This is one of the cards I made with the Inked Embossing technique. I love this technique and especially love this combination.
Card Stock: Regal Rose, Very Vanilla
Ink: Regal Rose, Crumb Cake
Stamp Set: A Word For You


This is a close up of the card. See how the Crumb Cake ink makes the Very Vanilla card stock raised areas pop. And the ink is not uniform so it has a vintage look.


Here are a bunch of cards I made using the embossed paper. I have a hard time picking a favorite.



Then I decided to try some different color combinations. These are subtle but the ink just gives it a little more dimension. Here are the combinations I used.
Pear Pizzazz ink on Certainly Celery card stock.
More Mustard ink on So Saffron card stock.
Baja Breeze ink on Bashful Blue card stock.
Pretty in Pink ink on Pink Pirouette card stock.


Here are some cards I made with those. So much fun - and so versatile!

And before I forget - the winner of the Pinking Hearts border punch was Julie K. For the January drawing I have put together a collection of retired Hodgepodge Hardware. All of the items are shown above. The prize bag will have muiltiples of each. To be eligible to win you just need to place an order with me in the month of January. Good luck!

70+ cards !

My sister and I spent many hours in the craft room over the New Year holiday. Between us we probably made 100 items. She mostly made card fronts and will take them home and put them on cards out of her own stock. She did a good job of using up lots of my scraps.


I played with some new ideas and techniques. I was in bad need of birthday and anniversary cards for our church family.

This one is for a sweet little girl who turns 5 this week. The vibrant colors reminded me of her vibrant spirit. I was experimenting with a plan for my DSP workshop later this month in which we will take 1/2 sheet of Designer Series Paper and make 9 cards.
Card Stock: Bashful Blue, Real Red, Pacific Point, Whisper White, Celebrations DSP
Ink: Pacific Point, Real Red, Pear Pizzazz, Bashful Blue
Stamp Set: Look Who's Turning


This card is for a wonderful couple celebrating 30 years of marriage today!
All the items on the card were from my leftovers from other projects (made me feel good to use them!)I had lots of red ornaments left from making luminaries. I will have to post pictures of some of the other cards soon.

Card Stock: Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler
Tools: Scallop Edge, Ornament, Two Step Bird
Stamp Set: A Word for You

This is a card that I put together for Technique Tuesday - Vitalized Vellum.
Card Stock: Poppy Parade, Blushing Bride, Early Espresso
Stamp Set: Filled With Love (Special offer on this until Jan 24th!)
Tools: Brayer, Decorative Label Punch , Modern Label Punch
Ink: Poppy Parade
Embellishment: Poppy Parade Ribbon


One of my favorite cards is this one. I seldom use the Extreme Elements stamp set - don't know why! I think this is a great masculine card, especially for older boys and young men :-)
Card Stock: Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz, Rich Razzleberry
Stamp Set: Extreme Elements, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Rich Razzleberry, Early Espresso, More Mustard
Embellishment: Twine



And this is my new favorite technique - inked embossing! I saw one using Whisper White paper with Crumb Cake ink on a blog and just had to try it. It makes such an elegant background on the card. I punched hearts from the scraps for another card and then later tried other colors of card stock with ink combinations. So much fun! I made 12 cards alone with the Very Vanilla and Crumb Cake combo as shown here.

Card Stock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke
Ink: Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke
Tools: Big Shot, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing folder
Ribbon: Kraft taffeta ribbon (retired)


So much fun! I have enough ideas to post some every day for the month :-) Keep watching for more!
And cards were not the only creating I did - I actually baked and decorated a birthday cake for my sister - 1/1/11! (Too bad I did not get a picture before we cut it but this shows the checker board pattern)

New toys - and the craft room is open again!

After a couple weeks of house guests, I have my craft room back :-) We have guests coming tonight but with DD#2 gone until Sunday we can use her room for them. The guests are my sister (upline), her husband and son - so we HAVE to have somewhere to stamp :-)

I got some new toys in the last month or so and have not had time to play with them. Loved getting into them this morning and trying my hand at some ideas.

The first is the Technique Tuesday for February - crimped diamond.



Doesn't the crimping make a nice background?
Card Stock: Sahara Sand, Poppy Parade, Very Vanilla, Pear Pizzazz
Stamp Sets: Punch Potpourri, Perfect Punches
Tools: Crimper, Two Step Bird Punch, Large Oval Punch

The next card uses some of the items from the current special offer Filled With Love


Card Stock: Pretty in Pink, Sahara Sand, Wild Wasabi, Designer Series Paper Patterns Love, Very Vanilla
Stamp Sets: Filled With Love, A Word for You
Ink: Wild Wasabi
Tools: Full Heart Punch, Small Heart Punch


Then I opened up some of my pre-order items for the Mini Occasions catalog (starts Jan 4)and played with the Red Glitter Paper.
Stamp Set: Blowing Kisses
Paper: Real Red, Very Vanilla, DSP Patterns Love, Red Glitter Paper
Tools: Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Corner Round Punch, Heart to Heart Punch (Smallest heart only), Small Heart Punch
Ink: Basic Gray



Card Stock: Wild Wasabi, Very Vanilla, DSP Patterns Love, Red Glitter Paper
Stamp Set: Filled With Love
Tools: Small Heart Punch, Decorative Label Punch, Modern Label Punch, Ticket Corner Punch

Another new stamp that I have is a personalized trade mark stamp. I love it! Makes the card look professional.

I have more to play with later today but have to run some errands first. Glad it is warmer but the damp makes it feel cold in the house. The snow is almost all gone and looks more like a fall day outside.

2010 in review

Some of my favorite SU activities and projects of 2010.


Of course - the highlight would have to be the Milwaukee Regional with my sister/upline. We really should have had someone take our picture together :-( - next time!

My first club made it through the whole year and almost all are signing up again! This is one of my favorite cards that we made.

I had several workshops here in my home - a favorite was the kids mini-scrapbook workshop. The kids were all so proud of their work!

My favorite workshop was the mirror workshop. Everyone was so creative it is hard to pick my favorite.

Technique Tuesday is a favorite of many of my customers. Again it is hard to choose a favorite - so I have chosen 2 :-)

Above is the Black Magic technique - love it! I really need to use it more. A New Year's resolution??

Below is the Faux Tearing technique - so easy and so versatile! You can have a Designer Series Paper look to match any combination of colors.

And my personal favorite project was the guest book for DD#1's wedding. This is one of my favorite pages.

And my favorite tutorial http://marystutorials.blogspot.com/2010/08/this-is-tutorial-for-my-modification-of.html

It is my own personal take on the popular pinwheel design.

Looking forward to 2011 - two clubs have formed and the Mini-Occasions catalog and Sale-a-bration have so many wonderful things I don't know where to start!

Peace and Happiness to all of you in 2011! Thank you for following my blog and your comments!

A Multitude of Angels

This month I am leading Children's Worship at our church. This is a special 'class' for the 4 year old and Kindergarten children to help them understand how and why we worship. What a great month to do this as it is all Advent related.
Yesterday we talked about angels and their importance in the Christmas story. The snow and disrupted routines (plus DH helping instead of DD) proved for a very active group.

Here are all 4 children (we usually have 6 but a couple did not make it) with their angels. I used Stampin Up Designer Label, 1 3/4 scallop circle and 1 3/8 inch circle punches to make the face and hair. The wings are silver waffle paper and the halo-hanger is the silver tinsel trim. The kids decorated the angel skirts before we assembled them.


Each child has a different personality shining through. Miss Suzy has 2 older live-wire brothers and 2 cousins (who are also in this class) who get her charged up. DH is another energizer for her so she was bubbling yesterday.


Miss Emelia is the rule follower. She informed us she makes hearts much better than she used to because she did not put a point at the bottom before.


Master Ryan was wound tight yesterday. He also was energized by DH and the fact that their routine was disrupted by Daddy coming to church early to shovel the parking lot.


Master Kyle was the creative one. He realized the angel cone skirt made a perfect party hat.

What a joy to spend 20-30 minutes with these children on Sunday morning.

December Club

December Club met today and even though we were small in number we made some great cards and had a lot of fun.

This card is CASEd from a swap I got and I have done it with another club only in Certainly Celery. There wasn't any Melon Mambo ribbon so I had to dye my own - what fun!

Card Stock: Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Whisper White, Vellum Card Stock

Stamp Set: Because I Care

Ink: Basic Black, Pearlized Smooch Accent, Melon Mambo

Tools: Scallop Border punch, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval punch

Ribbon: Organza ribbon dyed using the Melon Mambo ink pad

This is my favorite. It is a pop-up card and the colors just look so good together.
Card Stock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green

Stamp Set: Delightful Decorations

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green

Tools: Scallop Corner punch, Ornament Punch

Ribbon: 5/8 inch Satin Very Vanilla, 1/2 inch Seam Binding Cherry Cobbler

Inside:

Stamp Set: Christmas Message

Tools: Decorative Label Punch, Ticket Corner Punch

This one is similar to the Real Red ornaments from the November group. I currently have two clubs running and it does simplify things when I use the same method but I get tired of the same card so usually chnage up the colors, shapes etc.

Card Stock: Not Quite Navy, Whisper White, Vellum Paper

Ink: Whisper White Craft, Not Quite Navy

Stamp Set: Delightful Decorations, After Thought

Tools: Decorative Label punch, Big Shot and Polka Dot Embossing Folder

Ribbon: 3/8 inch taffeta Whisper White

This is the little luminary we made. It uses a battery operated tealight. The hostess used the snowflake punch for hers and some of the guests used the ornament punch. They were all cute!
Card Stock: Poppy Parade, Vellum paper
Tools: Desired Punch (Snowflake, Large Heart, Heart to Heart, Curly Label, Scallop Circle, Scallop Square) - whatever you like.

I'm already looking forward to our January club workshops. Both clubs will meet the end of January and we are all looking forward to Sale-a-bration!

November Club

The November Club focused on vellum. This began with a request from the hostess to CASE a swap I received (but don't know who it was from because I don't have it any more).

Stamp Set : Because I Care
Card Stock: Certainly Celery, Basic Black, Whisper White, Vellum Card Stock
Embellishment: 5/8 inch satin ribbon Certainly Celery
Tools: Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Scallop Border Punch
Ink: Basic Black, Moonlight Smooch


Stamp Set: Delightful Decorations
Card Stock: Real Red, Whisper White, Vellum paper
Embellishments: 3/8 inch taffeta ribbon Real Red, gold thread
Tools: Ornament Punch, Big Shot, Polka Dot embossing folder


An easy little luminary.

Card Stock: Pacific Point
Tools: Snowflake Punch
I also provided a battery operated tealight as a gift to everyone.


I showed this card as another example of what can be done with vellum and everyone loved it so much they wanted to make one - so since they were such good students and got done so quickly with the other projects we did this 'bonus' card.
(The vellum here looks purple - hard to get a good photo.)
Stamp Set: Simply Said
Card Stock: Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Whisper White, Vellum card stock
Ink: Basic Black
Tools: Stylus, Photo Corner Punch
Embellishments: 1/8 inch taffeta ribbon Daffodil Delight

If you like these vellum ideas, you won't want to miss my Technique Tuesday on December 14 - Vitalized Vellum. For more details see my calendar

Now, off to finish up the directions for the December club cards!