Monday, August 4, 2014

Works of Art


This past weekend a few of us got together at our local coffee shop/art gallery to make cards. We decided to make two cards - I designed one of the cards and fellow demonstrator Imogene Thomas designed the other. Since our group included two people who had never before put stamp to ink we wanted our cards to be easy and yet striking.

The Work of Art set is perfect for this task! The stamped images resemble swooshes of watercolor. No matter how they are arranged they look wonderful when placed on cardstock. I have seen them used in many ways and they are always fantastic! Here is the card I designed for them.




Our beginners had no trouble with the images and were even comfortable with the stamping off technique that we used. Attaching a couple of more layers was a simple way to add some additional class to the card.

Although we didn't plan our cards together Imogene's card followed a similar theme. We even used two of the same colors - Wild Wasabi and Marina Mist. Her card used the masking technique to create a serene scene with the Kinda Eclectic stamp set. Here is her card.





      

Here are the stampers in action!!





 I think everyone was pleased with the "works of art" we produced!

Supplies Used:

Stamp Set: Work of Art (134114 clear - 134111 wood); Kinda Eclectic (135347 clear - 135350 wood)
Cardstock: Baked Brown Sugar (131296): Very Vanilla (101650); Brushed Gold (102935); Hello Honey (133678); Whisper White (100730)
Ink: Wild Wasabi (126959); So Saffron (126957); Marina Mist (126962); Basic Gray (126981); Memento Black (132708)  
Accessories: Marina Mist Cotton Ribbon (134561)
Tools: Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack (133787); Stamping Sponges (101610)

To order click on the ordering tab above just under the header. You can email me privately with any of your papercrafting questions or ask them in a comment below!
 I ♥ comments and would love to hear what you think!!  Leave your thoughts below!
   





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Monday, July 21, 2014

Project Room Invasion

This past weekend I had some out-of-state visitors who all ended up invading my tiny project room. What a really fun time we had! 

 First we experimented with the new Stampin’ Up! Blendabilities. Beginning August 1 all the Blendability assortments (see page 212 of the annual catalog) will be available to order. Until then Cherry Cobbler, Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, and the Skin Tone Assortment are all available. While there is a bit of a learning curve with Blendabilites Stampin’ Up! has posted several videos (https://www.youtube.com/user/stampinupvideo/search?query=blendabilities) showing Bendability techniques. One of the Blendability experimenters at my house used Cherry Cobbler to color the Blended Bloom image. I thought she did a really good job for a first time user and she didn't even watch any videos! Here is her finished image.

​​
Don’t think I mentioned that she is 10 years old. (While she would protest that she is “almost 11”, since she still has 2 months to go, I am sticking with 10!)

 Another of my visitors became very interested in My Paper Pumpkin. She assembled several kits I had on hand and took another one home with her. She mentioned that she would like a subscription. Since she has a birthday coming up and Stampin’ Up! has a great Pumpkin promotion going on right now (sign up by September 10 and get 50% off your first two monthly kits) I am considering giving her one as a gift. BTW she is almost 13 (really!).  
   



Here are a few of my visitors in action!


To order click on the ordering tab above, just under the header. You can email me privately with any of your papercrafting questions or ask them in a comment below!

 I ♥ comments and would love to hear what you think!! You can leave your thoughts below!!

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Thursday, July 3, 2014

Celebrate the 4th!

The June My Paper Pumpkin kit has a bit of a patriotic theme. (See video link below) It includes red, white and blue pinwheels that can be attached to red and white striped heavy paper straws.  After assembling the pinwheels I decided to create a card with a similar theme and the Stylish Stripes embossing folder seemed a perfect choice. I really love this folder. It was introduced in last fall's Holiday Mini and I was very excited when it reappeared in the new annual catalog! I love to put skinny strips of glimmer paper in some of the grooves created by the folder. The resulting piece makes a great layer to use on cards that can be used for all kinds of festive occasions. Here is the card I made.

You might notice that I used three different embossing folders! In addition to the Stylish Stripes folder I used the Chevron (another fav of mine for sure!) and Perfect Polka Dots. Trying to remember if I have ever done that! Stars seemed appropriate for the 4th of July and the Stars Framelits were perfect. The cutouts just needed some texture. I had the larger star "bleed off" (that is a term I learned from my graphic design knowledgeable daughter-in-law) the card. For the sentiment I used the "celebrate" that came with the June My Paper Pumpkin but you could use any simple sentiment. MDS has a simple "celebrate" as part of the Cake & Ice Cream download (130867) and it already has a banner. In MDS you can resize as you wish.

 My Paper Pumpkin is a great value if you are interested in receiving a fun project each month that contains all the materials you need to complete a project or if you have limited or no supplies it is a great way to slowly accumulate supplies. You can skip months or cancel your subscription at any time. In addition if you are a subscriber you can purchase some of the prior kits or the refills for many of the prior kits. The refills contain everything except the stamps and ink that came in the original kit. Many times you can use the refill to make the project even though you do not have the exact stamps and ink that came in the original kit. 

 In the June kit the project could be done in two different ways and it contained all the supplies for use either way so I had lots of items left over that I could use on other projects. Here is a video showing the kit.

Supplies Used:
  • Stamp Set: June 2014 My Paper Pumpkin
  • Cardstock and DSP: Cherry Cobbler (119685), Night of Navy (00867), Shimmery White (101910), Silver Glimmer (135314)
  • Ink: Night of Navy (126970)
  • Accessories: Regals Candy Dots (130932)
  • Tools: Stars Framelits (133723), Stylish Stripes Embossing Folder (132174), Chevron Embossing Folder (127749), Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder (117335), Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack (133787)


 To order click on the ordering tab above just under the header. You can email me privately with any of your papercrafting questions or ask them in a comment below!

 I’d love to hear what you think!! I ♥ comments! Leave your thoughts below!

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Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Circle Treat Hat








Welcome to the May Pals Blog Hop. This is the first hop on our new day - the 2nd Wednesday of the month. Before we celebrate the release of the new Stampin' Up! catalog next month, we want to take time to say goodbye to our favorite retiring products. This month we are showcasing projects that feature stamps or accessories that are retiring along with the 2013-14 Idea Book & Catalog on June 4.

 You may just be starting the blog hop or may have come from Rae Harper at Wild West Paper Arts (http://wildwestpaperarts.com/), stop 12 on the Pals Hop. If you get off track at any time, the full lineup below will help you move along from blog to blog.

 One of my favorite embossing folders is the Lattice which is being retired with the current catalog. (To see all the products on the Retired List in the Stampin' Up! store click here. Products are only available while supplies last!)  It can be used in many different ways including embedded embossing in which layers of cardstock are embossed as a unit creating a look resembling quilting - very effective! Another way it can be used is to create a texture resembling woven straw. That is how I used it here on the hat brim which I then combined with ribbon and a Circle Treat cup to create a favor that could be used for lots of different spring events.







I used Midnight Muse cardstock, one of the 2012-2014 InColors, which is retiring at the end of this month. It is my favorite navy color. Another of the retiring InColors that I also love is Summer Starfruit. All of the 2012-2014 InColor cardstock quickly sold out and Stampin' Up! has just announced that they have obtained additional 2012-2014 InColor cardstock in a limited quantity. It is only available while supplies last! All products in these colors are available in the Stampin' Up! store while supplies last here.

 I first punched a hole the size of the treat cup in a piece of Midnight Muse cardstock using the 1 3/4 inch circle punch. Punching the center hole first is an important step which will make it much easier to insure that the Circle Treat cup (not retiring! Yay!) is centered on the hat! Next I cut the brim using one of the Starburst Framelits. Just center the punched hole in your Framelit before you cut it. I then embossed the brim with the lattice folder and inserted the Treat cup. I used Sticky Strip to adhere the top of the Treat cup to the embossed cardstock but it did not adhere as well as I hoped. The problem is that, due to the embossing, there are only small limited places on the cardstock that actually touch the Treat cup. In the future I would try a liquid adhesive such as Multi-purpose Liquid Glue although I do not know how well liquid glue will stick to the Treat cup. I decorated the Treat cup with Midnight Muse stitched ribbon (also retiring) using Stricky Strip and added a Shimmery White flower punched out with one of the punches in the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack. I love this little flower and use it regularly on all kinds of projects. It too is being retired and I am very sad to see it go. I snipped down the flower to create petals and added a So Saffron candy dot. I used Sticky Strip to adhere the ribbon to the Treat Cup. (That did work!)  

In order to get the treats out of the cup without destroying the hat I created a "door" on the back of the project from Shimmery White cardstock. I first used the Midnight Muse cardstock for the door but did not like the look with my white treats. I decided they looked better against the Shimmery White. For the "door" first used a 1" circle punch to cut out a circle from a piece of Shimmery White cardstock. I then centered a Circle Framelit over the punched hole and cut out a larger circle piece of a sufficient size to hide the bottom of the Treat cup. I then adhered that piece to the underside of the cardstock and the bottom of the Treat cup. The Treat cup has adhesive on the bottom side and and I used Sticky Strip to adhere the Shimmery White piece to the underside of the "hat". Once again I think I would use a liquid glue in the future. I then punched a 1 3/4" circle out of the Shimmery White for the actual "door". I used Multi-purpose glue and made the "door" removable by applying the glue to both pieces of cardstock and letting it dry completely before placing them together. In this way the "door" can be removed to retrieve a treat and then replaced! I wanted white candy in the cup so I filled it with Shimmer White Sixlets. This candy is available in many one color packages in the baking/cake decorating department of grocery stores, including Walmart. Here is a picture of the underside of the completed project.       




Supplies Used: 

  • Cardstock: Midnight Muse (126843 Retiring); Shimmery White (101910)
  • Accessories: Circle Treat Cup (116802); Midnight Muse 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon (126847 Retiring); Subtles Candy Dots (130933);
  • Adhesive: Multi-purpose Adhesive (110755) 
  • Tools: Lattice Embossing Folder (119976 Retiring); Starburst Framelits (132967); Circles Framelits (130911); 1 3/4 Circle Punch (119868); 1" Circle Punch (119868); Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack (118309 Retiring)
To order click on the ordering tab above just under the header. You can email me privately with any of your papercrafting questions or ask them in a comment below!



The next stop is Colleen Mollema at Uncanny Crafting, stop 14 on the Pals Blog Hop! Thanks for visiting and I hope to see you next month.
2014mayhop_back 2014mayhop_next


  1. Peggy Noe at Pretty Paper Cards
  2. Patti MacLeith at Papercrafts by Patti
  3. Debbie Pierce at Stampin' Sunshine
  4. Jackie Diediker at Stampin' Jackie
  5. Nancy Gleason at My Stampin Space
  6. Sue Becker at RnR Stamping
  7. Susan Itell at Simple Stampin
  8. Michelle Quinno at Shell's Life
  9. Beth Beard at My little craft blog
  10. Amy Lazzell at Just A Thought...Cards by Amy
  11. Debbie Mageed at Secret Stamper
  12. Rae Harper at Wild West Paper Arts
  13. Katie Ferguson at Cottage Paper
  14. Colleen Mollema at Uncanny Crafting
  15. Natalie Bradley at Natalie Bradley Events
  16. Dawn Tidd at Tiddbits from Dawn
  17. Kerry Willard Bray at Peonies and Paper Chains
  18. Wendy Klein at Doggone Delightful Stampin' 
  19. Marlene Heringer at So Many Toys So Little Time
  20. Diane Roberts at Score at Four and a Quarter
  21. Lynn Kolcun at Stamping With Avery's Owlery
  22. Kelly DeTommaso at Kelly's Creative Corner
  23. Shannon Hokanson at Paper Works by Shannon
  24. Christie Crosby at Stampin' Creativity
  25. Kalyn Shubnell at Stamping Chronicles
  26. Lisa Ann Bernard at Queen B Creations
  27. Michelle Gleeson at StampinMojo
  28. Debra Simonis at Deb's Stampin' Grounds
  29. Nicole Watt at Pixel Maven's Retreat
  30. Mary Fish at Stampin' Pretty
  31. Maxine Conrad at Stamp to the MAX!
  32. Donna Kopenski at Crafty Cardmaker
  33. Angie Blake at Angie's Musings

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Sunday, April 27, 2014

"For You" Shoebox Swap

This is an exciting time in the Stampin' Up! world!! Today Stampin' Up! Is having simultaneous demonstrator get-togethers in theaters all over country where they will be live streaming a Stampin' Up! event from LA. The event will consist of various presentations and demonstrations of many of the new products in the catalog beginning June 1. In addition to being able to view the live event demonstrators attending the live streaming will receive a copy of the new catalog! Although one of the theaters offered is in Birmingham I decided to attend the event in Atlanta so I could be with my Upline Brian King and fellow InKing Royalty members.

Sunday, as a prelude to the big day, Brian hosted a Shoebox Swap. For a Shoebox Swap each participant designs a card and assembles all the necessary cardstock, ink, tools and accessories needed to make the card. The items are then put in a shoebox and brought to the swap. Each shoebox is set-up at a station and the participants go from station to station assembling cards.

 For my card I wanted to use only products that would remain in the catalog and ideally include some new products. Fortunately Stampin' Up! included in the free Sale-a-bration offerings a couple of new products that will be included in the upcoming catalog. One was the banner punch and the other was the Decorative Dots embossing folder. I first created a card using both of these items but finally had to give up the Decorative Dots and accept that the Chevron embossing folder worked so much better with the banners.

     


To easily align the banners along the edge of the card base I I adhered them down a narrow strip of white card stock. I then adhered that strip to right side of the card base. Since I really felt the card should be vertical, the Chevron folder, as basically a horizontal folder, was not an easy fit. It would not be the first time I have changed the orientation of an embossing folder (see here) and I thought doing so again would produce a good result. I embossed two pieces of Blushing Bride and cut them to fit the card making one about twice as long as the other. At the seam I placed a thin strip of Soft Suede that had been cut on each side with one of the Finishing Touches Edgelit Dies.

 The Swap was great fun and there were some really great cards. I had a picture taken of me with my card before the swap began but I got so caught up in making the other cards I totally forgot to take pictures of the other participants!! I do have the cards I made and will be posting pictures of some of them in the future. I also hope to take pictures at the theater event. While I can't show pictures from the inside of the catalog I can show you the catalog cover, tell you about some of the new products and take pictures of the fun people! If my technology skills are at their prime I may try to post some pictures from the event on Facebook Monday night. Otherwise I hope to post some on Tuesday. You can view my FB page by clicking on the Facebook badge at the top right-hand column of this post.

 To order click on the ordering tab above just under the header. You can email me privately with any of your papercrafting questions or ask them in a comment below!
Supplies Used 

  • Stamp Sets: Blue Ribbon (131964 W, 125981 C), Chalk Talk (130631 W, 130634 C, 134800 MDS)


  • Cardstock: Soft Suede (115318), Blushing Bride (131198), Champagne Glimmer Paper (127885), Naturals Ivory (101849)

  • Ink: Soft Suede (126978), Versamark (102193)

  • Tools: Banner Punch (133519 not available until June 1), Chevron Embossing Folder ( 127749), 2 3/8" Scallop Punch (118874), 1 3/8 Circle Punch (119860), Finishing Touches Edgelit (127010) 


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Friday, April 18, 2014

Easter Cross

The lattice die, which has been around for several years, is a very versatile die. One of the ways it is sometimes used is to create a cross. By using paper snips to cut away the unnecessary sections you are left with a cross shape. I have attached a diagram at the bottom of this post to show you exactly where to cut to create the cross shape from the lattice cut out. I have made several cross cards over the years and this is my most recent. In addition to Easter, such cards can be used for a number of Christian celebrations. 

I love Soho Subway DSP and wanted to use it for this card, which I was making for a specific person. I also wanted to make the cross itself out of Brushed Gold cardstock but the gold did not stand out from the DSP background. After some experimenting I decided that an Early Expresso mat under the gold lattice cross would highlight the cross and solve the problem. Here is the card I made.




For the layer directly under the Soho Subway DPS I used Naturals Ivory cardstock. I really like this cardstock and wish people would use it more frequently. It has a more rustic texture than Very Vanilla and contains small flecks of various colors. It looks really good with this DSP.  Putting the cross in the middle of the card was too predictable so I placed it to the side and balanced it with more of the flowers I used on the cross. I love all these colors and was pleased with the way it turned out. 

I wish a Happy Easter to all my Christian readers!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock and DSP: Crisp Cantaloupe (131298); Early Espresso (119686); Brushed Gold (102935); Naturals Ivory (101849); Soho Subway Designer Series Paper (130140); Birthday Basics Designer Series Paper (on the envelope) (130145)

Tools: Lattice Stampin' Up! Bigz Die (115958); Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack (118309); 1/2" Circle Punch (119869)

Accessories: Basic Pearls Jewel Accents (119247)






To order click on the ordering tab above just under the header. You can email me privately with any of your papercrafting questions or ask them in a comment below!
    
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Saturday, March 22, 2014

Very Special Baby Boy

Recently I was asked to create a card to accompany a group gift for a baby boy. I didn't have a dedicated baby stamp but as I looked through my stamps I came across the Very Special Someone stamp from the Chalk Talk set. I love the chalkboard look and thought this stamp was perfect for a baby card! Here is the card.



 I realize that the ink color in the photo looks blue (or at least it does on my monitor) but I actually used Basic Gray ink and in real life it does look gray! Black was too harsh and Basic Gray looked more like an actual chalkboard. The blue hound’s-tooth DSP was perfect for a baby boy but I thought it would be nice to soften it a little with a layer of Foil Vellum with the sweet little silver hearts. Since most adhesives will show through the vellum here is a hint to attach the vellum to the DSP. Hide Mini Glue Dots behind some or all of the foil hearts. The Paper Doily was added to create even more baby softness. 

  Supplies Used 

  •  Stamp Set: Chalk Talk (130631 Wood), (130634 Clear Mount), (134800 Digital) 
  •  Cardstock and DSP: Pool Party (131203); Very Vanilla (101650); Etcetera DSP (130129); Fancy Foil Designer Vellum (133364) 
  •  Ink: Basic Gray (126981) 
  •  Tools: 7/8” Scallop Circle punch (129404) 
  •  Accessories: Tea Lace Paper Doilies (129399); Very Vintage Designer Buttons (129327); Natural 5/8” Chevron Ribbon (132982) 

 To order click on the ordering tab above just under the header. You can email me privately with any of your papercrafting questions or ask them in a comment below!

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