Easy Party Decor with Sweet Stack

By | April 30, 2016
0 Comment

SweetStackC

Sweet Stack Project Kit

It doesn’t get much easier than a kit to create perfect decorations for a party and that’s exactly what Sweet Stack is. The sad news is it’s on The List, the list that includes every stamp, paper, ink, embellishment, tool and kit that will not appear in the new Stampin’ Up! catalog come June.

In spite of that sad news, there’s lots of happy news: Sweet Stack is on sale (it’s a STEAL!), there’s a coordinating stamp set to doll the kit up, and there are coordinating framelits to create more cakes, candles and bows when the kit pieces are gone.

Step-By-Step How To

Here’s a look at how easy it is to create.

It made the perfect favors for Stampo! on Friday night. I filled with treats, embellishments and prizes so every player could go home with a slice. So easy.

Retirement List

Remember, items on The List are only available on a first-come, first-served basis. Don’t delay, many items are already sold out. Click on the images below to check out the lists.

Screen Shot 2016-04-30 at 10.02.40 AM

 

Screen Shot 2016-04-30 at 10.02.56 AM

 

Sweet Stack Versatility

Sweet Stack makes C-U-T-E party decorations –I’m thinkin’ baby/bridal showers, mother’s day tea–any excuse for a party. With the framelits, you can choose any color, any pattern to coordinate all the decorations.

 

Sweet Stack Celebration Cake

Click any image below to go straight to the Stampin’ Up! store.

 

Watercoloring with Beautiful Ride

By | April 24, 2016
0 Comment

Beautiful Ride

Go | See | Do

It’s a great sentiment for lots of occasions that come along this time every year. Graduations. Retirements. Vacations. The card features three things close to my heart, too: the canine companion, the Volkswagen Beetle, and travel.

Screen Shot 2016-04-21 at 7.41.47 PM

Once again I took my liberties with a great sketch from MojoMonday, Sketch 444. Three narrow panels and one focal image with two banners work for a quick and easy card.

Warning: Beautiful Ride, Project Life Let’s Get Away, Going Places DSP and Typeset Specialty Paper are all on The List, the retirement list. See the entire list here.

BeautifulRideB

Just Stamp Tips

  • I love the watercolor technique, but I’m not an artist. Watercolor Paper and Aqua Painters rush to my aide to boost my skills.
  • I stamped the Beetle using Archival Basic Black, watercolored with Mint Macaron and Basic Black, then I hand-snipped. The luggage was stamped and snipped separately.
  • For a small pop of color, I watercolored a pond and river on the street map using Soft Sky.
  • The sentiment was stamped with VersaMark and heat embossed using white powder.
  • To create the banners, I used two punches: the Banner Triple and Banner.

Supply List

Click on any image to hop to the Stampin’ Up! store to get more info or to purchase.

 

 

Heat Embossing with Retiring Cups & Kettle

By | April 21, 2016
0 Comment

Cups and Kettles KSstyle

A Nice Cuppa and Cups & Kettle Are Retiring

I saw the The Retirement List released by Stampin’ Up! earlier this week. The bad news is A Nice Cuppa and the coordinating framelits dies Cups & Kettle are retiring. The good news is I own it! If you don’t, there’s still time to order.

It’s a versatile set. Some days  I enjoy creating the English cottage look with it; today I was inspired by one of my fav fashion houses, Kate Spade.

 

Cups and KettleKSIBC

 

Creating on a basic black card base, or any dark color base, calls for lining the interior with Whisper White or Very Vanilla. I chose Very Vanilla to suit the bold black stripes from the Timeless Elegance Designer Series Paper.

 

Cups and KettleKSCU

Just Stamp Tips

  • To create the glossy tea cup, first ink with Calypso Coral ink. Next, apply VersaMark by pressing the pad directly on the stamped image. Finally sprinkle clear embossing powder and heat set.
  • The Cups & Kettle Framelits Dies includes the knife, fork and spoon cutlery, which are nice accents to the cups, kettle and mug. I coordinated the sentiment, the spoon and the large circle in gold to create an elegant look.
  • A hand-made card deserves a matching lined envelope to make an entrance. Warning: the Envelope Liners Framelits are on The List.

Retirement List

Don’t miss out. The list includes the stamps, papers, inks and tools. Check it carefully — many products are marked down. Check the list here.

Shopping List

Click on any image below to hop to my Stampin’ Up! store and shop.

 

 

 

Five Stamping Favorites For One Card

By | April 17, 2016
0 Comment

An Elegant Cuppa

It’s the Little Things

Here’s a Kate Spade inspired card sporting five of my favorites for papercrafting.

  • the little bow in classic black
  • the wide black and white stripes from the Timeless Elegance Designer Series Paper
  • the classic style gold tone bow paper clip embellishment
  • large polka dots softly impressed in Blushing Bride card stock
  • gold heat embossing

Together they add up to an elegant card expressing an endearing sentiment: coffee and time spent with friends.

Just Stamp Tips

Stamps

Too many favorites, too little time: The Occasions Catalog is packed with stamp sets, papers, embellishments and tools that will soon be unavailable. If you’re a hot beverage fan, be it coffee or tea, there’re no better stamp sets than Balloon Celebration and A Nice Cuppa.  I borrowed from both, and tossed in a wee sentiment from Hello Life.

Paper

Timeless Elegance offers Victorian style roses, vintage lace, mod graphics, bold stripes and elegant dots. All in neutral black and Very Vanilla. Love.

Embellishments

The Bow Paper clips are stylishly functional. Back them with card stock cut to fit and they add an accessorized style. 24 clips for just 5.50. Deal!

Tools

Cups and Kettle Framelits dies coordinate with A Nice Cuppa, and offer some bonuses: the coffee mug and the cutlery. The Bow Builder punch creates a classic bow in two clicks. Easy peasy perfection.

Retiring List

On Monday at 1 pm Stampin’ Up! will release the list of products that will be removed from the current catalog to make way for new products coming in June. Click here to see the list.

Suggestion: If you spot items you want, order on-line right away. Items will sell out quickly.

Shopping List

Click on any item below to take you to my Stampin’ Up! store.

 

Heat Embossing: VersaMark + Powder = Wow!

By | April 13, 2016
1 Comment

ShineOnStarburstBirthday

My first experience with heat embossing and an embossed image is still fresh in my mind. Way back when, my rubberstamping dealer showed me a folk art style doll image that had been stamped and embossed in black (circa 1994). It was a lone, unfinished project but I was in awe! I was swooning.

Then my mentor showed me “how to.” OMG! I was beside myself as the embossing powder melted with the heat gun and the image appeared almost magically. Wowie, wow, wow!

I smile because most newbies have the same experience. That’s just the nature of the heat embossing technique. One technique can deliver a great punch.

In fact, today’s project wears only ONE stamped word. But it’s no shrinking violet layered above the equally impressive thinlit-cut “happy.” This happy birthday card screams joy, and it’s very simple to produce.

ShineOnStarburstBirthdayCU

Project Stars

Paper

Lots of awesome products produced the card. The Shine On Specialty Designer Paper with the silver elements shout “Bam!” This paper, found in the Occasions Catalog that runs through May 31, has six double-sided designs. On one side, silver foil designs shine for a brilliant effect. On the other side, there are neon bright shapes and patterns. Hence, it needs to be mounted on solid card stock—in my opinion. I layered the cloud pattern on Kraft cardstock, and also grabbed the thin diagonal line pattern for the whacked-up sunburst. It’s layered on a silver foil sunburst that’s been rotated just a smidge to peek out. I added three silver balloons.

Stamps

The embossed “birthday” is one of the 33 stamps in the Crazy About You stamp set. Yes. Thirty-three stamps. Even more exciting is that it is part of a bundle that includes the “happy” thinlit, plus three others. This is a DEAL!

Tools

Framelits, thinlits, punch. No more needs to be said.

Embellishments

One lone strand of white twine is attached to the biggest balloon floating off to finishing off the project.

One Last Thing

The layout is my loose interpretation of Mojo443.

Screen Shot 2016-04-12 at 6.22.40 PM

Whoops! One More Last Thing!

Check out the FINAL offering of Weekly Deals. You will find the selection here.

To find out more about the project products, click on any image below.

 

 

 

Blooming Thank You With Botanical Gardens Suite

By | April 11, 2016
0 Comment

BotanicalBloomsTY2

One Stamp Set, Two Looks

Stamps and tools should offer lots of options when you invest in them. The Botanical Gardens suite meets the criteria.

Today’s project, a thank you card, again uses Botanical Blooms and the coordinating framelits. However, today I added two additional framelits to create an alternate look:  the single tea cup die from A Nice Cuppa  as a vase to arrange the flowers in and the Striped Scallop Thinlit to create a lattice background. Mossy Meadow and Hello Honey cardstock (retiring) make an encore appearance, but today’s design delivers an English cottage flavor instead of a tropical feel. Here’s the tropical feel.

BotanicalBloomsTY

I like both. I also like the fact that I finally used the Striped Scallop Thinlit purchased months ago. What held me back? I don’t know because I love it. The scallops work upside down, right-side up, side-to-side …

Just Stamp Tips

  • The Precision Base Plate and Big Shot Die Brush come to the rescue in cutting and releasing the scallop thinlit from the Whisper White cardstock.
  • The Wisteria Wonder and Rose Red blooms were die cut, daubered (is that a verb?) and shaped using a bone folder and stylus for dimension.
  • The thank you sentiment is stamped on the small heart print Wisteria Wonder DSP from the Have a Cuppa paper stack. I used VersaMark to ink up, then heat embossed using white powder.
  • Basic Pearls add the finishing touch.

BotanicalBloomsTY2b

Supplies are listed below. Click on any image to hop to my Stampin’ Up! store.

Once These Colors Are Gone, They’re Gone!

By | April 9, 2016
3 Comments

BotanicalBloomsTY

Retirement is Approaching

Good-bye Hello Honey and Mossy Meadow! Be warned. Some of the colors in Botanical Gardens will be sent off into retirement come May 31. Hello Honey and Mossy Meadow, both found in the Botanical Gardens DSP, are part of the 2014-2016 In Color Collection that will retire. Once these colors are gone, they’re … well, GONE. That means ink pads, refills, designer papers, embellishments, accessories … everything … will no longer be available after May 31.

Here’s another warning: Many products sellout as soon as the Retirement List is published. This year, the List will be released on April 18. This means some of the products will NOT be available until the May 31 date posted on the catalogs. When they sell out, they’re gone.

Today’s Project

Not only am I bringing birthdays back, I’m trying to bring Thank You back.  Today’s card is a nice way to express thanks.

 

BotanicalBloomsCrop

 

I based my layout on Mojo Monday sketch 442.

Screen Shot 2016-04-09 at 12.11.00 PM

The mix of colors and florals in the Botanical Gardens suite creates a dreamy tropical papercraft. Everything in this suite offers endless possibilities for cards and projects. The photopolymer stamp set is perfect for spot on stamping precision.  The Botanical Builder Framelit Dies eliminate fussy cutting stress to produce flowers, leaves and a cool border. And the Botanical Gardens DSP steps up to make color choice easy. The suite will take you through summer in creating cards for all occasions.

Just Stamp Tips

The sentiment and contrasting layered circles were cut using the Circle Collection Framelits. It’s wonderful that you can produce 10 sizes of circles with one framelit set versus 10 punches that could quickly brake the bank.

There was no need to fussy cut the Mossy Meadow leaves and tropical flowers; the Botanical Builder Framelit Dies do the job in a couple passes through the Big Shot.

Vellum creates a soft, transparent layer between the texture of the wide jute ribbon and the popped up sentiment circle.

Stamping veins and spots on the leaf cut-outs adds more dimension.

Click here to shop for the suite and retiring products.

 

Create 9 Easy Cards in Just Two Hours

By | April 6, 2016
0 Comment

AprilClass

Sending hand-made paper greetings is getting easier and cheaper by the day thanks to my upcoming All Occasions Cards class on Saturday, April 18.

Here’s the Easy

In just two hours, we’ll create thank you, birthday and thinking of you cards that your recipients will love. Based on a recent Paper Pumpkin kit, the designs are clean, simple and a tad trendy. There’s the easy.

Here’s the Cheaper

On April 10, the cost of sending a “real” greeting card will actually decrease. Yes! In what the U.S. Post Office is calling a historic turn of events, the cost of mailing cards and letters will drop from 49 to 47 cents.

No More Excuses

Let the tradition of sending hand-made paper greeting cards that goes back to the ancient Chinese thrive. Producing the hand-made cards is easy when you join this class. And now it’s even cheaper to cover the cost of the postage stamp.

Click here to reserve your spot. Seating is limited.