Unfrogettable Stamping!

August 2011 monthly stamp-a-stack cards

Wow, the wind is howling outside!  But thankfully since we're about 4 hours from the coast we aren't going to feel the effects of Hurricane Irene as badly as other parts of Virginia today.  I pray for the safety of those in her path!!  This past Thursday night I held my monthly stamp-a-stack class and pictured above is one of the cards everyone got to make.  It is a CASE of one I saw on my friend Jen Sannes' blog.  I absolutely love her clean and simple style... I did change the colors to a brighter palette (calypso coral, poppy parade and whisper white) based on the piece of the Berry Blossoms DSP used (aren't these strawberries so cute?!).  The flower is from the Button Buddies stamp set and works perfectly with the 1-3/8" scallop circle punch - how great is that?!  I wanted to feature the hostess set Swirls and Curls Verses from the Summer Mini catalog one last time before it is gone at the end of the month... I think this set is so cute!  I embellished the card with a piece of the calypso coral ruffled ribbon... if you don't have any of these yet, buy one because they are so beautiful and add so much texture and interest to a card.  Don't forget that you only have a few days left to take advantage of the "buy 3, get 1 free" designer paper sale!!  I took advantage of it and stocked up on some Berry Blossom paper!!

This next card is a CASE of one I saw at the Charlotte Regional last weekend... I did not get this card but took a photograph of it so do not know who designed it to give credit.  If it is yours or you recognize it and know who made it please let me know!!  The swap card had a different sentiment... I decided to feature the Strength & Hope stamp set because it is going away at the end of this month when the Summer Mini catalog ends.  The color palette used is from the Color Coach and is a dynamic duo - great for monochromatic cards:  wisteria wonder, elegant eggplant and whisper white.  Don't forget that Stampin' Up! will donate $2 from the sale of each of these stamp sets to the Breast Cancer Research Fund.  For more ideas, check out the projects from my Stamping Out Breast Cancer stamp camp a few months ago and other samples here.

This card is another CASE of a card that my downline Delores got - again, I did not get it so took a photo of it.  If it is yours, please let me know... I love it!!  I started offering one Christmas card at my stamp-a-stacks last month and will continue to do so through November so that my stampers can get a nice variety of Christmas cards to send out in December.  It's never too early to start working on them!!  This card features the fun color palette of blushing bride and baja breeze.  The two stamp sets are Serene Snowflakes and Snow Much Fun.  The focal embellishment is one of the tags from the Big Shot Two Tags bigz die.  I love that there is very little coloring on this card but it still makes such a big impact!

I wanted to feature a Summer Mini catalog set and decided to use the On the Grow stamps because I love watercoloring!  I had seen some samples by Lisa Young and thought her idea to keep the flowers white by coloring around the image with sahara sand was brilliant!  The First Edition specialty DSP works great with crumb cake, too!!  I have to say that using water color paper along with an aqua painter is so much fun!!

The final card of the evening was a sneak peek of upcoming Holiday Mini catalog items... I really liked the swap card I made for the Charlotte Regional so that is the card everyone made.  The Gently Falling stamp set and coordinating Spice Cake DSP were ones I got for FREE from Stampin' Up!, so cool!  I also got to show my stampers how to use the color spritzer tool... it is so much fun!

If you would like to attend my stamp-a-stack next month, please contact me to get your spot reserved!  Thanks for stopping by - stay safe and dry this weekend if you live on the east coast!  I'll be keeping you in my prayers.

Playful Polka Dots Simply Scrappin' Class

Have you seen the Playful Polka Dots Simply Scrappin' kit in the Summer Mini?  I love it!  I held a class last week and everyone who came received half of a kit along with a supply kit that included envelopes, ribbon, rings and thick window sheet pieces to create the cover and back of the mini scrapbook album.  The scallop square bigz die made it really easy to create multiple pages for the album at a time using the Big Shot.  With so many DSP and card stock pieces left over along with matching self-adhesive die-cuts it was easy to create a set of four cards in no time. 

Here are some more photos of a few of the pages I created for my book.  I love that the Fabulous Florets stamp set and coordinating Flower Garden textured impressions folder work so well with this Simply Scrappin' kit!

If you love this Simply Scrappin' Kit as much as I do, be sure and order it before it is gone - you have until August 31st to order from the Summer Mini catalog!! 

Playful Polka Dots Simply Scrappin' Kit - item #122346, $21.95

If you missed the class and are interested in purchasing a class kit and instructions, please contact me for details.

August 2011 Scrapbook Club meeting

My new Scrapbook Club met for the first time last night and they each got to make two single page 12" x 12" scrapbook pages.  The page above features the awesome "Nautical Expedition" suite in the Summer Mini catalog (ending this month - get these while you can!!!).  I just LOVE this Open Sea stamp set and matching DSP - did you know that it is part of the "buy 3, get 1 free" promotion this month?!  The colors I used include crumb cake, cherry cobbler, early espresso, whisper white and not quite navy - this is a layout I have used in the past and I think it is so versatile - all of the boxes are 3-1/2" square.

The scallop envelope die for the Big Shot makes a great pocket for a journaling tag, don't you think?  And the sailing ship fit perfectly on the front, too.

Here are some more close-ups - I got the inspiration for this page from a swap card that my downline member Angie Kinzie submitted back in June for our masculine swap (see it here).  She figured out that the sentiment "You mean the world 2 me" from the Word Play stamp set fit perfectly in the globe image from this stamp set and that you could punch it out with the 2-3/8" scallop circle punch.  So clever!  I also CASE'd her collage, changing the blue to not quite navy to match the DSP.  The "FAMILY" letters were cut out using my Big Shot and the Billboard decorative strip die and glued on with a 2-way glue pen, excellent for those smaller pieces.  Check out the texture behind the globe on the crumb cake card stock - it was created with the Big Shot and the new Houndstooth impressions folder... love it!

 

The second layout for the evening was this one that I created for Fabulous Friday last week - you will find all of the details in that post here.

I still have one opening in my Card of the Month club which begins meeting next month... if you are local to the Lynchburg, VA area and would like more details on joining, please contact me ASAP.

Thanks for visiting me today - have a great day!!

July 2011 Demonstrator of the Month - part 2

I hope you had a chance to read all about my Demonstrator of the month, Sherri Gough, in yesterday's post... if you missed it, here is a link.  Today I'll be sharing three beautiful cards she created that feature our versatile Designer Series Paper stacks in last year's In Colors.  Isn't it fabulous that Stampin' Up! decided to carry over the In Colors for two years?!  The card above features concord crush and pear pizzazz with whisper white and the new Precious Butterflies exclusive hostess stamp set along with the Beautiful Butterflies embosslit for the Big Shot.  I love how she embellished with the pearls - aren't they a must-have accessory?!

 

This next card features the Pretty Postage stamp set found in both our current Summer Mini catalog and the new Idea Book & Catalog - hurray that we're going to have this set for at least a full year - along with the scallop square punch  This clean and simple layout could be used with so many different stamps.

Last up is this fun flower card featuring the triple layer blossom bouquet punch found in the Summer Mini catalog as well as our Idea Book & Catalog.  The stamp set used is Bold Blossom from the Summer Mini catalog.

Thanks so much, Sherri, for contributing your projects this month!  If you are inspired by Sherri's designs, please leave her positive feedback by posting a comment.  She could use the nudge to get her to start posting on her own blog again!!

I'll be posting my stamp-a-stack cards from last night's class tomorrow so be sure and come back. Have a wonderful day - thanks for stopping by!

New Lace Ribbon Border Punch is FABULOUS!!!

Wooooo hooooo!  The new Idea Book & Catalog debuted TODAY!  Do you have your copy?  I gave away a bunch the other night to my Hostesses from this past catalog year at my Hostess Appreciation event and have more to give away... so book a party or join a club and you can get one for FREE, too!  One awesome new punch that we have this year is the lace ribbon border punch and that is the product focus on the Sisters in Stamping blog this week.  I decided to create a 12" x 12" scrapbook page - I haven't done one in a while and thought I should brush up on my scrapbooking since I have a new club starting next month.  This page was inspired by a card I designed for my Hostess Appreciation event (will be sharing that with you tomorrow!).  I used the color combination of basic gray, melon mambo, whisper white and pretty in pink along with the new Delicate Doilies stamp set (loooove it!). 

The border between the title and the page is created using this fun new punch and I embellished it with the outer rings from the triple layer blossom bouquet punch found in the Summer mini - isn't it cool how it works with this punch?  I also used my rhinestones to jazz up the page - now I just have to snap a photo of my girls to drop onto the page.  The title was created using the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet with my Big Shot and then after cutting the letters out I added texture by running them back through the Big Shot using the Square Lattice impressions folder.

 

These flower embellishments were created using the triple layer blossom bouquet punch also along with more rhinestones.  Punches and the Big Shot make scrapbooking a breeze!  Thanks for stopping by today.. be sure and visit the Sisters in Stamping blog to see what other great ideas there are for using the new lace ribbon border punch!

End-of-Year gifts for teachers

 

 

My kids' last day of school was Wednesday, June 8th, and we bought gift cards for them all to show our appreciation.  This is the card we packaged them in... it is a CASE of a layout from Julia Miller's swap card from last month (see here for that post).  My daughter Kelsey (my future Stampin' Up! demonstrator) and her BFF Maddie chose the card from my display board and then they chose the colors (opting to go with retired Bold Brights favorites of lovely lilac DSP, green galore, yoyo yellow and pink passion).  They had fun using the new triple-layer Blossom Bouquet punch to create the flower embellishment.  Maddie and her Mom, Gerin (a friend and member of my downline), came over on the night before the last day of school to create these. 

Here is a photo I took of the girls at school earlier that day after their talent show performance - they both adore their Social Studies teacher Mr. Griffis so I made him a card with My Digital Studio.  Since it was last-minute and my color printer is out of ink I uploaded it to Walgreen's and printed it out as a true digital print (4" x 5.3") - the size was almost perfect as a cardfront for a turquoise card stock base... I just had to trim 1/8" off one side of the photo.  I learned this great idea from Christie Daugherty on the Alaska cruise - thanks for sharing the tip, Christie!  Mr. Griffis loves to chew Orbit gum so we were sure to give him several packs along with his gift card to Barnes & Noble.

If you saw my birthday card post several days ago,  you might remember that Kelsey made me a duct tape card... Kelsey and Maddie are really crazy about duct tape!!  For their English teacher Ms. Trotter (whom they danced with to a Beyonce song for the talent show), they wanted to create something for her that would hold her Kool-Aid singles packs (they say she LOVES them!) along with her Barnes & Noble gift card.  I found a glass votive holder in my stamping stash of alterables from the $ store and this is what they created using the Fun Flowers bigz L die with the Big Shot... how fun!  I cut out pieces of scrap whisper white card stock that they attached the colored duct tape to and then ran through the Big Shot.  The flower is held together with a clear rhinestone brad attached using sticky strip to the glass.

Didn't the girls do a great job?  It just goes to show that with a little imagination, you can use the Big Shot with non-paper items to create a one-of-a-kind gift for that special someone!!

June 2011 Downline Swaps, part 1

For our monthly June swap with  my downline, the theme was "Masculine Cards" in honor of Father's Day, although the cards certainly did not have to be Father's Day cards.  We decided to try a new size for our swaps - 4" x 5-1/4"... that way those of us who are business builders or want the card for inspiration can add a quarter sheet of coordinating card stock to the back for our display boards and those who would rather use their swaps to give away can add a full card base.

I decided to use the Uncharted Territory stamp set lighthouse image for my card (see above) - I wanted to do a sunset scene with stampin' sponges and ink... something I haven't done in a while.  I used jet black StazOn ink to stamp the image on naturals ivory card stock and then created a mask and used so saffron, peach parfait and poppy parade inks for the sunset effect.  I then used an aqua painter with crumb cake and not quite navy inks to watercolor the cliff and water.  The panel is matted with a piece of early espresso card stock and placed on a crumb cake piece and the card base is early espresso.  I embellished the card with a strip of poppy parade DSP from the In Color stack and white/espresso baker's twine - not too feminine, right?!

This card was designed by first-time swapper Angie Kinzie... she has been a demonstrator in my third level just since November.  Didn't she do a fabulous job?  She created her own DSP using different elements from The Open Sea stamp set from the Summer Mini to create the collaged effect.  And I love how she combined the globe image from that set with the sentiment from Word Play!  Great job, Angie!!!

Jennifer Rawlings created this great card featuring the Totally Tool set and birthday sentiment from the Hostess level 1 Afterthoughts set.  Do you recognize the black strip?  It's electrical tape - how clever!  I'm so sad that the jumbo eyelets are retiring because they are a great embellishment for a masculine card.  Nice job, Jennifer!

Tomorrow I'll be sharing the remainder of the swaps... be sure and check back!

Birthday thanks...

I arrived home from our Stampin' Up! Alaska cruise on Saturday, May 28th and celebrated my birthday two days later.  I received some wonderful hand-stamped cards from my downline and family and wanted to share them with you... I so appreciated receiving these cards!!!  I have really tried to make an effort to mail out more cards this year because I know how wonderful it feels to get one - like a hug in the mail!!!

Here are the cards from my family - my oldest daughter Amanda created the one on top with the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set.  She did a great job using the Big Shot, the oval punch and lots of dazzling diamonds!  My son Brandon made the cupcake card using our great punch and my husband Joe even pulled out the Big Shot to make the bottom card!

My younger daughter Kelsey had to be different... she is really into colored duct tape and created this fun card.  Check out the back... she has her own "hand-stamped by Kelsey" stamp but in this case she wrote "hand taped" - too funny!

This is the card that my Seattle buddy Sarah Eller made for me.  She was so sweet - we left the cruise ship early on Friday morning but our flight home wasn't until 10 o'clock at night... Sarah came and picked us up down at the Pier and then took us back to her house to hang out.  She found out that I LOVE coconut cream pie and picked up this super-fabulous coconut cream tart at Dahlia's Bakery in downtown Seattle (many thanks to my sister Cindy who told Sarah that I love it).  Y-U-M!!!!

Speaking of Cindy, here is the fun card she sent to me - it was featured on her blog here.  I love it!

This gorgeous card was sent to me by Michelle Arthur and details are on her blog here.  I love this Lap of Luxury DSP and sure will miss it!

Sherri Gough sent me this birthday card featuring one of my very favorite stamp sets - Cheep Talk.  I am soooo sad that it is retiring!!

 

This is the card I received from Heather Palm - I love how she used a Versamarker and the new colored embossing powder from the Summer Mini to "frost" the cakes!

And this last card was created by Gaylyn Pantana.  She also gave me this beautiful Hydrangea arrangement that she picked from her garden and it was the inspiration for all the stamped tags, card, altered notepad and large fork (for bigger fork bows - woo hooo).  Thanks, Gaylyn - I loved my gifts!!!  Gaylyn and I share the same birthday - isn't that great?!

I am so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life - thank you for making me feel special on my birthday!

Fabulous Triple Layer Punches

If you've had a chance to look through the new Stampin' Up! Summer Mini catalog you will surely have noticed the brand new Triple Layer punches found on page 6... they are so cool!  This week on the Sisters in Stamping blog we are featuring these wonderful new tools.  Earlier I shared one of my Summer Mini swap samples that used the Blossom Bouquet triple layer punch - see it here. 

For my card today I decided to feature the Doily triple layer punch and create a fun dimensional flower.

This is an idea I saw somewhere but for the life of me I can't remember where... so if you first created this flower idea, let me know so I can give you credit. 

They are really easy to make, too... just start by pushing the slide on the punch all the way to the right so you can cut out the full doily.  You will want at least 3 to create your flower.  Stack them on top of each other and put a brad through the hole in the center to hold your layers together.  Starting with the top layer, scrunch the card stock carefully (so it doesn't tear) and then do the same for the middle and bottom layers.  Once it is looking the way you want, add 2 stampin' dimensionals on the back and use it to embellish a card or scrapbook page.

Easy-peasey, right?  For more inspiring projects featuring these great new punches, please be sure and visit the Sisters in Stamping blog later today.

Thanks for visiting my blog today!  I'm so excited to be boarding the cruise to Alaska in a few hours... yippeee!  Have a wonderful weekend!!!

May 2011 stamp-a-stack cards

I held my monthly stamp-a-stack for May last week - it was a few weeks early due to my being gone at the end of the month on the Stampin' Up! cruise to Alaska (thank you, Stampin' Up!!).  I featured many of the fantastic products in the Summer Mini catalog.

Here is the first card featuring the Flower fest stamp set... it is a CASE of a card that my Sisters in Stamping design team friend Karla Anders contributed to Fabulous Friday a few weeks ago.  I really love this technique that Karla shared and the colors are so fun!  The "hello" image is from the fun new Swirls & Curls Verses exclusive hostess level 1 stamp set - earn it for FREE with a $150 workshop or single order!!

This is a card I designed to be for Father's Day or a masculine birthday card.  I assumed most of my stampers didn't need four Father's Day cards!!   The ship and compass images are from the Open Sea stamp set and the DSP is from the coordinating Nautical Expedition pack.  Check out the early espresso/white baker's twine... I love this twine!  The shadow block image with the ship is a clear block "D" inked with Sahara Sand ink and stamped on the whisper white card stock.  Cool, huh?!

Simple Friendship is a stamp set I've had since they gave it to us at Founder's Circle a few years ago and I just love it.  Guess what?!  It's on sale 30% off this month as part of the Scrapbooking sale.  The rock-n-roll technique was used to get the two-tone effect with baja breeze and not quite navy inks.... start by inking a solid image stamp with a light color ink, then roll the edges of it on a darker ink pad.  Be sure if you're stamping multiple times that you stamp off each time before re-inking in the lighter color!

This is the fourth card - it features the Flower Garden impressions folder in the Summer Mini.  A piece of whisper white card stock was run through the Big Shot with this folder and then ink was added to the different embossed parts using sponge daubers.  The sentiment is from the Short & Sweet stamp set.

Lots of all-occasion cards this month... I always like to put out several different sentiment stamp sets so my stampers can customize their cards for their upcoming needs.  My favorites include Sincere Salutations and Teeny Tiny Wishes - you can't go wrong with either one of these great stamp sets!!

Thanks for stopping by today... check back tomorrow for Fabulous Friday!!!