Stampin' Celebration #47

It's Thursday and time for another Stampin' Celebration challenge!  This week I had fun making a baby card for my take on the inspiration piece.  I've had a lot of friends having babies lately, and so my stash of baby cards is dangerously low! 

For more inspiration, I also used Sketch Challenge #327 over at Splitcoaststampers and the SU-Only Challenge #16.  I think that's the most challenges I've ever incorporated into a single card! 

Although I feel like my colors wandered a little bit from the inspiration piece, (and maybe ended up a little dark for a baby card?) I loved the elephants and stripes and went from there.  The stamp I used is another one of the single stamps that I earned for free during Sale-A-Bration--Baby Steps.  I even love the name of the stamp.  :-) 

I stamped the image with Basic Gray and then ran my ink pad along the edges of the Whisper White. I gave that a second to dry and then used my Cutter Kit to distress the edges.  To create the stripes, I used another single stamp--Solid Stripes.  I used my markers to color the stripes and then stamp.  I stamped twice--once at the top and once at the bottom.  The 'seam' is hiding behind the elephants. 

To finish the card I tied around some Baja Breeze Seam Binding and tied in the tag I made using the stamp set Tiny Tags and the Medium Jewelry Tag Punch.  I really like the seam binding found in the Occasions Mini Catalog because it is so easy to tie--I need to use it more often!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Head over to Stampin' Celebration to see what the other Design Team members have created this week.  You'll also want to see who the Party Guest Designer is for this week.  I hope you are inspired to play along with us! 

Stamps:  Baby Steps, Solid Stripes, Tiny Tags

Ink:  Basic Gray ink, Pear Pizzazz, Baja Breeze and Basic Gray markers

Paper:  Baja Breeze, Basic Gray, and Whisper White

Accessories:  Baja Breeze Seam Binding, Linen Thread, Medium Jewelry Tag Punch, dimenesionals

Stampin' Celebration #21

It's Thursday, so we have another great inspiration piece from Stampin' Celebration!  I love several of the pictures here, but I was intrigued by the bottom right photo and the ribbon/flower combination.  So you'll see I incorporated that concept into my project: 

I thought this could be a fun party favor for a baby shower, bridal shower, or wedding.  I used a Thick Window Sheet to create the box with my Big Shot and the Pillow Box Die.  I added the ribbon to the box using thin strips of Sticky Strip, and I overlapped the ribbon on the front of the box--where I knew the flower would cover everything.  

The only downside is that I realized (after adding all the ribbon) that this treat holder isn't very practical.  You'd either have to take off all the embellishing or cut the ribbon to actually eat the candy.  Opps!  

Next I wanted to add a ribbon flower.  At convention Carrie Cudney showed us how to make these pretty ribbon flowers.  She is an amazing presenter, and I loved her idea.  She actually cut all the scallops by hand when she made her flower, but now we have the new Tasteful Trim die which does all the work for us.  :-)  

So, I took a 13" piece of Pretty in Pink satin ribbon and ran it through the Big Shot with my Tasteful Trim die.  The next step is to take your Heat Tool and heat the ribbon.  It melts the ribbon just a bit, and 'crinkles' it.  Just be patient as you are doing this step as it takes about a minute of heating before you see any results.  The picture below shows the difference between before and after heating the ribbon.  

Next take a piece of Sticky Page (page 205 of the catalog) and run it through the Big Shot with the Circles #2 die.  For this flower I used the very smallest circle on that die.  I peeled off the backing, and then started adding the ribbon, with little tucks, to the Sticky Page circle.  

I kept doing that until I had reached the center of my circle.  

And now I have a fun embellishment to add to any project!  This was actually very quick--it took me much longer to write up the directions than it did to make the flower.  :-)  Now usually I'm not a fan of adding anything too bulky to my cards, but I wouldn't have a problem adding this to a card.  This little flower is more flat that it initially appears, and it is also lightweight.  

So there you have it!  I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial!  Make sure to head over to Stampin' Celebration to see what the other member of the Design Team have been up to this week.  And then make sure to play along yourself.  We'd love to see what you are inspired to create!  Just upload your project and link it to the Stampin' Celebration website.  

Fort Worth Regional Conference

So one post would be way too long to show and tell everything about the Fort Worth Regional that happened this past Saturday, so I'll be breaking it up into a few posts. But first, I wanted to thank everyone for their kind comments and good luck wishes--it really means a lot to me! 

Overall though, how fun!!  I had a wonderful day, and very much enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of the activities, meet demonstrator friends and several Stampin Up employees from the home office (including Shelli of course!), and last but not least present on stage.  I ended up being the second to last Workshop Wow presenter, so that means I had to be nervous most of the day, :-)  but once I was on stage I really did have fun.  Now, that I've done this once, I'd definitely be excited to present again should the opportunity ever present itself. 

So what "WOW" did I share?  I showed how to add a decorative edge to your ribbon.   It's really a very simple technique, but with tons of potential.  All you need to do is run your ribbon through the Big Shot--seriously that's it! 

I found it best to use the Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets (from the Holiday Mini Catalog) to back the ribbon, and then run it through the Big Shot.  Then you peel away the backing and you have a ribbon sticker ready to adhere directly to your project.  How cool is that? 

So here is the first sample I demonstrated.  I showed how I ran the Whisper White Grosgrain ribbon through the Big Shot with the Tasteful Trim die (also new in the Holiday Mini Catalog).  After I ran the ribbon through I added Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink directly to the ribbon (allow time to dry) as well as the pearls.  A simple card with a lot of wow. 

Here's a closer view of the ornament:

A few hints:  I did pre-treat all the ribbon I used on stage with Fray Check.  I also added one shim to my Big Shot sandwich when I ran the ribbon through (to get a cleaner cut on the ribbon). 

During my presentation I also showed that you can use this technique for your fabric projects as well.  Instead of using the Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets, you'll just want to use the Fabric Adhesive Roll.

So after I ironed the Fabric Adhesive to my ribbon, I ran my Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon through the Big Shot with the Tasteful Trim die to get some fun custom Grosgrain Ric Rack.  And here's what I created with it--a baby onsie and coordinating headband.   

And a close up of the flower and ribbon:

This baby onsie also features the Candy Cane Christmas Designer Fabric and the coordinating Big Designer Buttons from the Holiday Mini Catalog.  I love this project because I didn't need a sewing machine, only a needle and thread to add the button. 

Well, I'll be back later with the other two projects I showed on stage as well as with some pictures of the event!  

Stampin' Celebration #18

The lazy days of summer. . . . at least that's what I thought of when I first saw this inspiration photo.  And then somehow I ended up with a baby card.  :-)  Not sure exactly how that happened, but it was definitely one on those times that the finished product looked exactly nothing like what I had imagined in my head!  

So here it is. . . . I loved the top left photo that had the blue with a little pop of yellow, so that's what I went with.  You may recognize the layout from one of my Holiday Mini Blog Hop projects.  I pretty much made the same card with different colors and a star instead of a heart. It is a good reminder though that you can always take a layout or color scheme from a card, and then just change a few elements to really make the card your own or fit it to a particular occasion. 

And here's a close up of the detail on the card.  The star is punched from So Saffron paper, covered with Versamark ink, and then heat embossed with Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder.  I stamped the sentiment and then hand cut the little banner.  I added a little curl to the banner to give a little more dimension.  The large scallops in the Baja Breeze card stock are from the Tasteful Trim Bigz XL die that can be found in the new Holiday Mini Catalog.    

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Make sure to go check out the Stampin' Celebration blog to see what the others on the Design Team have created this week.  AND a warm welcome to Erica of Pink Buckaroo Designs who has joined our Design Team!!  Erica has consistently wowed us with her creations for the weekly Stampin' Celebration challenges, and we're so excited that she agreed to join the team.  :)  

Stamps:  Nursery Necessities (discontinued)

Ink:  Not Quite Navy, Versamark

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, So Saffron, and Whisper White

Accessories:  Star Extra Large Punch, Neutrals Designer Buttons, Hemp Twine, Heat Tool, Iridescent Ice EP, Big Shot, Tasteful Trim XL Die, 1/8" Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, dimensionals, glue dots

Lots of Blue

A few more cards from the 10-10-10 class. . . . This first one uses the soon to be discontinued set Nursery Necessities--a fabulous baby set if you are looking for one. I used the coordinating wheel Nursery Letters along the bottom. The tag uses the set Tiny Tags and the Jewelry Tag Medium punch. This card uses Brocade Blue, which is one of the retiring colors. I like this card becuase you can use the exact same design, changing only the color, and have a card for a baby girl. :-)

Stamps: Nursery Necessities, Nursery Letters Jumbo Wheel
Ink: Brocade Blue (and cartridge)
Paper: Brocade Blue, Whisper White
Accessories: Brocade Blue Grosgrain Ribbon, Large Star Punch, Medium Jewelry Tag Punch, Linen Thread, dimensionals

Note: Items marked in red are retiring.

I got the idea for the layout (see HERE) for this next card from Dawn Olchefske, a very talented stamper. The stamp set I chose was Best Wishes & More--a versatile set that has images for several different occassions. This card also shows the NEW 2 3/8" scallop circle punch that will be in the new catalog! Just a couple days until the new catalog is released. :-)

Stamps: Best Wishes & More
Ink: Brilliant Blue, Versamark
Paper: Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue, Whisper White
Accessories: 1 3/8" and 1 3/4" Circle Punches, 2 3/8" Scallop Punch (from new catalog), 1" Double-Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, 1/4" Whisper White grosgrain ribbon

Note: Items marked in red are retiring.

Last Chance Baby

It's such an exciting time of year! The new catalog is about to be released, and the Last Chance list is here! If you haven't seen the hundreds of items on the Last Chance list, check out THIS POST for links to all of the lists.

One of the items that will no longer be available after June 30th is this stamp set Nursery Necessities. This is one of those stamp sets I've had for years and is looking a little worn from all the love it's received. :-) This card is the baby girl version of THIS card--the very first card I posted on this blog! Looking back at old cards is always kind of fun--one thing I notice is that my photography has improved a little. ;-)

Anyway, this card uses a technique called 'rock and roll'. I inked the star stamp with Regal Rose and then gently 'rolled' it in Melon Mambo ink so that the very edges of the stars picked up that ink. After I stamped, I punched the starts using my Large Star punch. The rest of the card is pretty easy--just layers of paper and lots of dimensionals (under the stars and under the white layers).

Note: Even though we will still have Melon Mambo in the new catalog, the adorable Polka-Dot Grosgrain ribbon will not be continued--in any color.

Thanks for stopping by--have a great weekend!

Stamps: Nursery Necessities
Ink: Regal Rose, Melon Mambo
Paper: Regal Rose, Melon Mambo, Whisper White
Accessories: Large Star Punch, Melon Mambo polka-dot grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals

Lots of Baby

Yes, it really is me again! Thanks for sticking with me even though it's been awhile. It's been a very crazy few months here at our house. The 'highlights' include computer problems, H1N1 for the whole family, 2 rooms in our house flooding, and two visits to the ER--one for my husband's ankle and most recently for me. . . . My visit came after I was mopping my kitchen floor and woke up to find myself flat on my back with my almost 2 year old daughter running over to try to put my glasses on. After a scan it was confirmed that I 'only' had a concussion. So if you've ever wondered if housework is dangerous. . . . Now you know! ;-) Despite everything that has happened, I am happy to say that everyone (and our house) is now feeling much better!

On to the crafting. . . . Last week I was able to fill a special order for a lady who wanted to make a baby shower she was throwing for her friend really special. Here are pictures of most of the items that I made for her. You can see the master list below of all the supplies I used.

My inspiration came from the Delicate Dots Designer Series Paper (now discontinued). The gender of the baby is unknown, and I like this paper because I thought it was gender-neutral and had a delicate feel that was perfect for a baby.

This project series is also a good example of why I love Stampin Up. . . It is so easy to make coordinated projects! I started by choosing the Designer Series paper, which gave me my color pallet. Next I added the matching inks and accessories. Then it was easy to create coordinated projects that give a cohesive feeling to the party decorations.

The picture at the very top shows the nugget boxes that were the favors for each guest to take home. I used the Stampin' Up! Matchbox Big Shot die and the stamp set Matchbox Messages to make these.

This is a tin that I decorated to be part of the main table. The star is a piece of chipboard covered with Certainly Celery card stock. You can purchase these TINS from the Clearance Rack over at Stampin Up for only 99 cents each!

Inside the tin, there is an accordion 'book' that has different pockets. The accordion sits on the main table with the tags. Each of the guests can write some baby advice, a note to the mom, or anything they like. They put the tag in one of the pockets, and then after the party the accordion book with all the personalized tags goes back into the tin and makes a nice gift for the mother.

This Top Note die box was a gift for the grandmother. How thoughtful of the hostess to include a gift for her! The box holds 8 Hershey Nuggets individually wrapped with coordinating papers. The 'charm' is just two stars punched from Brushed Silver card stock and then embossed with Silver Stampin' Emboss powder three times. After embossing, I glued the stars back to back and used my paper piercing tool to poke a hole and thread the linen thread through.

Here is the frame that was also part of the main table. I left the right and left sides open for the mother to fill. She could include the shower invitation, a baby announcement, and/or baby pictures. The words are actually custom Decor Elements that are on top of the glass. I used part of a Decor Elements Sheet, spray painted it shiny silver (despite what it looks like in the picture!), and then ran it through the Big Shot using the Billboard decorative strip.

And here is a close-up. The white star is a rub-on. This could also be adapted to make a cute card layout too!

And last, here are the Food Name Cards. The flowers were made using the Trio Flower punch.

Since the length of this post is already so long, I didn't include all the creative details. If you do have questions about any of these projects, please contact me.

Stamps: Matchbox Messages

Ink: Certainly Celery and Pretty in Pink markers

Paper: Delicate Dots DSP, So Saffron Patterns DSP, Brushed Silver, Window Sheets Medium, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Whisper White

Accessories: Whisper White 5/8" satin ribbon, linen thread, Bashful Blue 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Certainly Celery 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Very Vanilla 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Certainly Celery twill ribbon, So Saffron grosgrain ribbon, 1/4" Circle punch, 1" circle punch, Trio Flower punch, Star punch, Tag Corner punch, Corner Rounder punch, Sizzix Big Shot, Matchbox die, Top Note die, Billboard die, Decor Elements Sheets, paper piercing tool, dimensionals

Rock-A-Bye Baby

Hello again! This is a shaker card I've had in my files for awhile. . . . I wanted to wait to post it until I could make a tutorial, but here it is tutorial-less. If that can even qualify as a made up word. :-) Hopefully I'll get a tutorial up soon. Anyway, here it is!

The set I used is called Nursery Necessities. This set is part of the Growing Up promotion that ends in a few days (Aug 31). See HERE for details. If this stamp set (or any other from the Growing Up section of the catalog) is on your wish list, now is the time to purchase it!

Finished card size is 4 3/4" by 4 3/4". Now for a close up of the card:

Stamps: Nursery Necessities

Ink: Whisper White craft ink, So Saffron, Brocade Blue, and Close to Cocoa markers

Paper: Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue, So Saffron, Close to Cocoa, Always Artichoke, Whisper White, Window Sheet

Accessories: Clear Micro Beads, Bashful Blue brads, Circle Scissors Plus, dimensionals

Yummy Scrapbooking

Those of you who know me well know that I "don't scrapbook". Although it is one of my eventual goals to have cute scrapbooks of all my kids pictures, family trips, etc. for now it just isn't happening. . . . For me I think part of the problem is how to start a page? Since I am used to cards and small 3-D projects, a 12x12 piece of paper is a little scary--it's so BIG. :-)

Anyway, a long time ago I was introduced to the idea of progressive scrapbooking. I don't remember where I first saw the idea, but I was intrigued. The idea is that you start with a 6x6 page and then work your way up to a 12x12 page--perfect for some one like me who is scared of big open paper spaces. LOL

Anyway, so here is my attempt at scrapbooking. This 6x6 page is one of the projects my guests made at a workshop that I did recently. Then I showed them how they could take that 6x6 page and incorporate it into an 8 1/2 by 11 layout or a 12x12 layout.

So here is the 8 1/2 by 11 page with the 6x6 page added.

And here is the 12x12 page with the 8 1/2 by 11 added.

This project shows off 3 of the Sale-A-Bration products that you can earn for FREE through the end of March: the Ribbon Bundle, Paper Bundle, and the Yummy stamp set. The Certainly Celery poly-twill ribbon and the So Saffron grosgrain ribbon featured here come in the Ribbon Bundle. The Delicate Dots Designer Series Paper is one of 4 designs in the Paper Bundle (bundle includes 16 sheets of double sided paper--4 sheets each of 4 designs).

And last but not least I used the stamp set Yummy. The stamp I used actually has both words and the swirl design, but since I wanted only the swirls (for the 6x6 page and the tag) I used my VersaMarker pen to ink just the swirl and then stamped.

So another thing that scares me about scrapbooking is the fact that I don't like my hand writing! I know I should want to let my grandchildren see my hand writing and all that, but oh the pain. :-) So as you can see here I cheated and used my Big Shot (Stampin Up Billboard die) to cut out letters. The die is $21.95 includes both the uppercase and lowercase letters which is very convenient.

And one last part to this project. . . Just in case there was anyone at the workshop who was like me and was wondering "what am I going to do with this page?". . . . I know horrible! :-) I showed them how they could take the same supplies that we used for the 6x6 page and turn it into a cute but simple baby card. The sentiment on this card is from the set Congrats--another one of the Sale-A-Bration sets. You may also notice that I used the same layout for this card as I did for the card in the post below (or see HERE). It's amazing how changing the colors of a project can completely change the look!

Stamps: Yummy, Congrats

Ink: VersaMarker, Sahara Sand

Paper: Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Sahara Sand, Delicate Dots Designer Series Paper

Accessories: 5/8" Certainly Celery poly-twill ribbon, 5/8" So Saffron grosgrain ribbon, scallop edge punch, corner rounder punch, horizontal slot punch, Big Shot, Stampin Up Billboard die--alphabet, dimensionals

Here we go. . . .

Well, here we go! I've been kicking around the idea of a stamping blog for quite awhile now. I like the idea of keeping track of my own work (if you saw my craft table you'd understand the need for this. . . ) and being able to look back at my progress as a stamper. I also think blogs are a great way to share ideas and keep in touch with other stamper friends.

So, now that I'm done with my 'philosophy' let's get to the good stuff! For my first blog post I thought I would start with a 'old friend' so to speak. I originally created this card for a Stampers 25 club meeting (in January?) and then used it again for a shoebox swap in April.

This card uses the 'rock and roll' technique. That means you ink your stamp in the light color first (here I inked the star in Bashful Blue) and then gently 'roll' the edges of the stamp in the darker color (Blue Bayou). When you stamp you can see what happens--the edges are a little darker than the rest of the image. This is also a cool technique to use with flower stamps.

Stamps: Nursery Necessities
Ink: Bashful Blue and Blue Bayou
Paper: Bashful Blue, Blue Bayou, and Whisper White
Accessories: Blue Bayou double stitched ribbon, Large Star Punch, dimensionals (under the white squares and the stars)