The content of this blog is my sole responsibility as an independent Stampin' Up! demonstrator and the use of, and content of, the classes, services, or products offered on this blog is not endorsed by Stampin' Up!
For Christmas my husband 'promised' me a kidnapping trip! Yes, I had asked for one as I've kidnapped him several times and they've been such fun, unencumbered get-aways. So, Sunday was departure day for our mystery trip. My daughter was the only one who knew where we were going because she made the reservation (hubby has a hearing problem, especially with squeeky voices) so he didn't want to even tackle that. The only hint I got as time drew nearer was.......we're going towards the ocean. Well, my imagination was way off---we went west to San Francsico instead of SW to the Santa Cruz area which really is right on the ocean. He has taken me to the small hotel we stayed at last September for our 10th anniversary. And we are here to birdwatch, specifically looking for the Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. We had watched a documentary on these birds last summer (Netflix) and though, wow, wouldn't it be fun to see them. When we came here in September we forgot to look for them while we were at Coit Tower---it was such a beautiful day that we just spaced out on the birds.
The parrots flying overhead. Noisy!
Parrots taking a little break.
And now you know why I haven't been posting as well as where I am for a few beautiful days. What a wonderful break!
I got to go to Stampin' Up!'s Regional Seminar in Oakland on February 15th with a select group of about 130 other stampers. What a treat to be a part of such an intimate crowd. It was actually quite surprising.
So, here's the swap card I took. I wanted to stretch myself in design and use a set I found very intriguing. To me, this set, Always, seems very European, Austrian or Bavarian specifically. I wanted to use it in that style but it just wasn't happening. If YOU can create one, please take a photo and send it to me. (challenge, challenge!) This is what did happen:
STAMP SET: Always INK: Groovy Guava, Versamark CARDSTOCK: Wild Wasabi, River Rock, Groovy Guava, Whisper White ACCESSORIES: Punches: Scallop Circle, 1-3/8", 1-1/4" and 1/2" Circles, Photo Corners; Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Dimensionals, River Rock Double-Stitched Ribbon
TIPS: * I stamped the heart from the stamp set, using Groovy Guava, then punched out the center with the 1-1/4" circle punch. *To emboss the bird, I stamp 'him' first in Versamark, then in Groovy Guava, then coated 'him' with the Clear Embossing Powder and heat embossed 'him'. *The scalloped piece is attached to the card with dimensionals. * I stamped the little 'branch', using Versamark, on each of the large background pieces.
So, what was the other card we did at the library on Thursday? This one, also based on one I saw 'somewhere' and just loved for its simplicity and use of punches again. I only wish I had noted where I saw the card originally.
This was a fun card to create! Simply select a packet of Designer Series Paper, then select 2 complementary patterns within the package. Using the 1-3/8" Square Punch, punch 3 of each of your two selected patterns. Select complementary cardstock colors and begin assembling your card. When you have your 3 pieces of solid cardstock, position your 6 square pieces in a balanced pattern. Finally, select one more complementary color to punch with the Scallop Circle punch. Find a complementary stamp image to stamp on Whisper White cardstock. Punch out with 1-3/8" Circle Punch and layer on the scalloped circle punched piece. Adhere to card with several Dimensionals. If necessary for design balance, make little dots on each scallop with a white gel pen.
I selected the floral branch from the Carte Postale stamp set for our card. The image was stamped with Soft Sky Classic Ink and then colored with the Old Olive Marker directly onto the stamp and then stamped onto Whisper White cardstock. Then it was punched with the 1-3/8" Circle Punch and layered onto the scallop-punched piece.
STAMP SET: Carte Postale
INK: Soft Sky Classic Ink Pad, Old Olive Marker
CARDSTOCK: Old Olive, Soft Sky, River Rock, Really Rust, Whisper White
ACCESSORIES: Punches: 1-3/8" Square, 1-3/8" Circle, Scallop Circle, Ticket Corner; White Gel Pen, Dimensionals, Snail Adhesive
February 21, 2008
I'm back. No I haven't been g-o-n-e. I've just been otherwise occupied I guess you'd say. I just had to share the great experience I had with my library 'students' today. I teach at my local library on the 3rd Thursday of every month. The $2.00 fee is shared between the library, for it's expansion fund, and me, to help with supplies. In my mind, this is my community service, getting to know my neighbors and sharing what I love! There are usually 8 to 12 stampers there, and sometimes as many as 20! Great for the ego I must say. Here is the first of today's 2 projects.
The inspiration for this card came from a swap card I received at Stampin' Up!'s Leadership Conference in January in Palm Springs. The original was created by Becky Hahn, a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator from Iowa. I altered the 5-petal punch flower a bit, as well as the words in the oval punch on the ribbon.
My Library stampers have learned so much and become so quick and efficient over the past few years that I need cards that will peak their interest AND show different uses of product (in this case punches) that they've seen and used before.
This is almost a standard card--only 2 special cuts to make it stand out. After cutting an 8-1/2" x 11" piece of cardstock in half to 5-1/2" x 8-1/2", fold it in half, creating a 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" card. On the right front, make a pencil mark 1-1/2" from the opening edge. Cut from the upper fold line to that pencil mark, creating that diagonal cut. Then cut 1/2" from that opening along the front edge of the card.
Attaching the Print Patterns DSP (Designer Series Paper) is pretty straight forward both inside the card and on the card front. For folding the front, I positioned the Soft Sky DSP where it woud be when attached, laid a ruler about 1/8" from the diagonal cut and scored along the ruler with a stylus. Then I folded the 'flap' over and sealed it into position with Snail adhesive. Do not attach this Soft Sky piece to the card until you've attached the ribbon, several paragraphs below!
The flower is made the the 5-Petal Flower punch. Punch two flowers from Groovy Guava Prints DSP and 1 more flower from Soft Sky Prints DSP. Punch one more flower from the Soft Sky Prints DSP using the 'upper' 6-petal flower from the Boho Blossoms punch. Layer these punched flowers and punch in the middle with the 1/16" circle punch. Insert gold brad. With your thumb nail, a pencil, or whatever works for you, curve the petals away from the brad giving them some shape. Turn/twist the petals so that each layer shows. Attach to the card with 2 dimensionals, layered one on top of the other for a little bit of height to accommodate the curved petals.
"Thank you" comes from the All Holidays stamp set. How did I find it? I punched the Small Oval Punch out from a piece of scrap paper and then held that punched out hole over some of the word sets in the 2008 Spring-Summer Collection, looking for words that would fit. This stamp was just what I wanted.
Stamp word in Soft Sky on Whisper White cardstock, punch with Small Oval Punch, layer onto piece of Groovy Guava CS punched with the Large Oval Punch. Layer onto ribbon* with 2 dimensionals.
*How'd the ribbon get there? I cut a 3-1/2" piece of Double-Stitched Groovy Guava ribbon, ran a length of Snail adhesive along the back side. Laid it about 1/2" - 3/4" from the bottom of the Soft Sky Prints DSP, turned it over and snipped off the 'overhang' and then adhered the entire piece to the card front. Then I attached the oval piece.
STAMP SET: All Holidays
INK: Soft Sky
CARDSTOCK: Groovy Guava and Soft Sky Prints Designer Series Paper, Groovy Guava, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White
ACCESSORIES: Punches: Large and Small Ovals, 5-Petal Flower, Boho Blossoms, 1/16" Circle; Gold Brads, Groovy Guava Double-Stitched Ribbon, Stylus, Snail Adhesive
Nora is just one year old (last month) and is a pretty lavender and pink sort of gal. Plus she loves to "ooooooohhhhh"--her little lips are just like a Cheerio. So I wanted to help her with that! I also wanted to use the Sticky Cuts Letters---even woke up in the middle of the night planning how it would work. Stamp Set: Jumbo Outline Alphabet Card Stock: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Lovely Lilac, Designer Series Paper: Flowers for You Ink: Lovely Lilac Accessories: Sticky Cuts Letters, SU! Retired 'Love to You' Glitter Stack, Ticket Punch, Pretty in Pink Taffeta Ribbon, Versamarker, Bone Folder
The 'trick' with the Sticky Cuts Letters is to remove the white backing from the 'sticky', place it on its final surface (cardstock or whatever else you might choose), burnish over the red protective layer with the bone folder, then remove the red layer and embellish with glitter, beads, sand...... whatever. Removing the white layer is not easy. Just be perseverent. I try to roll it off of this sticky surface but it doesn't happen easily.
I got the 'n' onto the Lovely Lilac cardstock, removed the red protective layer, and sprinkled it with pink glitter and patted it onto the sticky layer. Same for the heart in the lower right but I sprinkled it with pink heart glitter, patted in down, shook off the excess and then sprinkled again with pink glitter to fill in any empty space. I think Nora's going to 'oooooohhhhhhh' when she sees her sparkle-y card.
Gosh, I haven't posted for a week already! Time flies when you're too busy. At least I've been productive with some house cleaning and, finally, yesterday some cleaning up in my stamp room so I could S-T-A-M-P. Other than family what else could be so important? I got on a roll Friday and Saturday making some birthday and Valentine's Day cards so I'll share some of them today. There's nothing more fun than just sitting and really creating. My 3-1/2 year old grandson, Austin, loves M&Ms so I wanted to give him 'some' but not enough to create a monster. I have these cello sleeves on hand so I filled one with the little pink/red/white things and added a topper but it didn't seem special enough so---I made a little sleeve, sort of like a pencil holder. I did use some retired items on this creation: White Fun Flocking on the little mouse, and "Love to You" glitter stack (retired Stampin' Up!) elements on the topper and the heart at the end of the elephant's trunk. The 'sleeve', which is now wrapped and sealed in a mailing envelope, is Certainly Celery CS, 11" x 4-1/2", scored at about 1" on one side and 1-1/2" on the other. Where the back overlapped I used Red Sticky Tape to secure the seal, burnishing the tape with my bone folder. I also used the Red Stick Tape on the bottom and then crimped it so it would stay shut. Hopefully! I stamped the images on the sleeve using Basic Grey Classic Ink. I like it a lot as it's not quite as harsh as the Basic Black. I put some Crystal Effects on the butterfly and then sprinkled it lightly with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. I colored the elephant with going Gray Class Ink, using my Aqua Painter (I love this tool!). I went gently over the color where it is darker, being careful not to rough up the cardstock. I also put Crystal Effects on the heart in the elephant's trunk.
At pretty much the last minute on Saturday I decided to do another Super Bowl Sunday "Mystery Hostess" event. Next year I promise
to give more notice. However, this year I did have 5 participants, all of whom earned something FREE! Sale-a-Bration sets, Classic Ink pads, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter and a 2-Way Glue Pen, and tickets for the Mystery Hostess drawing. I had my 3-1/2 year old grandson, Austin, who can't read yet, pull the winning name: JANET SMITH! Way to go Janet. Now she gets to select a Level 1 Hostess Set and $15 in FREE Stampin' Up! merchandise. Thanks to you all for 'playing the game'. You're all winners to me. :)
My students loved this third and simplest of our cello bag projects. Stamp your tag the same as for the first tag but use a red eyelet from the Basic Eyelets. Fill the cello bag with M&Ms, tie securely with the Regal Rose 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, tying it into either a bow or a knot. Attach the tag using silver elastic cord (yeah SU! for keeping it available). Done. This oh-so-simple treat bag was seen as so do-able and so cute that I think, if we had had a vote, it would have won first place hands down.
I'm happy to say that since my first post and this post I've learned a wee bit more about inserting a photo. But I haven't accomplished my lesson in putting more than 2 photos in one post. That's OK. I'm learning.
Now here's where I have my problem--how to put text next to the second image within a post. Oh well, it'll go on top just like the earlier one did!
This Thank You card is pretty basic. The Flannel Plaid background stamp was stamped on the Real Red CS using Real Red Classic Ink. That cute little elephant was stamped onto Whisper White CS using Basic Gray Classic Ink. It was colored using an Aqua Painter and Blender Pen and Stampin' Markers. Markers: Gable Green, Green Galore, Regal Rose and Real Red. Stamp Pad: Going Gray Classic Ink. WWhite was layered onto Real Red CS, onto Wild Wasabi CS and finally onto the card front. The Scallop Punch was used to punch from a scrap of Wild Wasabi CS. 1-3/8" circle punch for the punched Real Red circle. 1-1/4" circle punch was used to punch the stamped words (Going Gray) from a WWhite scrap. The 3 circles were layered and attached to the card with 3 dimensionals behind the scallop.
And now that I've had the courage to do my first postings, I'll take a night's nap, learn a bit more about images and text and be back soon. Why oh why did I wait so long to do this!?
This little cutie was the first of 3 cello bag holders we made in the Valentine Bundle Class. I wanted to use all of the items that came in the Bundle purchase so we made these varying cello bags. This one also used the Coluzzle to create the circle in the front. Non-current items: I used SU!'s retired Scalloped Scissors, Jumbo Heart Eyelets, and Lots of Hearts Jumbo Wheel. An 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of Real Red CS was cut to 4" x 11"; using Personal Paper Cutter, score at 6" from one end, then score 5/8" on either side of the 6" score line. Fold as a 'mountain fold'. One side will be longer--fold it over as a flap. Unfold and run your roller across the CS. Trim the flap with the decorator scissors--or punch scallops with your 3/8" corner rounder punch, guard removed. Using Regal Rose CS scrap, stamp words with Real Red Classic Ink; punch out with Small Tag Punch. Punch Real Red CS with Tag Punch. Layer these two pieces. Fill cello bag with M&Ms, fold top of bag over, set inside holder, fold flap, position tag and punch all layers with 3/16" punch of your Crop-a-Dile. Remove tag and set large heart eyelet using 3/16" eyelet setter of Crop-a-Dile. Secure to holder with Real Red Ribbon.
This bag is easier than the first. We stamped the mouse in Basic Gray (waterproof)Classic Ink onto Whisper White CS, then colored him in using an Aqua Painter and/or Blender Pen. Corner round all 4 corners plus those of the Regal Rose CS (not shown in photo). Sponge Regal RoseInk onto the WWhite CS. With 1/6" Hand Held Punch, punch hole in flower. Insert Red Brad (from Bold Brights Brads). Layer onto folded Regal Rose CS (4" x 4-1/2", scored at 2"). Fill cello bag with Sweethearts (R)
, fold over top, slip under folded Regal Rose card and attach by running Snail Adhesive along both the front and back of the inside of the card.
What you are witnessing right now is a teeny tiny scary baby step! I've had my blog just like THIS for over a year. Why? Because I was a great big chicken and feared technology. Well, I'm ready now folks! No more apologies. It'll just be what it is for a few weeks as I really get into the hang of posting and sharing.
This is part one of the swing or flip/flop card we made at my January classes based on Stampin' Up!s Valentine Bundle. With a little special scoring and cutting with your Personal Paper Cutter this is an easy and WOW card to make. You can substitute any stamp set, cardstock and roller wheel (if desired) for an infinite variety of cards. I'm thinking that kids would just love the 'magic'.
Simply pull on each side of the card and it jumps into motion, revealing the greeting on the other side. Just how cute is that!?
Next task will be to work on a little tutorial to post so you can start making yours.
This first post wasn't nearly as painful as I've anticipated and more will be coming right along. You can't imagine the huge "WHEW" I'm feeling. And all for naught.
to give more notice. However, this year I did have 5 participants, all of whom earned something FREE! Sale-a-Bration sets, Classic Ink pads, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter and a 2-Way Glue Pen, and tickets for the Mystery Hostess drawing. I had my 3-1/2 year old grandson, Austin, who can't read yet, pull the winning name: JANET SMITH! Way to go Janet. Now she gets to select a Level 1 Hostess Set and $15 in FREE Stampin' Up! merchandise. Thanks to you all for 'playing the game'. You're all winners to me. :)
