Monday, March 29, 2010

Holy Easter Egg Kit Batman!





A month ago I bought the Easter Egg Kit with visions of making lots of cute, decorated Easter eggs.... Well, that didn't happen. :)

So I got creative and re-purposed my Easter Egg kit.... and used the "egg cups" for the strips of color on the cards and the little flowers as the layers. I used some leftover "Fresh-Cut Note" cards and put designer paper behind the die cut flowers with some Dimensionals in between to create some depth. I still have dozens of flowers, rub-ons and rhinestones left to play with!

These were really quick and easy! The cards can EASILY be used for many occasions!

The Easter Egg Kit is only available through the end of April.


Fresh-Cut Notes 111882
Price: $8.95

These handy prescored cards are perfect for when you need a card in a hurry. With the die-cut flower, punch out the image and layer with another color for a beautiful effect. These beautiful notes coordinate with the Fresh Cuts stamp set and 5-Petal Flower punch. And you don’t need to worry about finding envelopes that fit them—the perfect size envelope is included.

■ 15 notes and envelopes
■ 4" x 4" Whisper White cards (folded) from 80-lb. cover-weight paper
■ 4-1/4" x 4-1/4" Whisper White envelopes from 28-lb. text-weight paper with adhesive applied to flap

Eggcellent Eggs Kit 117179
Price: $9.95

It’s easy to make unique decorated eggs without spending a lot of time. Our Eggcellent Eggs Kit contains the accents you need to create an eggstravaganza!

■ White Rub-Ons (two 6"x 6" sheets)
■ Printed, die-cut egg stands (24)
■ Clear self-adhesive rhinestones (one 6" x 6" sheet)
■ Die-cut flowers, 4 sheets (one 6" x 6" sheet each of 4 colors)
■ Die-cut leaves (one 6" x 6" sheet)

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Mother's Day Stamp Camp!

Sunday, April 18th, 12:30

Don't miss out on this event! Whether you need a gift for your mom for Mother's Day or a gift for your daughter or girlfriend, this class has it all!

This class features a purse designed by Becky Roberts (of Inking Idaho), a Birdie Flowerpot designed by my friend Sasha, and a greeting card to fit inside the purse. The front pocket of the purse is the perfect size to fit a gift card.

This class will take some time, but isn't difficult. Don't miss out! It's easier than you think!

Class fee: $20 includes all materials except adhesive


Kindly RSVP by Monday, April 12th


Stamp-a-stack April 9th!

Register now for my April Stamp-a-stack! Come make 12 cards for $15! This class features one birthday card design and three all-purpose designs where you can choose the greeting that fits your needs. Whether you need thank you, birthday, friendship or sympathy cards, you'll be good to go after this class!

Kindly RSVP by Monday, April 5th.





Birthday Card for Dear Husband

My husband's birthday was on Friday. I wanted to make a manly-man card. I make so many cards with flowers and girly colors that this was fun!

My color combo:
Soft Suede card stock
More Mustard card stock

Always Artichoke ink
More Mustard ink
Not Quite Navy ink
Dusty Durango ink

Stamps: Four Square (FREE until the 31st with a $50 order), Baroque Motifs (one of my all time favs)

I heard from the blog designer... it's going to be cool!

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Design Challenge!

At a recent workshop, I offered the ladies a design challenge. The rules:
- They had to use the chocolate Easter bunny and they had to use the 3x6 Almost Amethyst card stock.
- I gave them about 15 minutes to make their card.

Fun, huh?

The bunny on the bottom right brings back memories for me. When I was a child, I always started to eat my chocolate bunny by biting off its head first. Every year my grandfather thought it was funny to say "Ow!" in a high, squeaky voice when I bit the head off. I have to admit that to this day I cringe when I see a chocolate bunny missing its head!

A brie cheese container!



Look what my genius friend Sasha made out of a brie cheese container!


On Board Scallop Circle Book 118306
Price: $4.95

Give your creativity shape with this chipboard book. Decorate with Designer Series paper, photos, ribbon, and more. Keep the pages together as an album or separate use them individually.

■ Includes eight die-cut natural chipboard pages
■ 6" diameter
■ Held together with key ball chain

Friday, March 26, 2010

Friends 24-7


This card features the stamp set, Friends 24-7, and our Basic Black 5/8" grosgrain ribbon. It's another Leadership Swap. :) What a quick-and-easy card!

Part of learning to be more creative is looking at things differently. Instead of looking at this card and deciding if you like it or not look at it and ask...

- What techniques could I use with this stamp set? (chalk on versamark (a.k.a Poppin' Pastels), watercoloring the line image, crystal effects inside the flower...)
- What other two color combination would be interesting? (chocolate chip and very vanilla, sahara sand and vanilla, going gray and white...)
- What other cards could you make using this layout changing colors and/or stamp sets???

Dream Gardens

The stamp set shown in this card is one of my favorites. (I don't have it YET.) I love tea and teapots and I love the detail in the images.

This is Leadership Swap. I think the colors (soft suede, crushed curry and not quite navy) are quite clever.

What a quick, simple card!

You must be wondering if I fell down a rabbit hole...


One of the things I love about being a demonstrator with Stampin' Up is that they let you run your business based on your goals and priorities. The last two weeks have been busy, busy, busy! I FINALLY finished putting together my tax info. It's my own fault that I do all of my paperwork for my business for the whole year in one weekend. :)

Other than that -- we have some FUN news in the family. My daughter, Sarah, made the JV softball team! Yeah, Sarah! She's only in 8th grade so this is a nice accomplishment for her!

Today is my hubby's 48th birthday! He's awesome!

Okay, now back to stamping! The card above is yet another swap from my trip to Phoenix in January for our Leadership conference. It contains 3 of my favorite colors - pink, green and yellow.

I have a surprise coming....







Which reminds me.... I have a surprise coming.... I hired a professional blog designer to spiff up my blog. I sent her a few pictures to share with her some of my favorite things to give her inspiration. Aren't you excited to see what she comes up with!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Lovely Lattice Die

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day....

This card uses the Lattice Die (p. 198, 115958, $21.95). With the Big Shot this card is a snap!

If you don't have the Big Shot, you really need it. Through the end of March your $99 purchase earns you two FREE stamp sets from our Sale-a-bration catalog!

Here's another cute card that uses the Lattice Die. I love the stained glass effect!

You guessed it... both of these cards are swaps that I received from Leadership. I'm currently working on the stamp-a-stack cards for my April 9th class. I'll have pictures to share soon!



Friday, March 12, 2010

Leadership Swap


One of the best parts of being a Demonstrator is going in the trips. :) One of the best parts of going on the trips is SWAPPING. This swap was made by Nancy Student. She used a pheasant for the body of the peacock. The clever part is that she used a plant from the same stamp set as the peacock feathers! A little Fine Supernova glitter on the body and plumage and this card really pops!


Stamps:
Autumn Days

Ink:
Bermuda Bay
Melon Mambo
Crushed Curry
Dusty Durango
Rich Razzleberry
Soft Suede

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Elegant Eggplant and Bashful Blue????



Yup. Elegant Eggplant and Bashful Blue. That's the color combo that was stuck in my head last week.

Apparently the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder was there too... and the Scallop Border Punch.

I'm usually a pink and green girl. This was a nice change!

Stamps:
Happy Moments (FREE with a $50 order this month)

Punches:
Scallop Border
Eyelet Border
1 3/4" circle
1 3/8" circle
1 1/4" circle
1 " circle

Other:
Ice Rhinestone Brad

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Dreaming of Spring...

When I had the heat gun out the other day, I had to try this technique too -- embossing on vellum.

Whisper White craft ink, Card-stock vellum (not the thin stuff), White embossing powder, heat gun... Voila... Dreaming of Spring!

Stamps:
Pick a Petal
Tiny Tiny Wishes

Punches:
Large Oval
Small Oval
Scallop Border


Color Combo: Certainly Celery, Regal Rose, So Saffron, Whisper White

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Dawn's workshop on Friday night




Here's what we made at my house Friday night! I had a new group of women over. It's amazing, 20 minutes into the workshop, I felt like I knew them forever! Stamping ladies are the best!

The first card we made was an Easel card using the Happy Moments Stamp set (FREE with a $50 order this month). I love the gasp when someone opens an Easel card for the first time. I learned the Easel technique from a Leadership swap from my good friend Sharon Cline.

The second card used the Stampin' Pastels (chalk) on Versamark ink. I LOVE the Medallion stamp set! It's really versatile -- perfect for cards, scrap booking or large tags!

Tip -- To set the chalk, you need to spray with a) an acrylic spray or b) hairspray. Unless you want to intoxicate your guests, use hairspray. Ummm, my guests got to "experience" both. Let's just say they liked the smell of the hairspray better. :)

And what's a workshop without free stamps, free hostess merchandise and a hostess gift? Here's the little thank you that I made for Dawn -- a chocolate bar that slips right out so you can re-gift, I mean, re-use the wrapping. Isn't the corduroy button yummy?

Monday, March 8, 2010

A little help from my friend...















In my house stamping is part of our every day life. My family loves it when the "girls" come over for a workshop or class, because the house is filled with laughter (and food, of course). The dog, Cleo, loves it too. She spazzes when the girls arrive, racing in circles around the house, jumping like a reindeer.

On the day of a workshop, my husband always asks Cleo if her friends are coming over tonight. She obviously knows what that means, because the other night a half hour before everyone arrived, she kept putting her paws on the window sill to look out to see if her friends had arrived yet.

As you can see, Cleo loves hanging out in my craft room when I'm prepping for a workshop.


Sunday, March 7, 2010

Embossing on Vellum with the Big Shot!


Did you ever use a light box to emboss? Too slow for me. I LOVE the embossing folders used with the Big Shot. For this card I ran card stock vellum (not the thin stuff) through the big shot, water-colored the roses in regal rose, rose red and summer sun chalk on the back of the vellum, smooshed some garden green chalk around the edges using our fabulous daubers and I was in business! When the vellum dried it puffed up a little adding some extra texture.

Just Playing...



I was playing in my craft room last weekend and decided I wanted to try a Tri-shutter card. I've been in love with the vintage style stamp sets from the Occasions Mini Catalog ever since I saw Shelli demo at Leadership.

Stamps:
Vintage Vogue
Very Vintage Jumbo Wheel
Vintage Labels (FREE with a $50 order this month!)

Card stock:
Kraft
Mellow Moss
Whisper White

Ink:
Encore Gold
Regal Rose
So Saffron

Other:
Regal Rose Ribbon
Gold Embossing Powder

It's funny. I don't get my heat gun out that often, but when I do I emboss everything in sight!





My Doodlers, Ink. Blog is up and running!

Thanks to the talents of Heather Wright-Porto, of Blogs By Heather, my new blog is up and running! Just like most of the crafting things I've done, I'm jumping in without really knowing what I'm doing just because it sounds like fun. I signed up as a Demonstrator with Stampin' Up! before I even knew how to stamp and look how much fun that turned out to be!

I made my first project with our digital scrap booking software, My Digital Studio, last night. Did you see the blog header? That's it! It's not the right size and there are a few line up changes to be made, but hey -- it was fun! There's plenty of time to fix it later! I think that software is going to be addicting!