Happy Blooms

I've been playing surgeon again, but more on that a little later. First a little about this card. very little, in fact, because it's one of the quickest and simplest cards I've ever put together. I started with a wild wasabi card base. I then layered three die cut blooms in bashful blue, pumpkin pie and real red. The die cut blooms are so fun and easy to use. The are made of our textured card stock and there is no trimming necessary -- just pop them out and they're ready to go! And you might notice that the four colors of the die cut blooms coordinate perfectly with the four colors of the new striped ribbon, which makes it even easier to put a card together!

I added a little "friends forever" sentiment from the Anchored rub-on assortment to the center of the assembled flower. I then pierced two holes in the center and poked through some pumpkin pie striped ribbon which I had previously wrapped around the card base. I tied the ribbon in a knot and the card was almost done. For the final touch I stamped the "happy days" sentiment from the Many Happy Returns set in versamark ink and heat embossed it with white embossing powder. Super simple, right?

If you'd like to try out the die cut blooms for yourself call me to book a party -- I will be using cards featuring the die cut blooms as workshop make and takes, so you and all of your guests will get to see how fun these die cuts are and how easy they make it to create gorgeous cards.

And speaking of the Many Happy Returns set, that's where the surgery came up. As with the "Lots of Thoughts" hostess set from the Fall/Winter 2007 collection, this set is supposed to be mounted on three large blocks. However, I think it's just so much more versatile separated into the individual phrases, so once again I headed to Home Depot to purchase some 3/8" square dowels which Bill was kind enough to cut down for me to specified lengths. Now the set is mounted perfectly for me, which really is the big advantage of mounting our Stampin' Up! stamps ourselves. If the stamps came pre-mounted, doing this kind of "surgery" would have been much more cumbersome!

And this wasn't the only surgery I performed recently. During Sale-A-Bration I was fortunate enough to earn the Older and Wiser Level 3 Hostess set (Thanks, Adrian, for pointing out my original mistake -- I had the link right, but typed twhe wrong set name). I adore this set, especially the turtle and the monkey, so I was really excited to finally get my hands on it. But, of course, me being me, I completely custom mounted this set. I love the way it came out and can't wait to stamp some cards with it!

Father's Day side of wall hanging

As promised, here are the close-up views of the Father's Day side of the wall hanging as well as the recipe for this side.

Stamps: All Holidays, Wanted, Star Struck

Ink: chocolate chip, soft sky

Paper: Close to cocoa, chocolate chip, wild wasabi, soft sky, kraft, whisper white, Afternoon Tea double sided designer series paper

Accessories: Aged Copper hodgepodge hardware, chocolate chip poly twill ribbon, small star punch, chocolate chip wide grosgrain ribbon

As you can see, the Father's Day side is much less ornate, for obvious reasons. Most dads don't want to see a bunch of ribbons on their cards or decorations. I kept the color scheme very similar, but substituted close to cocoa for the groovy guava. I love how the Afternoon Tea designer paper has patterns that can easily be used for more masculine projects.

On the first panel I just stamped the close to cocoa covered coaster with a stamp from the wanted set and then added a piece of striped designer paper and the Greeting with aged copper brads in each corner.



On the second panel I stamped the paisley stamp from the Wanted set in soft sky on the soft sky covered coaster, then added some Afternoon Tea designer paper and a bit of chocolate chip poly twill ribbon (no knots or ribbons, though). I added two picture holders from the hodgepodge kit for additional interest.

On the third panel I used the direct to paper technique with my chocolate chip ink pad to create a wood texture, added some designer paper and a square clip from the hodgepodge hardware kit.


And on the fourth panel I stamped a star from the starstruck set in soft sky on the soft sky background, added a strip of designer paper, punched two small stars out of a different pattern of designer paper and attached them to either side of the letter with brads.

I had so much fun working on this that I'm actually doing another project to coordinate with this sign. Hopefully I'll be able to post photos for you tomorrow.

Mother's Day sign

Just as a reminder, this is the project I was working on today and showed you a sneak peak of earlier. It took a bit longer than I thought it would but in the end I ma quite pleased with it. It's one of those projects that actually turned out better in real life than I was picturing in my head. Now that does not happen very often, so it's a cause for a celebration.

Ad you can see, it's a little wall hanging made out of chipboard coasters. The front of the wall hanging is obviously intended as a Mother's Day decoration. Photos of the individual panels are posted below, but here is the general recipe for the project:

Stamps: All Holidays, Big Deal Alphabet

Paper: Groovy guava, soft sky, wild wasabi, chocolate chip, whisper white, Afternoon Tea double Sided Designer Series Paper

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Soft Sky

Accessories: double stitched grosgrain ribbon in groovy guava, wild wasabi and soft sky, pretties kit, aged copper hodgepodge hardware, stamping sponge, ticket corner punch, wide chocolate chip ribbon, sticky strip, dimensionals 4" round chipboard coasters.

Here is the first panel. The sentiment does take up quite a bit of room so I left this pretty plain except for the hodge podge round clip and a bit of double stitched ribbon. The sentiment is popped upon dimensionals.

For the second panel I used some flowery designer paper and I also hand-trimmed out a flower and attached it on the soft sky side of the circle. I also added the square hodge podge clip and some more double sided grosgrain ribbon for interest.

This is probably my favorite panel. I love this particular paper design and I love how great the flowers from the pretties kit look n the groovy guava side. I used the small clear rhinestone brads from the pretties kit for the flower centers (I punched the holes for the brads with my crop-a-dial) and hand-trimmed leaves from another paper design. Once again I added a hodge podge clip --oval this time - with double stitched grosgrain ribbon for interest.

On this final panel I omitted the hodge podge clip in favor of a buckle. I also hand-trimmed some more flowers and leaves from other sheets of designer paper in the Afternoon Tea pack to decorate the sky blue portion of the panel.

And that's it for the front. But, of course, I couldn't just leave it at that. So I decided to make the wall hanging reversible. and here is a sneak peak at the other side. Yes, the other side serves as a Father's Day decoration. I'm saving the detailed photos of those panels for tomorrow, so y'all come back now, y'hear!

Sneak Peak

I know, I know -- last night I said I would post a picture by noon and here it is, almost 3:00 p.m. and I'm still not done. What can I say? Others stuff got in the way and the project kind of grew as well and it's still not quite done. However, so as not to be a complete liar, I thought i would post this sneak preview. It's a Mother's day wall hanging made out of chipboard coasters and some of the Afternoon Tea designer paper from the Occasions mini catalog. I love the paper and I so wish I had ordered the coordinating Live Your Dream stamp set. The good news is that there's still time to get it, so it's definitely being added to my next order!

I know that it's hard to see the details in the photo so tonight I will upload close-ups of each panel. At least each of the front panels. Did I mention that the project grew overnight? Well, this morning I decided to decorate the reverse side of the hanging as well, so that's what I'm finishing up right now and that's what I'll be uploading tomorrow.

See you later!

MOM

This is a place holder. I'm working on a project for a mother's day class, but it's not quite done, so this is just to let you know to tune in tomorrow -- hopefully I'll be able to post a photo by noon.

Another 3D star tip

I received an e-mail today from Sue Duffy. Sue is also a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, from Mooresville, Indiana (you can find her at http://stampinsueduffy.stampinup.net/,) and has been reading my blog for a while (Thank you!). The greatest thing is that Sue not only reads the blog, she is actually inspired by some of my posts to create projects of her own. I can't even begin to tell you how awesome and rewarding it is to get an e-mail from someone who used one of my tutorials or projects as a springboard for their own creativity. So that alone merits Sue another huge Thank you!

But of course it gets better, because Sue not only told me about trying out my tutorial, she also shared a helpful tip, complete with pictures. rather than speak for her, I'll just copy down Sue's message:

"I could not get my star to stay in place when trying your tutorial today and was getting very frustrated! Then, light bulb - rare for me. I have attached pictures of what I did to keep the star in place while scoring it. (I guess this is my first tutorial!) I centered the point in the trimmer blade track and slid the star down, placing the bottom points up against the bottom "bumper" on the trimmer. I marked where my center was - on mine the easiest place to read seemed to be on the metric side of the track, at 29 - and I scored from the point IN to the center (29). It did not seem to damage the points of the star and the "bumper" held the punched star in place! I just did the same thing at each point. "

So there you have it. I think Sue's idea is absolutely brilliant and can really save you a lot of scoring frustration. Great job, Sue and thanks so much for sharing. I'm sure we'd all love to see your finished card as well!

Three dimensional star tutorial

Here's a quick and easy way to use the Stampin' Up! large start punch to add dimension to your card.

You start by punching the large star out f your selected card stock. I know it doesn't look like it in this picture, but this star is actually more mustard. The flash really distorts the color. In any case, after you punch the star you must find and mark a midpoint. In this case I just made a dot in the center of my star with a pen (on the side that will not be showing).


If you have a paper cutter with a scoring blade, you can use the cutter to score your star. In this picture you can see that I positioned the star so that the midpoint would line up with the 6" mark. This is so that later I know exactly where to start scoring with my scoring blade.

As you can see in this picture, I have the scoring blade positioned in such a way that the two side darts which show me where the blade actually is are aligned with the 6" mark. Then it's just a matter of moving the blade up to score the star, then turning the star so that another point is on to p of the scoring track and scoring again. Repeat until the star is scored from the midpoint to all 5 points.

Edited to add: to see an easier way to score your star please see this tip shared by Sue Duffy.


When you're done the underside should look something like this.

If you do not have a scoring blade, you could always mark the lines from the midpoint of the star to the outside of each point and then go over these lines using the ruler and a bone folder to create a score line.

When the scoring is done, pinch each point lightly with your thumb and forefinger as shown in this photo, with the ridge being on the outside of the star. Repeat with all 5 star points.

When you;re done your star should look something like this on the outside.

it will look like this on the inside. Add a pop-up glue dot (like the one shown here) to secure your star to your scrapbook page or card front.

And here is the finished card with the 3-D more mustard card. I used real red for the card base and the outline star. Both of the strips of designer paper and the designer paper star come from the East Coast Prep double sided designer paper assortment. The only ink used on this card is versamark. I used white embossing powder to highlight the celebrate you sentiment. I also used some more mustard narrow grosgrain to finish the card off.

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and will be making lots of 3-D stars in the future!

Faux Silk Card

Today you're getting a close-up veiw of the Faux Silk card that we'll be stamping at the techniques class this Saturday. The faux silk technique looks really cool but is really easy -- which is the best combination of stamping techniques, right? I should have something new for you all tomorrow (hopefully the star tutorial!).

Last call for the Faux Fabrics Techniques Class

Just a reminder, Monday, March 31, 2008 is the last day to sign up for the April 5, 2008 techniques class. This month we'll be making the four cards pictured here, each one featuring a different faux fabric technique. We'll learn how to create faux suade, faux denim, faux linen and faux silk. And while it's not a specific technique, as you can see in the Happy Father's Day card, we'll be stamping a faux bandanna as well. Just a little bonus!

Club members may choose this as their free April class, but must register by tomorrow's deadline.

Also, don't forget that anyone who signs up by tomorrow, Monday, March 31, for the pretty in pink class (either the in-person class scheduled for April 16 or the class-by mail version) will receive materials to make a bonus 7th card!

To register for the faux fabrics class or the pretty in pink class just e-mail me at stampwithdiane@comcast.net.

3d star

Here's another really cool card from Glenda's stamp camp. I love this card because of the fun colors but also because of the 3-d green star. I didn't have a chance to do a tutorial on how to make this star before I left for vacation, but I will upload one when I return next week, so stay tuned.

Thanks for your support!

Isn't this card awesome? This is another card from Glenda's stamp camp, but this one was designed by one of my awesome Stampers in Stitches sidelines, Kim Hands. What a fun way to use the sentiment from the Sassy Suzie set together with our scalloped circle punch. Woo Hoo! A great, sassy card!

Just Lovely

We stamped this awesome card at Glenda's stamp camp this month. You have to look carefully at the picture but you can see that we first6 wheeled on a design with versamark and a jumbo wheel onto shimmery white card stock and then embossed the design on white. It just looks lovely!

We then used the Always set to stamp the heart in black stazon and colored the image with soft subtles markers and blender pen (for the soft sky). A simple sentiment and a bit of white taffeta ribbon and some soft sky matting and base finish off the card beautifully. It really is just lovely!

stained glass window

I know you've seen this card before -- it served as a sample for my layout of the month. This was the card we stamped at my marker techniques 102 class to illustrate the stained glass window technique. The base is perfect plum and the mats are pale plum. The sentiment is stamped with black stazon on whisper white and the designs are stamped with black stazon on vellum card stock, colored with various soft subtles markers on the other side of the vellum, and matted with whisper white card stock before being added to the cad. the vellum is folded one side so that it can be attached to the white card stock from the back (that way the adhesive doesn't show) and the other side is attached with the brad and the certainly celery mat.

I'm on a cruising vacation right now, so you will not see as many posts this week. Hope you all are having ad much fun as I am!

multi-color stippling

This is another card we stamped at the Markers 102 class, this time to illustrate the stippling technique. The card was totally inspired by an article in Stampin' Success, our monthly demonstrator magazine, which used this very stamp and colors to illustrate this technique. The project in the article wasn't a card, but it was very easy to modify the idea to create this card design.


I have to tell you that when I first saw this technique. which involves using the point of the marker to fill in an image, I thought it was a bit too much work for too little payoff, but once I actually made my sample it I loved it! It's a totally unique look that you simply cannot achieve with any tool other than the writing tip of our stampin' write markers (you can use the brush tip for stippling as well, but that would not have worked to fill in the space between the two fine lines on this image). To finish off the card I added a background from the itty bitty backgrounds set to the base of the card, to mimic the stippling on the image.


Here's the recipe:

stamps: Fun and Fast Notes, Itty Bitty Backgrounds

Paper: Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, whisper white

Ink: Rose Red classic ink pad, rose red, pumpkin pie, tempting turquoise and old olive stampin' write markers

Accessories: old olive wide grosgrain ribbon.

Happy Easter!

Hi everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful Easter holiday. This was a 2 page 6x6 scrap layout that we stamped at Glenda's last stamp camp. I thought it was just adorable! I especiallty like the cosmo glitter on the eggs -- nice and blingy!


Here's the recipe:


Stamps: Good Egg, Ticker Tape Alphabet

Paper: Bashful Blue, old olive, so saffron, pumpkin pie, whisper white

Ink: Bashful Blue, old olive, so saffron

accessories: Flowers for you punchbox, 2 wayglue pen, cosmo glitter, signo white gel pen

Two color embossing

Here's another card we stamped at my Marker Techniques 102 class. I used this card to showcase using markers to heat emboss an image in two colors. The cherries from the Tart n' Tangy set lend themselves particularly well to this technique so, of course, I had to use them and pair them up with the awesome summer picnic double sided designer paper. Here's the recipe:

Stamps: Tart n' Tangy, Celebrate Everything

Paper: bashful blue, old olive, real red, whisper white, summer picnic double sided designer paper

Ink: Versamark, real red and old olive stampin' write markers

Accessories: clear embossing powder, scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, wide real red grosgrain ribbon

Watch for my Marker Techniques 103 class coming in late April!

Tree thumping

This was one of the cards we stamped at my Marker Techniques 102 class. I used this card to illustrate the thumping technique. The technique works particularly well with images that are detailed and are intended to be multi-colored, like flowers and leaves. My particular favorite stamp set for this technique is, of course, Lovely as a Tree.


I really like the away this card turned out. The interplay of the different greens makes it nice for spring and the combination of Oak tree image and argyle motif on the designer paper makes it a nice card for a guy. In fact, at class most of the students chose to make this into a masculine birthday card (we can ever have enough of those, right?).


Here's the card recipe:


Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Sincere Salutations

Ink: Certainly celery and chocolate chip classic ink pads, chocolate chip, old olive and always artichoke stampin' write markers

Paper: certainly celery, chocolate chip, always artichoke, whisper white, old olive prints double sided designer paper

Accessories: ticket corner punch, earth elements brads.

One more pink n' pretty card

This card is not from the pretty in pink class, but since I was already playing with my pretties kit I decided to use the kit for the make and take at my downline meeting last night, and this was the card we made.

Instead of using Berry Bliss designer paper, I used the bali Breeze paper which has this lovely tone on tone rose red designer paper. I also used the Think Happy Thoughts set for the center of the flower. It was a quick and simple card, but the combination of the large pretties flower and the beaded hat pin gives it a lot of impact! What woman wouldn't want to get this card on her brthday?

Here is the card recipe:

Stamps: Think Happy thoughts
Paper: Rose red, pretty in pink, bali breeze double sided designer paper
Ink: Rose Red
Accessories: Pretties kit, pretty in pink taffeta ribbon.

Pretty in Pink

As promised, here's a peek at the projects we'll be making at my Pretty in Pink class on April 16. All of the cards will feature the Berry Bliss designer series paper as well as various items from the pretties kit. You won't believe how easy it will be to dress up your cards!

The cost of the class will be $20 for 6 cards and registration and payment will be due on April 4. Anyone who registers and pays by March 31 will get to make a bonus 7th card at the class (not pictured here - it'll be a surprise!).

If you'd like to make the cards but can;t make it to the class, I will make this class available by mail. You must register and pay within the above mentioned time frame and the class materials will be mailed to you on April 17. The class packet will include instructions and all materials necessary to make the card except for adhesive (glue dots will be included for the half pearls,) the One of a Kind stamp set and the chocolate chip and pretty in pink ink pads. The $20 fee will include shipping. As with the in-person students, class-by -mail students who register by March 31 will get the materials to make a bonus card.

My club members may attend this class for free to make 4 of the 6 cards or pay a $5.00 fee to make all 6 cards, but you must register and let me know your choice of options by the regular deadline.

Last Birthday Whimsy card

As of today, 2008 Sale-A-Bration is officially over. So this will probably be my last card using this year's Sale-A-Bration stamps. You probably already guessed that this was the birthday whimsy card from my SAB card class. Here's the recipe:

Stamps: Birthday Wimsey
Ink: pretty in pink, purely pomegranate, chocolate chip, so saffron
Paper: pretty in pink, whisper white, berry bliss double sided designer series paper
Accessories: ticket corner punch, chocolate chip wide grosgrain ribbon, crystal effects.

I really like the way this card turned out. And while I may be moving on from the Sale-A-Bration sets, I'm not giving up on this color combination! In fact, April 16 I will be offering a Pretty in Pink class featuring the berry bliss designer paper and various items from the pretties kit. Tomorrow I'll post a preview of the 6 cards we'll be making and provide details on pricing and an early registration special, so be sure to come back to read all about it!