CCC#050: November 2014 Cards Challenge - Delighted with DSP!

CCC#050: November 2014 Cards Challenge

Delighted with DSP!

The Cards Challenge for this month is a fun one: Use your favorite DSP! :) But before I share my card, I have a confession. I am a DSP hoarder! I can't resist buying it, I love flipping through the packages, I love being inspired by its color combinations... but I so rarely use it! ;) So I decided share a simple card to show that, when it comes to DSP, a little bit can go a long way and you can use it very effectively as small accents.

I chose the Flashback DSP collection as the inspiration for my birthday card, and I pulled colors from the paper for the rest of the elements. The focal image was created with the Four Feathers bundle (stamp set and Framelits). And the sentiment is from my favorite sentiment set - Four You. Easy peasy! :)

Make sure you head on over to Catherine & Cathy Create to check out the other DSP challenge cards. If you feel inspired to make your own, make sure you link it up, because you could win a prize!

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#049: November Challenge - Thankful for Fall

CCC#049

November 2014 Monthly Challenge

Thankful for Fall

This month's challenge from Catherine and Cathy Create is all about autumn! Leaves, sweaters, pumpkin spice, boots, Thanksgiving... whatever inspires you about fall, we want to see it! :)

I have a crazy-simple project for you this month, but I totally love it. I gotta say (and I know I say this every month but...) this last month really got away from me! And I'm so bummed, because October is my favorite month of the entire year and I feel like I missed it! I have been so busy lately, and I know I'm not the only one, and I know it's just going to get worse with the holidays approaching so quickly. I usually feel like I have to pull out all the stops on any projects I share here on the old blog-o, like I really have to turn up the "wow factor." But today I'm proud to be sharing literally a 10-minute project, because I know it's something we can all use around this time of year! :)

I decided to dress up one of Stampin' Up!'s great new Kraft Grid Journals. This could be a great little gratitude journal, or just a cute notebook with a great message to just throw in your purse to use for everyday lists and notes! And because I only used two stamp sets, it literally takes no time at all! :) I used one of my favorite sets from the Holiday Catalog for most of the stamping, so really, you only need one stamp set to make an adorable little journal. The set is called For All Things. I also used Gorgeous Grunge to add a little extra interest to the background.

One thing to keep in mind when stamping on these kraft journals... They seem to be more absorbent than regular cardstock. So don't press your stamps too hard, and expect that the images will lose a little of their definition. The stamp set I chose for my project - For All Things - is great for this because the images are designed to look sort of watercolor-y, but you do lose a lot of the great texture of the images.

So that's it for me for today. I hope you liked this super cute and quick project, and I encourage you to head on over to Catherine and Cathy Create to check out the other projects, and to play along!

Happy Stampin'! :)

Coloring with Blendabilities Alcohol Markers

I have been wanting to share a video for a while now on how I color with the new Blenabilities markers from Stampin' Up! A lot of people are freaked out by these markers, but I promise they're not scary at all!

What's so special about Blendabilites? They're alcohol-based markers that you can use to create an amazing and life-like blended look. Plus, you can use them on all sorts of surfaces - even non-porous ones like rhinestones, window sheets, buttons... They come in sets of three shades of one color - light, medium, and dark. You want to make sure you're using a water-based ink pad when you stamp an image that you want to color with Blendabilites. Memento Tuxedo Black ink works awesome, and it just happens to be my favorite black ink of all time!

I made this great little tag using one of my favorite new stamp sets from the Holiday Catalog. It's called Holiday Home and it's adorable! It also comes in a bundle with Framelits, at a 15% discount! And just because it's a "holiday" set, doesn't mean you can only use it for Christmas cards. It's got a lot of great fall and year-round images and sentiments.

Look at the great shading on this house! That's Blendabilities for ya! :) Now, there's no one right way to use these markers. My video just shows how I like to color with them, as well as some tips that I've found work for me. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. But the best advice I can give is just to get your hands on these markers and play with them! :) Enjoy!

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#043: September Monthly Challenge - Primary Colors

CCC#043: September Monthly Challenge

Primary Colors

It's September, and we all know what that means... Back to School! So this month's challenge is inspired by Primary Colors. Think crayons, construction paper, lunch boxes, playground equipment, new sneakers... And make a project inspired by that! And here's a little inspiration photo to get your creative juices flowing even more.

I decided to make a card for this challenge. I will admit, I was more inspired by the back to school theme, and the inspiration photo above. So let me just say that, while I know that primary colors are only blue, red, and yellow, I chose to go with more of a rainbow look, like in the photo.

I was inspired by a card in the recent issue of our demonstrator magazine where they trimmed down one of the dies from the Homemade Holiday Framelits to make arrows. I decided to trim the die cut a little bit further, and make pencils!

I colored the "wood" part of the pencil with one of the Skin Color Blendabilities markers, and drew on the "lead" with a black marker. The colored part is cut with the same die, and then I used the smallest of the Starburst Framelits dies to cut the little zig zag parts at the top. The lines are stamped with one of the stamps from a great new border set called Draw the Line. The stars are punched from the Confetti Star Punch - one of my faves from the Holiday Catalog.

I was thinking this card would be cute to give to a teacher, so I chose the sentiment from one of the new hostess stamp sets. It would maybe be a little more relevant for the end of the school year, but I still thought it was fitting.

Now, make sure you head over to Catherine and Cathy Create to check out the other challenge projects. If you want to play along, make sure you link up your project, because you could win Stampin' Up! goodies! :)

Happy Stampin'! :)

One Stamp, Four Ways: Love Birds Anniversary Card

If I may say so myself, I think this idea was pretty brilliant on my part! :-D This is the last of the four cards I made, and it's definitely the most different from the other ones. I shared three very different cards, but on all of them I used a flower stamp set to stamp, well, flowers. On this card, I wanted to think outside the box and really use the stamp in a new and different way.

I think these birds came out so cute! I used the large and small leaf stamps, and they're perfect! For the beaks, I just carefully inked the tip of the stamp in So Saffron ink, then inked up the rest of the stamp in my main color (I used Pool Party and Crisp Cantaloupe... which I realize looks like pink in this photo - sorry). Then I drew in their feet with a Basic Gray marker, and adhered them down with dimensionals. Easy and cute!

I also used the amazing new Hearts and Stars Masks to sponge a few hearts at the bottom of the Smoky Slate panel. I decided to make this an anniversary card, but I think it could be super cute for a baby card, too!

I hope I've inspired you to take another look at some of your stamps and see how you can mix them up. Have fun!

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#041: August Card Challenge - Happy Birthday!

August 2014 Challenge

Happy Birthday, CCC! :-D

I can't believe it! Catherine & Cathy Create is celebrating it's First Birthday! I have been so honored to be part of the Design Team, and I've had such fun with the challenges. I hope you have too! So, of course, this month's card challenge is all about birthday cards. I rode with the first birthday theme too, and chose to make a birthday card that would be great for your favorite kiddo!

I love this little Kind Koala stamp! It's a single wood-mount stamp. So cute! I modified the image a little for this card. The koala is holding a flower, and there's a sentiment around him, but I didn't want to use those portions of the image. I stamped the koala on watercolor paper and colored him using Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, and Blushing Bride inks and a water brush. 

I also used Pistachio Pudding, Tangelo Twist, and Crushed Curry inks with the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set to create the look of confetti. This koala sure knows how to party!

Instead of the flower, I decided to make some fun birthday banners for the koala to hold. I used a piece of Confetti Celebration DSP, and a cute sentiment from Something to Say. 

That's it for me for this challenge. But make sure you head on over to Catherine & Cathy Create to see the other Design Team members' cards. Link up your own birthday card and you might win a prize!

Happy Stampin'! :)

One Stamp, Four Ways: Shabby Vintage Get Well Card

Hey - Remember that series I started a while back when I made 4 different cards with one stamp set? Well, I've got number 3 for you today! This one was a request from the guys at the Provincetown Department of Public Works. :-D One of their employees, a fellow stamper and friend of mine, had to have some surgery done. It's funny, because when they need a card for something like this, they usually ask her to make one. But she couldn't very well make her own get well card! LOL :)

Anyhow, she and I have very different styles. I love beachy sherbet-y colors, she loves jewel tones. I like clean and graphic cards, she's into distressing and sponging. So I really tried to work outside my comfort zone on this one. Here's the result...

I pulled out some colors I don't usually use on this one... including 4 out of the 5 new In Colors! The purple flower is Wisteria Wonder and Blackberry Bliss, the blue flower is Marina Mist and Lost Lagoon, the yellow flower is Daffodil Delight and Hello Honey, and the leaves are Old Olive and Mossy Meadow. This card really shows off the two-step stamping that the Flower Patch set is designed for... There are so many ways you can combine and layer the different images to create unique flowers!

I chose to stamp the flowers on a piece of the new Typeset DSP. I am madly in love with this stuff! The designs are gorgeous - text, numbers, ledgers, maps... and it's printed on this lightweight paper so it really behaves like vintage book pages! Hooray for not having to rip up yardsale books anymore! :) I punched the edge with another of my new favorites - the Spiral Border Punch. Then I distressed the whole piece with the Stampin' Distress Tool, and crumpled the edges a little with my fingers.

Other supplies I used on this card... The Hello Honey and Lost Lagoon DSP's are from the Moonlight DSP Stack. The sentiment is from A Dozen Thoughts, stamped in black on Hello Honey cardstock. I used a Very Vintage button and linen thread to create the embellishment on the sentiment. The cardstock layers are Lost Lagoon and Blackberry Bliss.

If you missed my first two cards, make sure you go check them out. I made an almost-one-layer sympathy card and a super fun birthday card I hope you're getting inspired to use your stamps in new and different ways! I've got one more card to share with you, so stay tuned.

Happy Stampin'! :)

Social Media Challenge Reject

Yesterday I shared my social media inspired card for the Catherine & Cathy Create August challenge. What I didn't tell you was that it was actually the second card I'd made for the challenge. :) Wanna see my first attempt? I guess I shouldn't really call it a "reject" because I still think it came out great, but I ended up deciding that I didn't quite use enough social media influence. Check it out...

The original idea behind this card was the juxtaposition between the old-fashioned typewriter and the modern hashtag sentiment. I still think it looks cool on the card, but I chose to make the other card to play up the social media aspect of the challenge. 

The color combination of Blackberry Bliss and Hello Honey was taken from the Moonlight DSP Stack (which also includes Basic Gray, Lost Lagoon, and Sahara Sand), which I also used on the little flags at the bottom of the card. The sentiment is from #hello and the adorable little paperclip is from the Basics Hodgepodge Clips assortment (love it!)

I colored this super cute typewriter (it's from a set called Tap Tap Tap, by the way) with Blackberry Bliss ink and an aqua painter. So cute! I popped it up on a slightly crooked piece of my new favorite thing in the entire world: Typeset DSP. I punched the edge with the Spiral Border Punch (my other new fave!) and tied on some black bakers' twine. Oh, and those awesome polka dots on the Hello Honey panel? That's the Large Polka Dot embossing folder. Love that texture!

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#040: August 2014 Challenge: #InstaLove

CCC#040

August 2014 Monthly Challenge

#InstaLove

This month's challenge from Catherine & Cathy Create is to make a project inspired by social media in some way... hashtags, Instagram, Facebook, selfies... You name it - if it's online, it's all good! :)

My first instinct for this challenge was to make some Project Life cards (which I still plan to do, by the way, so stay tuned!). But then I decided to think beyond myself a little bit. It dawned on me that this would be a perfect challenge to make a "boy" project for! So, I decided to think about what a teenage boy would like, and make a birthday card.

I love how this stamped background paper came out! But, let me tell you, it took a long time to make!  I used two different stamp sets - #hello and @SoSocial. They both have awesome "hashtag" style sentiments for a ton of different occasions. I pulled out all the birthday, boy, and generic (#awesomeness, #friendsarethebest, etc.) sentiments and stamped them randomly on the diagonal on Whisper White cardstock. I used Bermuda Bay, Tangelo Twist, and Pear Pizzazz inks. So here's why it took me so long... I can't line anything up for beans. So my Stamp-a-ma-Jig is my bff. But I decided I wanted to use all of the relevant sentiments (I think there were 10) and I wanted to stamp them randomly - not always the same sentiments in the same colors or in the same order. So I had to stamp on the Stamp-a-ma-Jig imaging sheet, then stamp on the cardstock. Every. Single. Time. If I were going to do this again, I'd suck it up, choose 3 or 4 sentiments, and keep them in the same colors so I didn't have to keep re-doing the imaging sheet! If I had enough clear blocks to keep all my stamps mounted, it probably wouldn't have taken quite as long. LOL!

The awesome, huge @ symbol (which, by the way, doesn't seem to have a name in English) is from the #hello set. I heat embossed it with Versamark ink, black embossing powder, and my heat tool on Whisper White cardstock. The sentiment is from Four You, and it's stamped on Tangelo Twist cardstock. I also added a little wood veneer banner from the Wooden Elements Embellishments for some added interest.

So that's it for me for today! Make sure you head over to Catherine & Cathy Create because the other DT members have some awesome projects to share with you, too! And if you share your social media inspired project, you might win some goodies!

#happystampinfriends! LOL :-D

Start-to-Finish Sunday #40 - Stamped Muslin Bag

Here's a project I made for my sister-in-law's birthday a few weeks back. I had found this adorable personalized wine bottle coozie online months ago, and I wanted to put a little something with it - besides a bottle of wine, of course! :) And I wanted to make some custom packaging to match perfectly.

Cute, right? The colors don't match perfectly, but it still coordinates great! I love these Mini Muslin Bags that Stampin' Up! sells now. They're so cute and so versatile. And they're made of a great fabric that's perfect for stamping on. Want some tips? Check out my video below, or over on my YouTube channel.

Happy Stampin'! :)

Start-to-Finish Sunday #39 - Tab Slider Card

Boy, do I have a fun card to share with you today! I made this card a while back, and immediately decided it just needed a video to go along with it. I finally got around to filming it today and I'm so excited to share! So, here it is...

OK, I know, doesn't look like much, right? But hold on! See that little tab with the arrow on it? That's the interactive part. Check out what happens when you pull that tab.

Aah! I love it! :) The little octopus moves aside to reveal a hidden extra sentiment. Adorbs. And it's so easy to make! I promise!

For this card I used my current favorites again... The Sea Street stamp set and Maritime DSP. The sentiments are from Something To Say, which has some really awesome two-part sentiments.

So check out the video to see how to make this great slider mechanism on your cards! You can watch it below, or on my YouTube channel.

Here's a sneak peek of the card I make in the video. It's a little more grown-up and sophisticated, but just as fun! (This one uses A Happy Hooray for the embellishment and the Back to Black DSP. And hey! - Don't forget that select DSP is Buy 3 Get 1 FREE until the end of July!)

One thing to note: because of the tab, these cards will not fit in a standard A2 sized envelope. But don't forget - you can make an envelope that coordinates beautifully with your card project in practically any size using the Envelope Punch Board. This thing is a workhorse! And one of my favorite products that Stampin' Up! offers.

Please let me know if you have any questions about these cards. I hope you have fun making your own slider cards!

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#038: July Cards Challenge - Green Planet

CCC#037: July 2014 Cards Challenge

Green Planet

Inspired by Earth

OK, friends, this month's challenge is to make a card inspired by planet Earth. Now I'll admit, this one really had me stumped for a while. I kept pouring over my stamp collection thinking... What direction do I want to go with this? Maps? Blue and green? When I couldn't make up my mind, and no stamps were jumping out at me, I decided this challenge called for one thing: Custom made stamps! :)

Isn't it amazing that we can carve our own stamps now?! Stampin' Up! just thinks of everything! I've done my fair share of linoleum block printing in my life, but the Undefined stamp carving kit has sat on my shelf for almost a year now (it was introduced at Convention last year, remember?) and I could never decide what I wanted to make with it. So glad I still had it there ready and waiting when I decided what to do for this project!

I decided to do my stamping on this paper from the Typeset DSP collection, because it looks like newspaper and, to me, that fits with the recycling part of the message. I kept the rest of the card very simple - a simple spiral border, linen thread, and I sponged the card base using the polka dots stencil from the new Dots and Stripes Decorative Masks.

As I was stamping these images, I was thinking about how nice they'd look just on a simple one-layer notecard. So I decided to give that a try too! But of course, I couldn't just leave it at that... :)

I ended up cutting about an inch off the bottom of the card, and then I adhered the DSP to the inside so it peeks out the bottom. And I also added some white bakers' twine.

I hope you enjoyed these cards and that you're excited to give the Undefined stamp carving kit a try! Let me tell you, this kit is amazing! Like I said, I've done linoleum blocks before with the hard linoleum and the soft flexible kind. The rubber in the Undefined kit blows them both out of the water! It cuts like buttah! I highly recommend you give it a try! :)

(P.S. These aren't the blocks that come in the kit for you to mount your stamps on - but there are 4 blocks that are included. My dad made these for me because my stamps happened to be a little too big for the small blocks and too small for the large block.)

Head on over to Cathy and Catherine Create to check out the other DT members' cards. And don't forget to link up your card if you play along with the challenge - you could win an awesome prize!

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#037: July 2014 Challenge - National Pride

CCC#037: July 2014 Monthly Challenge

National Pride

This month's challenge from Catherine and Cathy Create is to make any project inspired by your country's national colors. A lot of us are celebrating Canada Day and the 4th of July, so this is perfect timing! Though, I have to say this one wasn't much of a challenge for me since 95% of my recent projects have been red, white, and blue! :-D

So as I told you before, I've been completely addicted to the Sea Street stamp set and matching Maritime DSP collection... which just happens to be red, white, and blue! What I love about the Sea Street set is that it's so much more versatile than it may appear at first glance. Sure, there are cutesy smiling sea creatures that are probably most appropriate for projects for kids. But the other images in the set are perfect for creating a totally on-trend and very sophisticated preppy nautical look. That was what inspired my project for this challenge.

I decided to put together a complete stationery set with everything you need to send adorable notes right in one box. Since I used the preppy nautical theme, this set is very grown-up, but would also be completely appropriate for a child off to sleep-away camp. :)

I used Stampin' Up!'s white notecards and envelopes to quickly and easily create a set of 6 clean and simple notecards. I stamped the anchor and rope images from Sea Street and the hello sentiment from A Dozen Thoughts in Real Red, Coastal Cabana, and Night of Navy inks.

The notecards come come with envelopes, but I wanted to dress up the cards a little so I made my own envelopes out of the Maritime DSP and the envelope punch board. Quick, easy, and cute!

Since the DSP envelopes don't have any sealer on them, I thought it would be nice to stick some coordinating stickers into the kit. These are just some white yardsale price stickers I had hanging around, but the anchor stamp fits perfectly on them! I also found some large mailing label stickers, white I decide to cut in half and stamp to coordinate too. (The "to" stamp is from an old Christmas set, by the way.)

Here's what it looks like when the whole set is put together. So cute and so sophisticated! I stamped on the label (with a retired alpha set - sorry!) but you could just as easily hand write your recipient's name. Or you could write a whole address on the label - it's big enough - and you could actually put this through the mail! (I'd seal the envelope up with more than just the little sticker if I was going to mail it.)

I did include a coordinating pen, because I wanted the kit to have everything you'd need to write and send a note. I wanted to put a piece of DSP inside the clear barrel of the pen, but this particular pen is just too skinny, and I couldn't find the mini version of the Pentel R.S.V.P. pens that work so well for this. Oh well, the pen still matches all by itself!

So that's it for me! Hope you enjoyed this project and you've been inspired to play along with this challenge and make a project with your country's national colors? Are they the same as mine? :) If you do make a project, make sure you link it up on Catherine and Cathy Create - and while you're there, check out the other DT members' projects.

Happy Stampin'! :)

Sea Street Treat

Confession: I can NOT stop using the Sea Street stamp set and coordinating Maritime DSP!! They both make me so happy! :) So consider yourself warned... you can expect to see a lot of red, white, and blue and sea creatures around the old blog-o!

I needed to make some swaps for our monthly Stampin' Up! team meeting recently. There was no theme, so I could make whatever I wanted, and I just felt like doing something different, you know? I had been tossing around the idea of making some sort of nautical treat packaging for a while, so I decided to give it a go!

These little treats came out so cute and were SO easy to put together! You can easily change out the sentiment, too, and make them perfect party favors for a 4th of July picnic or a child's summer birthday party. 

For the treat itself I just threw some Swedish Fish into a cello bag, trimmed a little bit off the top, and folded it over. The topper is a piece of DSP that measures 4x4 inches, folded in half and stapled onto the top of the bag. (I used the embellishments to hide the staples, but you can see them from the back. If you don't like that, you could use Sticky Strip to adhere the paper to the front and the back of the bag.)

I stamped the octopus from Sea Street in Night of Navy on Whisper White cardstock. I used the Circle Framelits to cut it out, and to cut out a layer of Real Red cardstock. The sentiment is from A Dozen Thoughts (another set I can't stop using!), stamped in Real Red. Then I just added a thin strip of another pattern from the DSP collection, and... Done! :) A whole bunch of festive treats is no time flat!

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you're having a great weekend!

Happy Stampin'! :) 

One Stamp, Four Ways: Bright Birthday Card

I'm back today with card 2 of 4 using the Flower Patch stamp set! If you missed the first card in my challenge to make 4 different cards with one stamp set, make sure you check it out here: http://bit.ly/1rvqc1Z So you've seen me make a sympathy card with this set... The next card I needed was a birthday card for a friend.

This particular friend is a very bubbly and vivacious gal, so I chose a bright color palette of Strawberry Slush, Pear Pizzazz, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, and Tangerine Tango. I stamped the flowers randomly on a Whisper White panel, starting with the largest flower (in Strawberry Slush) first, and working my way down to the smallest (in Bermuda Bay). I love stamping my own backgrounds like this - I can make a stunning card in no time at all!

This card is similar to my first card in that there's a lot of stamping, and very minimal embellishment. I added some Dazzling Diamonds to the centers of the Strawberry Slush flowers, but otherwise let the graphic black and white sentiment serve as an embellishment. I love this sentiment, which is also from the Flower Patch set. And it's absolutely perfect for this birthday girl! :) I embossed it on Basic Black cardstock with white embossing powder.

I also decided to mimic some of the stamping on a panel inside the card for a little extra color and flair. Super simple!

Well, we're halfway through my little challenge here. I've got two more cards up my sleeve, and one of them is really different! :) So stay tuned!

Happy Stampin'! :)