Unfrogettable Stamping!

March 2011 punch club projects

On Monday night my Punch Club met for our March meeting and they made several punch art projects including this cute chocolate Easter bunny card above.  I saw this idea on Angela Purdie's blog and had to CASE it! The ribbon, button and DSP on the egg are from the Ice Cream Parlor line designed exclusively for our Sale-a-Bration promotion.  You can earn these products for FREE with a $50 qualifying order... but hurry - the promotion ends TODAY!!!  Contact me to place your order!!

The second project was this cute doggie card - this idea comes from Ellen Kemper.  She had posted a card on Stampin' Connection, an aweseome site full of thousands of ideas for Stampin' Up! demonstrators only - what a great reason to join my team!  Join today while Sale-a-Bration is still going on and you can get the starter kit for 15% off AND a bonus bundle valued at $50!!

The last project of the night was this fun bookmark idea that I had seen on Traci Gentry's blog.  I always like including a 3D project and was able to include the tulip idea that I have seen on many projects featuring the wing from the 2-step bird punch.

Would you like to join a club with me?  I have a waiting list started for my Card club right now - you'll commit to placing a minimum $25 order for six months and in return you'll get to come to a free card class each month for those six months, getting hands-on time with a variety of stamps and accessories including the Big Shot, learn some great techniques, form some wonderful friendships with fellow stamping enthusiasts and get hostess benefits one of those months.  What have you got to lose?

Be sure and come back for a visit tomorrow for Fabulous Friday!!

$50-50 board winners... wooo hoooo

I was so excited to complete my latest $50-50 board while we were still having our Sale-a-Bration promotion going on because that means I could draw TWO winners!!  Good thing, too, because it ends TODAY!  The way my customer incentive program works, every time someone purchases $50 in product with me, they get assigned to a number on my board.  I start at #50 and work my way down to #1... once completed I used Random.Org to choose a number and the person assigned to that number wins $50 in free Stampin' Up! merchandise from me.  Who doesn't love FREE?!

So without further ado, the winners are......

For the $50 in free product:  Tricia K, #43

And the winner of the Sale-a-Bration item is:  Sandy A, #21

Congratulations, Ladies!!  Please let me know ASAP what you want so I can get those goodies ordered for you today!!!!

Margo's workshop projects

It has been another busy week as we head into the end of Sale-a-Bration (tomorrow is the LAST day you can earn any of these exclusive offerings with your qualifying $50 order!) and I apologize for not posting in a few days.  I wanted to share the cards from Margo's workshop last weekend.  She invited her friends and family over for a fun afternoon of cardmaking and everyone had a great time making two cards.  Margo loves the vintage style so I pulled out an old favorite - Elements of Style - for one of the make-n-takes.  This card features the color scheme of not quite navy and naturals ivory - so beautiful in real life!  Because our inks are water-soluble dye ink, when you stamp an image with it you can then spread the color to mimic watercoloring just by using a blender pen.  This card came together so quickly - the not quite navy mat was run through the Big Shot with the Framed Tulips impression folder found in the Occasions mini catalog and then the sentiment from Sincere Salutations was stamped on a strip of naturals ivory card stock and then punched out with the XL decorative label punch also found in the Occasions mini.  I love using the Sincere Salutations stamp set because all of the sentiments are the same size so everyone can customize their cards to whatever they need - this color scheme and image lends itself very nicely for a birthday, thank you and thinking of you card. 

The little bow made from the very vanilla seam binding ribbon is a fork bow - everyone loved learning how to make these and are now on the hunt for a large 4-tined serving fork!!  The finishing touch on the card is the dazzling diamonds added to some of the flowers with a 2-way glue pen... imagine my horror and embarrassment when I realized that I left this key element AT HOME, a 30 minute drive away!  Luckily, everyone was very understanding of my oversight and Margo's daughter saved the day when she found some glitter in her bedroom for everyone to use.   Yes, even though I have been a demonstrator for six years there are still times when I pack for a workshop and leave an item at home.  I felt so bad but everyone was very understanding, thankfully!

Here is the second card - Margo had requested an Easter card that was more spiritual than cutesy in nature.  I love the Crosses of Hope stamp set and chose a color scheme of basic gray, blushing bride and whisper white.  The strip of DSP is from the In Color stack and is embellished with the scallop trim border punch.  The cross was stamped with basic gray ink and then the flowers were colored in with a blushing bride stampin' write marker.  The "Easter Wishes" sentiment is from the All Holidays stamp set and a sentiment for the inside of the card is from God's Blessings.

If you'd like to invite your friends and family over for a fun stamping session and earn some free hostess benefits at the same time, give me a call and we can book your workshop date!

If you'd like to order any of the items used on today's projects, be sure and check out my online store here by clicking on "shop now" or contact me and I'll be happy to place that order for you!

Thanks for stopping by - I'll be sharing my March Punch Club projects with you tomorrow!!

Champagne Shimmer Paint is Fabulous!

This week on the Sisters in Stamping blog we are focusing on techniques that use Shimmer Paint for our Fabulous Friday projects.  I decided to use the Polished Stone technique, but with a twist... I also used emboss resist on my card.

I started my card by using the large flourish image from Baroque Motifs with Versamark ink and stamped it all over a 3-3/4" x 5" piece of glossy card stock.  I sprinkled clear stampin' emboss powder over it and then heat embossed it.  This would be really pretty for a wedding card, wouldn't it?!

Here are 2 very good tips to remember when using the shimmer paint - 1) shake the bottle well before using, and 2) dip a sponge dauber or stampin' sponge into the lid of the bottle to pick up the paint... a little goes a long way! 

To do the Polished Stone technique you will need to dip a cotton ball in rubbing alcohol and put 2 drops of rich razzleberry reinker and 2 drops of Champagne Shimmer paint on it (if you want more color variation you can pull in 1 or 2 additional colors of reinkers).  I then dabbed the glossy card stock panel all over, giving it this mottled effect... so pretty!  The rubbing alcohol made the shimmer paint spread out a little and it's very shimmery in real life.  Once it dried, I buffed it with a clean cotton ball.

The Champagne shimmer paint is translucent so it is very hard to photograph, but you can see where I sponged it on the rich razzleberry card stock mat for my main image panel - it is really shimmery.  I also added some shimmer paint on my stamp after inking it with the rich razzleberry ink but sadly you cannot see it at all in my photo.   I finished the image off by adding a large rhinestone jewel in the center and added it to my card with stampin' dimensionals.

So what do you think?  Pretty easy, right?!  Why not pull out your shimmer paint and give it a try this weekend?!  Want some other ideas for using shimmer paint?  Be sure and visit the Sisters in Stamping blog after Noon EST today to check out what my fabulous Sisters came up with for us this week.  Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!!

Happy Birthday, Sherri!!

My downline and great friend Sherri Gough had a birthday this week and I met her for lunch today to celebrate it with her.  This is her birthday card that I made - I just LOVE the Ornate Blossom stamp and I totally CASE'd the coloring of the stamp from the sample found on page 98 of the Idea Book & Catalog (daffodil delight, pear pizzazz and marina mist).  Yes, our catalog is a great place to find your favorite projects but it is also FULL of inspirational projects!

The Framed Tulips impressions folder for the Big Shot (Occasions mini) adds such a nice touch to cards and this card just screamed for some bling, so I used both the rhinestone jewels and dazzling diamonds.  I finished it off with pear pizazz ribbon and put it on a marina mist card base.  I hope she likes the card!

Products used with today's project include:

- Big Shot #113439, $99.95

- Framed Tulips impressions folder #121809, $7.95 (Occasions Mini)

- Ornate Blossom stamp #117094, $9.95 (or earn it for FREE with a qualifying $50 SAB order!!!)

- Sincere Salutations #115068, $23.95

- Ticket corner punch #119867, $6.95

- Pear pizzazz 1/2" stitched-poly ribbon #119265, $8.95

- Basic Rhinestone jewels #119246, $4.95

- Dazzling diamonds stampin' glitter #102023, $4.50

- 2-way glue pen #100425, $3.50

- Stampin' dimensionals #104430, $3.95

- Stampin' Write markers: marina mist, daffodil delight, pear pizzazz

- Chocolate chip lassic ink pad

- Marina mist, whisper white, daffodil delight card stock

Sneak peek - Strength and Hope

 

Stampin' Up! is going to offer a wonderful stamp set called Strength and Hope in the Summer Mini catalog beginning in May and $2 from the sale of each stamp set will be donated to support the Breast Cancer Research Fund during the months of May through August.  As a demonstrator I had the opportunity to preorder this stamp set already - have I mentioned how much I love the perks of being a demonstrator?!  We have a swim team Mom who is undergoing a mastectomy on Friday and I wanted to create a card for her using this stamp set to let her know we were thinking of her and praying for her.

I love creating my own DSP by collaging various stamps from a set with a pretty color palette.  This one is all pinks - pretty in pink, regal rose and rose red.  I started with the largest image (the butterfly) and stamped repeatedly all over the whisper white card stock panel and then added in the other images, filling up the piece.  You could easily create several cards at once if you stamped an entire sheet of 8-1/2 x 11 card stock and then cut it up for your various cards.

Here's the inside of my card - I used the Ribbon of Hope stamp (a la carte stamp from the Idea Book & Catalog) and used pretty in pink ink to stamp it with an overlay of the words with rose red ink.

Here's another version of this card, but turned to a landscape orientation.  I look forward to working more with this stamp set over the next few months!  We've got a stamp camp planned for June 17th featuring this and the Ribbon of Hope stamp sets... contact me for more details or to reserve your spot.

Rachel's private stamp-a-stack

I met with Rachel and her friends at their church last month for a private stamp-a-stack class and these are the cards that they made (2 of each).  Above is a card that I CASE'd from Jennifer Cotton - I received her swap at Leadership and thought it was beautiful.  It features the Bliss stamp set (SAB - earn it for FREE with a qualifying $50 order through March 31st) with not quite navy, early espresso and crumb cake.

This card is a CASE of one that my downline Jamaica Conner designed for our team shoe box swap meeting last summer.  I love the Always stamp set and it is so beautiful with the color combination of naturals ivory, baja breeze and soft suede.  The Framed Tulips impressions folder for the Big Shot is one that I can't live without now... get yours while it's still available in the Occasions mini catalog!

The final card was this Valentine's card that I CASE'd from my downline Sherri Gough.  It features the Valentine Defined stamp set from the Occasions mini catalog and the heart is punched out of red glimmer paper, also found in the mini!!

If you would like to host a private stamp-a-stack class for your and your friends give me a call! 

March 2011 Demonstrator of the Month, part 2

Today I'll be showing you some cards created by my downline and featured Demonstrator of the Month Sarah Eller - if you missed yesterday's post where I shared her bio and some great 3-d projects please be sure and check it out!

Here's what Sarah said about these super-cute cards:

These are pics of my Valentine cards, which I'm including just to show how fast and easy these are with DSP and our cute ribbons and stamps.  I love the Friends Furr-ever stamp set because of my Scottish Terrier, Sugar Rae.  I made Valentines for all "her" friends this year, like the little 2-year-old boy next door who loves her in spite of the fact she always barks at him!  I also took a picture to show how I run the envelopes through the tulip embossing folder as well as the cards.

Aren't they great?  And I never even thought to run my envelopes through the Big Shot but what a fantastic idea!

These are two cards that Sarah created for friends who both recently lost their beloved pet cats.  She used the Elegant Soiree DSP and the C is for Cat stamp set.  They are so beautiful and were greatly appreciated I am sure.  I wonder how she got her kitty to pose like the stamp image?!

Thank you to Sarah for her wonderful creations!  I'm thrilled she's a member of my team and look forward to being inspired by her future projects.

If you have enjoyed her projects, please leave her a comment here - Sarah doesn't have a blog of her own and I want her to feel the love!  Thank you!!

March 2011 Demonstrator of the Month, part 1

I'd like to introduce you to my featured Demonstrator of the Month for March from my Little Debbies Stampin' Up! team - her name is Sarah Eller and she has provided me with some great projects to inspire you!  Sarah does not currently have a blog, so please leave her some positive comments here.  Thanks!

Here's what Sarah shared about herself:

I am the Pacific Northwest representative of the Little Debbies, here in Seattle with my two cats and my Scottish terrier Sugar Rae.  I'm coming up to my 27th wedding anniversary on March 21 but have no idea how that could have happened since I'm clearly somewhere in my early 40's -- ha!   I have known Debbie Williams since our court reporting school days in Los Angeles, and she and I had many fun adventures during the years I lived in Northern Virginia.  It was through Debbie that I met Cindy Blekas and then found the wonderful world of papercrafting with Stampin' Up! 

I am the absolute least "crafty" person you will ever meet, so it has been a steep learning curve for me, but thanks to the SU! coordinating colors even I can make a pretty card now.  Debbie Naylor has been the best upline imaginable, helping and encouraging me at every step, and I am constantly inspired by the beautiful things my SU! friends create.  My current craze is making coordinating cards for flower gifts, using inexpensive thrift store vases and then making cards with the "best quality" SU! products.

It really is fun to find the cheapie vases in a target color and then do up an inexpensive but very custom gift.  It is daffodil season here right now, and of course I just had to use Daffodil Delight, and then I found the little Chantal jar for 99 cents and it was a dead ringer for Poppy Parade.  My friend's daughter knows how I love Scotties, and she bought me this tiny Scottie stapler in New York City.  She also lives in an itty-bitty starter condo, and I thought the tiny bouquet would be fun. 

Now if I can just find a vase in Concord Crush . . .

Here is a photo of the gift box in daffodil delight (Big Shot Box #2) and the vase of flowers with the matching gift tag.  What an excellent gift for that special friend in your life!  And how cute is the photo of her kitty in the window checking out the gift box project?

Sarah shared another flower vase for which she made a matching card to give to another friend for her birthday.  I love it!  Makes me want to run right out to the thrift stores in my area and pick up a bunch of fun colorful vases!

Great job, Sarah!  I'll be sharing some cute cards she created that are great for the pet lovers in your life tomorrow so be sure and stop back by for a visit!

Fabulous Emerging Color

It's Fabulous Friday over on the Sisters in Stamping blog and we are focusing on techniques this month.  This week's technique had to feature a brayer so I chose "emerging color" for my project.  I just love the Medallion stamp for this technique because it is such a great solid image!! 

I made this card really easy on myself by starting with a piece of DSP from the Lap of Luxury pack and then overstamped it with En Francais using concord crush ink (see above for a close-up).  After that dried completely, I inked up my Medallion stamp with Versamark and then heat embossed the image with clear stampin' emboss powder.  Once it cooled, I used my brayer to add concord crush over the entire piece.  Easy-peasey!  Here's a tip for you - make sure you always ink the brayer and roll it in the same direction.  You can go over the card stock repeatedly to get the desired depth of color. 

The focal image on this card is such a large one that I just added a piece of organza ribbon and tied it in a knot as my embellishment and placed one of the large rhinestone jewels in the center of the Medallion.  I matted it with a piece of whisper white card stock and attached it to a pretty in pink base card, pulling those colors from the DSP itself.  This card could cover a variety of needs - wedding, bridal shower, anniversary, birthday, congratulations or even just a hello to a friend.  Why don't you dust off your brayer and give this technique a try this weekend!

Thanks for stopping by - don't forget to visit the Sisters in Stamping blog later today to check out the other brayer techniques featured.  Have a wonderful weekend!