Mini Clothespins!!

I'm afraid that sometimes my mind is just a little too literal. The tiny little clothespins from the new catalog will look great on all sorts of projects. However, as soon as I saw them, I just had to make a clothesline. What better to put on a clothesline than a little onesie? My classes this month follow the theme of Buttons, Paper, Ribbon: Oh My! So, I want to feature lots of the new accessories. Now I've got two of them covered, the Flirtatious Specialty Paper & the Mini Clothespins. I also got to use my Bakers Twine to create the little clothesline. Such fun! At first I attached the twine using the little pins, but that didn't show them off quite as well. Attaching them via glue dots works better to show off their full shape. I think they're perfect for an easel card that's intended for display, don't you? There's still plenty of room to write on the part that gets hidden by the "stand", no worries! Hope to see you at classes this month so you too can play with our little clothespins. :)

Water Lily Congrats/PPC #49

Over at PPC they are celebrating their first anniversary. So in addition to having a color challenge (Mellon Mambo, Garden Green, Whisper White, & Basic Gray) they also asked for anniversary themed cards. I found that I just kept adding petals to my Build-a-Blossom creation so that, in the end, it felt a lot like a water lily. Then, it just needed a couple of lily pads! To create those I just ran a couple of 2 1/2" Circles through the Big Shot with the Elegant Lines folder. No problem. I embossed the sentiment with silver emboss powder to really make it stand out. I do have a confession to make though. I wish I would have gotten the Curly Cute set in wood mount rather than clear. Typically I have no problem with our stamps staying on the block, but these really challenge me. I'm not sure if it's because they have so little surface area to stay connected compared to their length or what the deal is with them, but they're the only ones that tend to come off while I'm stamping. In short, my strong recommendation with this set is to go for wood! However, my Build a Blossom set is also clear and it never gives me any problems. Hmmm...I'm thinking the long & skinny stamps are just not quite perfect for the clear format. I'm so glad we have the choice of both!

Happy Birthday Shannon! / Mojo Monday 178

Yes, I'm well aware of the date & I imagine that many of the Mojo Monday participants today will feature hearts & pink. However, this also happens to be my friend's birthday! So, I really wanted to make a card for her that doesn't say "Happy Valentines Day" at all. There have been some suggestions of re-naming the day "Shannontines", but that seems like a mouthful to me. Sometimes creating a card for a specific person is a real challenge, but today's card just sort of all flowed along nicely. I wanted something that was whimsical yet not for a ten year old. My Sunny Garden DSP was where I started & I didn't know that the cupcake was going to be the focal image until near the end. To give that little treat a little more detail, I used the Elegant Lines folder to emboss the frosting and used textured cardstock for it's base. Then, I wanted just a bit more elegance, so I added the Organza Ribbon rather than a typical grosgrain. It ended up simpler than I thought it would be, but I really like its simplicity. In fact, I like it so much I may have to make a couple more. I hope Shannon doesn't mind!

Springtine Vintage Butterflies

I must really be ready for spring because I find myself making more and more cards that feature butterflies. My very favorites are those from the Beautiful Wings Embosslit. They are just so easy to make and give an elegance to each card that features them. This time, I added a little something extra to the big butterfly. It's coated with Dazzling Diamonds glitter thanks to some Heat & Stick Powder. I cut my Always Artichoke layer using my Circle Cutter. We've finally made friends. :) I've found the secret to this tool is to use LOTS of temporary adhesive on the piece of paper you are trying to cut. Then, you get a lovely circle each and every time. Not enough adhesive & you'll only make a big mess. Trust me, I've made several of those. My frugal tendencies have to be curbed when I use the Circle Cutter. It's worth it in the end! This card makes me think of tea parties and luncheons in the garden sun. Perhaps I've read too much Austen? Or maybe it's just thoughts of my upcoming British adventure sneaking into my card making.

My First Color Throwdown! (CTD #121)

Today I decided to branch out and try a new color challenge. So, I paid a visit to the folks over at the Color Throwdown and really liked what I saw. Their colors for this week included: Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, and Chocolate Chip. It's a great group for Christmas cards, but I just wasn't in a Christmas card kind of mood this morning. I decided to go whale instead! I got things started and then felt like the card was feeling just a little too ordinary. Sigh. That told me I needed to try something new! I got out my circle punches & chopped up my sentiment to see what that would do. Kind of fun, huh? YIKES! I just realized that I didn't add the little Marina Mist circles I punched to decorate the sentiment. How silly of me! Have you ever made a card and then forgot to add some of the bits when it came to assembly? This is new for me...I guess I'll add them to my example card, but leave things be here. How embarrassing!

Punch Art Xmas Tree

Okay, here's the last one for my Holiday Punch Art class. It's super simple, but still really fun. Just take eight hearts & adhere them together to form the tree. Then spritz the whole tree with some Shimmer Mist created from a bit of Shimmer Paint mixed with rubbing alcohol inside a spray bottle. Ta Da! You have a lovely & sparkly Christmas tree. I made little trees out of the hearts from the Heart to Heart Punch last year, but I thought I would go for something bigger this time around. You could always deck out the tree with punched circles etc, but I wanted mine pretty simple. Hopefully this tree & all the other Punch Art friends I've been making lately will be a big hit at this afternoon's class!

A CASED Bag

By request, I CASED this bag from the Holiday Mini Catalog. Of course, I had to make a couple of changes. :) Folks had lots of fun making them in class though--- and most of theirs even turned out round. A trait that is simply over rated in my opinion. It's handmade, right?

I attempted to turn this bag into a card, but it's simply too big. We'd need lots of mini circle punches to pull it off as well as much smaller buttons. So, a bag it had to be. For my upcoming bag classes, I plan to switch things up even more & use the pre-glittered designer paper from this project along with the excellent buttons to make a whole new bag! Otherwise we would make two circle wreaths. No need for that!

Congrats, Janet!

Well, it's official! My friend, Janet, has joined the Stampin' Up family. :) I just wanted to send her a note of congrats for taking this step. (Of course, I'll send it in real life too!) It's so exciting to share the fun of being a demonstrator with some one else. Now, Janet can enjoy 20% off all her Stampin' Up supplies as well as all the resources available through the company. Our website, social networking site, monthly magazine, and much much more. And, she gets to look forward to playing with all the new toys from her customized Starter Kit. Lots of fun, all at once!

If you too would like to join in the fun contact me today. It's a super easy process & I'll be here to support you every step of the way.

As for today's card: I'm getting to play with all sorts of toys. The builder wheels & Itty Bitty Bits are still pretty new to me & I'm enjoying them immensely! I wanted something on here that was fully about joining Stampin' Up & found a heart I had punched from the backs of Stampin' Dimensionals while cleaning off my desk (a scary process, I assure you). Not sure why I did it in the first place, but it works well here! Since the heart features Tempting Turquoise, I knew that would be part of my color selection but I really wanted something bright & happy. So Saffron and Tangerine Tango were just the cheer I was looking for--- happy & sort of fall.

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. :)

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!

On the Road floral Congrats

Round two of the "On the Road Challenge" was great fun. I decided to play with one of the new In Colors that I haven't used before: Concord Crush. It's lovely! I added in little accents of two other In Colors: Pear Pizazz and Blushing Bride. Lucky for me, I have a little container of odds and ends left over from other cards on my desk at all times. I brought that little guy along and it happened to have the two So Saffron butterflies inside to add just a little extra to this card. If I were to do it again at home with all of my goodies, I may have used a folder to emboss the card front. Perhaps Elegant Lines would add a nice touch? It's something to try when I get back to the real world. Right now I'll just keep on making due with what I have and try to adjust to the humidity here in North Carolina. It makes me really appreciate August in Colorado. We might get hot, but there isn't any "air that you wear" at home. :)

Happy Birthday Marge!

August 16th is a very busy day on my birthday calendar! It's the birthday of both my niece and my dear friend, Marge. So, I guess you'll be seeing a couple of birthday cards from me. :)

It's a real challenge for me to put together a card for Marge. She is the person responsible for introducing me to the wonderful world of stamping, so I always want to make her something extra special. You should see the creations she comes up with!

After a long deliberation I decided to just go with something I hadn't tried before. I've never used the frame created from using the Lattice Big Shot Die before and found it made a great window for the soon to be released 2 1/2" Circle Punch. The paisley heart is another gem from the new Holiday Mini Catalog & I embossed it for just the right touch. My sentiment comes from the Curly Cute set, which I just ordered & love.

Marge would have laughed at all the little steps that went to make this simple card. Sponging the frame, embossing the white background, sponging the textured circle, and outlining both the heart and the circle for detail effect made for a fun step by step evolution of the card.