Sweet Snowglobe Glitter Cup

Okay, so I knew this one would be hard to photograph...but I had to try. On this card I added one of our Sweet Treat Cups to the top of the Sweet Snowglobe stamp & added in a bit of Dazzling Diamonds glitter. That way, when you shake the card you can have snow fall! Of course, a little glitter stuck to the front of the cup, so it blocked the camera's view a bit. I couldn't resist shaking it before photo time! The 3D nature of the Sweet Treat Cup means that the post office wouldn't like this card much unless you place it in one of our padded envelopes first. I think it would be great to put inside a gift bag or a box of presents you send off. That way there's no worry about getting your snowglobe crushed before it arrives!

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Today is my nephew's 5th birthday & I was really struggling with what sort of card to make for him. He's very into dinosaurs, but I don't have any dino stamps. He also really likes Ironman & Spiderman, but again I don't have any stamps for that. Then it came to me! I've been trying to think of other uses for my super cool Spiderweb Emboss Folder. It bugs me to have a tool I can only use on one type of card...especially for just one holiday. It makes a perfect Spiderman background though! And it kept me from trying to draw a web on poor Spidy's face. Anyone who has seen me try to draw knows what a mess that would have been! I gave extra emphasis to all my webs by using a Sponge Dauber to add on a bit of Basic Black ink. I then did the same treatment to my sentiment circle so it didn't look out of place. Kind of fun, huh?

Haunting Favor

Today's little favor is perfect for mass production because it's so simple to make! It would be great for an elementary class party take home treat or to give out at adult parties too. Just run some Elegant Eggplant cardstock through the Big Shot with the Fancy Favor die, assemble the bag, roll a bit of Wild Wasabi with the Haunting Wheel, emboss, add the handle and you're through! Nothing to it. :) That's my kind of party stamping. And this project will complete the set for Sunday's Halloween theme class. Hope to see you then!

Today I'm off on another substitute adventure. Each school has to go through a full evacuation drill once every three years & wouldn't you know that I'm lucky enough to sub on one of these rare days. :) At least I was at the same school yesterday, so they warned me to wear my walking shoes & a jacket this morning. Wish me luck!

Congrats Baby

My husband's golfing buddy just became a grandpa & so we needed a card to celebrate. The best part about using the Baby Tees wheel is that it's so easy to make several cards all at once. I made one for the new grandparents & one for the new parents at the same time. The color combos ended up being pretty different because of how I colored in each one, so it's even more fun. Unique cards mass produced (or at least sort of...not sure if two counts as "mass")!

I am having great fun with the Curly Cute set. It's one I overlooked at first, but I saw it used on a card and was impressed by the clean lines & lovely script. I didn't really have a great "congratulations" until this one. I'm sure you'll be seeing it again here. :)

Paper Pierced Pumpkins

Try saying that title five times fast! It seemed fitting for this little addition to my Halloween class projects though. I think I've admired Autumn Harvest as a set for so long because of the lovely little leaf & the tiny acorn stamp that I nearly overlooked the great possibilities of its larger stamps. With the help of a little masking, they come together to make a nice little pumpkin patch. Of course, to make this just a general fall card rather than a Halloween card I could add in a few of the gourds and not stamp on that delightful little Jack-o-lantern face. The versatility is one of the great assets of this set! The little guide from the Mat Pack made creating the paper pierced boarders of this card a snap. Goodness knows I could never keep things straight or evenly spaced with out it. It's all about the right tools for the job. :)

Spooky Eyes

This morning was just one of those days... I was so sure I didn't need to leave the house until seven thirty & then it dawned on me that I needed to be AT WORK by seven thirty! Ooops. Of course, that didn't come to me until about 7:25. Therefore, we have an afternoon post. :)

I checked out Splitcoast Stampers to look for fun Halloween ideas and saw these little eyes made with the help of the XL Bird Punch. They make a perfect completion to my Shimmer Paint spider web card. Don't you think? I have fun with the strictly Halloween sets but I also enjoy making holiday stuff using my everyday toys. Just a couple more projects to go before our Halloween class!

Perfect Details Xmas

I warned you that you would see the technique using Texturz plates & ink again, but I bet you didn't expect it this soon! I just couldn't resist when I saw the Mojo Monday sketch for today. The Perfect Details Texturz plate just fit so nicely with the ornament I wanted to use from Delightful Decorations. Recently I saw a card that used the pine tree from Lovely as a Tree to create a bunch of boughs. As much as I LOVE that set, I was so excited to see something brand new to do with it. Again, I thought this sketch was a great opportunity to put that idea to use. The little swirled accents are bits punched from the smaller swirl in the Priceless set. It all just seemed to work together far too well to leave any one piece out for today. Now, if I could just focus and finish my projects for our Halloween class this weekend!

Paisley Pumpkin

Last week, I found a video on the Stampin' Up demonstrator website that gave ideas on how to use the Texturz plates. I'm going to have to admit just how unhappy I was with these tools. They came out when the Big Shot first became available through Stampin' Up & I just wasn't really happy with the results when I used them. The Impressions Folders were a huge improvement in my opinion.

Then, I watched as they used these plates much like the new letter presses. It's so cool! If you ink your Texturz plate & then run it through with the silicon sheet & crease pad you get this super fun result. Not only is the cardstock embossed, the ink sticks to all the other areas creating this great pop for the embossed images. This time I inked the plate with Chocolate Chip & used Crumb Cake cardstock. I'm sure you'll see me playing with this fun technique again soon. The other lovelies from Paisley Prints could all benefit from a fun embossed/inked background!

A New Take on an Old Friend

Loads of Love was one of my first favorites from Stampin' Up. I remember that I was very excited to find it came along with my demonstrator starter kit. I've used this little truck for Valentines, Christmas cards, birthdays, get wells, & more. I haven't done much with the extras found in the Loads of Love Accessories though & I just had to add some puppy friends to the truck bed. It ended up becoming quite the combination of stamp sets when I added in the paw print from C is for Cat (wow things would have been easier if I owned the P is for Paw wheel!) & a greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes. It makes for a full bin! This time, I colored in the truck using a Blender Pen & ink right of the ink pad. I also outlined with a Stampin' Write maker to give a little extra pop. Oh, and there was all sorts of Stamp-a-ma-jig going on to make sure the placement of each piece worked! Thank goodness for that little tool. I use it all the time. I sure hope the ladies at class tomorrow enjoy this one as much as I do.

Happy Birthday Joe!

As you can tell from the title for today, it's time for another birthday! Today the birthday boy is a friend of ours with whom I've shared many a much needed beer either after a school board meeting or while repairing something in the house. So, I knew a Cheers to You card was very much in order for Joe.

I had great fun using my Stamp-a-ma-jig to create a circular sentiment. I hadn't done that before, but thought that the new 2 1/2" Circle Punch gave me plenty of room to work with. Then I got to go dimensional crazy with the beer mug because I know I'll be hand delivering this one. So, I used Crystal Effects on the mug & a mixture of glitter & embossing powder for the foam. If you apply this mix using the liquid Tombow glue & heat with a heat tool then it gets all sorts of bubbly and fun.

I hope Joe likes it!

Autumn Leaves

A few branches in my tree out front have already started to sport their fall colors, so I took that as clearance to make more fall cards. For years, I've been taken with the Autumn Harvest set not only for the incredible pumpkins & gourds but also for this great leaf & the little acorn in the set. Embossing the leaves first made it easy to watercolor in each of them. The real struggle on this card was the background. I tried a Big Shot folder, but that just didn't seem to work. Then I went for totally plain. Again, it didn't work. Finally I thought to have the leaves falling, but I didn't want to use another color of ink to keep things simple in class. Of course, I realized there was no need to change ink colors: Versamark would do the trick! Since my sentiment was already stamped & embossed, I could just stamp right over it while creating my background. Another happy accident works out as if I planned it!

Paisley Xmas Tree

As promised, here is my Mojo Monday a day late. This card is a great way to make the most out of a pack of designer paper. Each sheet could give more than two dozen of the little strips you need to make this one. It's a great card to make a whole bunch of if you're sending out a bulk mailing of Christmas cards. Simple, festive, and economical!

I'm playing with new things to do with ribbon & admit I need to work a little on this technique, but I love the look it provides. Such fun. Thanks to the ladies at Mojo Monday for providing yet another great sketch to play with.

Thankful Pumpkin

I'm absolutely guilty of sleeping in this morning. It was still dark & the covers were nice and warm... That's why my Mojo Monday will have to wait until later. :) However, I put together this little number last night so I still have something fun to share. For such a simple card, I hate to admit to how long it took me to put it together!

I started out knowing I wanted to use the little pumpkin die along with a 2 1/2" Circle as my centerpiece, but nothing else. Then, the Woodland Walk paper seemed like a great idea (it took a bit to decide which sheet of course). Next I needed a sentiment, but this one didn't fit if I oriented the card the way I had planned. So I switched that around. The oval didn't quite do it for me which caused me to add the Designer Label punch. Oh! Then I remembered having Hodgepodge Hardware that matched. Twill tape & corner rounding came in there somewhere too. The real problem was that the pumpkin looked wrong all alone. It took FOREVER for me to discover that all I needed were a few flowers from Designer Paper to finish the job. Whew! That gives you an idea of my design thought process. Messy, huh? Rarely do I have a whole card figured out in my head before I start. Most of the time I'm wandering down this twisty path. It's a fun adventure either way!

Wicked Halloween

I am determined to not let the little embossing smudge I made under the hat ruin this card for me. I love it. When the new catalog first came out I was completely taken by Wicked Cool. I've been looking for a fun Halloween set & who could resist those boots? Lucky for me, I accidentally ordered a craft Basic Black stamp pad when one of my customers wanted a classic one. I fixed the mistake for her, but decided to keep the craft. What a happy accident! When combined with the black embossing powder, it gives the hat & bats such great shine. Do you recognise the broomstick? It's from one of our Build-a-bear dies. While it may be intended to dress up a bear, I find it does quite well all on its own. I've been putting off making a card with this set because I really wanted to make something super fun with it & I was intimidated. I liked the set so much it was almost as if I didn't want to let it (or more accurately myself) down. Silly, huh? I'm going to go with "mission accomplished" on this one though.

Bells and Boughs Beauty

It's very hard to capture the sparkle this card has thanks to the Smooch Spritz I applied to the black base. I suppose you'll have to trust me on that one, or take a look in person at class.
I really like how it all came together for a bit of a vintage feel. It's the first time I really wish I had one of the distressing tools for the edges of my paper. Instead, I used an emery board I had on hand & it did pretty well.
For the poinsettia image I first stamped & embossed in black. Then I colored in using rubbing alcohol and reinker on a cotton swab. I think the little outside of the lines bits actually add something to the image.
I'll admit that I really missed Handsome Hunter as I tried to assemble this card. In its place, I sponged Always Artichoke with the same color ink and the depth that gives works well. I feel like I'm getting into the Christmas swing of things, but it may be time for me to lay off a bit so that I don't miss out on fall!

Guest Book

Yikes, sorry about the glare on this one. I never claimed to have any skill at photography, but I've already given this to its proper owner so there isn't a chance for a retake.

One of my dear friends is hosting a reception for her stepson this weekend and asked if I would put together a guest book for them. It was a new challenge for me because I really didn't know what colors to use & because it's a larger format than I'm used to working with.

I wanted to do something elegant so I stuck with black & white at first. Then I tried adding red, but it looked like some sort of bad Valentine at that point. The solution came along with the UPS man. I ordered some of our brushed gold cardstock for Xmas cards and found it provided just the touch of elegance I was after. It also embossed in the Big Shot beautifully. There's a lot of embossing going on here between Big Shot use and heat embossing on the sentiment & the birds themselves. Sorry the photo didn't turn out better, but the end result worked well for the happy occasion. Whew! I had my fingers crossed on this one.

Mojo Santa

I'm doing things a bit out of order this week, but I think that's okay. Mojo Monday on Wednesday seems appropriate for a week when I can't seem to get the days of the week straight. Short weeks always do that to me!

When I saw that the Mojo Monday sketch for this week included the Tag Punch, I just couldn't wait to use some more of my new Christmas stamps! The Santa tag from Tags Til Christmas is way too cute and goes so well with my favorite of our Santa stamps. There's nothing really fancy on this one beyond sponging the embossed bottom section to make the dots pop out a bit more, but I still like it. Besides, if you're making BUNCHES of your Christmas cards, simple is the way to go.

Angelic Symphathy

I have had several requests for sympathy cards lately. Birthdays, weddings, and holidays are all things that we can plan for in advance & they are events we enjoy thinking about while making individualized cards. It's the sympathy or get well cards that we need at a moment's notice. Being timely is ever so important with these which is why I like to have a little supply on hand. I wanted to find a color combo that I felt was soothing without resorting to gray or black. I love the combo of Sahara Sand, Marina Mist, and Early Espresso that I settled on. Using the textured cardstock for Marina Mist gave just the right extra touch without over doing things. I debated on the glittery white heart, but found it added a little uplifting element and went so well with the excellent sentiment. All in all, I'm pleased. I'm especially happy to find that Angelic Joy is much more than just a Christmas set. I can use this lovely angel year round.

Shrinky Dink Flower

I wanted to make a card today using window sheets & then discovered that I didn't have any on hand. However, I did still have a pack of blank Shrinky Dinks I bought last year for a failed holiday project. So, I thought I would play with them instead.

I'm so glad I did! Using my XL Flower punch made a great little Shrinky Dink and the wave to the flower works great! I'll have to practice my oven timing to get things flat, but I liked it in this case. Of course, it makes the card unable to go through the mail, but there are lots of opportunities for hand delivered cards as well. I used my bone folder to give a little extra dimension to the cardstock version of the same flower. I'm ever so pleased that this proves Shrinky Dinks aren't just for kids!

Scallop Circle Daisies (By Request)

I am part of a group of Stampin' Up demonstrators that participate in a card swap each time a new catalog comes out. It's great fun because we get to see all sorts of ideas & display lots of the new product to our customers without actually buying EVERYTHING in the catalog. At least...not all at once! That comes later. :) Well, folks at my classes fell in love with one swap card in particular this time around. It featured these great flowers created with our two sizes of Scallop Circle Punches. So, I decided to switch things up a bit to make my own version of the card. I hope this will work for my ladies! What do you guys think?

Priceless Valentine Color Challenge

I know it may seem like an odd time of the year to make a Valentine, but I assure you I didn't do it on purpose! I started off with this week's colors from the PPC Color Challenge (Pink Pirouette, Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, and Baja Breeze) all out in front of me. I decided I wanted to do something a bit elegant and that the Priceless set would fit the bill. So, I started off with the butterflies from that set and realized it just wasn't working for me. After a few experiments, I ended up with this card and I think I'm pleased with it. Trust me, the butterflies looked kind of awful! I really like the black embossed on the Cherry Cobbler and the tiny pearls added to the flower circles make them pop more in real life than this photo shows. Now, will someone remind me of this one when it comes time to do Valentines in classes? :)

Your Birthday's in the Bag!

It's always exciting when a random little idea actually pans out. When I saw the gift bag stamp from the hostess set "Birthday Bakery" I wondered if I could insert real tissue paper into the image with the help of my horizontal slot punch. The answer: yep! Tissue paper is great because you can still see the stamped handles through it and it adds an unexpected flair. Then my husband came up with the great idea to add a bunch of the Heart to Heart punch hearts to the top edge of the real bag. Such fun! This gift bag is a tiny version of the normal size--- perfect for small gifts. It's another from the Bag Theme class. If you want to get a group together to make this bag along with all the other projects from the Bag Theme class contact me today!