January Stamp Camp

Earlier this month, I went to my friend Erin's for her monthly stamp camp.  My upline, Jeanne, does a monthly stamp camp at Erin's and I really loved the cards Jeanne created using the 'A Happy Heart' stamp set (with some inspiration from other stampers).

I wanted to do the same cards at my stamp camp the end of the month, but Jeanne used some retired products that I don't have, so I needed to create some samples with current product.  Here's what I came up with.

The bride specialty card is the same as the one I made at Erin's.

 The blue card is nearly the same.  I particularly loved this one!  I added a Bermuda Bay layer on the back of the card to frame it a bit more.  The Brilliant Blue behind the main image was stamped with the dandelion hearts stamp (Jeanne's was plain blue).  The strip of Bermuda Bay behind the main image (with the brads) was originally supposed to be spritzed and crinkled up before laying it flat to dry.  The right edge was supposed to be a torn edge, but that's out of my comfort zone, so I left it a plain strip of paper.  I just wish it would lie down better.  I'll try some sticky strip at my stamp camp to see if that gets us a better result.

The tic-tac-toe card used retired DSP, so I needed to change it out as I didn't have the same in my stash.  I decided to use the Sending Love Specialty DSP and changed the whites to vanilla.

The last card also uses Sending Love Specialty DSP as Jeanne's card used retired DSP.  I really like how it turned out.  I have some extra Chocolate Chip square envelopes from those old Carousel Notes SU! used to sell, so I'm going to use those to go with the card - it's a perfect fit with the extra bulk of the card.

In addition to the four cards we're making, my stampers will have the option of making the candy tote I made for our team's swap next week (see previous post).  Can't wait until Friday to have some stampin' fun with my stampers from work!

Sparkles Spoiler Alert!!

Just a heads up to anyone who is on Jeanne's Sparkles team - this post includes a picture of my swap for our meeting at the end of the month.  If you don't want to see it ahead of time, surf away now!  :)

Now, for those of you still here - I found this cute project two weekends ago on a visit to Andrea Walford's blog.  I ordered the bottles to go inside (4 ounce size) and they arrived today (finally - it took 8 days!).  Andrea purchased the aluminum lid bottles, but they were more expensive, so I opted for a set of black lids and another set of white lids with the 48 bottles I ordered.  After making one the size of Andrea's while waiting for the bottles to arrive, I got the idea of cutting the project down to use just two bottles, so I cut her dimensions down by 1/3 with the hopes that the bottles would still fit just fine when they arrived.  I made my eight swaps last night and was so happy when I placed the two bottles inside today and it was a perfect fit!

Here are the particulars for my scaled down version:

Carrier/Box instructions:

1.  Cut 2 pieces of Real Red card stock, cut 5 x 8 5/8 inches.
2.  Score both at 1 1/2, 2 3/8, and 6 7/8 inches.  Fold inwards along the 2 3/8 and 6 7/8 inch score lines, folding outwards along the 1 1/2 inch score line.
3.  Add 2 rows of sticky strip along what will be the bottom of the carrier/box (on one piece of the card stock only) and adhere the bottoms of each piece together.
4.  Line up the top edges and punch through both thicknesses with the large oval punch to create the handle.
5.  Cut a 1 3/4 by 8 1/2 inch piece of Real Red card stock to hold the bottles inside.
6.  Score at 1 inch and 2 5/8 inches from both ends.
7.  Use a border punch such as the new Scallop Trim Border on one edge.
8.  Add some designer series paper to the center panel of the band - 7/8 by 3 1/8 inches.
9.  Add 2 rows of sticky strip along the 1 inch ends of the card stock.
10.  Measure up from the bottom of the box, 3 inches, and place the band just to the inside edges of the back of the carrier/box.
I used the Holiday Best Valentine stamp and the wide oval punch to finish off the band.

To decorate the outside, I used several products from Stampin' Up!'s new Occasions Mini catalog - the With All My Heart stamp set, the Extra Large Fancy Flower punch, and Sending Love Specialty paper, a large rhinestone brad (on some I used the clear, others I used a pink or red from the Fire Circle Rhinestone brads), some 2-way glue and Dazzling Diamonds glitter, along with Very Vanilla card stock and 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon, and Regal Rose card stock with one edge punched with the Scallop Trim Border (from the Sale-A-Bration catalog).

Here it is:

It's been a rainy day and I had to once again photograph under poor lighting conditions - but I hope you get the idea!  I hope the gals like my swap.  We had to make a card or other project using something from the new Occasions Mini and I didn't want to make just a card.

Valentine's Treats

Had a great time at my stamp camp last Friday! I had 11 stampers making Valentine's cards with me (thank you, Holly, for bringing your crew!). I ended up with some extra cards, so this week I've been putting some together to sell at work (I've sold 7 so far!).

I haven't used my Top Note die yet, so tonight I decided to make a treat with it for the gals at work. I used Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, and Riding Hood Red card stock with Chocolate Chip and Riding Hood Red ink. The hearts are from Love You Much, punched out with the Heart to Heart punch. The sentiment is from Yummy, a set you can get for free with a $50 Stampin' Up! order during February and March. A quick project to thank the gals for joining me last week! The Top Note die worked great using my Cuttlebug. I'll probably get a Big Shot eventually, but my Cuttlebug does just fine, so it's hard to justify the expense of a new die cutting machine for now.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!

Window Valentine

On Sunday at my upline's team meeting, we continued our technique swap. I still needed one more card for my stamp camp on Friday, and although I had some ideas, when I made Jeanne's swap card, it fit the bill! I ended up making a slight modification to it and decided not to do it as a Secret Surprise card, but you can see the technique on her blog, here. I decided to keep the window and put another scallop circle on the inside to peek through. I'm excited about Friday. I typically have 6 to 8 at my stamp camps after work, but this time we're up to 13! Yay!! The more, the merrier! And just in time for Sale-A-Bration for those who want to place a $50 or more order! Double Yay!! It's been a long week thus far, so having stamp camp to look forward to will get me through it. Have a great day, and as always, thanks for popping on by today!

Lots of Hearts

Last weekend at my friend Erin's stamp camp, we made a card basically identical to this one. I didn't have the same DSP, so I used a strip of Really Red and embossed in white with the So Swirly wheel. The large red heart disappeared against the red background, so I matted it on the Pink Pirouette and it works much better. This is one of the cards we'll be making at my stamp camp on Friday. Only one more card to design, and I'll be ready for Friday!!

Tree Full of Hearts

Last week I was looking through the SCS galleries for some ideas to use for my Valentine's stamp camp next Friday. I came upon Tessa Wise's post and visited her blog where she had posted this beautiful card using the Season of Friendship set (one of my all-time faves). I didn't want to copy everything, so I did add a few of my own twists on it. My little one thought it was beautiful, and we both wondered how it would look with some glitter on the hearts. Glitter added - she loved it! So, this is one of the four cards we'll be making on Friday. I used Pretty in Pink for the card base, stamping the swirl from Priceless in Pretty in Pink along the edges. I stamped the tree in Close to Cocoa on Whisper White with Old Olive leaves (stamped off several times). The hearts are from Love You Much, stamped on Pretty in Pink card stock with the same color ink as well as on Regal Rose card stock with the same color ink, and punched out with the Heart to Heart punch. Dazzling Diamonds glitter was added to the stamped part of the hearts with a 2 way glue pen. I used the smaller photo corner punch in Old Olive with a Pretty in Pink brad. The sentiment is from All Holidays, stamped in Regal Rose and punched out with the large oval punch. Two Regal Rose large ovals frame the sentiment, and it's all popped up with two dimensionals. The tree is double matted, first on Regal Rose that was stamped along the edges in Regal Rose with Itty Bitty Backgrounds, then matted again on Rose Red.

Sliding Pop-Up Card

While cruising around the gallery at Splitcoast earlier today, I ran across a tutorial by Diane Zechman (aka cookiestamper) for a sliding pop-up card. I'd seen this type of card posted before, but had never tried one myself - that is, until tonight! I had just finished the trifold card in the post below, and since I was looking for ideas for my Valentine's swap that's coming up, I kept Happy Heart Day out and played with that cute elephant. I stamped him in Jet Black StazOn ink first, then again on a post-it so I could create a mask. I grabbed my handy-dandy cloud template and some Brocade Blue ink (actually, it's a Bashful Blue pad that I accidentally reinked with Brocade Blue - oops!) and I sponged in some clouds. I then covered up the sky and sponged in the grass with Garden Green. Being too lazy to watercolor, I used the other part of the post-it that I had cut out my elephant mask from, and sponged in the elephant using Going Gray. I used my Going Gray marker to darken his toenails, as well as Garden Green and Rose Red markers for the heart flowers. The heart on the end of his trunk was stamped on Rose Red, cut out, and glued into place. I took the Happy Heart Day sentiment off of the cute mouse stamp for this set and punched it out using my Word Window punch. For the pull tab, I tried several things, finally settling on Craft White and Detail White embossing powder on Rose Red, punching it out with the round tab punch. I stamped the cute heart flower in Craft White all over the Rose Red card base, topping it off with some Rose ribbon. I really like how this one turned out (so did my hubby), so this one will probably be the one I make more of for our swap (usually only about seven of us participate, so it shouldn't be too bad to make that many). The color balance is off a bit in my images, but I hope you get the idea! Thanks for looking!

Trifold Card

I've wanted to make one of these cute trifolds ever since seeing Beate Johns' tutorial for them on Splitcoast Stampers. Tonight I finally had the chance to do one myself. For some reason, I was thinking they were much larger than it ended up being, but then again, you can always size it up.

I chose to use Happy Heart Day as I hadn't yet played with it, and since our stamping group is doing a Valentine's card swap at the end of the month, I thought I'd better get to work on creating my swaps! This was my first idea for my swaps, but I ended up doing two cards tonight, and I like the second one better. More on that one in a bit...

I used Rose Red cardstock for the base, accented by Regal Rose and the new Bali Breezes Designer Series Paper. I had some Rose ribbon, which worked perfectly with my color scheme. I stamped the images with Jet Black StazOn, then watercolored with an AquaPainter by squeezing a little ink onto the lid of my Rose Red, Regal Rose, and Basic Gray classic stamp pads. Boy, am I out of practice! To finish off the image, I grabbed my Spring Bouquet Punch and a small pink ice brad. A fun little project, and I imagine I'll be making more in the future.