Two Pocket Bag Tutorial

This was a project that was demonstrated at the Louisville Regionals. This is my take on it. You will need to have a 12 X 12 sheet of designer series paper or a 12 X 12 piece of stamped cardstock, sticky strip, ribbon and cardstock for embellishing the front.

Step 1: Take your cardstock and score at 1" and 11"

Be very light handed when scoring the Designer Series Paper so you don't cut it

Step 2: Fold on your score lines and adhere down with SNAIL adhesive.

Step 3: Score at 3 1/2" and at 8 1/2"

Step 4: Fold on Score lines.

Step 5: Fold over other side and adhere down with SNAIL adhesive.

Step 6: Fold in half. To make this easier you can score it at 5".

Step 7: Score at 4 3/4" and 5 1/4". It will be scored at 1/4" on each side of your center fold line.

Step 8: Your center score line will be folded in toward the center of the bag. Score your other lines as well. This will help stabalize your bag so it can stand freely.

Step 9: Add a piece of sticky strip in the center of your bag. I find that if you add a small piece it allows your bag to remain open a bit and it will stand better. A little piece will do it.

Step 10: Remove the liner from your sticky strip and adhere your bag together in the center.

Step 11: Use a punch to make holes to thread your ribbon through. I used the horizontal slit punch, but the 1/8" hole punch will work as well. I find the ribbon lies nice and flat with the horizontal slit punch holes

Step 12: Use mini glue dots to adhere your ribbon together to form handles.

Step 13: Decorate your bag as desired. It can hold a few 3 X 3 Love Notes, a gift card or a small bag of candy.

I'd love to see your finished Two Pocket Bags, so post them in the comment section of this post so I can check them out.

Stamps: True Friend, All in a Row

Cardstock: Fall Flowers designer series paper, Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Whisper White

Ink: Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive

Accessories: Very Vanilla 1/4" grosgrain, 5/8" Chocolate Chip grosgrain, horizontal slip punch, sticky strip, mini glue dots, bone folder, ticket corner punch, sponge

Reindeer Wishes

Michelle Giraud aka Flaxychick at Twisted Chick Creations, posted a challenge over on her blog. She provided the directions for making these cute little boxes. I got some new Basic Grey paper yesterday and I thought it would make the perfect Christmas box along with my Reindeer Games stamp set from C.C. Designs, that can be found at All That Scraps. The Basic Grey paper is from the Fruitcake Line and is double sided. One side is Holly Berries and the other is Spearmint. This project was so simple. I folded the box following Michelle's pattern.


I then stamped the reindeer from Reindeer Games in Timber Brown Stazon on Shimmery White and used my AquaPainter with the following colors to color it in (Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Real Red, Basic Gray and Going Gray). I also highlighted the image with Sahara Sand. I matted it on Old Olive and Real Red cardstock, added a 5/8" Real Red grosgrain ribbon and then put the image on with dimensionals. I added some puffs from Michael's and white gel pen highlighting to the skates. To finish I added the sentiment on the same cardstock colors as my main image but stamped it in Blue Bayou ink.


If you haven't tried out Michelle's challenge you should head over to her blog. I promise it's fun and easy. I think I'm going to make some cards to fit inside my box later this week.


Jenn

Halloween File Folder

Yesterday morning I had a few moments to stamp before I headed out for a busy day. I looked up Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge and I knew I had to do it. This was the cutest idea for a card, and I love fresh new ideas. Halloween is right around the corner and I have a few classes coming up next weekend so I pulled out my Autumn Apparitions stamp set and Apple Cider designer series paper and the hard work was done for me.


I picked the color scheme directly from the Apple Cider paper. The base of my file folder card is Wild Wasabi and I chose Really Rust, Chocolate Chip and Shimmery White to go along with it.

To make the file folder I followed Beate's tutorial which you can find here. It was super quick and easy. After my paper was cut and the edged rounded I sponged my Apple Cider layer before attaching it to my cardstock base. I stamped the cat image on Shimmery White in Basic Black, cut a mask of the cat out and stamped the pumpkins with Pumpkin Pie, Close to Cocoa and Old Olive ink. I then stamped the argyle stamp from All in a row around the edges of the Shimmery White and Really Rust layer and then water colored in with Soft Sky around my stamped images. I wanted a nice soft wash of color.

Other accessories include 5/8" grosgrain ribbon in Chocolate Chip, round tab punch, 1/16" hole punch and vintage brads.

Jenn

Stamps: Autumn Apparitions, All in a Row
Paper: Wild Wasabi, Apple Cider dsp, Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Shimmery White, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: 3/16" corner rounder, 5/8" Chocolate Chip grosgrain, round tab punch, 1/16" hole punch, vintage brad, sponge

Good Enough to Eat

I have been gone all day, so I am going to update with a quick post. This is a card I made yesterday for the Ways to Use it Challenge on SCS. It was to incorporate food into your card whether it was by using a food stamp, making a candy bar wrapper or anything food related. At once I thought of the stamp set For the Love of Chocolate. Of course it is another set I have on loan from my Mom.


I went with a fairly simple color scheme involving Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink. I used some Shimmery White and Whisper White cardstock as well. I will leave you with the recipe as it is a very simply card and I'm sure you can figure out the details quite easily.


Make sure you come back tomorrow because the card I completed this morning is fantastic if I do say so myself. I just haven't had a chance to photograph it. I gave a copy of it to my upline, Terry, and I'm sure she'll vouch that it is too good to miss. Until then, have a great evening!


Jenn



Stamps: For the Love of Chocolate
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Au Chocolate dsp, Shimmery and Whisper White
Ink: Timber Brown Stazon, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Basic Gray, Going Gray
Accessories: Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain, Scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, dimensionals, watercolor brush

Baby It's Cold Outside

Isn't this an adorable Reindeer? I certainly think so. All of the stamps used on this card are part of the Reindeer Games stamp set from C.C. Designs and can be found at All That Scraps. This is the first card I had a chance to make with this set and I can see myself using this set a lot over the next few months. The reindeer was so much fun to color in. I simply used a watercolor brush and some ink from the lid of my ink pads. I discovered watercoloring with a real paint brush a few weekends ago and have been on the prowl for a good brush and I think I finally found some today on a trip to Michaels. I had bought a few but they were way to stiff to work with and I got frustrated when they made me color outside of the lines. This one was much better. Instead of a pacakge I hand picked some individual brushes.


I have to get dinner on the table and rush out the door to take Colin to music class. Tomorrow we are going to my parent's house so that I can get my hair cut and since traffic is so bad I won't be home until the boy's bedtime. I guess I better set aside some time to stamp a new project to share with you before I head out the door.


Jenn



Stamps: Reindeer Games (C.C. Designs)
Paper: Blue Bayou, Certainly Celery, Soft Sky, Real Red, Whisper White
Ink: Certainly Celery, Blue Bayou, Timber Brown Stazon, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Real Red, Yoyo Yellow, Sahara Sand
Accessories: Watercolor brush, Ticket Corner punch

Autumn Thanks

It is finally feeling more like fall. It has finally cooled down and the leaves on the trees are starting to turn shades of red, gold and orange. The weather is perfect for a visit to an apple orchard, pumpkin patch and for drinking fresh pressed apple cider. This is by far my favorite season of the year. Fall always feels like a fresh start, more so than New Years Day. Maybe it's the bustle of starting a new school year or the crispness in the air. This morning we woke to a blanket of fog and now that it has burned off the sky is a soft blue with light wispy clouds. It's a day that is best spent outside, so I am getting my post done early.

This card feels like today looks. It is full of fall color and flair. My color scheme is Chocolate Chip, Really Rust and River Rock with some Apple Cider designer series paper, Shimmery White and Whisper White thrown into the mix. I followed the same sketch as the card in my last post. I sponged all of the edges with Chocolate Chip ink, stamped my Stem Silhouettes images in Old Olive and Really Rust and my sentiment in Chocolate Chip. I added some Hemp Twind and used my Scallop Circle, 1 3/8", 1 1/4", ticket corner and 3/16" corner rounder punches.

I hope you all have a wonderful fall day!

Jenn

Stamps: Stem Silhouettes
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Apple Cider dsp, River Rock, Shimmery White, Whisper White
Ink: Old Olive, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: 3/16" corner rounder, ticket corner punch, sponge, 5/8" chocolate grosgrain, scallop circle, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punches, dimensionals

Dashing Season

It finally feels like Autumn here today so why not make a Christmas card? I still haven't decided exactly what I am going to make for my cards yet, but at least the ideas are floating through my head. This card is for Sketch Challenge 143 and I really like this sketch, but I am not in love with this card. What I really wanted to do was to play with my new 5/8" grosgrain ribbon and I have to say it ties like a charm! I ordered both Real Red and Chocolate Chip with some of the cardstock I was running low on, but I must order the remaining colors. The only thing that may not be apparent by looking at this card is that I made faux eyelets instead of using the real thing on this card. I wasn't happy with my color selection, so I improvised.

Stamps: Season of Joy

Cardstock: Old Olive, Real Red, Dashing designer series paper, River Rock, Very Vanilla

Ink: Stampin' Write Markers in Real Red, Old Olive, Summer Sun, Bashful Blue, White Gel Pen

Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Real Red 5/8" grosgrain ribbon

Reaching New Heights

Can you believe it? I actually have two scrap pages to post this week! I am on a roll with these. I must move the rest of my printed pictures down to my stamping space so that I don't have an excuse to not use them. I actually just completed a HUGE task. I took all of my pictures and organized them into albums by date into my Fotki account. Now I can go into a folder, pick the photos I want to scrap and order the prints. My biggest problem is not that I don't want to scrap, but that my photos never seem to make it from my computer to the store to get printed.

This layout is from Chris Greiser at sketch me if you can! and is featured at Sisterhood of Scrap as well. Once I had the layout I wanted to use everything else just fell into place. I started with a 12 X 12 piece of Soft Sky Textured cardstock. I then measured out my Purely Pomegranate piece and to get the scallop edge I took my Pick a Petal set and just used one of the center dots. I turned my cardstock over and stamped the dot along the edge of the paper with versamark. I then used the dots as a quick guide to cut the scalloped edge. It was super easy and fast. What a great way to use your stamps as tools. They demonstrated this at the Louisville Regional with a different stamp set, but any large circle will do.

This picture was taken at a park we stopped at as we drove around Lake Tahoe. We hiked for a bit, but Colin and Evan enjoyed rock climbing the most. These huge boulders are sitting in the center of a picnic area. Evan's face is so dirty from digging his hands in the dirt as we walked the trails. All we had to wipe him up were baby wipes, but he got a good scrubbing when we got back to the time share. We never actually made it around the lake as a fire broke out that burned down 15 acres of trees.



Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Office Accoutrement, Jumbo Outline Alphabet
Cardstock: Soft Sky and Purely Pomegranate textured, Blue Bayou, Whisper White Ink: Purely Pomegrante, Blue Bayou, Basic Gray, Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi, Versamarker, Whisper White Craft,Basic Black Stampin' Write MarkerAccessories: 1/16" hole punch, vintage brads, dimensionals

Fright Night

Have you ever been so tired you have a headache from lack of sleep? That is how I am today. Poor Evan is sick. I dreaming last night and in my dream the person I was talking to started coughing and the coughing bouts got longer and longer until I realized they weren't part of my dream at all. It was Evan I was hearing over the baby monitor. After 20 minutes I sent Roger in to give him some cough syrup in hopes it would help. No such luck on that front. Instead he was in bed with us for a while just coughing up a storm. When I finally fell back asleep he was up again. It makes for a long day and a very tired Mommy. I called the pediatrician as soon as they opened and we got an appointment for right after lunch. It looks to be the start of a sinus infection and they said they have seen this turn into the croup lately, hence the coughing in the middle of the night. He is now on antibiotics, cough suppressant and nebulizer treatments so that it doesn't settle in his chest and turn into something worse. Needless to say I feel like I am living in a fog today.

The color challenge today was Old Olive, More Mustard and Bashful Blue, so that is where the color scheme came from for this card. The sketch is one of Beate's weekend sketch challenges, I think it's #20, but don't quote me on that. I used Aida Cloth and the retired set Best Friends for my card. I switched out borrowed sets this weekend so that I'd have more to play with. This card is fairly straight forward so I'll leave you with just the recipe.

Stamps: Best Friends, Adia Cloth, All in a Row

Cardstock: More Mustard, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Petals and Paisley dsp

Ink: More Mustard, Versamark, Jetblack Stazon, Basic Black, Bashful Blue, Going Gray, Basic Gray, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: ticket corner punch, scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch

So Much Sand

Last night I sat down and decided it would be a great time to pull out some of the Lake Tahoe vacation pictures I had printed and actually scrap them. This photo was taken on the shores of Lake Tahoe as we waited to board a boat that would take us on a scenic tour of the lake. Colin and Evan had found a few shovels left behind by some other kids and had fun just digging and playing together in the sand.

This layout is from Lora Brinkman and can be found here.


Recipe:
Stamps: So Much, Jumbo Outline Alphabet
Ink: Soft Sky, Basic Gray, Blue Bayou, White Stazon
Cardstock: Soft Sky Textured, Blue Bayou Textured, Soft Sky Designer Series Prinks, Basic Black, Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi
Accessories: Crop-a-Dile, 5 Petal Flower Punch, Versamarker, Dimensionals, Basic Black Journaler

* Click on the page for a clearer picture *

Hair Gel and Cardstock?

I have never had a chance to try out a Gel card, but since I love to challenge myself I had to do the Try a New Technique Challenge today over at Splitcoaststampers. I didn't have an appropriate sized baggie so I raided my jewelry drawer and came up with a tiny packet that was used to hold some beads for a bracelet I had ordered online that supported Cervical Cancer Awareness. It was a tiny baggie, hence the very tiny spot of gel on my card. I also combined the Challenge with Julee's Mojo Monday Challenge. She has some great sketches to try out each Monday so you should check out her blog.

Gel cards really aren't all that complicated. I added enough gel to coat the inside of my baggie. I then stamped my main image, cut out the part I wanted the gel to be under and attached the baggie with some sticky strip to the back. I didn't think it would be a good idea to run my SNAIL adhesive over the baggie with the gel inside. I saw it popping and spraying a massive amount of gel all over my stamping space and sticky strip was right at my finger tips. If you need more detailed instructions as to how to make a gel card, check out the great tutorial here.

Have I told you how much I love not having to cook dinner every night? We have been making our way through our Dinners By Design meals and they have all been spectacular! What is even better is that not having to make dinner each night gives me more time to stamp. Every few days I just have to pull a premade meal out of the deep freezer, pop it in the fridge and the day we are eating it I just have to follow the cooking instructions that normally don't take much time at all. I either pop it in the over or heat up the grill. If you need quick and easy dinners check it out.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Season of Joy

Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Soft Sky, Wintergreen designer series paper, Whisper White

Ink: Always Artichoke, Soft Sky, Purely Pomegranate

Accessories: coluzzle, sticky strip, scallop circle punch, vintage brads, 1/16" hole punch

Star-Studded Birthday

I wasn't planning on stamping this morning, but when I saw who the Featured Stamper was I knew I just had to make time. On Sunday, Roger and I switch off weekends taking Colin to church, because Evan is at the age where he is too young for Children's Church and had a very hard time sitting quietly for an hour. Today was my weekend and we have a party planned to celebrate my Dad's birthday and our Anniversary so my day is booked. After church I came right down to my stamping space and this is what I accomplished.


I picked this card from Kristina's gallery to case. She has such a clean style of stamping and her cards are all gorgeous. If I only had an ounce of her talent I'd be one happy gal. You can also visit her blog to check out her amazing cards and projects.

As you can see I kept her layout, but I changed the color scheme. I did use Apple Cider designer series paper, but opted for the Chocolate Chip pattern instead. I stamped the soft sky with my polka dots from the Three for You punch box and then stamped the sentiment from Hugs and Wishes in Soft Sky on Whisper White cardstock. I added a simple bow with Blue Bayou double stitched ribbon. The flower is from In the Spotlight and is stamped in Regal Rose before being punched out with my 5 petal flower punch. I added a Rhinestone brad in the center of the flower and I was done.


I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday afternoon. I'll be back tomorrow with a new project.


Jenn

Are You Inspired?

This morning I was sitting downstairs with the boys and decided it would be a good time to check out the Inspiration Challenge on SCS today. I don't often do these challenges because I often don't see in them what other people do. However, I have decided that I need to stretch myself and figured I'd see what I can come up with.

Today's Inspiration piece is an enamel frame from Neiman Marcus and you can view it by clicking here. This is completely opposite of my style in color, but I did say I wanted to stretch myself, so I wrote a few things down about the piece. I wrote Oval, large flower, Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Basic Black and complimentary green.

I just got a Coluzzle so I was set on the oval piece and I knew that Fabulous Flowers would work well for the large flower element. It is the colors that gave me trouble. I am not a huge purple fan and often my color schemes focus on Earth Elements of the Certainly Celery and Pretty in Pink of the Soft Subtles family. I can honestly say that I have never reordered Perfect Plum or Pale Plum and my supply is certainly not in jeopardy. The complimentary green I chose was Old Olive and I used it for the base of my card and layered it with Perfect Plum and Pale Plum. The Pale Plum layer was stamped with the Paisley background stamp in the same color. I then layered a Basic Black and Pale Plum oval that was cut out with my coluzzle. I wanted the black to be a little less prominent so I cut it down by about 1/4". On this layer I stamped the sentiment from So Many Sayings. I mounted my set on Dominoes so that each saying is separate and I really like it this way.

The largest flower is stamped in Perfect Plum on Whisper White and cut out into 3 layers, then is popped up on dimensionals. The other flowers and foliage are stamped in Rose Red and Mellow Moss and help to frame the ovals. While this card is by far not my favorite I am happy that I stretched my creativity a bit and took on the challenge.

I think I will use this for Roger's Anniversary card. Today marks the 6th anniversary of our wedding day. We plan to go out to dinner and have my parent's lined up as babysitters for the evening. The weather today is almost exactly like the weather on our wedding day too. I hope tomorrow doesn't mimic 6 years ago since it dropped to the mid 40's and rained the entire day.

Have a great Saturday!

Jenn

I love this set!

I think this set allows any person to excel at watercoloring. It is so much fun. I should have put this at the top of my Holiday Mini order, but I just started playing with it two days ago. I love the sketchy look to it and it makes everything feel like fall, even though we have the air conditioning on because here it is September 21st and we hit 91 degrees today.

I made this card for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge and I can't believe it's the 20th sketch already. Exactly where has the time gone? I started out by knowing I wanted to use my Fall Flowers Designer series paper and from there everything just seemed to fall into place. No pun intended. I have a Sahara Sand base to my card and then a layer or Really Rust on which I sponged the edges, used the ticket corner punch on the bottom two and then stamped the largest flower from True Friend in Really Rust ink before adding the layer of Fall Flowers dsp. I then added my faux stitching with All in a Row in Chocolate Chip ink and because I needed a little more detail I paper pierced around the entre layer adding just a few more details in the top corners of the card. I then cut two squares of Chocolate Chip cardstock. One I layered with some more Fall Flowers designer series paper in Soft Sky and then used All in a Row on it once more. To add my sentiment I used Stem Silhouettes and my Stamp-a-ma-jig so that I had a square shaped sentiment instead of a long one. I added a small oval punch around the corner with a vintage brad and set this layer to the side.

My main focal image from Autumn Harvest is stamped in Timber Brown stazon on Shimmery White and colored in with my Earth Elements watercolor wonder crayons and my AquaPainter. I added a photo corner punch and Vintage brads.

To assemble the card I tied basic gray taffeta ribbon around the main layer and then added my squares onto it. I thought in needed a bit more so I added two falling leaves that were stamped onto Whisper White and colored in the same as the main image panel. I really had fun with this set and this sketch, so I am sure I will use it a lot more.

Jenn

Limited Layers

I love layers. The more the better is usually my mantra, but today the Limited Supply Challenge was to limit your layers and embellishments. This is the first card I have made for the challenge but I have another idea floating around in my head, so I'm sure it is not going to be my last.

I often say that I need help in simplifying things. A lot of the cards I make are hard to reproduce because I am a very time intensive person. It takes me a long time to sort out what I want to add to my card front and where I want an element to go. I often lay the entire card out before I commit myself to adhering something to the base.

For this card I used River Rock for the base and added a strip of Apple Cider designer series paper with a piece of Wild Wasabi Double Stitiched ribbon. I then stamped the flower image from Oh, So Lovely onto Shimmery White cardstock in Timber Brown stazon before I used my AquaPainter to color in the image with Wild Wasabi and Really Rust classic ink. I then matted it on Really Rust cardstock. To finish the card off I stamped the Sentiment from Seasonal Whimsy in Close to Cocoa ink. I was surprised at how quickly the card came together.

Now I am off to catch up on blogs and hopefully stamp some more. Angie Tieman talked about how much she liked Google Reader and I have to say I am hooked! I log in, check to see who has updated and it is so easy to go to thier site, leave a comment and continue on with my reading. It has saved me a lot of time and I read a lot of blogs. It also allows you to star an idea or tutorial you are interested in and all I need to do to find it again is to click on my starred folder and it is right at my fingertips. If you read a lot of blogs you should check it out.

How do you like the new layout?

I didn't get any stamping projects done today. I actually spent the day playing around in Paint Shop Pro and I forgot how much I like to play with digital graphics. So today I am going to share a bit of my other creative hobby with you. As you can see I made a new banner. The scrappy elements are made by a wonderfully talented lady named Melissa and she shares her creations for free in a Yahoo group called Scrappy Expressions. I really love the fall feeling of this color scheme and I think it matches the colors in my banner perfectly. I didn't even think to plan it that way, it just worked out.

Obviously my other hobby manipulating digital graphics. I didn't actually know I could be creative in real life until I started stamping. Here are a few signature tags I made before I started stamping. These were all made using digital scrapbooking kits that were free on the web.

I promise to be back with some more papercrafting projects tomorrow. This is going to be a busy weekend for us. My Dad is celebrating his birthday tomorrow and Roger and I are celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary on Saturday. I hope to get some stamping time in though. It is after all my sanity time.

Jenn

Harvest Pumpkins

Recently I split an order of Watercolor paper with my Mom because I wasn't sure if it was something I'd use and we both wanted to try it out. I have to say that as soon as I colored in these pumpkins I called her to tell her how awesome it is! It makes me even look like I can watercolor and that is something I long to be good at and I still spend many hours working on my technique. I now want reams of it.

Since yesterday I spent time working on craft fair items I didn't get to the color combination over on SCS. Today I decided to combine it with the sketch challenge and I am in love with my results. It is not often that I am totally in love with a card I made when I am done with it. This one is going to be hard to part with so I am addressing the envelope and sending it off right away. The background is a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock on which I wheeled the Boho Friend wheel in Versamark and then used White embossing powder on it. I saw this done at Regionals the the effect is amazing. I then have a piece of River Rock and Apple Cider designer series paper that were sponged with Chocolate Chip ink and then had the corners ticket corner punched. I added a border of paper piercing. The strip is made with Old Olive and River Rock and again I sponged the edges and tore off one side. I added 3 vintage brads and added more paper piercing. For the pumpkins. I stamped them in Timber Brown stazon onto watercolor paper, misted my paper and used my Earth Elements watercolor wondercrayons along with my AquaPainter to color them in. The leaves were done the same way. I stamped Warmest Wishes from So Many Sayings in Chocolate chip ink. The pumpkins and leaves are set up on dimensionals.

Jenn

Drum Roll Please!

I can finally share my exciting news with you!!!! Earlier this month I applied to be on the Design Team for All That Scraps and actually made the team! I am so excited. Saturday morning I was checking my e-mail and got the acceptance e-mail from Amy Rysavy. I ran up the stairs like a mad woman to tell my husband and kids. I think they thought I was fleeing the basement after seeing a very large spider or something along those lines. I have anxiously been awaiting the moment when I could share my wonderful news with you all. The other design team members have been announced over at Amy's blog, and you can check out and see who else made it by clicking here. Head on over and share your congratulations with the rest of the ladies. Thanks to those of you who already stopped by to congratulate me this evening. Also head on over to All That Scraps and check out all of the wonderful items they have over there.


Jenn

Lot to share

Yesterday I had such fun making the 2, 5, 7, 10 boxes I had to try another without the flaps. For this box I used River Rock as my base. I stamped in River Rock the small flowers from Fabulous Flowers all over the base. I then added a strip of Apple Cider paper and showcased both sides of this gorgeous paper. I sponged the top edge with Chocolate Chip ink and added a Wild Wasabi Double Stitched ribbon bow by punching a hole with my double rectangle punch. It works much better with the wider ribbon than the round holes. The main panel has the largest flower from Fabulous Flowers stamped onto it in Really Rust before I outlined it in Sahara Sand with my AquaPainter. I then stamped the sentiment from True Friend in Chocolate Chip ink. I matted it on Wild Wasabi and Chocolate Chip cardstock. I used my ticket corner punch on the bottom corners and used my crop-a-dile to add two metallic eyelets.

Today my Mom came down to help watch the boys and to help me get some stuff done for a Craft Fair I will be in. We wrapped the pint size paint cans in Apple Cider designer series paper and adhered it to the cans with sticky strip. I used True Friend to decorate the front panel in Really Rust, River Rock, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive. I used my horizontal slit punch to run the ribbon through before I tied the panels to the front of the can. There is also sticky strip on the main panels.












These Big On Christmas cans are made the same way as above. They use Wintergreen designer series paper, Blue Bayou and Whisper White cardstock. The images are stamped in Jetblack stazon and then colored in with InColor inks with some Pumpkin Pie thrown into the mix.


I think these two sets of paint cans turned out perfectly and I hope they go over well at the craft shows I will be in this fall. I am planning on making some matching cards to go with them. But first I have to go drag in my 27 lb Stampin' Up! box. I just heard the brown truck rolling down the street and from the sounds of my dog barking the UPS delivery person must be walking up to my front door. I promise to be back after I unpack my goodies and sort out my customer orders.


Jenn


ETA: These are the Pint size paint cans that I got from MaisyMo Designs

To Eat or To Nap?

That is the question. Let me tell you that these nap strikes are killing my stamping time. I have gotten nothing done today. Usually in the afternoon, Evan will nap and Colin will veg out on the couch with a book, play a quiet game or watch something quietly on the TV. This gives me time to stamp, get dinner ready and tidy up around the house. When Evan doesn't nap, both boys bicker and fight because they are both tired and crabby and they get on each other's nerves let alone mine. Needless to say, Evan didn't get a nap in today and obviously my dinner wasn't worth eating. Sleep won out. One minute he was taking a bite of his breadstick and the next minute he was counting sheep and drooling all over the dinner table.




After I got Evan to bed and Roger and Colin quietly settled upstairs I took a bit of a break and tried out today's Try a New Technique. Most of you know by my posts now that I am folding challenged so I have put off trying out this tutorial by Jenn Balcer for SCS called the 2, 5, 7, 10 box. Let me tell you I got it the first time with no problem. It is so super easy that if I can do it so can you.


I started with Sage Shadow for the base and wheeled it with the Boho Friend wheel in matching ink. The top flap has Outlaw designer series paper on it and to make the scallops stand out a bit more I doodled on them with the Sage Shadow stampin' write marker. I tied it all together with Blue Bayou Double stitched ribbon. The main panel has Very Vanilla, Creamy Caramel and Chocolate Chip cardstock. I started by stamping the circular flower image in Sage Shadow, but I stamped off twice before I stamped on the main panel because I wanted a very subtle background. I then used Old Olive and Really Rust to stamp my flower image and Chocolate Chip for the Thank U sentiment. I love to make my images pop off the page so I highlighted the flower and sentiment with Sahara Sand ink that I used my AquaPainter for. I find that I have to do this all of the time because it makes such a dramatic change in your focal image. I also used my double hole punch and 3 1/6" corner rounder to make this project.


I hear Evan screaming upstairs. Maybe he does want to finish his dinner after all. I can't wait to tell you guys my wonderful news. Hopefully in the next 24 hours you will see it posted here.


Jenn

Featured Stamper

Today's Featured Stamper is Michelle, aka Zindorf at SCS. I looked through her fabulous gallery and had a hard time picking a card because her creations are absolutely gorgeous. I chose to CASE the layout from her card, which you can find, here. I kept the layout minus the eyelets, but changed the color combination and stamp sets.

I chose to use Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla and Really Rust. I stamped all around the largest Very Vanilla layer with Carte Postal after stamping off once in Really Rust. I then highlighted the leaves by using Old Olive ink and my AquaPainter to outline the images. I then sponged the edges with Close to Cocoa and used the ticket corner punch on all layers.

I then stamped the dill looking stamp in Old Olive after stamping off on the smallest Very Vanilla layer and inked up my Garden Silhouette stamp in Old Olive and Really Rust before I stamped it twice on the layer. You can barely see the second shadowy image in the photograph. I then outlined the image in Sahara Sand with my AquaPainter. I added a strip of Really Rust and stamped Warm Wishes from Hugs and Wishes in Close to Cocoa.

To finish off the card I used my ticket corner punch on all layers, added some Mustard grosgrain ribbon and set the top layer up on dimensionals.

Now it's time to head out for a class so no time for any chit chat today.

Jenn

I have some Fabulous news!

First let me start off by telling you how much Roger and I loved Dinners by Design. It was one of the neatest places I have been to. We assembled 12 dinners in under 2 hours and each dinner will last us for 2 meals. That's 24 dinners in under 2 hours! I don't have to cook for a month and we even booked our next Couple's Night Out for October. We had Arizona Beef Brisket for dinner tonight and it smelled absolutely wonderful cooking in the crock pot. The best part is that it took me 2 minutes to take the entree out and dump it into the crock pot. It was all prepared and ready to go.


Today I spent the afternoon stamping with Teresa aka paynete from Splitcoaststampers and Jackie aka hpyscrpr2. We each made a project to share. I showed them how to make the Trick or Treat bags from the Louisville Regional and they brought these cards to make. Aren't they gorgeous! Teresa designed the Booglie eyes card and I love that she used the piece of paper I had sitting in the bottom of my bin because I wasn't sure how to use the mosaic piece. It is a little busy for my tastes, but her use for it is perfect. We took a sponge and Basic Black ink and sponged it on the mosaic pieces. We then stamped "Boo" from Big Deal Alphabet in Pumpkin Pie, made a 1" circle mask with the help of the 1" circle punch and stamped the little guys from Booglie Eyes on with Jetblack Stazon. Here is the best part, she made me watercolor with an actual paint brush and I liked it! I always use my AquaPainter, but the paintbrush was awesome and it is easier to control the water flow for the shading. I may actually have to watercolor with a brush. Happy Halloween is stamped in Jet Black stazon and uses Everyday Flexible Phrases.


The priceless card was designed by Jackie and she taught me a whole new trick. I have never used packing tape to make a glitter window and it was so fun and easy. Plus she used one of my favorite color combinations, Pretty in Pink and Close to Cocoa. The window is made by punching out a scallop circle. I then used it as a mask to stamp a heart on the Whisper White layer, but it is hard to see in the photograph. We then put packing tape, sticky side out on the back of the scallop layer and then dumped dazzling diamonds glitter onto it. It holds to the packing tape like a charm! Isn't that a cool idea? I may have to try this again. I was actually debating on seeing how it would work if I embossed the heart after I added the glitter since the tape is not longer sticky. I'll have to see how that works out at some point.


I have to say I received some absolutely fabulous news today and I can't wait to share it with all of you. It had me running like a mad woman to tell Roger and the kids and had me hopping around with glee all morning. Can you guess what it is???? More to come on this later in the week. Right now I have to pack my rolling tote since I have a class tomorrow.


Have a great Sunday!


Jenn

I am so not ready

To give up nap times. Evan has decided he is on a napping strike and has been up since 6:30 this morning. Fun, fun. He is a complete grump and has quite the red headed temper. I am so glad we are going out tonight and I hope and pray he behaves for his grandparents and sleeps in late in the morning.

I made this card for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #19. I found the inspiration for the colors on this card from my brand new Rachael Ray Magazine that came in the mail today. The colors were Always Artichoke, Purely Pomegranate and Taken with Teal. There was a part that had Only Orange, but I didn't feel I could pull that combo off this afternoon. I am in fact dealing with a nap strike so I couldn't be that brave.

This card is 5 1/4" square. I used my 3/16" corner rounder on the side and started in the middle so that my scallops would be more even on the ends of the card. I then dry embossed each scallop with my Priceless Classy Brass template. I sponged the edges with Always Artichoke ink before stamping Tres Chic in the same color. The main panel has the butterfly stamped in Taken with Teal and then dry embossed. I paper pierced his flight path and dry embossed it as well. I think it needs a little something else, but I am stumped at this point and it is almost time for me to go out. I used the ticket corner punch on all four corners, adhered it to Taken with Teal and added a Vintage brad in each corner. Note to self, invest in more than just Vintage brads. I love brads and I never seem to get any of the other colors and I really should. I stamped "You're absolutely Fabulous" from Absolutely Fabulous in Purely Pomegranate ink, but it is hard to see in the picture. I also used Tempting Turquoise 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" and 1" circle punches.

A Funny Thing Happened

Today I was browsing through card sketches, challenges and my ever growing idea pile for a project to create for today. Then I saw it, the Ways To Use It Challenge on Splitcoaststampers, called Spiraling out of Control.


If we take a look back to last Sunday we would see a trip to Archiver's to use a 25% off coupon on a wonderful item called the Bind It All. It is one of those must have items that I told my husband would double and triple my project completing potential. I don't know how it is going to get me through my ever growing "must try this" list, but I even got him in the buying frenzy. I tried to buy one on sale several places on the Internet to find I was a day late or the store was sold out or the item was unavailable. But my need was quickly satisfied as I used my 25% off coupon and got the Bind It All and wires for cheaper than any place online.


Fast forward to this morning and we would see me sitting in front of the computer with the perfect challenge to execute. I quickly thought of the cute CD book I had seen and remembered reading that the Bind It All would punch through CD's with ease. Lucky for me we have an ever growing pile of CD's that won't burn on our computer for whatever reason. I recycled five of them and I was off to a quick start on a fairly elaborate project. I am not done, but it looks finished. I got all 5 of the CD's covered by taking 5" square pieces of Outlaw designer paper and glueing them to the CD's with some K and Company glue I got for free at CHA. I wanted to try Crystal Effects, but my order won't arrive until next Tuesday and I just couldn't wait that long. On a side note I can't wait to see this box coming from Stampin' Up!. I have had several smaller orders ship in more than one box and was surprised that they decided to cram the entire 25 lbs of merchandise into just one box. I bet it is going to be bursting at the seams when it does get here and I hope my Crystal Effects isn't on the bottom just waiting to have all of it's contents burst forth and cement every item nicely together.


After I had all 10 sides of my CD's covered I carefully cut around them with my paper snips and then punched the holes with my Bind It All, which did nicely pierce through the CD's without damaging them and then bound it with 3/4" black wires.


So that I had something to show off I finished the cover by stamping the largest flower from True Friends in Chocolate Chip on Creamy Caramel cardstock and then cutting it out with my paper snips. I then used the small circle image and stamped it on Really Rust and Sage Shadow in the same color of classic ink. I punched the Sage Shadow image out with my 1" hole punch and cut out the Really Rust flower. I adhered them together, added a Vintage Brad and then layered it onto the front cover with dimensionals. I did stamp the flower image with a stem in Old Olive ink first, directly onto the cover. I added some River Rock double stitched ribbon around the front of the cover and stamped the sentiment once in Chocolate Chip and once in Sage Shadow on Whisper White. I cut out just the word Friend from the Sage Shadow ink and layered it with dimensionals on the Chocolate Chip layer. I then used several bits of 1/4" grosgrain ribbon in Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Basic Black and Pumpkin Pie to the binding wires. For my first CD book I am quite pleased.


Tomorrow I am doing something new to me, and I'm taking Roger on a Date Night. We are going to Dinner By Design to cook 12 meals to bring home and freeze. The menu sounds simply wonderful and the great thing is you just defrost and cook. There is no chopping or dinner prep at home. If it is as good as it sounds we will be doing this again and there is one coming to our town so we won't have to trek 30 - 45 minutes away to do this. Has anyone else tried this out? I'd love to know your thoughts on it.


Jenn

So I'm Good at Guilt Trips

I guess this requires some explanation. I know a lot of people online from my parenting message boards, my Paint Shop Pro groups and now Splitcoaststampers and other stamping blogs. My friends that I have known online the longest (other moms) know I am a terribly horrible person when it comes to keeping up a blog. I'd start, stop, get fed up because I hadn't updated and then eventually delete the entire thing because there was no rhyme or reason to it. I can't tell you how many Xanga blogs I had or how little I use my MySpace page. As you can see in the early days of this blog it was rather sporadic and non-existent. Then somehow people started finding my site, commenting on my creations and all of a sudden I felt a connection to my readers through my little space on the web. I hate to disappoint people so I started updating on a more regular basis which at first was a few times a month, then a few times a week and now I update almost daily.

Now it comes to my little quirk. It's almost like I am obsessed with stamping a new project with the sole purpose of sharing with all of you. I feel guilty when I can't post and therefore I can't do anything else until I do. Pathetic huh? I guess it's not really when you look at how far I have grown as a blogger and as a stamper since I started doing this. My one year anniversary of stamping is coming up in just a few months and I can't wait to share with you all of the awesome things I will be doing to celebrate that. So mark your calendar for late November, mid December and come and join in all of the fun.

This is a sort of quick card I put together using Julee's Mojo Monday sketch. As you can see I'm a week behind, but I knew that this sketch would work perfectly for my Shower Time stamps from My Favorite Things. The color combination sounded sort of strange when I wrote it down on paper but it comes directly from my Basic Grey Mellow paper that I got from Archiver's on my last trip there. It is Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip, Blue Bayou, Marigold Morning, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi and Whisper White. I wanted to keep with the Polka Dot theme so I added some polka dots from Stampin' Up!'s Three For You Punch box, some dry embossing with my Crop-a-Dile and the paper pieced umbrella. Now to get started on something for tomorrow. Have a great evening and I can get over my guilt trip.

Darn this Weather

This gorgeous fall weather we are experiencing is really putting a crimp on my stamping time. The last two afternoons have been spent outside instead of being bunkered down in the basement while we escape the afternoon heat. While I love my outdoor time the day slips quickly by and I have no daylight to stamp in. Don't fret, I am working on a new card and have a few projects in mind. I just need to sit down and figure out my schedule and balance it with my kids energy levels.


This cute card features a pocket on the inside of the card. It is created by taking a piece of cardstock 12 inches long, scoring at 4" and 8" and then on a diagonal between the 4" and 8" score lines. It creates a nice diagonal fold where a gift card or money can be tucked safely inside. I promise to show you how to fold it later in the week, along with how to get the Trick or Treat bag folded correctly. I have had several people ask for a visual and I promise to comply.


I hope you all had a wonderful day and were more productive than I was. I need to get myself in gear as I have a weekend full of stamping to get prepared for.

Jenn

Trick Or Treat!

Fall is by far my favorite season, and today just feels like fall. It is a perfect 70 degrees outside, there is a gentle breeze blowing and when I was walking Colin into preschool there was a little chill in the air. Fall weather reminds me of two of my favorite seasons, Halloween and Thanksgiving. Since Halloween isn't that far away I decided to make a two pocket pouch to show you. This is so easy. It is a folding task that even I can accomplish so it must mean it is super easy. Wouldn't this be so cute to hand out at a school Halloween party? Or even to your neighbors as they come knocking on your door. Since there are two pockets you can tuck a card into one side and a candy treat into the other.

I started with a 12 X 12 piece of cardstock and scored it at 1" along two opposite sides. I folded down the sides and adhered them down with SNAIL adhesive. I then scored the other two sides at 3 1/2", folded them and adhered them down as well. There will be some overlap. With the seam from folding on the outside I folded the piece in half and scored 1/4" on each side of the fold to make the bottom of my bag. When I had it folded I used some more SNAIL just at the top to hold the bag together. The holes for the ribbon handles are punched out with my horizontal slot punch and I just folded the Pumpkin Pie 1/4" grosgrain ribbon over and glued a small overlapping section of the ribbon together.

I didn't want to draw too much attention to the front of my bag since this Creepy Crawly paper is just too cute. I have a 3 1/2" square piece of Whisper White cardstock that I stamped the cat from Autumn Apparitions in Basic Black. I stamped the cat first to make it appear that he is standing on the word "boo". I also stamped the letters from my Jumbo Outline Alphabet in basic black before coloring them in with my AquaPainter and Pumpkin Pie Ink. I then outlined the letters and the cat in Sahara Sand. I matted this layer on Basic Black and Pumpkin Pie cardstock, tied a piece of Basic Black 1/4" grosgrain ribbon around the layer and adhered it to the front of the bag.

As soon as Evan wakes up from his nap I am all ready to head outside to enjoy this gorgeous weather. Today is a rough day for Colin. We have been through about 5 eye patches already and bouts of him crying to get his patch to slide off. When he first started wearing a patch about 1 1/2 years ago I volunteered to wear one along with him. After 30 seconds I was going batty. He has to patch while at home for 6 weeks. Once he gets used to using his weaker eye it will go easier but these first few days are a huge battle for us. I hope they pass quickly.

I hope you have wonderful weather where you are too. Go out and enjoy it while it lasts because before we know it we will probably have snow on the ground and much lower temperatures.

Jenn

A Fun Fold

This is such a fun fold! I wish I would have thought of it myself. It uses a piece of Kraft cardstock 5 1/2" X 4 1/4" and has a piece of Purely Pomegranate textured cardstock that is 8 1/2" X 3 1/4" wrapped around it. The front panel opens up to reveal the saying "So Much" and is stamped in Basic Gray. The front of the card uses the dotted background stamp from So Much stamped in Soft Sky on the same color paper and is then cut out using the Coluzzle. I don't own this tool, but after seeing it at Regionals and actually using it I am placing it on my order today. It is awesome to use and I think my Curvy Cutter is going out the door. The lined flower is stamped on Whisper White with Purely Pomegranate and is also cut out with the Coluzzle. A button was added with a small glue dot. The top has a piece of Kraft cardstock folded in half with a silver eyelet that was set with the Crop-a-dile. Soft Sky double stitched ribbon was then put through and is tied with a piece of Linen thread. The scalloped border is made with the 3/16" corner rounder and is attached to the inside of the front flap of the card. Thanks is stamped in Basic Gray on Kraft cardstock and is cut out with paper snips.

Today Colin met a new pediatric opthamologist. He got a new prescription for his glasses so I have been on the run all day. We had to bribe him with a new toy to get him to allow the Dr. to dilate his eyes. I personally don't blame him hating that part as it really burns my eyes when I have to have it done. Explaining to a 4 year old why he has to have it done is not an easy thing to do. His vision has slipped again and unfortunately we are back to patching his eye, but only when he is at home. They said he does not have to patch at school which makes him happy. After going to the Dr., taking the kids out to lunch, a trip to Toy R' Us and back home I decided to brave going to the eyeglass store. I was very surprised. We ended up picking Lens Crafters and we got 2 glasses for only $150! The first pair was 50% off and the second pair was FREE. Plus they are going to be ready 1 1/2 hours after we picked them out. So now I am off to pick up glasses and head on over to the Open House at Colin's school. I sure hope to be a little more talkative (when I have time) and get some new and exciting projects stamped for you.

Jenn

Isn't this Sweet?

This is a little Halloween Candy Holder that we were taught how to make at the Louisville Regionals. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to recreate it and we had fun making them at my class on Sunday. I used the Creepy Crawly designer Series paper, Print Pattern, Chocolate Chip ink (on the inside for the pattern) and Pumpkin Pie 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon to make this. Mine has a roll of Smarties in it, but you could easily fit a Tootsie Roll or another piece of bite sized candy inside of it.

To make this treat holder I cut a piece of designer series paper to the size of the Print Pattern Wooden block. I then layed it out so that the 5 diamonds went horizontal and the 6 diamonds were vertical. Starting vertically (six diamonds across) I cut the paper through the middle of the first and sixth row of diamonds. I then turned the paper horizontally and cut throught the center of the first row of diamonds and then the fifth row. Turning the paper vertically again I scored through the center of the second, third, forth and fifth diamonds. On the horizontal diamonds I cut a triangular piece out of each of the diamonds in the second and fifth rows, all the way across the pattern. To get the triangular piece out of inside rows I folded the paper on the score line, cut out the triangle and then when it is unfolded it will have a diamond shape cut into the center of it. These cuts are the grooves that hold your ribbon.

I tied one end closed, inserted my candy and then tied the other end closed with ribbon. I think I may just make these for my son's Preschool Halloween party this year. I will also add a little Halloween tag to each one as well.


If you are a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and need the pattern, just e-mail me at startstampin@comcast.net and I will be happy to share. Please note that I do take care of 2 small kids during the day, so I may have to send out the pattern in batches when I get a free moment.


Jenn

Home at Last!

I feel like I have been gone for a week, but I had a blast in Louisville and at my class today. I just want to share a quick post with the 12 X 12 page that we made at Regionals. We used the stamp sets So Much and Big Deal Alphabet for this page. I am so bad at keeping up on my scrapbooking that I hope to get a good start on it now that I am home.

Tomorrow Colin has an appointment with a pediatric opthamologist, but I hope to get some stamping time in later in the day. I have an entire weekend of Virtual Stamp Night to catch up on and I can't wait to try some of the challenges and share my results with you.

I hope you all had a great weekend. Here is to a great week of stamping!

Jenn

Leavin' On a Jet Plane!

I didn't want to disappoint everyone and not have an actual post for today, so I saved yesterday's Sketch Challenge card to show to you.

Doodle This is one of my favorite stamp sets and I haven't used it in a very long time. I feel it making it's way back into my projects and classes. I love this big flower.

The base of this card is Groovy Guava and is stamped with Tres Chic and again with Aida Cloth in Groovy Guava ink. The main panel is Blue Bayou topped with Soft Sky designer series paper and each corner is punched with my ticket corner punch. I then added strips of River Rock. I wanted to use some double stitched ribbon but my order won't be here until I leave. But I will have lots of new ribbon upon my return. I stamped the large flourish from Doodle This in Versamark, topped it with Crystal Clear embossing powder and used my heat gun. I then colored in the flowers with my white gel pen to make them stand out a bit more.

The large doodle flowers are stamped in Timber Brown Stazon and then colored in with Groovy Guava ink with Wild Wasabi in the center. I heard that if you use Fantastix that you will get a gorgeous saturated color and that is exactly what I got. I got a package of 3 brush tips and 3 bullet tips for $4.99 at Michael's yesterday.

The word love comes from the Tres Chic background stamp. I used my Fantastix again to transfer ink to just that word, stamped it on Whisper White and then punched it out with my small oval punch. Then the larger oval is punched from River Rock.

I hope you all have a great day! I probably won't be able to update until Saturday. My plane gets back to Chicago around 9 at night and I have an hour drive home from the airport.

Jenn

I'm going to Kentucky

I'm going to the fair.
I met a senorita,
with a buckle in her hair.
Shake it,
shake it,
shake it.
Shake it if you can.
Shake it like a milkshake,
and shake it once again.


Everytime I hear of Kentucky I think of this song that I learned at a children's birthday party at the Ground Round resturant. I was probably in 2nd or 3rd grade when I learned it, so I've been singing it for at least 23 years if not more. But tomorrow is the big day! I am going to my first ever Stampin' Up! event and I am excited. I didn't want to go empty handed so I made about 20 swap cards to take with. This is my swap. I have never swapped in person so I hope my card is up to par. I couldn't make it too complicated since I only started working on them last night. Talk about procrastination, or more like too much to do, not enough time.


The colors are Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow, Really Rust and Very Vanilla. I did use my Old Olive Stampin' Write marker for the stem of the flower from True Friend. I dry embossed my photo corners a la cropadile style, added some paper piercing, vanilla grosgrain ribbon and used my cropadile to add an eyelet to the enter of each flower and I am done. Now I'll get some playtime in before I have to pack. I did check in to the regional seminar and printed my boarding pass, but the rest is yet to be done.


If I don't have time to post in the morning I will be back late Friday night and posting again hopefully on Saturday. Have a great weekend!


Jenn

Groovy Flower

Today the Color Combination was Groovy Guava and Always Artichoke. Seeing as I always take forever to get just one card done I wanted to try and simplify things, so I went for a three layer card and decided to add a bit of dimension with my actual flower. To give the bottom layer a leafy look I inked my stamp up in Groovy Guava and then Rock and Rolled it in Always Artichoke. I ended up stamping my bloom from Fabulous Flowers a total of 4 times. Once Rock and Rolled, twice in Groovy Guava and once in Always Artichoke for the center and top layer. I cut out the layers added some Dazzling Diamonds glitter with my two way glue pen and popped the layers up on dimensionals. I added some Groovy Guava ribbon from the Sherbet Ribbon Originals. I attached it with a silver Vintage Brad.

To add the sentiment I stamped the Happy Definition from Define Your Life and then stamped the "Hh" from Defining Alphabet that was stamped off once in Groovy Guava ink before being stamped on the Whisper White layer.

Joy

I decided I was on a roll last night so I completed Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge. This card took me a good chunk of time to complete and I find that I tend to try to add so many details that a lot of my cards are hard to reproduce for my classes. I have one coming up on Sunday, and this card will not make the cut.


I started with a Groovy Guava base and layered it with Soft Sky designer series paper. I stamped the edges with All in a Row's argyle stamp a la Beate in Basic Gray ink. I then added a strip of Old Olive ink in which I stamped joy using the Jumbo Outline Alphabet in Always Artichoke ink. The inside of the letters was colored in with my Versamarker pen. I then stamped the flower image from Punch Pals on Groovy Guava and used my Three for You Punch Box to punch out the flowers. I also colored them in with my Versamarker. I attached them to the card with Silver Vintage Brads.


The circles were cut out with my Cutterbee Curvy Cutter and while I like the smoothness of the tracks I do not like the cutting system. It is hard to get exactly the right size circle and I am planning on getting a Coluzzle instead. I took my largest circle of Always Artichoke and using my 3/16" corner rounder added a scalloped edge. I then stamped the trees on Whisper White and colored them in with Old Olive, Blue Bayou, Always Artichoke, Purely Pomegranate and So Saffron ink with my AquaPainter. I added some more stamping from All in a Row in Whisper White on my scallops.


The tag, penguin and sentiment are all from Punch Pals. I added a bit of white grosgrain ribbon with a staple to finish off my card.

Surprise Pop Up Card: Take 2

Even though I was quite pleased with my backwards Pop-Up card I had to make another to prove that I can follow directions. This one pulls up from the top and goes the right direction! For this card I wanted to use my LeJardin papers, so I went with a Soft Sky, River Rock and So Saffron color combination. I first stamped the large flourish from Baroque Motifs in Soft Sky and the flower in Whisper White craft ink before heat embossing it with crystal clear embossing powder. I then sponged the sides in Soft Sky ink.

I took my designer series paper, used a ticket corner punch on the edges and adhered it to my Soft Sky base with SNAIL. I added Vintage brads and cut my slider part following the directions listed in the tutorial section of SCS. I then added the Blue Bayou Double Stitched ribbon and cut it along the same lines to make sure it moved with the card.

I set the front of the card to the side and began to work on my slider insert. I used my 3/16" corner rounder to round the top edges and stamped used the three leaf stamp from Carte Postal in So Saffron stamped off once on this layer. I also sponged the edges with So Saffron ink. I put my slider card together and started on the front medallion.

To do this I stamped my square image from Carte Postal three times on Shimmery White cardstock. Once in each color: River Rock, Groovy Guava and Purely Pomegranate. I cut out the layers and put them together with dimensionals. I added mats of Soft Sky and Blue Bayou before adhering this layer to the card base.

On the inside I stamped off the Fleur de lis in Close to Cocoa before stamping it onto my river rock layer. I then added the sentiment from Absolutely Fabulous in Close to Cocoa. In hindsight I should have stamped it one shade darker and if I were to recreate this card I'd use Chocolate Chip ink to make it stand out a bit more.

To finish the card off I used my 1/4" circle punch and added a piece of Ribbon Originals from the Sherbet collection. I used a staple to attach it to the slider part of the card.

I got a lot accomplished in my newly organized stamping space. It is so nice to have a clean and functional work area. Now maybe I can actually get started on some swap cards for the Louisville Regionals. We'll see if I accomplish that today.

Jenn

A Backwards Attempt

I got settled into my newly organized stamping space and attempted a Secret Slider card. This was my first attempt and as you can see I accidentally made it upside down. I figured I'd continue with it anyway and I am pleased with my first attempt.

I love my Outlaw designer series paper so that is where I started. I have already used one full sheet of this striped paper and I am halfway through another sheet of it. I guess I have to use the remainder of the patterned paper or order another package. The colors in the stripes are Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Really Rust and Sage Shadow. Put them together and we have one of my favorite color combinations.

I stamped the Chocolate Chip layer with Chocolate Chip ink and the Tres Chic background stamp. I recently traded for this stamp and I am very happy I did. It works so perfectly for so many card backgrounds and I keep it out by my table a lot lately.

I then added my designer series paper which I used the ticket corner punch on and a strip of Creamy Caramel that I swiped through my Creamy Caramel ink pad to give it a faux suede look. After that I made my cuts and score lines for the secret slider part of it. That is where I turned myself around with this card. It was not the directions at all, it was my brain not functioning. I do promise to make one the correct way later this week if I have a chance before I leave town for Regionals in Louisville.

I stamped my sentiment on the Really Rust layer with Chocolate Chip ink and it is from the True Friend stamp set that is available in the Holiday Mini Collection 2007. I also stamped off the three flower image in Sage Shadow on the pull out layer. Then I added my Scallop in Sage Shadow and stamped the largest flower once in Chocolate Chip and then in Really Rust on Very Vanilla Cardstock. I added natural hemp twine and silver eyelets with my Cropadile and I was done.

I am willing to try this card again. It was so easy and fun to make.

Back to our Regularly Scheduled Program

Last night I had a dream about how to reorganize my stamping space. I have been working on that for a few weeks now and I think I am finally at a point that I am pleased with it. As you can see I work in my basement. I have about 600 square feet that is part stamping room, part playroom, part office. Can you believe that just two years ago this space was an empty basement with concrete walls and floors. My husband and I have slowly been finishing it ourselves and are quite pleased with our handy work. I do have to say that drywall is not something I wish to tackle again. Eventually we are getting a drop ceiling, but it is a functional space at this point in time.

I have been working off of an old antique table that I had pushed up underneath the largest window in the room, however I was constantly shuffling things to cut paper, stamp and many other things. I like my space nice and organized and my stamping table was starting to get cluttered and claustraphobic. So in my dreams last night I dreampt I put the big antique table back up in the crawl space and I took out my two folding tables to use as my stamping space. Now that my dream has come to life I am pleased. I took my 6' table and have it set up as a cutting station and have my catalogs that I leaf through on a daily basis there too. I then took my 8" table and have it set up to stamp. There is so much space I don't know what to do with it, but I can also fit several people there to scrap and stamp if I wanted to do that as well.

Now I think it is time to sit down and create something, so I may head off to print of the directions for today's Try a New Technique Challenge on SCS. I haven't made a slider card yet so I figure it is about time I got started. I can finish organizing some more stuff later.

Featured Stamper

I did a bit of organizing and had to sit down and stamp. So I started with the Featured Stamper Challenge at SCS, and chose this card by Heather. Her SCS gallery can be found here and you should also check our her blog here. She has some fantastic color combinations and layouts on her blog and in her gallery.

I used her card for inspiration and that is how I chose the bird image from Hero Arts and added the scallops along the bottom edge of my card and then sponged this layer with Chocolate Chip ink. The base of the card is Chocolate Chip and the designer paper I got at Archiver's yesterday and it is from the Tres Jolie line from My Mind's Eye. I have been hoarding this May Arts ribbon from Beate forever and when looking for an embellishment for this card it was the perfect fit. I added a buckle from my also hoarded HodgePodge harware and the card fell in line from there.

The Hero Arts bird is stamped on Shimmery White cardstock twice with Jetblack stazon. One of them I watercolored in with Bashful Blue and Brocade Blue ink with my AquaPainter. I then cut the body out and added it to my other stamped image with a dimensional. On the background layer I colored in the birds beak with Apricot Appeal and then outlined the bird with Bashful Blue ink. The wings were stamped on two pieces of Tres Jolie paper and then paper pieced onto the bird with an added dimensional. After the bird was together I simply added the sentiment from Hugs and Wishes and then outlined "Birthday" with River Rock ink to make it pop a bit more.

Happiness Is . . .

A morning of stamping, a day filled with shopping at Archiver's, and two very tired boys.

Yesterday I left my house bright and early to go and stamp with my upline and some of my sidelines. I got to share with them my fabulous box of Control Freaks swaps and stamp a few projects. This first one is a project that my upline Terry picked up at Convention. The box was already die cut for us. We just needed to stamp the rest and put it together. I really love the colors in this and it is such a cute idea for a gift. It uses Think Happy Thoughts and the Happiness background. Two stamps that are currently on my wish list. The paper is Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, River Rock and Confetti White. The classic ink is Chocolate Chip and Ruby Red.

After stamping I went shopping with my mom in Archiver's. I love to browse through the store for ideas on cards, scrapbook pages and 3D items. While I was there I splurged and got some of My Mind's Eye Tres Jolies line of paper and some of Basic Grey's new Mellow line. My mom also surprised me with some Hero Art's birds that I was looking at. I didn't even see her put them into her basket while I was browsing. I went back to look at them once more and they were gone, so I assumed someone else picked them up. To thank her I made a quick card for another party they are attending today. I forgot to take my camera with me yesterday so I didn't get a picture of the card, but I have an idea floating through my head for today's Featured Stamper Challenge, so you may see a card with my new paper and stamps later. First I have to clear off my workspace. I bought another cabinet from Target to add to my craft space and had Roger help me attach it to the wall so the boys don't accidentally knock it over. In doing so I had to take piles off of the top of my other cabinet so it's quite a mess right now.

I may also have a bit of tidying up to do in my kitchen. After 3 years of having my garbage disposer sitting on a shelf in the garage I convinced Roger to install it. I have to go back upstairs to see if he stopped the leaks and finish putting everything back in the cabinet. I may stop at cleaning my stamping space and stamping a few projects.

I will also share with you a bookmark that Sue brought for us to make yesterday at Terry's house. It is with the Wanted stamp set, yet another stamp on my wishlist. I guess I may have to place another Stampin' Up! order any day now.

Jenn