Grateful Thoughts

Here's a card that I recently demonstrated at a workshop. The featured stamp set is the adorable Falling Leaves- such a cute set! This card is so simple, yet I think it makes a statement with the cute mini clip and the beautiful fall colors. I love the Summer Sun against the Rich Razzleberry! The middle leaf & the Grateful sentiment are popped up with dimensionals. I tore the bottom edge of the Razzleberry for added interest. Click on the pic to enlarge. The curvy words (part of the set) are really cute!

Final Deal of the Week

The final deals of the week are from October 26, 10 AM (MT) through October 31, 11:50 PM (MT).
Item 116214, pg.174, Princess Party Kit- reg.15.95, special= $9.99
Item 116213, pg.175 Pirate Party Kit- reg.15.95, special= $9.99

SU Deal of the Week #3

Just a quick (belated) update w/this week's deal of the week:
The third deals of the week are from October 19, 10 AM (MT) through October 26, 9:50 AM (MT).


114348, Basic Jumbo Grommets, SALE $4.49
109857, Mini Library Clips, SALE $8.99
112571, Circle Designer Brads, SALE $3.99
112581, 1/2" Library Clips, SALE $3.99


EMAIL me to place your order today.....

Deal of the Week #2

The second deals of the week are from October 12, 10 AM (MT) through October 19, 9:50 AM (MT). They are all Big Shot items.

Item #115961- p. 200 Perfect Setting Bigz XL die

Reg. $42.95, SALE: $25.99

Item #114515- p.195 Flower Burst Embosslits die
Reg.$11.95, SALE: $5.99

Item #116760- p. 201 Pop-Up Three Tier Cake Bigz XL die
Reg.$39.95, SALE: $25.49

Technique Class #3

I've really enjoyed these technqiue classes, the past couple of months. Here's projects from the 3rd one, which was held last night. Thanks to the 10 ladies who attended! Four cards were made, featuring 4 techniques: Wax Paper Resist, Wet Paper Watercoloring, Scratch-n-Sniff, & the Acetate card. All of these can be found on http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/, so check them out, if you weren't able to attend. Click on any picture to enlarge.

Wax Paper Resist

Scratch-n-Sniff

Acetate Card

Wet Paper Watercoloring

Matching Girls!

Ok, I know this is primarily a stamping blog, but since I'm always putting in such a plug about SU products matching and coordinating, I thought I'd show you how I do that in my life- other than stamping- too!

These are all fun pictures of me and Isabella- matching!! Amazingly, most of them weren't even planned!

Yet Another Gift Set!

It seems as though I've really been making alot of gift sets, lately. In fact, I completed a cute office one this past Saturday and forgot to take a picture of it:( OH well......I was asked to make yet another set for an office birthday. The one pictured above was just completed last night. It kind of centered around the glass jar with bath salts, since that was given to me to put with the entire set. SO, I coordinated the paper with the pink salts. For a more sophisticated touch, I added the Basic Grey print (from retired Walk in the Park). The pink is Pink Pirouette (also retired). If you read the explanations in my blog posts, you can tell I used ALOT of retired DS paper! It's so great for coordinated gifts, especially!

Anyway, I used my Jumbo Marvy scallop circle punch for the jar and added a flower from Felt Fusions, topped with a flatbacked pearl. The bag was made with my SU Fancy Favor die and run through my Big Shot. Such an adorable little gift bag! This one is filled with lots of fun goodies: perfume, facial cleanser, eye cream, mirror, lip brush, etc.

The wooden heart is a clearance special from Michales. SO easy to cover. I simply traced the shape onto my paper, cut, and adhered. I was thinking this could be a bathroom door hanger- like 'do not disturb, I"m in the bath'?? I guess I really wanted to include the heart in this set!

The little notepad & pen is also a Michales clearance, covered with more DS paper. I added a little binder clip to the back, which was covered with matching paper and ribbon. The butterflies were all cut using my SU Beautiful Butterflies die & Big Shot machine.

I hope the birthday girl likes this!

Don't Miss It!

These 'Don't Miss It' invites were stamped with bleach! I'm so glad I learned this technqiue! It's probably the newest one I've played around with the most! If you haven't tried it, you really should give it a shot. All you need is a bold image stamp and a small tray of folded paper towles and some bleach. You have to play around with the amount you pour on top of the towels. And you also will have to experiment with various colors of cardstock. The bleach will look different on each color.

For these invites, I used a bold image star from one of my Christmas sets (can't remember the name). The star was stamped in random places around the card. I also stamped a confetti image and then used a sponge for a few additional bleached spots. Both stars were punched with SU star punches and then popped up with dimensionals. The edges of each were dipped in bleach, as was the 'don't miss it' circle and the Pacific Point blue strip. This was the first opportunity I've had to use the Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware. The star brads were perfect for these cards! Cardstock colors used: Old Olive, Pacific Point & Tangerine Tango (retired 98-09 In Colors).

An Old-Time Favorite!

The Wild About You set is truely one of my all-time favorite stamp sets! I continue to use it and will probably never part with it. Endless possibilities! This is a cute birthday card that I made for my nephew, who just turned One. The colors are bright and fun: Brilliant Blue, Tempting Turquoise, Only Orange, Summer Sun, & Lovely Lilac. I used my SU 1 1/4" punch for each of the white squares- after stamping. The lion was then stamped 3x- once for the body, once for the head- which I cut out, and once for the mane- which I also cut out. A fun & cute card! I hope he likes it!

Brownie Gift Box

What a fun gift box to make! I really loved this project! The circle box was actually purchased at a yard sale- perfect for covering and gift-giving, as you can see.
I traced the lid onto my Bella Rose DS paper (retired), cut, and adhered it to the lid top. The other two pieces were simply measured, cut, and adhered. I used both sides of the DS paper for coordination and to break up the pattern- around the rim. And finally, the butterfly was cut with SU Beautiful Butterflies die and Big Shot machine! I filled the box with some yummy chocolate brownies:) The card uses the retired Scene in a Garden stamp set and is the same as this post.

Summer B-day Invites

These are the birthday invites that I made for my mother-in-law's party next week. The butterfly image (from Garden Whimsy) is stamped in bleach! Such a fun and easy technique! The DS paper is one of the new patterns- Kaleidescope. Most of the paper in that package has very large images, so I chose 2 patterns that were smaller, which work better on a card. The rhinestone brad really dresses the card up. I made a batch of 14 of these. I suggest stamping, measuring, and cutting everything first, then put the card together. Makes it easy and quick.

Pretty Gifts

I was quite pleased with how these cute little gifts turned out. Very pretty! I once again used the retired Walk in the Park paper- for both sets. I cannot stress how wonderful the SU Designer Series papers are! I love that the color combos are there for me to pull from. It makes it so easy! And look how different each set appears- even though I used papers from the same pack!

The journals, binder clips, & sticky note pads were purchased at Michaels, in the dollar bin. Great value! This was a super quick gift, so the pads happened to coordinate and needed no stamping. The journals were covered w/Walk in the Park paper. I first used my SU spiral punch to make the holes. I love this punch! I also covered the binder clips w/matching paper and added the ribbons. The sentiments on the journals are from the Refuge and Strength stamp set and punched w/my SU Wide Oval. I stamped and cut out the bird from the Always set and popped him up w/dimensionals.

I think my favorite part of the gift sets is the little glass jars. I got these on clearance at Michaels for $1.50! They're perfect for the bath salts I added! A simple strip of matching paper was wrapped around each. A butterfly from my SU Beautiful Butterflies die + a pearl from the Pretties kit completed the project. I added lip gloss and lotion. Each set was divided into 2 bags- bath stuff in one and paper things in the other.

Summery Thanks

Here's a quick thank you card w/a summer theme! The Pink Flamingo paper is perfect for this fun time of year! And some of the images are really great focal points- hence very little stamping! I used Real Red as the main color for the card. I did stamp a bird to sit on the back of the flamingo- just for fun and to give some dimension! The red flower is one of the Blooms die cuts and the turquoise is from the Boho Blossoms punch. One of my favorite parts is the little flip-flop brad:) Some ribbon and the 'thank you' sentiment top off the card.

Chic Boutique

I absolutely loved this set- Chic Boutique, when I first saw it in the new catalog. It's one of those super girly sets & I simply got it for my own pleasure! This is the first card I've created with it. I plan to do a whole set, so stay tuned! This first card was inspired by the SU sample on p.6 of the new catalog. I changed a few things. I love the swarovski crystals I added! The perfect touch for this fun, feminine card.

Details:

Stamps: Chic Boutique

Ink: markers- So Saffron, Orchid Opulence, Mellow Moss, Pretty in Pink, Tempting Turquoise

Cardstock: Mellow Moss, Orchid Opulence, Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron

DS Paper: Cottage Wall

Punches: Scallop Oval, Wide Oval, Eyelet Border

Other: So Saffron grosgrain, swavorski crystals, CM cutting system (for oval)

Cute Office Gift Sets!

I was recently asked to make 2 gifts sets for some ladies at an office. Each set included a small clip board (from the $ store) w/a stamped sticky pad, a bag or box (using my new Sizzix dies), & 2 little tins w/staples & paper clips in each. I thought these items would be practical and useful in an office setting.

I used my SU scallop circle punch to cover the top of each tin + some Flower Fusions. It was fun using my new Fancy Favor (SU exclusive) & Box #2 die. Surprisingly, they each had sufficient room for goodies. The purple set also features butterflies from the SU Beautiful Butterfly die, which matched the DS paper really well. My favorite part of the clipboards was the ribbon. I love ribbon and it just really tops off the boards! I had alot of fun with these projects and was very pleased with how they turned out. SU Designer Series paper is perfect for this kind of gift because it's double-sided & there's 12 coordinating prints in each package! I'm also inspired by the color combos. I hope these ladies enjoyed their gifts!

Technique Class #2

Another successful Technique class, wow. What a fun evening. I hope all of the ladies enjoyed:) The 4 projects we made are pictured. You can click on it to enlarge (it was a hastily-taken photo). The following techniques were practiced:
Stamping with Bleach (butterfly card),
Shaving Cream technique (popsicle card), Chalkboard technique (flower on black), & the Shaker card (turtles w/sand).
I really enjoyed seeing the various creative designs many of the ladies came up with for their cards. It's amazing to see so many different ideas made with the same supplies. Thanks to each of the 11 who attended and made this class such a success. Your enthusiasm is encouraging to me.

Go Team!

We made this card as a thank-you for Zeb's grandma who paid for him to attend a b-ball camp a few weeks ago. What an awesome gift. With Zeb playing a sport almost every season, I sure have got my use out of this 'Sporting' set. Very versatile and easy to use for any sport. The basketball is a misc stamp I've had. I used SU punches for the stars & popped everything up w/dimensionals. I also used the SU spiral punch for something different.

Zeb had fun, as he always does. Here's a pic of him this b-ball season.

DejaVu...My Own C.A.S.E!

You may have seen a similar card posted a few months ago on my blog, but I LOVE the Always set and Bella Rose paper, so I made this card again. It IS slightly altered- I changed it just a tad. I should probably make a whole batch of these, since they're so pretty and one of my favorites. We'll see.....

Stamps: Always (bird), Bella Blossom (sentiment)

DS Paper: Bella Rose

Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, Ruby Red

Designer brads (Filigree) & buttons

Dressed-Up Cookie Package

Here's a cute way to decorate the top of disposable storage lids, if you're taking cookies or some kind of meal to someone. This is super simple and not elaborate. I used a piece of DS paper, rounded the corners, & topped it with some butterflies cut out of coordinating DS paper, using my Sizzix. I added a simple tag and ribbon. This probably took me all of 5minutes to make- much less time than the cookies.

Technique Class Projects

Here are the projects we'll be making at tonight's Technique class: Vitalized Vellum, Stamping on candles, Faux Silk, & the Dahlia fold. I think all of these turned out pretty well and I'm excited to see how the ladies respond! All of them are fairly simple. The Dahlia fold is a little tedious, but it's very pretty, so I hope it works for everyone.
Directions can be found on http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ under 'Resources'. I will also be holding a make-up class next week for those who could not attend this evening. Click on any picture to enlarge. Please email me if you're interested.



Stamped Candle

Faux Silk

Dahlia Fold

Vitalized Vellum

Pink Flamingo Graduation Gift

This is a graduation gift creation for a high school grad at my church. I thought the Pink Flamingo paper was fun and young looking! I really had fun putting this gift together! I hope she enjoys it!

I used a sturdy piece of cardboard for the backing. All of the paper is adhered using sticky strip, for extra hold. I purchased the corkboard at Michaels. Some of the flowers are cut out from the actual DSP and 'popped up' with dimensionals. I also used some SU Blooms Die Cuts in Real Red as well as some stamped images from Stitched Exotics (retiring). The tin features rub-ons from last years SAB. The clipboard is simply covered w/the flamingo paper and I used some SU butterfliy dies for the bottom corner. The flip flop brads are a fun addition!

Father's Day Wallet

Here's the first wallet I've ever made! I'm pleasantly please with how it turned out! This is for my dad for Father's Day. We're putting a DQ gift card inside (which I should have pictured) + some pictures of the kids. The pattern was VERY simple and basic dimensions can be found here. My Instructions:

The outside is 9"x3.5" w/all corners rounded. Find the middle and score 1/16th" on each side of the middle mark. This will allow for extra room for cards, money, etc. The inside is 8.5"x3.25". I slightly altered mine w/pockets only on one side. They're simply 1" & 2" pieces of cardtock the same width as half of the big wallet piece= 4.25". I used sticky strip to adhere all pieces. I paper piered the front and connected the holes w/choc.chip marker= faux stitching. The close to cocoa cardstock is sponged (inside and out) w/choc.chip & really rust ink.

Stamps used: Dad's Day