Been super busy stamping

I got hung up with the holidays and then after the new year I got hung up preparing swaps for one of the regional events that was held in San Antonio, Texas in mid January.

To break things up I'll share one of the swaps I came up with and work on sharing one new one each day so that I'm not trying to put them all out there at one time and bore you to tears.

This is the first card I designed. I was trying to come up with a "WOW" swap. What is a "WOW" swap exactly? Well it's first and foremost as swap where you create all of one design and you swap them out for other cards made by other designers. This was a coordinated swap consisting of other ladies whom I call my sisters. We all come from the same group. The second part of the swap, the "WOW" part comes from the idea of when someone see's it their immediate thought in their head is "Wow, I've got to get that set!" So this first card was my original concept. It was nice, but for me it just wasn't screaming "WOW!" yet. The concept was great and even though it didn't scream to me it did to others who swapped with me.

This card utilizes lots of layers and dimensions I used the new Apothecary Art Clear stamps(125527) from the new Occasions Mini. It's also available in wood as with all of our sets. I used the new Labels Framelits (125598) for the Big Shot as well. They are meant to work with this set. If you own the Big Shot this is a must have. There are so many things you can do with these frames. 

I also used the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder(120175) to add additional dimension to the card as well as using lots of dimensionals to make the card pop. The stamp used on the First Edition Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP) is the French Filigree back ground stamp(113742) I used some other favorite embellishments, Basic Pearls(119247) Want to add just a little bit of class to any vintage type inspired card or project? This is for you. 

Well I hope you enjoyed this sample. I hope to post another sample for you to view here within the next day or so. 

I'm in the process of project design yet again. This time several of my "stamp sisters" and I will be planning a new Stamp-a-stack type of event. If you're interested let me know and I'll give you more details about this event. Pay $25 and make 10 unique cards. Email me at smalchow1@msn.com. Our first event will be around the end of March. 

Don't forget now is the perfect time to get free products even if you're not holding a workshop. It's Sale-a-bration, that time of the year where Stampin' Up! rewards all of their customers with a free product from the Sale-a-bration catalog for every $50 in product that you purchase, before tax and shipping. Don't forget these are limited edition items and you can't get them any other way. Contact me to place your order today. 

Till next time,

Happy Stamping!

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.