Lots of Love Letters

Have you tried the Letterpres Plates yet?  They made their debut in the Holiday Mini last year, and a few more were introduced in the Occasions Mini Catalog--including the Lots of Love letterpress plate which I used here.  

I ran watercolor paper through the Big Shot with the Lots of Love plate.  For this card I didn't ink the plate before we ran it through--although you can do that.  For an example of what that looks like see THIS post. Unfortunately it's hard to have a photo pick up the texture and detail of the card, but you should be able to click on the picture to get a closer look. 

I gathered the 1 1/4" Real Red Striped Grosgrain ribbon and wrapped the prongs of the Antique Brad around to keep it in place.  The tag was made using the stamp set Tiny Tags.  For this card and sentiment I had a wedding card in mind, but I thought the design could also lend itself to an anniversary, wedding shower, or valentine's card.  I punched out the sentiment using the Medium Jewelry Tag punch and layered that on a heart from the Heart to Heart punch. 

A couple of hints when using the letterpress plates:  Although I didn't use any ink on this card with the letterpress plate, if you do want to add color craft inks do work better than the classic inks.  I needed to use a shim with my Big Shot (you may not need to with yours).  Also, a thicker paper gives you a crisper image and a deeper impression--Whisper White works ok, but water color paper or textured paper works better.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Check back tomorrow to see the new Stampin' Celebration challenge!  

Stamps:  Tiny Tags

Ink:  Real Red

Paper:  Watercolor Paper (p 170), Real Red, and Naturals White

Accessories:  1 1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Antique Brads, Heart to Heart Punch, Medium Jewelry Tag Punch, Lots of Love Letterpress plate, Big Shot, Linen Thread, dimensionals

Erik's Valentine

I hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day!  I thought I would quickly share my son's valentines from this year.  If you missed my daughter's, you can see that HERE.  

I made my daughter's valentine's first, and then asked my son what he wanted.  I had pulled out some stamp sets that I thought were good candidates. . .  pirates, dinosaurs, robots, etc.  No, he wanted "exactly the same as Elizabeth's--only red instead of pink."  Really?  Hmm.  And I was worried that as a big kindergartner Erik may not even want to take handmade valentine's at all!  So Erik and I went to work together to come up with his Valentine.  He helped me design it, and his only comment was that it needed some glitter, but Dad convinced him that boys don't need glitter.  :-)  Anyway, we had fun working together and Erik made sure I kept on task.  

The base of the Valentine is Crumb Cake, and the hearts are Chocolate Chip and Real Red Designer Paper from the Brights Patterns Designer Paper Stack.  I distressed the edges of the Real Red Heart using my Cutter Kit and the edges of the Crumb Cake with Crumb Cake ink.  The Chocolate Chip heart is up on dimensionals.  

And an inside view of the matchbook-style Valentine:  

Stamps:  Sock Monkey ("just for you"), and unknown stamp set

Ink:  Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake (distressing)

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Real Red DSP from the Brights Paper Stack

Accessories:  Full Heart Punch, Heart to Heart Punch, Cutter Kit, dimensionals, stapler, candy

Stampin' Celebration #38

It's Thursday and another fantastic challenge over at Stampin' Celebration!  I love the bold colors of this inspiration piece as well as the texture of the corner pictures.  So here's what I have to share this week:

I usually have a really hard time coming up with cards for my husband.  But, I think this one may work ok.  I tried to keep it fairly simple, and I thought the distressed look on the hearts may be a little 'manly'.   For the hearts I punched them out using my Full Heart punch, crumpled and then opened them, and put them on top of my Basic Black ink pad.  I carefully walked my fingers over the hearts so that they would pick up a little of the ink.  It's a fun, simple technique that you should try if you haven't already! 

I tied around the Basic Black grosgrain ribbon and added the three hearts using dimensionals.  The sentiment is stamped on the inside and then I used my 1 3/8" by 5/8" Oval Punch on the front layer so that the sentiment shows through.  The sentiment is from the set Three Little Words, which is a set that you can earn for free during Sale-A-Bration!  

Thanks for vising today!  Head over to Stampin' Celebration to see what the other member of the Design Team have created using this same inspiration piece!  Then hopefully you will feel inspired to play along.  :-)  We'd love to see what you create!  

Stamps:  Three Little Words

Ink:  Real Red, Basic Black

Paper:  Real Red, Whisper White

Accessories:  Full Heart Punch, 1 3/8" by 5/8" Oval Punch, Basic Black Grosgrain Ribbon, dimensionals

Time to be WICKED

Today I have some more fun news to share. . . . A little bit ago Jana (know as indyemmert on Spiltcoaststampers) contacted me to ask if I would be the October WICKED stamper and challenge hostess!  Of course I said yes.  ;-)  These challenges are specifically meant for Stampin' Up demonstrators, so you will have to be a demo registered with SCS to see the challenges and threads (see HERE), but even if you aren't a demo, you can be inspired and play along with me!  

One of the challenges I picked was Going Soft.  I'm loving the addition of fabric to the Stampin' Up, line, so I wanted to create a project using the fun new Designer Fabric.  Here I used the Deck the Halls Designer Fabric, from the Holiday Mini Catalog but of course despite the name it's not only for Christmas.  :-)  I actually had Valentine's day in mind when I made this card. 

The finished card size is 4 1/4" by 4 1/4". Going from the bottom up, the Very Vanilla layer was distressed around the edges using the Cutter Kit and the Distressing Essentials Kit--the Tea Stain ink.

The Cherry Cobbler (non-card base) layer was crumpled and then flattened to give more texture. I frayed the edges of the fabric a bit and used Snail adhesive to put a layer of Very Vanilla card stock under it. 

For the hearts, I punched them and then layed them on top of a Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet, peeled off, and then poured Dazzling Diamonds over the top. The adhesive keeps the glitter in place so that you have lots of sparkle!

I hope you like this card--it's a little more vintage than I usually make, but it was fun to try to step out of my comfort zone a bit!  Check back later to see what I created for the other two challenges! 

Stamps:  Tiny Tags

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler

Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla

Accessories:  Deck the Halls Designer Fabric, Distressing Essentials Kit, Victoria Crochet Trim ribbon, Antique Brad, Full Heart punch, Heart to Heart punch, Jewelry Tag Medium punch, linen thread, dimensionals

Polka Dot Elegance

Today I have another Sale-A-Bration card to show you! Just a reminder that Sale-A-Bration ends March 31, so if you want to take advantage of earning free product with a $50 order, now is the time! You can see the brochure HERE.

Anyway, I don't often copy ideas exactly from other people, but this card was just so pretty that didn't want to change a thing! I first saw this card on the idea boards at the Stampin Up Leadership conference, and later found the creator. Dawn over at DOstamping with Dawn made this card for the leadership boards. You can see her card HERE.

You'll notice that I didn't change very much. The only minor modifications were that I used the new Taste of Textiles paper (the white pin stripe paper on the left) and the new Organza Ribbon on top of the Brushed Silver strip of paper.

Another quick note: I actually used Basic Black craft ink, and then embossed with the Silver Embossing Powder. As long as you work fairly quickly, the silver embossing powder does cover the Basic Black craft ink. I used the black ink because when I was stamping the hearts for the panel along the right side, I started using Versamark ink, and was having a hard time seeing where to stamp! I didn't have that problem with the black ink. :-)


I also made up a coordinating acetate box. This could be used as a wedding favor, bridal shower favor, or as part of a wedding gift. The box shows off how pretty the Organza Ribbon is! For directions on how to make the acetate box, THIS POST (Halloween acetate box) has a link and the modifications I made.

Stamps: Polka Dot Punches, Fundamental Phrases
Ink: Basic Black Craft Ink
Paper: Brushed Silver, Taste of Textiles, Whisper White, acetate
Accessories: Full Heart Punch, Pretties Kit (hat pin and beads), Whisper White taffeta ribbon, Organza Ribbon, embossing buddy, silver Stampin' Emboss powder, heat tool, sticky strip, dimensionals

Love You Much

There are only a few days left to purchase the Love You Much bundle at 20% off! All of the items are still available in the new catalog, but not at a discount after Jan 31! See below for the details of the promotion. This is a card using the Love You Much bundle that I originally made to use as a swap card for Leadership.

I embossed the hearts and the sentiment with white embossing powder and then punched out the hearts with the Heart to Heart punch. The hearts and the sentiment are all up on dimensionals. I also added little bit of Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds on some of the hearts to give it a little sparkle.

This is also one of four projects we are making at my class on Saturday. If you purchase the bundle from me, you can attend for FREE! Contact me for details.

Stamps: Love You Much

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Close to Cocoa, Candy Lane Designer Paper

Accessories: Heart to Heart punch, Word Window punch, white embossing powder, heat tool, embossing buddy, Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds, Linen Thread, 1/16" circle punch, corner rounder, dimensionals