Happy 1st Birthday!!

First things first, click the picture & see how beautiful it is bigger. If only I had one that you could check out in person, it's SO STINKIN' CUTE (if I do say so myself)!!

This is a card (I actually made two) that I had made last week for 2 little girls turning one year old. Isn't it darling? I just love the bunny from the (retired) stamp set A New Little Someone. The more & more I watercolor, the more & more I'm enjoying it. It was a little bit challenging cutting out around the bunny, but I think it just looks so sweet this way. And, I cut around the front paws (arms?) so it looks like it's holding the scalloped saying.

So cute! I just might have to make another one...

Just Buzzin' By...

Just a quick post to show you another picture from one of my favorite new stamp sets - Just Buzzin' By. This was one of the cards at my last stamp camp. So easy & so cute!

I love it!!

Thank You!!

I know I say I've been saying this on more than one occasion, but I REALLY ought to post more pictures & posts on this blog.

This is a card I made for a friend who recently adopted her baby girl. I love this (retired) stamp set - By Ones & By Twos. I just love the onesie. It's so cute, easy to stamp on some Designer Series Paper, cut out & adhere to your card with a dimensional. So stinkin' cute!! Click on the image for an enlarged image.

I also love when someone else finds some value in what I do & wants to help support my business, my craft & my creativity. A HUGE thank you to those who've supported me in either coming to my stamp camps & open houses, hosting a stamp camp for your friends, purchasing cards from me & telling your friends about what I do. Virtual hugs to you!!

Eastern Blooms Birthday

I needed a quick birthday card for a male co-worker & I saw this & thought, "perfect!!" It uses the Eastern Blooms stamp set, which I just love & don't use nearly enough. I think it can easily be one of the 'go-to' stamp sets for almost any occasion.

Oh, and I'm not sure if there's a name for the technique I used on this one, but it is WAY awesome. So, I took the stamp & inked it up in my classic Night of Navy inkpad. Then, I took the blender pen & took away the Night of Navy ink from the branches - leaving them essentially un-inked. Then, I took the Close to Cocoa marker & colored in the branches. Gave it a huff w/my warm breath & voila! A beautifully stamped image.

As always, for a closer image, click on the picture.

Love You Much

Stampin' Up has this Valentine's promotion right now (through January 31st) where in the bundle, you get the Love You Much stamp set, Candy Lane Designer Series Paper & the Heart to Heart punch. If purchased individually, it would cost $51.85. The promotion has it on sale for 20% off or $41.48. This is the first card I've made that I've taken a picture of, but let me tell you... I am LOVIN' this set!

My picture turned out a little bit on the dark side, but the colors I used are (retired) Blue Bayou & Wild Wasabi.

Happy New Year!

How cute are these little guys? This is a new stamp set (Just Buzzin' By) that will be in the new catalog. I'm so thrilled that I was able to get it early & start playing with it. My first thought was, "Oh boy! What am I getting myself into with all that needs to be colored?" But, I just used the blender pens & ink pads on regular Very Vanilla cardstock & it was SO easy & it turned out very nice! I tried making like a honeycomb background by using bubblewrap. It didn't turn out quite the way I imagined it would. Overall, I'm very pleased with the way the two cards turned out. Click on the pictures if you'd like a more close up image.

Love You Much Promotion

Stampin' Up is currently offering a Love You Much promotion. Check this out:

Description	Retail Value
Love You Much stamp set	$25.95
Candy Lane Designer Series paper	$9.95
Heart to Heart punch	$15.95
Bundle Retail Value	$51.85
Love You Much Bundle (20% off retail value; item 115405)	$41.48

I took advantage of this & (as a demonstrator) picked it up early & I just LOVE it!! I especially love the Candy Lane designer series paper. It's just so pretty. And, it can be used for Valentine's cards & projects, Anniversary cards & projects & Wedding cards & projects.

Here's a sample of this set being used (click on the picture for a larger image):

By the way, my camera software has been found & installed so I'll be able to post my own pictures soon. Stay tuned!

Merry Merry!

I'm still alive....

I swear... it was just yesterday that I posted on here. Okay, it seems like it was yesterday, but believe it or not, nearly a month has gone by.

I've been quite busy working on a couple of different things - a couple stamp camps, a vendor fair, my Christmas cards. And, of course, I don't want to post a picture of my Christmas cards until after they've gone out. I don't want to spoil the surprise... I do think you'll like it, though. I know I do!

My computer also crashed over the long, holiday weekend & so I actually don't even have my camera software installed on my new hard drive to upload any pictures. Soon. Soon, I'll get that fixed & some new pictures uploaded.

In the meantime, please enjoy a very pretty card from one of my favorite retired stamp sets: Solemn Stillness:

Lovely as a Tree

I found this card online & thought I'd try it myself. It's SO pretty, simple & easy to make (though, I have to admit, my first attempt has glitter on it... Now, I have glitter ALL OVER my stamp room).

This card uses the non-traditional Night of Navy, Baja Breeze & Shimmery White cardstock. I'm waiting to receive my newly ordered Many Merry Messages before stamping a greeting on the front.

A Waterfall Card

I was asked to make a Waterfall Card for someone to give to their friend who is having a baby boy any day now. This is the card I came up with. If you've never seen a waterfall card before, they are incredibly awesome. They're not too difficult to put together, but can be a little time consuming.

Basically, what happens is when you pull the ribbon (at the bottom of the card), the little pictures flip up & your greeting appears on the long cardstock as you pull it out. Click on any picture to enlarge it.

This card would be great as a unique birth announcement (with pictures of the newborn on the squares & the birth information on the long piece) or congratulations on your new little bundle of joy (like this sample). Using different stamps, it would make a fun happy birthday card as well.

This card uses Brilliant Blue, Bashful Blue & Very Vanilla
cardstock & ink along with a variety of retired Stampin' Up! stamps.

Giftcard Holder

I was asked to do some "generic" giftcard holders (no specific occasion) & this is what I came up with. I have some designer series paper that would be perfect (there's stripes & polka dots, paisley & mini-flowers, also a variety of colors - pretty in pink, real read, bashful blue, apricot appeal, always artichoke).

SUPER CUTE!! I just love these little guys.

Another New Favorite?

I decided 1. that I needed a few more "masculine" cards & 2. that Happiness Always just might be my new favorite stamp set & 3. my camera still sucks for getting good pictures.

In this one, I used Always Artichoke for the background cardstock, Old Olive for the solid leaf print & then Always Artichoke for the top leaf layer. While I did do the two step stamping technique, I did not use my stamp-a-ma-jig & I like the way it turned out.

I also just added "FOR YOU" instead of a "Happy Birthday" greeting in case I need something other than birthday. I feel like this card could be used for sympathy, good luck or congrats.

Lastly, I used my new spritzer tool. If you click on the picture, you'll see little black "sprays".

I like it (even though it's a bit distorted because of the camera).

O Christmas Tree

Last night, while laying in bed, I was thinking about my stamp-a-ma-jig & what can I do with it. Then, I remembered this retired stamp set from (about 2 or 3 years ago) called Trim the Tree.

I remember liking this set but had such a hard time lining up the garland or ornaments on the tree that I didn't use it much. Tonight, I tried it with the stamp-a-ma-jig. No more issues with it not lining up because the stamp-a-ma-jig is pure awesome, allowing me to line it all up with ease.

Yay!!

Open Stamp Day - What a success!

I had my first ever Open Stamp Day yesterday & I have to say it was quite a success. Even though only 3 people came, they all seemed eager to come to something like this again.

If many more had come I would have had to re-organize some things. As it was, the 4 of us sat around the one table without any troubles, but I could totally see it being much more crowded with more people & their things taking up space.

So, this is the Thanksgiving card I had been hoping to make for a couple of weeks now. It uses all punches (except the eyes which are drawn on & the hat which I just cut out of scrap). I thought it would be a cute card to do at one of my upcoming stamp camps, but as it turns out, those punches are far too difficult/time-consuming to fold to do at a camp. It's a cute card, though.


Stay tuned for the next Open Stamp Day.

Deer Friends

I was getting several cards ready to go out today & realized that I didn't have much in the way of masculine birthday cards. I still don't, but I was able to do a little (by little, I mean only 2 cards-worth of) stamping tonight.

If you click on the picture, you might be able to tell a little bit better that this card has "FOR YOU" on the right side & also a scalloped edge over there. And I'm pretty sure you won't be able to see if you clicked on the picture, but the scallop circle in the center is raised up with a few demonsionals.

This card was totally inspired & well, pretty much copied from another card I had made over the past weekend at a stamp camp I had gone to. I did use some retired Designer Series Paper on this. I just LOVED last year's holiday DSP & am not in such a rush to buy this year's stuff.

Happiness Always

I was looking on my shelf of stamps this afternoon & found one title I didn't recognize by the name called Happiness Always. It was on the bottom of one of my stacks of stamps & so I pulled it out to see. It's a level 3 hostess set that I was able to purchase prior to Convention & I haven't done anything with it.

So, I went to my trusty website to take a look at what other demonstrators have done (no need to re-invent the wheel) & here are two of the samples that I thought were just incredible! Click on the picture to enlarge it.

The butterfly card also uses two of the In Colors for this year - Pink Pirouette & Riding Hood Red. This is also the first time I've used these colors since receiving them a couple months back.

It's A Soup Party

I was asked to make some invitations for a Soup Party. I knew immediately what I wanted to do. I used this bowl of soup & steam from a retired stamp set, Under the Weather.

It's kinda hard to tell, but the green is raised up with some double sided foam tape & there's a window sheet keeping the alphabet pasta from falling out.

So, so cute!!

One more

I couldn't resist. I found a GORGEOUS card that was a bit similar to this one & had to try it out. I love the technique, but need a little bit more practice to perfect my cards.

By the way, I LOVE my Upsy Daisy stamp set!!

As promised...

As promised, I got out my paper, ink & Upsy Daisy stamp set.

I fought with the two top cards just a little bit before getting an image I was happy with. I'm happy that paper has two sides to it! I wanted to try the Rock n' Roll technique, but I really don't think you can with this particular stamp. At least not too easily. So, I ended up coloring the whole thing in Apricot Appeal & then using a Blender Pen to take the ink off the stems (a technique I learned at Convention) & then using the Certainly Celery marker to color the stems green.

On the third card, I used my stamp-a-ma-jig (Seriously. How did I ever survive without the darn thing?? I LOVE this tool!) & did a little shadow effect using the retired Soft Sky & retired Blue Bayou. If you click on the picture, you may be able to see the shadow effect a bit better.