Merry Monday - Double Feature

Hi stampers!  Happy Monday!  I have been super lazy lately and not doing much at all let alone stamping!  Oops!  BUT I have managed to make a couple of Christmas cards that I'm going to share today.

This first card is one that I made a few weeks ago for a sketch challenge and of course in true fashion didn't get it posted in time :-)

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:   O holy night
Paper:  Whisper white, coastal cabana, silver glimmer, winter frost specialty DSP
Ink:  Midnight muse
Accessories:  Basic rhinestones

I just love this stamp!  And with the stamp-a-ma-jig it was easy to line up!

And this one uses a non-traditional Christmas color....summer starfruit!  It also uses the super cool canvas creations.  The main panel is actually cut from the canvas and stamped on with the flakes!  It looks super cool in real life!  It's got a really cool texture!  I tried to stamp the sentiment on it as well but that didn't work so well.  So for a tip, I'd stay away from using sentiments on it and stick to bolder images ;-)  And you might be wondering about that sentiment...it's from one of the holiday stamps that are "online only" meaning they carried over from last year but aren't in the catalog!  This is one of my favorite sets!  Make sure you check those out!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Festive flurry, greetings of the season (carry over list)
Paper:  Whisper white, midnight muse, canvas creations
Ink:  Pool party, summer starfruit, midnight muse
Accessories:  Basic rhinestones

Hope you enjoyed Merry Monday and have a great week!  Don't forget to check out my online class for the Halloween banner that you can get for FREE!!!

Happy stamping!

HSS 145

Hi stampers!  Wow, it's Tuesday already and almost turkey day!  Where does the time go?  I'm super busy this week with the turkey tournament that we host at work plus the holiday and my hubby's birthday so there won't be much time to stamp.  But there will be time to bake...today is baking day:-)  I need to make a pumpkin pie cheesecake for Thursday and I told Jon I'd make him red velvet cake balls for his birthday.  Maybe I can fit some stamping in there too, we'll see!

But, at least it's time for a fun challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments!  This week the theme is FUN FOLDS!

Fun right?  So I went in a little bit of a different direction with this.  Instead of using a fun fold FOR my card I used one ON my card, see:

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Greetings of the season
Paper:  Very vanilla, early espresso, cherry cobbler, festival of prints DSP stack, early espresso core'dinations, champaign glimmer paper
Ink:  Cherry cobbler
Accessories:  Merry mini punch pack, circle and scallop circle dies, sanding block, dazzling details

I had seen these folded trees (made from a half circle of paper) quite a few places so I googled a tutorial for them.  They look terrific with the festival of prints DSP!  And they are EASY!  It's hard to see in the photo but I lined all of the curved edges of the tree with dazzling details.  So sparkly!

Now go check out the rest of the design teams fancy folds and play along with us!

Happy stamping!

A lot going on...

Hi stampers!  Man, there is a lot going on....and I'm NOT just talking about my life (which there is a lot going on as per usual, ha) but about Stampin' Up!  They have bombarded us with crazy fun announcements today!  Yikes!  Now, if you stick with me though all this I promise a pretty picture at the end, ok? :-)

First up, for all of you iPhone users there is a FREE.....did you hear that?  FREE app that's like a mini My Digital Studio and lets you make cute little cards with pictures from your phone to send to your friends!  How fun?!?!?!  And it's free, did I mention that?  You can find it HERE.

Now, it isn't available for android phones yet because I guess those take a lot more time to make but stay tuned, ok!

Next up is a special limited time offer.  We are doing a test run of the Sizzix texture boutique machine.  This machine is super cute and just for embossing.  So, if you've ever wanted to use our folders but don't have a big shot or other die cut and don't need one you can get this machine to emboss!  Did I mention it's cute? :-)  

But, it's a limited offer!  When they are gone they are gone!  If they sell well we may offer them in the future.  Here some details from SU:

Give the gift of texture. The Texture Boutique works with Textured Impressions Embossing Folders to transform ordinary cardstock, paper, metallic foil, or vellum into an embossed, textured masterpiece. This machine embosses only; it does not die cut. We have 4,000 available to be sold only while supplies last. If this product test goes well, we may offer the Texture Boutique again in the future.

To help you with your gift-giving needs, we're offering a special Texture Boutique Bundle (item 132700) that includes the Texture Boutique Embossing Machine and the Flower Garden and Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folders for $39.95 (a $45.85 value). Or purchase just the Texture Boutique Embossing Machine (item 132657) for $29.95.

And finally, we are also offering these neat little things called Talking Tags.  

Essentially they are stickers that you can put in a card (or on most anything really) and record a message on your smartphone (works with any smartphone) and then the recipient can use their smart phone to listen to it!  Such a neat idea!  And here's the info you need:  you get 10 tags for $7.95 (item 129723).  And here's a video!

Ok, I know it's a lot of info!  Sorry...they kind of bombarded us today:-)  But that's fun, right???   So here's a pretty card for you!  

Stampin' Supplies:

Stamps:  Watercolor winter, greetings of the season

Paper:  Very vanilla, early espresso, cherry cobbler, lucky limeade, festival of prints DSP

Ink:  Early espresso, cherry cobbler, lucky limeade

Accessories:  Wide oval punch, lots of tags sizzlits, scallop square duo bigz die, basic rhinestones, petals a plenty embossing folder

I've had this made for a while and I used a sketch at Try Stampin' On Tuesday that I didn't get time to play long with. I love the festival of prints paper!  It can make a fun bright card or a very elegant card!  

So there you have it!  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!  I know there's going to be some:-)  All of these items are available in my online store or directly through me!  I'm going to TRY to post more in the next few weeks but it's crazy here so bear with me!

Happy stamping!

Simple sketch

Hi stampers!  Quick post today (because again, I do these the night before and I need to get to bed, ha).  I really liked the sketch over at Try Stampin' On Tuesday this week so I played along and really like how it turned out!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps: Greetings of the season
Paper:  Crumb cake, festival of prints DSP stack
Ink:  Crumb cake, whisper white craft
Accessories:  Paper piercing pack

So simple but so striking I think!  I just love that pattern stack and this sketch!  I may have even made a few cards after this one using it!  Looking back, I think I could have added a few things to this card so maybe I'll have to have a re-do.  My mojo is starting to find it's way back to me.

That's it for today.  I edited a bunch of photos today so hopefully I can post often!

Happy stamping!

O Christmas Tree

Hi stampers!  I know, I know....another Christmas card....but I'm beat (as I'm writing this Wed night to post Thurs) so it's all I've got right now.  I did make a Halloween card that I'll share later and I hope to get more done this weekend.  I'm just not into Halloween for some reason this year which is odd for me.....I've got a bunch of design team projects to do too so we'll see what gets done.  I've got way too much going on these days it seems!  I'm even going to bed early for the second night in a row!

I cased this card a few weeks ago from our demo magazine and I love it!  It's so simple but so cute!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Greetings of the season
Paper:  Crumb cake, cherry cobbler, festival of prints DSP stack
Ink:  Early espresso
Accessories:  Basic rhinestones, circle punch

See, simple and cute!  I just love that DSP stack!  The corners were rounded by using a circle punch.  You just stick the corner in the punch with the punch upside down and it's like a corner rounder!  I think I shot a video of it...I'll have to look on my camera....sad I can't remember, huh?

Happy stamping!

Mashed-up Mittens

Hi stampers!  Sorry I've been kind of quiet over here!  Last week and this week are probably my two busiest of the football season so there hasn't been much stamp or blog time....and if there has I just haven't felt like doing either.   Too bad I can't stamp at work:-)

I had last night off (one of only TWO nights off this week) so I was determined to stamp.  Of course I had high hopes of getting a LOT done but that wasn't the case.  BUT, thanks to Rita's sketch and technique challenge over at the Friday Mashup I did make one card and it turned out really well and makes me feel like I'm back in the groove!  Hopefully that continues tonight after work and my run!

I really do love the starburst technique, it just looks cool!  I had lots of ideas for the sketch but finally settled on a Christmas card because I just got this stamp set and DSP (after telling myself I didn't like them at first...you know how that goes)!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  make a mitten, greetings of the season
Paper: Whisper white, crumb cake, cherry cobbler, snow festival DSP
Ink:  Crumb cake, whisper white craft, cherry cobbler
Accessories:  Circle punch, mitten builder punch, window frames framelits, whisper white taffeta ribbon, silver dazzling details, basic rhinestones

ACK!  I was so happy with it which was nice because I haven't been too pleased with most of my recent creations.  I really do like the colors and patterns in the DSP after not being too fond of them in the beginning of the holiday catalog.  I really like how the main image came out as well.  I didn't feel like using my stamp-a-majig to stamp the reverse mitten (never mind that I ended up dragging it out to use for the sweater trim pattern along the bottom, ha) so I wanted to make my own mittens.  I stamped the bottom of them with one of the borders from the set and sponged around the edges.  And then since my mittens were white, I couldn't punch my circle in white so I got the idea to use tone on tone with the white sponging and it worked well!  Yay!

Took me a while to decide on the sentiment too.  I ended up stamping a bunch of them on scratch copy paper, cut them out, and used those to figure out what I liked the best.  Anyone else do that?

Ok, gotta head to work and then hopefully stamp the night away!

Happy stamping!

Christmas in September

Hi stampers!  I've got a Christmas card to share today!  I SHOULD be making fall and Halloween cards but I just can't seem to make many of those lately....maybe next week!  I don't even want to know how close we are to Christmas since I haven't even focused on fall yet as much as I should......

Today's card was super simple and I got the idea from our demo magazine from a few months ago.  I whipped it up pretty quickly last night as I've been dog tired after work this week and have been working late hours and there are more long hours and late nights to come!  Boo!

I made my own "garland" and will shoot a video soon on how to do that.  It's super easy!  You basically sandwich your baker's twine between two punches or die cuts.  Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezie as Bonnie Thurber would say:-)

I modified this a bit from the original sample by only using three ornaments instead of four and I added some "pizzazz" with some extra embellishments.  And I LOVE that sentiment from greetings of the season....in fact I love ALL four of those stamps!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Ornament keepsakes, merry minis, greetings of the season
Paper:  Whisper white, real red, silver glimmer
Ink:  Real red, pool party, lucky limeade
Accessories:  Merry mini punch pack, circle punch, pool party baker's twine, ornament framelits, bright brads, basic rhinestones, dazzling details

Don't forget that you can get the ornament keepsakes stamp set and matching framelits at a discount by purchasing them in a bundle in the holiday catalog!  It's hard to see in the photo but the star on the red ornament is covered in dazzling details.  I love this simple yet festive card and I have a feeling I'll be making more like it!

Happy stamping!

A LABOR day card

Hi stampers!  And by Labor Day card I mean labor intensive:-)  This card is pretty much the opposite of a mailable Monday card but I made it this weekend and couldn't wait to share it!  I love clean and simple cards but sometimes it's just fun to go a bit over the top.  The base for this card was actually made for another card that didn't work out.

I've had the fun flourish designer frames and the ornament bundle for quite a while (anyone else just HAVE to have things and then they just sit there waiting for you to actually use them?) and finally broke them out this weekend.  Oh, and I finally cut into my champaign glimmer paper too!  I had seen one of my friends use her designer frames and I couldn't wait to come up with something for them, they are so pretty!  The ornament bundle is also super cute!  Don't forget that you can get the stamp set and coordinating framelits at an extra discount when you buy them together!  That's so awesome!

So, I finally ended up with this card!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Greetings of the season, ornament keepsakes, daring adventure, alahambra wheel
Paper:  Whisper white, neutrals DSP stack, champaign glimmer
Ink:  Crumb cake, cherry cobbler, versamark
Accessories:  Pewter embossing powder, flourish designer frames, mini brads, merry minis punch pack, circle punch, holiday ornaments framelits, large scallop framelit, cherry cobbler seam binding, vintage faceted buttons, linen thread

Wowzas, it sure took a while to make but it was well worth the effort.  It's too bad that the Holiday catalog usually isn't included in the Artisan contest because my first thought was to save this to enter, hehe! And you probably could mail it, would just cost a little extra postage and use a padded envie.

The frames are meant to be used with the mini brads.  All I did was punch out some CS with the decorative label punch and adhered it to the stamped panel before attaching my frame so that the frame itself was blank.  I love all the sparkle and shine on the card with the glimmer paper and then the contrasting metal finishes of the frame and the ornament in pewter.

I hope you have a very relaxing labor day and get some stamping in too!  That's what I'm about to do!

Happy stamping!

Artisan finalist swap

Hi stampers!  So one of my goals I set at convention last week was to post more videos.  Honestly I quit doing them because my memory card got full and I didn't want to take the time to delete pictures, lol!  Lazy!  I know!  Anyway, I'm back up and running and hope to have at least one video per week for you!

I thought my Artisan swap would be the perfect place to start!  I wanted to do a card that was both "wow" and me at the same time....and by me I mean clean and simple.  I fretted for weeks over the card but I'm really pleased with how it came out and I hope the other finalists and Shellie (OMG) liked it too!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Greetings of the season
Ink:  Midnight muse, marina mist reinker
Paper:  Whisper white, crumb cake, midnight muse
Accessories:  Large pearls, dazzling details, white frost shimmer paint, stampin' spritzers, bigz snow flurry die
 
I used the new snowflake die in the Holiday catalog to create a stencil and made my own shimmer mist.  Hard to see in the photo (and sorry I couldn't get it to photograph better) but it's very subtle and shimmery!  The new stampin' spritz bottles are awesome and CHEAP!  Cheap enough to have one for every color:-)  The following video shows how I did it...and has a few oopsies in it...I hope they make you smile.  I chose not to edit my mistakes out so you can see I make just as many as anyone!  LOL!  I also added dazzling details to the smallest snowflake.  I also have to mention that I had all of these (26 of them) out on the kitchen table drying and I threatened my hubby within an inch of his life to NOT touch them!  I could just see him picking one up to tell me he liked it (he's such a good hubby...always humoring me about my projects) and totally smearing or messing them up, lol!  Poor guy...it was like he was in trouble without even doing anything;-)  Oh and sorry about the dog barking!  She barks so much I didn't even realize it while I was filming, lol!  The cats across the street LOVE to sit outside and torture her!



And finally I had a question on my post from yesterday asking if I used the new ink pads on my deer card and YES!  I have ALL the new inks and they are all I use!  The old ones are packed up and I LOVE the ink coverage of the new pads! 

And if there's anything you are interested in seeing a video of please let me know:-)

Happy stamping!!!!