we seem to have the same tastes, which would mean less chocolate for both of us. (I'm an English major, and I think I just wrote my first ever run-on sentence. Just for you.)

Why the heck do you have only six comments here? Your artwork IS gojus, your writing style is fun to read, and your sense of humor is over the top! (Maybe I just beat your fan club to the page?) Yours is my favorite blog to visit, seriously.

[AlisonH]

Okay, I google Lazzaroni's dark chocolate with amaretto, find myself here, look at that picture and go, wait a minute! That's Jan!

Did you find any yet? I'm still looking.