Sympathy

Here's another card that I made for my club in August. I was in need of a sympathy card and I know that these are usually needed right away. You don't always know when you will need one so my club members were happy to have one in their stash of cards ready to go.

The So Saffron was stamped using clear block C. I inked up the block without a stamp and then stamped the block on Whisper White cardstock. I like the looks of this technique! The flower was stamped on Pool Party with Not Quite Navy ink and then I used an aquapainter to pull some of the ink into the flower. After it dried I fussy cut it out.

Stamps: Fabulous Florets, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: So Saffron, Pool Party, Not Quite Navy

 Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Pool Party, So Saffron, Whisper White

Accessories: Block C, Scallop Trim border punch, Finial Press embossing folder, sponge, dimensional

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley

In Color Tree

I wanted to show my club members the new In Colors so I found a card on the web similar to this and I decided to use the In Colors. This is a pretty simple card but my members loved it anyways. I think we sometimes forget about doing simple, at least I know that I forget to do simple.

Stamps: Easy Events

Ink: Black Stazon, Lucky Limade, Soft Suede, Calypso Coral

Cardstock: Island Indigo, Whisper White

Accessories: Aquapainter, In Color DSP, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, dimensionals

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley

Final Swap...For Now!

I know that I promised that I would post this yesterday but the day was crazy. I was on the go from 7am to 8pm and then I still had to make supper. Posting here wasn't even on my mind until I went to bed. Then I realized that I didn't get over here. But I'm here now and ready to show you my cute little witch!

This is my final swap for now. (I say for now because more than likely I will be signing up for another swap soon!) I made this background by using a technique called Double Embossed. I started by rubbing the embossing buddy over a piece of Whisper White cardstock. I then inked up my Spider Web embossing folder with VersaMark ink. I inked it by directly applying the ink pad to the side of the folder that has the Stampin' Up! logo on it. Place the cardstock into the folder and run it through the Big Shot. Remove the cardstock and sprinkle it with a 50/50 mixture of black embossing powder and Dazzling Diamonds. Using your heat tool to emboss the mixture.

Stamps: Greeting Card Kids

Ink: Black Stazon, VersaMark

Cardstock: Lucky Limade, Peach Parfait, Whisper White

Accessories: Lucky Limade, Peach Parfait, Basic Black, Blush Blossom, Sahara Sand markers, Black embossing powder, Dazzling Diamonds, Peach Parfait ribbon, Spider Web embossing folder, 1 3/4" circle punch, 2 3/8" scallop circle punch, Heat tool, dimensionals, embossing buddy

This is sooo sparkly in person! I like all the swaps I created but I think this one might be my favorite. It took me out of my comfort zone and still turned out fabulous!

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley

Jack of All Trades

Here's another swap. I still have one more to show you tomorrow. I guess I'm a little addicted to swapping. I really love swapping with my friends over on Stampin' Addicts. I have never been disappointed with my swaps from those ladies! This was for the WOW swap again. The pumpkins were stamped using the baby wipe technique. To do this you take a baby wipe and place drops of re-inkers and then use that as your ink pad. I added a few spritz of Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz too. It is hard to see but you can see the shimmer in real life. The Rich Razzleberry "brads" aren't brads at all. I didn't have enough to I created my own. These are actually 1/8" circles of cardstock with Crystal Effects over them.

Stamps: Jack of all Trades, Delightful Dozen

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip

Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Whisper White

Accessories: Crop-a-dile, Rich Razzleberry grosgrain ribbon, Crystal Effects, Re-inkers:

 Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive, Square Lattice embossing folder, Rhinestones, dimensionals

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley

Old Fashioned Christmas

As I promised, here's another one of my WOW swaps. This one uses a technique called Cracked Glass. The oval image is stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock with Soft Suede ink. I sponged Crumb Cake on the edges. Then I covered the entire surface with VersaMark ink and Clear embossing powder. Then I used my heat tool to melt the embossing powder. I did that 6 times to get a thick layer of embossing powder. Then I put the oval into the freezer for about 15 minutes. This cools the image down so that you can then crack the embossing. I then rubbed some Soft Suede ink into the cracks.

Stamps: Welcome Christmas

Ink: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Neutral DSP, Soft Suede taffeta ribbon, Clear embossing powder, Eyelet border punch, Pearls, dimensionals, sponges

This card reminds me of an old fashioned Christmas!

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley

Happy Acorn!

I signed up for a WOW swap. The way this one is to work is that when you look at the card, you say "WOW!" I did 3 others for this swap and then there was a 4th group opened up so I just had to make one more. This is the last card that I made. I'm not sure that it's a WOW but he sure is cute!

Stamps: none

Ink: Riding Hood Red, More Mustard, Always Artichoke, Cajun

Craze, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, Regal Rose

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Regal DSP, Chocolate Chip Satin ribbon, ornament punch, Large oval punch, Scallop Square punch, 1/16" handheld punch, Linen thread, glitter brads, neutral brads, White gel pen, sponges, dimensionals, finger dauber, square lattice embossing folder

I will show you the other 3 cards over the next 3 days. I spent a little more time on them and really made them special. My daughters, Abi and Miriam, both said "WOW!" when they saw them so I guess they work too!

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley

September's Snowman

I had time last weekend to do a little stamping. Miriam, my second daughter who is 12, asked if she could pick out something for me since Abi always gets too! I told her I needed to do some Christmas cards so she picked out Snow Much Fun and Certainly Celery and Bashful Blue. Then I went to my binder that I keep all my sketch challenges and color challenges in to pick out a sketch. This is Stampin' Addicts sketch challenge number 66. I sat down with the stamps, ink and sketch and came up with this little cutie. Miriam was amazed that I was able to create this so quickly! I decided to use it as my cards for the Christmas card challenge and my September addition. Here's a group shot of all 16.

And now the close up.

Stamps: Snow Much Fun

Ink: Stazon Black, Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue. Crumb Cake, Peach Parfait

Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Whisper White

Accessories: Snowflake punch, Modern Label punch, silver brads,

1/16" handheld punch, aquapainter, sponge, dimensionals

I now have 144 Christmas cards made and ready to be mailed the first week of December! This coming from the person who usually gets the Christmas cards out a day or two before Christmas! I think I will have more cards than I need but that's OK too.

Oh! I almost forgot to tell you that we will be making this card at my Christmas Card class on Tuesday! Reserve your spot now!

Happy Stampin!

Shelley

Welcome Christmas Cards

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that I am part of a group that is trying to get Christmas/Hanukkah cards completed early so that no one is scrambling in December to complete these cards. There is enough to keep us all busy! Well, each month we are creating a certain number of cards so that we have enough to take card of our card lists. I have chosen to make 16 each month. I know that it's a lot but my husband is a pastor and I give out cards to many of the members of our church. He also receives gifts for Christmas and I use these cards at thank yous too!

These are my August cards. Yes they were completed in August. The 31st to be exact around 10pm! Most important thing is that they got done and I wasn't late! The first shot is all 16, have to prove that I'm actually making 16!

Here's a close up.

Stamps: Welcome Christmas

Ink: Baja Breeze

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Whisper White

Accessories: Baja Breeze seam binding ribbon, Petals-a-plenty embossing folder, Frost White shimmer paint, Ticket corner punch, glue-dots, finger dauber, Ovals die, Backing to DSP, Rhinestone

How are your Christmas cards coming? Haven't started yet? I am having a class on Tuesday, September 13 at 7pm at my house where you will make 16 cards total and get envelopes for $25! This is one of the cards that we will be creating! Reserve your spot now!

Happy Stampin!

Shelley

Stitched Stockings

Here's the last card from the Holiday swap. I used the new stamp set Stitched Stockings, the new stocking punch, the new Star Burst embossing folder and the new Dazzling Details. Lots of new on this card! I used a sketch challenge from Stampin' Addicts. There are lots of sketches available and this one is number 74.

Stamps: Short & Sweet, Stitched Stockings

Ink: Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, Real Red

Cardstock: Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, Real Red, Whisper White

Accessories: Scallop oval punch, Large oval punch, Stocking builder punch, Perfect polka dots embossing folder, Snow Burst embossing folder, Whisper White grosgrain ribbon, Dazzling Details, sponges, dimensionals

I love using color and sketch challenges as a starting point for my cards. Need inspiration yourself? Check out Stampin' Addicts where it's positively Stampin' Up!

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley

My Stacked Frogs

Well, here's another swap! I couldn't find the picture I took of the last swap from the Holiday Mini swap so I will show you this one and take another picture of the other and hopefully show you that one tomorrow!

This swap was to help us demonstrators to created simple cards that can be done in workshops with new stampers. We don't want them to feel overwhelmed or like they NEED to have it all to create a beautiful! Who are we kidding, OF COURSE YOU NEED IT ALL! Anyway, we were to use one stamp set, one color family, one punch and one accessory. Here's what I came up with using the new Ronald McDonald stamp set that Stampin' Up! will donate $3 of each set to the Ronald McDonald house. It's so awesome to work for a company that is so willing to give back!

Stamps: Turtle & Co.

Ink: Wild Wasabi

Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White

Accessories: Perfect Polka Dot embossing folder, Scallop oval

 punch, sponge, Subtle flower brads, dimensionals

 Want to make this at your workshop? Call or email me and we will set you up with a date!

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley

Festive and Fun!

Ok, I told you that I really enjoy swapping with my fellow demonstrators. We recently did a swap in honor of the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini that went live on September 1 and will be avaliable until January 3. This is one of the cards that I created for the swap. Abi helped by picking the colors again. When she brought out the colors, my thought was, "Those are great colors for a Thanksgiving card not a Halloween card!" Well, I sat done with them anyways and am really happy with the way this card turned out!

Stamps: Festive & Fun

Ink: Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Black Stazon

Cardstock: Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White

Accessories: Aquapainter, sponges, Bright DSP, Neutral brads,

 Houndstooth embossing folder, dimensionals

Make sure you check out the Holiday mini! You don't want to miss any of the cool things in it!

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley

More Sounding Joy

Stampin' Up!'s Holiday mini went live yesterday! I was in a swap using the new stamps from this mini. For one of my swaps, I chose The Sounding Joy. This is the card that I created for one of my swaps. I stamped the star on glossy cardstock with VersaMark ink and then sponged the Night of Navy, Perfect Plum and Old Olive inks over it. Then I stamped the "Let Earth Receive Her King" and heat embossed it with the new pewter embossing powder. The right side of this card is embossed with the new embossing folder for the Big Shot, Snow Burst.

Stamps: The Sounding Joy

Ink: Old Olive, Night of Navy, Perfect Plum, VersaMark

Cardstock: Night of Navy, Old Olive, Perfect Plum, Glossy

Accessories: Sponges, Pewter embossing powder, Corner rounder punch, Snow

 Burst embossing folder, Rhinestones, Whisper White grosgrain ribbon

Keep watching! I have a few more swaps to share with you! If you don't have a copy of the Holiday Mini, let me know! I'll get you one right away or you can check it out on my website HERE!

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley

Purse Chocolate Holder

This was one of my club projects in July. It's a cute little purse that holds the Ghiradelli squares of chocolate! Needless to say, there is no chocolate left in this cutie! Yum!

I found the directions for this purse at Qbee's Quest. Brenda has given you the step by steps on how to make these little cuties. They're a lot of fun to make!

Stamps: Oval All

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, More Mustard

Accessories: Chocolate Chip scallop dots ribbon, 5/16" Jumbo brads, Regals

 DSP pack Large and scallop oval punches, Sticky Strip, dimensionals

Now don't eat all your chocolate and make a few yourself!!

Happy Stampin'!

Shelley