Embossing Resist Angel

One of my favorite stamp sets from the Holiday Catalog is Wonder Of Christmas Set.  I just love this Angel and there's so much to do with her!  I love this card so much!  It's soft and sweet.  I love the colors so much!! I'm not sure I can say enough how much I love this years In Colors.  The Sweet Sugarplum (featured here) is for sure my most used of the bunch!  And I love how well all the In Colors this year pair with our Subtles Collection!  Here I used Soft Sky and Sweet Sugarplum and it's a match made in heaven!  

This card is easy, but looks like it took you hours to make.  I stamped and embossed the angel in clear embossing powder then used sponge daubers and my ink to apply color over the angel. The embossing resists the ink.  I just love the final result!  Ok, tomorrow is the day!  Mark your calendars!  THE HOLIDAY CATALOG GOES LIVE TOMORROW!  This is an amazing catalog.  You'll love everything in it!!! I'm hooked for sure!  Check back tomorrow I'll have 3, count them 3 amazing cards to check out plus the catalog of course!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!! 

Jolly Moose

Hey! It's a bonus post today!  I have another post that went up earlier make sure you scroll down to see that one too.  The truth is last week I did a ton of stamping and now I have a ton of stuff to share and so I may have to share more than one card a day!  I'm sure you don't mind though :)  This moose from the Jolly Friends set, coming in the Holiday Catalog is my favorite.  He's so cute and I just love dressing him up.  My husband will tell you that animals don't wear clothes.  He hates animals in clothes, our dog has a little bow tie that slides onto his collar and he even gets annoyed with that.  Come on!  A bow tie on a dog, that's the cutest thing in the world....we'll next to a moose in a hat and scarf of course!!!  Look at the card base on the right though, can you see all that amazing texture?!  

That is from our new Cable Knit Dynamic Texture Embossing Folder.  Whew! That is a mouthful!  This embossing folder is different than our other in that it gives a much deeper impression and this crazy 3D texture that's insane!  I have pictured here a piece of cardstock embossed with our Lucky Star folder and two sheets embossed with the Cable Knit folder.  Can you see the huge difference this folder makes!  It's incredible!!!!!  Now you do run it through your Big Shot differently than you do a regular folder.  You still want your platform set to an embossing folder, but you only need one plate.  You want to put your paper in the folder (you can spritz with a little water first if you want), put the folder on your platform spine first, your plate on top of that.  That's it!  Run it through and you'll get amazing results!  For more on how to use this embossing folder check out this video by Stampin' Up!'s own Shannon West :) This folder is amazing, I hope to see more like this in the future!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Santa's Sleigh

This was the second make and take from my demo event last week.  I love this reindeer in this set!  This is from the Santa's Sleigh set from the Holiday catalog. I love even more that he has a coordinating framelit!  I know you guys love that too!  We're so spoiled now with all these framelits :)  But it sure makes for a beautiful card!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Cookie Cutter Christmas

Last week I held an event for my downline.  It was a Holiday Catalog Preview Party, we talked all things Holiday Catalog.  I shared lots of ideas for classes featuring the Holiday Catalog products.  I showed some demos and we had a really good time!  This was one of the make and takes they made.  Aren't those gingerbread men/women cute!!!  I love that they have a coordinating punch too!  So fun!!!!  This card is pretty simple and could be done in a class easily but I also showed this card too.....

The teddy bear is so cute!!!  The card is the same layout and colors as the make and take card.  It just shows how easily it is to change up the focal image on your card.  Both really cute cards!  

Does your room look like this?  These are all stamp sets I've used recently and never got around to putting them away.  I'm surprised that pile of stamps didn't topple over!  Look it's not even completely on the filing cabinet!  This is how I spent my Sunday, putting away and cleaning up my craft room.  

Order is restored! It all looks so nice put away!  This won't last long......

Thanks for looking see you soon!!!!

Feathered Thank You

I made this card for my wonderful, good friend Nikki.  Last week she helped me out at the last minute and took my kids for a few hours so I could be somewhere else important.  She happened to have taken the day off of work that day, probably God intervening somehow there knowing I would need help that day.  Whatever the reason I'm so glad she was there to help!  I made this card for her and I had the kids send her some Thank You cards too.  The kids had so much fun.  Nikki and her family were way more fun that I am :)  

The feathers are stamped on Sahara Sand with Sahara Sand ink, except for that colored one.  To get those colors so bright on Sahara Sand I first stamped in White Craft ink.  Then I inked up my feather with Peekaboo Peach, Tempting Turquoise and Rich Razzleberry and stamped it directly over the white ink.  I used my Wink of Stella to go over it and add some sparkle.  So pretty!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Stamp Set Of The Month

September's Stamp Set Of The Month is Summer Sorbet.  I've wanted this stamp set for a while and I'm glad I finally made an excuse to get it! LOL, as if I needed a reason ha!  These cards are so cute and so sweet!  This stamp set works perfectly with our new ombre ink pads.  I've highlighted the Bermuda Bay ink pad in all of my samples.  

When you order this stamp set in September, (or preorder it by September 1st and get a free gift with your kit!) you'll receive the supplies to make all three of these cards.  Seriously though isn't this simple balloon one the best!  I love images that you don't need embellish a lot with.  Check out how cool that ombre ink is too.  The balloons are lighter on top and get darker as you move down to the baskets.  So cool!!!!

This card is so cute and so simple, it just might be my favorite.  I love the variation in colors on that heart!  So fun!!!  Don't forget to order your Summer Sorbet kit today!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Rose Wonder Wedding

It's been a while since I pulled out my Rose Wonder set.  It's such a pretty set too!!  Dan and I went to a wedding last weekend. You guys this wedding had gelato (and cake, of course there was cake).  They had about 10-12 different flavors and I'm pretty sure Dan and I sampled them all.  My favorite was the strawberries and champagne, the dark chocolate and the vanilla.  I'm a simple girl, with simple tastes.  They got the ice cream from a place called Frost here in Albuquerque, in Albuquerque Uptown.  Dan and I will go there again, especially now that we know what flavors we like.  Back to the card though :)  If you're going to a wedding you need a card. 

I die cut the rose from the Rose Garden Thinlits and lightly traced with a pencil where it would lay on the card.  Then I loosely and messily watercolored the rose and leaves.  I didn't want it perfect, I was really going for a messy watercolored look.  I didn't want the image to line up perfectly with the colors.  I really love how it came out!  This is a great card for a wedding but you could easily adapt this card for an anniversary, birthday, thank you or just a Wednesday :)  I added some black splatter just for fun and a fun greeting, also in the Rose Wonder set.   

Thanks for looking, see you soon! 

R2 D2 Birthday

Any Star Wars fans out there???  Show of hands who loves these silly droids?  Yes they're called droids, I've called them robots far too many times and have gotten corrected by my son.  He just turned 10 on Sunday.  He's recently (in the last few months I guess) become quite obsessed with Star Wars and everything Star Wars related.  So for his birthday on Sunday I made him this card.  I did not come up with this, unlike my son, I do not know enough about Star Wars to create him solo.  So I found this tutorial on Pintrest you can check it out if you too have a droid fan in your life.  And if you do, you probably also know not to call them robots.  But really isn't droid just a fancy term for a robot???  

The link above lists the punches used, I changed up some of the punches I used for him.  I wanted him slightly bigger.  I use a 2" circle punch for the head, is it a head on a droid??  I used a retired oval punch for the shoulders, do droids have shoulders???  I used a star punch for the feet, again are they feet?????  These are the important questions of life people!  Whatever they're called you get the idea.  For the body and arms(??) I just cut them with my paper cutter.  The same for the blue stripey things......I'm sure there's a mega Star Wars fan reading this shaking their head in disappointment, and if you're out there please don't take the time to correct me, I have a 10 year old for that :)  Either way it's a cute card with a cute R2 D2.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

More On the Jar Of Eyeballs

 

Hi there! Remember this post from about 10 days ago?  Well I have gotten lots and lots of comments and questions about it.  Rather than emailing everyone back I thought this would be easier.  So I'm going into a little bit more detail on how I made the sloshing eyeball card.  It's not hard, and it's for sure one of the coolest cards I've ever made.  

To make the eyeballs slosh you need a simple sliding mechanism.  Normally sliding windows are bigger and you would use a roundish dimensional to make the image slide and spin.  Since I didn't want my eyeballs to spin, just slosh I used a rectangle piece of a dimensional (you can cut the edges to get this).  You can see that it's almost as big as the sliding window.  The dimensional is attached to a penny (you could also use a small washer).  The jar is popped on on dimensionals on the card leaving space for that penny to move around a little.    

I just used an Xacto knife to cut my window.  You can see from the ruler, it's not even an inch long and probably barely a quarter of an inch tall.  So it's very small window.  Again that dimensional takes up most of the room.  So the eyeballs will slide back and forth slightly and up and down slightly.  

Once your window is all set up attach your image on top.  The eyeballs really aren't that big, which is another reason my window is so small, I wanted to keep the window hidden.  

This is as far as the eyeballs will slosh to the left......

....and to the right.  Had I used a smaller dimensional it would go much further.  But again, that wasn't the look I wanted, I just wanted some slight sloshing.  I hope that these photos help explain it a little more, I hope you go make your own.  Thanks so much to all who've commented on this card either on my post or via email.  I love reading comments and you guys always make my day when you love my stuff!  Not everything I make is my original idea, but sometimes lighting does strike and I get a fun idea like this.  I'm glad you guys have loved it too!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!   

Birthday Llama

I know there's some of you waiting to see this llama get inky and here you go!  This card got mailed the day it was made so I didn't have it in my stack of cards to remind me to blog, so that's how he got forgotten.  Since it's a birthday card I wanted to make the llama in a party mood.  What better way to do that then to give a llama maracas and a hat?
The hat is actually on his head.  His ears are pushed through the hat through two little slits I cut in the hat.  If you're going to put a hat on a llama, you have go all for it! The maracas and hat are cut from the coordinating DSP with this set, Fiesta Birthday.  I cut his front teeth and pulled them over the maraca handles.  If you're going to go to the work of actually putting a hat on him you can't skimp on the details when it comes to the maracas too.  He's stamped and watercolored on some watercolor cardstock, I thought that would be nice texture and the blanket on his back is also from the DSP.  I have sooooooo many Holiday Catalog projects to share.  Don't miss next week!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Pastel Cacuts

I have one more sample from Birthday Fiesta, of course with the cactus.  I can't get enough of these cactuses.....cacti......?  Who cares!  This card is my favorite I love these pastel like colors together.  I love that it creates an almost night time sky just gorgeous!!!!! 

I started with stamping and cutting out my cacti, it's right I looked it up :)  Then I cut a hilly ground.  Then I got out my sponge daubers. I've been a little obsessed with creating backgrounds this way lately, but when you look at it, can you blame me!?!  I started with Blushing Bride on the bottom and worked up with Pool Party and Finally Wisteria Wonder.  I have sponge daubers dedicated for each color, they're all labeled with my label maker (it was a magical afternoon labeling them all cause I really love my label maker).  You don't want to mix the colors.  If you only have a few daubers you an wash them between uses and use them in different colors.  Just make sure they're dry and clean.  Often they'll stain and that's ok, just run it on some scrap paper just to make sure they're nice and clean.  I added some Crumb Cake ink to the bottom of the hill.  I wanted a little color but not too much, especially on the top of the hills.  Now comes the part where I tell you I lied.  This isn't the last card with the Birthday Fiesta set.  I have one more tomorrow, those of you waiting to see me pull out the llama check tomorrow.  That's the last one, I promise for real this time..........for now anyway!  

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!  

Spinning Cactus

Who doesn't love a spinning cactus.  I mean providing of course it doesn't spin into you or anything like that.  This cactus is harmless and sure to make you smile!  He's suspending in an oval cut out of the card and you can turn him a few times before closing the card and sticking him in the mail and then when the lucky person that receives this card opens it, it will spin.  That's possible the cutest thing ever!!!!

Of course I had to add googlie eyes!!!  The guitar and sombrero come from the coordinating DSP, I just cut them out and attached it to the card.  I cut the cactus 3 or 4 times, once cutting out the stamped image, the other times from Emerald Envy cardstock.  This makes him sturdier and spin better! 

 He is suspended between the ovals with a piece of silver metallic thread.  Make sure the thread is pulled really tight and secured really well on the top and bottom with Fast Fuse or Tear and Tape.  I love this sweet spinner!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!! 

Rainbow Fiesta

Yesterday I shared a card we did at my class using the Birthday Fiesta bundle.  I've heard from a lot of people that it's a set they like but aren't sure they need.  I have 3 cards over the next 3 days to prove that you do in fact need that bundle :)  Starting with this one. In the set there's stamps that coordinate and fit perfectly into the banner in the set, this stamp is one of them.  There's a tiny flower and a little border around it.  I stamped and embossed in clear powder that tiny flower about a million times for this card.  Then I used my inks and sponge daubers to add color.   

The pattern isn't perfect, because well you can imagine how teadeaous this was.  I had to stamp, pour the powder on just so I could stamp again.  Because I was using VersaMark I couldn't see where I had just stamped.  It took a long time, but I love it, even though the pattern gets wonky I love the rainbow on this card, I love the flower, the big greeting!  I love it all.  Love this set yet???  Maybe not, I have another card tomorrow!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!

Bundle Mania Class

I had a class on Saturday featuring some of our AMAZING bundles in the catalog!  There's so many cute ones!  I had a hard time deciding which ones to choose.  The ones I did go with though, I love and the cards were all super cute!  This first card is with the Thoughtful Banners Bundle.  I love the punch and the stamp set had a million and a half greetings to work with, very versatile.  

The next bundle I went with is the Birthday Fiesta.  This is the one at the very beginning of the catalog that you really like but aren't sure you need because it's got a weird yet somehow cute looking llama staring at you, possible judging you for not getting him.  Fear not, this bundle is super cute! And that weird looking llama, he just wants to be friends :)  We used the cactus in the set for this card and it's the perfect masculine card!  Which I know we all struggle with!

The Sweet Cupcake Bundle is one of my favorites!  It's so cute and that cupcake looks so good!  Definatly a must have!  Lots of people think you need a ton of different stamp sets to do 2 or 3 step stamping.  Not true. This cupcake top and bottom was done with only 3! Marina Mist, Dapper Denim and Chocolate Chip.  If you stamp your stamp first on some scrap paper you'll get a lighter shade and you can use one ink pad for more layers! Get more bang for your buck!  Also go eat a cupcake, this card is making me want one! LOL!

Finally the Weather Together Bundle.  I've used this bundle a lot.  I can't get over that adorable umbrella.  This card is simple and so adorable.  I was inspired by this card here.  I love the Melon Mambo and Black together!  So pretty!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!

Merry Mice-Sneak Peek!

You guys all know I'm a sucker for animal sets, you guys all know I love puns so how could I not get this set?  Merry Christmouse-come on seriously, too cute!!!!!!!!!  I though about coloring this guy but I also really needed to use my new Emerald Envy and Real Red Glitter Embossing Powder...YES you read that right-GLITTER EMBOSSING POWDERS!!!  EEEEEKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!  You can see the Emerald one on the side of the card.  LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!! So how else was I going to glam up this singing mouse?  Make his clothes glittery of course!  Cause if a mouse is going to wear clothes, they had better sparkle!   

I paper pieced the whole thing, meaning I stamped the mouse multiple times on different colored cardstock then cut out each teeny tiny piece and glued it all back together like a puzzle.  It was a little teadious, but tooootttttalllllyyyy worth it! Once the shirt, scarf and hat were cut out I covered them in VersaMark and embossed them with the glittery powder!  EEEEK!!  Isn't it cool!!!!!??!  I love all the sparkle!!!! Such a cute card!!  You'll see more from this stamp set! There's other cute images that I have plans for!

Thanks for looking, see yous soon!!!!

Jar Of Haunts-Sneak Peek!

There's been lots of stamping going on here and I have LOTS to share.  I wanted to start by sharing a couple things I've made with my preorder goodies.  I went a little crazy on my preorder....a lot crazy!  This Holiday Catalog is pretty spectacular though, I'm warning you.....  I typically don't get Halloween stamps, I don't do a lot of Halloween stamping, and usually if I do need a Halloween card I figure something out with what I have, however this year there's a stamp call Jar Of Haunts.  It's pretty fun!  I couldn't resit it!  As described it's a stamp set featuring jars and lots of spooky, festive things you can put in or on the jar.  There's a mummy jar, spooky eyes, gross slime, candy corn and these floating eyeballs!  Also, Pumpkin Pie Glimmer paper!!!!! That's all :)

My original thought with this set is OH MY GOSH I WANT TO MAKE THOSE EYEBALLS SLOSH AROUND IN THE JAR! That's what I did!  The eyeballs are on a tiny penny slider that makes them gently slide back and forth and rock up and down.  Sooooooooo cute!!!!!  The slider was easy to make I cut a rectangle in the jar with an xacto knife, it's just big enough for a small piece of a Dimensional Strip (it's about 3/4"x1/4" the Dimensional Strip is just short of 1/2").  Attach a penny or washer on the back of the jar to the dimensional.  You don't want to make it the rectangle to slide it around too big because it will show and the eyeballs will move around too much.  You don't want the eyeballs sliding out the side of the jar or spinning in a complete circle that's not realistic :)  I'm a little in love with this card, even though it's completely gross!

But it's so much fun I couldn't help myself!  I used Shimmery White for everything, the jar and eyeballs are colored using ink pads and aqua painters.  I used my ink pads and sponge daubers to create the 'table' the jar is sitting on.  The greeting is white embossed on black cardstock, and strategically placed to cover up a boo boo where I dropped the spider stamp and it messed up! Cover up your mistakes creatively, no one will ever know :)  This card is so much fun and whoever I send it to will have endless hours of fun with those moving eyeballs!  I have a less disturbing card tomorrow.....can you say sparkle!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Jar For You

After I got home from Craft Weekend I wanted to send some cards to my friends.  Just a quick note to let them know how much I appreciated their company and how much fun I had with them at craft weekend.  I made a few of these.  Thanks to coordinating framelits this card came together pretty quickly.  I love the soft colors and the simple beauty of the jar!  

Of course I had to add sequins to it, cause I'm sequin obsessed right now! I used the sequins that came in our June Paper Pumpkin!  I love those sequins, and the colors of them!  For the background I just used my sponge daubers to add a little color to background.  I love the softness and I just love those colors together!  I used Pool Party, Flirty Flamingo and Sweet Sugarplum.  I finished with a little splatter then added my jar and flowers.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Layered Embossing

This is the last card from the Sorority Craft weekend.  I still have plenty to share! I've been stamping like a mad women since I returned. Plus my Holiday pre-order arrived yesterday and I can't wait to dive into that! Today's card is over all pretty simple, in person it's pretty stunning, there's lots of shine and texture to it.  I started with a white card base and stamped the Watercolor Wash background on it, then added a vellum card base over it.  This softens the stamped background but also makes for a unique, fun card!   

As for the stamping, I used the mixed borders stamp set.  Everything is stamped in VersaMark and embossed.  I started with the flowers in copper and then leaves in silver and finally the greeting in black.  Make sure to heat each layer before stamping the next.  I love embossing on vellum but vellum can warp easily.  You want to make sure you heat up your heat tool away from the vellum, I usually hold it off to the side for about 30 seconds then when you do bring it to the vellum keep it moving, if you stay in one spot too long you can actually burn the vellum and it turns an ugly yellow-brownish.  It's better to go back over a spot multiple times then hold the heat tool in one spot until everything melts.  I'm going to go start playing with my new stuff!  So excited!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!

Baby Bear!

We are in the final cards from the Craft Weekend, I think I have 2 cards left after this and then I'm done sharing my Craft Weekend cards.  This one is super simple!  But you'll see some sequins made a guest appearance again!  I just love them, just as accents on cards they're perfect!  This Baby Bear set is a MUST HAVE!  Even if you don't know anyone in need of a baby card, you still NEED this set.  You can do make so many cute cards with this bear!  

This one, obviously, is made for a baby but I've also made this card that you could give to anyone in your life!  I made this card for my friend who just found out she's having a baby boy!  How sweet!!!  Super cute and fun!!!! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Light Up Firefly

Have you heard of Chibitronics?  My good friend Nikki asked me about them, sent me some videos and boom I was hooked.  I had supplies ordered on Amazon and got them a couple days later!  Basically it's a circuit.  There's copper tape, a battery, a sticker that's a light, and together they make a card that lights up!  It's amazing! My card is super simple, but still cute!  Then you press the lid of the jar.....

......Shut the front door!!!!!!  The fireflies butt lights up!!!  It's so cool!!!!  I had a little trouble making mine, I forgot the step where you use a glue dot to hold the battery down so mine was a little tempermental and at the weekend I wasn't sure I loved it.  It did take a lot of time for the first one.  Science was not my best subject in school so I was a little worried about these cards going into the weekend, but once you get one under your belt, you're good to go I think.  I've made another circuit since I've been home and it worked too, and didn't take as long!  I'm really, really excited about these cards.  I think Logan would love to make these cards!  They're so cool!  If you want to learn more about them search 'Chibitronic Cards' on pintrest.  There's a million ideas out there.  I can't wait to use these more! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!