knotted up again

I know, I know - I really need to reach for some new colors and stamps. I'll try to do that tomorrow. In the meantime, it's Dreams du Jour paired up with the Windsor Knot designer series paper again! This time the card is really clean and simple. I started with a sage shadow card base, added a strip of so saffron designer paper at the bottom and a strip of 5/8" chocolate chip grosgrain in the middle of the card. I stamped the butterfly image and the sentiment on whisper white card stock in chocolate chip ink. I colored the butterfly in using chocolate chip and so saffron inks and punched it out with my 1 1/4" circle punch. I added a 1 3/8" circle mat punched from sage shadow card stock and a scalloped circle mat punched out of so saffron card stock. I attached the image to the card with dimensionals. I then added a sage shadow mat to the sentiment and attached the sentiment to the card over the designer paper.

p.s. I'm having a little trouble uploading my photo tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to remedu that tomorrow morning. Sorry!

More Windsor Knot

Did I mention that I really, really like the Windsor Knot Designer Series Paper? The color palette for the paper is so serene and the designs are perfect for card making because they're uniform throughout the page and are subtle enough to serve as the perfect background.

Of course, on this card I used just a tiny piece of the paper, but it was just the perfect touch to set off the image from the Dreams du Jour set. I even folded over the edge of the paper so you could see both sides of the design and crimped the fold for additional visual interest.

I used the flowers from the boho background stamp set in sage shadow ink on the top of the sage shadow card stock. I paper pierced the bottom using the piercing template and tool from my crafter's tool kit. I divided the background image from the paper piercing using strips of the new so saffron poly twill ribbon and the new 1/4" chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon (with a faux knot, of course). I layered the sage shadow piece over mats of chocolate chip and so saffron card stock and attached them to an old olive base.

I stamped the main image in chocolate chip ink on whisper white card stock and colored it in using old olive, sage shadow and so saffron stampin' write markers. I punched the image out using the new scalloped square pinch and attached it to the designer paper with dimensionals. Finally, I attached the designer paper to the card front.

I know my cards have been very simple of late, this being no exception, but every day I find myself inspired to make these simple and quick, yet still beautiful cards. I'm not sure if this is an evolution or regression of my stamping abilities, but I guess as long as I like the cards, who cares, right?

That's it for today. Hopefully I'll have more tomorrow. Stamping time has been at a premium lately. . .

cupcake medallion

For tonight's card I made a little medallion with the cupcake stamp from the Sock Monkey set and the Christmas stamp from the Punches Three Level 1 hostess set. Don't see any Christmas stamps on this card? That's because I cleverly hid them with punches! I wanted to use the borders of the stamp, but obviously the Christmas sentiment was not appropriate for this card and the cupcake alone didn't cover it entirely.

Thank goodness for punches! I used my 3/4" circle punch and my boho flowers punch to cover the sentiment and serve as the perfect background for the cupcake. And, of course, I used the scalloped square punch for the Punches Three stamp.

Other than all the layering, it's really a very simple card. Just two colors of card stock and ink: tangerine tango and pacific point plus some whisper white card stock. Besides the punches, I also used the pacific point striped grosgrain ribbon and some dazzling diamonds on the frosting and flame of the cupcake, plus a blender pen to color the cupcake.

All in all, very quick and bright. Now I just need to write it out and mail it!

Pun CASE

One of the first things I do when I get a new idea book and catalog is carefully look at all the samples and make a list of the samples that are cute and easy to duplicate. Why do I do this? Well, because sometimes, like tonight, I just do not have a lot of time to think up my own design. That's when I turn to my list and instead of coming up with my own creation I just duplicate a card by one of the Stampin' Up! designers. After all, that's exactly what Stampin' Up! wants me to do. That's why the big book is called an IDEA BOOK and catalog, and why we have the recipes for every sample provided in the back.

Tonight's card is a copy of the first card on page 80 of the Fall Winter 2008 Idea Book and Catalog. I kept everything the same except for the image and the sentiment. Instead of the stamp set used in the catalog, I decided to use my Pun Fun set.

The card relay was very easy to make. I started with a riding hood red card base and added some riding hood red patterns designer series paper and striped riding hood red grosgrain. I stamped the cup image on whisper white card stock in basic brown ink and colored it in with a bashful blue stampin' write marker and blender pen inked up in riding hood red. I punched the image out with the wide oval punch and mounted it on a piece of bashful blue card stock. I paper pierced a border on the bashful blue card stock and attached it to the card base with stampin' dimensionals.

As a final touch I stamped the "Love you a latte" sentiment in basic brown in k on the card base.

So there you have it. A quick card that I didn't have to spend a lot of time designing. And there are so many more of them in this Idea Book and Catalog! Flip though and find some to copy soon!

punchy and monochromatic

As the title says, today's card is both punchy and monochromatic. I started out only wanting to use my new Punches Three Level 1 hostess set and my new bashful blue patterns designer paper, but then one thing led to another and this is the final product. I'll "walk" you through it step by step.

I started with a 4x5.25" piece of whisper white card stock and a 4x4" piece of the patterns designer paper. I decided that I was a little tired of straight lines, so I used my new scalloped edge punch on the designer paper. Then it seemed that the piece of designer paper was too big and I needed something to break it up, so I took a strip of bashful blue card stock and used the scalloped edge punch on both edges of the strip. I still needed more interest, so I added the striped bashful blue grosgrain ribbon.

By now the card looked a little washed out, with nothing but bashful blue and white, so I decided to make the card base ballet blue and stamp some stars from the classic backgrounds set at the top. of the whisper white card stock. Then I stamped the oval image from the Punches Three set in ballet blue on bashful blue card stock and punched it out with the new wide oval punch. But there wasn't enough color variation for me so I stamped the image again in bashful blue ink on whisper white card stock, trimmed out just the sentiment and attached it over the first image with dimensionals before adhering the whole thing to the card front.

I suppose I could have left it there, but the card felt a little off balance, so I decided I needed something in the lower right hand corner. I grabbed the Congrats stamp from the Say it with Scallops set and stamped it on whisper white card stock in ballet blue ink. I trimmed the card stock close to the sentiment and mounted it on square of ballet blue I punched out with the scalloped square punch. I finally felt the card was done when I added the sentiment to the card base.

I'm not sure I totally love it as it might now be a tad over done, but it sure was fun playing with all the new stamps and punches!

Happy Monkeyversary!

Here's a fun little anniversary card for a special someone. I used the sock monkey set and colored most of the monkey using my barely banana, creamy caramel and real red stampin' write markers. I paper pieced the body of the monkey using some bella rose designer series paper, but I used my stampin' write marker to turn the polka dots from pink pirouette to real red. I also stamped the heart on real red card stock and trimmed it out, stamping "all my love" inside with my everyday flexible phrases set. I popped the heart up on a dimensional and sponged the edges of the whisper white card stock with barely banana and chocolate chip ink, before adding a creamy caramel mat.

I used the itty bitty backgrounds stamp set and barely banana ink to stamp a background on a barely banana mat. The dotted background echoes the pattern on the monkey's paper pieced body. I stamped the Happy Anniversary greeting on the mat with chocolate chip ink. I added some double stitched chocolate chip ribbon with a layer of the 5/8" real red grosgrain ribbon on top. Then I attached the monkey image over the ribbons with dimensionals. I threaded the holes of three creamy caramel square buttons with silk thread and attached them over the ribbon with mini glue dots.

Did I mention that I have fallen head over heels with the sock monkey set? Paired up with the accessory set, there's just nothing this little monkey can't do! He is just too cute!

Trick or Treat

I love Halloween! It's such a fun holiday to decorate for and you do not have to be a kid to enjoy it. In fact, I've enjoyed Halloween as an adult much more than I used to as a kid! So it's no wonder that I just had to get the new Haunting jumbo Wheel and start playing with it even though we're not even into September yet!

For this card I inked up the Haunting wheel in versamark ink and wheeled the images onto basic gray card stock, then heat embossed the images with black embossing powder. To add a little whimsy to the trick-or-treaters, I gave them all googly eyes, which i attached using crystal effects. So cute!

I layered the image onto a strip of the new Ghostly Greetings designer series paper. My favorite thing about this had to be the "yum, yum, yum" repeating phrase on the basic gray stripe in the designer paper. How totally appropriate for this holiday and all the yummy goodies!

I layered the designer paper on a pumpkin pie card base. Then I cut out the "Trick or Treat" sentiment from another piece of the Ghostly Greetings designer series paper and layered it onto a strip of basic gray card stock. I trimmed a piece of the kiwi kiss striped grosgrain ribbon to size, added a couple of black brads from the vintage brad collection and adhered the ribbon to the card base. Then I attached the sentiment over the ribbon to finish off the card.

I just love the way this turned out and am seriously considering making this design the invitation to our annual Halloween pumpkin carving contest. Let's just hope none of the guests read the blog!

Eastern Blooms Thanks

I was feeling so much better today -- finally pretty much to my old self! What a relief! And I still like apple sauce and toast too, thought I probably won't be having shrimp any time soon. ;-)

Since I felt better I was able to go to stamp camp tonight, which was really fun. Of course, this also meant less stamping time at home, so tonight's card is really quick and dirty. Before I get to the card, though, I just want to send a big thanks to everyone at stamp camp who asked how I was feeling. It's a little surreal sometimes to realize that people I know actually read the blog and know stuff about me without me telling them directly, but it's really nice too! So thanks, ladies! I appreciate your thoughts!

And now let's talk about the card. I stamped the flower from the Eastern Blooms set on whisper white card stock in baja breeze ink and trimmed it out with my paper snips. I then stamped it again with pacific point ink and punched out the center with a 1/2" circle punch. I used a 3x6" piece of apricot appeal card stock to create a 3x3" love note base, to which I attached two 1/2x3" strips of pacific point card stock, crossed in the lower right hand corner. I attached the punched out pacific point piece to the flower center, curled the petals with my paper snips and attached the flower to the card with a dimensional. Finally I stamped the sentiment from Flight of the Butterfly on a piece of whisper white card stock, cut the card stock to length and attached it over the pacific point strips.

Super simple and super fast! A perfect little thank you card if you need one in a hurry!

Pirouette Thanks

I think I'm finally better (though still tired)! Thanks to everyone who left a comment or e-mailed with your well wishes. I belatedly realized yesterday that I may have been sabotaging my own recovery by not eating bland enough foods (and trust me, I really through the stuff I was eating was bland enough!). Who knew that after food poisoning you're supposed to eat bananas, rice, apple sauce and toast? Well, I do now, and sticking to this somewhat bizarre diet seems to be working! Now I just have to wait for my energy level to come back to normal and I'll be good to go. Woo hoo! I can't wait.

For tonight's card I really wanted to use my new scalloped square punch and the Say It with Scallops stamp set that was given to every Convention attendee thanks to our friends at UPS! It was really great of UPS to purchase these sets for us, especially since Say It with Scallops is this year's Ronald McDonald House Charities set, so in buying the sets for us UPS also donated money to that worthy cause. That's really awesome!

The card itself is very simple. I started with a piece of whisper white card stock. I covered the bottom with some bella rose deigner paper and I stamped the butterfly image from the Dreams du Jour set in pink pirouette ink in the top portion. Then I added some riding hood red striped grosgrain ribbon (I used a cheater knot, of course) to hide the transition between the designer paper and the stamped portion, attached the whisper white card stock to a riding hood red mat, and attached that to a pink pirouette card base.

The only thing left to do was the sentiment. I stamped the "I can't thank you enough" image in riding hood red ink twice -- once on pink pirouette card stocka nd once on whisper white card stock. I punched the pink pirouette image with my scalloped square punch. I trimmed just the center of thewhispe white sentiment with my paper snips and adhered it to the pink pirouette punched piece.

Now, I know what you're thinking. You see the larger riding hood red scalloped square and you;re confused becasue you know I only use Stampin' up! products but you also know that we only offer the scalloped square punch in once size, and I already used that on the pink pirouette piece. So what's going on? Well, to make the larger mat I simply punched on riding hood red scalloped square and 3 other scalloped square halves. Then I overlapped the halves to create a scalloped square one scallop larger than the original. And voila -- I have the perfect mat for my square scalloped shape. Then, with the scalloped sentiment as all assembled, I simply attached it to the card front with dimensionals. Cool!

Windsor Dreams

I actually stamped today! Unfortunately this does not mean that I'm all better, but at least I'm well enough to stamp a simple card using some of my new toys.

I really have to give props to Stampin' Up! and their designers. For the second year in a row they managed to take a color I really do not care for on its own - sage shadow - and put it in combination with other colors that make it look great! SO here I am, using sage shadow again and again, even more frequently than some of my so-called "favorite" colors. Go figure!

Obviously I took the colors for this card right out of the palette for the Windsor Knot designer series paper on page 168 of the catalog. I like this paper because the designs and colors work well for either masculine or feminine cards, depending on the stamp set used. Today I made a feminine card, using the Dreams du Jour set, but I'm sure you will see me make some masculine cards made with paper as well.

The card is pretty straightforward. I stamped the main image in chocolate chip ink on whisper white card stock and colored it in using sage shadow and so saffron stampin' write markers. After coloring, I trimmed out the image with my paper snips.

I stamped the butterflies in so saffron ink in the top 1/3 of my so saffron mat. I then attached a piece of the Windsor Knot designer series paper to the mat and attached the image to overlap the mat and the designer paper. I made a Cheater bow (click here for a tutorial) with the new double stitched chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon and attached it to the back of the so saffron mat. Then I attached the mat to the sage shadow base.

Brocade Nature

Well, this bout of food poisoning is quite resiliant. Four days in and I'm still not back to normal, so no stamping for me once again. Thankfully I had stamped this card last week, so I have something to post for you tonight. Just a simple card stamped with the inspired by nature set. This time around I applied the inks to the flowers using sponge daubers -- a trick we picked up at Convention. Here's the recipe:

Stamps: inspired by Nature
Paper: brocade blue, chocolate chip, whisper white, old olive
Ink: brocade blue, chocolate chip, old olive, kiwi kiss
Accessories: small oval punch, rich regals brads

Eastern Blooms Open House Card

This was one of the cards we stamped at the new catalog open house today. The inspiration for this card came from the mini scrapbook we stamped at Convention.

I used the Eastern Blooms set to stamp the two branches on naturals ivory card stock. First I inked up the image in tangerine tango ink, and then I added chocolate chip ink to the branches with my Stampin' write marker. And just a little tip -- when you're stamping two branch images be sure to clean off your stamp between each impression so that you don't muddy up your tangerine tango ink pad.

Next I sponged the edges of the naturals ivory card stock with my stampin' sponge and chocolate chip ink. Then I wrapped a piece of kiwi kiss striped grosgrain ribbon around the bottom of the card stock. I then added a tangerine tango mat and attached the whole thing to a kiwi kiss card base.

I used my new curly label punch to punch out a shape out of tangerine tango card stock. Then I stamped the thank you label from the coordinating cute & Curly stamp set in chocolate chip ink on the naturals ivory card stock, and cut the image out with my paper snips and layered it onto the tangerine tango piece. I attached the label to the card front over the kiwi kiss ribbon with stampin' dimensionals.

I stamped the flower from the Eastern Blooms set in tangerine tango ink on naturals ivory card stock and trimmed it out by hand. I then used crystal effects to attach beads from the Green Bead Duo assortment to the center of this flower and some of the flowers on the branches. I added the flower to my label using a stampin' dimensional cut in half (a whole one may have been too big to be covered completely by the flower center.) I really love the dimension and "wow" factor that the beads add to this card. Very cool!


Since I think it's really hard to see the 3-D aspect of this card from the first photo, I thought I would take another one from the side. This gives you a better idea of how fun the card is in real life.

Don't forget, the Eastern Blooms set is on sale for 15% off now through the end of September, so make sure you order it before the special is over.

kiwi daisy

Ths card was inspired by the cover of the September Stampin' Success magazine -- a monthly magazine for Stampin' Up! demonstrators. The card base is kiwi kiss with the daisy silhouettes stamped in kiwi kiss as well. The riding hood red designer paper is from the new Patterns assortment and it is topped with apiece of the kiwi kiss striped grosgrain. The sentiment is stamped with riding hood red ink on whisper white card stock and punched out with the large oval punch, which is layered on a piece of chocolate chip card stock punched with the wide oval punch. Below the designer paper is a chocolate chip scalloped piece punched with the scallop edge punch.

I know this isn't fancy, but I caught some sort of a bug and spent most of the day in bed, so even stamping this much was a challenge. I literally got nothing done today except eat a little, sleep and watch the Olympics. I just hope I'm feeling better for my new catalog open house tomorrow!

Fall Upsy Daisy

For tonight's card I just had to use my new Upsy Daisy stamp set, my Juntos Designer Series Paper and my Wide Oval punch. I love how all three of these work together! I took the color scheme right out of the paper: More mustard, really rust and always artichoke. I stamped the daisy silhouettes in Always Artichoke on more mustard card stock and added an always artichoke mat.

I stamped the sentiment in really rust on more mustard card stock, punched it out with the wide oval punch, and sponged some really rust ink along the perimeter. I then cut out an always artichoke oval mat with my coluzzle oval template -- I love how well this nests with the wide oval punch!

For the final touch on the sentiment I fringed some more mustard ribbon and used the long strands I pulled off to thread through a really rust button. I knotted the strands in the back, trimmed them, and attached the button over the letter "o" in the sentiment with a mini glue dot.

I arranged my images on a mat of the Juntos Designer Series Paper (remember, this paper is only available in our Celebrando Creatividad catalog -- not in the main idea book and catalog) and another mat of always artichoke before adhering to the really rust card base.

I really like the final product, probably because the earth elements color family is my absolute favorite! I also love that I was able to purchase the Upsy Daisy set at a 15% discount through the "Never Before Seen" promotion. Woo hoo! You just can't beat a set that will help you make quick and elegant cards with three very cool sentiments for only $16.11, so don't forget to order yours before the special is over!

Eastern Blooms Make and Take

I didn't have time to stamp new stuff today, so instead I'll show you a close-up photo of the Make and Take projects we stamped at Convention with the Eastern Blooms set. On the baja breeze card we used the Eastern Blooms set to stamp tone-on-tone images on the card base. The white flowers are not stamped at all. Instead, they were de-bossed using the new classy brass template that coordinates with the Eastern Blooms set.

On the mini scrapbook the flowers were stamped using the tangerine tango classic ink pad and chocolate chip stampin' write marker. What's a little too hard to see is the beads that we added to the centers of the flowers using crystal effects. It's a really neat effect in real life.


I also wanted to show you this card that I got from my freinds Liz and Nancy last week for my birthday. I just love how elegant it looks! It just goes to show that sometimes simplicity is totally the way to go. Thanks Girls!

More new stuff tomorrow with some new punches! Woo hoo!

Inspired by Nature Again

First I wanted to show you another card I stamped with the new Inspired by Nature and Flight of the Butterfly sets i got at Convention, and then, as I promised yesterday, I'll show you the CD holder that I gave to all the ladies who participated in the Wedding Ensemble swap I hosted a Convention.

The card was designed to showcase the masking technique. You'll notice that one of the butterflies looks as though it's behind a flower, and that is the result of masking. In addition, we masked the stems and leaves on the flowers so that the grass would appear to be in the background.

Here is the recipe:
Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly, Inspired by Nature
Card Stock: Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip, old olive, kiwi kiss, more mustard, really rust
Accessories: stamp-a-ma-jig


And this is the CD holder wedding favor I designed for the Convention swap. In reality it held a CD filled with photos and instructions for all the wedding ensembles, but I made it look like a wedding favor that held a CD filled with music. I used the baroque motifs set because it just has the perfect elegance to it. The colors I used were apricot appeal and the new tangerine tango.

This is what the inside of the CD holder looked like. I think it would make a very nice wedding favor and it really wasn't too difficult to make, which is a big bonus when you have to manufacture one per each couple attending!

CD/DVD holder tutorial

Last week I gave you a sneak preview of this project and provided a recipe for the front decoration. Today it's time for the step by step tutorial for this CD/DVD holder, which could be used as a Christmas card, a great wedding/shower favor or a super present for anyone celebrating a birthday, anniversary, graduation -- just about any occasion.
You start with a 6x11.5" piece of card stock, scored lengthwise at .5 and 5.5 inches and width wise at 5 and 10 inches.

You will need to cut off the 1/2" side flaps along the 1.5x5" tab and along the 5x5" tab on the other side, and cut the remaining flaps at an angle. The final piece should look like the photo.
To cut the slot for the closure tab to fit into you need to make a template. Take a piece of card stock 5" by 2.25" and cut 2 holes approximately .5" from the edges using the word window punch and inserting the card stock all the way in.
After punching the two holes on the sides, use the word window punch to connect the holes and create one continuous slot.
Make sure that the smaller distance from the edge of the slot to the edge of the template is 12 inch. If necessary, trim the template to get this measurement.

Place a 1.5x5" piece of light colored card stock behind the template and use marker to mark 2 dots at the very edges of the slot as shown in photo.
Use the ruler to draw straight lines from the corners through the centers of the marked dots. Cut along these lines. This will be the template for the closure tab.
Use the closure tab template to draw lines on the closure tab of your project and either cut the tab along the template or draw a thin pencil cut line and cut along the line. Place the slot template along the 5x5" flap on the other side and draw a line inside the slot. use word window punch to punch out the outlined slot.
This is what the project should look like after the cutting and punching.

Take a 5.5x5" piece of card stock, score it at 1/2 inch along the 5.5 side and use 1 1/4" circle punch to punch a semicircle in the center of the card stock on the side that is not scored. Fold along the score line so that the card stock looks like the photo.

Fold the other piece of card stock so that it looks like the photo.
Use sticky strip or mono multi on the folded flap of the 5.5x5" piece of card stock.
Align the card stock along the fold between the two 5x5" panels on the body of the project.
If you're using mono-multi and some of the glue seeps out, it is very important that you remove as much of the adhesive as possible. Here you see me using the adhesive eraser to get rid of excess adhesive. If you do not do this you risk your CD envelope being stuck together.

Add sticky strip or mono multi adhesive to the 1/2" flaps on the main body of the project as shown in photo. Press the other card stock flap down and secure.
This is what the project should look like on the inside.
And this is what it should look like on the outside when closed.
Take a piece of 4.75x4.75" piece of card stock. Add sticky strip or mono multi to the card stock, being sure you do not add it 1.5 inches form one side (as shown in photo).
Adhere this card stock centered on the front of the CD holder, making sure that the card stock without adhesive is over the word window slot.

To close the CD holder slip tab underneath the centered card stock and into the slot.
This is what the project looks like closed. Now you can decorate it. See the top photo for a decorated version.
And this is what the CD holder looks like open. In this project you could add your personal greetings to the pink pirouette card stock inside.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial -- I sure had fun designing the project and sharing it with you. I know I promised a photo of the wedding favor version, but I'm having some technical difficulties, so I will have to post that tomorrow.

butterfly pirouette

Yesterday I hosted a new catalog preview for my hostesses and club members. Everyone had a chance to check out my Convention swaps, the new catalog, and to make a couple do projects with brand new products. One of the projects was this card made with the new in colors, the new Bella Rose designer series paper, and the new Flight of the Butterfly stamp set. I think everyone enjoyed how easy it was to put this card together and also how easy it is to get the perfect placement of the Riding Hood Red polka dots on the pink pirouette butterfly by using the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig. To add a little sparkle to the card we added some dazzling diamonds to the larger butterfly with a 2 way glue pen. Super fast and super cute!

Here's the recipe:
Stamps: Flight of the butterfly
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, whisper white, Bella Rose Designer Series Paper
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: 2 way glue, dazzling diamonds, stamp-a-ma-jig

Inspired by Nature Home Decor

As I promised yesterday, today's project is a bit of home decor that was inspired both by the Make and Take card we made at Convention (the 3x6" card you see here) and the projects featured on page 100 of the new Fall/Winter 2008 Idea Book and Catalog. Through sheer coincidence, recently I purchased a frame at Kohls that had chocolate chip edges and an olive green grass/like mat. I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but I really liked the frame and I thought I could stamp something in there to decorate my home.

Imagine my delight when I saw the Convention stamp sets and the make and take. I just knew as soon as I came home I would have to make this project.

To stamp this I first inked up the grass blade image in the new kiwi kiss classic ink, and then added some old olive ink to the image with a sponge dauber. I then stamped the grass on a piece of very vanilla card stock cut to size to fit the frame. Next I inked up the flower stamp using chocolate chip and very vanilla inks and sponge daubers. The reason to use daubers instead of ink pads is to create a variation in the color intensity so that the centers of the flowers appear darker than the petals.

I really like the way my picture came out and I think it will look great in the living room. If you like this set as much as I do you can order it starting tomorrow. Woo hoo!

Sleigh Bells Ring

This is another card I designed for a Convention Christmas card swap. As much as I loved my Big on Christmas card, I think this was actually my favorite. Probably because the Sleigh Bells Ring set is one of my favorites -- so much so that I ordered it this spring with my Senior Supervisor product bonus even though it had been placed on the dormant list. And now the gamble has paid off and the set is back in the fall/winter big book! Woo hoo!

To make this card I cut an oval from very vanilla card stock with my coluzzle, and cut a one size larger oval with the coluzzle from ruby red card stock. I stamped the sleigh image on the very vanilla card stock with chocolate chip craft ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I then used my stampin' write markers (what else? You know how much I love my markers!) to color in the image. the colors I used were ruby red, brocade blue, close to cocoa, creamy caramel, sahara sand, mellow moss and always artichoke. I then sponged some creamy caramel and close to cocoa ink on the edges to give the image an even more vintage look.

I sponged some chocolate chip ink on the edges of the ruby red oval and attached the very vanilla piece to the ruby red piece. I punched 2 1/2 inch circles from always artichoke card stock and attached them over the very vanilla and ruby red ovals as shown in photo. I used my 1/8" handheld punch to punch a hole in the center of each always artichoke circle. I took two lengths of chocolate chip taffeta ribbon and tied a knot towards one side of each ribbon. I threaded both ends of the ribbon through one of the holes and attached on end to the ruby red oval while the other end was left long to wrap around the craft mat.

For the mat I took a 4x5.25 piece of craft card stock and stamped the greeting in the lower right hand corner in Chocolate Chip ink. I heat embossed the greeting with clear embossing powder. I then used versamark ink and the holly image to stamp a background. I attached the ruby red oval to the mat and wrapped the chocolate chip taffeta ribbon so that the long ends were hidden behind the mat.

For the swap I left the card as was (this, too, was a mountable card front swap). For my sample I added an always artichoke base.

I'm pretty sure this card was a hit, and I'm so glad. I think I will use this design for our family Christmas cards this year!

Woo Hoo -- What a Thrill!

Last fall and winter I was pretty good about sending in at least a couple of cards each month to Stampin' Up! for their monthly demonstrator contests. Then things got kind of busy and I stopped, so I really did not expect to find any of my cards on the display boards at Convention. Imagine my surprise when I found not just one, but two of my cards on the boards! I was absolutely thrilled.

You can see the first of my two cards in the top row of this photo -- my card is second from the left. And I uploaded my own photo of the card so you could see it better. I think I sent it in for a Thanksgiving theme contest, and it was actually a CASE of my own card I made back in June -- I just changed the designer paper and used hemp twine dyed with craft ink to thread through the buttons instead of the gold cord I used in June. I also did a better job of water coloring the pumpkin. The funny thing is, I submitted another card along with this one, and I actually thought the other one was better, but it didn't make it onto the display. It just goes to show I'm not the best judge of my own work, LOL!

The second of my cards to make it on the boards was actually stamped with the retired Perfect Presentations hostess set from the Fall Winter 2007 catalog. Strange, I know, but really unavoidable. If you think about it, in order to showcase only the current stuff on the display boards SU would have to weed out retiring stamp sets, accessories, designer papers and in colors, one or more of which was probably used in 90% of the samples sent in. So instead they don't worry about it and just group the displays by theme or color. The displays are mostly there for inspiration (color combinations, layouts, techniques, etc.) so the fact that some of the cards use retired stuff doesn't really matter.

Nothing illustrated this point better than my own photo of the display card (The one in the foreground here and second from the left in the bottom row of the display photo). Once again, the card that was displayed was actually a CASE of one of my other cards, which you can see in the background of this photo. Originally I designed a card using the Season of Joy set. Then there was a challenge on SCS to re-do one of our own cards in the same colors and layout, but using different sets, so I reached for the Perfect Presentation set. So if you were a convention goes and you wanted to use the display card as an inspiration, you could easily reverse the process at home and re-create the display Perfect Presentation retired card with the Season of Joy current set.

Yes, your eyes did not deceive you! I did say that Season of joy will be a current set! I am absolutely thrilled to report that this set, one of my favorites from last year's holiday mini, made it into the big catalog! Woo hoo! Honestly, the selection of Christmas stamps in this year's catalog is unbelievable -- there may be one or two sets that I do not absolutely have to have -- the rest of them will make their way into my stamp room (if they're not already in it - LOL!)

And for those of you who are curious about sets from the holiday mini that made the catalog, here's a list:
Autumn Harvest (and if you like this set be sure to check out the new coordinating fall harvest wheel!)
Snow Jumbo Wheel
Snow Burst
Season of Joy
Merry and Bright (woo hoo -- I just love this little set!)
Holy Triptych

That's it for the Holidays 2007 mini -- all of the other stamp sets in it will be considered officially retired on the date of it's anniversary, September 1, 2008.

As for the Occasions 2008 mini, some of the sets from this mini made it into the fall/winter book:
Bloomin' Beautiful
Tart and Tangy
One smart cookie
Full of Life

But if your favorite Occasions mini set is not in the book this time, don't despair. There is still a chance that some of the rest of the Occasions mini sets will make it into the Spring/Summer 2009 collection. I'm so crossing my fingers for She's All That and Live your Dream!

Convention Swaps - Big on Christmas

Sorry for bumping this post to the top, but I just realized that I never posted text with the original photo upload. How silly! You must have thought I went mute or something. And the crazy thing was that at first my Internet access time was limited and then there was a problem with sitemeter which prevented me from viewing my blog, so I haven;t even had a chance to see the posts that were uploaded automatically during last week until now. LOL!

Anyway, just in case you were at all curious, this was a card I designed for a Christmas card swap. For the swap we had to do "mountable card fronts" so my actual swaps did not include the baja breeze base layer, but this is how I envisioned the finished card. Here's the recipe:

Stamps: Big on Christmas, itty bitty backgrounds

Paper: Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Whisper White

Ink: Basic Gray, Whisper White craft, Tangerine tango, riding hood red, kiwi kiss, pacific point and baja breeze (to color in the letter and snowman)

Accessories: blender pen, dimensional (the head is trimmed out and popped up), 2 way glue, dazzling diamonds, whisper white taffeta ribbon.

Celebrate tag

This is a tag I designed for a WOW tag swap. The chipboard star and all of the stamped star images are stamped with craft ink and heat embossed with irridescent ice. The word celebrate was stamped in versamark and embossed with white embossing powder.

Believe it or not, this was the first time I made a tag, WOW or otherwise, and I really enjoyed it. I got some awesome tags in the swap as well -- lot's of awesome ideas! And they (along with all my other swaps) will be on display at my new catalog open house on Sunday, August 17!