97

Recently a very special man I know celebrated his 97th birthday.  In recent years I noticed that as each birthday arrived he became more and more proud of his age! That started me to thinking about making him a card with his age on it just like you see on cards for kids.  When I came across these vintage metal numerals at a flea market I thought they were exactly what I needed for his card. Next I looked for Designer Series Paper to use with the numerals and this Birthday Basics DSP with all the numerals all over it seemed perfect!  The great thing about using DSP on a card is that your color combinations are already pulled together for you. It makes it all so easy!  While this collection of DSP is great for birthdays for all ages, at least one side of each piece can be used for any occasion, making it completely versatile. I then created a mat for the numerals using one of the Chalk Talk Framelits and then cut a second piece out of Brushed Silver cardstock to use as an outline on each end of the mat.

I bought my numerals last summer before the Holiday catalog came out but the Morning Post Numbers clear mount stamp set (131841) in the current Holiday Catalog would also work great on this card or on a similar card for kids or adults alike!


Supplies Used:

Cardstock and DSP: Summer Starfruit (126839); Brushed Silver (126839); Very Vanilla (101650); Birthday Basics (130145)

Tools: Chalk Talk Framelits Dies (129983)

Accessories: Summer Starfruit Ribbon (126846); Silver Mini Brads (122941)


Please email me any questions or ask them in a comment below!

Surprise "Royal" Visit!!!

On Saturday Jeremiah and Brian King paid a surprise visit to the Cottage! They had been to Huntsville Alabama to visit September Gray, fellow member of Brian's InKing Royalty Stampin' Up! group. Going to Huntsville from Atlanta involves a drive over Lookout Mountain. As they drove on their way Brian suddenly realized they were passing thru our area. He gave me a call and I invited them to come by the Cottage on their return to Atlanta which they did! 

We had a short but great visit. Surprisingly there was no real papercrafting talk. Most of the conversation involved food - how good September is at cooking it and how much we all like eating it, especially the not good for you kind! But, we did decide that we would try to schedule a future InKing Royalty group meeting on the mountain! I very much look forward to that since I know what great meetings Brian can host.    

While we have not yet had an official InKing Royalty group meeting, earlier this month Brian, his upline Pam Morris, and fellow demonstrator Katy McGoin hosted a wonderful meeting in Atlanta for members of Mary Fish's Stampin' Pretty Pals. While most of the attendees were from the southeast, some came from several states away. With the prize for farthest distance traveled going to Mary Fish herself! It was an all day event with swaps; make and takes; demonstrations; and games.  

Here are a few pictures taken that day.  I will have more in future posts.  This is a picture of Mary Fish with me. 

Here are the members of InKing Royalty who were in attendance plus Pam, Brian's upline, and Mary her upline.

Front row L to R: Pam, Chris, Allie, September.
Back row L to R: Jeremiah, Brian, Mary, and me.


This is the entire group in attendance.  What a great bunch of people they all are!!!

Best Stampin Up! Deal Ever!!!

This deal extended until midnight Tuesday October 22!!

As part of their 25th Anniversary Celebration Stampin' Up! has announced a fantastic promotion. If you become a Stampin' Up demonstrator between now and October 21 the sign up fee is $25.00.  Why this might be of interest to you?

• For $25-$27 (more about that below) you get $25-$27 worth of Stampin' Up! Product. Ok, so far that doesn't sound like much of a promotion but keep reading!
• You will receive a 20% discount on anything you order until the end of April or for as long after as you remain a demonstrator.
• If you place an order for $150 or more within 45 days of your joining you will receive an additional 10% discount for a 30% total discount.
• You will receive advance access to the Spring Catalog and Sale-A-Bration promotion with the Spring Catalog available around the first of December.
• You will be in the know about all the latest Stampin' Up! info and news.
• If you join under me you will be part of the most amazing papercrafting group ever - Stampin' Pretty Pals!! Mary Fish, www.stampinpretty.com, and Brian King (named first male Stampin' Up Rising Star), www.stampwithbrian.com, will be part of your upline. They are two phenomenal people.  Mary has a Stampin' Pretty Pals Facebook page which provides a way for all of us to communicate, share ideas, and ask questions.  In addition she holds monthly webinars to discuss all the Stampin' Up! news and the latest products. This last weekend Brain and his upline Pam Morris assisted by fellow PAL Kate McGoin hosted a fantastic PALS event in Atlanta. I addition to the quasi-local people, like me, who drove to Atlanta, six PALS flew in from all over the US.  I will be posting more about the event in the next few weeks but Brian has already posted lots of pictures and info on his blog which you should check out. I noticed that one of the commenters on his blog said, "I don’t want to be a demonstrator, but your weekend made me think about it."!
• All of this with no obligation on your part to do anything more!

Now how to join.  Pick product(s) which total(s) exactly $25-27 before taxes.  This can consist of many items or one item. It just has to total $25-$27.  Then email me and I will help you with the registration process. But you may want more stuff than that!  Once you have joined and your order is on its way you can immediately place another order - large or small - and you will receive your 20% discount!  Plus if you want a lot more stuff you can receive 30% off your first $150 order placed within your first 45 days.  What is not to love!!
To make things a little easier I have created a list of individual items which fall in the required price range.  There might be something on the list you have been interested in.  If so, what a perfect time to act - no calculator needed!  Here is my list. Please email me with any questions or put them in the comments below! Stay tuned for more about our fabulous event in Atlanta.

Sunburst

In June I attended a Shoebox Swap for Stampin’ Up! demonstrators hosted by my wonderful upline Brian King in Atlanta.  You can read about it on Brian’s blog.  I had learned how to make a Sunburst card the year before and decided that might be a good technique to take to the Swap.  Here is the card that I made for the Swap.

It was a hit at the swap and I quickly realized that even some demonstrators are not aware of how the card is made.  A number of people have asked for a tutorial on this technique so I decided to make a video.  Like many things this card is easy to make once you know the technique! 

A few weeks after the swap I wanted a card to send to one of the granddaughters who was at camp.  I decided to make a Sunburst card like I had made for the swap.  Since it was for a young girl I decided to step it up a bit!  I put pewter embossing powder on the You Make Me Smile piece (I would have done that for the swap if I had thought of it sooner!) and added some silver glimmer paper. 

Supplies Used:

Stamp Sets: Notable Notions (130285);

Cardstock and DSP: Pool Party (122924); Basic Gray (121044); 
So Saffron (105118); Whisper White (100730); I Am Me (130138)

Ink: Basic Gray (126981); Calypso Coral (126983)

Tools:  1 3/8” Circle Punch (119860); 1 ¼” Circle Punch 
(119861); 1 ¾ Scallop Circle Punch (119854); Sweet 
Buttons Embosslits (121813); Fancy Fan Embossing Folder 
(127751) 

Accessories: 1/8” Silver Mini Brad (122941) ; Stampin’ 
Dimensionals (104430)

Please email me with any questions or ask in a comment 
below.

Using the My Paper Pumpkin Welcome Kit

Earlier I posted a card that was a CASE of the card in the My Paper Pumpkin Welcome Kit. My Paper Pumpkin is a new monthly subscription offered by Stampin Up!  It is regularly $19.99 per month (which includes shipping) but as a promotion all subscriptions ordered before midnight Saturday (MDT) will be half price for the first two months.   You can see the card and learn more about My Paper Pumpkin here. 

Today I have a card that uses the Hey My Friend stamp that comes in the Welcome Kit. The monthly kits all contain stamps and ink spots that can be the beginnings of or additions to a collection of papercrafting  supplies.  I wanted to show what can be done long after the consumables in the kits are gone and forgotten.  Here is the card I made. 

This is how I made it. 

I “stamped” with my Chevron Embossing Folder using Chocolate Chip Classic ink on to Old Olive ink. This is my favorite new technique!  I love the look and it is so easy.  You can use any embossing folder.  Rub your ink pad over one side of the embossing folder.  For most folders you will need to decide which side you want to use depending on what look you want.  For the some of the folders, including the Chevron Folder, the sides are symmetric and either side will produce the same result.  Once you have inked up your folder, place a piece of cardstock into the folder and carefully close. Then press over the closed folder with your hand. You can use a brayer if you have one.  The Classic ink tends to bead-up on the folder resulting in the small brown dots in the zig-zags.  I have seen this done with VersaMark ink and since it is thicker, it does not produce the small dots.  I like both of these looks!  I then stamped the Hey There Friend stamp on Whisper White cardstock and layered it on Old Olive.  I popped up these layers on the Chocolate Chip layer with Stampin’ Dimensionals. The three brads on the bottom left are made with Candy Dots attached to Brad Bases.  Love Candy Dots!!

If you want to take advantage of the promotion and order My Paper Pumpkin use the promo code PumpkinDeal after you click here. If you don't have a demonstrator please list me as your demonstrator. 

Supplies Used:

Stamp Set: Hey There Friend stamp from Welcome Kit

Cardstock and DSP: Chocolate Chip cardstock (102128); Old Olive cardstock (100702); Whisper White (100730)

Ink: Chocolate Chip Classic ink (126979)

Tools:  Chevron Embossing Folder (127749)

Accessories: Neutrals Candy Dots (130934); Candy Dots Brad Bases (132293); Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430)

Please email me with any questions or ask them in a comment below.

My Paper Pumpkin Promotion Ending August 31, 2013

Would you like a fun ready-to-create paper project to come to your doorstep each month?  My Paper Pumpkin, new from Stampin Up! is just such a product.  It arrives with some paper fun that is perfect for beginners or those short on time!  It also makes a great gift for those who might be interested in creating but don’t have the time to create projects from scratch.

Each month you'll receive a unique, surprise kit with all you need to complete a papercrafting project.  It may be cards, journals, decor, or something else!

Each kit includes stamps, ink, paper, and accessories.  All color-coordinated, measured, and cut just for you!  All you need to supply is adhesive. Depending on your skill level and experience each kit will take about 30 minutes to complete.

Your Paper Pumpkin will be shipped on or around the 15th of the each month and you need to sign up on or before the 10th of the month to receive a kit that month.  Even though My Paper Pumpkin is a monthly subscription there's no commitment.  You can cancel your subscription at any time. In addition you can skip a month.  Each kit will contain 1 or more unique stamps and 1 or more ink spots (a tiny ink pad) that you will be able to add to or begin a collection of stamping products and use them over and over again on other projects.

No matter when you sign up the first kit you will receive will be the Welcome kit.  Among other things it contains a clear block for you to use with the stamps in all the future kits.  The Welcome kit and contents are shown on the back of the current catalog.  (Click here to see)  To show you some ideas for your Paper Pumpkin Welcome kit I made two cards.

Until August 31 new subscriptions to My Paper Pumpkin are half price for the first two months. They are regularly $19.99 a month, which includes shipping. During this promotion they are $10 for each of the first two months.  

If you like the original project for the kit and want to make more, you can generally duplicate the project with regular Stampin’ Up! Products.  I duplicated the components that came in the Welcome kit with the products I had on hand and duplicated the project.  I make a few changes in the original design of the card in the Welcome kit so that you can also see that the projects can be put together in many different ways.  Here is my first card - my CASE (copy and share everywhere) of the Welcome kit card.  I will show you the second card in my next post.

OK I realize may have gotten carried away with the Spot stamp – but you can see that the card is very similar to the original card shown in the kit.  Here is how it was made it.  

The card base is Basic Gray cardstock.  So Saffron ink was then sponged onto a Whisper White layer which was then stamped in Basic Gray ink with the Hey There Friend and spot stamp. The large green circle was punch out with the 1 ¼” scallop punch and then placed by in the punch and rotated a fraction of an inch and punched again. This creates more of a jagged edge. The green piece was then embossed with the polka-dot embossing folder. The small green pieces are ½” circles and the flagged strip is a piece of So Saffron that was embossed with the Stylish Stripes embossing folder. The button is a Very Vintage button sponged with Tempting Turquoise ink. (Yes the buttons can be colored with ink! It was left to dry overnight.) Linen thread was tied through the button holes.  

If you sign up in August your first kit the Welcome kit will cost $10 (including shipping) and will ship around September 12-14.  Your second kit will be the October, will cost $10 (including shipping) and it will ship around October 12-14.  Your third kit will be the November kit.  It will be full price ($19.99) and ship around November 12-14. If you don't want the November kit, you need to cancel that kit (set the quantity to zero) sometime after your October kit ships and before November 10.

To give you an idea of what to expect here is a summary of the kits for each month so far. 

March - Welcome Kit pictured on the back of catalog. It has the Hey There Friend stamp, a Basic Gray ink spot, Clear block D, embellishment pieces, cards and envelopes.

April  – Seriously Kit.  It has stamps which say Seriously, You Kick Booty, and Love Your Guts plus a Cherry Cobbler ink spot, embellishment pieces, cards and envelopes.

May – Good Life Brag Book Kit.  It has stamps which say The Good Life and an arrow with the words Love This plus a Basic Black ink spot, front and back chipboard covers, printed pages, sticker sheets, embellishments and metal rings to assemble.

June - Hello to You Kit. It contains the Hello to You, Heart and Chevron Stamps, a Soft Suede ink spot, punch-outs, embellishment pieces, cards and envelopes.

July – Party Pennants (mini banner) Kit.  It contains Polka Dot, Small Honeycomb and Diagonal Strip  background stamps, Pool Party and Summer Starfruit ink spots plus lots of punch outs to make banner.

August – Pedal Praise Kit.  It contains a bicycle and Thanks So Much stamp, Baked Brown Sugar and Bermuda Bay ink spots, punch-outs, embellishment pieces, cards and envelopes.

If you want to sign up click on the My Paper Pumpkin kit on the right column. Be sure to enter promo code PUMPKINDEAL. You will need to choose a demonstrator and if you don’t already have one I would appreciate your choosing me.  lso please let me know by email as I am not notified by Stampin Up! until your kit ships.  

Supplies Used

Stamp Set: Hey There Friend and Spots from the Welcome Kit

DSP and Cardstock:  Basic Gray cardstock (121044); Whisper White cardstock (100730); Old Olive cardstock (100702)

Ink: Basic Gray spot from Hey There Friend Welcome Kit; So Saffron Ink pad (126957); Tempting Turquoise ink pad (126952)

Tools: 1 1/4” scallop punch (127811); ½” circle punch (119869); Stamping Sponges (101610); Polka Dots Embossing Folder (117335); Stylish Stripes Embossing Folder (132174)

Accessories: Very Vintage Buttons (129327); Linen Thread (104199)

Please email me with any questions or ask them in a comment below. 

Kite Card

Last spring I made a kite card for the birthday of one of my granddaughters.  During the time I was making this card another of my granddaughters was visiting. She was intrigued by the card and ask me if I would make a kite card for her birthday.  I said of course! Her birthday is coming up and here is the card I made for her.   

With the correct dimensions in hand, kite cards are not really difficult to make - certainly much easier to make than they are to photograph!  

Start with a 10" X 4" piece of cardstock.  Score it at 5".  Then put a small pencil mark at 3" and 7" along the two long sides of the card and at 2" along each short side.    Then score from each 3" mark to the 7" mark on the opposite side as shown by the dotted lines.  Since you are scoring on a diagonal line it is difficult for your eye to line up the grooves of the Simply Scored.  I find the easiest way to do this is to put a piece of removeable tape (love that stuff!) down one of the groves in the middle of my Simply Scored.   Then line up two of the small pencil marks making one leg of the X along that groove.  The tape helps you make sure the groove at the top mark is the same groove as at the bottom mark.  You can also do this with a bone folder and a straight edge.  Fold the center score of the card backwards so right sides are together and burnish with a bone folder.  Open the card flat.  Then crease forward each of the score lines that create the X and burnish each one.  Once all score lines have been done, fold the card closed pushing the side pieces inward.  Your piece should now resemble a house.  Cut off the triangle pieces by cutting from the 3" (or 7") mark to the 2" mark in the center of the bottom of the of card. If you cut through both front and back layers at same time the front and back layers should line up when closed.  Make a tail out of Baker's twine or string and attach it to the back of the card.  I used some retired Stampin Up! Rope Twine that I untwisted and then attached a strand of the twine with Glue Dots.   

To create a piece of DSP to attach to the front and triangles to attach inside folded pieces, cut a piece of DSP 4 1/2" X 3 1/2".  Keep in mind that you may want to use a piece that does not have a direction.   Score at 1  3/4"  along the 3  1/2" side and fold it down the middle.  Along the 4 1/2" side place a mark at 1 3/4".  With the DSP folded along the score line cut through both layers from the mark to one end of the fold as shown in the photo, cutting off 2 triangles.  Then cut from the mark to the other end of the fold, cutting two more triangles as shown.  You will now have a kite shaped piece to attach to the front of the card.  I also cut a 2nd kite shaped piece out of another piece of DSP using the first piece as a template.  I attached this 2nd piece to the back of the card over the kite tail.   I cut another piece from Whisper White cardstock and attach it to the inside of the card for my message.  Using the 2 smaller triangles as templates, cut the larger templates to the same size as in the photo.  Attach the DSP triangles to the card as shown.  Embellish as desired. 

Supplies Used:

Stamp Set: Blue Ribbon wood (125981) clear (125981)

DSP and Cardstock: Pool Party cardstock (122924); Whisper White cardstock (100730); Silver Glimmer Paper (124005); I Am Me DPS (130138)

Ink: Tempting Turquoise (126952)

Tools:   Simply Scored (122334); Bone Folder (102300); 1 1/4" Circle Punch (119861); 1 3/8" Circle Punch (119860); Stampin Dimensionals (104430); Glue Dots (103683)

Accessories:  Early Expresso 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon (119959); Pearl Basic Jewels (125577)

Please email me any questions or ask them in a comment below!