Workshop card #2

So yesterday I shared a card with you that I designed for my latest workshop. Here is the first card that I designed for the same workshop. I saw a video for this beautiful paper bow technique and I knew I had to incorporate it into my next project, which at the time was going to be this workshop card.

I love early espresso so I used that as the base of the card. One of the ladies at the workshop asked how one would go about writing in the card if it was a dark color. Here are a few suggested options, in case you're wondering as well. 1) Use a gel pen that has opaque pigment in it or at least a white gel pen if anything. 2) Sharpie or the generic equivalent to it offers a marker that comes in at least silver. Also if not look for the gold or silver pens that students use on their senior photos those work great as well.

The next part of the card was really easy. Again as you can see I used an embossing folder, if you want to give any project that extra added pop or zing the embossing folders for the Big Shot are ideal. This is the petals of plenty (116824) embossing folder. I embossed about 2/3 of the whisper white piece so that the upper part of the card would be embossed. Next I stamped the greeting from the new Hand Penned Holidays (124312) stamp set found in the holiday mini in real red. Next I punched out a piece of early espresso card stock using the ribbon border (119275). That piece was then adhered above the greeting. Next I took a 3/4" x 4" strip of the Designer Series Paper (DSP) from the Holly Berry Bouquet (124004) also found in the holiday mini. I cut one end like a flag and then applied sticky strip to both the front and back sides of the piece. I peeled off the back piece and stuck it on the card above the ribbon border punch.  I peeled off the front piece of sticky strip and then I took the piece of 3/4"x12" DSP in that same design and created the paper ribbon by weaving the paper back and forth as I created the paper loops. Then I created the yoyo or lolly or medallion, it all depends on who you ask as to what they call them. I punched a 1"x8 1/2" of real red card stock using the scallop trim (118402) border punch and scored it in 1/4" increments. I attached the ends using sticky strip and then sealed it using a dollop of hot glue. To finish off the medallion I took a wild wasabi button from the holly berry bouquet designer buttons pack (125636) and  tied a bow using linen thread (104199) then adhered it using a dab of hot glue. The last part to this card was to spritz it with shimmer mist created with frost white shimmer paint (116854) and alcohol. Shimmer mist is a great way to add shimmer and glitter to any project without having to worry about it getting all over the place. One of the ladies exclaimed how much she loved glitter that night, as she was happily spritzing her card.


Well I hope you enjoyed this newest card and I hope to see you again soon. I have a few other projects that I'll be sharing with you soon so don't forget to stop on by.

Till then, Happy Stamping.

Workshop project card revealed

Okay so about a week ago I posted that picture that had the 25 on it. Here is the long awaited rest of the card.

I really wanted to highlight the Christmas Collage (121279) background stamp that I bought last year and used all of once. For some reason I had to have it but I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with it last year.

This is a gate card so it opens up like a door or a gate would. I kept the color combination very simple and classic in design. The main base is Naturals Ivory, my absolutely favorite paper. I cut two cherry cobbler panels and embossed them using the Vintage wallpaper (120175) Those were stuck straight down onto the doors using snail. Then I stamped the Christmas Collage background stamp onto the piece of naturals ivory cut for the front. I punched a 1 3/4" circle (119850) out of cherry cobbler card stock and then went back over that cut circle using the 2 3/8" scallop circle (118874) to create that scallop circle ring that is popped up over the 25 using stampin' dimensionals.
I stamped the Merry Christmas using the sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Wishes (115370) If you don't already own this set you need to get it. It's amazing how often I use this set. I punched it out using the word window (119857) and then punched out a piece of cherry cobbler using the modern label (119849) punch and mounted the greeting onto it using snail. Next I popped that up using dimensionals and put it in the rectangular box on the background stamped piece. Lastly a piece of old olive satin ribbon (117292) was tied into a knot bow over the 25.

The last part of the card was stuck onto the left panel door of the card and voila there you have it.

Hope you enjoyed the finished project as much as I did making it. I love this card a lot.

Come back tomorrow and I'll have another card sample that I came up with for my workshop yesterday.

Till then, happy stamping.

Square chocolate treat holders

I got this idea from a fellow stamper friend, Kimberley Morris, a couple of years ago and stumbled across this swap that I'd done of hers just recently as I was sorting through the swaps that I've done over the years. Every so often I like to look through them to get inspired. Also I have a bag of Ghiradelli chocolate squares that needed a cute little receptacle to display them in.

This project only uses a 3"x8" piece of card stock to create the base and you score at 3 3/4" and 4 1/4". I like it because it's super simple and fairly quick to put together and they are super cute.

 I pulled out one of my favorite stamp sets Cottage Garden (120003). This color combination struck me as something I wanted to try so I used old olive, more mustard and poppy parade. Everything was stamped using these colors and I really like the way they work together.

First I punched out the front section of this project using the word window punch (119857). I stamped the tag and used the large tag punch (119876).

 I used the larger end of the crop-a-dile (108362) to punch two holes in the top of it. I tied a piece of 1/2" stitched poly ribbon in poppy parade (119263). I punched the large tag punched piece with the smaller end of the crop-a-dile and then I put a piece of linen thread (104199) through it. before tying it to the ribbon

Then I stamped the greeting and flowers using the same colors and markers in the same colors. The greeting was mounted onto more mustard and then popped up using stampin' dimensionals (104430).

The nice thing about this project is that there are a few different brands of chocolates that could be used. I just happen to use these because they're my favorite. ;)












Hope you enjoyed this little treat. Don't forget to come back next weekend when I show you the rest of the card that you got the little sneak peak of. I'll also share the rest of the workshop projects with you then.

Till next time, happy Stamping!

Always busy stamping, Not always enough time to blog

Here's a little sneak peak for you of a project I'm working on for a workshop I'm doing on Saturday.

I was sitting here in my stamp room watching the snow fall and the wind blowing around most of today and while talking to my friend Kathy, on Skype, I was trying to come up with another card design. I thought I'd already had my projects designed but I wasn't happy with one of them so I needed to come up with something new. This does utilize our fabulous Christmas Collage (121279) background stamp. I love it because you can layer it in so many different ways. This card just made me smile once it was done and I'm sure it will do the same for you. I hope you are enjoying your day, wherever you may be and I hope if you have cold temperatures outside, that you're enjoying warm temperatures inside.

Come back and see me soon.

Till then, Happy Stamping!

Some more hauntingly cute treats

Each year I try to come up with something nice and exclusive to give to my daughters teachers for the holidays. This year was no exception. My good friend Kathy and I were on Skype sharing the different project we were working on for our kids classes and for their teachers. I shared how I still hadn't come up with an idea and she showed me what she was doing. This great little witches hat was made using our petal cone die (121810)

I embossed the pieces using the vintage wallpaper embossing folder (120175) yes there's that folder again. The I created a pull tab so that you could remove the contents of the hat and still keep the hat afterwards. So the base was made using the scallop circle die (113468). At the time I had totally forgotten about our larger circle dies.

Up close I used the rich razzleberry 1 1/4" striped grosgrain ribbon. It just retired in June, which is kind of a bummer but any of our other great ribbons could have been substituted including cajun craze (125055) or basic black (115615)

The greeting was stamped using house of haunts (111574) and the web comes from wicked cool (120600) This was my first year using house of haunts though I've had it for a couple of years now. It saw a lot of ink this year though. I used a running stitch along one end of the ribbon and joined it together to create the finished look and then just to give that ribbon a more seamless finish I used sticky strip (104294). The greeting was stamped on whisper white using rich razzleberry and then the web was stamped in basic gray. I punched it out using the extra large oval punch (119859) and then punched out the decorative label punch in basic black to go behind it. I also used the round tab punch (119864) on the bottom to create the pull tab portion along with the bottom of the hat. That was mounted onto a 2 1/2" circle punch (120906) and I put a hole 1 3/4" big in both the bottom of the scalloped circle die and the larger of the two circles in the scallop #2 circle die (113469). The finished hats were spritzed using shimmer mist to create that nice shimmery effect.

I love using my big shot. If you're still thinking about becoming a demonstrator for the discount or to do this as a full time job or even just as a way to make a little bit of extra cash here and there and still want the big shot our big shot recruiting special has been extended through November 11th. I hope you'll take advantage of this special offer.

Till next time, Happy Stamping to you.

Revisiting and redoing one of my favorite cards

So if you've been following me over the last 22 months you'll probably remember this seeing this card design before from my Stamper's Appreciation Night post last year. I wanted to redo it because I liked it so much and it showcases a lot of different techniques and utilizes many of my favorite products all in one place.

So this is the new card that I did:

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There are a few things I changed up on this new card. For one thing the card itself is made using more neutral tones. The card base is Naturals Ivory(102316) card stock. If you like paper that you can see natural flecks of material in it, then this paper is for you. I took another piece of the naturals ivory and used that for the main part of the card. I tore off a section off the bottom. Then I sponged on the fluer de lis, from the elegant trio (118262) decor stencil, crumb cake classic ink. I then stamped the smaller vines stamp from Elements of Style (120045) in river rock. The last stamp used comes from the stamp set Charming (125829), and was stamped in early espresso. I randomly stamped these onto the piece of card stock. After that was completed I ran the entire piece through the big shot using the vintage wallpaper embossing folder (120175). Then used the distressing too,l from the cutting kit (106958), and distressed all of the edges including the ripped edge. After that the entire piece was sponged in early espresso and the torn edge I rolled towards the inside of the card to give it a more finished look. Two of the corners have champagne glass glitter (120997) added to them using crystal effects. Once the glitter dried I tied a knot on the card using the 3/8" quilted satin ribbon in early espresso(124104). You can currently find this item in our holiday mini catalog. It's really nice. If you like it I recommend getting it now while we still offer it as I can't guarantee it will available again after December 31st.

I then took a piece of river rock card stock and punched it using the scallop edge border punch (119882). That was tacked down using snail and the main piece was applied over it using dimensionals.

Next I punched a 1 3/8" circle using in early espresso and stamped a greeting on naturals ivory using the same stamp from charming but this time stamped it in river rock. Then I stamped the thank you greeting from the teeny tiny wishes set (115370). If you don't already own this set, you really should. It is probably the best and most versatile greeting set that we offer and it's perfect for every occasion. I punched the greeting out using the 1" circle punch (119868) and sponged the edges in early espresso. Then it was mounted onto the early espresso punched piece using dimensionals(104430). I punched a hole using the crop-a-dile (108362) and tied a piece of linen thread (104199) through it and tied it onto the early espresso ribbon. I added additional dimensionals on the back of this circle to secure it to the card.

To finish the card off I spritzed it using shimmer mist made using a combination of frost white (116854) and champagne (116806) shimmer paints with rubbing alcohol.

Hope you enjoyed seeing my redo of one of my favorite cards. These cards went out to recent guests and customers from a workshop held in September. I hope they enjoyed these cards as much as I enjoyed making them.

Come back again soon for more great stamping ideas.

Till next time, Happy Stamping!

Spooky S'mores treats

So did you miss my spooky halloween treats class? Well here's a look at 2 of the projects that you missed. You could have picked from one of these two cute halloween s'mores treats. These will used as teacher gifts for my daughters teachers and some of the other staff who work there. You could give these away to just about anyone and I know they'd enjoy them.

So I saw this really cute idea online and had to make these little guys. So this first one I made using the medium cell bags (102757) This includes 2 pieces of graham crackers a small Hershey's Milk chocolate bar and 2 pieces of pumpkin peeps. The tag was created using basic black card stock, I dry embossed a piece of pear pizzazz card stock using the spider web (120889) embossing folder. Then I stamped Happy Halloween in basic black on peach parfait card stock and punched it out using the decorative label punch (120907). I cut a piece out big enough at the top of the tag to slide a piece of peach parfait 1/2" stitched poly ribbon (119264) 

For treat number #2 we used the ghost peeps instead of the pumpkin peeps. The pear pizzazz card stock was embossed using the vintage wallpaper (120175) embossing folder this time. Then I cut the B and o's in Boo out using the Medium Sizzlits Timeless Type Junior Alphabet (115951). The ghosts are made using the owl builder punch (118074) I punched them out using whisper white card stock. To create the ghost you cut off the legs of the owl and turn it upside down. The eyes are also made from the owl builder punch using the smaller 2 circles and are punched out in whisper white and basic black. I popped them up using Stampin' dimensionals (104330)

These look so much better in person. If you want to pick up any of these cute items please visit my online store. Click here to order.

Come back again soon. I'm working on Halloween treats for my daughters to pass out in school this year. This year I'm being more candy conscious though so the kids aren't going to get candy, but rather a good treat to use at school.

Till then, happy stamping to you.

How's about a little impromptu wedding card?

Now this card may look familiar to those of you who are my friends on Facebook. If you're not it's not a big deal because I'm sharing it here now.

As you may remember I was working a local craft show over the weekend. Friday night after I got one from the first day of selling I checked our home phone and heard a message from my husbands friend. The message wasn't for him it was for me. He was looking to see if I'd be willing to make a card for his friends wedding the following morning. Knowing I had left almost all of my supplies at the craft show to work on projects during the day on Saturday I let him know I could get it done but not till the following morning and I wasn't going to be at the craft show till sometime after 8 am when they let us in to the facilities to get ready for the days events. Panic did set in for a few minutes. I went to bed Friday night almost certain I could get the card done before 9 am when we opened for business. The following project was created in under 15 minutes. Not too bad for a card on the fly, if you know what I mean.

I do apologize for the poor quality of the photo. The lighting in the gym was inadequate to say the least. 

So for this card I dug out my shimmery white paper (101910). I don't use it often but I think it adds a hint of elegance to any wedding card. I could have shimmer misted any color of card stock but I wanted to have a clean look to it. I decided to go with the silver and white combination for this card. After I picked out the paper I cut it to the size I wanted and dry embossed it using the elegant lines (119277) embossing folder in the big shot (113439). I then added our self adhering basic pearls (119247) into the embossed design where I thought it would add that little extra something to it.  I then stamped in versamark (102283) using the "Congratulations" greeting from the stamp set Wedding Sweet (115466) Then I embossed it using our silver embossing powder (109131) and our heat tool (100005). After this I used some retired silver organdy ribbon (I don't know why we stopped selling this stuff it's gorgeous) and tied a knot on the card. Then I matted this onto a piece of our silver waffle paper (120984), which is sold in a 2 pack with gold waffle paper. To finish it off I used dimensionals (104430) on the waffle paper and stuck it to the card and viola! My quick impromptu card. I was done in way less time than I thought it would take and was pleased with the finished product.

Come back soon. I'll be sharing a couple of my spooky treats from my halloween treats class earlier this month. If you missed out, don't make that mistake and miss out on the Holiday treats class for Christmas coming up soon. Keep an eye out for it in my class schedule. I can guarantee they'll be as cute, if not cuter than my spooky treats are.

Till then, happy stamping!

It's Craft Show time

So it's the big time of the year for me where I like to participate in a few craft shows in my local community. Mostly it's to get out of the house and meet new people, sell off some of my retired stamp sets as well as a few hand made items. My next big event is this Friday and Saturday at the Falcon Craft Show to benefit Helping Hands.

I've been busy working like mad to get projects done. My favorite part about all of this is that it really helps me to get rid of my retired DSP's from the year before. I'm a hoarder and I will admit that sometimes I get a little carried away with all the beautiful coordinating papers that we have to offer in addition to all of our lovely card stocks.

This year I decided to also try to use up some of my retired ribbons. So I'm offering several really cute projects most of them are using up retired products but I don't think that will really matter all that much. With the help of my good friend Monica, we are cranking out some great items that we'll have up for sale this weekend. I'll be sure to take pictures of all the little lovelies that we'll have on display after it's all set up. I won't leave you hanging though. Here are two of my favorite goodies so far.

Though they have been trying to promote this event as a Christmas themed craft fair I always take things for Halloween and for Thanksgiving if possible, as well as for Christmas. Over the years I find that I don't sell my Christmas items as well as I do for those items made for Thanksgiving and Halloween. I think it's because most people still aren't ready for Christmas at the time.

This first one uses the lattice die and I cut 2 and layered them over each other to create the background. I used paper from last year that came out in the Idea Book and Catalog. It had flocked bats on it and was colored in rich razzleberry. When you think of halloween this might not be the first color that comes to mind, but it really works. I stamped the owl on the tree from the House of Haunts (111574) stamp set. Would you believe this stamp set had never been inked till this year? What was I thinking? I love it. I masked off the moon behind the owl using a sticky note punched out with the 3/4" circle punch and sponged over it using rich razzleberry. The last bit of embellishment comes from our new dazzling details (124117) If you love the way glitter, especially dazzling diamonds looks, but don't like having it get all over you then this is the right product for you. Think glitter glue but with dazzling diamonds in it. It is one of my new favorite embellishments to use on any project that needs a little extra something. After everything dried I applied a coat of shimmer mist that had been mixed with both Frost White (116854) and Champagne Mist (11806) shimmer paint and alcohol mix. I was inspired by my great friend and upline Kimberly.

This second one I made using up the last bit of Only Orange card stock that I managed to have lying around. Okay the truth is somehow I managed to mix up my only orange card stock with my pumpkin pie card stock. Only Orange was retired during at the end of the 2009 Stampin' Up! calendar year. I realized my mistake too late and I don't have any pumpkin pie on hand at all. Yikes! The only orange worked in a pinch and I also did some using cajun craze. So first for the pumpkins I cut them out using the scallop circle die (113486) I cut off the bottoms of the front and the back and embossed both sides with the spider web (120889) embossing folder. Each side was sponged in basic black. I used the box #2 die  (114518) for the inside of this lovely pumpkin candy holder. I can't believe how much I use this die. The top part gets cut off so I usually try to cut my paper smaller so there is less waste of good card stock. 

If you notice in the picture my spider is missing a set of legs. I forgot the last two legs in the first place and my 14 year old daughter kindly pointed it out to me. The finished versions have 8 legs. To make the spider I punched out two circles, one with the 1" circle punch and the other with the 3/4" circle punch. I used my favorite googlie eyes. The legs were made by punching out the scallop trim border and using segments of 3 each and 2 for the last set of legs that go right in the front on the finished versions. I used half of the banner found on the cone die and cut them in half after stamping Happy Halloween on them from the teeny tiny wishes set. It's meant to look like a pumpkin purse so that is where there is a satin old olive handle on the sides. After everything was done the front and back panels were spritzed with shimmer mist just to give it an overall finished look with just a little bit of sparkle.

Come back again soon when I share more of the cute little goodies we'll be stocking our booth with. If you're in the Falcon or Colorado Springs area come on over to the Pikes Peak Learning Center out in Falcon and stop by our booth. We'd love for you to come on over and say hello. 

Till next time, Happy Stamping!

Check out the new recruit offer to die for

Ever thought about becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator? Maybe you just like our products and can't stop buying them. You might not want to sell our products and that's perfectly fine that isn't a big deal but you'd be silly to pass up a great offer like this to earn a free Big Shot, our personal die cutting machine.

Check out the fabulous offer here. It's an offer you just can't pass up. For this month only start your Stampin' Up! journey, whether it's as a hobby demonstrator who joins for the great deal and the discounts they'll receive on their own personal purchases. Maybe you're looking to just make a little bit of extra money on the side while meeting others who love to stamp like you do? Or maybe you're in it for the long haul and would like to turn it into your main job? Stampin' Up! is always looking for new people every day. Don't pass up this opportunity, it probably won't come up again.

For $175 before shipping and tax, you'll receive our standard starter kit which includes a variety of great products to get you started, should you choose to do this as a business, or otherwise. You'll receive $345 in product for this low price. In addition to that after signing up you'll receive a special email requesting your order for the Big Shot ($99 Value). Already have a Big Shot? No problem there, you can substitute $100 in product for it instead, buy more accessories to go with your big shot or buy other additional products that you'll want to use to create with.

I've been busy working and haven't fallen off the face of the earth again. I promise to share something soon. On a side note, my missing camera has shown up again. Let's just say it was living on my stamp desk under a pile of papers that I I had put there and happened to be cleaning it up and found it, months after losing it.

Till next time, happy stamping and creating.

Stamping anyone?

So I've been busy over the past few months with stamp club, ladies night and other additional classes that I offer for free on a weekly basis. Come and stamp with me and you'll see more great things that you can create besides the ones you'll see today.

This project was originally our June stamp club project.  I absolutely love making 3x3 cards. This little love note box was created using our new delicate doilies stamp set (122592) When I made the original sample the love note box looked like it does in the sample with the love notes. When I was putting it together during club the box felt incomplete as is so I added the monogram to it to mimic the love note monogramed cards that went in it.

We used basic gray classic ink (109120) and stamped it onto bashful blue card stock. Next we punched a piece of basic gray card stock using the  2 3/8" scallop circle punch (118874) Then we used one of the smaller doily stamps and stamped it on bashful blue using basic gray. We punched it out using 1 3/4" circle punch (119850). Next we punched out a piece of very vanilla card stock     using the 1 3/8" circle punch (119860) and finally we stamped a monogram using the Lovely Letters Alphabet set (115030) I got it free for recruiting during Sale-a-bration and I am so happy I got it. This is a really nice alphabet stamp set. We stamped again on bashful blue card stock in basic gray. We punched this out using the 1 1/4" circle punch (119861) We layered the bottom two layers with snail and the top two layers with snail then we used dimensionals in between these two new layers. Next we punched holes in the top and bottom scallops using the smaller hole on the crop-a-dile (108362) Lastly we fed a piece of very vanilla tafetta ribbon (this color ribbon no longer available, but we do still carry tafetta ribbon in other colors) through the scallop circle and tied it off in a bow at the bottom of the scallop and attached this using dimensionals onto the center of the lid of the box.

For the 3x3 love notes we did the same thing as we did on the box, but when it came time to add the ribbon we made sure to secure it to the card by wrapping the tafetta ribbon around the entire card itself.

Another thing we changed up on the finished card and box is that we added a little bit of bling, using one of my favorite must have products, basic rhinestone brads (119246) This product is fabulous. You get 150 pieces for $4.95 and a little bling, goes a long way. :)

I'll be updating with additional photos from clubs and free classes shortly so come check in again soon and see what you've been missing.

Till next time, Happy Stamping.

Long time no post

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Life just gets away from you sometimes. I'm sure you all know what that's like. It happens to me often. Of course I have been busy stamping off and on over past few months.

Here are a few of my favorite samples using my current favorite a la carte stamp from our current Summer mini catalog. I forgot to update those images and links so they are now updated and available for your viewing pleasure.

This first card took me awhile to come up with a design. I had picked the stamp before I had even gotten it. We had a group swap for the summer mini catalog and I wanted to use the stamp because I thought it had lots of potential.

I used a few products from the new mini as well as several of my old time favorites. First I stamped the sailboat in early espresso classic ink onto naturals ivory. I let it set up for a few hours before coloring it in. I used the water color crayons along with a blender pen to fill in color where I wanted. For this scene I used cherry cobbler for the sail, early espresso for the boat itself and bashful blue for the waves. Our water color crayons are so light and easy to use and it makes coloring things in a breeze when used in combination with a blender pen. Next I inked up the En Francais background stamp in early espresso and lightly stamped it as the background to this card. It adds another dimension to the card itself. This piece was then mounted onto cherry cobbler card stock. I then added a strip of Night of Navy card stock towards the bottom and added some of our silver brads to the bottom to give it a sort of nautical feel to it. Brass might have been nice too but I used the brushed silver. Then I used the thinking of you greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes and stamped that in early espresso then I used the new postage stamp punch to punch out the greeting. I wrapped some of the new cherry cobbler bakers twine around the front and back of the postage stamp to give it a little something. Then mounted this onto a punched square of early espresso. This entire card was held together with stampin' dimensionals only yet I'm not sure you can tell by this photo.

This second sample I did for a shoebox swap and I wanted to use a similar idea. I needed to come up with an idea for a Father's Day card and I didn't really have a lot of sets that were very masculine looking but I thought of this stamp again immediately. I decided to use a different background stamp for this one though. I used early espresso to ink up the scene and stamped it onto very vanilla card stock. I used marina mist and baja breeze to color in the sail on this one. This time around I used the early espresso bakers twine and punched holes at the top of the sail and the bottom of the boat itself to create an extra layer to the card itself. Then this was mounted on baja breeze card stock The DSP used in this sample came from elegant soiree. Unfortunately this paper is no longer available. The idea though is that you can use any colors you see from a pattern of DSP to create your card. I stamped Happy Father's Day from Teeny Tiny Wishes in early espresso and punched it out using the word window punch. Then I punched out a piece of baja breeze card stock using the modern label punch. I used silver brads on this card as well to finish it up. My friend Mary loved my card so much she took it home to finish it. We only do card fronts when we swap cards to help keep the costs down.

Thanks to my friend Holle for lending me copies of the photos she took of my cards. If I haven't already mentioned this before, I misplaced my digital camera. :( I am fortunate enough however to have a new cell phone with an 8MP camera so I will be using this from now on to update my blog. I hope to have some new pictures up soon.

Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping till next time.

Saying Goodbye

As the end of the Stampin' Up! year approaches we are given the last chance lists for products that we'll be saying goodbye to. This year has been a sad year for me as I have lost over 1/3 of the stamps that I currently own. :( I do look forward to the many new products we'll be offering.

If you'd like to view a copy of these lists visit the Stampin' Up! website here for a full listing of all products that we'll be saying goodbye to.

Also my next big event is a 10 for $10 stamping event using many of our retiring products. Please take a look at my stamping calendar through my business website here.

Didn't I tell you I was busy?

Give me a day and I'll forget to post. I had good intentions of posting yesterday but life made its presence known. My little ones were home sick yesterday and both are home again today. It's nice having them home and playing doctor mom with them but work does need to get done. So today I'm posting another pretty little card I made. I am going to change up this card some to make a notecard set for my sister later on. She travels to and from Japan often to dance hula. I worried a lot about my family in Hawaii, as that is my home, and I always worry whenever there are tsunami warnings.

So anyway onto today's card:

I started with a piece of whisper white card stock just slightly larger than the stamp I'd be using. Then I cut out a piece of our paper vellum (101839) I prefer to use this vellum over the card stock vellum for this particular project. I then stamped the background stamp from the Fresh Cuts stamp set (111634) and stamped onto the vellum using stazon ink in black (101406) After stamping that I then stamped the geisha stamp from Dream Gardens (114395) in versamark (102283) then embossed using gold embossing powder (109129) To hold the piece down I stuck a mini glue dot (103683) right behind the geisha. I punched two holes using the crop-a-dile (108362) and punched that right at the top through the piece of whisper white card stock and paper vellum. Then I tied it off with a piece of real red satin ribbon (117286) Next I punched a strip long the same height as the whisper white piece and punched it out using the dotted scallop ribbon border punch (119275) I used some snail and mounted this to the backside of the white so that just a small section of the bumps are showing on the left side. Then this entire piece was mounted onto real red card stock slightly bigger than the whisper white and used stampin' dimensionals (104430) to pop them up onto the piece of real read. I took a smaller piece of whisper white stamped for you from the fresh cuts stamp set as well and stamped in versamark and embossed in gold. Then I stamped the small flower, also from fresh cuts and stamped it in real read. I stamped off first so the red is not so bright. Then to finish it off I put a gold brad (104337) in the center. I did the same trick with the dotted scallop ribbon border punch and punched a small section to put under the white before mounting it to the real red card stock with dimensionals. After I was done with this I put dimensionals on the back of all the pieces and placed them onto the card front. I did use basic black card stock with the intent that she could either write in them using one of those gold pens commonly used for graduation photos or a white gel pen. Either one would give a nice stark contrast. Of course I am redoing this design a little and using the fresh cuts notes (111882) instead and will play around with the look a bit before I make the gift set. I love to play with our stamps and incorporate multiple sets together.

Hope you are having a wonderful Thursday. I was just reminded that tomorrow the kids don't have school, it's an in service day for the teachers. I hope to have time to post more tomorrow but it may have to wait till after the weekend is over. I still have quite a few Easter/Spring cards that still need working on and I am sort of getting bored with looking at them already.

Thanks for stopping by.

Shimmery Wedding

I needed to make a wedding card for my husband's cousin and I wanted something pretty and elegant and shimmery all over.

Here's what I came up with:
I decided I'd use the shimmery white paper (101910) I'd purchased over a year ago. I'm a paper hoarder if I haven't already mentioned this to you. I cut a piece of the shimmery white paper 1/4" shorter on both sides and ran that piece through the big shot using the elegant bouquet textured impressions embossing folder (118964) Then to enhance the embossed flowers I used the 4mm basic rhinestones (119246) After I was done I punched two holes using the crop-a-dile (108362) into the paper at a diagonal. One is about an inch from the right and about half an inch down and the second hole is about an inch down from the right corner and half an inch in. I used this to feed our baja breeze seam binding ribbon (122331) This is still available through

the end of this month so don't forget to order some if you haven't already. There's no guarantee it will still be available after the 30th. I popped this part up using stampin' dimensionals (104430)

To finish this off I stamped the greeting from the wedding sweet set (115466) in baja breeze punched it out using the 1 3/4" oval punch (119855) and glued that down to another punched piece using the scallop oval (119856) Then I popped those up using dimensionals. To match the card I spritzed a very vanilla envelope using shimmer mist made with frost white shimmer paint (116854) and 70% rubbing alcohol. I love shimmer mist because it provides the shine and glimmer that you can get from glitter but without the mess. I still love my glitter though.

Hope you're enjoying your Monday. Come back tomorrow for another treat. Happy stamping till then and thanks for stopping by.

So much time to stamp, so little time to blog

I've been slacking on my blog posting. I do apologize. I have been busy though and I have a lot to share with you. I promise I'll be updating more over the next few days. I've been busy with a lot of projects and cards lately. Firstly I'll start by showing you the recent cards I gave out to customers who ordered from the last workshop I demonstrated for. Though this card contains a lot of elements the design is super simple and easy to recreate.

I created this card to inspire one of the customers from this workshop. She ordered the Love Letter Designer Series Paper (117162) and she also ordered the

Thank You Kindly stamp set (111700) This year it was offered for free after spending $50 per order during Sale-a-bration. Love Letter is one of my favorite paper designs as it is so versatile and goes with just about anything. Besides using the Love Letter paper I also used naturals ivory, basic black and very vanilla card stock. The only color ink that I used was basic black classic ink. I used the 1 1/2" basic black striped grosgrain ribbon (115615) and cut it in half to create a more aged and delicate look to the ribbon. I love the way this ribbon frays on one edge too after it is cut. The punches that were used are the 2 1/2" circle (120906), 2 3/8" scallop circle (118874), 1 3/4" circle punch (119850), 2 step bird punch (117191) and the decorative label punch (120907)

To finish it off I added a 2mm basic pearl (119247) and I tied a piece of linen thread (104199) and included a safety pin from vintage trinkets (118764)

Though I don't have a picture of the inside I stamped a personalized poem that I got from my good friend Holle, the poem says "Recycle this card, Brighten someone's day. Add your own greeting, Send it on it's way. I made it using one of our personalized stamps in the Tailored 4 line design. In an effort to help in recycling cards and sharing the love of card-making with others this is a great way to do it. My customers were happy to pass their cards along and do what the poem says. Our personalized stamps are awesome because you can customize how many lines you have and what they'll say.

Hope you are enjoying the weekend before Easter. I know I am and I'm getting ready to work on Easter cards tonight and have them in the mail by Wednesday. Stop by again tomorrow for the next look into what I've been up to recently.

First workshop of the new year

It's been awhile since I've posted and I've missed stamping. I've had bad allergies since the beginning of the new year which makes life rather miserable but the one thing that makes me happy is stamping. Yesterday I got to do just that. I got to share my love for stamping with my dear friend Monica and several other great people.

Here is one of the 3 projects I demonstrated at her workshop today. I can't take credit for this idea but the design is my own. The original idea for this adorable project came from Angela Sylvester, another great demonstrator here in Colorado. I thought the idea was perfect to share a fairly easy to create 3-D project and highlight several great things about our Sizzix Big Shot die cutting machine.

This project was made using our new Petal Cone die (121810). It also features our Lots of Love (120983) Letterpress debossing plate. If you look close you can see a little bit of the texture of it on the Basic Gray card stock.

We also used several of our many great punches. I love our punches, they make life easy to add just the perfect touches to any project as well.

We used the 2 1/2" circle punch (120

906) in Marina Mist and 2 3/8" Scallop circle punch (118874) in Very Vanilla for the base of this medallion. Next we went back to the Big Shot and used the Scallop Heart of Hearts embosslits die (117332), in Baja Breeze to create the background heart. Then we used the Full Heart punch (119883) over that in Very Vanilla. Lastly we punched out the Two Step Bird punch in both Marina Mist and Blueberry Crisp Designer series paper and sponged the edges of all pieces in Early Espresso before assembling. Lastly we used the smallest of the basic pearls (119247) to create the eye of the bird.

We punched holes on the sides of the heart hangar using the crop-a-dile and threaded it with Marina Mist 2" striped grosgrain (119772). We put a coffee filter in the top to hold little treats in as well.

Lastly we created a banner and stamped the "Just Because" phrase from the stamp set Notably Ornate (120561)**

Well I hope you enjoyed my newest creation. I'll try to get the card posted as well as the little gift I stamped for Monica for hostessing. If you love chocolate I'm sure you'll love this project as well. Keep an eye out for it.

Thanks again for stopping by and till next time, Happy Stamping.

** Indicates product code for clear mount stamp set.