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.

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

Faux Tile Toille

Here's another card for this month's faux tile technique class. For the tiled background I started with a piece of barely banana card stock. I used my paper trimmer with a scoring blade to create the tile pattern. Rather than using square tiles, I created more of a subway tile pattern with .5"x.75" tiles. I used more mustard ink to stamp the Bella Toille background on the barely banana card stock. I then sponged some so saffron ink over the top to give the tile a little more depth. I added an old olive mat and adhered the tiled background to a more mustard card base.

I stamped the image form the Dream Du Jour set on whisper white card stock in basic brown ink and colored it in using more mustard, so saffron and old olive stampin' write markers. I sponged some so saffron ink along the edges of the card stock before adhering it to a chocolate chip mat. For decoration, I added a tab made with the new Old Olive striped grosgrain ribbon and attached it to the image with a barely banana brad. I adhered the image to the tiled background with stampin' dimensionals.

Tic-Tac-Love

You guessed it, yet another card we'll be making at the January stamp camp. And, once again, my inspiration came from page 16 of the 2008 Fall/Winter Stampin' Up! Idea Book 7 Catalog. Yes, that's right, I copied two projects form the same catalog page! But why not, when they are both so cool? And, to be completely honest, I actually toyed with copying the third card too, but that may have been going a bit too far.

Anyway, once again about the only thing I changed about this card was some of the colors and the image. Here's the recipe:

Stamps: A Happy Heart

Paper: Ruby Red, Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White

Ink: Ruby Red, pink pirouette, close to cocoa

Accessories: whisper white taffeta ribbon, crafter's tool kit, corner rounder punch, spiral punch, stamping sponge

Diane did a bad,bad thing

Yes, it's true. I did a bad, bad thing. I disappeared for a week with little warning and with no pre-scheduled blog posts. My intention was always to stamp ahead and have blog posts ready to go up in my absence, but with all of the other things going on immediately before Thanksgiving I just ran out of time.

But now I'm finally back and I even had a chance to stamp a new card tonight. This card may be a sample for this month's technique Tuesday class, which is bleached images. When you first look at this card it almost looks like the image on this card was stamped on mellow moss and then carefully cut out and placed over a nigh of navy mat. In reality, though, the image was originally stamped on the night of navy card stock and then bleached to create the lighter effect. Once I bleached the card and saw that the underlying color was something between always artichoke and mellow moss, I knew exactly what other colors I would use to finish off the card.

It may not be a traditional color scheme, but I love how it showcases this technique. Here's the recipe:

Card Stock: Night of navy, Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke
Ink: Basic Black Craft
Stamps: Home for Christmas
Accessories: clear embossing powder, mellow moss taffeta ribbon, soft subtles buttons

If you want to know that I was doing while I was gone, tune in tomorrow. I won't spoil the surprise, except to say that I had a blast!

On Board Scrapbook Centerpiece

Tonight's project is a sample of the scrapbook centerpiece we'll be making at my December Itasca Community Library class. I love this project for so many reasons. First, it takes scrap booking out of the album and into home decor, allowing us to share this craft with everyone who enters the home. Second, it's decorated on both sides, so it's pretty from any angle. And third, because one side is seasonal, it can be kept out long after the other Holiday decorations are put away.

To make this project I started with one piece of the large on board book basics (they come 4 to a pack, so you can make one for yourself and give three away or make one for each season of the year). For the Christmas side, I covered it with riding hood red card stock and old olive patterns designer series paper, with a piece of the riding hood red striped ribbon from the holiday mini covering the seam. I used an image form the Big on Christmas set as my title, stamping it in basic black on naturals ivory card stock and coloring with a blender pen and stampin' write markers. I added a riding hood red mat to make the title stand out. I then punched different shapes out of riding hood red card stock, stamped them in encore gold with images form the Winter Post set, added pieces punched with the word window punch out of brushed gold card stock to look like ornament tops and used the elastic gold cord to make the "ornaments" look like they were hanging form the top of the page. The photo mat is a 5.25x7.25 piece of naturals ivory card stock, just perfect for a 5x7" photo.

On the reverse side I used baja breeze card stock and pacific point patterns designer series paper. I stamped the baja breeze card stock with various size snowflakes form the Snow Swirled set in baja breeze ink. I then stamped the title (again, from the Big on Christmas set) in basic black on whisper white card stock and colored it using a blender pen. I added a pacific point mat and punched a horizontal slot in both layers, which enabled me to tie on a piece of baja breeze striped grosgrain ribbon. I added a 5.25x7.25" mat of pacific point card stock, wrapped with more of the pacific point striped grosgrain ribbon. As a final decoration I added two of the felt flurries.

The best part of this project was that even though it involves two separate scrap layouts, it really does not take long to put together. Which is a good thing, because the class is only scheduled for 1-1.5 hours! I just hope everyone who attends will enjoy making this holiday project.

Brilliant Happiness

I know you're all probably really tired of faux cloisonne, but I love how this card turned out and I just had to post it. I promise it's the last faux cloisonne card you'll see for a long while!

Anyway, this design kind of came together on the fly during tonight's technique class. For our first card we made the leaf card that I posted yesterday. I honestly had no idea what I wanted to do for a second card. I briefly toyed with the idea of letting each person choose her own page from a magazine on which t stamp and then tailoring the card around the colors on that page. I also tore out this page with a cool image and lots of blue hues, because I thought it was really pretty (in real life it's an ad for a cruise line.) As we were stamping the first card in gold, it occurred to me that we could use silver embossing powder on this blue page, stamp 3 flowers from the Embrace Life set and set them off against a shimmery white background, and a card was born! After that all I did was choose two complimentary colors for the base and mat (brilliant blue and tempting turquoise) and a sentiment (everyone chose their favorite sentiment -- I chose this one from the Happiness Always Level 3 hostess set, which I just love!

The cards turned out great. They are actually better in real life than in the photo. We used dimensionals to pop up two of the flowers so in person the card has more of a 3-d finish and the shimmery white background goes great with the glossy magazine paper and the silver embossing. It's so cool, even Bill liked the design! When I asked why he liked the card, he said "it's shiny." And then he said something even more funny. He said "I must be a fish -- I'm attracted to shiny things." LOL! Only a guy would think of something like that.

Make-A-Stack On the Go by Mail

I am so excited about tonight's post, because I've been wanting to offer this type of "stamp-a-stack" by mail for quite a while and never had quite enough time to finish it until now. And to be completely honest, one of the reasons why I was able to complete this today was that we lost power for some time this afternoon, which mean that I couldn't do some of the other things I should have been doing, and actually had time to finish up these cards.

Since this was to be a class by mail, the challenge for me in making these cards was to keep the supplies very limited. As such, these 20 cards were made using 1/2 of the I wish simply scrappin' kit, 10 pages of kraft card stock (for the card bases), 1 yard each of real red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon and kraft taffeta ribbon, and 1 sheet of the Old Saint Nick Rub ons. I used the chocolate chip sheet of rub ons, but the white rub ons would work just as well, with the only difference being some reversal of chocolate chip and whisper white textured card stock.

I think my favorite thing about these cards is that they are all unique and so simple to put together! All you need is your own adhesive. And since we're using rub-ons, there's not even any need for stamps and ink. In other words, this would be an absolutely perfect class for the people who (gasp!) don't want to stamp.

So are you ready to order? Here are the details:

You will receive instructions and materials to make the 20 cards pictured in the photo in this post. Your cards will vary only slightly depending on whether you are using the white or chocolate chip rub ons. All of your card bases will be pre-cut, but they will not be pre-scored (so you will have to fold them yourself). Your textured card stock and designer paper mats (from the I wish simply scrappin' kit) and any additional card stock pieces needed to complete the cards will also be pre-cut, and you will receive 20 kraft envelopes.

To complete the cards you will need: adhesive, scissors and a popsicle stick or bone folder to apply the rub-ons.

The cost of this Make-A-Stack On the Go by Mail class is $25.95 per person + 4.80 shipping for up to 2 kits. Shipping will be $9.80 for 2-6 kits and free for 7 or more kits shipped to the same address. In addition to free shipping, anyone who orders 7 or more kits shipped to the same address will receive a free level 1 hostess set of her choice.

So invite your friends over for a fun night in and get a head start on your Holiday cards. Gather orders at your event and submit them as a catalog show for even more hostess benefits! Contact me at stampwithdiane@comcast.net for more information.

Edited to Add: The instructions for this kit will actually include additional designs that you can make using the pieces you'll have left over from your kit and adding your own card base and envelopes. See this post and this post for two additional designs.

Faux Frosted Christmas

Here's another card we made at the Faux Frosting Technique class this month. In this card we used the faux frosting technique to create clouds and snow. Here's the recipe:

Stamp sets: Merry & Bright, Best Yet (Level 1 hostess set)

Card Stock: Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Whisper White

Ink: Gong Gray, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, real red, creamy caramel, pumpkin pie, old olive, Whisper White craft

accessories: large oval punch, 1.8" handheld circle punch, red gingham ribbon, sponge daubers

Faux Frosted Cupcake

Here's a card we stamped at this month's technique class. The technique was faux frosting, and what better card to demonstrate it on than one with a giant cupcake?

I used 2 stamp sets to make this card, and both of them are part of this month's Birthday promotion, where with a single $20 purchase you can get 20% off the price of 8 different stamp sets. Obviously I couldn't pass up that kind of a deal, especially since I really love these two stamp sets!

Anyway, here's the card recipe:

Stamp sets: Simple Birthday Thanks, Crazy for Cupcakes
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Regal Rose, Whisper White, Windsor knot designer series paper
Ink: basic black, regal rose re-inker, whisper white craft
Accessories: word window punch, 1/8" handheld circle punch, pink bead duo, crystal effects, sponge dauber, riding hood red taffeta ribbon, paper crimper, dimensional.

Golden Snow Swirls

Tonight's card is a sample for a class I will be teaching at the Hillside library in November. I was asked to design a class for beginner stampers with two Christmas cards and a Thanksgiving place card/treat holder. I know thissounds easy, but actually anyone who ever met me knows that designign simple cards is absolutely the most difficult task anyone could give me. Let's just say I could find a way to complicate boiling water.

With that in mind, I can only hope this card is not too complicated for beginner stampers. I started out with a piece of naturals ivory card stock on which I stamped the tree, small snowflake and sentiment from the Snow Swirled set with real red and kiwi kiss inks. I then used the ticket corner punch on the corners and the zig gold painty to accents some of the dots on the tree.

I cut a real red mat to size and stamped it with the middle size snowflake from the snow swirled set in encore gold ink. Again I used the ticket corner punch and layered the image on top of the stamped real red mat. I attached the real red mat to a larger kiwi kiss mat and inserted gold brads in all four corners. Finally I attached the kiwi kiss mat to a naturals ivory card base.

I know it doesn't look like much in the photo, but in real life this cardis very pretty, with the gold encore ink and the gold painty giving it a nice shimmer. I just hope the class participants will enjoy making it.

True Elegance Class by mail

I know it's been a while, but this weekend I finally had a chance to put together a new class by mail. This time the class will include materials and instructions for making five 3.5x5 inch note cards with envelopes and a coordinating box to store the cards (closed box pictures in photo on the left.) This set of cards would be perfect to keep for yourself or to make as a lovely gift.

The best part about the class kit is that it will include a variety of different accessories. To make the box and the cards you will use pieces of:

1 1/4" pink pirouette grosgrain ribbon;
5/8" striped pink pirouette grosgrain ribbon;
1" doubles stitched chocolate chip ribbon;
pretty in pink and chocolate chip taffeta ribbons;
Hidden Garden Rub On Assortment;
Flower Fusion Too;
Round fire rhinestone brads;
Pretties Kit; and
True Elegance Accents & Elements (1 sheet of each of the 4 designs).

All you'll need to make these projects is your own adhesive (I recommend sticky strip or other similarly strong adhesive to make the box). Also, I used sentiments form the All Holidays set on two of these cards. If you too would like to include sentiments other than those included in the True Elegance accents and elements, you will need your own sentiment stamps and a chocolate chip ink pad or marker.

The cost for materials and instructions will be $20 + 4.95 shipping (for up to 4 class kits shipped to the same address). Class kits will be shipped no later than 15 business days of my receipt of payment.

This class by mail will be available now through November 15. Anyone who orders before October 31 will receive materials and instructions to make a bonus 6th card.

To place an order e-mail me at stampwithdiane@comcast.net with the quantity of kits you'd like to purchase, your mailing address and your preferred payment method (I accept checks, master card, visa, discover and paypal). As always, happy stamping!

Holiday box

Here's another of the party favor/trinket boxes we made at the library class this week. It's a regular 2,4,6,8 box made out of handsome hunter card stock stamped with the holly image from the holiday trinkets stamp set in handsome hunter ink. I used the 5/8" wide real red grosgrain ribbon for the closure and decorated the front with an ornament image from the holiday trinkets set stamped on whisper white card stock punched out with the 1 1/4" circle punch and in real red and accented with the gold painty and gold elastic cord. I layered the image onto a 1 3/8" circle punched out of handsome hunter and layered that on top of a scalloped circle punched out of real red card stock.

small gift box

This Wednesday I'm going to teach a class at the Itasca Community Library on making various party favor and treat boxes. The first three boxes will be pretty familiar -- a triangle box, a sour cream container and a 2-4-6-8 box -- but for the fourth and final box I wanted to do something a little different, so I created this one sheet box.
It's called a one sheet box because you can make it from one sheet of 11x8.5" paper. The top is hinged open and can either be held securely closed via a tied ribbon or through a more non-conventional method.

The box we'll be making at class is this Thanksgiving themed box. I used old olive card stock, the With Gratitude stamp set, and chocolate chip, pumpkin pie pie, old olive, ruby red, more mustard inks. In this side view you can tell how the lid of the box ties behind the stamped fall image.


This is what the prototype looked like. I liked the red box so much I decorated it with some retired designer paper and for decoration added a simple set from the punches three level 1 hostess set.

And this is what the red box would look like open. I'm still trying to figure out what would be the perfect thing to put into a box like this. Maybe some cocoa packets or tea bags or coffee packs or maybe some yummy cookies? If you get some great ideas let me know!


Now, based on your response to the peppermint patty box, I'm guessing you will want the template for this box (I apologise for the peppermint patty box --as soon as I get some free time I will post the template for that box as well). Luckily I promised all the class attendees templates for the boxes, so I had to put one together, and here it is. Have fun!

Eastern Happiness

This is the last card for this month's stamp camp. It's very soft and feminine, isn't it? Kind of makes you wan to break out in to your very own rendition of "I feel Pretty" from the West Side Story. No? It must just be me, then.

To make the card I first stamped the three flowers in riding hood red and punched them out using the 1" circle pinch. I then layered each flower on a 1 1/4 pink pirouette circle and then on a 1 3/8" riding hood red circle. I attached all three to a piece of whisper white card stock that I stamped with the cherry tree branch pattern in pink pirouette ink. I added a riding hood red mat and I used my scalloped edge punch to create ric rak from a strip of riding hood red card stock. I mounted the finished image on a pink pirouette base and stamped the sentiment from the Heard from the Heart set.

Making the ric rak is a little challenging the first time, but thanks to my friend Trina, who taught us some scalloped edge punch tricks at our last demo meeting, I managed just fine. I predict a lot of ric rak in my future!