Wedding Weekend

Hi Stampers!

This weekend my husband and I had two weddings to celebrate, so out came the whisper white card stock:

I chose the stamp set Apothecary Art for these occasions, I think it has a formal feel to it which is perfect for weddings.  For the focal point I coloured the image with Night of Navy and Pear Pizzaz Stampin' Write markers, then cut it out with the Labels Collection Framelits. 

Lots of layers, some texture with the Big Shot, some shine from the organza ribbon and pearls.  A classic wedding look. 

What special events are coming up in your life?  Show someone how much you care with a hand stamped card to mark the occasion. 

Go stamp something!

Diane

Stamping 101

Hi Stampers!

Tonight was Stamping 101!  We started with one sketch two ways, and no tools other than a paper cutter:

 

Yikes that's an off centre picture!  Sorry about that, but the card is still cute.  It uses Crisp Cantaloupe and Strawberry Slush card stock , the Happy Day stamp set and a little Daffodil Delight ribbon.  The Medallion image is stamped repeatedly in Crisp Cantaloupe to create the look of designer paper, then the greeting, happy day, is stamped in Strawberry Slush.  This stamp set comes with three other sentiments and any of them would look great on this card.

 

Simple sketch take two:

 

Same layout with a single bold image, Christmas Star stamped in Smoky Slate and the sentiment in Night of Navy.   A large Rhinestone is added to the centre for sparkle.

Our last project is not quite as simple, this one used a few tools and is totally worth the extra effort:

 

Love it!  It's a Chapstick or lipstick box!  Super cute right?  Everyone needs one of these in their stocking this Christmas!  It's made with a small pool party box (click here for dimensions) and two dresses cut from the Winter Frost Designer Series Paper Stack using a dress from the Dress Up Framelits and the Big Shot.  We decorated with a small length of Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon and a large Rhinestone.  Scoring the card stock for the box takes a few minutes, but once that's done it's a snap.  This project just makes me happy!

 

Go stamp something!

Diane

Card in a Box

Hi Stampers!

So I just had to try the card in the box I posted a link to on Friendly Friday, and I love it!  Here's how mine turned out:

 

I used Crumb Cake cardstock for the base, Season of Style Designer Series Paper, the Festive Flurry stamp set and coordinating framelits, a little Cherry Cobbler 1" Grosgrain Ribbon and the sentiment is from Joyful Christmas.  On the video all of the measurements are in centimetres, but our Stampin' Up! paper cutters have all of the measurements in both centimetres and inches, so that was no problem.  Our paper is half an inch shorter, so using her measurements there is no tab.  Instead I used a piece of scrap glued to both edges on the inside to hold the box together.  Here's a view from of the side:

 

Do you love it too?  It takes a bit longer than the cards I usually post, but the extra time certainly pays off when someone opens it and all those flaps pop open!  When this card is flat it is larger than a standard card, so I used my Envelope Punch Board to make a 6" x 6 1/2" envelope with Crumb Cake card stock. 

This was a very satisfying way to pass an afternoon, I recommend giving it a try when you have a little time for stamping set aside. 

Go stamp something!

Diane

Stamping 101

Hi Stampers!

So the whole concept behind Stamping 101 is that we use simple techniques to create projects that are cute or beautiful, but that don't require too many products or a lot of time. Last night I think we really met that goal. We made 3 projects and were done in 45 minutes!

Our first project was this Trick or Treat card. This card was simple, and didn't take too long, but we did use a fair amount of product.  We used the retired spider web embossing folder on Basic Grey card stock, then ran the Silver Encore Pad really lightly over the raised web design. A little strip of each design from the  Witches Brew Designer Washi Tape add some colour and interest. Finally, we stamped the Trick or Treat image from Tags 4 You on Very Vanilla, punched it out with the Bracket Label Punch and attached it with a Stampin' Dimensional. 

Next up, a card with no layers, no Big Shot, no punches. This card uses the magic of two-step stamping!  This card was simple and we didn't need a lot of products, but it took a little bit longer to stamp.  We started by stamping the different leaves from Gently Falling; each in a different colour onto Baked Brown Sugar card stock. We used Cajun Craze, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Pear Pizzaz, and Crumb Cake ink.

Next we stamped the coordinating outline images over the coloured images, all using Baked Brown Sugar ink. Then we sponged the edges with a little Soft Suede ink. Finally, we stamped the Sentiment with VersaMark ink, and sprinkled on some Gold Embossing Powder which we melted with the Heat Tool. I took about 20 pictures of this card, but none were able to capture the way it looks in real life. The gold really stands out against the muted autumn colours. 

Then we used up some retired DSP to make this adorable, I mean spooky, Halloween treat holder.  This project only requires a few products, was simple and really fast.  We used the amazing Envelope Punch Board and the measurements for a gift card holder to make these, which means you only need a 5x5 piece of paper!  We added a little ribbon and that same image from Tags 4 You.  Slide in a Halloween candy bar and we're done!  Five minute project. Love that!  These could easily be made for any holiday or occasion.  It even looks cute with just the little bit of ribbon and nothing else.

Sometimes it's good to get back to stamping basics and create projects that remind you of what attracted you to paper crafting in the first place. What is your favorite simple technique?  

Go stamp something!

Diane

Happy Birthday Noah!

It was my nephew's first birthday party on the weekend!  Of course I needed a fabulous card to mark the occasion. I loved a card from this post by Andrea Borries on snippetsbyandrea.blogspot.com, so I cased her basic design. I stepped it up just a little bit with some washi tape and the large splatter image from Gorgeous Grunge on the background.

Those tiny confetti circles can move around, because they're in a vellum pocket. A piece of vellum, and a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock taped together with Witches Brew Designer Washi Tape.  The adorable lizard image is from Tag It.  A bonus with this adorable stamp set, is that when you purchase it Stampin' Up! donates $3 to the Ronald McDonald House Charities!

 

 

I needed the inside to be cute too, so I stamped the party lizard again and added a little ribbon to cover up an ink smudge under his feet. As I'm always telling the girls at stamp club, there are no mistakes in stamping, only opportunities for embellishment!

Go stamp something!

Diane

Stamp Club

The stamp club ladies have just gone home, and I thought you'd like to see what we made tonight:

A card with moving parts!  Pull the ribbon and...

Cute right!  The Garden Green layer is from the Peekaboo Frames die for the Big Shot, and the navy layer is attached with a little bit of washi tape.  We used three different stamp set on this card; the sentiment is from Yippee Skippy, the cake is made with Make a Cake and the speckles are Gorgeous Grunge.

Then we made this mini album:

It measures 3 x 6 and the inside pieces are each 2 x 5.  We decorated the front with the angled lines from Gorgeous Grunge in Crumb Cake, the little medallion is from Lacy & Lovely in Strawberry Slush, and the For You image is from Itty Bitty Banners in Midnight Muse, cut out with the coordinating framelits and the Big Shot Die-Cut Machine.  They're all stamped on Whisper White, mounted on Summer Starfruit, and the front and back covers are made with Confetti White Cardstock.
 

 

You could add tiny pictures, or make a cute coupon book, or journal things you're grateful for...so many options!  That great ribbon is Summer Starfruit 3/8" stitched satin ribbon, and it's tied on with linen thread.  The inside pockets are made with a 8 1/2 x 10 1/2 sheet of vellum cardstock.  Since Vellum is transparent we used glue dots to put our mini scrapbook together, since adhesive does show through, this is the tidiest option.  What would you put into this little beauty?

Go stamp something!
Diane

Banner Love

Hi Stampers!

 

Today I'm sharing some banners I made using Stampin' Up!'s Build a Banner Simply Created Kit.   

 

It comes with 18 canvas pennants in three different styles, background stencils,  alphabet stencils, jute twine and a Stampin' Spritzer.  I have to admit, I was a little nervous getting started, I was afraid to 'ruin' it, but it was soooo easy! 

 

There are a few different ways to use the stencils with your pennants, you can add 25 drops of Ink Refill in your colour of choice to the Stampin' Spritzer, then fill with rubbing alcohol and spritz onto your canvas with one of the stencils in place.  You can also use a Sponge Dauber dipped in your Ink Refill of choice and then rub the ink into the canvas through the stencil, or if you're like me you can use a chunk of Stamping Sponge and ink your ink pads because you left your Ink Refills, Stampin' Spritzers and Sponge Daubers at your friend's house when you were stamping together (and she lives too far away to simply pick it up). 

 

All three ways worked, spritzing is the fastest, and the messiest, so cover your work space!  Sponge Daubers with Ink Refill got good coverage taking a little bit longer than spritzing, and Stamping Sponges inked with ink pads took the longest, and the resulting colours were a little less intense than when using Ink Refill.

 

Here's the banner I made with just what came in the kit, sponges and ink pads:

 

I'm planning to hang this up outside my classroom for back to school in September.  The pennants are pretty cute, but the banner as a whole could use some dressing up, so I'm going to order some 3/4" Chevron Ribbon in Marina Mist and Crushed Curry as well as some Designer Buttons and Frosted Finishes Embellishments for sparkle.

 

The next banner I have to show you uses the Halloween Banner Simply Created Accessory Kit:

No extras needed here!  As you can see, this kit comes with rosettes, ribbon, buttons, die cut accents, so many embellishments I didn't even use them all on my banner:

 

For this banner, Spritzers were used to make the background images and Sponge Daubers dipped directly in Basic Black ink were used for the letters.  LOVE this banner!!!  Can't wait to be able to hang this one up! 

Stampin' Up! also carries a Christmas Banner Simply Created Accessory Kit in a snowflake theme:
Gorgeous right!?!  I haven't made this one yet because I'm having trouble deciding what word I want for this banner.  Brrr, Noel, Joy?  I just don't know!  Stay tuned to see this one once I've finally made my choice!


New Classes!

I'm running some private classes from now until December.  The options for August and September are the banners!!  You can choose either of the styles I've shown today, but you don't have to use the same words I did.  For the Welcome style banner (with the extra embellishments I'm ordering!) you can choose any word that is 11 letters or less, like celebrate, or someone's name.  For the spooky style banner you can choose any word that is 9 letters or less, like Beware or Boooo. 

For more information you can click on the classes tab above.  Contact me today to book your class!

Go stamp something!
Diane