Play time !

Finally found some time to play with my new toys from the new big catalog.  Since I will be gone all next week and won't get in any stampin' time, felt I had to do some this morning :-) (Any excuse!)
Got out the new stamp sets (not all of them), embossing folders and framelits and thoroughly enjoyed my morning.

Blast Off is my new 'little boy' stamp.  I love it - and I know the young boys at church will love birthday cards like this one.  The spaceship window exactly matches one of the circle punches so I punched it out and stamped the astronaut inside the card.

I used the new IN colors for this one - Midnight Muse, Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit, and Primrose Petals.  It is really an easy card to make but will make some little boy very happy.

A couple new stamps sets here.  Itty Bitty Banners works perfectly with the Bitty Banners framelits.
The butterflies are from the Papillon Potpourri and match the new Elegant Butterfly punch.
The branch is from an old favorite Thoughts and Prayers but the flowers are the IN color Dahlias.

I punched out butterflies from solid catd stock and put them on the card front, then used a mini glue dot to adhere only the center of the stamped butterfly on top.  It looks like a colorful shadow.

Here is another of the Itty Bitty Banners and Papillon Potpourri butterflies.  The embossing along the bottom is one of the two folders in the Delicate Designs set.  This uses Summer Starfruit and Raspberry Ripple.

Here is a close up of the detail of the embossing folder.  It almost looks lke snowflakes to me  :-) The edges were cut with the new Large Scallop edgelit.  I used it reversed to make the scallops on the Whisper White.

This card features the other embossing folder in the Delicate Designs set.  The Midnight Muse ribbon is so pretty.  It comes in all 5 of the new IN colors.

Another close-up of the embossing.  This design also coordinates with the Large Scallop edgelit.

One of my free sets is the Daydream Medallions.  It has various sizes of medallion images that match perfectly to the new Floral Frames Framelits.   I stamped each medallion in a different color...

and cut out a piece of matching solid card stock in each size. I curled the medallion 'petals' a little using my paper piercing tool and then placed it on the matching card stock.  Again, sort of a shadow effect.
I've had lots of fun this morning - also finished up 2 sets of scrapbook pages.  I'll spend the afternoon sorting my scraps of paper and tidying up the craft room so it will be ready for me when I return :-)

A new friend and another card

Meet my new best friend :-)  Chilled in the frig, this was the perfect treat at the end of a very hot day.

And here is another herringbone card.   This is the technique for July - July 26th to be exact.  Why don't you join us ?  Details

Personalized work gloves ? and Technique Thursday

I needed a pair of work gloves for next week and found some easily at the local Walmart - but they were so plain and I wanted some way to mark them as mine.  Hmmm - stamps of course!

I added some Summer Smooches using Staz-on ink.  Really makes them MINE!  But don't look too closely.....

It was hard to stamp on the uneven surface.  Even with putting my left hand inside and using my finger tips as the hard surface.  I got a few edges of the stamp - but after all - the are work gloves!
Good enough for me :-)

Today I am prepping for my Techniques Thursday class which is tonight - nothing like waiting until the last minute.  Last night I made the sample card which they will make in class.  The technique is a layered flower.  Very easy to make.  This is a clean and simple card :-)



Here is another card using the layered flower. With the flower on the card you don't need much else.

And another - again  not much except a flower but so nice.

This is a new technique I found on another website - triple layer stamping.  So easy - notice how the images are lined up perfectly - and I did not use my Stamp-a-ma-jig.  This will be the technique for  July's Technique Thursday on July 26 (date is subject to change but I will keep you posted - trying to schedule a trip up north).

A Day of Scrapbooking

Had an unexpected day at home - thanks to air conditioner issues.   Repairman was here at 7:30 a.m. and gone by 8:10 a.m.  And since I had put in some extra hours during the week, I only needed to work a few hours to make my week - so I had a day to play for the most part. 

I have been working on scrapbook's for the church and today I got about 6 months done - so I am almost done with 2010 plus have a few random events from 2011 done.

How to reward myself ? 

Ice Cream with Chocolate Syrup - life is good!



So many new toys- where to begin?



I have so many new toys I don't know what to play with first.  I did play with a couple new stamp sets tonight.

The first one is called Clockworks.  It makes a great masculine card.  I did the background and the timepiece and then debated about what sentiment to put on.  I need a retirement card this weekend and "time ticking away" sort of goes with that so that is what I ended up with.   The cog punch is a retired one that I got on the clearance rack.   I thought it went well with the stamp set.
Card stock - Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit and Very Vanilla
Ribbon - Midnight Muse Satin Stitched
Stamp sets - Clockworks, Teeny Tiny Wishes

The other sets I played with are Word Play (I got that set free ) and Cottage Window.   I love the cottage window set.  It has the basic window and items for all seasons.  The sentiment is from the Word Play set.
Card Stock - Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Midnight Muse and Whisper White
Stamp Sets - Word Play, Cottage Window

This would be an autumn window.  I love the spider you can add.
Card Stock - Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green and Whisper Whire

And the winter window with holly branches and snowflakes.
Card Stock - Gumball Green and Midnight Muse

So - just a little bit of playing but at least something productive.   I also made a stack of masculine cards using some retired DSP. Clean and Simple - maybe I will share those tomorrow :-)

Happy Birthday Bekah

My younger daughter, Bekah, turned 21 this week.   I promised her an angel food cake - her favorite! Finally got it baked today.

I did plan ahead and purchased a mix from the Co-Op - very reasonable and it baked up beautifully.  I always think of my mom when I bake an angel food cake.  She would invert hers to cool on a funnel -mainly because the metal 'legs' were broken off her pan.

The cake baked up nice and high.  The best way to cut a slice is to use a serrated knife.  The sawing action will not tear up the cake like a regular knife.

And here it is all dressed up with some fresh strawberries and whipped topping.  A great summer dessert.  Happy Birthday Bekah!

Out with the OLD, and In with the NEW

I am getting rid of some of my retired papers, embellishments and stamp sets.  See my special June offer HERE.
While going through my stash of DSP I found this beautiful paper that I just had to use for some cards.  Stampin Up's papers are so beautiful, sometimes you hate to cover them with a stamped image or sentiment.

 Isn't this just beautiful. I stuck my sentiment in the small area that was pretty much blank on the DSP.

 And this one.  Such a beautiful butterfly!

 This one has a little more room for the sentiment.  This will be a nice card to send to someone going through a rough journey.

Here I liked the way the butterfly was cut off the edge.  Funny story - I stamped the sentiment in Rose Red on the pink background of the DSP and had it adhered to the Tangerine Tango when I dropped it face down on my ink pad.  It got a couple faint lines of the ink on it.  So I rubbed it on the ink pad a little to 'distress' it and make it look like the ink smudges were intentional.   Then it all blended in with the words too much - so I took the Always Artichoke marker and using the fine tip I traced over the letters.  Turned out pretty good, I think!

This stripe is the back of the DSP.  It could be used for a masculine card even with the pink since there are so many other colors on it. 

Here I combined both sides of the DSP - one last butterfly :-) 

And while I was working with DSP, I made a bunch of these cards with different sentiments.  The idea for these were taken from a thank you card I received from another demo, my niece.

The DSP and stamp set are from the Sale-a-bration catalog.  I wanted to use up the DSP - and did use 2 sheets.  I have more from a second pack of the paper :-)
No wonder I love their DSP so much.  The designs are beautiful, often coordinate with one or more stamp sets and the colors make it so easy to plan your cards.  Just grab a sheet of the DSP and then card stock in the colors that coordinate with the DSP - and you have instant card (almost) :-)

So that cleaned out a very small bit of my OLD items..... and just in time because today this arrived....

The stamp sets on top are the ones I earned free through Sale-a-bration.  It was sure hard to choose which two sets to get free.  There are lots more goodies in that box - - - - - - maybe I will post some samples tomorrow to show you what I got - but for now it is off to bed.  It was a very short night last night and I am starting to feel the adverse affects.

Ballerina Tutu CASE

I cased ( Copy and Share Everything) this card from a swap I received at the Milwaukee Regional.
The tutu is made using the Mixed Bunch stamp set and the Blossom Punch.  The bodice is from the Owl punch.
I have been wanting to make some of these for the little girls (and some big girls) at our church. One of the girls was in a recited earlier this week so I took the opportunity to encourage her with this card.

I put stars in the background instead of the presents on the original card.  I used some of my waxed paper inking card stock for the circle. 
I sure hope she likes the card - I loved making it.

Prayer Box

A customer asked me to help her design a box that would hold index cards and it gave me an idea for a 'prayer box'.   Each card is for a different person or family that is on your prayer list.  The box is 2 1/4 inches deep so could hold at least 200 index cards  - that's a lot of people to pray for.If you used colored index cards or card stock, you could color-code the cards for family, co-workers, church family, etc.

As you pull a card (or multiple cards) during your prayer time, record notes about the prayer items, then place the card(s) at the back of the box.  As you rotate through the box and come to the card(s) again you can see what was prayed for and how those prayers were answered.

I came up with two designs.  One has a lid that lifts off- similar to the Keepsake Box that I have posted before. The box is Rich razzleberry with some of the retired Razzleberry Lemonade on So Saffron card stock on the lid.  A So Saffron ribbon tied around the middle.

The other has a flip top. This was a little harder to cut and put together but I like it.   I used textured Baja Breeze card stock for this one.  The ribbon is Cherry Cobbler seam binding and I used Cherry Cobbler and More Mustard on the Mixed Bunch flower.  Now which one will I keep for myself and which one do I give as a gift???

SU new catalog Open House - Special Offer!

Last night was my New Catalog Open House - we had such a good time and everyone loved the new items and colors. 

Here are some photos of cards I displayed -

Old friends that are still around.  This is the I Dig You stamp set and is so perfect for little boys (maybe even some big boys).   Daffodil Delight and Early Espresso go well together and the mini brads add a little special touch.

Here is an 'old and new' card.  The stamp sets (Elements of Style and Language of Friendship)and the Victoria crochet trim are old friends that are still around.  Midnight Muse card stock and the Floral District DSP (bird) are new.   It is a very simple card but looks nice.

New stamp set - Bright Blossoms - is so much fun to play with.  It is hard to see but the card on the left has scored lines across the mid-bottom to add some interest.  The card on the right has diagonally scored lines on the larger piece of white to give it a nice background.

New colors Primrose Petals, Midnight Muse, and Raspberry Ripple, new stamp set Summer Afternoon (hostess set) and new Bitty Banners Framelits.  The image was stamped on a scrap of white and the puppy colored then cut out and added to the pink image.  A fun way to highlight a single element in a larger stamped image.  Isn't he cute?

Some more old and new - new colors Gumball Green and Summer Starfruit are paired with Pumpkin Pie on this technique card.  This is one of the techniques I will be teaching on Technique Thursday - last Thursday in June.   The ribbon is also the new IN Color 3/8 inch stitched satin ribbon.  It looked too shiny and new on the card so I sponged it with some Early Espresso like the rest of the card.  There are several techniques on this card but the one I was testing is the 3 dimensional distressed flower.

Another technique that I will be teaching on Technique Thursday.  This is a herringbone pattern made using strips of DSP.  A great way to use up some scraps.  This is more of the Floral District collection.

I also had a workstation set up for the guests to learn the waxed paper technique and made a card to take home. 

And of course, refreshments.  Do you know that if you make the Duncan Hines French Vanilla cupcakes and frost with Duncan Hines whipped vanilla frosting, they taste like a Hostess Twinkie?

I also had tortilla chips, Southwestern dip and fresh veggies - all from the local produce Co-Op.  And pink lemonade punch.  Not a lot of work but something for everyone.

I had a drawing for attendance prizes.  I gave away the set of Blossom Builders and a package of Fleurettes to two lucky ladies.

Now, I am cleaning out my older stamp sets and some other retired products to make room for new.  Any purchase during the month of June and you receive the equivalent of your merchandise total in "Mary Money" to shop among my 'this must go' selection.  Some items are new unopened and they are priced at catalog value.  Others are used or opened packages and are discounted.  All are retired and no longer available in the catalog.
Also - want to get started with the IN Colors - check out my special IN Color 2012-2014 package.  A great way to get a variety of coordinated products without spending a lot.
Check out both offers HERE

Happy Stamping and Happy Birthday to me!