Unfrogettable Stamping!

Fabulous Reinker Background Technique

  Happy Friday and thanks for visiting!  This week on the Sisters in Stamping blog our Fabulous Friday projectes all feature techniques that use reinkers.  When purchasing an ink pad it is a good idea to go ahead and buy the ink refill for it at the same time... that way you'll have it when you need it without having to wait to order one.  Plus, you can use them to reink your markers and there are so many great stamping techniques to try using reinkers!   And at just $2.95 each, they are a great deal!!

  My Fabulous Friday card this week features the reinker background technique - very easy to do with glossy card stock and requiring items that you probably already have in your medicine cabinet!  

  Saturate a cotton ball with some rubbing alcohol, then put a few drops of ink on it (I used pool party and island indigo).  Dab the glossy card stock repeatedly and you'll start to get a look like the one above.  

  I wanted more color, so kept dabbing until I got the saturation that I wanted.  I sped up the drying time by using my heat tool but you can certainly let it air dry.  Once fully dry, I inked up one of the images from the Flowering Flourishes stamp set with jet black StazOn ink and stamped it all over.  I wanted the background to be the main focus of my card so embellished it simply with some organza ribbon tied in a knot and a simple banner with a sentiment from the Four You stamp set.

  For more inspiration, be sure to hop over to the Sisters in Stamping blog to check out the other Fabulous Friday projects.  This week, my sister Cindy Blekas is a guest designer with us!  Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!  We are going to be busy again cheering on our kids at yet another swim meet... this time for our year-round travel team.  I hope you can find some time to stamp and try out this fun technique!

Fun Fresh Prints designer paper stack

  Do you love designer paper as much as I do?  Have you seen the fun Fresh Prints stack in the Occasions catalog?  It is my FAVORITE right now!  The colors in this pack include real red, whisper white, coastal cabana and crumb cake... so bright and cheery!!

  I am a member of a great group of demonstrators who do swaps every time a new catalog comes out and these are two cards that I just love that feature this designer paper...

  This card by Laurie Zoellmer features the Sale-a-Bration Banner Blast stamp set and coordinating Banner punch along with the "me & you" sentiment from the Perfect Pennants stamp set in the Occasions catalog.  I love it!

  And wow - check out this fun fold card created by Sharon Burkert!  She used the Sale-a-Bration stamp set called See Ya Later.  This card is just as cute open as it is shut with that fun glittery heart and banner on the inside!!

  I hope you give this fun Fresh Prints designer paper pack a try... at just $6.95 it is a bargain!  The sheets are sized at 4-1/2" x 6-1/2", you have 12 double-sided designs and you get 48 sheets in the stack.  If you'd like to place an order and need assistance please contact me or place it via my Stampin' Up! online store.  Thanks and have a great weekend!!  My daughters Amanda and Kelsey are swimming in their High School State championship swim meet so we'll be at the pool cheering them on!

 

 

Baby dresser side-step card

  I was invited to a baby shower for a friend this past weekend and decided to make a side-step baby dresser card - I have seen them on Pinterest and thought they were so cutel!  She's having a baby girl so I created mine using a color scheme of primrose petals, whisper white and soft suede... some of the products used on my card are retired (teddy bear embosslit and brads) but I still love these products and use them on my projects!!  I used this tutorial from Jackie Topa.

  Have you seen the new Weekly Deals announced today?  I'm sure you'll find something that you love... and get it while it's on sale!!  Metallics are all the rage - here is your chance to score some silver & gold glitter and a Silver Encore ink pad for 25% off!!  Turn in an order of $50 and you'll earn a FREE exclusive Sale-a-Bration item of your choosing as well... woo hooo!

  Thanks so much for stopping by!  If you'd like to make a purchase and need me to assist you with your order, please contact me, or you can go directly to my Stampin' Up! online store and place ther order yourself.  Don't forget to check out the Clearance Rack, too, for even more savings!!  

More Valentines

  How was your Valentine's Day?  I hope you were showered with love!!  I wanted to share the cards I made for my three kids (filled with their favorite i-tunes gift cards).  The owl punch is one of my favorites... so easy to put together and customize for each of my kids (why reinvent the wheel when you have a layout that you like?!).  And be sure to scroll down to check out the great card my hubby made for me (he is NOT allowed to buy cards)!!  He used to just search for paper scraps and make do (I have received some crazy color combinations in the past, ha ha) but he is getting better and even cut this card stock himself.  So proud of him!!

Amanda's card

 

Kelsey's card

 

Brandon's card

 

  And look what Joe made for me!  He even found and used my heart punch and a Valentine sentiment... impressive since he had to go searching for it in my stamp cabinet (yes, I had cleaned up after myself and put away my stamps)!!

And here is the card I gave him - the heart lifts up...

And I wrote my message to him inside the white card.

  I hope you had a wonderful holiday!  Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

A Very Special Valentine Pop-Up Card for Fabulous Friday

  Happy Friday!  It has finally stopped snowing here and we are slowly digging out from under the biggest snowfall we've seen in several years!  I took the opportunity yesterday to stay in my comfy pj's and stamp all afternoon... it was awesome!!  Our theme for Fabulous Friday over on the Sisters in Stamping blog this week is to make a very special Valentine's Day card so I decided to created a fun pop-up box card that I've been seeing all over Pinterest  - it sure was a lot of fun!!  In addition, my sister Cindy and her design team have brought back the Simply Paper Design Challenges so I used their color combination for February with my card... think I'll try the sketch before the end of the month, too:

    Because of the light colors, this card was very hard to photograph!  Here's another shot of the card from a different angle...

  And check out this owl... isn't he cute?!

  And here is a view of all the hearts I stamped and cut out using the Hearts-a-Flutter stamp set and coordinating framelits set with my Big Shot...

  These cards sure are a lot of fun and they fold flat to mail... unfortunately, I couldn't get mine to lay flat long enough to get a picture without my fingers in the way so just use your imagination and trust me!

  If you'd like to purchase the products used with today's project (see the list below) please contact me to assist you with your order or place your order online via my Stampin' Up! store.  All online orders placed this month with me will receive a pop up card as a thank you from me in addition to any Sale-a-Bration benefits you may earn with a $50+ order.

  Thanks for stopping by today... be sure to hop on over to the Sisters in Stamping blog for even more Valentine's Day inspiration!!  Have a fabulous weekend!  If you get the chance, be sure to give these cards a try. 

Products used with today's project include:

Stamp sets:  Hearts-a-Flutter, Itty Bitty Banners

Paper:  crumb cake, pink pirouette, pool party, pear pizzazz, soft suede, whisper white, Quatrefancy specialty DSP, silver glimmer paper

Ink:  pink pirouette, pool party, crumb cake, primrose petals

Accessories:  Big Shot, Bitty Banners framelits, Hearts-a-Flutter framelits, Expressions thinlets, Fancy Fan impressions folder, Beautifully Baroque impressions folder, Owl builder punch, Bird builder punch, small heart punch, basic rhinestone jewels, sticky strip, stampin' dimensionals, stampin' trimmer

Snow Day!!

  It was snowing like crazy today and I took a lot of pictures of my daughter Kelsey and my dogs Mika and Beau playing in it... I just had to sit down tonight and put a scrapbook layout together using My Digital Studio (MDS).  I love creating pages using MDS when I have digital photos.  Have you given it a try yet?  You can try it FREE for 30 days... click HERE for more details!

    Thanks for stopping by!  Don't forget to check back tomorrow for my Fabulous Friday project.  Stay warm!!

Ready for another Weekly Deal?

  Okay all you Big Shot lovers out there, here are some fantastic deals for you this week!  Check out the 25% savings on the Floral Frames framelits, Honeycomb embossing folder AND Tasteful Trim Bigz die!!!  These are all fabulous products to get you in the mood for SPRING... I say that because we are about to be DUMPED on by 8-12 inches of snow here in Central Virginia later this afternoon and I am so ready for warm weather!!

  Here's a Summer scapbook layout I did a while back featuring the Tasteful Trim bigz die - it's perfect for creating borders on your pages!

  Don't forget that every $50 merchandise purchase earns you a FREE exclusive Sale-a-Bration item now through March 31st!!  Combine that with 25% off these products and you have a winning deal.  Contact me to assist you with your order or place it online via my Stampin' Up! store anytime.  Thanks and think Spring!!

Love You card with the FMS122 sketch

  Have you ever felt like you're in a stamping rut?  I know I have!  But guess what?!  There are tons of great blogs out there with weekly sketch challenges and color combinations to give you a burst of inspiration.  I created a Pinterest board called Blog Challenges to help me remember all the great ones I have come across.  Today's card features Sketch #122 from the Freshly Made Sketches blog - a site full of great clean and simple card sketches!

  With the help of my Big Shot and Hearts a Flutter framelits and some Polka Dot Parade DSP, this card came together very quickly and easily - definitely my kind of stamping!  I used the "love you" sentiment from the Best of Greetings set (hurry, these 25th anniversary "Best Of" sets are only available through the end of March!) and some 1/4" stitched real red grosgrain ribbon to finish it off... what do you think?  I kept pretty close to the sketch, don't you think?!

  Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Fabulous Friday Venetian Romance "Love" scrapbook layout

  Happy Friday and thanks so much for stopping in today!!  My project for Fabulous Friday this week over on the Sisters in Stamping blog is this traditional 12" x 12" scrapbook layout with a non-traditional color scheme.  I know tangerine tango isn't really a color you would associate with love, but I just went crazy over the Venetian Romance designer papers featuring this color and had to use it on my clean and simple layout.... I think I will print my pictures in sepia tone when I put them on my page.

   You may notice the lack of stamping on my page... the designer papers are so pretty that I didn't think I needed it, especially since I decided to use my Big Shot to create my title.  The naturals ivory card stock in the background adds some nice contrast to the very vanilla cardstock photo mats, too.  And with a 6" x 6" focal piece I can either add a large photo or collage several smaller ones... leaving me some versatility with this page since I haven't chosen my photos for it yet.

    The "love" was cut out of soft suede card stock using the Expressions framelits that is a carryover item from the Holiday catalog.  I opted to add a textured piece of very vanilla card stock (created with the Big Shot and my Square Lattice textured impressions folder) behind it which had been sponged lightly with crumb cake ink to age it a little.  

 

  And this simple embellishment of three pearls really accents the designer paper on this part of the layout.  To keep the photographs as the main focus of the layout, I simply added some linen thread for texture along with some antique brads to finish out the page.  Simple but elegant... I really like how this page turned out.  What do you think?

  For even more scrapbooking inspiration, please be sure to hop on over to the Sisters in Stamping blog later this afternoon to see what Karla and Rachel came up with for Fabulous Friday.  I hope you get a chance to stamp this weekend... maybe even make a scrapbook page or two!

A New Weekly Deal

  I'm so thrilled that Stampin' Up! continues to bring us a new Weekly Deal every Tuesday, aren't you?!  Who doesn't love 25% off?!?!

  This week you can stock up on ribbon and try out the Simply Pressed Clay... it's lots of fun!  Remember, a $50 merchandise order earns you a FREE exclusive Sale-a-Bration item now through March 31st.  What a great time to purchase!!!  

  Remember this card I designed for Fabulous Friday a few months ago featuring the Morning Meadow hostess stamp set?  It shows an example of the Simply Pressed clay used with the buttons and blossoms clay mold for a fun embellishment on my card.  It's super lightweight so not difficult to adhere to your project with a little dab of Tombow multipurpose adhesive!!  Add some dazzling diamonds to the mold before pressing in your clay and you get a super sparkly embellishment... fun!

  Thanks for stopping by today... have a fabulous day!