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Thursday, June 24, 2010

Sketch Challenges with New Goodies

Playing with some new goodies from Stampin' Up! using the Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challenge #286 and the Clean & Simple sketch #95.

What do you think? For the SCS card I turned the sketch on it side and used the Simply Scrappin' "Happy B-Day" kit -- awesome colors and fun (easy!) peel-and-stick images. The whimsical "Playground" designer buttons complement the patterns in the designer paper perfectly.

For the Clean & Simple sketch I used the new Daffodil Delight, a beautiful crisp shade of yellow that's part of their new color re-do. The sentiment and stem are from the soon-to-be-gone "Bloomin' Beautiful" stamp set and the flower is from a retired set called "Organic Grace".



Sunday, June 20, 2010

Tropical Sketch Challenge

I used the Splitcoast Stampers sketch challenge as the base for this fun card. I'm not usually patient enough to snip out individual images but the cute "Tropical Party" stamp set from the Summer Mini just begs for it...

plus lots of tropical bright colors like Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi, and Rich Razzleberry. The little flowers in the Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Paper give some pop as well as texture as a counterpoint to my homemade grass (just snip away!). Crystal Effects on the flower add shine.

Thanks for looking, and hope you're enjoying a great Father's Day!




Sunday, June 6, 2010

Last Chance -- Retiring Stampin' Up! Products

In preparation for the new 2010-11 catalog coming out July 1, Stampin' Up! is retiring a ton of stamps, inks, designer paper, decor elements and accessories. If there were any things you've been holding back on purchasing, take a quick look at what will be coming "off the shelves" to see if there's anything you can bare to not add to your stash. All products are shown online and can be ordered 24/7 through my SU! website.

Some of my favorites -- Bloomin' Beautiful, Close As a Memory and Warm Words -- will still be my "go to" stamps, I'm sure, but I can't wait to see what's in the new catalog. As a SU! demonstrator I was able to place an advance order which should be here next week. Woohoo!! Let me know if you want to get a sneak peak as well, orders can be placed in July.

Cheers & Happy Stamping!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Watercolor Trio Thank You Card

I am really enjoying my new "Watercolor Trio" clear-mount stamp set from the Stampin' Up! Summer Mini catalog. Who knew clear mount stamps could actually help a space-challenged stamper like myself align my images just where I want them? I don't think I'll ever go back to wood mounts, LOL.

I had fun making this card because I used my Ornament Punch to create the vase -- just snipped the bottom to make it straight and used Hidden Garden rub-ons in white (now for sale in the Clearance Rack) for the pattern.

The pretty color combo of Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery and Melon Mambo was from a recent challenge but I can't for the life of me remember which one it was... My Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Paper was a perfect background with graphic punch to complement the pattern of the rub-ons. Rounded corners play off the straight edge lines -- I love it when a plan comes together. :-)

Hope you enjoy my card and find a little inspiration of your own in it -- Happy Stamping!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Retiring Stampin' Up! Colors

It's a Color Revolution!! Stampin' Up! has revamped their color palettes and will be bringing in new ones as well as bring back some popular favorites. Of course, just as with our homes, you can't just keep bringing in new goodies without taking care of a few "past their prime" items. Think of it as a "yard sale" if you will. So Stampin' Up! will be deleting all of these colors from their palette -- if any of your faves are in here, now is the time to stock up on ink, paper, and matching ribbon. Shop to your hearts content, 24-7, at my SU! page

Thursday, May 6, 2010

May is National Scrapbooking Month!

It's a great time to get your scrap on! During National Scrapbooking Month, May 1-31, get a FREE package of Stampin' Up! Designer brads (Flower, Filigree, Circle, or Star Designer brads) with the purchase of My Digital Studio™ (item 118108) or any of these stamp sets:

p. 81 -- Extreme Elements
p. 119 -- Framed with Love
p. 128 -- Certified
p. 129 -- Circle Circus
p. 12* -- Elements of Style
p. 13* -- Momentos
p. 13* -- Éléments de style
p. 14* -- Rough Type
p. 22* -- Sentimental Journey
p. 25* -- First Day
p. 25* -- Camino a la Escuela

* denotes Summer Mini Catalog stamp set

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Sketch Challenge Cards



Too hot to be outside for too long = cool comfort in my stamping room

The Clean & Simple and the Our Creative Corner sketches gave me great starting points for these cards.

And for my Mother's Day Card, I used the Pals Paper Arts "Monochromatic Blues" challenge to set the color palette.







Saturday, May 1, 2010

New Spring Catalog

The New Summer Mini Catalog from Stampin' Up! is available starting today, including beautiful new stamps (wood and clear mount style, sets and individual stamps), punches, buttons and bling.

Summer is a great time to have a workshop -- find out more here. Whether you're a seasoned paper crafter interested in cards and scrapbooks, or someone who's never picked up a stamp in their life, a workshop can be tons of fun.

Think Mother's Day, Graduation, Birthdays and 4th of July. Nothing beats some stamping therapy as an escape from work stress, kid antics, housework, or whatever. Slip away for 5 minutes or an hour or two and let your creativity flow.

Let me know what I can do for you. Happy Stamping!

StampMom







Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Super Star Birthday

I broke out my chipboard for this fun birthday card, you can barely see the shimmer in the photo but it's embossed and glittery. The background stars are from the new 4th of July stamp set available in the new Stampin' Up! Summer Occasions catalog. Bella Bleu DP makes a pretty background, torn for interest.

Greetings always look better in layers, I say, so my Birthday Wishes is a sandwich of Small Oval, Modern Label, and Large Oval punches. So glad that Wild Wasabi green is back to stay -- it pops in the base of the card and the ribbon as well.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

The UPS Man Cometh!

As a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I get the fun of being able to pre-order goodies before any new catalogs come out. We've got a new Summer Mini coming out May 1 and the UPS man will be delivering some fabulous new delights for me to play with this week, including:
  • A new 6x6 scrapbook to help to kick-start my resolution to get my photos more displayable.
  • A super cute Fourth of July stamp set that has versatile stars I know I'll use again and again for celebratory cards of all sorts (think birthday, graduation, congrats!)
  • And I'm excited to try SU!s new "Smooch Spritz" to add dimension and dazzle to all my projects, ordered in Gold Glow, Silver Foil, and Vanilla Shimmer.
Have I whet your appetite? :-)

Monday, March 22, 2010

Cottage Wall cards


I love the Cottage Wall Designer Paper because it offers such a variety of patterns to play with. Add embellishments like buttons, rhinestones, ribbon and Build-a-Brad and you've got yourself a party! :-)
Just take a look at these 3 quite different cards I came up with recently:




Sunday, February 21, 2010

Look what I just got!!


I'm using this journal to jot down sketches, techniques, and just general stamping stuff. I got the one with lined paper but they have other choices including a task list, blank, or dot matrix.

You can find them at CafePress. Woohoo!! :-)

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Video for Tissue Paper or Cardstock Flowers

Julie Buhler created a fabulous video tutorial for making some neat and different flowers for cards or scrapbooks here -- my goal is to make one of these beauties this weekend and share it with you.

Keep your fingers crossed, because no matter how many good intentions I have about stamping and posting, the boys always seem to have other ideas about how I should be spending my time, LOL...

Stay tuned, check out Julie's video, and Happy Stamping!!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Sketch Challenge 4X4 Card

That new Sending Love DP is so sparkly and pretty that I want to make sure I use every little scrap, which is just what I did with this card. The sketch is from Our Creative Corner -- I simply turned it on its side for this 4X4 square card.

After tearing my DP and adhering it to the base, I layered a Very Vanilla oval (formed using my Large Oval Punch and sponged with Rich Razzleberry and Pretty in Pink) underneath an "On Board" chipboard oval covered in DP with the edges softened by my Sanding Block. A sweet daisy and creamy half pearl from my Pretties Kit are popped up with a Stampin' Up! dimensional.

My sentiment is from the Tiny Tags clear-mount stamp set, easily created with my new Tiny Tag punch. A little snip of silver cord tops it off.

Remember that Sale-a-Bration is going on,
with free goodies for every $50 you spend.

Here's the sketch if you want to give it a try. Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Make a Difference in Haiti!

From now until February 28, 2010, for every I {Heart} Hearts stamp set you buy, Stampin' Up! will donate $2 to the American Red Cross’ Haiti Relief and Development Fund. The Red Cross is already well-established in Haiti, and this money will be used to provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need. The stamps are available with sentiments in English, Spanish, or French.

I {Heart} Hearts - clear-mount, Item #118571, $18.95

I {Heart} Hearts - wood-mount, Item # 117010, $26.95



Help to make a difference -- you can order the I{Heart} Hearts stamp set and other lovely Stampin' Up! delights online 24-7 through my online website.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Sending Love Mason Jar

Time for some Valentine's Day preparations -- soon this will be filled with dark chocolates and taken into the office to share with colleagues. I wanted to play along with the Pals Paper Arts challenge, which was to make anything *but* a card. As soon as I opened up my pack of the new Sending Love Designer Paper from the Occasions Catalog I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it!

For my hanging tag, I stamped the intricate heart from my "Always" stamp set in Very Vanilla craft ink, sprinkled it with Iridescent Ice embossing powder and embossed it with my trusty Heat Tool. After cutting it out, I distressed the edges with my Distressing Tool, then layered another heart stamped on a different sheet of DP behind it to give it more dimension.

Then I just started punching and layering hearts all over. For the gold heart, I took one of my "On Board Hearts" chipboard pieces, covered it in Versamark, poured Gold Stampin' Emboss powder and heat embossed it -- it's super shiny in real life.

For my lid, I simply layered circles, then stamped the new Tiny Tag stamp in Real Red and layered two hearts on top of it. The new Tiny Tag punch and Little Heart punch are also both in the Occasions catalog in the new sleeker (i.e. take up so much less space) punch design. Some sweet pink taffeta ribbon and gold cording add a finishing touch.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping!!


Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Sponging Technique Video

Hi friends!! I haven't had a chance to do much stamping the last few days but I did find this great sponging tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers which I thought you might find helpful. Sponging can make a dramatic difference in the look and texture of a card, as you'll clearly see in this excellent video. Hope you enjoy it!

Oh yeah, and here's a peek at why I haven't been doing much stamping -- having too much fun with the new kittens. :-)



Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Vintage Cottage Wall


Stamps: Vintage Labels, Eight Great Greetings, Short & Sweet
Paper: Cottage Wall Designer Paper, Rich Razzleberry card stock, Whisper White card
Ink: Rich Razzleberry marker, Versamark for embossing
Embellishments: White 1/4" ribbon, White embossing powder
Tools: Scallop Border Punch, Large Oval Punch, Heat Tool
Etc.: SU! dimensionals, Snail Adhesive

Got on a roll with the Cottage Wall designer paper -- told you you'd be seeing it again. :-) This card features the new Vintage Labels stamp set from the Sale-a-Bration catalog (meaning it's FREE with any $50 purchase) along with the neat line art hearts from Eight Great Greetings. I gave a bit of extra dimension to my oval by layering two together to add depth. Next time I have to remember to use my Embossing Buddy to remove the static from the paper before pouring on the embossing powder -- you can see a few stray flecks...

Thanks for looking and happy stamping!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Friend to Friend

Happy weekend, everyone! Kids out with Dad means a little stamp time for Mom, LOL! For this thank you card, I used the Cottage Wall Designer Paper for my birds and branches as well as my layered sentiment (I have a feeling you'll see more of this paper in my Valentine's -- coordinates with Rich Razzleberry and Orchid Opulence) . I absolutely love the new Bird punch from the Spring Occasions catalog, not only for its beauty but also for its sleek, streamlined shape, making storage a snap.

The "friend to friend" stamp is from Pocket Silhouettes and fit perfectly with my little birdies. I used a sponge dauber to add a little Rich Razzleberry to the image, and wrapped it in Rich Razzleberry ribbon.

Thanks for looking and hope you get a chance to enjoy some stamping therapy this weekend too!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Thanks "For All You Do"

Continuing on with the thank you notes for Christmas. This one uses the "For All You Do" stamp set. I love it because it has a range of stamps, including background, nature, butterfly, and sentiment -- sort of the whole kit-n-caboodle, which makes it easy when I don't feel like scrounging around in my collection, LOL.

I stamped the butterfly image in Versamark, sprinkled on my Heat & Stick Powder, hit it with my Heat Tool, applied Dazzling Diamonds liberally, and zapped it again with the Heat Tool to make it adhere. Then I just snipped it out and popped it up with two SU! Dimensionals. Voila!

Here's a close up of the sentiment, made extra purty by lots of layers made super easy with my SU! Punches -- base is Scalloped Oval, then Small Oval, then Modern Label, and finally I stamped the sentiment in Not Quite Navy and used the Word Window punch. A few stamps of the pretty little flower from the set and it was good to go.
SUPPLIES:
Paper: Bella Bleu Designer Paper; Card Stock in Very Vanilla, Kraft, Old Olive
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, Versamark
Tools: Punches: Scalloped Oval, Small Oval, Modern Label, Word Window; Heat Tool; Heat & Stick Powder; Dazzling Diamonds
Embellishments: Very Vanilla 1/4" ribbon

Sunday, January 10, 2010

My New Stamping Studio!!

It was time... in fact, more than time... that I found a real retreat space for creativity and stamping. My boys are old enough that I no longer feel compelled to stamp in the playroom basement with them, so I commandeered a spare bedroom (used to be the nursery, sniff sniff...) and put together a nice space where I can stamp solo or with a friend, listen to my music (no more Star Wars or Kidz Bop!), and spread out. Take a look! Baskets were 50% off at Michael's (plus a 20% coupon) as were the cube organizers. I'll probably move them around as I continue to get used to the layout, but I think for now it's pretty darn wonderful!!







Saturday, January 9, 2010

A Few Thank You Notes


We had such a wonderful Christmas and so many friends and family to thank for making it special. My first two cards were especially fun to make because I "deconstructed" the main images from an old Christmas card that my parents up in Maine had sent to me. Those little loons that I cut out made their way to two separate cards and are now *back* up to my parents in slightly different shape, LOL. The Stampin' Up! designer paper is retired "Cerise" -- I had some scraps I was determined to use up before starting with new red paper for Valentine's Day. Use what you got, that's my motto! :-)

Here are a few more cards I put together. Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Happy New Year Stamp Friends!

I hope that 2010 brings each of you many good things, including time for Stamping Therapy! To help you out in this area, of course there's a new Occasions Mini Catalog which you can download from the Stampin' Up! website.

To further the addiction (and mine, LOL!), it's also time for the annual Sale-a-Bration promotion where if you spend $50 in SU! merchandise (pre-shipping and tax)
you can earn one FREE product of your choice from the Sale-a-Bration catalog (and as a bonus, they've also added a bunch of stamps from the main catalog that you can select from as well!!) There's no limit to the number of great Sale-a-Bration products you can earn.

So what's stopping you? It's time to shop! :-)