Paperclip Bookmark

I have my one of my monthly stamp camps tomorrow, so I didn't have time to do much else than finish up the projects for my May newsletter. I am featuring this project in the "Spotlight on a Technique" section of my newsletter.

I bought these paperclips at Wal-Mart (in the office supplies section). The patterned paper was punched out with my scalloped circle punch and layered on to a piece of lightweight chipboard that had also been punched with the scalloped circle punch. I made two of these pieces - one for the front and one for the back.

I wanted to use this paperclip in my copy of the Spring-Summer Collection, so I stamped the "Rubber Stamper" circle from Circle of Friendship on to a piece of Whisper White cardstock. I punched it out with my 1" circle punch and layered it on to punched circles of Certainly Celery and Bashful Blue. The Certainly Celery button is mounted directly on top of the Whisper White cardstock with a glue dot.

To assemble the paperclip, I put a small glob of E600 adhesive (super strong and SUPER smelly) on to the inside of the scalloped circles and sandwiched the paperclip between them! The adhesive takes a little bit of time to fully dry, so you have a bit of play to make sure that the back and the front are lined up.

These little paperclips are relatively easy to create and people love them! Pull out your punches and try them yourself!

No Mojo Today!

I have to be honest...I wasn't feeling all that creative today. I wanted to - I really did. But I just sat there at stared at my cabinet full of stamp sets and absolutely nothing came to mind! Its like being hungry and opening the refrigerator only to find that nothing really tickles your fancy. How frustrating?!?

I decided to pull out another one of Kristina Werner's color combinations. Its Sahara Sand, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, and Pumpkin Pie. I kept the layout pretty simple - the card base is Whisper White with a slightly smaller piece of Sahara Sand layered on top. The patterned paper is from the Jersey Shore collection. The white grosgrain ribbon covers the seam between the two different designs of patterned paper.

Originally the chipboard star was only covered with So Saffron Craft ink...but it was a little to bland, so I added some Chunky Sprinkles glitter. For the sentiment, I spelled out "you are" in Wild Wasabi on Whisper White cardstock. Then, I inked "absolutely fabulous" from the Absolutely Fabulous stamp set with VersaMark and embossed it with white embossing powder. I added a couple of brads in the corners to tie the colors together.

Rock-A-Bye-Baby

By the time August rolls around and our little baby makes her grand entrance, you guys are going to be sick to death of baby cards!! In the meantime, you'll have to bear with me... I'm having to make thank yous left and right and I want to share them with you!

This is another SUPER-easy one that I churned out today. I have a ton of the short open-ended envelopes in my stash, so I decided to put them to good use. The card base is a piece of 3"x12" Pretty in Pink cardstock scored at 6". I punched a piece of scalloped Whisper White cardstock with my Marvy Giga punch. (I sure hope SU! comes out with a scalloped square punch in the next catalog...I have heard rumors of a scalloped border punch!) I used my paper piercer to punch holes in each corner of the scalloped square and attached Pretty in Pink brads.

The star is from the Nursery Necessities stamp set - its stamped in Pretty in Pink on to a scrap piece of Whisper White and then punched out with the large star punch. I mounted the punched star on to the scalloped square with dimensionals and then mounted that on to the front of the card with dimensionals, too.

The card front looked a bit bare, so I added some 5/8" white grosgrain ribbon and a sentiment (rock-a-bye-baby) stamped in Pretty in Pink. And to finish it off, I used my corner rounder punch to round the bottom corners of the front and back of the card.

Cuttlebugged Flower

I was browsing Debbie Olsen's blog and I came across this adorable card...and guess what?!? The flower looks exactly like the one from the crib bedding that we picked out for our baby girl! Pretty cool, huh?? The flower was actually die-cut using a set of Cuttlebug dies called Asterisks. When I saw the card, I thought that it would be perfect for early baby thank you notes!


I was experimenting with two different versions of this card - one using a Kristina Werner color combo (check out her fabulous blog - I'm totally jealous of her talents) and another using a color combination that coordinates with the colors from the bedding.

We'll start with the Kristina Werner color combo card. She listed this combination on her blog and I thought it looked fun and fresh. It combines Groovy Guava, Blush Blossom, So Saffron, and Wild Wasabi. The flower (aka the asterisk) was die cut from a scrap piece of Blush Blossom and attached to the Whisper White panel. Then I stamped the leaf outline from Bud Basics on to a scrap piece of textured Wild Wasabi cardstock and cut them out. The leaves were then attached to the bottom of the Whisper White panel with dimensionals. I pierced a line of holes from the flower to the leaves with my paper piercing tool and a retired Classy Brass template. Next, I punched a hole in the center of the flower and attached a jumbo brad. I matted the Whisper White panel on to a piece of Wild Wasabi cardstock that had been scalloped along the bottom edge. For the sentiment, I used "thanks" from the Make It Count hostess set and stamped it in Groovy Guava. The matted Whisper White panel was layered on to the textured Groovy Guava card front. Add a couple of brads in the upper left hand corner and they tie this card together!

The other version of the card is very similar...but I made a few small changes. First off, I used a color combination that more closely coordinates with the bedding: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery. I also switched up the sentiment on the front of the card. I'm in love with the Define Your Life stamp set (and I got the coordinating alpha with my SAB rewards). So I used the "Gg" from the alphabet set stamped in Pretty in Pink and the coordinating "gratitude" definition stamped directly over it in Regal Rose.

I love the way these cards turned out and I especially love the way they match Aubrey's bedding (Oh, by the way, that's her name! Aubrey!) Now that I have it down, I can churn out these thank you notes in no-time at all!!!

Inspiration Challenge

I've seen all sorts of different blogs that do Inspiration Challenges as a way to spark creativity. Basically, you take some sort of picture, object, advertisement, etc...and incorporate elements of it into a card or scrapbook page. So when I won this SUPER-cute hand towel at Bunco last month, I thought it would be perfect for an Inspiration Challenge here on my blog!

This picture doesn't do the colors any justice! The hand-towel is Soft Sky, the ric rak at the bottom is Certainly Celery, the stitching is Chocolate Chip, and the button flowers are Ruby Red, Cameo Coral, Groovy Guava, and Apricot Appeal.

Now, that is A LOT of color to try and incorporate into a card - especially if you aren't using patterned paper. So when I created my card that was inspired by this hand-towel, I narrowed it down to Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Apricot Appeal, and Ruby Red.

Here's my card (and YES, I stitched every bit of it by hand!!):

The main card front is Soft Sky. The Whisper White panel at the bottom was pierced with the Mat Pack and a piercing tool. Then I went back and hand-stitched the zig-zags with a needle and embroidery floss. I didn't have any ric rak that matched this color scheme, so I tied a piece of Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain ribbon across the center of the panel. Then I glued a strip of scalloped Certainly Celery cardstock to the top of the panel and a thin strip of Apricot Appeal cardstock to the bottom of the panel.

Next, I stamped three different flower images (2 from Bodacious Bouquet and 1 from Big Pieces) on to the card front with my VersaMark pad. I sprinkled white embossing powder over the stamped images and then heated them with the heat tool. After the flowers were embossed, I used my Bodacious Bouquet Classy Brass template to pierce the stems from the center of each flower to the mid-point of the card. Again, I picked up my needle and thread and hand-stitched the stems with dark brown embroidery floss. I used a glue dot to attach buttons to the center of each flower. And last, but not least, I mounted the stitched and matted Whisper White panel on to the front of the card, making sure that it just barely overlapped the bottom of the stitched stems!

This kind of challenge was actually quite fun! You can use all sorts of different elements from the original image...the color combination, layout, embellishments - the possibilities are endless! If you have a spare sec and want to try out this little challenge, send me a link to your card (or e-mail me a pic). I'd love to see what you come up with!!!

Hat Pins

This is another project from the Pretties Kit Stampers 6 workshop. Let me start by saying that using the hat pins is a bit out of my comfort zone. Don't get me wrong - I adore the look, but its hard for me to actually incorporate them into my projects! Since I had to show others how to use them, I figured this was the perfect chance to break the ice with the hat pins.

I think this scroll-like image from Kind Thoughts is gorgeous and I love to pair it with the Tres Chic background stamp! I stamped the scroll image with a Whisper White Craft Pad on to distressed Chocolate Chip cardstock and then embossed with white embossing powder. The Chocolate Chip was then matted on to a piece of distressed Whisper White cardstock. I tied a piece of Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain ribbon around the matted image and then it was time for the hat pin...

First I threaded a couple of beads on to the hat pin. Then I inserted the pin as far as it would go through the knot of the ribbon. I threaded a few more beads on to the pin, flush with the other side of the knot. After the final bead, I threaded the tiny silver spacer-bead on to the pin and compressed it with my craft pliers. To make sure that the beads stay in place, I applied a small amount of Mono Multi glue to the silver spacer-bead and held it in place until the glue dried.

The card front is stamped with the Tres Chic background in Soft Sky. For a little added dimension, I sponged Soft Sky ink around the edges of the card front. To complete the card, mount the matted Chocolate Chip cardstock on to the card front with dimensionals!

See...using the hat pins isn't so bad after all!

Some Fabulous Bling!

Here is another project from the upcoming Stampers 6 workshop, this one featuring the clear rhinestone brads from the Pretties Kit. This card is a 5"x5" Whisper White folded note with a piece of Rose Red polka dotted patterned paper from the Cutie Pie collection mounted along the bottom half. I tied a piece of 5/8" Old Olive grosgrain ribbon across teh front of the card (I love Old Olive and Rose Red together!)

For the main image, I stamped the large flower image from Fabulous Flowers on to the piece of Whisper White cardstock using the Rose Red Classic Stampin' Pad. Then I reinked the image and stamped it two more times on to a piece of scrap cardstock. I carefully cut out two layers of petals from the scrap cardstock. One of the layers is slightly smaller than the main image and the other is basically just the center of the flower. On the smallest layer, I stamped the flower center with my Basic Black classic Stampin' Pad and the attached a clear rhinestone brad in the center of the image. Each layer is mounted on top of the main image with dimensionals.

For the greeting, I stamped "Dare to be Fabulous" in Basic Black along the bottom edge of the Whisper White cardstock. The Whisper White cardstock is matted on to a piece of Old Olive cardstock and then attached to the card front with dimensionals! This is another project that I found while browsing SCS - I thought that it would be perfect for showing off the clear rhinestone brads, so I CASE'd it for our workshop!

Pretties Kit Pearls

Here is another one of the projects from the upcoming Stampers 6 workshop. This 6x6 scrapbook page features the half pearls from the Pretties Kit. The base of the scrapbook page is a 6x6 piece of Cameo Coral cardstock. The patterned paper is from the Ginger Blossom collection which coordinates perfectly with the Embrace Life stamp set.

I stamped the flower image from Embrace Life in Black StazOn and then filled in the petals with a Blender Pen and the Cameo Coral Classic Stampin' Pad. Once the ink was completely dry, I highlighted the little pistons (is that the right name for them??) with my white gel pen and cut out the flower. Once I glued the flower down to the picture mat, I used Mono Multi Adhesive to glue the half pearl to the center of the flower.

I love the Cameo Coral, Basic Black, and Whisper White color combo, so I added a scalloped border of Whisper White along the edge of the patterned paper as well as a Basic Black photo corner on the picture mat. And of course...RIBBON! Basic Black grosgrain ribbon ties it all together!

Carousel Notes Purse

If any of you are regulars on Splitcoast Stampers or blog-stalkers like I am, you may have already come across this fabulous project. I first saw it on JanTink's blog (check her out - she has some FABULOUS stuff!!!) and thought that it would make a perfect stamp camp project! I have modified it slightly from JanTink's original design so it would be more stamp camp friendly. So...this Carousel Notes Purse is what we'll be doing in the May Stamp Camps! Its only one project (we normally do 4-6 projects each month), but it will definitely take the full 2 hours!

This purse-like brag book is made out of Carousel Notes, Afternoon Tea patterned paper, 5/8" Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, 1/4" Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, HodgePodge Hardware, Pewter Build-A-Brads, Scallop Circle Punch, Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad, Groovy Guava Classic Stampin' Pad, Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad, Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad, and the Live Your Dream stamp set. OK, its a lot of supplies and quite a few steps...but I think my gals will really enjoy making this project. And since Mother's Day is in May, you can switch up a couple of the stamps to make it the perfect Mother's Day gift!


This is what the inside of the Carousel Notes Purse looks like:

And some close ups of each of the panels:

There are places for pictures on each of the side panels, areas to journal in the center panel, and pull-outs with even more space! I can't wait to see how each of my stamp campers put there own personal spin and style into the project to come up with completely unique versions of the Carousel Notes Purse!

Coaster Calendar

The theme for the May Stampers 6 meeting is the Pretties Kit - each of the projects that we'll be doing features a different product from the kit. For those that haven't checked out the Pretties Kit yet, its jam-packed full of FABULOUS embellishments. There are various sizes of white, prima-like flowers, hat pins with beads, clear rhinestone brads in three different sizes, and white and ivory half back pearls.

This is the first of our five projects, a coaster calendar. I ordered these little mini calendars some time ago, but this is the first chance that I've had to actually incorporate them into a stamp camp or workshop! Simply cover two 4"x4" coasters with patterned paper (here I used Jersey Shore). Then on the reverse side, cover the coasters with coordinating cardstock (I used Pumpkin Pie). When covering a large piece of chipboard, I use a thin coat of Mod Podge as my adhesive. Once the front and back has been covered, gently sand the edges for a nice, clean finish.

For this project, I used pieces of ribbon to act as hinges between the two coasters. To ensure that the holes were perfectly lined up, I marked the holes with my mat pack and then punched the holes with the Crop-A-Dile. The flower in the upper left corner of the calendar side is the largest of the 5 that come in the Pretties Kit. There is a small hole in the center of each of the flowers - perfectly sized for a brad. But for this project, I wanted a more "funky" flower center. So I stamped on of the flower centers from the Pick A Petal stamp set and punched it out.

I love the way this project turned out - and after the 4 other Stampers 6 projects, my gals will love the Pretties Kit!

Here Comes the Bride

I was so excited about getting my free stamp set that I decided to use it for a shower card for my future sister-in-law. I'm wrapping up the shower gift in an adorable blush and cocoa striped hat box, so I decided to create a card that coordinated with the packaging!

The card front is Blush Blossom cardstock that has been stamped with the Polka Dot background stamp inked with my Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad. I stamped the bride image in Chocolate Chip on to a piece of Whisper White cardstock. I used my corner rounder punch to create the scalloped edge along the bottom edge of the Whisper White and then I matted it with Chocolate Chip.

I absolutely love the taffeta ribbon, but I didn't have any of the Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon on hand. But, I did have white...so I used my Chocolate Chip reinker to dye it. (Don't look too close - there are a couple of little splotchy spots where the ribbon didn't absorb the dye evenly!) I thought the image still needed a little something extra. And since Stampin' Up! doesn't carry Blush Blossom or Chocolate Chip brads, I thought that these little adhesive pearls would be perfect! I think my sister-in-law will love this card and hopefully all of the other guests will ooohh and aahhh too!

She's All That

Mr. Brown made a little stop by my house today and brought me the stamp sets that I earned during Sale-A-Bration - FREE RUBBER, can't beat that!!! One of the sets that I selected is She's All That from the Occasions Mini Catalog. I love this preggy lady and I thought she'd be perfect for thank you notes over the next couple of months. When I mounted my stamps, I trimmed the greeting away from 3 of the images to give me more a little more flexibility in the ways to use the images.

I've been playing around with a couple of different color combos for my thank yous. I thought at first Basic Grey and Basic Black might be a little too gloomy for happy, preggy cards...but I really like those two colors when they're matched up with Regal Rose. So I just went for it!

The Paisley background was stamped on to the Basic Grey card front with my Basic Grey Classic Stampin' Pad. The preggy lady is stamped with my Regal Rose Classic Stampin' Pad on to Whisper White cardstock and then mounted on to Regal Rose cardstock. I layered the matted cardstock on to a piece of Basic Black cardstock and then attached brads for a bit of POP around the image. I really, REALLY wanted to use some ribbon on this card and it was hard not to add it! Instead, I used the Regal Rose cardstock border for a place to stamp my greeting (from the Lots of Thoughts Sale-A-Bration stamp set).

So this card may be a little darker than the average pregnancy thank you, but I really like the way this funky little card turned out!!

Beach on the brain!

The hubby and I decided to spend a week at the beach next month...a baby-moon of sorts. Our last trip as a family of two, because in August we'll have little Aubrey and she makes three!! So with all this talk about going to the beach, I guess I have beach on the brain.

I decided to use my Seaside stamp set with the Sanded background stamp - I thought that combo looked really "beachy" together. I couldn't remember the last time that I used my Pastels, so I pulled them out, dusted them off, and put them to good use! I stamped the conch shell in VersaMark and used the Poppin' Pastels technique to really make the image pop. I distressed the edges of the Whisper White and then matted it with Chocolate Chip.

I used my Crop-A-Dile to set a pewter Jumbo Eyelet in the corner and then tied a piece of the double stitched River Rock grosgrain ribbon through the hole. I couldn't decide on a greeting, so I chose to stamp one of the definitions from the Define Your Life stamp set in the bottom right corner. I just love the simplicity of this card and until I can make it to the beach in May, this seashell will have to do!

Jersey Shore Baby

One of my best friends from high school and college just had a little baby boy last week, so I needed a quick card to drop in the mail! Since it seems like everyone is having boys lately (except for me!!) I went ahead and made a couple of these cards so I could have them on hand when the big day arrives.

Wild Wasabi is my favorite In Color 2008 color and I will miss it dearly when it retires this summer. The Jersey Shore patterned paper features Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, and Brilliant Blue for a variety of fun patterns and designs. I used two of the designs for the background of this card. Then I stamp the elephant from the Wild About You stamp set with Bashful Blue Classic Stampin' Pad and the small little birdie with Wild Wasabi Classic Stampn' Pad. I wanted to accent with a bit of Brilliant Blue, so I matted the main image with Brilliant Blue cardstock and I stamped the "twinkle, twinkle" greeting from Small Sayings with the Brilliant Blue Classic Stampin' Pad.

This layout is one that I CASE'd from Debbie Olsen - check out her stuff on Splitcoast!

Mother's Day Carousel Notes

I have some good news! Hubby and I are now proud customers of Wild Blue Satellite internet. It only took 6 hours for the installer to get us set up, but we are finally up and running! Yay!!! This means I can blog regularly and not have to try and hijack internet service from neighbors, hotels, coffee shops, and work!

Since I was at home all day yesterday babysitting the Wild Blue installer, I was able to get a couple of projects finished. I am totally in love with the Carousel Notes out of the Occasions Mini Catalog - I love the scalloped circles, I love the colors, and I especially love the Chocolate Chip envelopes. I found a layout very similar to this one on Splitcoast. The OP used the greeting that coordinates with this stamp set on her card. When I CASE'd her project, I decided to switch up the greetings a bit. The sample of the left uses the Mother's Day greeting from the All Holidays stamp set and the sample on the right uses one of the definitions from the Define Your Life stamp set. (The "My Dear, Kind, and Wonderful Friend" stamp from the All Holidays stamp set also looks fabulous with the Carousel Notes and this layout - I did a couple of those last week for some friends that were a bit down in the dumps)

I sure hope that a version of the Carousel Notes make the Fall-Winter catalog in July (they'd have to be different colors, since these will retire at the end of June)...in the meantime, I think I'll be stocking up on these!

No project pic today....

Only some big news!! It's A Girl!!! We had the big ultrasound today and its a girl! More importantly, she has 2 arms, 2 legs, all of her organs look good, and she has a strong, healthy heartbeat! Praise God for this little miracle!!!!

Pink Sprinkles

This is another card I CASE’d from Splitcoast Stampers. I searched different cards that used the Chunky Sprinkles glitter (from the Occasions Mini Catalog) and came across one that really caught my eye. It featured Chunky Glitter, chipboard stars, and Berry Bliss patterned paper to create this super cute card!!

I used the Mono Multi glue on the chipboard star and then covered it with the light pink Chunky Sprinkles glitter. Just like the candle flames from yesterday, you really have to allow enough time for the glitter to stick and for the glue to dry. I selected the Berry Bliss patterned paper that had a couple of stars in the design and mounted it on to the Pretty In Pink card front.

After my April Stamp Camps, I wanted to be able to use this as a card for a friend that just recently had a little baby girl, so I chose the “congratulations” greeting from Hugs & Wishes and stamped it on to the card front with my Close to Cocoa Classic Stampin’ Pad. The card front looked a bit plain, so I used my Mat Pack to pierce a border of holes along the bottom, next to the greeting.

Once the glue was completely dry, I layered it on to the card front. For some extra dimension, I punched out stars with the large and small star punches and added them as well. To balance everything out, I attached two brads along the left side of the card. One thing is for sure…the Chunky Sprinkles glitter sure does SPARKLE!!

Cutie Pie Candles

OK – I have to start off my saying that this card is completely CASE’d from one that JanTink (check her out on Splitcoast Stampers) posted not too long ago! In fact, her card is the reason I ordered this stamp set in the first place!!

First I stamped the candle outline from the Big Birthday Candle stamp set on to three different designs of Cutie Pie patterned papers using my Basic Black Classic Stampin’ Pad. Each was carefully trimmed and layered on to a piece of Whisper White cardstock. The flame outline was stamped just above each of the candles and then colored in with a So Saffron Stampin’ Write Marker. After the ink was completely dry, I used my two-way glue pen to apply some glue to the inside of each of the flames and then covered the cardstock with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. (You need to allow a little bit of time to allow the glitter to stick and the glue to completely dry).

I mounted the Whisper White on to So Saffron cardstock and then on to Bashful Blue cardstock. A bit of striped Bashful Blue grosgrain ribbon (love this stuff!!!) was tied around the Bashful Blue cardstock. A small tag was stamped with the “happy birthday” greeting and glued to the card front. Thanks JanTink for the inspiration and the FABULOUS layout!

Big On Spring

This is another set that I just had to have from the Occasions Mini Catalog – Big On Spring. In addition to this BRIDE to be image, there is one for babies (Let the CUTE begin), and one that says LOVE. I had to have the baby one for my own little bundle of joy that’s on the way and the bride image is perfect for my soon-to-be-sister-in-law!

This card is another one from the April Stamp Camps – it features Irridescent Ice embossing powder. I stamped the image on to Whisper White cardstock with my black StazOn pad and then colored the letters with Regal Rose, Almost Amethyst, and Certainly Celery Stampin’ Write Markers. Once the ink was completely dry, I went back over the letters with my VersaMarker and covered the image with the Irridescent Ice embossing powder. Once you heat this powder, it leaves a little bit of sparkle behind. (This card is very similar to one of my Christmas cards from this past year).

Once the image was embossed, I matted it with Almost Amethyst and layered it on to the Regal Rose cardstock that had been stamped with the Paisley background stamp. The Regal Rose cardstock is layered on to a Whisper White card front. You didn’t think I’d do a card without ribbon did you??? Of course not! That’s Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon topping it all off!

Sparkling Spring Projects

The theme for the April Stamp Camps is Sparkling Spring – we’ll be using all of Stampin’ Up!’s glitters to add a little bling to our projects. We’ll use the new Cosmo Glitter, Chunky Sprinkles, Dazzling Diamonds, and Irridescent Ice. This is the first of the 4 projects – it uses the light green super-fine Cosmo Glitter. This stuff is FABULOUS!!

I paired the glitter with the Wild Wasabi pre-cut/pre-scored cardstock promotion and the new Sticky Cuts letters. The Sticky Cuts letters are made from the same type adhesive as the red sticky strip. Just like the roll of sticky strip, these letters are SUPER sticky so you have to be very careful when you place them on your cardstock. Once they stick, they’re stuck! I put the sticky letter “h” on to the Whisper White cardstock and then removed the protective red covering to expose the sticky side and then covered it with the light green Cosmo glitter. The Whisper White is matted with Brilliant Blue and then mounted over the Jersey Shore patterned paper.

It seems like I can’t get enough of the scalloped edges lately, so I used the corner rounder punch to create a scalloped edge along the small flap on the card front. I used the Happy Everything stamp set to stamp “happy” on the front flap and then “birthday” on the inside of the card. Throw in a little Pumpkin grosgrain ribbon and the card is complete!

Here’s a little tip – to remove and excess glitter from the cardstock (or your craft table), gently rub the area with a Swiffer cloth! Works like a charm!!

A New Old Faithful

I think my new “old faithful” stamp set is Embrace Life. An “old faithful” stamp set is one that you can pull out and use when you’re in a bind and have to pull together a card super-quick. It really lends itself to a variety of occasions and color combinations. What’s even better is it’s a flower set that’s suitable for masculine cards too!

This is a card that I presented at a recent home workshop. The Canvas background stamp was inked with my Mellow Moss Classic Stampin’ Pad and then stamped on to the card front. The fern image was stamped on to the Whisper White cardstock using my Black StazOn pad and then colored with my Mellow Moss Stampin’ Write Marker. It was matted on to Basic Black cardstock and then accented with two Mellow Moss eyelets. The “embrace life” greeting was stamped on to a piece of scrap paper and then punched out with my Key Tag Punch. Since I’m a self-proclaimed ribbon junkie, of course I had to add some Black grosgrain before I finished this project!

Rub Ons

My Stampers 7 Club met last month and we worked on incorporating Rub Ons into our projects. In addition to using the rub-ons on cardstock, we also used them on plastic storage containers, ceramic eggs (for Easter), and even candles! To those that haven’t used rub-ons before, you may not be too sure what to do with them…but once you get the hang of it – they can really add some WOW to your projects!

I had some extra materials left over from my Stampers 7 workshop and I earned a few extra packs of the Sale A Bration set of rub ons, so I decided to use up the materials to stock up on some cards! Each card uses the same basic layout, but by switching up the rub-ons I was able to create 5 distinctly different looks!

Sale A Bration is over, but Stampin' Up! still has a fabulous assortment of rub ons in the Spring-Summer Collection and in the Occasions Mini Catalog!

Scalloped Happiness

During my stint in the recliner, I scoured through my computer files looking through projects from Splitcoast and member blogs just itching to get back down in my craft room. I came across this one card (I honestly cannot remember where I saw it – but it’s definitely CASE’d) that had scalloped edges. The gal that posted the original project had the patience to cut out the scallops by hand. I have neither the steady hand or the patience to cut out the scallops, so I decided to mimic the look by pulling out some retired die cut pieces.

The scalloped Confetti White rectangle was from a set of petal notes available in a past catalog. The rose from Embrace Life and “happiness” from Warm Words was stamped with my Timber Brown StazOn pad. The rose was then watercolored with an AquaPainter and my Pretty In Pink and Certainly Celery Classic Stampin’ Pads. The scalloped rectangle is mounted on to a piece of Pretty In Pink cardstock. No card is complete without ribbon, right? Right! So I tied some Chocolate Chip 5/8” grosgrain ribbon around the matted cardstock before I layered it on to the Chocolate Chip card front. Although I really prefer the cute-ness factor of the scalloped card, I think my quickie version turned out pretty cute too!

Last of the March projects...

Here’s the last of my projects from the March Stamp Camp. This one features the jumbo wheel Its Beautiful. To make it look like the image is continuous over the Wild Wasabi, Blue Bayou, and Pumpkin Pie cardstock, I laid the pieces of cardstock end to end and wheeled the image over all three pieces at once. I inked the wheel with my Whisper White Craft Pad and then embossed each of the pieces with white embossing powder. Each piece is mounted on to the Soft Sky cardstock. The striped Wild Wasabi ribbon was tied around the Soft Sky cardstock before it was mounted on to the Wild Wasabi card front. You can’t see it all that well in this picture, I stamped a greeting from Absolutely Fabulous (another one of my faves!!!) on the card front using my Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin’ Pad. This layout was CASE’d from a previous edition of Stampin’ Success (I think that’s where it came from…) and the color combo was inspired by the Hostess Simply Scrappin’ kit from the Fall-Winter Collection.

By the way, Stampin' Up! is running a Free Wheeling promotion right now! If you order one of the pre-selected stamp sets, you get the coordinating wheel FREE!!! E-mail me for more info!

Another new family member!

Not only will my family enjoy the addition of our little one this summer, but we will also gain another family member…my little brother is getting married in June! I know – lots of excitement crammed into a couple of months!!! When I was coming up with projects for the Rock & Roll stamp camp I wanted to make sure that I designed a card that I could use for one of the upcoming showers.

I love the stamp set Wonderful Favorites – its very versatile!! You can customize the perfect greeting for any person and every occasion! The flower & leaf images were wheeled using the Stems & Silhouettes jumbo wheel inked with my Basic Brown Classic Stampin’ Pad. Then I filled in the images by watercoloring them with my River Rock Classic Stampin’ Pad and an AquaPainter. The Naturals Ivory cardstock has a ¼” border of torn Close to Cocoa. “Wonderful” is stamped with my Basic Brown Classic Stampin’ Pad and “to a” and “couple” was stamped with my River Rock Classic Stampin’ Pad. Add a piece of double stitched River Rock grosgrain ribbon attached with a brad and the card is complete!