New Blog Look

I was SO excited that SU! did a retired product for a My Digital Studio download.  Cottage Wall has got to be one of my most favorite designer series papers in a long while, and I was sad to see it be retired.  Now, it's great to have it in digital form!  I'm on spring break this week, so I decided my blog needed an update so I used my favorite DSP to give my blog a fresher look - hope you like it, too!  Now if I could just figure out how to center the header I created and still use the Blogger template I selected!

Pop-up Gift Card Holder

In January, my upline asked us to do birthday-themed gift card holders for our team meeting swap.  I took a card I'd made from a previous blog hop, modified it to make it a little easier to mass produce, and made it a pop-up gift card holder as well.  I forgot that I hadn't shared it with you, so here it is!

Top image is a scan of the outside, and, yup, that's me photographing at night again on the dining room table for the inside.  I either need to stop doing that, or better yet, I need a small lightbox setup!

It's a Birthday Blog Hop!

In celebration of the Stampin' Addicts second birthday, we're doing a blog hop where each stop on the hop features a different stampin' technique.  With 20 stops on this hop, you are sure to see some interesting and fun to try techniques, I'm sure!

You might have arrived here via Kandice's blog.  Weren't her ribbon techniques great?  I am going to have to try some of those when I can find some spare time!

For my stop on the blog hop, I'm featuring the Dazzling Diamond Dust technique for my projects.  To do this technique, you'll need a VersaMark pad, some Iridescent Ice embossing powder, and a heat gun.  Simply stamp over your image with the VersaMark pad, sprinkle on some Iridescent Ice EP and heat set!  I'd recommend letting your heat gun warm up a little before setting the EP, and when heat setting, keep the heat gun at an angle to the image and keep the heat gun moving.  This way, you are less likely to scorch your image.

My first project is a simple card.  It features three Sale-A-Bration products:  the Punch Bunch and So Happy for You stamp sets, along with the Ice Cream Parlor Designer Series Paper and Quick Accents Pack.  I love the bright colors in this DSP!

My second project is a cute treat box made with the Two Tags die.  I followed a tutorial written by Julie Davison, but she credits Lisa Curcio with the original concept.  I started with Pacific Point card stock and accented it with some designer series paper from the cute Ice Cream Parlor DSP and Quick Accents Pack available now through March 31 as part of Stampin' Up!'s Sale-A-Bration promotion where you get free product for every $50 (pretax) that you spend.  You can always use the Dazzling Diamond Dust technique on a stamped image, but I wanted to showcase another use for it - by jazzing up some of your DSP!  The cupcake image and sentiment comes from the cute Create a Cupcake stamp set.  These would make really cute favors for a birthday part, don't you think?

I was looking for an idea for a card when I found one of my upline's 2009 Card of the Month cards that, sadly, I hadn't made yet.  I took the main image idea from her card to create mine.  I started with a piece of Glossy White card stock and brayered on some Daffodil Delight ink.  To make the sun, I punched out a circle through two layers of Post-It notes placed the circle where I wanted the sun to be.  I then used the brayer to apply some Tangerine Tango ink.  The last ink layer was laid down with the brayer using Cajun Craze ink.  After I removed the Post-It, I lightly sponged on some Tangerine Tango and Cajun Craze ink over the sun to tone down the yellow.  I then inked up the Upsy Daisy stamp with Basic Black Craft ink before embossing with black embossing powder.  I should have let the ink from the brayer dry a little more before this step, as if you look closely, you'll see some black EP speckles around the daisies - but my daughter didn't even notice it until I mentioned it... did you?  Then it was time to make it sparkle - and sparkle, it does!  The sentiment stamp I chose is from Curly Cute - I love this set!  It was also embossed.  I really like how this card turned out, and my stampers will see it next month for stamp camp!

Well, that's it for my stop on the hop.  I hope you enjoyed this fun technique.  Next up is Holly's stop on the hop.  She is featuring ways to use SU! Smooch Spritz, and I'm sure she's got some amazing things to share with you!

It's Time to SALE-A-BRATE!!

It's my favorite time of year.  The temperatures are cooler, we actually get some rain, and... it's Sale-A-Bration time at Stampin' Up!  What could be better than getting FREE stuff when you place an order to get more of your favorite stuff?  Pure heaven, I tell you!

To help in the celebration of Sale-A-Bration, several of us from the Stampin' Addicts are sharing projects this weekend featuring many of the items available during Sale-A-Bration... and did I mention, they're FREE?! 

You may have arrived here via Kandice's blog, My Sweet Stampin Spot, where she featured projects using Fine Flourish.  She did a great job, don't you think?

I'm going to share with you today some simple cards I made featuring the great sentiment set, Thank You Kindly, a stamp set you can get for FREE when you place a $50 Stampin' Up! order (pre-shipping and tax).  I don't know about you, but thank you cards are things I always need a lot of, and this is such a great set to use when you need a thank you card.  All of my cards are based on sketches from Clean and Simple Stamping, a great resource when you need an idea for a card design.  Two of the cards I actually designed first using My Digital Studio before getting out card stock, ink, and stamps!

First up is a very simple design and it's the first sketch I saw when I learned about the Clean and Simple Stamping blog.  I also used a color challenge that I saw on a fellow stamper's blog a few weeks back - to use Baja Breeze, Perfect Plum, and Pear Pizzazz.  The focal image stamp is from Just Believe.

My second card has only one stamped element, the sentiment, which was stamped in Craft White ink and embossed with white embossing powder.  The scallop border was created using four 1 inch circles, mounted under textured Baja Breeze card stock.  I debated about putting an image onto the Baja Breeze, but I like the simplicity of the card, so I left it as is.

My third card again uses an image from Just Believe.  I stamped the image onto the Marina Mist card stock using Baja Breeze ink.  I then colored the image with Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, and Not Quite Navy markers, spritzed it, and stamped it onto a damp piece of watercolor paper.  You might have spotted more gorgeous seam binding - this time it's Pear Pizzazz, one of the new colors this fabulous 'ribbon' comes in with the new Occasions Mini catalog.

My final card is my favorite design, and it's such an easy card to reproduce quickly.  I love that butterfly embosslit and I think it added the perfect touch to this card.

I'm the last stop on this hop, but in case you haven't visited all 21 blogs, just keep hopping along to Rhonda's blog, The Stampin' Bunny.  Rhonda is featuring So Happy for You on her stop, and I'm sure you'll enjoy what she's got to share with you today!

Fun Valentine's Couple Card

I saw this cute card idea on Lorri's blog, and she was inspired by Valita's post and great video how-to.  I created the heart couple last night with a white scallop envelope, but this morning changed it to a black scallop envelope so the guy's shirt would stand out better.  I brought my stampin' stuff with me this morning to the coffee shop to hang out with my DH while his listened to Leo Laporte's Tech Guy show, and ran across this card design by Denise while looking for ways to finish my card.  When I came home from the coffee shop, I grabbed my Big Shot and the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder so I could emboss the white panel behind the envelope.  I just finished putting it all together.  Looky:

 

Viola, it's done - and I now have three card choices for my stampers on Friday, along with the brag books I shared in a previous post.  YAY!  Now I can get to work on my Sale-A-Bration blog hop projects.  I think I'm going to go simple on those to make my live easier - I love the Clean and Simple Stamping blog card designs and I'm sure I can find four to use for the Thank You Kindly sentiment stamp set that I'll be featuring on my stop of the SAB Blog Hop.  Be sure to stop back by the weekend of January 28 - 30 to see what I came up with.  As always, thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to visit my blog.

Stamp Set:  A Happy Heart
Card Stock:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Real Red, Blush Blossom
Inks:  Basic Black (marker & pad), Real Red, Craft White
Accessories:  Night & Day Specialty DSP, Red Polkadot Grosgrain, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Heart Punch, 1 inch Circle Punch, Scallop Envelope Die, Big Shot, Silver Brads, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals, Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, Basic Pearls, 1/4 inch Real Red Grosgrain.

 

Redesign of Cracked Glass Valentine

Last Sunday I posted my first cracked glass attempt.  Today I redesigned a portion of the card and this is the version I'm going to share with my stampers on Friday.  Sorry for the blurry image on the sentiment, but I scanned this one and my scanner doesn't do 3D very well.  You get the idea, though, right?  I like the tighter framing around the cracked glass heart - I think it makes a stronger focal point to the card. 

I used the spritzer tool on the original card, but on this one I decided to go with an all-time favorite, Itty Bitty Backgrounds instead.  My hubby liked this version better, and loved that I added something inside as well.  I hope the gals at stamp camp like it, too!  I changed the sentiment on the card front to one from Well Scripted and I like it better than the original card (but I'll bring the one from Seasonal Sentiments if my stampers would rather use that one).  I've got a couple of 'Happy Valentine's Day' stamps that I'm going to provide to give them a choice to use on the inside of the card. 

My CASE of Debra's Swap

In my last post, I shared Rhonda's and Debra's swap card fronts featuring products from the new Occasions Mini catalog.  I decided to CASE Debra's to use at my stamp camp next Friday, and I wanted to share with you today how it came out.  I love the textured Soft Suede on this card, and since I found I didn't have satin Marina Mist ribbon but instead had grosgrain, I think it works well with my card.  I didn't have a corner rounder that matched the rounded corner from the Two Tags die, but I did have a large corner rounder that matches the smaller one I have, so I used the larger one to round the bottom edges of the tag, and it nicely matches the rounded edges of the River Rock piece.  I used my all-time favorite Itty Bitty Backgrounds stamp to put some River Rock ink on the River Rock card stock.  Here's how it came out:

Favorite Occasions Mini Catty Swaps

I recently participated in a swap featuring card fronts made using products from the new Stampin' Up! Occasions Mini Catalog (thank you, Kim, for being our hostess).  Two of the swaps in particular were awesome IMHO, and I wanted to share them with you.  The first is by Rhonda Griffin.  She used the new and cute Eat Chocolate set to create her swap.  I love how real the mini candy bar really looks!  I don't have this set, and hadn't planned to get it, but thanks to Rhonda, I'm having second thoughts.  :)  Here's Rhonda's swap:

The second came from Debra Burgin, who's work I've been admiring for quite a while now.  I loved the non-traditional colors on her card, and hey, she used my favorite of the new SU! colors, Marina Mist!!  Bonus points for Debra!  :)  She stamped the Be My Valentine stamp in Marina Mist onto Bashful Blue card stock, then spritzed it with Log Cabin spritz and the effect is so cool!!  I'm going to CASE her card for my stamp camp on January 21 with just a couple of modifications - I don't have the Artistic Etchings set she used for the sentiment, so I'm planning to use the banner from the stamp, done in Soft Suede, instead.  I also don't have the Wonderfully Worn background stamp that Debra used on the River Rock card stock, so I'll use the spritzer tool with a River Rock marker for that layer.  I want to add a little more texture, so I'm planning to use textured Soft Suede for the card base.  I didn't have the Tasteful Trim die or the Music Notes wheel, but I will when my order arrives on Friday (yup, I expedited so I'd have them to play with over the long weekend).  Here's Debra's swap:

I hope you enjoyed seeing their swaps, and be sure to visit their blogs if you haven't been there before.  Both ladies are quite accomplished stampers!

Cracked Glass Valentine

Ok, so I've been a SU! demo for almost four years, have been stamping for about six, and I have NEVER tried the cracked glass technique - until this past Sunday night!  During the day on Sunday, I was surfing the net for some ideas and I ran across two posts that inspired the card I'm sharing with you today.  First was a post by Heather Nichols about the Cracked Glass Technique.  I really liked how Heather used this technique to create smaller focal images instead of doing a whole square or rectangular area.  Then I saw a post by Joanne Travis on her Sleepy In Seattle blog.  Back on September 6, 2010, Joanne posted a beautiful card that featured the Level 1 Hostess Set Punch Potpourri.  I knew when I saw it that I wanted to do something like this with my stampers at our next stamp camp.  After a weekend of not much of the mojo flowing, things finally turned around Sunday night and I came up with this:

I created four of the hearts, not exactly sure how I'd use them, when I pulled out the Springtime Vintage DSP and realized how similar the flowers in this stamp were to the flowers on the paper.  I know the ribbon is retired, but it IS still available via the SU! Clearance Rack, and if I like it and I still have some, I'm going to use it! 

To create the hearts, I stamped Very Vanilla card stock with Black StazOn ink, then colored with Regal Rose, Rose Red, and Certainly Celery markers.  I then sponged on some Soft Suede to the edges before following Heather's tutorial on the Cracked Glass Technique.  To add the antique look, I rubbed each cracked heart on my Soft Suede classic pad, then rubbed off the excess ink with a paper towel.  I used the spritzing tool with a Soft Suede marker to add some interest to the Soft Suede card stock. 

I think I'm going to experiment with the Pinking Hearts Border Punch and the Rose Red layer on the second version of this - I bet it would look great!  Thanks for stopping by today to visit - hope to see you back real soon!

Blue or Pink? Paper Bag Scrapbooks

I first shared with you the pink version of this project last weekend for the Occasions Mini Blog Hop sponsored by Stampin' Addicts:

 

Well, last weekend I started a blue version, which I finally finished this weekend:

I can see from the pictures that I need to get busy and clean my tile grout!!  Yikes!  Despite that, I hope you enjoyed seeing another version of this fun project.  It would be great as a mini photo album, a coupon album, or for giving someone a series of gift cards for a special gift.  My gals will be making one at our next stamp camp, and I hope they like it!