Coffee & Friends

I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a coffee drinker, but I love this set!!!  I love the little Starbucks cup (come on you know that's what it is!).  When I visit Starbucks I usually get tea.  I might have to use my Undefined Kit and carve myself a tea stamp to go with this set :)  But back to the card.  Last night was our demo meeting and this was my 3 minute demo.  Just looking at this card it doesn't look like there's a world changing technique on there, but there is.  The fun thing that I demoed was the special way this card opens.  Intrigued??  Keep reading!

While surfing Pintrest one day I found a card that the artist refereed to as a tucked label card.  (I'd link, but it's pinned on one of my secret boards :) but I searched and here it is.)  But I loved the way the label on the front held the card closed and was there when you opened the card.  It's a brilliant idea and great way to decorate the inside of your card, without actually decorating the inside of your card :)  So the trick is lining up the plates with your big shot. With this label I used my magnetic platform :) since it will hold the framelit exactly in place, and instead of covering the entire framelit with the plate you only cover where you want it to cut.  So on this card, I placed the framelit on the card, and placed the plates on the cardstock leaving about 1/2 - 3/4 inch on the right side uncovered.  So the label only cut where the plates covered it. 

 

Then you open the card and the label stays with the base of the card.  Isn't that fun!!!  LOVE LOVE LOVE this technique!!!  Isn't it cute!!!  Because I used white cardstock and it's not as thick and durable as our colored cardstock I placed the entire card-making sure not to adhere the label-on a piece of Cherry Cobbler.  It makes the card much more stable.

So here's the inside.  Once you get the hang of this card you could make a bazillion of them in no time!!!!!  They're easy, fun and the recipient of your card will love it and you!   

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Scalloped Swap

It's our monthly meeting tonight!!!!  Yay!!!  I love these meetings, plus there will be lots of convention highlights to share and lots of demos (hopefully!).  Our swap theme this month is Holiday Catalog.  One of the products in the Holiday Catalog that I LOVE is the new Winter Frost DSP.  There's a few sheets that have foil paper in them, so they're sparkly and shinny!  The greeting is from a new set in the catalog too called Joy To The World.  There's a few fun greetings in it.  The inspiration for this card came from here.  I loved the scallop look and knew that would be my swap!

I ran 1 inch strips of DSP though the Tasteful Trim die to get the scallops.  I was able to do a stack at a time so it went very quickly.  Then it was just gluing the scallops on.  I don't think 2 are the same,  I think they're all a little different.  I used the same DSP on all of them but in different orders.  But I sure love this card!  I'll have the rest of the swaps to share later this week! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Soho Birthday

I just love this card!!  I pulled out my Soho Subway DSP for this card.  I have to admit, though I LOVE all the new in colors, Crisp Cantaloupe is probably my least favorite of the five.  So I'm challenging myself to use colors I don't love or don't use.  Hopefully in the upcoming weeks you'll see some of those colors. Next up Crushed Curry....I have NEVER liked Crushed Curry.  That WILL be a challenge :) But back to this card.  I saw this card on Pintrest and LOVED it!  For the background I took a piece of Crisp Cantaloupe and crumpled it.  I wanted all those textured lines on there,  then I sponged over all those lines with some Chocolate Chip ink. 

Here's all the DSP.  I punched a few scallop circles with the 2 smaller scallop circle punches for the flower.  I also crumpled those up.  I added some DSP for a banner behind the flower.  Finally I punched the Bitty Butterfly and used circle punches around that.  Cute huh?!!!  It's pretty simple, lots of crumpling but pretty simple :)  Fun card!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

I'm Still Stampin' Away!

I haven't showed much stamping this week on my blog. I've made a ton of cards this week, so it's certainly not because I'm not stamping, they're just projects I'm working on that I can't quite show...YET.  You'll see them all in the next few weeks.  But I do have two sweet cards that were mailed to ME!  Every time I get a card in the mail, one that's handmade, it reminds me why I do what I do.  You can not receive a handmade card and feel at least a little loved, if not a whole lot!  The first card is a card from my friend and fellow demo Kim.  I love how she added in some of her Paper Pumpkin stamps on this card (that background stamp on the top left is from Paper Pumpkin).  I have yet to use my Paper Pumpkin stamps for anything other than Paper Pumpkin :)  Thanks Kim for the sweet card!!!

Next is a lovely card from my friend and fellow demo Carmelita.  She mailed this to me from convention when SU was attempting to set a world record for most handmade cards sent from a single location (the did set the record too!).  I'm thrilled that Carmelita sent this card to me so I could be part of that, at least on the receiving end :)  Thanks Carmelita!!!!

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

Hybrid Invitation

It's August!  That means only 5 months until Christmas and the Holiday Catalog goes live today!!!  If you don't have one but live in the Albuquerque area let me know I'll get you one!  Until then you can see it here.  But back to the project today.  Logan's birthday is this month.  We wanted to do a 'party' before he goes back to school.  It's just easier and it eliminates the whole 'gotta invite the entire class thing'  :)  So for his birthday we're taking Logan and a few of his friends to see the new Disney movie Planes!  Then we'll have pizza, cake and gifts after at a local pizza place.  So I made the invitations in MDS.  I knew what I wanted so it went together pretty quick.  I had them printed at Staples.  I needed them ASAP :) 

The outside has all the invite info and then you can pull the ribbon up and out slides your boarding pass.  Isn't that just TOO CUTE!!!!  I'm sure the mom's will enjoy this more than the children we're taking :)  I even found a picture of a bar code and added that on so it looks like a 'real' ticket.  Well not really, this one is MUCH cooler :)

I know there's a slight error on the boarding ticket.  I'm not sure if that got mixed up in MDS or the file got mixed up while uploading it.  Either way.  I'm not too concerned about it.  But on the boarding pass there's the flight number (it's 007 because Logan is turning 7---has nothing to do with James Bond).  There's the date, time-movie times aren't out for that day yet so it will be a plan as we go kind of thing, and the location of the theater.  Then on the bottom it's supposed to say 'Operated by Ruth and Dan Norton' it still does just a little wonky looking.  Again not sure where that got messed up, my end, Staples end, in the middle somewhere???  Who knows but it's still a super FUN invitation right!?!  I love it!!!  So break out your MDS and have some fun.

 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Birthday Flower

I have a super duper quick post, two in a row I know!  This card is also super quick so it works out!  For the background I used 3 stamps.  I used the new Dictionary stamp, I first stamped it on scratch paper then on my cardstock so it's not so 'intense' then I stamped the flourishes from the Everything Eleanor set and finally I pulled out my Gorgeous Grunge splatter.  All stamped in Smoky Slate.  Isn't that the best grey! 

For the flower I stamped it twice in Strawberry Slush, punched them out and then punched 2 extra flowers in Strawberry Slush cardstock.  Stack 'em up and put a brad through them.  That's pretty much it.  I told you super simple! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Disney.....The First Of Many

I've slowly began the HUGE task of scrapbooking our Disney trip.  Of course that means I'm months behind on our everyday pictures :)  We started our trip at Animal Kingdom these are a couple of the pages I have from that park so far.  I love this Safari page.  It's simple but the colors all look great together. The tape works well and my favorite is the title over the pictures.  I love that look! 

The next page is our first character sighting.  Little did we know Megan wouldn't be a fan of the characters, at least not up close :)  She did warm up to the characters by the end of the trip.  This page is super cute!  Hate to keep it short and sweet but it's one of those days :) 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Beautiful Butterfly

I just LOVE this card!  Isn't it great?!  Some of the detail didn't photograph as well as I would have liked.  There lots of sparkle on this card.  On the bottom white piece I stamped some of the Gorgeous Grunge stamps (LOVE that set--it may never leave my desk!), after I stamped the I embossed them in Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder.  LOVE the sparkle it adds.  Then there's the little silver glimmer paper accents that add TONS of sparkle!  Great way to use those scraps!!!!  But lets get to the butterfly on this card!  I used the Butterfly Die to cut out 3 butterflies, 2 in Coastal Cabana and one in Whisper White.  Every layer is popped up on dimesnsionals so this butterfly is full popped up and ready to fly! 

 

The butterfly is stamped and embossed in black embossing powder.  I stamped it with the Beautifully Baroque stamp-another one that might make it's home on my desk :)  Even though I missed convention, Stampin' Up! did live stream a couple of the sessions and in one of the Pam Morgan (LOVE LOVE Pam!) had embossed a button on one of her samples.  I LOVED that look so I tried it out!  I dipped about half the button in my VersaMark pad then sprinkled it with embossing power.  I LOVE the final look!!!  Can't wait to do this in other colors!!!! 

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

Now Is The Time!

This is the BEST time to join Paper Pumpkin!!!  If you've ever thought about it but weren't sure this is the time!  If you haven't heard of Paper Pumpkin it's a fun box of products that gets mailed to you every month. Not only does the box include fun stamps, ink and accessories but it also contains everything you need to complete that months project, precut and ready for you to assemble! Sometimes it is a stack of cards (who doesn't need that!), some months it is a 3-D item like a scrapbook, journal or this months fun birthday banner. It's a great 20-30 minute little stamping escape. But new subscribers can get Paper Pumpkin for only $10 for their first two months, shipping is included in that price so it's an amazing deal! After your first two months the price goes up to $19.95. You can cancel your subscription at anytime without penalty. To take advantage of the deal you have to sign up by August 31st. They're always sent around the 15th of every month.

Who is Paper Pumpkin for?

• New Stampers-it's the perfect kit for people who are brand new to the stamping world!
• Busy Stampers-since it only takes about 30 minutes to complete it perfect for the stamper on the go to make something quick, but still feeling very crafty!
• Kids-do you have a crafty kiddo in your life, paper pumpkin is the perfect escape for them! Because everything is precut you don't have to worry about scissors or wasted paper!
• Expert Stampers-because all the work is done for you, you can sit back and let your creativity take over, add on your own stamps and supplies there's no rules!

Remember Paper Pumpkin makes a GREAT gift, you can have it sent directly to your friend, daughter, sister, mother whoever you choose!

How do you sign up?  Head to the Paper Pumpkin website and get started!  Don't forget the promo code.  You'll need to add the promo code to get your first two months for only $10.  Add PUMPKINDEAL for your promo code and don't forget to add me for your demonstrator when you sign up. 

 

So why am I sharing this fun birthday card when this months Paper Pumpkin project is a banner?  Well I loved the little flags for the banner I didn't really *need* a birthday banner so I used the flags for a birthday banner on this card.  This month's card also came with three ADORABLE background stamps.  I used those for wrapping on the gift boxes.  Let your creativity run wild with Paper Pumpkin!  Sign up by August 31st and get the amazing deal!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Magnet Love

Here is our final project.  I LOVE this project.  I originally created this board for Logan, yes I know it's pretty girly for Logan :)  Well it's going in the kitchen so I guess it's really for both of us.  Logan has been asking for more money, apparently he has lots of expenses as a 6 almost 7 year old :)  So I created this board as a type of 'chore chart'.  We'll put a different chore along with the amount of money he can earn in each clip.  He can choose the chore he wants then bring us the paper when he's done with the chore and if we feel it's been done well he'll get the money and a new chore will go up. 

Of course if the chore thing doesn't work I'll just attach cards I love to it!  Sorry for the blurry picture here, I hope you'll still get the idea of what we did.  We used the Washi Tape to cover the clothes pins and decorated them with the buttons, twine and pearls.  So cute and fun!! 

On the bottom for an accent piece we made some lovely little flowers.  These are so pretty and have so much texture!  Each flower is made with 5 scallop circles.  Look for a tutorial on how these were made next week :)  Are you wondering what we made the magnet boards out of, well they're actually metal burner covers that we covered with DSP.  I found them at the dollar store, they came with two in the package, a large one and a small one.  The dollar store is filled with fun projects just waiting to be created! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Wonderful Cards

Here's the cards that we made that went in the boxes.  I told you that everyone received buttons, washi tape, pearls and bakers twine for attending.  They used some of those items in for all of the projects For the first card we pulled out the buttons, twine and pearls.  Purely by coincidence we ended up using one of the same sets that the convention goers received.  Overall the card is fairly simple and came together quickly. 

The next card is my favorite card.  I love the fun greeting.  It's one of our new thinlit dies.  It will be available in the Holiday Catalog beginning August 1.  The chevrons are also new in the Holiday Catalog, they're from a really awesome new border punch.  The buttons and twine add a fun accent on this card.  Tomorrow I'll share the final project, I LOVE it!! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

We Played Too!

Last week was SU's convention.  I wasn't able to attend this year after seeing all the fun updates I'm pretty bummed I missed it!  But it wasn't a total loss.  I invited some of the other demonstrators in our group who couldn't go to convention over for a fun night of stamping.  I created some fun projects for them and we had a wonderful evening of stamping, laughing, eating, laughing, talking, laughing, did I mention laughing?  One of the projects we made was this fun card box.  I saw one similar to this on Pintrest, however the directions were terribly confusing so I made my own version, MUCH easier! 

To keep the box closed I added a belly band, it's simple but you could always jazz it up :)  Everyone who came received a gift package, in it was a package of buttons, the gingham washi tape, bakers twine and pearls.  So if everyone wanted to they could have dressed them up.  It's hard to see in the picture but the Island Indigo cardstock is textured.

Once you remove the belly band, the front opens up and there's a box perfect for cards!  This would make the sweetest gift at a bridal or baby shower gift filled with Thank You cards.  Or what about a teacher gift?  Co worker gift?  So many options!

I bet you want to make one too right?  There's really easy, you'll be surprised how easy :)  The box and the front and back are two pieces.  First you'll make the box then the front and back.  The box is a piece of cardstock that's 11x6 1/4.  On the long side score at 5 and 6.  On the short side score at 1 and 5 1/4.  See the diagram below for further directions.  For the front and back you'll need 2 pieces 8 1/2 x 5 1/2.  You'll fold on the score lines and glue them together so that it makes a big U. 

To make the box, once you've scored the lines above, cut along the red lines on the left and right.  The small square tabs will fold up and the side adhere to each other creating your box.  Tomorrow I'll show you the cards that went in the box and Wednesday I share our final project. 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Thankful Leaves

I have some new fun things to show you today!!!  Believe it or not Christmas is right around the corner!  That means that it's time for the Holiday Catalog to be released, we're just a couple weeks away from it's release on August 1!!  So you'd think with my big Christmas lead up I'd show you a Christmas card huh?  Not today!  I do have one in the works, we'll see how it comes out :)  In the meantime I have a fun fall or Thanksgiving card.  This new leaf, Magnificent Maple, is in there.  I love the mulitcolored look to the leaf.  Here's how I got it: 

I made my own 'spectrum' ink pad.  Remember waaayyyy back when we used to sell them.  Since we don't anymore I created my own and it's stinkin' easy to do!  I used a few baby wipes, stacked them and folded them to create a small ink pad.  Then I used some reinker, in this case I used Summer Starfruit, Tempting Turquoise and Elegant Eggplant.  I started with a couple drops of each but could clearly tell I would need to make my 'pad' larger to accommodate the size of my stamp.  So I kept adding color until I was pleased with it.  Then you just stamp like a regular pad.  FUN!!!

The greeting (isn't it fun!) is from the new Holiday Catalog too.  They're called Thinlits, they work just like our framelits do, but they're a little more intricate.  But they're still really fun!!!  Gotta run!!  I'm really excited.  I'm having some demonstrator friends over tonight, we didn't attend convention this year (happening right now!) so we decided that since we couldn't be there for whatever reason we're going to have our own fun.  So I created some FUN projects and we're going to have a fun evening of stamping!!!  Of course I'll share those projects next week with you ;)

 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!