Best Wishes

This was the second card we made at the April techniques class. The technique was shaving cream and we used it to create the background with riding hood red, pink pirouette and close to cocoa re-inkers. The background used for the largest mat did double duty. We simply punched the heart out of it deep enough to leave an even border all around -- great way to economize! On top of the shaving cream background I added a close to cocoa and pink pirouette mats, then a square of riding hood red card stock to which I mounted the punched heart with dimensionals. I stamped the sentiment form the new Oval All set in close to cocoa on the pink pirouette card stock.

I tied a big bow with the wide pink pirouette grosgrain ribbon around a riding hood red card base and mounted the shaving cream background to the card base over the ribbon. I think this would make a great wedding card!

Baroque Friend

This month's technique was shaving cream and this was one of the cards we made using that technique. On this card I used re-inkers in baja breeze, pacific point and kiwi kiss, all swirled together and printed on a piece of whisper white card stock. then I stamped the decorated card stock with the Baroque background stamp in pacific point and attached it to a kiwi kiss textured card base.

I stamped the sentiment from the All Holidays set on whisper white card stock in pacific point, layered it onto mats of baja breeze and textured kiwi kiss and attached it to the decorated card base.

Finally, to add the embellishment I first used the 5 petal flower punch to make a flower out of the textured kiwi card stock. I layered this with a felt flower in baja breeze and a pacific point corduroy small brad. Finally, I attached the flowers to the card with dimensionals.

Jeweled Egg

Here's another card from this month's Easter stamp camp. this one was fairly simple. Recipe below:

Paper: Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Sweet Always designer series paper, pink pirouette textured card stock

Ink: basic black, rose red

Stamps: A Good Egg

Accessories: Organza white ribbon, rich regals brads, round Fire rhinestone brads, stamping dimensionals

Spring Tulip

Here's another card from last Saturday's stamp camp. This simple tulip could be used as an Easter card or for any spring occasion. Did I mention already how much I love the versatility of the pick-a-petal set, but the way? It has so many fun uses!

here's the recipe:

Paper: textured kiwi kiss, baja breeze, whisper white

Ink: kiwi kiss, pink pirouette

Stamps: Pick a Petal

Accessories: pink pirouette striped grosgrain ribbon

Easter basket

Here's one of the cards we made this Saturday at the Easter stamp camp. It's nice and simple, but the window cut out in the floor makes it fun! Here's the recipe:

Paper: very vanilla, pale plum, sage shadow, perfect plum patterns designer series paper, acetate.

Ink: basic brown, sage shadow, perfect plum, pale plum, creamy caramel, certainly celery (everything but basic brown in stampin' write markers)

Stamps: All Holidays, Sock Monkey Accessories

Accessories: Very Vanilla Styled Hodgepodge Hardware, sage shadow 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, 1 3/8" circle punch, scallop circle punch.

Glazed Chipboard

This was a card that I designed in March for our monthly technique class. The March technique was glazed chipboard. I love this technique because it gives chipboard a whole new look -- it almost makes the chipboard accents look like plastic accents. It's a neat effect!

Here's the recipe:

Paper: pumpkin pie, pink pirouette, regal rose, whisper white, Sweet Always designer series paper

Ink: chocolate chip craft, pumpkin pie & chocolate chip stampin' write markers

Stamps: All Holidays, A Little Somethin' (A level 2 hostess set)

Accessories: 1/4" whisper white grosgrain ribbon, scallop edge punch, glassy glaze, On Board Essentials chipboard assortment.

Best Wishes Oval All

This is a card I designed for the occasions mini demonstrator swap I just participated in this week. There are some really amazing stamp sets in the Occasion minis and the designs I received in the swap simply blew me away.

Due to lack of time, I chose a simple design for my card. This is the first time I used a pretty in pink/bordering blue color combination on a card and i really like the way it turned out!

Here is the recipe:

Paper: pretty in pink, bordering blue, regal rose, shimmery white

ink: pretty in pink, bordering blue

Stamps: En Francais, Oval All (from the occasions mini catalog)

Accessories, large oval punch, scallop oval punch, scallop circle punch, hear to heart punch, white organza ribbon, stampin' dimensionals

Easter stamp camp

I'm Back!

Well, sort of. I may not be back daily, like I used to be, but I will be back more than once a month -- LOL!

I apologize for my extended absence. Nothing was wrong, except things got pretty busy and my laser-like focus (for the LOTR fans out there, think of it as the eye of Mordor) shifted to another activity for a while, leaving no time to stamp.

But it was (is?) only a temporary distraction, and I do have some fun new projects to show you over the next couple of weeks. Also, this Saturday, April 4, 2009, I will be hosting an Easter Stamp Camp at 10:00 a.m. at my house. If yo;d like to attend just send me an e-mail or call me. We'll be making 7 different Easter and Sprint themed cards plus a 3-d favor box for only $20.00. Very Cute! Get all of your Easter needs taken care of in one class. RSVP by Thursday, April 2, so I can prepare enough materials.

And In honor of the Easter stamp camp, today we have an Easter card. Here's a recipe:

Card Stock: gable green, ballet blue, cameo coral, barely banana, almost amethyst, whisper white

Stamps: Loads of Love Accessories, Egg Hunt Stampin' Around wheel form the occasions mini catalog

Ink: Basic gray, gable green, ballet blue, cameo coral, barely banana, almost amethyst

Accessories: Large and small tag punches, striped so saffron grosgrain ribbon

Pretty Flower

I know I've been a very bad blogger lately. My apologies to everyone. It's just that I haven't had a lot of time to stamp in recent weeks and I've simply run out of new projects to show you. I do have one card I can share with you tonight. This one was so simple to put together it's almost embarrassing to post it. I started with an almost amethyst base. I took a large floower from the pretties kit and layered it with a 1" circle punched out of almost amethyst card stock and a kiwi kiss corduroy button. I then attached the flower to a piece of kiwi kiss card stock, which I adhered to the card front. I hand cut the stem and leaf from scraps of old olive card stock. To finish the card I added a knot made out of whisper white 1/4" grosgrain ribbon and added a sentiment form the one of a kind set, stamped in elegant eggplant on whisper white card stock and trimmed out by hand.

If all goes well, I will have a little more stamping time this week and my posting will get back on a more regular schedule. :-)

Scalloped thanks

Here's something a little different for me -- a card created with just a single sentiment stamp and one color of ink. Yes, it's true -- the only stamp I used on this card came from the Say it with Scallops set. This set is very cute and versatile, coordinates perfectly with our Scalloped Square punch and for every set sold Stampin' Up! donates $2.00 to the Ronald McDonald House Charities. And, as you can see, it does very well all on its own, paired up with some of our awesome decorative papers and accessories.

Here's the recipe:

Stamps: Say it with Scallops

Paper: Very Vanilla, Kraft, Not Quite Navy, Bella Bleu designer series paper

Ink: Not quite navy

Accessories: Scallop edge punch, scallop square punch, chocolate chip taffeta ribbon, very vanilla styled hodgepodge hardware, 3/4" circle punch, stamping sponge.

Easter Tulips

Now that Valentine's Day is over, it's time to start thinking about Easter cards. My March stamp camp will be all about spring and Easter cards and projects, including this one.

I didn't use any fancy techniques on this card, though I did need my scoring blade to create the raised border on the bashful blue mat. Also, instead of layering the mats as I normally do, I shifter the so saffron mat to the diagonal. I think it gives the card an extra bit of interest. Last but not least is the lovely white ribbon from the Dress Up ribbon originals assortment. Here's the full card recipe:

Stamps: A flower for all reasons, All Holidays
Card Stock: Creamy Caramel, Bashful Blue, So saffron, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, whisper White
ink: basic black, creamy caramel, regal rose, so saffron, certainly celery, bashful blue, more mustard
Accessories: Dress Up ribbon collection, stamping dimensionals, paper cutter with scoring blade.

Sparkly Congrats

I know it's kind of hard to tell from the photo, but I've been playing with glitter again! I just love all the new colors of fine glitter and how they can make an ordinary card pop!

For this card I used the tart & tangy stamp set for the cherries. I inked up the stamp with my old olive and real red stampin' write markers ans stamped the images on whisper white card stock, before I punched three of them with m 1 1/4" square punch. I then used 2 way glue to cover the cherries and sprinkled on some fine red glitter, and repeated the process with the stems and leaves and olive fine glitter. The final card looks really sparkly in real live because of all the glitter!

I mounted the three cherry images on a piece of basic black card stock and attached the "Jackpot" sentiment form the Game Night stamp set at the top. I attached the basic black card stock to a real red mat. To offset the black space in the upper right hand corner of the basic black strip, I added a couple of white 5/1" brads. To finish the card I attached the real red mat to the bashful blue card base and stamped the congratulations sentiment in basic black ink directly on the bashful blue card base.

trendy trees

Here's a card I stamped today using the Trendy Trees stamp set -- new in the Spring/Summer 2009 catalog! This card is pretty straightforward. The funny thing is I use three of the new 5/8" jumbo brads on the card. Why is it funny, you ask? Well, because earlier today my friend Amy was over looking at all the new accessories and we both agreed that these big brads would need something else to work on a card -- maybe a rub-on or an embossed image on top. So what do I do a few hours later? i use not one, not two, but three of these giant brads in a row, completely naked! go figure! :-) Life is strange!

And many more blooms

Here's the last of the flower power cards. For this card I used the die cut blooms, wiht a 5.8" old olive ribbon for a stem. I used a filigree brad paired with an old olive bread for the flower center.

I know this is not my usual detailed write-up, but I'm really tired and I need to get some sleep. More details tomorrow.

scrap page centerpiece

Tonight I'm showing you a project that we'll be making at a March 25th class at the Hillside library. You might recall that I made a similar double sided upright centerpiece last year around Father's Day and then again at Christmas. The Winter version went over so well at the class I taught in Itasca that I thought I would do something similar for the Hillside class.

I look at these two sides of the centerpiece as Spring and Summer. Spring is labeled as such, though class attendants will be able to stamp their own alternate title if they wish. The Summer side is just labeled "Happy Days." It's decorated with bright flowers form the die cut blooms collection.

If you'd like to make this project contact the Hillside library. The library requires a deposit at time of registration, but the deposit is returned to you on the night of the class, so as long as you show up the class is free. Hope to see you there next month!

Still more flowers

I said it would be all flowers all the time this week, didn't I? I put this card together super fast. I started with a so saffron card base and added an old olive mat. I then cut a 5x3.75" piece of the SAB designer series paper, wrapped a piece of the so saffron polytwill ribbon around it. I stamped the sentiment from the Many Happy returns set and punched it out using the 1" circle punch. I placed the sentiment into a round label holder from the styled silver hodgepodge hardware assortment. I used two brads to attach the label holder to the designer paper.

To make the flower I simply stamped the 5 petal flower image from the Polka Dot Punches free SAB set in versamark ink and heat embossed it with whisper white embossing powder. I then punched the flower out with the 5 petal flower punch, layered it onto an old olive flower from the die cut blooms assortment, and attached both to the designer paper using one of the brads form the styled silver hodgepodge hardware assortment. All I had to do to finish is attach the designer paper to the old olive mat. Fast and simple!