Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Another Paper Pumpkin Shaker

I'm completely in love with these sequins from this months Paper Pumpkin!  I decided I wanted to make another shaker card with them.  This time using the stamps from the kit too.  I already had my Sliding Star Framelits out so I used those to create my shaker 'ring'.  Plus I used window sheets on the front and back so you can see the shaker bits even when you open the card.  It's really cute!  
I did line the inside of my card with some cardstock also cut with the Sliding Star framelits so give a clean finish on the inside instead of seeing all the adhesive and dimensional strips that make up the shaker ring. 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Paper Pumpkin Meets Sunshine Wishes

Did you get your Paper Pumpkin this month?!  Are you as in love with those sequins and I am? I just adore those colors in the sequins!!!!  The coordinate with our new Flirty Flamingo and Peekaboo Peach perfectly!  I wanted to make some shaker cards with them so this is what I came up with!!  This card is stinkin' cute in person too!!  I couldn't love it more!!!!  I started with the Diagonal Stripe Background stamp, which I completely love!!!  I stamped that on Flirty Flamingo then cut out a scallop circle with the Layering Circles Framelits, save that circle, you might use it again! I attached a window sheet on the back of the circle, then used the new Foam Adhesive Strips (A MUST HAVE for shaker cards) to make a 'pool' for my sequins.  The strips are long and work great to shape around whatever shape you're making a shaker with, in this case a circle.  Once you have your 'pool' all made drop in some sequins, how many is up to you.  I put a few good pinches.  Carefully peel off the backing of your strips and add some cardstock to close up your shaker and that's pretty much the entire shaker!  
To finish up the front I tied some Thick White Bakers Twine around the front.  Then I cut out the heart from the Sunshine Wishes Thinlits from some Dazzling Details Glimmer Paper.  I added a greeting from Thoughtful Banners.  I attached the whole thing to a Peekaboo Peach card base.  Keep in mind that because this card is a little thick it might require extra postage.  But they're so much fun to make and soooooooo much fun to get!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Monday, June 27, 2016

Aww Nuts!

Somehow, I don't know how up until now I've been on time sending all birthday cards, but somehow I missed a birthday.  Not just any birthday, a birthday of a really good friend too!  How it happened I can't explain.  I made this card the day of her birthday and it was promptly in the mail the next day.  I don't have many 'belated' birthday stamps so I decided I was going to use my own greeting and print it on some vellum.  I stamped and punched out a bunch of acorns to go with the greeting.  I love the pink acorns, they're so fun and cute!  
The bottom of all the acorns were brushed with some Wink Of Stella glitter brush pen so give them lots and lots of shine!!!  They're all popped up on dimensionals on the vellum.  Such a cute card and it saved me when I was in a bind! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Friday, June 24, 2016

July Stamp Set of the Month

The July stamp set of the month is the Shooting Star set.  I normally don't reveal the stamp set of the month this early, but these cards were too cute!!!  Let me tell you a little more about this stamp set and the framelits that coordinate with them. This stamp set and framelits work perfectly together to make moving, spinning cards.  The framelits not only cut out all the stamped images perfectly, but they also create 'tracks' for those images to spin or slide along.  The bee in the first card spins around the hive! Isn't that adorable.  The framelits makes making these sliding cards so effortless!!! 
The airplane in the card slides back and forth along his track.  So how do they slide and spin?!  It's easy and all you need is a penny or a small washer. First you simply cut the sharp corners off of a dimensional.  It doesn't need to be perfectly round but eliminating the sharp corners really helps.  Stick one side of the dimensional on the penny, the other side of the dimensional on the back of your stamped image.  Then you simple slide the penny into the track, so the stamped image is face up and the weight of the penny (or washer) will spin and move your image along the track.  AHHH!!  It's so much fun!  I promise, if you make one you'll make 100, they're that much fun!!!  
Now of course you don't have to use the images for a sliding card.  They work beautifully on their own too!  When you order this stamp set in July (you can also add on the framelits too!) You'll get the supplies and directions on how to make these 3 cards.  For more information please contact me. 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Boxes and Bookmarks

These boxes were pretty easy to make, I made all of them in one night.  Each boxes uses a 6x6 sheet of DSP which is perfect for our DSP stacks!  To make each box score on one side at 1 1/4 and 4, turn and score on the other side at 1 1/4, 2 1/2, 3 3/4, and 5.  You'll have shorter tabs on the bottom, cut up each of those tabs to create the bottom of your box.  The bigger tabs are for the top of your box. 
There's lots of ways to close this box, I did it really easy and cut off but one tab that would be the lid. I folded it over the top of the box and pinched where it would fold over onto the front of the box and added some magnetic tape to hold the box closed. 
I also decided I needed to give my guests some In Color Bookmarks to use in their new catalogs.  These were so easy to make!  The hardest part was actually figuring out the spacing on the computer to print the vellum to have it all line up correctly.  Once that was figured out, it was simple to cut and put them together.  
To stamp each color I used one of the 'cake layers' in the Build a Birthday set.  I stamped it in all 5 colors on the bookmarks.  The vellum piece goes over the top and is just stapled together.  So cute!!! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Stamp Camp Highlights

I'm sure you'll all shake your heads in shame, but once again I have no pictures from stamp camp itself...I did take some, but I'll share them another time, possibly....but I do have a few photos of pre-stamp camp to share.  I had over 30 people in attendance and even more come shop the retired sale.  So it was a hugely successful event!  I was able to set up the night before, which was good because it took two car loads to get all my stuff there!  The kids were with me and of course they were put to work too. In addition to other jobs they put all my labels on the backs of all the catalogs.  
Every attendee got their packet of supplies, a brand new catalog and a set of the new 2016-2018 In color markers.  I had a lot of stuff piled up for them!  
I also made these cute little boxes for all my guests, they just had some chocolate in them but I love to make little 'thank you' gifts for them attending.  They take time out of their schedules to attend, it's the least I can do :)
Ready to go! I had extra tables set up since this class they made 6 cards instead of 4.  It was a great event.  I hope everyone who attended had a good time! I look forward to this event every year.  There's a lot of planning that goes into it, I hope that shows when guest come and have a stamping break for a couple hours.  I'll have more on the boxes and another gift that I handed out on my blog tomorrow!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!  

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

More Stamp Camp Cards

I have the other 3 cards from stamp camp to share!  First is the card featuring Emerald Envy.  This green is so pretty, greens and oranges I have a hard time loving.  This green is so beautiful!  It's so rich and vibrant.  I love the striped background on this card and the gold swirly!  How pretty!!!   This set also uses the new Thoughtful Banners and coordinating punch! 
I make a lot of 'thank you' cards.  I probably make those more than anything. This new Thankful Thoughts set was perfect for me!   I love the big greetings! I love the fonts!  There's so much to love here!  Do you love that scalloped circle?  Me too!!!!  It's from the new Layering Circles Framelit collection!  LOVE!!!  The card is finished with some ruched ribbon and glimmer paper!  
Finally last but not least, I had to use my Swirly Bird set for at least one card!  This card though simple and fun is so pretty and the greeting overlayed on the vellum is my favorite!!!!  The card features the new color Flirty Flamingo, this is a really pretty pink that I just LOVE!!!!

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

Monday, June 20, 2016

Stamp Camp Cards!

Saturday was the New Catalog Stamp Camp and we had a great time!!  I'm just in love with this years In Colors and so many of the stamp sets are amazing!  It was hard to choose what stamp sets I'd this year.  In the end I think the cards ended up being some of my favorites!  I hope everyone who attended had a great time!!  I can't wait to stamp with you again soon!!!   The Bunch of Blossoms set was a must have on my list!  You can get it bundled with the punch and save a little money too!  This card is simple but elegant!
The Fox Builder punch and coordinating stamp set Foxy Friends are a MUST HAVE!!!  I haven't had too much time to play with this set and punch but I can't wait to use it more!!!  This card is so stinkin' cute and simple, you could easily mass produce this in no time!!!  The inside says 'love you'.  So cute!!!!! 
While I wasn't even sure I needed the pineapple stamp I think it's safe to say this pineapple has gotten the most use from any of my other new sets.  I love the size of it and it looks good every time I stamp it.  For this card we used the New Peekaboo Peach and Emerald Envy In Color markers to color the stamp then stamp it on the paper.  So cute!  I have the other 3 cards to share tomorrow and more highlights from stamp camp later this week!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!! 

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Baby Bear-Must Have

Baby Bear, though I don't have any friends expecting babies, will be a stamp set that gets lots of use.  It's for so much more than baby cards.  Don't let the name fool you, this teddy bear is for any occasion.  Plus it's so easy to line up!  It's a 3 step stamp, that's the reason it has so much depth and dimension.  But lining up this bear is a breeze!  The bow is also a 2 step stamp, which all gives it that same depth.  Oh my goodness I just love this set!!!  Put in on your wishlists, hurry....I'll wait........
After he was stamped he was just kind of floating, this isn't the twilight zone there are no floating bears on my cards.  Since my aqua painter was already out thanks to all the watercoloring I've been doing I just added a little ground beneath him.  This grounds him down so he's not a floating bear which I think we can all agree is a little odd.  To make him pop even more off the paper I went around the image carefully with my Pool Party ink and an aqua painter (what else this week!?!)  That subtle blue halo around him makes him really stand off the paper.  Super cute!!!!  Expect to see lots more of this bear!!!  Tomorrow is my final day of prep before the big stamp camp this weekend.  Aside from setting everything up I think I'm ready, I'll have so many posts next week about stamp camp, a full breakdown (I will take pictures this year!!!!), plus all the cards and whatever else I think of!


Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Balloon and Dog

Obviously I can't stop watercoloring with this set!!!  The line images just scream for it to be watercolored!!!  This one was super fun to make and it's really a one layer card (I mean aside from the watercolor paper glued on the card base).  I again, used my aqua painters and markers to color this guy.  You guys might be wondering why my dogs and cats are always gray.  Well I have a gray cat and a gray dog, I color what I know.  I added some blue swipes with my aqua painter to mimic the look of a sky, even though I only envision this little pup a couple inches off the ground, who wants their pup to float away!?!?  But I thought the clouds were so cute!!!    
I added some of the Fine Tip Glue to the balloon and let it dry.  It gives it a nice clear glossy look like Crystal Effects.  So fun!  The bird I wanted to pop in the sky so I made him a nice blue with Tempting Turquoise, which is actually my go to bird color :) To finish it I added a few hearts.  I went with black because any other color was drawing attention away from the image and I wanted all focus on the stamped image.  I love this sweet card!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

You've Gotta Friend

As you can tell I'm so super obsessed with the new Pretty Kitty set and this one, called Bella and Friends.  Whether you're a dog person or cat person it's best to get both to be on the safe side.  The artwork in both is similar so you can mix and match them so fun!!!  Yesterday I shared this Christmas card with the Pretty Kitty set.  Today and tomorrow I have a couple of cute cards that I used the Bella and Friends set with.  How cute is this one with the little turtle???!??!  EEEEKKK!!!  I love it! 
Just like yesterday I stamped then watercolored the image with my aqua painter and markers.  I'm using watercolor cardstock which can withstand all the ink and water better than regular cardstock.  I have another cute card to share with you tomorrow using this cute little pup!

Thanks for looking see you soon!!!! 

Monday, June 13, 2016

Christmas Kitty

I'm having so much fun playing with my new stuff.  One of the stamps sets that was on my must have list right away was this Pretty Kitty set.  So cute!!!!  When I saw the image of the kitty tangled in the ball of yarn I knew I wanted to try modifiying it to make a kitty tangled in Christmas lights.  This card is the result of that.  I couldn't be happier with it!  I started by stamping my kitty but masking off the ball of yarn.  I put a post it note over the ball image on the stamp then inked it up and removed the post it note before stamping on my paper.  I used a Project Life by Stampin' Up! pen (the .01 one) I hand drew some light bulbs on the yarn strings.  I tried to space them evenly in the beginning, then I just started drawing them everywhere, filling in spaces.  Then I simply watercolored the kitty to look like my kitty Cinderella.  So cute!   
I just used some markers and an aqua painter to color it.  I wanted to add a tree but all my Christmas Tree images were too small in comparison to the kitty, so I roughly sketched a tree with a pencil and used my aqua painters to 'paint' a tree, obviously I need to stick to stamping not painting.  I do like the watercolored look to it though.  I added some ground around the kitty so it didn't look like she was hovering.  Finally I added a greeting on some vellum.  So cute!  I just love this cute Christmas kitty.  This card took quite a bit of time but I was being really picky with the bulbs and trees.  I'm not sure I would mass produce this card but it's so cute to make a couple of and give them to those 'special' friends!  Hope you enjoyed my Christmas kitty!

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

Friday, June 10, 2016

$5 Paper Pumpkin!!!!

Boy has it been a week!  I have tons of new stuff I just haven't had the time to sit and stamp!  Truth is I've made one new card!  {sigh}  I haven't been home in a few days to sit and have stamp time and the time that I am home I'm in full New Catalog Stamp Camp mode!  Those of you attending my Stamp Camp next week, you will NOT be disappointed.  Every spare moment is going into Stamp Camp prep and no one is more excited than my husband to see it done!  My craft room/home office has been pilled up with boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff!!!  He's going to be so happy when they're cleared out!  I'm hoping to get some stamp/blog time this weekend, but I know you'll understand if my blog goes silent for a couple days while I finish all my prep.  But I do have something to share with you today, you didn't stop by for nothing!  There is an AMAZING deal going on right now for Paper Pumpkin!!!  I know you've thought about it so why not try it for only $5!!!!!  This offer is for new subscriptions only (Sorry current subscribers but do you remember that FREE awesome stamp set we got a couple months ago!!!!!! That was awesome!).  I love getting my Paper Pumpkin every month!! It's such a fun surprise!!!!  I love the cards and projects!  But most of all I love just creating them on a weeknight after a long day, you can get some crafting done, feel productive and not have to think about it!  It's an amazing deal!  So what are you waiting for!!!!!  Sign up for Paper Pumpkin here and use the ONEDAYDEAL promo code to get your June kit for only $5!!!!  If that wasn't convincing enough check out this sneak peek of the June kit!  So cute!!!  I love the colors and everything about this picture!!!  HURRY!!!  You only have until 11:50 PM (MT) to get this deal!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Masking A Cupcake

Masking is an interesting technique.  It really makes your brain work differently than you think it should.  At least it does that with my brain.  I saw this card on Pintrest and I wanted to make it using stuff I had in my craft room.  These little animals from the Made With Love set get me every flippin' time! They're so cute!!!!  Don't look past this set because it's featured as a baby set.  I've done so much with this set, not a single baby card among them!  There's this one, and this one, this sweet Christmas one, don't forget this Easter one, and my favorite the three kitties and now today's card which might be my new favorite but boy that kitten trio is hard to top :)  Anyway back to masking and how it hurts your brain.....when you're masking stamped images you have to stamp the items you want in the front first, which is backwards from how you would think.  In my brain I think 'Oh I want the cupcake in the back I'll stamp it first.' But really you want to stamp the bunny and kitten first.  See makes your brain hurt!  Once you get past all that craziness masking can be figured out pretty easily.  I stamped everything, even the cupcake (which by the way is from the Sprinkles Of Life set) on post it notes.  I used the post it notes as place makers for the card.  I laid my cupcake down first, then placed where I wanted my kitten and bunny.  Then I carefully traced around the left side of the kitten and the right side of the bunny lightly with pencil.  Then took off all the post it note place holders.  From there I used the outlines that I traced to stamp my kitten and bunny so they were in the correct spot.  Make sure you ink is completely dry before erasing your pencil lines.  You don't want to smudge your ink.  After my critters were stamped.  I used my post it note and placed them over the stamped images, then stamped my cupcake.  Remove the post it notes, and by magic the cupcake is now behind the critters.  Mind. Blown.  
To color in the images I used markers and a Blender Pen.  The candle was an after thought, so if you look closely you'll see the top of the cupcake line goes through the candle.  It's not super noticeable but if I were to do the card again, I'd probably mask the candle as well to get a clean look.  I added a greeting from the Sprinkles Of Life set and some sequins to the card to finish it.   Such a cute card and defiantly worth it in the end.   

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Swirly Watercolored

Isn't this card so bright and cheerful.  I love all the colors and it was pretty easy to create!  I wanted to try some embossing resist watercolor with the new Swirly Bird stamp set.  I think the background came out so pretty!  To start with I used some Shimmer White cardstock.  and I stamped and embossed in clear the small swirly flower all over the back.  There's no pattern to the stamping it's all pretty random some are close together some are further apart, it's just to get some flowers on there.  Once all the flowers were heat embossed I grabbed 4 ink pads, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry and Tempting Turquoise.  I pressed each color onto my largest block to make a color pallet to work with.  Using a very wet aqua painter I picked up colors and started laying them down on the paper.  Where there is embossing it will resist the ink.  the colors will start to blend together creating other colors too.   There's some greens and oranges in there too.  I'm impatient so I sped up the drying with my heat tool then went back and added more colors, this time the color was more concentrated and not as wet.  This gives the nice watercolor lines and bold colors.  While it looks like I may have had a plan in mind with how the colors were going down I assure you I didn't have a plan I just started putting colors down.  If you use enough water you don't have to help it blend too much it will do that all on it's own.  Just keep some paper towels and your heat tool handy.  If the colors get too mixed up they'll start to get muddy and that's not a look you want.  You can use the paper towels to sop up any big pools of water and use your heat tool to speed up drying.         
I didn't want to cover up to much of my background.  So I used the Swirly Scribbles Thinlits to cut out some Black Glimmer Paper and a quick greeting over that.  Simple, quick and easy!  To finish the entire card I added some rhinestones, though I went back and forth with sequins on this one.  Rhinestones eventually won.  This would be a great card to make in monochromatic colors for an ombre type look.  What about some blues or earth tones for a more masculine look, eliminating the doilies, glitter and rhinestones of course :)  I love the bright colors with the glitter but I'm all sparkle and shine so what else would you expect!

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

Monday, June 6, 2016

My Husbands Birthday Card

One of the things I enjoy searching on Pintrest is 'funny cards'.  I've mentioned before that I love all puns I love silly, goofy sayings.  I love funny cards, a lot of the cards on Pintrest will link you back to an etsy page where you either buy the download or the card.  I love searching, finding ones I love and making them my own with my supplies.  This saying was a great example of that.  I typed it up and printed it on vellum and attached it over a cake made with the Build a Birthday set.  The greeting on the front says "You were born on this date so we are going to put fire sticks on baked goods and sing at you while you sit there awkwardly"  I love it!  The front is very simple.  While I normally stray from ribbon on cards for men, this one seemed to work great laid across the top and stapled on.     
I couldn't leave the card just as that so on the inside when you open it up there a slider, pop up type function inside.  "Happy Birthday! Let's Party!" pops up from the side and slides across to reveal his age....in case he forgot :)  It's a really cute card!  I have a box of new stuff arriving today!  Yay!!!  While it's my husbands birthday I seem to be getting the presents!  I'm hoping to have lots to share with you with LOTS of new stuff in the next few weeks, though I will be limited on stamping time for the next few days, I'm going to try! In the meantime I have a few birthday cards I made last week that I'll share with you over the next couple of days while I'm madly stamping and crafting!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!! 

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

NEW CATALOG IS HERE!!!!

I'm so excited for this years Annual Catalog!!!  This is my favorite catalog ever I think!!!  I can't wait to get all those items on my wishlist!  You can start shopping the new catalog today!  To see all the new products and to shop head to my website

I'll have more projects to share soon.  We're in the first week of summer and I have lots to prep with a new gallery show going up next week and stamp camp just a couple weeks away!  I'm so excited but it's keeping me from my stamp desk.  Not to worry I'll have plenty to share once my new stuff arrives :)  Until then I'll be posting just not daily.  Thanks for understanding. 

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