My Latest Demos

For my workshop this weekend, I decided to demo some new cards that I spent WAAAAYYYY too much time creating. But my tinies went to stay with my parents for the weekend, and my hubby went camping, so I had plenty of time to just play.

The Monkey Business card was lots of fun. I got the sign idea off of SCS—"Knit Happens" by mav1126—but I thought tying the linen thread around the post and distressing the edges to give it more umph. When I stamp the bananas, I think I am going to rock 'n roll the edges in green or brown to give it more contrast. And I am going to stamp one or two more vines across the top of the white cardstock.

My Easter card uses a color combo I just came up with (although, I guess it probably exists out there already anyway): old olive, certainly celery, regal rose, and bashful blue. I know it's not the traditional Easter-pastel look, but it works, and it looks much better in person. The camera washed out the image a little, but it's a great card to showcase the aquapainters, grosgrain ribbon, brads, and the round tab punch.

Spring Mini Catalog Must-Haves

Okay, for those of you who have the Spring Mini already, you know how irresistible some of the new products are. My first pick is the round tab punch. It makes fabulous faux-folder cards.

The top card is a card we made at Margo's Stampadelicious Achiever's Club in February. It uses the Round Tab Punch, Office Accoutrement set, and the Notations designer paper. The one beneath the Office Accoutrement card uses Polka Dots & Paisley (I got the flower idea from SCS—cards by: bdrew, indyemmert, cynthia_wilson, and nancyruth). The paisley petals are actually a pain to set in a circle. I trimmed the paisley's points off to prevent the center of the flower from becoming too thick (and to avoid cutting around the curled tail). Then I cut out a circle of white cardstock, and adhered each petal to the circle, trying to space the petals evenly, and then adhered the whole flower to the card.

The Hello doodle card also came from Margo's Achiever's Club. It showcases the Doodle Alphabet and Doodle This set. I loved how we colored the dots around the tendrils with a white gel pen to make the images really pop. I should have left a slightly larger white margin around the flower when cutting it out. The other is just another variation I made using lighter colors and the Delight in Life SAB set.

This beautiful card was a M&T from the Margo's Stampadelicious group meeting in February. She adapted it from a long note on the SU! Demo site. The awesome thing is that it uses ALL of the products offered in the Spring Fever Bundle promotion. It was my first time using the white craft ink cartridge for a stampin' around wheel...and I'm a fan! Such a fun set of products. Just a note: the Spring Mini does not do the Petals & Paisley designer paper justice. They are soooo beautiful in real life. You just have to see it for yourself. And what a fun combo of colors!

These last to sets of cards used Polka Dots & Paisleys. The first set is what I like to call "Tabbed Faux-Folders" (again the idea came from Margo's card above). They're like little file folders that you can stick pictures in, gift certificates, a pressed flower, or just a plain old note. They make a great card to send to co-workers, especially given that they are not extremely feminine. I would highly recommend the Office Accoutrement set and Round Tab Punch to any business women.

And the last set of cards uses faux stitching. The flowers on the left were stamped, and the flowers on the right were water colored. I prefer the stamped flowers when using this set. This is a great card to show off a lot of accessories, like the Word Window Punch, Eyelets, Crafter's Toolkit, White Gel Pen, etc.). I love these cards not only because of the Springy colors, but because they show off every stamp in the Polka Dots & Paisley set.

And now I'm sure you just found one more thing to add to your wishlist. Happy Stamping!

Gift Card Holders Class!

With graduation, Mother's and Father's Day, and Easter just around the corner, every smart woman needs to have several hand-stamped, eye-popping gift card holders on hand.

I've been experimenting with all sorts and shapes of Gift Card Holders these days. And from that and perusing SplitCoastStampers, I've come up with some awesome designs. In fact, I'm holding a class at my home on Thursday, March 29th from 7-9 pm. You get to make FIVE fabulous gift card holders for just $10. And that's not even the best part of the deal! If you place a $50 order at the class, I will REBATE your entire class fee and apply it to your order total! That's a free class or a 20% savings!

Anyways, the registration deadline is Thursday, March 20th. Let me know if you're interested. It's going to be a real stampin' party!

These are a two of the five templates I will be showcasing.

A Stamping We Will Go!

It's about time I got my stamping blog set up! I hope this will be a place where my fellow stampers will enjoy visiting...a little community of learning, if you will. (Go on, bookmark it.) I will be working on a gallery and several tutorials over the next few months. I will post both CASEd and unique projects (and I'll give credit where credit is due). I love the process of inkventing...so check back often and please leave your comments. I'd love to hear from you.

Now, on to my introduction. I was born in Idaho, raised in Cleveland, schooled in Utah, and now I’m back in Idaho. I once lived in the Netherlands and Belgium, and my favorite vacation spot is in Mexico. I have a BS in Sociology and an Master of Organizational Behavior (similar to MBA-OB). I've been married for nearly 7 years, and I’m a mother of two girls, 3 and 1. For the past 7-8 years, I’ve also been a graphic designer and editor. I became a SU! demonstrator in June 2006 because I love helping people discover a new hobby that meets their needs, and I love getting out of the house to meet new people and have girl time.

I’ve always enjoyed making my own cards. However, I used to snub my nose at rubberstamping *gasp* because I thought of myself as my own artist. I took every art class my high school offered before I was a senior... and my high school had a great art program. I didn’t think I needed stamps because I could draw.

But then a friend invited me to a Stampin’ Up!© workshop at her home. I dragged my feet about going, but I went because she was my friend and I needed to get out of the house. I was hooked. Stamping was what I needed for three reasons.
• It allowed me to still be my own artist
• it helped me streamline my card-making process (because I didn't have to draw everything freehand)
• and it gave me more options to embellish my cards.

But the great thing is that Stampin’ Up! is also for those who don’t consider themselves creative or artistic—the ideas are already in the book! I know you understand when I say that stamping really is therapy to my soul.