Stampin' with Julie

I do stamp occasionally

2010-05-28T10:21:00.006-06:00

I doubt anyone reads this blog. I wouldn't if I were you. Afterall, I haven't posted anything here for over a year. I do stamp on occasion, but stamping was always a hobby for me and selling stamping stuff was more of a money spender than a business for me. Now that I spend most of my time taking care of my little boy, stamping definitely takes a back seat to just about everything.

Over the last year I have stamped, taken pictures and not posted them. Or was in such a hurry that I didn't get pictures taken of the cards. But to be truthful, there are only a few things I have stamped that I didn't get pictures of. Sad, I know.

Anyway - here are some cards I have made over the last year. If you are reading - enjoy!

I stamped!!!

2009-05-21T19:51:00.003-06:00

Here is the first card that I have made that wasn't a baby thank you card, or birth announcement in the last 6 months. I had a baby shower to go to and was really happy to have been able to make a card!

$50 giftcard

2009-05-03T20:10:00.001-06:00

I entered a contest for a $50 giftcard to GoldSmith Jewelers in Provo here. Here's hoping I win!

Chocolate and DVDs

2009-04-10T15:27:00.002-06:00

There is a giveaway for some yummy chocolate here and some kids DVDs here!

Office Max giftcard

2009-04-06T18:24:00.002-06:00

Full Nest Reviews is giving a $25 giftcard for organizing your stuff. Click here for details.

No cards yet

2009-03-30T09:29:00.003-06:00

I don't have any new cards (who has time to make cards with a baby in the house?), but I think this diaper bag is pretty cool and wouldn't mind winning it!

And only a month later. . .

2008-11-05T16:17:00.002-06:00

. . . here I am with another card.

This is a birthday card that I made for a friend. It really is hard to get into the creative mojo when the mojo is off hibernating somewhere!

Where have I been?

2008-10-03T14:39:00.002-06:00

In the past 5 months I have not really been crafty at all. So here is why:

1) In April we went through an in vitro cycle to try and get pregnant.

2) It worked!!! And I didn't feel like being very crafty the first trimester.

3) My husband has had health problems and spent time in the hospital on 2 occasions, having major surgery during his second stay.

4) I taught classes all summer and am still teaching this fall.

5) I am always tired.

I have been missing being crafty but just feel beat most of the time, thus killing my creative mojo.

However, I do owe some thank-you cards for some baby gifts we have already received (baby boy is due January 26th). So here I am jumping back into being creative!

how long has it been?

2008-07-07T11:33:00.002-06:00

It has been forever since I stamped. In fact, over 2 and a half months. There was really a lot going on for me and Justin and then I just wasn't in the mood to stamp much.

But I went to a baby shower this past weekend, and wanted to make something cute as part of the baby gift. So I decided to make the mom-to-be some thank you cards that she can send out to people for presents, or she can save some and give to people who bring her meals once the baby comes.

I finally stamped!!!

Too late, but that's ok

2008-04-14T08:35:00.004-06:00

I tried to get this done yesterday, but it didn't happen - even though it is a super simple card. Oh well!

I decided to make a pretty simple thank you card - I really need to have more thank you cards around here.

Beate's WSC #42

2008-04-06T16:40:00.003-06:00

I wasn't sure if I was going to play in this weekend's sketch challenge. Especially once I made my card. I'm not sure about anyone else - but if I go for a couple weeks without being creative, it takes a little while to get my mojo back. In fact, this past week I even sat down at my craft table and I was stumped - I couldn't figure out what colors I would want to use, what kind of card I would like to make - I finally gave up.

Today I decided that I wanted to use some of the many, many rub-ons that I acquired during Sale-a-bration. But once I started, I realized that I think I like the idea of rub-ons more than actually using rub-ons. I have to tell you - I seriously thought about not posting this card because I felt like it was the worst thing I have made for quite a while. But then I decided - oh well, we all have bad days, right?

After I realized there was nothing else I could do for this card, I decided that I could definitely do something better and I had to make another card right away. I hadn't made a pocket card for a while and this little skunk from Pun Fun kept taunting me to use her (or him). I feel a little better about myself and my ability to use rub-ons now!

Beate's WSC #40

2008-03-22T15:05:00.003-06:00

Believe it or not - I am still sick! I am on the up and up though and hope to kick the cough and get my voice back in the next day or so. It is hard to teach classes when you are all hoarse!

This card makes me want to have a picnic. We have been having really nice Spring weather in Texas (at least, in the Houston area). I hope it sticks around - Spring is always way to short here and Summer lasts forever!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Beate's WSC #39

2008-03-18T15:03:00.002-06:00

I was excited to do this past weekend's sketch challenge, but it turns out that stamping isn't much fun when you are sick. :( I am now on an antibiotic and a decongestant/antihistamine so I hope to be feeling better soon. Whether I am feeling better or not doesn't change the fact that I have to teach 4 classes tomorrow so I am keeping my fingers crossed that I have a miraculous recovery overnight.

For this card I used the Garden Whimsy set and the Stem Sayings set, both of which are still new to me and I had never used before. Once I was done, I wasn't sure how I felt about the Purely Pomegranate ribbon that I used, but oh well!

Birth Announcements

2008-03-18T12:25:00.002-06:00

I told a friend that I would make her birth announcements and I am almost done! Actually, the reason I'm not done is because I ran out of ribbon. :( I looked at Michael's to see if they had anything I could use in place of the Striped Bashful Blue ribbon that I am using, but I wasn't jazzed with my choices there, even though they were pretty cute.

Anyway - I have 20 announcements done and 6 to go when the ribbon comes in sometime next week.

Both me and Justin are sick so things are no fun at our house. It is hard to feel like stamping when you are sick!

Beate's WSC # 38

2008-03-09T23:47:00.003-06:00

I got it done in time! I should be in bed - but check me out posting a new card to my blog. Actually tomorrow (ah, actually today) is the official first day of Spring Break and Justin and I are already in a bad habit of staying up really late and sleeping in late. I do have a few things that I have to do this week - grade 3 classes worth of exams and finish the baby announcements I am making for my friend. But past that we are lounging and spending time together.

Anyway - for this week's challenge I knew that I wanted to make an Easter card and that means that I wanted to use the Spring Fling DP and the stamp set A Good Egg. I am loving these two together.

I hope that everyone has a good week. I plan to have more stuff to post this week than normal, but we will see how the week plays out, right?

Ginormous Birthday Cards

2008-03-06T17:18:00.002-06:00

When we lived in Tampa, I used to make birthday cards for all the people at work. As the number of people in the office grew, the size of the birthday cards grew as well. After I left, my friend Wendy took over making all the cards and now the office has grown so much that she makes cards that are a whole sheet of cardstock folded in half instead of just a half-sheet.

Her birthday is this month, so I made birthday cards for her and sent them to her to use. I waited to post them until I knew that she had gotten them. I used some of my new stuff - Big Birthday Candle and Bali Breeze DP for one card and Just B and Summer Picnic DP for the other. And the wide ribbon is so perfect for these big cards!

Spring Break starts when I get out of class tomorrow, so I hope to get some stamping done next week. But since Justin is off work too, he may distract me!

Be Inspired Challenge #1

2008-03-05T08:38:00.004-06:00

I had a really busy weekend and missed Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge, but I made time to make something for her first ever Be Inspired Challenge.

She posted this picture on her blog and then you are supposed to let the picture inspire you.

Right away I thought of the flowers in the hostess set Time Well Spent. There were so many beautiful colors in the little handbag that I had trouble picking what to use! In the end I used Pixie Pink, Green Galore, Real Red, Wild Wasabi and just a touch of Pumpkin Pie. And for the first time ever, I used some of Stampin' Up!'s rub-ons - the sentiment comes from the Sale-a-bration Love & Happiness Rub-Ons (You have less than 2 weeks to get some of these!).

Hope everyone is having a good week! I have to get everything ready for classes today - I am so ready for Spring Break next week!

Beate's WSC #36

2008-02-26T17:39:00.002-06:00

Another sketch challenge! Because I didn't have time to work on the challenge until today, I was glad that it was a simple one. But I knew that I wanted to use the set A Good Egg. It is so cute! I used some designer paper from last year's SAB Simply Scrappin' kit that I thought looked very springy.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Love this layout!!!

2008-02-19T18:49:00.003-06:00

I saw this card today and loved it!!! So then I decided it was the perfect layout to use for my workshop next week. You read that right - I have a workshop next week. In the 2 and a half years I have been a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, this will be my first actual workshop. Can you believe it? It will be small - only 4 ladies and since I really have no idea what I am doing, I decided to have each lady make a card and scrapbook page (they are not new to stamping). And I am going to be super generous because when I say scrapbook page, I mean a 12"X12" page (since the hostess told me that they all have the "big" scrapbooks).

Anyway - the theme is Spring. I have decided that the scrapbook page will be an Easter page and I will use the set A Good Egg, that Cambria used on her card with this layout. Then I decided that I wanted the card to focus on the Sale-a-bration sets and I also wanted to use the Flower Fusion felt flowers that I got last week and haven't touched yet. For my first draft, I used Bali Breeze DP.

I like how it turned out, but I think that I cut my DP too big and I decided that it wasn't "Spring"-y enough. So I tried it again with Berry Bliss DP instead.

I have decided that the one with Berry Bliss DP is the winner! With the Pretty in Pink it is more spring-like and I think it looks simpler. Now to design the scrapbook page!

Onesie card

2008-02-16T12:10:00.003-06:00

I was doing some surfing the other day looking for cute card ideas and I stumbled across this blog with oh-so-cute cards that looked like onesies. I told a friend that I would make her birth announcement for her, so I decided that I had to try it out.

I have to admit - it was a lot more work than the tutorial made it sound like it would be. But that may be because my circle punch had a lot of trouble punching through 2 layers of cardstock at once. And I like how on the other blog, the onesies are all white, but I used Bashful Blue because I had already chosen to make the birth announcements out of Bashful Blue and Barely Banana so I have plenty of those. But since this onesie is blue, I had to stamp my image on white cardstock, then color and cut it out - which is another thing that make it a little tedious.

Don't get me wrong though - I love the result! I think that it turned out super cute - I'm just not sure how many of these I would want to make in the future.

WSC #35

2008-02-16T11:17:00.003-06:00

I'm not sure if I really stuck to the sketch very well on this one. I had an idea in my head and this is what I ended up with. I am pretty happy with it. My brother's birthday is today so I needed something that wasn't too girly and I hope this fits the bill. :)

I got a new order in on Thursday and used a few of my new things on this card. I love the set Wonderful Favorites! And since I only have one brother I don't feel bad at all about making him a card to my "favorite" brother. :) I also used one of the Sale-a-bration sets, Birthday Whimsy, for the cake and the happy birthday greeting. The other thing on this card that I just got is the Striped Bashful Blue Ribbon - love it!

I hope that everyone has a good weekend and gets some stamping done!

Beate's WSC #34

2008-02-09T16:08:00.001-06:00

Today I finished grading exams (I gave 3 exams this past week) and even though I need to write a statistics exam for this coming week - I knew that if I didn't do the sketch challenge today, I wouldn't be able to do it.

I've been thinking a lot lately about getting rid of some of my stamps that I don't use very much. I just need the time to go through them! I was inspired by Beate's own creation for this week's challenge to pull out my retired Petals & Paisley DP. It wasn't until just now that I realized just how inspired I was by her card - I used one of the same patterns of paper and I did the scalloped edge the same way. I am such a copy-cat sometimes! Anyway - I used a stamp on here that is also retired, from the Tag Time stamp set. I really like this set and don't use it much but I think when I am ready to start clearing some stuff out I will keep this one around for a bit longer.

This next week is the last week that I am subbing for an instructor on another campus - so I hope to have more time to be creative and clean out my space!

WSC #33

2008-02-05T16:18:00.000-06:00

Just made it in time. And I really should be grading exams instead of stamping. :( Oh well!

Even though I no longer go to baby showers (if you haven't been able to have a baby for 2 and half years, you understand) I still believe in giving gifts. There is a baby shower tomorrow night, and I needed a card to stick a giftcard in, so I used the sketch challenge as my template for the baby card I needed to make.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

It's time to Sale-a-brate!

2008-02-01T08:28:00.000-06:00

It is many stampers favorite time of year - time to get free stuff! Now through March 17th, for every $50 worth of merchandise you purchase from Stampin' Up!, you can choose one Sale-a-bration item for free. To download the pdf version of the Sale-a-bration catalog, follow this link. To see the current catalog for Spring Summer online, click here.

Two posts in two days!!!

2008-01-25T08:03:00.000-06:00

I know - it is hard to believe. But yesterday I was hit with the creative bug as I kept looking at the cover my Stampin' Success (this is the magazine that SU! sends to its demos). They had a little box shape formed out of Real Red cardstock (to be a candy holder) and with the Big Deal Alphabet stamp set, stamped the "L", "V" and "E" for "love" and used a flower for the "O". I decided to use that idea on a card and I changed some stuff around. But I have to admit - I never thought about putting Real Red and Almost Amethyst together before this. I love getting inspiration!

I hope that everyone has a great weekend - who knows - maybe I will post something else in the next couple days again! Remember, I did have a goal to show my blog more attention this year!

Cute little "milk" carton

2008-01-24T16:21:00.000-06:00

I love everything that Beate makes!!! So when she posted this tutorial on SplitCoastStampers, I knew that I wanted to try it! And I am definitely on a Valentine's theme lately. I want to make a couple more, but there are also lots of other things that I want to do - like start the curtains for our family room. I did make a valance and posted all about it on the blog I share with Justin.

This little carton is the perfect size to put some little Valentine's Day treats into and give to someone!

Two weeks worth of sketches

2008-01-19T13:00:00.000-06:00

Now that my husband is home for the weekend, I asked him where the camera was and of course it was right next to the computers the whole time! So - I am sharing what I made for last week's sketch challenge as well as this week's :) I decided to make Valentine's cards for each since that is our next holiday. As it turns out, I really don't have many Valentine sets, but I don't see myself buying anymore anytime soon - too many other things that I want. :)

Here is the card that I made for this week's challenge.

I LOVE Boatloads of Love! And I love the jumbo eyelets that Stampin' Up! sells - I have looked for similar elsewhere and can't find any as good. I also love how the jumbo eyelets fit so well with this stamp because of the round life-preservers on the side of the boat. I am sad that the Darling Doodles DS was retired after the last catalog - I thought it would be a great carry-over to the Spring, but apparently not. I'm going to have to get myself some of that Berry Bliss paper to make up for it.

Like I said, I also made a card for last week's challenge too, but never got it posted. Here is it.

I'm not sure how I feel about the end result of it. I like purple, but I always have a hard time using it. I'm not sure why. And there was hardly any stamping that was done on this card since I used the prima flowers as the main part of the card and designer paper as well.

Hope everyone has a great weekend - it is a long weekend for me, but not for Justin who will be heading out again Monday morning for his last week in Houma (hopefully for a few months at least).

Beate's weekend sketch challenge

2008-01-16T08:34:00.000-06:00

I did make a card for Beate's weekend sketch challenge for this week, but I haven't been able to get a picture of it to post. :( I don't know where the camera is and the scanner isn't working. I will try to have some great stuff to post this weekend!

Happy New Year's!

2007-12-31T17:25:00.000-06:00

I have been a terrible blogger lately so I think that should be one of my New Year's resolutions. Of course, we are leaving tomorrow so I will have to start blogging again at the end of the week - so it doesn't sound like I starting out very well. :(

I was able to do a little non-holiday stamping this weekend. It was nice to make some cards for fun for a change. And I was using new stamp sets that I got this year at Christmas so that makes it all the more fun!

If you want the supply lists for either of these, let me know!

Got my new CATTY!

2007-12-20T14:23:00.000-06:00

I got my new catalog from Stampin' Up! a couple days ago which means that I have spent part of the last two days looking through it and ooh-ing and aah-ing over things that I like.

After feeling a little burned out from making Christmas cards and all that, I finally decided that I was ready to do a little stamping today. I used an idea that you will see in the new catalog and one of the hostess sets that is int he new catty as well. Here is what I ended up with.

Hope everyone is ready for Christmas!!

still stamping away!!!

2007-11-29T09:14:00.000-06:00

Just in case you were wondering - I am still making lots of cards, just not taking the time to post them. However, I made this card and decided that I just LOVED it and so I had to post it to my blog. This uses the retired set, Big Blooms (still love it).

I'm not sure how many people are checking my blog these days, so I won't post any details about it unless people ask!

Busy busy

2007-11-21T12:33:00.000-06:00

Even though I was busy this morning getting ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow, I still had time to do some stamping. And since I am now just sitting in my statistics class while they take an exam, I can tell you a little more about it. :)

Stampin' Up! posted instructions on how to make this card for its demonstrators and I decided that I had almost all the supplies so I would give it a try. Then I started substituting just a little. I used Rose Red when they asked for Ruby Red because I have more of it on hand. And since I don't have any Earth Elements brads, I couldn't use the brad colors that they suggested (Ruby Red and Old Olive); so I substituted and used some of the Rich Regals brads instead (So Saffron and Rose Red). Since I didn't have the Old Olive brad, there was nothing tying the ribbon color to the rest of the card, so I substituted once again and used Old Olive as my color that shows through the little holes I punched in the big flower.

In the end they were little substitutions and I doubt that most people would notice.

The darker shades on the card were created by coloring with a VersaMarker. I really don't use my VersaMarker hardly at all, so it was fun to pull it out and play with it a bit.

Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!!

What I worked on last night...

2007-11-21T07:50:00.000-06:00

So - I didn't work on as many cards last night as I originally wanted to, but I got a few done. I actually worked on a couple that are not done yet because I need to get something back from my sister to finish it. Anyway - here are two designs that I did complete last night. Actually all the Stampin' Up! materials that I used on them are current too! :) That doesn't happen all that often! This is my first "I'm sorry" card ever. Who knows when you might need one of those, though.

Beate's WSC #28

2007-11-17T20:19:00.000-06:00

I participated in another weekend sketch challenge this week :). I made a very simple card with hardly any stamping. I must be getting lazy. I am still not sure how I feel about the end result here. Once again - if you want the recipe, let me know. Back to the drawing board!

Another quick post

2007-11-17T18:34:00.000-06:00

I hope that people realize that I have really been stamping lately. :) I am working on more cards for the craft fair my sisters and I will be at in 2 weeks from today. I am making 2 of each card design for right now. Today I have made 4 different designs so far, but 2 of them are ones that I have done in the past so I won't post them. Here are the other two that I have done so far today.

The scan of the card with all the glitter didn't turn out that great. Oh, well - better luck next time. Again, if you want the recipe for any of these cards, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. Have a great night!

Quick Post

2007-11-16T21:55:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to make a quick post with a few cards that I have made today. I am done making Christmas cards for the next 2 weeks and am trying to make about 10 cards a day of birthday, thank you, etc. So I will be making a few designs a day and making about 2 or 3 of each design.

I wanted to post the cards that I made this evening, but I don't want to take the time to give all the supplies. If anyone wants to know - let me know by using the email link on the side! :)

Well it's about time!!!

2007-11-08T08:46:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I have been busy making cards, it is just that I am making cards that I have made or posted before which would be a bit boring if I kept posting them over and over again. But finally something new to post! :)

My sisters and I are going to be selling cards (mainly Christmas cards) at a craft fair on the 1st of December which means we have been busy bees lately. Here is a Christmas card that I just made, but am thinking about tweaking slightly.

I used a retired set from 2 years ago (has it really been that long?). I matted the tree on Brocade Blue, but now I am thinking that it really does look better matted in Real Red even though it means the center of the eyelets will also be red. And if I mat the tree with red, that means I need to change the matting for the Mellow Moss embossed rectangle to be something else. I'm thinking white. Hmmm.

Anyway - the recipe here is:

Stamps: Trim the Tree, Season's Greetings (both retired)

Paper: Brocade Blue, Real Red, Mellow Moss, Shimmery White

Ink: Brocade Blue

Markers: Mellow Moss, So Saffron, Real Red, Brocade Blue

Accessories: eyelets, Wide Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Cuttlebug Spots & Dots embossing folder

Beate's WSC #24

2007-10-23T14:14:00.000-06:00

So - I took another week off, but here I am again with another sketch challenge entry. I'm not sure how I feel about the end result here. I wanted to make something for the sketch challenge and I needed to make a baby shower card. So this is what I ended up with.

I really don't have very many baby stamps because why should I? Therefore I had to get into something that is retired.

Here is the recipe:
Stamps: Something to Celebrate, Hugs & Wishes, Swirls (non-SU)
Paper: Orchid Opulence, Pretty in Pink, Shimmery White, Retired Designer Paper
Ink: Black Stazon, Orchid Opulence
Accessories: Watercolor pencils, blender pen, ribbon

Beate's WSC #22

2007-10-08T19:49:00.001-06:00

Well - I did not get around to doing the sketch challenge last weekend, so I had to make sure to do it this weekend. On Friday night I hosted a stamp-a-stack of Christmas cards class and then my sisters were here on Saturday and Sunday to make cards. Did everyone know that Saturday was World Cardmaking Day?

I did a lot of work while my sisters were here, but it doesn't seem that I got much finished. :( I hope to finish my Halloween party invites tomorrow though.

Without further delay - here is the card I made for the weekend sketch challenge. Enjoy!

Recipe:

Stamps: Frolicking Frogs (retired)

Paper: Wild Wasabi, River Rock, Bashful Blue, Cutie Pie DP, Whisper White

Ink: Basic Black, Wild Wasabi, River Rock, Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Groovy Guava

Accessories: Aquapainters, Wild Wasabi ribbon, Corner Rounder punch and Cuttlebug embossing folder - Spots and Dots

Time to pull out the decorations!

2007-09-29T11:21:00.000-06:00

This past week has been a little busy as I gave the first exam in my statistics class and just finished getting them all graded. Now it will be a couple more weeks before another exam in either class I teach so I have a bit of a break! :)

Since October starts on Monday it is time to pull out all the Halloween decorations. I love decorating my house for holidays! Of course, when we were living in our 1300 sq ft apartment in Tampa it seemed like we had a lot more decorations than it seems now that we are in a house almsot twice that size. Last year I bought some more decorations to make it seem more festive and we will see how long I go this year before getting something else - I already bought these cute lights to put up on the front window outside.

In the spirit of the holiday that is almost before us, I have a Halloween card to share. I used a couple different techniques on this one.

The background of where the house is stamped is actually Glossy White cardstock. If you haven't used it before, it is really neat because it is smooth and shiney like photo paper. I'm not sure of the actual name of the technique, but you take a cotton ball and wet it with rubbing alcohol. Then add a few drops of reinkers for your stamp pads (I used Only Orange, Real Red and Yoyo Yellow) and dab it all over the cardstock until it is covered. I think it created a really neat eerie background perfect for a Halloween card.

The other technique that I used was stamping with bleach. I wanted to put swirls in the background of the card (it made me think of wind) but I also wanted to have trees in the background. So I stamped the swirls the same color as the cardstock (Ruby Red) but I made a stamp pad of a paper towel that I put bleach on and stamped the trees with that.

Oh - I have had a couple people ask about the game that is so addicting and more challenging than SuDoku. It is called Kakuro - it is like Sudoku in that it uses the digits 1 - 9 and the numbers cannot repeat in each row or column. But it is more like a crossword puzzle in that every puzzle looks different and now you are trying to fill in the digits so that they add to the sums given for each column and row. As a numbers person, I enjoy this far more than a crossword puzzle!

Recipe:
Stamps: Home is Where the Haunt Is, Swirls (non-stampin' up)
Paper: Ruby Red, Old Olive, So Saffron, Glossy White and Basic Black
Ink: Black Stazon, Ruby Red
Accessories: Reinkers - Real Red, Only Orange, Yoyo Yellow, Black Grosgrain ribbon, Photo Corners Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Bleach

Beate's WSC #20

2007-09-25T13:38:00.000-06:00

And once again I haven't stamped since last week's sketch challenge. Such a slacker I am! Although I have been a little busy writing a couple exams and grading them for one class, I have to admit that slacker is a good word. Justin has gotten me hooked on a new game that puts Sudoku to shame as far as challenging goes. It is quite addicting, which means that I am not very productive lately.

Anyway - here is my entry into this week's sketch challenge. I have been trying lately to come up with cards that are suitable for giving to a guy, which I think that most people know is easier said than done. This one started as a guy card, but I'm not sure if that is how it ended up. You be the judge!

Recipe:

Stamps: Loads of Love, Loads of Love Accessories

Ink: Timber Brown Stazon, Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red, Basic Gray, and So Saffron

Paper: Certainly Celery, Rose Red, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Au Chocolat (retired), paper from Friends & Flowers Simply Scrappin' Kit (retired)

Accessories: Aquapainter, Celery ribbon, Rose Red brads, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Word Window Punch, 1/4" Circle Punch

Finally getting better...WSC #19

2007-09-18T09:00:00.000-06:00

Here is the only card that I have made over the past week. I have been sick with a cold and haven't felt like doing anything besides laying around and resting. I really wanted to use this stamp set, but I had a little trouble staying true to the sketch that was presented. I hope that this is close enough! It is a little plain - but I am feeling plain so I guess that explains it.

The image was colored using a combination of watercolor techniques - I used watercolor crayons, but since they don't make those for the In Colors, I watercolored with the ink for those instead. And the Swirls in the background are from the great stamp set that I got from Beate from winning her challenge a couple weeks ago. Thanks Beate!!!

Recipe:
Stamps: Holy Triptych, Swirls (Autumn Leaves brand)
Paper: Blue Bayou, Purely Pomegranite, Mellow Moss and Very Vanilla
Ink: Timber Brown Stazon, Blue Bayou, Purely Pomegranite and Mellow Moss
Accessories: Watercolor Crayons, Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon

Beate's weekend sketch challenge #18

2007-09-11T15:35:00.000-06:00

I am getting this in on about the last day to enter. I don't know what it is lately, but I just keep making Halloween and Christmas cards. At least Halloween is next month though. :)

Recipe:

Stamps: Autumn Apparitions, Halloween Backgrounds (retired)

Paper: Lovely Lilac, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi and WW

Ink: Lovely Lilac, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi, Basic Gray and Basic Black

Accessories: stipple brush, gingham ribbon and brads

What came in my mail yesterday

2007-09-11T06:48:00.000-06:00

Just over a week ago I posted a Frosty card that I made. It was actually an entry into a sketch challenge that I won. :) So yesterday in the mail I got my prize - it is an set of clear, acrylic stamps. As soon as I get an acrylic block or two I will be able to use it and make a card to post. With this set was a card from Beate, here is a pic of the card:

Beate does such awesome work - I am amazed everyday when I visit her blog.

In the Spotlight

2007-09-08T09:58:00.000-06:00

When I placed my big order I got a level 2 hostess set - In the Spotlight. When the catalog first came out, none of the hostess sets really "spoke" to me. Of course (this is really typical with me), as time passed I really grew to like this particular set. So - here is the first card that I made with it.

Notice the use of In Colors on this one - River Rock, Purely Pomegranite, and Blue Bayou. I think that I will cave and get the ink for River Rock and Groovy Guava on my next order - I said it wouldn't be long until I broke down and got them all!

Noel - version 2.0

2007-09-06T21:26:00.000-06:00

So - I think that I fixed the Noel card. Before there was just way way too much red. And here it is:

I think it turned out rather cute. :) The bad thing is that I had decided not to order navy ribbon on my last order, so I had to make a run to Michael's and it was a pain to find just navy ribbon.

Anyway - I think I have the 5 cards for my stamp-a-stack of Christmas cards all figured out. That means that I had better start deciding what my own cards will look like. When you have around 150 to make, you need to start early.

getting ready for Halloween already

2007-09-06T12:23:00.000-06:00

I am trying to stay on top of my game this year. Already I have been planning Christmas cards (I think that I have found a way to fix the Noel card below - I will try to post it later today) and now I think that I have planned out the invites for our Halloween party.

I wanted to throw a Halloween party ever since the first year that Justin and I were married, but we were living in an apartment and didn't really have the room to invite lots of people over. Then a year ago we moved to the Houston area and had a nice, big house. Perfect for hosting a party. We had the party last year and it was lots of fun. This year I am hoping for a big turnout since we know more people here now. :)

Here is what I have come up with for our invitations for this year. The only pic that I have of our invites from last year contains all of our info (phone # and address) so I won't be posting that, but I think they were pretty cute!

The info about the party will be underneath the folded part. You might notice that I got this from one of the sketch challenges that Beate had on her blog a few weeks ago. I loved it and knew that I wanted to use it for invites.

It has literally been like Christmas today!

2007-09-05T21:14:00.001-06:00

It has been a while since I have put in a large stamping order. My sisters and I are wanting to sell cards at a craft fair booth and I have had some requests to do a Stamp-a-Stack of Christmas cards. So I decided that it was time to get some new Christmas stamp sets. Sure - some of them are not "new" but they are new to me. Anyway - I mounted 9 stamp sets this afternoon (thank goodness that 4 of them were the die-cut sets from the holiday mini) and then I started making some cards. Christmas cards to be exact.

I won't post my supplies that I used - I'm not sure that people are paying attention to that anyway. If you want supplies, you can post a comment asking for them.

These are my favorite two that I have made so far.

The City if David card is one that Stampin' Up! did last year and I loved. I had been dying to get the set so that I could make the card. :) The snowflake card is one that I just had to do with the a couple of our In Colors - Blue Bayou and Soft Sky. Last year I refused to buy the In Colors. Now I finally caved and bought 4 of them for this year. How long do you think I will go until I break and get the last 2?

These two both seem like they are missing something. I know what exactly I need for the Santa card - it needs just a bit of bouble-stitched Wild Wasabi ribbon in the empty blue space between the Christmas trees and the "Tis the season" sentiment. I'm still kind of struggling with what to add to the Noel card.

Overall I need to keep these relatively simple so that people can make a lot of them at a class. Any suggestions?

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #17

2007-09-03T15:31:00.000-06:00

I took a couple weeks off from the sketch challenges with going on vacation and then getting ready for fall semester. But here is another. Like the last one I did (can't remember which one it was now though) - I love this sketch. There are so many cute things you can do with it. :)

I decided to start in with the Christmas themes and used the old faithful Frosty set for the snowman. I love this set. But I have a feeling that since it has been a around for a few years now it will soon be leaving us (i.e., I am predicting that it will retire either this year or next). I really wanted to use some of my Cutie Pie paper and decided that the little white flowers on the Bashful Blue paper look close enough to snowflakes, although I'm not sure just how many people I am fooling with that.

I made the scalloped edge by punching out a lot of 3/4" circles in Certainly Celery and I used some Confetti White as my neutral on this one. The sentiment is from that retired set that I have been using a lot lately: Cute Converse - I can't help it - they are the perfect size to use with the punches!!!

Something old, something new ...

2007-08-28T20:51:00.000-06:00

... nothing borrowed, but something blue.

Inspired by a friend (thanks Wendy!) and some of the new wrapping paper that Stampin' Up will be selling in the Holiday mini (Sept. 1), I decided that I needed to try to make a card that is mainly Chocolate Chip, with some Bashful Blue snowflakes (something blue). The only set I have with snowflakes is a retired set, Snowflakes. That would be my something old here. And last of all, using my light blue embossing powder is my something new.

I like how this turned out and only wish that I had some of the Taffeta Bashful Blue ribbon to finish it off. Plus, I think it will look better with one of the newer snowflake stamp sets that SU! has.

Thanks Wendy for the inspiration!

In a funk

2007-08-23T15:29:00.000-06:00

The lack of posts means that things have been busy around here. First it was the end of my summer term and I had to get grades turned in. Then Justin and I left to go a trip to the other big cities in Texas - you can read a bit about our trip on our blog here. We got back from our little vacation about a week ago - but then I was in charge of a night all about Preparedness for the ladies at church. That was last night and after I made my syllabi for this semester (which starts on Monday) I was finally able to stamp. :)

Needless to say, you take a couple weeks off and it really kills your creativity. I got this Cutie Pie paper the day before we left and hadn't had a chance to use it yet. I have to admit - as much as I love designer paper, I have a really hard time using it. For the most part, I am afraid of making something that I don't like in the end and wasting the beautiful paper!

Anyway - once I pulled out a little Cutie Pie, I realized how well it went with Big Blooms and was sad yet again that Stampin' Up! didn't keep this from the Spring mini. Well - I will choose to use it regardless! I decided to pair it with another retired good one: Riveting was a hostess set in last year's catalog.

Here is what I came up with - I'm going to get it into tomorrow's mail for my upline's b-day which is on the 30th. Hopefully she gets it in the mail before she decides to check out my blog again!

Beate's Weekend Sketch #13

2007-08-05T17:17:00.000-06:00

I finally have a little extra time to work on some cards (extra emphasis on "little" here). Anyway - here is my card for Beate's sketch challenge for this weekend. This was a really fun card to make. After I was done though I had wished that I hadn't used so much pink - maybe I will just have to do another one, right?

I used a lot of retired products on this one - the paper is from the Just Delightful Simply Scrappin' kit that was a SU Sell-a-bration item this past year, the flower stamp was also a sell-a-bration from the set Delight in Life. The sentiment came from the Cute Converse set I got over a year ago and never used until now (I told you before - if I get it for free it is really a toss-up when I will use it).

I have to admit that I had a little trouble with the dimensions on this one. From the sketch it says the card base is 8.5" X 5.5" and tells where to score it. When I did that though - my resulting card was a 5.5" square and I could tell from everyone's cards that were posted that they were getting rectangular cards. Hmmm. So - I started with a base that was 8.5" X 4.25" and I ended up witht a standard size card. Very interesting.

Has it really been that long?!?!

2007-08-01T14:10:00.000-06:00

Wow - time has gotten away from me! My sister wants me to teach a card class at her house in a couple weeks. It took me while to find time to do some stamping, but I finally picked all the cards that people will make. A few are ones that I have done in the past, but here are a few new ones that I tried out this past weekend to see what I thought.

Both of the birthday cards here I CASE'd from Stampin' Up! publications. On this one I used Pale Plum, but when I do it at the class I will use Almost Amethyst - I decided the plum didn't go quite as well as I had hoped. I made this in the hopes that it would be suitable for a guy, that's why there is no ribbon or anything else frilly.

Here is the recipe:
Stamps: Big Deal Alphabet and Everyday Flexible Phrases
Paper: Brocade Blue, Certainly Celery, Pale Plum, Barely Banana and Whisper White
Ink: Brocade Blue, Certainly Celery, Pale Plum
Accessories: 1 1/4" Square Punch

This one uses one of my favorites - Eat Cake. Where I saw this they were discussing how to make scratch and sniff cards but I won't be able to get into that with the class so this is unscented. :)

Recipe:
Stamps: Eat Cake
Paper: Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose, Old Olive and Very Vanilla
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive; Markers - Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose, and Old Olive
Accessories: Brads

This next one is a boy baby card. I have been seeing these pocket cards pop up a lot lately and thought I would jump on the bandwagon. Once again, I'm not going to make it this way for the class, but this was just to get an idea. Instead I am going to make the card in Taken with Teal instead of Tuorquoise, mat the Zebra in Green Galore, use ribbon on the folded portion of the card that is Teal and Green (instead of the striped paper), punch the tag out with the same blue polka-dot paper as the rest of the card, and make the pull-out part Turquoise instead of White. I know - it sounds like a lot of changes - but I think it will be super cute!!!

Recipe:
Stamps: Zoofari, Holidays & Wishes, Hugs & Wishes
Paper: Taken with Teal, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Petals & Paisley DS
Ink: Basic Black and Taken with Teal
Accessories: Brads and Round Tab Punch

Weekend Sketch Challenge #10

2007-07-15T21:02:00.001-06:00

Here is my entry for Beate's sketch challenge for this weekend. I haven't entirely decided how I feel about how it turned out.

I am having trouble accepting the fact that Big Blooms from the Spring mini didn't make it into the catalog. :( Anyway - I used a new color combination for me - Perfect Plum, Pale Plum and Sage Shadow. In addition to the Big Blooms set, I used the Watercolor Joy wheel and a stamp from Holidays & Wishes for my sentiment. Enjoy!

Not really what I had planned, but...

2007-07-11T20:02:00.000-06:00

I decided to use my Doodle This stamp set and colors to match this ribbon that I pulled out of the dollar bin at Michael's. The colors Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery were great matches, but I had a lot of trouble matching the darker pink. I finally settled on Pink Passion, but once I put the card together they don't entirely match. I'm guessing that from the picture, most won't be able to tell - but I can tell. :(

But before the matching problem was discovered, I learned that I am not good at sewing on cards. So - I can't sew curtains and I can't sew cards. :( Of course - I had to learn the hard way that I don't sew cards very well. Hence all the holes that are pierced all around my Certainly Celery Designer Prints Paper. I started sewing and it all messed up, but by then there were holes all across the top of my paper. My choice was to each throw it out, or pierce all the little holes and try to pretend that is what I wanted it to look like. So I chose to pretend.

The recipe:
Stamps: Doodle This, So Very (Sell-a-bration 2007) and Petals Jumbo roller
Paper: Pink Passion, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery Designer Prints
Ink: Pink Passion, Whisper White Craft Ink
Accessories: ribbon, and flower shaped eyelet

Best Fishes

2007-07-11T06:11:00.000-06:00

Can you tell that my summer classes have come to a close - I have posted 4 cards in the last week! Actually I gave the final exams yesterday and got them graded. Today I have to go and turn in my grades, but I have to start teaching another class tomorrow. This shouldn't be quite as bad though - it is only one class, but they do meet for three hours a day - yuck!

One of the Sell-a-bration sets this past year was a really cute one called Very Punny. It has small images with small sayings. The sad thing is that I have had this stamp set since February and this is the first time that I used it. That happens with things that I get for free though. I'm not sure what it is - but if I pay for it, I use it as soon as it arrives. If it was free it is really a toss up how long it will sit on my shelf before it gets used. :(

On this one I totally CASE'd (Copy and Share Everything) another card that I saw made with this same set. The problem is, I don't remember at all where it was that I saw it. The other one was a green card and used the little frog image that says "Hoppy for You". I decided though that the Cuttlebug embossing folder I used on the background really goes great with the bubbles that the fish is blowing out. And I used 3 colors that really don't see much used by me - Brilliant Blue, Only Orange and Yoyo Yellow. The ribbon is a color called Maize that matches so well with Yoyo Yellow - I better not start using that color too often since Stampin' Up! discontinued the Maize Grosgrain Ribbon.

Anyway - enjoy the card - hope it gets your creative juices flowing!

Rhino fun

2007-07-10T06:51:00.000-06:00

I got this Zoofari set so that I could make cards for kids, but instead, I made another baby card!

Chipboard is all the rage right now, so I got a pack of colored chipboard mat stack. It claimed to work work with any die-cut machine and it did! I have this scalloped frame die that I have not used much, but have really been wanting to use more. The colors of the chipboard don't completely match Stampin' Up! colors though. :( However I used the watercolor pencils to color in the rhino and it turns out that they don't really match SU colors either but I felt like these blues were close enough to matching each other. You be the judge.

Justin actually helped me with this color scheme. How good is he at this kind of stuff?

The scan is a little dark on the side because with the chipboard and the ribbon the scanner wouldn't close all the way. :( Oh well, right?

Artichokes and Eggplants - gotta love those veggies

2007-07-07T18:38:00.000-06:00

This card features one of my favorite color combinations - Always Artichoke and Elegant Eggplant. I'm not sure what it is about these two colors together - but I just love, love, love them.

I bought this stamp set, Bud Basics, almost a year ago when it was in the Summer mini catalog. I was very happy to see it show up the new Fall-Winter Collection Catalog that came out a week ago. :) This is a great stamp set and there is a jumbo wheel that corresponds with it.

On this card, I also used the Divine Swirl Cuttlebug embossing folder on the background. I love those embossing folders - they add so much!

If you haven't seen the new catalog - check it out here. If you want your own copy, let me know. :)

I love ladybugs!

2007-07-06T22:34:00.000-06:00

A couple years ago I dressed up as a ladybug for Halloween. So when I saw that Beate had made a ladybug card and put on her blog, I had to try it out. This is the first time that I have used two new stamp sets from the Fall-Winter Collection catalog. The ladybug wings are stamped with the Pick a Petal set and the greeting is from the Hug & Wishes set.

I just love ladybugs!

Happy 4th!

2007-07-04T09:46:00.000-06:00

The 4th of July is also my father-in-law's birthday so I made him a very patriotic card. Here it is - I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder (love it) on the Brocade Blue background. The card itself is Real Red, and the star image is from Stars & Swirls (just retired!). I used a Versamarker to color in the star and then embossed it with Hologram Highlights EP. The "Happy Birthday" sentiment is from the Eat Cake set.

Enjoy!

Beate's weekend sketch challenge

2007-06-26T21:14:00.000-06:00

Have I told you how much I love to visit Beate's blog? She really puts me to shame - she has such cute stuff and makes things daily, as opposed to me since I am now lucky to stamp once a week. :(

The challenge for this past weekend was to make a card following this template:

Here is my entry:

As you can tell - I am all about the designer paper lately! This uses paper from Petals & Paisley and the stamp set Doodle That. Both of these items are from the Spring mini and I really hope they make it into the catalog that comes out in just days! I love them both.

Anyway - Happy stamping!

more chocolate and pink

2007-06-19T15:33:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine recently had a little girl and wouldn't you know it - the only baby card I had made was for a boy!

So I threw this together about a week ago - but haven't seen my friend yet to give it to her. :(

I used the retiring set Baby Firsts and the Baby Time wheel and my favorite paper Au Chocolat. The cute ribbon is the stuff from Michael's - gotta love it.

Enjoy!

Father's Day

2007-06-15T21:19:00.000-06:00

I saw this same card last year - just with different colors. Can you believe it took me a whole year to get around to making it?

This uses the All-Year Cheer II stamp set (which is retiring in 2 weeks!), as well as the Monogram "F", Itty Bitty Backgrounds and Everyday Flexible Phrases. My papers were Brocade Blue and Au Chocolate (as well as Vanilla to stamp the "F" on).

Hope everyone has a great Father's Day!

What a cute little crab!

2007-06-12T19:45:00.000-06:00

So - I love to check out Beate's blog - once you check it out, you won't visit mine anymore! Anyway - she posted a challenge to make a gate card a few days ao and here is mine. My sister got the Crab and Company stamp set from the Spring mini and that is what I used for this.

I actually thought that making the gate card was a lot of fun and I was really wishing that I got this stamp set for myself, but considering that I bought 4 other stamp sets from the Spring mini - I just couldn't do it. I guess I will be borrowing it from my sister a lot!

This week is killing me!!!

2007-06-06T20:41:00.000-06:00

So - I started to write all about how I am super swamped this week with the summer classes that I am teaching, but I changed my mind. I am too excited to post the card that I somehow managed to make this week. I do have to warn you though - I think that my posts over the next 5 weeks will be few and far between. However, after July 11th I will have plenty of time for stamping!

So - I have noticed a trend in the last few things I have made. I must have a thing for big flower images lately. I really need to find the time to make cards that have something besides flowers on them.

For part of my birthday present, my mom had given me some little chipboard puchouts that she got at Michael's. Ok - who am I kidding - that I picked out at Michael's for her to give me. :) I got two packs and they both have the same images in them - various flower and heart shapes - but one pack has colors and patterns, the other doesn't so that I can color them anyway I want. I looked through the colored and patterned ones and thought about how the lavender color that they used was so close to Almost Amethyst.

So - when I finally sat down to make something with it, I pulled out some of my designer prints that will be in the next catalog (July 1st is too far away!). I really htink it matches so well - it is hard to believe that the flower image isn't Stampin' Up!'s!

Anyway - until my life calms down and I have more time to stamp - enjoy yet another flower card!

Prima Flowers

2007-05-31T06:47:00.001-06:00

Things are getting really busy around here for me. Summer classes start on Monday so I have been trying to put together 2 different syllabi, work on my lectures for the first week, etc., etc. Teaching in the summer is far more intense than teaching in the fall or spring so I usually don't have to put as much time in all at once but when you have to cover the same amount of material in 5 weeks as you usually do in 15 there is cause for panic.

Anyway - enough about that. About a month ago I got some of those Prima flowers that are so popular right now, but I couldn't figure out what to use them on. There are tons of them in a pack so I know this means I will have them until the day I am so old I can no longer see to stamp! I pulled out some of that ribbon I got in the bargain bin at Michael's and decided it was just the right colors to use with my little flowers. And lucky for me - the ribbon was pink and chocolate brown so you know I was reaching for my Au Chocolat paper!

Here is what I came up with:

I actually only used one stamp on the whole card - the "thank you" came from a Sell-a-bration set that I got over a year ago!

Enjoy!

Big Blooms

2007-05-26T11:35:00.001-06:00

Have I told you how much I love the stamp set Big Blooms? It is in the Spring mini and I have to admit, when I first saw it I wasn't so impressed and didn't think that I would be get it. But it has really grown on me and I want to use it on everything. :)

Anyway - I sat down with Big Blooms and some of the Prints Designer Series paper (currently available as a promotion, but will be in the catalog coming out on July 1st!). I wanted to use only solid cardstock and the prints, but I just kept coming back to Au Chocolat (love it). That is when I decided that I could combine some of the prints paper with Au Chocolat and this is what I came up with. I love how just about everything looks great with chocolate!

After I was done with it, I surprised myself to see that I had chosen the print with the paisley on it - I am not such a paisley fan. The neat thing about the Prints paper is that it will come in a variety of Stampin' Up! colors so it will match everything great!

I actually made that one a few days ago, but didn't want to post it yet until I had done another one. A few weeks ago I bought some really cute ribbon from the bargain bin at Michael's. In fact, I sorted through and picked out ones that I knew would match Stampin' Up! colors. The one that I used in this card I knew would match Taken with Teal, Tempting Turquoise and Green Galore. In fact, this is the first time that I have ever used Taken with Teal so it was an adventure. :) I also used some of the Petals & Paisley Designer Paper on this one.

One Sheet Wonder!

2007-05-22T08:36:00.000-06:00

Stampin' Up! gave all their demonstrators access to a template where you can take one 12"X12" sheet of designer paper, cut it according to the template and be able to make 16 great cards. It took me a while, but I finally got mine done. I first did one (pictured above) with a sheet of paper from Petals & Paisley (from the Spring Mini) and then did another (pictured below) with a sheet from Au Chocolat (also in the Spring Mini). Enjoy!

I am such a bad blogger!

2007-05-10T22:01:00.000-06:00

So, I have been really terrible about updating this blog lately. The truth is, I really have had no time to stamp at all. I gave my final exam this week and had grading to do and believe it or not, Colby (the puppy) really does take up a lot of my time.

Anyway - tonight I hosted a Bunco group and was cleaning and cooking all day. But once they all left I had some work to do. Mother's Day is this weekend and I had to get the cards made. So here it is:

The formula for this one is very simple. I used some of my favorite paper - Petals and Paisley, paired with some Old Olive and Regal Rose. Only one stamp was used for the whole card and it is from All-Year Cheer II which is retiring on June 30th.

Speaking of retiring - the retired list is out and it is incredibly long - over 220 stamp sets are retiring. There is some good news though. Anyone who purchases retired stamps from me gets them at 15% off. If you are interested in seeing the retired list, or want to order something from me, just let me know.

Happy Stamping!

Shhh - don't wake the sleeping puppy!

2007-04-26T12:42:00.000-06:00

CPS put up another template and I decided to give it a try. However, with a sleeping puppy downstairs I needed to do things very quietly - which means no eyelets, nothing needing the heat tool or anything else that would wake him up. Here is the very simple card that I came up with:

My favorite thing abou this card is the embossing done on the background. I have seen people using these Cuttlebug embossing folders and been very jealous that I don't have a Cuttlebug. That is until this week when I was actually checking out the embossing folders at Michaels. It just so happens that they work in my Sizzix!!! Although by the looks of it the Cuttlebug is better - I really can't get another $80 die-cut machine - but now I have learned that I don't need to in order to use their oh so cute stuff! Yay!!!

The other things that went into this card are some of the Petals & Paisley Paper and a retired set that I have called Something to Celebrate. The cake was colored with Pastels and a Blender Pen. Then I added another one of those really cute flower-shaped brads that I bought at Michaels.

As time passes and Colby gets more used to us here (and housebroken) I hope to have more time to make cute things for the blog. Happy Stamping!

Templates

2007-04-21T16:53:00.000-06:00

There is another blog out there that gives ideas for card templates, then people make cards that fit the template and email them in to whoever it is that manages the blog. The blog is CPS (Card Positioning Systems - not sure who came up with that name). Some of the templates I feel only so so about - but this one I wanted to give a try so I did 2 cards for CPS#9 (not that I sent them in - but I still did them).

This one uses some of my favorite designer series paper - Petals & Paisley (in the current Spring mini). I used stamps from two different stamp sets - Springtime Stems (a current hostess set) and All-Year Cheer II (retiring at the end of June and 20% off until the end of April).

Then I pulled out some of my paper that I have that retired a year ago. It may be retired - but I still love it!

The stamp set used in this one is Eat Cake (love it). The colors in this one are so bright - sometimes I don't think about how fun bright colors are until after I put them all together.

I hope to have more time and chances to stamp this next week than I did last week - my husband and I adopted a puppy a week ago and he is a lot of work! Happy Stamping!

Delight in Life!

2007-04-13T10:55:00.000-06:00

Mainly because I wasn't overly impressed with the cards that I posted yesterday I had to make one that I felt was really cute to make up for it. But I ran out of time and wasn't able to post it until today. I just wanted my top post to have a card that I thought was really cute - don't get me wrong though - I think the ones I posted yesterday look nice enough in person - but after scanning them in they don't look nearly as nice. :( Oh well! I can't always make something that I think looks like a masterpiece, right? So - here it is :)

The recipe for this card was super simple:
Stamps: Delight in Life (Sell-a-bration 2007)
Paper: Whisper White, Cameo Coral and Lavendar Lace cardstock
Ink: Black Stazon and Classic cameo coral
Accessories: Watercolor crayons (yoyo yellow, cameo coral and lovely lilac), a large flower eyelet (leftover from the Spring mini a year ago!) and an aquapainter

I really haven't used my water color crayons that much, but when I do I love them!!!

First try at a new technique

2007-04-12T13:14:00.000-06:00

I went to a Stampin' Up! seminar a couple months ago and they taught us all kinds of new stuff - some of which I am just getting around to trying out myself.

So the supplies for one of these techniques are: Mulberry paper, Glossy White cardstock, stamp of your choice, VersaMark, white embossing powder, a cotton ball, rubbing alcohol and some reinkers. You rip or cut the mulberry paper the size you want - I ripped mine the width of a jumbo roller stamp and the length of my card. Then I inked my roller stamp (Petals - love it!) with the Versa mark and rolled it over my mulberry paper. The next step is to use the white embossing powder to emboss the image onto the Mulberry paper. Make sure to heat the EP just until it melts - you don't want to scorch the paper!

Once the embossing is done - lay the mulberry paper over the glossy white cardstock (cut to size). Wet the cotton ball with the rubbing alcohol and then put 2-3 drops each of 2 or three colors of reinkers onto the cotton ball. (You might have to play around to find some that work well together - the rest time I put purple, pink and yellow together thinking they would be great spring colors, but the result was not pretty!) Next, gently dab the color from the cotton ball over the mulberry paper, the ink will not cover the embossed image and the ink will go through the mulberry paper to your glossy cardstock. Once the mulberry paper is fully covered, remove the mulberry paper and continue to blend the color over the glossy cardstock with the cotton ball until fully covered.

Once they are both dry - you have two items to use for two different cards. The colors turn out really interesting - for my samples here I used the reinkers mellow moss, certainly celery and brocade blue. Once I was done - the color on my mulberry paper was far darker than on my glossy cardstock. So much so, that to make a card using the embossed mulberry paper, I used old olive and not quite navy cadrstock. I also used some more of those really cute flower brads that I got at my local Michael's craft store - but they turned out looking black when I scanned the card - they are really pewter colored.

It is interesting to see how much lighter the glossy cardstock turned out for my next card - here I used cardstock colors that match the reinkers I used - Mellow Moss and Brocade Blue.

It doesn't look nearly as nice as the examples that they showed at my seminar - but it was my first try, right?

A Girl Bunny :)

2007-04-05T15:58:00.000-06:00

I know, I know. I should have been writing an exam today. I am about a third of the way done with it, but I just couldn't resist! I had made the boy bunny and now I just had to make his sister. I can't decide which one I like better. I scanned her in before I drew her whiskers, but she has them now. She is all ready for Easter to come on Sunday!

More Easter Fun!

2007-04-03T11:39:00.000-06:00

I had so much fun making the Easter Basket card that I posted yesterday that I just had to try to make this Easter Bunny that I had seen a few different places! Just like the card with the basket I only used one stamp on this card, so there would be little white dots all over the background of the card. The Bunny himself is made completely from punches and a marker to draw the whiskers and teeth.

The bunny ears were punched with the Large Oval Punch, and the inside of the ears with the Small Oval Punch (and I used Designer Paper to make it look cute). The head of the bunny was punched out with the 1-3/8-inch Circle Punch. The bunny cheeks are 2 separate punches with a 1/2-inch Circle Punch (and I sponged a little bashful blue ink on the edges so they stand out). The nose was punched with the 1/4-inch Circle Punch out of the same paper I used for the inside of the ears. The teeth were made with a 1/4-inch Square Punch and I drew a line down the middle so it looked like 2 teeth.

The hardest part about this card were the eyes. They are 1/8-inch circles that I punched from a handheld punch. They are super small, so it was a little difficult to get the adhesive on the back of them so they would stick!

I made the scalloped edge by using the Slit Punch 7 times right in a row. The patterned paper at the bottom is the pattern on the back of the Designer Paper that I used for the inside of the ears.

As I said before, I had seen this bunny a few places before but everytime I saw it the bunny had pink ears and many times a pink bow in its hair. I just kept thinking - the Easter Bunny is not a girl bunny so I had to make this one that is clearly a boy bunny.

Say it With Stamps!

2007-04-02T16:55:00.000-06:00

The promotion that Stampin' Up! is doing for the month of April is a 20% discount on a choice of 6 different stamp sets - 5 of which are greeting sets and one is an alphabet set. Here is the list of what you can get (click on image to see list larger):

The highlights of this special are - there is NO minimum purchase requirement to get the discount on these sets and there is NO limit on how many discounted sets you can buy.

Also - the stamp sets Tiny Talk and All-Year Cheer II are on this list to be purchased at a discount and they will be retiring soon - this means that after June 30th you will not be able to buy these sets. If you have been wanting them - now is the time to get them!

Here are a couple samples that use these sets - one uses Everyday Flexible Phrases, the other uses In My Thoughts. Let me know if you have any questions!

Easter Fun

2007-04-02T15:48:00.000-06:00

To celebrate Easter, I cased a card that I saw on someone else's site and made just a couple changes. This card is neat because although it does use the Petals jumbo roller stamp and another stamp from the Polka Dots & Paisley stamp set (both available in the Spring Mini), the whole focus of the card is the easter basket which is made entirely out of punches. I could have not stamped a thing and still had a super cute card!

The base of the basket is made from the Round Tab Punch (also available in the Spring Mini). The top band of the basket is also made with 2 punches of only the top rounded portion of the Round Tab Punch. The basket handle was made by first punching out an oval with the Small Oval Punch, then with the Large Oval Punch. The three eggs were punched with the Small Oval Punch.

I also used the Slit Punch on the side so there would be a little tab to keep the card closed and I punched out a little pink circle with the 1/2-inch Circle Punch that I put over this tab.

And as if the card wasn't cute enough - I added a button for accent over my 1/2-inch circle and this really cute flower brad that I got at my local Michaels.

Stipple brushes vs sponging?

2007-03-28T16:14:00.000-06:00

At least once a month I read about a different technique that you can use on cards and scrapbooks and then once in a while I actually give those techniques a try. Although I haven't used it much, I know that you can pick up ink on a sponge and apply it to cardstock to add background color. Until today - I have only done that once, on this card where I sponged the pink ink on the edges of the white strip with the small pink flowers:

A few months ago I read about applying color with a stipple brush instead and I wanted to see the difference between using a stipple brush to apply color to a background instead of using a sponge. To do this I made 2 almost identical cards. Here they are:

The "Find Joy" card using sponging and the "Happy" card uses stippling instead on the white square (then on each I stamped the flower multiple times). When I stippled the color on, it was quite faint and I stippled color all over the background of the white square. However, I noticed as I started to sponge the same Certainly Celery ink on the white square of the Find Joy card, the color was coming off onto my cardstock much darker, so I only sponged the color around the edges and left the rest white.

Both of these provide texture to the cards that wouldn't be there is I had just left the white sqaures white. Which is better? I love them both!!! I guess it just depends on what type of effect you want to give.

Something else that I did on these cards is that I used a lot of punches. Actually I only used 4 punches on each. I used both the small tag punch and the tag punch and punched each side to create the happy and find joy tags. I used the slit punch to creat slits to put the ribbon through and last but not least I used a 3/4" circle punch and punched out the corners of my white squares - I only tricked you into thinking that I had used a corner punch on these!

Cute little bag!

2007-03-27T12:16:00.000-06:00

As I was goofing off the other day on the computer, I found this cute little bag and the instructions to make it. So, here is my attempt at it. It is the perfect size to put a few cards and envelopes in to give as a gift, or any other small lightweight goodies.

The supplies needed to make this bag are minimal. You need a square piece of paper (patterned or stamped paper to make a really cute bag) - I used 12" by 12" and my resulting bag is 4" tall, 4.5" wide and 2.5" deep, good adhesive to hold it together, and then I cut a 1/2" strip of coordinating cardstock for the handle that I attached to the bag with brads.

Here are the instructions to make the bag yourself, or if you would like a pdf version of the instructions just send me an email and ask:

Spring is here

2007-03-19T10:59:00.000-06:00

In honor of the fact that Spring is in the air all around this time of year, I have a couple cards to post are quite "Spring-y". I cased some cards that I had seen somewhere else and made my own little changes to them. These cards each focus on an alphabet stamp set. Lots of people think that alphabet sets are for scrapbooking only, but they are great to use on cards too.

For the Happy Spring card, I used the Big Deal alphabet. Then I took advantage of the fact that this is the font used in the Polka Dots & Paisley stamp set and used the "happy" stamp from that. Then I used the easter egg stamp from the Tag Time set, but it would look just as good with flowers instead of easter eggs.

For the Happy Birthday card, I used only the Whimsical Lowercase alphabet set and then the flower stamp that comes with the Whimsical Numbers.

One nice thing about each of these alphabet sets - you don't have to worry about keeping your letters straight. For each of these it adds character if they aren't perfectly lined up. For each of these cards I used dimensionals so that some items on the cards would pop out. Enjoy!

on vacation

2007-03-08T21:39:00.000-06:00

I had hoped to make one more post that actually contained some card samples or something of substance before going on vacation, but I did not have time to this week. Everyone will have to come back after Spring Break and look forward to seeing something new.

Have a great week - please visit again after the 18th!

3D image with roller stamps

2007-03-05T17:56:00.000-06:00

A while back I read about how to create a 3-D image with roller stamps. I thought it sounded like a pretty neat idea, but didn't try it out until today. I made two cards where I used this technique. One with the Flitting By Jumbo roller and the other with the Baby Talk roller.

I think it is a great look when the image lines up, but if you can tell - on both of mine, the white ink doesn't stay lined up with the cardstock-colored ink. And I think it turned out looking a lot better on the butterflies than with the babies. I decided this is because the lines are thicker on the butterfly roller than on the baby roller.

If you want to know more about this technique - let me know. I'm happy to share!

Glitter and embossing combined!

2007-03-02T07:32:00.000-06:00

I wanted to post a card that I made back in December because I am really getting into the whole glitter thing.

For this card, I used the Tag Time stamp set. It may be hard to tell in the picture (click on the card to enlarge and see the detail), but all the presents on the background were stamped in VersaMark and then were embossed with Hologram Highlights embossing powder. The effect is really neat because the embossing powder is like glitter. Another idea would be to stamp it in VersaMark, pour on the Heat And Stick Powder, heat that and then add glitter - but the Hologram Highlights EP cuts out that extra step.

Once I get a VersaMarker I'll do all kinds of things with glitter and get them posted.

Spring Fever!

2007-03-01T14:26:00.000-06:00

Stampin' Up! is having a special Spring Fever promotion for the month of March. If you order the Polka Dots & Paisley Bundle for $34.85 which includes the Petals Jumbo Wheel, the Polka Dots & Paisley Stamp Set and the Petals & Paisley Designer Paper (all from the Spring Mini catalog - see the Spring Mini here) you can choose any other item from the Spring Mini for 50% off.

I have attached some pics of things made with the Polka Dots & Paisley Stamp Set and then of course there are always the samples in the mini catalog. If anyone is interested in taking advantage of this offer, just let me know!

first post

2007-03-01T14:16:00.000-06:00

I decided to set this up to inspire me to find more time to stamp. Also this is a way to hopefully attract more people to the fun of using rubber stamps to make various crafts including cards, scrapbook pages and other fun projects. I will post pictures of projects that I have made - if any of them interest you and you want to know how to do it - just let me know!