Unfrogettable Stamping!

Fabulously Inspired by Nature

  This week on the Sisters in Stamping blog we are featuring our favorite retiring stamp sets for our Fabulous Friday projects.  I wanted to use my favorite Inspired by Nature set for my card... this card was inspired by the insert for the Simply Adorned charm that I CASE'd for my Diva Day last week (see that post here). 

  To create the sunset I made a mask by punching a 1-3/8" circle out of a Post-It note and stuck it on a piece of naturals white card stock and then used real red, pumpkin pie and daffodil delight to sponge the background.  After removing the mask I used jet black StazOn ink with both large images for the silhouette.  I then used the direct-to-paper technique and edged the whole piece with the black ink.  Pretty easy, just messy!!  The butterfly was cut out with the Big Shot using the Beautiful Butterflies die and embossed with the retiring Finial Press impressions folder.  I finished the card off with a knot of retiring 1/4" whisper white grosgrain ribbon and attached it to a base card of basic black.

  Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you hop on over to the Sisters in Stamping blog after Noon to get even more inspiration with our retiring stamp sets!!  Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!!!!

In the spotlight: Medallion

  This time of year is always bittersweet... saying good-bye to stamps and accessories that I have loved and anticipating a brand new catalog with lots of new stamping goodies to explore!  I want to continue to share with you some of my favorite past projects and swaps I've received featuring these retiring items as the current catalog comes to an end on May 31st.  If you see something that is a must-have, please be sure and place your online order through my Stampin' Up! store so that you know if it is still available or not.  As a thank you, I will send you a hand-stamped card and if you spend $50 or more you will get to choose a tutorial from my Get Creative with Rachel & Debbie series for FREE!!

  All of the cards I'm sharing with you today feature the Medallion stamp (#115223, $17.95) - isn't it beautiful?!  When I attended Founder's Circle back in 2009 we were told that it was the #1 selling stamp set that year... I would not be surprised if that didn't hold true for several years.  The top card was one I used to teach the emboss resist technique - I had stamped the image on some Designer Series Paper with Versamark and heat embossed it with clear powder.  To achieve that look I then used a brayer and elegant eggplant ink to cover the entire piece - the image that was embossed resisted the ink so that the patterned paper showed through, neat huh?!  The Christmas card was a swap I received that year at Founder's Circle from Jill Olsen - it is so glittery in real life, absolutely gorgeous!  

 

   And did you know that this same image can be purchased in our Decor Elements vinyl line in three different sizes?  These are retiring also, so be sure and get them before they're gone!

This card was designed by my friend and downline Sherri Gough for one of our Mega stamp-a-stack events.  I love the partial image of the Medallion!

Here is another sample - I CASE'd this one and used sponge daubers to apply the two different colors to the image.

  This is another stunning Christmas sample that I CASE'd from Kari Metzger.

One last card - this was a CASE of one designed by Sherri Gough (clearly a favorite set of hers, too!!)

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you can see what a fantastic stamp set this Medallion is and that you think about adding it to your collection!

 

Robbin's Valentine's Day workshop projects

Robbin invited some of her friends and family over to my stamping studio earlier this week for a fun Valentine's Day workshop.  I demonstrated how to make the altered picture frame above and then gave it to her as part of her hostess gift for having the class.  The medallion was created using the new Designer Rosette Bigz XL die for the Big Shot currently featured in our Occasions Mini catalog.  I showed everyone how I created the embellishment as well as how the rest of the picture was put together.  Here are some close-ups below...

 

Another project that I demonstrated was this easy sour cream container which holds chocolates.  Do you remember seeing it in my post on Thursday when I shared Melody's party projects?  I love it when I can use a project for several stamping classes!!

The last thing I demonstrated was the emboss resist technique with this fun Valentine's Day card that I CASE'd from my good friend Karla Anders (it was her Fabulous Friday project for our Sisters in Stamping blog yesterday - she gave me a sneak peek earlier!!).  This was also the make-n-take for all the guests who attended.  The colors include cherry cobbler, pink pirouette and whisper white along with the Sprinkled Exressions Sale-a-Bration stamp set (FREE with a qualifying $50 order!).

If you are interested in hosting a private class and learning how to make fun projects like these, please contact me to schedule a date.  I have several class options available so please email me for more details!

Pinterest Try It Tuesday... spotlighted sympathy card

 

How did it get to be Tuesday already?  I was checking out my boards on Pinterest and a card I had pinned really caught my eye - the colors are stunning and the simplicity of it just screams sympathy card to me.  My take on it is above and here is the card below originally created by Heather Telford of Bits & Pieces.

 

Here are my step-by-step instructions for creating it using Stampin' Up! products...

1. Choose a square punch (I used 1-1/4") and cut out a piece of card stock to 5-1/4" x 4" to use as your template.  Line it up with the left side of the card stock and make sure the punch is pushed as far up from the bottom as it can go.  Punch out your first square.

2. Slide the punch over slightly to the right, making sure that you keep the punch pushed up all the way against the bottom (this helps to keep it lined up).  Repeat this step until you have the size rectangle that you want for your card.

3. My punches are very well used so I had some rough edges... I used my sanding block to make sure no stray pieces of card stock would mess up my sponging.

4. Take a 2-way glue pen and scribble the adhesive all over the BACK side of your template - be especially sure to get near the edges of the rectangle that you've cut out on your template.  Allow this to dry so it becomes tacky.

5. Apply some Dotto repositionable adhesive to the back of a piece of 5-1/4" x 4" whisper white card stock and attach it to your grid paper.  This ensures that your paper won't move when you're sponging.  Place your template on top of it (please disregard the fact that I applied the 2-way glue pen to the wrong side of my template the first time!).

6. Choose several colors that work well together - I used more mustard, pumpkin pie and real red.  Beginning with your lightest color, sponge the inside of the rectangle.  Repeat with all your colors, making sure that you don't have all the color concentrated in one spot, blend them around a bit.

7. Remove the template and use jet black StazOn ink with the oak tree image from Lovely As a Tree and stamp image to the right of the sponged rectangle, overlapping it slightly.

8. Use a stamp-a-majig and the sentiment from Vintage Vogue with the StazOn ink at the bottom corner of the card stock.

9. Attach your card stock piece to a crumb cake base card (5-1/2" x 8-1/2") and you're done.

I really love the way this card turned out and think I will play with other color combinations.  What are you pinning on Pinterest that inspires you?

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!

 

Today is my husband Joe's birthday and I made him this card filled with gift cards to his two favorite places - Amazon and Best Buy.  The Gently Falling stamp set and Spice Cake DSP from the Holiday Mini are great for a masculine card, don't you think?

I used the scallop trim border punch to add a little interest to the piece of DSP and instead of using ribbon I decided to use the faux suede technique with the pool party piece of card stock to add some texture.  This is such an easy look to achieve - I started with a piece of 1" x 5" piece of card stock and ran it through my crimper several times, changing the direction that the paper went in so that the ridges were in all directions.  Next, I took my bone folder and ran the card stock against it, breaking down the fibers.  As I was working it, the card stock started to peel apart.  I pulled gently and ended up with two pieces that had this soft suede-like texture.  I added SNAIL to the back and wrapped the ends around to the back of the more mustard card stock to give it the appearance of ribbon.

 

Do you notice the happy birthday sentiment?  Don't recognize it?  That's because it is a personalized Large Text one-line stamp that I had Stampin' Up! create for me (#115596, $13.95 found on page 172) - I wanted a simple happy birthday to add to my cards.  Don't you love that?!

To get the look of the leaf panel I used the marker thumping technique to achieve the color variation on the solid image, fully inking the stamp with my more mustard ink pad and then thumping it with a cajun craze marker and huffing on it before stamping.  I then overstamped it with the detail leaf using early espresso ink.  I then pulled out my color spritzer tool and with a soft suede marker added the splotches of color to the very vanilla piece.  After it fully dried I crumpled the whole piece of card stock and then flattened it back out and used my Distressing Essentials kit to age the very vanilla card stock with the tea stain ink pad.  This may all sound very complicated and involved but I promise that the entire card took me about 15 minutes to create.

* Don't forget about my Labor Day Sale!!! It ends tonight at 5 pm*

I hope you have a wonderful Labor Day and end to your summer! 

May Demonstrator of the Month, part 1

I'd like to introduce you to my featured Demonstrator of the Month from my Little Debbies team for May 2011 - Jennifer Rawlings.  Jennifer has been a member of my downline since January of 2007 when she signed up during Sale-a-Bration.  Here's what she has to share about herself:

I’m a 2^nd time-around demonstrator with Stampin’ Up!  I signed up years ago, but had to quit due to life circumstances.  But as soon as I was able, I found a great demonstrator (Debbie Naylor) and signed up again in January of 2007.  I work full time, take care of my family full time, and find whatever time I have left to stamp.  Unfortunately, that’s not nearly as much as I would like.  I’m trying to be more of a business demonstrator than a hobbyist.  I have a small but wonderful collection of customers, hold monthly classes, and do workshops whenever possible.

I don’t really have a favorite SU! product – I like it all!  I love learning new ways of using my stamping stuff, which is why I hold technique classes.  Trying out new things to show my customers helps me to find more time to stamp. 

Jennifer created some beautiful projects to share with you all... including some of the techniques that she has taught in classes.

Here is a beautiful card featuring a cross made from the Lattice bigz die.  What a wonderful sympathy card or one to send to a friend who needs your prayers.

This card features the faux Mother of Pearl technique and the flower is die cut from the Fun Flowers die... it's gorgeous!  I love all the different textures.  The sentiment is from the Full of Life stamp set.

Jennifer used the faux bleach technique with this card that features the Fresh Cuts stamp set.  The colors are so pretty together.

Lastly, here is a fun colored card featuring The Nicest Things and Fifth Avenue Florals stamp sets.

If you liked these cards, you're definitely going to want to come back tomorrow when I share Jennifer's awesome 3-d project!

 

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!!!

April 2011 Demonstrator of the Month, part 1

I'd like to introduce you to my featured Demonstrator of the Month for April from my Little Debbies Stampin' Up! team, Michelle Arthur.  She has a wonderful blog called Designs Done Simple that you will want to visit often!  Michelle has been a demonstrator since February of 2007, joining during my first full Sale-a-Bration recruiting period.

Here is what she tells us about herself...

I have been married to the same man - Jimmy - absolutely forever (going on 23 years - we got married in elementary school). We have two pretty awesome (most of the time) kids - Lindsey and Logan. Our family also has a miniature Australian shepherd, Zoey.  I have always been involved in some craft or another. I have done cross-stitch/embroidery, ceramics and sewing, to name a few. I came into Stampin’ Up from scrapbooking. Once I started on cards, though, not much has been accomplished in the way of my scrapbooks. One day…… 

I am a hobby demo with Stampin’ Up. I love the quality of their products and how easy they make it to be creative. Of course, having an upline like Debbie and a group of ladies like the Little Debbies doesn’t hurt either. I love being involved in our monthly swaps. The real treat is our group shoe box swaps we have twice a year. The only downside is that I do not have enough time (in my opinion, anyway) to do all of the projects I want to do. Again, one day……

And now here are some of the projects she came up with for us!!

This easel card features the Inspired by Nature stamp set along with butterflies that were die-cut using the Beautiful Wings embosslit with the Big Shot.  She used this tutorial from Splitcoast Stampers when assembling her card.  Isn't it gorgeous?!  I love all the extra touches that she added to her card including the beautiful marina mist taffeta ribbon and pearls!!

How cute is this baby card featuring the Build-a-Bear Workshop stamp set Bear Hugs?!  She colored in the image with a blender pen and pulled her color from the Celebrations DSP.  I love it - it's  great card to give to an expecting mother who doesn't want to know the sex of her baby in advance for her baby shower.

And this card is so stunning in real life and uses one of my favorite color combinations - rich razzleberry, early espresso, pretty in pink and very vanilla.  Remember that I shared the inlaid embossing technique with you yesterday with my Punch Club projects?  Well this is a great example of that technique!  The little porcupine from Fun & Fast Notes is just too cute for words.

If you loved these cards like I did, you're not going to want to miss tomorrow's post... I'll be sharing Michelle's 3-d project (awesome!) and fabulous scrapbook page.  I know Michelle would love to get some positive feedback about her projects so please leave her some love by posting a comment here.  Thanks!

April Punch Club projects

My Punch Club met last week and I wanted to share the projects with you... here is card #1.  I have seen so many cute monkey cards and the palm tree is super-simple and fun to make.  My monkey is peeking out from the inside of the card since he ended up being too large for the outside of the card.  Both the monkey and the palm tree are made up of multiple circle and oval punches.

Here is the second project - a cute lamb for Easter that was inspired by a card I saw posted by Patricia Hargrove.  This could very easily become a baby shower card, too, by switching out the sentiment.

The last project was more of a technique that uses punches rather than a punch art project but I saw it and fell in love with it... it was originally designed by Connie Stewart.  It is hard to tell, but the color combination is melon mambo, basic black and whisper white and it is stunning in real life.  This is a great example of inlaid embossing - you take different punches and glue them to a card stock piece then run it through the Big Shot using the Square Lattice impressions folder to achieve this effect.  One important tip - if you use Tombow multi-purpose adhesive (which is my glue of choice for punch art projects) be sure that it is completely dry before running it through the Big Shot or it will ooze out onto your impressions folder. 

Thanks for looking - I hope you're having an awesome week!

Champagne Shimmer Paint is Fabulous!

This week on the Sisters in Stamping blog we are focusing on techniques that use Shimmer Paint for our Fabulous Friday projects.  I decided to use the Polished Stone technique, but with a twist... I also used emboss resist on my card.

I started my card by using the large flourish image from Baroque Motifs with Versamark ink and stamped it all over a 3-3/4" x 5" piece of glossy card stock.  I sprinkled clear stampin' emboss powder over it and then heat embossed it.  This would be really pretty for a wedding card, wouldn't it?!

Here are 2 very good tips to remember when using the shimmer paint - 1) shake the bottle well before using, and 2) dip a sponge dauber or stampin' sponge into the lid of the bottle to pick up the paint... a little goes a long way! 

To do the Polished Stone technique you will need to dip a cotton ball in rubbing alcohol and put 2 drops of rich razzleberry reinker and 2 drops of Champagne Shimmer paint on it (if you want more color variation you can pull in 1 or 2 additional colors of reinkers).  I then dabbed the glossy card stock panel all over, giving it this mottled effect... so pretty!  The rubbing alcohol made the shimmer paint spread out a little and it's very shimmery in real life.  Once it dried, I buffed it with a clean cotton ball.

The Champagne shimmer paint is translucent so it is very hard to photograph, but you can see where I sponged it on the rich razzleberry card stock mat for my main image panel - it is really shimmery.  I also added some shimmer paint on my stamp after inking it with the rich razzleberry ink but sadly you cannot see it at all in my photo.   I finished the image off by adding a large rhinestone jewel in the center and added it to my card with stampin' dimensionals.

So what do you think?  Pretty easy, right?!  Why not pull out your shimmer paint and give it a try this weekend?!  Want some other ideas for using shimmer paint?  Be sure and visit the Sisters in Stamping blog after Noon EST today to check out what my fabulous Sisters came up with for us this week.  Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!!